Lawmakers Returned To Raleigh To Pass Nearly $1 Billion COVID Relief Bill

WUNC | By Amanda Magnus,

Published September 4, 2020 at 12:20 PM EDT

The front of the North Carolina Legislature building with an American flag and a North Carolina flag out front with two trees on either side

The North Carolina legislature passed the Coronavirus Relief Act 3.0 Thursday, which allocates the nearly $1 billion left of federal CARES Act money.

One of the standout provisions would send $335 checks to all households in the state with someone 17 years old or younger to help parents who are at “their wit’s end,” according to Republican Senate leader Phil Berger. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk. Host Frank Stasio gets the details of the short legislative session with WUNC Capitol Bureau Chief Jeff Tiberii.

Tiberii also shares highlights from President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s visits to North Carolina this week and analyzes the latest absentee ballot request data. As of Wednesday, more than 600,000 North Carolina voters requested absentee ballots, which is more than two and a half times the total number requested in 2016. The State Board of Elections begins mailing ballots today to voters who submitted requests.

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Amanda Magnus

Amanda Magnus is the executive producer of Embodied, a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships and health. She has also worked on other WUNC shows including Tested and CREEP.

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Frank Stasio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.

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Jeff Tiberii

Jeff Tiberii is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Jeff joined WUNC in 2011. During his 20 years in public radio, he was Morning Edition Host at WFDD and WUNC’s Greensboro Bureau Chief and later, the Capitol Bureau Chief. Jeff has covered state and federal politics, produced the radio documentary “Right Turn,” launched a podcast, and was named North Carolina Radio Reporter of the Year four times.

See stories by Jeff Tiberii