Opinion Roundup: Florence packs a wallop, voting data request isn't cool and hollow promise of Innovative School District

Monday, Sept. 17, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Hurricane Florence's impact and challenges, lack of potential in the state's Innovative School District, widening rift between the State Board of Ed and the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, Elizabeth City State's most worthy statue and more.

REBECCA BEITSCH: Despite Warnings, States in Florence’s Path Continued Coastal Development (Stateline analysis) -- Despite their vulnerability to both climate change and hurricanes, North and South Carolina have put in place a series of policies and laws that favor coastal developers and property owners. North Carolina made headlines in 2012 for passing a bill instructing its Coastal Resources Commission to redo a 2010 report that predicted a 39-inch sea level rise by the year 2100.

FRENCES STEAD SELLERS: Florence brings headaches and heartache to World Equestrian Games in N.C. (Washington Post reports) -- In what has been billed as the biggest commercial airlift of horses ever, several hundred equine athletes have just been transported across the Atlantic to tiny Tryon, N.C. (two-legged population fewer than 2,000).

BRYAN MIMS: Less than 2 years after Matthew, Lumberton again flooded in misery (WRAL-TV reports) -- Water from the Lumber River began flowing into neighborhoods in the western and southern parts of Lumberton on Sunday evening, just as it did less than two years ago during Hurricane Matthew. City workers, National Guard members and volunteers had tried to shore up a low point on the levee that protects the city, but their efforts were no match for Hurricane Florence's relentless rains. The rising water in the river knocked out the sandbags and rocks put in place in recent days.

BRAD JOHANSEN: Wilmington residents can't get home, sometimes can't even stay in one shelter (WRAL-TV reports) -- For Wilmington residents, there's no way in or out, and they are simply looking for slivers of hope amid the devastation caused by Hurricane Florence. After enduring 23.5 inches of rain since Thursday, Sunday brought even more rain.

THOMAS GOLDSMITH: Florence Cuts Off Access to Wilmington, Disrupting Water Supplies in Coastal Town (N.C. Health News reports) -- Flooding on major - and minor - roadways is disrupting travel, supplies and even fuel to run the area’s water treatment facilities.

MICHAEL BIESECKER: Pollution fears as swollen rivers swamp ash dumps, hog farms (AP reports) -- Flooded rivers from Florence's driving rains have begun to swamp coal ash dumps and low-lying hog farms, raising pollution concerns as the swollen waterways approach their crests.

Hit by Florence or not, N.C.’s national parks need help (Charlotte Observer) -- The Blue Ridge Parkway and the country’s other national parks face a huge maintenance backlog. Richard Burr should join Thom Tillis in supporting bipartisan legislation that would tackle much of it.

VALERIE BAUERLEIN & RUSSELL GOLD: Florence Washes Away Portion of Coal-Ash Landfill in N.C. (Wall Street Journal reports) -- Heavy rains from Florence washed out a portion of a landfill in North Carolina used to dispose of coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity.

How technology helps you stay informed during stormy weather (WRAL-TV/TechWire reports) -- How technology’s keeping people connected and informed during Hurricane Florence.

YEN DUONG: Mobile Hospital Headed to Florence-affected Areas to Provide Support (N.C. Health News reports) -- As evacuees make their way out of harm’s way to shelters across eastern and southern North Carolina, health care providers from Charlotte-based Atrium Health headed toward the floods.

AMANDA THAMES: Residents grill for hungry Maysville community (New Bern Sun Journal reports) -- With help from their neighbors one couple spent more than six hours feeding their community Sunday. Don Sills, who lives in Jones County just on the skirts of the Town of Maysville, packed up his grill in the back of his truck and drove to the Piggly Wiggly parking lot.

TAYLOR KNOPF: At 103, George Alsberg among Hurricane Florence’s oldest evacuees (N.C. Health News reports) -- Coastal evacuees wait out Hurricane Florence, its torrential rains and the associated flooding in Raleigh shelters.

LISA O’DONNELL: Yadkin River is expected overflow; More rain on the way (Winston-Salem Journal reports) -- Yadkin County Emergency Services issued an alert saying flooding in Yadkin County appears imminent along the Yadkin River and its feeder streams. The county may open shelters if needed. The runoff from the rain is expected to crest the river in Jonesville at noon.

