Friday, Oct. 19, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Voters fairly confused by proposed constitutional amendments, early voting first day exceeds 2014 start, Amazon revisits cities as HQ2 decision looms, collapse of the local paper, managed care coming to N.C. Medicaid coverage, speculation around Blackbeard's death and more.

Other WRAL Top Stories

CAMPAIGN 2018
TIM BUCKLAND: Baby Trump blimp coming to Wilmington (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- Women’s group to inflate balloon depicting president as baby to promote get-out-the-vote efforts.

ANDEW DUEHREN: States Hit by Hurricanes Remind People to Vote, Despite the Destruction (Wall Street Journal reports) -- Hurricane survivors could play an important role in the midterm elections in North Carolina and Florida based on whether they show up to the polls in large numbers.

NATE COHN: For a Change, Democrats Seem Set to Equal or Exceed Republicans in Turnout (New York Times reports) -- Polls show enthusiasm surging in many mostly white suburban districts, but less so among young and nonwhite voters.

JANET HOOK: Trump’s 2016 Voters Plan to Back GOP in Midterms, but Some Still Have Doubts About Him (Wall Street Journal reports) -- There is a swath of voters who are poised to vote Republican in the midterms but continue to have reservations about continuing to supporting President Trump.

LAURA LESLIE: NC voters fairly confused by proposed constitutional amendments (WRAL-TV reports) — "Most North Carolinians are unfamiliar with the content of all six amendments," said David McLennan, a political science professor at Meredith and director of the poll. McLennan said some will likely pass because they deal with popular issues, such as voter ID, victims' rights and limiting taxes. But he said he's not sure voters really understand how each one would work or what consequences they might have.

KIRK ROSS: Amendments on the ballot still a mystery to most voters (Carolina Public Press reports) — An Elon University poll of 1,523 registered voters released in early September showed that while 56 percent of respondents knew that amendments would be on the fall ballot, 62 percent of those responding said they had heard little or nothing about them. Only 8 percent said they had heard “a lot” about the amendments.

Early voting first day in NC exceeds 2014 start (AP reports) — The state elections board said Thursday that close to 133,000 people cast ballots statewide on Wednesday's first day of early voting. In 2014, the total was just over 121,000.

Why N.C. crime-victim amendment is a bad idea (Wilmington Star-News) -- For one thing, N.C. already has a strong victims’ rights amendment, which we passed in 1996.

SUSANNA BIRDSONG: Marsy’s Law is not the way to support crime victims in NC (Asheville Citizen-Times column) -- Known as “Marsy’s Law,” the amendment is being pushed by a $5 million campaign backed by a California billionaire. It would replace the rights crime victims already have in our state constitution with new, broadly defined rights. For example, it would require that victims of a wide range of crimes be given the ability to be heard at most court proceedings concerning the person being charged with that crime. This might sound simple, but it has wide-ranging implications. In some circumstances, not just people but corporations could be considered “victims” and therefore given a right to be heard at every stage of a trial. Do we really want big corporations to have more influence in our justice system?

PAUL SPECHT: NC leaders face challenges in their home elections. How scared should they be?  (Charlotte Observer reports) – State Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore have a Republican supermajority to protect. If momentum builds for North Carolina Democrats, the Republican leaders might even have to worry about keeping control of the state House and Senate. They haven't had to campaign hard for their own re-election in years, but Berger and Moore aren't exempt from the N.C. Democratic Party effort to challenge nearly every Republican incumbent in the state.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Voting precincts (The Insider reports) -- Some state elections board members said they'd rather leave precinct drawing up to each county, but the law requires the statewide approach. County elections officials will have the opportunity to request changes before the plan becomes final next year.

LAURA LESLIE: Western NC elections official out after 'salacious' Facebook post (WRAL reports) — A county elections board member in western NC resigned this week, shortly before she was slated to be removed from her post for making "salacious allegations" on Facebook that violated state law governing the conduct of election officials.

