Opinion Roundup: Heat wave, online learning, death on the coast and more

Tuesday, May 28, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: GOP House candidates back stringent Alabama abortion law, what the research says about online early learning options for preschoolers, at least 20 rip current rescues, heat wave grips Deep South, water emergency declared in coastal Pender County and more.

KAREN ECKERT: Historically black American Legion Post 160 remembers and looks forward (Greenville Daily Reflector reports) -- There’s a not-so-well-known story about thousands of freed slaves who helped organize a parade around a Charleston, S.C., racetrack at the end of the Civil War to honor more than 260 fallen Union solders. It’s a story that, over the years, has not been included in the history of Memorial Day. But some historians are now recognizing the 1865 event as one of the first-ever “Memorial Day” services. William Atkinson, a member of Greenville’s Pasico Norfleet American Legion Post 160, shared the story with some of his fellow post members who had gathered at their headquarters on Chestnut Street on Friday to discuss the holiday, their experiences in the Armed Forces and their membership in the post.

JON HAWLEY: GOP House candidates back stringent Ala. abortion law (Elizabeth City Daily Advance reports) -- Both Republicans running for the 3rd Congressional District back the abortion ban enacted in Alabama – a deeply controversial law aimed at upending abortion rights nationwide. In interviews state Rep. Greg Murphy, R-Pitt, also a physician, and Dr. Joan Perry, of Kinston, both offered their support for Alabama's law. Murphy and Perry face off in a second primary on July 9. The victor will face Democratic candidate Allen Thomas, of Greenville.

JOHN RAILEY: Business leaders, pediatricians, say Medicaid expansion is practical and right (Capitol Broadcasting column) – N.C. has never been closer to Medicaid expansion, but the action is still a long way off in our General Assembly. That's not from a lack of effort. For months, organizations and individuals statewide have waged a well-coordinated effort to push expansion through in our state, one of a relative few in the country that has not gone for expansion. It's past time that happened.

RUSTY JACOBS: GOP Lawmakers Playing 'Numbers Game' Over Abortion-Related Bill, Democrats Say (WUNC-FM reports) -- The General Assembly's Republican leadership has been holding up a vote on Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of the "Born Alive" bill. Republican House Speaker Tim Moore said he will continue to do so until he thinks his party has rallied enough veto-override votes.

DAWN BUMGARTNER VAUGHN: (Charlotte Observer reports) -- The Senate’s proposed budget won’t be released until 10 a.m. today, but Senate leader Phil Berger sent out a list of highlights late Monday, to put his spin on his spending plan. Here’s what Berger is releasing now about the budget:

TAFT WIREBACK: Guilford legislators want more from the new state budget (Greensboro News & Record reports) -- Legislators who represent Guilford County are working across party lines this session in an effort to bring home a larger share of the state budget for their constituents. Pending measures they're backing in Raleigh would put $7.7 million in the 2019-20 budget for a new mental health center in Greensboro; set aside $3.6 million to assist Oak Ridge, Stokesdale and Summerfield in developing a water and sewer network; and earmark $1 million for High Point's "historic Washington Street" program to revitalize that part of its center city.

More school board meddling (Winston-Salem Journal) -- Now that Memorial Day is over, it’s time for most of us to go back to work. And for some members of the state legislature, it’s time to go back to meddling in local affairs. Such is the case with a bill that could be heard on the Senate floor today. Senate Bill 674, introduced last week by Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and Sen. Deanna Ballard, R-Wilkes, both of whom also represent Surry County, would make the three Surry County boards of education races partisan.

AMANDA MORRIS: N.C. moves to help offenders clear their records (AP reports) -- Every time 28-year-old Poet Williams applies for a job, his arrest record comes up: three nonviolent misdemeanors.

