Opinion Roundup: Medicaid expansion, prison worker pay, DMV headquarters and more

Thursday, Jan. 30, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Democrats call for straight-up Medicaid expansion, N.C. prison workers want pay raise, Senate rolls out school construction plan, rape victims may see long-delayed justice, loss of newspapers contributing to political polarization and more.

GARY ROBERTSON: Energized Democrats push for N.C. Medicaid expansion (AP reports) -- Energized legislative Democrats kicked off their strongest push yet to expand Medicaid, seeking to remove North Carolina from the dwindling number of states still refusing a federal bargain to cover hundreds of thousands of additional residents.

TRAVIS FAIN: Democrats call for straight-up Medicaid expansion (WRAL-TV reports) -- House and Senate Democrats called for a quick move toward Medicaid expansion in North Carolina, making their opening play on one of the biggest-ticket items to be debated during the new legislation session.

RICHARD CRAVER: Will N.C. expand Medicaid? Democrats’ bills that would make up more eligible (Winston-Salem Journal) -- A group of Democratic legislators -- as expected -- submitted House and Senate bills to expand the state's Medicaid program. Identical House Bill 5 and Senate Bill 3 were introduced on the first formal day of the 2019 session. House primary sponsors said all Democratic members support the bill.

Legislative session ends ‘when we get Medicaid expansion,’ says an aide to Gov. Cooper (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- State legislators, a government reformer, and Governor Roy Cooper’s liaison previewed Medicaid and redistricting debates in the 2019 legislative session.

LAURA LESLIE & MATTHEW BURNS: More pay, more respect: Corrections officers seek upgrades after fatal prison attacks (WRAL-TV reports) -- Workers at state prisons called for changes to address shortcomings in staffing, equipment and other issues in the wake of attacks that killed five corrections workers in 2017.

After slayings, N.C. prison workers want pay raised (AP reports) -- A state employees group called on N.C. to raise the yearly pay of prison workers by $8,000 each to reverse a dangerous staffing shortage that outside experts say contributed to the slayings of five correctional workers in 2017.

Democratic And Republican Agendas Differ As NCGA Starts Long Session (WUNC-FM reports) -- The North Carolina General Assembly got down to business Wednesday as lawmakers prepare for the budget-focused long session. Committee chairs were named and legislators from both parties unveiled their top issues, setting the stage, perhaps, for conflicting priorities.

CANDACE SWEAT: 'I was exhausted, broken:' On heels of proposed Survivor Act, rape survivor shares her journey (WRAL-TV reports) -- A Raleigh woman who survived a sexual assault is speaking candidly about her fight for justice as lawmakers prepare to introduce the Survivor Act.

PAUL WOOLVERTON: Borrow or pay-as-you-go? Two plans floated for N.C. school construction (Fayetteville Observer reports) -- The leaders of North Carolina’s state House and state Senate want to boost spending for classroom buildings and other capital needs at its public schools, colleges and universities. But they disagree on how to do it. State House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican from Cleveland County, has proposed a $1.8 billion bond referendum.

TRAVIS FAIN: Senate rolls out school construction plan (WRAL-TV reports) -- Senate proposal would tap existing state fund to provide $2 billion for school construction over nine years. The idea competes with House Speaker Tim Moore's push for a statewide bond issue.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Confederate monuments (The Insider reports) -- House Democrats have filed a bill to repeal a 2015 law that restricts the removal of Confederate and other monuments on public property, but legislative leaders are indicating they're reluctant to revisit the controversial issue.

LAURA LESLIE: NC Senate seeks ban on female genital mutilation (WRAL-TV reports) -- State Senate leaders are backing a measure to make it a felony to perform genital mutilation on girls under 18. They say a state ban is needed because a federal ban was thrown out last year in federal court.

Rape victims may see long-delayed justice (Fayetteville Observer) -- We had two almost simultaneous reactions when we saw the Survivor Act, legislation that will finally resolve a statewide backlog of sexual assault kits and prevent the problem from recurring: • That’s great news. • Why did it take so long? State Attorney General Josh Stein and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers unveiled the legislation — also called the Standing Up for Rape Victims Act.

RUPEN FOFARIA: Anticipated education issues could impact students with learning differences (EdNC reports) — As the General Assembly gets underway for the 2019 long session, advocacy groups wonder how — and whether — legislators will try to make a difference in the lives of children with learning differences.

ALEX GRANADOS: Senators strike back against House building bond proposal (EdNC reports) — On the first real day of the long session of the General Assembly, Senate Republicans presented a counter proposal to a school building bond bill proposed by House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland. Senate Bill 5, Building North Carolina’s Future, would use money from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund to raise more than $2 billion over nine years for K-12 school construction and maintenance.

SC’s Sen. Scott still opposes Farr, has sharp words for conservative critics (McClatchy DC reports) -- U.S. Sen. Tim Scott has a message for the conservatives excoriating him for opposing Thomas Farr’s confirmation as a federal judge: They ought not challenge the conclusion of the Senate’s only black Republican that the one-time nominee has a troubling record on race. “For some reason the authors of this letter choose to ignore ... facts, and instead implicate that I have been co-opted by the left and am incapable of my own decision making,” Scott said, adding he votes for Republican judicial nominees “99 percent of the time. … Why they have chosen to expend so much energy on this particular nomination I do not know, but what I do know is they have not spent anywhere near as much time on true racial reconciliation efforts, decrying comments by those like (Republican U.S. Rep.) Steve King, or working to move our party together towards a stronger, more unified future.”

TRAVIS FAIN: DMV pitches headquarters move from Raleigh to Rocky Mount (WRAL-TV reports) -- Sen. Dan Blue, D-Wake, tries to put the kibosh on the deal, which still must be approved by statewide elected officials.

