North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 07/21/1998

It's Tuesday July 21st. Tonight a one on one conversation with Senate candidate John Edwards in North Carolina. Now. Hello a pleasant Tuesday evening to you on Emerita McCray Welcome to North Carolina now. Financial investors have their eyes trained on a Durham based company that is revolutionizing the lighting industry. Tonight we'll tell you about remote source lighting which one day could make the light bulb obsolete. The North Carolina Zoo is expanding its mission of animal preservation. We'll tell you about an outreach program designed to preserve some endangered animals in Africa. But we start tonight here at home with a focus on the 1998 race for U.S. Senate. The election match up between U.S. senator Loch Faircloth and challenger John Edwards is drawing a lot of national attention. Mr. Edwards was scheduled to appear as a guest on

North Carolina now the day after he won the Democratic nomination in May but he canceled due to a scheduling conflict. And we have been trying ever since then to secure an interview but with no success so finally our Shannon Vicary tracked down Mr. Edwards on the campaign trail and she brings us this interview. Tim again we are a little more than four months from the November election at this point. How would you assess your campaign. Well I think things are going extraordinarily well. We won the primary with a seven person field with 51 percent of the vote which we were really excited about. And I think the things that we're talking about in this campaign are things that matter to the people in North Carolina. You have made patients rights legislation a key part of your campaign so far. Why. Well because I think it's critically important. I think it's a very. Timely issue for people in North Carolina right now. People are concerned about the loss of their powers to select their doctor and to make medical decisions along with their doctor and I think it's it's a

very important issue to people here in the state. Specifically if you are going to advocate a patients rights bill what would it look like. Well there are some simple things I think it has to include. One is it needs to give people the power. People in this state the power to select their doctor a much wider range of choice of their physician. Second it needs to make sure that medical decisions are being made by the doctor in conjunction with the patient and not being made by some health insurance bureaucrat sitting behind a computer screen somewhere. Those folks are qualified to make those decisions and they shouldn't be making. I mean they're just those decisions ought to be made by the doctors and the patients. I think those are the two most important things. I think there are some practical ways to do make those two things happen. I think they're the two most important things like for example some of the contracts between physicians and HMO those have what's called gag clauses which prohibit the doctor from talking about all the range of treatment options available to the patient. I think those are

an abomination they shouldn't exist and they ought to be outlawed. That's an example. I also think we need to be sure that patients who need cancer therapy chronic care are able to get the kind of long term care they need and that folks who need to be seen by specialists are able to see a specialist without going back and forth 15 different times to their primary care physician. Those kind of things are things that we need to do something about and women ought to be able to select an o be g y and as their primary care physician. I mean just very simple things. But it really all boils down to two concepts one is more selection more more autonomy in selecting their doctor. And second that medical decisions are being made by the doctor and the patient the besides patients rights. What other issues are you pushing with your campaign. Well the two biggest issues for me are patients bill of rights and education and education actually is at least as important maybe more important than patients bill of rights. I think it's

critical that we provide the kind of support for public education here in the state of North Carolina that it deserves. It is the absolute backbone of everything we do in this state and in this country. And I have some fairly specific ideas about things that ought to be done. What are some of those ideas. Well I've been spending at least part of a day in a classroom as I've gone through this campaign over the last several months so that I don't have to guess about what's happening in our school system and that's something I intend to do after I'm elected to the Senate because I think you have to see firsthand what's happening. It is amazing the consistency of what you hear from teachers from kids from people who work in the school system. We need to reduce class size teachers. I just came from the school about an hour ago here in RA just outside of Raleigh. And the number one priority I just heard it there and I hear it everywhere is we can't have too many kids in each classroom. The kids can't learn as much and the teachers can't do their job. I mean for example the school I just came

from had an average of 29 kids per classroom. It's just too many. We need to reduce the class size. That's number one. Number two we need to make sure we have resources in the classroom particularly technology. Everybody knows that kids are going to have to know how to use and operate computers and we've got to provide them with the resources to do that. Third is we need some afterschool programs particularly in selected areas so that kids can be off the street they're able to learn. My wife and I started learning center for kids here in Raleigh along with some other folks a few a couple of years ago and I've sort of seen firsthand what impact these programs can have on children's lives and it's really phenomenal. I mean it's a wonderful wonderful thing to see them feel good about themselves to see their grades improve to see their self-esteem improve. I mean it's just it's a wonderful thing to behold. I mean we can't we can't make every child zoom in outer space but we can sure put them on the launching pad. And I think that's something we have a responsibility to do.

Nationally over the last few months the failed tobacco bill has been a big issue in Washington with the U.S. Senate. How do you feel about national tobacco legislation. Well I would have voted against the tobacco legislation that was before Congress at the at the end the tax was too high. It would have had to dramatic effect on the people of North Carolina. I started with a simple proposition. I think it is. It would be my responsibility to be a powerful advocate for North Carolina's tobacco farmers and tobacco workers. And that is the absolute top priority. Everything else. There is someone speaking up for all the other interests you know when the original tobacco settlement was negotiated. You know that the the people who had allegedly been injured by cigarettes and and the cigarette companies they were at the table. North Carolina's tobacco farmers were not and neither were North Carolina's tobacco workers. And I think they're entitled to an ad to get to. And what I want to do is be a powerful advocate

for those two groups of people that tobacco farmers in the tobacco workers because I think they're entitled to it. You have made a commitment in your campaign not to accept PAC money and you say if elected that you don't want to be tied to any special interest in Washington. What do you say to folks who question your ties to trial lawyers and wonder whether or not you'll be beholden to this group if elected. Well first of all I'm not beholden denigrate. I mean I drew a bright line when his campaign started a voluntary bright line. I mean other candidates take money from PACs and they take them from a large variety of PACs. I don't believe I can take money from those people and do the job that I need to do. I'm also not taking money from Washington lobbyists because I don't want to see these guys every day when I'm in the Senate. I want to be able to listen to what they say but recognize that my responsibility is to the people of North Carolina and not to them. And I don't ever want it to end or my my so and so lobbyist gave so and so money to my campaign.

