Opinion Roundup: Bishop captures GOP nomination, business income tax cuts, Moravian cookies and more

Wednesday, May 15, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Bishop captures GOP nomination in do-over 9th District primary, NC revenue surplus lowered slightly, Cooper seeks even more funds for post-Florence recovery, deadline postponed for dealing with UNC Confederate statue and more.

FELICIA SONMEZ & AMY GARDNER: Republican voters nominate state lawmaker who sponsored controversial HB2 in 9th Congressional District race (Washington Post reports) – State Sen. Dan Bishop (R) will face veteran and business executive Dan McCready (D) in September’s do-over election in the scandal-plagued 9th Congressional District, after last year’s results were thrown out amid allegations of election fraud. Bishop, the lead sponsor of the controversial “bathroom bill,” bested nine other Republican candidates in the race to replace 2018 nominee Mark Harris on the ballot, capturing 47 percent of the vote and avoiding a runoff. McCready ran unopposed on the Democratic side.

VALERIE BAUERLEIN: Republican Dan Bishop Wins Do-Over N.C. House Primary (Wall Street Journal reports) -- The GOP avoided a runoff in the primary for the do-over Ninth Congressional District race as State Sen. Dan Bishop won with more than 30% of the vote.

EMERY DALESIO: 'Bathroom bill' sponsor Bishop wins 9th District GOP primary (AP reports) -- A state senator best known as the sponsor of a headline-grabbing "bathroom bill" that voided anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people won Tuesday's Republican primary in a special election for a congressional seat vacant since last year's race was deemed tainted by fraud.

RUSTY JACOBS: Sponsor Of 'Bathroom Bill' Could Represent NC In Congress (WUNC-FM reports) -- State Sen. Dan Bishop (R-Mecklenburg) beat out nine other candidates in Tuesday's Republican primary in N.C.'s 9th Congressional District. Bishop won handily, garnering more than 47 percent of the vote, thereby avoiding the need for a primary runoff. The Mecklenburg attorney was the most well-funded of the crowded GOP field, helped, in part, by lending his own campaign $250,000. Bishop will need a well-stocked war chest in the general election, set for September 10. Bishop faces three other candidates: Democrat Dan McCready, Libertarian Jeff Scott, and Green Party member Allen Smith.

MATTHEW BURNS & MARK BOYLE: Bishop captures GOP nomination in do-over 9th District primary (WRAL-TV reports) -- State Sen. Dan Bishop easily won the Republican nomination for the 9th Congressional District in Tuesday's special primary.

JIM MORRILL: Republican Dan Bishop wins NC District 9 GOP primary to face Democrat Dan McCready (Charlotte Observer reports) -- State Sen. Dan Bishop easily won Tuesday’s 9th District Republican primary, three months after state officials took the unprecedented step of throwing out a 2018 election marred by fraud allegations. Bishop will face Democrat Dan McCready and two third-party candidates on Sept. 10 in what’s expected to be the nation’s most closely watched special election.

TRAVIS FAIN: Bad absentee ballot language sent to some 9th District voters (WRAL-TV reports) -- Language failed to mention a limit on who can mail ballots, a major issue in last year's tossed-out results.

GARY ROBERTSON: NC revenue surplus lowered slightly, still largest in years (AP reports) -- Much of the surge in N.C. income tax collections this spring can't be counted on to repeat in 2020 and 2021, state government economists said. That could limit options on further spending or tax breaks in the upcoming two-year budget. An updated examination of April tax collections by legislative staff and Gov. Roy Cooper's budget office forecasts a $643 million surplus for the year ending June 30, according to separate memos from the executive and legislative branches. That's 2.7% above what was anticipated last summer when the current-year state budget was finalized.

