Opinion Roundup: Primary Day, list of schools closing for teacher rally grows, environmental lawyers take on Chemours over GenX and more.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Primary election day in North Carolina, supporters back 'Silent Sam' protester in court, list of schools closing for teacher rally grows, former Duke player's mother compares NCAA system to slavery, environmental lawyers take on Chemours over GenX and more.

MATTHEW BURNS: For most everyone, it's time to vote (WRAL-TV reports) -- Today is primary election day across North Carolina, and with only 4 percent of registered voters casting ballots in the recent early voting period, pretty much everyone still needs to get to their local polling site. Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. Anyone in line at closing time will be allowed to vote.

SARAH KRUEGER: Supporters back 'Silent Sam' protester in court (WRAL-TV reports) -- Supporters rallied behind a graduate student who smeared her own blood and red paint on a Confederate statue on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus as she made her first court appearance.

GARY ROBERTSON: N.C. lawmakers expect $357M surplus, uptick next year (AP reports) -- North Carolina lawmakers have several hundred million dollars more at their disposal as they adjust the two-year state budget because state government has a slight surplus this year.

RICHARD CRAVER: Remington secures 7 loans, one from NC bank that pledged to cut back on gun maker lending (Winston-Salem Journal reports) -- Three prominent North Carolina banks have agreed to provide 54 percent of the debtor-in-possession financing to Remington Outdoor Co. to aid its exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by the end of May. According to bankruptcy court records, Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. are among three banks providing $43.23 million, while BB&T Corp. is among three banks providing $18.62 million.

MIKE MCHUGH: Lejeune Marine under investigation for ties to white supremacist group (Jacksonville Daily News reports) -- The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has opened an investigation into a Camp Lejeune Marine’s alleged involvement with a white supremacist organization. In reports published by Frontline PBS and ProPublica, Lance Cpl. Vasillios George Pistolis allegedly participated in the Unite the Right rally held Aug. 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Va. At the same time as serving as an active duty Marine, Pistolis also belonged to a white supremacist group called the “Atomwaffen Division, a guarded neo-Nazi ensemble whose members claim they are prepping for a coming race war.

DREW WILSON: Hemp in the hopper: Bill could legalize fiber crop (Wilson Times reports) -- A Nash County kenaf grower said more farmers need to start growing hemp to bring more money to North Carolina farms.

KELLY HINCHCLIFFE & ADAM OWENS: List of schools closing for teacher rally grows as 10K are expected at Capitol (WRAL-TV reports) -- The N.C. Association of Educators estimates more than 10,000 teachers may attend the May 16 teacher march and rally in Raleigh. Five school districts have already announced they are closing for the day.

A Scarlet Title IX Letter (Wall Street Journal) -- Title IX has become an unchallengeable totem on American campuses, even as some students unfairly accused of sexual misconduct have been deprived of due process. And now students found guilty by dubious campus courts may be publicly named—and their reputations ruined—if a N.C. judicial ruling is upheld. The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled last month that UNC-Chapel Hill must release the names of anyone “who, since Jan. 1, 2007, has been found responsible of rape, sexual assault, or any related or lesser included sexual misconduct.” The case concerned public records law, not the merits of Title IX, and the appeals court’s ruling is legally sound. The consequences are nonetheless disturbing.

DEREK MEDLIN: Mother of former Duke star Carter: NCAA resembles 'slavery and the prison system' (WRAL-TV/AP reports) -- The NCAA is attempting to clean up college basketball, but in the wake of the Commission on College Basketball report, many have questioned whether or not any real changes will come in the next few months. Add the mother of former Duke University standout Wendell Carter Jr. to the list of those who are skeptical.

BRANT WILKERSON-NEW: Former Duke player's mother compares NCAA system to slavery, prison (Greensboro News & Record) -- Kylia Carter’s emotion showed as she reflected on her childhood, growing up on a farm in Mississippi before going on to play basketball at Ole Miss. Now, with a new perspective on college basketball after her son Wendell starred at Duke last season, Carter didn’t hold back as she spoke Monday during a discussion at the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics in Washington

ANDREW KREIGBAUM: Some House GOP Urged Preservation of Public Service Loan Forgiveness (Inside Higher Ed reports) -- In a letter last month to Rep. Virginia Foxx, the chair of the House education committee, 13 House Republicans urged that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program be preserved. Foxx, R-N.C., last year released a proposal to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, dubbed the PROSPER Act, that would eliminate PSLF as well as streamline several current loan repayment options. The bill was advanced out of committee in December but has yet to garner support for a floor vote.

JEREMY BAUER-WOLF: NCAA Compared to Slavery, Prison (Inside Higher Ed reports) -- Kylia Carter, mother of a former star Duke University basketball player and likely first-round pick in the National Basketball Association draft Wendell Carter Jr. -- made a stunning comparison at a meeting of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. She likened the National Collegiate Athletic Association to overseers of a system similar to slavery or prison. Those are the only other models in which laborers aren’t compensated for their work, Carter said. The NCAA and its member institutions buy the talents of athletes but don’t let them share in the money, she said.

GILBERT BAEZ: Cumberland County teachers, students collect supplies for schools affected by Guilford tornado (WRAL-TV reports) -- As recovery continues in Guilford County three weeks after an EF-2 tornado ripped apart three schools, students and teachers in Cumberland County collected school supplies on Monday to help those in need.

PETER GALUSZKA: Dominion put two surprises in its annual resource plan report (Washington Post column) -- When it comes to natural gas however, Dominion keeps coming up with surprises. It’s always been a bit fuzzy which entities the ACP will supply. We know it will supply subsidiaries of Dominion and its electric utility partners. If it goes to Dominion gas plants, aren’t they already being survived by existing pipelines? We were told the pipeline would terminate in North Carolina. Now it looks as if it will move into South Carolina, where Dominion is trying to buy a large electric utility.

TRAVIS FAIN: Environmental lawyers take on DEQ, Chemours over GenX (WRAL-TV reports) -- Frustrated with state regulators, Cape Fear River Watch and the SELC take on Chemours.

CHRISTIAN HUNT: Rebuild the Red Wolf Recovery Effort (Coastal Review column) -- A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to reduce the Red Wolf Recovery Program’s territory will lead to the species’ extinction in the wild.

Town put chemical into popular NC fishing lake. Then the fish began to die. (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Fish are dying White Lake, a popular eastern North Carolina fishing lake, where the town put a chemical in the water to kill algae. People like to catch bass, fish, and pickerel in the 1,092-acre natural lake.

Bus involved in accident that killed UNC-Charlotte student had no insurance, fake tags (CNN reports) -- Six days after 20-year-old Polly Rogers was hit and killed on the road after falling out of a party bus and getting struck by two cars, police say that bus didn’t have a legal tag or any insurance. Attorney Mike Daisley says it’s hard to understand why not.

JEFF HAMPTON: "Really big alligator" spotted in Kitty Hawk neighborhood (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports) -- "Nobody ever remembers seeing an alligator here before," said Mike Furlo, a long time resident of Kitty Hawk Landing.

JIM MORRILL: Loving the 'can-do spirit' of Charlotte, M.S. Van Hecke chronicled the city's growth (Charlotte Observer obit) -- When M.S. Van Hecke came to The Charlotte Observer in 1953, no office building had been built for 25 years and no hotel since before the war. The city limits ended just south of Dilworth. But the city was about to begin a remarkable run of growth. And for nearly four decades Van Hecke was the one who chronicled it as an Observer editor and columnist. Merwin Spenser Van Hecke died Saturday at 89 after a brief illness.