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Your weekly North Carolina political news report.
Economy
FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER: North Carolina revenues surged with new year,but does it last?
Tax money stuffed North Carolina’s coffers as the calendar turned to 2018,but that alone doesn’t mean the state will have a significant surplus whenthe fiscal year ends in June.
The state tourism industry has set its sights on attracting first-timevisitors to popular North Carolina sites.
The North Carolina Film Office ran small ads on three consecutive pages inthe Hollywood Reporter during Oscars week.
Education
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: Why North Carolina thinks $200 per K-3 teacher willhelp all kids learn to read
State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced a $4.8 million plan to buybooks, digital subscriptions and other reading aids for 479,000 K-3students across North Carolina.
NEWS & OBSERVER: NC charter school leader: Public schools ‘milking’federal school lunch program
A charter school advocate who helps North Carolina pick which new charterschools should be approved is charging that traditional public schools areserving subsidized meals to students who don’t need them – such as childrenof doctors and lawyers.
DURHAM HERALD SUN: North Carolina education board vice chairman leavingpanel
The vice chairman of the North Carolina State Board of Education isresigning because he’s now running for his county commission back home.
Energy & Environment
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: Regulator: Pipeline permits have no link to Cooperagreement
A North Carolina environmental regulator said Tuesday a separate monetaryagreement reached by Gov. Roy Cooper’s office with developers of amultistate natural gas pipeline had nothing to do with her department’sdecisions on key project permits.
Wilmington and New Hanover County officials are asking that the N.C.Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) shut down operations that resultin the production of chemicals like GenX, which have been discharged intothe Cape Fear River and discovered in Wilmington-area drinking watersystems.
In the Courts
NEWS & OBSERVER: NC is still not providing many children a soundbasic education, judge says
A judge has refused to drop the State Board of Education from along-running public school lawsuit because he says hundreds of thousands ofNorth Carolina students still aren’t getting their constitutional right toa sound basic education.
A three-judge panel threw a new wrinkle into the oversight of elections andethics complaints on Monday in a long-running power struggle betweenRepublican lawmakers and the Democratic governor.
NEWS & OBSERVER: Gov. Cooper: Judges got it wrong on electionsboard ruling
A three-judge panel should strike down in its entirety a law that combinesNorth Carolina state elections and ethics duties into one agency, attorneysfor Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday.
Justice & Public Safety
NEWS & OBSERVER: It’s now up to judges to release police body camfootage. Here’s how that’s going.
Since October 2016, anyone who wants police body camera footage releasedhas had to petition a court — and many of them have succeeded.