North Carolina
Weekend reads: Junk fees, book challenges, free voter ID, and when the streams run orange | NC Newsline
In Biden’s war on junk fees, North Carolina’s senior senator pushes back
By Clayton Henkel
In a hot housing market, prospective renters can’t afford to be indecisive. Decide to sleep on it overnight and the property may be snapped up by someone else. But today’s rental market can also place a burden on even the most exp
editious renters with application fees, credit checks, move in fees and other “convenience” surcharges.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced plans to crack down on rental junk fees.
And last week, a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs began examining how such fees were applied across multiple industries impacting American consumers.
“Not all fees are the same,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA). “Some fees are excessively high. Some fees are unclear. And some fees exist solely so that large corporations can pad their bottom lines on the backs of hard-working families.” [Read more…]
When the streams run orange: VinFast site pouring dirt into waterways without penalty
By Lisa Sorg
While VinFast, the Vietnamese electric vehicle company, officially broke ground on their manufacturing plant in Chatham County last Friday, for the past seven months the company has been moving mounds of dirt around — dirt that has entered and damaged two streams and at least one wetland, but without penalty by state regulators.
Sedimentation in waterways is a serious problem. There are rules governing how much dirt can leave a development site and enter waterways, because bacteria can hitchhike on the sediment particles, entering the drinking water supply. The excess sediment can make it more difficult for utilities to treat and filter drinking water. And when too much dirt enters a waterway it can kill aquatic life, and ruin or impair its habitat. [Read more…]
State Board of Education denies charter school’s relocation request
By Greg Childress
The State Board of Education on Thursday denied Dogwood Classical Academy’s request to relocate to Iredell County on a 6-3 vote.
The K-8 school is scheduled to open next year in Cabarrus County. School officials requested the move to Iredell County after having trouble finding an affordable school site in Cabarrus County.
State board members discussed the relocation on Wednesday but did not comment on Dogwood Classical’s request before Thursday’s vote. [Read more…]
As the school year starts, districts prepare for onslaught of book challenges by conservatives
By Greg Childress
North Carolina has become what demographers and political pundits call a minority-majority system of public schools. That means nonwhite students outnumber their white counterparts.
This new dynamic, says Michelle Burton, a veteran school library media specialist with Durham Public Schools, has fueled a backlash against what’s taught about America’s racist past, as well as reading materials that school libraries make available to children. [Read more…]
Video gambling companies keep losing NC courts, but the legislature could make some machines legal
By Lynn Bonner
As North Carolina legislators consider expanding casino gambling beyond those owned by American Indian tribes, the latest chapter in the years-long court battles over electronic sweepstakes in the state ended this week with a loss for gaming companies operating in Catawba County.
The legislature has passed several laws since 2000 to limit — and then ban — video poker and electronic sweepstakes. In response, gaming companies tinkered with rules and software in efforts to get around the prohibitions.
That’s where “fish tables” come in. [Read more…]
NC county boards of election offering free photo IDs for voting
By Lynn Bonner
Registered voters can now obtain free photo ID from their county boards of election.
Voters will be asked to show photo identification when they cast ballots in municipal elections this fall. Drivers licenses, state ID cards, passports and other forms of identification can be used.
The state Board of Elections announced Wednesday that county election offices are ready to offer IDs to registered voters who don’t have any of the other acceptable forms of identification. [Read more…]
A job well done: Pioneering NC website wraps up a long and successful run (commentary)
By Rob Schofield
Blog.
Blogger.
It’s amazing how terms that seemed so new and cutting edge just a few years ago now strike us as obsolete and almost quaint.
In the first decade of the 21st century, blogs – mostly rudimentary websites in which, typically, an individual or a small group posted a series of takes and initiated conversations with commenters on a subject or subjects – were very hip, modern and important. [Read more…]
Preliminary test results confirm areas of East Durham, Walltown parks contaminated with lead
By Lisa Sorg
Old city Sign and Signal Shop at East End Park a hot spot; Lyon Park, Northgate in the clear
Contractors hired by the City of Durham have found hotspots of lead-contaminated soil at two parks, as well as at the old Sign and Signal Shop, prompting officials to fence off the affected areas no later than today.
According to an update from the City published last night, these parks have lead above the EPA’s action level of 400 parts per million for playgrounds: [Read more…]
State Superintendent Catherine Truitt reports ‘incredible’ gains in K-3 reading
By Greg Childress
North Carolina’s K-3 students have made “incredible gains” in reading and fewer of them require intensive intervention, State Superintendent Catherine Truitt said Thursday.
Truitt shared K-3 reading data with the State Board of Education on Wednesday that shows kindergartners making a 48% percentage jump from the beginning of the 2022-23 school year to the end on assessments that measure whether students read well enough to receive instruction in group settings. [Read more…]
Bonus read: As summer slips away, school safety takes center stage