NADIA RAMIAGAN: Bill Aims to Help Nonviolent Offenders Improve Job Prospects (Public News Service reports) -- Legislators are pushing for reforms to make it easier for people to expunge nonviolent criminal offenses from their records. Introduced by Sens. Warren Daniel of Avery and Danny Britt of Columbus, both Republicans, along with Sen. Floyd McKissick, a Democrat from Durham, Senate Bill 562 - also known as the "Second Chance Act" - would clear nonviolent misdemeanor and low-level felony convictions. It would also automatically erase records of criminal charges that were acquitted or dismissed. Bill Rowe, general counsel and deputy director of advocacy with the N.C. Justice Center, said support for the legislation has been encouraging.

KRISTA PETERSON & STEPHANIE ARMOUR: State Abortion Curbs Stoke Partisan Tensions in Washington (Wall Street Journal reports) -- The passage of a number of state laws severely restricting abortion is intensifying a fight over the issue on Capitol Hill and in the 2020 battle for control of Congress.

PAUL WOOVERTON: Lawmaker’s proposal would force judges to make public defender appointments (Fayetteville Observer reports) -- The 16-month delay in the appointment of the Cumberland County public defender may lead to a new law to prevent similar incidents.

Trump to pull out of rural Job Corps program, laying off 1,100 workers (Washington Post reports) -- The Trump administration announced it will kill a Forest Service program that trains disadvantaged young people for wildland fire fighting and other jobs in rural communities in North Carolina and other states, laying off 1,100 employees — believed to be the largest number of federal job cuts in a decade. The Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers enroll more than 3,000 students a year in rural America. The soon-to-close centers — in North Carolina, Montana, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Virginia, Washington state, Kentucky and Oregon — include hundreds of jobs in some of President Trump’s political strongholds.

MARK PRICE: Franklin Graham calls for day of prayer to 'protect, strengthen' the president (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Franklin Graham is asking his followers to set June 2 as a day of prayer for President Donald Trump, to strengthen him against his enemies.

WENDY K. TAM CHO: Postscript Comment on; Technology-Enabled Coin Flips for Judging Partisan Gerrymandering (Southern California Law Review article) -- The Court has issued a stay in the Ohio and Michigan partisan gerrymandering cases, and we await their rulings in North Carolina and Maryland. I was an expert witness in the Ohio case, for which I generated more than 3 million simulated maps. In that case, we spent some time emphasizing how the new technology enables a judicially manageable standard for the Court.  The argument addresses the concerns that Justices Gorsuch and Alito, in particular, raised in oral arguments in Rucho and Benisek.

FRED CLASEN-KELLY: Emails show Mecklenburg commissioners discussed budget in private. Did they break the law? (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Mecklenburg County commissioners had email and phone conversations about a proposed tax hike and other budget issues outside public view, raising questions about whether officials violated the state open meetings law, according to emails. The emails show that Board Chairman George Dunlap and other commissioners negotiated changes to the county’s nearly $2 billion proposed budget during phone calls with each other.

CELIA RIVENBARK: Dear old men: Stay out of women’s uteruses (Wilmington Star-News column) -- Nearly 75 percent of Americans — men and women —say they don’t want Roe v. Wade overturned. So how did we get here? How did we get to this place where Chinese factories are working overtime to make those white-bonneted, blood-red “handmaid” costumes for protesters to wear to rallies?

AMANDA MORRIS: Family of woman mauled by lion pushes for new regulations (AP reports) -- Alex Black came face to face with an escaped lion when she was just 10 days into her unpaid internship at a private animal sanctuary.

Let animal cruelty lead to kindness (Winston-Salem Journal) -- Frankly, it’s frustrating to learn that no harsher punishment has been meted out to the party or parties responsible for the heartless shooting of three horses just over a year ago — a shooting that killed one horse, a Paint-Percheron mix mare named Jelly. But that doesn’t mean there are no positive outcomes. One early Saturday morning last May, local officers responded to reports of three vehicles traveling at high speeds on the Muddy Creek Greenway on the west side of Winston-Salem. They discovered that someone had shot and killed Jelly, kept in a field next to the greenway. Dixie, a mare, had also been wounded and a male horse named Cisco had minor injuries from stray pellets.