My simple solution to both those problems was to voluntarily draw a bright line and take no money from either group. Now what that means is I have to raise money from individuals. I am a lawyer. I've been practicing law for almost 20 years about 20 years now and I think it's I take it as a good sign that people in my profession know about me and respect me and believe in my integrity and want to support me. Well Mr. Edwards thank you so much for spending some of your time with us. Glad to be here. Thank you very much. And we're in the process of scheduling an interview with incumbent senator Locke haircloth possibly for some time next week I'll say Shannon we'll be taking an in-depth look at some of the issues being debated in the Senate race and we'll bring you that report in early August. Well still ahead on the program a revolutionary new lighting source that is shining bright with investors. But first here's Michel Louis with a statewide news summary. Thanks Maria. Good evening everyone. Topping our news the State House Appropriations Committee

approved a twelve point $3 billion budget early this morning. In a move sure to ignite debate. The Republican led committee voted 32 to 30 to eliminate all expansion money for Smart Start Governor Hunt says he will veto the final budget. If it does not include money to expand Smart Start statewide. The House plan also significantly cuts the funding for juvenile justice reforms recommended by hunt. The budget also includes more than $200 billion in tax cuts. The plan calls for eliminating the last 2 percent state sales tax on food. It would also increase the personal income tax exemption and eliminate the inheritance tax. These and other key differences between the House and Senate proposals could lead to extended negotiations in order to reach a compromise. The full House will vote on the budget tomorrow a special two week filing period for congressional candidates is over. During the latest round of filings for the September primaries seven new candidates entered the race and two candidates withdrew the newly drawn 12th District attracted the most candidates. Six Republicans vying for the GOP nomination incumbent Mel Watt will face one Democratic

challenger in a related story the State Board of Elections has announced that all unaffiliated voters who cast a ballot in the primary will have to vote with the same political party in the September primary. However unaffiliated voters can choose to change their registration to vote for a candidate of another party. Registration closes on August 21st. Cancer researchers from Duke University and other medical centers told lawmakers in Washington that they are still a long way from curing the disease and will lose ground without major funding for new treatments. The director of Dooks Comprehensive Cancer Center testified at a congressional hearing that insurance companies and HMO will resist paying for patients enrolled in clinical trials even when no other treatment is available. The hearing was held in the wake of a furor over an article in The New York Times on two promising anti-cancer drugs. The article quoted a prominent cancer researcher as saying the drugs discoverer is going to cure cancer in two years. The state Ports Authority is reporting its biggest revenue loss ever. The authority lost $1.4 billion in the year that ended June 30th which is also its first law since

1993. The Wilmington board in particular lost $2.1 billion. Port officials say while the economic crisis in Asia and a drop in the wood pulp market played a role. The biggest obstacle is the shallow 26 mile channel up the Cape Fear River to the Wilmington Port Authority is seeking federal and state money to deepen the channel. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather high is in the mountains will reach into the mid to upper 80s. The rest of the state will see temperatures in the mid 90s up to around 100 degrees partly sunny and mostly sunny skies will cover the entire state for Wednesday. In business news three energy companies have announced a joint venture to take advantage of deregulated energy markets in the southeast Piedmont natural gas AGL resources and diner. GM will come together to form South star energy services and will offer unregulated energy products and services to customers across the southeast. South star will begin with services marketed toward industrial and commercial customers and eventually expand service to residential customers. Bass Pro Shops is planning to open an outdoor world mega

store and hotel in Cabarrus County. The Commerce Department announced that the company will open a one hundred forty thousand square foot retail facility and 300 room Embassy Suites Hotel at the Concord Mills Mall in 1999. The new facilities are expected to create hundreds of new jobs while the area and generate millions of dollars in tourism revenue. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. In. An. Open. In.

Remote source lighting a North Carolina based company that manufactures a revolutionary new lighting source could be on the verge of going public with its stock. A dirham company is investigating various financing options as it rapidly expands its production capacity and product development for Billy Barnes shed some light on remote sourced lighting. The incandescent light hasn't changed all that much since Tom Edison turned night into day in 1879. Light bulbs are awfully fragile. They suck up a lot of power and they have to be replaced over and over again. How many North Carolinians does it take to replace a light bulb. Just one. Dr Isaac Horton inventor of the light pump which is commanding the attention of Engineers and investors throughout the world.

Don't expect to be wowed by the looks of the light pumps. It's a plain black box with fiber optic cable protruding from it. The light source is inside the box and it pumps light through the cable much like water is forced through a hose. The impressive part is on the other end. Bright light pouring out of the cable through whatever type of fixture you choose. A small lamp or a large chandelier. Look ma no bulb no heat no electricity just bright cool illumination. If you prefer coloured light there's a pump equipped with little filters that can make the light change color as often as you like. Dr Horton's light pump may make neon lighting obsolete neon tubes are hot easily shattered and full of toxic gases. The light pumps tubing is cool can't break and uses no gas and it consumes less electricity than. The man who started the light

pump revolution is a Goldsborough native whose family background profoundly affects his business style. One entrepreneur and we love to talk about our business. Number two I'm the son of a preacher man that the grandson of a creature preacher man. And I think I've got to live that old Baptist spirit in me as well. But I would never know but I'll try to put it in a box for you. The company has locations in Irvine California. We have a facility in San Juan Capistrano. We do our research. There are a lot of our manufacturing there. We have of course the facility here in research triangle park with our corporate headquarters being here. And then a manufacturing facility across the street from us. We also have about 10000 square feet in Brussels where we're building our video screens. We have offices in Tokyo and Australia.

We have offices in Atlanta Los Angeles Chicago where we have sales offices that that services those areas. Founded in 1995 remote source liveing International has sold well over 10 million dollars worth of light pump product. It's spectacular backlit signs and light filled stereo to add pizzazz to the television studios of MSNBC. Super Bowl contenders rush onto the field beneath fancy lettering illuminated by light pumps Ruby's restaurants and Taco Bells. The AirTouch building in San Francisco. A church in Washington D.C. Bally's Casino and supermarket refrigerators all wear brighter faces because of this revolutionary type of light. The light prompt saves up to 95 percent on your electric bill and requires maintenance only every 10 to 20 years. There's no electricity at the light source so if you need to shorten the

cable you just whack off a piece. No electrical contractors license needed. The light pumps safely illuminates problem areas such as swimming pools shower stalls children's rooms and nursing homes and it may show up soon in your living room. The moment you plug you turn a light bulb on a conventional light bulb it begins to down and when they say that it will last. Oh no. One thousand hours or five thousand hours and they don't tell you that during that time they're getting dimmer and dimmer and dimmer. So most people don't recognize it when they go into their homes that if they put all the bugs in at the same time that you know two or three months later the house is 50 percent darker than it was at the beginning. Without perpetual light source it does not. It only damns if we want it to do because there is no filament to burn away the perpetual light source

