Carolina Journal Exclusive
Law Firm Racked Up Hotel, Airline Fees
July 02, 2009, By David N. Bass
RALEIGH — Attorney General Roy Cooper used North Carolina gas-tax revenue to reimburse Washington lawyers thousands of dollars in unnecessary hotel and airline fees, according to receipts and travel records obtained by Carolina Journal.Previous CJ Exclusive
7.01.09 - Income Tax Hike Would Cost N.C. 2,800 Private-Sector Jobs
RALEIGH — Two new personal income tax brackets included in the N.C. House budget could “destroy” more than 2,800 private-sector jobs in the state, according to a report from Boston-based economists who analyzed the tax plan.Headlines
7.02.09 - Perdue warns NC lawmakers at start of new year
RALEIGH — Gov. Beverly Perdue put pressure on legislative leaders Wednesday to approve a final budget for the new fiscal year as soon as possible with a tax plan that will prevent more job losses or furloughs. Perdue told reporters the Legislature’s two-week stopgap spending measure she signed into law Tuesday still prevents state government from realizing several million dollars in expected tax increases and cost savings every day.
Related NC Budget and Tax Articles:
7.02.09 - Senate panel endorses deferring property taxes
DURHAM — A bill that would cost local governments around the state an estimated $37 million to $45 million in deferred property taxes early next decade picked up an endorsement Wednesday from the N.C. Senate’s Finance Committee. The committee’s support, offered in a voice vote, clears the way for the full Senate to pass the bill on Wednesday. The same version has already passed the state House.
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7.02.09 - Local governments opposed to ‘open government unit’
RALEIGH — City and county lobbyists argued Wednesday that a proposal to create a new state office to handle open government disputes and a change in how legal fees are awarded could delay further the release of documents. The “Open Government Unit” with the Department of Justice would issue advisory opinions about public records questions and attempt to work out public records and open meeting issues without going to court.
Related Open Government Articles:
7.02.09 - Apple may be headed to Maiden
CHARLOTTE — County officials are keeping quiet, but signs are starting to point to the Catawba County town of Maiden as the site of Apple’s new $1 billion data center. It would make sense: Catawba County’s economic development office announced this week that town and county officials will hold a joint meeting Monday for an “announcement.”
Related Economic Incentives Articles:
7.02.09 - Law targets mental hospitals
RALEIGH — A new state law will give the public a glimpse behind the curtain at state psychiatric hospitals and other mental health facilities when a patient dies. The legislature gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that will require state mental health, developmental disability and substance abuse facilities to publicly report the deaths of patients in their care.
Related Social Services Articles:
7.02.09 - Bill lets sizable medical malpractice awards be made public
RALEIGH — Consumers will soon be able to know whether their doctors have paid medical malpractice awards under a bill approved this week by state lawmakers. The bill, which must now be signed into law by Gov. Bev Perdue, allows the N.C. Medical Board to publicly post medical malpractice awards of $75,000 or more on its Web page.
Related Health Care Policy Articles:
7.02.09 - Easley's appeal may be doomed
RALELGH — N.C. State University is highly unlikely to negotiate a settlement with former first lady Mary Easley, who earlier this week indicated she will appeal her firing, the university's new leader said Wednesday. NCSU does not have the money to pay any settlement, Interim Chancellor James Woodward said in a meeting with editors and reporters at The News & Observer. He added that he stands behind his decision to eliminate Easley’s position.
Related Higher Education Articles:
7.02.09 - Charlotte became 18th-largest city in 2008
CHARLOTTE — The city of Charlotte was the nation’s 23rd fastest-growing city for the year ending in July 2008, and is now the county’s 18th-largest city, according to Census estimates released Wednesday. For bragging rights, Charlotte has passed Memphis, Tenn., in population. The Queen City has 687,456 people – up from 570,091 at the start of the decade.
Related NC Economy Articles:
7.02.09 - Possible Cuts: HAWS preparing to reduce vouchers
WINSTON-SALEM — Officials with the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem are working with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to avoid drastic cuts in services to make up for a nearly $2.8 million shortfall. Because of a drop in financing from HUD, HAWS may have to cut as many as 1,800 people from its Section 8 housing voucher program starting in October and cut the amount of all remaining vouchers by 10 percent starting in September.
Related Federal Government Articles:
7.02.09 - Sewer Monster found in Raleigh
RALEIGH — It looks like blob of wriggling pudding staring out through a single, puckered eye. You can see it caught on camera, clinging to the concrete pipes below Raleigh’s Cameron Village: the Sewer Monster. It’s really a colony of prehistoric creatures known either as bryozoans or moss animacules, thousands of wormlike animals, biologists report.
Related Water & Sewer Articles:
John Hood’s
Daily Journal
7.02.09
Tomorrow Is Yesterday
The proposed “high-speed” rail service would be a technological step backward and have negligible effects on energy use, carbon emissions, and air quality.
Other Opinions
7.02.09
Follow the money
The special-interest groups that fund state legislators’ campaigns have plenty at stake in the budget. Only public scrutiny assures honest decisions says the Greensboro News & Record.
7.02.09
Sex education
The Wilmington Star-News says that the Honorables in Raleigh have finally restored common sense to sex education in North Carolina.
7.02.09
Because they can
Rob Christensen writes that politicians are more likely to stray as they tend to be attractive, outgoing, interesting, persistent, and have huge egos.
7.01.09
Hanging on
After all the collateral damage inflicted in the firefight over Mary Easley’s cushy job, you’d think she’d want to walk away from it all as fast as she could writes the Fayetteville Observer.
7.01.09
Leniency for Black?
The Winston-Salem Journal says that Jim Black holds the keys to his release or his possible transfer in his own hands. He need only cooperate with prosecutors.
6.29.09
Bettering Our State By Thinking Institutionally
This is an especially demoralizing time. It seems that everywhere around me people are exploiting public trust for private gain.
Media Mangle
5.19.09
Sleeping with the enemy
The Carrboro Citizen is making a devil's bargain by seeking a loan from the town government.
5.15.09
Simply irresponsible
In an attempt to foster popular support for a mortgage bailout program, a news account fails to ask some key questions of a foreclosure "victim."
4.17.09
Defining journalism down
As a recent CNN report on the Tea Party movement shows, the rules of journalism have changed in the past 30 years, and not for the better.
Carolina Beat
Exclusives Series
Upcoming Events
Monday, July 06, 2009 at 12:00 PM, NoonA meeting of the Shaftesbury Society
with our special guest Hal Young
Good Walls Make Good Neighbors: N.C.'s Unique Law for Non-Public Schools
Monday, August 03, 2009 at August 3-August 7
Appalachian Institution Retreat
with our special guest Dr. Michael A. Gillespie
"The Noble, The Good and The Free"
Monday, August 24, 2009 at August 24-August 28
Appalachian Institution Retreat
with our special guest Dr. Michael Zuckert
"What the Founders Thought"
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