By Michael Lowrey
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — In a Dec. 22 decision, the N.C. Court of Appeals held that the state’s general ban on video poker is legal. In doing so, North Carolina’s second highest court ruled that federal law allows the state to grant the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians the exclusive right to operate video poker within the state.

State gambling regulations are complex because the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act grants Indian tribes the right to operate gaming operations on their land. Whether the state can outlaw video poker except on tribal land depends on the interplay between federal law, state law, and agreements between the state and Indian tribes covering their gaming operations.

By Donna Martinez

RALEIGH — A Davie County Republican is urging fellow state lawmakers to stop wasting time and money on the state’s climate change commission and support energy policy he says will have a tangible impact on the state. Sen. Andrew Brock says the legislature should move to tap the massive natural gas reserve experts believe is sitting off the North Carolina coast.

“This whole thing was based on a false set of principles and false data,” says Brock, referencing e-mails leaked last year from the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. Climate-change activists have relied on East Anglia data to justify massive government intervention, including caps on greenhouse gas emissions and limits on fossil fuel consumption. “There’s no credible evidence that supports that all the production by mankind is affecting the global climate.”

The four-term conservative is a longtime critic of the N.C. Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change, created in 2005. He’s also a longtime supporter of offshore drilling.

Governor also told press officers not to talk to Carolina Journal

By Rick Henderson
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — Several aides to former Gov. Mike Easley could be in legal jeopardy based on conflicting statements they gave in sworn depositions.

Former Press Secretary Renee Hoffman recalled separate orders from communications directors Cari Boyce and Sherri Johnson for public information officers to delete e-mails to and from Easley — who used a private e-mail account to conduct public business. Under oath, Boyce and Johnson denied such a blanket order was issued.

Raleigh attorney and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kieran Shanahan says these inconsistencies could pose problems.

As Republicans target his district, first-term incumbent faces difficult votes

By David N. Bass
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — North Carolina Rep. Larry Kissell was one of three Tar Heel Democrats to break ranks with party leaders and vote against the House version of health care reform in November. Political observers say that vote could play a role in Kissell’s bid for re-election this year as he walks the fine line between pleasing Beltway Democrats and his constituents — many of whom are more conservative than his party’s leaders.

“[Kissell] took a position against his sitting president. It was pretty unpopular with the left,” said David McLennan, a political science professor at Peace College in Raleigh, in a telephone interview with Carolina Journal.

Kissell, who represents the state’s 8th Congressional District stretching from Charlotte to Fayetteville, joined 39 House Democrats in voting against the health care reform bill. It passed by five votes Nov. 7.

JLF report reveals double standard, urges equal treatment of all public schools

By Carolina Journal Staff

February 03, 2010

RALEIGH — School districts across North Carolina would be forced to close more than 150 traditional schools, if the State Board of Education extended new charter school performance standards to all public schools. That's the conclusion the John Locke Foundation's top education expert reaches in a new Spotlight report.

Using test results from the past three years, the report shows traditional schools would make up 155 of the 164 total schools subject to closing for poor performance. Three alternative district schools also would close. Six charter schools would close.

"Under state rules, only the charter schools actually face the threat of closing," said Terry Stoops, JLF Director of Education Studies. "The new report exposes the way that the State Board of Education systematically created both privileged and disadvantaged classes of public schools."

Feds agree to pay $52 million to not build NC's 'road to nowhere,' ending decades-long dispute

The federal government has agreed to pay a $52 million settlement so it will not have to complete the so-called "road-to-nowhere" through North Carolina's mountain wilderness, officials said Tuesday, ending a dispute that began during World War II.

The payments destined for Swain County will be a boon for the area: The settlement is four times the county's annual budget, and officials plan to only draw from the annual interest payments, with the remainder staying in a state account that can be used only if voters agree to access it.

By Jane S. Shaw

RALEIGH — The selection of a new chancellor for N.C. State University, William Randolph Woodson of Purdue University, ends the latest chapter of financial misbehavior in the University of North Carolina system. But it would be a mistake to assume complacently that all troubles are over. Consider these six examples of high-level financial malfeasance discovered in the UNC system over the past seven years:

East Carolina University

In 2003, internal audits turned up two financial problems. One was mismanagement of a $4.6 million federal grant from the National Library of Medicine. The second was embezzlement by an associate vice chancellor who also headed student housing. The associate vice chancellor was convicted of the crime, returned $84,000 to the university, and received a suspended sentence.

Financial mismanagement, personnel issues may be probed
By Lee Raynor/Carolina Journal News Service

KENANSVILLE — Relocation expenses paid to a Duplin County Schools employee who then failed to move is believed to have triggered an impending State Bureau of Investigation probe of the school district. County commissioners had earlier requested an audit of the school system based on resident complaints of financial mismanagement.

