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State
retains Triple A credit rating, saves  $18
million
Standard
& Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch all
reaffirmed North Carolina’s Triple A credit rating despite
the state’s current budget problems. The action by the
credit ratings agencies came as the state on Tuesday prepared
to sell $380 million in bonds for state universities, public
schools, community colleges and clean water. The highest
credit rating also will apply to more than $2 billion in
outstanding state debt. State Treasurer Richard Moore (right)
said the state has been aggressive in paying off debt and
among all states, has one of the lowest debt burdens as a
percentage of its budget. The $380 million package includes
$201.6 million for the UNC system; $100 million for public
school construction from a 1996 bond issue; $48.4 million for
community colleges; and $30 million from the 1998 clean water
bond issue. Analysts for the bond-rating agencies expressed
concern about the state’s $790 million budget shortfall but
they said Gov. Mike Easley acted quickly to address the
problem. Moore
said the lower interest rates the state will get for the $380
million in bonds as a result of the Triple A credit rating will
save the state more than $18 million in interest costs over
the life of the bonds. “That’s enough money to purchase
the schoolbooks for more than 600,000 students, or to hire
more than 700 new teachers,” Moore said.
Council
of State approves LNG facility at state port
The Council of State voted 6-1 on Tuesday to continue working
with a Texas company that’s seriously considering building a
liquified natural gas storage terminal on Radio Island, which
is just offshore from the state port at Morehead City. The
council’s vote gives El Paso Merchant Energy a three-year
option on 46.5 acres on the island for $900,700. Several
environmental groups argued the council could not approve the
deal without an environmental impact statement. But State
Ports Authority Chairman Dick Futtrelll said El Paso Merchant
Energy would not spend the estimated $1 million for the
environmental statement without the land option. Labor
Commissioner Cherie Berry cast the only vote against the
proposal. State Treasurer Richard Moore, Secretary of State
Elaine Marshall and Insurance Commissioner Jim Long were not
at the meeting. If all goes as planned, the company later will
negotiate a 50-year lease for the island property, with an
option for two additional 10-year periods.
Court
slows Utah’s fight for additional seat in Congress
Utah’s attempt
to overturn a Census Bureau decision handing an additional
seat in Congress to North Carolina and not to it suffered a
setback Wednesday when a federal judge rejected a request for
an expedited review of its lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Dee
Benson ruled that Utah’s lawsuit against the Census Bureau
raises a technical, not a constitutional, issue and therefore
is not entitled to an expedited review by a three-judge panel.
Benson will hear the suit March 20 and any appeal will go to a
federal appeals court in Denver, not straight to the U.S.
Supreme Court. Utah contends that the Census Bureau’s
failure to count 11,000 Mormon missionaries serving abroad
cost the state a fourth House seat that instead became North
Carolina's 13th House seat.
High
court says Farmers for Fairness is not a PAC
By
refusing to hear the case, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday
upheld a ruling issued by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals last October that Farmers for Fairness, a hog-industry
group, is not subject to state campaign finance law limits on
spending and disclosure rules governing political action
committees. The state and former Rep. Cindy Watson, R-Duplin,
argued that Farmers for Fairness violated elections laws by
targeting Watson with a barrage of negative advertising during
her unsuccessful 1998 re-election bid. The State Board of
Elections ruled Farmers for Fairness was operating as a PAC
and would thus lose nonprofit status and be subject to state
campaign-finance laws. Farmers for Fairness appealed in
federal court, saying none of its actions expressly exhorted
voters against Watson or other candidates, and did not use key
terms such as "defeat," "vote for," or
"vote against" that would have crossed a legal
threshold set by the court in other cases.
DOT
board appointees contributed to Easley campaign
The 19 people that Gov. Mike Easley recently appointed to the
state Board of Transportation and their family members
contributed a total of $197,490 to his gubernatorial campaign,
according to disclosure forms they filed with the DOT.
Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett and his family
contributed another $15,377, according to the statements as
published in the Raleigh paper. All 19 are expected to be
sworn into office later this month. Cari Hepp, Easley's
communications director, said the contributions played no role
in the appointments.
Conrad
Burrell, Sylva
$8,700
Mac Campbell, Elizabethtown 26,600
Tyrone Cox, Durham
2,150
Edward Dolby, Charlotte
4,000
Nancy Dunn, Winston-Salem
5,275
Sam Erby Jr., Granite Falls
1,865
Doug Galyon, Greensboro
15,000
Clark Jenkins, Tarboro
8,000
Frank Johnson, Statesville
24,100
G.R. Kindley, Rockingham
16,000
Cameron McRae, Kinston
12,000
Collice Moore, Greenville
16,100
Louis Sewell, Jacksonville
17,000
Allen Thornburg, Asheville
2,200
Paul Waff, Edenton
18,000
Lanny Wilson, Wilmington
20,500
TOTAL
$197,490
Margaret
Kluttz of Salisbury, Larry Helms of Indian Trail and Nina
Szolsberg of Raleigh did not file reports. Transportation
Secretary Lyndo Tippett reported $15,377 in donations to
Easley's campaign by him and his immediate family.
Source:
Transportation Board disclosure statements.
Bishops
call lottery a 'menace to society'
In
letters to Gov. Mike Easley and members of the General
Assembly, the state's two United Methodist bishops said they
will fight efforts to enact a state lottery. Bishops Charlene
Kammerer and Marion Edwards said the church believes gambling
is a "menace to society."
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