Opinion Roundup: Obama endorses 6 N.C. candidates, school districts renew $730M lawsuit against state, ACA plans will be cheaper in 2019 and more

Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: List of Obama endorsements include 6 N.C. candidates, unemployment numbers increase in June, Superior Court Judge Ben Alford retires, school districts revive lawsuit over $730M owed by state agencies, BCBSNC says most of its ACA plans will be cheaper in 2019, UNC program builds rural care pipeline of minority doctors and more.

N.C. GOP tries again to stack the deck (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot) – The latest skirmish over November’s elections in North Carolina might just seem like more of the petty, partisan back-and-forth that has been going on in that state for decades. Unfortunately, it’s also another escalation in an increasingly bitter — and disturbing — fight across the United States to control the judiciary, especially at the highest levels.

JACK HEALY: Arrested, Jailed and Charged With a Felony. For Voting. (New York Times reports) – Keith Sellars, 44, is one of a dozen people in Alamance County in North Carolina who have been charged with voting illegally in the 2016 presidential election. All were on probation or parole for felony convictions, which in North Carolina and many other states disqualifies a person from voting. If convicted, they face up to two years in prison. The case against the 12 voters in Alamance County — a patchwork of small towns about an hour west of the state’s booming Research Triangle — is unusual for the sheer number of people charged at once. And because nine of the defendants are black, the case has touched a nerve in a state with a history of suppressing African-American votes.

JEFF JACKSON: Close Look at 6 Constitutional Amendments on N.C. Ballot (Medium column) -- In North Carolina, the general public doesn’t get to put amendments on the ballot through ballot initiatives but the public does get to vote on proposed amendments. Your ballot this November will include six proposed constitutional amendments.

ALEXANDER BURNS: Obama Endorses Dozens of Democrats, Rewarding Diversity and Loyalty (New York Times reports) -- Former President Barack Obama took a public step back into the electoral arena on Wednesday, issuing a slate of 81 endorsements for Democrats running in the 2018 elections and giving his stamp of approval to more than a dozen veterans of his administration and election campaigns who are seeking office in their own right.

List of Obama endorsements include 6 N.C. candidates (AP reports) — Former President Barack Obama has put his seals of approval upon a half-dozen Democratic legislative candidates in N.C. this fall. The six endorsements are among 81 that Obama announced Wednesday, covering 13 states and up and down the ballot.

JANINE BOWEN: NC congressional candidate arrested on stalking charges (WRAL reports) Japheth Nthautha Matemu, Libertarian Party candidate in the 2nd Congressional District, was arrested last month on charges of stalking, according to arrest records.

JIM MORRILL: He won a GOP congressional primary in NC. But now party leaders can’t even reach him (Charlotte Observer reports) — Paul Wright, 70, is the GOP nominee in the 12th Congressional District. He faces Democratic incumbent Alma Adams in the heavily Democratic district that covers most of Mecklenburg County. Since winning the May primary, Wright has been virtually invisible in the district.

BOB STEPHENS: Former McCrory attorney: Proposed NC amendment “destructive” to our state (Charlotte Observer column) — Most people don’t know that if one of the proposed amendments to our Constitution which will appear on the November ballot is passed, it would cause a seismic shift in power in our state government - one of the biggest shifts since the Civil War and possibly one of the most destructive. It would change the way laws are enforced in North Carolina and who would enforce them

JESSIE POUNDS: Rally For Our Lives (Greensboro News & Record reports) -- Students from Stoneman Douglas Highschool joined area students at Rally For Our Lives at Lebauer Park. The NRA and Donald Trump supporters also showed up to present an opposing point of view to the students' message.

McHenry town hall meeting -- talks border wall, health care, tariffs (Hickory Record reports) — U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry fielded questions on topics ranging from health care to immigration at his town hall meeting in Hickory on Wednesday afternoon.

GREG CHILDRESS: Can schools punish students for off-campus antics? It’s not totally clear (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — It remained unclear whether a Jordan High School student caught on video making racist and sexist remarks will face disciplinary action. District leaders have been told that Durham Public Schools has the authority to “address” such incidents but would not confirm whether that includes punishment.

MIKE McHugh: N.C. unemployment numbers increase in June (Jacksonville Daily News) — Unemployment rates increased in all but three counties during June, according to recently released figures from the N.C. Department of Commerce. Overall in June, the state saw an increase of the unemployed registering 4.2 percent, a half percentage point jump over May’s figures.

BILL HAND: Superior Court Judge Ben Alford retires (New Bern Sun Journal reports) — Saying it’s time to start a new chapter in his life, Senior Resident Judge Benjamin Alford has stepped down form the bench.

Clear policies needed for public-employee side jobs (Wilmington Star News) — The news last week that two of Southport’s top law enforcement officers were arrested came as a shock. Police Chief Gary Lee Smith and Lt. Michael Christian Simmons are accused of working a second job while on the clock for Southport. Instead of keeping the peace, prosecutors say, they were working for a trucking company.

ANN DOSS HELMS: Hundreds of NC teachers are flunking math exams. It may not be their fault (Charlotte Observer reports) — Almost 2,400 North Carolina elementary school teachers have failed the math portion of their licensing exams, which puts their careers in jeopardy, since the state hired Pearson publishing company to give the exam in 2013, according to a report presented to the state Board of Education Wednesday. Education officials are now echoing what frustrated teachers have been saying: The problem may lie with the exams rather than the educators.

T. KEUNG HUI: After agency shakeup, superintendent lays out his vision for NC’s public schools (Charlotte Observer reports) — State Schools Superintendent Mark Johnson says he’ll work to speed up approval of teacher licenses, reduce testing and hold charter schools accountable now that he’s in undisputed control of the agency that works with North Carolina’s public schools.

