Sasha Schroeder


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NCLocal •

Same knee surgery, twice the price: Hospital monopolies push up healthcare costs

More than a million times a year, a U.S. surgeon slices open a knee, strips out worn cartilage, caps the leg bones with metal, and drops in a plastic spacer to allow the new joint to glide. While knee replacement procedures have become standard, however, the prices charged have not. At Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory, North Carolina, for example, the cost of the procedure under a Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan this year was about $16,000, according to data from Serif Health, a...
NCLocal •

For older Black homeowners, a lifetime of housing discrimination adds up

Delores Bailey remembers her childhood in rural North Carolina fondly. She and her family lived with an aunt and uncle in a small, largely self-sufficient community. They grew corn, sweet potatoes and tomatoes, and raised hogs. When butchering time came in the fall, she says, “Neighbors would come, and it was a wonderful community event.” It was a thriving Black neighborhood, one Bailey believes had been there since the end of slavery. But around 1975, when Bailey was a high school senior,...
NCLocal •

Temporary Medicare program that lowered prescription drug premiums is ending early. Here’s what that means for seniors.

The Trump administration is ending a temporary federal program — created to soften the effects of Medicare’s biggest prescription drug overhaul in nearly two decades — a year earlier than planned. The move, experts say, could mean higher monthly premiums for some North Carolinians and create new hurdles for beneficiaries with limited incomes. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced last month it will end the Medicare Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration subsidy program...
NCLocal •

Inside the secretive deal for a $10 billion data center in rural North Carolina

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. HAMLET, N.C.—Steel skeletons of two-story buildings jut from the landscape strewn with building supplies, the site of a $10 billion Amazon data center touted as the largest economic development project in state history. Yet many residents vehemently oppose it. Richmond County officials secretly crafted the d...
NCLocal •

Community members respond after ICE raid in Pisgah National Forest

More than 100 people gathered in front of the Hudson United Methodist Church on Saturday in Hudson, N.C., for a prayer vigil in the wake of an immigration raid the prior weekend in Wilson Creek, a wilderness area in Pisgah National Forest. On Sunday, July 26, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carried out a joint operation in Wilson Creek with the U.S. Forest Service and the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, who said 13 people were arrested. The collaboration with the Fo...
NCLocal •

More than one-third of NC jails have exceeded capacity this year

Key takeaways:  In North Carolina’s largest jail, hundreds of people sleep on the floor on portable bed platforms.  As of July 16, 2,146 people were in custody in Mecklenburg County’s uptown Charlotte jail — 242 people above the jail’s capacity of 1,904. Pods designed for 53 people now routinely hold as many as 84, Sheriff Garry McFadden told NC Health News. Mecklenburg isn’t alone. As sheriffs and jail administrators across North Carolina monitor their daily population counts, many ar...
NCLocal •

Nolichucky River access re-opens after Hurricane Helene

Outdoor enthusiasts who have struggled since Hurricane Helene ravaged much of the region have a reason for joy this week: The Poplar Boat Launch on the Nolichucky River reopened on Friday for the first time since the storm, making a way for whitewater rafters and kayakers to get back on the water.  “Without Poplar, it’s been near impossible to get out there,” Slayton Johnson, co-owner of Wahoo’s Adventures Nolichucky, said. “It’s been a lot of work, and a lot of emotion and a lot of hard time...
POLITICO •

Israel intercepts Gaza-bound aid flotilla carrying Greta Thunberg and MEPs

News of the Israeli enforcement of the blockade immediately triggered demonstrations by pro-Palestine groups in major cities, stations and ports around Europe, particularly in Italy where the flotilla has become a political headache for Giorgia Meloni’s government. In Rome, activists gathered outside Termini station, while at Naples central station the tracks were blocked by protesters for an hour. The main trade unions have called a general strike for Friday, Oct. 3. The USB union accused...
POLITICO •

Shooting down Russian jets ‘on the table,’ von der Leyen says

On the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he believes NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft in their airspace. Shortly afterwards, Polish Foreign Affairs Minister Radosław Sikorski responded to a clip of Trump’s answer to a reporter’s question on the matter by saying “Roger that.” Speaking on British radio station LBC on Wednesday, Sikorski elaborated: “The army has a duty to protect its territory, also in the air, and we will do...
POLITICO •

Poland to Russia: ‘You have been warned’ so don’t ‘whine’ if your jets are shot down in NATO airspace

The incursion into Estonia came after Russia sent drones into both Poland and Romania earlier this month, putting NATO on high alert across Europe. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Monday that Warsaw will shoot down enemy aircraft that enter Polish airspace. “I want to be very clear. We will make a decision to shoot down flying objects without discussion when they violate our territory and fly over Poland. There is no room for debate here,” Tusk told a press conference. Not to be...
POLITICO •

