wuag news

N.C. smoking bill reignites debate on outdoor bans

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:49:07 -0400

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.

Co-sponsor of N.C. religion resolution apologize

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:01:37 -0400

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.

N.C. Senate panel backs drug screening for welfare

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:57:19 -0400

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.

South Korea: North Korea moved missiles to East Coast

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:34:16 -0400

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.

Investigation continues into cause of Spartan Village fire

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:22:00 -0400

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.

McCrory offers plan on cutting N.C Medicaid costs

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:17:00 -0400

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.

UNC suspends the proceeding honor court against Landen Gambill

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:24:00 -0400

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.”

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Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:12:55 -0400

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First Grocery store in Downtown Greensboro

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 20:10:04 -0400

News brief for 03/21/13

Contributed by Viki Han

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.

Greensboro Farmers market

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:35:36 -0500

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.

Suit against Daughtry back in Guilford court

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:30:55 -0500

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.

State Unemployment

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 19:17:09 -0500

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.

Million March against Child Abuse Greensboro

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 18:33:27 -0500

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

1st bill signed by Pat McCroy

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 18:30:00 -0500

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.

Proctor & Gamble coming to Greensboro

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 20:02:00 -0500

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.

UNC Scandal Update

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 19:56:00 -0500

News 02/15/13

Contributed by Viki Han

A shameful scandal has been uncovered which revolved State’s flagship university, UNC Chapel Hill, in which revealed that there has been an ongoing academic fraud since 1997.

Former Governor Jim Martin, who investigated this dishonorable circumstance, reported that through the Department of African and Afro-American studies, not only did athletes receive false grades from fake courses where instructors did not even teach but a large number of other students benefited from anomalies specific to the department.

The report noted that over the last decade, 216 classes with proven or potential problems, including 454 unauthorized grade changes.

On the bright side, no academic misconduct was found outside the department of African and Afro-American studies.

UNC-Chapel Hill has been told that it must ensure the legitimacy of degrees awarded to an unknown number of graduates who took bogus classes going back to the 1990s.

Tree Trimming to Resume

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:25:00 -0500

News Brief for 02/05/13

Contributed by Jarrett Miller

In Greensboro Duke Energy will restart tree trimming work after a five week suspension of activity by City Counsel Pressure. A notification was sent to the city by utility officials. However the letter came in just as Asplundh Tree experts, Dukes contractor told Lindley Park residents that the trimming would begin within a few days for an AT&T project. The notification did not provide the advanced notice that Duke Energy and city officials promised in recent weeks. Davis Montgomery, Duke Energy’s district manager said AT&T asked utility to do the work in Lindley park because the trimming was not part of regular maintenance The company did not follow the proposed guildlines and did not agree what it calls customer initiated trimming. City Counsel and residents were very frustrated about this. Duke Energy Said they will try and up there communication so residents will have a more advanced notice on when the tree trimming will begin.

UNC-CH officials deny underreporting sexual assaults

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:22:46 -0500

Contributed by Jarrett Miller

News 02/05/13

Officials in UNC Chapel Hill have denied claims that they under-reported sexual assaults in 2010 to keep from looking bad. The former assistant Dean on students, Melinda Manning filed a complaint to the federal government on campus crime that the school was under-reporting sexual assault cases in 2010. The student newspaper also reported a complaint to the US Education department’s office for Civil Rights saying the saying the allegations are untrue. An education department spokesman is evaluating the allegations to see if they are sufficient enough to launch an investigation. Trustees noted that the 2010 jumps in sex assault reports were a huge leap compared to the 2009 and 2008 cases but administrators would not say why. Vice chancellor for student affairs Winston Crisp said, “Sexual assaults are notoriously under reported so it is difficult to know when you have increases whether that means it’s an increase in actual sexual violence or it’s an increase in reporting. We have worked hard over the years to encourage more reporting.”

Nursing Homes in North Carolina Responsible for Hefty Fines

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:54:00 -0500

News Brief for 02/05/13

Contributed by Viki Han

In North Carolina, the region of triad nursing homes is home to 11 skilled nursing facilities in which, the vast majority of nursing home employees take personal and deep care about the residents in the facilities.

However, according to a compilation of Medicare files by the ProPublica nonprofit journalism group, the government inspectors have found the patient care or accommodations to be in serious deficiencies.

During the past several years, some of North Carolina’s heavy fines have been imposed on these nursing homes including High Point facility with a pair of penalties.

Unihealth Post-Acute Care of High Point racked up the biggest fines which got ranked as North Carolina’s second highest in total dollar amount since 2009.

It is evident that bad things can still happen in the places of best intentions and this is exactly why every year the state sends teams of inspectors into every nursing home.

Transcript in former Police Chief's firing now available to Public

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:47:50 -0500

News Brief for 02/05/13

Contributed by Viki Han

Beginning in mid-2005, the police department was entangled in imputations of internal racial discriminations. In January of 2006, Mitchell Johnson, who was the city manager at the time, met with the police chief, David Wray, and told him that he had put him on administration leave, claiming that his trust has been completely shattered after reading the internal reports which detailed the way Wray’s administrative investigated its own officers.

In 2009, David Wray filed his lawsuit against the city because he believed that the city forced him out of the office because he was white. The city insists that there is no proof that Wray being a Caucasian had put him on administrative leave, or that former police Chief Tim Bellamy was selected to replace him because he was black.

The transcript of this closed door meeting is now open for public as it has been submitted to the federal court by the city along with a request of summary judgment,