Monday, Nov. 13, 2017 -- A roundup of opinion, commentary and analysis on the little-known group funding Lt. Gov. Dan Forest's office TV studio, the odds of Medicaid expansion in N.C., a questionable set of emails from Duke Energy's coal ash reports and more.
POLITICS & POLICY
TRAVIS FAIN: Nonprofit provides TV studio for Lt. Gov. Forest's office(WRAL-TV analysis) -- "I think it's a safe assumption probably that, when there's a Democratic lieutenant governor, that studio gets yanked out," said state Rep. Grier Martin.
Other WRAL Top Stories
MITCH WEISS & HOLBROOK MOHR: Investigators face big hurdles in church child abuse cases(AP analysis) -- When Rutherford County's child protection agency seeks to investigate allegations of abuse at Word of Faith Fellowship, it runs smack into two major obstacles: a habitual lack of cooperation from church members and a court-ordered compromise that limits what can trigger an inquiry and how social workers can question minors.
MITCH WEISS & HOLBROOK MOHR: Ex-members say church uses power, lies to keep grip on kids(AP analysis) -- As a court-appointed advocate for two foster boys, it was Nancy Burnette's job to ensure they were in good hands. So as part of her casework, she visited Word of Faith Fellowship, the evangelical church they attended with the couple seeking to adopt them.
ALEXANDER BURNS, MICHAEL WINES & TRIP GABRIEL: Despite Recent Dem Wins, Gerrymanders Dim Hopes for 2018(New York Times analysis) -- But for all the optimism, the elections in Virginia last week vividly reflected why the reality might be a good deal harsher. While Democrats won the governorship by nearly nine percentage points and won a similar margin in total votes in legislative races, it appears likely, unless recounts reverse seats, that they will fall just short of taking control of the state’s heavily gerrymandered House of Delegates. And around the country, gerrymandering, refined to a high art, and increasingly restrictive voting laws have left many experts wary of assuming that the intensity of Democratic voters will translate into equally robust electoral gains.
DAVID LEONHARDT: Democrats, Don’t Be Fooled by Victory(New York Times column) -- If Democrats are going to succeed next year and beyond, they can’t focus only on last week’s positive signs and start believing their own spin. They also need to think about the warning signs. There were more of those than many people realize. Ralph Northam, the Democratic governor-elect, didn’t only lose outside of the big metropolitan areas, and badly. He lost by more than the previous Democratic nominee, Gov. Terry McAuliffe, had in 2013. Of Virginia’s 133 counties and cities, Northam fared worse than McAuliffe in 89 of them. … Accepting landslide defeats among the white working class effectively forfeits many state legislatures — like those in North Carolina, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin, all of which are now Republican. State legislatures don’t just make policy. They are also in charge of gerrymandering.
Will Trump impact 2018 N.C. elections?(Greensboro News & Record) -- Republican rivals in a North Carolina congressional district are arguing about their loyalty to President Donald Trump.
Emboldened by Trump, sheriffs mimic his rhetoric, put some residents on edge(Washington Post analysis) -- From deep-blue states to conservative strongholds, locally elected sheriffs have emerged as staunch defenders of the president, bucking “politically correct” policies and alarming some who fear an increasingly undisciplined justice system.
CELIA RIVENBARK: Playing chicken with politics(Wilmington Star-News column) -- For four years now, I’ve dreaded seeing the traffic light turn red at one particular intersection in my town. For as long as 70 seconds I’m subjected to the heavenly aroma hovering in the air. There is no escape from the poultry perfume that is Chick-fil-A. It’s not only the plump fried chicken seasoned with an addictive amount of salt.
JOHN RAILEY: Sen. McCain’s fine road of honor(Winston-Salem Journal column) -- Maybe some of us hang on Republican Sen. John McCain’s words these days because we know that all too soon, he’ll be gone, just as too many of our fathers and grandfathers already are. Like them, McCain reminds us of an America that seems all but lost, one where dignity, honor, courage, loyalty and selflessness still meant a lot — as well as the ability to laugh together and work together.
Tax cut for wealthy is bad, tax cut nixing HTC worse(Elizabeth City Daily Advance) -- President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are vigorously trying to sell tax reform as both a job-creator and gift to the middle class. It’s hard-sell, however, when most of the reform efforts’ tax benefits — three-quarters by some estimates — go to the wealthiest Americans. …It’s a fantasy to believe that investment will continue to flow into small downtowns like Elizabeth City’s without incentives like the Historic Tax Credit. … Because it’s an unaffordable giveaway to the wealthy, the Republicans’ tax reform proposal, if it’s passed, will have long-term negative consequences for our country. The negative effects will be immediate for small-town America, however, if it passes and includes elimination of the Historic Tax Credit.
