In Case you missed it!

April 23,2026

“Ninja borrowers are those with no income, no job and no assets.” Author unknown.

The “Charlotte Fishwrap” published 32 pages, tiny font, three columns per page of the names of delinquent taxpayers. That is roughly 13,500 who owe taxes to Mecklenburg County and to the city of Charlotte. What is the collection process? Every year that list is published.

Immigrant groups are demanding changes to the arrest procedures. They feel certain places should be safe zones with no arrests allowed. What? If I committed a state or federal crime I suspect the police would arrest while in the shower or in bed. What difference does it make of the location while serving an arrest warrant? Let’s not go down that path.

The US. Dept. of Education had 4,200 people beginning this year. Trump is moving to dismantle that agency. What exactly do they do? How does that dept. know the teaching needs of states like NC or WV.? Education is a local matter. Interestingly, the national teachers’ unions are opposed to the reduction. And-that dept. has been administering the student loan program with approximately 1/3 borrowers being delinquent.

Luis Alberto Miranda-Vilchis has been charged with a fatal hit and run in Charlotte. According to court records, he hit a 58-year-old man while the man was crossing the street. Miranda-Vilchis was deported from Texas 4 years ago and re-entered the US illegally.

NC teachers are planning a protest march on May 1st. No classes for students that day. Schools will be forced to close. Public employees are not allowed to strike so it will be interesting to see what happens. Parents will have to find babysitters. Teachers are basically walking off their jobs and traveling to Raleigh. No learning that day. Teachers actually teacher 35 weeks a year. They receive 11 paid holidays, 19 workdays, 10 days of annual leave and have a summer break of 9.5 weeks. With a very “rich” benefit package, Teachers in NC average $86,000 in total compensation. If they worked 49 weeks a year their comp. would be $106,000.

Recently, I received a bill from BC/BS of North Carolina. That policy is a supplement to my Medicare and costs $100/month. Interestingly, that EOB and bill is available in the following languages-English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, French, Hmong (southeast Asia), Russian, Tagalog (Philippines), Gujarati (Indo-Aryan), Mon-Khmer (Cambodia), German, Hindi, Laotian, and Japanese. I hope the people speaking these languages are paying for the coverage.

Lastly, the US is now providing aid to many African countries, using a new domestic co-investment strategy. Blood products, vaccines, and medicines are being delivered by parachutes via drones to 15,000 clinics in countries like Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda. The new aid packages require African countries to co-fund the costs, provide healthcare data to track progress and allow US access to some resources in the various countries. Aid countries will be required to increase funding for healthcare. The goal is to reduce the cases of polio, TB, HIV, and Malaria. This new approach will not provide funding for DEI.