politics: Triangulator, Indy Week

Fracking bill passes House environment committee

Billy Ball — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:18:27 -0400

Fast-track fracking legislation, Senate Bill 76, is headed for the House floor after the chamber's Environment Committee gave its approval of the measure Thursday morning.

Sen. E.S. "Buck" Newton, a Republican from Johnston, Nash and Wilson counties who co-sponsored the bill, said the drilling has the potential to create thousands of jobs and billions in revenues (for more on those expectations, see here).…

Fast-track fracking bill passes House commerce committee

Billy Ball — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:01:17 -0400

As expected, fast-track fracking legislation, Senate Bill 76, passed the House Commerce and Job Development Committee Wednesday morning, although with several notable departures from the version passed by Senate leaders in February.

Those differences, according to fracking opponent and Environment N.C. Director Elizabeth Ouzts, include stripping the legislation of language allowing the injection of fracking waste underground.…

Indeed, Cardinal Innovations receives federal funding

Billy Ball — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:32:57 -0400

As an addendum to today's story, Cardinal Innovations spokeswoman Rachel Porter confirmed after deadline Tuesday that her agency—known in official lingo as a managed care organization—does indeed receive federal funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

That information is key because it confirms the state-funded Cardinal Innovations, formerly known as Piedmont Behavioral Health, is subject to the findings of a federal investigation into whether Cardinal has broken federal law by denying mental health care reimbursements for the treatment of undocumented immigrants in its 15-county service area, which includes Orange and Chatham counties.…

Rachel Maddow calls N.C. GOP "amazeballs"

Billy Ball — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:27:57 -0400

For the liberals out there: Rachel Maddow—the oh-so-sharp host of MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show"—has heard your cries.

On Thursday's show, Maddow panned the ominously-numbered Senate Bill 666, a measure that—for all intents and purposes—appears geared to curb North Carolina's college vote.…

Womack and the case of the vanishing blog entries

Billy Ball — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 12:43:00 -0500

Some of the most inflammatory entries on N.C. Mining and Energy Commission Chairman Jim Womack's blog—in which right-wingers posing as long-dead founding fathers take shots at their political enemies—are, as of this writing, down. The posts were among those cited in this week's story, in which Womack was outed as an author.…

Commerce committee hears destructive fracking bill

Elizabeth Van Brocklin — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 10:50:00 -0500

"This is simple," began state Sen. E.S. "Buck" Newton at a commerce committee meeting yesterday. "This country needs the energy and this state needs the jobs."…

McCrory eyes revenue from oil and gas drilling, counts chickens before they hatch

Lisa Sorg — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:25:00 -0500

Has Gov. Pat McCrory been hypnotized by The Beverly Hillbillies?

Specifically, the opening sequence in which Jed Clampett Is "shootin' at some food" when, as the ballad goes, "up through the ground came a bubblin' crude."

Oil, that is, black gold, "Texas Tea."

You might think McCrory has drunk the Texas Tea if you heard him crow about the financial benefits of tracking offshore drilling in his State of the State address last night: "Think what we can do with future revenue."

Yes, let's think about it: Besides the obvious environmental hazards (have we forgotten the BP disaster already?), it is unknown how much "economically recoverable" deposits—those that can be accessed cheaply enough for energy companies to turn a profit— lie in federal waters in the mid-Atlantic.…

McCrory: To be or not to be moderate

Billy Ball — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:07:35 -0500

Those troubled by Gov. Pat McCrory's far-right appointments and statements in recent weeks will find more to wail about in at least one of the governor's prospective appointments to the N.C. State Board of Education.

McCrory's nominations include former U.S. Congressman Bill Cobey, a Chapel Hill resident who currently sits as vice chairman for the Jesse Helms Center's operating board in Wingate.…

No Surprises: Sally Greene appointed to Chapel Hill Town Council

Billy Ball — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:42:10 -0500

You might have seen this one coming.

Chapel Hill Town Council members on Wednesday tapped former (well, not anymore) Councilwoman Sally Greene to fill the panel's vacant seat.…

New Democracy NC report analyzes election by race, gender, age

Jane Porter — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:11:00 -0500

Today’s Democracy NC analysis of the 2012 election results by gender, race and age has yielded some predictable results, but also some surprises.

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McCrory's chief lobbyist, Fred Steen, also an ALEC bigwig

Lisa Sorg — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:52:09 -0500

Gov. Pat McCrory picks so many winners he should play the ponies.

McCrory named as his chief lobbyist Fred Steen II, a state chairman and board member of ALEC, a rightwing organization funded in part by the Charles Koch Foundation.…

John Skvarla, new Sec'y of DENR: snake oil salesman?

Lisa Sorg — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:34:16 -0500

John Skvarla, the newly anointed Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, has publicly stated that under his watch, regulations—and the relaxation thereof—will be grounded in science and fact.