LAURA LESLIE: NC school districts revive lawsuit over $730M owed by state agencies (WRAL-TV reports) — -- North Carolina school districts refiled a lawsuit against the state over about $730 million state agencies owe to schools.

ALEX GRANADOS: NCSBA, districts, renew lawsuit against state over money owed to public schools (EdNC reports) — The crux of the issue revolves around the time period between 1996 and 2005, when the state held back money that the courts later said was owed to the state’s public schools under the state constitution. While schools have been receiving the money they’re owed since then, districts are still trying to collect on money owed prior to 2005.

ROBERT KINLAW: Gaining insights on education from demographic data (EdNC reports) — As director of Carolina Demography at the Carolina Population Center, Rebecca Tippett looks at a lot of data says the hard work begins with trying to make sense of how it all intersects. Tippett has studied education in North Carolina and has presented research on the postsecondary attainment gap. Watch Tippett here:

TAYLOR KNOPF: Learning What Medical School Really Takes (NC Health News reports) — Deen Garba has wanted to be a doctor since he was 10 years old. But like most kids, the realities of medical school were lost on him. Fortunately, he got the chance to experience the pace, rigor and sleepless nights of medical school before getting there at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill’s Medical Education Development (MED) Program. It’s a nine-week summer course that gives prospective medical or dental school students a taste of what professional school will be like with classes in gross anatomy, cell biology, microbiology and biochemistry.

LIZ SCHLEMMER & JASON DEBRUYN: UNC Program Builds Rural Care Pipeline of Minority Doctors and Dentists (WUNC reports) — Jazmine Walker unzips a blue body bag. A gaggle of students in scrubs and surgical masks surround her. Teams of five crowd around cadavers around the room, about to begin their first dissection of a human body. But these are not medical students − not yet anyway.

MARK TOSCZAK: BCBSNC Says Most of Its ACA Plans Will be Cheaper in 2019 (NC Health News reports) — Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina said that overall premiums in its 2019 Affordable Care Act plans would be reduced by 4.1 percent — the first time in the company’s history that it’s reduced rates for individual insurance plans. Though overall rates will be lower, the company said that in some counties people still might see rate increases, though those would be less than 10 percent.

Blue Cross and Blue Shied's nice cuts could have been kinder (Greensboro News & Record) — In some unexpected good news this week, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina wants to lower its premium rates for subsidized coverage under the Affordable Care Act in 2019. This would be the first rate decrease since Blue Cross of North Carolina entered the individual market in 1993. But rates could be much lower, had President Trump and Republicans in Congress not undermined the ACA with spiteful policies intended to kill it, not to preserve or improve it.

SCOTT SEXTON: The opioid crisis cries out for something different. A plan to give Forsyth's addicted inmates a different drug offers hope (Winston-Salem Journal reports) — In just the first seven months of the year, nearly 750 doses of Narcan, an opioid-reversal medication, have been administered to more than 470 suspected overdose patients. It’s all day, every day, and there’s no end in sight. But starting this month, Forsyth County officials are going to try and do something radically different about that.

CASSIE COPE: Your Duke Energy power bill will be a little higher now. Here’s why (Charlotte Observer reports) — Duke Energy’s residential power customers in the Charlotte area will see their power bills go up — slightly — starting Wednesday. In four years, bills will go up more — a 1.2 percent increase. The delay in a bigger rate hike is because the N.C. Utilities Commission had required Duke to refund customers $60 million annually for four years in money it collects from them in advance to pay eventual state income taxes.

JENNIFER FERNANDEZ: High levels of chemical compound found in water at Mitchell treatment plant (Greensboro News & Record reports) — Officials say they are getting water from other sources until the high levels of the compound PFOS/PFOA drop to acceptable levels.

North Carolina establishes plan to focus on shellfish (AP reports) — North Carolina is joining a national effort that focuses on the importance of shellfish to the environment and economy. The state initiative is based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's nationwide program designed to increase shellfish populations in coastal waters.

JEFF HAMPTON: Wright Brothers visitor center to reopen after nearly 2 years of renovations ((Norfolk Virginian-Pilot) -- The center was one of many constructed during Mission 66, a 10-year endeavor to build new park facilities nationwide.

Hogan update: Moved to Duke, making progress (WRAL-TV reports) -- WRAL News anchor Jeff Hogan is back in the Triangle and making progress after an injury over the weekend at Wrightsville Beach.

MANDY MITCHELL: After decades of disappearing, indie bookstores bounce back (WRAL-TV reports) — While many trends in business suggest the brick and mortar store is on its way to extinction, independent bookstores are thriving. The National Booksellers Association reports a 40 percent growth in "indie" bookstores since 2009 and the small stores continue to raise their sales numbers, posting an increase of 2.6 percent from 2016-2017. North Carolina has 74 independent bookstores registered in the National Booksellers Association database -- the 10th highest number in the country.

BEN STEELMAN: Legendary Wilmington tour guide Bob Jenkins is dead at 83 (Wilmington Star News reports) — Bob Jenkins, who led two-hour walking tours through downtown Wilmington for more than three decades, has died. Jenkins’ booming tenor voice and his omnipresent walking stick were familiar sights in the downtown Historic District as he led gaggles of tourists around local landmarks. He kept a brisk pace through hot weather and cold, donning a Panama hat and Bermuda shorts as temperatures rose. In 2009, the N.C. Travel Industry Association presented Jenkins with its Charles J. Parker Award for his work in tourism and promotions.