A questionable elections board (Winston-Salem Journal) — As eager as we are to get through the 2018 elections, it’s highly disturbing to know that the state elections board is unconstitutional. That was the conclusion from a panel of judges in Raleigh on Tuesday. They ruled, in a 2-1 decision, that the makeup of the current board is unconstitutional — but it’s too late to change it now. So hold on tight and hope for the best.

NC's elections board must be fair (Greensboro News & Record) — The state elections board, charged with the administration of the voting process, has considerable power. It can approve early-voting sites that could affect election turnout. It also can assess campaign finance penalties and determine ethics law violations. As far as possible, it should be above partisan politics. But that’s not how this Republican-led state legislature rolls.

NC constitutional amendments: 5 no’s and a maybe (Charlotte Observer) — Democrats and progressive groups are recommending NC voters say no to all six amendments to the N.C. Constitution on the November ballot. They make a strong case — four of the amendments are bad for the state, and Republicans could have handled the other two differently. Plus, telling voters to take the straight ticket approach and nix all six avoids potential confusion. We’d rather assess each one individually on its merits. Our recommendations for each of the six amendments:

POLICY & POLITICS
KAREN WEISE: Among Amazon HQ2 Watchers, Northern Virginia Checks the Most Boxes (New York Times reports) -- Amazon won’t say a word about where it plans to put its much-hyped second headquarters. Officials in the 20 cities and regions named as finalists say that they don’t know anything — and that even if they did, they wouldn’t share it publicly.

LAURA STEVENS, SHANYNDI RAICE & KEIKO MORRIS: Amazon Revisits Cities as HQ2 Decision Looms (Wall Street Journal reports) -- Amazon executives have made a fresh round of visits to several of the 20 finalists for its $5 billion second-headquarters project, fueling added anticipation as it nears a decision in a process that has stretched over more than a year.

FRANK STACIO: Disappearing Democracy -- Collapse Of The Local Paper (WUNC-FM reports) -- News deserts are cropping up across America. A new report shows nearly 1,800 papers have shuttered or merged since 2004, and 171 counties across the U.S. have no local newspaper. This decline has deep implications for civic participation and government accountability. Frank Stasio speaks with Penny Muse Abernathy, Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics at UNC, about the disappearance of local news papers.

TRACY JAN: In N.C., hurricanes did what scientists could not (Washington Post reports) -- It took a giant laurel oak puncturing her Wilmington home’s roof roof during Hurricane Florence last month.

JASON DEBRUYN: FEMA Brings Trailers To NC For Temporary Housing (WUNC-FM reports) -- Thousands of Hurricane Florence victims are still displaced from their homes, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is in North Carolina working to help. That now includes providing temporary housing in so-called FEMA trailers and manufactured homes.

RVs built for adventure are now providing basic shelter to hurricane victims (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is using the NC Global TransPark as a staging area for RVs and mobile homes for victims of Hurricane Florence who can’t find a place to stay while their houses are being repaired.

HUNTER INGRAM: Legislators see TV in action during Wilmington studio tour (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- The Port City has been starved for productions in recent years, although that appears to be changing

Lottery fever rises in NC ahead of this weekend’s Mega Millions and Powerball drawings (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- More than $1 billion is up for grabs, and N.C. players have as good a chance as anyone at picking the winning numbers Friday or Saturday's drawings for two multi-state lottery games.

MICHAEL BRAGG: School shooting survivors bring documentary to the Triad (Winston-Salem Journal reports) -- Students and teachers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., are in Winston-Salem to discuss a documentary film about their March trip to Washington — and continue to spread their message to end gun violence. The documentary, “We Are The Change,” focuses on the moments, meetings and interactions just before the March 24 rally in Washington — March for Our Lives — which drew hundreds of thousands of people to the nation’s capital, while hundreds of similar events took place across the country.

