Daily Journal

5.22.13
President Obama's Good Ideas

CJ Ticker

• JLF report urges more transparency for N.C. excise taxes.
• JLF research analysts say Senate budget plan moves in the right direction, with room for improvement.
• JLF report recommends that N.C. emulate Indiana, Florida in moving toward consumer-driven Medicaid.
• JLF's education expert raises concerns about Common Core-based English tests with no focus on spelling, grammar, mechanics, or usage.
• House Bill 274, TABOR, passes House Govt Cmte 22-14. On to Finance.
• Senate passes charter school board measure 32-17. On to House.
• Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx nominated as U.S. transportation secretary; U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, D-12th, picked to head federal housing finance agency.
• Perdue 'aircraft provider' participants Buzzy Stubbs, Robert Lee Caldwell, and Charles Michael Fulenwider plead guilty in campaign probe.

Other Opinions

5.22.13
All about jobs

There may be no subject that politicians talk more about and have so little control over as jobs says Scott Mooneyham.

5.22.13
Patronage jobs

What Gov. Pat McCrory and his Republican legislative allies call “flexibility,” most North Carolinians are likely to call “political patronage” says the Winston-Salem Journal.

5.22.13
Blame the media

The Raleigh News & Observer writes that former UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser should be angry that the athletic and academic scandals happened, but instead he’s upset by the reporting.

5.21.13
Questionable move

The Senate budget would transfer the SBI from the attorney general to the governor. That needs careful study says the Greensboro News & Record.

5.21.13
Human trafficking

Tom Campbell says that human trafficking will continue growing until we stand up and make it becomes too risky and unprofitable to attempt.

Media Mangle

9.06.12
How to downplay an embarrassing story

The N&O buries the one moment of real drama at the Democratic National Convention.

3.21.12
Death of a narrative

The world's media found the neo-Nazi meme in stories about the school shooting in France just too enticing.

1.16.12
Anatomy of a Newspaper Hit Piece

In a Sunday piece, The Charlotte Observer employs all the steps used by the mainstream media to mislead readers.

Carolina Beat

5.09.13
McCrory Plan Uses Highway Dollars Wisely

Lead Story

Senate Budget Plan Excludes Funding For Eugenics Survivors

May 22, 2013, By Barry Smith

Headlines

5.22.13 - Senate budget drawn by GOP target for critics

RALEIGH — N.C. Senate Republicans pushed their state spending proposal through a pair of committees Tuesday, but not before giving Democrats and advocacy groups plenty to pick at when it comes to reshaping public school funding and raising fees. The N.C. government budget plan cleared the Senate’s appropriations and finance panels with only a little vocal push back following the approval of a handful of amendments.

5.22.13 - Senate budget puts brakes on transit

DURHAM — Budget writers in the N.C. Senate are tinkering with Gov. Pat McCrory’s proposed shakeup of state transportation spending to make it even harder for local governments to obtain state aid for transit projects. The draft Senate budget includes language that says transit projects of any sort – including “intercity rail, commuter rail [and] light rail” – can qualify only for the lowest-level allocations the governor has proposed.

5.22.13 - State Senate targets electric, hybrid owners in budget

WILMINGTON — More than 28,000 North Carolina residents with electric or hybrid cars looking to pay less for gasoline are targets of the state Senate’s proposed budget. An annual fee of $100 for electric car owners and $50 for hybrid car owners would be levied on state residents. The fee would raise $1.5 million for the state Department of Transportation in the upcoming year.

5.22.13 - NC Senate ups conservation dollars

BREVARD — On the heels of an announcement of a new state forest in Western North Carolina, conservation groups are cautiously applauding the state Senate’s proposed budget, which more than doubles the conservation funding levels from those in the governor’s budget. The funding, however, is still a mere fraction of original levels, and one WNC lawmaker said the GOP-led General Assembly is “abandoning the environment.”

5.22.13 - North Carolina mortgage relief reaches $410 million

CHARLOTTE — The number of new North Carolinians receiving help on their mortgages through a massive state and federal settlement slowed in the first quarter as the banks participating near the end of their commitments. More than 9,000 homeowners had gotten some form of relief through the end of March, according to updated figures released Tuesday.

5.22.13 - Shanahan suspends practicing law while he’s in office

RALEIGH — Department of Public Safety Secretary Kieran Shanahan will no longer practice law on the side while he holds public office, his former law firm announced Tuesday afternoon. He has transitioned out of his practice at the law firm he started in 2001, and will be on a temporary leave of absence from that firm and from practicing law at all.

5.22.13 - Democratic chair questioned over Las Vegas trip

RALEIGH — The head of the N.C. Democratic Party is facing questions about credit card charges made during a March trip to a Las Vegas casino to watch basketball games with his old college buddies. Records obtained by The Associated Press show N.C. Democratic Chairman Randy Voller made $3,327 in charges to Southwest Airlines and the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel on an American Express Business Gold Card embossed with his name and that of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

5.22.13 - N.C. adds Charlotte-area power plant to coal ash lawsuit

CHARLOTTE — State regulators under pressure from environmental groups added Duke Energy’s Riverbend power plant, perched above Charlotte’s water supply, to a lawsuit over coal ash pollution. The N.C. Division of Water Quality filing Tuesday said contamination from coal ash lagoons at Mountain Island Lake, if not addressed, “poses a serious danger to the health, safety and welfare of the people of North Carolina and serious harm to the water resources of the state.”

5.22.13 - Upgrades made at substations to reduce copper theft

DURHAM — Duke Energy Carolinas has completed security upgrades at rural substations in Greensboro and Durham where thieves have been stealing copper and committing acts of vandalism. Thieves have been targeting substations for the copper wire commonly used to ground electrical equipment, according to company spokesman Pete Brooks.

5.22.13 - Bruton Smith blasts Cabarrus politicians, taxes

CHARLOTTE — A day after threatening to move the fall NASCAR race out of Concord, track owner Bruton Smith blamed Cabarrus County politicians for raising his taxes and not caring about the speedway as much as fans do. On Monday, Smith told WBTV there was a 70 percent chance he would move the October Bank of America 500 race away from Concord to Speedway Motorsports’ Las Vegas track, where he could make more money. On Tuesday, the WBTV story was updated with a source saying the move was 100 percent certain.

5.22.13 - Mecklenburg budget plan would hike tax rate 2.5 cents

CHARLOTTE — Interim Mecklenburg County Manager Bobbie Shields recommended a 2.5-cent tax rate hike Tuesday, largely to maintain current county services and help offset a shrinking tax base after the botched 2011 property revaluation. If approved, the tax increase – the first in five years – would add $50 to the county tax bill for a home valued at $200,000.

5.22.13 - Patrick Cannon announces run for Charlotte mayor

CHARLOTTE — Before a crowd of about 50 friends and supporters, Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Cannon entered the city’s race for mayor Tuesday, announcing his candidacy to replace Democrat Anthony Foxx, nominated by President Barack Obama to become the next U.S. transportation secretary. Cannon, a Democrat, is the council’s longest-serving member and the first Democrat to announce his candidacy.