Polish authorities thwart drone over government buildings in Warsaw

At least 19 drones entered Polish airspace that night, leading Poland to invoke Article 4 of the NATO treaty, which states that NATO allies will consult with one another when the territorial integrity of the alliance is threatened. On Sept. 12, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced the launch of the “Eastern Sentry” mission to bolster defenses on the alliance’s eastern flank in response to the Russian drone incursion. “While this was the largest concentration of violations of NATO ai...
POLITICO •

Luxembourg to recognize state of Palestine

European leaders have increasingly been calling for an end to Israel’s war in Gaza. Luxembourg intends to recognize the state of Palestine, Prime Minister Luc Frieden and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel told a parliamentary commission on Monday. According to local media, the final decision on the recognition is expected to be taken later this month at the U.N. General Assembly in New York in coordination with several other countries, including France and Belgium. The announcement comes af...
POLITICO •

Germany’s AfD sparks firestorm by distributing fake deportation tickets to migrants

“If it’s to be called remigration, then it’s just called remigration,” Weidel declared to applause​, employing a euphemism for mass deportations once used only by the party’s most radical fringe. “Only remigration can still save Germany,” read the fake plane tickets, according to an image the AfD chapter shared online. Police are investigating the incident as a possible case of incitement to hatred, according to public broadcaster SWR. The outlet also reported that fake tickets were distri...
POLITICO •

Erdoğan says Turkey ready to intervene if Syria splits

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday that Turkey is ready to step in if Syria breaks up following a rebel overthrow of the regime of President Bashar Assad last month. “We will not consent to the disintegration of Syria or the disruption of its unitary structure under any guise. If we see a risk in this regard, we will take the necessary steps swiftly,” Erdoğan said at a press conference. Turkey supports the rebel group that currently leads Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, putti...
POLITICO •

Germany and France agree to work with Syrian rebels on ‘basis of fundamental human rights’

Western capitals are debating how to engage with the Syrian rebels, who are led by a group that is a designated terrorist organization. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed to work with the Syrian opposition groups that took power in Damascus “on the basis of fundamental human rights and the protection of ethnic and religious minorities,” Berlin said in a statement Monday. The decision came during a phone call the French and German leaders held Mond...
POLITICO •

UK reports 2 additional cases of deadly new mpox variant

The new infections were detected among the household contacts of the country’s first confirmed case. Two additional cases of the new variant of mpox, an infectious viral disease that can cause high fever, a painful rash and death, were reported Monday by the U.K. Health Security Agency, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the country to three. The new infections were detected among the household contacts of the country’s first confirmed case, which was reported in London on Oct. 30. T...
POLITICO •

Yahya Sinwar death: European leaders react

Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in cross-border raids on Oct. 7, 2023, and took around 250 hostages back to Gaza. The unprecedented attack prompted Israel to launch an offensive that has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry. Both von der Leyen and Michel also called on Thursday for a cease-fire in Gaza, where the U.N. estimates nearly 2 million people are experiencing “extremely critical” levels of hunger as a result of Israel’s...
POLITICO •

‘No engagement at all’ on Gaza cease-fire talks for weeks, Qatar’s PM says

Doha has long held a close relationship with Hamas and is widely seen as a key figure in the mediations. Israel and Hamas have not engaged in talks over a cease-fire in Gaza for around a month, Qatar's prime minister indicated Wednesday after the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Brussels. "In the last three to four weeks, there is no conversation or engagement at all, and we are just moving in the same circle with the silence from all parties," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani...
Center for International Media Assistance •

‘My Job is for Humanity’: Afghan Journalists Keep the News Flowing

For years, independent Afghan newspaper Etilaatroz has published hard-hitting investigations into corruption, discrimination, and nepotism. In 2017, the Afghan parliament stopped the sale of government land due to an investigation by the paper, which showed that then-President Ashraf Ghani sold the land to an election supporter at a deeply discounted rate. Later that same year, the newspaper published a leaked document showing that Afghan government officials had encouraged promotion of Pashtun
Center for International Media Assistance •

Fighting Fake News: How Mis- and Disinformation Legislation is Weaponized Against Journalists

In the aftermath of Russia’s deadly attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, that left nearly 600 civilians dead, journalist Maria Ponomarenko found herself ensnared in a legal battle for posting online that Russia was responsible, which the Russian defense ministry denied. In February 2023, she was sentenced to six years in prison for spreading “false” information about the Russian military. Her case is emblematic of a growing global trend as countries around the world try to protect their news ecosystems
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