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Every year, the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force submits a report examining the reasons behind child and infant deaths, then asking the governor and General Assembly to address a wide-ranging list of health and mental health issues, from vaping to social media algorithms.
In its 2025 report, the task force suggests raising the legal age for tobacco purchases from 18 to 21 to align with federal law and requiring licenses for tobacco retailers, as reported by N.C. Newsline. The report notes that North Carolina is one of only seven states that hasn’t raised the age for tobacco purchases to 21, and one of only nine states to not require a license or permit for tobacco retailers.
The lower legal age makes it easier for people younger than 18 to use e-cigarettes, the report says. And without licensing, as you might expect, it’s harder to convince retailers to follow the law.
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North Carolina’s child mortality rate in 2023 was the second highest in the state since 2009. While motor vehicle-related injuries are the leading cause of death, about 14,200 people die from tobacco use each year, making it the leading preventable cause of death and disease statewide, according to the N.C. Institute of Medicine.
With that in mind, the Cherokee Scout supports the task force’s recommendation to keep tobacco products out of children’s hands until they officially become an adult at age 21.
We also agree with the task force’s recommendations to prohibit the sale of intoxicating cannabis or hemp products – including edibles – to people younger than 21, require child-resistant packaging and package warnings, and require retailers to obtain permits. These common-sense measures will make young people healthier, while also not developing bad habits they may soon regret.
– Publisher David Brown
New high-speed
internet coming
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The N.C. Department of Information Technology’s Division of Broadband & Digital Opportunity announced last week that more than $10 million in Completing Access to Broadband program projects to connect 2,762 households and businesses in Cherokee, Clay and Macon counties to high-speed internet.
These projects will be funded by more than $7.5 million from the federal American Rescue Plan and nearly $2.6 million from selected broadband providers, according to a release:
- Cherokee County: CND Acquisitions Corp. (Peachtree Broadband Fiber). This award will provide high-speed internet access to 749 locations (27.43% of the county’s 2,731 eligible locations).
- Clay County: Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corp. This award will provide high-speed internet access to 1,602 locations (99.26% of the county’s 1,614 eligible locations).
- Macon County: Frontier Communications of the Carolinas LLC. This award will provide high-speed internet access to 411 locations (13.25% of the county’s 3,102 eligible locations).
“We are excited to be partnering with counties and broadband providers to bring high-speed internet access to counties in western North Carolina,” NCDIT secretary and State Chief Information
Officer Teena Piccione said in the release.
NCDIT announced the awards during a broadband town hall in Franklin with state Sen. Kevin Corbin and Rep. Karl Gillespie (both R-Franklin); Matt Calabria, director of the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina; municipal representatives; local internet service providers and residents.
The awards add to the nearly $505 million in Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology grants and previous CAB projects that will connect 187,000 North Carolina households and businesses to high-speed internet.
This is good news all the way around. Not only is more high-speed internet coming to underserved areas in Cherokee and Clay counties, two local companies got the contracts to provide it.
– Publisher David Brown