Craft beer sales deal on tap for Senate panel (AP reports) -- A proposed agreement reached between N.C. alcohol wholesalers and small breweries over who distributes their beer as they grow is on tap in a state Senate committee.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Tax Cuts (The Insider reports) -- A package of personal and business income tax cuts backed by legislative Republicans got a few minor tweaks as it passed the Senate Finance Committee. Senate Bill 622 would raise the standard deduction for personal income taxpayers by 3.75 percent starting in 2021, and it would reduce franchise taxes on businesses while requiring online "marketplace facilitators," such as eBay, to collect sales taxes. Nearly identical provisions were included in the House budget, and Tuesday's vote is an indication the Senate is moving in the same direction.

LAURA LESLIE: Business tax cuts in House budget likely to be part of Senate plan as well (WRAL-TV reports) -- A package of proposed tax cuts already in the House budget is working its way through the Senate.

Electric vehicle, hybrid owners may dodge higher fees (Fayetteville Observer) -- Owners of electric vehicles and hybrids, that use a combination of gas and electricity, sometimes feel unappreciated or even targeted by the General Assembly. But springtime has brought some good news from Raleigh for EV and hybrid owners. For starters, EV drivers earlier this month may have dodged a big tax increase cooked up by Republican Sen. Jim Davis.

State public safety secretary gets $23K raise (AP reports) -- Gov. Roy Cooper's public safety chief received a $23,000 salary increase in April in part based on the secretary's growing workload. The raise frustrated some concerned about correctional officer pay and the Cabinet agency.

TYLER DUKES: State public safety chief gets 15 percent raise, spurs wave of criticism (WRAL-TV reports) -- The head of the state Department of Public Safety, charged with overseeing everything from prisons to the state's response to emergencies, quietly received a $23,000 pay bump in April as the legislature geared up to debate the future of the state's largest agency.

DOUGLAS PRICE: Why Medicaid (EdNC column) -- On a regular basis, teachers serve students who fall into categories of homelessness and poverty that propel them into lives without quality health and access to services. Our students deserve access to quality health benefits that will help create a healthier and more stable environment for learning from birth through their school career. Further research has proven the long term benefits of expanding programs such as Medicaid. In eduspeak, we call this being a part of the whole-child. If we are to be a state that is a catalyst toward equity in education (as I pray we will be), then we must consider the long term benefits to expand our Medicaid reach.

ALEX GRANADOS: Survivor: Crossover edition (EdNC reports) -- Last week was crossover at the General Assembly. That means that legislation has to either have a financial component or it must have passed at least one of the two chambers in the legislature. If it didn’t do one of those things, then it’s dead.

RICHARD CRAVER: Legislation would allow dogs — and cats — in N.C. breweries that don't offer food (Winston-Salem Journal reports) -- An effort to allow dogs and cats to accompany their owners into breweries in NC is still alive in the General Assembly in Raleigh. Since late 2018, the Forsyth County Department of Public Health has stepped up enforcement of a state food code that bars pets from craft breweries and taprooms.

Moravian cookies: sweet representation (Winston-Salem Journal) -- One bill making its way through the state legislature right now is guaranteed to leave a good taste in the mouths of voters throughout the state. It designates the Moravian cookie as the official cookie of NC.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Strach Ouster (The Insider reports) -- Two of the state's election watchdog groups are neither endorsing nor opposing Monday's leadership shake-up at the State Board of Elections. The elections board voted 3-2 along party lines to oust executive director Kim Strach, who was appointed when Republicans controlled the board, and replace her with Karen Brinson Bell, a former elections board director for Transylvania County. When asked about its reaction to the move, Democracy NC spokeswoman Jen Jones issued a brief statement that said "regardless of who's in leadership at the State Board of Elections, our job is to be a nonpartisan advocate for voters and we're going to do that."

