Opinion Roundup: U.S. Department of Justice demands N.C. voting records, annual school performance reports released, meth-related deaths outpacing opioids and more

Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Justice Dept. demands millions of N.C. voter records, public schools release their annual school performance grades and graduation rates, hundreds of UNC faculty members urge officials not to restore Silent Sam statue to its original location, what teaches are doing to pay their bills, DMV chief promises changes to improve service and more.

CAMPAIGN 2018

TRAVIS FAIN: Federal subpoenas demand 'tsunami' of NC voter records (WRAL-TV reports) — Federal investigators connected to the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have subpoenaed massive troves of voter data, including executed ballots, from 44 North Carolina counties and the State Board of Elections.

RICHARD FAUSSET & MICHAEL WINES: Justice Dept. Demands Millions of N.C. Voter Records, Confounding Elections Officials (New York Times reports) -- Federal prosecutors have issued sweeping subpoenas demanding that millions of North Carolina voter records be turned over to immigration authorities by Sept. 25. With just two months to go before the midterms, the subpoenas threatened to sow chaos in the state’s election machinery, while renewing the Trump administration’s repeatedly discredited claims of widespread voting by illegal immigrants.

VALERIE BAUERLEIN & ALICIA CALDWELL: Immigration Officials Request Millions of N.C. Voting Records, Prompting State Pushback (Wall Street Journal reports) -- Federal immigration officials have requested more than 20 million North Carolina voter records covering eight years as part of the Trump administration’s inquiry into voter fraud.

It's up to you to reject constitutional amendments (Greensboro News & Record) — When you go the polls Nov. 6, you will face questions about six constitutional amendments. The topics you see on the ballot may not be clear when you stand in the booth, but here is what is at stake for you:

ALEXANDRA SIROTA: Income tax rate cap amendment is costly for taxpayers, communities (N.C. Budget & Tax Center reports) -- Imposing an arbitrary income tax cap in the North Carolina Constitution could fundamentally compromise our state’s ability to fund our schools, roads, and public health, as well as raise the cost of borrowing. This could all happen even as the tax load shifts even further onto middle- and low-income taxpayers and the state’s highest income taxpayers — the top 1 percent — continue to benefit from recent tax changes since 2013.

DAVID LIEB: Upcoming redistricting is a backstory of 2018 midterms (AP reports) -- The task of drawing new boundaries for thousands of federal and state legislative districts is still about three years away, yet the political battle over redistricting already is playing out in this year's midterm elections. North Carolina's congressional elections were thrown into a week of uncertainty when a federal judicial panel raised the possibility that it would order new districts before the fall elections to correct what it had ruled was unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. It opted against doing that, conceding there was not enough time.

Gerrymandering lives for another election cycle (Fayetteville Observer) — The courts should insure that the 2018 elections are the last ones held with the current district maps, which Republicans acknowledge were drawn to create an overwhelming GOP majority in our congressional delegation — 10 Republicans and only three Democrats in a state where Democrat is still the top voter registration.

LAURA LESLIE: DMV chief promises changes to improve service, cut wait times (WRAL-TV reports) — One way the DMV is responding is by bringing back express lines for services that don't take long. The agency did away with express lines early this year after customers complained that they weren't being served in order, but the change slowed things down.

Active shooters add new peril for firefighters (Fayetteville Observer) — Isn’t it enough that we ask them to rescue people from flaming buildings and wrecked vehicles? But now, in this era of mass shootings, we also will ask them to don tactical gear and dash into the line of fire to rescue victims of active shooters. Welcome to the new normal of the 21st century.

MYRON PITTS: Abuse allegation hangs over Willliams, not the city (Fayetteville Observer column) — Today, Fayetteville City Council members must be feeling even more sure of their decision to push Tyrone Williams out. If he were still in office, the charge would be a dark cloud over a city trying its best to move forward. It would be a gut-punch to a section of the city, District 2, that already has to fight for respect.

EDUCATION

Schools 'seem to be plateauing': 10 takeaways from NC's school grade results (WRAL reports) — North Carolina public schools released their annual school performance grades and graduation rates at Wednesday's State Board of Education meeting. Search for your school below to find out what grade it received for the 2017-18 school year:

DOUGLAS BELKIN: Public Schools Make Gains in College Rankings, UNC is 4 (Wall Street Journal reports) -- Two dozen public universities cracked the top 100 overall in this year’s Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings, even as the privatization of public education passed a significant milestone: Students in a majority of states are now paying more in tuition to attend public colleges or universities than the government contributes. The top five public schools varied little from last year. The University of California, Los Angeles again led the pack, at No. 25 overall, followed by the University of Michigan at No. 28, the University of California, Berkeley at No. 33, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at No. 37 and the University of California, Davis at No. 41.

MELISSA KORN & DOUGLAS BELKIN: Harvard Stays on Top of College Rankings, Duke is 7 (Wall Street Journal reports) -- The top 50 schools in this year’s rankings show that institutions small and large can deliver a great education. Duke University tied with Brown for seventh among the top 10. Caltech achieved its No. 5 ranking with just around 1,000 undergraduates, while the University of Southern California, with about 20 times as many, landed at No. 17. Thirteen liberal-arts schools, most with undergraduate enrollments below 3,000, made the top 50. And nine universities with at least 20,000 undergraduates were in that elite tier.

