Bill Blocks Cities from Regulating Home Appearance

(Carolina Journal) A proposed state law would prohibit North Carolina cities and towns from using zoning laws to control the way houses look. House Bill 150 — Zoning, Design, and Aesthetic Controls — is supposed to prevent city planners from dictating purely aesthetic elements of single-family homes and duplexes, such as paint color, building materials, and interior layout. It still leaves cities free to regulate aesthetic qualities of multiple-family housing units, manufactured homes, and homes in historic districts.

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Hagan touts bill to support small business growth

(Charlotte Observer) U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan touted the importance of government support for small-business growth Friday morning at Mac’s Speed Shop.

Hagan, D-N.C., visited the South End barbecue hotspot to gain support for a bipartisan bill she’s co-sponsoring that would allow businesses to write off more of their commercial improvement projects each year.

“I hear too often from business owners that they’re putting off (improvements) because of uncertainty in Washington,” Hagan said. “We need to give them the certainty they need to … recoup their investments.

“… Small businesses like Mac’s are engines of economic growth.”

Hagan and Mac’s managing partner, Wynn Davis, 48, chatted in front of the polished bar while servers set out napkins and barbecue sauce on patio tables.

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Some NC sheriffs: Immigration reform could spur crime

(Raleigh News & Observer) More than a dozen North Carolina sheriffs have banded together with other sheriffs from Arizona to Pennsylvania in opposition to a bipartisan U.S. Senate proposal to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws.

Sheriffs Eddie Cathy of Union County, David Carpenter of Lincoln, and Terry Johnson of Alamance, among others, criticize what they consider a lack of border security.

They say the proposal “tolerates both past and future criminal activities,” according to a letter sent Thursday to Sens. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, and Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat.

Mecklenburg County Sheriff Chipp Bailey and Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison are not on the list of sheriffs who signed the letter.

The letter, obtained by McClatchy’s Washington Bureau, listed more than a dozen concerns with the proposed legislation.

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A-B Tech partnership faltered early

(Asheville Citzen-Times) The voicemail left on the phone of Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene was hardly explosive.

But it was terse — and enough so to signal troubles were mounting.

“I’m not a happy camper,” Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College President Hank Dunn told Greene in that voicemail in February 2012.

County officials were not happy, either.

Emails and other correspondences obtained by the Citizen-Times show county and college officials were divided over how to implement an ambitious college building program almost as soon as voters in November 2011 narrowly approved a sales tax hike to pay for it all.

Those exchanges, obtained through public records requests, include the Dunn voice mail in which he objects to the county’s role in hiring an architect.

The quarter-cent sales tax increase is expected to generate $83 million to pay for new buildings, renovations and other facilities at A-B Tech.

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NC Law would stop Tesla electric car sales in state

(Raleigh News & Observer) To date, 80 North Carolina residents have squeezed their savings for the bragging right of owning the Tesla Model S electric car, some paying more than $100,000 for their g-force ride, but they may be among the last. A legislative proposal, backed by the N.C. Automobile Dealers Association, would make it illegal for Tesla, or any other car maker, to bypass dealerships and sell directly in the state. The proposal cuts at the heart of Tesla’s business model: selling luxury cars over the phone or Internet and then delivering them to the front door of high-net-worth customers. Still, the proposal was unanimously approved by the state Senate’s Commerce Committee on Thursday, despite concerns about the state dictating who should be allowed to sell an automobile.

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City: No resolution in sight on water issue

(Asheville Citizen Times) City officials on Thursday disputed state Rep. Nathan Ramsey’s contention that a potential settlement has been discussed that could resolve a battle over control of the city’s water system. Any offer of a deal from lawmakers could indicate fear North Carolina would lose a legal challenge to block the system’s transfer to the Metropolitan Sewerage District, city Councilman Cecil Bothwell said Thursday. “I’m not aware of any conceivable deal,” he said. “I guess there is one possibility: If the state would agree to pay us $1.5 billion (an estimate of the water system’s value), I think we could reach an accord.”

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NC protesters risk arrest to highlight concerns about GOP

(Raleigh News & Observer) The historians, doctors, preachers, lawyers, raging grannies, students and others gathered around the second-floor fountain inside the Legislative Building and belted out “This Little Light of Mine” and other songs.

They were diverse in age and backgrounds but united in voice as part of a protest movement gaining numbers in recent weeks.

In the four months since North Carolina Republicans took control of both General Assembly chambers and the governor’s mansion, the lawmakers have proposed rapid and sweeping change to the state’s electoral processes, health care policies, welfare management and publicly-funded education systems.

The Republicans, some who emerged from a protest movement of their own – the tea party dissatisfied with the cost and influence of government – contend they’re doing the business of the people who voted them into office. They say their critics are simply bitter that their party no longer is in power.

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I-26 Connector project finds new life

(Asheville Citizen Times) Building the long-debated Interstate 26 Connector through the city would not only save lives on the crash-prone Bowen Bridge, but boost the economic health of the region, local leaders argued Thursday.

About 125 elected officials, business and civic leaders gathered Thursday at the N.C. Arboretum for a briefing on prospects for the project under a new statewide transportation plan championed by Gov. Pat McCrory.