NC Democrats’ ugly double-standard on Kim Strach (Charlotte Observer) -- Kim Strach, the executive director of the state Board of Elections, was doing a good job before she got fired Monday. She’d helped guide the board through the minefield of the 9th Congressional District election fraud scandal. She’d offered strong suggestions to lawmakers about preventing future fraud, and some of those recommendations became part of a truly bi-partisan N.C. House bill. So why did Strach get shown the door? It’s because she is not a Democrat and the Board of Elections is majority Democrat. It’s legal. It’s happened before. And it’s wrong.

MAGGIE HABERMAN & NICHOLAS FANDOS: Donald Trump Jr. Strikes Deal for ‘Limited’ Interview With Intelligence Committee (New York Times reports) -- Donald Trump Jr. and the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee reached a deal for the president’s eldest son to return for a time-limited private interview with senators in the coming weeks, an accord that should cool a heated intraparty standoff. The deal came after an aggressive push by the younger Mr. Trump’s allies, who accused the Intelligence Committee’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., of caving to Democrats by issuing a subpoena for his testimony. They called the effort a political hit job against the White House, using the president’s son as fodder. The accusations — and accompanying pushback by Mr. Burr to his Republican colleagues — amounted to an unusually public spat for a panel that has toiled for nearly two years on a bipartisan investigation into Russia’s 2016 election interference efforts that has been largely free of partisan politics.

AMANDA MORRIS: Cooper seeks even more funds for post-Florence recovery (AP reports) -- Federal housing authorities awarded more than $336 million to N.C. to address damaged housing, businesses and infrastructure brought on by Hurricane Florence, but the governor said that wasn't enough.

KATE MARTIN: Removal of Cherokee children draws lawsuit, criminal charges possible (Carolina Public Press reports) -- Dozens of children in Cherokee County faced unlawful removal from their families until the state stepped in late in 2017, according to state officials and a federal lawsuit from affected families. Now, the state Department of Justice is considering criminal charges against Cindy Palmer, the Cherokee County Department of Social Service’s former director, and possibly others. At the same time, the plaintiffs’ lawyers in the federal suit are seeking class-action status, alleging a series of rights violations against a potentially substantial number of families who were not identified in the State Bureau of Investigation’s probe of the situation.

Hendersonville forum addresses gender discrimination (Hendersonville Times-News reports) -- Supporters, and opponents, of North Carolina ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment gathered at the Henderson County Public Library for a forum that featured stories from local women who have experienced gender discrimination

State patrol highlights law for cars to move over (AP reports) – N.C. law officers are trying to spread the word that motorists are required to change lanes or slow down when they near stopped patrol cars flashing emergency lights.

REBECCA MARTINEZ: Healing Property: Benevolence Farm Leads Women Out of Prison And Back to The Land (WUNC-FM reports) -- A nonprofit in Alamance County is celebrating the second anniversary of its working farm. Benevolence Farm provides housing and jobs for N.C. women as they leave prison. The state Department of Public Safety says women make up a small, but growing portion of N.C.'s prison population. Nearly 4,000 women are released every year, and they need to figure out what to do next, with a record. Some organizations offer services to ease the reentry to society, but DPS records show about 10 percent of women end up back behind bars within two years.

GINGER LIVINGSTON: Supreme Court's visit to county provide glimpse of legal proceedings (Greenville Daily Reflector reports) -- Settling debt as part of a divorce proceeding and questioning a witness facing criminal charges showed Pitt County residents the range of legal issues the state Supreme Court must decide.

Plans and fundraising moving forward for the 2020 GOP convention in Charlotte (Charlotte Observer reports) -- The head of Charlotte’s host committee for the 2020 Republican National Convention said Tuesday the group is “way ahead” of earlier conventions in fundraising. That would be in marked contrast to the 2012 Democratic convention.

EDUCATION

Youth who took on shooters rightly hailed as heroes; do-nothing politicians, not so much (Greensboro News & Record) -- It’s right to honor the heroes who bravely sacrifice their lives. But how much better it would be — for them, their families and everyone — if they weren’t placed in the awful position of deciding whether to fight a killer. How much better it would be if our children weren’t growing up fearful of gunmen at their schools? How much better it would be if our politicians could muster more courage in standing up to the gun lobby?

