Free Republic

GASTONIA, N.C. -- Two state representatives announced plans today to fight a recent ruling to allow illegal immigrants into state community colleges. "What part of illegal don't you understand?" said Rep. Wil Neumann as he spoke in front of the Gaston County Courthouse Tuesday morning. He said he has received a number of calls and e-mails about the state community college system's decision to allow illegal immigrants the chance to enroll in any of the 58 state community colleges as long as the student graduated from a high school in the United States. The students would have to pay out-of-state...

Another addition to the journals of the absurd… we’ve got a panhandler who was arrested for begging without a permit in North Carolina. The story from WRAL…

Bank of America Corp. announced today that embattled chief executive Ken Lewis has notified the board of directors of his decision to retire effective Dec. 31. The bank said the board will continue ongoing planning to ensure his successor is selected by that date. Lewis will retire as CEO and as a director.

DURHAM (WTVD) -- An overtime scandal at the Durham Police Department will cost a high-ranking officer her job. Sources told Eyewitness News Deputy Chief B.J. Council is leaving the department. Eyewitness News has learned Council was placed on administrative duty Tuesday and will be out of her job by Friday. Her departure stems from an internal probe of a Durham police officer's overtime pay. That officer earned more than $62,000 in overtime, exceeding the officer's actual salary. Sources said the officer's overtime was approved by the police department's second-in-command, who is Council. A news conference is planned for Wednesday.

House Republicans are focusing more attention on North Carolina Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler’s district in the wake of scrutiny over a hometown real estate deal. In 2005, Shuler became a partner in a real estate development group that was hoping to develop a property with water rights. When it turned out the Tennessee Valley Authority controlled the water rights, Shuler’s partnership looked to strike a deal with the government. The only problem? Shuler sits on a congressional committee that oversees the TVA, raising a conflict of interest. Shuler has said he had no contact with the TVA until after a...

State Rep. Nick Mackey has denied charges by the N.C. State Bar that he willfully failed to file four years of tax returns on time, saying he was following the advice of his tax preparer. He also denied that he failed to pay four earlier years of taxes on time, saying he believed all forms had been filed and that monthly payments were being made. In his response posted by the State Bar this morning, Mackey also denied charges that he didn't properly represent a former legal client, and disputed allegations about his former tenure as a Charlotte police officer....

Former presidential candidate John Edwards is said to be ready to admit that he fathered a love child. But Hades may have a skating rink before his wife, Elizabeth, signs off on such a confession. A source close to Elizabeth Edwards says the former Senator's wife is sniping at former Edwards mistress Rielle Hunter via an online pseudonym. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/09/27/2009-09-27_john_edwards_exmistress_rielle_hunter_targeted_by_elizabeth_edwards_in_blog_comm.html#ixzz0SL2aaST3 Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/09/27/2009-09-27_john_edwards_exmistress_rielle_hunter_targeted_by_elizabeth_edwards_in_blog_comm.html#ixzz0SL2aaST3 As a grand jury in North Carolina considers whether Edwards misused campaign funds to cover up the scandal, Elizabeth still can't abide his former mistress, Rielle Hunter. Word is Elizabeth vehemently opposed the plan, now in...

Economically beleaguered Michigan faces a possible government shutdown - shuttering highway rest areas, state parks, construction projects and the state lottery - if lawmakers fail to reach a budget deal in the next few days. The state with the nation's highest unemployment rate has a nearly $3 billion shortfall. Federal recovery act money will fill more than half the gap, but the spending cuts or tax increases needed to fill the rest have caused bitter infighting at the state Capitol. Michigan is one of just two states whose budget year starts Oct. 1. The other, Alabama, already has a spending...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2009 – An indictment handed down yesterday in a North Carolina federal court charges three men with plotting to attack Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., with the intent to murder U.S. military personnel. The men -- two American citizens and a legal U.S. resident from Kosovo – are Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39; his son, Zakariya Boyd, 20; and Kosovo native Hysen Sherifi, 24, according to Justice Department and Marine Corps news releases. The three allegedly were involved in a plot to procure maps of the base and assemble weapons as a precursor to an attack, the releases...

Over the past 32 weeks, Civitas has spotlighted one bill from the General Assembly each week as its “Bad Bill of the Week.” Beginning Monday, you will get to decide which one of those bills will be crowned the “Bad Bill of the Year.” We’re going to be holding an NCAA Tournament-style bracket to whittle down the 32 bad bills to the one truly worst bill of the session. Check out the full bracket here. Log on every Monday to cast your vote and check out the winners from the previous week.

