Wilmington-area radio listeners had a chance this week to hear Roy Cordato, John Locke Foundation Vice President for Research and Resident Scholar, discuss failed green-jobs programs, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and crony capitalism. Cordato tackled those topics during his latest appearance with Chad Adams on the WLTT morning program. Cordato released his latest Spotlight report this week. It critiques the concept of energy efficiency. The Beaufort Observer reported on Cordato’s findings. The Richmond County Daily Journal recently published Cordato’s column on the “hollow halo” of sustainability. One week ago, News 14 Carolina interviewed Cordato about his reaction to a New Bern conference on rising sea levels. Cordato attended that conference with Daren Bakst, Director of Legal and Regulatory Studies, who also submitted comments (PDF) this week to the U.S. Department of Justice about the protest petition process tied to North Carolina’s newly reformed annexation law. Two letters in the News & Observer responded to Bakst’s recent column about the legal challenges ahead for ObamaCare. A letter writer in the Asheville Citizen-Times cited work from Michael Sanera, Director of Research and Local Government Studies, in urging Buncombe County voters to reject a sales-tax proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot. (The John Locke Foundation calls claims of this tax increase creating jobs “incomprehensible” and a “political ploy.” Don’t be fooled, folks. There has to be a better way.) Sanera and Terry Stoops released a new report critiquing Orange County’s latest sales-tax proposal. The Lincoln Tribune promoted the news release connected with that report. The Kenly News recently published Stoops’ column about false claims associated with education job cuts. The Monroe Enquirer-Journal printed a column from the state school superintendent and state school board chairman critiquing Stoops’ recent research tying high school graduation rate increases to increases in community college remediation rates. (No matter how silver the lining, some people only like to point out the clouds when it comes to the state’s public schools. The latest example is a report by the John Locke Foundation that attempts to correlate an increase in high school graduation rates with an increase in remediation rates at North Carolina’s Community Colleges. The report states that marginal students are receiving an easier path to graduation and all but suggests that our high schools are pushing more students out the door just to raise the graduation rate.) Stoops also posted an item about Common Core academic standards to the Truth in American Education website. Fergus Hodgson, Director of Fiscal Policy Studies, discussed Occupy Wall Street protests, an Article V convention, and immigration during an appearance with Mike Beitler on Voice America Business Internet radio.