DURHAM COUNCILOR CHARLIE REECE RESIGNS, HEADED TO EUROPE: Council member Charlie Reece announced Monday night that he will resign from the Durham City Council effective March 7. Reece said his wife will need to temporarily spend a substantial amount of time in Europe for business. “Early last year, our family business began exploring the idea of buying a European company in order to expand our business opportunities there,” Reece said. “Two months ago, we did just that, and as a result, our Chief Executive Officer, who also happens to be my lovely wife, Dr. Laura Helms Reece, will need to spend a lot of time working in Europe for the foreseeable future,” he said. Laura Reece has been the CEO of Rho, a full service contract research organization based in Chapel Hill, since 2011. You will be missed, but you leave a great example to follow.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article258636468.html

WILL HYPER-GERRYMANDERING UNDO NC LEGISLATIVE LEADERS' IDEOLOGICAL AGENDA? While the topic of the debate Monday before North Carolina’s Supreme Court was the constitutionality of an amendment to require voter show photo identification to be allowed to cast a ballot, the central issue and the key point in the case is actually about gerrymandering. That point made by Kym Hunter, the lawyer representing the NAACP, is why she contends the constitutional amendment should be declared void. "We have seen in North Carolina precisely how bad things can get when a racially gerrymandered legislature is allowed to run amok and abuse its power in the dying days of its power. And for that reason we ask that you uphold the ruling of the Superior Court and rule that a racially gerrymandered General Assembly cannot rely on those racially gerrymandered districts to achieve the supermajority.” The bottom line is, they knew they were running out of time to move forward their extreme agenda, so they grabbed more cookies from the jar.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-will-hyper-gerrymandering-undo-n-c-legislative-leaders-ideological-ag...

PERMIT DENIED FOR CONTROVERSIAL UMSTEAD ROCK QUARRY: The agency, the Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources, cited the proposed quarry’s proximity to Umstead. The agency said it based its decision “on information that indicates the proposed operation would have a significantly adverse effect on the purposes of a publicly owned park, forest or recreation area.” Wake Stone had asked to modify an existing mining permit that has allowed it to operate a quarry on property between Umstead and Interstate 40 since the 1980s. What became known as “RDU Quarry” drew fierce opposition, particularly from people who use Umstead State Park and Old Reedy Creek Road, which is now part of the East Coast Greenway trail. State regulators agreed that the potential impacts of the quarry on the park justified denying the permit. They said increased noise from the quarry and the “continued loss of natural buffers” would result in a “significantly adverse effect on the recreation, conservation and education purposes of the park.” This is great news. I was actually thinking about skipping the news brief, but good news needs to flow.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article258517723.html

NC SUPREME COURT LOOKS AT VOTER ID AND TAX CAP AMENDMENTS: The North Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case that could ultimately throw out the state’s voter ID law and help answer a question about legislative power: If a general assembly is elected through illegally gerrymandered maps, should it lose any of its power to change state law? The federal courts threw out those maps in 2018, but court-ordered new maps weren’t in place until the regular 2018 elections. Republicans lost their supermajorities in the House and Senate in those elections, meaning they didn't have enough seats in both chambers put a constitutional amendment on the ballot without Democratic help. But the GOP had already used those supermajorities to put six constitutional amendments on the ballot that November, a process that requires a three-fifths vote in both chambers, followed by a successful statewide referendum. Voters approved four of those amendments. The lawsuit argues that an illegally elected legislature shouldn’t be able to start the amendment process. Honestly, I don't care what the voters wanted. A supermajority of them already have an ID, so that was bound to pass. And asking them to set a limit on their own personal taxes? Come on. They don't call it the "tyranny of the majority" for nothing.
https://www.wral.com/nc-supreme-court-hears-voter-id-law-challenge/20132952/

ASSURING EACH VOTE IS MORE THAN A MARK ON A BALLOT: Newby holds the notion that the voters, if not satisfied with the way election districts are drawn, can act to change things through “two legitimate avenues for reform: a statute or a (state) constitutional amendment.” What? Hold on here. Our state Constitution clearly says, and surely Newby is well aware, the power to pass statutes or to amend the state Constitution is reserved ONLY to the legislature. Only it can initiate and define changes in state law or the state Constitution. Voters are left simply to ratify or reject constitutional changes offered up by the legislature. How can North Carolinians exercise their independent authority to make change in a system that legitimizes politicians’ power to pick their voters and keep themselves in office? Courts exist and they are organized as a co-equal branch of North Carolina government to provide a check on the powers exercised by the other branches – legislative and executive. Once again proving that Paul Newby is simply not qualified to be on the NC Supreme Court, much less Chief Justice.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-assuring-each-vote-is-more-than-a-mark-on-a-ballot/20120708/