When government bureaucrats started meddling with dog owners’ ability to bring their canine companions to restaurants, the John Locke Foundation’s resident legal expert responded. Daren Bakst, Director of Legal and Regulatory Studies, spoke at a Department of Environment and Natural Resources hearing on the topic this week, and he’ll submit formal written comments as well. WNCN and News 14 Carolina Television interviewed Bakst on the topic. In addition, Cape Fear Business News picked up Bakst’s recent column about dog owners’ rights. The Garner-Clayton Record previewed Bakst’s upcoming presentation to the Southern Wake GOP on cap-and-trade policies. Meanwhile, Research Director Michael Sanera continued his work this week with the Wake County Sustainability Task Force, submitting alternative vision statements to the group. Joseph Coletti, Director of Health Care and Fiscal Policy Studies, learned some good news about the NCTransparency.com Web site; Southwest Wake News reported that Apex, which had bristled initially at its low transparency grade, has taken steps now to boost online availability of important government information. Coletti also spent time on the air this week with WWNC Radio’s Matt Mittan. They discussed taxes, spending, and government transparency. StateHouseCall.org, a Web site promoting “health care policy solutions,” highlighted a recent CarolinaJournal.tv interview clip with Coletti about N.C. legislative Republicans’ proposed Health Care Protection Act. In other news, the News & Observer‘s WakeEd blog covered the latest Spotlight report from Terry Stoops, Director of Education Studies, which highlights the double standard state education officials have set for performance of public charter and district schools. The Heritage Foundation’s InsiderOnline.org also promoted that research. Stoops returned to radio’s N.C. News Network this week to discuss the latest developments in a controversy over the public school history curriculum. (Stoops also discussed the impact of Wake County school superintendent Del Burns’ surprise resignation announcement.) Speaking of the history hubbub, an education establishment mouthpiece, the Public School Forum of North Carolina, drew attention in its weekly report (pdf link here) to Stoops’ role in panning the proposed history changes. (Some of those being critical came as no surprise. The Locke Foundation, for instance, whose very name implies a bias toward remaining fixed in the 1700 [sic] and 1800’s [sic], was among them. ) Capitol Monitor cited Stoops’ charter school research in a report Thursday. The Beaufort Observer also noted today’s Carolina Journal Online Friday interview with Stoops about charter schools. Meanwhile, Greensboro News & Record editorial page blogger Doug Clark cited this week a blog post from Associate Director of Research Jon Sanders about the harmful impact of the government-mandated minimum wage.