Opinion Roundup: Bank of America, Trump approval rating dips in south, removal of Confederate statues, drunk driving deaths and more

Thursday, April 12, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Bank of America pledges to halt lending to assault-weapon manufacturers, southern US disapproves of Trump, deadline nears for removing Confederate statues, drunk-driving deaths equal to gun slayings, education funding and more.

ADAM OWENS: 'Boxcars full of dead bodies:' American soldier, Holocaust survivor share story of liberation (WRAL-TV reports) -- A man who survived the horrors of the Holocaust and one of the soldiers who helped liberate him shared their incredible stories at Duke University.

LAURA LESLIE: Federal tax changes could mean higher state taxes (WRAL-TV reports) -- Many North Carolinians will be paying more taxes to the state because of the federal tax changes signed into law by President Donald Trump before Christmas.

Federal tax changes won't affect state coffers dramatically (AP reports) -- North Carolina's nonpartisan legislative staffers say cash levels in state coffers won't be significantly altered by last year's federal tax overhaul compared to other states due to tax changes the General Assembly made years ago.

MARK BARRETT: Ryan decision may give McHenry an opening; Meadows disavows interest in speaker's job (Asheville Citizen-Times reports) -- House Speaker Paul Ryan's decision to leave the chamber he now leads could clear a path for Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-Lincoln, to win a more powerful position in the House. It has also fueled speculation that the man who represents the rest of Western North Carolina in the House, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Transylvania, would seek the speaker's job, although Meadows and a spokesman quickly said Meadows has no interest in it.

NBC poll: Majority in South disapprove of Trump, Congress (NBC news reports) -- Just under half of all adults in the southern United States approve of President Donald Trump, according to survey results released Thursday. No separate results for North Carolina were included in the survey report.

Deadline nears to comment on moving of Confederate statues (AP reports) -- A committee studying the possible removal of three Confederate monuments on North Carolina's Capitol grounds is accepting public comments for one more day.

HANNAH WEBSTER: NC's 'Diamond and Silk' among topics discussed in Facebook congressional hearing (WRAL-TV reports) -- North Carolina sisters Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson were discussed in the congressional hearing with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

SCOTT SEXTON: Challenging Gerald Hege's candidacy took guts (Winston-Salem Journal column) -- Angela Anderson doesn’t see herself as being particularly courageous. Nor will she cop to being anything other than an engaged, civic-minded citizen. Yet the Davidson County woman had guts enough to stand before more than 100 fervent supporters of Gerald Hege, a former longtime sheriff and current candidate for the office, to challenge a man who once had sworn on a Bible to tell the truth before admitting that he was in fact guilty of serious felonies and abuse of office.

AMANDA LAMB: Advocates press for crime victims' bill of rights (WRAL-TV reports) -- Victims' rights advocates gathered Wednesday in downtown Raleigh to honor the survivors and family members of those killed while also pushing for action to help them.

Release the body-cam footage (Winston-Salem Journal) -- A Winston-Salem police officer who shot a man during a traffic stop turned his body-camera on before making the stop, according to police. The footage should be released to the public to eliminate any questions about the shooting.

Drunk-driving deaths rival gun slayings (Wilmington Star-News) -- As we’ve argued previously, driving while impaired is as reckless and dangerous as walking down a street firing a gun.

CAROLINE HUDSON: Bank of America pledges to halt lending to assault-weapon manufacturers (Charlotte Business Journal reports) -- Bank of America Corp. has pledged to stop lending to companies that provide military-style firearms for civilian use. Vice Chairman Anne Finucane spoke on the matter in an interview with Bloomberg.

MICHAEL BRAGG: Town hall highlights concerns with education funding in N.C. (Winston-Salem Jounal reports) -- When Valorene Young sees students in her elementary school classroom who don’t have the supplies they need for the day, she buys them with her own money to make sure all her students have equal resources to succeed.

ANDREW MUNDHENK: School system develops app for reporting safety concerns (Hendersonville Times-News reports) -- An online app allowing parents, students and teachers to report what they see will soon be rolling out for Henderson County schools. An early version of the “Report It, Don’t Ignore It” app debuted at the district’s newly formed school safety advisory committee

LISA PHILIP: Some Robeson County Parents Want To Ban Paddling In Schools (WUNC-FM reports) -- An attempt to ban corporal punishment in Robeson County schools has stalled. The effort was led by parents and child advocates. Robeson County is one of two counties in the state that still allows paddling in schools. But some residents say the practice is harmful for kids.

