State Journal: First-round loss; Rewards and sanctions

Bob Etheridge, North Carolina's superintendent of public instruction, has lost the first round of his legal battle with the Governor and the state board of education over control of the state's education bureaucracy.

A superior-court judge this month ordered Mr. Etheridge, an elected Democrat, to turn over office memos and other documents to lawyers for Gov. James G. Martin, a Republican, and the board of education the Governor appointed.

The court order is just the beginning of what could be a prolonged legal process to resolve Mr. Etheridge's lawsuit against Mr. Martin and the board. The superintendent has claimed that the Governor's decision last year to appoint four employees who report directly to...