Wednesday Wrap: Pandemic relief money, school vouchers, sports incentives

The $1 billion package, which cleared the Senate 44-5 and is expected to be approved Thursday by the House, doesn't include bonuses for teachers and other school personnel that Gov. Roy Cooper pitched last week. But it does include $325 bonuses for families of students under age 17 in public schools, which leaders said was to help offset the costs that months of online learning families have had to absorb.

The package also expands the Opportunity Scholarships school voucher program by lowering the income threshold to qualify and lifting a cap on the number of vouchers for kindergarten and first-grade students.

Outside of education, people out of work would get an extra $50 in their weekly unemployment checks through the end of the year, and rural areas would see more funding for broadband expansion.

The Senate also approved $18 million in incentives for an unidentified "sports championship company" to locate in North Carolina.

Finally, former Rep. Melanie Goodwin, the wife of North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Goodwin, died after a long battle with cancer.