It is still safe – legally speaking – to drive around Chapel Hill while talking on a cell phone. Recall that the town has banned cell phone usage while driving, subject to certain exceptions. The ban was scheduled to go into effect June 1, but the owner of a towing company sued the town alleging that local regulation of cell phone use while driving is preempted by the state’s motor vehicle regulatory scheme. (Shea discussed that issue here.) Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson has entered a preliminary injunction against the ordinance, with further proceedings scheduled for next week. He found that the plaintiff has a “very strong likelihood of success on the merits,” according to the News and Observer. In other news: 1. Wake County has a fancy new jail, er, detention center. You can read about it here. It is 400,000 square feet, cost $151 million to build, and is future-proof in that it is designed to handle twice the number of inmate intakes that Wake County currently has. Among other latest and greatest features, the detention center has heated carts for transporting warm meals to the inmates. 2. We just passed the 20 year anniversary of the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. The Wall Street Journal has this interesting story about how the LAPD, once viewed by many as corrupt and racist, has changed in the intervening decades. Diversity on the force is up, and citizens’ view of the police is much improved. 3. All is not rosy [...]
Faculty Coordinators
