Watchdog.org and N.C. Senate Republicans promoted this week a Carolina Journal report urging voters to beware of politicians misusing the state’s latest unemployment numbers to advance their policy agendas. The Richmond County Daily Journal published Executive Editor Don Carrington‘s column on the same topic. The Carteret County News-Times publicized Carrington’s report on federal stimulus funds paying for North Carolina fishing boat owners to buy new diesel engines. (The story says the grant, which was similar to the “Cash for Clunkers”
vehicle trade-in program in that it sought to replace older, polluting
diesel boat engines with new, cleaner-burning ones, benefited 14 charter
operators. But the awards had no measured improvement in air quality,
the basis for the grant program, in an area “with relatively clean air,”
according to the story. ) M2M Politics and Senate Republicans promoted Associate Editor David Bass‘ preview of an upcoming legislative debate on proposed state constitutional amendments. The Senate GOP also highlighted a CJ report on the new Founding Principles Act for high school history instruction, along with contributor Karen Welsh‘s article on legislators’ continued interest in a voter identification law. The Heartland Institute’s Heartlander published Associate Editor Sara Burrows‘ report on federal efforts to crack down on raw milk sales.