JON HAWLEY: Escape try affected residents near PCI(Elizabeth City Daily Advance analysis) -- Talk to Kathy Hall, and she'll tell you she's an “original” of her neighborhood. Hall, 64, and her family have lived along West Main Street Extended just off U.S. Highway 17 since she was seven, she said. Unfortunately, that also means she's had many years to worry about the prison just a mile away.
JOEL BURGESS: Sen. Van Duyn says Sen. Edwards ignores constituents(Asheville Citizen-Times analysis) -- The Democratic state senator representing most of Asheville has shot back at a Republican colleague who called the city's referendum on political districts "a sham." Sen. Terry Van Duyn, D-Buncombe, said GOP Sen. Chuck Edwards of Hendersonville "is choosing to ignore his constituents" and instead "forcing his personal agenda onto Asheville." She made the statement in a post on her Facebook page.
ALLEN JOHNSON: Shut out: For the first time, a council with no white males(Greensboro News & Record column) -- In a different time and place, critics of Greensboro politics would often grumble — legitimately — that the city was being run by a group of middle-aged white guys in a smoky back room.
TIM WHITE: A swinging pendulum toppled Nat Robertson(Fayetteville Observer column) -- It really was time for Nat Robertson to go. He just didn’t know it. But the voters left no doubt. When you lose by nearly 20 percentage points, that’s more than a landslide. It’s a major-league thumping. At the outset of the campaign season, I thought the mayor had a good chance at re-election.
A Positive Message Wins More Voters(Southern Pines Pilot) -- Tuesday’s election in Pinehurst may have been a “split decision” between two distinct visions for the village, but there’s no question that the vote was a total repudiation for the negative tone and humorless style of campaigning that gripped the village this fall.
How ‘The Bart Talk’ shaped hundreds of judges, lawyers and others(Charlotte Observer) -- Bart Menser is retiring from the Mecklenburg district attorney’s office after a stellar three-decade career.
KATHRYN BRIGHTBILL: Roy Moore's alleged pursuit of a young girl is the symptom of a larger problem in evangelical circles(LA Times column) -- We need to talk about the segment of American culture that probably doesn’t think the allegations against Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore are particularly damning, the segment that will blanch at only two accusations in the Washington Post expose: He pursued a 14-year-old-girl without first getting her parents’ permission, and he initiated sexual contact outside of marriage. That segment is evangelicalism. In that world, which Moore travels in and I grew up in, 14-year-old girls courting adult men isn’t uncommon.
Safety net can’t stop a mass murderer(Fayetteville Observer) -- Devin Kelley was a grenade with the pin already pulled, an explosive charge looking for a place to detonate. The Air Force knew it and so did other officials. All the signs were there, going back to his teen years: animal cruelty, mental health problems, threats against family members, beatings of his then-wife and stepson.
NANCY McLAUGHLIN & MIKE KERNELS: For undocumented immigrants, finding path to citizenship is maze of uncertainty(Greensboro News & Record analysis) -- The ongoing conversation about immigration has both helped to elect a president and mobilized Americans to defy his policies. Caught in the middle is an estimated 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants — 350,000 of those in North Carolina. They’re in America. But they’re not Americans.
KIRK DeVIERE: The way out of poverty(Fayetteville Observer column) -- Are we willing to accept that one out of four children live in poverty in our community? And that over 42 percent of people living in poverty are single mothers? Are we ready to realize as a community that poverty affects everyone and that it doesn’t know the difference in color of a person’s skin?
Economic future remains bright(Rocky Mount Telegram) -- Reports that CSX is considering scrapping plans to build its more than $270-million Carolina Connector intermodal terminal in Rocky Mount certainly sent shock waves throughout the community. The announcement of the project was viewed as a potential game-changer for the economic fortunes of the Twin Counties and Eastern North Carolina. And while it certainly comes as a blow that the project currently appears to be on hold, the Twin Counties certainly has no lack of good news on the economic development front.
SUSAN LADD: Greensboro landmarks are coming back to life(Greensboro News & Record) -- Cascade Saloon and Hillside mansion provide two views of Greensboro's boom economy in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
HEALTH
RICHARD CRAVER: Maine's Medicaid expansion vote not likely to boost NC's odds(Winston-Salem Journal analysis) -- The vote to expand Medicaid in Maine — despite the protests of its Republican governor — is expected to cause limited ripple effects in North Carolina, elected officials and analysts said. Maine voters used a referendum to overcome five vetoes of expansion legislation by Gov. Paul LePage. It becomes the 32nd state to expand Medicaid coverage as part of the federal Affordable Care Act.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
NICK OCHSNER: Emails reveal Duke edited scientific reports on coal ash, coordinated with advisory board chair(WBTV-TV analysis) -- Emails and documents show senior officials at Duke Energy edited reports prepared by at least one professor, Bill Langley, hired by the company to prepare independent scientific reports related to the impact of coal ash ponds on groundwater. The documents also show a second professor, John Daniels of UNC Charlotte, advised Duke Energy staff while chairing an independent advisory board Duke was required to charter as a condition of its probation stemming from a guilty plea in a criminal case in US District Court.
