Showing posts tagged “politics”
Samiha Khanna ·
25 Feb 2010, 4:58 PM ·
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A Republican candidate filed Thursday afternoon to challenge state Rep. Paul Luebke in the race for N.C. House District 30, which represents Durham County. Luebke, a Democrat, has served 10 terms in the state legislature.
Jason Chambers, of 7705 Guess Road in Hillsborough, entered the race just before 5 p.m. His address, which is in Durham County, appears to be affiliated with a tax-exempt fraternal organization known as Woodmen of the World Life Insurance. UPDATE - Chambers called to let us know he has lived in Durham County his whole life and has been an avid political follower for several years. He is in his mid-20s.
Candidate filings are open until noon tomorrow.
Durham, Durham County, North Carolina, news, politics 2010 elections, Jason Chambers, N.C. House, N.C. legislature, NC House District 30, Paul Luebke, politics
Samiha Khanna ·
21 Dec 2009, 5:31 PM ·
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Four Triangle residents, including a history teacher from Hillside High School, will travel to the Gaza Strip next week to participate in an international protest to call attention to turmoil there resulting from Israel’s blockade of Gaza’s borders, according to a news release from two Triangle organizations helping publicize the effort.
The foursome is part of about 1,000 people from the U.S. who will travel to Cairo, Egypt, on Dec. 27 and join with an estimated 50,000 other protestors for the Gaza Freedom March, timed to the one-year anniversary of an assault by Israeli forces that killed more than 1,300 people and wounded thousands.
According to a joint news release from the Coalition for Peace with Justice and the Triangle Campaign Against the Israeli Occupation, the participants are:
- Bryan Proffitt, the Hillside teacher who attended N.C. State University and has worked in the formation of several Triangle-area anti-war groups
- Jodeen Olguín-Tayler, a Durham-based organizer for MoveOn.org
- Waleed Elhantaty, a small-business owner from Raleigh and current vice president of the Muslim American Public Affairs Council
- Burhan Ghanayem, a retired environmental health scientist and entrepreneur who lives in Raleigh
The protest is garnering support from notable figures from writer Alice Walker to Howard Zinn to Noam Chomsky. Read more >>
Proffiitt, who has been a teacher at Hillside for three years, said he has been compelled to participate to draw more attention from his community to the Israeli occupation, which he compares to South Africa under apartheid. Some of his students and fellow teachers are also learning more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from his experience.
Continue reading »
Durham, Durham County, North Carolina, national, news, politics Bryan Proffitt, Gaza, Gaza Freedom March, government, Hillside High School, international, Israel, military, Palestine, politics, war
Samiha Khanna ·
13 Nov 2009, 11:34 AM ·
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This week, colleague Joe Schwartz and I reported on civilian oversight of the police in Chapel Hill and Durham.
While Chapel Hill’s leaders are considering whether to create a panel of citizens to examine complaints against the police, Durham has had a similar board for more than 10 years.
In an interview, Chairman David Harris of the Durham Civilian Police Review Board drew an interesting parallel between the police review board and the Durham Planning Commission. At its last meeting, members of Durham’s police review board said they were concerned that city and police leaders weren’t responsive to the recommendations of the board.
“Are they just pacifying us and they’re not really paying attention?” pondered Harris, who joined the board just last year.
He considered whether members of the board felt something akin to the futility expressed by former Durham Planning Commission member LaDawnna Summers, who resigned last month after city and county leaders went against the recommendations of the commission in two controversial rezoning cases.
No one has threatened to resign from Durham’s Civilian Police Review Board over a lack of response to its recommendations. But the board has had high turnover, and in one interview, former Chairman Ethan Hertz said members generally are concerned about the few appeals the board has received.
“When we don’t see cases, I think many of us feel somewhat discouraged as to whether we really are making a difference,” Hertz said.
Durham, Durham County, environment, news 751 Assemblage, David Harris, Durham, Durham civilian police review board, Durham County Commissioners, Durham Planning Commission, Durham police department, jordan lake, LaDawnna Summers, politics
Vernal Coleman ·
25 Nov 2008, 11:15 AM ·
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As the president-elect’s transition team continues its vetting, the good folks over at the New York Times are running thumbnail profiles of all of the prospective members of the new administration, this one a longtime Tar Heel.
The abbreviated story on Ms. Butts:
-She’s being considered for a position in the White House Counsel’s office.
-She’s a graduate of the University of North Carolina and Harvard Law School.
-Her first post-undergrad job was at a Durham YMCA.
-She at one time worked for Dick Gephardt.