Judicial Gerrymander Rebuke (Wall Street Journal) -- The Supreme Court spanks two lower courts for pre-emptory rulings.

KEN SMITH: Gary Goldman set for release after spending 40 years in prison (WRAL-TV reports) -- Gary Goldman has spent more of his life in prison than free. But the 61-year-old convicted murderer is expected to walk out of a Johnston County jail today after being released on parole and will no longer be confined to a prison cell. When he is released, officials will release the guidelines of his parole. Goldman has been incarcerated for more than 40 years, with about half of that time as punishment for a 1983 murder in which a metal pipe was used to beat a college student to death on NC State's campus. Goldman was 16 when prosecutors said he used a metal pipe to bludgeon 24-year-old Elizabeth "Betsy" Parks Rosenberg to death. Parks was leaving N.C. State University's library when Goldman tried to take her purse in 1975, according to evidence presented during his trial.

Rethinking ‘Silent Sam’ (Greensboro News & Record) -- Give Harry Smith credit for being willing to do his homework and change his mind. Smith, the usually outspoken and politically conservative chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, emerged from a recent board meeting and told reporters that his thinking about what to do about the “Silent Sam” statue has “evolved.”

MARY MATTHEW: What the research says about online early learning options for preschoolers (EdNC column) -- The NC House Education Committee recently moved forward a bill to pilot and potentially scale an online early learning program for low-income preschool-aged children who are not currently accessing NC Pre-K. The online program is intended to be used for 15 minutes a day, five days a week, and is proposed as an alternative early learning option for children who are eligible for NC Pre-K but not receiving the service because of wait lists or barriers like transportation. Research demonstrates that an online program is not an effective substitute to high-quality preschool. Is the proposed program worth investing in in the short-term as the state ramps up to universal preschool? The research is mixed.

CECIL BROCKMAN & ASHTON CLEMMONS: N.C. needs universal pre-K (Greensboro News & Record column) -- Where does a story of success start? Maybe it’s during college, when a student is studying to earn their degree. Or it could be in the last years of high school, when students are preparing their applications for college. Perhaps it’s even earlier, in middle school, as placement decisions are made for high school. Of course, it might happen when the basics of learning are being taught at the elementary level.

YASMIN BENDAAS & RUPEN FORARIA: Rockingham County School Board returns equity training funding for second time (EdNC reports) -- Earlier this month, the Rockingham County School Board decided to discontinue its grant funding for equity training and, according to Rockingham Now, return approximately $17,000 to the Reidsville Area Foundation. This is the second instance of the county discontinuing an equity training grant. The first equity training grant, which was specifically focused around racial equity and education, was given in 2016 and intended to run through the 2017-2018 school year. However, RAF’s Executive Director Jennifer Nixon said the initial grant was ended in Sept. 2017 after pushback from the community on why the district was doing equity training and some issues with the way it had been implemented.

MARTHA WAGGONER: D-Day's 75th anniversary renews interest in some classrooms (AP reports) -- Kasey Turcol has just 75 minutes to explain to her high school students the importance of D-Day — and if this wasn't the 75th anniversary of the turning point in World War II, she wouldn't devote that much time to it. D-Day is not part of the required curriculum in North Carolina — or in many other states. Turcol reminds her students at Crossroads FLEX High School in Cary, that D-Day was an Allied victory that saved Europe from Nazi tyranny and that the young men who fought and died were barely older than they are.

KELLY HINCHCLIFFE: This coastal school system has the highest average teacher salary in NC. Here's why (WRAL-TV reports) -- In N.C., the average salary for teachers is $53,975. But which of the state's 115 school systems has the highest average teacher pay? Teachers with the highest average salary work in the Outer Banks, in coastal Dare County Schools. … A new report released by the Public School Forum of North Carolina found that average teacher salaries in more than 80 percent of North Carolina’s school districts fall below the reported statewide average of $53,975.

