DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2017
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VOLUME 96 - NUMBER 14
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
North Carolina future uncertain
after ‘Bathroom bill’ reset
By Jonathan Drew and Martha Waggoner
RALEIGH (AP) - Tense negotiations over a deal to undo North
Carolina’s “bathroom bill” gave way March 31 to uncertainty.
Will the compromise Gov. Roy Cooper signed March 30 quash
the furor that made businesses, sporting events, conventions and en
tertainers pull out of the state in a yearlong economic backlash?
State Democratic and Republican leaders say their compromise
will restore North Carolina’s reputation as a welcoming place to do
business, and some business leaders applauded the deal. Others were
doubtful. Some entertainment industry leaders were scornful, and
LGBT advocates expressed outrage.
House Bill 142, titled “AN ACT TO RESET” the law created by
House Bill 2, is not, critics say, a true repeal.
A program of dance, music, poetry, scholarship, and song
were on display on March 25 at Hayti Heritage Center. The pro
gram was co-produced by the Hayti Heritage Center and Soulo-
works/Andrea E. Woods-Valdez featured artists from the area.
See story and photos on page 8.
Key findings from the AP-NORC
poll on President Donald Trump
By Emily Swanson
WASHINGTON (AP) - Nearly 6 in 10 Americans disapprove of
the job Donald Trump is doing as president, according to a new poll
conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs
Research over five days before and after the collapse of a GOP pro
posal to replace former President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Health care was the worst of seven issues for Trump tested in the
poll, but half of Americans approve of his handling of the economy.
Key findings:
-Just 42 percent of Americans approve and 58 percent disapprove
of how Trump his handling his job so far. Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats
and more than 6 in 10 independents disapprove of Trump, while 8 in
10 Republicans approve of the job he’s doing.
-Some 62 percent disapprove of how he’s handling health care.
His ratings are also underwater on handling foreign policy (58 per
cent disapprove), immigration (54 percent) the budget deficit (54
percent) and taxes (54 percent).
-Fifty percent of Americans approve of how Trump is handling
the economy, about the same as the 48 percent who disapprove. Like
wise, Trump’s ratings on Supreme Court nominations are about even,
50 percent approve to 49 percent disapprove.
-Most Americans - 56 percent - describe the national economy
as good, while 43 percent describe it as poor. A year ago, in April
of 2016, just 42 percent described the economy as good in another
AP-NORC poll.
-More than 6 in 10 say the country is headed in the wrong direc
tion. But among Republicans, nearly two-thirds think it’s heading in
the right direction.
-Just a quarter of Americans approve of the job Congress is do
ing, while three-quarters disapprove. There’s relatively little partisan
divide in terms of distaste for Congress.
-More than 8 in 10 Americans call both health care and the econ
omy very important issues. About 7 in 10 call taxes that important,
while about 6 in 10 say the same of immigration, Supreme Court
nominations, foreign policy and the budget deficit.
-Overall, 90 percent of blacks and 66 percent of Hispanics disap
prove of the job Trump is doing, but whites divide more evenly, with
53 percent approving and 47 percent disapproving. Fifty-eight per
cent of whites without a college degree approve of the job he’s doing.
The AP-NORC poll of 1,110 adults was conducted March 23-27
using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak
panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.
The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0
percentage points.
Interviews were conducted online and using landlines and cell-
phones.
Reached through back-room deal-making, it still exposes gay and
transgender people to discrimination whenever they go to a hotel,
restaurant, locker room or bathroom, rights advocates say.
“I don’t know why any of these people thought they could use
the exact secret process and incompetence that got them into this
problem to get them out of this problem,” Mara Keisling, executive
director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in an
interview March 31. She complained that transgender people were
left out of the negotiations.
HB142 has now eliminated HB2’s requirement that transgender
people use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certifi
cates in many public buildings. But the new law also makes clear that
only state legislators - not local government or school officials - can
make rules for public restrooms from now on.