is this company's latest breakthrough. It looks like something that fell off a space ship but in fact it's a spherical light bump that puts out as much illumination as 68 100 watt bulbs. It's light sources of sulfur compound which when stimulated by microwaves gives off a bright light that is intensified by a patented process and forged through the table. Trial runs indicate this device will run 20 years before the light source needs any maintenance. Isaac Horton and his staff of scientists are not in this game alone. They've negotiated partnership agreements with dozens of giants including Connie Addison of New York Carolina Power and Light optical cable Corp. and Yamma Giwa Corporation one of Japan's largest lighting companies. Horton and his corporate partners share technology marketing efforts and profits. It's just amazing that once you free yourself of the shackles of the light

your imagination can run while remote source lighting has recently formed a venture with two Japanese companies to produce and sell illuminated traffic signs in Japan. In. The North Carolina Zoo near Asheboro is very involved in programs to save endangered species. Now most of those efforts take place here in North Carolina. But as Maria Lundberg explains some of them happen far away from home. Visitors to the North Carolina Zoo can see many endangered animals including the

African elephant placed on the endangered species list. In 1989 African elephants have been brought to the brink of extinction due to poaching for their ivory tusks. By studying this captive population zookeepers can help these animals to survive. The North Carolina Zoo is known for its onsite work in the area of species preservation. But now the zoo has gone one step further by taking that expertise from North Carolina to Africa. Chief veterinarian Mike Loomis is involved with a project in Cameroon a location where increased interaction is causing problems for people and elephants. The elephants are at risk from the people from being shot. They're poached for ivory or for meat. And also they're occasionally shot as a nuisance animal may often pose a threat to the people because they directly threaten the crops that the people grow. A herd of elephants can pull and decimate villages

entire food supply for a year in one night. If a herd of elephants is large enough Also they can damage Hut's people's property and occasionally they can even kill people so it's not only a situation where there's there's a problem with the people harming elephants but also elephants harming people. In May 1998. A team from the zoo spent three weeks in Cameroon working with the world wide fund for nature on an elephant conservation project. The goal was to place tracking collars on dominant female elephants in different herds along with Dr Loomis. The team included anesthesiologist bill horne and public relations manager Rod Hackney who videotaped the procedures. The terrain outside the river areas was very open Sylvana brush type of terrain which was very good for tracking animals but once they got near the river it was a totally different situation because

it was very dense thick undergrowth and we were literally at times having to hack our way through it with a machete. We at times work could be as close as 60 yards away from a herd of 60 to 80 elephants and we could hear them actually hitting calling to each other and trampling the underbrush but we couldn't see them. And so it was very dangerous that they. Didn't go. With the help of professional trackers. The group was able to locate a herd of elephants to attempt the first procedure approaching within 60 yards. They targeted the animal that would be collared dart them with a tranquilizer dart. And then with the drug combination we would use it using the animals one would actually go down into a sternal position. In about seven to 10 minutes. That's a very bad position for elephants. It has two certain features of their anatomy and physiology. So the first thing I would do is really an alliance side once we got the animal rolled on its side we carried oxygen with us

into the field and we would rest with analysts with the oxygen just as a couple of things that makes the whole procedure much safer for the animal. And it also allows the animal to come up from the anesthesia will it quicker than it would if it didn't have the oxygen. It. Once we have the animals and then supplies and the callers were placed like animals each collar contains two transmitters one uses radio frequencies so the animals can be located from short distances. The other transmitter sends its signal to a satellite for following the animals on a long term basis. Once the following procedure was completed and injection reversed the anesthesia I think she she may come up relatively fast and hard to film within two minutes. The elephant was up and on her way to rejoin that herd with no ill effects. Another elephant from a different herd was also collared on this trip. The data from these tracking collars is now helping conservationists to determine migration patterns.

By finding out precisely where these elephants are moving to day by day. The idea then is that we can come up we can help the scientists in the field to decide where to put fencing where to try to prevent the elephants going so they are not conflicting all the time with people. The trip was successful not only for the colouring effort but also for the first time use of the respiration procedure. I think it really tells something about the quality of the staff that we have here and the knowledge that we have on staff here at the North Carolina Zoo and how we can really have an impact with conservation programs not only here in North Carolina but around the world. What we see in a country like Cameroon is both an opportunity for us to learn to show what we do on the side here to relate it to the problems in North Carolina human population deforestation and pollution you name it. Its the same problems but but also to give a helping hand which in the end will have a significant effect on on the whole global

conservation. And the same team plans to return to Cameroon in February to put tracking collars on more elephants and other parts of the country. And that's all we have time for tonight. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you tomorrow. Good night. It's Wednesday July 22nd. Tonight finding answers to the fog

waste problems in North Carolina. Hello thanks for joining us on Merida betray. Tonight on North Carolina now our interview will focus on efforts to define good teaching a group of educators has set out to come up with that definition in order to determine what is expected of our classroom teachers. Our guest tonight is heading up that project. Also tonight outdoor dramas define summertime in North Carolina. This evening we profile horde in the West. But first concern over environmental problems plaguing our state. North Carolina is wrestling with difficult issues relating to our huge hog industry. There are pork producers who consider themselves under siege neighbors living near hog farms. Concern about odor and

citizens worried about the threats hog waste poses to water quality. All this has added urgency to figuring out better ways to treat swine waste and to reduce odor from hog farms. Tonight producer Bob Gardner takes a look at some of the options under examination. Basically all the states hog waste problems result from the fact that more nutrients come into North Carolina than go out. We bring in nitrogen phosphorus and many other nutrients from around the country. In terms of feed we export a lot of meat. But when not we are still in a net sink for nutrients. I'm trying to create market products and markets that can correct that move these materials off the farm and if possible out of North Carolina. Until that happens problems will continue with water quality and with Oger which has spurred a great deal of protest. NC State researcher John Clawson is part of a large waste management task force that includes a colleague from Duke

