BlogNetNews.com » North Carolina

JLF > The Locker Room: The social implications of end-of-life care

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:17:00 -0500

Matthew Schmitz, writing in the Witherspoon Institute's publication Public Discourse, makes some good points about modern society's closeting away of the elderly from the young, and the resulting impact it's having in the health care overhaul debate. I've often pondered how the Boomers' kids will handle end-of-life... [...]

The Progressive Pulse: North Carolina high risk insurance pool will soon be more affordable

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:01:15 -0500

Although Inclusive Health, the state’s insurance plan for people with preexisting conditions, is valuable, the monthly premiums are still unaffordable to many individuals and families.

But a new $1.5 million federal grant will help provide premium assistance for Inclusive Health enrollees beginning today. For approved applicants the discounts will range [...]

News 14 Carolina: Health care bill heads to Senate; Burr, Hagan react

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:36:33 -0500

With health care reform proposal now on its way to the Senate for consideration, North Carolina's senators say they suspect it will get even less support in their chamber. [...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: US Airways expands Charlotte service

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:31:05 -0500

US Airways Group Inc. will resume daily nonstop service between its Charlotte hub and Melbourne, Fla., after a 12-year hiatus. (LCC) [...]

Under the Dome blog: Don't read the instructions

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:24:19 -0500

State Board of Education chairman Bill Harrison said the education agency didn't mean to make it hard for former students who failed competency tests to get diplomas, or for schools to give them out.

The state Department of Public Instruction told school districts to find former students, going to [...]

Under the Dome blog: Forbes headlines GOP dinner

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:57:56 -0500

Steve Forbes, the former GOP presidential candidate and the publisher of Forbes Magazine, will headline the N.C. GOP's Hall of Fame Dinner in Raleigh later this month.

He will join Doug Hoffman, the former conservative congressional candidate from New York, at the dinner to be held November 21st at the North [...]

Carolina Politics Online: Civitas Releases Conservative Rankings

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:53:40 -0500

The Civitas Institute has released its 2009 Conservative rankings and the result is that the North Carolina State Legislature isn’t all that conservative. Well, there’s a shocker. This is the state that constantly raises taxes, hands out corporate welfare, and allows dangerous criminals to appeal their death sentence based [...]

The Progressive Pulse: Blue Cross Postcards – The NEW campaign

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:33:40 -0500

They are at it again. If they hadn’t made people mad enough, here they are sending out yet another round of a new design. This one complains about high fees and taxes as a part of health reform. That would be taxes on millionaires – like BCBS CEO Bob Greczyn [...]

Under the Dome blog: Pension fund bumps up

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:09:36 -0500

North Carolina's state pension fund was buoyed in the third quarter by the stock market's slight rebound, State Treasurer Janet Cowell announced Monday.

Third quarter returns were 10.44 percent, and the fund's returns for the year are 12.26 percent.

The fund's value rose from $60.2 billion at the [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: Libertarian gubernatorial candidate recaps the year since the 2008 election

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:01:00 -0500

Few would argue that North Carolina is a better place to live now than it was in November 2008, when voters elected Beverly Perdue to serve as governor. The man who ran as the Libertarian candidate, Michael Munger, recapped political developments of the past year during today's presentation to the John [...]

Under the Dome blog: State must dig deep for tanks

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:58:56 -0500

North Carolina will have to spend more than a half-billion dollars to clean up a backlog of 6,500 deteriorating underground storage tanks, a legislative evaluation group reported Monday.

The state already has spent $544 million since 1985 to clean up leaking tanks, which often hold petroleum products, but it [...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: KPMG names managing partner

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:43:14 -0500

KPMG has named John Switzer as managing partner of its Charlotte office. [...]

Civitas Review Online: Rand Helped Reshape Parole Board

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:43:02 -0500

Sen. Tony Rand, who announced last week that he was stepping down from the NC Senate to become Chairman of the state’s Parole Board played a large part in reshaping the board to its current configuration.

In 2005, Rand introduced S 897 which changed the makeup of the parole board [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: "nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:32:00 -0500

The final result of the US Supreme Court's Kelo v. New London eminent domain decision. Is this "public use" as defined by the 5th Amendment? See more pictures taken by Dan Simmons of the location of Susette Kelo's house here. And an article by Tim Carney in the Washington Examiner [...]

Under the Dome blog: Grants short on accountability

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:20:35 -0500

North Carolina hands out hundreds of millions of dollars to non-profit organizations each year but fails to adequately keep track of the money, according to a legislative report released Monday.

The legislature's Program Evaluation Division reported that the state awarded $694 million in state and federal funds to non-profits during the [...]

