Opinion Roundup: State minimum wage, tax breaks, policy trends and more

Wednesday , Jan. 2, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: NC legislative leaders continue to resist raising state minimum wage, Pittenger not interested in taking part in new 9th District primary, new student IDs coming to Guilford County Schools, Duke Energy requests consideration for rate change, great-grandmother wins $10 million in Christmas Eve lottery and more.

EMERY DALESIO: Pittenger not interested in taking part in new 9th District primary (AP reports) -- Republican 9th District Congressman Robert Pittenger says he won't run against Mark Harris again if a new primary is held for the seat because of fraud in the general election. Also Monday, a lawyer for Harris said the campaign doesn't think a planned hearing aiming to root out evidence of alleged ballot fraud can happen.

JIM MORRILL: Pittenger says he won’t run even if there’s a new 9th District primary (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Outgoing US Rep. Robert Pittenger said he won’t run if there’s a new primary in the 9th District. His comments came as the district’s election results are in flux.

BRUCE HENDERSON: Mark Harris to meet with NC elections staff to answer ‘any and all’ questions (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Mark Harris, who last week asked the state elections board to certify his disputed win in the 9th Congressional District, said that he plans to meet with elections staff this week.

Is the GOP serious about election fraud? (Fayetteville Observer) -- And so in the year 2018, the North Carolina Republican Party sent word across the land: Every vote is sacred and we will not tolerate election fraud. It was little noticed that there was a tiny asterisk after that statement, referring to an even quieter footnote below: Unless that voting fraud helps Republican candidates, in which case we may just give it a pass. And so, burnishing an image of almost staggering hypocrisy, the party has decided to ignore the serious investigations of absentee-ballot fraud.

MATTHEW BURNS: Will second half of Cooper's term be more productive than first? (WRAL-TV reports) -- A flip of the calendar could bring a change of fortunes to Gov. Roy Cooper's administration.

RICHARD CRAVER: NC legislative leaders continue to resist raising state minimum wage (Winston-Salem Journal reports) -- Workers in 11 blue, five purple and five red states will receive a raise today by virtue of a state- or voter-mandated increase in their respective minimum hourly wages. For the 10th consecutive year, North Carolina minimum-wage workers will not join them. They remain at the federally mandated $7.25 an hour set in 2009, along with workers in 16 other states. Workers in the remaining states did not see an increase today, but were already above the federal minimum wage.

KIRK ROSS: If past is prologue, buckle up for NC politics in 2019 (Carolina Public Press reports) -- The challenge for the state isn’t just dealing with the aftermath of 2018, but recognizing that going forward what has happened could become more common. These challenges in both disasters and democracy come as a new dynamic takes hold in state leadership. One of the most significant changes as a result of the 2018 election was the end of supermajorities in both the state House and Senate, which puts Gov. Roy Cooper in a far stronger bargaining position. Republicans still hold 65 seats in the 120-seat House and 29 of the 50 seats in the Senate, enough to pass laws, but not enough to guarantee an easy vote to override Cooper’s vetoes. While that gets the governor a seat at the table, it does not mean compromise is a given.

LAURA LESLIE: New state laws bring tax breaks, other changes in 2019 (WRAL-TV reports) -- The New Year will bring legal changes that will likely be notice in wallets, at the polls and on the roads.

N.C. cutting state, corporate income taxes in 2019 (AP reports) – N.C. is again cutting personal and corporate income tax rates. A law passed by the Republican-led General Assembly takes effect reducing the state tax on personal wages and other earnings from about 5.5 percent to 5.25 percent. The corporations will pay be less than half the personal rate, when their state income tax obligation falls from 3 percent to 2.5 percent. More low-income state residents also will pay no state income tax.

MITT ROMNEY: President shapes public character of the nation. Trump’s character falls short (Washington Post column) -- It is well known that Donald Trump was not my choice for the Republican presidential nomination. After he became the nominee, I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not. When he won the election, I hoped he would rise to the occasion. His early appointments of Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Nikki Haley, Gary Cohn, H.R. McMaster, Kelly and Mattis were encouraging. But, on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.