University. She's taken samples of the backs of drapes of cereal boxes in her in their cupboards and brought those back with very high levels of identifiable folders. Dr Mike Williams is director of the animal and poultry waste management center at N.C. State University. He supervises one on campus lab that evaluates commercially develop products designed to be added to ways to reduce its odor. The center has been contacted by over 700 companies most of whom don't pursue the contact once they find out there's a charge to have their product tested. So far 15 products have been evaluated in this lab with three appearing to have real promise. Once purified air is blown across the waste sample so that odor is captured on a cotton swatch which is then bottle the air samples are sniffed by panelists who rate the odor on a graduated scale. This is a very offensive odor. I personally would classify it as

the six to seven. Range. Since having people come in to sniff air samples is expensive and time consuming. John Clawson is working on a way for instruments to replicate the function of the human nose. So that results can be obtained more quickly. He's also working on a system for passing exhaust air from whorehouses through what he calls a bio filter bio filter. It's a physical structure of a mixture of Pete and compost of various components. It's kept moist and it reduces odor by absorbing the odors molecules and then microorganisms that are present in that material actually consume those organic molecules as food and energy. Since odor and waste also result from insufficient oxygen air raiding to lessen the odor is being thoroughly examined. But the most promising and efficient way of combating odor may be to treat the waste more extensively to get it into a form that useful by

enhancing the treatment by doing a good job with product recovery and recovery nutrients and not allowing the degradation to take place along the pathways that lead to odor. We can produce the products we're looking for we can export nutrients and we'll end up in improving the situation itself which leads into the main purpose for the waste management center's research facility outside Raleigh NC State other animal research units here. The basic idea is demonstrating commercially applicable methods of turning swine and other animal waste into a product that has its own value like compost or fertilizer. They all seem to be based on mixing the animal waste with some type of vegetative waste peanut halls or wood shavings for example not only to make the dryer but to add carbon to improve nutritional value. There are targeted carbon nitrogen phosphorus moisture ratios that enhance that process to its optimum.

That's what we want to identify not only for composting but any type of application that we would be evaluated in this type of facility. The mixture still has to be dried further to help in that process is first turned into pellets after we reach the desired moisture that we've spoken of in the mixture. The product comes into the machine and it's pressed through these holes in the dye actually squeezed through. We have several different sizes. We can make different different sizes. And then we can vary the speed at which is delivered through the day and vary the speed of the cutter and we can actually get pissed off at different lengths. The pellets then go into a large bed dryer and onto the tanks where other materials can be added to improve usefulness as compost or fertilizer in a quite different application. Animal tissue can be mixed with vegetative matter then fermented to produce a product that can be added to poultry feed. All this has obvious commercial implications.

I feel that there will be an opportunity for small businesses to take a turn key approach with some of these technologies that they could provide for the producers that are growing the animals in some of the counties where we have intense applications. Governor Hunt has given Mike Williams and other members of the waste task force a heavy responsibility to come up with workable answers to North Carolina's swine waste problems soon. We're unlike some other researchers who work in relatively unnoticed fields. Their efforts are in the glare of the public spotlight and the clock is ticking and this report just scratches the surface of all the research underway in the state to find answers to the hog waste problem. There are at least a dozen other faculty members at NC State alone who are doing research in this area. Well coming up on North Carolina now we'll take you back to the Days of Daniel Boone. But first here's Mitchell Lewis with a summary of today's statewide headlines. Thanks Maria. Good evening everyone. Topping our news President Clinton is expected to travel to

Raleigh next week to campaign on behalf of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Edwards. Clinton is tentatively planning to attend a rally and fund raiser for Edwards on July 30th Edwards faces incumbent Republican senator Loch Faircloth in the November election. The White House is also looking at other North Carolina stops including a possible visit to the New River in the northwestern part of the state. The New River has been nominated by Clinton for designation as one of 10 American heritage Rivers state commerce officials are also lobbying for the president to attend a meeting of Governor Hunt's work. First Business Council two of the state's prospective gubernatorial candidates have attracted national attention for their opposing views on a statewide education issue. Lieutenant governor Dennis Wicker's planned to give free tuition to all students attending community college directly after finishing high school was outlined in a USA Today editorial. The newspaper also presented and presented rather an opposing viewpoint from House Majority Leader Leo Doughtery Doughtery said. Federal tax credits and already low tuition costs do away with the need for free tuition. Walker

believes that a 14 year education is nothing short of a necessity in our society. A study of second quarter campaign finance report shows House Republicans and Senate Democrats hold a large financial lead over their minority party counterparts. Republican representatives have 64 percent of the total cash on hand for the entire house while in the Senate Democrats possess 82 percent of the campaign funds. The same was found true for party committees and the House GOP caucus has 78 percent of the reported funds. And in the Senate the Democratic Committee has 83 percent. The state court of appeals says local social service agencies that remove children from the custody of their parents must sometimes address educational needs that go beyond typical schooling. The ruling upholds a lower court decision which required the Durham County Department of Social Services to provide tutoring for a 12 year old boy removed from his mother's home. The Department of Social Services had argued against the additional responsibility claiming the lower court exceeded its authority by ordering the tutoring. The house environment committee will be debating a bill intended to block

rules governing the reduction of nutrients flowing into the news river and its tributaries. Environmental groups are concerned about the legality of the bill. A Sierra Club spokeswoman says the settlement of a lawsuit between the environmental protection agency and the noose river foundation will make nutrient reduction a legal requirement instead of a goal. And if the General Assembly weakens the buffer rules the state will have no choice but to seek nutrient reductions elsewhere including from municipalities. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather high temperatures will be in the 80s in the mountains. The rest of the state will see highs in the mid 90s partly sunny to mostly sunny skies or in the forecast across the state. And there's a slight chance for afternoon thunderstorms in most areas. In business news the state Senate has voted to approve House changes to a package of incentives for Nucor and Federal Express. The bill includes provisions giving FedEx $115 billion in tax breaks over 20 years. The package delivery company plans to build a $300 billion regional shipping hub that will employ up to 1500 people. Nucor will receive 160 $1

billion in tax breaks for steel mill and heard from County Governor Hunt is expected to sign the bill into law sometime tomorrow. Duke Energy has announced plans to acquire the crude oil pipeline gathering and marketing business of Deiner G incorporated energy which has operations in Oklahoma Louisiana and Texas is being purchased for nearly $55 million. Duke Energy's vice president says the agreement will expand the market presence of Charlotte based Duke Energy significantly. The purchase will more than double the company's crude oil sales and give Duke Energy more than 400 employees in Oklahoma. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. In. On.