EdCone.com: Good habits, waiting to be unlearned

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:13:45 -0500

"The recession may be over but companies that cater to consumers believe people are digging in for a long, frugal winter." The body of the article is behind the WSJ paywall, but you get the point. Left unsaid: mightn't this...' [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: Really vital academic research!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:13:00 -0500

Duke professor Dan Ariely is engaged in research on attitudes towards sex toys and according to this N&O story a few people are upset. This reinforces my view that faculty research ought to be put on a free-market footing. That is, the norm should be a full teaching load (let's say [...]

Right Angles: Pfizer abandons Kelo land

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:11:44 -0500

And what does the city of New London, Conn., tell Suzette Kelo? “Uh, our bad”?:

The private homes New London, Conn., took through eminent domain from Suzette Kelo and others, are torn down now, but Pfizer has just announced that it closing up shop at the research facility that led [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: Never mind

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:09:00 -0500

Pfizer, one of the villains in the infamous Kelo eminent domain case, has decided it doesn't want the property seized through eminent domain after... [...]

Public Policy Polling: It's early but Booker looks good

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:09:00 -0500

Almost every time in 2009 that we've polled on a politician for the first time and been surprised by the numbers it's been because that person is more unpopular than we expected. We are in a recession period for the popularity of politicians, and that's been par for the course.[...]

Under the Dome blog: Clodfelter boxed out

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:52:06 -0500

Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight's endorsement of Sen. Martin Nesbitt, of Asheville, for majority leader has left Sen. Dan Clodfelter, of Charlotte (right), with few directions to go to pursue the job.

Basnight, of Manteo, wrote to his Democratic colleagues (see link below) on Friday encouraging [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: Public-private partnership to complete I-485 loop in Charlotte

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:49:00 -0500

Gov. Bev Perdue announced at a press conference in Charlotte this morning a public-private partnership to finish the I-485 loop earlier than expected. The governor's office claims the plan will save $50 to $100 million taxpayer... [...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: N.C. gets $1.5M for insurance premiums

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:38:07 -0500

The federal government has given the N.C. Health Insurance Risk Pool $1.5 million to subsidize monthly premiums for those unable to afford to participate. [...]

WataugaWatch: Hmmm

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:33:00 -0500

Former Watauga County Sheriff Mark Shook, who is now employed in Catawba County as Captain of Detention under Sheriff David Huffman, has registered to vote in Watauga County, using his parents' address as his "place of residence" ... thus ushering in rampant speculation that he plans to run again for' [...]

Under the Dome blog: Post: Kissell vote 'inexplicable'

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:07:40 -0500

U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell's vote against health care reform legislation ranked as one of the toughest votes in the House, and also one of the most bizarre, according to Washington Post blogger Chris "The Fix" Cillizza.

Cillizza gamed out the five toughest votes for the [...]

Squall Lines: Big Education saves energy

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:56:08 -0500

The Wilmington Star-News editorial page editor recently praised efforts by the UNCW to save energy under “A powerful example” headline. Fine. Conservation good, waste bad as every third-grader in America is taught.

Why the big deal about the university turning off lights and turning down thermostats? Doesn’t [...]

Under the Dome blog: Diploma diplomacy

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:39:21 -0500

They're taking the heat for something they say they didn't do.

An online commentary published by a Washington, D.C. think tank essentially calls the legislature a bunch of dunces because some adults who left school nearly three decades ago without high school diplomas will be able to [...]

The Meck Deck: US Airways to Melbourne

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:00:07 -0500

As in Melbourne, Florida. Three flights a day. Begins in February. The airline had previously served Melbourne from 1989 to 1997.

Bonus Analysis: US Airways last went on a Florida expansion spree in 2008. Melbourne was the one place that you could make an argument for that the airline didn’t [...]

Public Policy Polling: Some interesting health care numbers

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:58:00 -0500

Is it possible that the health care issue has gotten Republicans/conservatives so fired up that they're going to be more energized to go and try to vote out Democrats next year whether a substantive bill actually passes or not?

We put that theory to the test in New Jersey' [...]

Right Angles: Cognitive dissonance

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:55:54 -0500

FBI: Hasan tried to contact Al Qaeda.

Law enforcement official: We’re not sure what his motive was.

This kind of politically correct denial has gotten a lot of people killed.

