|
VOLUME 3 ISSUE 27
WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2018
Inside College football kicks off, Sports
FILE IMAGE FROM REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
Soybeans are shown growing in a field. North Carolina farmers are among those expected to benefit from the trade deal between the U.S. and Mexico reached on Monday to replace NAFTA. Mexico has promised to buy more farm products from the United States including soybeans and other goods. The deal also requires that 75 percent of auto parts in cars assembled in North America be made in either the United States or Mexico, up from the current level of 62.5 percent. Nearly half of auto parts must be also made by workers earning at least $16 per hour.
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
USDA releases details of $12B in aid to farmers
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL
Washington, D.C. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced on Tuesday that the Farm Service Agency will administer payments to producers of corn, cotton, dairy, hog, sorghum, soybean and wheat starting Sept. 4. A Food Purchase and Distribution Program will also move to buy $1.2 billion in commodities targeted by China’s retaliatory tariffs. The USDA will also spend $200 million to help develop new foreign markets for U.S. agriculture products.
ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
Trump tapped Rushing for 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump nominated North Carolina native Allison Jones Rushing, 36, for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week to replace retiring Judge Allyson Duncan of Durham. Rushing worked for two current Supreme Court justices, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas. She received her undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University and her doctorate from Duke University Law School. Rushing must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
INSIDE Republican leadership at the NCGA will request a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court over a lower court decision to throw out N.C. congressional district maps. Jones & Blount
5
20177 52016 $2.00
8
JONATHAN DRAKE | REUTERS
University of North Carolina police stand guard in front of the plinth upon which the toppled statue of a Confederate soldier nicknamed Silent Sam once stood, on the school’s campus after a demonstration for its removal in Chapel Hill on August 20.
UNC Boards meet over Silent Sam, agree to have a plan by November Trustees plan would organize the “disposition and preservation” of controversial monument By NSJ Staff CHAPEL HILL — In reaction to the toppling of UNC Chapel Hill’s Silent Sam, a long-standing Confederate soldier statue. The UNC system’s Board of Governors and Board of Trustees held special meetings. After public and private meetings, the Board of Governors directed the Board of Trustees to draw up a plan by Nov. 15 for future “disposition and preservation” of the controversial monument. “We know that the monument has been divisive for a long time, but what happened on Monday was wrong,” UNC Chancellor Carol Folt said at the public meeting on Tuesday. “It was absolutely not the solution that we wanted. And we will follow
the process, as I’ve been saying. We’re reviewing Monday’s and now Saturday’s demonstrations, and the actions that are appropriate will be taken.” This comes after police in Chapel Hill arrested seven people Saturday during scuffles at a university campus where demonstrators last week had toppled Silent Sam, a school official said. Most of those taken into custody face assault charges, Carly Miller, a spokeswoman for the UNC Chapel Hill, said in an email. Saturday’s protest followed a larger one last Monday when about 300 demonstrators surrounded the Silent Sam memorial, erected more than a century ago to honor soldiers of the Confederacy killed during the U.S. Civil War, and used ropes to pull it down. UNC Chapel Hill police charged three people in connection with the toppling of a ConSee SILENT SAM, page A2
U.S. reaches trade deal with Mexico, Canada rejoins talks The deal with Mexico announced by the White House Monday could benefit N.C. By Donna King North State Journal WASHINGTON, D.C./RALEIGH — Canada’s top trade negotiator joined her Mexican and U.S. counterparts in Washington on Tuesday in a bid to remain part of a trilateral North American trade pact, as U.S. officials expressed optimism a deal could be reached this week. Ottawa is under pressure to accept new terms on auto trade and dispute settlement rules after White House announced a new trade deal with Mexico that would overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The new deal would require that Mexico buy more agricultural product from the United States and would increase the domestic content of cars assembled in North America. “More of the parts used here would be made in North America, and that’s important to North Carolina because we are a big, big producer of automotive parts,” said economist Michael Walden of NC State University in an interview on WPTF. “Mexico would also be buying many more agricultural products from the U.S., and that’s also very important for North Carolina because that is our biggest export to Mexico, agriculture products, particularly those based on meat.” Announcement of the deal put pressure on Canada, which had strong words against President Donald Trump several months ago when he threatened to rip up NAFTA. Now, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland rejoins the yearlong talks following a hiatus of several weeks as the United States and Mexico ironed out outstanding bilateral disagreements in the renegotiation of the 24-year-old accord.
“When the president said he was going to tear up NAFTA, the sentiment in N.C. was largely negative because the economy has changed. Now we are very tied to Mexico.” Michael Walden, NC State University economist
See NAFTA, page A9
Legislature passes rewritten constitutional amendments With a print deadline looming lawmakers look to finalize wording for the midterm ballots. By David Larson North State Journal RALEIGH — After a public rebuke by all five living former N.C. governors as well as by the courts, the Republican-led General Assembly met in a special session to rewrite two amendments that are to appear on November’s ballot. A three-judge panel ruled last week on the side of Democratic opponents of the amendments, including Gov. Cooper, but gave the legislature the opportunity to “act immediately” to resolve the issues. While there are six amendments in total appearing on the ballot, the former governors and the courts focused on two specifically. One of the amendments would have moved responsibility for appointments to hundreds of boards and commissions from the executive branch to the legislative branch. Former governors from both parties, including
Republicans Jim Martin and Pat McCrory, joined in objecting to this proposed change. After courts agreed, the legislature voted, the House on Friday with the Senate confirming the changes on Monday, to limit the scope of the proposed amendment. Instead of responsibility for a wide range of boards and commissions being transferred to the legislature, only an ethics and elections board will be affected, and appointment power will be shared between the branches. The amendment would also reduce the present board from nine members to eight members and would prevent any party from having more than four members on the newly-constituted “Bipartisan Board of Ethics and Election Enforcement.” The two Republicans among the critical former governors appeared to be mostly appeased by the new, scaled-back version of the boards and commissions amendment. McCrory said his thoughts on the changes were “positive,” although he needed to take a closer look, and See AMENDMENT, page A3