WCPSS bus driver shortage | Road rage meets castle doctrine
No. 31 — Jul. 30-Aug. 5, 2023
“Back-to-school crisis: Thousands of students will have no way to get to school due to bus driver shortage” - WRAL
The Wake County Public School System is entering the 2022-2023 school year with fewer school bus drivers than routes. This isn’t a new problem, the board has had years to adequately address the shortage of bus drivers in the district. The number of school bus drivers employed by the district has decreased by 23.2% over the past several years. Despite a total annual budget of over $3 billion, the WCPSS so far has not been able to recruit a sufficient number of bus drivers to service the number of students in the district.
“NC economic grants aimed at helping rural communities often go to already booming areas: I-Team” - ABC11
Interested in how our state government is redistributing wealth? ABC11’s investigatory team has published an analysis on $418 million awarded by four state grants awarded over the past thirteen years. A disproportionate amount of the “Economic Development” grant funding was spent in the “Tier 3” counties like Wake and Mecklenburg, which the state uses to classify the counties who are the most economically prosperous. For instance, corporations in Wake County, which accounts for approximately 11% of the state’s population, received 19% of the analyzed grant funding.
“Woman shot man who followed her to north Raleigh Food Lion parking lot, tried to open her car door” - WRAL
Steven McLamb was fatally shot in a Raleigh Food Lion parking lot as he attempted to enter the victim’s vehicle in a “road rage” incident. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman has announced that no charges will be filed against McLamb’s female victim, as reported by ABC11:
"Mr. McLamb was the aggressor," Freeman said. "He followed the other individual into the parking lot and upon getting out of his car -- approaching her car and attempting to get into her car -- she, acting in self-defense, shot and killed him."
North Carolina’s “castle doctrine” (G.S. § 14-51.2) includes a person’s “motor vehicle” as a protected location; you are “presumed” to be justified in using lethal force against an individual who is “in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering” your vehicle:
(b) The lawful occupant of a home, motor vehicle, or workplace is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily harm to himself or herself or another when using defensive force that is intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily harm to another if both of the following apply:
(1) The person against whom the defensive force was used was in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering, or had unlawfully and forcibly entered, a home, motor vehicle, or workplace, or if that person had removed or was attempting to remove another against that person's will from the home, motor vehicle, or workplace.
Followups: Lead contamination in Durham parks
Durham city workers fence off areas in two parks after high levels of lead found - ABC11
Preliminary test results confirm areas of East Durham, Walltown parks contaminated with lead - NC Newsline
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