Monday, Nov. 19, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Midterm elections reveal effects of gerrymandered districts, final count flips one more NC House seat to Democrats, a step we should take to curb school violence, Mark Meadows reprimanded in handling of harassment allegations, addictive e-cigarettes have sucked our kids in and more.
POLICY & POLITICS
CATIE EDMONDSON: Ethics Committee Rebukes N.C.’s Mark Meadows Over Aide’s Sexual Misconduct (New York Times reports) -- The House Ethics Committee issued a rare letter of reproval to Rep. Mark Meadows, R-NC, and chairman of the hard-line Freedom Caucus, for mishandling sexual harassment allegations against a top aide, after complaints from six female staff members that his former chief of staff frequently engaged in unwanted touching and stared down their blouses.
MARK BARRETT: Meadows bungled sexual harassment charges against staffer, must pay $40,625 (Asheville Citizen-Times reports) -- The House Ethics Committee formally sanctioned U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, saying he failed to act quickly enough after learning his then-chief of staff was sexually harassing female employees. The committee ordered Meadows, a Transylvania County Republican who represents much of Western North Carolina, to repay the government $40,625 in excessive pay given to former chief of staff Kenny West after West was demoted in April 2015. West's conduct "has no place in the House of Representatives," the committee report says, calling it "inappropriate in every sense of the word."
DEREK LACEY: Meadows reprimanded in handling of harassment allegations (Hendersonville Times-News reports) -- A report from the House Ethics Committee orders U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows to pay more than $40,000 back to the U.S. Treasury for continuing to pay a former staffer accused of sexually inappropriate behavior. The investigation followed reports in 2015 alleging Meadows’ former Chief of Staff Kenny West of sexual harassment.
BRIAN MURPHY: NC congressman reprimanded by panel over response to sexual harassment allegations (McClatchy D.C.) -- Rep. Mark Meadows, a Republican from western N.C., must repay the government more than $40,000 after the House Ethics Committee found that Meadows didn’t do enough to address or prevent harassment by his former chief of staff. Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, also received a reprimand from the committee, which began an investigation in 2016 after getting a referral from the independent Office of Congressional Ethics.
DAVID LIEB: Midterm elections reveal effects of gerrymandered districts (AP reports) -- With an election looming, courts earlier this year declared congressional districts in two states to be unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. One map was redrawn. The other was not. The sharply contrasting outcomes that resulted on Election Day in Pennsylvania and North Carolina illustrate the importance of how political lines are drawn — and the stakes for the nation because that process helps determine which party controls Congress.
LAURA LESLIE: Final count flips one more NC House seat to Democrats (WRAL-TV reports) — According to official vote totals submitted Friday, state Republican lawmakers have lost their veto-proof majorities in both the House and the Senate, as Democrats maintained their election-night gains and picked up an additional House seat in Mecklenburg County.
ROBERT SMITH: A step we should take to curb school violence (Wilmington Star-News 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 -- as reported in The Washington Post -- 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.
GARY ROBERTSON: Dems on verge of ending GOP dominance in N.C. Senate (AP reports) -- Democratic challengers expanded vote advantages in some tight state Senate races as counties wrapped up final ballot counting. That puts their party on the verge of eliminating the Republicans' veto-proof majority in the chamber.
DAVID EGGERT: GOP Legislatures try to curb Democratic governors' power (AP reports) -- With their grip on power set to loosen come January, Republicans in several states are considering last-ditch laws that would weaken existing or incoming Democratic governors and advance their own conservative agendas. In N.C., Republicans may try to hash out the requirements of a new voter ID constitutional amendment before they lose their legislative supermajorities and their ability to unilaterally override vetoes by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. In Michigan, where the GOP has held the levers of power for nearly eight years, Republican legislators want to water down a minimum wage law they approved before the election so that it would not go to voters and would now be easier to amend. Republicans in neighboring Wisconsin are discussing ways to dilute Democrat Tony Evers' power before he takes over for GOP Gov. Scott Walker.