The Asheville connector was originally slated to have opened in 2004 with the section of I-26 in Madison County paved from Mars Hill north to Sams Gap, but “we have yet to crank up the first bulldozer,” said David Brown, the regional member of the state Board of Transportation. “We’ve had problems getting on the same page in the past.”

The Interstate 26 Connector has been a hot topic of debate and controversy for nearly 20 years. Various alternatives were unveiled in public workshops, but the project, estimated at $500 million, lost funding in 2010 and was pushed toward the end of a list of state transportation priorities stretching out for the next 50 years.

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Bill would require students be taught abortion is risk factor for preterm births

(Charlotte Observer) Students would have to be taught that abortion increases the risk for subsequent premature births under a bill a Senate committee approved Wednesday.

There are conflicting studies about whether that is true. But the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force included that recommendation in its list of issues for the legislature to consider this session. A committee of the task force heard from doctors on both sides of the issue in November.

If enacted, the legislation would require that seventh-grade health classes include a discussion of preventable causes of preterm births, specifically that abortion is one of the risk factors.

“This bill is about giving our young people scientific information about health risks,” Sen. Warren Daniel, a Republican from Morganton, told the Senate Health Care Committee. “It’s based on science, not political ideology.”

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GOP wants to revamp way judges are elected

(Raleigh & Observer) The legislature is considering revamping the way North Carolina selects its high-court judges this session, including possibly scrapping the state’s pioneering system of public financing and moving to partisan elections.

The efforts come as Republicans – in complete control in Raleigh for the first time since the 1800s – seek to put their stamp on the judiciary.

On the agenda is undoing a Democratic-passed program that made North Carolina the nation’s first state to begin a voluntary program of public financing. The law was enacted after other states began experiencing high-priced political shoot-outs between big business and trial lawyers in its court elections.

Since its adoption in 2002, New Mexico, Wisconsin and, earlier this year, West Virginia have adopted legislation based on North Carolina’s law.

But Republican Gov. Pat McCrory proposed abolishing the program in his budget recommendations to the legislature. There is considerable sentiment among GOP lawmakers for following suit, although on Wednesday Rep. David Lewis of Dunn suggested an alternative measure designed to keep public financing through 2016.

“Judicial candidates benefit from not relying so heavily on fundraising,” said Lewis, who is chairman of the House Elections Committee, which will consider the bill next week. He acknowledged his proposal “has a long way to go.”

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Suspect in triple homicide kills himself after manhunt

(Blue Ridge Now) A man shot and killed his estranged wife and her parents Wednesday in Hendersonville, setting off a nearly three-hour manhunt before he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call of multiple victims down and shots fired at 5:30 p.m. Carrie Tracy Warren, 30, Theresa Russell Tracy, 49, and Richard Allen Tracy, 51, were found dead in the driveway and yard of a home at 297 Piney Ridge Drive, according to the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office.

Witnesses gave police a description of the shooter and his vehicle. Ralph Robert Warren III, 32, who was facing misdemeanor charges of harassment and making threats from February, was considered armed and dangerous as officers raced to shut down roads and secure a perimeter in search of him.

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Commissioners approve revised nonprofit funding policy

(Mountain Xpress) In the weeks leading up to their May 7 meeting, Buncombe County Commissioners debated stringent standards that would’ve limited nonprofits ability to request county funding for years to come. But when it came time to vote today, they settled on a slight rewording of the existing policy.

In a unanimous 7-0 vote, commissioners added language to the county’s guidelines requiring nonprofits that receive county funding to submit audited finance statements and IRS990 forms to the Buncombe County Finance Department annually. “In general, administrative costs of 12 percent will be used as a guideline; however, each application will be considered based on program need and community impact,” it reads.

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‘Complicated intergovernmental issues’: McCrory lets water bill become law without signature

(Mountain Xpress) Gov. Pat McCrory allowed a bill forcibly transferring Asheville’s water system to a new authority under the Metropolitan Sewerage District to become law without his signature, the first time he has done so. McCrory’s office offered the following statement:

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Mark Sanford redeems career, heading to Congress

(Asheville Citizen-Times) In a story of political redemption, Mark Sanford is headed back to Congress after his career was derailed by scandal four years ago.

“I am one imperfect man saved by God’s grace,” the Republican told about 100 cheering supporters Tuesday after defeating Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch to win back the 1st District seat he held for three terms in the 1990s. “It’s my pledge to all of you going forward I’m going to be one of the best congressmen I could have ever been.”

On Wednesday, Sanford told NBC’s “Today” show he thinks his record as a watchdog for taxpayers was more important than his personal redemption story.

“I think I have an incredibly strong track record with regard to watching out for people’s pocketbook,” he said.

Although the race was thought to be close going into the voting, Sanford collected 54 percent of the vote against Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert, in a district that hasn’t elected a Democratic congressman in more than three decades. About 32 percent of the district’s voters went to the polls. Green Party candidate Eugene Platt finished far behind.

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NC Senate advances bills for student prayer

(Asheville Citizen Times) Bills protecting organizational rights of student groups and student-led prayer are advancing in the North Carolina Senate.

The Senate Education Committee signed off on two bills Wednesday intended to protect free expression in schools and colleges.

One measure gives student organizations at the state’s public colleges and universities the right to select leaders and govern themselves without interference from administrators.

Another bill clarifies students’ rights to religious expression within the bounds of rules preventing disruptions of the educational process in public schools.

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