Bill requires NC welfare, food stamp crime checks

(Star News Online) Some North Carolina legislators agreed Tuesday to require county social service workers to perform criminal background checks on people seeking welfare and food stamps, but the legislation provides no money to pay for the reviews.

The House Health and Human Services Committee voted to make the checks mandatory in all county Department of Social Services offices for people applying for the benefits or for renewing their application to keep receiving them. The DSS office also would have to tell law enforcement agencies if an applicant is a fugitive or is wanted on an outstanding warrant.

DSS offices can now perform the formal background checks if they wish, or they can simply ask the participant if he or she is in trouble with the law. Federal law prohibits people who are subject to arrest warrants for violating probation or parole or for a felony charge from receiving public assistance benefits.

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Proposal would allow state religion in North Carolina

(WRAL) A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow North Carolina to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies statewide.

The legislation grew out of a dispute between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Rowan County Board of Commissioners. In a federal lawsuit filed last month, the ACLU says the board has opened 97 percent of its meetings since 2007 with explicitly Christian prayers.

Overtly Christian prayers at government meetings are not rare in North Carolina. Since the Republican takeover in 2011, the state Senate chaplain has offered an explicitly Christian invocation virtually every day of session, despite the fact that some senators are not Christian.

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Backyard chicken legislation poised for passage in Richmond

(Times Dispatch) Backyard chickens will be back on Richmond City Council’s menu next week after the final piece of a package of regulations that will expand legal ownership of up to four hens within the city limits — subject to some restrictions — cleared Richmond’s Planning Commission Monday.
“We’re there. Next week is a formality,” said Valerie West, a member of Chickunz, a Richmond-area group that has lobbied for nearly a year and a half to make it easier to keep chickens in the city.

West, who has dutifully attended dozens of meetings to press the council to adopt the measures, said she first met with then-Councilman Bruce W. Tyler, 1st District, in October of 2011 on the issue.
The council approved an ordinance last month reconfiguring existing law to permit backyard chickens, part of what advocates say is a national trend toward more sustainable living and growing awareness of food sources.

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Attorney: City interfered with SBI probe

(Asheville Citizen Times) The attorney representing Asheville Police Chief William Anderson’s son said Monday the city interfered with a State Bureau of Investigation inquiry into his role in a car crash.

Sean Devereux said Chad Anderson, 22, met with the SBI on Monday and “cleared up any misconceptions about what happened,” though he would not say what those misconceptions were. He also would not discuss his client’s guilt or innocence.

Chad Anderson, according to a police report, told an officer he was a passenger his father’s car when it collided with a median on Montford Avenue about 2:30 a.m. March 9.

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Bill would extend waiting period for divorce to two years

(News-Record) A state senator wants to require a two-year waiting period and mandatory counseling for couples who want a divorce.

Sen. Austin Allran, a Republican who represents Alexander and Catawba counties, filed the bill Thursday.

The “Healthy Marriage Act” would change the way couples in North Carolina get a divorce. Instead of requiring that they live apart for one-year, Allran’s new legislation would have them file an intent to divorce, then wait two years before their split is official.

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GOP’s “Healthy Marriage Act” to place 2-year waiting period on Divorce

(WFMY News 2) Divorce is a painful process for families but when couples want to call it quits in North Carolina they could have to wait even longer before getting out of their marriage. State Senator Austin Allran (R), who represents Alexander and Catawba Counties is behind proposed changes to amend the “Healthy Marriage Act.” Under the new changes couples would have to wait two years before filing absolute divorce but that’s not all. It would also require couples to complete counseling. In Allran’s proposed bill, you would have to wait two years but you’re not allowed to live together during that time. He thinks that plus the counseling would help bring down the state’s divorce rate.

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Court upholds punishment for Officers who refused to attend Muslim prayer event

(US District Court Ruling)

Hillary-Michelle in 2016? ‘First lady ticket’ called ‘dream ticket’

(UPI) No conversation about the 2016 presidential race is complete without one Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee (and overall frontrunner), should she decide to enter the race. But what about Clinton-Obama — as in, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama? The current first lady has brushed aside suggestions that she would be a candidate for political office after her husband leaves the White House in four years, even, at one point, joking about throwing her hat in the ring to host “The Tonight Show” when Jay Leno retires. But Obama’s disinterest — and Clinton’s silence so far on her own political future — has done nothing to dissuade Democrats gunning for a “former first ladies club” ticket. “All due respect for President Obama and Vice President Biden, but that would truly be a dream team for America,” said Karen Finney, a former spokeswoman for the Democratic Party and Clinton. “Both women are proven effective leaders who’ve raise children, so dealing with Congress would be a snap.”

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SC Lawmakers Look To Make It Illegal For Doctors To Ask About Guns

(WFAE) At issue is confusion around what is in the Affordable Care Act.

There is a provision that says patients don’t have to disclose information about gun ownership to medical providers. After the Newtown, Connecticut shootings, President Obama said there’s nothing in the act that prohibits those conversations from happening.

So now Republican Representative Joshua Putnam wants to make sure those conversations don’t happen in South Carolina. He’s the lead sponsor of a bill that he says is just a precaution.