What is good teaching in an effort to improve the quality of education in North Carolina and to establish the standard by which all teachers are measured the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards Commission is setting out to find an answer to that question. The grant group hopes that once good teaching is defined. Our state's educators will be better able to meet the expectations. Joining me now is Thomas Blanford the executive director of the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards Commission Mr. Blanford Welcome to the

program. Thank you. Great to be here. Tell our viewers first a little bit about the mission of your organization. Well as you mentioned everybody has experience with teaching with good teaching and we hope either themselves or with their children or maybe employers in their interaction with school. But when it really comes down to defining what good teaching is. People have many different points of view. So the mission of the Teaching Standards Commission is to gather input from all over the state from parents from teachers from university from employers and really come to a consensus on what is good teaching. And from that we hope that we can then develop standards for high quality teaching and ways to help our teachers meet those standards. That to me seems like it would be an awfully difficult task. Different children respond to different approaches in the classroom. How can you define one standard as to what is good teaching.

Well that's a good point. And what it leads us toward is expecting that a good teacher will have a large repertoire a tool box full of ways to reach all the different children that we have to reach in our schools. And that's one thing that's really changed in teaching since I started 15 years ago which is now we have higher standards for our students. It's no longer adequate to have students who do not read at a certain level or who do not do mathematical computation. We no longer have the unskilled careers that we used to have that can absorb these children. So now what we have to do is we have to really take seriously the cliché that all children can learn we have to do that in the schools and who has to do with teachers and so high quality teachers really need to have a wide variety of resources and tools at their disposal so they can reach every children in our school. Once you have defined what is good teaching what do you do with that information.

Well once we've gotten consensus on what is good teaching then we're going to move on from there to write a document to describe good teaching at elementary middle and high school and the different subject areas then we're going to develop assessments that will help us and help teachers learn where they are on this scale what do they need to improve and then we hope to help marshal the resources to help our educators improve their skills and to reach the high standards we set for them. We've been hearing so much in the news lately about this teacher competency testing. Where does that fall in line with what your organization is doing. Well on our commission we have nine or 10 highly accomplished teachers and one of them is a member of the assistance team that's been working in the low performing schools. And from talking to her and from other members of the assistance teams the commission doesn't believe that the essential problem in low performing schools is lack of basic skills which is how that test Velho lack of basic skills in the teacher and the teachers.

Right. And so we're not so enthusiastic about testing teachers basic literacy. In fact we agree with the State Board of Education on this but we do recognize that there are skills and there are teachers that have deficits that need to be addressed and that we're not all teaching at the level we would like to. And so we would rather focus on what needs to be done rather than punishing people who don't meet somebody standards. Do you feel as though as the state struggles to improve its educational system that teachers are getting an unfair share of the blame. Oh absolutely absolutely. There's a growing body of research that indicates that the single most important factor in student achievement is high quality teaching and the teachers and the teaching profession wishes to provide this high quality teaching. I don't know one teacher who says we're good enough. Every teacher I know is looking constantly for ways to

improve and to do that in an environment with the pay not being what it needs to be with conditions and many of our schools not optimum. For high quality teaching to have there be lack of resources that have schools that are too large to be working in that environment and really tearing their hearts out trying to educate all of the children. But at the same time to be suffering from bows and arrows and slings from all over people who are just just being so negative about the teaching profession and about what teachers are trying to do it really takes a lot of courage to be a teacher these days. So what I'm getting from your answer is that there is a consensus among the teaching profession that they want to elevate the entire profession. The standards of all teachers so I think that's absolutely true. One of the things that many people outside of the schools don't understand is that really nobody has a better interests or a stronger interest in high quality teaching

than do teachers themselves. So for example if you're a third grade teacher and the second grade teacher doesn't quite measure up. Your job is a third grade teacher is just tremendously more difficult. Or if you teach algebra 2 and the children coming into your classroom don't have a strong foundation in Algebra 1. Then you can't be a successful algebra teacher. And with the new ABC accountability program we're now rewarding or punishing teachers as this as a whole by school. And so if the whole faculty is not doing their job then no individual teacher can receive a reward. So that's just an additional incentive for teachers to be very interested and very committed to raising the quality of of themselves and of their college. Mr. Blanford Hopefully once you get the good teaching to find you come back and share that with us. Meantime thanks for the input tonight. Thank you very much. And if you would like more

information about the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards Commission you can call 9 1 9 7 1 5 2 3 3 9. 8. 9. The story of settlers in the Southern Appalachian Mountains during the time of the American Revolution is the setting for Horn in the west of North Carolina's longest running outdoor drama as the drama follows frontiersmen Daniel Boone and his band of mountain settlers as they struggle against the British militia. Producer Bill Hanna takes us there.

Attending a performance of Born In The West is a complete experience. You could start with a picnic on the ground. He won it all and welcome to the Hickory which homestead in the Horn in the West. The town crier will announce the show and a course it seems to work songs always escape me. The show you can visit the Hickory Ridge homestead where authentic period cabins from the area have been moved to the location and each features regular demonstrations a pioneer life and culture. The show itself features dancers singers and a tightly written script by Kermit Hunter. It's just after the show. The audience is invited on stage to meet the actors. One of the most popular autographs is of course that Wes Martin plays. You'll be playing a well-known historical figure.

It is a challenge for the actor he is a real raccoon and to me is to try to make him a human being show the human spirit because when they were doing what they were doing much of the time they didn't realize they were going to be a legend. Daniel Boone probably never knew he would be in an outdoor drama that any of this would have happened to him any time in his in his past hundreds of years after his death. So he was just a human being and I try to show that side of. This is Wes Martin's first year is Daniel Boone and it's bud Mays first year as a director. I'm at the point in my career where I like a challenge. I like a directing challenge and the shows I choose to direct now are shows that are difficult to do an outdoor drama or difficult to do in terms of scale and that's always. The problems always people finding the right people for the job but there are wide scale people to work out. I the big people with big voices that can also act and sing and dance and that's that's problem. And then there's the problem of staging it with you just making it fit this arena with the wind blowing with with a thousand people in the house. That's that's the kind of problem.

