Residents attended the July 7 meeting of the Cornelius Board of Commissioners after learning that the NC-DOT was scheduled to present their plan for the construction of i-77 HOT lanes. Citizens expressed concerns over the cost of the tolls, invoking the term “lexus lanes” as an illustration that the HOT lanes would generate a policy […]
In January 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama essentially pledged to shut down the American energy market with new regulations when he said, “If somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them.” Two years later his destructive rhetoric continued to flow through the administration’s hallways as federal officials threatened to […]
When the I77 HOT Lanes issue once again caught fire two weeks ago with the release of new information from NCDOT on potential toll rates, things got hot around North Mecklenburg among elected officials as well. As reported here last week, Davidson’s Town Board declined to have a special meeting to discuss the issue. What may be even more […]
This morning I attended the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Forum where County Commission Chairman Trevor Fuller spoke on behalf of increasing our sales taxes by ¼ percent. Also there was the principal of the new Commonwealth Charter High School, to speak about his new school. Among attendees was Bill Allen of MeckED, I presume, a non-profit […]
Recap on Common Core: The main issue is grant funding that was given to our state with strings attached. The Race to the Top Phase II federal grant mandated the implementation of standards common to a majority of states. The RttT agreement was a 3-part initiative: common standards, student data mining, & school reform/transformation – […]
It’s not surprising that once the information NCDOT possessed on the projected costs of the I77 HOT became public, that the bureaucracy would go into full fledged spin mode. That appears to be what happened yesterday as the date for signing the 50 year contract with the Spanish contracting firm, Cintra, looms later this week. One could expect that when […]
Democratic Senator Kay Hagan’s campaign is highlighting her Republican challenger’s comments about “traditional” North Carolina voters in building a narrative that Thom Tillis is divisive and offensive. The latest addition for this meme came from an old appearance Tillis made on a Charlotte public television show: Williams: Let’s start fairly broad with the Republican Party. You watch— […]
During a recent interview with Diane Sawyer, Hillary Clinton claimed that Bill and her were “dead broke” when they left the White House. And then on Sunday, Hillary told the Guardian that they are not “truly well off” despite having earned about a hundred million dollars since leaving the White House and owning a couple of luxury homes. […]
On Tuesday night the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners adopted the County Manager’s proposed budget. During discussions, I made a substitute proposal. My proposal would continue to fund everything in the Manager’s budget, but would lower the tax rate by one penny by reducing the allocation to the Debt Service Fund by one penny. **The […]
You may have heard that less than two weeks ago the NC House passed a bill (HB 1061) which would end the state’s participation in Common Core education standards. House Bill 1061 promotes decentralized government and takes control from unaccountable federal bureaucrats and puts it back into the hands of the citizens of North Carolina. […]
