Dole speaks out against changes in flood insurance

U.S. Sen Elizabeth Dole last week opposed some proposed changes in the federal flood insurance program, saying it could hurt some of the 147,000 people covered in North Carolina.

Speaking before the Senate Banking Committee, Dole said she was concerned that the proposed changes would result in coastal residents paying more for their coverage.

Congress is looking at overhauling the program because of the astronomical costs associated with damages caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year.

The North Carolina Republican said she was worried that the changes would double annual insurance premium increases and would require as much as a 20 percent increase in the number of people who must purchase the insurance.

"This would largely impact folks in the poorer areas of Eastern North Carolina," Dole said.

Mel Watt's take on the union

Before President Bush delivers his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, Triangle residents will get a chance to hear a decidedly different "State of the Union" speech from U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Watt, a Democrat from Charlotte, will give his own assessment of the state of the United States during a speech this afternoon at the offices of the N.C. Mutual Life Insurance Company in Durham.

"We see the world and the nation through different eyes from those of the president," Watt said in a news release.

The public is invited to the 3 p.m. speech at 411 W. Chapel Hill St. in downtown Durham.

Rallies address immigration

Immigration politics will heat up this week, with rallies scheduled in Charlotte and Winston-Salem by groups concerned about the number of illegal immigrants living in North Carolina.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Republican from Colorado and the leading congressional critic of U.S. immigration policies, will speak at a rally tonight in Charlotte. (For more details, go to alipac.us.)

On Tuesday, there will be an Illegal Immigration forum in Winston-Salem featuring Bay Buchanan, a conservative activist and sister of former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan.

Briefly ...

Winston Churchill is speaking to the John Locke Foundation at its 16th anniversary dinner on Feb. 10. No, not the legendary British prime minister. But his grandson, Winston S. Churchill III, will speak on "Confronting The Challenge of Islamic Fundamentalism." For more information, go to www.johnlocke.org. ... You can't hear Jerry Agar's conservative talk show on WPTF since he moved to Kansas City. But you can hear him speak at the Wake GOP's annual President's Day Dinner on Feb. 17 at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree. For more information, go to www.wakegop.org. ... GOP consultant Marc Rotterman is heading to Washington on Feb. 9 to moderate a panel at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.