Carolina Journal News Reports | 2003 Archive

RALEIGH — North Carolina raised its motor fuels tax for gasoline, diesel, and alternative fuels by 10.4 percent, or by 2.3 cents a gallon in the past year. The most recent increase, from 24.2 cents a gallon to 24.3 cents a gallon, will go into effect New Year’s Day. The jump follows a rise of 0.9 cents a gallon July 1 and of 1.3 cents a gallon Jan. 1, 2003. Combined with a federal tax of 18.4 cents, North Carolina motorists pay a total of 42.7 cents in taxes for each gallon of fuel. The state quietly mandated a 1.3-cent gasoline sales tax at the beginning of 2003 based on a previously legislated formula that is calculated every six months.

RALEIGH — Community colleges and local school districts address illiteracy to varying degrees in North Carolina, but nonprofit literacy organizations are the consistent warriors against the problem. Their success depends upon the amount and the quality of their ammunition. Finding enough volunteers is always difficult, but even greater is persuading people who are illiterate to seek help. They are often overwhelmed by shame and by the prospect of learning basic reading skills as an adult.

RALEIGH — The latest changes in test reporting from the College Board are gathering both approval and protest from education policy analysts and test takers. The College Board has decided to stop “flagging” the results of Scholastic Assessment Tests taken with special accommodations in their reports to colleges. Disability advocates generally applaud this move, but some say removing the asterisk from the scores that appear on transcripts compromises the ability of admissions officers to make informed decisions. In North Carolina, the state’s SAT Report 2003 makes no mention of the number or percentage of students taking an SAT test with accommodations.

RALEIGH — A mistake by a congressional staff member ignited a review of research projects approved by the National Institutes of Health. But despite what U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., called “scientific McCarthyism,” it turned out Congress had not declared war on the NIH approval process. Someone from Congress sent the agency a list of hundreds of questionable projects, prompting the agency to undertake a review of those studies. A few days after the list was sent, the sender was revealed as a mere staff member for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

RALEIGH — The Golden LEAF Foundation awarded $300,000 each to Columbus County and the Town of Windsor for infrastructure improvements at two new state prisons. The nonprofit foundation, established by the General Assembly to distribute half of the state’s portion of the 1998 tobacco settlement, also decided in 2003 to fund a Southern-Pines-based horse park for the third year in a row. The Carolina Horse Park Foundation began in March 1998 primarily as a nature conservancy group to prevent land development, and changed its name twice as it transitioned into an equestrian events support organization.

RALEIGH — North Carolina offered Boeing at least $93 million in incentives to build the aircraft company’s proposed 7E7 Dreamliner at the Global TransPark in Kinston, a state Commerce Department official said Friday. The incentives, offered under the William S. Lee economic development act, included estimated tax credits of $65 million and $28 million for a job development investment grant. The grant carried a requirement that Boeing provide 1,200 jobs if the company built its plant at Kinston.

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s history and geography curriculum have been revamped, but one group is saying that American schools aren’t doing enough to fill the huge gap in young Americans’ knowledge about Asia. That’s not only ignorant, it’s dangerous, according to the Asia Society. U.S. military involvement in Iraq, and international focus on the Middle East, make understanding present-day Asia essential, they say. Instead, American social studies classes often present Asia as more of an ancient curiosity, purely in terms of remote civilizations or world exploration.

RALEIGH — A recent N.C. Supreme Court ruling limits the power of utilities to make large-scale changes to their distribution systems on private land without explicit approval. Haywood County landowner Steve Singleton had sued the local Electric Membership Corporation after it responded to a fallen power line during an ice storm. The EMC repairs resulted in a low-hanging line, a number of downed trees, and the pruning of his apple orchard. The Court concluded that Singleton had not agreed to the work and that allowing such a precedent could lead to uncompensated “takings” of private land without compensation.

CHARLOTTE — The federal government has awarded a grant to six North Carolina cities to help subsidize flights to Raleigh. It appears, though, that the amount awarded is not large enough for the flights to begin. Local officials are searching for other subsidies. In other local news, Winston-Salem is pondering the cost of burying power lines, the town of Canton awaits a key ruling on how much its largest business is worth for tax purposes, and Rutherford County receives a loss in state court over its zoning policies.

RALEIGH — Americans like their public schools. In fact, they would rather reform public school than abandon them for alternatives such as transfers or private schools, according to the 2003 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll of American attitudes toward public schools. Vouchers cleared the Constitutional barrier in 2002, but the PDK/Gallup polling appeared to find the public less enthusiastic about them this year than last. But voucher advocates have long criticized the Gallup polling for using flawed language to generate a politically predetermined result. Polling in NC has found majority support for specific voucher proposals.

RALEIGH — A Wake County court Monday ordered a check-cashing business to quit payday lending and stop taking consumers’ money to repay loans. “Consumers should be able to get short-term loans at reasonable rates, but the rates that Kwik Kash charged its customers were shockingly high," Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a press release. “Kwik Kash charged interest rates far in excess of what the law permits,” Commissioner of Banks Joseph A. Smith, Jr. said. “We will not tolerate companies that flout North Carolina law.”

