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Representative Chuck McGrady
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A Good and Faithful Servant

Posted on February 21, 2018 by admin in Passing, Tribute

The Reverend Billy Graham

The Reverend Billy Graham died just before 8am this morning. He was 99 years old.

Born on November 7, 1918 in Charlotte, William F. Graham was of Scottish descent, the son of William Franklin and Morrow Coffey Graham. The Grahams were dairy farmers, and young Billy was reared on their farm approximately four miles from the current location of the Graham Library. The Grahams attended the local Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

In 1933, when Prohibition ended, Graham’s father forced him and his sister Katherine to drink beer until they became sick…both avoided alcohol and drugs for the rest of their lives, according to his autobiography. Because he was “too worldly,” Graham was declined membership in a local youth group and was persuaded to visit Mordecai Ham, an evangelist. During Ham’s revival meetings in Charlotte, Graham was converted in 1934 at age 16.

Graduating from Sharon High School in 1936, Graham then attended Bob Jones College, located then in Cleveland, Tennessee, but he found it too legalistic in both coursework and rules. So he transferred to the Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College) where he graduated in 1940. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois in 1943, the same year he married the former Ruth McCue Bell.

Born from Presbyterian parents, Ruth’s missionary childhood in China ended when she went with her parents on furlough to Montreat, North Carolina, a quiet scenic village near Asheville. She finished high school there and then enrolled in Wheaton College where she met, “The Preacher,” a nickname given her future husband by their classmates.(more…)

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Remembering Washington on President’s Day

Posted on February 19, 2018 by admin in Celebration, Civics, Culture, History

Statue of President George Washington on the grounds of the North Carolina State Capitol in RaleighStanding on the grounds of our state capitol in Raleigh is a life-sized statue of George Washington, whose birthday we remember in what has come to be known as “Presidents’ Day.” The bronze figure, by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, quietly tells a remarkable story that eclipses all the mythology that famously surrounds our nation’s first president.

The year was 1783. Under the command of General Washington, the rag-tag Continental Army had defeated the British, finally securing American independence. In gratitude and admiration, many called on America’s first hero to become America’s first king.

But Washington turned them down. In December, he resigned his commission in a letter to Congress: “Having now finished the work assigned to me, I retire from the great theatre of Action; and bidding an Affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my Commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.”

In his biography of Washington, His Excellency, acclaimed historian Joseph Ellis underscores the truly exceptional character of Washington’s act: “Oliver Cromwell had not surrendered power after the English Revolution. Napoleon, Lenin, Mao, and Castro did not step aside to leave their respective revolutionary settlements to others in subsequent centuries. … Whereas Cromwell and later Napoleon made themselves synonymous with the revolution in order to justify the assumption of dictatorial power, Washington made himself synonymous with the American Revolution in order to declare that it was incompatible with dictatorial power.”

When England’s King George III was told what the celebrated American general planned to do, he said that history would consider Washington “the greatest man in the world.”

Houdon’s statue (a duplicate of which stands in the rotunda of the state Capitol in Virgina) depicts Washington as both a soldier and a citizen, dressed in his Continental army uniform and holding a walking cane in his right hand, a sign of his life as a civilian. To his left and behind him is a farmer’s plowshare. Washington’s left hand rests on a fasces, a bundle of rods that is an ancient symbol of authority. The sculptor included thirteen rods in the bundle, alluding to the original thirteen colonies.1

These objects portray Washington as a modern-day Cincinnatus, a farmer and general who — after leading the Roman army to victory — also relinquished his power and retired to his farm to live a peaceful life.

In 458 BC, Lucius Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus was plowing his fields on a farm outside Rome when messengers arrived to tell him that he had been named dictator to defend the city against an invading army. Leaving his plow behind in the field, Cincinnatus took up the supreme command and went on to defeat Rome’s enemies in just 16 days of battle. But Cincinnatus chose to hold power only as long as was necessary to deliver his country to peace; like General Washington would do more than a thousand years later, he then resigned his command and returned home to work on his farm.

On this President’s Day, George Washington still stands as a shining example of the citizen-patriot. He rose to the occasion when his beleaguered nation called — and then, foregoing all vainglory and power, retired to his former station when his country’s good fortune had been secured.