Train derails in Lilesville, leaks diesel fuel. Track may have been washed away (Winston-Salem Journal reports) -- Officials say a CSX train possibly carrying hazardous material derailed in Anson County. The derailment occurred after the track washed out and that a diesel leak resulted from the derailment. Lilesville is located in Anson County.

TIM WHITE: Public policy isn’t keeping up with wet, windy climate (Fayetteville Observer column) -- I arrived in Fayetteville in the spring of 1999. Four months later, Hurricane Floyd came ashore and brought the worst flooding anyone had seen. The flood of the millennium, the experts said. My new friends and neighbors playfully held me responsible for Floyd. I must have brought it here from Cape Cod, they said. In truth, I’d had less experience with hurricanes than most of my neighbors.

ICE's request for voting data isn't cool (Greensboro News & Record) -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known widely as ICE, typically investigates and pursues non-citizens to ensure they are in the United States legally. Now ICE may be interested in you. Even if you are a card-carrying member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

MARK HOLMBERG: Journalists must commit to restoring unbiased reporting (Wilmington Star-News column) -- While the StarNews Editorial Board’s passion in defending the media and your place in it is admirable, I believe you underestimate the crisis at hand. Since well before this nation was founded, there has been a left and a right, liberals and conservatives. Poll after poll for more than a generation has shown that a strong majority of the press and TV media identify as liberal. That’s not surprising, since many in the media get in it to right wrongs and defend the “little guy.” (“Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,” as a fictional editor so aptly wrote.) This heart-level lean to the left in the reporting and editing ranks helps determine not only what is covered, but how it’s covered -- even if just subconsciously.

EEENA AMIN & MARIE ALBIGES: Virginia’s redistricting argument could strengthen push for independent map drawers (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports) -- Last month, two top House Democrats stood in front of Republican colleagues, facing a cross-examination that resembled a live courtroom. “Who – who actually drew the map?” asked Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, at a meeting of the House Privileges and Elections Committee. “It was a collective effort,” said Del. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, and chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus.

MARGARET RENKL: Reading the New South (New York Times column) -- The tagline for Facing South, an online publication of the progressive Institute for Southern Studies in Durham, N.C., is “A Voice for a Changing South.” The site focuses on politics, history and human rights, with recent articles on voting rights during Reconstruction, South Carolina’s present refusal to evacuate convicts in advance of Hurricane Florence and delays in compensation for people sickened by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

ROBIN ADAMS CHEELEY: 'Innovative School District' doesn't have enough promise to fill a hollow tooth (Greensboro News & Record column) -- Once, my grandmother had promised to make some of her famous chicken and dumplings for an ailing neighbor. When the delicacy was delivered, the gentleman was disappointed. Not by the quality but the quantity.

BRCC’s value boosts enrollment (Hendersonville Times-News) - -The fact that Blue Ridge Community College saw a 10 percent boost in enrollment this semester over last year, despite low unemployment, is surprising ¬— but not all that much when you consider the reasons.

ALEX GRANADOS: About the strife between the State Board and Superintendent Johnson (EdNC analysis) -- There has been visible and palpable tension between the State Board of Education and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson. The State Board has chided Johnson for not being vocal enough about budget cuts at the department and other important education issues, while Johnson has criticized wastefulness and a culture of complacency at the Department of Public Instruction under the rule of the State Board.

MAYA JARRALL & TYLER STOCKS: High school program offers student 'pre-apprenticeships' to start careers (Greenville Daily Reflector reports) -- Pitt Community College student Juan Herrera spends time in the classroom learning about motors, electrical systems, blueprints, and welding. He also works part-time as a maintenance technician with Greenville Utilities Commission.

GLEN BOWMAN: Moore statue, as his legacy, passes test of time (Elizabeth City Daily Advance column) -- In light of the news from UNC-Chapel Hill — that a group knocked down the controversial Confederate statue “Silent Sam”— one might be asking the question, “Could it happen here, at Elizabeth City State University?” This is an easy question. No way. If the only statue on campus ever comes down, it will be by some act of God, not by human hands. That statue is of the most important educator in the history of northeastern N.C. — Peter W. Moore. His life and career exemplify character, fortitude and sacrifice, all for the greater good of this community. Born a slave, Moore’s father was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan.