Morning fix
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Geithner to promote Obama's jobs plan in NC visit -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is scheduled to make a pitch for President Barack Obama's jobs bill while visiting Wilmington.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Education chief comes to NC to promote jobs bill -- U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is coming to Raleigh to meet with community college students and promote his boss' proposal to boost employment in the U.S.
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL: Immigrants "come out" at Winston-Salem rally -- Uriel Alberto doesn't carry a wallet. "You know, I've asked myself, 'Why — why don't I carry a wallet?' It's because I have no driver's license. I have no Social Security card.
RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER: $1 million prize goes unclaimed -- Time expired Monday afternoon on a winning lottery ticket worth $1 million.
WRAL-TV: Abortion rights group seeks regulation of Crisis Pregnancy Centers -- Anti-abortion centers in NC are about to begin receiving license plate funding and state referrals. Abortion rights advocates say the centers should be more closely regulated.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: NC crisis pregnancy centers criticized in report -- Too many crisis pregnancy centers designed to discourage abortions are offering inaccurate information about the long-term health dangers of the procedure, and they often add a religious message to their counseling, an abortion-rights group alleged Monday.
PUBLIC NEWS SERVICE: NC "Woman's Right to Know Act" Takes Effect Wednesday -- On Wednesday, the Woman's Right to Know Act takes effect in North Carolina. The law mandates a 24-hour waiting period before a woman can have an abortion, among other changes. It also requires that the state create a website to refer women to crisis pregnancy centers. However, a new investigation has found many of these centers are disseminating false medical information to North Carolina women as they consider their options in an unexpected pregnancy. Carey Pope, the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina, the group that conducted the investigation, says that is just not right. "Regardless of how you feel about the question of legal abortion, women should never be misled when seeking information at such a critical time in life."
WUNC-FM: Report Claims Crisis Pregnancy Centers Give False Information -- A new report released by a reproductive rights organization says crisis pregnancy centers often provide pregnant women with inaccurate information. NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina investigated 66 centers over the course of a year. The centers seek to discourage women from abortions by offering free ultrasounds. Carey Pope is NARAL North Carolina's executive director. She says 92 percent of clinics- called CPCs- investigated do not employ medical staff. “The lack of medical staff does not prevent CPCs from presenting themselves as medical clinics, including outfitting staffs in scrubs or white lab coats like those worn by doctors and nurses in hospitals and clinics. Our report shows that CPCs commonly provide inaccurate or false information.” Pope says 26 percent of clinics told clients incorrectly that abortion leads to breast cancer. But Mimi Every of Pregnancy Support Services in Chapel Hill and Durham says volunteers in her clinics are trained extensively to give accurate information and counseling to clients.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: New squatting strategy targets vacant NC property -- The state's largest city, already experiencing a rash of bogus paperwork by people claiming ties with a century-old religious group as a means to occupy vacant property, is now seeing a new and apparently unrelated wrinkle in squatters' attempts to lay claim to empty homes.
RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER DOME: Perdue rallies N.C. Democrats from afar -- Gov. Bev Perdue missed Saturday's Democratic fundraiser in Asheville but sent along a video in which she implores "good Democrats" to "turn North Carolina blue one more time." "Get busy. Put on your walking shoes. Put on your running shoes. We've got a lot of work to do," said Perdue, traveling in Asia on a trade mission. The two-minute video shows Perdue speaking to the camera with cutaway photos of the governor cutting ribbons and visiting schools. She sermonizes - her word - about the danger of budget cuts to education, saying the education of the state's workforce is key to bringing more jobs to the state.
WRAL-TV: Property owners in toll-road path: DOT 'holding us hostage' -- A group of people who own property along the proposed path for the extension of N.C. Highway 540 in southern Wake County say they plan to file suit over state regulations that they say are limiting their ability to sell or develop the property.
NEW BERN SUN JOURNAL: Teachers miffed: Legislation delays schools paydays by two weeks -- Exchanges between Craven County teachers and area legislators were pleasant at a legislative breakfast Monday at Craven County Schools’ office. But some teachers and school employees had been miffed, exchanging emails during the week before that were hotter than the 7:30 a.m. coffee, about a change in schools employee paydays beginning next year that may leave many short of cash to pay their bills. An education-related package called “School and Teacher Paperwork Reduction Act” passed in the 2011 General Assembly includes a provision that moves the first paycheck of the school year from Aug. 31 to Sept. 15.
RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER: Insurance commissioner looks for out-of-state donors -- Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, a proponent of public financing of campaigns, is traveling around the country this fall to raise money for his re-election.
NEW YORK TIMES: Giffords Arrives in North Carolina for More Treatment -- Gabrielle Giffords will spend nearly two weeks in Asheville to receive additional therapy as she continues to recover from the Jan. 8 shootings in Tucson.
ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES: Asheville's rehab expertise a good fit for Rep. Giffords -- With Asheville’s reputation as a rehabilitation haven, it should come as no surprise that U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is spending the next two weeks here for intensive work with an Asheville therapist
ASSOCIATED PRESS: NC appeals courts considers sweepstakes machines -- North Carolina law enforcement and business owners are seeking clarity on whether all video sweepstakes machines are illegal, or if a law trying to end their existence tramples on free speech rights.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: NC NAACP calls for speedy eugenics payments -- North Carolina's largest civil rights group is calling on state leaders to approve payments for victims of the state's defunct eugenics program by the end of this year.
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: Ex-NFL players eye convention 'splash' -- A team of former NFL players hopes to score points for the Democratic convention. The Charlotte NFL Players Chapter is talking to convention officials about ways they can help. "We are trying to make a big splash with the DNC and put Charlotte on the map," said Mike Dulaney, who played for the Panthers and the Chicago Bears. Exactly how the players would help is still unclear. But Dulaney said they could get involved in events surrounding the Super Bowl or NFL draft. He said there are more than 50 retired players in the this area and hundreds in the Carolinas. "We are thrilled that local members of the NFL Retired Players Association would like to partner with us," said Dan Murrey, executive director of the host committee.
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Florida Drug-Test Law Blocked by Judge -- A federal judge temporarily blocked Florida's new law that requires government-assistance applicants to pass a drug test before receiving the benefits.
http://online.wsj.com/article/
KINSTON FREE PRESS: Sen. Hagan praises progress at Rochelle Middle during visit to school -- Rochelle Middle School’s principal, Nicholas Harvey, described the greeting U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan received Monday as the kind of reception usually reserved for a rock star, a fitting analogy for a school that has incorporated the arts into its curriculum and seen improvement in its test scores in recent years. “To have a U.S. senator on our campus is something our kids will never forget, and certainly something I as their principal will never forget. … The kids treated her like a rock star,” Harvey said. Hagan, D-N.C., who sits on the U.S. Senate’s Help, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and is the sponsor of the School Turnaround and Rewards Act of 2011, spent about 90 minutes Monday touring Rochelle and visiting classrooms. She then spoke to members of the media gathered in the school’s media center.
WITN-TV: Senator Hagan Checks Out Improvement At School -- Democrat U.S. Senator Kay Hagan visited a Kinston School Monday to check out the turnaround the school has made. Rochelle Middle School was once a low performing school. It has dramatically improved its proficiency rates, jumping from 29% to 53%. Hagan is part of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, which drafted legislation last week to make changes to No Child Left Behind. Hagan says, "When we have low performing schools, in many cases, there's different models that can be used to turn those schools around. Some cases it's actually to get a new principal and I wanted to be sure that a new principal that is brought in has the training on a turnaround school or had been effective at doing that before." Principal Nicholas Harvey says he credits the dramatic jump in proficiency to good teachers--saying it all starts in the classroom.
WNCT-TV: Sen. Hagan talks No Child Left Behind at local middle school -- On the heels of her senate committee passing key revisions to No Child Left Behind legislation, Senator Kay Hagan toured a middle school here in the east. Rochelle Middle in Kinston didn't meet Adequate Yearly Progress last year- a federal standard for measuring student achievement. Ask a teacher- they'll tell you "no child left behind" has done more to discourage students than help them grow. "Because they're being tested,” said Fabrienne Kittrell, Music and Drama Teacher at Rochelle Middle. “And then you fail and then you gotta go back and be re-tested and be remediated. And that's an attack I think on students." "I think the expectations in a given period of time for every school was very cumbersome,” said Sen. Kay Hagan.
http://www2.wnct.com/news/
HENDERSONVILLE TIMES-NEWS: Sen. Hagan pays a visit to Hendersonville orchard -- U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., visited J.H. Stepp Farm's Hillcrest Orchard in Hendersonville on Saturday afternoon. Asked what topics her constituents were discussing at the orchard, Hagan said people were enjoying the beautiful weather and the luscious fruit, not talking politics. "It has been a Chamber of Commerce day here," Hagan said in a telephone interview. Hagan said she had fun picking Fuji and golden delicious apples, which she described as "absolutely delicious."