Endnotes

1. Library of Virginia: “George Washington, Marble Statue” 

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A New Pipeline of Money to Public Schools

Posted on February 16, 2018 by admin in Cooper, Education, Energy

We Love Public SchoolsIn an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 104 to 112 vote Tuesday afternoon, the legislature passed legislation requiring money in a $58 million special fund be distributed to eight school districts in Eastern North Carolina that are along the path of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project.

House Bill 90 drew praise from local education leaders in the pipeline’s corridor, including Peggy Wilkins Chavis, chair of the Board of Education at the Public Schools of Robeson County. Chavis told The Robesonian newspaper that she hoped that her school district would receive the funds. “That would be wonderful,” she said. “I hope and pray that goes through.”

The new law will distribute the money to local school systems with a two-step formula which considers the average daily membership (‘ADA”) of each school system and the length of the pipeline that runs through a school district.

The $58 million fund is considered controversial by some because it was secured from the very same energy companies that were ultimately awarded the contracts by the governor’s Department of Environmental Quality to build the pipeline. Existence of the fund became public the very same day a key permit was approved for their operations; in response, a complaint was filed the next day with the North Carolina Ethics Commission alleging potential conflicts of interest and questioning what appears to be the issuance of state permits in exchange for private funds.

 

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Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car

Posted on February 13, 2018 by admin in Federal Government, Local Government, Safety, Transportation

This magazine advertisement from the 1950s extolled the future of transportation, saying that 'One day your car may speed along an electric super-highway, its speed and steering automatically controlled by electronic devices embedded in the road. Travel will be more enjoyable. Highways will be made safe — by electricity! No traffic jams...no collisions...no driver fatigue.'


The future of self-driving cars is upon us, and the North Carolina General Assembly is, well, paving the way.

With a bipartisan and near-unanimous vote during the short session, our state legislature passed House Bill 469 into law, regulating the operation of fully autonomous vehicles — if and when they become available in our state. The governor signed the legislation on July 21.

According to the new law, a “fully autonomous vehicle” is a motor vehicle equipped with an automated driving system that does not require an occupant to perform any portion of the operational control of the vehicle. The law does not require an operator to be a licensed driver and allows operators as young as 12-years old. Driverless vehicles must still be covered by a motor vehicle liability policy, however, and the vehicle must be registered like other cars. HB469 makes the registered owner of a self-driving vehicle responsible for any moving violations of that vehicle.

In the course of setting state policy, HB469 also preempts cities and counties in the state from enacting any local laws regulating driverless cars.

For the purposes of ongoing review, the new law establishes the “Fully Autonomous Vehicle Committee” within the state Department of Transportation. Consisting of 18 members, including representatives from the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police, the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association, and the State Highway Patrol, the group will meet at least four times a year to review changes in technology and how the law needs to keep up.


Federal Law

Those federal laws may be coming soon in the form of the SELF DRIVE (“Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research In Vehicle Evolution”) Act, otherwise known as HR3388. The SELF DRIVE Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously.

The Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, a lobbying group that includes Uber, Ford and Volvo, released a statement praising the House for passing the act. “Self-driving vehicles offer an opportunity to significantly increase safety, improve transportation access for underserved communities, and transform how people, goods and services get from point A to B.”

According to the American Legislative Exchange Council, the SELF DRIVE Act would preempt state and local laws regarding the design, construction, or performance of autonomous vehicles and their component parts. It would direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue rules relating to safety certifications and establish cybersecurity standards for autonomous vehicles, among standards.

States will still be responsible for vehicle registration, insurance, driver education, law enforcement and other local issues, The Hill reports. Manufacturers will be required to include cybersecurity and privacy protections in their vehicles.

(more…)

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Tax Fraud Prevention Saves State Revenue

Posted on February 8, 2018 by admin in Privacy, Speaker Moore, Tax Reform, Taxes

Identity TheftFraud prevention laws recently enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly are guarding against identity theft and protecting millions in state revenue from scammers this tax season.

The state Department of Revenue (DOR) attributed an 18% uptick in cases of identified fraud and a 20% uptick in savings for the 2016-2017 Fiscal Year to the legislature’s tax compliance reforms that are in place to protect refunds again this year.

The series of new laws strengthen DOR’s audit strategy and technology resources while streamlining the process of identifying fraud through the state’s Government Data Analytics Center (GDAC), according to the agency.