DAVID MAYFIELD: Are critical ranges ‘on the table’ for offshore oil, gas development?(Norfolk Virginian-Pilot analysis) -- The vote seemed, at first glance, like an easy choice. U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown, a Democrat from Maryland, proposed banning oil or natural gas leases in offshore areas where the Department of Defense has said any energy exploration would unavoidably harm military operations. He urged fellow members of the House Natural Resources Committee last week to approve his proposed amendment “because of what we ask our men and women in uniform to do and what they need in training, resources, leadership.” “Let’s not hamper them,” Brown said. “This is a national security amendment.” A few minutes later, the proposal was shot down 22-13 in a straight party-line vote: Republicans against it, Democrats for.
STEPHANIE CARSON: Critics say study on NC wind farms full of hot air(Public News Service analysis) -- North Carolina's wind farm development is in a holding pattern, with three projects stalled because of legislation passed this summer that places a moratorium on wind farms until the state can study the effects of wind farms on its military installations. Clean energy advocates counter that the federal government has already conducted studies, in partnership with the communities in the state that would be affected.
EPA nominee should scare us all(Wilmington Star-News) -- Some of President Trump’s appointments to federal office have been, to put it mildly, a bit out there. There was Sam Clovis, the Iowa talk-radio host appointed to be chief science adviser to the Department of Agriculture -- even though he had no training or background in science or agriculture. (Clovis withdrew after reports that he’d been involved in George Papadopoulos’ contacts with the Russians.)
BILL MCKIBBEN: We’re not even close to being prepared for the rising waters(Washington Post column) -- Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria provide a dramatic backdrop for the story Jeff Goodell tells in “The Water Will Come”: If there was ever a moment when Americans might focus on drainage, this is it. But this fine volume concentrates on the slower and more relentless toll that water will take on our cities and our psyches in the years to come. Those who pay attention to global warming have long considered that its effects on hydrology — the way water moves around the planet — may be even more dramatic than the straightforward increases in temperature.
JENNIFER ALLEN: Meet Wildlife Shelter Patients at Fundraiser (Coastal Review column) -- Meet some of eastern North Carolina’s critters while supporting the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter Nov. 17 during Taste of Carteret at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City. The dinner and silent auction is the animal hospital’s largest fundraiser of the year.
EDUCATION
MELISSA KORN: New Enrollments by Foreign Students at U.S. Campuses on the Decline(Wall Street Journal analysis) -- The surge in foreign student enrollment that has bolstered diversity and finances at U.S. colleges for the past decade is starting to slow—and concern that the Trump administration is tightening its borders is only one factor in the turning tide. …To be sure, some U.S. schools are reporting solid upticks in international enrollments, the bounty from years of investment in recruiting agents or overseas marketing blitzes. International enrollments rose by 9.5% across Tennessee to 9,957 last fall, and by 6.5%, to 20,112, in North Carolina.
HUNTER BUXTON: A powerful lesson(EdNC column) -- First Vote NC, a civic engagement program of EducationNC, teamed up with UNC’s Institute of Politics (IOP) to train a group of students to deliver the lesson, “How to Vote and Why it Matters,” to local area high school students. Enloe High School in Raleigh was their first stop.
BRIAN WUDKWYCH: Teacher sheds light on schools' Jim Crow past(Greenville Daily Reflector analysis) -- A trove of Jim Crow-era documents concerning Pitt County education sat untouched in a dark warehouse for years — neglected and ignored, a bleak reminder of a time some rather would forget. But for J.H. Rose High School history teacher Steven Hill, shedding light on the era.
Voucher school controversy(Education Matters/Public School Forum of N.C.) -- Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville has received more taxpayer dollars via the state’s private school voucher program than any other school in the state. It’s also home to an embezzlement scandal involving a teacher who runs the school’s elite basketball program while spending weekends in jail. We take a closer look at the controversy and talk to the state agency that oversees the voucher program.
LIZ BELL: What is ‘My Future NC?’(EdNC analysis) -- My Future NC is a commission with cross-sector representation from business, education, government, nonprofits, and philanthropy, and it will assess the state’s economic and educational needs, and then plan ways to meet them. By the end of 2018, the commission will have released two reports — one establishing its goals and another making policy recommendations on how to attain them.