Sometimes aggressive rulers bite off more than they can chew. History gives us many such examples. One of them was Napoleon’s decision to invade Spain in 1808 and put his elder brother Joseph on the throne. That was the first great miscalculation of his career. Could it be that Obama’s decision to “reform” American health care by thoroughly politicizing it will become his Spain — a short-run victory that will in the long run prove disastrous for him?

Federal prosecutors say two North Carolina terrorism suspects plotted to kill U.S. military personnel. A superseding indictment returned Thursday against Daniel Patrick Boyd and Hysen Sherifi is the first time authorities have said the men had specific targets. Prosecutors said Boyd obtained maps of Virginia's Marine Corps Base Quantico in order to plan an attack. Prosecutors have previously said the man went on training expeditions in the weeks leading up to their arrests in July, practicing military tactics with armor-piercing bullets on a property in rural North Carolina. Seven men are awaiting trial in the case, and investigators say an...

Many of Bernard Madoff’s victims have moved beyond the jailed Ponzi schemer himself and targeted their anger toward the trustee and investigators charged with uncovering and distributing Madoff’s ill-gotten assets. That anger has only sharpened now that federal prosecutors have filed papers stating as many as half of Madoff’s customers at the time of his arrest didn’t actually lose any money because over the years they withdrew more cash from their accounts than they originally invested. In the same court filing, prosecutors told a judge there is no need to order restitution because all of Madoff's assets will be distributed...

WASHINGTON -- North Carolina's ACORN office has had to lay off all eight of its employees in the wake of a scandal that has rocked the national office of the grass-roots organizing group. Yet many workers have continued the past three weeks as unpaid volunteers for the nonprofit organization, reaching out to low- and moderate-income workers who might need help with issues ranging from landlord fights to high-priced mortgages. In Washington, hidden-camera videos made this summer by two young conservative activists that appear to show ACORN workers in other states encouraging illegal behavior have led to federal inquiries and inspired...

RALEIGH, N.C. — State Rep. Ty Harrell, D-Wake, who is under investigation over campaign expenditures, has resigned, according to Bill Holmes, a spokesman for House Speaker Joe Hackney. "With the recent turbulence in my personal life and continued speculation about my campaign expenditures, I do not feel that I can provide the high standard of representation that my constituents expect and deserve," Harrell said in his resignation letter submitted to Hackney on Sunday. Harrell's spending in recent months has been called into question. Harrell and his wife have also separated amidst allegations he has engaged in extramarital affairs, according to...

JP Morgan Chase has been challenged to sever its financial support for ACORN. As more video tapes are released of ACORN workers discussing illicit financial schemes, the bank has been called out for funding activities in violation of its own polices. Peter Flaherty, president of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), in a letter addressed to JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, warns that continued support could jeopardize the institution’s credibility. “Continued identification with ACORN harms the company’s brand name and reputation, and carries special risks for this company, a recipient of taxpayer TARP funds,” he wrote. “The New...

The United States has an opportunity to learn from Saskatchewan's leading work in carbon-capture technology, a prominent U.S. politician said Friday, as he offered support to a Saskatchewan-Montana project seeking American government funding. Saskatchewan, like the U.S., relies heavily on burning coal for power. But U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) said the province appears to be "ahead of, quite frankly, the world" with carbon sequestration, the process of capturing the gas and storing the CO2 underground. "What we want to try and do is find out what is working in the area of carbon sequestration, because when you look...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The story of the spectacular rise and fall of John Edwards, with its sordid can’t-look-away dimensions, is moving slowly but deliberately to its conclusion here in North Carolina. Mr. Edwards, the one-term senator who came close to being elected vice president in 2004 and ran a credible campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, remains largely secluded at his 100-acre estate here. But a federal grand jury in nearby Raleigh is investigating whether any crimes were committed in connection with campaign laws in an effort to conceal his extramarital affair with a woman named Rielle...

The Edwards Drama Awaits a Denouement By NEIL A. LEWIS CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The story of the spectacular rise and fall of John Edwards, with its sordid can’t-look-away dimensions, is moving slowly but deliberately to its conclusion here in North Carolina. Mr. Edwards, the one-term senator who came close to being elected vice president in 2004 and ran a credible campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, remains largely secluded at his 100-acre estate here. But a federal grand jury in nearby Raleigh is investigating whether any crimes were committed in connection with campaign laws in an effort...

