Archive for April, 2012

Cincinnati Dumps Duke Energy

Co-Authored by Phil Radford, Greenpeace and Sandy Buchanan, Ohio Citizen Action

(Huffington Post) Today, Duke Energy found out that more than 50,000 commercial and residential electricity users in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio are dumping Duke and shifting to 100 percent clean energy.

Cincinnati is a trendsetter: it is the first city in Ohio, and the first of its size in the nation, to go 100 percent green.

The city is part of a much larger trend in which major electricity buyers like Cincinnati and even the social network Facebook are committing to shift from coal to clean energy, and in so doing putting companies like Duke-Progress, which will be the largest utility in the country, on notice.

This is big news.

Read the rest HERE!

Southport businesses still shocked by high electric bills

Written by Claire Parker

(Star News Online) There isn’t much relief in site for Southport business owners stuck with electric bills that are often double those from neighboring areas.

“I moved here from Atlanta and my bills were never this high,” said Rebekah Page, owner of the Sole Searching shoe store on Howe Street.

Her summertime bills range from $220 to $330 a month for a 780-square-foot store. She said she never got a bill for more than $200 in her Wilmington store that was twice the size.

Read the rest HERE!

Free bus rides to coincide with makeover of Asheville bus system

Written by Romando Dixson

(Asheville Citizen-times) Forget everything you know about Asheville Transit, even the name.

Beginning May 21, the city transit system will operate as Asheville Redefines Transit and will introduce a new look, new logo, new routes and new rides.

The launch will coincide with free bus rides from May 21-June 8 and highlight the first phase of the system’s master plan implementation.

It will also overlap weeklong Strive Not Drive events in which residents are encouraged to walk, bicycle, ride the bus or carpool as opposed to driving alone in a car.

Read the rest HERE!

NC gay marriage ban gets final push

Written by DIANA RUGG /NewsChannel 36 Staff

(WCNC) The final push towards primary day is on in North Carolina, and Amendment One is getting as much attention as some candidates.

The amendment would make the ban on gay marriage in North Carolina part of the state Constitution, saying “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”

Read the rest HERE!

Number infected by salmonella rises 34; source still unconfirmed

Written by Mackensy Lunsford

(Mountain Xpress) The BCHD official news release:

“The Buncombe County Department of Health reports that 5 more cases of Salmonella Paratyphi B were identified over the weekend, bringing the total to 34, as of Monday, April 30, 2012. The local health department is working with NC Department of Public Health, Center for Disease Control, US Department of Agriculture and others to continue intensive testing, interviewing, and epidemiological investigation of the outbreak in order to squelch the spread of the disease. Cases still appear to have been associated with residence or travel to Buncombe County since February 28, 2012. A single source of infection has not been confirmed.”

Read the rest Here!

City council creates its own lobbying group / Neighborhoods get voice in Asheville government

Written by Joel Burgess

(Asheville Citizen Times) Haw Creek, Malvern Hills, Shiloh, Montford — neighborhoods such as these have long been the soil where the city’s activist grassroots grow.

Now, residential areas that have been battlegrounds over development issues and starting points of political careers will get an official seat at Asheville’s government table.

Asheville officials will begin taking applications May 15 for the Neighborhood Advisory Committee, which the City Council voted unanimously to create last week.

Read the rest HERE!

Buncombe officials investigating salmonella outbreak around Asheville

(Asheville Citizen-Times) The Buncombe County Department of Health is currently investigating an outbreak of Salmonella Paratyphi B infection in Buncombe County.As of this morning, 27 possible cases have been identified and the source of contamination has not yet been confirmed. All cases appear to have been associated with residence or travel to Buncombe County since Feb. 28. Any reports of possible additional cases are immediately placed under investigation to verify whether the case may be linked to this outbreak. Communicable Disease Nurses and Environmental Health Specialists are conducting interviews with people who currently have or have had the infection, reviewing laboratory reports and inspecting food sources that may be linked to the outbreak. The county has established a hotline for accurate information about the outbreak, including what do if symptoms are suspected and other resources. Call 250-5300 or visit www.buncombecounty.org for more.

Read more HERE.

Boyle: Separating religion from schools bedevils us again

(Citizen-Times) Why, in the name of Yahweh, Buddha, Allah, Vishnu and the Flying Spaghetti Monster can people not grasp the concept of separation of church and state? The latest dust-up came last week when Asheville Middle School allowed Kyle Martin, executive director of Time to Revive — a group that had been conducting an enormous tent revival in Pack Square Park all week — to speak to students. Shockingly, Martin veered into a little God talk, even though he says he kept his talk secular. Allow me to pause here and say, seriously, school officials, do you think a guy who makes his living doing Christian tent revivals is not going to bring up God during a motivational speech to kids? What do you think motivates this guy? Candy bars? It’d be like inviting the Michelin Man in for a motivational talk and expecting him to never mention rubber.

Read more HERE>

GOP ignores veto threat, passes student loan bill

(Raleigh News & Observer) Republicans ignored a veto threat and overcame a rebellion by party conservatives to push a bill through the House Friday keeping interest rates on millions of federal student loans from doubling this summer. Lawmakers voted 215-195 to approve a bill that has become an election-year battle between the two parties over helping families in a persistently ailing economy. The measure sparked debate over women’s health issues, too. The White House and most Democrats opposed the $5.9 billion bill because of how Republicans covered the costs: eliminating a preventive health care fund in President Barack Obama’s health care law. They say the program mostly benefits women, while Republicans call it a loosely controlled slush fund.

