Opinion Roundup: 'Bathroom bill' returns to courtroom, expanding offshore drilling, changing NC's water quality and more

Monday, June 25, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Storm of controversy surrounds shellfish legislation, 'bathroom bill' fight returns to courtroom, Wilmington film industry still ready to go when work arrives, rising seas threaten $4 billion in NC property and more.

ALLEN JOHNSON: Hogwash! Blust calls B.S. on GOP for feeding at the trough (Greensboro News & Record column) -- I have to give Rep. John Blust, R-Guilford, credit: At least he believes in something. He has guts. He has a conscience. He hasn’t strayed far, if at all, from his principles. And he has spoken out — to little avail — when he saw his fellow Republicans doing the same thing the Democrats did once the GOP seized control of the legislature … bullying, bulldozing, manipulating the rules and consolidating power with ruthless efficiency.

Restructuring early voting is suspect (Winston-Salem Journal) -- The N.C. legislature seems intent on playing with our right to vote.

'Bathroom bill' fight returns to courtroom (AP reports) -- Transgender plaintiffs who think the compromise that replaced N.C.'s "bathroom bill" is still discriminatory are heading to court.

STEPHANIE CARSON: Storm of Controversy Surrounds NC Shellfish Legislation (Public News Service reports) -- The crab pots, natural habitats and scenic vistas along North Carolina's coastline could soon be obstructed by rebar, netting and buoys if state lawmakers push ahead with House Bill 361. Coastal advocates are concerned that the bill - designed to create and promote a leasing program for a growing aquaculture industry - doesn't have the proper protections in place. Last week, the state Senate approved a Conference Report that recommends moving ahead with a vote. But marine scientist Louis Daniel said lawmakers need to slow the process down.

RICK HASEN: 5 years after Roberts says fed supervision of voting rules not Necessary in South, 2 years after 4th Circuit said N.C. targeted African Americans “with almost surgical precision”, NC suppression is back (Election Law Blog) -- Thwarted before, N.C. GOP wants photo ID mandate; Legislative Republicans advanced their goal of permanently requiring voters to show photo identification — a proposal previously thwarted this decade by veto and federal judges who declared a similar mandate racially discriminatory. Republicans want lawmakers, not governor, to decide who oversees elections; Republicans want legislative leaders to appoint all members of the state elections board, a power now held by the governor. State House GOP leaders on Friday afternoon introduced a proposal to change the North Carolina Constitution to create an eight-member State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement with all members chosen by the House speaker and the Senate leader.

KEVIN SIERS: A cartoonist gets fired, and we should worry (Charlotte Observer column) -- In Pittsburgh, Rob Rogers was too anti-Trump for his publisher. That's not good for an independent press

HUNTER INGRAM: Battered, bruised Wilmington film industry still ready to go when work arrives (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- As the industry heads into the second half of the year with only one production this year and growing talk that more projects are on the horizon: Is the region’s much-touted infrastructure -- including EUE/Screen Gems Studios, the local crew base and strong community support -- still strong enough to serve film and television productions? Ask anyone even tangentially related to the industry, and the answer is likely to be yes. “All the folks (from Wilmington) still working elsewhere want to be here and they are still holding on, just like me,” he said. “They’ll come back.” But the past few years of little to no business have certainly dinged the industry’s once-sterling reputation. Since the close of 2014, when the popular state incentive program was nixed in favor of a smaller, more stringent grant program, the industry has been dealt several blows that nearly crippled it, including the rise and partial fall of the controversial HB2 “Bathroom Bill” that resulted in a handful of production companies like Disney outright refusing to work in the state.

COREY DAVIS: State guides development of tire plants (Rocky Mount Telegram reports) -- Several officials and employees from the state Department of Transportation came down to Edgecombe County this past week for a first-hand look and brief tour of the Kingsboro Megasite that will be the home of Chinese tire manufacturer Triangle Tire’s first plant in the United States.

CELIA RIVENBARK: Like President Trump, I’m in a forgiving mood (Wilmington Star-News column) -- Donald Trump’s penchant for pardoning seems to know no bounds. In fact, Trump has said he is considering “thousands.” This is, almost certainly, hyperbole. After all, how would he have the time to carefully read the voluminous and scholarly legal documents required with the submittal of a request for presidential pardon? I know.

RICHARD GROVES: Following government and following God (Winston-Salem Journal column) -- You gotta hand it to Attorney General Jeff Sessions: he has done more for Bible reading than anybody in recent memory. After hearing Sessions’ comments on Paul’s attitude toward government, people who didn’t know II Corinthians from Two Corinthians blew the dust off their family Bibles and ran their fingers down the table of contents until they found the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. Does the Bible really say what Jeff Sessions says it says? they wondered.

What ousting Sanders from dinner says about America (Fayetteville Observer) -- It is incumbent on all of us, including the president, to protect the liberties of all Americans, not just press secretaries out to dinner.

Teen Who Stood Alone Against Gun Violence to Receive Award (AP reports) -- A teen who was the only student to walk out of his N.C. high school during a national protest of gun violence is one of six who will share BET's Humanitarian Award. The award typically goes to one person. But this year, the network is honoring six people, whom it calls "humanitarian heroes." Among them is 16-year-old Justin Blackman, the only student to walk out of Wilson Preparatory Academy on March 14. Students across the country walked out of classes that day, one month after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida.

