wuag news

1 month ago (1 note)

#northcarolina
#smoke
#ban
#laws
#bill
#health

N.C. smoking bill reignites debate on outdoor bans

News Brief for 05/14/13

Contributed by Viki Han

According to News and Record, on Tuesday the 14th, the Senate Environment Committee approved a bill that would prohibit smoking bans enacted by local governments and community colleges if they are stricter than state law.

Since 2010, the state has prohibited smoking in almost all enclosed areas such as restaurants and businesses. Health advocates are concerned that this bill would revoke the restriction of smoking outdoors established by community colleges.

Senator Buck Newton says that while he appreciates public health progress, at the same time he believes that, in outdoor settings people should be able to consume a tobacco product more freely. On the other hand, Senator Angela Bryant who is an opponent of the bill, claims that outdoor smoking laws enacted by local governments protect families and children at events.

Despite the concerns from lawmakers, the bill has passed the committee and now is on the way to a committee on state and local government.

That was your news update. Stay tuned for more news,sports and music.

2 months ago (2 notes)

#Laws
#FederalGovernment
#Apologize
#State
#Rowan County
#Christian

Co-sponsor of N.C. religion resolution apologize

News 04/09/13

Contributed by Rachel Wilder

According to News and Record, The sponsors of a recent legislative proposal for North Carolina to be able to create its own laws about religion without the federal government’s involvement, apologize. They state that this proposal was poorly worded and was not intended to create a state religion.

Initially, this was written allow Rowan County officials to open their meetings with a Christian prayer. They were sued for violating the first Amendment for routinely praying in the beginning of meetings.

2 months ago (1 note)

#Drugs
#NC
#Welfaresystem
#House
#Bill

N.C. Senate panel backs drug screening for welfare

News 04/09/13

Contributed by Rachel Wilder

According to News and Record, Tuesday, April 9^th, the North Carolina Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that requires all welfare applicants to undergo drug screening. This screening must be paid for by the applicant. If the applicant does not pass the screening, they will not be reimbursed.

This republican- sponsored bill has been said to unjustly target poor people. Instead of offering rehabilitative help for those in need, this bill threatens to take away welfare for those in need.

More changes to North Carolina’s welfare system are possible. Next Tuesday the house is scheduled to vote on a bill that would require all welfare applicants and recipients to undergo a criminal background check.

2 months ago

#South Korea
#North Korea
#Korea
#Missiles
#US

South Korea: North Korea moved missiles to East Coast

News for 04/06/13

Contributed by Rachel Wilder

According to News and Record, North Korea has recently presented various rhetorical threats to attack the United States and South Korea. Though their threats to use nuclear force and missiles to hit United States mainland have not been proven, the United States is taking every precaution. North Korea does have the ability to hit targets in South Korea and Japan, including the United States bases.

To raise tensions, North Korea has announced it will restart its plutonium reactor, which was shut down in 2007. This will allow for the development of “crude” nuclear weapons.

“I don’t believe North Korea has the capacity to attack the United States with nuclear weapons mounted on missiles, and won’t for many years. Its ability to target and strike South Korea is also very limited,” nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University said. Regardless of whether these threats of attack are legitimate they should be taken seriously to prevent further chaotic conflict.

2 months ago

#Fire
#SpartanVillage
#UNCG
#investigations

Investigation continues into cause of Spartan Village fire

News 04/06/13

Contributed by Kalyn Huntley

According to UNCG university news, an investigation is still underway to determine the exact cause of the March 14th fire that destroyed a residence hall under construction. Highland Residence Hall, an apartment building that was about 70% complete, went ablaze about three weeks ago causing significant damage to the property. The timeline of a replacement is still being discussed with the construction company and the appropriate engineers. Housing and Residence life will work with the students who were planning to live in Highland to accommodate their housing preferences in other buildings. A final determination of what caused the fire will be determined after forensic analysis of the evidence is complete. The analysis could take up to three weeks and will be released upon completion according to Clarence Hunter, Deputy Chief of Greensboro Fire Department.

