By Rachel Crumpler Ninety-five percent of incarcerated people in North Carolina prisons will one day return home — roughly 18,000 people this year alone. But walking out of the doors of a prison often marks the start of new hardships and challenges as people work to rebuild their lives in the community. For most people, […]
Posted inState Health Policy
Governor’s health care budget proposals would help NC’s most vulnerable
By Rose Hoban Now that Gov. Roy Cooper has checked expanding Medicaid off his gubernatorial to-do list, he has shifted his health care focus to the needs of North Carolina’s most vulnerable — the young, the old and the disabled — in his proposed spending plan for the coming fiscal year. One big-ticket item in his […]
Posted inAging
Charting a roadmap for North Carolina’s growing 65-plus population
By Anne Blythe There’s an old saying that age is just a number. But when you look at the state demographer’s projected growth of the 65-and-older population in North Carolina over the next decade, that’s more than just a number. It’s an eye-opening statistic. From 2021 to 2041, the state’s older population is expected to […]
Posted inPublic Health
Western North Carolina coalition calls for action on single-use plastic pollution
By Will Atwater Seven months after a provision added to the 2023-24 North Carolina state budget prohibited municipalities from establishing single-use plastic bag ordinances, a group of Western North Carolina environmental advocates is pushing back. On Earth Day, against the scenic backdrop of a clear blue sky and the majestic French Broad River, nearly 60 […]
Posted inCharlotte Ledger
The rise of mega-hospitals
By Michelle Crouch When it comes to growth, it seems like hospitals can’t get enough of it. Across the country, a tidal wave of hospital mergers and acquisitions in recent years has created multi-billion-dollar hospital giants that serve large swaths of the population. For example, just in North Carolina: In all, U.S. health systems announced […]
Posted inEnvironmental Health
Indigenous principles inspire Rights of Nature movement to combat environmental threats
By Will Atwater The organizers of the first Earth Day event in 1970 wanted to raise awareness of the environment in the collective consciousness. Now, a half-century later, environmentalists are looking to give nature personhood status. Many contend that environmental protections like the Clean Water Act have proven insufficient to shield wetlands from growing developmental […]