Rep. Myrick: “These so-called health care reform bills have different names: a public option, a co-op, a trigger. Make no mistake, these are all gateways to government-run health care.” Washington, Sep 18 - WASHINGTON, DC - Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) today delivered the weekly Republican address on the need for fiscally responsible health care reform that makes health care more affordable and accessible for every American. Rep. Myrick, a breast cancer survivor and former small business owner, talks about her experiences and calls on Democrats in Washington to seek bipartisan solutions to our nation’s health care challenges. Audio of the...

Here are some confirmed events for October 17th, 2009 SAN DIEGO, CA - NBC Studios 225 Broadway - 3:00PM see page 5 ATLANTA, GA - CNN Center corner of Marietta St. and Centennial Olympic Park Drive - time TBA see page 3 ASHEVILLE, NC - ABC aff. WLOS see website for location and time see page 5

Jeff Taylor describes himself as a “behind-the-scenes guy” who got a little push. When he had a couple of people ask him about running for alderman earlier this year, he gave it some thought. But in July, when Dana Outlaw “seemed to waiver” about whether he would run again for alderman in New Bern’s Sixth Ward, Taylor decided that the time for thinking was over and that “somebody needed to step up.” And, suddenly, Taylor was behind the scenes no more. By the time Outlaw decided to file again for alderman, Taylor had already put out a news release, started...

RALEIGH, N.C. – Doctors say a North Carolina man who was plagued with coughing fits should be OK now that they have removed a 1-inch piece of plastic from his lung, where it had rested since he apparently inhaled it nearly two years ago while sucking down a soft drink at a Wendy's restaurant. Doctors at Duke University Medical Center say the plastic fragment of an eating utensil — with the Wendy's logo still legible on the side — was likely to blame for the coughing, fatigue and pneumonia spells that plagued John Manley for almost two years.

Survey of 500 Likely Voters in NC September 15, 2009 Burr (R) 48% Marshall (D) 38% Other 3% Not sure 11% Burr (R) 48% Lewis (D) 32% Other 7% Not sure 14% Burr (R) 48% Etheridge (D) 34% Other 3% Not sure 15% Richard Burr’s U.S. Senate seat has a recent history of high turnover, but the incumbent Republican holds double-digit leads over three Democratic challengers in an early look at North Carolina’s 2010 Senate contest. [snip] Despite Burr’s early lead, however, incumbents who poll under 50% are generally considered vulnerable. Burr, first elected in 2004, is expected to seek...

The state is getting a $17 million federal grant to provide government health insurance to low-income working parents.

With Democratic state Rep. Ty Harrell facing questions about his use of campaign money, his Republican challenger is looking at making another run at him. Apex Town Councilman Bryan Gossage says he is taking a careful look at challenging Harrell again in 2010, Rob Christensen reports. "Our message last year was that the liberal tax, borrow, and spend policies of the incumbent were wrong for the district and wrong for the state," Gossage said in a statement. "Unfortunately, higher taxes and unemployment numbers are some of the best proof of that." Harrell defeated Gossage by a 54-46 percent margin in...

RALEIGH, N.C. - Crystal Lee Sutton, whose fight to unionize Southern textile plants with low pay and poor conditions was dramatized in the film "Norma Rae," has died. She was 68. Sutton died Friday in a hospice after a long battle with brain cancer, her son, Jay Jordan, said Monday. "She fought it as long as she could and she crossed on over to her new life," he said. Union organizers had targeted J.P. Stevens, then the country's second-largest textile manufacturer , because the industry was deeply entwined in Southern culture and spread across the region's small towns. However, North...

Loopey might be an unorthodox best friend, but she's a good one. Share Fayetteville, N.C., city council turns down family's plea to keep their pet pig. She was sweet and playful and didn't seem to notice her buddy's quirks like others did. Now, more than a year after Loopey -- a black pet pot-bellied pig -- made fast friends with 8-year-old Anthony Pia, the autistic boy's parents are battling their city's ban on hogs. It's been three months since Lisa Pia and Bobby Tibbetts, fearing fines from the city, removed Loopey the pig from their Fayetteville, N.C., home and took...

Karen Taylor, 29, announced to more than 100 guests that her fiancee Christopher Raynor, 28, had been killed after he was thrown from the back seat of the best man's car when another driver slammed into them. Another car then ran over Mr Raynor, who died at the scene just four hours before he was due to walk down the aisle. He was on his way to the wedding breakfast in Raleigh when the accident happened. His bride-to-be was told about the accident before leaving for the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Church, where they were due to be married....

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr's approval rating remains below 40 percent, which might ordinarily be bad news for a politician, but he's still ahead of any of his potential Democratic challengers in next year's election, according to a poll released Friday. The approval rating for Burr, a Republican, was 38 percent, according to the survey by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm. In matchups against possible Democratic opponents, Burr beat: U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, of Lillington, by 41 to 34 percent. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who officially launched her candidacy this week, and former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker, by the...

