News

Mercury emissions from coal power plants drop 70 percent

(Winston Salem Journal) Mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in North Carolina have gone down 70 percent over the past decade, according to a new study released by the state.

The N.C. Division of Air Quality presented the findings to the state Environmental Management Commission on Thursday.

“We knew that scrubbers and other controls would reduce mercury emissions, but the actual reductions were larger than we expected,” Sheila Holman, director of the air quality division, said in a news release.

State officials attribute the decreased presence of the emissions to the 2002 Clean Smokestack Act that forced the state’s 14 coal-fired power plants to reduce their nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions by about three-fourths over a period of 10 years.

Mercury is a highly toxic metal that can permeate ecosystems and food supplies. High levels of mercury in waters can cause fish to become unhealthy to eat, especially for children and pregnant women.

“This is a reminder that mercury is a huge problem in the state and, when you look across the state and definitely in the coastal plains, most waters have mercury problems,” said Geoff Gisler, staff attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

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Asheville Trader Joe’s won’t need Council approval

(Mountain Xpress) Since news broke last week that Trader Joe’s is coming to Merrimon Avenue, reactions have ranged from enthusiastic support to criticism over its location. But there won’t be any showdown in the halls of government: Due to city rules, the grocery chain’s proposed location won’t go before Asheville City Council or the Planning and Zoning Commission for a vote.

“It’s a level I site plan, which means there’s no public process,” Planning Director Judy Daniel tells Xpress. “It’s 13,000 square feet and the threshold for a Level II project — which would go to Planning and Zoning — is 45,000 square feet in that zoning district.”

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Utility officials expected to hire investigators in Duke Energy review

(Raleigh News Observer) As the N.C. Utilities Commission’s investigation of Duke Energy enters its second week, the six political appointees who regulate the state’s electric utilities are expected to bring in outside investigators.

The complexity of Duke Energy probe is beyond the scope of the utilities commission’s routine work, which involves issuing certificates and reviewing rates of ferry operators, moving companies and utility companies.

“They don’t have expertise in investigations of corporate malfeasance,” said Robert Gruber, who directs the state’s Public Staff consumer advocacy agency. “Aggressive cross-examination is not something they are accustomed to doing.”

The last time the commission turned to outside auditors – a decade ago in a case that also involved Duke – the review took 10 months, resulted in a $25 million order against the company for fudging its books, and led to a lengthy federal probe.

The current Duke investigation is doubly complicated for its tangle of personal relationships.

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Randy Parton Theatre Could Become Sweepstakes Parlor And Tavern

(Carolina Journal) The failed Randy Parton Theatre may soon become an Internet gambling facility and bar. Plans for a lease-to-buy deal for the financially ailing facility, now known as the Roanoke Rapids Theater, could be announced within days by the cash-strapped city of Roanoke Rapids and a group of out-of-state investors.

“The bottom line is the citizens of Roanoke Rapids are still going to have a substantial debt to pay off, but this is a way that we can emerge from this in a few years,” said Roanoke Rapids Mayor Emery G. Doughtie.

Attorneys for the entities are conducting negotiations privately. The talks come amid a backdrop of various lawsuits now before the state Supreme Court — along with legislative and municipal attempts across North Carolina — either to outlaw or tax and regulate stiffly the prize-generating Internet parlors critics assail as an expansion of gambling.

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NC lottery money an education lifeline, not a jackpot

(WRAL) Since its inception, the North Carolina Education Lottery has brought in $2.45 billion for the state, including $457 million this year. However, $2.45 billion is not even a third of this year’s education budget. While the lottery is having an impact, it has become more of an education lifeline than a jackpot.

The WRAL Investigates team went through six state budgets to examine pre-kindergarten through high school spending and scholarships, both from the general fund and lottery revenue.

Ben Matthews, director of school support for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, says there’s a misconception about the lottery’s impact on the classroom. It’s just a fraction – between 4 and 5 percent – of the overall school budget this year, he said.

“There was never any conversation that the lottery would completely fund or totally solve the education needs in North Carolina,” Matthews said.

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Less school, more vacation time?

(News-Record) A one-word change nestled into a 7,000 word bill that passed in the waning hours of the recent legislative session lets local school boards slice 20 days off their annual school calendars.

This seems to be at odds with the Republican legislative majority’s push over the past year-and-a-half to add an extra five days to those calendars, and one educational group has suggested that it might violate the state constitution.

The General Assembly voted to require the extra days last year, agreeing to fund them in this just-ended session. That seemed to set the typical K-12 public school year at 185 days of class time.

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Watch for buses (perhaps with envy) on I-40 shoulder

(Raleigh News-Observer) Interstate 40 commuters should not be surprised on Monday to see the occasional Triangle Transit bus rolling past them on the freeway shoulder – while cars and trucks are stuck in the latest traffic jam.

North Carolina’s “bus-on-shoulder” pilot program gets under way today on I-40 in Durham County. It will give bus riders a new advantage over other commuters.

Whenever the traffic stops or crawls as slowly as 35mph, transit bus drivers will have the option to drive slowly on the shoulder – something that remains illegal for other vehicles. Bus drivers will be allowed to drive on the shoulder no faster than 35mph, and no more than 15mph faster than I-40 traffic.

The initial program will be in effect for a 10-mile section of I-40 in both directions between U.S. 15-501 and N.C. 147 (the Durham Freeway and Triangle Expressway), and in the eastbound direction for two miles from N.C. 147 to Page Road.