MELISSA KORN: Which Colleges Give You the Best Value? UNC is #2 (Wall Street Journal reports) -- Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University rank as the best schools in the nation. But in terms of value for the money, Berea College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Washington, Seattle top the list. Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind., and the University of California, Los Angeles round out the top five, with Harvard coming in sixth.

T. KEUNG HUI: Test scores are down in NC public schools. What needs to change? (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — “We have some things to celebrate,” State Superintendent Mark Johnson said at a news conference Wednesday. “We also have things that will make us pause and have concerns.”

CLAUDIA RUPCICH: Who was Julian Carr, and why do people want his name removed from a Duke building? (WRAL reports) — Julian Carr gave a lot of money to UNC, Carrboro and Duke University, you can find the "Carr" name on Duke's history department building, on an office building at UNC, and, most prominently, on the Town of Carrboro. Carr was a UNC student and died in 1924. Officials say made his money in the tobacco industry, and, at the Silent Sam dedication, he bragged about "horse-whipping a black woman."

SARAH KRUEGER: Duke must look at past, present, future before deciding to rename Carr building (WRAL reports) — "Money never forgets where it came from," said Duke Professor Wahneema Lubiano. "A wealthy donor does not simply make a gift of money, of land, of other resources that somehow are timeless, are free of everything that accompanies the gift."

JANE STANCILL: UNC fundraising leaders say Silent Sam threatens safety, reputation of university (Charlotte Observer reports) — In a letter Tuesday to the UNC Board of Trustees, eight co-chairs of the Campaign for Carolina said they support UNC Chancellor Carol Folt’s statement last week that the toppled statue should be moved to a new, more appropriate location. All are alumni and most have either served as members of the UNC trustee board or Board of Visitors.

SUSAN SVRlUGA: Hundreds of UNC faculty members urge officials not to restore Silent Sam statue to its original location (Washington Post reports) -- Hundreds of UNC faculty members sent a letter to school officials urging them not to return to its original location a Confederate statue toppled by protesters.

KELLY HINCHCLIFFE: 'Connecting the Bots': NC colleges share majors, careers that are most in demand (WRAL-TV reports) — What will the future of work in North Carolina look like, and what careers will be in demand? To help answer those questions, WRAL News asked local college and university leaders to share what majors are most popular and what programs they have added or hope to add to keep up with the changing workforce.

MIKAYA THURMOND: Students petition for later start times (WRAL reports) — A group of Wake County students have started a movement to get more sleep. The group's petition calls on Wake County schools to start school at 8:30 in the morning, which is in line with recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for high schools across the country. That's an hour later than the 7:25 a.m. start time Wake County currently has for its high schools.

BRIAN ULRICH & JAIME LOWE: Second shift, what teaches are doing to pay their bills (New York Times reports) -- Some teachers devote 60 hours a week to the classroom, then go to work elsewhere. The hours can be long, the labor physical, the pay close to minimum wage. Teachers across the country are now baristas, Amazon warehouse employees, movie-theater managers and fast-food grill cooks. Here are some of the things they do to make ends meet. RENEE JEWELL; 42, married, three children; East Iredell Middle School, Statesville, N.C.; SUBJECTS: Language arts and math for special-education students; SALARY: $55,000; YEARS ON THE JOB: 19; SECOND JOB: Cashier, Big Lots ; WEEKLY HOURS DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR: 12; DURING THE SUMMER: 12; HOURLY PAY: $10; MONTHLY EXPENSES: $3,200-$3,300; “I don’t feel like I can be the best teacher, and I feel like I’m a horrible mother. My children are sobbing at the door when I leave. It’s hard to explain to them that Mommy has to go to work so that we can have electricity.”

AILA BOYD: Increase in meth deaths outpacing growth in opioid-related fatalities in NC (Carolina Public Press reports) -- While opioid-related deaths are more numerous and receive more attention, methamphetamine-related deaths in North Carolina are increasing more rapidly

ROSE HOBAN: NC Pregnancy, Abortion Rates Continued to Tick Down in 2016 (NC Health News reports) — With U.S. Senate confirmation hearings on Judge Brett Kavanaugh underway, advocates for abortion rights are expressing concern over what his confirmation might mean for access to the procedure in the future.

Secret price lists inflate taxpayers’ health care costs (Wilson Times) — State Treasurer Dale Folwell asked a simple question: How much should North Carolina taxpayers be shelling out for state workers to receive care at UNC Health medical facilities? The University of North Carolina Health Care System’s answer: That’s a secret.

CATHERINE KOZAK: New Dawn, New Rules for Solar in Currituck (Coastal Review Online reports) — After two years of legal action and an 18-month ban on solar farms in rural Currituck County, not only has a new facility now been permitted, the county is in the process of revising its zoning to allow solar projects under certain conditions.

ABBIE BENNETT: There’s a disappearing island off NC’s coast where you can get rich – in sand dollars (Charlotte Observer reports) — There’s an island off North Carolina’s coast only accessible by boat where you can find buried treasure. Sand Dollar Island, which is really just a large sand bar most accessible at low tide, is home to a seemingly more concentrated population of sand dollars than almost anywhere else on the Carolina coast, visitors say.