John Locke Foundation experts spent much of their time this week traveling for public presentations and sharing their expertise with broadcast media audiences. Vice President for Outreach Becki Gray served as a guest panelist this week on N.C. Spin, discussing such issues as the state’s takeover of the Halifax County public schools, an effort to rescind North Carolina’s video poker ban, and free speech on college campuses. Gray is also heading to a Tea Party tax protest Saturday in Graham (as previewed by the Burlington Times-News). Her recent appearance at a Statesville Tea Party has been documented with the second YouTube clip at this link. Speaking of tea parties, the Charlotte Weekly reported Vice President for Research Roy Cordato‘s participation in a Tax Day Tea Party in the Queen City. (A new column from Cordato highlighting questionable use of gas-tax dollars for environmental goals earned publicity on the GlobalWarming.org Web site.) Education Policy Analyst Terry Stoops also hit the road this week for a presentation to the Haywood County Republican Party and the county’s Republican Women’s Club. (The Monroe-Enquirer Journal also picked up a recent Stoops column on dropout prevention grants, and the Ibiblio.org Web site has highlighted Stoops’ work on that topic.) Fiscal and Health Care Policy Analyst Joseph Coletti stayed closer to home for a public presentation to the N.C. House Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee. Coletti’s topic was patient-centered Medicaid reform. Coletti also placed a letter this week in the News & Observer questioning the faulty logic in an earlier N&O story about government health care initiatives, and he put on his budget analyst’s hat for an interview with the Asheville Citizen-Times about N.C. Senate proposals to increase sales taxes on services. (“They’re looking at raising taxes,” Coletti said. “They can call it whatever they want, but what they’re looking to do is raise taxes on us and call it reform.”) Speaking of taxes, Meck Deck blogger Jeff Taylor appeared on News 14 Carolina in the past week to discuss proposals for a new transit tax, just days after joining Pete Kaliner on WBT Radio for a wide-ranging discussion involving transit funding, Bank of America’s leadership issues, and the Carolina Panthers’ draft prospects. N.C. History Project Director Troy Kickler hit the road for a presentation to the RTP Rotary Club on the history project and its goals. Kickler also learned his paper “A Limited Revolution: Black Baptists in Reconstruction Nashville” will be published in the Journal of African American Southern Baptist History. JLF communications director Mitch Kokai spent an hour on the air with Matt Mittan and WWNC Radio’s “Take a Stand Show” Thursday, discussing the proposed statewide workplace smoking ban, redistricting developments, and state employee furloughs. Meanwhile, Legal and Regulatory Policy Analyst Daren Bakst spent last weekend judging a statewide Teen Court competition. Bakst, Coletti, Stoops, and Policy Analyst and Research Editor Jon Sanders have headed to Memphis, Tenn., this weekend for the latest meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council.