Read more HERE.

N.C. speaker’s top aide, linked to lobbyist

(Raleigh News & Observer) The chief of staff to state House Speaker Thom Tillis has been in an intimate relationship with a lobbyist for the North Carolina Home Builders Association, a special interest group that often seeks help from the legislature and provides money to political campaigns across the state. Charles Thomas, Tillis’ chief of staff, resigned Thursday evening after being questioned about the relationship by The News & Observer. Tillis issued a brief statement to The N&O, saying Thomas “verbally offered his resignation. I have accepted it this evening.”

Read more HERE.

Ex-Edwards aide admits donors’ cash used to build his house

(Rocky Mount Telegram) John Edwards’ ex-aide acknowledged Thursday that much of nearly $1 million in campaign supporters’ cash went to build his North Carolina dream house, not to buy the silence of the presidential candidate’s pregnant mistress. Andrew Young testified for a fourth straight day at Edwards’ campaign finance fraud trial, peppered with questions from Edwards attorney Abbe Lowell about the money from two donors that flowed into personal accounts controlled by Young and his wife. Young has said he took secret payments from wealthy donors at Edwards’ direction to help conceal the presidential contender’s affair with Rielle Hunter and keep his 2008 presidential campaign viable. Young said the checks secretly provided by a then-96-year-old heiress were mixed with the couple’s other house funds, much of which went into renovations and construction of their $1.5 million hilltop house on 10 acres near Chapel Hill. Young often deferred questions on the payments to his wife, Cheri, saying “my wife is the one who handles the finances in our family.” Young’s testimony is considered key to the prosecution’s case that while campaigning for the White House, Edwards directed a scheme to use the money from the heiress and a Texas lawyer to conceal his affair with Hunter.

Read more HERE.

Residents debate oil, gas exploration at public hearings

(Wilmington Star-News) When Bonnie Monteleone came Thursday to protest gas and oil exploration on the North Carolina coast, she made sure to travel in a very specific way. “I came with a friend,” Monteleone said, holding a miniature wind turbine aloft amid protesters outside the Hilton Wilmington Riverside. “And we car-pooled.” About 150 people packed into two public hearings in downtown Wilmington on Thursday for a chance to voice their opinions on the Obama administration’s desire to open the East Coast to oil and gas exploration. The hearings, held by the Department of the Interior, were designed to give regulators a chance to collect feedback on a draft environmental impact statement for the proposal, which would permit outside companies to perform seismic testing to help determine how much oil and gas are available under the outer continental shelf. Seismic exploration would also tell researchers if the offshore area is an appropriate place for renewable energy installations, including wind farms.

Read more HERE.

Column: ‘White Hispanic’ not an agenda but a reality

(USA Today) In the aftermath of Trayvon Martin’s death, several news outlets identified his alleged killer George Zimmermanas a “white Hispanic.” Although “white Hispanic” is an unfamiliar phrase, it is an accurate description of Zimmerman — and the Martin case shines a light on how multiracial identity is becoming more commonplace in our society.  In 2000, for the first time, the Census Bureau gave Americans the option to identify themselves by marking more than one race. The 2.9% who chose more than one box in 2010 might not seem high, but the multiracial population younger than 18 has grown almost 50% since 2000, making it the fastest growing U.S. youth group. Maybe use of “white Hispanic” has been met with skepticism by some — especially conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh— because the U.S. is used to thinking about race in black and white terms. Perhaps these conservatives are accustomed to thinking of “white” as meaning descended from Europeans, or not being a member of a minority group. But Hispanic is not a race. According to the Census, “Hispanic” refers to a person of “Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.” Hispanics can be white, black or Asian. By the Census’ criterion, Zimmerman, the son of a white father and Peruvian mother, is white.

Read more HERE.

Lawmakers say city ‘jumping the gun’ on annexation

(Wilmington Star News) Republican state lawmakers say the city of Wilmington is wasting taxpayer dollars by providing services to the Monkey Junction area, where residents have been on a roller-coaster ride through the battle over annexation. City leaders, after a recent court ruling, are operating under the belief that Monkey Junction is now part of the city. A message on the city’s website reads, “The City of Wilmington would like to welcome Monkey Junction residents into the new city limits.” But state Rep. Stephen LaRoque, R-Lenoir, said the city is “jumping the gun” because the state is appealing the court decision and because lawmakers intend to pass new laws in this year’s lawmaking session – which begins in mid-May – to ensure that the Wilmington annexation and others pending across the state don’t occur. “The legislation is going to make sure those folks are not a part of the city of Wilmington,” LaRoque said this week of the estimated 3,300 residents and many businesses in the Monkey Junction annexation area.

Read more HERE.

Ball-snatching couple wants apology from broadcaster

(USA Today) The engaged couple that has been vilified for snatching away a baseball that was intended for a toddler at Wednesday’s Rangers-Yankees game say they have been treated unfairly. And they want an apology from the Yankees broadcaster whose comments helped make the video of the episode go viral. “My fiance Shannon and I were honestly unaware of the situation of the little boy sitting next to us last night since we were so caught up in the excited and moment of being at our first Ranger’s baseball game together,” Sean Leonard wrote in a statement posted by WFAA. The child eventually was given another ball, but that didn’t stem the wave of online criticisms that came after Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay said on air, “Oh, my God, they can’t give it to the kid?”

Read more HERE.