Two new polls came out yesterday, showing more North Carolina voters disapprove than approve of President Obama. From Under the Dome, the liberal Public Policy Polling: Poll: Majority disapprove of Obama President Barack Obama's popularity in North Carolina continues to slide. The latest survey by Public Policy Polling found that 51 percent of North Carolina voters disapprove of Obama's job performance, while 45 percent give Obama good marks. The survey of 600 North Carolina voters was taken Sept. 2-8, before Obama's speech Wednesday on health care reform. The latest figures reflect a continuing slow decline in Obama's numbers in North...

Gov. Mike Easley and his wife, Mary, accepted a $137,000 discount on a coastal waterfront lot they bought in 2005, months after Easley's administration granted environmental permits to the developer of the Carteret County subdivision. Easley did not report the 25 percent price break from R.A. North Development, on his state ethics disclosure forms; and his closing attorney, the mayor of Beaufort, did not report the discounted price on the deed registered with the county. It was recorded at the original sales price of $549,880.

Following up on this morning’s post about Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) calling for a hearing on “44 czars,” I asked McHenry’s spokesman Brock McCleary where that number came from. “We’re using a variety of sources and finding everyone who has been referred to as a ‘czar,’” said McCleary. “It would be appropriate for the WH to release a formal list.” In the meantime, McClearly provided me with two sources that McHenry’s office is using to build a czar list: this list from Politico, and this thread from the conservative web forum FreeRepublic.com. The FreeRepublic thread begins with a list from...

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall filed paperwork Tuesday to create a campaign committee to run for the U.S. Senate next year. "We’ll have a more formal announcement in the future," said Thomas Mills, a consultant for Marshall. "We were feeling we just needed to get started in moving forward." Marshall joins Kenneth Lewis, a Durham lawyer and the only other announced Democratic candidate, in the field to take on U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican. Other Democrats eyeing the race include former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker, former state Sen. Cal Cunningham and U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge. Marshall, a former state...

Two new polls show Gov. Beverly Perdue's approval ratings continue to suffer. Poll results released Wednesday by left-leaning Public Policy Polling show Perdue's job approval rating at 26 percent, with 54 percent of voters indicating disapproval of her performence. In a blog post, pollster Tom Jensen suggests the governor's numbers are now so low, she might as well shoot for the moon. "For Perdue, her weak numbers provide a great opportunity," Jensen write. "It's close to impossible for her to be any less popular so she should move forward with a more bold and transformational vision for the state and...

Not long ago at Fort Bragg, N.C., the country's largest military base, seven soldiers sat in a semi-circle, lights dimmed, eyes closed, two fingertips lightly pressed beneath their belly buttons to activate their "core." Electronic music thumped as the soldiers tried to silence their thoughts, the key to Warrior Mind Training, a form of meditation slowly making inroads on military bases across the country. Think military and you think macho, not meditation, but that's about to change now that the Army intends to train its 1.1 million soldiers in the art of mental toughness.

A cab driver shot and killed a would-be robber around 10 p.m. Sunday at Carowinds Boulevard and South Tryon Street, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police said. The cab had been dispatched to the Colonial Village apartments at the intersection where he picked up a fare, said Capt. Allan Rutledge, of the Steele Creek Division of Charlotte Mecklenburg Police. The cab driver told authorities that the man he picked up pulled a gun, at which point the driver pulled his own handgun and shot and killed the man, Rutledge said. The driver then called 911. Two handguns were found at the scene and...

(IsraelNN.com) SNIPPET: "Jude Kenan Mohammad, an American who was to go on trial in Pakistan for, among other things, planning a terror attack in Tel Aviv, disappeared on Saturday." SNIPPET: "Mohammad was a member of an American Islamic terror cell based in North Carolina, along with seven other U.S. citizens."

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV/AP) - A black woman has filed a lawsuit against the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), saying she was abruptly fired from the organization after complaining it was not reaching out to African-Americans. Kimberly McCallum of Charlotte says in the lawsuit filed in Mecklenburg County that she was the only black employee working in the association's executive offices when she started there in February 2007.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 1 – after a lot of talk by President Barack Obama about transparency in his administration – I snuck into and attended a private meeting held by Obama's deputy secretary of the US Department of the Treasury, Neal Wolin, and Democratic Rep. Brad Miller, who represents North Carolina's 13th congressional district. Also at the meeting were state and federal banking officials, area elected officials and a select group of other handpicked attendees. It was an interesting meeting – however, once my presence was discovered, it clearly agitated many federal and congressional officials, as well...