While the bureau declines to comment publicly on whether an investigation is in progress, long time Duplin County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said he has asked the agency to look into the matter “preliminarily.”

By Don Carrington
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — When a federal grand jury indicted former Gov. Mike Easley’s legal counsel Ruffin Poole Jan. 21, it was just the latest setback for an Easley associate since the state’s media began investigating the former governor’s activities.

Poole’s indictment came nearly four years after Carolina Journal first reported that Easley bought a waterfront lot for a bargain price in the Cannonsgate community on Bogue Sound in Carteret County.

The former gubernatorial legal counsel was charged with 51 counts of corruption related to his involvement with a group of politically active coastal developers behind Cannonsgate.

Flaking out: NC town cancels man-made snow event after Mother Nature promises the real thing

A North Carolina town's plan to truck in 30 tons of snow for a man-made winter wonderland has been canceled because it looks like Mother Nature will come through with the real stuff. Cary decided to call off its weekend "Winter Wonderland" event Friday because forecasters say up to 7 inches of snow could fall in town by Saturday night.

Federal deficit reductions would shift higher costs to state taxpayers

By Sara Burrows
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — North Carolinians can expect to spend between 3 percent and 8 percent more on Medicaid if either of the health care bills before Congress becomes law, according to a report released by the state Department of Health and Human Services.

The House version of the bill calls for extending Medicaid to people with incomes up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level. The Senate version cuts off eligibility at 133 percent of the poverty level. The program now covers people living at 100 percent or less of the poverty level.

If the House has its way, the state of North Carolina would inherit an estimated $1.8 billion in additional Medicaid costs over the course of seven years, 2013-19. The Senate version of the bill would saddle the state with a $740 million obligation over the same period of time.

Federal judge releases Poole on $50,000 bond, restricts his travel

By David Bass
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — Gov. Mike Easley’s former right-hand-man, Ruffin Poole, made his first appearance in federal court today on charges stemming from his close ties to the embattled former governor.

FBI and IRS agents shepherded a handcuffed Poole — who served for years as the ex-governor’s attorney and aide — through the back entrance of the federal courthouse in Raleigh around 11:45 a.m. Two hours later, he appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle to hear charges that, if convicted, could amount to years in jail and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Former Mike Easley aide Ruffin Poole (center) leaves the federal courthouse in Raleigh Thursday, accompanied by his wife and attorney Joseph Zeszotarski.

Advocates go head-to-head over public vs. private pretrial release options

By David N. Bass
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — In a scuffle pitting tax dollars versus private funding and the public sector against the free market, the bail bonds industry in North Carolina says that government-funded pretrial release programs seek to run them out of business.

Advocates of the public pretrial release programs say the commercial bail industry discriminates against the poor and skews the system because it’s for a for-profit enterprise.

The conflict came to a head in September when the National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies held its annual conference in Charlotte. Supporters of the bail system claim that members of the association spread lies about the effectiveness of bail agents and advocated doing away with the industry altogether.

By Sam A. Hieb
Carolina Journal

GREENSBORO — A couple of months after Greensboro voters elected Mayor Bill Knight and a new City Council to restore fiscal accountability in city government, the council has found itself embroiled in two complicated and controversial projects that involve some form of taxpayer financing.

The first was the city’s new aquatic center, which is now under construction next to the Greensboro Coliseum. When construction costs exceeded voter-approved bond funding, the council, in a tight 5-4 vote, approved the use of hotel occupancy taxes to close the deficit, even though the city already was supplementing shortfalls in the hotel tax.

Guilford County commissioners also had to sign off on the aquatic center funding, and they did so unanimously without debate or a public hearing at a Jan. 14 meeting.

Differences based more on religion, less on party affiliation

Raleigh, N.C. – As revelations of free dinners, trips and other scandals with the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) system ripple through North Carolina, voters are deeply divided on whether to keep the system as is or to turn it over to private business.

According to the live caller poll of 600 likely voters, 47 percent of respondents say leave the state-run ABC system in place, while 44 percent said the system should be privatized. Nine percent were not sure.

By Sarah Okeson
Carolina Journal

YADKINVILLE — E-mails between Yadkin County officials and a judge who was prodding them to build a new jail show that county officials had repeatedly asked the judge to intervene and help quell opposition to the jail’s location.

In November 2007, then-County Manager Eric Williams wrote Superior Court Judge John Craig III and Judge Ed Gregory, the senior resident Superior Court judge for the judicial district that includes Yadkin County. County commissioners voted 3-2 in November 2006 to build a new jail, but one commissioner, Brady Wooten, has continually opposed plans to build the $8.2 million, 150-bed facility about four miles from the courthouse.

