Opinion Roundup: Gun regulation proposals, safer schools, Walter Jones remembered for deep convictions and more

Friday, Feb. 15, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Walter Jones remembered at funeral for deep convictions, NC lawmakers roll out gun control proposals on Parkland anniversary, colleges continue to confront blackface on campus, Gov. Cooper pan new EPA plan on GenX-style chemicals and more.

AMY GARDNER: N.C. elections officials will give U.S. attorney vastly fewer voter records than he sought (Washington Post reports) -- Six months after a grand jury demanded millions of state voting records, officials have announced they will release fewer than 800 voter files — a potentially significant setback for a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who has targeted noncitizen voting as one of his top priorities. The state Board of Elections last week instructed 44 county election offices that received wide-ranging subpoenas for millions of voting records in August to hand over the files for only 289 voters. The state will turn over registration records for an additional 500 voters. It is unclear whether the vastly reduced volume of records is the result of a court order or an agreement between the board and U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon Jr., who sought the records in August, shortly after he announced the arrest of 19 noncitizens on charges that they had illegally voted in the 2016 presidential election.

This is the year for redistricting reform (Fayetteville Observer) -- When was the last time we saw Republicans and Democrats in Raleigh agree on a piece of legislation that would change a controversial practice that one of the parties loves and the other hates? No, we can’t recall one either. But this week, lawmakers from both parties are supporting House legislation that would take the drawing of legislative districts out of politicians’ hands and turn it over to an 11-member, nonpartisan commission.

Chance to end gerrymandering (Hendersonville Times-News) -- When Democrats controlled state government in North Carolina, they drew election maps to favor their candidates. Then Republicans did the same thing when they took control in 2010. Now there is at least a chance to end political gerrymandering with the current split in power in the General Assembly.

Small revenue surplus forecast (Legislative revenue forecast) -- State government is on track to have a $150.8 million revenue surplus for the current fiscal year, only about 0.6 percent more than expected.

MATTHEW BURNS: NC lawmakers roll out gun control proposals on Parkland anniversary (WRAL-TV reports) -- One year after 17 people were killed in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., several North Carolina lawmakers called for a variety of gun restrictions in this state.

House Democrats press for gun restrictions (AP reports) -- Gun-control advocates in the legislature are pressing again for weapon restrictions they say will reduce the risk of mass shootings and other firearm violence.

CANDACE SWEAT: 'We can change things:' Local students call for end to gun violence (WRAL-TV reports) -- A group gathered in Durham on the anniversary of the Parkland massacre to remember those lost in the Parkland massacre and plead for an end to gun violence.

FERREL GUILLORY: Traditional school day and calendar out of sync with the times (EdNC column) -- Several local school districts have asked the General Assembly to free them from the rigid start-date and end-date of the academic year now embedded in law. They define the issue as “calendar flexibility.” What seems a prosaic procedural matter actually poses a test of policymakers’ flexibility and willingness to break out of conventional ways of operating. “Calendar flexibility’’ is among a cluster of time-in-school issues that require renewed emphasis on serving students’ educational needs.

T.C. HUNTER: Britt named to prison-safety panel (The Robesonian reports) -- Robeson County's resident state senator has been chosen to serve on a committee formed to make North Carolina's prisons safer for the people who work in them. Sen. Danny Britt Jr., R-Robeson, is one of the 13 lawmakers appointed Wednesday by Senate Leader Phil Berger to the Select Committee on Prison Safety,

COLIN CAMPBELL: Game nights (The Insider reports) -- Legislative Republicans renewed criticism of Gov. Roy Cooper's 2017 veto of a bill allowing nonprofit "game night" fundraising events featuring casino-style games and alcohol -- and it's prompted a popular fundraiser to get canceled. Rep. Jamie Boles, R-Moore, and Sen. Rick Gunn, R-Alamance, pointed to a "Casino Night" event being held this weekend at the N.C. Museum of History, and they said Cooper's administration is violating a law he refused to change." The governor's office isn't involved in facility rentals at the history museum.

A move for safer schools (Fayetteville Observer) — It’s essential, we believe, that security in our schools be improved. Here in Cumberland County, the schools have improved physical barriers to intruders and methods to screen out people intending to cause harm. There are better locks on doors, more fencing and surveillance cameras. But elementary schools still must share school resource officers — armed sheriff’s deputies who respond to problems or disturbances.

A historic new chief justice (Winston-Salem Journal) -- Associate Justice Cheri Beasley, tapped by Gov. Roy Cooper to become the next chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, will make history as the first African-American woman to hold that position. This is a sign of social and judicial progress that we find reassuring.

