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Here are some of the other stories catching our attention.

Governor McCrory On Teacher Raises, Obamacare

Governor Pat McCrory says he wants state lawmakers to give teachers a pay raise when they meet in May for the short session.  He plans to have a salary proposal ready in February.  McCrory made those remarks on WFAE's Charlotte Talks Monday morning. 

The state’s current budget for next year sets aside a $500-a-year raise for the top 25 percent of teachers who decide to give up their tenure and sign a four-year contract. 

McCrory also talked about health care on Monday's Charlotte Talks.  He said companies like IBM and Duke Energy are getting rid of their employee health care plans because of Obamacare. That's not true.

Governor McCrory said the Affordable Care Act could lead companies to junk their employee health care plans. Here are two examples he gave of that already happening:

"Just in the past three months, it's been under the radar screen, companies like IBM and Duke Energy do not have any longer their employees on a health care plan," he said. "They're putting them on basically Obamacare."

1125pat.mp3
Excerpt of Gov. Pat McCroy's appearance on Charlotte Talks.

But McCrory is wrong. IBM and Duke Energy still offer employees health insurance, and spokesmen for both companies say that coverage has not changed because of Obamacare.

The companies have changed the way they handle their retirees' health insurance. They moved those aged 65 and older from a company-run program to a private marketplace that's not part of Obamacare – the spokesmen say it had nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act.

It is true that some companies are changing their health insurance programs. Home Depot and Trader Joe's, for example, are dropping coverage for part-time workers and telling them to use the Obamacare marketplaces instead.

Lisa Worf traded the Midwest for Charlotte in 2006 to take a job at WFAE. She worked with public TV in Detroit and taught English in Austria before making her way to radio. Lisa graduated from University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in English.