First Drip (5/2/14): N.C. 5th in health care enrollees, Seattle mayor proposes minimum wage increase, more

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North Carolinians signing up for subsidized health insurance at the last minute has put the state at the fifth highest in the U.S. for enrollees. The tens of thousands who signed up in the last few weeks of eligibility pushed us to about 357,000 enrollees - a high number, especially for a Republican-controlled state.

In unrelated but equally good news, about 288,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in April, pushing the unemployment rate to the lowest it's been since September 2008. The unemployment rate sits at 6.3 percent.

The drugs that were intended to execute Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett didn't enter his system properly; the vein being used collapsed. The botched process resulted in Lockett convulsing in his chair before being pronounced dead minutes later of a heart attack. Prison officials are now asking the state to review the execution process.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray proposed increasing the minimum wage to $15 for municipal workers in the city. His announcement came shortly after Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked a bill that would have gradually raised the federal minimum wage. "If the City Council agrees, Murray said, Seattle will prove itself to be 'an incubator of democracy,' leading the national conversation to address 'the growing problem of income inequality.'"

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