Opinion Roundup: GOP House race, online preschool, ECU interim chancellor and more

Wednesday, April 17, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: State legislator's funding leads 10 in GOP House race, lawmakers send abortion bill to Gov. Cooper, recreational fishermen square off at legislature, NC ranks middle of the road in preschool access and more.

EMERY DALESIO: State legislator's funding leads 10 in GOP House race (AP reports) -- A state legislator who loaned his campaign $250,000 is leading fundraising among 10 Republicans facing a May primary for a congressional seat left vacant because a ballot-collection scandal that voided November's election.

JIM MORRILL: Dan Bishop has edge in 9th District GOP money. But a rival has bigger outside support (Charlotte Observer reports) -- With a big loan to his own campaign, state Sen. Dan Bishop had six times as much money at the end of March as any other Republican in North Carolina’s crowded 9th Congressional District primary. The Charlotte Republican had $381,000 on hand at the end of the first quarter, according to a new report filed with the Federal Election Commission. That included a $250,000 loan to the campaign.

JIM MORRILL: 9th District Republicans disagree on one thing: Who can beat Democrat Dan McCready? (Durham-Herald Sun reports) -- In a field that agrees on most issues, Republicans running in the 9th District special election split over one thing Tuesday night: Who’s the most electable against Democrat Dan McCready?

ROSE HOBAN: Abortion survivors bill heads to Gov. Cooper’s desk (N.C. Health News reports) -- The bill criminalize physicians who fail to provide life-saving care to fetuses born after surviving a botched abortion procedure.

MATTHEW BURNS: Lawmakers send abortion bill to Cooper (WRAL-TV reports) -- State lawmakers have, in less than a week, passed a measure that would make it a felony for a doctor to fail to perform lifesaving measures on a baby born alive as a result of a botched abortion.

House vote on abortion-related bill could mean veto showdown (AP reports) -- State Republican lawmakers could soon reach their first legislative showdown with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper since his party increased House and Senate seat totals during the last elections.

E.M. MCCUE III: Stop the Assault on Local Government (Southern Pines Pilot column) -- There is an assault on the power and authority of local governments in North Carolina. The perpetrators are the state legislature and special interest groups.

Many kids can’t get into NC Pre-K. Now some lawmakers want to offer online preschool (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- Some lawmakers want to help address the long waiting list for pre-kindergarten seats by offering a state-funded online preschool program for low-income families. The state House Education Committee backed legislation to create a three-year virtual early learning pilot program targeted at preparing at-risk preschool children for kindergarten. Backers of the new program say it will help underserved young children who aren't able to get into a traditional pre-K program. NC Pre-K, the state's program for at-risk 4-year-olds, serves 29,509 children. But thousands more children are on waiting lists to get into the program. Critics say the new program falls short of providing children a real preschool program. 'It seems so often in the last few years that we're doing things on the cheap." Keith Poston, president of the Public School Forum of North Carolina, said in an interview Tuesday.

MATTHEW BURNS: Uber against NC lawmaker's plan seeking to make ride-sharing safer (WRAL-TV reports) -- Less than three weeks after a South Carolina college student was kidnapped and killed after hopping into a car she thought was the Uber she had summoned, state lawmakers are considering ways to make ride-sharing services safer for passengers.

TRAVIS FAIN: Duke Energy rate bill clears first hurdle (WRAL-TV reports) -- No opposition voiced as Senate committee focuses only on bill's less controversial section.

KATE MARTIN: Proposed legislation seeks to close rape loopholes (Carolina Public Press reports) -- Two bills in the N.C. General Assembly would upend legal precedents that limit prosecutors' options when charging someone with sex crimes. North Carolina is the only state in the country where continuing a sex act after being told to stop is not a crime due to a decades-old legal precedent. And while the law says sex with an incapacitated person is rape, a court precedent more than a decade old says the law doesn't apply if the victim caused his or her own incapacitation through drinking or drug use. The two bills that would change the pair of legal precedents have so far not had a formal committee hearing, but that could change after the legislature's spring break.

