Stick It in My Vein (or Arm, Whatever)
Hedonism pays + crime falls in Raleigh + Duke exits the ACC tourney + a Durham commissioner freaks out + Bidencare > Obamacare + normalcy-ish coming soonish + finding “quality” voters
Fri., Mar. 12, 2021
Happy Friday! Thanks for hanging out with me this week. A quick reminder that if you have any tips or story ideas, or if there are any subjects you’d like me to cover that I’m not, please reach out.
Weather: Partly cloudy and warm, highs in the mid-70s. Some showers possible tonight.
Today’s Number: 9.7
Percentage by which crimes against people declined in Raleigh in 2020 compared to 2019, according to Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown’s report to the city council. Crimes against property fell by 8.8%.
106 people got shot, six more than in 2019.
There were 28 homicides, compared with 31 in 2019.
224 guns were stolen from vehicles.
Black people accounted for 57.5% of traffic stops, which is … a lot. But definitely, definitely not caused by bias, Deck-Brown said. Definitely not.
114 people were arrested on 163 charges related to protests last year.
Related: This morning, Raleigh Demands Justice held a press conference about the resignations of two members of the city’s police advisory board, which we discussed yesterday. In short, the activists argued that the board is what it was always going to be: a big nothing. State law ensures it.
“Some activists,” the N&O reported, stating the blindingly obvious, “said the board lacked teeth and was just an attempt to placate the community.”
PACT coordinator Surena Johnson: “The board that the city gave us is not the board that we asked for. And we kinda had a feeling this would take place.”
Board member Greear Webb isn’t happy either: “As a young person, a young Black man, living in Raleigh, born and raised in Raleigh, I am disappointed. I am frustrated and just upset. Over and over again people of color, but specifically Black people in the city of Raleigh have stood up for not only themselves but their community. For white Raleighites, for truth, for justice. And we continue to be shut down by government officials and racism continues to be perpetuated.”
Raleigh Demands Justice wants the city to lobby the General Assembly to change the law (good luck), give a good reason why the RPD is withholding info, keep the city manager and its Office of Equity and Inclusivity out of the board’s affairs, and freeze the police budget.
+TODAY’S TOP 6
1. Some Members of Group 4 (Me!) Eligible for Vaccines Next Week
My allergy to exercise and former smoking habit will finally pay off next Wednesday, when North Carolina opens up COVID vaccine eligibility to members of Group 4 “with one or more high-risk medical conditions for severe disease from COVID-19.”
These conditions are:
Asthma (moderate to severe)
Cancer
Cerebrovascular disease or history of stroke
Chronic kidney disease
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Cystic fibrosis
Diabetes type 1 or 2
A heart condition such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy
Hypertension or high blood pressure
Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from: immune deficiencies, HIV, taking chronic steroids or other immune weakening medicines, history of solid organ blood or bone marrow transplant
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, including Down syndrome
Liver disease, including hepatitis
Neurologic conditions, such as dementia and schizophrenia
Pulmonary fibrosis
Overweight or obesity
Pregnancy
Sickle cell disease (not including sickle cell trait) or thalassemia
Smoking (current or former, defined as having smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime)
According to my doctor’s visit yesterday, I am officially overweight! (Never thought that sentence would come with an exclamation point.) According to my misspent youth and compounding anxiety disorders, I’ve smoked a hell of a lot more than 100 cigarettes. Which is to say: Stick it in my vein.
Technically, I could probably sneak into Group 3 as a “frontline journalist,” though I’d be stretching the definition of “frontline” quite a bit.
Unhoused people and those who live in congregate settings are also eligible in Group 4.1.
Non-frontline essential workers—journalists included—are eligible in Group 4.2, on April 7.
Governor Cooper made this announcement at a press conference yesterday, citing a surfeit of vaccines.
“North Carolina is one of 13 states that hasn't yet started immunizing people with pre-existing conditions, but officials say the growing supply of vaccines makes it possible to include more people on the priority list.” (WRAL)
2. Duke Forfeits ACC Tourney After COVID Test
Duke’s men’s basketball team has forfeited the ACC Tournament—and, after a mediocre season, its chance at a March Madness bid—after a “positive COVID-19 test and contact tracing would have made multiple Blue Devils players unavailable.” (W-S Journal)
This may or may not (cough may cough) be related to the spike in COVID cases Duke has seen following a bunch of frat parties, which has led to Duke threatening a campus lockdown.
“In an email to undergraduate students and their parents Wednesday, the university threatened a curfew, restricted access to campus, and canceling in-person classes if things don’t improve.”
“Since Friday, the university reported more than 100 cases among students, most of whom have a ‘known Greek affiliation and/or are first-year male students in the Class of 2024.’ Duke also saw its highest daily case count within its student population since the pandemic began Tuesday, with 32 undergraduate students testing positive.” (N&O)
▶️ OTHER COVID NEWS
With a $105 million federal investment, Merck will manufacture the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at its North Durham plant. (N&O)
3. Has Brenda Howerton Lost Her Mind?
On Monday, Brenda Howerton, the chair of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, asked her colleagues to ink a $50,000 no-bid contract with the Robert Bobb Group, though the county’s policy is to bid out any contract over $40,000. (I’ll come back to why.) The board voted down her proposal 4–1 and decided to seek other offers. About Robby Bobb:
Bobb spent 30 years as a city manager in Kalamazoo, Santa Ana, Richmond, and Washington, D.C., and was elected president of DC’s Board of Education.
