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Brief
Briefs
Beasley v. Budd, a major expansion of voting rights and experts warn of election ‘havoc’ across the U.S. if this NC case succeeds: The week’s top stories on Policy Watch
1. The last best hope for North Carolina’s public schools
There is a bit of mythology that sometimes creeps into the way longtime supporters of North Carolina’s public education system describe the halcyon days of the late 20th Century under the leadership of former Gov. Jim Hunt and Democratic legislators like former House Speaker Dan Blue and former Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight.
Especially when these well-meaning folks are decrying the disinvestment in public schools that has marked the last decade-plus of Republican rule at the General Assembly, there is a rose-tinted tendency to look back on the 1980’s and 90’s as a period in which the state’s public schools were all paragons of success and the envy of the nation.
The truth, of course, was more complex.[Read more...]
2. Beasley v. Budd: With 12 weeks to go, Democratic Senate candidate finds surprising momentum
Pivotal contest that some had already conceded to the GOP is shaping up to be closer than expected
With less than three months to go before the start of early voting, North Carolina’s closely watched contest for an open U.S Senate seat remains as close as it is contentious.
Going into summer the race between Rep. Ted Budd and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley appeared tilted in favor of the Republican.
Between the historic trends that work against the President’s party in first-term midterms and inflation driving down Joe Biden’s favorability ratings, Budd got the nod in national assessments of the race.[Read more...]
3. Republicans in Congress shy away from campaigning on national abortion platform
WASHINGTON — Republicans, hoping to flip control of Congress in the November elections, appear to have decided against campaigning on a unified abortion platform that would specify exactly what conservatives plan to do if given control of the U.S. House and Senate.
Yet Republicans in Congress have written dozens of proposals that, if passed, would restrict abortion nationwide. GOP lawmakers this session have introduced more than 153 abortion-related bills that party leaders could point to as evidence of what Republicans would try to pass on the national level if they trounce Democrats at the polls.
They include legislation that would define life as beginning at the moment of fertilization, prohibit insurance coverage for abortions, and make it a crime punishable to up to five years in prison for doctors who perform abortions after a heartbeat is detected, generally at about six weeks.[Read more...]
4. Disenfranchised no more, ‘Second Chance voters’ can register and cast ballots — for now
Allowing those on probation and parole to vote marks the largest expansion of voting rights in North Carolina since the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Daquan Peters didn’t waste any time registering to vote on Wednesday. He hadn’t been fast enough last year, during a 10-day window between court proceedings when people like him — those who were home after spending time imprisoned for a felony but still on probation or parole — were briefly re-enfranchised.
This time, Peters registered on the first day he was able.
“I wanted my voice and my vote to be accounted for right then and there,” Peters said. “Because I know how wicked the system is.” [Read more...]
Colonial Pipeline has announced it spilled 2 million gallons of gasoline in Huntersville — 31 times greater than original estimates, and now the largest onshore accident in U.S. history.
The spill happened nearly two years ago, on Aug. 14, 2020, in the Oehler Nature Preserve in Huntersville. Colonial initially estimated the amount at 63,000 gallons.
The new disclosure was a requirement of a recent consent order that requires the company to provide an updated estimate of the volume of gasoline released within 30 days. The consent order also requires the company to take specific remedial actions and pay nearly $5 million in penalties and investigative costs. [Read more...]***Bonus read: Facing a massive environmental fine, Bottomley again cited for allegedly violating state water quality rules6. Experts warn of election ‘havoc’ across the U.S. if North Carolina case succeeds
Moore v. Harper case brought by NC GOP could undo key fundamentals of U.S. elections
WASHINGTON — Legal experts on Thursday warned lawmakers on the U.S. House Administration Committee that if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a North Carolina case that embraces a fringe election theory, it would undermine future elections across the country.
“To be blunt, it would be extraordinary destabilizing,” said Carolyn Shapiro, a law professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. [Read more…]
7. Increased algal blooms in June lead the state to investigate two important NC lakes
Hotter summers spurred by climate change are likely making more and more bodies of water in NC unsafe
There have been more than 300 public reports of algal blooms in North Carolina this year, 100 in June alone, according to the NC Department of Environmental Quality.
And climate change could be at least partly responsible.
Algal blooms occur when algae overproduce. Some algae, mainly blue-green, can produce toxins that harm wildlife, pets and people who come into contact with them by swimming in or ingesting the affected water.
People should avoid any body of water that looks unsafe, according to NC DHHS recommends. [Read more...]
8. UNC-Chapel Hill announces new vice chancellor of communications
Kamrhan Farwell has been named UNC-Chapel Hill’s next vice chancellor of communications, the university announced Thursday.Farwell, now the vice chancellor and chief marketing and communications officer at the University of Missouri, will begin at UNC-Chapel Hill Sept. 26. She replaces Joel Curran, who left the university last October to take a position at the University of Notre Dame. Curran originated the role in 2013 but left last year in what appeared to be a wave of exits by high level staffers that included Joanne Peters Denny, director of the the university’s media relations and its chief diversity officer, Sibby Anderson-Thompkins.
Farwell will have her work cut out for her. The past two years have brought a torrent of bad publicity for the university, from controversies over its poor response to COVID-19 and its failed attempt to hire acclaimed journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones to continuing concern about the influence of deep-pocketed donors, the North Carolina General Assembly’s conservative majority and its political appointees on the UNC Board of Governors.[Read more…]
9. Weekly Radio Interviews and Daily Audio Commentaries: 
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