That we're both Martin and Mays have been with the show in other capacities in past years. They are typical of the many people who were turned year after year. There is a warmth and loyalty to the show that is expressed by the staff and by the citizens of Boone and Watonga County with all my 47 year history we've been very very fortunate. That the majority of businesses here will target killing the citizenry. We've got a lot of longtime citizens. They have always been behind horn in the West. And it's it takes that local community support for us to exist. Every year we do special events just for the local residents. They come out in droves for that. We're very fortunate that they are they're still behind the warning after 47 years. I mean it actually grew out of a local Centennial pageant. 1949 was the centennial celebration of the formation of your county your home county a group of concerned citizens mostly ladies got together in

the spring of 1951 and. Basically said you know we should we should do this pageant kind of thing and do it in a permanent way. And of course they had the last into the seals to look at as models of medicine that really help the idea that community support is just amazing. It really is the community's show. And I think that the fact that it developed from that centennial pageant has kept that flavor with the show. Tons and tons of individuals and businesses every year contribute time money services all those kinds of things to make sure that it keeps going. The thing that we try to impress upon people is that this show is made up of this year about 56 of the finest actors available in the country. We attend National auditions. We are able to hand pick from a pool of thousands of actors to get the highest quality performers that we can. So the

show it's not just a bunch of college students putting on a show. We've got actors that are well up into their 50s. We've got folks who have worked nationally in television radio moving moving pictures of everything. And what we put on our state is as high a quality as we can make it. And we feel very confident in saying that it will match head to head with any production that anyone can see anywhere in the country from Broadway to to the local local little theater all the 50th season of horn in the West is fast approaching and plans are already being made to rebuild the theater and revitalize the show. One in the West can be seen Tuesday through Sunday until August 15th. You know if you would like Ticket information call it to wait 2 6 4 2 1 2 0. Well that wraps up tonight's edition of North Carolina now. Thanks for sharing part of your evening with us on tomorrow's program we'll bring you the latest details on the state budget negotiations. Plus a victory

takes us to Harker's island to explore how economic development is forcing changes in the lifestyles of many of the island's residents. In the meantime enjoy your evening and make plans to be back with us again tomorrow night. Good night everyone. And. Your city. It's Thursday July 23rd. Tonight lawmakers at odds over budget

issues in North Carolina. Now. Hello I'm Marina McCray Thanks for joining us for this Thursday edition of North Carolina now the State House of Representatives has pushed through its version of the state budget. The $12 billion spending package reflects the priorities of the Republican majority in the house and it differs substantially from the Democratic led Senate version of the budget to bring us up to date on these budget negotiations so we turn to our legislative bureau and John basin. John thanks for joining us tonight. Tom Reid now House members worked into the night last Steve may to come up with their spending package. Now that you've had a chance to look at it how does it differ from what the Senate is proposing. Well Merida certainly one of the biggest differences and one of the major points of contention as the budget

negotiations begin will be smart start the governor's program for early childhood focusing on early childhood as we can see from our graphics. The Senate's had passed in their version of the budget fifty six point six million dollars. The house came in with less than half that but even that amount was a surprise because in the House Appropriations Committee they had voted to take it all out. So they put back 25 million of it yesterday. But in fact that is falls far short of what the Senate and what the governor want and that will be one of the major points of contention as budget negotiations begin and some other items of differences between the House and the Senate. Yes indeed. Juvenile Justice spending on juvenile justice is one of them as you may recall Governor Bush appointed a commission that met between sessions to come up with recommendations to improve Juvenile Justice and the Senate has put in almost 20 million dollars to help fund that. The House says all we need this year. This time around is $6 billion so that's what they've said in their budget. University spending again almost twice as much in the Senate budget as in the house. This is one of the major points of concern when the Senate is reacting to the to the differences in the budget spending

on community colleges again more spending in the Senate than in the house by $12 dollars plus on community colleges and in the environment the house also proposes to spend less than the Senate does the House in fact according to Senate leaders pulls money out of an environmental budget from last year. And the Senate is very unhappy with that problem. That possibility in the area of tax cuts the House is pushing a $200 billion tax cut package that's been pushing since the beginning of the session. That includes a food tax repeal the Senate also goes along on the food tax repeal repealing it later in the year. But as you can see the total of this total of house tax cuts is much higher than the Senate proposes to do. And as you see there the comparisons between spending. Again there are a lot of areas of difference and it's going to take quite a few weeks to hammer them out. John It actually looks as though the House is holding back money in order to fund all those massive tax cuts. Any idea of how those tax cuts break down.

Well again both houses both chambers proposed to repeal the estate tax all the house although the House would do it quicker. The House also wants to increase the personal exemption wants to repeal the inheritance tax which is a big bone of contention at the end of last year. And Senate leaders are basically saying we've got a lot of needs in this state and we're not sure that we can afford in fact they say they're pretty sure we cannot afford all of the tax cuts that the House would like to see. And also there are some non budget items that are included in the House budget that might actually hold some things up once they get to conferring on their differences. Yes there's a there's a whole category of things called special provisions that both the House and Senate have included in their budgets. These are really non budget items. They are these are proposed changes in law that will be on the table for negotiation because they are in one budget or the other. Most of them have very little to do with spending. Among the areas of concern are differences between the two chambers are charter schools. The House wants to lift the cap on the number of charter schools and also change the racial balance law.

The House wants the legislature to be appointing judges so. So there are a lot of differences between the two the two budgets. John what's been the reaction from the Senate to the house this budget. Well Maria we spoke to the leader of the Senate today and got the official reaction from Senator Mark Basnet. Well they're out of balance. One hundred ninety plus million dollars. We will not be able to pay for it in a constitutionally I don't know if we can accept the budget or staff look at it and then the. Present view is that the money is not there to pay the bills for next year's continuation of the budget. So the difficulty of 190 plus million dollars that we're going to have to address in the Senate regardless of a Senate or a house budget or a Democrat or Republican budget you should be in balance. We should not do any deficit spending. And if it means taking on projects that we're involved in in the Senate or the House as we both should do that we should stay in balance. That's something we'll work on and does concern us.