Drivers on these Triangle Transit routes will have the bus-on-shoulder option:

Read the rest HERE!

Governors put off health care questions, for now

(Blue Ridge Now) Millions of uninsured people may have to wait until after Election Day to find out if and how they can get coverage through President Barack Obama’s health care law.

More than two weeks after the Supreme Court gave the green light to Obama’s signature legislative achievement, many governors from both parties said they haven’t decided how their states will proceed on two parts under their control: an expansion of Medicaid, expected to extend coverage to roughly 15 million low-income people, and new insurance exchanges, projected to help an additional 15 million or so purchase private insurance.

In some states, such as Colorado, Oklahoma and Wyoming, governors said they’re crunching the numbers to determine what’s best for their residents. But in other states, including Virginia, Nebraska and Wisconsin, Republican governors said not to expect a decision before Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney square off in November.

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State waited too long to set up health insurance marketplace

(Raleigh News Observer) North Carolina legislators have taken so long to set up a mandated marketplace where uninsured people and small businesses can shop for health insurance that the federal government will have to do it for them.

They’re not alone. About one-third of the states are also still trying to decide whether to establish the health benefits exchanges or let federal officials run them, or do it together. Another third have already established exchanges, and the rest have decided not to or have done nothing at all about it.

Republican governors and legislators across the country have balked at provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, especially the added expense of expanding Medicaid benefits and mandating that everyone carry health insurance. But states that want to retain control of the exchanges are still facing a mid-November deadline to apply to have detailed plans approved by January so they can begin operating a year later.

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Rural areas lead in concealed weapons permit rates

(WRAL) “We get women who are terrified, who come in and say, ‘My husband said I need to learn to shoot this,’” Elrod said, demonstrating how some first-time shooters hold a gun by its butt end between his thumb and index finger.

Elrod sells and repairs guns at the Bear Creek Gun Shop, tucked inside NC Hunter Supply on Millbrook Road in Raleigh. Along with his wife, he also teaches gun safety classes. Among the couple’s most popular is the class required for those who want a concealed weapons permit to stow a handgun in their purse or under a suit coat.

Read the rest HERE!

NAACP to hold news conference today in Hendersonville

(Blue Ridge Now) North Carolina’s NAACP is calling attention to complaints of police gunfire that led to one Hendersonville police officer being fired and another suspended for two weeks without pay.

The civil rights organization holds a news conference Monday near where stray police bullets hit several homes and a church in March.

Police Chief Herbert Blake said last month the officers will not be charged in connection with the shooting of a fleeing burglary suspect. The district attorney says the officers did nothing criminal and won’t face charges.

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Judge Rules Terms Of Rick Davis Settlement Must Be Released

(WHKP) Former Henderson County Sheriff Rick Davis must release the legal settlement from a case involving inappropriate behavior with a female employee.

Superior Court Judge Mark Powell signed an order Friday that Davis and the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, which carried the insurance on the Sheriff’s Office, must give the settlement agreement to the Citizen-Times.

The newspaper sued Henderson County, Davis and the association earlier this year seeking the document’s release under state open records laws.

All parties will have 45 days from Friday to file an appeal. If no appeal is filed during that time, the Citizen-Times will get the settlement.

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On the other UNC scandal, the NCAA is quiet

(Raleigh News Observer) The NCAA and UNC-Chapel Hill spent countless hours investigating the improper money, perks and tutoring football players received, eventually levying sanctions that will cost the team a bowl opportunity and athletic scholarships.

But there’s little indication the NCAA is investigating another scandal that arguably paints a much darker picture: dozens of bogus classes largely attended by athletes that were offered by the longtime chairman of the Department of African and Afro-American Studies.

The NCAA has said practically nothing about the academic fraud. UNC-CH officials have said it does not constitute an NCAA violation because nonathletes also had been enrolled in the bogus classes and were not treated differently. They have consistently said the bogus classes were not hatched to keep athletes eligible to play.

Read the HERE!

Facebook and other social platforms are watching users’ chats for criminal activity and notifying police if any suspicious behavior is detected, according to a report. The screening process begins with scanning software that monitors chats for words or phrases that signal something might be amiss, such as an exchange of personal information or vulgar language. The software pays more attention to chats between users who don’t already have a well-established connection on the site and whose profile data indicate something may be wrong, such as a wide age gap. The scanning program is also “smart” — it’s taught to keep an eye out for certain phrases found in the previously obtained chat records from criminals including sexual predators.

(Mashable) Facebook and other social platforms are watching users’ chats for criminal activity and notifying police if any suspicious behavior is detected, according to a report.

The screening process begins with scanning software that monitors chats for words or phrases that signal something might be amiss, such as an exchange of personal information or vulgar language.

The software pays more attention to chats between users who don’t already have a well-established connection on the site and whose profile data indicate something may be wrong, such as a wide age gap. The scanning program is also “smart” — it’s taught to keep an eye out for certain phrases found in the previously obtained chat records from criminals including sexual predators.

Read the rest HERE!

Secret Service seeks barriers for DNC

(Charlotte Observer) Two miles of concrete barriers. More than five miles of 9-foot “anti-scale” steel fence.

Nearly eight miles of lightweight metal barriers, and portable vehicle barriers designed to withstand the impact of a 15,000-pound vehicle at 50 mph.

These are some of items the Secret Service is seeking to protect the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, according to a federal government contract request released this week.

The Secret Service’s proposal lists four Charlotte sites that will be secured for the convention, to be held Sept. 4-7.

Read the rest HERE!