JESSIE POUNDS: Michael Garrett officially declared winner over Trudy Wade (Greensboro News & Record reports) -- Democrat Michael Garrett has officially won the District 27 state senate race against Republican incumbent Trudy Wade. The Guilford County Board of Elections certified vote totals in that race and the other November general election races following their official canvass of the ballots.
PAUL WOOLVERTON: DeViere-Meredith race for N.C. Senate remains in recount zone (Fayetteville Observer reports) -- With the vote count completed and canvassed by the Cumberland County Board of Elections in the 2018 election, Democrat Kirk deViere’s lead over Republican state Sen. Wesley Meredith in the state Senate 19 race widened but remained close enough for Meredith to obtain a recount if he desires. DeViere now leads by 433 votes out of 59,197 ballots counted. That is up from a 306-vote margin in preliminary results announced on the night of Election Day.
What’s next for voter ID (Winston-Salem Journal and Greensboro News & Record) -- After years of trying to pass laws to require photo IDs for voting, the Republican-led legislature finally succeeded grandly on Nov. 6 when its proposed constitutional amendment requiring such passed with a solid 55.6 percent of voters approving.
AARON ZITNER: Why House Votes and Political Power Often Don’t Match (Wall Street Journal reports) -- When the last few unresolved House races are settled, the results will show whether Democrats have broken an arcane but important losing streak: In the past four elections, they haven’t translated the House votes they have won nationally into equivalent power in the House.
N.C.’s October Employment Figures Released (N.C. News Release) -- The state's seasonally adjusted October unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, decreasing 0.2 of a percentage point from September's revised rate, according to a news release Friday from the N.C. Department of Commerce. The national rate remained unchanged at 3.7 percent. N.C.'s October 2018 unemployment rate decreased 0.9 of a percentage point from a year ago.
Hi Raleigh. It’s Charlotte. We know what comes after the Amazon snub (Charlotte Observer) -- Hi Raleigh. It’s Charlotte. We’re sorry you didn’t make Amazon’s final cut this week for a second headquarters. We were pulling for you. Really. We’re sure you were a little disappointed, but you also were part of a group of 20 finalist cities, which was quite an accomplishment. Now you join the 200-plus other cities who were certain they were No. 21. Welcome to the HQ2 Losers Club.
TIM WHITE: Let’s toast a true hero whose cause is civility (Fayetteville Observer column) -- Dan Crenshaw is my new hero. It could be about his heroic service as a Navy SEAL, which caused him to suffer the loss of one eye and other physical problems that will be with him for life, thanks to an IED explosion in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan in 2012. The retired lieutenant commander earned a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and a Navy Commendation Medal. He left the Navy with a medical discharge in 2016.
And now we’ve got BoozeGate (Fayetteville Observer) — Call it a tempest in a gin mill. Or call it Cumberland County BoozeGate. Whatever we name it, it renews our question about what state and county government are doing in the liquor business anyway.
Deborah Maxwell: Empty promises about oil and gas (Fayetteville Observer column) — Drilling applications are granted in a discriminatory manner, and the most dangerous infrastructure, including refineries, are often placed closest to communities of color. As a result, long-term health risks caused by refineries and other aspects of drilling operations are especially prevalent in these communities.
CELIA RIVENBARK: I feel your pain, Ted Cruz (Wilmington Star-News column) Believe it or not, I now have something in common with Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz and two more prominent Republicans, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and former EPA chief Scott Pruitt. No, I don’t collect the fresh tears of Hispanic children separated from their parents and encase them in Pandora charms, although that WAS a good guess.
EDUCATION
New Rhodes scholars include N.C. student at Duke (Inside Higher Ed reports) -- The Rhodes Trust named 32 new winners of Rhodes Scholarships – including Duke University’s Ariel Kantor of Chapel Hill -- which cover two or three years of study at the University of Oxford. The new class has more women (21) than any prior class. Almost half of the class consists of immigrants or first-generation Americans. The class also includes one person in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. This is the first year that DACA students were eligible. Elite private institutions in the East tend to do particularly well in the competition for Rhodes Scholarships. Duke, Princeton and Yale Universities each had three winners.