HB2 also invalidated any local ordinances protecting gay or trans-
gender people from discrimination in the workplace or in public ac
commodations. HB142 prohibits local governments from enacting
any new such protections until December 2020.
The ACLU said it’s continuing its legal battle on behalf of trans-
gender residents.
“Many of the provisions of HB142 carry forward problematic
portions of HB2,” the group’s North Carolina legal director Chris
Brook said. He said provisions such as the moratorium on local anti
discrimination ordinances “mirror provisions we’ve already sued
over.”
The stakes are high. An Associated Press analysis this week found
that House Bill 2 would cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost
business over a dozen years. The tally was based on companies and
events that already backed out, meaning that money won’t likely re
turn even with the 2016 law gone.
The response to the “reset” from business leaders was mixed, de
spite an optimistic tone struck by Cooper.
“Companies that I have talked to, companies that I have recruited,
who were hesitant or refusing to bring businesses to our state before
the passage of today’s bill now are telling me: We are coming,” the
governor, said after signing the bill.
The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce thanked Cooper and
Republican legislative leaders “for coming together on a bipartisan
basis to find a solution.”
Bank of America, the largest North Carolina-based company, said
in a news release: “We support this bipartisan measure to repeal HB2
and create the conditions for continued dialogue and progress.”
But some companies responded negatively, such as the Durham-
based advertising agency McKinney.
“As a national agency with a global creative reputation, our suc
cess depends upon attracting the very best talent and clients to Dur
ham. This new bill continues to stand in the way of that,” McKinney
CEO Brad Brinegar said.
IBM, which has a large Raleigh-area operation, also expressed
reservations.
“IBM opposed North Carolina’s H.B.2 because it discriminates
against people for being who they are. We welcome its repeal, but
stronger local nondiscrimination laws should not be pre-empted,”
said the company’s chief diversity officer, Lindsay-Rae McIntyre.
Among the high-profile cancellations was Bruce Springsteen,
who backed out of a Greensboro concert because of House Bill 2.
Asked about the new law, Springsteen guitarist Steven Van Zandt
tweeted: “Hopefully the NCAA will see through this 'fake repeal,’ to
paraphrase our President. The AP can print that!”
Movie director Rob Reiner, an activist for equal rights and major
supporter of Democratic candidates, urged colleagues to continue
avoiding the state, tweeting: “Entertainment leaders: don’t fall for
this 'deal.’ Doesn’t repeal (hash)HB2.”
PAULI MURRAY FAMILY HOME
NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK
EDUCATOR. WRITER.
2016
THIS SITE POSSESSES NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE FOR ITS
ASSOCIATION WITH GROUNDBREAKING AFRICAN AMERICAN
FEMINIST AND EPISCOPAL PRIEST. PAULI MURRAY. THE REV,
DR. MURRAY'S SCHOLARSHIP AND ACTIVISM PROFOUNDLY
SHAPED AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY AND ADVANCED THE
WOMEN'S AND CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Lynch To Receive Honorary
Degree At Duke Commencement
Duke University will award seven honorary de
grees at its commencement exercises on Sunday,
May 14, Duke President Richard H. Brodhead an
nounced Monday.
This year’s recipients include Loretta Lynch, for
mer U.S. attorney general.
Commencement, featuring an address by Duke
alumnus David Rubenstein, a philanthropist and
financier and the current chair of the university’s
Board of Trustees, begins at 9 a.m. at Wallace Wade
Stadium and is open to the public.
Lynch served from 2015-17 as the 83rd Attor
ney General of the United States, the first African-
American woman to serve in that role. She graduated
from Durham High School and her parents still live
in Durham. Lynch, who will also speak at Duke Law
School’s hooding ceremony during commencement
weekend, previously served two separate stints as
U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
While in private practice, she performed extensive
pro bono work for the International Criminal Tribu
nal for Rwanda.
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