Opinion Roundup: July 29, 2016 -- HB2, coastal clout, opiods

HB2's effects are no joke (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot) – House Bill 2 has cost North Carolina jobs and tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars in revenue. It has stained North Carolina’s reputation. And it’s demonized thousands of good people for short-term political gain and, courtesy of the governor, at least one cheap laugh. The question now is if other events to be held in North Carolina – the 2017 PGA Championship, this year’s ACC Football Championship, preliminary rounds of the NCAA Basketball Tournament – could be moved as well. If that happens, don’t expect McCrory or state Republicans to shoulder the blame. They have yet to accept responsibility for the harm they’ve inflicted on North Carolina, and it’s unlikely they ever will.

Clout beats science in coast development disputes (Fayetteville Observer) -- Perhaps, as he wrote in an Observer op-ed column Sunday, the state's Coastal Resources Commission has made great strides in preparing for a future of rising sea levels.

New York's pitch (Greensboro News & Record) -- We don’t like New York running TV ads in North Carolina trying to lure businesses. And we doubt its recruitment pitch will be very successful.

National opioid abuse legislation (Greenville Daily Reflector) -- There is something especially insidious about the latest addition to the nation’s addiction and overdose list: powerful painkillers such as OxyContin that are known together as "opioid" drugs.

Airborne Corps hopes to dash ISIL's dream (Fayetteville Observer) -- There will not be an actual, governing Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The terrorists who slaughtered thousands across Iraq and Syria - and spawned the acronym ISIL - are a flop at nation-building.