In Oakland, he clashed with then-mayor Jerry Brown, who wanted to build a public housing site where Bobb wanted to build a football stadium.
In Washington, DC, he wanted to allow an employee who was overpaid $75,000 keep the money. (He was overruled.)
He later became the emergency financial manager of Detroit Public Schools, where he closed schools, turned schools into charters, and sent layoff notices to every single teacher so he could rehire without consideration of seniority.
None of this has anything to do with the job his firm sought in Durham County. That goes back to The Heidi Carter Affair.
I won’t overload you with details. But shortly before the primary last year, county manager Wendell Davis—who wants to keep his very lucrative job when his contract comes up this year—very publicly accused Commissioner Carter of racism. (Basically, Davis took offense that Carter challenged him on a spending issue.)
Davis’s allies went after Carter, whose efforts to defend herself dug the hole deeper. Nevertheless, she was reelected.
There were dueling investigations into whether Carter was a racist (no evidence) and whether Davis had improperly interfered in an election (a half-assed inquiry—consisting of a conversation with Wendell Davis, predicated on the lie that Davis didn’t want his criticism of Carter to be public, though one of his allies leaked his email to me—concluded he didn’t).
In February, Howerton said she wanted the board to undergo racial equity training. She then arranged a deal with RBG—no other bidders necessary, it seems—for $50,000, even though this isn’t really what RBG does, at least as far as I can tell. (How much you want to bet Bobb and Davis know each other through the International City/County Management Association?)
So this brings us to the email sent to the board before Monday’s meeting by Nicholas Graber-Grace and Millicent Rogers raising concerns about Robby Bobb and Howerton’s effort to bypass county procedures—and Howerton’s totally normal and fine reaction.
“GO AHEAD LYNCH ANOTHER BLACK MAN.”
“The is a group of consultant discussing the possibility of working with the commissioners. This has nothing to do with the school. If we are true to OUR VALUES, why are you trying to Lynch another black man. Those are not my values.” (N&O, all sic)
4. The COVID Bill Will Make Obamacare Better
President Biden signed the American Rescue Package yesterday, a day ahead of schedule. As we discussed, there’s a lot to it. There should be a lot to any bill that totals nearly $2 trillion and isn’t just a giveaway to the yacht set. But one of the things we haven’t heard that much about: It will make the Affordable Care Act marketplaces a whole lot better.
“The American Rescue Plan broadens the subsidies available under the Affordable Care Act for comprehensive health insurance—increasing them for people who are already eligible, and providing new assistance for people with incomes previously too high to qualify.”
“For anyone earning around $19,000, subsidies will now be generous enough to sign up for a typical plan with no monthly payment. For someone earning over $51,000, new subsidies could lower premiums by as much as $1,000 a month in the country’s most expensive markets.” (NYT)
5. Biden Says We’ll Be Somewhat Normal By Independence Day (Maybe)
In his first primetime address, delivered hours after he signed the COVID bill, President Biden set a few dates on the calendar: By May 1, he wants states to allow all adults to be eligible for vaccines. And by July 4, if we don’t screw it up, he says we should be able to have small backyard get-togethers.
“A year ago, we were hit with a virus that was met with silence and spread unchecked, denials for days, weeks, then months that led to more deaths, more infections, more stress, and more loneliness. … While it was different for everyone, we all lost something: a collective suffering, a collective sacrifice, a year filled with the loss of life and the loss of living for all of us. But in the loss, we saw how much there was to gain: an appreciation, respect, and gratitude. Finding light in the darkness is a very American thing to do. In fact, it may be the most American thing we do, and that’s what we’ve done.”
“Even if we devote every resource we have, beating this virus and getting back to normal depends on national unity. If we don’t stay vigilant and the conditions change and we may have to reinstate restrictions to get back on track. And please, we don’t want to do that again. We’ve made so much progress. This is not the time to let up, just as we were emerging from a dark winter into a hopeful spring.” (WaPo)
▶️ OTHER POLITICAL NEWS
Liberal grassroots donors are burned out and planning to give less now that Trump’s out of office. But they feel better about the Democratic Party than before, and they’re most energized by climate change. (NYT)
6. Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud
If you’re wondering why I think the For the People Act is the perfect moment to kill (or reform into nothingness) the filibuster, consider this quote, from Arizona state Rep. John Kavanaugh, a Republican who chairs the state’s elections committee:
“There's a fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats value as many people as possible voting, and they’re willing to risk fraud. Republicans are more concerned about fraud, so we don’t mind putting security measures in that won't let everybody vote—but everybody shouldn't be voting.”
“Not everybody wants to vote, and if somebody is uninterested in voting, that probably means that they're totally uninformed on the issues. Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of votes, as well.” (CNN)
Gee, whatever could he mean by “vote quality.” Keep in mind, this quote came after Kavanaugh acknowledged that the evidence of voting fraud is “anecdotal.”
Which is to say, he thinks it’s more important to fix a problem he can’t prove exists than to allow people whose viewpoints he doesn’t like to vote.
This is effectively the Republican platform now.