February 9, 2010
Top of the morning
A weekend AP story about migration from state to state mentioned North Carolina a few times as a destination, but there’s more information in the IRS data the AP examined that is interesting.
North Carolina gained almost 41,000 households from 2007-2008 with more people moving here from Florida and New York than any other state. An AP list of each state’s status shows that six states that had a net out migration had more people head to North Carolina than any other state.
People are also moving here even during the recession. Census Bureau numbers show that North Carolina’s population increased by 133,000 from 2008-2009, the third biggest increase in the country.
February 8, 2010
Shameless hypocrisy
This is really getting pretty ridiculous. Last year during the budget debate, state Republican (sorry, Republic) Party chair Tom Fetzer was going around the state complaining about the state’s inadequate education system even as he was calling for more tax cuts and draconian budget reductions. Then it was the failings of the inadequately-funded mental health system he didn’t like.
Now, he’s going after Governor Perdue and calling for her to dump her Department of Correction Secretary because the man failed to fill parole officer positions fast enough – the very kinds of jobs that Fetzer’s irresponsible budget and tax proposals would have undoubtedly endangered!
Gosh, the mainstream media is depleted and not paying very close …
Neighborhood Schools in Wake Would Cause Massive Overcrowding, Concentrations of Poor Students
According to a white paper released by the Wake Education Partnership today, an assignment plan in Wake County that abandons the magnet school policy and sent students to their nearest schools would cause “dozens of capacity problems.” A move to abandon year-round schools would greatly compound the enormous capacity problems such a change in assignment policy would cause.
The Wake Education Partership is a non-partisan non-profit organization dedicated to a world class school system in Wake and receives significant support from local business.
Among the key findings of an assignment system based on students attending the nearest school:
* 43 elementary schools would be over capacity if all elementary schools went to a traditional calendar; Wilburn would be over …
Maybe the free market could regulate our nuclear weapons program.
NC representative at the national Tea Party convention:
Lunch links
BlueNC says there is an epidemic of bankruptcies among older adults thanks to eight years of disdain for the middle class.
NC Sierra Club notes that the STOP TITAN movement is going national.
The Southern Environmental Law Center lists the top ten endangered places for 2010. H/T NC Conservation Network.
PPP says UNC and Duke fans don’t hate each other that much. Don’t tell that to Will Blythe.
Watauga Watch reports that Virginia Foxx finds Washington excruciating. Then maybe it’s time to retire.
What if we find the Fountain of Youth first?
My favorite quote from the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research press release on Medicaid is:
Medicaid could consume more than 6 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product by 2080, says the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
I’m guessing that 70 year projections sometimes miss the target by a percent or two.
Top of the morning
Sand Hoke Early College High School in Raeford made the front page of the New York times this morning as an example of a successful early-college school that is set up to help at risk students by allowing them to get a high school diploma and two years of college credit for free.
The head of the North Carolina’s New Schools Project told the NYT that half of the state’s early-college high schools had zero dropouts last year. That’s in a state where 30 percent of ninth graders don’t graduate after four years.
February 5, 2010
Getting creative about job creation
The nation’s unemployment rate for January fell unexpectedly to 9.7 percent. For some, the decline was a hopeful sign. Still many analysts expect the outlook for job growth will remain bleak for 2010.
This Monday and Tuesday, state leaders and policy experts gather in Raleigh to discuss how to grow tomorrow’s jobs through creativity.
Anita Brown-Graham, director of the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI), discusses how this new “creative economy” may change North Carolina schools and economic development efforts.
For a preview of Brown-Graham’s interview with Chris Fitzsimon, click below:
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Previous Posts
- Top of the morning
- Shameless hypocrisy
- Neighborhood Schools in Wake Would Cause Massive Overcrowding, Concentrations of Poor Students
- Maybe the free market could regulate our nuclear weapons program.
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