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(08/27/08 4:00am)
When Gloria Craven introduced Barack Obama at a Raleigh town hall meeting last Tuesday, she was told it would be the experience of a lifetime.
Then she was asked to speak to millions of Americans at the Democratic National Convention, where the presumptive presidential candidate will become the party's official nominee.
A member of Obama's campaign staff called Craven on Saturday to tell her that Obama had requested that she speak at the convention Tuesday night.
"She said, 'How do you feel about going national? . This is the experience of a lifetime,'" Craven recounted.
(08/26/08 4:00am)
In an election season heralded for its unprecedented youth turnout, North Carolina's presence at the Democratic National Convention is no exception.
The youth attendance at the convention has jumped since 2004, and the group representing North Carolina features several members more accustomed to a classroom than the national political scene.
Jared Hagemann, an 18-year-old student at College of the Albemarle in northeastern North Carolina, was elected to represent Congressional District 13.
(08/21/08 4:00am)
When the parents of Atlas Fraley found their son dead on the floor of their home Aug. 12, they had no idea that Orange County Emergency Medical Services had been there hours earlier.
(08/21/08 4:00am)
UNC-Chapel Hill has not taken a position on the drinking age, though Duke University and about 100 other universities are asking lawmakers to lower the legal age to 18.
They hope that doing so will discourage binge drinking and promote more open dialogue on alcohol use, creating a safer environment for students.
UNC-system President Erskine Bowles has said he wants to take a closer look before taking a stand.
"Until that happens, no campus will be taking a position on the issue," said Winston Crisp, UNC-CH assistant vice-chancellor for student affairs, explaining that Bowles has told universities to accept general administration's authority on this matter.
Supporters of the effort, known as the Amethyst Initiative, say that current policy does nothing to decrease the prevalence of unhealthy drinking behavior, especially binge drinking.
"First and foremost the law is the law. . But if our goal is to ensure the health and safety of our young people, then what we're doing right now probably isn't working," said Michael Schoenfeld, Duke's vice president for public affairs and government relations.
"(Duke President Richard Brodhead) is not simply advocating for a change in the drinking age," he said. "The country needs to have an honest and constructive discussion on this issue."
At UNC-CH, a collaborative effort between faculty, staff and students is promoting that effort.
The student alcohol advisory committee, part of the student government executive branch, and the Campus Alcohol Task Force, composed of faculty, students, University and UNC Hospitals staff, and law enforcement work together to craft University policy on alcohol use, Crisp said.
"The students have been invaluable . providing context and perspective in what is a difficult question," Crisp said.
The student-led committee and administration-led task force regularly collaborate as they revise the University policy, said committee chairman Ronald Bilbao.
Duke has a peer-run group within its health department to promote discussion of alcohol use and it is in the process of forming a committee of faculty, staff and students to review its policy, said Tom Szigethy, Director of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Center at Duke.
Duke allows open-source containers, such as kegs, in residence halls, which UNC does not permit.
Szigethy said that the university does not believe this policy on its own promotes unhealthy habits.
However, Crisp disagreed.
"We belive that open-source containers lead to higher levels of binge drinking and other dangerous habits," he said.
Bilbao said that UNC's status as a public entity is another reason that open-source containers and similar matters are a different situation.
"We're dealing with the public. We're dealing with the government. We're dealing with being responsible to taxpayers," he said.
"That's something private universities don't have to worry about."
The student committee is unlikely to push for UNC to join Duke and the other universities in advocating for the lower drinking age, he said.
"We can't change the law," Bilbao said. "Ultimately the only way that law is ever going to change is if other people that are more influential are the ones leading that effort."
But the faculty-led task force also doesn't consider the matter within its realm of responsibility.
"Changing of the law is beyond the scope of what the task force is designed to do," Crisp said.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(08/20/08 4:00am)
While students nationwide are having a harder time getting adequate student loans, N.C. borrowers will remain sheltered for at least another year.
Cuts in loan subsidies and the lagging financial market have caused many private lenders to limit loan offerings, increase interest rates or leave the market entirely.
Many students rely on private loans to cover the difference between financial aid packages and college costs.
