NC HOUSE SPEAKER AIMS TO DELAY BALLPARK FINANCING VOTE

          NC House Speaker Pro Tem Steve Wood said he wants to
     try to "slip through a bill delaying indefinitely a vote" on
     a 1% prepared food tax to help fund a new baseball stadium
     in the Triad area, according to John Nagy of the Greensboro
     NEWS & RECORD.  Wood, an opponent of public financing, said
     he "wants to head off what he believes will be a rejection
     of the tax.  Politicians have been distancing themselves
     from the tax, restaurants who once supported it are pulling
     out and even tourism groups are wary of getting involved." 
     But proponents of bringing an MLB team to the Triad area
     said the plan "will not work without the public sharing the
     cost" (Greensboro NEWS & RECORD, 3/18).