GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION FINALLY ENDS, WITH LITTLE ACCOMPLISHED: The second-longest legislative session in North Carolina history has finally ended, but it likely will be remembered for what was left undone rather than what was accomplished. Lawmakers adjourned Friday after adopting a new congressional district map and filling a vacancy on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. The map, which still must be approved by a state court, passed along party lines after much Democratic complaining that it was still too partisan. The 2019 session lasted 156 days, trailing only the 179-day session in 2001. It cost state taxpayers at least $6.5 million, and for all of that money, no state budget was passed, teachers didn't get raises, Medicaid wasn't expanded and even plans to shift Medicaid to a managed care system could be in jeopardy.
https://www.wral.com/friday-wrap-long-session-finally-ends-with-final-map-redraw-but-much-left-undon...

JUDGE SAYS CHATHAM COUNTY CAN REMOVE CONFEDERATE STATUE: A Superior Court judge cleared the way for Chatham County to remove its Confederate statue from the courthouse square after a roughly three-hour hearing Wednesday morning. County commissioners have given County Manager Dan LaMontagne the authority to take whatever steps he deems necessary for removing the statue, Chatham County Commissioner Jim Crawford said. A court injunction had blocked that from happening, but Superior Court Judge Susan Bray lifted the injunction Wednesday. Attorneys for the Winnie Davis Chapter of the N.C. United Daughters of the Confederacy failed to prove there would be “irreparable harm” if the monument were removed pending a decision about whether the county is allowed to do that under state law, Bray said.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/chatham-county/article237302774.html

COOPER ALLOWS CHANGES TO ISD PROCESS MOVE FORWARD WITHOUT SIGNATURE: "Turning over control of a public school to a private charter school operator is both bad policy and ineffective, and I am fundamentally opposed to the ISD concept," Cooper wrote. "Senate Bill 522 does make some positive improvements to the ISD, including providing a way for low-performing schools to improve before being subject to take over." Under the new law, in year one, struggling schools would be placed on a qualifying list, and the local school board and superintendent would be notified. If the school still qualified in year two, it would be put on a watch list. Following that, the local school board would hold a public hearing with parents and employees to explain the impact of being put on the watch list and improvement plans for the school. If the school still qualified in year three, it would be put on a warning list. Another public hearing would be held, and the school board would have to present to the county commissioners about the school’s status. If the school still qualified after the third year and was one of the lowest five qualifying schools in the state, it would be selected by the State Board of Education to join the ISD.
https://www.wral.com/cooper-allows-innovative-school-district-changes-to-become-law-but-calls-progra...

PLAYING POLITICS OVERRIDES PAYING FOR QUALITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: What is most important to Senate leader Phil Berger, House Speaker Tim Moore and the majority in the legislature? Politics and partisan loyalty. It is not public education. That was made clear when they offered to increase the teacher pay raise if Democrats would vote to override the governor's veto of the main state budget bill. That is the big reveal. Playing games with teachers' salaries. None of this is based on what is needed to assure a quality education for North Carolina’s children. All of it is about politics. It is about how much legislators must spend in their effort to avoid negotiating with Gov. Roy Cooper. Teachers and parents can add and subtract. They know that North Carolina spends less per student for public education than all but five states.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-playing-politics-overrides-paying-for-quality-public-schools/18746571/

GRETA THUNBERG IN CHARLOTTE TODAY TO SUPPORT 14 YEAR-OLD ACTIVIST MARY STEVENS: A visit to Charlotte on Friday by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg will focus new attention on climate change. But for months, a local student has also clamored for action in lonely vigils outside the city’s halls of power. Each Friday since February, Myers Park High School ninth-grader Mary Ellis Stevens, 14, sometimes joined by a few friends, has held “climate strikes” outside the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. Mary Ellis’ strikes are part of a global phenomenon. An estimated 4 million young people worldwide, including hundreds in Charlotte, poured into the streets for climate protests on Sept. 20. Friday’s event will be from noon to 2 p.m. outside the government center. Thunberg and Mary Ellis were aware of each other through social media, Mary Ellis said, but not until Wednesday had they directly communicated: I’m coming to join you in Charlotte this Friday, Thunberg wrote in a message.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article237110839.html