"It really was just the perfect storm of all these things coming together and it has made it very difficult for lenders to remain viable," said Tara Payne, vice president of corporate communication for the New Hampshire Higher Education Loan Corporation.
However, the N.C. State Education Assistance Authority, which provides the bulk of student loans in the state, will continue as usual.
"I think we're in terrific shape. I'm optimistic," said Executive Director Steve Brooks. "We feel confident we'll be able to meet the needs of our students."
A private bond from the N.C. State Employees' Credit Union is largely responsible for NCSEAA's continued stability, Brooks said. It has helped generate the capital necessary to continue providing student loans.
"That was terrific help, that really was," Brooks said.
A federal program implemented last spring allows lending agencies to use the U.S. Department of Education as an insurer so that they can continue borrowing from banks. On their own, some agencies don't have strong enough credit.
In exchange for the support, the agencies are required to raise their interest rates.
"It's that kind of wrinkle in the plan that made it not suitable for us," Brooks said, adding that NCSEAA didn't need federal support.
"I didn't think it would be reasonable for us at the last minute to tell borrowers, 'Oh, by the way, the discounts are gone'," he said.
NCSEAA's interest rates were the lowest in the country last year, Brooks said. Because they weren't raised, the disparity is even more drastic this year.
Financial difficulties have forced some agencies in other states to leave the market at least partially, and in some cases, completely.
The main New Hampshire lending agency stopped offering private loans last March to focus its shrinking financial resources on federal loans.
The cut affected about 6,000 students who were told to turn to their schools' financial aid offices instead. The agency is unsure when it will resume offering private loans.
The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority will offer no loans this academic year.
MEFA first opted out of federal loans in the spring to devote financial resources to private loans. Eventually it realized even that would be financially unfeasible.
"We were very hopeful through July and then at the very end of the month we realized we wouldn't be able to offer them as expected," said MEFA spokeswoman Jessica Belt.
MEFA doesn't know at this time when they will be able to re-enter the industry, she said.
Agencies are not optimistic about the federal program's ability to provide anything more than a temporary financial prop.
Payne said the federal buyout is a short-term solution that will shore up the market for about a year but do little in the long run.
"Anyone in our industry is concerned about their ability to long-term, in this environment, offer federal and private student loans," she said. "It's because of concern about the lack of a long-term solution."
Brooks acknowledged that the status of the financial market is troubling, but said he is confident that NCSEAA will weather the difficulties.
The agency is in the industry for the long-run, he said, and intends to continue its commitment to providing financial aid.
"It certainly is the most challenging situation in the capital market that I've ever experienced," he said. "I certainly hope the marketplace recovers itself. It's taking longer than I anticipated."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(08/19/08 4:00am)
Overwhelming public opposition to the construction of a federal research facility in Granville County has all but officially ruled out the chance of the facility coming to the state.
Butner is one of five locations on the short list of potential sites for the construction of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility. There were originally 17 sites up for consideration.
However, elected officials doubt that Butner remains on the list as anything more than a token possibility.
The sites were ranked when the selection process began and Butner was initially ranked first. It was consistently considered a top choice until strong public opposition manifested itself, said U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., whose district includes Granville County.
"In the early going it had the highest score, but that was based in part on local support, which I think has now changed pretty dramatically," he said.
Miller said that at this point he doesn't expect the facility to come to Butner but that it may never be taken off the list of potential sites.
Research at the facility, which falls under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security, will focus primarily on biological threats and animal diseases.
The strongest public opposition is based on safety concerns stemming from the virulent nature of diseases being researched. There is significant fear among local residents of insufficient containment.
Many of the safety concerns of residents are ill-informed and lack scientific basis, Miller said, citing beliefs that research on "super-germ warfare" will be performed and that animal diseases being studied could be transmitted to humans.
"I don't accept all the arguments made by opponents of the facility," he said. "Some arguments are without any rational foundation. . That is fear mongering."
Homeland Security has repeatedly denied that it will perform either biological warfare research or study diseases contagious to humans.
"Whether that's real or it's not, I guess that's beside the point," said James Lumpkins, chairman of the Granville County Board of Commissioners.