2 months ago

#McCrory
#Medicaid
#NC
#Cut
#health

McCrory offers plan on cutting N.C Medicaid costs

News 04/06/13

Contributed by Kalyn Huntley

According to News and Record, Governor Pat McCrory is proposing a plan to hold down the fluctuating costs of health care for elderly and disabled persons. His hope is to bring everyone to the table to create new health care partnerships to reform Medicaid at a scheduled news conference for next Wednesday. Throughout the year, The Medicaid program spends around 13 billion in state and federal funds to ensure health coverage for over 1.5 million North Carolina residents. The majority of those residents are poor children, older adults and the disabled. Last month, McCrory ordered state government offices to cut costs in order to keep a balanced budget because he said the state Medicaid program was expected to spend around 200 million dollars more than expected. McCrory is hoping his proposed plan will help to keep the balance at an equilibrium.

2 months ago (1 note)

#UNC
#UNC chapel hill
#thorp
#chancellor
#NC
#Gambill

UNC suspends the proceeding honor court against Landen Gambill

News Brief 3/26/13

Contributed by Viki Han

The past few months have not been so pleasant with the state’s prestigious university, UNC Chapel hill.

Sophomore Landen Gambill, representing herself and four other female students who have been victimized by incidents of sexual assault, have demanded U.S. Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights to look into the way the school handles sexual assault cases on campus.

When Gambill reported to the Campus board about the incident of sexual assault, she was accused of violating the UNC honors code, for creating a threatening environment for the man whom she claimed raped her.

Gambill filed a second federal complaint against UNC Chapel hill with the office of civil rights, claiming that the University was intimidating her by retaliating against her.

As of March 26th, the Chancellor of the school, Holden Thorp, has asked the honor system to suspend the proceeding honor court against Gambill.

He asserts that “the University takes all allegations of retaliation seriously, whether against an individual or an institution, and this allegation is no exception.”

2 months ago

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2 months ago

#Deep Roots
#Greensboro
#Local
#happyshopping

First Grocery store in Downtown Greensboro

News brief for 03/21/13

Contributed by Viki Han

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Downtown Greensboro has opened up their first grocery store, Deep Roots. Deep roots is a big grocery store where customers can find locally produced and grown food items such as meat, cheese and baked goods and other local sources.

The bakery offers a variety of unique foods, like vegan sweet potato maple muffins. The store also has ready-to-eat cold foods which includes tabbouleh, tofu pad Thai, vegan dumplings, meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Customers are very excited about the opening of the store and they see it as a good fit for the area.

That was your news update. Stay tuned in for more news, sports, and music.

3 months ago (1 note)

#SNAP
#Greensboro
#Farmersmarket
#USDA Food and nutrition

Greensboro Farmers market

Contributed by Brian Davis

There’s a new way to pay for food at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, and that is paying with your Supplemental Nutrition Assurance Program benefits. SNAP as its abbreviated is a program of the US Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. This service was formerly known as food stamps. The way to use these benefits is to swipe your card at the Market Manager’s station for the dollar amounts they choose. Then they get wooden one-dollar tokens to buy their food. Vendors redeem the tokens to the market and the market is reimbursed by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service. 20 of the vendors of the Farmers market are participating but they anticipate the numbers to increase as more farmers return to the market. The Department of Public Health is working to tell SNAP recipients about this new way to get food and to give them nutrition information. The Market is at 501 Yanceyville Street between the Aycock neighborhood and NC A&T State University. Hours are from 7-noon from January through March, 6-noon from April through December, and from May through December the market is open on Wednesdays from 7-1.

3 months ago

#chrisdaughtry
#absentelement
#uprooted
#band

Suit against Daughtry back in Guilford court

News 03/01/13

Contributed by Viki Han

A federal judge has ruled the lawsuit against Chris Daughtry to be sent from U.S. District Court back to Guilford County Superior Court where it was originally filed.

Former Bandmates of Chris Daughtry, who is a local singer and former American Idol contestant, filed a lawsuit against Chris Daughtry back in April.

The former local band, which was called Absent Element, consisted of Bassist Ryan Andress, drummer Scott Crawford and guitarist Mark Perry whom performed together with Chris, the lead singer.

