Opinion

Opinion Roundup: Fayetteville city councilman resigns, NC among hardest hit by Facebook scandal, re-segregation of schools and more

Friday, May 4, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Embattled Fayetteville City Councilman Tyrone Williams resigns, NC one of the hardest hit states in the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, local doctor caught prescribing high doses of opiates, DEQ settles civil rights complaints over hog farm permits and more.

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Fayetteville City Councilman Tyrone Williams
Friday, May 4, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Embattled Fayetteville City Councilman Tyrone Williams resigns, NC one of the hardest hit states in the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, local doctor caught prescribing high doses of opiates, DEQ settles civil rights complaints over hog farm permits and more.
CAMPAIGN 2018
GARY ROBERTSON: N.C. to decide on GOP representative bucking Trump (AP reports) -- U.S. Rep. Walter Jones is an unconventional congressman, a Republican almost eager to buck ruling party leaders on issues like the soaring national debt and enduring military presence in Iraq. But his recent votes against the tax overhaul and a "repeal and replace" plan for President Barack Obama's health care law have conservatives in the state's 3rd Congressional District questioning whether he's doing more harm than good, especially for President Donald Trump. That's opened the doors for Republican challengers, who may have one last chance to pick off the 12-term representative.
Just stay civil and go vote (Hendersonville Times-News) -- It’s great when people are passionate about the candidates they support, but not when those passions boil over in the form of yelling and fighting. A shouting match nearly came to blows between an electioneer supporting Sheriff Charles McDonald and supporters of his GOP primary opponent, Lowell Griffin. People on both sides filed complaints with the Board of Elections, prompting officials to keep a closer eye on the behavior of electioneers outside polling places.
TIM ALBERTA: James O’Keefe Gets No Respect, conservative wanted journalists to take him seriously. They never did, now he’s out for blood (Politico reports) -- It has come to this for James O’Keefe. Marginalized by the media, despised by the left and banished from polite political company, the man who still longs for legitimacy as a journalist sees his foxhole so scarcely populated that he partners with known liars in the name of spreading truth.
SABRINA TAVERNISE & ROBERT GEBELOFF: Can Democrats Win Over Obama Voters Who Chose Trump? (New York Times analysis) -- Swing voters, critical to Mr. Trump’s win, dislike the president’s personality but are mostly satisfied with his policies. For now.
TRAVIS FAIN: NC elections board rejects residency challenge against state senator (WRAL-TV reports) -- Sen. Ben Clark, D-Hoke, says he lives with his parents near Raeford, while his opponent says he lives outside the district in Cumberland County.
North Carolina board upholds ruling – Sen. Ben Clark lives with his parents (AP reports) -- North Carolina's election board has sided with state Sen Ben Clark a legislator over a complaint that alleged he didn't live in the district in which he was running in next week's primary.
MICHAEL FUTCH: State board rejects residency challenge against Clark (Fayetteville Observer reports) -- The State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement upheld a local elections panel ruling that state Sen. Ben Clark lives in the district where he is running for reelection. The board voted 7-1 to reject a residency challenge against Clark.
GREG COLLARD: It's Round 2 of Pittenger vs. Harris in 9th District GOP Congressional Race (WUNC-FM reports) -- Mark Harris has become a familiar name on the Republican ballot in North Carolina. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014, losing to Thom Tillis. Two years ago, he lost to Robert Pittenger in the primary race for the 9th district in Congress by just 134 votes. This year, Harris is back for another shot at Pittenger. Both say the circumstances are different and in their favor for next week’s primary.
CAMMIE BELLAMY: Rouzer meets student March for Our Lives activists (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- Passionate students asked the congressman about NRA support, gun reform
BRUCE HENDERSON: A tracking device, SBI probe and sealed records spice sheriff's race (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Claims that a former narcotics officer stalked an ex-girlfriend with a tracking device, a politically charged investigation and a media fight to open sealed court records are stirring up Tuesday's election of a new Catawba County sheriff.
POLICY & POLITICS
SARAH KRUEGER: House Education Committee chairman: 'We need to raise average teacher pay' (WRAL-TV reports) -- Every day, more North Carolina teachers are telling their school districts that they will not be in the classroom on May 16. Instead, they'll be in Raleigh, arguing for better pay and more resources as the General Assembly's session begins.
Sheriff had to serve warrant on DA's employee (Hickory Daily Record) -- Was the arrest of a part-time employee in District Attorney David Learner’s office politically motivated? Probably. Does that make it wrong? No.
TRAVIS FAIN: With an eye on Amazon, how crucial are new LGBT protections? (WRAL-TV reports) -- Gov. Cooper reiterates his call for anti-discrimination legislation, but nothing is in the offing.
Williams does the right thing (Fayetteville Observer) -- That loud exhaling sound heard across downtown Fayetteville Thursday was a collective sigh of relief. After several months of disruption, distraction and growing damage, City Councilman Tyrone Williams submitted his resignation. It was yet another sudden change of direction in a saga that has given Williams’ fellow council members and city staff a case of cognitive whiplash.
