In a preview of Wake County’s 2018 debate-to-be over county and schools funding, county commissioners got a lesson in local teacher salaries, per-pupil spending and other figures compared to what’s allocated in systems around the state and nation. Meeting in a work session after their regular Tuesday meeting, the seven-member board heard a string of […]
Thomas Goldsmith
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January 24 Event Offers Helpful Info for People Who Owns Farms and Forest Land in Wake County
Can anything, or anyone, slow the march of sprawl in Wake County? Dale Threatt-Taylor, the long-time director of Wake Soil and Water Conservation District, says it can be done. According to Threatt-Taylor, Wake County h as more farm acreage than 58 of North Carolina counties. People who own farms or forest land can learn ways […]
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Reverend Barber Slams Thomas Farr in Time Magazine; NCGOP Calls It “Race-baiting”
The Rev. William Barber II again took up his campaign against Raleigh lawyer Thomas Farr’s nomination to a federal court seat Thursday, this time using the pages of Time magazine to criticize as “moral poison” President Donald Trump’s choice of Farr. Former state NAACP chair Barber, a Goldsboro pastor, is increasingly operating on a national […]
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In 2016, N.C. Nursing Homes Were Fined $3.4 Million for Failing to Protect Residents. Trump Is Putting a Stop to That.
People who live in nursing homes often have trouble speaking up for themselves, so the government has long spoken up for them. But the power of that voice is growing weaker under a new policy direction from the Trump administration. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has maintained strict federal oversight of nursing homes […]
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Farr’s Nomination to Face Judiciary Committee Including Senators Booker, Harris; Consent Decree Against GOP Ballot Security Efforts Lifted
Two events this week—one immediate and one spanning decades—present links to the nomination of Raleigh lawyer Thomas Farr to a federal judiciary seat in Eastern North Carolina. In the newest development, Senator Cory Booker, D–New Jersey, and Senator Kamala Harris, D-California, were named members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, becoming the first African-American members of […]
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Donald Trump Renominates Controversial Judicial Pick Thomas Farr to the Federal Bench
President Trump moved controversial Raleigh lawyer Thomas Farr a step closer to a federal judgeship in eastern North Carolina Friday by resubmitting Farr’s nomination to the Senate. The decision was announced Friday afternoon in a White House press release. Trump re-upped twenty-one judicial picks, including Farr, after they failed to make it through the U.S. […]
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New State Law Means Raleigh City Council’s Zoning Decisions Could Come Back to Haunt Them
Members of the state General Assembly decided in their last session that if Raleigh City Council, or any other local North Carolina governing body, decides to color outside the lines when making a zoning decision, the change will become part of city code. In planning jargon, that means if the council approves a land use […]
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Thomas Farr, Jesse Helms, and the Return of the Segregationists
In the fall of 1983, Jesse Helms needed something like political salvation. The veteran Dixie senator faced an uphill reelection campaign against Jim Hunt, the popular two-term Democratic governor. Hunt, framing the ’84 election as an opportunity for the state to solidify its identity as a tolerant outpost in the South, was outperforming Helms in […]
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North Hills Neighborhood’s Bid to Lessen Density Will Have Public Hearing, Council Agrees
For years, residents of Raleigh’s older neighborhoods have gotten McMansion shock when small houses were scraped off to be replaced by towering edifices. Now, residents of a North Hills neighborhood want the city to do something about it by requiring larger lot sizes and wider frontages for new homes. On Tuesday, city council members set […]
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Thomas Farr’s Nomination to Federal Judgeship Is on Hold At Least Until Senate Returns in January; If Trump Renominates, Farr Would Face Another Vote Before a Revamped Senate Judiciary Committee
The U.S. Senate has sent the nominations of Raleigh lawyer Thomas Farr and those other of President Donald Trump’s judicial picks back to the White House, with the result that Farr could have a second hearing before a revamped Senate Judiciary Committee. ssss Farr’s nomination to become a Federal District Judge in Eastern North Carolina […]