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Top Story
House
finally passes a tax package,
raising hopes that longest session
in state history may be nearing an end
House
Democrats finally overcame their intra-party differences
Thursday and united behind a package of tax cuts and tax
hikes, offering the first real hope for a resolution of the
state’s two-month-old budget impasse and an end to the
longest legislative session in state history. The vote capped
one of the most turbulent weeks in the General Assembly in
recent memory, marked by a bomb scare that forced legislators
to flee the building and a close brush with a state government
shutdown. Read that story,
see a chart detailing the tax package.
Legislative News
Dispute
over continuing resolution
nearly leads to government shutdown
Hours
before a midnight deadline, the House and Senate reached a
compromise Wednesday on how to continue running state
government without a budget in place. The brush with a
government shutdown was so close that state officials already
had begun the process of determining which agencies and
government functions to close when legislative leaders ironed
out the final details on what is now the third stopgap
spending measure since the new fiscal year began. Read
that story.
Other stories from the General
Assembly:
 Senate again
pushes session limits legislation
Senate
panel hears complaints about redistricting plan
Big concerns about state's credit rating buried in routine
bond bill
This week the legislature also took
action on:
Clean Air legislation
Patients Bill of Rights
State ports tax credit
District Court races
Pension Fund investments. Read
those stories
State
Government News
North
Carolina SAT score rises four points
While
the national average increased by only one point, North
Carolina's average total SAT score moved up four points in
2000-01, continuing the upward trend that the state has
experienced since 1989. The gap between North Carolina's and
the nation’s average SAT score has been more than cut in
half in that time. Read that
story, see a chart of SAT scores. State
pays out record level of jobless benefits
Unemployment
surged in several North Carolina counties in July, a month
when the state paid an all-time high of $88 million in
unemployment benefits, according to Acting ESC Chairman Thomas
S. Whitaker. Story,
chart.
Economic
News
State's
revenue picture brightens some
The
state doesn’t have an official budget
yet for the fiscal year that began July 1 but it does know how
much it collected in taxes during the month, and the news is
mostly positive. Strong individual income tax collections in
July pushed overall tax receipts $57 million above the same
month last fiscal year, according to a preliminary (but
usually very accurate) report by the State Controller’s
Office. Read that story, see
a chart of revenue collections.
Health
Care
News
State's
infant
mortality rate lowest in history
North
Carolina's infant mortality rate in 2000 declined to 8.6
deaths per 1,000 live births, the lowest in state history,
Gov. Mike Easley announced Monday in releasing figures from
the State Center for Health Statistics. That’s a 5.5.
percent decrease from the 1999 rate of 9.9 deaths per 1,000
live births, he said. The governor also said the infant
mortality rate for minorities -- 14.4 deaths per 1,000 live
births -- was the second lowest in state history. Read
that and other health care stories.
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