“The Affordable Care Act is so large and lawmakers aren’t quite sure what’s in it yet,” Putnam says. “And so we just want to make sure we safeguard and put safeguards to protect the rights and the privacy of our citizens and the physicians.”

The bill would make it illegal for health care providers to ask patients about guns they might own. The exception would be if the doctor is treating patients for a gun-related injury, mental health illness or discussing a case of abuse or neglect.

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Educators mixed on bill to raise dropout age to 17

(Star News Online) One legislator’s efforts to raise from 16 to 17 the age at which a high school student can call it quits on traditional education is drawing mixed reviews from local educators and others who work with at-risk teens.

Rachel Manning, assistant superintendent for Pender County Schools, said age 16 seems to be a particularly vulnerable age for students who are undecided about sticking it through to graduation.

“I’m not sure there’s a determining factor as to why 16 is a magical age,” Manning said. “But if anything, it (raising the dropout age) gives us longer to work with the students and come up with strategies for intervention so they ultimately stay in school.”

But Rick Holliday, assistant superintendent for student support in New Hanover County, said there are so many other factors legislators need to consider first that would curb the dropout rate.

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NFL teams score big on getting public money for stadiums

(Charlotte Observer) As the Carolina Panthers scramble for public money to upgrade their stadium, other NFL teams are getting significant help from state and local governments.

Of the 20 stadiums built or renovated since 1997, a year after Bank of America Stadium opened, all but one have used public money. Things as diverse as food, property and hotel taxes and lottery proceeds have supplemented private funds.

And the list doesn’t include three teams currently planning new stadiums or upgrades, each of which expects significant public investment.

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Casino finishes $650M expansion

(Winston-Salem Journal) They’re calling it the “Masterpiece in the Mountains.”
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort recently completed a $650 million expansion that doubled the amount of hotel rooms and gaming space. The casino also brought in live table games; built a spa; added 10 restaurants, including a Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Paula Deen’s Kitchen and a 600-seat buffet; and spruced up the decor, giving it a sleek, contemporary feel.
“We could pick this property up and set it on the Las Vegas strip, and it would fit right in,” said Brooks Robinson, the senior vice president and general manager of Harrah’s Cherokee.
“We’re so very proud of this masterpiece that we’ve built here,” said Robinson, one of several Harrah’s officials who used the word “masterpiece” during a celebration last weekend.

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Bill would allow Asheville-Buncombe parks merger

(Asheville Citizen Times) City and county governmentcould merge their parks and recreation departments or give responsibility for some regional recreation facilities to a new authority under a bill filed by Rep. Nathan Ramsey, R-Buncombe.

Ramsey said this morning the bill “is one mechanism for addressing the city’s concerns about tax equity, them paying for regional assets.”

“It’s probably not fair for the city of Asheville to pay for and subsidize the cost” of facilities that residents across the county and region enjoy, he said.

One asset that could be transferred would be the U.S. Cellular Center. It is owned and operated by the city, but draws people from a wide area for events.

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Prospect of closing any of the UNC system’s campuses leads to outcry

(Raleigh News & Observer) Two years ago, when North Carolina faced a potential $3 billion budget hole, then-UNC system President Erskine Bowles raised the prospect of closing one or more of the state’s 17 campuses.

“If we keep having cuts, cuts, cuts, we’ll have to look at eliminating schools, campuses,” he said at the time. “That would be the smart decision. The unfortunate, smart decision.”

The financial picture is not nearly as dire this year – the state expects 3.6 percent revenue growth next year – but Republican legislative leaders are intent on reviving the discussion, sparking an outcry among Democrats and UNC advocates.

State Sen. Pete Brunstetter, a budget committee co-chairman, said Republican lawmakers envision possibly closing or consolidating one or two UNC system campuses to eliminate overlapping programs, save money and focus limited resources on the colleges and universities that are thriving.

“There should be no sacred cows,” the Winston-Salem Republican said in an interview Friday. “The UNC system needs to be subjected to the same scrutiny as everything else.”

Brunstetter cautioned that it is too early in the dialogue to identify particular campuses that could close, merge or transfer to the community college system – all ideas lawmakers are considering.

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Senator opposing Dix lease pushed $1 sale of NC prison

(Raleigh News Observer) In touting his bill to revoke Raleigh’s lease on the Dorothea Dix property, Sen. Ralph Hise argues that the deal was too cheap and the capital city needs to pay fair market value for its park.

It’s not the first time Hise, a Republican from Mitchell County, has weighed in on a state property transfer. In 2011, he was the sole sponsor of a bill that sold a shuttered state prison in his western mountains district to Mayland Community College.

The total price for the property – valued on Avery County tax rolls at $2.01 million – was $1. The Dix lease calls for Raleigh to pay $500,000 a year, plus 1.5 percent annual increases, in a deal worth $68 million over 75 years.

“I wish I had known that I could have my own prison for the cost of a pack of gum,” quipped Raleigh City Councilman Bonner Gaylord, who’s among those blasting Hise for inconsistency.

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