FRED CLASEN-KELLY: Charlotte spent millions on low-income housing, but poor people can’t afford it (Charlotte Observer reports) — Over the last 16 years, the city of Charlotte has spent or committed at least $124 million to build affordable housing. Next month, city leaders will ask voters for $50 million more. But the money hasn’t helped people like Curtis Simpson. He’s worked full-time as a custodian for nine years at Independence High School, but on his $25,500-a-year salary, he said he can’t find a decent place to live.

EDUCATION
JOHN NEWSOM: 'Always becoming’: Elon’s newest president pledges to expand and advance the university (Greensboro News & Record reports) -- The university formally installs Connie Book as its ninth president — and the first woman to lead Elon.

FERREL GUILLORY: School day too short, summer too long (EdNC column) -- Even as back-to-back hurricanes hit the state, two public commissions continued to ponder big policy decisions in public education. MyFutureNC, an initiative of UNC System President Margaret Spellings, looks toward adopting attainment goals from early childhood, through K-12, and onto higher education. Gov. Roy Cooper’s Commission on Access to Sound, Basic Education prepares to respond to the next development in the long-running Leandro case.

MANDY MITCHELL: No simple explanation for declining numbers in high school football (WRAL-TV reports) -- Over the last four years, participation in high school football in N.C. has dropped by nearly 20 percent. Schools like Chapel Hill High School and Cedar Ridge High School are not even fielding varsity programs in 2018.

HEALTH
BEN STEELMAN: Managed care coming to NC Medicaid (Wilmington Star-News reports) — A quiet revolution is coming to NC’s Medicaid coverage in 2019. Officials say most patients and providers will barely notice the difference, but they might have to make some extra choices. asically, the state is switching its Medicaid NC Health Choice programs from fee-for-service to a managed caredelivery system. Medicaid claims will be handled by “prepaid health plans,” or PHPs, which will enroll patients and will pay doctors, physician assistants and other health care professionals.

PATRICK SERKEDAKIS: Realtors taking step to prevent opioid deaths. You can too (Durham-Herald Sun column) — As a Realtor, I am constantly reminding my clients to secure or dispose of their prescription medications prior to opening their homes for public showings. It’s a small step – but an important step, nonetheless – in helping curb the abuse of prescription drugs in the Triangle.

YEN DUONG: A New Perspective on NC Tick-borne Illnesses (NC Health News) — For decades, the accepted wisdom is that Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is the most common tick-borne disease in NC. But maybe that’s not the case.

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
WILLIAM NORRIS: CFPUA taking necessary step for safe water (Wilmington Star-News column) — During its August community meeting in Fayetteville, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Associate Director for Ecology informed the audience that an estimated 4,500 “contaminants of emerging concern” are in our nation’s waterways, including dozens of PFAS chemicals, such as GenX. He then stated that, despite the existence of so many PFAS, only two have toxicological assessments that enable the EPA to determine their impact on public health.

Paul Simon donates $25,000 to Brevard-based Muddy Sneakers (Hendersonville Times-News reports) -- Muddy Sneakers is the N.C. recipient of a recent contribution from legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon. As part of his Homeward Bound farewell tour, Simon awarded a gift of $25,000 to Muddy Sneakers to grow its work of awakening in children a deeply felt connection with the natural world. Muddy Sneakers partners with public elementary schools in N.C. to bring fifth-graders onto nearby protected lands to supplement classroom science instruction.

GREG BARNES: DHHS Announces Results of Chemours Neighbors’ Blood, Urine Tests (N.C. Health News reports) -- Thirty people living close to the Fayetteville plant were tested this summer. Their results have come back showing negligible amounts of GenX and other fluorochemicals.

AND MORE…
KIP TABB: Blackbeard’s Death: Part Of A Failed Coup? (Coastal Review Online) — Blackbeard died with five bullet wounds and 20 knife and sword wounds, as Maynard discovered while examining the body. Also found was a letter from NC Collector of Customs Tobias Knight, warning Blackbeard that Maynard had sailed from Virginia with orders to capture or kill him.