And newly appointed UNC – Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp follows in lockstep, The Daily Tar Heel reports. The student paper reports on a memo that Bowles, the UNC system president, circulated to chancellors announcing that he would not support an effort to consider lowering the drinking age, citing a lack of evidence that it […]
Matt Saldaña
Posted inUncategorized
Suspects get pass; victims to be deported
Orange County prosecutors have dropped misdemeanor charges against two suspects who allegedly attacked two menbecause many of the witnesses and victims are awaiting deportation and can’t be found to help build the case. In June, Yuliant Fernandez and Amilcar Tamayo, drivers for Transportes Tania, a Houston-based transportation company, were arrested in Hillsborough for allegedly assaulting […]
Posted inNews
Leaked meals-tax memo reveals ‘barbershop’ strategy
This week, The Herald-Sun got their hands on a memo from the Rev. Melvin Whitley, a prominent backer of Durham Mayor Bill Bell, that details a race-based focus (registration required) to lobby for a 1 percent meals tax, which would fund a proposed Minor League Baseball museum and a Hayti Heritage Center expansion, among other […]
Posted inNews
The two faces of Bo Lozoff
⇒ Read the full transcript of Matt Saldaña’s interview with Bo Lozoff (PDF, 278 KB) Editor’s Note: In 2004, the Indy published a story about spiritual leader and prison minister Bo Lozoff and his efforts to raise $1.5 million for a bio-diesel initiative in Hillsborough that would employ ex-offenders. However, earlier this year, several ex-offenders […]
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N.C. colleges can admit illegal immigrants, Homeland Security tells AG
Nearly three months after recommending that North Carolina’s community colleges ban illegal immigrants from enrolling in degree programs, because of potential violations of federal immigration law, the State Attorney General’s office issued a clarification (PDF link) late Thursday afternoon essentially reversing its recommendation. The federal Department of Homeland Security “does not consider admission of undocumented […]
Posted inElections
McKinney blazes N.C. trail with incendiary speech
Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney has moved from blue to green, and similarly, she demonstrated her move to the left side of the political spectrum in a speech she gave in Durham: “It’s time to move from protest to resistance.” McKinney, a former six-term Democratic congresswoman turned newly minted Green Party candidate for president, spoke at […]
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Human smuggling in Orange County
When Hillsborough police officers responded to a knife fight in a McDonald’s parking lot last month, they uncovered a network of van drivers delivering illegal immigrants to the East Coastand allegedly extorting their passengers. On two separate occasions in the past month, officers in Hillsborough and Camden, S.C., have arrested drivers working for Transportes Tania, […]
Posted inGuides
Michael O’Connell’s Mountain Top Removal raised awareness of coal mining practices
When Al Gore presented Pittsboro, N.C., filmmaker Michael O’Connell with the award for best documentary at this year’s Nashville Film Festival, he didn’t just rattle off a prepared speech and smile for the photo-op. The former vice president, once berated for his lack of visible emotion, nearly choked up onstage as he recalled the plight […]
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N.C. Governor’s School under pressure from anti-gay group
Each summer, 800 of North Carolina’s most talented high school seniors attend the country’s oldest Governor’s School, a prestigious six-week residential program with campuses in Winston-Salem and Raleigh. The 45-year-old program, which receives about $1.3 million from the General Assembly, eschews traditional teaching methodsincluding gradesin favor of exploring “the most recent ideas and concepts in […]
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Anti-immigration activists rally, preaching mostly to themselves
On the Bicentennial Mall outside the legislative building last week, a dozen immigration activists and conservative lawmakers delivered a series of red-meat tirades against undocumented immigrants, blaming them for drunken driving, gang warfare, crowded emergency roomsand even, some insinuated, the fall of civilization. Their rhetoric was designed not only to inflame, but also served as […]