TRAVIS FAIN: Judge rules former NAACP head Barber allowed back in General Assembly (WRAL-TV reports) -- Rev. William Barber's ban from the Legislative Building is no more.

LAURA LESLIE: Commercial, recreational fishermen square off again at legislature (WRAL-TV reports) -- The House Wildlife committee approved two bills Tuesday to double the fees for commercial fishing licenses and set minimum size limits for a large percentage of the finfish harvest. Commercial fishermen are strongly opposed to both, but backers say they're aimed at restoring dwindling stocks.

THOMAS GOLDSMITH: NC’s long-term care residents would get more spending money under proposed laws (N.C. Health News reports) -- People who live in North Carolina’s long-term care homes aided by public assistance must pay for their own personal items, such as clothes or transportation, even a birthday card. Several new bills would change that.

LAURA LESLIE: Gun storage education bill moving through House (WRAL-TV reports) -- A bill to create a state awareness campaign about safe firearm storage passed the House Health committee on a unanimous vote.

RUSTY JACOBS: Bill In NCGA Could Allow Utilities To Issue Bonds For Storm Recovery (WUNC reports) -- State senators from both parties say bonds could save utilities customers money when it comes to paying for recovery from major storms like Hurricane Florence.

TRAVIS FAIN: Bounced check fees, small loan fees go up under bill (WRAL-TV reports) -- Republican leadership sends in committee floaters to move legislation forward.

TRAVIS FAIN: Bill would boost monthly allowance for people in nursing homes for first time since 1987 (WRAL-TV reports) -- Little purchases bring dignity for those in need, advocates say.

TYLER DUKES: Was it 'vote hauling' or buying votes? (WRAL-TV reports) -- Long before investigations in the 9th Congressional District, state officials thought they had evidence of vote buying in Robeson County. Why wasn't it prosecuted?

GILBERT BAEZ: NC troops head to patrol Guantanamo Bay (WRAL-TV reports) -- Guantanamo Bay is one of the most notorious detention centers in the world. The facility has held terrorists involved in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as well as the USS Cole bombing. Members of the N.C. National Guard's 514th Military Police Group, were headed to Cuba to help patrol the facility.

RICK SMITH: Execs believe recession to strike in late 2020, Duke survey finds (WRAL-TV/TechWire reports) -- Presidential candidates in 2020 are likely to head into November 2020 campaigning during a recession, two thirds of corporate chief financial officers believe, according to a new survey from Duke University. And regardless of who emerges victorious, even more execs believe the winner will be dealing with an economic slowdown when a new presidential term begins in January 2021. The good news is that the beginning of a recession has been pushed back a few months from expectations set in the previous quarterly findings from the Duke University/CFO Global Business Outlook.

NC county talks removal of Confederate statue (AP reports) -- News outlets report that more than 500 people gathered in Pittsboro as Chatham County officials talked about the statue outside the historic courthouse in the town's center. Residents who want it to stay and those who want it moved spoke during the county board meeting Monday.

FRED CLASEN-KELLY, JANE WESTER, AMES ALEXANDER: For years, CMPD has pledged improved training. It hasn’t been enough, activists say (Charlotte Observer reports) -- In 2015, after a series of high-profile police killings of African-Americans spurred protests around the U.S., Charlotte city leaders tried to avoid the same fate. They approved a civil liberties resolution that promised Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers would receive training on de-escalation tactics used to avoid lethal force even when a person is distraught or agitated.

CHRISTINA BECKER: In NC, court costs create debtors’ prisons (Durham-Herald Sun reports) -- In 2003, Steven Edwards got into a car accident that turned his world upside down, claiming his left leg and the life of his brother. A lifelong resident of Edgecombe County, where more than a quarter of people live below the poverty line, a devastated Edwards struggled to find work, fell on hard times, and eventually found himself entangled in the criminal justice system, convicted on drug charges in 2012, and incarcerated.

