Tues., March 3

  • North Carolina officials confirmed the state’s first CORONAVIRUS CASE, a man in Wake County who had returned from Washington state 10 days earlier. 
  • In the presidential primary, JOE BIDEN won 43 percent of the vote to Bernie Sanders’s 24 percent. 

Wed., March 4

  • For the first time, no public schools in North Carolina reported using CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, according to the state’s Consolidated Data Report.  
  • THOM TILLIS began the first day of the general election campaign with an ad attacking Cal Cunningham for pledging to support his party’s nominee, who might be … Bernie Sanders … who is a … socialist. (Tillis has no qualms about tying himself to a white supremacist.) 

Thurs., March 5

  • A federal jury found Durham billionaire GREG LINDBERG guilty of trying to bribe Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey to reassign a senior regulator overseeing Lindberg’s businesses. 
  • Members of the East Carolina University chancellor search committee reportedly said that HOUSE SPEAKER TIM MOORE is “considering the role.”

Fri., March 6

  • North Carolina reported its SECOND CORONAVIRUS CASE, this time a man in Chatham County who recently returned from Italy.  
  • Parents and students at GREEN HOPE HIGH SCHOOL have gathered nearly 1,500 signatures on a petition to remove principal Camille Hendrick, who was the North Carolina PTA Principal of the Year at a different school in 2017.   
  • Durham’s city and county governments were hit with a cyberattack using RUSSIAN MALWARE. 
  • Trump named North Carolina congressman MARK MEADOWS his fourth chief of staff in three years. 

Mon., March 9

  • After Austin canceled South by Southwest on account of coronavirus, Raleigh officials said they were weighing their options for DREAMVILLE and other upcoming events.
  • Wake County announced that five more residents had tested positive for CORONAVIRUS. They had all attended a Biogen conference in Boston in late February. 
  • Durham identified the malware used in the cyberattack as RYUK, ransomware that usually leads to demands for large payments. Officials said no data was compromised, and they haven’t received any ransom demands.  
  • Mark Meadows, Trump’s new chief of staff, announced that he would SELF-QUARANTINE for up to 14 days after coming into contact with a person who had tested positive for coronavirus at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Meadows’s office said he had tested negative. 

Tues., March 10

  • Governor Cooper declared a coronavirus-related state of emergency. He encouraged workers in Wake County to telecommute to work if possible and for high-risk populations not to travel and to avoid large gatherings.
  • Delta and American Airlines, which together carry more than 56 percent of passengers who fly into or out of RDU International Airport, announced that they would significantly reduce their domestic capacity in response to declining demand.

Contact editor in chief Jeffrey C. Billman at jbillman@indyweek.com. 

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