School lunch and gangs
School nutrition programs have come to the General Assembly today, saying they need more money. (Click here for the online story on that.) Guilford County is among those looking at a potential shortfall.
Meanwhile, the Senate Rules Committee has moved the House gang prevention bill to the floor. It will be debated in the Senate when a certain Charlotte mayor who happens to be running for governor as a Republican and has made gangs a key part of his campaign platform is in town tomorrow.
When Pat McCrory comes to town, the honorables will be dealing a version of the bill that deals less with rehabilitation, a concern raised by Sen. Martin Nesbitt, whose Judiciary Committee worked on the bill last year.
"Our committee went in the direction of trying to save these young people and extract them from gangs," Nesbitt said.
There was some indication that the "extraction" issue might be taken up in a conference committee.
In case anyone hasn't been paying attention, McCrory is running against Democratic Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue, who will likely preside over the Senate session tomorrow. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether McCrory now gets to declare victory for pushing an anti-gang bill through or whether he will be irked that the Senate is depriving him of the argument that the legislature isn't moving on the issue?
Instant Update: Before I even had a chance to cut and paste into MoveableType, who should walk into to the building by McCrory himself.
"I'd love to lose the political campaign issue of crime," McCrory said.
Click here to listen to more of his answer.
Update: But wait, there's more! After the Senate floor session today, the Rules Committee met yet again on Senate Bill 1358, which addresses the gang prevention side that Nesbitt was talking about.
When asked if this flurry of activity might have anything to do with Democrats trying to help a certain Lt. Governor, Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand said:
"I would argue to you that everything we do in this building or within 400 yards around here has political implications."
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