JOHNSTON SCHOOL BOARD IGNORES MADDY AND KEEPS MASK MANDATE: Johnston County students and teachers must continue to wear face masks in school, despite a protest led by U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn last week to make the coverings optional. The Johnston County school board voted 4-3 on Monday to continue its face mask requirement for at least another month. A group of two school board members will now meet with Dr. Marilyn Pearson, the county health director, to discuss the metrics for lifting the mask requirement. The vote comes at a time when nearly all of North Carolina’s 115 school districts are still requiring masks in the face of rising number COVID-19 numbers from the delta variant. But some districts, such as Harnett County and Lincoln County, voted last week to end their mask requirements. STFU, Comm's Guy.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article254381138.html

AS MANY AS 1,120 NC CITIZENS MAY DIE FROM COVID IN SEPTEMBER ALONE: At least 1,330,492 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus, and at least 15,615 have died since March 2020, according to state health officials. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday reported 7,905 new COVID-19 cases, up from 7,160 the day before. At least 3,573 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Thursday, including 908 adult patients who were being treated in intensive care units, health officials said. As of Wednesday, the latest date for which data is available, 9.7% of coronavirus tests were reported positive. Roughly 68% of adults in North Carolina have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and about 63% have been fully vaccinated. Well, we may have surpassed herd ignorance anyway.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article254330063.html

3-JUDGE PANEL RULES NC VOTER ID UNCONSTITUTIONAL DUE TO RACIAL DISCRIMINATION: Republican lawmakers in North Carolina wrote the state’s voter ID law with the intent, at least in part, to make it harder for Black residents to vote, a panel of state judges ruled on Friday. “In reaching this conclusion, we do not find that any member of the General Assembly who voted in favor of (voter ID) harbors any racial animus or hatred towards African American voters, but rather ... that the Republican majority ‘target[ed] voters who, based on race, were unlikely to vote for the majority party. Even if done for partisan ends, that constitute[s] racial discrimination.’” The ruling strikes down a voter ID law that lawmakers wrote in 2018, after voters statewide approved the general idea during the 2018 elections, on a ballot referendum for a constitutional amendment. That amendment passed with over 55% of the vote.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article254318478.html