Opinion Roundup: Florence arrives, hurricane shelters packed, sea-level rise and more

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Disaster at the doorstep, flying into the eye of a hurricane, potential flooding of toxic sites, a chance for N.C. to get disaster response right, eastern hospitals not taking any chances, the fate of wild horses, studying sea-level rise and more.

TRAVIS FAIN: Lawmakers prep for special session if needed after Florence (WRAL-TV reports) — State legislators are preparing to come back into session as needed on disaster relief after Hurricane Florence passes. "We are currently preparing for a worst case and are prepared to do our part in supporting the victims of this storm," House Majority Leader John Bell said in a text message Wednesday.

Time to evacuate and hunker down: NC coast preps for Florence (WRAL reports) — During a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Cooper said there are 750,000 to 1 million people under evacuation orders. “If you aren’t under evacuation orders, now’s the time to finish preparations and get ready to hunker down,” Cooper said. “We expect this storm to be with us for days.”

BEN FINLEY: Why NC is vulnerable to hurricanes (AP reports) — NC’s coast is almost entirely made up of narrow, low-lying barrier islands. And a modern wave of tourist-driven development, including acres of pricey vacation homes, has been built in places where it probably should not have been.

PAUL FARHI: In Raleigh, newspaper gutted by cutbacks covers monster storm (Washington Post reports) -- The News & Observer, lauded for 1999 hurricane reporting, now juggles fewer resources.

MANDY MITCHELL: Flying into the eye of Hurricane Florence (WRAL-TV reports) -- A lot of the most precise data that is used to forecast hurricanes is gathered by brave men and women who fly directly into the storm. WRAL's Mandy Mitchell flew through the eye of Hurricane Florence Wednesday with storm trackers from the Air Force Reserve. The 12-hour flight, which began about 5 a.m. at Hilton Head International Airport, was surprisingly smooth. The pilot explained that stronger storms generate less turbulence. He likened it to a spinning top -- when it's spinning at full speed, a top's movement is smooth. It gets wobbly when it slows.

VALERIE BAUERLEIN: In a Plane, Flying Through the Eye of Hurricane Florence (Wall Street Journal reports) -- The Biloxi, Miss.-based Hurricane Hunters fly in and out of tropical cyclones to detect specific information about storms that satellite imagery, storm modeling and other technologies can’t pick up.

ABBIE BENNETT: NC banned a study on sea-level rise. Could it mean more Hurricane Florence destruction? (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- The legislature once banned sea-level rise science lawmakers did not agree with. Now, with Hurricane Florence bearing down, new criticism has arisen for the 2012 decision.

DENISE LAVOIE: NC’s wild horses know how to survive hurricane (AP reports) — For many vacationers on NC’s Outer Banks, a trip there is not complete without at least catching a glimpse of the majestic wild horses that roam the islands. Wildlife experts say they needn't worry. Wild horses are believed to have first settled on the Outer Banks hundreds of years ago and have survived many powerful storms.

MICHAEL BIESECKER: Hurricane could flood many waste sites, creating toxic brew (AP reports) — The heavy rain expected from Hurricane Florence could flood hog manure pits, coal ash dumps and other industrial sites in NC, creating a noxious witches' brew of waste that might wash into homes and threaten drinking water supplies.

LAURA LESLIE: Shelters fill fast with hurricane evacuees (WRAL-TV reports) — A shelter set up at Knightdale High School for people fleeing their homes in Dare and Carteret counties ahead of Hurricane Florence was already at capacity by Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

ROSALIA FODERA: After Hurricane Matthew damage, Robeson prepares for Florence (WRAL reports) — The floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew in 2016 flooded Lumberton’s water plant backup generator and the control room. On Wednesday, crews were working to protect the water plant with a berm and sandbags. People who live in the areas that were hit hard by those floodwaters said they’re not taking any chances with Hurricane Florence coming.

Trump Administration Transferred $9.8 Million From FEMA To ICE (NPR reports) -- The Trump administration transferred nearly $10 million away from the agency that responds to disasters and emergencies, redirecting it toward one of President Trump's top priorities — the deportation of undocumented residents of the U.S. The funds transfer is prompting FEMA to cut training, IT security and infrastructure investments, according to a document released by Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

KRIS MAHER: Hog Farmers in Florence’s Path Working Overtime to Prepare (Wall Street Journal reports) -- With Hurricane Florence headed toward N.C. and the largest concentration of hog farms in the nation, farmers are hastily stockpiling feed, draining waste lagoons and moving animals to higher ground.

WILL BUNCH: N.C. politicians decried the science that makes Florence so dangerous (Fayetteville Observer column) -- For most of the eastern United States, this is a week of high anxiety — fixated on a swirling red, green, and yellow blob at the bottom of the TV screen and the increasing certainty that the most powerful East Coast storm of our lifetimes is going to slam into the coastal Carolinas with a massive storm surge, destructive winds, and biblical flooding. For Dr. Stan Riggs, a somewhat crusty marine geologist at ECU entering his ninth decade on Mother Earth, and for his fellow North Carolina scientists, the expected landfall of Hurricane Florence as a potentially lethal Category 4 or 5 storm later this week is the day they’ve seen coming for a long time. And feared.

CELIA RIVENBARK: Stuck in a Cone of Uncertainty (Wilmington Star News column) — At this exact moment, my home town of Wilmington, N.C., is smack in the middle of the “Cone of Uncertainty,” a hurricane tracking tool that makes me chuckle every time I hear it. It’s like Jim Cantore, the other hurricane tracking tool we love to hate. When he comes anywhere near our town, we scream and storm the liqueur store for reinforcements.

