Carolina Journal News Reports | 2008 Archive

RALEIGH — State lawmakers returned to the Legislative Building this week, but their business was limited to overriding a gubernatorial veto on a bill involving boat trailers. They could not consider other issues, such as a bill from the regular 2008 legislative session that would have forced government agencies to pay the legal bills when they lost public records lawsuits. Becki Gray, vice president for outreach at the John Locke Foundation, followed the bill closely. She discussed the legislation with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Radio.

RALEIGH – North Carolina’s next General Assembly can promote freedom and prosperity by limiting government spending, rejecting policies that raise energy costs, and helping more parents make choices about their children’s education. Those are some of the nearly 100 recommendations set out in the John Locke Foundation’s new Policy Report.

RALEIGH – The current controversy over Duke Energy's Save-A-Watt program highlights problems linked to all government-mandated energy-efficiency plans. That’s the assessment of a John Locke Foundation analyst whose new Spotlight report recommends scrapping government mandates.

RALEIGH — Clay County tax revenues climbed by more than 40 percent per person over the last five years, a fact that suggests the county does not need a new land-transfer tax. That’s the conclusion of John Locke Foundation analysts who have studied Clay County's budget figures.

RALEIGH — A state-funded economic developer gained ownership in a business that he was recruiting and then secured state grants for the same company, according to the business' founder and documents obtained by Carolina Journal.

RALEIGH — Hiroshi Motomura, Kenan distinguished professor of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discussed his immigration research earlier this year with the John Locke Foundation's Shaftesbury Society. Motomura also discussed immigration policy with Mitch Kokai for Carolina Journal Radio.

RALEIGH — N.C. mental health officials "should have anticipated" the problems that led to more than $400 million in wasted spending on community support services, the director of the General Assembly's year-old Program Evaluation Division says.

RALEIGH – North Carolina school districts are not very "parent-friendly," according to a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report. Most districts earn poor grades on a new assessment of public school administration, teachers, safety, and student performance.

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s new budget allots another $1.5 million for Johnson & Wales University, but gubernatorial candidates Bev Perdue, a Democrat, and Pat McCrory, a Republican, aren’t eager to stake out a position on whether the state should keep funding the private culinary school in future budgets.

RALEIGH — After weeks of wrangling, state legislators in mid-July approved a scaled-down version of Gov. Mike Easley’s drought response plan that broadens executive authority over local water systems but stops short of letting local governments regulate private well owners.

RALEIGH — Energy is the lifeblood of our economy and allows us to have a high standard of living. With that in mind, two John Locke Foundation researchers are asking why some policymakers are trying intentionally to make energy more expensive through new taxes and regulations. JLF Legal and Regulatory Policy Analyst Daren Bakst and research intern Geoff Lawrence co-wrote a recent Spotlight report on the topic. They discussed that report with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Radio.

RALEIGH — UNC President Erskine Bowles stumbled into some ethics issues when he joined the N.C. State University Board of Trustees in supporting first lady Mary Easley’s pending $180,000-per-year, five-year employment contract at the university.

RALEIGH — A struggling state-funded vehicle research center in Northampton County has caught the attention of U. S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., as well as Raleigh-based federal criminal investigators. Dole wants $1 million in federal funds for it, while the investigators are apparently interested in the economic development organization that helped facilitate the project.

RALEIGH — An analysis of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and support materials for grades K-12 shows a dark green trend. Activist environmentalism is being interwoven into the curriculum, not just in earth or environmental science.

RALEIGH—North Carolina’s fiscal 2008-2009 budget, signed into law July 15 by Gov. Mike Easley, contains a record $857 million in non-voter-approved borrowing for capital construction projects, including an oyster hatchery, horse park, and polar bear exhibit.

RALEIGH — Andrew Morriss, H. Ross and Helen Workman professor of law and professor of business at the University of Illinois, recently discussed the concept of “regulation by litigation” in a Raleigh speech. He also discussed the topic with Mitch Kokai for Carolina Journal Radio.

RALEIGH – A former state environmental official was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Wednesday to 40 months in prison for his role in an extortion scheme to help a company build an ethanol plant in Beaufort County.

RALEIGH — A state official defending first lady Mary Easley’s foreign travel implied that a recent art exhibit generated a $20 million economic impact to the state. The net economic impact to the state calculated by Carolina Journal actually totaled less than $4 million.

RALEIGH — Does the interest earned on lawyers’ client trust accounts belong to the owners of the funds or to the state government? The N.C. Supreme Court last year sided with state government on that question when it ordered all lawyers to participate in the Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts program or face administrative suspension of their law licenses.

RALEIGH — The General Assembly failed to pass a bill on school bullying in the summer session, with the Senate unwilling to adopt a definition of bullying built upon a long list of characteristics including “masculinity,” “femininity,” and “sexual orientation.”

RALEIGH — Today, Carolina Journal Radio’s Mitch Kokai discusses the importance of literature with Elizabeth Kantor, editor of the Conservative Book Club and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature. (Go to http://www.carolinajournal.com/cjradio/ to find a station near you or to learn about the weekly CJ Radio podcast.)