AMELIA HARPER: Survey finds drop in girls’ interest in STEM fields (Rocky Mount Telegram reports) -- A new survey conducted by Junior Achievement reveals that girls are losing interest in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math — but a local community college professor feels that more can be done to encourage their interest.

These Durham students get 10 free books for the summer (EdNC reports) -- For elementary students in Durham and elsewhere in the Triangle, Book Harvest provides access to books so students can build their home libraries more and more each year. The organization partners with groups like the local dentist office to put books in the most convenient places for students and their families.

SARAH OVASKA-FEW: Would-be Medicaid managed care groups ask judge for second look (NC Health News reports) -- Ongoing court challenges to the DHHS' choices for Medicaid managed care providers threaten to derail the schedule for transitioning the program, set to start this November. More than $30 billion in contracts is at stake.

KAT CAMPBELL & JESSICA PARKER: At least 20 rip current rescues reported at Wrightsville, Carolina Beach (WRAL-TV reports) -- By 2 p.m. on Monday, at least 14 people had to be rescued from rip currents at Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach, according to the lifeguard reports and the National Weather Service.

Drowning reported Sunday in Pine Knoll Shores (Jacksonville Daily News reports) -- Another drowning has been reported along Bogue Banks in Carteret County

JEFF HAMPTON: Blacksburg man drowns in Southern Shores (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports) -- Eye witnesses said it appeared the man and his wife were caught in a rip current.

Juvenile drowns at Hyco Lake in Person County, sheriff's office says (WRAL-TV reports) -- Authorities in Person County said Monday that they have recovered the body of a juvenile who drowned while swiming at Hyco Lake.

21-year-old man drowns while swimming in lake near Asheville (AP reports) -- Jackson County sheriff's deputies say a 21-year-old man has drowned in a lake. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office is citing friends and bystanders who said Marquise Maurice Dukes of Harmony jumped off a fishing pier around 7 p.m. on Sunday and attempted to swim back to a designated swimming area at Lake Glenville.

JEFFREY COLLINS: Heat wave before summer even starts grips Deep South (AP reports) -- A scorching heat wave weeks before the start of summer is gripping the Deep South with several cities reporting the hottest temperatures ever recorded in May.

GARETH MCGRATH: Water emergency declared in coastal Pender County (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- The lack of rain has prompted restrictions for water customers in Hampstead, Scotts Hill

Water saving measures posted for southeastern N.C. (AP reports) -- Portions of southeastern N.C. are being listed as abnormally dry, and a water shortage emergency has been posted for one county in the area.

CAMMIE BELLAMY: Wilmington breaks 100-degree early heat record (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- Sunday was the earliest day the Port City has hit 100 degrees since records began

CHICK JACOBS: Heat breaks 1926 record in Fayetteville, and more on the way (Fayetteville Observer reports) -- Sunday, for the first time since July of 2017, Fayetteville hit the century mark. It’s a safe bet that it won’t be the last time this week. Fayetteville, Raeford and Laurinburg all tied for the “honor” of being 2019′s first official 100-degree location in the Cape Fear region yesterday. Fayetteville’s mark broke the previous record of 98, set in 1926.

CATHERINE KOZAK: Increased Flooding Plagues Tyrrell County (Coastal Review reports) -- Tyrrell County residents are looking for solutions to ease the increased flooding in their communities caused by more intense rainfall and an old, poorly maintained drainage system.

ALLEN JOHNSON: As N&R nears move, lots of memories in this old house (Greensboro News & Record column) -- If I had a quarter for every time someone has asked me where the News & Record is located … well, I’d have enough money for a full tank of gas. Maybe two. (And not just regular, either. The high-octane stuff.) We are where we’ve always been, at least for the last 43 years: 200 E. Market St.