In an illuminating interview with WRAL’s Laura Leslie, Skvarla failed the scientific sniff test.…

Get an update on the EPA's fracking study

Billy Ball — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:54:51 -0500

Those looking for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) final word on fracking impacts will have to wait—at least until 2014.

But the EPA is hosting webinars today and tomorrow to provide a progress report on the ongoing study.…

No smoke: Pope selected as McCrory's deputy budget director

Lisa Sorg — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:46:00 -0500

There was no white smoke flowing from Gov.-elect Pat McCrory's chimney to indicate he had selected Art Pope, one of the most powerful people in North Carolina politics, to be his new budget director. But a h/t to WRAL, which reported that the conservative millionaire will be the No. 2 man in charge of crafting the state's financial priorities.…

Fracking board chair promises "substantive" meeting next week

Billy Ball — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:31:59 -0500

Thus far, the N.C. Mining and Energy Commission's meetings have been primarily organizational in nature, with members debating such things as pre-meeting prayers and committee assignments.

But commission Chair Jim Womack told members of the N.C. General Assembly's Environmental Review Commission Thursday morning that the group expects its first "substantive" discussion of fracking regulations next week.…

WRAL: Art Pope on McCrory's transition team

Lisa Sorg — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:09:02 -0500

Art Pope, already one of the most influential and wealthy political operatives in North Carolina, has further cemented his influence in the highest ranks of power.

Hat tip to WRAL, which reported that Art Pope is on Gov.-elect Pat McCrory's transition team.…

The women's vote: Turnout historically higher than men

Lisa Sorg — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:22:37 -0400

We may not be in binders, but we are in ballot boxes: If trends in 2008 and 2010 elections hold, more women than men will vote in North Carolina this fall.

According to a report, "The Status of Women in North Carolina," released by the N.C. Department of Administration, in 2010 47 percent of women who were U.S. citizens, age 18 and older and reported voting in the state cast ballots.…

How to be an election watchdog

Lisa Sorg — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 09:14:14 -0400

Bloggers, reporters and people interested in politics are invited to "How to Be an Election Watchdog," scheduled for 11 this morning in Room 339 of the Farrison-Newton Communications Building at N.C. Central University in Durham.

Learn about major voting problems that could emerge this year, how to uncover campaign donors and "shadow money" spending and the legal basis of voting rights.…

First Lady comes to Durham

Billy Ball — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 17:35:21 -0400

Change doesn't happen overnight.

That was the message from First Lady Michelle Obama, who brought the enthusiasm—and a good chunk of her passionate Democratic National Convention speech—to the campus of Durham's N.C. Central University Wednesday afternoon.…

RNC Day 5: Tossed from the Art Pope-David Koch cocktail party

Barry Yeoman — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 15:06:00 -0400

When I learned that Americans for Prosperity was hosting a cocktail party honoring Art Pope and David Koch during the Republican National Convention, it seemed like a natural event for me to cover. I used to write about Pope for the Independent, back when he was a state legislator from Raleigh and often the smartest (and nerdiest) Republican in the room.…

RNC Day 4: In his speech, Paul Ryan doesn't let facts get in the way

Barry Yeoman — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:51:00 -0400

In 2009, I was researching an article for AARP The Magazine about the impact of factory closings on older employers. Traveling around the country, I talked with unemployed workers who had skimped on food, lost health insurance, even suffered strokes because of the stress.…

RNC Day 3: Preparing for armed revolution

Barry Yeoman — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:23:00 -0400

I’ve covered national political party conventions since 1980. I know how amped-up the rhetoric can get on both sides.…

RNC Day 2: "All the laws we have today came from Judeo-Christian views"

Barry Yeoman — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 08:25:00 -0400

Forty years ago, when she was a teenager, Miriam Aikens had an abortion. Then she had another.…

Republican National Convention, Day 1: red meat at the tea party

Barry Yeoman — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:49:00 -0400

Volunteers wearing plastic rain ponchos steered drivers into the sprawling parking lot of River Ministries International, a campus on the outskirts of Tampa that includes an evangelical church, a worship school, and a “Holy Ghost training center.” There were food trucks and merchandise tables, including one man selling “Anybody but Obama” sticky notes. (He gave me a sample, telling me to slap it onto the windshield of any car sporting an Obama bumper sticker.…

Paul Ryan in North Carolina

Billy Ball — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:07:00 -0400

Generally speaking, vice presidential candidates are thought of as the presidential ticket's attack dog.

GOP Congressman Paul Ryan, controversial architect of deficit-reducing federal budget plans, was just that when he made a campaign stop in Raleigh Wednesday, taking shots at President Obama on the economy, healthcare and Medicare.…