[...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: S.C. bank forecloses on Crosland property

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:54:37 -0500

Carolina First Bank has foreclosed on land in Nashville, Tenn., where a Crosland affiliate planned to develop a 280,000-square-foot mixed-use project. [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: CEI's President, Fred Smith, remembers the Berlin Wall

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:50:00 -0500

Competitive Enterprise Institute president, Fred Smith, provides his thoughts on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall here. (Also see the JLF post on the CEI video.) So put yourself in their shoes. Think what they thought. Look right in the eyes of those separated families as they... [...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: Survey: U.S. doctors want tort reform

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:40:42 -0500

Seventy-four percent of U.S. physicians say they have less control over the way they practice medicine than they did five years ago, mostly because of malpractice litigation. [...]

Under the Dome blog: Salaries not on the label

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:39:02 -0500

The New Hanover County ABC Board won't tell how much they pay their employees.

The board has so far refused a request from the Wilmington Star-News for salary information on the board's employees, the folks that run the liquor stores. The newspaper is assembling a database of public employee [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: CEI marks 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:35:00 -0500

[...]

JLF > The Locker Room: You might be a progressive if...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:31:00 -0500

...you don't know what all the fuss is about when it comes to celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. (Obama declines to attend the commemoration ceremonies.) [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: Hydrogen Barackside

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:27:00 -0500

[...]

Piedmont Publius: Classic Lorraine Ahearn

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:21:47 -0500

I read with interest N&R bleeding heart Lorraine Ahearn’s Sunday front-pager on the plight of Myanmar immigrants struggling to make a living by commuting 90 minutes to the Perdue Farms chicken plant in Rockingham.

Despite describing repeatedly the horrors the Twan Har family endured in their “impoverished and repressive” home [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: Thoughts about the Berlin Wall

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:21:00 -0500

The Berlin Wall fell twenty years ago today. Here are some photos that I took during my service in the Army in Berlin in the early 1970s. ... [...]

Public Policy Polling: Vote on where we poll

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:20:00 -0500

One thing I want to say up front before getting to this month's options is that I don't really believe in doing blended primary/general election polls when an election is less than a year away. It's really two entirely different electorates so to do both well you have to conduct' [...]

Civitas Review Online: U.S. House Approves Health Care Bill: How Did Your Representative Vote?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:14:43 -0500

WRAL has the breakdown of how North Carolina’s Representatives voted on the PelosiCare monstrosity over the weekend:

Eight of North Carolina’s 13 representatives, including three Democrats, voted against the health care overhaul bill approved by the House of Representatives Saturday.

According to the House’s online records, Democratic Reps. Larry Kissel, [...]

The Progressive Pulse: Get your tickets early

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:09:59 -0500

Number of comments: 2

Share and Enjoy: [...]

Civitas Review Online: Thank you for smoking

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:06:36 -0500

A new law signed by Gov. Purdue in May 2009 prohibits smoking in public restaurants and bars. North Carolina’s Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars Law takes effect January 2, 2010 but local business owners are already getting ready. The N.C. Division of Public Health and the N.C. Association of Local [...]

WataugaWatch: Black Bart

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:04:00 -0500

To get the Democratic votes for the narrow victory on Saturday for the House's "Affordable Health Care for America Act," Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced into a corner by the Blue Dogs, led by Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan. She allowed a vote on the [...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: Sara Bissell, wife of developer Smoky Bissell, dies at 71

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:36:44 -0500

Sara Harris Bissell, wife of Charlotte real estate developer Smoky Bissell, has died after a long battle with cancer. She was 71. [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: Re: Why I am not a Republican....

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:12:00 -0500

Roy, Let's see...government stadiums, light rail, corporate socialism in Charlotte. His name is not McCrory, it's McMeeker. [...]

The Meck Deck: Is Charles Bowman the Mystery “charles” in DSS Email?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:01:56 -0500

Number of comments: 2

As the Uptown paper of record still cannot or will not identify the “charles” that Bank of America lobbyist Betty Turner told County Manager Harry Jones she had “alerted” over a what Turner termed “embarrasing” complaints about county management of DSS from a Bank of America employee, [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: The Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago today

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:57:00 -0500

Here is Larry Reed's 2001 article remembering the anniversary of building the wall in 1961. Given the health care bill that just passed the House, this article reminds us that socialists... [...]

WataugaWatch: Foxx Defends Predatory Credit Card Companies

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:56:00 -0500

Let's review, shall we?

1. May 13, 2009: The U.S. House passes (resoundingly) sweeping credit card reform legislation aimed at limiting abusive and deceptive credit card practices, like raising rates on people who pay their minimums on time. The law (signed by President Obama) mandates [...]

