IndyWeek

The local media's silence on this story is unsettling. Is media bias showing? It certainly seems to be. Where are the Indy and the N&O on this story? After piling on stories for months that favored park boosters, they have nothing pro or con to say in response to McCrory's proposal?

WRAL did an exclusive interview with McCrory two days ago in which he suggested a compromise was possible that would allow a park and a future Dix Hospital on Dix Hill. Not a peep yet from Bob Geary or the folks at the N&O.

see the interview here: http://www.wral.com/mccrory-looks-for-compromise-on-dix/12321834/

The Indyweek endorsed for November election today

If you live in the Indy's paper distribution area, there is a clip and take printed Voting Guide.

I agree with INDYWEEK. I strongly disagree with Raleigh N&O's choices.

Return of the Vermin

There's a hell of a lot more to it than total dollars spent:

The Republicans portrayed their budget as a compromise, and to be fair, it does move some in the direction of Perdue's budget plan. However, the REAL difference between the two — between the $19.9 billion Perdue budget and the nearly $19.7 billion Republican budget — is actually far greater than a simple comparison of the top-line numbers would suggest.

As usual, the devil is in the details:

This Indy article is a good starting point for learning about NC's newest environmental threat:

With Americans getting half of their drinking water from underground sources, it's no wonder that people are concerned about the risks of fracking—especially since 2005 when George W. Bush exempted oil and gas companies from federal regulations designed to protect our drinking water. Meanwhile, most state oil and gas regulatory agencies don't require companies to report the volumes or names of chemicals being used in extraction (benzene, chloride, toluene and sulfates are among them).

Bob Geary from the Indyweek crunches some numbers for energy generation and efficiency:

In North Carolina, the institute study found, renewables could supply 40 percent of the state's electricity by 2025. Costs would be comparable to those of conventional power sources—coal, nuclear, natural gas—but with major advantages in air quality, reduced water consumption and zero "climate impacts," it said.

North Carolina could reduce electricity usage by almost one-fourth by 2025. In the next 20 years, renewables (40 percent) combined with energy-efficiency (24 percent) could account for nearly two-thirds of the state's electric-power needs.

But there is a debate amongst proponents on whether (or not) we should reopen SB3 (REPS bill) for modification.

In the Gulf, it's what we don't see that may be the most damaging:

Oil from what is now considered the nation's second-largest spill, 1989's Exxon Valdez mishap, slicked 11,000 square miles of ocean surface and 1,300 miles of pristine Alaskan coastline while killing hundreds of thousands of birds and marine mammals and untold numbers of fish and fish eggs.

But the impacts of the ongoing Deepwater Horizon leak in the gulf may be far worse given that much of the loose oil is actually in the water column, not on the surface. In fact, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently detected huge deepwater plumes of dispersed oil up to 30 miles long, seven miles wide and hundreds of feet thick.

There once was an asshole named Bunky Morgan, a Chatham County Commissioner who led the charge on rampant development that rewarded nobody save a handful of wealthy land speculators. Today the results of Morgan's gluttonous greed resemble a road trip from hell.