economy: 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.…

One N.C. county says "no" to fracking

Billy Ball — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:03:00 -0400

Expect the debate of local vs. state control over fracking to only swell.

Tuesday night, commissioners in Anson County approved a 5-year fracking ban as they gather more information on the drilling and its prospective pros and cons.…

Carrboro aldermen to hear CVS plans Tuesday

Billy Ball — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:18:24 -0500

Much-discussed plans for a two-story CVS in downtown Carrboro will be back before town leaders Tuesday night.

The pharmacy bigbox's latest plans for a 24,590 square-foot store at the intersection of Greensboro and Weaver streets are likely to draw the usual share of ire from some Carrboro protesters, who argue the store will clog the town's center with traffic congestion, destroy historic homes and otherwise disrupt town life.…

EPA: Lots left to do on fracking study

Billy Ball — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:18:22 -0500

If you enjoy reading instruction manuals, chances are Friday's webinar report on a long-awaited fracking study from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was a hoot.

EPA scientist Jeanne Briskin, who is helping to lead the study, explained the multi-pronged approach the agency is taking to tackle fracking, which could begin permitting in North Carolina as soon as 2014.…

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.…

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.…

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.…

Perdue vetoes fracking bill—what's next?

Billy Ball — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:46:21 -0400

On Sunday, the lame-duck Gov. Bev Perdue handed down her third veto of GOP-backed legislation in four days when she axed Senate Bill 820, a controversial measure paving the way for hydraulic fracturing, better known as "fracking," in North Carolina as soon as 2014.

It comes days after the governor used the veto power on a GOP-backed budget plan and an overhaul of the Racial Justice Act.…

Fracking's fate rests with Bev Perdue

Billy Ball — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:00:40 -0400

To frack or not to frack, this is the question for N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue. The lame-duck governor could ultimately be the one who decides the state's fracking future.…

Environment NC: wind, not gas

Billy Ball — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:37:00 -0400

As N.C. House of Representatives leaders prepare to debate the controversial Senate Bill 820, a GOP-backed measure that could open the state's borders to fracking in two years, environmental advocates are making the case for offshore wind as a cleaner alternative.

Leaders with Environment North Carolina say they will release their report (titled "Wind Mills, Not Spills—The environmental and economic benefits of offshore wind versus offshore drilling in North Carolina") Wednesday morning in the legislative building's press room in Raleigh.…

Occupy Chapel Hill/Carrboro going tentless

Joe Schwartz — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:31:00 -0500

Occupy Chapel Hill/Carrboro will enter its second phase next week when the group removes its tents from Peace and Justice Plaza on Franklin Street, according to press release issued this morning.

Occupiers have been holding camp in front of the Post Office there since Oct. 15, but amid the coming cold, and safety and morale concerns drawn from sleeping on the street in close quarters each night, the group is shifting strategy.…

Durham County to levy 1/4-cent sales tax in April

Samiha Khanna — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:02:25 -0500

With the approval of almost 57 percent of voters, Durham County Commissioners officially adopted a resolution Monday night to begin collecting a new quarter-cent sales tax on April 1, 2012. The tax will apply to the sales of goods, but not food, medicine, housing, gas or utilities.…

UPDATE: Clerk's 31-percent raise was for professional certification

Samiha Khanna — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:59:00 -0500

UPDATE, 11/15: County Manager Mike Ruffin responded this morning to let us know the 31-percent raise for commissioners' clerk Michelle Parker-Evans was awarded after she obtained a two-year professional certification for clerks, which she didn't have when she was originally hired. "This certification was factored in to her recent raise and is one of the reasons the increase is so significant," Ruffin said in an email Tuesday.…

Citizens to Duke Energy: Shove your rate hike

Jason Y. Lee — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:35:00 -0400

Durham City Council Chambers were standing-room only last night as concerned citizens told the N.C. Utilities Commission that they opposed Duke Energy's proposed 18.6 percent rate hikes for residential customers.

The proposed rate hikes, spread over Duke Energy's 1.8 million North Carolinian customers, would generate $640 million for Duke Energy.…

Group calls for end to Carrboro's anti-lingering ordinance

Joe Schwartz — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:27:00 -0400

Three dozen Carrboro community members, including social justice activists, day laborers and elected officials, assembled in solidarity at the corner of Davie and Jones Ferry roads Tuesday morning and called for an end to the town’s anti-lingering ordinance.

