July 4, 2009
In what, infamously, was not one of its finer moments, the City Council in 2002 quashed plans to place a downtown ballpark at South Elm and Lee streets. The rest, as they say, is history. The ballpark became -- and remains -- a big hit in another location...
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July 3, 2009
The state legislature should be getting a message about charter schools by now: Lift the cap. North Carolina's statutory maximum of 100 charter schools could limit its chances of gaining federal funding through a program called Race to the Top that promot...
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The top giver to UNCG’s $115 million Students First Campaign won’t have a scholarship named in her or his honor.The donor of a $6 million gift was the famously anonymous benefactor who has given at least $70 million to colleges and universitie...
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July 2, 2009
Who should pay and how much for property insurance before the next monster storm hits the state? The General Assembly is struggling with that scenario and hasn't yet come up with an answer. But it is likely to seek out the safe high ground. And that raise...
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The Mary Easley story has not been good for N.C. State. Not only has the university lost a chancellor, provost and trustees chairman over Easley's hiring and promotion when she was first lady, it may be losing financial support from angry donors. "If...
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July 1, 2009
Among the big spenders in 2008 North Carolina political campaigns, none was more generous to state legislative candidates than Citizens for Higher Education. It gave $479,000 to contenders for House and Senate seats, watchdog group Democracy North Carolin...
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State laws can be enforced against national banks, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case from New York on Monday. The outcome pleased N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper and should be good for consumers here. "It's critical that states have the right t...
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June 30, 2009
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was unfaithful to his wife, but that's not why he should resign. He should resign because he was unfaithful to the people of South Carolina and to the responsibilities of his office. When Sanford stole away to spend five d...
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There may still be hidden worms in North Carolina's deal with Apple. Despite a deep budget hole that requires spending cuts and tax increases to fill, state legislators rushed to approve $46 million in tax breaks for the California-based computer company.
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June 28, 2009
A cartoon by longtime News & Record artist Tim Rickard.
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Small wonder the City Council seems more eager these days to discuss a new swim center than an old landfill. Talking trash is neither as much fun nor as easy. But the question of where garbage goes and for how much is important, and will affect the lifest...
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June 27, 2009
In the early days of the original Jackson 5, squealing teenaged girls would gather at the old Greensboro Record Center on South Elm Street to buy the group’s latest 45 (remember those?) and gleefully agonize over who should be their favorite m...
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June 26, 2009
Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones noted one of his strengths at a forum on local government leadership in Greensboro Wednesday: “I’m not afraid to be fired.”Guilford County Board of Commissioners Chairman Skip Alston isn’t afr...
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Keeping the public health dangers of the H1N1 virus, known as swine flu, in perspective since it crossed the border from Mexico in the spring has been a challenge.When initial fears of a worldwide pandemic quietly subsided, complacency set in. But the dea...
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June 25, 2009
If the N.C. Department of Transportation doesn't already know how much Greensboro wants to see more progress on its Urban Loop, it will when it hears from City Councilman Robbie Perkins today. Perkins is carrying a $30 million offer from the city to his m...
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When we call them "job cuts," they may sound a little more impersonal, and a little less painful. But the bottom line is that these are people, with bills to pay and families to feed. So it is with Greensboro-based United Guaranty, which announc...
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June 24, 2009
North Carolina's two senators stand in different places on the hotly debated health care issue. Both may be in the right place, for now. Republican Richard Burr staked out a position early, co-sponsoring a bill in May that other members of his party may r...
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The vast majority of the state's more than 1,500 road markers commemorate a positive chapter in our history. But it's equally important not to sweep aside the bleaker ones. The silver and black sign unveiled Monday in downtown Raleigh focuses attention on...
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June 23, 2009
Friends of Jim Black who are appealing for his early release from federal prison may be acting out of compassion. They see an elderly man who's already been punished for his crimes and now should be allowed to go home and tend to his ailing wife. What the...
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We are in the midst of teacher layoffs and a statewide education budget crisis &ellipses; and still sports controversies keep wedging themselves onto the Guilford County Schools' agenda. That in itself is a problem. First, there was the fallout over i...
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June 21, 2009
If you're looking for somebody to blame for all the miscommunication littering the path of the Urban Loop, there's no shortage of suspects. The federal government, the state of North Carolina and the city of Greensboro all have done lousy jobs of informin...
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June 20, 2009
Two years ago, the General Assembly thought it was getting tough on serial speeders and drivers ticketed for going 25 mph over the limit. It hasn't worked out that way. The hoped-for results never materialized and only a handful plead guilty as charged. I...
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June 19, 2009
Did a West Virginia coal company executive's $3 million investment in a judicial campaign pay off when the judge decided a case in his favor? The U.S. Supreme Court didn't exactly say so in its 5-4 Caperton v. Massey decision last week. But it found the c...
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The recently released report on whether links exist between tainted drinking water at Camp Lejeune and health problems experienced by Marines and dependents living there years ago raises more questions than it answers. According to National Research Counc...
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June 18, 2009
Have we been discussing the events of Nov. 3, 1979, for forever?No, it only seems that way. The incident was so ugly and traumatic that it still evokes strong emotions.It evoked strong emotions Tuesday night when the City Council narrowly voted to say it...
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