GINGER LIVINGSTON: Gerlach appointed ECU's interim chancellor (Greenville Daily Reflector reports) -- The president of a major philanthropic organization has been appointed interim chancellor at East Carolina University. Dan Gerlach, president of the Golden LEAF Foundation, an organization charged with increasing economic opportunities in the state’s rural and tobacco-dependent communities, was introduced by UNC System Interim President Bill Roper at a news conference on campus. Gerlach begins his new position on May 6. His salary will be $350,000 annually, according to a UNC System spokesman.

Dan Gerlach named interim chancellor at ECU (AP reports) -- A former state Budget Director is now the interim chancellor at East Carolina University. UNC System interim president Bill Roper announced that Dan Gerlach will serve as ECU's leader. Gerlach replaces Cecil Sutton, who announced on March 18 that he would resign effective May 5.

KELLY HINCHCLIFFE: NC boosts pre-K funding and enrollment, but needs to expand access (WRAL-TV reports) – N.C. has increased state preschool funding and enrollment, but access has hovered at 23 percent of 4-year-olds - below the national average, according to new research released Wednesday by the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

LINDA WINKOFF: Different type of school accountability, The opportunity index (EdNC column) -- North Carolina’s school report cards are based on false assumptions. The current formula, and the proposed new formula, assume that all students started out of the kindergarten gate with the same school readiness skills, that life experiences and opportunities have no bearing on education outcomes, and that ‘failing schools’ have ruined students. These false assumptions have created a report card assessment system that does nothing to help schools.

NIA HARDEN: East Coast Game Conference brings professionals, gaming representatives to the Triangle (WRAL-TV reports) -- Professionals from all over the world are at the East Coast Game Conference, which means gamers can learn how to get scholarships and jobs in the gaming industry.

JANINE BOWEN: Salvation Army offering free childcare to teachers planning to attend May 1 rally (WRAL-TV reports) -- The Salvation Army of Wake County is offering free childcare to teachers planning to march in the downtown Raleigh protest planned for May 1.

MANDY MITCHELL: Intensive Wake Tech program trains future 911 dispatchers to handle high-stress job (WRAL-TV reports) -- A new group of graduates are about to take on the high-stress role of a 911 dispatcher and a new class at Wake Technical Community College has worked to make sure they are better prepared to deal with the pressure of the job.

N.C. looking for teachers to evaluate textbooks (AP reports) -- A state commission is narrowing down the pool of teachers who will be sizing up the school textbooks of the future.

BILL MCCARTHY: Fact check: Do NC teachers get a work-free lunch break? (Charlotte Observer) -- A NC lawmaker has introduced a bill to give teachers a daily lunch break. “Proud to enter a bill today HB 563 allowing for 1/2 hour duty free lunch break for all Teachers,” said state Rep. John Torbett, a Republican from District 108, which includes Gaston County, in an April 3 tweet. “Couldn’t believe they did not already have one.”

LIZ BELL: NC ranks middle of the road in preschool access, quality compared to other states (EdNC reports) -- The quality of NC’s state-funded preschool, NC Pre-K, ranked in the middle of the pack when compared with other states in a new report by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), housed within Rutgers University.

JANINE BOWEN: Cary birthing center tied to newborn deaths announces closure (WRAL-TV reports) -- A Cary birthing center linked to the deaths of three babies has announced it will be closing next month.

BETSY LILLIAN: Report Outlines Southeast Solar Leaders And Laggards (Solar Industry Magazine reports) -- The Solar in the Southeast 2018 Annual Report highlights solar data and trends throughout the region through 2018. North Carolina leads for solar capacity with 3,266 MW, followed by Florida with 1,622 MW, Georgia with 1,419 MW and South Carolina with 1,116 MW. At the bottom of the list are Tennessee with 272 MW, Mississippi with 187 MW and Alabama with 153 MW.