NCORR disputes PW’s coverage of its Hurricane Matthew recovery work: their complaints, our responses

By
May 16, 2022
In Housing, News

This is one of hundreds of homes damaged by Hurricane Matthew that remain unfinished. (Photo: Lisa Sorg)

The NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency is disputing a previous Policy Watch story that Rescue Construction Solutions received preferential treatment in the bidding and scoring processes. We are publishing their rebuttals and our responses in full, unedited. NCORR sent these rebuttals via email, which are public under state open records law.

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First NCORR rebuttal and Policy Watch responses, May 11, 2022:

Dear Laura-

We have reviewed your email and have included our responses to each item below. Let me also say that we certainly appreciate many of the difficulties your agency has encountered over the years in fulfilling its mission (most of which were referenced in our reporting).

As you will see, however, it remains our firm conviction that, except perhaps with respect to a small handful of very minor matters that do not impact its overall thrust, the story is completely accurate.

Simply put:

  • North Carolina received hundreds of millions in federal recovery dollars to distribute to help lower income families rebuild after Hurricane Matthew.
  • Five and a half years after the storm, hundreds of families remain homeless and their abodes uninhabitable.
  • Over a period of time, NCORR awarded contracts for around $80 million to Rescue Construction Solutions even though it almost certainly should have realized that the company and was in over its head, provided false information in its prequalification application, and has consistently delivered poor performance.
  • Rescue was the beneficiary of NCORR contracting decisions not accorded to other contractors.

As has always been the case, however, we stand ready and anxious to receive additional information – e.g., requested documents and other records — that would shed more light on the matter. In particular, we would very much like to conduct interviews with Ivan Duncan and Sheila Brewington – both of whom have thus far not made themselves available to discuss this important matter with which both were so intimately involved.

Our responses to each of the 20 points you raise appear below.

Sincerely,

Rob Schofield
Director
NC Policy Watch

Lisa and Rob –

NCORR requires the following corrections to sections of the May 9 story that are misleading and, in some instances, false. In addition, to ensure an accurate portrayal of the agency and program, the accompanying opinion piece should be amended to reflect the corrected information as well. Should Policy Watch decline to make any of the corrections, please provide an explanation and supporting documentation which demonstrates why inaccurate information should remain in the story. Specific corrections are shown below with direct quotes from the story in italics.

  1. “At least 1,780 houses belonged to low-and moderate-income households.” – As we discussed yesterday morning during our interview, if this is a FEMA number, it has no bearing on the number of homeowners we will be able to help. FEMA does not measure eligibility for CDBG-DR. It is misleading to use a number from another federal agency that is not associated with CDBG-DR eligibility to set a false expectation.

Response: We do not believe it is at all misleading to report FEMA’s count of the total number of homes damaged by Matthew. We find it somewhat surprising that you would need to ask us if this is a FEMA number. Read more

From revisiting Hurricane Matthew, to fighting to protect a woman’s right to choose, to Gov. Cooper’s new budget: The week’s top stories on Policy Watch

By
May 15, 2022
In Commentary, News

1. PW investigation: State recovery office awarded troubled construction company $80 million in homebuilding contracts while thousands of Hurricane Matthew survivors remained displaced

Rescue Construction Solutions blew past construction deadlines and amassed hundreds of homeowner complaints; some people died before they could move back into their houses.

This is the first story in a series on the state’s hurricane disaster relief programs.

Sam Cockrell removed from the front of his house in Lucama a plank of plywood that had been spray-painted in orange with the word: “Keep.”

He dismantled a second board. It read “Out.”

“I want to keep the front door,” Cockrell said, unlocking it, “as a memory.”

He opened the door into darkness. An invisible mist of mildew escaped as if the house had been holding its breath and then exhaled.

Since Hurricane Matthew devastated eastern North Carolina in October 2016, the state has received $236 million in federal disaster relief money to rebuild or renovate single-family homes that sustained major or severe damage, such as Cockrell’s. At least 1,780 houses belonged to low- and moderate-inome households.[Read more…]

2. Here are the documents: The state’s failure, after five years, to help Hurricane Matthew survivors

Herman Jones’s house in Craven County, still unfinished after more than a year (Photo: Lisa Sorg)

I was driving around rural Wilson County searching for a specific house, whose owner — a survivor of Hurricane Matthew — I had matched to property records. “No trespassing” read one sign. “Private property” read another. But a man was fixing his truck in the driveway, so I stopped, got out of the car, and ensuring that I stayed on the public road, asked if I could speak with him.