"There's a fear that there may be agents that escape."
There also has been widespread dissatisfaction with answers provided by Homeland Security. The dearth of information has enhanced public fears.
He expressed disappointment about sacrificing economic opportunities by not embracing the facility, citing its potential to create jobs and attract other industries to the area.
"What we need in Granville County is jobs," he said. "I can see from an economic development point of view, it could be very good for Granville County."
The impact of the facility would reach far, and opposition has not been limited to Granville County. The board of commissioners in nearby Durham County voted 4-1 last week to oppose bringing the facility to the state.
Again, lack of information from DHS contributed to opposition, this time because of doubts about emergency response capabilities should an accident occur.
"They had no information on how they would assist local governments in an emergency response situation," said Chairwoman Ellen Reckhow.
"While the chance of an accident is very small, if an accident did occur, it could be absolutely devastating."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(08/19/08 4:00am)
Last month's denial of accreditation for an N.C. Central University distance learning program has revealed a satellite campus previously unknown to current University and UNC-system officials.
The program, launched in 2004 under then-Chancellor James Ammons, operated out of an Atlanta-area church led by an NCCU Board of Trustees member. The UNC system was not informed until earlier this month.
Other trustees said the campus was never officially discussed at any meetings, although trustee Eric Michaux would not deny having prior knowledge of the campus when asked repeatedly by The Daily Tar Heel.
NCCU has accepted full responsibility for failing to notify UNC-system officials.
"I can think of no justifiable reason why the former NCCU leadership would have completely ignored and failed to abide by the appropriate approval process," said UNC-system President Erskine Bowles in a press release.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, responsible for university accreditation in the region, discovered the campus in the spring of 2008, finding that it did not meet provisions for accreditation. NCCU shut the program down in June.
Among others, the satellite campus ran afoul of a requirement that academic changes receive prior approval from the commission, Chief of Staff Tom Benberg said.
He was unsure how the campus's existence was eventually disclosed.
"This one really was quite unusual," he said.
Bishop Eddie Long, leader of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church where the program was based, is an NCCU graduate and BOT member.
Trustee Avon Ruffin expressed skepticism about NCCU's responsibility.
"I don't believe it was some scheme that was derived at N.C. Central. I don't know whose idea it was."
The primary focus now for the UNC system and NCCU is dealing with students who were still enrolled when the program was dissolved. The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported that 39 students had not completed their degrees at that time.
The campus offered degrees in criminal justice; hospitality and tourism; and business administration. It stopped accepting new students in March 2007.
Long publicly expressed hopes of relaunching the campus, but NCCU has provided little public encouragement. Ruffin was disapproving of the idea because of its possible negative impact on the university if it failed procedural requirements again.
"I don't think it should be happening if it's going to interfere with the university's accreditation," she said.
"It has to be done correctly because it has to be fair to the students and it has to be fair to the university."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(04/25/08 4:00am)
Audio Slideshow: Democrats duke it out in SC
With only 135 delegates dividing Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, delegate-rich North Carolina suddenly matters in a very big way.
The state has 115 delegates up for grabs in the May 6 Democratic primary, and it is the last major stop before the Democratic National Convention in August, when the party will choose its nominee.
(04/23/08 4:00am)
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's solid win in Tuesday's Pennsylvania Democratic primary has sent the race for the nomination speeding toward North Carolina and Indiana.
All eyes now will turn to the May 6 primary states, especially North Carolina, which has 115 delegates up for grabs. It is the last major stop before the Democratic National Convention in August.
Clinton's Pennsylvania win was so decisive that it was projected early in the evening, with a minimal percentage of precincts reporting. As of midnight, with 95 percent reporting, she was leading rival Barack Obama 55 percent to 45 percent.
"It's a win, and I think it will intensify her campaign's argument that she has done a lot better in the big states than Obama," said Ferrel Guillory, director of the UNC Program on Public Life.
"But North Carolina, which has emerged into the big-state category, gives Obama a chance to recoup."
Most of the outcome in Pennsylvania was well-established even before polls began reporting, said Robert Speel, a political science professor at Pennsylvania State University in Erie.
He said the late deciders tended to break for Clinton, especially in the northwestern region.
