Opinion Roundup: Trump's national emergency, nonpartisan maps, NC jail deaths and more

Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: FactChecking Trump’s national emergency remarks, NC jail deaths hit record level in 2018, community college board approves smoother transfers for fine arts students, EPA hits Chemours with notice of violation at Fayetteville Works, nonpartisan maps and more.

AMY GARDNER: N.C. election officials will consider fate of congressional seat at Monday hearing (Washington Post reports) -- Investigators on Monday will begin revealing the breadth of an alleged ballot-tampering scheme in North Carolina, launching a potentially bitter and partisan battle over how to fill a congressional seat that has remained vacant since January. When it opens a long-anticipated hearing Monday morning in Raleigh, the North Carolina State Board of Elections will be listening for evidence to judge whether enough ballots were affected in tiny Bladen County to taint the outcome in the 9th Congressional District. The board has the power to call for a new election or certify the November results.

TYLER DUKES & CATHERINE FITZHENRY: 9th District: Dowless crew handled 1 in 5 absentee votes in Bladen County (WRAL-TV reports) -- One out of every five absentee ballots counted in Bladen County in 2018 were handled by people linked to the Republican political operative at the center of an investigation that has stalled the results of a North Carolina Congressional election.

TRAVIS FAIN: Plenty of NC politicos hired McCrae Dowless; they just don't want to talk about it (WRAL-TV) – McCrae Dowless, the man at the center of North Carolina's 9th District inquiry has a roster of past clients from both sides of the aisle who are keeping quiet now.

JIM MORRILL: All mail-in ballots in Bladen, Robeson were tainted, McCready says in asking for re-do (Charlotte Observer reports) -- The state board of elections will decide what happens next in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. The results of the 2018 election between Mark Harris and Dan McCready have not been certified.

LINDA QIU: Trump’s Rationale for a National Emergency Is Based on False or Misleading Claims (New York Times) -- To justify redirecting federal funds to a wall, the president made a litany of assertions about crime, drugs and other issues on the southern border. Nearly all were misleading, exaggerated or false.

GLENN KESSLER & MEG KELLY: Trump’s news conference was full of misleading claims. Here’s how 14 hold up. (Washington Post) -- The president's rambling announcement was replete with false and misleading statements. Here’s a summary of how his claims on the flow of drugs, MS-13 deportations, previous declarations and others rate.

MIRIAM VALVREDE: Trump rests national emergency declaration on border ‘invasion.’ Here are the facts (PolitiFact) -- Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency comes after Congress refused to spend $5.7 billion on construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Failing to get a deal on a policy priority doesn’t create an emergency, said Ilya Shapiro, director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. "This action violates the spirit of the National Emergencies Act (which set limits on previously nebulous presidential authority)," Shapiro said. "Even worse, it sets a terrible precedent for future adminstrations.”

EUGENE KIELY, ROBERT FARLEY & D’ANGELO GORE: FactChecking Trump’s National Emergency Remarks (FactCheck.org) -- In declaring a national emergency at the Southwest border, President Donald Trump strung together a long list of false, misleading and unsupported claims on illegal immigration, drug smuggling, human trafficking, trade deficits and other issues.

Republicans won't appeal ruling striking down 4 districts (AP reports) — A key NC GOP lawmaker says Republicans won't appeal a ruling by state judges that the General Assembly violated a constitutional prohibition against mid-decade redistricting because it unnecessarily changed four House districts in 2017.

PAUL SPECHT: Has your legislator supported nonpartisan maps? Here are the NC Republicans who have. (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- Given Republicans control the legislature, it may seem like they aren’t interested in redistricting reform to change how maps are drawn. NC Rep. Chuck McGrady says there’s been support for redistricting reform.

State bill misfires on safety and takes aim at gun owners (Wilson Times) -- Among other provisions, the bill would require all gun owners to purchase firearm liability insurance, ban the sale or possession of bump stocks and trigger cranks, raise the age to purchase so-called assault weapons from 18 to 21 and require permits for the purchase of long guns in addition to handguns. … The House Democratic Caucus and N.C. Democratic Party must abandon this paternalistic push. Claiming to represent the disadvantaged can’t be reconciled with a bill that would make poor people pay a premium in order to lawfully own a gun. Don’t they deserve to feed their families through hunting and keep handguns to defend those families from intruders? As the sad legacy of poll taxes taught us, putting a price tag on the exercise of a constitutional right is always wrong.