ROBBIE HARMS: You Really Can’t Go Home Again (New York Times column) -- Near the end of a cold run along the worn, red bricks of my alma mater, I turned to my friend. “Life here,” I said, with more than a hint of sadness, “just kind of moves on.” This was three months ago, nearly four years after I had graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill, and the symbolism was not lost on me. By Mother’s Day, I knew, an entire class of students who began college after I had graduated would have ambled across the stage, shaken hands with their department heads, and Instagrammed a graduation picture with their mothers. That’s what happened this weekend in Chapel Hill, and the scene will likely look similar on college campuses across the country this month.

Deadline postponed for dealing with UNC Confederate statue (AP reports) -- The board governing North Carolina's public universities has again pushed back its deadline for deciding what to do with a Confederate monument at its flagship campus.

Time to Change Charter Funding (Southern Pines Pilot) -- Moore County needs to reckon with how it funds its students who attend charter schools. It might not be this year, but sometime soon, revision to the process is essential. Because failure to change is putting all our schoolchildren at a disadvantage.

ANNE BLYTHE: Will NC dig its teeth into teledentistry? (NC Health News reports) -- Shaun Matthews, director of telehealth at UNC’s dental school, is working with others to provide dental care remotely through real-time consultations and other teledentistry models.

THOMAS GOLDSMITH: Adult incontinence products: An undeniable, expensive need for many older people (NC Health News reports) -- Adult incontinence comes as an unwelcome symptom of dementia & numerous other conditions, but they're pricey and often people don't want to admit the need.

ELIZABETH FRIEND: Clean Energy Generated More Than $28B Statewide Since 2007 (WUNC-FM reports) -- A new report shows the economic impact of more than a decade of clean energy investment in the state. The study from the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association finds clean energy development projects generated more than $28.2 billion dollars statewide since 2007. Daniel Brookshire, the NCSEA's regulatory and policy analyst, said the solar industry, in particular, continues to grow, despite the expiration of state tax incentives. According to the report, North Carolina spent $1.2 billion on incentives for clean energy through 2018 and took in an additional $1.4 billion in revenue from clean energy projects.

JENNIFER ALLEN: Drilling Opponents Set to Join Hands (Coastal Review reports) -- Volunteer coordinators Sabrina Hylton, director of guest services at Emerald Isle Realty, Sue Stone of Emerald Isle and Valerie Johnson of Cedar Point were wrapping up last week final plans for Emerald Isle’s Hands Across the Sand to take place at Bogue Inlet Pier starting at noon Saturday.

NADIA RAMIAGAN: Permeable Fencing Helps Make NC Solar Farms Wildlife-Friendly (Public News Service reports) -- Permeable fencing could help make solar-energy facilities more wildlife-friendly. The Nature Conservancy, along with the N.C. Pollinator Conservation Alliance and other groups, has teamed up with solar companies to figure out how to better integrate solar farms into the landscape. Around 40 acres of land in the state are being used to harvest solar energy, a number that is expected to increase. On these sites, hundreds of solar panels generate electricity that's fed into a grid, supplying consumers with clean energy.

A city-county survival plan for the ‘new normal’ (Fayetteville Observer) -- Cumberland County officials are taking the climate scientists seriously. Good thing. It might be cheaper in the short haul to embrace the thinking of the climate-change skeptics or the naysayers. It would be easier to keep government’s official head buried in the sand. But in the years ahead, the cost could be devastating.

NEEL KELLER: ‘There’s something in the atmosphere,’ ‘Lost Colony’ director prepares for new season (Outer Banks Sentinel reports) -- As The Lost Colony gears up for the May 31 debut of its 82nd season at Waterside Theatre on Roanoke Island, new actors will be taking over most of the roles, including several principal ones.