She won by a predictably large margin - 70 percent or more of the vote in most counties - in her southwestern stronghold and swept the Northeast with 75 percent of the vote, an area the Obama campaign had hopes of swaying.
His biggest win, predicted days in advance, was in the Southeast, particularly in the Philadelphia area. However, the suburbs split almost evenly between the candidates, rather than favoring Obama, Speel said.
Obama also led in south-central Pennsylvania, which remained unpredictable right up to the primary. He won crucial areas around Harrisburg and Lancaster but by a slim margin, while the largely rural central and northern regions broke cleanly for Clinton, Speel said.
Those clear-cut geographic and demographic blocs will not be nearly as present in North Carolina, Guillory said, nor can parallels be drawn between how the vote played out in Pennsylvania and how it will play out in North Carolina.
"Clinton and Obama each have a stronghold on about half of the Democratic coalition," he said.
"Depending on which side of the coalition is a little bit stronger in this state or that state gives you the result."
Obama's strength among N.C. black voters, who comprise one-fourth to one-third of Democratic voters in the state, will give him a solid base, Guillory said.
Blacks are more concentrated in rural areas here than they are in Pennsylvania, so Obama can expect more than just urban support like he had there, he said.
Clinton's working-class support, which played a huge role in her Pennsylvania win, is unlikely to show up as strongly here because it was tied to a strong union presence there that is not present in North Carolina, Guillory said.
Those two dynamics will play out in Obama's favor, said UNC journalism professor Leroy Towns.
"Obama's going to be very difficult to beat in North Carolina," he said.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(04/22/08 4:00am)
The race for the Democratic presidential nomination is continuing in Pennsylvania today. The state's 188 delegates will be crucial in deciding if the race will continue on to the May 6 N.C. primary.
Since the Democratic primaries in Texas and Ohio concluded six weeks ago, Hillary Clinton has seen her initial double-digit lead in Pennsylvania drop significantly, although rival Barack Obama's polarizing remarks about economic embitterment have slowed his gain.
Rasmussen Reports polling showed Clinton leading 49 percent to 44 percent Monday, while she led 52 percent to 37 percent March 5.
Significant demographic groups in the state include senior citizens (Pennsylvania has one of the highest average ages in the country), a mostly urban black population, rural white Democrats, blue-collar union workers and the affluent, educated city and suburb population.
Rural Democrats, who tend to the right of the party, are particularly unpredictable because they have not been a large factor in earlier races.
The state also can be divided into clear-cut geographic areas.
The southeastern population, particularly Philadelphia and its suburbs, falls to Obama because of its high percentage of blacks and affluent, college-educated voters, said Robert Speel, a political science professor at Pennsylvania State University in Erie.
However, Clinton has the advantage in all but one of the remaining regions of the state due in large part to her strong union support.
The entire western half of the state has been hit hard by job outsourcing and a decline in the manufacturing industry, its lifeblood until about 20 years ago.
"Pennsylvania is one of those old Northeastern/Midwestern states that once was heavy in manufacturing," said Steven Peterson, director of the School of Public Affairs at Pennsylvania State University in Harrisburg.
The southwestern region and its more conservative Democrats is Clinton's greatest stronghold; although Pittsburgh, the only urban center in the area, could still swing Obama's way, Speel said.
The largely rural central region of the state will be watched the most closely, along with the northwestern region skirting Lake Erie.
"Those areas are not clearly in any candidate's camp," Speel said.
Those traditionally Republican strongholds have seen a rising number of Democrats, particularly south of Harrisburg.
"This was a state where she began with a big lead, and she has an advantage in terms of the demographics of the state," Peterson said. "If she were to end up losing, that would make mincemeat of her claim that she could win those large states against McCain and not Obama."
Clinton began strong at least partly because of name recognition - she is a senator from neighboring New York, and former President Bill Clinton was very popular in the state, Peterson said.
And Speel said Obama's inspirational rhetoric hasn't hit home with disillusioned voters as much as Clinton's concrete focus on policy.
"I think if Obama were to win in an upset in the Pennsylvania primary, then the Clinton campaign might not make it as far as North Carolina," Speel said.