The members of Absent Element accused Chris Daughtry of “constructive fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty unfair trade practices and other deceptive and wrongful conduct” They claim that several songs from Chris’s albums including his title album contain music and theme that were featured in their 2005 album, Uprooted.

When the lawsuit was filed, Chris responded by expressing that he was very hurt by these accustations as all of his songs were solely written by him.

The judge has decided to have the case be taken care of by Guilford County Superior Court rather then U.S Distrcit Court, as this was not a copyright violation but a matter of fiduciary relationship.

3 months ago

#NC
#StateUnemployment
#Taxes
#Debt

State Unemployment

Contributed by Brian Davis

The North Carolina House of Representatives agreed to cut payments to future unemployed workers and raise business taxes to help pay for the $2.5 billion owed to the federal government. The vote was 36-12 in favor of the new legislation. Gov. Pat McCrory when asked how he feels about the plan said, “we’re going to pay down the debt, make the system solvent and provide an economic climate that allows businesses, large and small, to put people back to work”. Details of the plan are maximum weekly benefits would fall more than one-third from $535 to $350 for new unemployed people starting on July 1^st. The number of benefit weeks would go from 26 to between 12 and 20 weeks. Federal emergency benefits are also being cut, which means 170,000 people won’t qualify for $780 million in total federal benefits. North Carolina has the fifth highest unemployment rate in the US at 9.2%. This bill means North Carolina will have higher federal and state unemployment taxes, and 30,000 businesses will no longer have a 0% state rate. The increase will help North Carolina pay off the debt by the end of 2015, three years sooner than expected, and will give $2 billion for future benefits by 2019, encouraging people to get back to work to have jobs.

3 months ago (1 note)

#MACA
#Greensboro
#Powerfulmovement
#Childabuse
#Walk

Million March against Child Abuse Greensboro

Contributed by Viki Han

What if I told you Nearly ten children die every day in America from abuse and neglect?

What if i told you one out of six boys and one out of four girls get sexually molested by somebody trusted before the age of 18?

April is America’s national child abuse prevention month.

Million March against Child abuse, known as MACA’s, has formed to educate the masses and get our lawmakers to toughen the sentencing in violent crimes against innocent children. In this action. individuals from over 150 cities and 45 states nationwide will join in national walks for the first time in american history on the 22nd of April.

For those in the Triad area that would like to walk, you must register by sending your name, phone number and email to:MACAgreensboro@gmail.com

3 months ago (1 note)

#NC
#McCrory
#Education

1st bill signed by Pat McCroy

Brief for 02/20/13

Contributed by Viki Han

Pat McCrory, a republican North Carolina governor, signed his first bill on Monday, the 18th. As his campaign platform demands public schools have better preparation for high school students for their career after their graduation, this newely made law requires the State Board of Education develop new diplomas that clarify whether the high school graduate is ready for college, or vocational career.

The bill also tells the board to look at ways to make it easier to license vocational and technical teachers.

This bill received final approval from the general Assembly last week.

Governor McCrory, who is proud to have his very first signature on a law, asserts that it is necessary that the education system provides opportunities and pathways for students to fulfill their post graduation goals.

4 months ago (1 note)

#proctor&gamble
#greensboro
#jobs
#incentive

Proctor & Gamble coming to Greensboro

News Brief 02/15/13

Contributed by Viki Han

The Guildford County Board of Comminissioners approved a 975,000 dollars incentive for Procter & Gamble after a long discussion.

Procter & Gamble manufactures Crest, Old Spice, Fixodent and Gillette products in its Greensboro location, while all of their health and beauty products come from their center.

During the discussion, Commissioner Linda Shaw, the board’s chairwoman, stood against all of her fellow republican commissioners who all voted no. She asserted that although she is a conservative republican, when she ran as a candidate, she ran saying that she would do what she could do to get jobs in Guilford County”

If Procter & Gamble expands in its Greensboro campus, there will be 200 new jobs available and an investment of $100 million in property and equipment will be made in the next 3 years.