Reason pays a brief visit to Washington (Greensboro News & Record) -- Amid all of the sound and fury in Washington, our leaders recently took time out from their scratching and clawing and actually did something good. In a rare outbreak of bipartisan cooperation, Congress, with President Trump’s signature, passed a landmark criminal justice reform bill.

TIM FUNK: From sit-ins to landmark lawsuits, NC role in Civil Rights Movement was ‘huge’ (Charlotte Observer reports) -- What did the Civil Rights Movement look like in North Carolina? From sit-ins to school desegregation to voting rights crusades, NC played a big role. And the push for equal rights here started earlier than most of the history textbooks say.

LISA O’DONNELL: Remove Confederate statue or face possible legal action, Winston-Salem tells Daughters of Confederacy (Winston-Salem Journal reports) -- Citing a growing concern over public safety, the city of Winston-Salem has directed the group that owns the statue of a Confederate soldier in downtown to remove it by Jan. 31 or face possible legal action, Mayor Allen Joines said Tuesday.

MICHELLE WAGNER: Not quite Wright, During federal shutdown, visitors improvise at aviation memorial (Outer Banks Sentinel) -- Despite the federal government shutdown that has halted visitor services here, the locked gates to the U.S. 158 entrance of the Wright Brothers National Memorial have done little to stop visitors from parking along the highway and walking onto the grounds of the famous National Park Service (NPS) site in Kill Devil Hills.

CHARLES GILLESPIE: N.C. should embrace sports gambling, or get left behind (Charlotte Observer column) -- Sports betting and gambling are legal now in the US after a Supreme Court ruling. North Carolina should regulate it and reap the tax revenues before neighboring states of Virginia and South Carolina do.

Wife of Rep. Deb Butler dies unexpectedly (WWAY-TV reports) -- Rep. Deb Butler (D-New Hanover) is mourning the death of her wife over the weekend. According to an obituary, Anni Parra, 52, died suddenly Friday of an unexpected illness. Parra served as the grant administrator at Talbert and Bright Engineering. She and Butler married in late 2015. Butler, a Wilmington attorney, has represented the 18th District, which stretches from Wilmington across northern Brunswick County, since 2017.

Anni Parra, wife of NC Rep. Deb Butler, dies unexpectedly at 52 (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- Butler: Death of ‘my Anni-girl’ prompts outpouring of sympathy

Martin made a difference for Wilson County (Wilson Times) – State Rep. Susan Martin remained “one of us” throughout her tenure and has worked hard to bring prosperity and opportunity to her District 8 constituents and their fellow Tar Heels throughout the state through tax and regulatory reform. As she leaves office, North Carolina holds Forbes’ No. 1 ranking in its annual list of the best states to do business.

SARAH KRUEGER: Fatal lion attack has NC Zoo, other preserves checking safety measures (WRAL reports) — New Year's Day would normally be a busy day for tours at the Conservators Center animal preserve in Caswell County. But the center remains closed after the death of 22-year-old intern Alex Black in a lion attack.

JONATHAN DREW and RICK CALLAHAN: Animal advocates say fatal zoo mauling shows need for crackdown (AP reports) -- The fatal mauling of a zoo intern by a lion that escaped from a locked pen illustrates the need for N.C. regulators to crack down on unaccredited exhibitors of dangerous animals, animal welfare advocates said.

AMELIA HARPER: Charter school can't pay teachers (Rocky Mount Telegram reports) -- Global Achievers School has shut its doors, and teachers at the K-3 charter school may never be paid what they are owed for their service to the school and its students. Two teachers at the charter school, whose charter was revoked in November by the State Board of Education, spoke out this week under conditions of anonymity, fearing the consequences of speaking to the press about the financial affairs of the publicly-funded school.