Sam Cockrell couldn’t have been nicer. He spent more than hour showing me around his property, his damaged home where his father once lived, his belongings crammed into two PODS. I learned he’s a fan of the Washington Football Team, likes motorcycles, and loves to fish. [Read more…]

3. State must act ASAP to address facts uncovered in Policy Watch hurricane recovery investigation (Commentary)

In some ways, there’s nothing new or terribly surprising when large bureaucracies – be they government agencies or big corporations – are revealed to be plagued by waste and malfeasance. Humans and their institutions being as they are, flawed and prone to foibles like incompetence, greed, sloth, overpromising, and favoritism; such revelations have been a constant in the American experience since prior to the country’s founding.

All that said, the maddening familiarity of such phenomena cannot serve as an excuse or diminish our commitment to rooting them out and making things right.

And so it is that the state of North Carolina has a new incident of bureaucratic waste and abuse on its hands to which state leaders must give immediate and sustained attention. [Read more…]

4. ‘More than a vessel‘: North Carolina doctors raise red flags over the realities of a post-Roe world

North Carolina obstetricians and gynecologists are raising concerns over the burden tighter restrictions on abortion could have on women as well as the medical profession.

Dr. Jonas Swartz is an assistant professor in Duke University’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a researcher in reproductive health equity issues.

“Abortion is an incredibly safe and effective procedure as it’s practiced across the United States today. It’s essential health care and gives people the right to autonomy over their own bodies,” Swartz explained during a Tuesday conference call with reporters. “ When I think about the loss of that right, the loss of access to that safe and effective care, it worries me for my patients, and it worries me for my kids.”

Swartz said when the courts or lawmakers take away the right to safe and legal abortion, it doesn’t take away abortion. It just means people attempt means that are less safe. [Read more…]

5. Photo gallery: Hundreds gather in Raleigh for abortion rights, preservation of Roe

6. PW special report: Low pay, high cost of living are sending UNC System grad students to food pantries

Folasewa Olatunde didn’t want to go to the dentist. But sharp pain and inflammation in her mouth told her she should. The dentist told her she needed to have a molar removed and some cavities filled. The cost: more than $3,000.

“For me that’s over two months’ of pay,” she said. “So I’m just living with it, living with the pain.”

Olatunde, a native of Nigeria, is an international student getting her doctorate in Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media at N.C. State University. She teaches classes at the school as part of her grad program. She’s living on a school stipend of less than $1,400 a month, after taxes. “And that’s just for nine months out of the year,” Olatunde said. “Student fees are $1,300 a semester, so really that’s like two months of your pay right there. In the summer you’re just looking for anything to get by.”

In Raleigh, where studies show rents have gone up more than 20% in the last year, it’s hard for Olatunde to make rent, even with a roommate.

Like a lot of N.C. State students, Olatunde has been using the campus food pantry as she tries to make ends meet.[Read more…]

7. Demise of mismanaged charter school leaves some lamenting the loss

The state is closing Raleigh’s Torchlight Academy because of repeated and serious management failures, but some of its strengths and accomplishments will be lost in the process

Carla Peralta cried after getting the word that Torchlight Academy is closing due to fiscal and governance concerns uncovered during a state Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) investigation.

The K-8 charter school in Raleigh has become a lifeline for the Dominican mother of six. Two of Peralta’s children are currently enrolled at Torchlight and two others attended kindergarten through eighth grade before moving on to Wake County high schools.

The services that Torchlight provides such as transportation to summer school and afterschool programs run by the school have been a big help to parents who work, Peralta said.[Read more…]

8. Gov. Roy Cooper’s budget would fully fund year three of the Leandro remedial plan

 

The third year of the Leandro comprehensive remedial plan would be fully funded under a budget proposal released by Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday.

Cooper’s plan calls for spending $525.8 million on the school improvement plan that stems from the state’s long-running Leandro school funding lawsuit. He also proposes to spend $687 million more for K-12 and University of North Carolina system construction projects, repairs and renovations.

The remedial plan is based on a detailed school improvement plan developed by WestEd, a consulting firm hired by Cooper to examine public education in North Carolina. WestEd concluded that it would cost $5.6 billion over eight years to fully implement its recommendations.

“My budget fully funds the plan to ensure that every child receives a sound basic education and we know that it’s been a difficult couple of years for students, parents and staff,” Cooper said. “Children and educators are working hard to catch up on studies and they need more support.” [Read more…]

9. Gov. Cooper’s budget on environmental issues: what it contains and why it matters

Gov. Roy Cooper unveiled his $29.3 billion budget yesterday, 3% of which is devoted to natural and economic resources.