"If Clinton wins Pennsylvania by the expected 5 to 10 percent, I think the campaign will continue as it has been for the past six weeks on into North Carolina and Indiana."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(04/17/08 4:00am)
Issues of mental health might have dominated North Carolina's media recently, but the state health care system has a host of other problems to face.
"We have a fragmented health care system that has not been adequately invested in over the years," said Marcus Plescia, chief of chronic disease and injury for the N.C. Division of Public Health. "It's hard to get resources for these vulnerable populations."
The agency's 2008 task force report cites five focuses: basic public health services, chronic disease, children and family health, communicable disease and funding issues.
The state's mental health system is also struggling. "The incoming governor is going to have to sort out issues with the North Carolina mental health system," Plescia said. "The system still seems to not be working as well as it should."
The new governor might also have to grapple with gaps in insurance coverage. The State Children's Health Insurance Program, a federal initiative to cover uninsured children, faces a potential funding cut.
"With SCHIP being up in the air . states are scrambling to make up for that," Plescia said.
A focus on prevention could make insurance funding less pressing.
An aging population and a rise in obesity have made chronic disease a prominent issue, and prevention has become a mantra because of the avoidable nature of obesity.
"There's been quite a bit of interest among our gubernatorial candidates," Plescia said. "How do we get to a health care system where there's more emphasis on prevention?"
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(04/15/08 4:00am)
A public financing program to fund local elections will move on to a public hearing following approval from the Chapel Hill Town Council on Monday.
Although the resolution passed without dissent, many on the council expressed reservations for the voter-owned election program that will fund campaigns for local office with public money. It is intended to open up the election process to a broader array of candidates.
Concerns and confusion expressed by council members hinted that there could be significantly more friction at the public hearing.
Many were worried that the proposal, which is filled with dollar amounts and complicated funding schedules, will be too difficult for the public to understand well enough for a healthy discussion next month.
"This is filled with details," Mayor Pro Tem Jim Ward said. "It's going to take a while for the community to digest what was said, what was proposed."
Mayor Kevin Foy said the key will be to get the word out early enough for Chapel Hill residents to fully discuss and comprehend the program.
"It does seem like something that's unusual enough that we should use nontraditional ways of publicizing it," Foy said, suggesting that a link to the program summary be placed on the home page of the town of Chapel Hill Web site, where other major agenda items typically are placed.
The document currently available online is a more concise version of the full proposal. A lengthier, more detailed staff report also exists, and council member Bill Strom suggested that document also be made available on the Web site.
Council member Bill Thorpe had a more traditional suggestion for increasing public awareness and understanding of the VOE program, which is meant to make the local electoral process more accessible.
He plans to lead a community information session to field questions from Chapel Hill residents about the program's intricacies.
"I want as much time as we can get," he said. "This is a big, big change."
However, members of the committee who drafted the proposal are eager to get it finalized so that those considering running for office in 2009 can plan accordingly.
The initial resolution asked for a public hearing on May 12, but a closer look at the agenda for that business meeting revealed an already-busy evening.
Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos proposed pushing back the hearing to May 14, the same night as a budget hearing. The amended date passed with ease.
Every step taken with the voter-owned elections program is being observed by communities around the state who are interested in implementing similar programs, council member Mark Kleinschmidt said.
Asheville and Greensboro are waiting for the legislative approval they hope will come following Chapel Hill's experimentation, he said.
"A lot of folks are looking to take some version of what we've done here and do it themselves," Ward said.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/15/08 4:00am)
With the national economy lagging, candidates for N.C. governor must face voters' concerns about how the state government will soften the effects in its own backyard.
The next governor must help complete the state's transition from traditional manufacturing and agricultural jobs to a knowledge-based economy.
Given the state of the national economy under a Republican president and the fact that Democrat-led North Carolina has fared better than many other states, Democratic candidates for N.C. governor could have an edge, UNC political science professor Tom Carsey said.
"It will depend a little bit on the comparison that voters make in their heads," he added.
"Will they compare North Carolina's economy to other states or will they compare North Carolina's economy now to how it was two years ago, when it was growing rapidly?"