I'm sorry I was going to say that now that the House and the Senate members have to come together on this to come up with a compromise. What's the mood down there are they in the mood to compromise or are we in for a long drawn out fight. I think it's going to be quite a number of weeks Maria that the Senate is saying that the house's tax cuts will throw out the state's budget out of balance in future years. That's what Senator Barack Knight was referring to. It's going to be a number of weeks probably a month plus before we get out of down here. All right John well thank you for the information tonight and I'm sure that you'll continue to keep us posted as you follow this budget debate. Thanks Zoraida. All right. Now while the House budget proposal reflects the priorities of its Republican majority it stands in contrast to several major agenda items supported by House Democrats. Legislative correspondent Sonia Williams brings together two key members of the State House to present a discussion of their differences. Representative George Helms Representative Jim Black thank you both for joining us. After many hours of debate the House has passed its version of a budget. This was a 10 hour debate for you all how much of this debate was a reflection not only of the philosophical

differences between the House and the Senate but between the House Republicans and House Democrats. Well the debate was quite extensive on the floor and in committee. We we met on. Monday afternoon at one o'clock food Appropriation Committee debated the bill. And they accepted all amendments that were offered. And that was 12 and a half hour debate. Then yesterday on the floor of the house we had about 10 hours of debate and it was very extensive. But it was fair it was open. And I have received compliments from. Both sides of the aisle and I think everybody was very pleased that. It was open and everybody got to say what they wanted to offer all the amendments they wanted to. And we're glad it was an open process because everybody was involved.

Was everybody pleased with the debate. Yes it was quite a marathon. But the leadership the Republican side did allow all of our amendments and we discussed that in the beginning and we had all the debate to what extent the content of the debate of course was it was the bone of contention the Democrats with smaller stores our centerpiece we're very disappointed that we didn't put the full amount that 4 million in there that's that's been a. Point that we were we were so adamant about. I was concerned that there was not enough money on the verge of education we would we have taken a billion dollars out of the revenue stream since 1995 in a way of tax cuts which you know as a working person I appreciate tax cuts too and those things are important. Democrats are concerned that we're not in a time of prosperity spending enough on education or start getting our

youngsters off on the right foot with an equal playing field and in our community colleges are concerned here's where we're training and retraining our workers with our fleet equipment. And I think that we should put more money in for. More equipment. And. With the university we need more money for technology. And if we don't invest in time to prosperity I don't know when we're going to do that. So we're a bit disappointed that the process is not over. The budget will now go to the Senate and replicate homes and others will be negotiating the differences. And I'm sure that will end up with a compromise that will hopefully do more for education. You mentioned one perhaps one of the biggest points of contention is the funding for Smart Start. Now the House Budget has cut that funding and giving it to you to help with the developmentally disabled. Are we pitting. Groups against each other by doing this. No we are not. It was determined by our human resource subcommittee. That we needed to

address the needs of the elderly as well as the children. The amount of funding requested by the governor was fifty seven plus million dollars for Smart Start. Which he felt like that we needed to bring all of the counties on board. There were 45 counties there 45 counties that are not in the partnership. Funding to bring them on board was approximately thirty two million dollars. The difference and the fifty seven and thirty two was the expansion money for the existing smart start counties. We felt like that since we had neglected. The needs of the elderly for so long. That we wanted to get all 45 counties on board. Which we would have enough money from the request of the governor to also

provide things for the elderly that we had neglected through the years. So there was sufficient money. I was I was not pleased. The action in the full appropriation. Committee on on Monday night when all of the smart start laundry was. Taken out and put into the. Developmental disability program. And after conversation yesterday I was very much pleased that Representative Alice understood what the problem was. He wanted to help with the disabled population of our state. And he agreed to offer an amendment that would reduce his request for for those those people and leave money

in for a smart start. Now the governor has threatened to veto any budget bill that did not contain funding for smart stock. How much of a concern was this during debate on how much money to get this might start. Well. The great concern is that we were interested in the elderly and disabled or mentally retarded. We've always been interested in those groups and taking care of their needs. And it's so important that we do. What we should do along those lines. We just didn't understand that it was necessary to really was building what he gets the other. There were other places that we thought we can move money but there had to be rules and as to where how much moving around and money is going to occur on the floor and the budget debate or you could be there for several weeks. We thought that the money should come from somewhere else. I think that when the bill goes to the conference I think the money will be there. So there's tremendous support across the state was Marsar there's tremendous

support in the legislature for that and the other good thing that I think that we have done is we've kept the schools act provisions and to to get our teachers to the national average by the year 2000. That's real important to do that in order to maintain good teachers. And that was that was a good part of the budget that there was not in a debate about we're all trying to do that some others wanted to get the teachers average above average. We shouldn't settle for average in the state pension at a time of prosperity. I don't think the governor will have to veto that bill. I think that that folks will see the light and I'm sure that in the final analysis will vote for a compromise bill that will fully fund smart start. And for complete coverage of everything that's transpired this week in the general assembly be sure to catch legislative we can review tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. right here on you and see TV. But right now we head over to Mitchell Lewis at the North Carolina now news desk for more on the events

making news around our state. Thanks Maria. Good evening everyone. Topping our news state attorney general Mike Easley is serving notice that he will move to sue the tobacco industry if a deal between the two cannot be reached easily wants the tobacco industry to comply with a set of terms he has drafted. The terms include compensation commensurate with settlements reached with other states. The banning of outdoor advertisement and the restriction on industry lobbying efforts and the setting aside of 25 percent of settlement money for the purpose of economic aid for tobacco growers and cigarette workers. The terms are reportedly under consideration by all the nation's leading tobacco companies. Governor Hunt signed into law today a two hundred seventy six million dollar industrial recruitment package that includes tax breaks for Federal Express and New Corp. in exchange for the brakes. Nucor will build a 300 million dollar steel recycling plant in Hertford County and FedEx's locating a regional air shipping hub in Guilford County. The bill also includes incentives designed to lure a paper recycling operation and breaks for

companies that are located in inner cities. The House Finance Committee has approved a one billion dollar bond package to assist municipalities in upgrading faltering water and sewer systems. $465 billion would be provided in water and sewer grants to help local governments improve or develop sewage treatment and drinking water systems. The measure provides $320 million in low interest loans and $250 billion to extend natural gas lines to unserved areas of the state legislators are concerned that the state is taking on too much debt. But Senator John Karr sponsor of the bond package says the state actually had more bond debt in 1961 in terms of the ability to pay. Three days before his assassination in 1963 John F. Kennedy told his personal secretary that he was considering Terry Sanford as a running mate in the upcoming 1964 election. Documents released by the National Archives and the Assassination Records Review Board include stenographic notes made by Evelyn Lincoln Kennedy's personal secretary. Kennedy had decided to drop Lyndon Johnson

