Opinion

Opinion Roundup: N.C. legislators react to teacher rally, filling the need for school psychologists, dealing with GenX and more

Friday, May 18, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: N.C. legislators react to Wednesday's rally, teachers call for more resources and pay, Republicans agree to address unregulated industrial chemicals, school psychologist licensure addressed in House bill and more.

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Teacher rally in Raleigh
Friday, May 18, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: N.C. legislators react to Wednesday's rally, teachers call for more resources and pay, Republicans agree to address unregulated industrial chemicals, school psychologist licensure addressed in House bill and more.
2018 LEGISLATURE
TRAVIS FAIN, LAURA LESLIE & TYLER DUKES: With Apple on hook, legislative leaders roll out incentive reforms (WRAL-TV reports) -- Lawmakers want to sweeten job incentives for projects in the range of what Apple could bring to the state, but the program would be available across business sectors.
EMERY DALESIO & GARY ROBERTSON: N.C. beefs up tax breaks as Apple scouts new sites (AP reports) – N.C. legislative leaders said they're committing to a big expansion of tax breaks to attract employers promising thousands of jobs, a move that comes as people familiar with recruitment efforts tell The Associated Press tech giant Apple is strongly considering the state for a new corporate campus.
WILL DORAN & T. KEUNG HUI: NC schools would have to post 'In God We Trust' signs (Charlotte Observer reports) – N.C. public schools could soon become a little more religious, if the General Assembly passes a new bill that would force schools to display signs saying "In God We Trust." The bill would require all public schools, both traditional and charter, to put a sign displaying both the national motto of "In God We Trust" and the state motto of "To Be Rather Than To Seem" in a prominent place on campus.
TRAVIS FAIN: Republicans back GenX bills, but lawyers call them a sham (WRAL-TV reports) -- Legislation allows the state to shut down Chemours, but environmental attorneys say regulators already have this power and the bill muddies it.
GARY ROBERTSON: Republicans agree on how to address little-known chemicals (AP reports) – N.C. legislative Republicans have agreed on how to expand work and funding to clean up, contain and evaluate unregulated industrial chemicals like the one officials say a plant dumped into the Cape Fear River.
School psychologist licensure addressed in OK'd House bill (AP reports) -- Vacancies for N.C. public school psychologists could be more easily filled under legislation addressing state licenses that has cleared one chamber of the General Assembly.
POLICY & POLITICS
GOP senator stands up to pressure — rebukes House on Russian interference (Washington Post) -- SEN. Richard Burr’s seemingly mild words were, in fact, unmistakably pointed. Speaking Wednesday about Russia’s activities and intentions in the 2016 presidential election, the North Carolina Republican assured Americans that his staff “spent 14 months reviewing the sources, tradecraft, and analytic work” of the intelligence community and found “no reason” to dispute intelligence officials’ conclusions. Under normal circumstances, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee vouching for the professionalism of the nation’s national security staff would hardly be notable. In this case, Mr. Burr’s statement represented a direct rebuke of the hyper-partisan House Intelligence Committee and of the White House, which has sought to score political points by attacking the professionals.
CULLEN BROWDER: Plea deals frequent in some NC counties, like in the case of a man who later killed twice (WRAL-TV reports) -- Kevin Munn had more than a dozen felony convictions on his record before he killed businessman Tommy Ellington and psychologist Nancy Alford. He also had five felony charges dismissed by prosecutors around the time Ellington was gunned down in his home.
Burr and Tillis should oppose newsprint tax (Wilson Times) -- With a single vote, North Carolina’s U.S. senators can help stop a trade war in its tracks, preserve American jobs and prevent government from taking an unseemly swipe at the media watchdogs.
WILLIAM DOUGLAS: Suddenly people are being 'nice,' Pittenger says after GOP primary loss (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Rep. Robert Pittenger reflects on his time in Congress in his first extended interview since losing the Republican primary May 8. Pittenger vows to keep fighting for his pet projects in his last months in office.
EDUCATION
CAMMIE BELLAMY: Southeastern NC legislators react to teacher rally (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- After Rally for Respect, elected officials debating how to raise teacher pay.
