Opinion Roundup: 9th District election, government shutdown, segregated schooling and more

Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Mark Harris pursuing two paths to end 9th District controversy, federal shutdown prompts judge to freeze hog nuisance trials, Anita Earls promises justice 'with strong heart' as member of NC Supreme Court, segregated schooling in a polarized society and more.

REAL ELECTION FRAUD?

STEPHANIE SAUL: As House of Representatives Convenes, There’s One Empty Seat (New York Times reports) -- If all had gone as he hoped, Mark Harris would have been sworn in to the House of Representatives Thursday as the new member from North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District. Instead, as the new House was installed, Mr. Harris, a Southern Baptist preacher and staunch conservative, was far from Washington and his seat still up for grabs. There are increasing worries it could remain vacant for months.

ELY PORTILLO & JIM MORRILL: Fight over NC 9th District election could drag on for months, with no one seated (Charlotte Observer reports) -- In North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, it could be a long time before a new election takes place and a representative is seated. Republican Mark Harris is trying to force certification of his victory, but Democrat Dan McCready could still face him in a rematch.

EMERY DALESIO: GOP candidate asks N.C. court to declare he won (AP reports) -- The Republican in the nation's last undecided congressional race asked a N.C. court to require that he be declared the winner because the now-defunct state elections board didn't act.

MATTHEW BURNS & LAURA LESLIE: Mark Harris pursuing two paths to end 9th District controversy (WRAL-TV reports) -- Republican Mark Harris said he had a "good meeting" with state elections officials investigating the results of the 9th Congressional District race.

TRAVIS FAIN & LAURA LESLIE: Mark Harris' lawyers file court docs asking judge to certify 9th District results (WRAL-TV reports) -- A Jan. 11 public hearing on the 9th Congressional District inquiry has been canceled.

Pittinger Calls Person at Center of Absentee Ballot Scandal a “Political Prostitute” (Spectrum News reports) -- Former Congressman Pittenger says the person at the center of the Ninth Congressional District probe is a "political prostitute," however, he is reserving judgment on Republican Mark Harris until all facts are out.

DAVID POLLARD: Pittenger exits Congress; District 9 seat to be vacant (The Robesonian reports) -- The outgoing occupant of the N.C. District 9 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives is turning his back on politics in order to fight radical Islamic terrorism.

Just say no to Harris plea (Fayetteville Observer) -- Mark Harris’ desperate struggle to claim a tarnished election victory in the 9th Congressional District moved to Wake County Superior Court Thursday as his campaign asked a judge to order the state elections director to certify his victory. That’s a bad idea that could turn out to be a far-reaching miscarriage of justice.

What to do about that empty NC chair in Congress (Charlotte Observer) -- Congress convenes Thursday with one empty seat: the one representing North Carolina’s 9th district. The House and Gov. Roy Cooper should take steps to hold a new election, and quickly.

CRAIG JARVIS: Federal workers in RTP feeling the bite of the shutdown. If it drags on, others will too. (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- In the federal government shutdown, EPA employees in Research Triangle Park are furloughed. Here’s the impact on parks visitors, state workers, farmers, poor families and others in North Carolina.

CANDACE SWEAT: Government shutdown could make it harder for home buyers to get a mortgage (WRAL-TV reports) -- The ongoing partial government shutdown is having a far reaching impact across a number of different industries and real estate is one of them.

Federal shutdown prompts judge to freeze hog nuisance trials (AP reports) -- The partial government shutdown is prompting the postponement of a trial by a federal judge managing lawsuits accusing the world's largest pork company of creating nuisances for rural North Carolina neighbors.

Shutdown’s effect on parks is shameful (Winston-Salem Journal) -- It’s cringe-inducing to read about the situation at many of our national parks over the last couple of weeks, one result of the Trump administration’s partial but wasteful federal government shutdown.