Judges tell GOP to appeal gerrymandering ruling by Oct. 1 (AP reports) — Federal judges have told NC Republican legislators to quickly ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review their ruling that struck down the state's congressional map because it was drawn with excessive partisanship in mind.

With subpoenas, Justice, ICE fish for illegal voting (Elizabeth City Daily Advance) -- Just as election officials across N.C. were celebrating finalization of this fall’s ballot, and finally turning their focus to preparing for the important Nov. 6 mid-term election, the Trump administration’s Justice Department decided to go fishing for phantom illegal voters.

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Reports: Minority Voting Rights Access in the U.S. (News Release) -- The Commission unanimously, calls on Congress to: Amend the VRA to restore and expand protections against discrimination, including federal preclearance; When establishing the reach of an amended VRA preclearance coverage provision, include current evidence of, and historical and persisting patterns of, discrimination; Consider the reality that infringement of voting rights may arise in jurisdictions that do not have extensive histories of discrimination, as minority populations shift; Provide a streamlined remedy to review changes with known risks of discrimination, before they take effect — not after potentially tainted elections. The Commission, unanimously, calls on the Department of Justice to pursue more VRA enforcement to address the aggressive efforts by state and local officials to limit the vote of citizens of color, citizens with disabilities, and those with limited-English proficiency. In North Carolina, we held a public briefing on voting rights, receiving testimony from 23 current and government officials, legal experts, academics, civil society actors, and some 40 members of the public.

Our chance to get disaster response right (Fayetteville Observer) — Nearly two years after Hurricane Matthew brought record-breaking floods to this region, we’re still struggling with public policy issues, still rebuilding, still waiting for the state to release some of the federal relief funding that it has held for much too long.

A police shooting’s sad resolution (Winston-Salem Journal) — There’s no joy or comfort to be found as Winston-Salem police officer Dalton McGuire is cleared for the fatal shooting of Edward Van McCrae — only a sad resolution.

School bus manufacturer to cut 115 workers in N.C. (AP reports) -- School bus manufacturer Thomas Built Buses in High Point has announced that it will be laying off 115 workers at several factories.

GEORGE HOLDING: Tax cuts have our economy roaring (Wilson Times column) -- Ronald Reagan once remarked, “whenever we lower the tax rates, our entire nation is better off.” As it turns out, Dutch’s assessment remains true today.

REGGIE PONDER: Knapp principal taking his 'A game' to Hyde schools (Elizabeth City Daily Advance reports) — The principal who has led J.P. Knapp Early College through four consecutive years as an “A” school on the state’s accountability system is taking on a new challenge as superintendent of the Hyde County Schools.

Guilford County has a lot of intellectual capital (Greensboro News & Record) — In a seminal study in 2000 of Greensboro’s then-middling economy, rudderless vision and drowsy lack of urgency, a consultant tapped city leaders on their shoulders and whispered something they should already have realized: “Nice colleges and universities you got here. Be a shame if nothing were to happen to them.”

ALEX GRANADOS: Randolph Community College on the cutting edge of photography (EdNC reports) — Ranked as one of the best photography programs on the East Coast, Randolph Community College has been teaching photography students for more than 40 years. But RCC’s emphasis is different than some programs in that it wants students not only to know how to take a good photo, but also how to stay afloat financially while they do it.

BEV PERDUE: To improve schools, listen to our teachers (Wilson Times column) -- We know that teachers matter more to student achievement than any other school-related factor, including services, facilities and leadership. Yet for years we’ve forced teachers to work in a broken system without including them in efforts to reform and fix it, and student achievement is suffering as a result.

ALISON KILLY: Lawmakers in Raleigh neglect teachers and parents (Greenville Daily Reflector column) -- I started my teaching career seven years ago to help shape the minds of young children and prepare them for their future. Over the years, I have watched countless young men and women chase their dreams to every corner of the world. I have personally witnessed the impact a quality education can have on a child’s mind, life and potential. But over the last decade, I have also watched the amount of funding our state invests in public schools dwindle.

JOHN NEWSOM: New deal gives GTCC grads a price break on a 4-year degree (Greensboro News & Record reports) -- GTCC graduates can get a four-year degree online at Fayetteville State.

MARK TOSCZAK & ROSE HOBAN: Eastern Hospitals Not Taking Any Chances with Florence (NC Health News reports) — With Hurricane Florence bearing down on southeastern NC, some hospitals and other health care facilities have closed while others along and near the coast prepared to stay open even when the storm hits later this week.

YASMIN BENDAAS: NC projected increase in overdose deaths one of highest nationally (EdNC reports) — Variable amounts of fentanyl—a synthetic opioid with 100 times the potency of morphine—prove fatal and are responsible for a surge in overdose deaths across the state. According to a report released last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NC has one of the highest predicted percentage increases in overdose-related deaths in the country for 2017-2018 at 22.5 percent.

Hurricane migraines? Storms may physically trigger headaches, scientists say (Winston-Salem Journal reports) — As Hurricane Florence creeps closer to the mainland, people across social media began reporting headaches — and not just from trying to keep up with all the weather news. It may seem strange, but scientists say weather changes like high heat, winds or big storms really can cause spikes in headaches and migraines for certain people.

JAMEELA DALLIS: As Poet Laureate, Jaki Shelton Green Wants to Amplify North Carolina’s Muted Voices (IndyWeek reports) — On September 19 at the state capitol, NC native Jaki Shelton Green will officially become the state's ninth poet laureate—only the third woman to hold the post, and she is the first African American.

Equestrian-Endurance Event Canceled at World Games (Reuters reports) -- The World Equestrian Games (WEG) got off to a stuttering start on Wednesday when the endurance event was canceled due to dangerously high heat and humidity with more trouble looming as Hurricane Florence barrels towards North Carolina.