JOHN BAILEY: Teachers call for more resources, pay, respect (Hickory Daily Record reports) -- When Catawba County teacher Katie Rink stood up to speak, she didn’t let rain or criticism from state legislators slow her.
SARAH KRUEGER: 'We're going to keep fighting': Durham teachers set sights on November (WRAL-TV reports) -- Teachers across N.C. felt rejuvenated and inspired Thursday, one day after an estimated 30,000 educators and supporters rallied in downtown Raleigh, calling for additional education funding.
KELLY HINCHCLIFFE: 'We need money': NC teachers deliver a message, face to face (WRAL-TV reports) -- Clutching a sign that read, "Today we ask. In November we vote," Union County teacher assistant Judy Shannon walked into Rep. Craig Horn's office. Her message was clear: "We need money." Shannon and at least half a dozen other educators crowded into Horn's office during the teacher rally, which drew thousands of people to the North Carolina General Assembly. "We need money for all the students across the state," Shannon told Horn. "And then the other issue about pay." Horn, a Republican who serves as chairman on two House education committees, met with dozens of teachers and some students during the rally, each with a different request for him.
LYNN BONNER: 'Why did you call us thugs?' Teachers seek answers from NC lawmaker (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Teachers said they resented Rep. Mark Brody calling them thugs in a Facebook post. Brody explained he was talking about the National Education Association, not individual teachers.
FERREL GUILLORY: ‘Where are our teachers going?’ Census answers (EdNC column) -- No doubt the timing was sheer coincidence. On the same day the red wave of teachers, children and allies rolled up Fayetteville Street, the U.S. Census Bureau released a data set that frames the rally in Raleigh in a national context. “Where are our teachers going?” asks the headline on the short census paper on educators leaving the profession. The census issued national data, not specific state data, but relevant nonetheless to the issues of compensation and teaching conditions raised by the crowd that marched toward the Legislative Building.
HEALTH
ROSE HOBAN: DHHS Takes Over Child Welfare Duties in Cherokee County (N.C. Health News reports) -- It’s the first time the department has used new powers granted by the legislature to take over troubled local agencies and get them back on track.
DON FLOW: Closing N.C.’s health coverage gap is good for businesses and communities (Greensboro News & Record column) -- What if I told you there was a way to add $4 billion a year to the state’s economy, create more than 40,000 jobs and provide health care to approximately 400,000 North Carolinians who don’t have it?
RICHARD ROSEN: Medicaid expansion study is ‘bogus’ (Greensboro News & Record column) -- An organization trying to prevent states from expanding Medicaid has been spreading invalid information about the program. This is “The Foundation for Government Accountability.”
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
JOHN DOWNEY: N.C. regulators accused of serious legal errors in Duke Energy coal-ash order (Charlotte Business Journal reports) -- The Public Staff has joined in asking the Supreme Court to overturn the N.C. Utility Commission ruling that customers should pay Duke Energy's coal-ash costs.
KATHLEEN ONOREVOLE: Shad in the Classroom Boosts Recovery Effort (Coastal Review reports) -- Students across the state are raising and releasing American shad as part of the Shad in the Classroom program, giving them a chance to learn about and participate in the recovery work of the American shad.
… AND MORE
HANNAH WEBSTER: ECU archeologists may have found 400-year-old pirate ship (WRAL-TV reports) -- East Carolina University archaeologists working with the National Museum of Bermuda may be one step closer to linking an unidentified shipwreck site to the nearly 400-year-old story of a stranded Dutch privateer or pirate ship.
CHARLES PASSY: Sculptor Who Imagined George Washington as a Roman God (Wall Street Journal column) -- As the show reveals, the story behind the sculpture is as intriguing as the work itself. Canova’s piece wasn’t intended for a museum, but the halls of government—specifically the former State House in North Carolina. In 1816, the state’s legislators commissioned a statue of Washington. And they turned to another founding father, the art-loving Thomas Jefferson, for advice as to which artist to choose. “There can be one answer to this,” Jefferson replied in a letter. “Old Canove [sic] of Rome. No other artist in Europe would place himself in line with him.” Unveiled in 1821, Canova’s marble statue was destroyed a mere decade later in a fire that claimed the entire State House. But the statue wasn’t entirely lost. Canova’s plaster model—essentially his final draft before committing the work to marble—survived. It was used to cast the replica that has stood at North Carolina’s State Capitol in Raleigh since 1970.

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