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VOLUME 91 - NUMBER 6 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2012 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30
Mrs. Hazel Lipscomb, niece, is shown with Mrs. Olivia Deans on her 100th
birthday anniversary .
UNC campuses slated for new
fee, tuition increases
Obama could alter stance of
federal appeals courts
By Mark Sherman
■ WASHINGTON (AP) -
A second term for President
Barack Obama would allow him
to expand his replacement of
Republican-appointed majori-
■ ties with Democratic ones on the
(■ nation’s appeals courts, the final
-stop for almost all challenged
■ ‘federal court rulings.
I Despite his slow start in nom-
inating judges and Republican
delays in Senate confirmations,
Obama has still managed to alter
the balance of power on four of
the nation’s 13 circuit courts of
.appeals. Given a second term,
)bama could have the chance to
nstall Democratic majorities on
several others.
Fourteen of the 25 appeals
‘ourt judges nominated by
Obama replaced Republican ap-
)ointees.
The next president, whether
fs Obama or a Republican,
ilso has a reasonable shot at
ransforming the majority on the
■Supreme Court, because three
Justices representing the closely
livided court’s liberal and con
servative wings, as well as its
renter, will turn 80 before the
text presidential term ends.
The three justices are Ruth
Sader Ginsburg, the leader of
he court’s liberal wing, con
servative Antonin Scalia, and
Anthony Kennedy, who leans
conservative but on some issues
provides a decisive vote for the
liberals.
I The next high court opening
ould cause a titanic confir-
ation fight if it would allow
Republican president to ce-
ent conservative control of the
’urt by replacing Ginsburg or if
bama could give Democratic
'pointees a working majority
r the first time in decades by
Placing Scalia or Kennedy.
The prospect of such Ara
bic change on the Supreme
W, along with the justices’
’ikingly high-profile election-
ar docket could heighten the
diciary’s importance as an
action issue, said Curt Levey,
Committee for Justice. The jus
tices will hear arguments on
Obama’s health care overhaul
in March and Arizona’s immi
gration crackdown in April. The
court also could soon decide
whether to hear a Texas affirma
tive action case challenging the
use of race as a factor in college
admissions.
Even one new justice can
produce dramatic change. Jus
tice Samuel Alito replaced the
more moderate Justice Sandra
Day O’Connor and shifted the
outcome in cases on. abortion,
campaign finance and other key
issues, even though both were
appointed by Republicans.
Openings on the circuit courts
of appeals get much less atten
tion, but those courts have the
last say in most legal disputes
that are appealed in the federal
system. Only about 80 cases
make it to the Supreme Court
every year.
There are still more Republi
cans than Democrats on the cir
cuit appeals courts and on the en
tire federal bench. But if Obama
merely filled existing vacancies,
Democratic appointees would be
the majority on the
Gov. Perdue Appoints
Judge Leon Stanback
As Interim Durham DA
RALEIGH - Gov. Bev Perdue today (Feb. 1) appointed
retired Superior Court Judge A. Leon Stanback to serve as
interim District Attorney for Durham County.
“Judge Stanback has served North Carolina and the
Durham community with distinction as a prosecutor, pa
role commissioner and Superior Court judge,” Gov. Per
due said. “He is the ideal person to bring strong leadership
to the district attorney’s office at this challenging time.”
Judge Stanback served as a Superior Court judge for
the 14th judicial district beginning in 1989 until his retire
ment in 2009. His distinguished legal career includes his
private law practice and his service both as a member of
the North Carolina Parole Commission and as an assistant
district attorney in Guilford County.
influential court of appeals in
Washington, where four current
Supreme Court justices once
served, and the Atlanta-based
11th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap
peals. Republicans also maintain
their edge on the 10th Circuit in
Denver only because two judge-
ships are empty.
Two other appeals courts on
which Republicans have comfort
able majorities could shift over
the next four years. The Chicago-
based 7th Circuit has four judges
in their 70s who were chosen by
Presidents Ronald Reagan and
George H.W. Bush. In the New
Orleans-based 5th Circuit, Judge
Emilio Garza, a Republican ap
pointee, will take senior status in
August, a move that will open a
seat while Garza takes a smaller
caseload. Two Reagan picks in
their 70s remain on the court.
Twelve Reagan appointees
now in their 70s remain on circuit
appeals courts or, in the case of
Scalia and Kennedy, the Supreme
Court.
Republican presidents, in re
cent decades, have been more ag
gressive than Democrats in
(Continued On Page 2)
By Emery P. Dalesio
RALEIGH (AP) - Univer
sity of North Carolina students
who pay in-state rates are fac
ing a more than $400 tuition in
crease, despite President Barack
Obama’s warning that schools
could lose funding if they don’t
find ways to keep costs down.
