Opinion Roundup: Election maps plan draws polar opposite responses

Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017 -- A roundup of opinion, commentary and analysis on a review of a draft election maps proposal, a county still waiting for Hurricane Matthew funding, some new hires at the Department of Public Instruction and more.

​TAFT WIREBACK: Commenters take aim at draft election maps (Greensboro News & Record analysis) -- Both sides gave wildly different takes Friday on a court-appointed consultant's initial attempt at fixing the North Carolina General Assembly's problem with racial gerrymandering. The responses were polar opposites, with lawyers for 31 aggrieved voters from across the state taking a generally positive view of the plan and offering constructive criticism of new state House and Senate voting maps proposed by "special master" Nathaniel Persily.

​GARY ROBERTSON: GOP lawmakers tell expert to leave legislative maps alone (AP analysis) -- North Carolina Republican legislative leaders balked again Friday at having an outside expert redraw some House and Senate district boundaries and argued lines approved over the summer by the General Assembly should stay untouched for next year's elections.

​Burr, Tillis say no to a bad nominee (Greensboro News & Record) -- North Carolina’s senators finally said no. More Republicans should do the same.

​Not all NCAA Champs Visit White House (New York Times analysis) -- There were wrestlers from Pennsylvania, bowlers from Illinois and skiers from Utah. There were two teams from the University of Maryland and four from the University of Oklahoma. Each team — 18 in all — had won an NCAA championship, and each arrived at the White House to be recognized by, and photographed with, President Trump. … The North Carolina men’s basketball team — whose coach, Roy Williams, has been publicly critical of Trump — begged off, citing a scheduling conflict. The women’s basketball champions from South Carolina did not appear, either. Their coach, Dawn Staley, pointed out in September that her team, which won its title in April, had yet to be invited. She and her players stayed home and practiced. “The only invitation we’re thinking about,” Staley said, “is to the 2018 NCAA tournament.”

​PETER BAKER: In Mocking Franken, Trump Ignores His Own History (New York Times analysis) -- Last fall, a recording was made public of Donald Trump boasting about groping women, followed by a succession of women who said it was more than bragging. A typical politician might not have taken to Twitter to mock Sen. Al Franken for similar accusations, but Trump has made the atypical choice a common one.

​JENNIFER BOWMAN: Buncombe County tallies $577K in equestrian-related payments, notes 'discrepancies' (Asheville Citizen-Times analysis) -- Buncombe County officials acknowledged a payment made two years ago to the Tryon Equestrian Center was $100,000 more than previously reported by former manager Wanda Greene. The county said that it paid the Polk County center $125,000 on June 5, 2015. That differs from a copy of a the same invoice Greene provided a little more than a year ago, which indicated the county paid $25,000. Chairman Brownie Newman said the payments were never approved by commissioners and that the invoice was doctored.

​EDDIE FITZGERALD: Lenoir County still waits on federal funds (Kinston Free Press analysis) -- It has been a year since Hurricane Matthew damaged or destroyed at least 200 properties in Kinston and Lenoir County and officials are still waiting on federal funding for the buyout program.

​TRAVIS FAIN: State investigating chemical leak into air at Chemours plant (WRAL-TV analysis) -- State regulators are investigating a reported chemical leak into the air at the Chemours plant in Bladen County, where officials have already threatened a key company permit over liquid discharges into the Cape Fear River.

​STEVE DEVANE: Chemours says move to revoke permit ‘unwarranted’ (Fayetteville Observer analysis) -- The company that owns a Bladen County plant said the state’s effort to revoke the facility’s wastewater discharge permit is unwarranted.

​TIM BUCKLAND: Sutton coal ash cleanup continues (Wilmington Star-News analysis) -- Duke Energy moving ash to landfills at New Hanover plant site

​CATHERINE CLABBY: Attacking Cockroaches With Better Science (N.C. Health News) -- To limit cockroach infestations and their health threats, think like a bug, says an urban entomologist from NC State, then use human smarts to kill them.

​World Toilet Day: Duke Engineers Tackle the Global Sanitation Crisis (Duke U. News analysis) -- On Sunday the world will turn its attention to the lowly—yet incredibly important—toilet bowl. World Toilet Day was created in 2013 by the United Nations General Assembly to inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. Today, 4.5 billion people live without a household toilet that safely disposes of their waste. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge in 2011. Grants were awarded to develop innovative approaches for the safe and sustainable management of human waste. Duke University researchers have been tasked with establishing a new Sanitation Technology Cluster, which will go beyond toilet designs to fill various gaps in sanitation solutions.

​KELLY HINCHCLIFFE: NC superintendent hires staff for new early education, school business positions (WRAL-TV analysis) -- State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson announced Friday that he has added two people to his leadership team at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

​​AND MORE

​BETH VELLIQUETTE: Mountain of sweet potatoes given away for free (Greenville Daily Reflector column) -- Forty-five thousands pounds of free sweet potatoes sat waiting. With buckets, carts, coolers, crates, hampers, and buckets, people tried to load up with as many as they could in Bethel. The sweet potatoes, donated to food banks by farmers, were distributed by the Churches Outreach Network at Mt. Zion Holiness Church.​