By Karen McMahan
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — On Jan. 7, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed sweeping school reform legislation that many observers are heralding as historic and bold, providing parents a greater voice not only in choosing a school that best serves their children but also in petitioning school boards to fix persistently failing schools.

This legislation lets California compete for up to $700 million of the $4.3 billion in competitive grants available to states through the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program. State leaders filed the application in time for the Jan. 19 deadline.

The Race to the Top initiative, authorized by Congress in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is intended to provide states with incentives for future education improvements and to reward those that have demonstrated a history of improving student academic performance.

Rate hits 11.2 percent in December, highest level during economic slump

By Carolina Journal Staff

RALEIGH -- North Carolina's latest record-breaking unemployment numbers and recent projections of slow economic growth should prompt the state's elected leaders to rethink their tax and spending policies. That's the recommendation of the John Locke Foundation's chief budget analyst.

"Not only have we hit a new unemployment peak -- we've had 11 straight months of double-digit unemployment in North Carolina, and the state has fared worse than the national average for more than a year," said Joseph Coletti, JLF Fiscal Policy Analyst. "Those numbers alone should convince the governor, her budget advisers, and state lawmakers that now is a good time to shift gears in setting the state's budget and tax priorities."

Price, Miller say election doesn’t change the need for reform

By David N. Bass
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — Two of North Carolina’s leading Democratic congressmen have vowed to continue fighting for health care reform backed by their party in the U.S. House even though a special election in Massachusetts has dimmed the chances a compromise can be reached.

On Tuesday, voters in the Commonwealth elected Scott Brown, a three-term Republican state senator, to fill the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy since 1962.

Brown, elected with 52 percent to state Attorney General Martha Coakley’s 47 percent, has vowed to join Republicans in voting against a proposal pending in Congress that would expand the federal government’s role in providing health care insurance.

By Sara Burrows
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — Scrambling to find new sources of revenue, the state is looking into taxing services provided by online travel agencies, such as Expedia, Travelocity, and Priceline.

Among the alternatives being considered by the Revenue Law Study Committee — which is looking at a host of tax reform proposals — is the notion of taxing the service fee online travel companies charge for booking hotel rooms. Doing so, legislative researchers said at a meeting earlier this month, could raise between $6 million and $8 million a year in new state revenues.

The state now applies the sales tax rate to hotel rentals, with 5.75 percent going to the state treasury and the remaining 2 percent to 2.25 percent directed to local governments. Many cities and counties charge separate hotel occupancy taxes, with rates ranging from 3 percent to 8 percent.

By Michael Lowrey
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — In 2006, Union County adopted an adequate public facilities ordinance (APFO) to help pay for school construction. In a Dec. 8 ruling, the state’s second highest court ruled that the county lacked the legal authority from the General Assembly to impose such an ordinance, which it described as amounting to an impact fee for school construction.

Frustrated by its inability to obtain approval from the General Assembly for a school impact fee, Union County in 2006 imposed a moratorium on approving new subdivision plans to allow time to draft an adequate public facilities ordinance. Under the ordinance, proposed new subdivisions are evaluated to determine their impact on the schools that would serve the development. Before a development can be approved, the schools that would serve it must be deemed to have adequate capacity.

By Donna Martinez
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — A tale of a dark and snowy night is usually reserved for mystery novels. But for Tim Kent, outgoing executive vice president of the North Carolina Association of Realtors, the impact of a winter’s night in Avery County is key to the story of the narrowest victory over the land transfer tax he’s battled for three years.

Kent characterized NCAR’s clean sweep over the home tax — 24 wins and no losses, including the 35-vote win in Avery — as the organization’s greatest achievement and an example of how a committed effort can have a dramatic impact.

By Karen Welsh
Carolina Journal

ASHEVILLE — Incorporated towns and cities throughout Buncombe County continue to fight over perceived boundary lines known as their “spheres of influence,” dragging unwilling residents of unincorporated areas into what’s becoming a turf war.

With the prospect of securing bigger coffers from an enlarged tax base, the City of Asheville and the Town of Woodfin are prime examples of how forced annexation has produced an aggressive, winner-take-all mentality pitting nearby municipalities against one another.

Woodfin Town Administrator Jason Young said his tiny hamlet sought to acquire areas surrounding the town because aldermen were worried that Asheville would annex first, putting at risk the town’s fire service, currently provided by the West Buncombe County Fire Department.

15 complain of headaches, nausea on flight from US Virgin Islands to NC; odor investigated

S Airways says seven crew members were taken to a hospital from a North Carolina airport after complaining of headaches and nausea aboard a flight.