from the Democratic ticket and thought Sanford then the governor of North Carolina would make a good vice presidential candidate. The Minnesota Twins have pinned a new lease agreement that may keep them in the Twin Cities where at least two more years the agreement will apparently scuttle efforts to bring the team to Charlotte. However leaders of Charlotte's baseball efforts say they're not giving up that new deal will cut the twins lease by one million dollars per season. As long as the twins promise to seek a local buyer the agreement does not guarantee a local buyer or that they will stay in Minnesota long term. The lease still has to be approved by the Minnesota Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission and now for a look at tomorrow's weather. Milder temperatures are expected across the state with highs ranging between the low 80s and the mountains to the upper 80s and low 90s elsewhere. Partly cloudy skies are on tap for the entire state with a chance for afternoon showers and thunderstorms. And in business news one of the country's largest philanthropies has awarded $50 million to a Durham based community development organization. Self-help will receive the grant which is the largest ever given by the

Ford Foundation. That money is intended to leverage two billion dollars in affordable mortgages with 35000 low income first time homebuyers nationwide. Over the next five years self-help started the home loan program in 1994 as an alternative source for banks and borrowers. And North Carolina Greensboro based Burlington Industries says it will open for apparel manufacturing plants in Mexico. A company spokeswoman says the expansion will not result in any jobs lost. The announcement is being viewed with caution in North Carolina where thousands of jobs have been lost due to competition from low wage countries. That Mexico expansion is expected to add about $225 million to Burlington's annual sales in three years. Burlington Industries of the nation's third largest fabric maker first citizens banks and North and South Carolina are forming a partnership that will allow customers to bank branches in either state for citizens of North Carolina based in Raleigh and first citizens of South Carolina based in Columbia or separate corporations although both are controlled by the same holding company customers of

either bank will be able to use 20:00 machines. Cash checks make deposits and do other transactions for free. At first citizens locations throughout the Carolinas the Dow Jones took a major dive today dropping nearly 200 points. Here's a look at the numbers. On. An. Open. Hour. In our.

North Carolina is full of sports tradition. First thought one thing that NASCAR in college basketball but one sport which can't be overlooked is our national pastime baseball sportsmanship camaraderie and the good ole summertime have made baseball an important part of Americana. There was one baseball league here in North Carolina that embraces the very spirit and the roots of the game. Producer Kelly McCollam brings us this report. That Hoeffel plainly team stretching from Durham to the outer banks has a lot in common with the minor leagues like the crack of a wooden bat. The smell of hot dogs and a field full of major league prospects but there are some big differences. All of our kids are college players. They are. Under-class players and that's all that we allow and. They come here with the intention of

who can join the summer. There's no doubt the kids rather play baseball in the summer and go back home and work for the summer so they come here with the intentions of playing one. But also it's a it's a great chance for them to improve their skill level and to showcase their talents in the coastal plain league. Fans don't worry about contract holdouts or American superstars. Instead they find a group of players eager to keep the baseball diamond polished through a strict recipe of hard work determination and sweat. Well in a lot of ways it's pure form of baseball. It's amateur baseball there's no contract holdouts. None of the guys who play for your team and in Wilson or Durham or anywhere else are going to get promoted because someone in Pittsburgh or in Orlando thinks that they need to play at the next level. The kid you got for your season are going to be higher than your team. And the enthusiasm that they take the game on with the hustle is something that really is similar to the college athletics that people around here come comfort with the kids really played hard. And also with that league which is the way that the purists like to see it no ping of aluminum and still you've

got the crack of a bat. And that's an important thing from the fans standpoint and from the players. And that's a big draw for these college players. You can't hit it as far can't get it you have to hit a sweet spot a sweet spot of the bat. If you get jammed it's not going to go anywhere. The pitchers pitch you differently. You know what lot of fastball inside you know. And now you know you hit it that way. Now. All. The. Players who come to the coastal plain league don't have an easy path. Instead of getting a salary they're given a part time job. They need some spending money throughout the season so that's where the part time jobs come in and they work two or three or four hours a day when they can usually at the golf course or at the Wal-Mart or wherever we can get them jobs out at the hardware store. Driving a delivery van whatever they can do. And that money is strictly spending money so they don't have to call home and get you know a hundred dollars from dad.

Most of the time the biggest part time we work from you know we get up around 6:30 in the morning and have to be at work at 8 which would work in Raleigh which is a half hour 40 40 minutes away and we work till three 3:30 sometimes four o'clock even and just go straight to the ballpark from there. Spending money isn't the only thing these major league hopefuls need. Some players far away from home most rely on the generosity of area baseball fans especially those fans with a spare bedroom and a willingness to open their home to an out of town baseball player the opportunity to have some kids living with us was a good time for us. We have grown children as opposed to young so we have little little bit of extra room that don't require a whole lot of room. The truth is they stay very very busy but it's been a very good experience for us. These guys have all chosen to play baseball for nothing and and that's that's where their interest lies. They they pretty much build their life around it and we just provide the backup

cereal and milk. And it's not like college. I guess it's kind of like a modern family or something sometimes. This is a difference between what is good for. You. And. Everyone wished I was here for a nice. Enthusiasm something the pros of struggle to maintain is the key to the success of the coastal plain league. The kids are playing for the love of the game which is I think something that that is sorely lacking these days in pro ball especially in major league ball. Some of them are putting in eight hours a day loading trucks to earn enough money to afford to stay in town for the summer and play ball. So kids with that kind of enthusiasm for the game there's no way you can enjoy seeing those kind of kids play ball. Since its debut season last year the coastal league has moved one team out of Raleigh and into Florida South Carolina and another from Manteo to Eden 10. League officials say the league could expand more fully into South Carolina over the next few

years all in hopes of building America's premier summer Collegiate Baseball League. And 14 of the players from last year's league competition have signed professional contracts and are now playing in the minor leagues. And that wraps up tonight's edition of North Carolina now. Thanks for joining us. Groundbreaking research in the area of heart attacks is taking place right here in North Carolina. So tomorrow we'll hear from you in Chapel Hill researcher whose work may improve the mortality rate of heart attack victims. And tomorrow our story on Harker's Island.

We'll explore the changing character of that coastal community. Economic development is having its impact on the long held lifestyles there. Have a good night everyone and please make plans to be back with us again tomorrow. Good night. It. Is