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Litter Pickup By NC Prisoners Poised For Scrap Heap

Private contractors may soon be tasked with removing trash from North Carolina's highways. (Credit: Ildar Sagdejev/Wikimedia, http://bit.ly/2sfr6ZI, http://bit.ly/2nm4x2A)

Prisoners picking up trash while guards keep close watch has been a common sight along North Carolina roads for more than 100 years. But that chore could soon be taken up by private contractors.

The proposed state budget does not include money for the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice to pay for litter crews and road squads. Both House and Senate budget offers would shift the funding to the Department of Transportation to use more private contractors.

Transportation budget-writers say that when you factor in how many miles of roadside are covered, prison teams are more expensive than contractors.

Some lawmakers are lamenting the possible end of litter pickup by prisoners as a public service. A budget provision could keep open the door for them to perform the work if costs come down.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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