Archive for April, 2012

Lawmakers put Mission Hospital rules on hold

(Asheville Citizen-Times) Proposed state regulations that would drastically limit Mission Hospital’s operations are on hold for the rest of the year. A special House commitee on Thursday said they would not be considered during the upcoming short session of the General Assembly. The regulations would, among other restrictions, impose a 10-mile operating buffer zone around Mission and limit the number of doctors it can employ in counties where it already operates. Nearly all lawmakers from Western North Carolina are against the proposals, issued in March by the 11-member House Select Committee on the Certificate of Need Process and Related Hospital Issues. The Republican committee — which includes no one from WNC — closely examined the Certificate of Need process, the state-mandated 1995 agreement under which Memorial Mission and St. Joseph’s hospitals in Asheville were allowed to merge and have operated since.

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Committee votes to take Asheville’s water system

(Asheville Citizen-Times) A state legislative committee recommended Thursday the city be stripped of control of the region’s largest water system, which serves 125,000 people in Buncombe and Henderson counties. The recommendation, approved unanimously by the Metropolitan Sewerage/Water System Committee, was expected but disputed by city officials who said they have been good stewards of the waterworks, investing $40 million since 2005 and helping to attract two breweries in large part because of the region’s water quality. They also called on residents to voice their concerns at a City Council meeting Tuesday. Unlike prior committee meetings that included public comment or lengthy sessions on the system’s history, Thursday’s meeting was very brief. Public comment was not taken but had been accepted electronically since the April 13 release of the draft recommendation. Moffitt said taking the system from the city would ensure that water customers outside Asheville would never be charged higher rates than city residents.

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Alabama bans “Dirty Bastard” beer brand over name

(USA Today) You can buy Fat Bastard wine in Alabama, but you’ll have to go elsewhere for Dirty Bastard beer. The state alcoholic beverage control agency said Thursday it has banned the sale of Dirty Bastard beer in the state because of the profanity on its label. Beer and wine are commonly sold in grocery and convenience stores and anyone can see the labels, so staff members rejected the brand because parents may not want young people to see rough language on the shelves, said Bob Martin, an attorney with the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. “That’s the whole reason for the rule, to keep dirty pictures and dirty words away from children,” he said. “Personally, I believe the staff made the right call.”

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Happy Birthday: Fenway Park turns 100 years old

(USA Today) From 1903 through 1911, the Boston Red Sox played their home games at the quirky yet functional Huntington AvenueGrounds. With unusual dimensions of 350 feet down the left-field line, 530 feet (expanded to 635 feet in 1908) to center and 280 feet to right, the Huntington Grounds featured a tool shed in deep center field that was in play and patches of sand where grass would not grow. The wooden-fenced stadium had a single turnstile, a main grandstand capable of seating 2,500 and held a total capacity of 11,500, though more than 15,000 crammed in for opening day in 1902. One hundred years to the day of the first regular season game played at Fenway, the Red Sox commemorate the centennial anniversary Friday before an afternoon game against the New York Yankees. “It’s the Sistine Chapel of baseball,” says Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy.

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EPA to slash air pollution from natural gas wells

Written by By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press

(WRAL) The Obama administration on Wednesday set the first-ever national standards to control air pollution from gas wells that are drilled using a method called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, but not without making concessions to the oil and gas industry.

President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address strongly backed natural gas drilling as a clean energy source, and recently announced an executive order calling for coordination of federal regulation to ease burdens on producers. But he has come under criticism by the industry and Republicans for policies they say discourage energy development.

Top EPA officials said Wednesday that the new regulations would ensure pollution is controlled without slowing natural gas production.

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Democratic candidates vow to veto voter ID bills

(Raleigh News & Observer) The Democratic gubernatorial candidates pledged if elected to veto any bill requiring photo identification to vote. Wednesday evening’s discussion was the third and final televised debate held on three consecutive nights leading up to the May 8 primary election. Early voting begins today across the state. The candidates sharply criticized the Republican-backed voter ID bill, casting it as a politically inspired effort to depress Democratic turnout, rather than an effort to prevent fraud in the voting booth. “There is no significant problem with voter fraud in North Carolina,” Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton said during a one-hour debate sponsored by NBC-17 in Raleigh. “It is intended to intimidate. ..This was put forward by the party that says they are for less government and less spending. This is more government and more spending.”

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NC legislative panel puts ‘fracking’ on fast track

Reporter: Mark Binker
Web Editor: Matthew Burns

(WRAL) Energy companies could begin applying in July 2014 for permits to use a controversial method of natural gas drilling under a bill approved by a Senate study panel Wednesday.

Gas drilling in the state has become increasingly contentious in recent months, pitting environmentalists against business groups over hydraulic fracturing. The process, also known as “fracking,” involves drilling horizontally into underground deposits of shale and then pumping a high-pressure mix of water and chemicals into a well to break apart the rock and release natural gas.

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Private foundation may run the state zoo

(WRAL) The N.C. Zoo Society, a private nonprofit corporation, would take over operation of the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro from the state if legislation lawmakers reviewed Wednesday morning passes. While the state would retain title to the zoo property and continue a $10 million annual contribution toward its operation, the society would hire the zoos staff, set admission rates and forge other business partnerships. “By becoming more flexible and entrepreneurial, we can attract more partners,” said David Jones, the Zoo’s director. Changes to how the zoo operates have been discussed for years and most committee members seemed comfortable with the premise of putting zoo operations in private hands. But there were still some concerns.  Rep. Becky Carney, a Charlotte Democrat, asked whether the zoo would still admit North Carolina school groups free of charge. That would be part of the management agreement, Rep. Bill Brawley, a Matthews Republican said. Carney asked that specific language be added to the draft bill to ensure that was the case. “Anything that we can put into this bill that eases the mind of the public … I think we need to put the language in there,” she said. The bill would also require the society to agree to put two state officials on its board, and become subject to audits by the Office of the Statue Auditor and the legislature’s Program Evaluation Division.

