Opinion Roundup: Political intrigue, gun ownership, student activism, teacher pay and more

Tuesday, March 6, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: House Speaker Tim Moore under investigation, racial bias in NC courts, Democrat blue wave, gun ownership in America, student activism, rising teacher pay and more.

TRAVIS FAIN: Complaint alleges Moore threw weight around to save money on land deal (WRAL-TV analysis) -- A watchdog group on Monday accused House Speaker Tim Moore of throwing his political weight around to avoid environmental cleanup costs at a Siler City poultry plant his company sold in 2016.

GARY ROBERTSON: Ethics complaint filed against N.C. House speaker (AP news analysis) -- A Washington-based group asked North Carolina ethics officials to investigate some of state House Speaker Tim Moore's business interests and interactions with state environmental regulators over the site of an old poultry plant.

CANDACE SWEAT: Siler City residents seek compensation after being evicted from homes (WRAL-TV analysis) -- Residents of a Siler City mobile home park say a new chicken plant is forcing them from their homes, and they can't afford to live anywhere else.

MATTHEW BURNS: Ruling closes door on eight-member NC elections board (WRAL-TV analysis) -- The eight-member State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement is officially dead.

GARY ROBERTSON: In GOP victory, judges decide Supreme Court ruling is narrow (AP news analysis) -- A panel of state judges decided Monday that a recent N.C. Supreme Court ruling favoring Gov. Roy Cooper means only a portion of a 2017 law combining the state ethics and elections boards is now struck down. It's unclear whether the GOP's legal win will be permanent. The tweaks the legislature made to the board membership don't take effect until after March 15 because Cooper announced last month he wouldn't sign the bill into law — meaning a 30-day delay. The alterations call for a nine-member board appointed by Cooper and composed of four Democrats, four Republicans and one person from neither major party.

NC Democratic star, accused of mistreating women, should resign (Charlotte Observer) -- NC Rep Duane Hall faces several allegations of sexual misconduct and unwanted advances. NC Democrats are calling on him to resign. He should, immediately.

MADELINE MARSHALL & AARON ZITNER: Can Democrats Ride a Blue Wave to Midterm Gains? (Wall Street Journal analysis) -- The Democrats have a “blue wave” of momentum building for the 2018 midterms, thanks to a motivated base, success in special elections and a low approval rating for President Trump. Will that be enough to take back the House and the Senate?

MOSTLY TRUE: Does America own 42 percent of the world's guns? (PolitiFact) – Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, said that the United States has approximately 5 percent of the world's population and 42 percent of civilian gun ownership. Those numbers are based on a study that’s now 10 years old. And experts say tracking guns is very difficult. But Harrison’s claim is on roughly par with the information available. We rate this claim Mostly True.

STEPHANIE CARSON: Racial Bias in NC Courts: State Supreme Court Will Weigh In (Public News Service analysis) -- In the ongoing saga of North Carolina's capital punishment system - the state Supreme Court will hear a case that will decide whether three defendants of color will stay on death row. All three had their sentences converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2012 under the Racial Justice Act. That act was repealed in 2013 and lower court judges placed the three back on death row. Cassandra Stubbs, director of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project, says dismissing the findings of racial bias and leaving the three on death row isn't in line with their rights.

BILL BARTEL: Norfolk Republicans' meeting devolves into angry dispute, prompting a call to police (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot analysis) -- Highlights of Norfolk Republicans’ Saturday breakfast meeting: yelling, angry obscenities, pushing, shoving, threats of fisticuffs, cops being called and the restaurant owner permanently banning the group

State’s voters will have more choices on ballot this year (Wilson Times) -- Voting in state legislative contests won’t be conducted by the “shrug and select” method this November. Most races will have at least two names on the ballot. When the dust settled on the final day of candidate filing last week, both the Democratic and Republican parties had fielded a slate of 170 hopefuls throughout North Carolina’s 120 House and 50 Senate districts.

JOHN BOYLE: Asheville seeks release of all body cam footage in jaywalking beating case (Asheville Citizen-Times analysis) -- Citing the need for "total transparency" and for the public to have "a complete picture" of a disturbing police beating of a man suspected of jaywalking, the city of Asheville asked the court system to release all body camera footage related to the incident.