MITCH SMITH: A New Law Made Him a ‘Free Man on Paper,’ but He Died in N.C. Behind Bars (New York Times reports) -- At a federal courthouse in Tennessee, a judge signed an order allowing an ailing inmate to go home. At a prison hospice unit in North Carolina, the patient died before he heard the news. And at his wife’s home in Indiana, the phone rang.

KIRK ROSS & FELICIA SONMEX: ‘He was a man of absolute integrity’: Rep. Walter Jones is remembered (Washington Post reports) -- Friends and colleagues of Rep. Walter B. Jones remembered the North Carolina Republican at his funeral Thursday as a man of faith and integrity, hailing his public service and willingness to fight for his ideals during his 24 years in Congress. More than two dozen members of Congress, along with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D), were present for Thursday’s service at St. Peter Catholic Church, one of two churches where Jones attended Mass every weekend when he was home.

BRYAN MIMS: Jones remembered as man of integrity (WRAL-TV reports) -- Congressman Walter Jones was eulogized as a man who fought for the people of eastern North Carolina and wasn't afraid to buck authority.

TYLER STOCKS: Mourners recall Jones' integrity and love of others during funeral (Greenville Daily Reflector) -- He was a devoted husband and father who wanted to be remembered for his integrity and love of God and the Catholic Church. He also was the voice for veterans, farmers, fisherman, businessmen and everyone in between. And when he went off to Washington, he was not afraid to go against his own political party if it meant doing the right thing. These tributes and others were shared as friends and colleagues of the late U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. gathered in Greenville to honor him

Jones remembered at funeral for deep convictions (AP reports) -- Friends and colleagues of the late U.S. Rep. Walter Jones Jr. remembered him Thursday as a man of integrity and deep Christian conviction who fought for constituents and what he believed was right.

RUSTY JACOBS: Jones Remembered By Friends, Colleagues At Funeral (WUNC-FM reports) -- Congressman Walter Jones was laid to rest following a funeral service at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Greenville. The 3rd Congressional District representative died Sunday on his 76th birthday. A Marine Corps Honor Guard escorted Jones' flag-draped casket into the church service under a clear blue sky. Hundreds of people, including Gov. Roy Cooper and current and former members of Congress, attended the funeral Mass for Jones.

DAWN BAUMGARTNER VAUGHAN: 7 NC mayors say ‘ICE raids have struck terror in the hearts of many’ (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — In a letter written by Durham Mayor Steve Schewel and signed by six other mayors, they called for the end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. “The ICE raids have struck terror in the hearts of many of our valued community members. They have broken apart families, separating parents from their children,” the letter says.

KARRIGAN MONK: Gender wage gap remains stagnant in NC, varies widely by county (Carolina Public Press reports) -- North Carolina’s gender wage gap puts the state in the bottom third of the nation and varies widely across the state, according to data published last year in a report commissioned by the N.C. Council for Women and Youth Involvement. The study, “The Status of Women in North Carolina: Employment and Earnings,” gave the state a C rating, an improvement from the D rating of the original “The Status of Women in the States” published in 2004.

THOMAS GOLDSMITH: State Auditor says NC DHHS should limit profits, costs of behavioral health MCOs (N.C. Health News reports) -- Beth Wood examines the contracts DHHS created with the state's mental health managed care organizations failed to protect the state's interests.

NC National Guardsmen to return home from overseas (AP reports) -- More than 100 North Carolina National Guardsmen are returning home after serving in Kuwait, Iraq and Syria.

Governor honors black musicians, artists (AP reports) -- A musician who's received a genius grant, North Carolina's poet laureate and the founders of National Black Theatre Festival are among those being honored by the governor and first lady as part of Black History Month.

JEFF HAMPTON: Tiny houses could help solve an Outer Banks affordable housing crunch (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports) -- The Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce plans a tiny house festival for June 8 and 9.

A tax hike for Charlotte’s arts? There’s one big glitch (Charlotte Observer) — In 2013, Charlotte’s City Council considered pulling a fast one on taxpayers. The Carolina Panthers wanted $125 million from the city to renovate Bank of America stadium. The council responded with a plan to double the sales tax on restaurant food and beverages. One problem: That would have brought in close to $1 billion, or $875 million more than the Panthers needed. We were reminded of that this week when Mecklenburg County commissioners heard a proposal to enact a new quarter-cent sales tax for the arts.

EDUCATION

MATTHEW BURNS: Honor Court case dropped against protester who smeared blood on 'Silent Sam' (Capitol Broadcasting reports) -- A UNC-Chapel Hill appeals panel dismissed the Honor Court case against a graduate student who smeared her blood on a controversial Confederate monument on campus last year.

