Blowing Rock Newshad a chance to speak with North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Paul Newby Friday night. He is up for re-election this year, but we found him to be genuine, down-to-earth, with a sharp sense of humor and very candid in his thoughts on the role of the judiciary in government.  Read more:  http://blowingrocknews.com/civics/town-of-blowing-rock/2692-one-on-one-with-justice-paul-newby-of-the-north-carolina-supreme-court.html

There are several statewide(Council of State) candidates on the Primary ballot. The NCGOP has provide a list of all the candidates and links to their websites. Please take the time to educate yourself on your choices by doing some reading. The website is http://www.ncgop.org/council-of-state-candidates/ You can go to the website below to take a look at the ballot you will see when you vote, http://www.ncsbe.gov/Sampleballots/2012May/2PWATAR003.pdf DO NOT FORGET TO LOOK AT THE BACK OF THE BALLOT FOR THE MARRIAGE AMENDMENT AND SCHOOL BOARD RACE.

Democratic candidates for the N.C. House and Senate generally agreed Tuesday that employees in North Carolina should be represented by unions, but they said changing the state’s right-to-work law would be a challenge in the Republican-controlled General Assembly. “Everyone should have union representation,” Banks said. “Otherwise, employers will take advantage of you.” Read more: http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2012/apr/18/wsmet01-candidates-favorable-to-unions-ar-2175595/

Hard to believe this guy is a primary front runner for Governor on the Democrats’ ticket. Doesn’t look like somebody I’d want to be my Governor.

Boone Town Council kicks the Watauga Arts Council out of the Jones house.  Boone Town Council creates new job, director of cultural affairs, who will be an employee of the Town of Boone, paid for by tax payers. Read more: http://www.hcpress.com/news/from-20-minute-babble-over-copier-in-the-jones-house-to-wac-finding-new-home-after-20-years.html

Dan Forest, candidate for Lt. Governor, to Hold Campaign Stop in Watauga County (Watauga County, NC)– Dan Forest, Republican candidate for the office of North Carolina Lt. Governor, will be campaigning in Watauga County this Thursday, April 5 from 7:30 a.m. until 9:00 am in the parking lot of Mountain House Restaurant, located at 139 New Market Centre in Boone. Dan will be meeting people outside, beside his 32 foot campaign bus, affectionately named “Bubba1″, that he is using to crisscross the state during the closing day.

The millions of students who take the SAT or ACT each year will have to submit photos of themselves when they sign up for the college entrance exams, under new security measures announced Tuesday in the aftermath of a major cheating scandal on Long Island. The two companies that administer the tests, the College Board and ACT Inc., agreed to the precautions under public pressure brought to bear by Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who is overseeing the investigation. The measures take effect in the fall. Read more:  http://article

What is happening is that the president is coming across more and more as a trimmer, as an operator who’s not operating in good faith. This is hardening positions and leading to increased political bitterness. And it’s his fault, too. As an increase in polarization is a bad thing, it’s a big fault. Read more:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577312043447691520.html?grcc=d46bf029690c3e0321a1999cdfe84881Z3Zhpge&mod=WSJ_hps_sections_opinion

A Passion for Education The McCrory Plan for North Carolina Schools “I have a passion for education – we will never be satisfied until we transform our public schools into centers of excellence. We cannot achieve excellence by simply spending more money on a broken system; we must make major reforms. Our primary goal must be to empower students to grasp control of their adult lives by providing them the necessary skill set to get a job. ” - Pat McCrory 1) Give Families and Students Educational Choices Two Paths to Success North C.

Promises Made, Promises Kept! Our NC House Representative: Deputy majority Whip Jonathan C. Jordan District 93 – Ashe/Watauga Counties Report to the Citizens 2011-12 Session NC House of Representatives Promises Made… 100 Days that Will Change North Carolina North Carolina’s state government must reduce costs and regulation on business, large and small, so that they can create jobs and prosperity. If the people of North Carolina entrust Republicans with a majority in the General Assembly on November 2, 2010, we commit to govern.

BLOWING ROCK — With a re-election theme of “Promises Made, Promises Kept”, Republican incumbent Jonathan Jordan launched his Watauga County campaign Thursday night, at the Meadowbrook Inn in Blowing Rock. Specifically, he outlined 10 primary promises: Balancing the state budget without raising taxes Making tax rates competitive with other states Passing the Healthcare Freedom Protection Act exempting North Carolinians from “Obama Care” Keeping Right to Work laws Reducing the regulatory burden on small business Fun.

The Watauga County Republican Party will hold its annual precinct meetings and county convention concurrently Saturday, March 10 at the Watauga County Courthouse at 10 a.m. Registration will begin at 9 a.m. and close at 10 a.m. Election of delegates and alternates to the state and district conventions will be held at this meeting. Rep. Dale Folwell, Speaker Pro Tempore and candidate for Lt. Governor, will be the keynote speaker. Registered Republicans in Watauga County are eligible to vote and encouraged to attend. Call (828) 355-9708 if you h.

Republican Virginia Foxx filed her candidacy Wednesday with the Watauga County Board of Elections, hoping for a fifth term representing North Carolina’s fifth district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Foxx, who hails from Watauga County, previously served as a state senator for 10 years and is former assistant dean of the general college at Appalachian State University.  Read more: http://www2.wataugademocrat.com/News/story/US-Rep-Virginia-Foxx-files-Wednesday-id-007066

Jordan Reapplies for NC House District 93 – Ashe/Watauga Counties “Promises Made, Promises Kept” JEFFERSON, NC: On Tuesday, February 28th, Republican Jonathan C. Jordan reapplied for the position of NC House Representative for District 93, which after redistricting continues to include all of Ashe and Watauga Counties. A local attorney with a regional law practice and strong ties to the High Country, Jordan has been a strong advocate for the citizens of the district during his time in Raleigh. His campaign theme “Promises Made, Promises.