The state hit economic rough patches a few years ago. The response - a diversification of the economy - has helped lessen the impact of the recent downturn, said N.C. Department of Commerce Public Information Officer Charles Winkler.
And North Carolina is currently meeting its fiscal targets, according to a report issued in February by the state's Fiscal Research Division.
However, the report cautioned that revenue growth will continue to slow "dramatically" in the last five months of the fiscal year that ends June 30, potentially making future targets more difficult to reach.
North Carolina has planned carefully for such challenges.
State officials were more conservative and prudent in estimates so that a slowdown wouldn't put North Carolina in shortfall status, according to an N.C. budget office spokesman.
An expected slowdown in consumer spending also could have an impact.
Sales tax growth, a major source of state income that reflects consumer confidence, was 3.6 percent from July 2007 to January 2008. That number is below the state average of 5.8 percent, but above the forecasted 2.9 percent.
North Carolina has missed some of the negative effects of the national housing crisis, another factor in the national downturn.
The South saw an average 5.4 percent drop in home values between 2005 and 2007. During that same period, the Raleigh-Cary area was up 4 percent, Durham rose 5.6 percent and Charlotte increased 3.3 percent.
While North Carolina has not experienced serious economic problems from the current credit crunch, rural areas are still facing the economic problems they did before anyone began talking about sub-prime loans, said Harvey Goldstein, a UNC professor of city and regional planning.
"This state is still in a long period of transition to a knowledge-based economy," he said.
Senior writer Amy Eagleburger contributed reporting.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(04/14/08 4:00am)
The Chapel Hill Town Council will get a glimpse tonight of a proposal that could dramatically change local elections beginning in 2009.
The voter-owned election program is intended to open up the local election field by funding campaigns with public money.
Council member Bill Strom, a member of the VOE program committee, will propose recommendations and ask for a May 12 public hearing.
"There will be a complete conversation about it," Strom said. "I hope the council provides feedback and agrees to bring it forward for public hearing."
Although only the council members on the committee - Strom, Sally Greene, Mark Kleinschmidt and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Ward - have had input, Kleinschmidt said he is confident that the council's reaction will be mostly favorable.
"I think it will be very positive," he said. "The support for this program has been very strong for a few years."
Kleinschmidt said that when he first ran in 2001, voter-owned elections were an important part of his platform. He had little personal money to put toward the race, contributing only about $100 of his own money.
The program is intended to make nonincumbents more competitive. Once council and mayoral hopefuls raise a minimum amount of qualifying contributions, they are eligible for supplementary public money.
"It's a lot easier for an incumbent to run a low-dollar campaign," Kleinschmidt said.
Ward, in office since 1999, came in first in the most recent election. He did not raise any outside money and loaned his campaign only $500.
In the past, candidates who relied on their personal money to fund their campaigns generally lost the race, Kleinschmidt said.
That changed in 2007 with newcomer Matt Czajkowski, who spent more than $20,000 on his campaign for Town Council. More than $17,000 of that money came from his pocket.
"Last election was the first time anybody won where they gave themselves a lot of money," Kleinschmidt said. "The community is concerned about the effect of expensive campaigns and how that might limit the accessibility of the process."
The VOE program aims to address recent concerns that running for local office could become prohibitively expensive and that elected officials could become more responsive to the people financing their campaign than the residents they are supposed to represent.
Compliance with the program is voluntary, and there are no spending limits for those who don't accept public funds. But their participating opponents are eligible for extra funds if the nonparticipants' spending exceeds the program's spending thresholds.
"It creates an incentive for nonparticipating candidates to hold down their spending and gives comfort to participating candidates to go into the program," Strom said.
With the rescue money, the gap could be closed, or at least lessened, making the nonparticipant's extra spending less effective, Strom said.
North Carolina has already implemented public financing for some judicial elections and for selected Council of State offices. Chapel Hill received permission to experiment with its own program in July.
The 2009 and 2011 elections will serve as trial runs of the VOE program on which the N.C. General Assembly will base its final approval in 2011.
"We don't want to become like some communities where you don't have a chance at winning a council seat without spending a fortune," Kleinschmidt said.