MELISSA KORN: Colleges Continue to Confront Blackface on Campus (Wall Street Journal reports) -- Photos of university students wearing skin-darkening makeup or Ku Klux Klan garb aren’t entirely a thing of the past. From Tufts to California Polytechnic State University, offensive images endure—mainly on YouTube and Instagram, if not in yearbooks.

MARTHA QUILLIN: After outrage over UNC blackface photos, NC’s online yearbook archive stays busy (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — A free digital archive of yearbooks from NC colleges and high schools has seen about twice its normal number of visitors in the past week, since the rediscovery of racist photos in a book included on the site.

MAGGIE BLACKWELL: Rowan-Salisbury school renewal plans on their way (EdNC reports) — The Rowan-Salisbury School Board met Monday and continued work to identify what Renewal means for its students. School Board Attorney Ken Soo answered a board member’s question by saying, “Some piecemealing is inevitable because you’re building the airplane before getting it off the ground.”

ALEX GRANADOS: PEPSC revisits plan to ease requirements for out-of-state teachers (EdNC reports) — PEPSC initially recommended a plan that would allow licensed out-of-state applicants with three or more years of teaching experience in another state who have met that state’s testing requirements to start teaching in NC. That is a change from current policy, which essentially requires an out-of-state teacher to come from a state that has licensing exams identical to NC.

ANN DOSS HELMS: Student group says rising CMS grad rates mask grim future for many black graduates (Charlotte Observer reports) — A controversial online program that helps failing high school students graduate was blasted this week by some of the young adults who are supposed to be its beneficiaries

MANDY MITCHELL: Health care deserts are growing in N.C. (WRAL-TV reports) -- Five rural hospitals have closed in North Carolina since 2010, leaving "health care deserts" in their wake.

GREG BARNES: Environmentalists bemoan regulators’ lack of transparency on imported shipments of GenX wastewater (NC Health News reports) — The state Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency knew that Chemours was shipping wastewater containing GenX from the Netherlands to NC at least a year before the shipments were publicly disclosed by the media

TRAVIS FAIN: Environmentalists, Cooper pan new EPA plan on GenX-style chemicals (WRAL-TV reports) -- Not enough action, Gov. Roy Cooper and environmentalists complain, but the Environmental Protection Agency says it's moving forward.

GREG BARNES: EJ Board Gives Voice to Poor Neighborhoods (Coastal Review reports) -- The N.C. DEQ’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board this week toured poor communities near Wilmington that are plagued by contamination.

400-plus acres added to recreational forest in western NC (AP reports) -- A conservation group is adding more than 400 acres to a state recreational forest in western North Carolina.

TAMMY GRUBB: UNC had a plan to stop using coal to power its campus by 2020. That has changed (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — Residents and environmentalists say UNC is breaking its pledge to stop using coal by 2020 with its application to renew an air quality permit for its Cameron Avenue power plant. The five-year Title V permit, issued under the federal Clean Air Act, expires in 2021 — a year after former UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp had pledged to close the co-generation plant, which burns coal and other fossil fuels to produce steam and electricity.

BETH DECARBO: Vacation Homes That Feel Like Summer Camp (Wall Street Journal reports) -- With canoeing, archery, fishing, hiking and more, these exclusive residential developments in the Blue Ridge Mountains will have wealthy homeowners singing ‘Kumbaya’ by the campfire.

CHARLES DUNST: Deported and 9,000 Miles Apart, but ‘You Stay With the Person You Love’ (New York Times reports) -- When Chuh A first laid eyes on Rex Ny nearly two decades ago, he just knew it was love at first sight. He was a 14-year-old who had arrived in the United States just a year earlier, transplanted from Kontum, Vietnam, to Greensboro, N.C. Ms. Ny, who was 12, was a fellow immigrant from Kontum; she had arrived at the age of 4. “I got my eye fascinated,” he said. The two shared a very special bond: They’re both Montagnards, the indigenous people of Vietnam’s Central Highlands, and the children of those who had aided American troops during the Vietnam War before emigrating to the United States.

MARK PRICE: Some of the rarest US coins ever found are hitting the market, thanks to NC shipwreck (Charlotte Observer reports) — The first 502 gold and silver coins plucked from a shipwreck off NC have been sold to a global coin dealer at a price that “wildly exceeded” the recovery project’s expectations. No one involved in the deal is saying what the coins fetched, but market values suggest it was easily in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

ANTIONETTE KERR: Kids to Score Business Skills on NBA All-Star Weekend (Public News Service reports) — As more than 150,000 people gather in Charlotte for the NBA All-Star Game, organizers of a different but related event want young people to see economic value in careers outside the game.