ALEX GRANADOS: Committee on splitting up school districts does not recommend division (EdNC reports) -- After months of work, a committee tasked with studying how to divide school districts concluded Wednesday without recommending the break-up of large systems such as Wake or Mecklenburg County. No evidence exists that there is any relation between the size of a district and academic performance, according to a report approved by the Joint Legislative Study Committee on the Division of Local School Administrative Units.

GARY ROBERTSON: Report doesn't judge whether splitting districts makes sense (AP reports) -- A legislative committee studying possible gains and liabilities from breaking up large public school districts completed its work without making judgment on whether deconsolidation is ultimately good for North Carolina's students.

MICHAEL GEBELEIN: Lack of progress on NC students’ test scores called ‘frustrating’ (Carolina Public Press reports) -- Lack of progress on North Carolina students’ test scores is “frustrating,” state superintendent of schools Mark Johnson said this week. A nationwide evaluation of educational achievement in fourth- and eighth-graders found that scores for North Carolina students largely remained stable between 2015 and 2017, but went down in some areas. Scores for poor students and minority students also lagged significantly behind other students. “Teachers in North Carolina are working hard, and our state has made strong investments in early grades,” Johnson said in a Department of Public Instruction press release.

SARAH HARRIS: For Military Kids, Switching Schools Can Land Them In The Wrong Classes (WUNC-FM reports) -- Kids in military families average six to nine moves before they graduate high school. That means navigating new schools, finding new friends, and catching up in classes ... over and over again.

WHITNEY ROBERTSON: All of the children left behind (EdNC column) -- Let’s talk about all of the children left behind with the No Child Left Behind Act, the policy that had intention to assist and ensure that all students are meeting high academic achievement and standards. The year is 2018, and we are still living among racially segregated schools as policies are still centered on academic achievement and accountability.

ROSE HOBAN: DHHS to Inspect Cary Birthing Center (N.C. Health News reports) -- Sec. Mandy Cohen has asked Baby+Co., where three infants have recently died, for her department to come and do a review. Usually, DHHS has no regulatory oversight of such facilities.

Mountain Valley Pipeline proposes expansion into N.C. (AP reports) -- Developers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline announced plans Wednesday to extend the project currently proposed to carry natural gas through West Virginia and Virginia into North Carolina. A news release laid out plans for an extension called MVP Southgate. The new segment would receive gas from the Mountain Valley Pipeline mainline in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and extend approximately 70 miles (113 kilometers) south to new delivery points in Rockingham and Alamance counties in North Carolina.

TRISTA TALTON: Superfund Site Ideas Honor Town’s Heritage (Coastal Review analysis) -- Concepts presented Tuesday for redeveloping Navassa’s former creosote plant site include not only commercial lots but also recreational amenities and features that recognize the town’s history and culture.

JEFF HAMPTON: Corolla's wild horses need new genetic mix to maintain herd. A new stallion is their hope (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports) -- A chocolate brown stud named Gus doesn’t know it, but his amorous advances are the hope of Corolla’s wild horses. The young stallion from a wild horse herd in North Carolina’s Shackleford Banks offers the promise of a greater genetic mix in Corolla, especially if the population must decrease to accommodate a shrinking habitat in Currituck’s northern Outer Banks.

BRYAN MIMS: Raleigh woman shares story of blind horse who helped others see hope (WRAL-TV reports) -- A Raleigh woman said she was so captivated by a horse that she felt compelled to share his story with the world.

SETH BERKMAN: Diamond DeShields’s Path to the W.N.B.A. Took Her From Tennessee to Turkey (New York Times reports) -- A blue-chip talent from a family of elite athletes, Diamond DeShields has long had the pedigree of a can’t-miss prospect. But an irregular route to Thursday’s W.N.B.A. draft has instead made her a wild card. Despite garnering multiple national freshman of the year awards, DeShields departed after only one season with the Tar Heels, later admitting she acted like a “knucklehead” as a freshman. She transferred to Tennessee, where her mother, Tisha, was an All-American heptathlete (her father, Delino, played 13 years in the major leagues and her brother Delino Jr. is an outfielder with the Texas Rangers.) Expected to lead the Lady Volunteers back to national prominence, DeShields scored 1,018 points in two seasons, but Tennessee failed to advance past the regional finals of the N.C.A.A. tournament.