News Break 8/25/21

By: Stephen Leverton

In local news, the Watauga Democrat reports that during a meeting on August 19th, the Boone Town Council has agreed to not issue a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, fearing that a vaccine mandate will become problematic. That being said, Boone’s testing and mask mandates are still in effect. As Watauga County reaches high levels of transmission for COVID-19, the town council is encouraging residents to get vaccinated and to continue to wear a mask inside buildings.

In state news, The News & Observer reports that North Carolina judges deemed the felon voting rights law unconstitutional on August 23rd. The law was designed to give felons the right to vote once they complete their parole or probation. This new court ruling, however, grants felons the right to vote after being released from prison. Republican state lawmakers plan to take the court case to a higher court. Unless the court’s ruling is overturned, felons are able to vote in elections immediately after being released from prison.

In national news, The Wall Street Journal reports that the extreme heat being experienced by the Midwest and the Western United States is causing crops to wither and die. While droughts are common during farming seasons, some scientists are worried that the intensity of this most recent heat wave is a result of climate change. As crops continue to die, the price of corn and wheat continues to rise. All farmers can do is to be hopeful that rainfall will come soon.

Your Boone weather is brought to you by booneweather.com. Wednesday’s weather is mostly cloudy with some scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. High today is 82 with a low of 62.