The issue is especially touchy
in the state that established
America’s first public university..
Student groups from across the
state are planning to march Feb.
10, just before university system
trustees vote on the proposed
$468 increase.
Juan Miranda, a 21-year-
old senior studying sociology
at UNC-Greensboro, said he’s
struggling to pay for school and
is working to organize a caravan
of students for the protest.
“It’s becoming more of a luxu
ry every day. It’s really no longer
something you can just expect to
do after high school because it’s
becoming really difficult, espe
cially for working-class families,
people of color and immigrants,”
said Miranda, whose family im
migrated from Ecuador when he
was 9.
But the cost increases the pub
lic university system’s president
„is recommending are well below
what campus leaders said they
needed and will make up just 17
percent of the $414 million cut
by state legislators last year. The
budget cut forced the 16 univer
sity campuses and the School of
Science and Math in Durham to
drop more than 3,000 employees,
cut library hours at Appalachian
State University and UNC-Wilm-
ington, and prevent hundreds of
North Carolina Central Univer
sity students from enrolling in
general education math courses,
according to a UNC System re
port on the impact of reduced
funding.
“I believe that these recom
mendations balance the cam
puses’ demonstrated need for
increased resources with the lim
ited ability of many students and
families to sustain further tuition
increases in this tough economy,”
UNC System President Tom Ross
said in a letter to board members.
“This modest infusion ' of new
revenues will help to stabilize
campus operations and give our
campuses limited relief from
years of continuous budget cuts.”
The undergraduate North Car
olina resident student pays an av
erage tuition and fees of $5,294
a year, not including books and
living expenses. It is higher at the
system’s two flagship schools,
with UNC-Chapel Hill students
paying $6,823 and North Caro
lina State University charging
$6,964.
Ross is recommending rais
ing those costs by an average of
8.8 percent when the new aca
demic year starts in August. The
bills would increase by 4.3 per
cent, or $199, next year at UNC-
Pembroke. At the high end, costs
would rise by 9.9 percent at UNC-
Chapel Hill, UNC-Asheville,
Winston-Salem State University,
Western Carolina University, and
the UNC School of the Arts. That
means tuition increases ranging
from $447 at WSSU to $676 at
UNC-Chapel Hill.
The average increase would
be less than the 9.3 percent hike
approved last year. The universi
ty board has wrestled with over
shooting a self-imposed limit on
tuition increases of 6.5 percent a
year.
Ross proposed increasing tu
ition by another 4.2 percent on
average for the 2013-14 academ
ic year, though Fayetteville State
University students would see no
further increase.
Out-of-state undergraduate
students can expect an increase
next fall averaging 5.2 percent,
increasing their bill by $923 to
$17,995. Campuses are
(Continued On Pge 2)
OUT OF THE RAIN - These two young people were
participants in the Martin Luther King, Jr./Black His
tory Month Parade Sat., Feb. 4. See related pictures
Union expresses support for
Greenville workers
GREENVILLE (AP) - Union representatives are ex
pressing their support for public employees in Green
ville, who say they’re concerned about dignity, fairness
and respect on the job.
The Daily Reflector of Greenville reported that rep
resentatives of UE Local 150 held a news conference
Feb. 1 to express their support. Also attending the news
conference were officials from the Pitt County Coali
tion Against Racism and the local NAACP chapter.
Sanitation workers conducted a brief work stoppage
Nov. 9 to protest working conditions. They later met
with two city council members and representatives of
the state chapter of the NAACP.
NAACP files lawsuit over NC
county voting rules
GREENSBORO (AP) - The NAACP has filed a law-
suit over a North Carolina law that will leave thousands
of Guilford County residents without representation on
the local board of commissioners until 2014.
The civil rights group filed the complaint in federal
court Feb. 2, saying the state law passed last year vi
olates the constitutional principal of one person, one
vote.
The General Assembly approved a law last year that
changes the way Guilford County commissioners are
elected. The number of commissioners is being reduced
from 11 to nine, and a new district has been created.
But that district won’t be allowed to elect a commis
sioner until 2014. The lawsuit says at least one other
district will have two commissioners instead of one.
Hearing planned for Greenville
city workers
GREENVILLE (AP) - Public employees in the city
of Greenville are invited to participate in a public hear
ing that the NAACP is sponsoring about their working
conditions.
The Daily Reflector of Greenville reported that the
hearing will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at South Green
ville Recreation Center. The NAACP says all city em
ployees are invited to discuss work-related issues.
State NAACP leader the Rev. William Barber will
lead the panel.
The sanitation workers conducted a brief work stop
page in November to protest working conditions. Sup
porters say a management-employee committee set up
to discuss problems isn’t working.
A city spokesman says managers needed to be on
the committee to make sure all viewpoints were heard.