Late notice this week, but phone banking to defeat Amendment One, the so-called DOMA*, is taking place every Thursday night at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh hall, 3313 Wade Avenue. It starts at 6:30 — bring your cell phone and a laptop computer if you have one. Here’s a Facebook link. Starting March 26, […]
Bob Geary
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Dix Park: One step closer with Perdue boost
The Dix Visionaries plan Gov. Bev Perdue has commissioned an appraisal of the 306-acre Dorothea Dix Hospital tract. It’s said to be worth $60 million in the current real estate market, more ($86 million) if the seller is patient. An appraisal is an integral step to make the vision of Dix Park a reality some […]
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Wake and Orange mull their options on transit tax and regional light rail
The elements of the rail plan Commuter-rail service would use existing freight corridors for limited-frequency service between Garner in southeastern Wake County and Duke University in West Durham (see map above). It would debut an estimated six years after Wake County approves the transit tax at a cost of $650 million; at least 12 stations […]
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State v. Occupy Raleigh’s Margaret Schucker: Dismissed
photo by Bob GearyMargaret Schucker fought the law and — she won. Margaret Schucker, the disabled woman with Occupy Raleigh who wouldn’t give up her seat on the sidewalk on that memorable day of October 27 and was summarily arrested for trespass by the Capitol Police, is a free woman. Scott Holmes, her lawyer, says […]
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Clay Aiken joins campaign vs. anti-gay Amendment One
Protect ALL NC Families, the leading organization in the campaign against Amendment One, is out with a brief video starring Clay Aiken, probably North Carolina’s most famous openly gay citizen. (Am I overlooking somebody?) Aiken, who had my vote for “American Idol” when he was up against Ruben Studdard nine years ago (or he would’ve […]
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Doesn’t anybody wanna be Governor? (And is this the reason?)
Lewis-Dollar-Dockham 4: The Republicans’ new House districts I see by this previous post that it’s been eight days since Brad Miller told us he’d be making up his mind quite soon about running for governor. I have no need to speculate whether he will or he won’t. I only note for the record that, although […]
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Wall Street’s “Inside Job”: Movie party Saturday at Pullen Baptist
“Inside Job,” the Charles Ferguson film about how Wall Street got hold of our economy, looted it and left it for dead, won the Academy Award for best documentary a year ago. I don’t recall that it played in Raleigh; if it did, I missed it.* So tomorrow, MoveOn.org is sponsoring “Inside Job” viewings in […]
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Under pressure, State Board of Education reviewing charter applications
The nine remaining fast-track applications for new charter schools this year sped into the State Board of Education’s purview last week, resulting in some soul-searching about what to do with them. Board members were clear that the General Assembly has given them little choice: They must approve all or most of the applicants or face […]
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Unconstitutional: California’s same-sex marriage ban is discriminatory, federal appeals court says.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision applies only in California, according to its terms. But by striking down California’s Proposition 8, the voter-approved anti-gay marriage initiative, the court put the issue of gay marriage bans squarely before the U.S. Supreme Court. North Carolina has an anti-gay marriage statute, and we’ll vote in May on […]
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Rep. Jennifer Weiss won’t run again: Bad news
State Rep. Jennifer Weiss The Republicans took hold of the redistricting process last year with a vengeance, and one casualty is Rep. Jennifer Weiss, D-Wake, a true progressive and someone you could depend on throughout her 12 years in the General Assembly to do what she thought was right, not what was politically expedient. Weiss’s […]
