VOLUME 7 ISSUE 25 |
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2022
American Airlines commits to buying 20 Boom Supersonic jets Greensboro American Airlines has agreed to purchase 20 supersonic Overture planes from Boom Supersonic, the companies announced Tuesday. The deal is the second firm order in the last two years for Boom. United Airlines made a commitment last year to buy 15 Overture jets, reported CNBC. “Passengers want flights that are faster, more convenient, more sustainable and that’s what Overture delivers,” Boom CEO Blake Scholl told the business network. The airline also has the option to purchase another 40 Overtures in the future. Boom selected Greensboro to build its manufacturing plant for the planes. The company is targeting 2025 to roll out the new model with commercial service beginning by the end of the decade.
AP PHOTO
Taliban fighters celebrate one year since they seized the Afghan capital, Kabul, in front of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022.
One year later: Chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal sank Biden approval
NSJ STAFF
NC State Fair advance tickets on sale Raleigh The North Carolina State Fair returns to the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh Oct. 13 - 23, and fairgoers can save money on admission and rides by purchasing tickets online in advance. “Buying in advance can save you up to 45% off prices compared to buying when you arrive at the fair,” said Kent Yelverton, state fair manager. Advance tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for youth ages 6 to 12 and $5 for senior adults ages 65 and over. Ride wristbands are $30 per wristband or a sheet of 18 ride tickets is $10. Discounted advance tickets are available Aug. 15 through Oct. 13. NSJ STAFF
New York scraps word ‘inmate’ in state law Albany, N.Y. New York has amended several state laws to remove the word “inmate” and replace it with “incarcerated person” to refer to people serving prison time. The changes, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul, are intended to reduce the stigma of being in jail. Prisoners say it can feel degrading when jail guards refer to them as inmates, especially in front of their families during inperson visits. Republicans ridiculed the measure as coddling criminals. “Parading around a bill that removes the word ‘inmate’ from legal materials at a time when crime continues to spike at an alarming rate shows you a lot about how misguided the Democrats’ agenda is,” said Republican Assemblymember Chris Tague. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Arizona won’t wait for feds, starts filling border wall gaps Phoenix Arizona began moving in shipping containers to close a 1,000-foot gap in the border wall near the southern Arizona farming community of Yuma with officials saying they were acting to stop migrants after repeated, unfulfilled promises from the Biden administration to block off the area. “The federal government has committed to doing this, but we cannot wait for their action,” said Katie Ratlief, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s deputy chief of staff. Despite the federal promise to fill the gaps, Arizona officials said no action had been taken aside from an early bid process. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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By Matt Mercer North State Journal
A look at the roots of The Innovation Project ‘membership dues’ By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — A secretive education nonprofit with stated “equity” objectives and that funds itself in part through membership dues paid for by school districts across the state using taxpayer dollars was formed as a project of a Raleigh law firm. The Innovation Project (TIP) “formally began on July 1, 2015,” according to the group’s website. The organization was co-founded by Gerry Hancock and Ann McColl as “a service of the Raleigh law firm, Everett Gaskins Hancock LLP.” In addition to TIP, Hancock also founded the education website EducationNC along with Ferrel Guillory, who is the director of the Program in Public Life and Professor of the Practice at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and serves as vice chairman of EducationNC. According to the Everett Gaskins Hancock website, “The firm’s attorneys have been instrumental in the formation of notable nonprofit organizations such as the Public School Forum of North Carolina, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and EducationNC, and have successfully advocated on behalf of North Carolina’s Low Wealth Schools Consortium for the enforcement of every child’s right to a sound, basic education.” The firm’s website does not list The Innovation Project among its achievements but does say that one of their attorney’s was the founding chair of the over 30-year-old Public School Forum of North Carolina, an education nonprofit that says its “key purpose” has been to “speak truth to power.” The attorney involved was Hancock, who at that time was senator in the North Carolina General Assembly. The Public School Forum’s mission is to “provide trusted, nonpartisan, evidence-based research, policy analysis and innovative programs that empower an informed public to demand that education best practice becomes common practice throughout North Carolina.” Similar to TIP, the NC Public School Forum’s “about page” notes it also received its seed money from the left-leaning Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
