Once again – unpredictable March is on us!

from last Friday to this past Sunday.

Federal regulators stepped in Sunday, March 12, to back all Silicon Valley Bank deposits, resolving a key uncertainty surrounding the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history hours before global stock markets resumed trading.

The U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said the government would back Silicon Valley Bank deposits beyond the federally insured ceiling of $250,000. The decision addressed concerns around the fate of uninsured funds held at the Santa Clara, California-based bank.

“Depositors will have access to all of their money starting Monday, March 13,” the agencies said in a joint statement this past Sunday evening.

“No losses associated with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank will be borne by the taxpayer.”

(Source: NBC.com)

If you have a half million dollars in a bank, you might consider dividing it up into two banks. Maybe the U.S. Treasury will treat you and the people at your bank the same as the millionaires of Silicon Valley. Don’t risk your life savings on this hope.

I was thinking recently about the weather in March being unpredictable between sunshine and rain or even snow. The temperatures can be very pleasant like they have been here recently, and they can be extremely cold, which has also happened in Cherryville and the surrounding towns in recent years.

By Anne S. Haynes

My mind immediately goes back to March of 1960 when I was an elementary student at Tryon School. Miss Marie Huss was my teacher, and I loved her so much. She was such a special person, and I had a great year of learning in her class. Miss Huss was the sister of the Superintendent of Gaston

County Schools, Mr. Hunter Huss. She was a teacher I always remembered as one of the best.

The story I am getting to is that it snowed three straight Wednesdays in that March of 1960. It was the coldest March on record going back to 1895 and was more than 12 degrees below the historical average here in our state. By the end of March, the highs were back to normal, but we had a story to tell that is still worth repeating today.

I suppose the only other story that is comparable to this one was my famous story from Appalachian State University in Boone. I was a sophomore at the college when a severe weather episode was predicted. The temperatures were ranging below zero when one of my professors announced his policy concerning such temperatures.

He said that students off campus would be excused under the frigid weather while students on campus would be expected to attend class if they wanted to maintain an “A” in the class.

Without a doubt I did not like this policy and attended class the morning the thermometer read 14 degrees below zero. I struggled across campus, sat in class for an hour without removing my coat, hat, or gloves, and then returned to my dorm. I did not like the policy at all, but I did not protest it. I received my “A” in the class, but I have not forgotten the unfair circumstances surrounding its history.

I suppose I have shared this story to relate how there are times when you must follow directions even when it is not easy or desirable. You make the best of a bad situation and have a story to tell 50 years later!

by DAVID LARSON Opinion Editor – Carolina Journal

Employers in North Carolina and across the country are struggling to find qualified workers to fill key positions in their organizations. As they reconsider the minimum qualifications, they are willing to accept, those screening candidates are increasingly setting aside the requirement of a fouryear degree.

Gov. Roy Cooper, last Monday, signed an executive order that directed state agencies to treat experience as equivalent to a degree for most positions, a move that many other states have already taken. An article earlier this year from WCNC in Charlotte highlighted that many major companies, like IBM, Google, and Delta are dropping their degree requirements too. They are in need of workers, and if someone shows they can

See DEGREES, Page 6