MARTIN CRUTSINGER: Report says ex-housing agency director Watt misused position (AP reports) -- Mel Watt , the former director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, misused his position when he attempted to coerce a female employee of the agency to engage in a personal relationship with him, according to a report from the agency's inspector general. The report found that Watt, who stepped down as director last month, misused his official position in an effort to obtain a personal benefit and was not candid in answering questions about the incident.

BRIAN MURPHY: Mel Watt misused federal post, tried to ‘coerce’ worker into relationship, report says (Charlotte Observer reports) — Former federal housing agency director Mel Watt, who represented Charlotte in the U.S. Congress for more than two decades, misused his position to pursue a relationship with a woman working for him, according to a formal inquiry by the agency’s Inspector General.

DAN KANE: NC jail deaths hit record level in 2018 (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — More inmates died in NC’s jails in 2018 than any other year since the state began tracking deaths in 1997. Forty-four inmates died behind bars or at a medical facility after becoming ill in the jail last year. That’s four more than the previous high in 2015. But over the past five years, jail deaths have trended upward despite more public awareness.

JODI GLUSCO: Immigrant activists question use of work truck; ICE backs plainclothes enforcement actions (WRAL-TV reports) -- An activist group that supports the rights of undocumented immigrants living in the United States claimed this week that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were seen in Hendersonville dressed as day laborers in an effort to round up undocumented immigrants.

ADAM MCDUFFIE: The Lost Cause must be surrendered (Winston-Salem Journal column) -- The statue at the corner of Fourth and Liberty streets has been a constant object of contention over the past few month, from the pages of this publication to the meetings of the Winston-Salem City Council. Even after the city announced that the statue would be removed, it still stands and we still wait. The persistent debate has offered a glimpse into the stark divide between the two sides: those who find the statue to be a benign memorial to fallen soldiers fighting for their homes and families, and those who find the statue to be a blatant shrine to white supremacy and soldiers who gave their lives in defense of slavery. In what follows, I hope to shed some light on some of the historical and cultural context behind such monuments.

BRUCE HENDERSON: Largest tribe in East called NC home for centuries. Feds say it’s not Indian enough (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — The largest American Indian tribe east of the Mississippi, NC’s Lumbee, counts 55,000 members and has called the state’s southern coastal plain home for centuries. But to the federal government the tribe exists largely in name only. Unlike the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in the Smokies, the Lumbee have no reservation and no glitzy casino.

RUPEN FOFARIA: Community college board approves smoother transfers for fine arts students (EdNC reports) — The State Board of Community Colleges approved agreements on Thursday with the NC Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU) focused on developing seamless transfer for students who begin their studies in music, theatre, or visual arts at a state community college and seek to complete their bachelor’s at a state private college or university.

JEFF HAMPTON: Coast Guard, ECSU team up in quest for more pilots (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports) -- Elizabeth City Coast Guard air station averaged nearly 300 rescue missions over the last three years. ECSU offers the only four-year aviation degree in North Carolina.

NC Treasurer’s Health Plan statements are offensive (Charlotte Observer column) — In his campaign to change the payment system for the NC Health Plan, our elected State Treasurer has opted to spread misinformation, create uncertainty for state employees and retirees, and sow doubt about the dedication of healthcare providers in our state instead of exploring sustainable solutions to solve the complex challenges facing the plan.

EMERY DALESIO: EPA hits chemical maker for not notifying on new compounds (AP reports) — A chemical maker's NC plant may have broken federal law by failing to notify the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before it started manufacturing and repurposing new industrial compounds, the agency said this week.

ADAM WAGNER: EPA hits Chemours with notice of violation at Fayetteville Works (Wilmington Star-News reports) — Chemours failed in several instances to inform federal regulators what chemicals it was using at its Fayetteville Works facility and what they were being used for, violating the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), according to a notice of violation the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued Wednesday.

NC Zoo's Stanley the rhino, one of US's oldest, dies at 49 (News Release) -- Stanley, a southern white rhinoceros who has lived at the North Carolina Zoo for more than 30 years and was known for his big, friendly personality, passed away on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.

JANE STANCILL: The other big Duke-Carolina game: Will the Daily Tar Heel or The Chronicle prevail? (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- The college basketball rivalry between Duke and UNC has spawned a healthy competition — and collaboration — among two college newspapers. The Daily Tar Heel at UNC-Chapel Hill and The Chronicle at Duke are teaming up to produce a joint edition on Feb. 20.