"What a person in Chapel Hill wants is to stop it before it starts."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/10/08 4:00am)
Winston-Salem State University has been given 90 days to correct financial discrepancies revealed in an annual report released last week by the N.C. Office of the State Auditor.
If the university's financial aid office has not made the necessary changes at the end of the 90-day period, it could lose its discretionary power regarding budget and management issues, said UNC-system Vice President for Finance Rob Nelson.
"Not only have they started, but they've implemented a lot of the suggestions," Nelson said, referring to recommendations from both the university's own internal audit and the state audit report.
The WSSU Financial Statement Audit Report outlined six areas of concern, four within the university's financial aid office.
The audit revealed excessive financial aid packages to both students and employees, as well as awards given to ineligible candidates.
It also disclosed a failure to return, or return in a timely manner, loans from students who withdrew from the university.
The university first became aware of the issue in summer 2007, when it performed its own internal audit.
"We did our own internal investigating based on some numbers that didn't agree," said Sigrid Hall-Pittsley, interim assistant vice chancellor for university advancement.
WSSU immediately fired three of the employees involved and reassigned the fourth. Soon after, it shared its results with the UNC-system administration and the auditor's office, Hall-Pittsley said.
A routine financial audit of the university was already planned for September, so the state auditor incorporated the university's report into its own and conducted its own investigation based off of the information provided by WSSU.
The results of the audit were released last week, beginning the 90-day period the university has been granted to remedy the situation.
Nelson and Hall-Pittsley both attributed the problems to a lack of internal control and oversight within the financial aid office.
"There were not standard procedures and processes for working with financial aid cases. The proper internal controls were not in place," Nelson said.
"When you have a certain process, you build into that process checks and balances."
At WSSU, the auditor's office is questioning the handling of $159,377 in total. Some of that is federal and state loan money, which might need to be repaid.
Despite any financial shortfall the discrepancies might cause WSSU, it will not impact financial aid, both Nelson and Hall-Pittsley said.
Hall-Pittsley said WSSU has already taken steps toward fixing the situation, internalizing more checks and balances, denying employees the ability to process family members' paperwork and requiring financial aid awards to be approved by a financial aid director or assistant director.
"We have revisited our processes and have tightened them or enhanced them to prevent them from happening in the future," she said.
Nelson said the audit should help prevent similar problems systemwide.
"We try to use these as opportunities to inform campuses of best practices, and we try to make sure we use those best practices."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(03/28/08 4:00am)
Assistant State & National Editor Ariel Zirulnick sat down with U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C., to talk about his most recent trip as chairman of the House Democracy Assistance Commission. The bipartisan committee traveled to Kosovo, Macedonia and Ukraine.
DTH: What is it that sets this apart from democracy aid done by others that go into Eastern Europe and the Middle East?
Price: What's distinctive about what we do is the focus on the parliaments of these countries.
(03/27/08 4:00am)
Barack Obama got intimate with North Carolina voters on Wednesday, speaking with them during a town meeting-style campaign appearance in Greensboro.
More than 2,000 people bought tickets to the sold-out campaign stop, where Obama gave a brief speech and then opened the floor to questions from audience members.
Smaller settings can be advantageous for politicians because voters feel like they are getting a personal look at a public figure while the candidate still garners widespread media attention, said UNC journalism professor Leroy Towns.
(03/24/08 4:00am)
CARY - Former President Bill Clinton's appearances Friday in Charlotte and Cary signaled the launch of Hillary Clinton's campaign in North Carolina.
The state's May 6 primary is more than a month away, but both campaigns are already heavily invested in the state. Barack Obama made his first N.C. campaign appearances last week in Charlotte and Fayetteville.
"I think the focus has really turned to us, and I think people are finally realizing that North Carolina is really essential for either candidate," said Amanda Vaughn, director of Heels for Hillary at UNC.
Both candidates have paid close attention to the issues that most concern North Carolinians.
In Charlotte, Bill Clinton spoke at Stonewall Jackson VFW Post No. 1160 to a crowd of about 80, mostly veterans and their family members. He tailored his speech to the mainly military audience by focusing on the war in Iraq and the economy.
