Jessica F. Simmons is a Reporter & Strategic Communications Producer for COURIER, covering community stories and public policies across the country. Featured in print, broadcast, and radio journalism, her work shows her passion for local storytelling and amplifying issues that matter to communities nationwide.
Jessica F. Simmons
Latest from Jessica F. Simmons
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‘Housing is health care’: Trump’s Medicaid cuts could leave thousands of NC families homeless
Floodwaters, rats, and mold once threatened to derail a Haywood County family’s future—until Medicaid helped them find safe housing. Now advocates warn stories like theirs may disappear under Republicans’ “big beautiful bill.”
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‘They knew I wanted an abortion’: What she got instead at a ‘crisis pregnancy center’ in NC
North Carolina funnels millions into centers statewide that claim to offer unbiased care but often steer women away from abortion. A new bill aims to stop the deception.
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‘I’m afraid of no access’: Calls flood NC clinics as providers warn of a backdoor abortion ban
Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill threatens to pull Medicaid coverage from clinics that provide reproductive health care across the nation.
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How Trump’s immigration crackdown affects NC’s workforce
The Trump administration is ramping up immigration enforcement, pushing for 3,000 arrests a day nationwide. That’s raising alarms for NC businesses that rely on immigrant workers.
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‘This will delay care’: NC doctor warns of harm after Trump’s rollback on emergency abortion rule
Trump’s federal change removes protections for emergency abortion care. Dr. Beverly Gray said she’s already seen what happens when pregnant patients can’t get the care they need. As an OB-GYN and associate professor at Duke University, she regularly treats high-risk patients who travel across state lines with strict abortion bans just to access emergency abortion…
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SCOTUS hears Trump’s birthright case. NC critics say it targets the right to parent.
A Trump executive order could deny US citizenship to children of immigrants. After the SCOTUS hearing, North Carolina attorneys say it’s not just unconstitutional, it’s an attack on the right to parent.
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‘We ought to do what we promise’: A Veteran forum on care, democracy, and cost of inaction
At Cardinal & Pine’s first live event, North Carolina veterans, families, and lawmakers warned that proposed cuts to VA care—and attacks on democracy—threaten those who’ve already sacrificed the most.
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How community care is keeping North Carolinians out of prison—for good
After six prison sentences, Bobby Harrington found healing through a North Carolina nonprofit offering free mental health care to the formerly incarcerated.
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House GOP fast-tracks budget bill that would cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood
Abortion is already excluded from coverage—the new bill is going after all health care services the clinics provide for low-income Americans.
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A US Supreme Court case could end birthright citizenship. This NC mom is fighting back.
For more than 150 years, children born on US soil have been considered US citizens. But next month, the US Supreme Court will hear a case that could change that—and leave some American-born babies without a country.
