VOLUME 1 ISSUE 28
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2016
www.NSJONLINE.com
the Sunday News Briefing
weather Emergency management officer George Bernard works at the Emergency Operations Center on Sept. 2 as the department monitors Tropical Storm Hermine.
USDA closes Raleigh office after receiving threat Raleigh The U.S. Department of Agriculture closed six offices in five U.S. states Monday, including the Raleigh office, after receiving anonymous threats through email. A USDA official said they closed the office as a precaution to protect employees. The other five closed offices were in Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and West Virginia. They reopened on Tuesday with heightened security.
U.S. Supreme Court rejects bid to reinstate voter ID Washington, D.C. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a bid by N.C. to reinstate its voter ID law through the November election. The court, divided 4-4, rejected the request made by Gov. Pat McCrory after an appeals court ruled last month that the 2013 law was unconstitutional. Five votes are needed for an emergency request to be granted. Three of the court’s conservatives, including Chief Justice John Roberts, supported the voter ID and early voting provisions.
CHRISTINE T. NGUYEN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
Several NC counties to add seat belts to school buses Transylvania County Thirteen counties are part of the new pilot program placing seat belts on school buses. The seat belts will mainly be on elementary school and special needs buses. As older buses are taken out of rotation, new buses with seat belts will be brought in to replace them.
Trump details massive deportation plan if elected president Phoenix Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday that anyone who is in the United States illegally would be subject to deportation if he is elected. Trump said the estimated 11 million people who’ve crossed into the United States illegally could only gain legal status if they return home and apply for re-entry. Trump is scheduled to campaign Tuesday in Greenville, N.C., with his speech focusing on his immigration policy.
INSIDE
Analyzing the Carolina Panthers final roster decisions after closing out the preseason with a win against the Steelers B1 Ryan Finley took a lead in the quarterback competition with a strong showing in his NC State debut B1 Sports
BACK TO SCHOOL
Performance reports, salaries claim first week By Donna King & Jeff Moore North State Journal RALEIGH — Students filled public schools across the state this week as teachers welcomed them with bright classrooms and open arms. Back to school came the same week as figures released from the state Department of Public Instruction showing North Carolina students’ test scores are up slightly in math and reading. End-of-grade performance in math showed that 47 percent of students were proficient, up from 44, and in reading the scores went from 45.1 percent to 45.8 percent last school year. The report also showed that for the first time, N.C.‘s four-year graduation rate among all racial groups was more than 80 percent. That is the 11th straight year of improvement in the graduation rate. In 2005-06 it was around 63 percent. “If I could do a backflip over the graduation rate I would,” said N.C.‘s DPI Superintendent June Atkinson. DPI also released a report card, ranking public schools on an A-F grading scale, which is based on a formula taking into account the students’ academic performance and rate of improvement. Approximately 75 percent of schools earned a grade of A,B or C on a 15-point grading scale. Kicking off back-to-school week, Gov. Pat McCrory visited Riverwood Middle School in Clayton, where he toured classrooms and met with teachers. Council of State members and legislators did the same, including DEQ Secretary Don van der Vaart, who spent time talking with Brough-
“If I could do a backflip over the graduation rate I would.”
See BACK TO SCHOOL, page A8
CHRISTINE T. NGUYEN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL
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By Josh Hyatt North State Journal RALEIGH — Tropical Storm Hermine barreled through southeastern North Carolina over the weekend, dropping as much as eight inches of rain in some areas. State Emergency management officials said the storm’s quick path through the state minimized the damage, but it’s too early to tell whether the amount of water dropped in a short time damaged crops. Gov. Pat McCrory signed transportation waivers early Friday and lifted truck weight limits so farmers could quickly get crops out before they become oversaturated. Hermine kicked off hurricane season for North Carolina and its neighbors, putting the Department of Public Safety’s Emergency Management team on high alert. Swift water rescue boats from across the state and National Guard helicopters were on standby for any aquatic rescues. See WEATHER, page A2
N.C. Association of Educators President Mark Jewell speaks during a press conference about teacher pay on Aug. 31.
• More than 11,000 N.C. customers without power Friday evening • 5 states declare state of emergency • 45 million people under a tropical storm warning • 8 inches of rain and 45 mph winds at N.C. coast
LABOR DAY
Labor Day: More than a three-day weekend Mitchell Alexander, 27, owner and founder of Refab Wood, works on a piece in the company’s shop in Raleigh on Sept. 2.
— North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Superintendent June Atkinson
We travel to Mount Airy to celebrate one of Mayberry’s finest. C4 the good life
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Hermine jump starts hurricane season
EAMON QUEENEY | NORTH STATE JOURNAL
By Jeff Moore North State Journal RALEIGH — A three-day weekend. The unofficial end to summer. A last call for beach trips and barbecues. For all the ways North Carolinians will celebrate Labor Day in 2016, little thought may be given to the origins of this national holiday and just how much the history and consequences of the labor movement factor in to our daily lives on every other day of the year. In the decades following the the Civil War, technological and business innovation ushered in the industrial revolution, resulting in the largest leap in productive capacity and prosperity the world had ever seen. American industrialists such as Carnegie, Rockefeller and the Vanderbilts
amassed unimaginable wealth supporting, fueling and connecting the nation like never before. As farm and factory workers endured unending work schedules, working and living in less than ideal conditions in myriad company-owned towns, labor leaders emerged and began to organize on behalf of the working man. American innovators and opportunists alike became known as robber barons, as popular perceptions of their ruthless tactics, juxtaposed with their workers’ wanting circumstances, bred a dual resentment that powered the proliferation of unions that campaigned for shorter hours, collective bargaining and safer working conditions. See LABOR DAY, page A8
Rep. John Bell named new N.C. House majority leader On Murphy to Manteo, page A5