“Tax season has never been any citizen’s favorite time of year,” said House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland), “but the North Carolina House has worked to make it less painful and a lot safer for our citizens.”

In 2015 the state General Assembly passed the North Carolina Competes Act, which requires businesses to submit their employees’ wage forms electronically to DOR by January 31st.

Receiving electronic forms from employers earlier in tax season significantly enhances DOR’s ability to detect fraudulent refunds and recover taxes owed to the state.

The North Carolina Competes Act also strengthened compliance reporting requirements for alcohol transactions, cash intensive businesses, lottery winners, licensing boards, and contractors.

“The General Assembly has kept a bipartisan commitment to reduce fraud, identify theft, and other tax avoidance activities,” Speaker Moore continued.

The state General Assembly and DOR also initiated a Pilot Audit Program in 2015 to augment the department’s advanced analytical modeling with resources previously unavailable to its staff.

In addition to increased revenues from the pilot compliance initiative, DOR also increased its operational and financial efficiency. The program improves the state’s capability to identify discrepancies in tax filings, improve audit selection and allocate resources effectively.

The pilot program provides DOR’s field staff with new insights, including embedded geographical search capabilities, historical data, and emerging trends.

“These safeguards maintain a fairer economy where every business and citizen is treated equally,” Moore said.

In 2017 the legislature passed Senate Bill 628 to strengthen transaction reporting requirements on debit and credit card processors and further reduce fraudulent income claims.

The state Department of Revenue pursued 43,000 cases of refund and identity theft fraud in the 2016-2017 fiscal year, saving taxpayers $57 million.

The agency pursued 23 cases of fraud against cash intensive businesses last year, saving taxpayers $1.2 million; 34 cases of fraud involving credit and debit card transactions for $1.6 million in savings; and 4,000 cases against home-based businesses in the 2016-17 fiscal year for $18.1 million in taxpayer savings.

Refunds may take a little longer under the fraud prevention process and filing early can further protect against identity theft. North Carolinians are encouraged to file their tax returns as soon as possible.


Background

This week marks the start of the 2018 tax filing season for the North Carolina Department of Revenue (DOR). All citizens and business are reminded that filing and paying 2017 taxes is a civic duty essential to delivering core services from the North Carolina state government .

The DOR is now accepting personal income tax, corporate income tax, partnerships, S-Corp, and Trusts at www.ncdor.gov. Citizens that qualify can file their taxes for free online at https://www.ncdor.gov/ncfreefile.

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NC in Top Tier for Economic Preparedness

Posted on October 31, 2017 by admin in Budget, Economy, Good Government

Moody's AnalyticsNorth Carolina is one of sixteen states well-prepared for a financial recession according to an economic study released this month by researchers at Moody’s Analytics.

North Carolina has a record $1.5 billion savings reserve and has significantly improved its tax structure under a Republican-led state legislature.

Moody’s Analytics provides financial insights on capital markets and credit risk management for investors, strategic planners and policymakers, and “pioneered the concept of stress-testing the public sector.”

Its study applies potential economic recession scenarios, ranging from moderate to severe, to each state’s fiscal readiness for an inevitable downturn.

The analysis considers the ratio of each state’s savings reserves to its spending commitments and measures the predicted impact of a recession on tax revenues.  State budget flexibility and planning are also factored into the comparisons.

It groups states into three categories of preparedness: sixteen states that “have the funds they need,” nineteen states that “have most of the funds they need,” and fifteen states that “have significantly less funds than they need.”

North Carolina ranked in the top-third of the Moody’s Analytics study as one of sixteen states that “have the funds they need.”

In April of 2017, Moody’s Investor Service also praised North Carolina’s House Bill 7 Savings Reserve Requirement as a “credit positive” commitment.

In years past, according to Moody’s, “North Carolina’s reserves have been below average.”

The October “stress test” study by Moody’s Analytics also notes “policymakers should be diligently implementing statutory reserve guidelines,” as North Carolina did with House Bill 7.

“The people of North Carolina can have confidence our state is well-prepared for emergencies thanks to a better budget process and smart savings by legislative leaders in Raleigh,” commented House Speaker Tim Moore. “I’m proud the North Carolina House has served families and businesses responsibly with careful planning of our state’s financial security.”

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