3 Duke seniors named Rhodes scholars (Duke U. News) -- Three Duke University seniors were among the 32 recipients selected this weekend for prestigious Rhodes Scholarships. UNC beats Maryland 2-0 in NCAA field hockey championship (AP reports) -- Megan DuVernois and Erin Matson scored first-half goals, Amanda Hendry made five saves and No. 1 North Carolina beat No. 2 Maryland 2-0 on Sunday to win its seventh NCAA field hockey championship.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools steps up security measures (AP reports) -- The second largest school system in North Carolina, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, is increasing its security measures in light of a fatal shooting at one school and incidents at three separate schools this week.
HUNTER INGRAM: With SpaceX launch Monday, UNCW heading to outer space (Wilmington Star-News reports) – UNC-Wilmington could be going somewhere it’s never been before -- outer space. Years of research and work at the school will be put to the test when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches a UNCW-designed satellite -- dubbed SeaHawk-1 -- that captures images of the Earth’s oceans from space. The satellite will be one of dozens of small satellites hitching a ride into orbit on board the rocket. The purpose of the UNCW satellite, which will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, is to capture high-resolution images of the oceans that can help scientists better understand their health, their patterns and, hopefully, their future.
HEALTH
AMY GOLDSTEIN: 3 deep red states vote to expand Medicaid (Washington Post reports) -- Citizen power propelled the biggest expansion of Medicaid in heavily Republican states since the early years of the Affordable Care Act, with hundreds of thousands of poor and vulnerable residents standing to gain health coverage as a result of Tuesday’s elections. Voters in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah approved ballot initiatives.
RICK ARMSTRONG: Peanut allergy treatment born in the Triangle getting close to FDA approval (WRAL reports) — Work on peanut allergies that originated in the Triangle is now getting the attention of the Food and Drug Administration. Noah Schaffer was among the children involved in early trials, first through Duke University and later through the University of NC. When he was just a year old, Noah took a bite of a peanut butter cookie and had an immediate reaction.
GIBBIE HARRIS: In no time, addictive e-cigarettes have sucked our kids in (Charlotte Observer column) — Recently Juul Labs started running full-page ads in newspapers across the country announcing its product is for adults and it is on a mission to “improve lives.” While the Juuling phenomenon has drawn nationwide attention, our youth have been Juuling in classrooms and homes since 2015.
KATE MARTIN: Hospital sale would create massive foundation if approve (Carolina Public Press reports) — Sometime late this year or early next, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein could decide whether Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare can buy nonprofit Mission Health’s collection of hospitals and clinics in Western NC. The sale’s value could exceed $1.5 billion, according to some estimates. That money would be used to form Dogwood Health Trust, a nonprofit focused on the health of residents in NC’s 18 westernmost counties.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
First Phase of Interim Cleanup Completed at CTS Superfund Site in Asheville (EPA News Release) -- A significant milestone was reached this week in the cleanup of the CTS of Asheville, Inc. Superfund Site. The first phase of the interim cleanup to address contaminants beneath the former CTS plant has been completed – removing approximately 5,600 pounds of trichloroethene and over 12,000 gallons of light non-aqueous phase liquid safely from the subsurface.
VAIL STEWART RUMLEY: Stricter guidelines to direct solar farm construction (Washington Daily News reports) – The Beaufort County ordinance sets more stringent guidelines for the siting, construction, installation and operation of solar energy facilities, including presentation of a maintenance plan and an abandonment and decommissioning plan before a permit to build the facility is issued by county. The decommissioning plan requires facility owners to provide the county a guaranteed way to pay for decommissioning the site, such as a bond or cash that will be placed in escrow.
AND MORE…
LIZ BIRO: Our Coast’s Food; Mac and Cheese (Coastal Review column) -- Liz Biro explains why you should add a baked macaroni and cheese, served at many southern tables during Thanksgiving, to your holiday dinner table.
Ode to a store-ied past (Winston-Salem Journal) — It’s not really the end of an era, but another sign of changing times that Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, recently declared bankruptcy, leading to the imminent closing of the Sears department store at Hanes Mall. As we head into the holiday season — emphasized by Thanksgiving for some and Black Friday for others — let’s remember what once was America’s largest retailer and is still an American icon.