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: Foxx's first ad boasts on jobs -- Democratic Mayor Anthony Foxx touts his record on jobs in a new ad that begins airing on Charlotte TV stations today.
ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES: Shuler's fundraising drops in third quarter -- Two Republican challengers added more to their campaign coffers than did Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler in the last three months — a sign that competition is heating up in the 11th District race.
WILMINGTON STAR-NEWS: Carolina Beach officials on defensive as SBI investigates 2009 land deal -- The crux of a state investigation into Carolina Beach's mayor and two council members could be a vacant oceanfront lot that took several twists before landing in the town's hands. A time line of events involving the rectangular dirt lot at 1710 Carolina Beach Ave. North includes a lawsuit against the town, plans for a unique structure, upset neighbors, a deal with the town and, ultimately, an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation into whether politicians benefited financially from their actions surrounding the land.
WILMINGTON STAR-NEWS: Teachers call firings unfair, Head Start officials defend action -- Several former teachers at New Hanover County's Head Start program are speaking out about their firings earlier this year, claiming they were unjustly ousted from the agency for not receiving degrees by an agency-imposed deadline. At the end of the past school year, Community Action fired four lead teachers and 11 teacher assistants – roughly half of the agency's teaching staff – because they didn't receive appropriate education degrees before a deadline this summer. Nationwide by 2013, all Head Start lead teachers are expected to have bachelor's degrees; assistant teachers are expected to have associate degrees. But the Community Action Board of Directors and a separate Head Start Policy Council created a local policy that moved the deadline up by two years to August 2011. Cynthia Brown, the Community Action executive director, supported the policy.
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: 3 doctors assessed record fine for ordering unneeded procedures -- Three Charlotte-area physicians have been fined $85,000 each by the N.C. Medical Board. It's the largest amount levied since the licensing agency got authority to issue fines in 2006.
ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES: A-B Tech tax debate heats up -- Supporters and opponents of the one-quarter percent sales tax hike that is on the ballot this November make their case with Buncombe County voters.
GENERAL NEWS
N.C. NEWS NETWORK: Medicare part D enrollment coming earlier this year -- The federal program to subsidize the costs of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries in North Carolina is undergoing some changes. Pharmacist Mike James said Medicare Part D re-enroll has been moved up to December 7th, as opposed to the old deadline at the end of the year.
FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER: 2 Cape Fear High School students in custody; victim in stable condition -- A 15-year-old girl was shot in the neck Monday while standing in a courtyard at Cape Fear High School, prompting a lockdown of two campuses while dozens of lawmen searched for hours for a shooter.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Suspect slated for court in NC school shooting -- An 18-year-old high school student was scheduled to appear in a North Carolina courtroom Tuesday in connection with the shooting of a 15-year-old fellow student who was wounded in the neck.
RALEIGH NEWS &OBSERVER: Surveillance video leads to 2 in N.C. school shooting -- An 18-year-old high school student in Cumberland County is charged with felony aiding and abetting after a 15-year-old girl was shot and wounded at the school.
CAROLINA PUBLIC PRESS: Carolina Public Press’ launch confirms WNC has a passionate interest in journalism’s core public service mission – On Oct. 6, about 90 people gathered in Asheville’s River Arts District to celebrate the launch of Carolina Public Press, the region’s only online nonprofit news source dedicated to in-depth, investigative, independent reporting in Western North Carolina. In seven months, CPP has broken news, delved deep into stories, produced analysis, reporting and photojournalism unique to the region.
WASHINGTON DAILY NEWS: ‘Sunshine’ centers at ECU -- Anyone with questions about North Carolina’s laws regarding public records and open meetings may want to attend a workshop on those subjects at East Carolina University on Nov. 3. Elon University’s Sunshine Center and the ECU political-science department are presenting a workshop on public records and open meetings at 221 Mendenhall Student Center. The free workshop, which runs from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., will address the importance of availability of public information to public, according to a document about the workshop. Registration for the workshop begins at 1:30 p.m.
RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER: Panel will tackle ethics in athletics -- After a round of high-profile scandals in college sports this year, an advisory panel said Monday it would launch a wide review of practices ranging from student-athlete scholarships to postseason play.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Fresh food focus at NC anti-hunger meeting -- North Carolina anti-hunger advocates and students want to expand a fresher take on the adage "you are what you eat."
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Attendance tops 1 million at NC State Fair -- More than 1 million people visited the North Carolina State Fair, for the second year in a row.
WASHINGTON POST: Study raises questions about quality and oversight of virtual schools -- Spread of virtual schools comes despite a lack of any data about their impact on children from kindergarten through high school, researchers find.
FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER: Actors Colin Firth, Emily Blunt to film in Fairmont for upcoming movie -- The last time moviegoers saw Colin Firth, he was stumbling through his lines as King George VI in "The King's Speech." On Nov. 8, the Academy Award winner will be in Fairmont.
EDITORIALS
WILMINGTON STAR-NEWS: Legislators shortsighted to end N.C. Teaching Fellows -- What does it say about a state’s commitment to education when it kills a highly regarded program that brings some of the best and brightest students into the teaching profession? After being taken to task during his series of town hall meetings, N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis now says maybe the Honorables were wrong to eliminate the Teaching Fellows Program, and may revisit it when it meets in November. They were wrong, and they should restore funding.
RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER: Careful with the courts -- The way some Republican presidential candidates are talking about the Supreme Court, we may see "Impeach Earl Warren!" billboards again.
RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER COLUMN: Do district attorneys campaign in the courtroom? -- In the election season to come, if past practice prevails the district attorney races will be relatively overlooked. North Carolina is one of the 47 states that use popular election to determine its prosecutors.
GREENSBORO NEWS & RECORD: The right start -- n Opening City Council meetings with prayer shouldn't offend anyone; letting residents speak early is a good practice, too.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Regulation review begins for NC "fracking" study -- A review of North Carolina's oil and gas industry regulations is being conducted by an outside group in keeping with a law to study potential drilling for underground natural gas deposits.
WUNC-FM: "Fracking" Review Team in Raleigh -- The state of North Carolina is undergoing an outside review of its oil and gas regulatory programs. Questions surrounding “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing for natural gas led to the review. Leoneda Inge reports. The non-profit reviewing body is called STRONGER – State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations, Inc. It’s made up of state agencies, the oil and gas industry and environmental groups. Wilma Subra is chairwoman of the STRONGER board. She says they’ve reviewed several states so far, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Louisiana and now North Carolina. “And we are not only going to do a review of the state’s hydraulic fracturing program, but we’re also going to do a review of the entire oil and gas program in anticipation of shale gas drilling and production occurring in the near future.”
NEW YORK TIMES: Drilling in Fast-Growing Areas Ushers in New Era of Tension -- The still-emerging boom is bringing energy exploration to communities with no experience dealing with it and areas that were once, in rosier times, earmarked for other uses.
GREENVILLE DAILY REFLECTOR: Energy assistance drastically cut -- Federal budget cuts are drastically changing Pitt County’s program for assisting families with their heating bills.
WILSON TIMES: Lawmakers to tackle electric rates -- State legislators will talk about electricity and explore ways to reduce rates during the first meeting of the Joint Municipal Power Agency Relief committee today in Raleigh.
NORFOLK VIRGINIAN-PILOT: In North Carolina, two sides on sea-level rise -- Depending on which side of the argument you're on, low-lying towns like Elizabeth City and Edenton are facing catastrophic damage either from rising sea levels... or from a wave of regulation that's more threatening than storm surge.
WILMINGTON STAR-NEWS: Sea-level rise, sandbags on agenda for CRC meetings -- The N.C. Coastal Resources Commission will meet in Beaufort on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss sea-level rise, sandbags and the proposed expansion of a popular Pender County restaurant, among other things. The commission will meet at the NOAA/NCNERR Administration Building, 101 Pivers Island Road, Beaufort, beginning at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
WILMINGTON STAR-NEWS: Port supporters to hold forums -- Yes Port NC, a group advocating development of a state port near Southport, will hold forums this week in Southport and Wilmington. The first is from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at ILA Local Hall 1838, 211 W. 10th St., Southport. The second is from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday at ILA Local Hall 1426, 1305 S. Fifth Ave., Wilmington. Speakers include economic development officials from Brunswick County and Wilmington.
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Occupy Geithner and Arrest Him
Along with the Federal Reserve Wall Street Bankgangests