North Carolina Politics News

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr says things are tough in Washington right now.

Democrats fell all over themselves Wednesday to offer the senior senator from North Carolina a respite.

Burr recently answered some questions for The Herald, a Johnston County weekly newspaper affiliated with The News & Observer. 

"Listen, it’s much more contentious and partisan today than it’s ever been," said Burr, who also represented North Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives for 10 years. "It doesn’t matter whether you’re Republican or Democrat, it’s tough to deal with day in and out."

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Burr said life in Washington isn’t easy right now. “When people ask me if I enjoy what I’m doing, now is the time that I try not to answer the question,” he said.

H 1099, the bill setting a Jan. 15, 2011 deadline for Falls Lake's cleanup plan, is scheduled for a vote in the state Senate this afternoon.

If it passes, the bill will go into a Senate-House conference to reconcile the Senate's version with an earlier version the House passed in May.

The house bill set the deadline at July 1, 2010 for the state Division of Water Quality to prepare a "nutrient management strategy" to curb nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the lake. DWQ had asked for a November 2011 deadline to allow more time for the complex research, modeling and rule-making process.

Once those regulations are written, they must be approved by the state Environmental Management Commission and Rules Review Commission and, possibly, the legislature.

Quick. Which city has a higher rate of property crime? Durham or Salt Lake City, Utah?

If you picked the Bull City, pick again. A new survey comparing similar cities in the Southeast and across the United States found Durham in the middle of the pack. Durham was just below average on property crime across the SE and just above on violent crime. Durham was well below average on both violent and property crime when compared nationally.

Still the misperception lingers. Reyn Bowman of the Convention & Visitors Bureau says we bring it on ourselves and it's time to stop. "Durham bashing gives the entire region a black eye," he says.

From the City of Greensboro,
On Monday, June 29, the City of Greensboro will be presented a community-based public art project designed to celebrate its unique history and role in advancing the American civil rights movement.
The bronze artwork, called Coffee Cup Collaborative, will be presented to Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson and the City by the United [...]