“My family enjoys a tradition of service and leadership in the community,” Adams shared with Blowing Rock News in a Tuesday interview outside the Watauga County Courthouse. “I can’t think of any better way to perpetuate that service to the community than running for County Commissioner.”  Read More:  http://blowingrocknews.com/community-life/general-news/2436-adams-files-for-county-commissioner-will-oppose-kennedy-.html

A 65-member sustainability task force took 18 months to produce a detailed report and suggestions on the county’s treatment of energy, water and waste. But the board’s Republican leadership said the resulting suggestions – such as requiring property owners to meet maintenance standards – reflected international efforts toward collectivism and could interfere with individual property rights. The criticism reflects national conservative opposition to “sustainability” as an international movement that coul.

GREENSBORO — Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory kicked off his second campaign for governor tonight , vowing to end the Democrats’ scandal-ridden “good old boy (and girl) network” and fix the state’s “broken economy.” Punctuating a long unofficial campaign, Republican McCrory’s formal announcement came less than a week after Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue shook up the race by saying she won’t seek a second term. Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/01/31/1820580/mccrory-makes-govern

Before we give more control of our lives and institutions to the federal government, institutions should share best practices for cutting costs, unnecessary regulations should be scraped and we should increase transparency so parents and students can compare institutions.  I look forward to taking President Obama up on his promise to “work with anyone in this chamber” to improve the State of our Union and comprehensively address the challenges facing college students and their families.   Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/congres

UPDATED: Gov. Bev Perdue is expected to announce today that she will not seek a second term as governor,  two sources close to the Democrat’s campaign tell The News & Observer. Perdue is expected to make an announcement this afternoon. Her campaign began telling top N.C. Democrats in the past 24 hours, setting up a scramble at the top of the state ticket. Perdue campaign spokesman Marc Farinella could not be reached for comment. A likely candidate for governor is state Rep. Bill Faison, an Orange County Democrat, who has been making.

The state primary should be held May 8 as scheduled, a three-judge panel ruled Friday after a hearing in a lawsuit challenging new legislative and congressional voting districts. The unanimous ruling denying the request to push the primary to July 10 was a blow to registered Democrats and advocacy groups who proposed the change so the courts could consider their challenge to Republican-drawn districts. The judges’ decision increases the likelihood that the new districts approved by the legislature will be used in this year’s electio.

Gov. Bev Perdue’s job performance rating continues to tumble, with less than one in three North Carolina voters approving of her performance and more than half disapproving, according to a new poll. Public Policy Polling, a Democratic survey firm based in Raleigh, found that Republican challenger Pat McCrory maintained a double-digit lead among likely voters in a hypothetical matchup with Perdue, winning 52 percent to 41 percent, a slight improvement from last month.  Read more:  http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/perdues_a

Governor Bev Perdue is proposing to re-instate the “TEMPORARY” sales tax that the Republican led legislature eliminated last year.  Gov Bev claims she was the one that fixed the historic $2.5 Billion state deficit (4th worst in the nation) by saying that “I have cut spending to eliminate waste and make government more efficient.” It was the Republican led legislature that cut spending to eliminate waste and make government more efficient. Gov Bev was too busy vetoing everything. She will say ANYTHING TO GET RE-ELECTED. .

Newby said he bought the Creedmoor farm for reasons based largely on the principles he wished to instill in his children. “I wanted to show them a life away from computers, away from gadgets and electronics,” he said. Read more:  http://www.salisburypost.com/farm/010412-judge-and-gentleman-farmer-qcd

Without comment, state officials have made minor changes to amend an order that suspends the law license of former Gov. Mike Easley for a total of two years. Easley, a Democrat and two-term governor who has been a lawyer since 1976, will still be eligible to receive his law license back in December, under the revised order. The changes do not address criticisms and questions made public in the week since the N.C. State Bar first agreed to the punishment with Easley’s lawyers, a suspension that was accepted by the bar’s disciplinary .

U.S. tax-and-spend scores are appalling: Among 179 countries surveyed, America is No. 127 in government spending and No. 133 in fiscal freedom, far below average on both counts. The U.S. suffers an “overall tax burden amounting to 24 percent of total domestic income,” the Index states. “Government expenditures have grown to 42.2 percent of GDP, and the budget deficit is close to 10 percent of GDP. Total public debt is now larger than the size of the economy.” Such boulders bow American shoulders. Read More:  http://www.nationalreview.c

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Perdue said “We’re able to achieve these results with no impact on the state budget because all extended benefits resulting from this order will be paid with 100 percent federal money.” As of Monday, North Carolina had borrowed $2.7 billion from the federal government – the fourth-highest amount among 27 participating states – to pay extended state benefits. Read more: http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2012/jan/11/perdue-signs-executive-order-to-extend-state-unemp-ar-1805007/

The finance firms in question include Ally Financial Inc., itself property of the U.S. government (Treasury owns 74% of Ally’s common equity). So the government has decided not to concern itself with whether the people to whom it is lending money to buy the cars manufactured by a company that is itself still largely a ward of the U.S. are good credit risks. This is salvation? It sounds like the problem, not the solution.  READ MORE

Holder summed up his presentation before the board with, “The county is in real good shape—maintained tax collection and tightened its budget.”   Read more:  http://www.highcountrypress.com/weekly/2011/12-22-11/watauga-countys-debt-falls.htm

In December of 2009, North Carolina had borrowed $1.4 Billion from the Federal government to pay unemployment benefits to North Carolinians.  Two years later, Noth Carolina’s tab is $2.67 Billion.