NC'S POSITIVE TESTS FOR CORONAVIRUS ARE DOWN TO 6.5%: At least 821,894 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 10,491 have died since March, according to state health officials. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday reported 3,170 new COVID-19 cases, down from 4,130 reported the day before. As of Sunday, 1,989 people in North Carolina were reported hospitalized with the coronavirus, down by 112 from the day before. As of Friday, the latest date for which data are available, 6.5% of coronavirus tests were reported positive. Health officials say the percentage should be about 5% or lower to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The state reports more than 1.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article249248695.html

TEACHER AT ONE OF BOB LUDDY'S PRIVATE SCHOOLS CHARGED WITH INDECENT LIBERTIES: A former physical education teacher has been charged with four counts of indecent liberties with a child. Paula Stinson, 30, taught at Thales Academy in Rolesville. Thales Academy says that Stinson is no longer employed with them. "Mrs. Stinson has been terminated as an employee of Thales Academy, effective immediately. Thales Leadership is actively communicating with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office and cooperating with their investigation," the school said in a statement. Stinson is in custody with a $75,000 bond. Note: although NCDPI does not require background checks, most NC school systems do, including Wake County.
https://www.wral.com/thales-academy-teacher-charged-with-indecent-liberties-with-a-child/19524360/

SIDNEY POWELL TRIED TO EVADE LAWSUIT SERVER IN $1.3 BILLION DEFAMATION SUIT: After evading attempts for weeks by a civil process server that included being “pursued over state lines,” ex-Donald Trump lawyer Sidney Powell was served with a $1.3 billion lawsuit at her Biltmore Forest home, near Asheville, according to recently filed court papers by Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion filed the defamation lawsuit against Powell Jan. 8 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. But attempts to officially serve the Texas-based attorney with the summons took until Jan. 28, said attorneys for the company. “Powell evaded service of process for weeks, forcing Dominion to incur unnecessary expenses for extraordinary measures to effect service, including hiring private investigators and pursuing Powell across state lines,” according to a Feb. 9 answer to Powell’s request for more time to respond to the complaint.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article249165510.html

NCAE AT ODDS WITH GOVERNOR OVER TEACHER VACCINATIONS: “As teachers across the state return to the classroom, it is essential that they receive the vaccine as soon as possible,” NCAE says in an online petition that has received more than 20,000 signatures. Still, the state is sticking with federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations to vaccinate frontline health workers and people who are age 65 and older before moving to “frontline essential workers” such as teachers. State leaders say they’re prioritizing the limited supply of doses they have on those who are most at risk. “We want to get people 65 and older vaccinated because that’s where we’re seeing 83% of the deaths right now in North Carolina from COVID-19,” Cooper said at a news conference last week.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article249091290.html

BURR, TILLIS VOTES SAY TRUMP IS ABOVE THE LAW, CONSTITUTION SAYS OPPOSITE: North Carolina’s two senators have concluded that Donald Trump is above the law. That’s a dangerous conclusion and not merely as a partisan matter. The convenience of playing to partisan fealty to Trump, who like Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, is a Republican, sets a precedent for every president to follow – Republican or Democrat. Are they absent moral and ethical principles? The practical implication of what they’ve said and done, in objecting to the impeachment trial of Trump now pending before the Senate, is that presidents are untouchable, not accountable for their actions – particularly anything they might do near the close of their term in office. As Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote last summer in a 7-2 decision that determined a president can be investigated, indicted and subject to trial in state courts: “As (Chief Justice John) Marshall explained, a king is born to power and can ‘do no wrong.’ … The President, by contrast, is ‘of the people’ and subject to the law.”
https://www.wral.com/editorial-burr-tillis-votes-say-trump-s-above-the-law-constitution-says-opposit...