Opinion Roundup: DACA upheaval hits close to home

Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017 -- A roundup of opinion, commentary and analysis on what President Trump's DACA announcement means for local DREAMers, how doctors are looking to streamline the prescribing of opioids, why the military is concerned about climate change and more.

A DACA heartbreak (Greensboro News & Record) -- President Donald Trump promised in February to “show great heart” in deciding whether to continue or halt the DACA program. Sadly, it just wasn’t in him.

STEPHANIE CARSON & SCOTT HERRON: End of DACA Spells Uncertainty for 27,000 North Carolinians (Public News Service) -- The Trump administration's announcement Tuesday that it plans to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program places 27,000 North Carolinians in limbo. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says it's now up to Congress to come up with a solution before the current protections offered to the so-called DREAMers expire in six months.

Only Congress can save innocent Dreamers now (Charlotte Observer) -- DACA is near death, so Dreamers’ only hope now is an immigration fix from Congress.

Do the right thing (Carolina Commentary) -- President Trump has made the decision to reverse the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA program), putting more than three quarters of a million-young people at risk for deportation.

GINGER LIVINGSTON: Business owner worries about future with DACA demise (Greenville Daily Reflector analysis) -- In the 23 years since her mother brought her to the United States, Esperanza Whitfield has had two daughters, married twice, dropped out of high school, earned a GED and has operated her own business for 10 years.

RACHEL SIEGEL: Robert E. Lee ‘descendant’ — and denouncer — quits N.C. pastor post over ‘hurtful’ reaction to VMAs speech (Washington Post analysis) -- He was the great-great-great-great-nephew of Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee, and he felt it was his moral duty to speak out against his ancestor, “an idol of white supremacy, racism and hate.” On Monday, Robert V. Lee IV announced he would be leaving his church — Bethany United Church of Christ in Winston-Salem, N.C. In his statement, published on the website of the Auburn Theological Seminary, Lee wrote that while he did have congregants who supported his freedom of speech, many resented the attention the church received after the VMAs.

ALLEN JOHNSON: As two women wait in city churches, Arpaio gets mercy (Greensboro News & Record) -- An undocumented immigrant mother and her two young sons are still biding their time and hoping against hope that the Trump administration will soften its heart and let them be.

EUGENE VOLOKH: Yes, in North Carolina you can sue someone for having sex with your spouse (Washington Post column) -- A North Carolina appellate court has held that the torts of "alienation of affections" and "criminal conversation" are not unconstitutional.

MICHAEL HEWLETT: Alienation of affection law upheld in Forsyth County case (Winston-Salem Journal analysis) -- The N.C. Court of Appeals upheld Tuesday the constitutionality of a state law allowing people to sue their spouse’s lover and collect damages in a case involving a doctor and nurse at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

TAYLOR KNOPF: Docs Look to Make Prescribing Opioid Treatment Rx Easier (N.C. Health News column) -- Even as the number of people overdosing on opioids is rising, the number of physicians able to prescribe the best treatment is limited.

AmeriCorps team will make a lasting difference in Wilson (Wilson Times) -- They’ll only be here for a year, but in that time, six of Wilson’s newest residents will have an outsize impact on our community’s health and quality of life. A half-dozen young people have begun their service year in Wilson.

BRAD RICH: Military Shows Concern Over Climate Change (Coastal Review column) -- Concerns over possible coastal habitat changes on military bases prompt a government-funded, multi-year study of Onslow County’s New River, which flows through Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, by scientists from the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences and other universities.

NEEL KELLER: At board meeting, a backlash against the bag ban repeal (Outer Banks Sentinel analysis) -- Less than one week after the state legislature voted to repeal the Outer Banks’ plastic bag ban, a number of residents used the public comment period at the Sept. 5 Dare County Commissioners meeting to sharply criticize that action, arguing that their voices were ignored in Raleigh.

MICHELLE WAGNER: N.C. lawmakers repeal OBX bag ban (Outer Banks Sentinel analysis) -- The eight-year-old ban on the use of plastic bags by Outer Banks businesses was repealed by the North Carolina General Assembly last week, triggering some vocal criticism in Dare County.

ADAM OWENS: Wake school officials say class size cap could hurt education (WRAL-TV analysis) -- A state mandate to lower class sizes in kindergarten through third grade is meant to improve learning, but some schools in Wake County are running out of room to make it work.

BILL HAND: Event celebrates a century of school busing in NC (New Bern Sun Journal column) -- ORIENTAL – The school bus system in North Carolina celebrated its 100th birthday and just in case you wondered, it all started right in the sleepy little fishing town or Oriental in 1917. To celebrate, the Governor’s Highway Safety Program brought speakers from Raleigh, a 2018 school bus from Carteret County and a 1931 school bus from Iredell.

KYLE HODGES & RACHEL GREENE: Raleigh veteran principal dedicated to students (EdNC column) -- Millbrook High School’s administration suite was in full swing as the clock ticked closer to the end of the school day last spring. Assistant principals jogged from one room to the next to confer with one another while the office secretary stayed busy on the phone answering a seemingly endless stream of questions from a concerned parent. Hushed whispers gave the school a quiet yet unusual sense of excitement in the school, as students waiting for rides outside the school confirmed the reason: prom night. While the students prepared to party, Principal Dana King prepared her schedule for a well-needed nap. The festivities are not new to her; it is her 27th prom night.

D.G. MARTIN: UNC Legend Comes to an End in Chapel Hill (Southern Pines Pilot column) -- A monument to a treasured past came down in Chapel Hill last week. No, the Silent Sam statute of a Confederate soldier still stands. The lost monument came from the death of 94-year-old Dickson Phillips, the former UNC Law School dean and longtime judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Phillips’ distinguished career spanned an era of important changes.

MICHAEL HASTINGS: Jewish cookbook, author Joan Nathan takes readers around the world (Winston-Salem Journal review) -- Joan Nathan takes readers on a world tour of Jewish cooking in her latest book. “King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking From Around the World” (Alfred A. Knopf, $35) is the result of Nathan’s travels to more than 15 countries on five continents.