TRIP STALLINGS, ANNA EGALITE & STEPHEN PORTER: Ensuring opportunity in N.C.’s Opportunity Scholarship Program: Summary of work to date (N.C. State/EdNC) – “We continue to pressure the state to support a balanced, comprehensive evaluation of the complex impacts of the Opportunity Scholarship program – the only such program in the country that previously has not been, nor currently is implemented in a way that supports quantitative evaluation of the program’s impacts on student achievement due to statutorily-prescribed structural limitations. We continue to push for the programmatic structures that will allow for an evaluation because we believe in the importance of sharing learnings from all state education policy implementations with all education stakeholders and because we believe in the value of thoughtful stewardship of state resources.”

DOUG LEDERMAN: Southern Accreditor Places 4 Institutions on Probation (Inside Higher Ed reports) -- The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges this month placed four colleges and universities on probation. They are: Salem College, in North Carolina, citing a series of standards related to finances; Bethune-Cookman University, in Florida, citing standards relating to integrity, governing board characteristics and finances; Fisk University, in Tennessee, citing standards related to financial responsibility, control of research funds and federal and state responsibility; Louisiana Delta Community College, citing standards relating to student outcomes and financial responsibility.

CATHERINE CLABBY: The Science of Hog Farm Odors (N.C. Health News reports) -- Hog farm neighbors and global pork company spar over how to assess whether hog farms stink too much.

WILLIAM WEST: Currituck OK's permit for solar farm (Elizabeth City Daily Advance reports) -- After a lengthy court battle, a San Francisco-based alternative energy company has received the go-ahead from Currituck County to build a solar farm south of Grandy.

VALERIE VOLCOVICI: Big Oil Eyes U.S. Minority Groups to Build Offshore Drilling Support (Reuters reports) -- The largest U.S. oil and gas lobby group is seeking to convince Hispanic and black communities to support the Trump administration's proposed expansion of offshore drilling, arguing it would create high paying jobs. The American Petroleum Institute launched its "Explore Offshore" campaign earlier this month to counter offshore drilling foes in coastal southeast states from Virginia to Florida, where lawmakers and governors on both sides of the aisle have expressed fear an oil spill could ruin tourism. API has partnered with a number of black and Hispanic business groups, including the N.C., Virginia and Florida and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.

CATHERINE KOZAK: Rising Seas Threaten $4 Billion in NC Property (Coastal Review reports) -- Sea level rise will put about $4 billion of coastal N.C. property value at risk of chronic flooding by 2045, says a recent report, but northeastern counties are among those facing problems already.

We've been warned about rising tides (Greensboro News & Record) -- Like the tides, the warnings about increased danger of devastating flooding in North Carolina’s coastal areas just keep rolling in. The Union of Concerned Scientists has issued a warning that’s more personal, immediate and specific. Its study combines data from the online real estate company Zillow with sea-level predictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to come up with dollars-and-cents figures about the potential damage to homes in eastern N.C. Unless something is done by 2045 the typical life of a mortgage — more than 15,000 existing residential properties will be at risk of chronic flooding caused by normal tides affected by rising sea levels. If nothing is done to change the human activities that contribute to global warming, the sea-level rise and the numbers of flooded houses will just keep going up.

Bipartisan approach to climate change is possible (Winston-Salem Journal) -- Public awareness of climate change has been steadily rising, especially as the scientific consensus has become stronger. It’s convincing enough that the Pentagon makes projections based on climate change, as does the insurance industry. Those are two forces that aren’t going to fool around. Many countries have responded by taking steps to deal with climate change by reducing emissions and switching to cleaner sources of energy, like wind, solar and thermal. They’ve also seen economic opportunities in the switch. China would like to sell its solar panels to the U.S. and the rest of the world. Unfortunately, one faction holds out — the U.S. Republican Party. Relying on whack-a-mole tactics and donations from carbon-burning industries, the GOP at large denies the scientific consensus.

We must take control of our water quality (Wilmington Star-News) -- The sad reality is that we can no longer rely on regulatory framework to ensure water is safe

JACK IGELMAN: Graham County is where the national forest drives the economy (Carolina Public Press reports) -- The seat of Graham County is still recovering from its worst economic setback in decades, when Stanley Furniture shuttered its plant and shed over 300 jobs in 2014, a devastating hit for a town of around 600 residents. While county leaders hope to revive the town’s timber economy, the future of the county’s nearly 9,000 residents remains heavily linked to the resources within Nantahala National Forest, with or without lumber production.

James S. Denton, journal editor who led programs to advance democracy, dies at 66 (Washington Post obit) -- James S. Denton, the publisher and editor of World Affairs journal who also led programs to advance democratic norms to rising leaders in countries emerging from the old Soviet bloc, died June 18 at his home in Washington. He was 66. Mr. Denton graduated in 1973 from what is now Elon University.

DREW BROOKS: Former Fort Bragg doc to become first Army physician in space (Fayetteville Observer reports) -- While he was in the fourth grade, Drew Morgan wrote a letter to Apollo astronaut Alan Bean. Today, Morgan, an Army lieutenant colonel and emergency physician, often thinks back to what happened next. Bean, the fourth person to walk on the Moon, sent Morgan a signed lithograph.