-According to the NYT, she has an affinity for “hot” cars.
Well, alrighty then.
news, politics Barack Obama, North Carolina, politics
Vernal Coleman ·
21 Oct 2008, 9:39 AM ·
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With the opening of the bear hunting season last week, it seems that North Carolinians not pleased by the prospect of an Obama presidency are finding increasingly creative (also read: deplorable) ways to express their opposition.
The AP reports that a dead bear cub covered in Barack Obama campaign paraphernalia was found dumped on the campus of Western North Carolina university Monday.
School officials say the 75 pound bear was found shot to death in front of the campus administration building. Two Obama yard signs were stapled together and draped across its head.
University police are investigating the incident.
[Update 10/21/08]
The Western Carolina campus police are saying that there was no political motivation behind the incident and that the dead bear cub was part of a prank. Now I’m the biggest fan of sophmoric shenanigans that you’re likely to ever meet, but even I fail to find the humor in leaving a dead bear cub in a public way.
North Carolina, news Election, North Carolina, politics, Western North Carolina University
Fiona Morgan ·
2 Sep 2008, 11:35 AM ·
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North Carolina not only has the potential to turn blue this year, it could become a permanent swing state, thanks to the influx of new residents who are far more likely to identify as independents and vote Democratic. That’s the conclusion of a new report by Public Policy Polling, a Raleigh firm. (A PDF version of the report is here.)
“There’s a long tradition in North Carolina politics of registered Democrats voting Republican, especially in federal races,” Tom Jensen writes in the report.
That explains why Obama is polling higher among non-natives, even though that group is less likely to register as Democrats. Those newcomers who are Dems are more likely to vote like it — check out the numbers.
North Carolina, national, politics Democratic Party, politics, polling
Fiona Morgan ·
28 Aug 2008, 3:08 PM ·
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Among the speakers who’ll address the stadium crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Denver tonight is Jonathan Kuniholm, an Iraq War veteran who lost his arm in combat and went on to found the Open Prosthetics Project with his colleagues at the Durham firm Tackle Design.
Jonathan Kuniholm in 2006. Photo by Derek Anderson for the Independent.
According to tonight’s posted schedule, he speaks during prime time–at 10 p.m. Eastern, right after Al Gore. If the cable news talking heads talk over him, try watching C-SPAN’s broadcast.
The Indy profiled Tackle and Open Prosthetics back in 2006.
(Incidentally, another Tackle Design partner, Chuck Messer, is now co-host of a Discover Channel TV show called Smash Lab.)
Meanwhile, the fearless LGBT blogger Pam Spaulding and two of her co-bloggers at Pam’s House Blend continue to blog the DNC. Spaulding was featured in last week’s New York Times story about the historic inclusion of bloggers among convention media.
Several local Democratic delegates are also blogging their experience at the DNC. Blue NC has ongoing updates from a few of them. N.C. Rep. Ty Harrell, an official delegate, is not only blogging at his re-election campaign site, he’s Twittering, too.
Update 8/29: Here’s video of Kuniholm’s speech before the DNC.
national, news, politics bloggers, Blue NC, Democratic National Convention, Democratic Party, Iraq war, Jonathan Kuniholm, Open Prosthetics Project, Pam Spaulding, politics, Tackle Design, Ty Harrell
Fiona Morgan ·
28 Aug 2008, 12:32 PM ·
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Yesterday, for the first time in history, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to override a governor’s veto. What pressing matter inspired lawmakers to re-assemble in Raleigh for a special session (in the middle of election season)? Whether people should be allowed to tow 9 1/2-foot boats (in other words, boats as wide as the lane itself) at any time of day or night, without a permit. The N&O reports that the special session cost taxpayers $50,000.
NC Policy Watch has been following the story closely. Chris Fitzsimon lays out the issues in this week’s column, including which industry lobbyists led the charge — and the fact that, by doing those lobbyists’ bidding, lawmakers have effectively overridden the safety warnings of the Highway Patrol. Bloggers at the Progressive Pulse also posted a video of high-speed boat-towing, which would be hilarious if it weren’t so scary.
Since Election Day is fast approaching, it’s worth remembering who stood up to the big boating lobby. The Senate vote was unanimous; but in the House, Triangle-area representatives Verla Insko, Paul Luebke, Mickey Michaux and Jennifer Weiss joined the eight who voted against. Speaker Joe Hackney did not vote.
North Carolina, news, politics boating, Chris Fitzsimon, lobbyists, NC General Assembly, NC Policy Watch, politics