ROBERT SMITH: A step we should take to curb school violence (EdNC column) -- When we read that more students have been killed in U.S. school shootings this year than U.S. military personnel in combat operations there is a wave of suggestions on how to fix the problem. Last month, a student at a high school near Charlotte was fatally shot, with bullying identified as a factor. When the headline is still fresh, there is a collective urgency for finding solutions. There is a spike in outrage and enough finger-pointing to go around, but it is time — and has long been time — to look beyond the statistics and the theories and examine the one element common to every act of violence: human relationships.

VIRGINIA FOXX: Stop Calling It ‘Vocational Training’ (Wall Street Journal column) -- How we speak about education reflects class prejudice.

JESSIE POUNDS: New student IDs coming to Guilford County Schools this semester (Greensboro News & Record reports) — Students at Allen Jay Preparatory Academy in High Point swipe their student IDs as they record their arrival at the school on Dec. 19. More schools in the High Point area that are part of the pilot test program will begin trying out the swipe-to-enter feature to see how it works on a larger scale.

THOMAS GOLDSMITH, MARK TOSCZAK & TAYLOR KNOPF: NC Health Policy and Trends to Watch For in 2019 – Part 1 (NC Health News reports) — For people of all ages, 2019 will be the year of a state and national debate on health care access to public programs. NC government, the health care industry and citizen advocates, as well as affected patients, will be consumed with the effects of Medicaid transformation in 2019.

GREG BARNES, SARAH OVASKA-FEW & ROSE HOBAN: NC Health Policy and Trends to Watch For in 2019 – Part 2 (NC Health News reports) — Another issue likely to make news in 2019 is the presence of lead in drinking water at public schools in the state. Lead in public water systems’ plumbing was banned when Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments in 1986. But older systems abound in schools throughout NC.

KELSEY STIGLITZ: Duke Energy requests consideration for rate change (Jacksonville Daily News reports) -- Duke Energy has filed a petition with the N.C. Utilities Commission to request consideration for a rate hike following unprecedented damage expenses due to hurricanes Michael and Florence.

RUPEN FOFARIA: PART 1- A long road to recovery in post-Florence N.C. (EdNC column) -- The numbers tell a harrowing story, but they fall short of conveying the real impact of Hurricane Florence on North Carolina, particularly the eastern part of the state. That work is left for the survivors, whose strength is admirable if not ever-present. Their hope as the calendar year changes is that the rest of the state — and country — won’t forget about them after making their New Year’s resolutions.

RUPEN FOFARIA: PART 2 -Looking for help after the storm (EdNC column) -- One of the first places residents turn is to their local governments. But county officials are wearing many hats, having addressed issues related to debris, mosquito control, and initial damage control, while also organizing massive efforts to discover what the needs are in their communities.

ALEXANDER HOLTZ, TOD HOLMES & ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS: What Happens When a Family Loses Everything (Wall Street Journal reports) -- In September 2018, Hurricane Florence brought record-setting flooding to N.C. The Hudsons of Pender County were among the thousands of families displaced by the storm. This documentary follows their rescue and their path to recovery.

JENNIFER ALLEN: Fresh Christmas Trees Useful After Holidays (Coastal Review Online reports) — Fresh-cut Christmas trees once decorated for the holidays are being returned to nature, now that the season is coming to a close. Several towns and organizations are collecting the trees that will be used for dune stabilization and restoration or the trees are being turned into mulch.

BYRAN MIMS: Collard green crops coming up short for many Wake growers after abundant rainfall (WRAL-TV reports) — A meal of collard greens and black-eyed peas is a New Year's Day staple in many U.S. homes on Jan. 1, especially in the South. That's due largely to the legend that the meal can bring prosperity in the new year. But an abundance of rainfall in NC has led to a shortage of the treasured greens.

JESSICA PATRICK: NC great-grandmother wins $10 million in Christmas Eve lottery (WRAL-TV reports) -- Dorothy Martin of Cleveland County was surprised when she won $10 million on Christmas Eve.