☀️ In Today’s Edition

1. A Star ALS Researcher Spreads Hope
2. A Medicaid Cuts Deadline Arrives
3. Around Our Network
4. What We’re Reading
5. Around the State

Snake-print pants woven from a shiny silk. A rust-brown suit jacket with patchwork prints stitched on its sleeves and back panel. Thick alligator-skin boots.

Dr. Richard Bedlack is dressed beautifully, if not like a background character in a Tarantino flick. But the clothes are just window dressing. (Pun intended.)

Bedlack is one of just 25 doctors worldwide working full-time on finding a cure for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, colloquially known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” His out-there wardrobe is intended to meant to briefly take patients’ minds off the fact that they are battling a disease that will more than likely kill them.

He also believes that hope is a form of medicine. “If I don’t give them hope, someone will,” Bedlack tells Michael Venutolo-Mantovani.

Medicine By Design

A sharp dresser and an unabashed evangelist of hope, Duke Professor Dr. Richard Bedlack built a research and support network for patients with ALS.

Have a news tip for our team? You can reach us at scoops@theassemblync.com.

The General Assembly can’t come to an agreement on legislation to fund the state’s $319 million Medicaid rebase shortfall, which covers the gap between projected and actual expenses. 

With no deal in sight to cover the gap, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said it planned to begin instituting reimbursement rate cuts on Wednesday.

All health care providers were expected to see a 3 percent minimum Medicaid reimbursement reduction. Rural providers, which serve a larger share of Medicaid patients, are expected to be hit especially hard by the cuts. 

Read more from Johanna F. Still.

Without federal funding, soldiers are required to work without pay until a bill is passed. Most civilian employees at Fort Bragg are sent home, CityView reports.

Around 150 students, professors, alumni, and community members protested UNC-Chapel Hill’s suspension of Professor Dwayne Dixon following reports that he was involved in antifascist organizing, INDY Week reports.

A law firm with ties to Republicans is leading the investigation into UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Civic Life and Leadership, The Quad reports.

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What We’re Reading

Poe-ny Up: NC State filed a lawsuit against chemical giant Monsanto over toxic chemicals discovered in Poe Hall nearly two years ago, per The N&O. Concerns about aging buildings have arisen on other campuses, The Assembly reported last year.

All Politics Is Local: A federal lawsuit accuses the state legislature of forcing unconstitutional voting maps on Watauga County to help more Republican candidates win county commission seats, via NC Newsline.

Kitchen Table Issue: President Trump is unleashing new tariffs with the goal of reviving furniture manufacturing in North Carolina. Axios Raleigh reports that it’s expected to have a mixed impact.

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