RALEIGH — He’s struggling in Democratic presidential primary polls and falling among the candidates in fundraising, but North Carolina Sen. John Edwards garnered a top distinction Wednesday in another category. He was the first person interviewed by the hosts of CNN’s “Crossfire” on the network’s “Election Express” bus, in Manchester, N.H. Edwards insisted that Dean wouldn’t be the Democratic nominee after CNN's Tucker Carlson pressed him to explain why he didn’t think Dean could defeat Bush.

RALEIGH — He’s struggling in Democratic presidential primary polls and falling among the candidates in fundraising, but North Carolina Sen. John Edwards garnered a top distinction Wednesday in another category. He was the first person interviewed by the hosts of CNN’s “Crossfire” on the network’s “Election Express” bus, in Manchester, N.H. Edwards insisted that Dean wouldn’t be the Democratic nominee after CNN's Tucker Carlson pressed him to explain why he didn’t think Dean could defeat Bush.

RALEIGH — Attorney Gen. Roy Cooper on Friday notified seven states that he will petition the Environmental Protection Agency to seek greater restrictions on pollutants in those states. Cooper’s step was spurred by the passage of the “Clean Smokestacks Act,” which requires NC utilities to significantly reduce emissions from their 14 coal-fired power plants in the state. The law also authorizes the state to “use all available resources and means,” including interstate agreements and litigation, “to induce other states and entities... to achieve reductions in emissions... comparable to those required by [the Smokestacks law] on a comparable schedule.”

CHARLOTTE — Over the Christmas and New Year's holidays many people travel by car to visit relatives or simply to go on vacation. There are few things less pleasant than driving through road construction projects, with all the hassles and potential delay that entails. While there are significant road projects under way in all parts of the state, Charlotte is especially affected this year. Three of the five major routes into the city are being rebuilt, including Interstates 85 and 77 and U.S. Highway 74, or Independence Boulevard.

RALEIGH — Over the past two decades, the term “smart growth” has become part of the national lexicon. Used frequently by policymakers and activists, the term describes a planning vision for transportation and development that purports to preserve the American dream of home ownership, mobility, and freedom. On Jan. 10, the Center for Local Innovation will host “Innovate 2004: Preserving the American Dream in North Carolina,” a discussion of what’s in store for the state if smart-growth policies continue to be implemented. Transportation and growth experts from around the nation will speak at the event in RTP.

RALEIGH — The race for the Republican nomination for NC governor has been a festival of harmony so far, but a discordant note on business incentives appeared among the candidates Thursday in Greensboro. State Senate Minority Leader Patrick Ballantine broke from the anti-incentives stances of his opponents at a manufacturing executives summit. “I’m not going to say I’m opposed to all incentives,” Ballantine said. The position taken by the Wilmington lawyer was a marked difference from the three other candidates who participated: former state GOP Chairman Bill Cobey, Davie County Commissioner Dan Barrett, and former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot.

RALEIGH — The North Carolina Republican Party may be a fractured bunch, but six of the seven GOP candidates for governor conducted a civil forum Tuesday in Raleigh. The Wake GOP Men's Club event exhibited almost none of the divisiveness found within the Republican delegation of the General Assembly. But state House Co-Speaker Richard Morgan, perhaps more controversial than any issue the Democrats can throw at the Republicans, was the subject of some discussion.

RALEIGH — Why are Asian-American students motivated to achieve? In 2002, Asian students as a subgroup in North Carolina scored well above the state average on the SAT and had high passage rates on state tests. Based on the belief that Asian children are taught to have greater respect for education and teachers, observers have tried to explain the upward mobility of Asians in the United States in terms of values and work ethic. A new look at what drives the success of these students offers some perspective on the relative success of Asian-American students.

RALEIGH — Allyson Duncan, a former member of the North Carolina Utilities Commission who left in 1998, a year before the end of her eight-year term, represented a newly formed gas authority before the Utilities Commission within months after resigning. Duncan’s early departure to join a law firm raised questions at the time about how quickly she should represent clients before the commission. The Senate unanimously confirmed Duncan in July 2003 to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. She has received bipartisan praise, with both GOP Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Democrat Sen. John Edwards supporting her nomination.

RALEIGH — When Butch Jones signed up to be a tutor, he knew that adult literacy was a problem in Beaufort County, but Jones was not prepared for how bad the situation really was. In the county, 61 percent of people over the age of 18 can’t read above a fifth-grade level. In 82 of North Carolina’s 100 counties, at least half of the population can’t read and do math above a fifth-grade level. The estimate is based on census data about poverty and education levels. But North Carolina’s literacy statistics are no more appalling than national statistics.

RALEIGH — Boston University associate professor of anthropology Peter Wood delivered the keynote address at the Pope Center for Higher Education Reform’s 2003 conference and received its annual Caldwell Prize for Academic Leadership. Wood is the author of Diversity: Invention of a Concept and a frequent National Review columnist. Wood described a transformation of higher education into a system that prolongs adolescence into “children’s” third decade. “Economically speaking, Americans want low academic standards,” Wood said. “It’s what we purchase.”