Courtesy of the Asheville Citizen-Times

Editor's note: this article was originally published on Monday, March 26, 2007.

The Report Card issues grades A through F, and incomplete where necessary, to a variety of news items in this space. Got an idea that makes the grade? Send it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

A -To A-B Tech's Construction Management Technology department and its initiative for "green'' building. Students are working on a 1,250-square-foot home that will meet the energy-saving standards of a NC Healthy Built Home at an affordable price. Along the way, they're learning the skills that will give them a leg up in the burgeoning field of green building. Matt Siegel of the WNC Green Council says 46 certified NC Healthy Built homes are completed and more than 350 are in progress. For more information or to register with the NC HealthyBuilt Homes Program contact: Maggie Leslie, WNC Green Building Council, at 254-1995 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .


I -To Asheville City Council for its "living wage'' initiative. Council is looking at a wage requirement for city employees and city contractors as well as incentives, including tax breaks, for other businesses. Additionally, businesses that do work for the city could be required to pay employees at least $10.86 an hour. Council's heart is in the right place. However, it's unclear if the proposal in practical or even doable. For example, it's not clear if a business with a wide salary range and with starting employees making $8 or $9 an hour would be off-limits for city business. It also seems that tracking all this could mean a lot of paperwork.

A -To Asheville High's Academic WorldQuest team, which traveled to Washington to match wits over world affairs issues with students from across the country. The team won a regional competition sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Western North Carolina on March 3 at UNC Asheville to earn a spot in the national competition. Students are tested on their knowledge of global history, culture, geography and current events. We've seen these kids in action, and they are indeed impressive.

A -To Asheville's police academy, which has nearly eradicated the 16-percent vacancy rate the APD sported as recently as 2005. Retirements and resignations had thinned the ranks of the force, but the infusion of cadets from three academy sessions has helped fill the gaps. Lt. Gary Gudac said officials believe recruits trained by Asheville officers beside other Asheville cadets will integrate faster and stick around longer. "We don't have any bad habits to break," said Gudac.

A -To North Carolina voters, who overwhelming approved a $3.1 billion higher education bond issue in 2000. We bring the bond up because the fruits of it are so evident today. Go to any of the 16 campuses of the UNC system or to one of the state's nearly 60 community colleges and you can see buildings sprouting like mushrooms and badly needed modernization projects to existing buildings well under way. The investment proves how much state citizens value higher education, and how willing they are to put their money where that sentiment is.

A -To search and rescue teams in Western North Carolina. On the same day a 12-year-old Boy Scout was found in the mountains near the Virginia state line after being missing for four days, rescue workers in a remote part of northern Haywood County found a 79-year-old Tennessee man missing for four days.

D -To former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay has a new book out and has been making the rounds on television in what we presume is a bid for a political comeback. He hasn't been doing so well; on "Meet the Press,'' retired Navy Admiral Rep. Joe Sestak made a suggestion U.S. troops could be redeployed from Iraq to bases in Bahrain and Qatar, prompting DeLay to say those countries wouldn't accept our troops. Sestak noted, in a fatherly tone, "We have bases there.'' An interview later in the week with Chris Matthews on "Hardball'' featured a bizarre exchange that left many with the impression DeLay may not have read his own book.

B -To Rep. Heath Shuler's decision to vote for a war spending bill that would set a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. On Friday Shuler said, "This is a big day, a big decision. I will vote for it." To reach his decision, Shuler he said he had spoken with fellow representatives including freshman Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Murphy, an Iraq war veteran who ran and won as an anti-war candidate. The reason Rep. Shuler receives a B instead of an A for taking so long to stake out a position on this issue.

F -To the Florida House of Representatives, for voting to move that state's 2008 presidential primary to Jan. 29. The political calendar is roaring backward so fast we may soon never see a break to campaigning. Certainly, if the presidential field is settled before spring arrives next year, we'll have several extra months to get very, very sick of campaign ads, political paraphernalia in our mailboxes, etc.

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