David N. Bass

Published April 3, 2007, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — At first glance, UNC-Chapel Hill sophomore Charissa Lloyd might seem like a typical college student. Her schedule is crammed with campus activities — everything from participating in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship to serving on the staff of Rival Magazine. She enjoys academics, too, and hopes to one day become a social worker involved in pro-life causes.

But at least one aspect makes Lloyd unique from most of her classmates: By the time she graduated from high school in 2005, she had already accumulated 60 credit hours and a 4.0 GPA from a local community college. What gave her the flexibility to pursue college-level courses while still in school? Another attribute differentiates her from most other students: She was homeschooled from kindergarten through the 12th grade. Read the rest of this entry »

Published March 6, 2007, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — Preserve the habitat of an endangered woodpecker or protect private property rights — that’s the apparent quandary residents are facing in Brunswick County’s Boiling Spring Lakes region.

Red-cockaded woodpeckers, which were once plentiful across the Southeast, now are protected under the 1973 federal Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that only 6,000 groups and 15,000 individual birds remain. Read the rest of this entry »

Published February 26, 2007, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — Faced with the threat of forced conversion to a year-round public school schedule in Wake County, Cary resident Linda Hayduk and her husband are taking matters into their own hands by leaving the county rather than allow the reassignment to split their family apart.

“We’re a family who has elected not to participate in too many extra-curricular activities because we want our family to eat dinner together more than once a month like some families do,” Hayduk said. “We are moving because we believe in public schools, but not Wake County public schools. Not anymore.” Read the rest of this entry »

Published February 14, 2007, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — With the N.C. lottery marking its one-year anniversary in March, the lottery’s executive director is already predicting that revenue devoted to education will be significantly less than state lawmakers appropriated in fiscal 2006-2007 budget.

Lottery proceeds are expected to fall short of General Assembly estimates by $75 million, according to Tom Shaheen, executive director for the N.C. Education Lottery. In the budget approved last session, lawmakers appropriated $425 million in lottery revenue to school funding, but Shaheen predicts that the lottery will garner $1 billion in total revenue by the close of fiscal 2007, providing $350 million for education beneficiary programs. Read the rest of this entry »

Published November 29, 2006, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — Religious faiths, particularly Protestantism, Catholicism, Asian Ethnoreligion, and Hinduism, have a positive effect on a nation’s respect for the rule of law and level of corruption, according to a Baylor University research paper.

The paper, “Religion, Corruption, and the Rule of Law,” compares predominant world religions and discusses what role the faiths play in shaping a nation’s economic and social outcomes. It was originally published in July. Read the rest of this entry »

Published November 21, 2006, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — Situated near the intersection of two country roads in Harnett County, Holly Gardner’s one-story ranch home and surrounding farmland could easily be described as the perfect rural setting.

The idyllic pastureland has been in the Gardner family for four generations, going back to parents who donated a one-room schoolhouse to the nearby town of Angier and grandparents who bought lights so the community could play baseball at night. Read the rest of this entry »

Published November 6, 2006, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — One of the most contentious congressional races in the country is taking place in north-central North Carolina between Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Miller and Republican challenger Vernon Robinson.

Stretching from Greensboro to Raleigh, the state’s 13th congressional district has consistently leaned to the Democratic side of the political spectrum. Forty-seven percent of the district’s residents reside in Wake County, according to The Almanac of American Politics, 2006, while most of the rest live in rural counties that have traditionally favored Democratic candidates, including Granville, Person, and Caswell.

The district was created when North Carolina edged out Utah for a new House seat after the 2000 Census reported new population growth in the region. Miller chaired the N.C. Senate committee that drew the 13th district lines. He won the congressional seat by healthy margins in 2002 and 2004. Read the rest of this entry »

Published October 11, 2006, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — One of the most contentious congressional races in the country is taking place in north-central North Carolina between Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Miller and Republican challenger Vernon Robinson.

Stretching from Greensboro to Raleigh, the state’s 13th congressional district has consistently leaned to the Democratic side of the political spectrum. Forty-seven percent of the district’s residents reside in Wake County, according to The Almanac of American Politics, 2006, while most of the rest live in rural counties that have traditionally favored Democratic candidates, including Granville, Person, and Caswell. Read the rest of this entry »

Published October 10, 2006, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — A controversial Web site providing effectiveness ratings on members of the General Assembly is an independent resource that is not sponsored by members of the Buncombe County Republican Party, county GOP Chairman George Keller says.

Keller defended the Web site, sponsored by the N.C. Independent Public Policy Research Group, during an interview Sept. 12 on Asheville’s News Radio 570 WWNC. While admitting that he was the one responsible for uploading the content of the site, Keller denied being involved in the study itself. Read the rest of this entry »

Published September 14, 2006, on CarolinaJournal.com

RALEIGH — Raleigh firefighters had to change their mindset after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to Keith Tessinear, a captain in the Raleigh Fire Department. “Every call you run now, you had to be aware that it could be a terrorist attack,” he said.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Tessinear had just returned from his shift when he turned on the television and saw smoke billowing from one of the World Trade Center towers. Read the rest of this entry »