Here are some highlights of the environmental sections and why they’re important:

Department of Environmental Quality

  • $2.49 million to address emerging compounds with additional staff and testing

Why it matters: Are you tired of PFAS yet? Well, PFAS aren’t tired of you. These toxic compounds have seeped into every day life: drinking water, carpet, clothing, fast food containers, furniture, cookware. They’re in blood, in pee, in breast milk.

This money would pay for more specialized staff — chemists, hydrogeologists, engineers — to meet the increasing need for groundwater testing, as well as permitting. What it will not pay for: the legislature’s political will to allow DEQ to establish a legally enforceable drinking water standard.

  •  $160,000 for a “project liaison” to collaborate with the Department of Commerce and Economic Development Partnership related to permitting and site development; plus another $500,000 for support positions [Read more...]

10. Weekly Radio Interviews and Daily Audio Commentaries:

Click here to listen to the latest from Policy Watch’s Rob Schofield.

11. Weekly Editorial Cartoon:

 

A “sweeping and disturbing” UNC-Chapel Hill investigation, NC nurse practitioners seek autonomy, and history is made on the nation’s highest court: The week’s top stories on Policy Watch

By
April 8, 2022
In Commentary, News

In this issue:

1. Hampered by opposition from doctors‘ groups, nurse practitioners want to change state law to give them more freedom to treat patients

Cindy Cross was diagnosed with breast cancer about 15 years ago and found compassionate medical care when she first visited Michelle Taylor Skipper’s office in Laurinburg.

Cross has been a patient of Skipper’s ever since, and her two adult daughters see her, too. In Skipper, Cross has found a trusted medical provider who goes out of her way to answer questions during unhurried appointments. “She’s a phenomenal doctor,” Cross said. “I would rather go to her than anyone.”

Skipper has a doctorate degree in nursing practice. An advanced practice registered nurse, she diagnoses and treats patients in Laurinburg one day a week. She also directs the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at East Carolina University in Greenville.

But there are limits to what Skipper can do. [Read more…]

2. Documents show new details in “sweeping and disturbing” UNC-Chapel Hill faculty investigation

A UNC-Chapel Hill investigation of its own faculty was much wider and deeper than previously disclosed, according to new documents released under state open records law .

Documents released last week show the probe went beyond reading faculty members’ emails to searching backup systems on their computers. It may have included as many as 22 separate faculty members.

As Policy Watch reported last August, UNC-Chapel Hill launched an investigation into a leaked donor agreement that included examining faculty member emails without their knowledge and asking them to sit for questioning.[Read more…] ***Bonus read: UNC leaders address investigation into faculty over donor agreement

3. State Board of Education reviews controversial draft overhaul of teacher compensation

Despite assurances from DPI officials, some teachers worry that the plan would devalue classroom experience in favor of test scores and student surveys 

A new compensation and licensure proposal that rewards “competency and skill” has some state teachers worried that “classroom experience would no longer be valued in North Carolina,” State Board of Education member Jill Camnitz said Wednesday.

Based on emails she has received, Camnitz said some teachers are concerned that the state would shift to a system of “merit pay.”

State board members began receiving emails about the “draft” proposal soon after its release by the Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission. The state board directed the commission to analyze the state’s teacher licensure and compensation models and to make recommendations for improvement.

The proposal establishes a pay range largely based on teacher effectiveness and responsibilities. [Read more…]

4. UNC Board of Governors raises cap on out-of-state admissions at UNC System HBCUs

More out-of-state students will soon be able to attend historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the UNC System.

On Thursday the UNC System Board of Governors voted to raise the caps on out-of-state admissions  at three of the system’s five HBCUS – North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central University and Elizabeth City State University.

As Policy Watch has reported, the universities have lobbied for this change and each would benefit for different reasons. The cap increase is also a testament to the appeal of the system’s HBCUs and their special place within it.[Read more…]

5. North Carolina should follow California’s lead on hog farming

As the dire worldwide climate emergency makes ever clearer, humans have much urgent work to do when it comes to dramatically reducing fossil fuel emissions. Even with rapid and ambitious action, the effects of global warming will  worsen in the decades ahead and the best-case scenarios will be largely about minimizing harm.

That said, the situation would likely be measurably worse today if it were not for the actions of one very important state: California. Thanks to the more stringent air pollution standards adopted and enforced over the last half century in California (a huge state and car market that’s home to roughly one of every eight Americans), auto manufacturers have been forced to improve emissions technology on the vehicles they sell across the nation. This is a trend that we can only hope continues. [Read more…]

6. Renewables company could transform how millions of tons of hog waste are managed in NC

Montauk Ag Renewable has test site in Duplin County and plans to operate plant in Sampson County, but will it work?

