Dart to the New Year’s surge in the price of oil, which is likely to give consumers a jolting trifecta of budget-draining consequences in the coming months. While higher gasoline prices are the most immediate result of $100-a-barrel oil, higher petroleum prices will also increase home heating bills as we enter the coldest months of the year. It will also increase production and transportation costs for many commodities, further pushing up food prices that have already recorded their biggest increases in 17 years, as measured by the consumer price index. The food and fuel runup falls hardest on lower income households already struggling to make ends meet. In more robust economic times, Americans have made do the easy-credit way ó they’ve borrowed and mortgaged their way through. But with tightening credit and a stagnant housing market, that’s not a readily accessible option this time around.
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Laurel to growing appreciation of the arts and their influence on local economies. Cities across the nation are realizing that proximity to art galleries, theaters and symphony halls amounts to a big plus when new companies and young workers are looking for a place to establish themselves. Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker says the arts are a key part of his city’s economic development. “Arts add character, a sense of place,” he says, “and also artists tend to be some of those willing to go to areas of town that aren’t so well renovated and help with urban renewal.” Raleigh’s success has been repeated in Greenville, S.C., Paducah, Ky., and plenty of other cities not usually thought of as cultural meccas. Every dollar spent on arts promotion brings a city $5 of economic activity, one study has found. This all comes as good news to Salisbury, which has had a thriving arts community for years. The days when cities could rely on costly stadiums or convention centers to bring in big bucks have passed. Investing in arts costs less and appeals to the rising creative class of young adults. Salisbury is on the right track.
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Dart to the dangers built into Central Regional Hospital, the state’s new $120 million mental hospital in Butner. The hospital was scheduled to start taking patients next month from Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh and John Umstead Hospital in Butner, allowing the state to close those outdated facilities. But problems with the new hospital forced a change in plans. The deficiencies range from the crucial (a high number of hanging hazards, not enough handrails) to the mundane (insufficient parking space and staff offices). Safety concerns identified in a 2006 report about one of the older hospitals were built into the new hospital. These snafus are symptomatic of a dysfunctional mental health system, one newly appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Dempsey Benton has vowed to improve. He has ordered Dix and Umstead to remain open an additional two months while workers correct Central’s mistakes. Wish him luck. Correcting problems of this magnitude requires strong leadership and thorough planning. Benton appears ready to provide it.