The crew had been on a plane that had just arrived at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport Saturday from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. US Airways spokeswoman Michelle Mohr said Sunday that eight passengers were treated on the scene and went on to board connecting flights out of Charlotte.

$100 million stimulus Web site remains difficult to navigate

By Sara Burrows
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — After Carolina Journal reported Jan. 11 that the federal government sent 2.5 million stimulus dollars to North Carolina ZIP codes that don’t exist, a spokesman for the government’s own Web site — Recovery.gov — had difficulty showing a reporter how that funding could in fact be identified.

Ed Pound, communications director of the Recovery Accountability and Tranparency Board, which operates the Web site, contacted CJ, claiming the story was “superficial reporting at its worst. A little rudimentary research would have shown you exactly where the money went.”

Activists upset that $300 check was made public

By David N. Bass
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — Leaders of a conservative parent group in Wake County are upset that the school system’s public information office released a copy of a personal check from one of its founding members that included her account number.

Kristen Stocking, who serves on the Wake Community Schools Alliance’s steering committee, criticized officials for making public her bank account and routing numbers. Stocking wrote a $300 check to the school system to cover a portion of the costs of a reception Dec. 1 following the swearing-in of the school board’s four new conservative members.

The school system’s public information office didn’t redact account details on the check before making a copy available in response to a public records request from Tim Simmons, vice president of communications for the left-leaning Wake Education Partnership.

Above is a copy of the check. For privacy reasons CJ has replaced the routing number with zeros and redacted the address and signature.

By Marianne Suarez

Twenty five states have introduced new legislation to counter proposed federal insurance mandates included in reform bills currently making their way through Congress. Notably absent from the list is North Carolina - a state that faces up to $600 million in additional expenses as a result of the suggested Medicaid expansion as presented in Obamacare reform plan.

The question is why is North Carolina waiting? The health care overhaul has proven to be highly unpopular topic nationwide. In response, legislators tried ramming bills through Congress on Christmas Eve, are going back on their promises to televise debates on C-SPAN and to make legislation publicly available before a vote, as well as circumventing the customary procedure of conference in drafting the final bill.

Amidst the incredible lack of transparency, there is distinct clarity – it is now up to individual states to take matters into their own hands, carry the voice of the American people and counter the evolving monster of government-run health care before it consumes even more of our freedom.

Panel expected to focus on pensions rather than health plan

By Sarah Okeson
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH — State Treasurer Janet Cowell has set up a commission to look at the retirement benefits new state and local government employees in North Carolina should receive.

The Future of Retirement Study Commission is scheduled to meet for the first time Jan. 25 in Raleigh. The 13 people on the commission include legislators, state Budget Director Charles Perusse, human resources employees, union members, and policy analysts.

“Is the system as currently structured the right program for the next 50 years?” asked Robert Clark, the chairman of the commission and a professor at the College of Management at North Carolina State University. “It seems like a good time for a review.”

Bliss needs violation notice before mounting legal challenge to smoking ban

By Donna Martinez
Carolina Journal

CHAPEL HILL — Concerned that his sales have plummeted during the first week of the statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, the owner of a Chapel Hill hookah bar is encouraging people to snitch to government officials that he’s defying the ban. Adam Bliss, owner of Hookah Bliss, says he needs an official violation notice from Orange County in order to proceed with his plan to fight the law in court.

Bliss hasn’t stopped selling hookahs and beer at his Franklin Street establishment that caters to the college crowd. Even so, he hasn’t received a notice from the county. Bliss may even file a complaint himself to speed the process. “I’ve never had so much trouble getting in trouble,” he says.

Achieving his goal will require more than one informant to rat him out. In December, Tom Konsler, Orange County’s environmental health director, told Carolina Journal the county’s first response to a complaint would be to talk with the owner. A warning letter would be sent if complaints continue. A subsequent complaint would trigger a second warning letter. Additional violations could trigger a fine of up to $200 per day.

Photo: Hookah Bliss owner Adam Bliss plans a court challenge to the state's smoking ban. Photo by Sara Burrows.

By Sara Burrows

RALEIGH — In July, Gov. Bev Perdue said she would oppose a federal health care bill that placed additional financial burdens on the states.

“We are all hungry for a solution,” she said, “but the absolute dealbreaker for me as governor is a federal plan that shifts costs to the states.”

Six months later, Congress is finalizing a bill that would do just that by expanding Medicaid — the government health program for the poor. The federal government and the states share the costs of Medicaid, so any new obligation eventually would be borne, at least in part, by state taxpayers. And so far, Perdue has neither opposed the legislation nor stated any strong objections to the financial toll the bills being negotiated in Washington would take on North Carolina residents.