A good law with a big flaw (Hendersonville Times-News) -- A new elections law that sailed through the General Assembly last month was mostly positive, but one provision should concern citizens who value open government. Both the Senate and the House passed the elections bill with broad bipartisan support. The law basically returns rules governing elections, ethics and lobbying to how they were in 2016.

MATTHEW BURNS: Earls promises justice 'with strong heart' as member of NC Supreme Court (WRAL-TV reports) -- Minutes after taking her oath of office as associate justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court, Anita Earls harkened back to the discord that tore at the nation in the 1960s.

WILL DORAN: 2019 NC justice system will be more liberal, from sheriffs to DAs to judges (Charlotte Observer reports) -- The North Carolina justice system is shifting to the left, from Anita Earls on the Supreme Court down to appeals court judges and newly elected black sheriffs and prosecutors in the state’s largest counties.

BARRY YEOMAN: New sheriffs in town as African Americans win top law enforcement posts in N.C. (Washington Post reports) -- In Mecklenburg and Wake counties, North Carolina’s largest jurisdictions, they notified ICE their offices would no longer participate in the federal program that delegates immigration enforcement to local agencies. The collective snub was the first move in a looming upheaval in how the state’s urban sheriffs do their job. This fall, all seven of the most populous counties elected African Americans as their top law enforcement officer — not just a reflection of the shifting dynamics here but a sharp break from the nation’s historic pattern of picking white men for the position and then keeping them there in perpetuity.

GILBERT BAEZ: Army rethinking recruitment efforts for younger generation (WRAL-TV reports) -- For the first time since 2005, recruiting numbers have fallen short and U.S. Army brass are trying to figure out new ways to get young people to join the ranks.

JANINE BOWEN: First Native American District Attorney in NC sworn in in Robeson County (WRAL-TV reports) -- The first Native American district attorney in North Carolina to his oath of office Thursday.

LAUREN HORSCH: Faciliites Master Plan (The Insider reports) -- A four-person team at the General Assembly is embarking on creating a master plan for state government facilities after the 2018 state budget appropriated $5 million to the Legislative Services Office for the plan. Chuck Hefren, a former Program Evaluation Division staff member, was recently transferred to the LSO to help with the master plan. He's working alongside Legislative Services Officer Paul Coble, LSO attorney Garrett Dimond and a legislative staff member working with Rep. Dean Arp, R-Union, on the plan. Hefren said the master plan will look at government facilities in the downtown Raleigh area.

GINGER LIVINGSTON: Butterfield says restarting government is his focus (Greenville Daily Reflector reports) -- The lead up to Thursday’s first day of the 116th Congress saw various senators and representatives pledging to accept no pay while federal employees remain furloughed. North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District representative said his focus is on getting people back to work.

GINGER LIVINGSTON: Jones misses taking oath in Washington (Greenville Daily Reflector reports) -- U.S. Rep. Walter Jones missed taking the oath of offices with other members of the 116th Congress, his staff reported. Jones’ Chief of Staff Joshua Bowlen said the congressman, who is beginning his 13th term in the U.S. House of Representatives, is continuing to deal with a medical issue and is scheduled to be sworn in today.

KATE MARTIN: Former NC jail guard says someone altered record of scrap with inmate (Carolina Public Press reports) — A former jail guard in Cherokee County says someone altered his incident report regarding a scrap between a jail inmate and guards in May 2018. County records have also revealed that a financial settlement with the inmate was in the works not long after the incident. According to former guard Joshua Gunter, Sheriff Derrick Palmer openly discussed an arrangement with the inmate while the Gunter was being terminated on May 11.

EDUCATION

FERREL GUILLORY: Resegregated schooling in a polarized society (EdNC column) -- North Carolina’s highest statewide elected official acknowledged the threat posed by further separation of students along lines of race and income in the state’s schools. At issue in the legislation is a provision that permits employees of municipal charter schools to join the state’s health and retirement plans. That provision makes it easier for four suburban communities in Mecklenburg County to set up charter schools, almost certainly with a distinctly white-student enrollment.

