DRUG MAKERS HAVE OBLIGATION TO ADDRESS OPIOID EPIDEMIC: In 2016, for the first time, the number of opioid-related deaths in North Carolina (1,518) exceeded the number of people who died in motor vehicle crashes on the state’s roads (1,439). It is a sorry trend that doesn’t yet appear to be changing. That is not acceptable. The companies that make opioids need to be a part of the solution and pay to fix the mess they helped create. This is hardly new or cutting edge. The massive settlement with tobacco companies several years ago has helped pay for smoking cessation programs as well as establish a foundation that’s provided millions of dollars to help tobacco-dependent communities shift and revive their economies. Similar settlements have provided money for energy efficiency and land conservation initiatives. Drug manufacturers should, on their own, recognize their accountability and accept responsibility to fix the deadly mess they in a very large way created. They should work with communities and states like North Carolina to come up with settlements that provide the funding, programs and treatments to stop this deadly epidemic.
http://www.wral.com/editorial-drug-makers-have-obligation-to-address-opioid-epedemic/17498524/

WOODHOUSE WAILS ABOUT SUBPOENA, DOESN'T MENTION SUBPOENA OF WAYNE GOODWIN: The North Carolina Democratic Party wants to question the state Republican Party's executive director under oath to find out what he knew and any communications he had with Republican legislative leaders about a law canceling judicial primaries this year. Dallas Woodhouse, the GOP executive director, called a news conference on Thursday to decry the subpoena ordering him to answer questions from attorneys representing the Democratic Party. "This is an unprecedented overreach that could have very dangerous consequences to our political system and our ability to deliver political debate to the people of North Carolina," Woodhouse said with two Republican candidates for office sitting beside him at the party headquarters. At his news conference, Woodhouse failed to mention that Republican lawmakers had subpoenaed the North Carolina Democratic Party executive director as part of the case, too.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article209356399.html

LARRY PITTMAN SAYS LAWMAKERS WILL HAVE "BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS" IF THEY DON'T ARM TEACHERS: A North Carolina legislator is warning his colleagues that "blood will be on our hands" if teachers and students die as a result of not letting teachers carry guns at school to deal with potential shooters. In an email sent Monday night to all 170 state lawmakers, Rep. Larry Pittman says arming teachers would "provide such a powerful deterrent to those who wish to do harm." The Cabarrus County Republican added that the presence of armed teachers would lead to "a dramatic reduction, if not elimination, of such incidents." Pittman's email was criticized by Kimberly Reynolds, executive director of the N.C. Democratic Party, who said the solution to gun violence in schools is not more guns. "Representative Pittman’s call to arm teachers is dangerous, unproductive, and shows just how far Republicans will go to avoid seriously addressing gun violence."
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article209108594.html

DAN FOREST BABBLES SOME RELIGIOUS NONSENSE ABOUT DEMOCRATS: “You see it on issues like climate change or the Me Too movement or Black Lives Matter or gun control,” he continued. “Name the issue today, the fervor has reached a religious pitch in America. Why? Because it really is the religion of the left.” Real societal and cultural change comes with changes in character, Forest argued. Referencing a push for more gun restrictions, Forest at one point noted that God punished Cain — and not the rock — when Cain used a rock to kill his brother Abel in the biblical book of Genesis. The left, however, “they don’t have a hope in God," Forest said. "They have no hope in a higher power. They are hopeless. They truly do believe that, but for the government, but for the work they do, there’s no hope for America. So, it’s a dangerous place to be.”
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article20...

US, UK, AND FRANCE LAUNCH MISSILE ATTACK ON OUTSKIRTS OF DAMASCUS: The United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, but also stirred up angry responses from Syria's allies and ignited a debate over whether the attacks were justified. Pentagon officials said the attacks targeted the heart of Assad's programs to develop and produce chemical weapons. Defense officials from the countries involved in the attack gave differing accounts of how much warning was given to the Russians, Syria's powerful ally. Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. did not coordinate targets with or notify the Russian government of the strikes, beyond normal airspace "de-confliction" communications. But the description from an ally described things differently. But French Defense Minister Florence Parly said that "with our allies, we ensured that the Russians were warned ahead of time."
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article208899459.html