VOLUME 1 ISSUE 16
SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 2016
www.NSJONLINE.com
the Sunday News Briefing
june 7 primary
Burr, two senators introduces Zika preparation legislation Washington, D.C., Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) with Sen. Angus King (R-Maine) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced a bill Thursday to respond to Zika virus. The legislation, the Strengthening Mosquito Abatement for Safety and Health Act, would reauthorize critical public health tools that allow regions to provide mosquito surveillance and control efforts. The act sets out to improve the country’s preparedness of tackling Zika and other mosquito-borne threats. Burr also voted to provide $1.1 billion to fight the Zika virus. Madeline Gray | north state journal
Police investigating threat to Hoke County mosque Raeford Deputies are investigating a threat to a mosque in Hoke County. On Thursday afternoon Russell Thomas Langford, a major in the U.S. Army Reserve, allegedly left a bag of bacon outside the Masjid Al-Madina mosque, brandished a weapon at a Muslim chaplain, and threatened to blow up the mosque. Witnesses accused him of also attempting to run over worshipers entering for Ramadan prayers. Langford was arrested and charged with ethnic intimidation, assault with a deadly weapon, going armed to terrorize the public, communicating threats, stalking, and disorderly conduct, the sheriff’s office said. They found that he had several firearms and 500 rounds ammunition in his Chevrolet Tahoe.
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Federal Court rules no Second Amendment protection for concealed carry San Diego This week a federal appeals court ruled there is no Second Amendment protection for concealed weapons. Thursday’s ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to face further scrutiny, possibly a U.S. Supreme Court appearance, as it would allow states to prohibit or restrict the public from carrying concealed firearms. The case came from plaintiffs challenging San Diego County gun license restrictions that said general self-defense did not qualify as “good cause” for obtaining a gun license.
INSIDE Wake Forest’s Will Craig goes in first round of MLB draft. B1 Sports Soak up summer with our list of spaces and places to enjoy across N.C. in a North State of Mind. C3 the good life
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Eamon queeney | north state journal
North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmunds, center, speaks with Greensboro voters Stephanie and John Scott as they head in to vote at their polling place inside Walter Hines Page High School on June 7.
Edmunds and Morgan to face off for NC Supreme Court By Jeff Moore North State Journal RALEIGH — Only one race in Tuesday’s primary showed up on ballots statewide. The race for a Supreme Court justice ended with Justice Bob Edmunds on top. He will face Michael Morgan in November to keep his spot on the bench in November. The 2016 general election will decide the next president of the United States, who will occupy the Executive Mansion on Blount Street, myriad congressional seats, and the makeup of the 2017-18 General Assembly on Jones Street. However, the Edmunds/Morgan race could affect the everyday lives of North Carolinians more than any of the others. North State Journal spoke with sitting North Carolina Supreme Court justices about the court’s place in North Carolina’s political system and the impact it has on daily lives and livelihoods of citizens. “Most folks realize, because we have the word supreme in our job title, that the job is important,” said Justice Edmunds. “Every time we issue opinions they include cases that do affect
people every day.” From the legal treatment of registered sex offenders, to redistricting disputes, constitutional conflicts between branches of state government, and where roads can go, the state’s highest court touches on more relevant issues than the average citizen may be aware of. “These cases go from very day-to-day stuff, to stuff that’s a little bit more rarefied, but it does affect people’s lives,” said Edmunds. In the past few years the court has weighed in on changes to teacher tenure rights, when and where North Carolinians vote, and even who was in the constitutional right when Gov. Pat McCrory sued Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) over commission appointments. With such an active and consequential caseload, decisions can easily be deemed political. “What happens, I think, is that people who like to see things in political terms look at the court through a political lens,” said Edmunds. “They define a case as having a political See justice, page A8
Richard Lehman, of Raleigh, looks over his ballot during primary voting at Millbrook Exchange Park Community Center on June 7.
Low voter turnout, unique races shape special primary By Josh Hyatt North State Journal
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ALEIGH — Only 505,687 North Carolinians cast their votes in the state’s June 7 primary elections, accounting for 7.68 percent of N.C.’s 6,584,959 registered voters, according to the most recent data available from the N.C. State Board of Elections’ unofficial results. The elections included a statewide vote for a N.C. Supreme Court Associate Justice and party nominations for House of Representative in 11 of the state’s 13 recently redrawn districts, along with other smaller races. With the redrawn districts altering the voting pool for many candidates and an expected — and realized — low turnout, there was an unpredictability to who would win the races. “The outcome of the new 13th District in the Triad area was of particular interest,” said John Dinan, a politics professor at Wake Forest University. “Much of the attention focused on the Republican field in a Republican-leaning district that featured 17 Republican candidates, including several state legislators and local officials and one particularly notable outsider candidate, Ted Budd, whose supporters blanketed the airwaves with TV ads, drawing on a lot of money. “In this case, the value of heavy TV advertising, coupled with Budd’s outsider status, easily won out as he doubled up his nearest competitors, a number of whom had a lot of experience in elected office,” Dinan continued. Carter Wrenn, a longtime N.C. political veteran, only saw the contests in Districts 9 and 13 as outwardly noteworthy. “Pittenger’s race ended up being a surprise because it was so close,” he said, speaking of Republican nominee Robert Pittenger, who edged out Mark Harris in District 9 by only 142 votes. “And the 13th was interesting because you don’t often get somebody
Voter turnout for the June 7 primary was 7.68 percent, compared to the 17 percent turnout for the March 15 primary.
See Primary, page A8
U.S. Congressional Matchups For November District 1
G.K. Butterfield (D-i), H. Powell Dew Jr. (R), C.L. Cooke (Ind.)
District 2
John P. McNeil (D) vs. George Holding (R)
District 3
Ernest T. Reeves (D) vs. Walter B. Jones (R-i)
District 4
David Price (D-i) vs. Sue Googe (R)
District 5
Josh Brannon (D) vs. Virginia Foxx (R-i)
District 6
Pete Glidewell (D) vs. B. Mark Walker (R-i)
District 7
J. Wesley Casteen (D) vs. David Rouzer (R-i)
District 8
Thomas Mills (D) vs. Richard Hudson (R-i)
District 9
Christian Cano (D) vs. Robert Pittenger* (R-i)
District 10
Andy Millard (D) vs. Patrick McHenry (R-i)
District 11
Rick Bryson (D) vs. Mark Meadows (R-i)
District 12
Alma Adams (D-i) vs. Leon Threatt (R)
District 13
Bruce Davis* (D) vs. Ted Budd (R)
i = incumbent *decision may be challenged
General Assembly moves on bill to reduce regulations on business On Murphy to Manteo, page A5