JEFF HAMPTON: Ferry proposed to draw Outer Banks tourist dollars to inland N.C. towns (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot) -- Inland Chowan County collects $152,000 a year in lodging taxes, a popular measure of local tourism. In comparison, Dare County on the coast collects more than $28 million.

MAGGIE ASTOR: 7 times in history when students turned to activism (New York Times analysis) -- History is full of movements led by students — albeit usually in college, not high school. Some were successful and others brutally crushed, but even the latter still resonate. (Most of these campaigns have been liberal-leaning: Though conservative college students have made their presence known, their actions have rarely coalesced into broader movements.) Here are seven other cases where young people were moved to challenge adult society. GREENSBORO SIT-INS, 1960 -- The lunch counter sit-ins that would change American history began with four teenagers who walked up to a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., and refused to leave.

LIZ BELL: Understanding the state’s education commissions (EdNC analysis) -- Numerous commissions and task forces study various education issues across the state — from the quality of the entire educational system to teacher preparation and school finance. It can be confusing. Here is some information on what they each do:

JEN FIFIELD: Nobody Knows How Many Kids Get Caught With Guns in School. Why? (Stateline/N.C. Health News) -- Because of lax reporting by schools and lax oversight by state and federal authorities — and despite federal law — it’s nearly impossible to say just how many students get caught taking firearms into public schools each year.

KELLY HINCHCLIFFE: NC average teacher pay surpasses $50,000 (WRAL-TV analysis) -- North Carolina's average teacher pay has surpassed the $50,000 mark for the first time, hitting $51,214 this school year - a $1,244 increase from the previous year, according to estimates released by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

GINGER LIVINGSTON: Businessman, philanthropist Walter Williams has died (Greenville Daily Reflector obit) -- Walter Williams, a one-time teacher who later made a fortune selling gasoline then gave millions of it to East Carolina University and Pitt Community College, died early Monday. He was 88. Williams started his career as an educator before working with his brother in the fuel business and later founding Trade Oil Co. Friends remembered Williams as a man always willing to share his fortune to help others. U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., was one of Williams’ students.

EMERY DALESIO: NC regulator considers another Duke Energy rate hike request (AP news analysis) -- A week after allowing Duke Energy a rate increase that includes charges for coal ash cleanup for about half its North Carolina consumers, state regulators on Monday began considering raising prices on an additional 2 million customers.

JOHN DOWNEY: Duke Energy details new eastern N.C. customer rates; residential bills take biggest hit (Charlotte Business Journal analysis) -- Duke Energy Progress' typical residential customers will see their average monthly bill rise to $113.49, up $5.07 from the current average of $108.27.

ALLEN G. BREED & MICHAEL BIESECKER: Hogs v. Humans With Neighbors Fighting Back Against Swine Waste (AP news analysis) -- For decades people say they have felt powerless against the economic and political influence of the commercial hog farming industry in North Carolina. In early December, a federal judge scheduled the first of what could be dozens of trials in a group of nuisance lawsuits filed against Murphy-Brown LLC, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods — the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. The first two test cases are set to be tried in April.

State must force site to cease GenX, other fluorochemical operations (Wilmington Star-News) -- Chemours has demonstrated that it either cannot or will not do right by the people of Southeastern North Carolina. It’s now up to state leaders to perform their fundamental duty of protecting N.C. citizens.

KIP TABB: Our Coast’s People --Nathan Richards (Coastal Review column) -- Nathan Richards, head of the Marine Heritage Program at the UNC Coastal Studies Institute, began his marine archaeology career in Australia, He and his team recently solved the mystery of the Pappy’s Lane shipwreck in Rodanthe.

Air quality problem must be solved (Winston-Salem Journal) -- Among all the difficulties facing teachers in North Carolina today, they shouldn’t have to worry about the very air they breathe. But respiratory problems plague Ashley Academy for Cultural & Global Studies in eastern Winston-Salem, where teachers and students alike have suffered.

D.G. MARTIN: Who are today’s public intellectuals? (Winston-Salem Journal column) -- Billy Graham’s death and memorial service brought back memories of a column I wrote about North Carolina’s “Public Intellectuals” 16 years ago.

IBM settles with UNC grad; Can take Microsoft’s top diversity job in July (WRAL-TV/TechWire analysis) -- IBM scored a victory of sorts in its battle with former senior human resources Lindsay-Rae McIntyre. The UNC-Chapel Hill graduate and Morehead Scholar can become the top diversity officer at Microsoft – but not until July.