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A28 u.s. news
Dialuna 1 augustus 2022

Medicaid expansion breakthrough within reach in N. Carolina

when he sought to explain said Courtney Crudup, 32,
his reversal at a news confer- of Oxford, a mother of three
ence in May. “We need cover- and a cosmetologist who is
age in North Carolina for the currently unemployed. She
working poor.” spoke this week outside the
Legislative Building at an
The two chambers couldn’t event urging lawmakers to
work out their differences act. “Hear our stories. Hear
before adjourning, and talks regular people like me and
between legislative leaders people that want to work.”
and Democratic Gov. Roy
Cooper — a longtime expan- The apparent change of heart
sion supporter — have idled followed years of GOP sus-
since then, at an impasse over picion about the 2010 Af-
other health care reforms that fordable Care Act, which Re-
senators seek. But Berger re- publicans derided as “Obam-
mains bullish on ultimate acare” only to see the label, as
success. “I think we’ll get well as the program, become
there,” he told reporters re- highly popular.
cently.
For years, Republicans said
“There is a lot of work that they couldn’t trust Congress
needs to be done ... but over- to keep the federal govern-
all we are feeling extremely ment’s promise to pay 90%
encouraged by how far we’ve of the costs of expansion.
come,” said Erica Palmer They said the state’s Med-
Smith, executive director of icaid program — now with
Care4Carolina, a coalition of 2.7 million enrollees — had
(AP) — After a decade of the GOP-controlled House the dozen states that have yet 150 groups that has worked been overspending for years
vigorous opposition, most and Senate passed separate, to accept the federal govern- for expansion since 2014. and was ill-prepared to take
North Carolina Republi- bipartisan measures by wide ment’s offer to cover people on more.
cans have now embraced margins that would put the who make too much to be Other advocates are tired of
the idea of expanding state on the path to Medic- insured by traditional Med- waiting. They say too many And fundamentally, they ar-
the state’s Medicaid pro- aid expansion. Some details icaid but too little to receive of the working poor are un- gued that more people would
gram to cover hundreds remain to be worked out, but subsidized private insurance. insured, risking their health become dependent on gov-
of thousands of additional there’s a real opportunity to and their lives. Others on tra- ernment if allowed to benefit
low-income adults. Legis- hammer out a compromise “If there’s a person in the state ditional Medicaid worry that from Medicaid, which now
lative approval finally ap- by year’s end. of North Carolina that has without expansion, they’ll mostly serves poor children
pears within reach. spoken out against Medicaid no longer be covered if they and their parents and low-
It’s a remarkable political expansion more than I have, make too much money. income elderly people.
During the General Assem- turnabout in North Caro- I’d like to meet that person,”
bly session that ended July 1, lina, sure to be analyzed in Senate leader Phil Berger said “I don’t know what to do,”

Parkland trial a rare, curtailed look at mass shooting gore

(AP) — Few Americans spouses sit, or to the general buyers and bans or restric- without parole. The videos are not shown. Usually, they
outside law enforcement public watching on TV. tions on AR-15s and simi- and photos are part of the only hear medical examiners
and government ever see lar weapons, said Dunning, prosecution’s case. and police officers give emo-
the most graphic videos or Some online believe that whose mother was murdered tionless descriptions of what
photos from the nation’s should change — that to have by a gunman. Since the trial began July 18, the jury is seeing.
worst mass shootings — in an informed debate on gun everyone in the courtroom
most states, such evidence violence, the public should “Public perception is not the and watching on TV has seen Then at the end of each day,
is only displayed at trial see the carnage mass shooters issue,” Dunning said. “We and heard heartbreaking tes- a group of reporters reviews
and most such killers die like Cruz cause, often with should be asking more of the timony from teachers and the photos and videos, but
during or immediately high-velocity bullets fired powerful.” students who saw others die. are only allowed to write de-
after their attacks. They from AR-15 semiautomatic They have heard the gun- scriptions. That was a com-
never make it to court. rifles and similar weapons. Since most of the worst U.S. shots and screams as jurors promise as some parents
mass shooters were killed by watched cellphone videos. feared photos of their dead
That has made the penalty Others disagree. They say the themselves or police during children would be posted
trial of Florida school shooter public display of such videos or immediately after their But when graphic videos and online and wanted no media
Nikolas Cruz for his 2018 and photos would add to the attack, it is rare for anyone photos are presented, those access.
murder of 17 people at Park- harm the victims’ families al- outside government to see
land’s Marjory Stoneman ready endure and might en- such surveillance videos or
Douglas High School un- tice some who are mentally police and autopsy photos.
usual. disturbed to commit their The public didn’t see such
own mass shooting. They evidence after the Las Vegas
As the worst U.S. mass shoot- believe such evidence should shooting in 2017, Orlando in
ing to reach trial, the surveil- remain sealed. 2016, Sandy Hook in 2012,
lance videos taken during his Virginia Tech in 2007 and
attack and the crime scene Liz Dunning, a vice president others.
and autopsy photos that show at the Brady Center to Pre-
its horrific aftermath are be- vent Gun Violence, doesn’t But Cruz, 23, fled after his
ing seen by jurors on shielded believe releasing such videos shooting and was arrested an
video screens and, after each and photos would have the hour later. He pleaded guilty
day’s court session, shown to political impact some think. in October to 17 counts of
a small group of journalists. Polls show that most Ameri- first-degree murder - his trial
But they are not shown in cans already support stronger is only to determine if he is
the gallery, where parents and background checks for gun sentenced to death or life