Outside a large steel barn in Magnolia, Martin Redeker scooped loads of dried hog waste, composted with carbon, onto a snow shovel for anyone to take a deep whiff.

It smelled.

Not of acrid ammonia or sulfur, but faintly like dirt.

For the past five years at a test site in Duplin County, Redeker and his business partner, Joe Carroll of Montauk Ag Renewables, have been tinkering with a new technology to process the millions of tons of hog waste produced each year in North Carolina. [Read more…]

7. U.S. Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson, ‘America at its best,’ to Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 31: Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson smiles during a meeting with Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on Capitol Hill March 31, 2022 in Washington, DC. Judge Jackson continues to meet with Senate members on Capitol Hill ahead of her confirmation vote. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

First Black woman to serve on the high court approved in 53-47 bipartisan vote

WASHINGTON — Ketanji Brown Jackson will make history by becoming the first Black woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, after Democratic and Republican senators voted Thursday to confirm her to the lifetime appointment.

The 53-47 vote comes just six weeks after President Joe Biden announced his nomination of Jackson from the White House, fulfilling a promise he first made on the campaign trail.[Read more…]

8. As Sen. Tillis reiterates opposition to Ketanji Brown Jackson, Booker quotes NC poet Maya Angelou (video)

North Carolina U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) said Monday while Ketanji Brown Jackson was the ‘realization of the American dream’ he would oppose her historic nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“This is not about the content of her character. This has to do with future decisions where I believe, and I hope that I am proven wrong, that Justice Jackson may go in a direction that runs counter to much of what we have talked about today,” explained Tillis.

Tillis’ remarks came as the Judiciary Committee deadlocked on sending the nomination to the Senate floor.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said throughout the confirmation process he has heard from women, especially highly qualified Black women, who have had to deal with the same level of disrespect Judge Jackson has endured. [Read more…]

9. Weekly Radio Interviews and daily audio commentaries:


Click here to listen to the latest from Policy Watch director Rob Schofield.

10. Weekly Editorial Cartoon:

 

As virus infections spike, NC hospitals issue public plea to the unvaccinated

By
January 12, 2022
In COVID-19, News, public health

With COVID-19 infection rates spiking across North Carolina due, in large part, to the rapid spread of the omicron variant — particularly amongst unvaccinated individuals — the following open letter was distributed today by the North Carolina Hospital Association on behalf of 50 North Carolina health system and hospital chief executive officers and chief medical officers representing more than 115 hospitals.

January 12, 2022 

To the patients, families and communities we are proud to serve:  

It is our mission to care for you and support you – a commitment that will never waver. That’s why we want to be up front with you: North Carolina is at a critical juncture in the battle against COVID-19 and we need your immediate help to slow community spread of the virus. 

The omicron variant is highly infectious. While it might cause only mild illnesses for some people, including some who have been vaccinated, our hospitals are filling up fast with COVID patients – a vast majority of whom are unvaccinated. This situation is putting daily strain on our ability to care for those who have other urgent medical needs that are not COVID-related. It is heartbreaking, which is why we are reaching out to you. 

With COVID-19 spreading like wildfire, your personal decisions about how to coexist with the virus directly affect the health and well-being of your family and community. Our best chance of returning to living healthy, normal lives is to make sure our families, friends and work colleagues are choosing to be vaccinated and getting their recommended booster shots.  

Here is some important information to know:  

  • Vaccine and booster doses are readily available. They help the human immune system to be ready to recognize and fight back against COVID-19 infection. Vaccinated people are less likely to require hospitalization or die from COVID-19. 
  • You can get the virus again even if you had it before. Antibodies from an actual infection do not last as long as the antibodies produced in response to the vaccine, which is why vaccination is recommended even for people who have had COVID.
  • Everyone ages 5 and older can get vaccinated. Everyone ages 12 years and older can also get a booster shot. 
  • It’s okay to have questions about vaccines. If you do, talk to a health care professional you trust.

Also please continue to practice the 3 W’s, protecting each other by wearing a mask properly covering your nose and mouth, waiting six feet apart (social distancing), and washing or disinfecting hands frequently.  

We will eventually get past this. But first, let’s work together to contain the rapid spread of COVID-19 in our local communities and make 2022 a happy and healthy new year. 

Sincerely, 

Teresa Herbert, MD, MPH, FAAP, Chief Medical Officer
AdventHealth Hendersonville 

Chuck Mantooth, President & Chief Executive Officer
Appalachian Regional Healthcare System Read more

Remarks by President Joe Biden on the Jan. 6 anniversary of the Capitol attack

By
January 6, 2022
In News
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