North State Journal Vol. 3, Issue 45

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VOLUME 3 ISSUE 45

WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2019

Predicting the best of 2019, Sports

Inside

NCDOT VIA AP

In this April 2018 photo released by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, shows progress on a new Bonner Bridge that will span the Oregon Inlet on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

the year ahead

NEWS BRIEFING

Woodstock to host 50th anniversary concert A three-day music festival will be held in August 2019 at the original Woodstock concert site to mark the 50th anniversary of the historic event. The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a concert venue built on the original Woodstock site, announced that it will host the golden anniversary event Aug. 16-18. The center says performers will include “prominent and emerging artists spanning multiple genres and decades.” The venue says talks by “leading futurists and retrotech experts” will also be featured. AP

Sears announces Triangle store closings in 2019 Sears has announced the immediate liquidation of two stores in Durham. The century-old department store will close 89 stores, including locations at Guess Road and the Streets at Southpoint in Durham. The stores are schedules to close fully by March. The chain was under threat of total liquidation due to the bankruptcy of Sears Holdings which also owns K-Mart. A late Friday bid for 425 Sears stores by company chairman Eddie Lampert gave the chain a last-minute reprieve. AP/CNBC

2019 elections will be final tune-up While N.C. will not hold statewide or state-level elections again until 2020, several states have important races in 2019. Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi will hold elections for governor and Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia and New Jersey have legislative elections. These elections will set the final political pieces before the 2020 election and the 2020 redistricting process that follows the 2020 Census. NSJ

NORTH

STATE

JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION

2019 brings changes in political landscape and a focus on 2020 As the NC General Assembly adjourns with two more veto overrides, a new legislature prepares to take office By Donna King North State Journal RALEIGH — As 2018 wrapped, the North Carolina General Assembly capped off 11 years of a Republican supermajority by overriding two more vetoes from Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat. One of the overrides was on a veto of a technical corrections bill; the other was on a bill that returned the State Board of Elections and State Ethics Commission to their 2016 structures, in light of a recent court ruling and an ongoing investigation into ballot irregularities in the 9th Congressional District race. Cooper said that a measure in that bill that kept ethics violation allegations confidential during an investigation would promote secrecy. Republicans say that ethics violation allegations should be kept confidential while they are investigated so they cannot be used as part of campaign strategy. “We’ve seen enough to know Gov. Cooper’s true intention is to weaponize North Carolina’s elections board with political actors for partisan gain,” said Sen. Dan Bishop (R-Mecklenburg) in a press release. “These preliminary, modest, and reasonable due process provisions are

certainly required to lend some semblance of fairness and impartiality to the Governor’s partisan investigatory body.” In January, a new Republican-led legislature will be sworn in, but this time without a supermajority now that Democrats hold more seats in both chambers of the General Assembly. “It means the Democrats will have a seat at the table and the governor will have more of a seat at the table in terms of policy and votes,” N.C. Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Goodwin told the North State Journal. “This is a good thing, a great thing. There will be fewer argument and closer numbers in terms of votes. I think it means there will be more accountability and more cooperation.” Just before Christmas, the legislature voted to override Cooper’s veto of a bill implementing the voter ID constitutional amendment passed by a majority of North Carolina voters in November’s elections. Immediately after the legislature overrode the veto, interest groups including the NC NAACP and others filed lawsuits against implementing voter ID, potentially stalling its implementation before 2019 municipal elections. When the new General Assembly is seated in January, Cooper is likely to have more clout in the legislature as his party could rally to stop future veto overrides. Still, Republicans maintain a majority in both chamSee NCGA, page A2

New Bonner Bridge will be a lifeline for Outer Banks By Martha Waggoner The Associated Press RALEIGH — When Danny Couch looks at the almost-completed new bridge across the Oregon Inlet along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, he sees both beauty and certainty. Beauty because of the structure itself — the new Bonner Bridge roadway will rise 90.5 feet in the air at its highest point, and the highrise portion is 3,500 feet long. And certainty because the new bridge is replacing one that had a life expectancy of 30 years — when it was built more than 50 years ago. “It’s probably going to end up on our county seal, along with the Wright brothers, the Lost Colony and the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse,” Couch, a Dare County commissioner who lives on Hatteras Island, said jokingly.

The bridge spans Oregon Inlet, connecting N.C. Highway 12 and Hatteras Island eventually to the mainland. It’s the only access to the island other than ferries. The new Bonner bridge was added to the state wish list known as the State Transportation Improvement Program in 1989-1990. In July 2011, the state issued a design-build contract with construction scheduled to begin in early 2013. But lawsuits filed by environmental groups continually delayed the process until those were settled in 2015. Construction finally began in March 2016, and the new bridge is scheduled to open three years later, in February or March of 2019. The 2.8-mile-long bridge will run parallel to the existing span, which was built in 1963. MainteSee BRIDGE, page A2

Legislative leaders look to continue fiscally conservative budgets By Clay Abernathy North State Journal RALEIGH — Legislative leaders in the GOP won’t have supermajorities in the state legislature in 2019 but they will still have the first move on the new state budget and control the flow of policy across the Old North State. Governor Roy Cooper has a few more Democrats to support him in both the House and Senate with urban Democrats knocking off several top GOP legislators in the Nov. 6

INSIDE New state laws that take effect in 2019 Jones & Blount

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20177 52016 $2.00

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election. In the House, the state budget committee will experience a dramatic change in leadership. Senior Appropriations Committee Chair Nelson Dollar (R-Wake) lost in the general election to Democrat Julie Von Haefen in the District 36 race. Also gone from the ranks of appropriations chairs is Rep. Justin Burr (R-Stanly) who lost in the GOP primary for District 67 and will be replaced See BUDGETS, page A2


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