The controversial local law, which passed in 2007, forbids anyone from standing, sitting, reclining, lingering or otherwise remaining on that corner after 11 a.m.…

Photos from Occupy Raleigh Sunday, Oct. 16

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:55:00 -0400

Aaron Zalonis, who participated in the Occupy Raleigh Protest and March on Sunday, Oct. 16, shared the following photos with us.

To learn more:

Occupy Raleigh website

Occupy Raleigh Twitter

Occupy Raleigh Facebook

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First General Assembly — Occupy Chapel Hill

Kirk Ross — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 10:00:00 -0400

Dispatch #1

The formal name is actually Occupy Chapel Hill/ Carrboro, but there is a strong argument that Carrboro has been "occupied" for years.

Regardless, the first General Assembly of Occupy Chapel Hill, started around 2:30 p.m.…

Jobs report shows meager payroll growth

Kirk Ross — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:53:07 -0400

The June jobs numbers are out and they are not good, even though economists expected a big bounce back from May's dismal report.
Non-farm payroll rose 18K. Nationwide, the unemployment rate is now 9.2%
Via Marketwatch:

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. economy added jobs at a slower pace in June than in May, suggesting that the sudden slowdown in the economy might be longer-lasting and more severe than feared.

This is really disturbing since both federal and state leadership seems to have forgotten what counter-cyclical spending is all about.…

Bank postpones Greenbridge June 27 foreclosure auction to allow negotiations for potential debt purchase

Rebecca Collins — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:36:00 -0400

Bank of America has indefinitely postponed the auction for Greenbridge, a prominent mixed-use development at 601 W. Rosemary St. in Chapel Hill that is facing foreclosure, Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton confirmed. The auction was previously scheduled for June 27.…

Greenbridge set for June 27 auction

Rebecca Collins — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:26:00 -0400

The “best life in town,” as the commercials promised, is being sold to the highest bidder on June 27, when Bank of America plans to foreclose on Greenbridge—the 10-story, 217,000 square foot residential and retail development on West Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill.

The property will be put up for public auction at the Orange County Courthouse at 10 a.m. that day, following months of financial troubles for the developers.…

Together N.C. holds send-off party for North Carolina's progress

Joe Schwartz — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:29:00 -0400

Cloaked in Hawaiian T-shirts with tongues planted firmly in cheeks, leis around necks, cone-shaped party hats on scalps and noisemakers in mouths, members of the progressive Together N.C. coalition threw a send-off party to North Carolina on Wednesday morning on the Halifax Mall, bidding adieu to the state’s ability to thrive, they said.

Standing around a table with a banner reading “Farewell to NC’s Progress,” members of the coalition decried the decrease in public education funding, the jobs cut, which the N.C. Budget and Tax Center has estimated at 30,000, slashes made in health care, early childhood education and public safety and the "shameful" midnight manner in which the House voted to override Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto.…

When it rains, it pours: more leaks for Greenfire?

Samiha Khanna — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 18:23:20 -0400

Three weeks after the collapse of the roof at Liberty Warehouse on Rigsbee Avenue, two more properties controlled by Durham-based Greenfire Development could be under scrutiny for leaky roofs.

The city's building inspectors received a report Thursday about water leaks at two warehouses on Foster Street, said Rick Hester, assistant director of Durham Neighborhood Improvement Services.…

Durham County head pitches no hike in property taxes, two new sales taxes for Nov. ballot

Samiha Khanna — Tue, 24 May 2011 11:54:49 -0400

Despite early indications that county property owners could have seen as much as a 2-cent increase in their property tax rate next year, Durham County Manager Mike Ruffin isn't proposing a such a hike. At a meeting of Durham County Commissioners yesterday, Ruffin said his staff was able to trim and arrange the county's $499 million budget in a way that would also provide all of the requested local funding for Durham Public Schools and restore employee merit pay raises that have been frozen for the past two years.…

City manager pitches half-cent hike of tax rate, reinstates employee raises

Samiha Khanna — Mon, 16 May 2011 20:12:42 -0400

Just as for residents in many other cities and towns across the state, property taxes for Durham city dwellers could go up about a half-cent per $100 of property value, according to the budget pitch City Manager Tom Bonfield made Monday night.

For a house valued at $200,000, that would add a little over $11 to the annual tax bill for that property.…