Opinion Roundup: Councilman Williams refuses to resign, student loan reform, gender pay gap, prison opioid programs and more

Tuesday, April 10, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Fayetteville City Councilman Tyrone Williams refuses to resign, Facebook tells Trump political bloggers they are 'unsafe to the community,' new prison program helps lower overdose deaths, handling the gender pay gap and more.

MATTHEW BURNS: Lawmakers top Cooper in battle over school vouchers, court size, spending (WRAL-TV reports) -- State lawmakers notched a series of wins Monday in their ongoing power struggle with Gov. Roy Cooper.

GARY ROBERTSON: Judges rule for GOP in latest power struggle with governor (AP reports) -- North Carolina state judges favored Republican legislative leaders in the latest batch of rulings over laws that Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has sued over by complaining that they unconstitutionally eroded his authority.

TYLER STOCKS: Black Pitt County sheriff's candidate campaign sign vandalized (Greenville Daily Reflector) -- Authorities in North Carolina say an investigation is underway after a campaign sign for a black candidate for sheriff in Pitt County was vandalized. Pictures of the sign show it had been spray-painted with the words "VOTE NO" and a Confederate flag sticker with the words "I Support Confederate Heritage" placed over Democrat Maj. Paula Dance's face. An "X'' was spray painted over a badge on the sign.

AMES ALEXANDER & GAVIN OFF: Big changes are coming to notorious NC prison. Will they end Lanesboro's problems? (Charlotte Observer) -- Lanesboro Correctional Institution, one of North Carolina’s most dangerous and understaffed prisons, will soon be converted to a women’s prison - a major change that state leaders hope will improve safety and security. Lanesboro, a maximum-security prison located about 45 miles southeast of Charlotte, will also be getting a new name: Anson Correctional Institution. For years, Lanesboro has been roiled by violence and corruption. Dozens of officers and inmates have been attacked there since it opened in January 2004. At least eight Lanesboro officers were caught bringing in drugs, cellphones and tobacco from early 2013 to early 2017.

MARTHA WAGGONER: Poor People's Campaign to begin 40 days of action next month (AP Reports) -- Organizers rekindling an economic justice effort the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was planning when he was killed say many of the protesters and marchers in the Poor People's Campaign are likely to look like Amy Jo Hutchison of West Virginia.

REBECCA MARTINEZ: Gender Pay Gap Remains For Women In N.C. (WUNC-FM) -- Tomorrow is Equal Pay Day, a day that symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year. The progressive National Partnership for Women and Families analyzed Census data and determined that North Carolina women earn about 82 cents on the dollar compared with men.

LAURA LESLIE & GILBERT BAEZ: Fayetteville councilman recorded asking for money says he will not resign (WRAL-TV reports) -- Fayetteville City Councilman Tyrone Williams said that he will not resign in the wake of a recording in which he is heard asking for money to make a title issue with the Prince Charles Hotel go away.

GREG BARNES & MONICA VENDITUOLI: Fayetteville Councilman Williams: ‘I will not resign’ (Fayetteville Observer reports) -- Fayetteville City Councilman Tyrone Williams refused to resign Monday night, despite requests from every other council member and the mayor for him to step down immediately for what they called unethical behavior. In front of a packed room that applauded at times, Williams’ colleagues each implored him

MYRON B. PITTS: No surprise that defiant Williams won’t resign (Fayetteville Observer column) – Tyrone Williams says with a straight face he will ‘work hard to be the kind of councilman my constituents deserve and respect.’ The people deserve a real public servant.

MONICA LALIBERTE & JEAN SORBER SMITH: Match to win? AG warns against Money Carlo car dealership scam (WRAL-TV reports) -- Match to win. It sounds simple, but the Money Carlo Match to Win game was not that clear cut.

PAUL WOOLVERTON: Facebook ‘tells’ Hoke County’s Diamond and Silk, Trump’s political bloggers are ‘unsafe’ (Fayetteville Observer reports) -- The Diamond and Silk political video bloggers from Hoke County are making national headlines this week because they say Facebook has told them they are “unsafe to the community.” This has brought accusations that Facebook has a left-wing or liberal political bias — Diamond and Silk are hardcore supporters of President Donald Trump.

JESSICA PATRICK: Something to chew on? Charlotte in top 20 cities for mail carrier dog attacks (WRAL-TV reports) -- Chances are, you'll check your mailbox this week without a passing thought. But, for thousands of postal service workers across the United States, April 8-14 is National Dog Bite Prevention Week. According to the United States Postal Service, mail carriers were attacked by dogs a total of 6,244 times in 2017 -- a decrease of 500 attacks from 2016. In 2018, USPS officials want to continue improving those numbers by spreading the word about how dog owners can help protect their mail carriers.

GILBERT BAEZ: Authorities raid Hoke businesses, seize gaming machines (WRAL-TV reports) -- Hoke County deputies raided two Raeford businesses on and seized dozens of illegal gaming machines.

KIRK ROSS: Sputtering debate over NC internet access may have new urgency (Carolina Public Press) -- Talk of spreading broadband internet access to the far reaches of North Carolina as an economic development engine and an equalizer in the education divide is as old as dial-up service and squawking modems. A legislative proposal to overhaul North Carolina’s broadband rules may accelerate the long-sputtering debate over the state’s role in ensuring access to high-speed internet service.

MATTHEW BURNS: Squeeze tube maker picks Wilson for US headquarters, plant (WRAL-TV reports) -- A Swiss company that makes plastic and foil tubes for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries will make Wilson the site of its North American headquarters and first U.S. manufacturing plant.