WILLIAM WEST: DMV seeks to relocate to city site (Rocky Mount Telegram reports) -- Rocky Mount is in contention to become the future headquarters of the state agency whose job is to issue and renew driver’s licenses and to make sure vehicles are registered in North Carolina.

Senator says he’ll fight plan to move DMV headquarters from Raleigh to Rocky Mount (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- State Sen. Dan Blue says he and other members of the Wake County delegation will urge the Council of State not to approve a lease that would move the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles headquarters from Raleigh to Rocky Mount.

JIM MORRILL: Ex-Gov Pat McCrory’s new UNC class: ‘Prepare to be eviscerated’ and other lessons (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Charlotte Republican, has been named a spring fellow at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Institute of Politics, a student-run organization.

WESLEY YOUNG: Confederate statue will go ASAP, city says, after protests prove it presents safety threat (Winston-Salem Journal reports) -- Winston-Salem officials say they will remove the Confederate statue downtown sometime after today and without filing any legal notice.

Leaders of NC legislature stand by law that protects Confederate monuments (Charlotte Observer reports) -- House Democrats have filed a bill to repeal a 2015 law that restricts the removal of Confederate and other monuments on public property, but Republican legislative leaders are reluctant to revisit the issue.

N.C. updates gender change process for licenses (AP reports) -- The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles is issuing a new application form making it easier for some transgender people to list their gender on their driver's licenses and identification cards.

Senate Hearings to Probe Unsafe Housing of U.S. Military Families (Reuters reports) -- Troubled by widespread health and safety hazards uncovered by a Reuters investigation into U.S. military housing, Congress will hold hearings next month to ensure that “what we’re seeing now can never happen again,” said Michigan Democrat Gary Peters, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Congress must do “all that we can ensure that no soldier, airman, sailor, Marine or their families have to worry about the safety of their homes,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said in a statement. His state is home to Fort Bragg, where families have signed a petition demanding improvements by their private landlord.

Democratic judge Lucy Inman announces 2020 campaign for NC Supreme Court seat (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- Democratic judge Lucy Inman will run for the NC Supreme Court in 2020, possibly against Republican judge Phil Berger Jr., following announcements from justices Mark Martin and Paul Newby.

ANTIONETTE KERR: 80-Year-Old Sentenced to Death Could Be Exonerated Soon (Public News Service reports) — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has agreed with The Duke Law Innocence Project's assertion that it's unlikely jurors would have convicted Charles Ray Finch of the 1976 murder of Richard "Shadow" Holloman if they had known about flaws in the police lineup and witness pressure from prosecutors.

J. PEDER ZANE: Don’t sort beliefs by ethnic lines (Durham-Herald Sun column) — I was in the middle of Ashley Jardina’s insightful new book, “White Identity Politics,” when the Duke professor’s scholarly material sprang to life through a viral confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial. It was there, of course, that several dozen white Catholic school boys – in town for an anti-abortion march – were approached by a small group of Native Americans.

SARAH KRUEGER: Still no word on interim chancellor as Folt packs up UNC-Chapel Hill office (WRAL-TV reports) -- Chancellor Carol Folt's last day at UNC-Chapel Hill is today, but there's still no word on who will oversee the campus come Friday.

JODI GLUSCO: NCSU's next AD will come from West Point (WRAL-TV reports) – NC State University Chancellor Randy Woodson announced that Boo Corrigan, most recently director of athletics at the U.S. Military Academy, will take over that role at NC State after the planned retirement this year of Debbie Yow.

CULLEN BROWDER & ADAM OWENS: Lawsuits target alleged sex abuse at Duke children's camp (WRAL-TV reports) -- Lawsuits filed by parents blame Duke University for alleged sexual abuse that happened among youngsters at Camp Kaleidoscope in 2017.

MAGGIE BLACKWELL: Rowan-Salisbury Schools turn around on lead teachers (EdNC reports) — The Rowan-Salisbury School (RSS) Board reversed an earlier decision and voted to approve a plan for lead teachers for Knox Middle School at its regular meeting Monday. Under the plan, six Lead Teachers would receive salaries of $75,000 and all staff — certified and classified, full time and part time —would receive annual bonuses for serving at an at-risk school. Lead Teachers and administrators would not qualify for the bonus.

No city building can withstand a strong Cat 4; Wilmington wants to change that (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- Staff looking at redesigning the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center expansion to handle 150 mph winds

TRISTA TALTON: Sunset Beach Must Redo Dredge Application (Coastal Review Online reports) — The state Division of Coastal Management has informed Sunset Beach that its application to dredge part of Jinks Creek must be resubmitted because of missing information, delaying the project until late 2019 or early 2020.

DAVID BAUDER: Loss of newspapers contributes to political polarization (AP reports) -- The steady loss of local newspapers and journalists across the country contributes to the nation’s political polarization, a new study has found. With fewer opportunities to find out about local politicians, citizens are more likely to turn to national sources like cable news and apply their feelings about national politics to people running for the town council or state legislature, according to research published in the Journal of Communication. … The struggling news industry has seen some 1,800 newspapers shut down since 2004, the vast majority of them community weeklies, said Penelope Muse Abernathy, a University of North Carolina professor who studies the contraction. Many larger daily newspapers that have remained open have effectively become ghosts, with much smaller staffs that are unable to offer the breadth of coverage they once did. About 7,100 newspapers remain. Researchers are only beginning to measure the public impact of such losses. Among the other findings is less voter participation among news-deprived citizens in “off-year” elections where local offices are decided, Abernathy said. Another study suggested a link to increased government spending in communities where “watchdog” journalists have disappeared, she said.