GILBERT BAEZ: Embattled Fayetteville councilman resigns (WRAL-TV reports) -- Saying perception appears to matter more than the facts, Fayetteville City Councilman Tyrone Williams, who has been the target of a concerted effort to oust him from office, resigned his seat on the council Thursday.
GREG BARNES: Blaming media ‘attacks,’ Tyrone Williams gives up seat (Fayetteville Observer reports) -- Describing himself as a victim of “false and misleading accusations,” Fayetteville City Councilman Tyrone Williams resigned Thursday after nearly four weeks of fending off calls for his removal.
LAUREN OHNESORGE: NC among hardest hit by Facebook scandal – a look at what the company told the state (Triangle Business Journal reports) -- Public records show North Carolina was one of the hardest hit states in the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Sheriff-DA Dispute Threatens Justice (Southern Pines Pilot) -- Whichever side you fall down on in the war of words between Moore County Sheriff Neil Godfrey and District Attorney Maureen Krueger, this much is true: The administration of justice is very much in jeopardy.
Sheriff Releases Detailed Statement Regarding Son's Case (Southern Pines Pilot reports) -- Moore County Sheriff Neil Godfrey, responding to calls for more information regarding an alcohol-related incident two years ago involving his then-deputy son, released a detailed statement Thursday about that event and the subsequent fall-out over it.
EDUCATION
JOHN WARNER: ‘A Nation at Risk’ and the Re-Segregation of Schools (Inside Higher Ed column) -- On the anniversary of “A Nation at Risk” there’s been a lot of discussion about the consequences of the report and its role in launching the assessment and standardization era of school reform. The belief in the benefits of competition to education had no foundation in either historical precedent, nor contemporaneous data, and yet, it became an article of faith so strong, that even after 35 years of failure as evidenced by the school reformers preferred measurements, there are many who continue to cling to it. I think of “A Nation at Risk” as the Gulf of Tonkin incident or “Iraq has WMD’s” of education reform, a decades long war launched by a lie. And like Vietnam and the Iraq invasion, “A Nation at Risk” was motivated not by reason or empirical evidence, but faith and ideology.
JANE STANCILL: UNC leaders reject finding that administrators meddled in sports history class (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt and the Board of Trustees have rejected a faculty grievance committee's report concluding that senior administrators pressured the history department over the scheduling of a class that delved into UNC's athletics scandal.
THOMAS GOLDSMITH: NC Counties Work to Nurture the Child Inside Students (N.C. Health News reports) -- North Carolina’s version of the Whole Child initiative is developing new ideas and collaborations to support public school students in 11 counties across the state.
EMERY DALESIO: NC school board hires operator to take over lagging school (AP reports) -- North Carolina officials agreed to pay an outside organization $100,000 a year to take over a low-performing school — the first time the state has taken over a local public school and given it to a third party to operate. The State Board of Education voted to approve a contract with Achievement for All Children Inc. The Forest City-based nonprofit corporation, created only a year ago, was chosen last month to take over Southside Ashpole Elementary in Robeson County even though consultants who evaluated the group's takeover plan found it deficient in most measurement criteria. The group was required to submit more information, and the board's approval included a requirement for extra oversight.
NC schools chief, board to resist ed agency budget cuts (AP reports) -- North Carolina education officials are asking legislators to hold off on another $5 million budget cut this year, citing results from a nearly $1 million efficiency audit of the state's public schools support agency.
JOE HEIM: Republicans have introduced 25 measures to arm teachers in schools. Only one has succeeded (Washington Post reports) -- President Trump and the NRA called on states to arm teachers as a front-line defense against school shooters days after the Feb. 14 attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. Teachers unions and gun-control activists, however, have strongly opposed the legislation.
BILLY MADDALON: 'Values' bullies are killing LGBTQ children (Charlotte Observer column) -- NC Values Coalition held another LGBTQ protest. The stakes of this bullying are deadly.
HEALTH
KATHRYN BROWN & RANDALL KERR: 'It was a pill mill': Local doctor caught prescribing high doses of opiates (WRAL-TV reports) -- Through enforcement, education and outreach, North Carolina is making headway on the opioid epidemic that killed 12,000 people in our state from 1999 to 2016.
N.C. flu-related deaths reach modern-day record (AP reports) -- State officials say flu-related deaths in North Carolina have reached a modern-day record this season.
ROSE HOBAN: A Place to Call Their Own (N.C. Health News reports) -- GiGi's Playhouse in Raleigh is a place where people with Down Syndrome can learn, grow, make connections and, in the end, just be themselves.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
MATTHEW BURNS: DEQ settles civil rights complaints over hog farm permits (WRAL-TV reports) -- The state Department of Environmental Quality and several environmental groups have settled a dispute over the state's permitting process for large-scale hog farms.
MARK HIBBS: Panel to Advise DEQ on Environmental Justice (Coastal Review reports) -- An advisory board introduced Wednesday at DEQ headquarters in Raleigh is tasked with guiding the agency’s decision making to ensure disadvantaged and minority populations’ interests are considered.
Shareholder rips ‘outrageous’ executive pay and rate hikes at Duke Energy’s annual meeting (Charlotte Business Journal reports) -- Duke Energy Corp. defended CEO Lynn Good’s record $21.4 million 2017 compensation package at Thursday’s annual shareholder meeting.

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