DREW WILSON: Schools more segregated since release from court order (Wilson Times reports) -- It now appears schools are re-segregating, educator Bill Myers said of the trend that’s occurred in the 22 years since the district was released from the court order. In 1988, enrollment figures for Wilson County Schools showed 52 percent non-white students and 48 percent white. Today, a breakdown of Wilson County Schools’ 11,164 students shows the student population is 44 percent black, 30 percent white, 20 percent Hispanic, 1.4 percent Asian and 4.6 percent other race.

ANTIONETTE KERR: NC Educators Call 2019 Critical Year for Legislation (Public News Service reports) – N.C. public schools could see progress toward funding to update facilities and technology and decrease class sizes – but it will require state lawmakers to agree that an almost $2 billion public school bond is needed. If the idea makes it through the new legislative session, the bond would be considered by voters in a 2020 ballot referendum. Mark Jewell, president of the N.C. Association of Educators, says his organization of more than 30,000 members isn't the only group that thinks consideration is long overdue.

ANN DOSS HELMS: NC families lack key tool for picking schools this year. The state blames a hurricane. (Charlotte Observer reports) -- School report cards are designed to help families find data they can use to select schools. But North Carolina, blaming hurricane disruption, says this year’s will be posted after most 2019 applications close.

GREG BARNES: Smithfield’s plans to cover hog lagoons could spur N.C. biogas industry (N.C. Health News reports) -- Smithfield announced in October that it will use covered lagoons and digesters on 90 percent of its hog finishing farms within 10 years, a move that promises to reduce greenhouse gasses, create renewable energy and open opportunities in the biogas sector.

KIP TABB: Our Coast’s People - Hunting Guide Vic Berg (Coastal Review reports) -- Vic Berg, a second-generation guide for 42 years whose expertise comes from more than five decades of hunting on the Outer Banks, remains passionate about his job.

ADAM WAGNER: StarNews reporter who broke GenX story hired by CFPUA (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- Vaughn Hagerty was a freelancer when he wrote the 2017 story ‘Toxin taints CFPUA drinking water’

BENJAMIN SCHACHTMAN: CFPUA hires former reporter who broke GenX story as new public information officer (Port City Daily reports) -- Former Star News reporter Vaughn Hagerty broke the GenX story in June of 2017; his reporting was at times at least implicitly critical of Cape Fear Public Utility Authority.

VAUGHN HAGERTY: Chemours promises to reduce pollutants, but concerns persist downstream (Carolina Public Press reports) — Brian Long aimed a white-gloved hand toward six tanks standing in the sandy soil of the sprawling Fayetteville Works, site of the Chemours chemical plant he manages. Thirty feet tall and 15 feet in diameter, each tank can hold 30,000 gallons. Each is a key component in Chemours’ race to meet pollution-control goals laid out in a proposed agreement announced in November by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

RUPEN FOFARIA: Groups looking for a “Just Florence Recovery” (EdNC reports) — Courtney Patterson has been working overtime, alongside grassroots community organizers and leaders. Hurricane Florence made landfall more than three months ago, and while much of Southeastern North Carolina is in the midst of long-term recovery, the communities he visits and serves seem to be struggling more.

GINGER LIVINGSTON: Bertie site with Lost Colony link now state nature area (Elizabeth City Daily Advance reports) -- A 3½-mile stretch of property in Bertie County that’s rich in ecology and perhaps has a link to the earliest English colonists is now the property of the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation.

Professional ghost hunters to investigate haunting of USS North Carolina battleship (Charlotte Observer reports) -- A trio of nationally known professional ghost hunters intends to spend part of Saturday night aboard the USS North Carolina, to find proof of ghosts that haunt the decommissioned battleship.

DAVID MENCONI: Perry Deane Young, NC-born Vietnam War correspondent and author, has died (Charlotte Observer reports) – N.C. writer Perry Deane Young, journalist & author of the Vietnam War memoir “Two of the Missing” died of cancer. The playwright also wrote the book “The David Kopay Story” about a gay football player.