Tuesday, May 19
  • THE NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION announced that before the end of June, all 9,300 of its employees would be furloughed. 
  • Raleigh city manager RUFFIN HALL laid out his proposed budget, which included a 2.2 percent spending cut, a hiring freeze, no Fourth of July celebration, and no tax increase.  
  • GONZA TACOS Y TEQUILA’S Durham location and OAKWOOD CAFE in Raleigh announce that they will not reopen. 
Wednesday, May 20
  • Governor Cooper announced that the state will move into phase 2 of reopening on Friday night.
  • UNC System president BILL ROPER said the system’s schools would return to campus in the fall. 
  • Former Raleigh Mayor TOM FETZER abruptly resigned his seat on UNC’s Board of Governors. 
  • ANDREA HARRIS, who co-founded the North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development in 1986, passed away. 
Thursday, May 21
  • According to a U.S. Department of Labor report, more than 88,000 NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENTS—including 1099 workers—filed initial jobless claims the previous week. 
  • The first case of a COVID-RELATED CHILDREN’S SYNDROME was reported in North Carolina.  
  • N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill announced that they would begin and end the FALL SEMESTER earlier than usual to try to avoid a second wave of the pandemic.  
  • North Carolina courts postpone deadlines and JURY TRIALS until August. 
  • THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION predicted that 2020 would be a busy hurricane season. 
Friday, May 22
  • While the rest of the state entered phase 2, Durham announced that it will keep its STAY-AT-HOME ORDER in place until June 1.  
  • Former Wake County Register of Deeds LAURA RIDDICK, now in prison for embezzlement, has contracted COVID-19, her husband said. 
  • ADAM SMITH, the husband of ReOpenNC leader Ashley Smith, posted on Facebook that he’s willing to kill people for the cause. 
  • The General Assembly’s FISCAL RESEARCH DIVISION predicted that state revenues would drop by $4.2 billion. 
Saturday, May 23
  • North Carolina exceeded 1,000 NEW CORONAVIRUS DIAGNOSES in a day for the first time, owing primarily to increased testing. 
  • Coronavirus outbreaks at MEAT-PROCESSING PLANTS in North Carolina will force farmers to kill 1.5 million chickens. 
Monday, May 25
  • Donald Trump threatened to pull the REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION from Charlotte—literally the only city that wanted to host it—unless Governor Cooper promised to allow full attendance. 
  • CORONAVIRUS HOSPITALIZATIONS hit a new high in North Carolina.

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

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