Capital Beat: From the weekend: the health care vote

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:55:21 -0500

I’m pretty sure it was a peculiar minority of folks who were geeking out watching C-SPAN on Saturday nights as the House debated and passed its version of the health care/insurance/system/etc… reform bill.

For those who spent their weekends in other pursuits:

[...]

Piedmont Publius: Via Triadwatch: Waste management and talk radio

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:54:04 -0500

For starters, Keith Brown informs us in this Guarino thread on possible landfill mischief at Tuesday’s lame-duck Greensboro City Council meeting that the city has officially issued a request for proposal for a “long-term solid waste management infrastructure system” at the White Street landfill. Stay tuned.

Keith also [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: Why I am not a Republican--reason number 2008

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:52:00 -0500

Outgoing Mayor of Charlotte and defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory is touting in an email this retrospective, produced by WCNC TV in Charlotte, which focuses on his time as Mayor. The only policy accomplishments from his 14 year tenure that were discussed in the piece, and apparently the most... [...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: Report: Online holiday sales to grow 8%

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:50:12 -0500

Online retail sales will be the growth engine for the retail industry this holiday shopping season, according to Forrester Research Inc. (FORR) [...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: Commercial realtors: No recovery 'til 2011

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:49:03 -0500

LoopNet, an online marketplace for commercial real estate properties, says a recent survey shows most of its members don’t expect a recovery in the market until 2011. [...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: Commercial Realtors: No recovery till 2011

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:49:03 -0500

LoopNet, an online marketplace for commercial real estate properties, says a recent survey shows most of its members don’t expect a recovery in the market until 2011. [...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: Empowered Benefits hires Corder Philips

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:46:49 -0500

Empowered Benefits, a Charlotte-based health- and benefits-technology firm, has hired Corder Philips as its agency of record. [...]

Thunder Pig: A Look Back: 2008 Veterans Day Program in Franklin, NC

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:35:00 -0500

I'm looking forward to the Veterans Day Parade in Franklin on Wednesday. I've been thinking about different ways I can cover the event on Wednesday, and here is an hour long video I made of last year's event, followed by a shorter highlight reel that is only ten minutes...

[...]

BlogAsheville: Benefit Wine-Tasting/Silent Auction for Animals Nov. 12

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:35:00 -0500

A Taste of Compassion
Wine-Tasting and Silent Auction Benefiting
the Animal Compassion Network
(great local no-kill rescue organization that's found homes for thousands of homeless, abandoned and neglected cats and dogs in WNC)

Thursday, Nov. 12
5:30-8 p.m.
The Venue
21 [...]

BlueNC blogs: On Snow And Cameras, Or, Health Care Gets A Day Off

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:23:37 -0500

Whether you are deliriously happy, incredibly sad, or still uncertain about how you feel about what has emerged from the House this weekend, it’s probably safe to say that one thing everyone is...is sick of the whole thing.

Of course, we’re far from done—but just to give us all a break, [...]

Squall Lines: Local stars in government transparency

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:20:54 -0500

Residents of Brunswick, New Hanover, and Onslow find it relatively simple to find key fiscal and performance data on their communities on the web. According to JLF’s NC Transparency site, these counties all earned Bs for online openness.

Columbus and Pender, on the other hand, [...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: Coke Consolidated swings to 3Q gain

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:18:19 -0500

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated reports third-quarter net income of $15.4 million, or $1.64 per diluted share. In the same period last year, the company lost $3.1 million, or 34 cents per diluted share. (COKE) [...]

EdCone.com: Impermanence, for better and worse

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:04:47 -0500

The context of Reagan's speech may have been more complicated than some remember, but the vision of the wall coming down, of its impermanence rather than its reality, was powerful stuff. It's hard to explain to a teenager what it... [...]

Charlotte Blogs: Tuesday November 10, 2009 | Mayor Pat McCrory

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:01:35 -0500

On Election Day last week, for the first time in 14 years, Pat McCrory was not on the ballot as a candidate for Mayor of Charlotte. Anthony Foxx, the winner of that election, is now gearing up for his term as Mayor of the Queen City. As Mayor McCrory packs [...]

Squall Lines: Who belongs in prison

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:51:24 -0500

In response to the state’s problems with prison overcrowding and budgetary balance, the Jacksonville Daily News suggests that North Carolina do a better job of distinguishing between those offenders who must be incarcerated and those who should be handled in some other way:

As of Sept. 30, the state prison [...]

Charlotte Business News - Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal: Five more U.S. banks fail; total stands at 120 for 2009

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:33:13 -0500

Five more struggling U.S. banks — none based in North Carolina — have been shut down by federal regulators. [...]

