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WWW.TRIANGLE TRIBUNE.COM The Triangle Kids’ healthBy Stephanie insurance Carson N.C. NEWS SERVICE RALEIGH – An unprecedented number of North Carolina children are gain- ing access to health coverage, according to a report by the Georgetown Uni- versity Center for Children and Families. The report shows that 96 percent of North Carolina children have health insurance with an additional 45,000 children getting coverage since 2013. RIBUNE Rob Thompson, senior policy and communications adviser with NC Child, THE TRIANGLE’S CHOICE FOR THE BLACK VOICE says accessing health care opens up a lifetime of doors for the children of T the state. "Health insurance is just the linchpin of being able to access needed med- ical care," he said. "So when kids are insured, they stay healthier for sure; VOLUME 18 NO. 38 WEEK OF NOVEMBER 13, 2016 $1.00 they're able to get care for serious medical conditions and that has an im- pact not just on their current well-being but on their ability to get an edu- cation, to stay in the classroom." The Tribune previews Even though more children have insurance than ever before, there re- main 99,000 children in North Carolina without it, the report says. Nation- the Triangle HBCUs wide, about half of uninsured children live in the South, the report shows. Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University, says while the men’s basketball upcoming general election is highlighting areas where the country disagrees teams. on health care, progress has still been made in securing coverage for those in need. "We see success around the country, and I think this speaks to how, de- spite all of the fighting and very intense partisanship around the Affordable Care Act, we can feel good as a country that we've come together through Medicaid, CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) and the Affordable Care Act, and really reduced the number of uninsured children," she said. Trump wins WhiteBy Julie Pace House and Robert Furlow ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Donald Trump was elected America’s 45th president Tuesday, an astonishing victory for a celebrity businessman and political novice who capitalized on voters’ economic anxieties, took advantage of racial ten- sions and overcame a string of sexual assault allegations on his way to the White House. His triumph over Hillary Clinton will end eight years of Democratic dominance of the White House and threatens to undo major achievements of President Barack Obama. He’s pledged to act quickly to repeal Obama’s landmark health care law, revoke the nuclear agree- ment with Iran and rewrite important trade deals with other countries, particularly Mex- ico and Canada. The Republican blasted through Democ- rats’ longstanding firewall, carrying Pennsyl- vania and Wisconsin, states that hadn’t voted COURTESY PHOTO for a GOP presidential candidate since the 1980s. He needed to win nearly all of the Gayle Ezell and father Foye Thornton competitive battleground states, and he did Trump just that, claiming Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and others. Global stock markets and U.S. stock futures plunged deeply, reflecting investor alarm over what a Trump pres- idency might mean for the economy and trade. A New York real estate developer who lives in a sparking Soon, sharks started attacking the She worked odd jobs for extra VeteranBy Maria Magher recalls WWII bombing Manhattan high-rise, Trump forged a striking connection CORRESPONDENT men. Some were even pulled from money. with white, working class Americans who feel left behind DURHAM – Even after 60 years, we their rafts by sharks. Thornton said His life wasn’t an easy one. Ezell in a changing economy and diversifying country. He cast might not know everything about the he didn’t see any men get eaten; he said his mother died when he was 9, immigration, both from Latin America and the Middle East, people we love. just heard their screams and heard and he left the family home at 13 to as the root of the problems plaguing many Americans and That’s what Gayle Ezell learned re- the sound of shots fired at the sharks escape his abusive father. He stopped taped into fears of terrorism emanating at home and cently when she casually told her 94- into the water. his education after the fourth grade abroad. year-old father about a movie she saw The chemicals that spilled into the so he could sharecrop with his father. Trump will take office with Congress expected to be fully about a military ship being bombed. water permanently blinded some “He’s strong,” Ezell said of her fa- under Republican control. GOP Senate candidates fended “And my dad said, ‘Oh, that hap- men. Thornton lost his sight for a few ther. “We didn’t give him the honor I off Democratic challengers in key states and appeared pened to me,’ and I’m thinking, ‘Oh weeks, which he spent in the hospital. think he deserves as a father.” poised to maintain the majority. Republicans also main- yeah, right,’” she said. “He said, ‘Oh that’s nothing. I’m no Thornton, who will be 95 in March, tained their grip on the House. Her father, Foye Thornton, had suf- hero; people came back blind and is in hospice care right now. In April, Senate control means Trump will have great leeway in fered a few strokes and other health with no limbs,” Ezell said. “I said, his doctors said he only had about six appointing Supreme Court justices, which could mean a problems, and she wasn’t sure if what ‘Right now, you are my biggest hero weeks to live, as he has 70 percent major change to the right that would last for decades. he was saying was true. So she went because you had no children at that clogged arteries to his heart. Trump upended years of political convention on his way home and researched what he said, time, and God spared you and you “His recall about things is awesome, to the White House, leveling harshly personal insults on and she was amazed. came back and had nine children.’” but he doesn’t talk as much about his his rivals, deeming Mexican immigrants rapists and mur- “As he was telling me the story, it Thornton said he was drafted when time in the military now,” said his derers, and vowing to temporarily suspend Muslim immi- was like I was watching that movie,” he entered the army, and he contin- daughter, Gwen Thornton, a nurse gration to the U.S. He never released his tax returns, she said. ued on to Fiji to finish out his service who cares for him full time. “Looking breaking with decades of campaign tradition, and es- Thornton was a private in the U.S. after the attack on his ship, which left at my dad and he had worked hard chewed the kind of robust data and field efforts that helped Army during World War II when a behind only 448 survivors out of all of his life, I couldn’t imagine him Obama win two terms in the White House, relying instead cargo freighter he was on, the Cape 1,464. out there floating in the water.” on his large, free-wheeling rallies to energize supporters. San Jose, was bombed about 300 “I really don’t feel that we were Gwen Thornton, the fourth of the His campaign was frequently in chaos, and he cycled miles southeast of Fiji in the Pacific lucky because we were picked up in a children and the oldest daughter, said through three campaign managers this year. Ocean on Veteran’s Day in 1943. couple of days,” he said of the inci- her father still has that strong work His final campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, touted The way Thornton tells it, “There dent. “There were soldiers that were ethic. He recently decided to clean the team’s accomplishments as the final results rolled in, isn’t really much to tell. We were tor- abandoned for weeks.” out an entire walk-in closet full of writing on Twitter that “rally crowds matter” and “we ex- pedoed, and the ship was sunk. We He spent three years and three family mementos, and refused any panded the map.” were out there for a couple days. Last months in the army, and then came help. The mood at Clinton’s party grew bleak as the night wore I saw it was still up, but it was sinking. home to Durham and worked for the “He sat down, and he did not stop out, with some supporters leaving, others crying and hug- I didn’t see it any more after the first city for 34 years before retiring. Ezell until he got that closet exactly the ging each other. Top campaign aides stopped returning day.” said he fixed pipes for the water and way he wanted,” she said. It took him calls and texts, as Clinton and her family hunkered down The reality was a little more dra- sewer department. two days. in a luxury hotel watching the returns. matic. “One thing I remember when I was Ezell, who lives in Florida, says she At 2 a.m., Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told Ezell explains that her father never growing up is he was never home,” visits as often as she can, and they the crowd to head home for the night. “We’re still counting learned how to swim. But he grabbed she said. “He would come home and watch his favorite show, The Car- votes and every vote should count,” he said. a life jacket and just jumped into the sit in his chair because he was too bonaro Effect, a magic show.