scuttlebutt
Items from across the Triad and Beyond, compiled by Jordan Green
Health care costs rise five times faster than wages of NC workers
Families USA, a consumer health organization, reported that family healthcare premiums rose five times faster than wages for North Carolina workers from 2000 to 2009 in a study earlier this month. During the 10-year period, family healthcare premiums rose by 96.8 percent, while earnings rose by only 18.4 percent for the state’s workers.
The study tracked the cost of family healthcare coverage provided by North Carolina employers and found that from 2000 to 2009, the median cost of health coverage rose from $6,649 to $13,083. During the same time period, the median income of the state’s workers increased from $23,080 to $27,330, or
18.4 percent. The report states that despite the sharp increase in
healthcare insurance costs, the quality of the coverage offered by
insurers has declined dramatically.
Employees now receive
fewer benefits and pay higher deductibles, co-payments, and
co-insurance. Some employers have cut costs by placing limits on
employee eligibility for coverage or by eliminating coverage for
spouses and children of employees. — KTB
Mayor heads campaign finance pack
Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson leads
the pack of municipal election candidates in cash on hand according to
recent mid-year semi-annual reports filed with the Guilford County
Board of Elections.
The mayor holds $16,343, outpacing at-large candidate Nancy Vaughan, who holds $9,710. In receipts, however, the mayor takes a back seat to District 5 incumbent Trudy Wade, who
has raised $16,575 since the election cycle began. Much of Wade’s war
chest has been raised from individuals employed in the real estate and
development professions. Johnson has raised $16,310. Wade has spent
$14,850 of her reserve since January 2008 with Republican political
consultant Bill Burckley, leaving $5,674. Her opponent, Art Boyett, has not raised significant sums. Johnson’s opponent, Bill Knight has
raised only $2,500, all of which he spent on Burckley’s consulting
services. Johnson has received contributions from a wide array of
sources, including fellow city council candidates Dianne Bellamy-Small,
Marikay Abuzuaiter and Jim Kee; state lawmakers Katie Dorsett and Alma Adams; real estate lawyers Henry Isaacson and Marc Isaacson; developers Roy Carroll II and Edmund Koury; and Klan- Nazi shooting survivor Signe Waller Foxworth. Going into her reelection campaign, Johnson’s total receipts are triple what she raised at this stage of her inaugural bid for mayor in 2007. Johnson has spent $11,600, mostly for her May campaign kickoff, including on buttons and stickers, entertainment, caps, T-shirts, signs, photos, postage, a newspaper advertisement in the Carolina Peacemaker, website development and invitations. — JG
Baseball committee member requests list of ballpark investors Howard Hudson, a
member of the Citizens Baseball Stadium Review Committee, requested a
list of private investors in the downtown ballpark in response to the
city of Winston-Salem’s requirement that all committee members sign
confidentiality and ethics agreements as a condition of their service
during a meeting on Aug. 20. City Attorney Angela Carmon informed
the citizen group, which was formed last month to oversee the
completion of the downtown ballpark, that the project’s investors had
requested anonymity.
Hudson said without knowing the names of
the individual investors, it would be impossible for committee members
to determine if they had a conflict of interest. “All I’m asking is to
lay before me the list of investors,” Hudson said. “If the city wants
to take the responsibility, fine. But I don’t want to be embarrassed.”
Carmon
said the city manager’s office had vetted all committee members to
determine potential conflicts of interest prior to their selection and
to the extent committee members are not aware of a conflict of
interest, the city’s ethics policy covers the members against any
potential civil litigation. One of the committee members — Dan Barrett, a senior vice president of ISP Sports— resigned last week after finding out that ISP Sports CEO Ben C. Sutton Jr. was one of the principal investors in the baseball stadium, according to Mayor Allen Joines. In other business, the commit tee elected Eric Prior, a manager with First Citizens Bank, as its chairman, and Brenda Diggs, a retired banker, as its vice-chair. — KTB
Candidate forums scheduled Guilford County Unity Effort has scheduled two candidate forums ahead of the Greensboro municipal primary election on Oct. 6. Four panelists will ask questions: NC A&T University professor Bob Davis, YES! Weekly reporter Jordan Green, News & Record reporter Amanda Lehmert and Carolina Peacemaker reporter Yasmine
Regester. Both
forums will take place at the Greensboro Historical Museum. A Sept. 8
forum will include candidates for mayor, and for districts 1, 3 and 4,
while a second forum on Sept. 22 will include at-large candidates, and
candidates for districts 2 and 5. Mayoral candidates Yvonne Johnson and Bill Knight have
confirmed that they will attend. All six District 1 and all three
District 3 candidates have promised to attend. As of Monday, all
candidates in District 4 had responded except for Mary Rakestraw.
In the at-large race, all candidates have promised to attend, except Gary Nixon, who said he will be out of town. All four candidates in District 2 and both District 5 candidates have promised to attend. — JG
Tasered inmate dies in Guilford custody Inmate Ronald Eugene Cobbs, 38,
died in the custody of the Guilford County Jail on Aug. 18 after being
Tasered, according to a press release issued by the Guilford County
Sheriff’s Office. The press release said Cobb resisted and assaulted a
detention officer who was trying to recover contraband from his cell, and that after the use of the Taser,
Cobb was handcuffed and shackled, and then taken to the duty nurse. It
was then that it became apparent that Cobb was unconscious, and the
inmate was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Cobb
was in jail awaiting trial on charges of kidnapping, robbery with a
dangerous weapons and probation violation. “Anytime there is a death
where force and an officer is involved we call the State Bureau of
Investigation,” Sheriff BJ Barnes said in a prepared statement.
“We
do this because it is law and it’s the right thing to do. I’m confident
that their investigation will be thorough…. We will make available the
results of the investigation when the SBI, our office and the DA’s
office have finished their investigation and review.
Initial
investigation has not shown anything that alarms me or causes me to
believe this was anything other than a tragic event.” — JG