His speech at the Cary Senior Center reflected the broader swath of the electorate present - although he elaborated most on the economy and health care, he also touched on green development, college affordability and the war in Iraq.
About 500 people were in attendance in Cary, representing all age groups of the population. About 275 people made it inside, while the rest sat on the lawn outside the center and listened to the speech over loudspeakers.
Kim Drum and her daughter Brittany Bentley drove three hours from Hickory and received a speeding ticket to see Bill Clinton speak but didn't arrive early enough to get a seat inside.
Bentley said that after paying $90 to fill up her Ford Explorer, she especially appreciated the emphasis on alternative energy.
Bill Clinton's involvement in his wife's campaign has introduced an unprecedented dynamic in the presidential race.
Cary resident Suzanne Graham said the former president would be an invaluable but not crucial advantage for Hillary.
"That's a wonderful asset, but I think she can stand on her own two feet," Graham said.
"She has a lengthy experience in domestic and worldwide issues."
Charlotte audience member Diana Price said Bill Clinton's involvement could also have advantages for voters.
"With Hillary we get two for one," she said.
But not all approved of his prominent participation in his wife's campaign.
"As an ex-president, he should not be in the campaign," said Cary resident Saadat Siddiqui, arguing that it tilted the field in Hillary's favor.
Bill Clinton used his time to talk at length about his wife's experience and spent little on her Democratic opponent, never referring to Barack Obama by name at either event.
Cary resident Gloria Neal said she was surprised Obama's name never came up.
"I thought that he should have named the other candidate," Neal said. "The omission was kind of glaring."
Even if not mentioned, Obama is still on the minds of North Carolinians. He spoke in Fayetteville on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War on Wednesday.
His speech emphasized his anti-war stance, a position he charges that Hillary Clinton has taken only since the start of her presidential campaign.
Senior writers Sara Gregory and Max Rose contributed reporting
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(03/24/08 4:00am)
Orange County’s historical reluctance to issue capital sentences could come into play down the road for one of the men charged with Eve Carson’s murder.
(03/20/08 4:00am)
Amid accusations of deleting e-mails classified as public records and instructing other administrative departments to follow suit, Gov. Mike Easley announced intentions to reexamine North Carolina's public electronic record regulations.
According to a Tuesday press release from the governor's office, Easley's senior assistant for government affairs, Franklin Freeman, will head a panel to review the e-mail retention policies, which have not been updated since 1993.
"Many of the uses of e-mail today were not even contemplated at that time," said Seth Effron, Easley's deputy press secretary. "That's why it's important to bring together people to look at those policies and see what needs to be updated."
The panel will address state e-mail systems and new forms of electronic text communication, such as Blackberry messaging.
Easley has been under close scrutiny since early March, when former spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Debbie Crane said that the governor's press office had instructed that agency, among others, to delete e-mails to the governor's office.
Soon after, Easley came under additional fire for deleting some of his own outgoing e-mails.
If true, both allegations are possible violations of the N.C. Public Records Law, which guarantees the public and the media access to most state and local government documents.
The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is responsible for creating and enforcing retention schedules, which dictate how long documents must be kept.
According to the agency's records, e-mails may be deleted when their user decides they no longer have reference value.
That vague regulation is the crux of the problem because it allows for multiple interpretations of the law. Easley claims that the e-mails he deleted no longer held any value.
N.C. Press Association General Counsel Amanda Martin said documents such as fax cover sheets and hotel reservations are the type eligible for immediate disposal.
"There's nothing in the regulations set out by cultural resources that would suggest that it's just at the whim of the public official," she said.
Easley has also denied telling other offices to delete their own e-mails. Agencies' public information officers have corroborated his denials, Martin said.
"Even if his interpretation of the cultural resources instruction is accurate in regards to his records, I still don't think it gives him the authority to tell someone else when they have to get rid of their records," she said.
Public records laws are designed to ensure ethical government behavior and public understanding of government function.
"The law doesn't give you a right to demand answers to your questions. . It gives you a right to look at documents that might answer your questions," Martin said.
"If those documents are destroyed, then you lose one of the key tools you have to understand the operation of public business," she said.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.