Piedmont Publius: Makhtar Ndiaye to the rescue

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:24:22 -0500

Interesting NYT article on Jeremy Tyler, the prep high school star who skipped his senior of high school to play professionally in Israel en route (hopefully) to a fat NBA contract.

So far, Tyler’s not doing so good:

His coach calls him lazy and out of shape. [...]

Right Angles: Apparently the Blue Dogs Don’t Know What to Say

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:08:09 -0500

As far as I can tell, the Web site of the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition hasn’t been updated since Saturday night’s vote on HR 3962. As I blogged previously, if my math is correct, 28 of these 52 “fiscal conservatives” voted FOR the astronomically expensive, freedom-killing, nearly 2000-page [...]

News 14 Carolina: House health bill unacceptable to many in Senate

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:58:01 -0500

A government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate. [...]

Right Angles: “And where is the constitutional basis for requiring everyone to buy insurance?”

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:54:59 -0500

From Dick Morris and Eileen McGann, writing for The Hill, comes this key question:

And where is the constitutional basis for requiring everyone to buy insurance? It is OK for a state to make drivers pay for automobile insurance? Driving is not a right, it is a privilege, and the [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: Speaking of moderates …

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:01:00 -0500

Ramesh Ponnuru devotes his latest TIME column to an examination of the conservative-versus-moderate debate within the rebuilding Republican Party. Ponnuru learns some lessons from last week's election... [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: A moderate bias?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0500

In the latest TIME, James Poniewozik concedes that traditional media outlets are biased. But unlike those who see a liberal bias, Poniewozik sees a bias toward moderation. I suspect Jon Ham would [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: Read my lips

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:59:00 -0500

Ever since his campaign for the White House, President Obama has said that only the wealthy would face tax hikes on his watch. We can quibble with his definition of wealthy, but the latest Business Week reminds us that under even the most liberal definition, the wealthy will not shoulder [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: Didn't the Fed help get us into this mess?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:57:00 -0500

James Cooper's latest Business Week column explores the "unconventional" process the Federal Reserve will employ to close the floodgates and tighten credit. Anyone who thinks the Fed is qualified for the job might... [...]

The Progressive Pulse: Top of the morning

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:55:19 -0500

Stories about the fallout from the recent Wake County school board elections continue, but many of them are leaving out vital pieces of information about the new board members.

A Sunday N&O story quoted parents worried that the new majority on the school board will end magnet schools [...]

Under the Dome blog: Perdue aims to close the loop

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:44:21 -0500

Gov. Bev Perdue is scheduled to outline a plan this morning to finish construction of the Interstate 485 loop around Charlotte using what an administration official says is a novel financing method that won't touch money slated for other road projects.

Officials said Sunday that Perdue [...]

JLF > The Locker Room: New Carolina Journal Online features

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:41:00 -0500

The latest Carolina Journal Online exclusive features David Bass' report on Verizon employees' apparent purchase of alcohol for state employees as the company was seeking a multimillion-dollar state government contract. John Hood's [...]

Under the Dome blog: Nesbitt gets Basnight nod

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:31:49 -0500

Sen. Martin Nesbitt, an Asheville Democrat, won hefty support on Friday when Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight dispatched a letter endorsing Nesbitt for the post of Senate majority leader.

Basnight sent the letter to fellow Senate Democrats, who will pick a replacement for Sen. Tony [...]

Right Angles: NARAL Outraged By House Vote, But Not By Abortion

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:30:08 -0500

NARAL is outraged by Saturday’s House vote on HR 3962, which included an amendment to ban federal funding of abortion in most cases.

Well, I’m saddened by NARAL’s outrage that some politicians voted to protect the most innocent human life. By the way, earlier this year, Gallup [...]

Under the Dome blog: Mental health and gender imbalance

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:09:14 -0500

NO WAITING ROOM: Mental patients in North Carolina often languish in the emergency rooms of hospitals that aren't equipped to handle them. (N&O)

MOSTLY BOYS CLUB: Women hold a quarter of the appointed positions on state boards and commissions. (N&O)

CLEARING THE BENCH: Mecklenburg County District Judge Bill [...]

Right Angles: Thank God for a bicameral legislature

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:13:27 -0500

Hard to believe this is from The Associated Press:

WASHINGTON — The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate.

[...]

BlueNC blogs: A Request

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:55:22 -0500

Currently licensed professional counselors (LPCs) and licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) are not eligible for Medicare reimbursement. I believe that the House health care bill has a provision that would rectify this, but the Baucus Senate bill doesn't.

The request is simple enough: call Kay Hagan (202-224-6342) and Richard' [...]