Category Archives: POLITICS NC

NC Primary 2014 Results

Posted on May 7, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Yesterday was primary day in North Carolina. There were 1,021,413 ballots cast out of 6,516,126 voters. Some folks in the Twitter #ncpol hashtag found the number of voters, specifically the number of women to men ratio of voters, confusing.

This is state demos, not tonights. MT @NCDiane777: @JeanneBondsNC: Standing ovation #ncwomen. You showed up!! #ncpol pic.twitter.com/F8OVjsk16m

— LL1885 – A.P. Dillon (@LadyLiberty1885) May 7, 2014

Um, ladies? That’s the static demographic at the bottom of the News and Observer’s election coverage page…
The results are still listed as ‘unofficial’ on the NC State Board of Elections site, but here is a quick run down of some of the more prominent races we’ve followed here on this blog. Continue reading →

Posted in ELECTIONS, NCGA, POLITICS NC, Senate 2014 | Comments Off on NC Primary 2014 Results

About That Flier and Sen. Bingham…

Posted on May 6, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Haymaker is reporting on a story about Senator Bingham allegedly being given fliers by the NCGOP. The NC GOP denied they gave Bingham the flier. This was allegedly going on down in Davidson county (Senate District 33).

Sharon Myers of the Dispatch has a more recent update, wherein the flier has been demonstrated as paid for by Bingham, not the NC GOP, and in which Bingham apologizes and sets the record straight. Continue reading →

Posted in ELECTIONS, NCGA, POLITICS NC | Comments Off on About That Flier and Sen. Bingham…

Sen. Stein Politicizing, Giving Misinformation On Common Core

Posted on May 5, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

At a panel discussion hosted by Public Schools First NC on May 3rd, several legislators were on hand to discuss teacher pay and Common Core. Democrat State Senator Josh Stein upheld the tradition of ‘politicizing’ and ‘misinformation’ that the opposition of Common Core has come to know all too well. Memo to those doing the actual politicizing here: NC Replacing Common Core Means Leading, Not Following.

We’ll get to Public Schools First NC at the end of the article. First let’s look at what was said. WRAL, to their credit this time, explained a bit more about the commission to be formed, that the brand name Common Core is currently in our state statutes and in a way, corrects Senator Stein. The relevant portion is below; emphasis added is mine.

As for Common Core, Stein said he expects the legislature to abandon it.

“There is a great deal of misinformation. First, it’s not a curriculum. It’s a set of standards about what we expect students to know each year,” Stein said. “Second, it’s not a federal initiative. Third, it’s extremely popular with teachers. When you roll out a new program you expect kinks. You work through them.”

A student committee on April 24 approved a proposal to move North Carolina away from Common Core.

Although the bill does delete legislative language referencing Common Core standards, it does not take them out of play right away. Rather, the measure would create an Academic Standards Review Commission to develop standards “tailored to the needs of North Carolina’s students.”

The commission would be part of the state Department of Administration, not the Department of Public Instruction. It would be instructed to finish a first run at revising the standards by 2015, in time for the 2016 legislative session.

The revised standards would go to State Board of Education for approval, but if lawmakers don’t agree with the board’s position, they could override it and enact new standards themselves.

Now, let’s break Stein’s comment down. Continue reading →

Posted in BlueprintNC, Common Core, EDUCATION, Moral Monday, NC State Standards, NCGA | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

#DM7 Article: Exclusive – Five With Frank Roche – Candidate for #NC02

Posted on May 4, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

It is primary time in NC and early voting is currently going on in North Carolina. Over the past few months, I have had a chance to meet Frank Roche at multiple events in the Raleigh area. Roche is a candidate for North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional district and primary challenger to incumbent Renee Ellmers. I pitched five questions to him, which we’ll get to after a little but of background on the 2nd Congressional race. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), ELECTIONS, POLITICS NC | Tagged | Comments Off on #DM7 Article: Exclusive – Five With Frank Roche – Candidate for #NC02

NC Replacing Common Core Means Leading, Not Following

Posted on May 3, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

“The biggest fallacy of the Common Core standards is that they have been sold to the nation without any evidence that they will accomplish what their boosters claim.” – Diane Ravitch

The next biggest fallacy is that somehow states pulling out won’t be able to replace the Common Core with something better. There will always be something better — that is, unless you’re a state locked into a copyrighted set of standards controlled by outside entities. To be clear, Common Core Standards are a race to the middle. This is what Common Core supporters are bracing for next: states who pull out and put together superior standards which include continual and best practices integration.

The question that should be turned back on the Common Core supporters is: How can we NOT do better?

Quickly,a look at two of the latest Common Core talking points regarding replacement and then a closing argument. Continue reading →

Posted in Common Core, EDUCATION, NC State Standards, NCGA | Tagged , | 1 Comment

About Those Candidate Background Checks…

Posted on May 1, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

News and Record did some background checks on some local candidates running for the NC General Assembly. The candidate name, district and offense were listed. Party affiliation was not. I went ahead and ran that down via the NC Board of Elections. It was kind of a no-brainer since at least 4 of them were running for Alma Adams seat, but hey — let’s play along.

Democrats are putting up such quality candidates these days…must be that quality recruiting. Felonies, misdemeanors, prison time… wow. Continue reading →

Posted in Democrats, ELECTIONS, NCGA | Tagged | 1 Comment