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Commerce ‘Sustainability’ Official Still On Job

(Mountain XPress) Nearly two weeks after N.C. Secretary of Commerce Keith Crisco asked Assistant Secretary Henry C. McKoy to resign over issues involving the attempted diversion of $2 million in government funds to a nonprofit organization he had controlled, McKoy is still on the job.  McKoy indirectly addressed the controversy — reported April 5 and April 12 in Carolina Journal Online and April 6 in The News & Observer — by way of a meandering, 4,000-word memo (PDF download) sent to Commerce employees Tuesday. Not only did McKoy give no indication that he planned to leave; he did not acknowledge that Crisco asked for his resignation. Moreover, McKoy insisted that he and Crisco would answer questions from Commerce employees during a conference call with staff sometime next week. “I have nothing to hide,” McKoy said in the memo, “so I am happy to answer anything from anybody.”

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N.C. Democratic Party chairman to leaders: I’m not quitting

(Citizen-Times) The chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party on Wednesday defied calls from the state’s governor and other top Democratic officeholders to resign amid an election-year flap over alleged harassment by the group’s former executive director. Instead, state party Chairman David Parker announced a June 17 meeting of the party’s 750-member State Executive Committee to decide his fate in a referendum on his performance. In an email to committee members obtained by The Associated Press, Parker said there will be an election that day if other candidates seek to challenge him for the chairman’s post. Although Gov. Bev Perdue, six other Council of State members and Democratic legislative leaders have called on him to step aside immediately, Parker said other party officials are satisfied with his handling of harassment allegations against former Executive Director Jay Parmley. “The concerns of the elected officials, while unfounded, challenge us to discern the leadership direction of this party,” Parker wrote in the email.

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Dick Clark, Entertainment Icon Nicknamed ‘America’s Oldest Teenager,’ Dies at 82

Written by By JULIA KATHAN and SHEILA MARIKAR (@SheilaYM)

(ABC News) Dick Clark, the music industry maverick, longtime TV host and powerhouse producer who changed the way we listened to pop music with “American Bandstand,” and whose trademark “Rockin’ Eve” became a fixture of New Year’s celebrations, died today at the age of 82.

Clark’s agent Paul Shefrin said in statement that the veteran host died this morning following a “massive heart attack.”

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Asheville Police Chief talks about Montford incident

(Asheville Citizen-Times) The Montford Neighborhood Association originally invited city police Chief William Anderson to its meeting this month to give residents an opportunity to meet him, an opportunity for both parties to get face time with each other. That plan was developed before the events of March 27, when a drug bust turned into a high-speed getaway through the community. Given that development, Anderson took the opportunity to address the incident Tuesday night. Anderson, who was sworn into his position March 1, said he wanted to stress a few points about what happened, including the following: • Police did not dictate the time or location of the drug delivery. • Police did not engage in a pursuit as defined by their policy. • Residents may have thought it was a chase, but officers were rushing to the scene because of scanner traffic, which reported a wreck and police vehicle being rammed with officers inside.

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Dentists take battle over regulations to the public

(WRAL News) One commercial warns that “out-of-state special interests” are going to put your local dentist out of business. Another 30-second spot says viewers should be concerned about “powerful lobbyists” pushing a bill that will close your local dental practice. Given the similar style and claims, viewers might think the same group is behind both ads. But the 30-second spots actually come from different groups of dentists battling over how North Carolina regulates their profession. A legislative proposal likely to be heard this May would restrict contacts dentists can forge with dental service organizations.

“The North Carolina Dental Board has denied my patients what I feel is the best dental care,” said Dr. Gary Cameron, an Asheboro dentist who faced state sanctions after affiliating with an Illinois company. His case helped spark the push for the new law.  Dental service organization proponents say the businesses allow dentists to focus on “in the mouth” work, while a specialized back-office support system handles billing, payroll and other administrative functions. But a lawyer for the dental board, an independent agency that enforces dentistry laws, and allied dentists worry the new model could allow corporations to usurp decision making in dentists’ offices.

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Freeways no longer? Highway tolls weighed

By Curtis Tate
McClatchy Newspapers

(Charlotte Observer) The federal interstate highway system is showing its age, and, faced with the cost of repairing all those bumps and cracks, some states want to ask motorists to pay tolls on roads that used to be free.

That’s the last thing a public that’s paying $4 for a gallon of gasoline wants to hear, and elected officials, from members of Congress to President Barack Obama, aren’t likely in an election year to propose that motorists pay higher gasoline taxes or tolls. But many transportation experts and officials agree that if Americans want to drive on good roads, they’re going to have to pay more for them, or do without.

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McCrory (quietly) favors marriage amendment

By Tim Funk
tfunk@charlotteobserver.com

(Charlotte Observer) He’d rather talk about something else – say, the economy or education.

But press Pat McCrory about gay marriage, and the presumptive Republican nominee for governor will say this much – and little more: On May 8, he plans to vote for the proposed N.C. constitutional amendment reaffirming the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

That puts him in line with evangelical Christians and other parts of the GOP’s conservative base, who back the so-called marriage amendment by large margins.

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