In the News
SALISBURY — The word “partnerships” was underlined and starred on the notes of Rep. Ted Budd’s District Director Kyle Bridge as he met with Salisbury Karen Alexander on Thursday.
The meeting first started out as a “thank you” to the congressmen for helping secure a transit grant and to talk about the city’s wish list of projects and those needs — its Federal Action Plan for 2020.
“You have given our city a gift, and now I’m asking for more,” Alexander said.
“Sorry, it’s my job,” she continued.
Sgt. 1st Class Richard Stayskal, of Pinehurst, may have won his year-long battle for military medical malpractice reform.
The U.S. House passed the bipartisan conference report for the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which included a provision U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson led to allow service members recourse in Department of Defense medical malpractice.
WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday passed its annual defense policy measure, which combined a $738 billion Pentagon price tag with legislation to provide federal employees with 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
The sweeping 377-48 vote followed weeks of arduous House-Senate negotiations that finally yielded a traditionally bipartisan measure, stripped of many add-ons sought by Democrats controlling the House.
The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act would allow service members to seek compensation when military doctors make mistakes that harm them, but they would still be unable to file medical malpractice lawsuits against the federal government.
The political tug of war over gerrymandering of congressional districts was settled on Dec. 2 by a North Carolina Appeals Court decision that leaves congressional districts as they were drawn by the Republican-led state legislature. That means a change for voters in most of Harnett, parts of Johnston, Lee, Moore and all of Cabarrus, Stanly, Montgomery and Cumberland counties, who now make-up the 8th U.S. Congressional District. It also means a new face will be representing most of those voters in Washington, D.C.
KANNAPOLIS — On Wednesday, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers praised the newly created Save Minor League Baseball Task Force that has been organized by members of Congress to prevent Major League Baseball (MLB) from eliminating 42 minor league franchises, nearly one quarter of all minor league teams around the country.
At the end of “Bull Durham,” the movie that encapsulated life in the minor leagues, Crash Davis is summoned into the manager’s office. Still shirtless and dripping wet from the shower, Crash learns that he’s being released so the team can make room for “some kid hitting .300 in Bluefield.”