A report measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of state politicians gave more Democrats lower rankings, including for some local legislators.
As the campaign to select the 2012 Republican presidential nominee enters its final stages, Newt Gingrich is hoping to get a head start on frontrunners Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in North Carolina. Gingrich spoke Wednesday to a full house of students in the Lumina Theater at UNC-Wilmington.
Faculty members’ and students’ opinions were widely varied in response to the University’s rejection of its affiliation with talk show host, Rush Limbaugh. On March 6, UNC asked the local radio station, WRDU, to stop referencing the Tar Heel Sports Network and UNC alongside the Limbaugh program, said Mike McFarland, a UNC spokesman, in an email.
President Barack Obama says he is a “sucker” for the Tar Heels, but some political observers speculate his choices for the NCAA tournament might be more political. Obama chose UNC to win this year’s tournament against favorite University of Kentucky. He also picked the Tar Heels in 2009 — the same year they won the tournament.
Gary Dunn is a 57-year-old full-time student at UNC-Charlotte, majoring in English. Gardenia Henley is a retired Inspector General Auditor in Charge for the State Department. And both are running for N.C. Governor. Neither has ever been elected to a political office before but both filed to enter the crowded gubernatorial race as Democrats last Friday. Today is the last day to file for candidacy.
Vice President Joe Biden will join his wife Jill and U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis for their last stop on a community college tour in North Carolina Friday, the latest in a series of visits from Obama administration officials to the presidential swing state. Davidson County Community College will host the last stop on that three-day tour that included community colleges in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
For the past four months, UNC-CH junior Abby Bouchon has been researching local organizations focused on helping women in rural parts of the state. And her work has paid off. Bouchon and four other students from the Research Triangle Park Area were recently granted fellowships that will pay for their travel costs — $2,500 per person — to a United Nations conference on March 1.
U.S. Rep David Price, D – N.C., laid out an economic plan and responded to constituent concerns in a town hall-style meeting Monday. Price, who is up for reelection in 2012 and has represented the state’s fourth district since 1987, denounced oppositions to tax hikes and encouraged prudent fiscal spending.
Prayer in schools and public bodies has been a contentious issue for decades. The age-old debate has resurfaced at the N.C. General Assembly, but it’s not dividing lawmakers along the typical partisan lines. The N.C. chapter of the ACLU submitted a formal letter of complaint to legislators earlier this month, citing concerns about the sectarian nature of prayers in both the N.C. House and Senate.
Today is the first day that candidates for North Carolina’s gubernatorial race can file their candidacy with the N.C. Board of Elections. With Gov. Bev Perdue’s announcement last month that she will not run for re-election, Democrats are scrambling to find a candidate with high enough name recognition and favorability ratings to beat the assumed Republican candidate, former Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory.
As the Republican presidential primaries continue this week, each of the four candidates is trying to win the appeal of a fickle electorate. GOP voters have so far struggled to coalesce around a nominee, and each candidate has experienced fleeting momentum. But Mitt Romney could stake his claim for the nomination this week with strong showings in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.
For the last week, the GOP presidential candidates have been out in force in Florida — well, unless you are Ron Paul who has been in Maine — trying to win the hearts of the Floridian voters before tonight’s primary. The Sunshine State’s ‘winner-takes-all’ 50 delegates system has amped up the pressure on the candidates. In this primary, even a close second-place still counts as a loss.
After camping out for three months, Occupy Charlotte has been asked to leave. On Monday, the Charlotte city council voted nearly unanimously to end the Occupy encampment, and was met with outrage from dozens of Occupiers.
Tensions ran high at the South Carolina GOP presidential debate Thursday in Charleston. The day of the debate began with some unexpected twists when Rick Perry dropped out of the race, a recount of the Iowa caucus results found Rick Santorum as the winner — not Mitt Romney — and fresh accusations about Newt Gingrich surfaced from an ex-wife.
An advocacy group of education organizations is working to save financial aid — one signature at a time. The Student Aid Alliance, an organization composed of 75 universities and higher-education groups, is running its Save Student Aid initiative to collect signatures from both students and faculty.
Some N.C. Occupy protesters, who have spent more than a month demonstrating their discontent with certain restrictive government policies, have learned from experience that they are still subject to the law. Occupy Raleigh protesters requested to camp in a park outside the Raleigh City Hall, but their request was denied by a City Council committee, said City Manager Russell Allen. Individual council members offered to help find the protesters space, and as of Wednesday, they were still in the process of securing a new spot to protest, he said. Russell said 24-hour picketing is allowed, but it is against the city’s policy to allow people to camp out in this public space. Since 24-hour picketing is allowed, he said he doesn’t think the city is restricting the protesters’ rights. “They have adequate means to insure their first amendment rights,” he said. The location in front of city hall does not have accommodations — such as water and sewage systems — for people staying the night, he said. The city council received complaints from the homeowner association of a nearby condominium development and the management of an apartment building, Allen said. Asheville’s Occupy protesters were also denied their spot of choice. Protesters requested permission to camp in a park in front of the city’s council building, but their request was also denied, said Brownie Newman, vice mayor of Asheville.
Bank of America has decided against charging a fee for debit card users after many customers voiced concern and anger about the new policy. The fee would have charged customers $5 per month, except for select groups — including the military and student users, said Tony Allen, a spokesman for Bank of America.
There was a different kind of electricity in the room Wednesday night, when the N.C. Utilities Commission listened to public complaints about Duke Energy’s proposed 18.6 percent increase in electrical costs. People from across the state gathered Wednesday night at Durham City Hall, to speak out against the proposed hikes.
A recent report by the NCAA ranking schools’ graduation rates for student athletes found varying success for universities in the state.
A group of fifth graders in the Philippines made a decision that had far-reaching consequences for the UNC-system Association of Student Governments when they elected Arjay Quizon to represent them on student council. Quizon, now senior-vice president of ASG, grew up and attended school in the Philippines.