ROCK HILL A hostile crowd greeted U.S. Rep. John Spratt in his home county Thursday night, filling a 700-seat hall to voice anger over far more than health-care reform. Many in the Rock Hill audience lashed out at illegal immigration, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and a federal government they say no longer deserves the trust of Americans. Outside, an overflow crowd of 200 listened on portable speakers. The loudest applause inside a packed Baxter Hood Center might have come when a Fort Mill man denounced Pelosi for one criticism of opponents of Democratic reform efforts. “One of the things...

HILLSBOROUGH -- Police do not expect to charge a 65-year-old Faucette Mill Road homeowner who shot an intruder Friday night. "At this point we believe he was acting in self-defense," Lt. Davis Trimmer of the Hillsborough Police Department said Tuesday. "He was alone in his house. He came out and found three men in his living room." The case will be reviewed by the district attorney's office, Trimmer said. More Local & State * DA recuses self from Soles case * Pit bull that chewed off baby's toes is euthanized * Inmate confessed to woman's murder * Woman guilty in...

The N.C. Supreme Court says a 2004 law that bars convicted felons from having a gun, even in their own home or business, is unconstitutional. The state's high court ruled Friday in the case of Barney Britt of Wake County that the General Assembly went too far five years ago when it toughened restrictions on felons owning guns as part of a broad anti-domestic-violence bill. Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson said in a dissenting opinion that the decision could encourage challenges against state bans on felons and the insane owning guns. Britt was convicted of felony drug possession in 1979. He completed...

RALEIGH -- The N.C. Supreme Court issued a 4-3 ruling today declaring that the way some judicial seats are divided in Wake County needs to be re-evaluated. The decision could mean a restructuring of how Superior Court judges are selected in Wake County, with the N.C. General Assembly or a judge having to weigh in. Wake County, referred to as Judicial District 10 in the state Supreme Court's ruling, has six superior court judges who are elected from four separate geographic areas but with widely differing populations. "Plaintiffs have demonstrated gross disparity in voting power between similarly situated residents of...

(CNN) – An outspoken critic of Mark Sanford is accusing the embattled South Carolina governor of orchestrating a smear campaign against Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer. Republican State Sen. Jake Knotts wrote to fellow members of the state legislature on Wednesday accusing Sanford and his allies of spreading rumors that Bauer is gay — a claim that was reported earlier this week by a blogger who seeks to out closeted conservative politicians. "As a former target of a false rumor started by the Sanford Camp I can tell you with absolute certainty this attack was orchestrated on behalf of Mark Sanford,...

If the zingers Democrat Cal Cunnigham was directing at freshman Sen. Richard M. Burr last week are any indication, the former state senator is getting ready to take on the Republican incumbent in 2010. In a videotaped speech to a Democratic gathering in Charlotte now making the Internet rounds, Cunningham hit Burr early and often. "In 15 years on Capitol Hill you can't name one thing that Richard Burr has done to make your life better, and I can't either," he declared, referencing Burr's time as a senator and a congressman. Cunningham, an Iraq War vet, noted, "During the same...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — An odd couple of Republican senators have hit the road, arguing for a go-slow approach to President Barack Obama's push to revamp health care. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and 2008 presidential nominee John McCain are headlining the GOP's answer to the raucous town hall meetings of August in which congressional Democrats had to shout over angry constituents about health care, growing deficits and the increasing role of the federal government. . . . . . Political recovery is an issue for McCain, too. . . . . . Health care also offers McCain a...

When I learned that my Representative, Sue Myrick, would hold a health-care town hall meeting at our local high school, I decided to attend to see firsthand how much of the passion against socialized medicine was the result of real grass roots or just “Astroturf” (as Nancy Pelosi put it). Sue is a strong conservative who came to office as part of the 1994 Republican revolution. Since she’s against the current house bill (HR 3200), I didn’t think all that many would turnout. Wow, was I wrong! Let me set the context for you. I live in a half-rural half-residential...

Not content with the mess they created when the university threw innocent lacrosse team players to the wolves following a manifestly false accusation of group rape, Duke university has now instituted a policy for handling rape charges manifestly unfair to the accused. KC Johnson whose work in defense of the lacrosse team was outstanding, has exposed this outrage as well oin his site, Durham in Wonderland. Three Duke University students were the victims of the highest-profile fraudulent rape claim in modern American history. That fact alone should make the University particularly sensitive to the dangers of false rape allegations, and...