Notably, Hancock was one of the lawyers who kicked off the long-running Leandro case that originated in 1994 in the Hoke County school district. Years prior, then-Hoke County Superintendent Bill Harrison recruited Robb Leandro to serve as the case’s lead plaintiff in the suit Hancock was preparing. At that time, Hancock was an attorney with the Low Wealth Schools Consortium, a group of high-poverty school systems in the state. Hancock’s suit ended up bringing together superintendents from four North Carolina counties in an effort to sue the state for not meeting financial obligations to students in those districts. Other organizations Everett Gaskins and Hancock list among its “community” page include the Advisory Committee to the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and the North Carolina Common Cause Board of Directors. The firm also represented current Gov. Roy Cooper when he was the state’s attorney general in a 2009 case involving the “Dogwood Gun Club” and a biannual pigeon shoot. McColl was hired into the firm as part of its education practice group. Prior to joining Everett Gaskins Hancock, McColl was general counsel for the N.C. Association of Educators, an offshoot of the National Education Association, one of the nation’s largest teachers’ unions. She also served as legislative director of the State Board of Education, as well as legal counsel to both the North Carolina Association of School Administrators and the North Carolina School Superintendents Association. In the fairly recent past, McColl was notably involved with the Halifax County School District Board of Education in a case about reinstatement of the contract for a former superintendent, Dr. Elease Frederick, whom McColl represented. An investigation by North State Journal into TIP, uncovered the group funds itself in part through taxpayer dollars by charging public school districts a membership fee. Some 33 districts were identified as having ties to TIP and North State Journal found that 29 of those districts made payments to TIP totaling $2,048,800 million for the time period spanning 2017 through 2021.
MONDAY MARKED one year since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital of Kabul, signaling a swift transformation of a country the United States spent two decades and over $2 trillion attempting to make a functioning democracy. Instead, Taliban fighters celebrated the anniversary by hoisting rifles, riding military vehicles through streets,and taunting the site of the former U.S. Embassy. President Joe Biden and his administration seemed wholly unprepared for the moment. Biden had insisted it was a scene that wouldn’t happen in
the months leading up to the military withdrawal. In comments from the White House and in media appearances, he boasted of the work that had gone into training the Afghan army and praised then-Afghan president Ashraf Ghani. In excerpts from a July 23, 2021, phone call between the two leaders, Biden told Ghani he needed to “change perception” on the Taliban’s accelerating gains. “You clearly have the best military,” he told Ghani on the call, as reported by Reuters. “You have 300,000 well-armed forces versus 70-80,000 and they’re clearly capable of fighting well.” See AFGHANISTAN, page A2
Budd launches first general election ad, focused on economy By Matt Mercer North State Journal RALEIGH — U.S. Rep. Ted Budd (NC-13), the Republican nominee for North Carolina’s closely watched U.S. Senate seat, launched his first TV ad ahead of the Nov. 8 general election on Friday, Aug. 12. The ad, shared exclusively with North State Journal before it began airing, is titled “A Tale of Two Carts.” The ad is focused on the nation’s 40-year highs in inflation rates and rising prices affecting North Carolina families. “Two years ago, most families could afford to fill this up. But now it’s more like this,” Budd says, gesturing at two grocery carts: one filled to the top and the other containing significantly fewer items. “You’re being forced to make hard choices because Joe Biden made bad decisions. Biden’s reckless spending gave us record inflation that’s crushing working families.” Budd’s statement is backed up by rapid price increases over the past 12 months. In July’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly Consumer Price Index report, food prices are up 13.1% nationwide. The report stated that the 12-month increase was the “largest since the period ending March 1979.” The report also went on to add that the index for cereals and bakery products increased 15% and the remaining major grocery store food groups posted increases ranging from 9.3% (fruits and
vegetables) to 14.9% (dairy and related products). “The cost of basic grocery staples like eggs and cereal are through the roof. Tough choices for working families due to the inflation caused by Joe Biden’s bad decisions, now embraced See BUDD, page A2