What the finance company sharks have planned for North Carolina

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May 14, 2013 at 3:06 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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Loan sharksThere’s a common perception in the General Assembly these days that storefront consumer finance shops are not as bad a payday lenders. Indeed, this has been a common explanation offered by members of the Senate as they advanced legislation in recent weeks that will jack up the interest rates on consumer finance loans. 

If this is true, however, the difference between the two predators is just a matter of degrees, not basic characteristics. If payday lenders  are the great white shark of small loan predators, then finance companies are the tiger sharks. This truth is made clear in a new and powerful article from the muckrakers at the national news website, Pro Publica entitled “The 182 Percent Loan: How Installment Lenders Put Borrowers in a World of Hurt.” Read More…

Large turkey processor to close plant, lay off 1,060 workers

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May 14, 2013 at 12:02 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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House of RaefordMaking good on predictions issued earlier this year, House of Raeford Farms has given notice to the state Department of Commerce under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (aka the “WARN Act”) that it will be closing its slaughter plant and two support facilities in Raeford as early as July 13. The closures will result in the loss of 1,060 jobs in the small Hoke County community (population 4,600). Click here to read the letter sent by House of Raeford on May 10 as well as a May 13 memo from Commerce Assistant Secretary Roger Shackleford on the subject.   Read More…

Expert unenthusiastic about McCrory’s new education advisor

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May 14, 2013 at 8:20 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Diane RavitchDiane Ravitch, the nation’s leading spokesperson for preserving public education has some scathing words for the latest developments in North Carolina’s education wars. The post is entitled “North Carolina: Public Schools and Students Endangered by Radical Agenda” and it lists the bills to introduce vouchers, reduce teacher due process rights, slash pre-K, and  increase class sizes.

The post also includes the following less-than-ringing endorsement of Governor McCrory’s new education advisor: Read More…

Lawmakers punishing first responders, local governments again tonight

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May 13, 2013 at 7:48 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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FirefightersMore deceptively titled and poorly understood legislation that was advanced without a fair or properly noticed hearing will be on the floor of the North Carolina House tonight.

I know, I know; that just sounds like a typical day at the Legislative Building, but in this case, it’s an especially egregious overreach.

The proposed legislation in question bears the wholly inaccurate and inadequate title “Local Government Regulatory Reform Act.”

What the bill really is is an offensive attack on local governments and average public workers.

Under the bill, Read More…

Don’t miss next Tuesday’s Crucial Conversation on the federal courts

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May 13, 2013 at 7:43 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Don’t forget to RSVP for next Tuesday’s N.C. Policy Watch Crucial Conversation, “Why courts matter (and why North Carolinians should be paying a lot more attention to them)” - featuring the Honorable James A. Wynn, Jr., Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

If there’s one branch of modern government that’s, at once, more important and more neglected by caring and thoughtful Americans than the federal judiciary, it’s hard to say what that would be. Despite its enormous importance and influence in shaping our society, the judiciary – the cases before it, the decisions it renders, and the people who comprise it – receives far less attention than it (and they) deserve.

Here in North Carolina, a seat on the Federal District Court for the Eastern District has remained vacant for seven years with scarcely a ripple of public attention.

Why is this the case? More importantly, what are the prospects for changing this dynamic and how might we go about it?

Please join us as one of North Carolina’s most distinguished jurists shares his thoughts on these and other related questions.

Click here to register. Read More…