Opinion Roundup: Gov. Cooper to work with balanced legislature, climate change action, Medicaid expansion and more

Friday, Nov. 9, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Anglin's Republican court campaign largely funded by Democrats, a new sheriff in town in many NC counties, Cooper eager to work with 'balanced' legislature, taking action on climate change, Holocaust survivor shares his story with students and more.

CAMPAIGN 2018
LAURA LESLIE & MATTHEW BURNS: Cooper eager to work with 'balanced' legislature (WRAL-TV reports) — Republicans have held so many seats in the General Assembly in recent years that they could make spending and policy decisions without input from their Democratic colleagues – or the governor.

TAL AXELROD: Democratic state AGs call on Whitaker to recuse himself from Mueller probe (The Hill reports) -- Multiple Democratic state attorneys general, including N.C.’s Josh Stein, called on acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry in light of past comments he made criticizing the Russia probe.

KATE MARTIN: There’s a new sheriff in town in many NC counties (Carolina Public Press reports) — Voters in counties across NC selected sheriffs in this week’s elections. Many of them elected new sheriffs. Despite geographic or political differences, these incoming sheriffs say they face similar challenges when it comes to the opioid epidemic and the increasing cost of running their county jails.

JOSH SHAFFER: With focus on immigration, voters in NC’s seven largest counties elected black sheriffs (Charlotte Observer reports) — Voters across NC this week elected a black sheriff in all seven of the state’s largest counties, bringing a new level of prominence to minorities in law enforcement. Five of those counties — Durham, Guilford, Forsyth, Cumberland and Buncombe — sent black candidates to the sheriff’s office for the first time in their histories.

KEITH LARSON: Will Democrats screw up 2020? (Charlotte Observer column) — In the end, the political blue water of Midterm 2018 did in fact come ashore as a ripple, not a wave, which is what I expected nationally. Locally there was a blue storm surge. And all the waters will soon be getting wilder.

U.S. system of government values balance (Wilmington Star-News reports) — When we stand up, our eyes, inner ear, muscles and brain automatically work together toward one goal -- equilibrium. Same for water -- it’s always seeking to level itself. And so it goes with American politics. In their wisdom, the founders created a system of government that has an uncanny ability to rebalance itself -- to constantly seek the center.

TRAVIS FAIN: Anglin's Republican court campaign largely funded by Democrats (WRAL-TV reports) — Controversial state Supreme Court candidate Chris Anglin's campaign finance report is finally public, and his top funders by far were major players in local Democratic politics.

POLICY & POLITICS
DMV attributes long lines to staffing, tech issues, Real ID (AP reports) — NC's DMV chief attributes recent extremely long lines at driver's license offices to staffing and technical issues on top of high customer demand, especially for upcoming "Real ID" requirements.

LAUREN HORSCH: Delivering Drones (The Insider reports) -- N.C. is at the forefront of using unmanned aircraft systems -- drones -- after being selected to participate in an integration pilot program from the Federal Aviation Administration. Out of 149 proposals sent to the FAA, the N.C. Department of Transportation was one of 10 groups selected for the pilot.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Results First (The Insider reports) – N.C. is the latest state to join the "Results First" program to evaluate state government programs. The program is supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the MacArthur Foundation and is used in 27 states; the Office of State Budget and Management is overseeing it here. Results First is "intended to help states identify programs that are proven to work and how best to use limited resources on what's most effective," assistant state budget officer Erin Matteson told legislators.

CANDACE SWEAT: ’What can we do:' Businesses wonder if armed guards are the answer to security concerns (WRAL reports) — With deadly mass shootings frequently making headlines, some are wondering if there are better ways to keep public places safe, but a security expert says there is a lot to consider before deciding to use an armed guard in a place of business.

JEFF HAMPTON: On the Outer Banks, a town wrestles with regulating massive party houses (Virginian-Pilot reports) — A plan to tear down a tiny oceanfront flat-top cottage and build a house five times larger with capacity for 24 people has many residents here fuming, with one calling the project a "monstrosity." It is doubly distasteful to its critics who fear it will start a trend of event-style houses at the cost of a dwindling number of flat-roofed homes designed by the town’s founder in the 1940s.

ANTIONETTE KERR: New Portal Combats NC Veteran Unemployment (Public News Service reports) — Veteran unemployment is at a record low of 3.1 percent across the state, compared to 3.8 percent percent for the general population. That's still not low enough for Mark Edmonds, a retired Army veteran and the chief operating officer of the Division of Workforce Solutions, who explains the need for the portal.

EDUCATION
FERREL GUILLORY: Education caught in a ‘two one-party state’ moment (EdNC reports) — The results of the mid-term elections this week suggest that NC has divided into “two one-party states.’’ Republicans and Democrats inhabit distinct spheres — geographic, cultural, racial, and ideological. And it is within this context that education policy and budgeting will play out over the next two years.

JANE WESTER: ‘Antithetical to everything Davidson’: Racist social media posts upset college campus (Charlotte Observer reports) — Davidson College is investigating social media posts, a day after an activist group says it connected a Twitter account that posted racist and anti-Semitic statements to a student.

TIMOTHY RYAN & MARC HETHERINGTON: There might be another solution for Silent Sam (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — We live in politically polarized times, full of impasses that seem impossible to bridge. But sometimes the way political choices are framed can obscure opportunities to build consensus. We think such opportunities exist as concerns one of the most divisive issues in southern politics: the preservation or removal of Confederate monuments

HEALTH
SARAH OVASKA-FEW: Medicaid expansion on the horizon in N.C.? Or still out of reach? (N.C. Health News reports) -- Now that some of the dust has settled after Tuesday’s election, the big question for many in the state’s health care community is whether N.C. will expand Medicaid. Here’s the unsatisfactory answer: Maybe, maybe not.

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Gov. Cooper takes action on climate change (Greensboro News & Record) — North Carolinians can watch helplessly as more frequent and more devastating hurricanes and floods threaten our lives, our property and our environment. We can play politics and argue about what should be obvious. Or we can do something.

ABBIE BENNETT: How do ‘cold-stunned’ sea turtles get from up north to NC for rehab, rescue? They fly (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — Ed Filangeri is a sea turtle pilot. He volunteers his spare time to fly turtles that have been “cold stunned” from northern waters to NC where they are rehabbed and returned to the wild.

JON HAWLEY: Planners: Limit solar farms' proximity to bypass (Elizabeth City Daily Advance reports) — Pasquotank County should allow large-scale solar farms, but away from the U.S. 17 Bypass, the county's planning board recommended in split votes Wednesday night.

VAUGHN HAGERTY: Brunswick Seeks EPA Loan for H2O Upgrades (Coastal Review Online reports) — Brunswick County plans to fund essentially half of $99 million in water plant upgrades through a loan program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that likely will reduce financing costs by millions of dollars.

AND MORE…
AMBER REVELS-STOCKS: Holocaust survivors shares his story with students, teachers (Greenville Daily Reflector reports) — When he was seven years-old, Alfred Schnog’s mother held a paring knife to his throat and told a Nazi border guard that if he did not allow her sons to come with her, she would kill Alfred and his twin, Norbert, before killing herself.

RICHARD BARRON: Cindy Loman named editor of News & Record (Greensboro News & Record reports) -- "Her experience, her knowledge of the area played into it as well," publisher Alton Brown said. "Her skillset impressed me as the right person to lead this newsroom."