BILL HAND: Human trafficking symposium opens with survivor’s story (New Bern Sun Journal) -- The first of a two-day symposium on human trafficking opened Tuesday with one woman’s story of her escape from a life of slavery at a diplomat’s home near Washington. The North Carolina Human Trafficking Commission put the free symposium together,

D.G. MARTIN: Justice Ginsburg in Durham (Winston-Salem Journal column) -- “I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks,” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told me the other day in Durham.

NC had role in U.S. torture and rendition. Public deserves to know more (Charlotte Observer column) -- Sen. Richard Burr should declassify report on CIA before Senate votes on nomination of Gina Haspel to be CIA director.

VALERIE STRAUSS: N.C. educator takes on critic who said teachers have it easy and should stop complaining (Washington Post column) -- "Please allow me as a North Carolina educator to provide some insight."

JOHN R. BROOKS: Don’t Let the G.O.P. Dismantle Obama’s Student Loan Reforms (New York Times column) -- One of the most important — but least known — achievements of the Obama administration was the expansion of the income-driven repayment program for federal student loans. The program aims to make student loan payments affordable for everyone, regardless of their income. But Republicans, in their endless quest to undo everything Mr. Obama did, are now trying to dismantle the program under the guise of reform, citing misleading claims of high costs and low effectiveness. Emboldened, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-NC, sponsored the Prosper Act, which has passed out of committee in the House. Under the bill, new borrowers would pay 50 percent more per month and would no longer have their loans forgiven after 20 to 25 years of repayment. The bill would also drastically cut the amount that can be borrowed for graduate school.

KAYLA NORVILLE: North Carolina must pay teachers what they deserve (EdNC column) -- West Virginia teachers got a raise, and which they truly deserve. What about North Carolina? North Carolina must wake up! There is a teacher shortage, and I do not foresee it getting better with current trends. There are many things that need to change in order for effective teachers to want to stay in North Carolina, but higher pay is the right way to begin the shift to teacher retention. We have to pay teachers what they deserve.

ALEX GRANADOS: NC drops in 4th grade math NAEP scores; other subject scores hold steady (EdNC reports) -- North Carolina saw a drop in fourth grade math on the most recent release of The National Assessment of Educational Progress — also known as “The Nation’s Report Card.”

GARY ROBERTSON: Psychologists say early help could deter school violence (AP reports) -- Hiring more psychologists and guidance counselors would help school officials identify students with mental health challenges sooner and deter serious violence, professionals in those fields told legislators.

ANALISA SORRELLS: Subcommittee on student health: More school psychologists needed to keep schools safe (EdNC) -- Schools and districts are doing the best they can to support students despite severely limited school health personnel, according to presentations of the first meeting of the student health subcommittee of the House Select Committee on School Safety.

SCOTT JASCHIK: University Presidents Back Free Speech (Inside Higher Ed) -- A new poll of college presidents finds strong support for free expression on campus, and strong opposition to the tactic -- seen on a number of campuses in the last year -- of shouting down controversial speakers. The poll of 471 college presidents was released today by the American Council on Education. Seventy-eight percent of those responding were at four-year colleges and universities. The poll follows a recent poll by Gallup and the Knight Foundation that found college students value a diverse and inclusive environment more than free speech.

STEPHANIE CARSON: NC Businesses Join Call to Preserve Wildlife Funding (Public News Service reports) -- Almost 100 North Carolina businesses and conservation groups sent a letter to the state's congressional delegation this week, urging them to support the bipartisan Recovering America's Wildlife Act (HR 4647). The legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., and Rep. David Rowser, R-N.C., would allocate funds already collected from oil and gas companies and secure the money for state wildlife conservation agencies across the country.

TRAVIS FAIN: State to judge: Chemours lied about GenX (WRAL-TV reports) -- The filing contains some of the strongest language yet from the state, which has been building a case against Chemours over emissions of GenX and other poorly understood chemicals used to make water-resistant products.

Changing auto standards is a shift into reverse (Greensboro News & Record) -- The latest target in the Trump administration’s drive to roll back sensible regulations and undo major policies implemented by President Barack Obama is fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks.

Piehler to Lead Institute for Environment (Coastal Review reports) -- Michael Piehler, current interim executive director of the UNC Coastal Studies Institute in Wanchese and professor at UNC Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, has been named director of UNC Institute for the Environment.

COREY DAVIS: Braswell opens free-roam egg farm (Rocky Mount Telegram) -- The second largest franchisee of Eggland’s Best in the Twin Counties has created its first pasture-raised farm. Braswell Family Farms in Nashville, which has supplied eggs and animal feed products since 1943, completed its first pasture-raised farm.

JENNIFER MCDERMOTT: Health officials say prison program helps lower overdose deaths (AP reports) -- An expanded program to treat prisoners for opioid addiction helped lower the number of accidental drug overdose deaths in Rhode Island in 2017 after years of steady increases, state health officials said. esearchers from Brown University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that the addiction treatment program was leading to a drop in post-incarceration overdose deaths. They published a study in February in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry. Though overdose deaths decreased overall last year in Rhode Island, deaths from the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl increased by about 5 percent. There were 205 fentanyl-related deaths.

THOMAS GOLDSMITH: NC’s Star Rating System for Assisted Living Homes Gets Close Scrutiny (N.C.Health News) -- A multi-disciplinary team mandated last year by the General Assembly is studying whether the state’s four-star system for assisted living centers should be modified or scrapped.