Good News Friday is Cardinal & Pine’s weekly roundup of positive news stories around North Carolina. For past editions, tap here.
We’ve got some cool news about NC parental leave below, but first:
Did you feel a change in the air this week? That’s what it feels like to be living in a state with a budget for the first time in over a year.
Gov. Josh Stein signed Senate Bill 257 into law on Tuesday, enacting North Carolina’s first full state budget since 2023. He cited historic pay raises for beginning teachers and law enforcement as reasons why he supported the Republican-crafted bill.
“North Carolinians expect their elected officials to come together across our differences to deliver for people,” Stein wrote in a statement on Tuesday. “This budget delivers the largest starting teacher pay raise in nearly 50 years and overall teacher pay raise in 15 years, fully funds Medicaid for the year, and provides historic salary increases to public safety officers who sacrifice to keep our communities and prisons safe.”
After touting additional spending on Helene recovery, community colleges, the DMV, childcare, clean drinking water, and summer food programs for kids, Stein said there were many flaws in the GOP-run legislature’s budget.
“The legislature slashed more than 1,000 state government positions, making it harder for us to keep people safe and healthy. It also includes a number of unconstitutional and wrong-headed provisions like those shifting power from the executive branch or those that are hostile to local governments, especially Charlotte,” he wrote. “Going forward, there is more work to do.”
There is always more work to do, and while you can find all sorts of in-depth reporting about what is and isn’t in the budget, on this Good News Friday I’d like to focus on some lesser known stories making a positive impact across the state.
This is Good News Friday. Let’s go.
A ‘historic advancement’ for North Carolina parental leave policy
Before all the hullabaloo of the budget signing on Tuesday, Gov. Josh Stein on Monday signed four bills into law covering a wide range of topics including public safety, involuntary commitment, minimum parking requirements, and what Stein called “our state’s most comprehensive human resources modernization in the last half-century.”
That last one would be Senate Bill 1041, aka the Public Workforce Modernization Act, which is stuffed with a slate of new state workforce measures. One such measure expands employment preference to spouses of active-duty service members seeking jobs in the state government.
Spouses will join veterans who served during wartime, spouses of disabled veterans, spouses or dependents of deceased veterans, and National Guard members in the pool of preferred candidates.
Along with making it easier to apply for state jobs and creating work-based learning opportunities for state employees, the new law also expands paid parental leave for state employees to 12 weeks from the previous policy, which offered eight weeks for those who gave birth and four for nonbirthing parents.
The new measure puts North Carolina near the top of paid parental leave policies offered to state employees, which range from six to 12 weeks across the country.
Pregnant state employees and new mothers with their babies joined Stein at Monday’s signing.
“With these updates, we remain on track to make North Carolina the best place to live, work, and raise a family,” Stein said.
There are about 77,000 state employees in NC, which makes up about 1.4% of North Carolina’s workforce. NC is still considered one of, if not the, worst states for workers in America because of low pay, anti-union laws, and the relative lack of workplace protections.
Republican operative Dallas Woodhouse replaced as elections liaison
We live in a time when bad actors simply refuse to admit wrongdoing even when the evidence is presented to them clear as day, and thanks to a yearslong effort to paint the media as the opposition, their loyal followers simply take their denials at face value.
This week proved that good reporting can still have an impact though.
NBC News was the first to report on Wednesday that NC State Auditor Dave Boliek had reassigned longtime Republican operative Dallas Woodhouse from his role as liaison to county elections boards after earlier reporting uncovered Woodhouse’s systematic work to influence local boards and eliminate early voting locations around the state.
In early June, NC Newsline reported on aggressive interference by state election officials with the Jackson County Board of Elections before a vote on whether to eliminate an early voting site there. Follow-up reporting by NC Local last week showed Woodhouse’s role in that interference.
Woodhouse has not departed the state Board of Elections, though leaders in the department say he has taken on a different role. Officials have not confirmed a reason for the move nor have they provided what new role he will be working in.
NC Aquariums opens Discovery Bay in Wilmington
While “the interim aquarium” might sound like a Lemony Snicket novel, it’s the best way to describe Discovery Bay, which opened on Wednesday at Independence Mall in Wilmington.
In a Good News Friday column at the end of May, I reported on a groundbreaking ceremony for the “transformational” renewal project at the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher (NCAFF).
While most of the fish who call NCAFF home are remaining onsite, the NC Aquariums team has brought some seahorses, frogs, fish, carnivorous plants and exhibits over to Wilmington to entertain guests during the yearlong closure.
And, of course, there’s also a gift shop.
“While we await the amazing transformation happening at NCA Fort Fisher, we’re thrilled to be up and running with a fun and relaxing space at Independence Mall,” said NCAFF director Joanna Zazzali. “We look forward to continuing immersive opportunities for visitors that will inspire them to be part of conservation of our natural world.”
Discovery Bay will be open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and Sunday from noon-6 p.m. in the JC Penney wing of Independence Mall, across from the arcade.
