Here is an early look at Bob Wilson's column in this Sunday's Durham News. Agree or disagree? Tell us here (with your name for publication) or at editor@newsobserver.com.

By Bob Wilson

Mayor Bill Bell is on another hayride for sharply higher bail bonds that would, so he claims, discourage firing a gun in the city. That’s a noble aim (no pun intended), but raising the current bail from $75,000 to $300,000 would be toxic for the constitutional notion of excessive bail.

Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson isn’t buying Bell’s snake oil, and neither are the city’s trial lawyers. They say the city’s maximum bail for illegally discharging firearms is already higher than most other North Carolina jurisdictions.

Bell’s latest call for $300,000 bail came during his 2012 State of the City address. This is nothing new. It goes back to 2008, when Bell first raised the issue. It lay fallow until August 2011, when Bell blew smoke again upon learning that a homicide suspect free on bail was accused of bank robbery.

Admittedly, that sort of thing concentrates the mind into believing that Durham really does have a revolving-door criminal justice system (Hudson dismisses the perception as a media construct). Yet, as Hudson, the defense lawyers and the U.S. and state constitutions rightly point out, bail can’t be used to trump presumption of innocence.

The constitutions’ language is clear: “Excessive bail shall not be required” for suspects arrested in connection with criminal acts.

Two debt-rating analysts who follow bonds issued by WakeMed and Rex Healthcare say that they won't automatically reduce WakeMed's rating if the hospital borrows millions more to pay for its proposed $750 million purchase of Rex.

"As part of the acquisition, there will be certain economies of scale, certain efficiencies that get realized," said James LeBuhn, a Chicago-based analyst with Fitch Ratings. "We would take that into account vs. the increased debt load. There's a benefit to size and scale."

Since WakeMed announced its hostile takeover offer this month, critics have questioned whether the hospital can afford to pay that much money for Rex, plus assume Rex's $158 million in debt. UNC Health officials have said they're not interested in selling Rex, but will form a committee to consider a formal offer from WakeMed.

WakeMed officials, including Tom Oxholm, an accountant who took over as chairman this week, have said they will pay for Rex using a combination of more than $600 million in cash reserves as well as additional financing.

"That is a staggering amount of money," said Kevin Schulman, a health-care economist at Duke University. 

SearStone, a proposed continuing-care retirement community in Cary, says it has received preliminary approval from the Public Finance Authority to issue up to $125 million in tax-exempt bonds.

SearStone approached the PFA after North Carolina's Medical Care Commission denied the project's request. The Medical Care Commission said there was too much risk associated with the project given the current economic environment.

The PFA is a national bond issuer that partners with private borrowers and local governments.

Morgan Lamphere, SearStone's marketing director, said the bond sale would occur as soon as the project has 70 percent of its 169 units reserved.

She said the project currently has 103 units reserved, or about 60 percent.

SearStone is being developed by Samaritan Housing Foundation.

The sale of the bonds would cover about 75 percent of the project's $145 million first phase. The remaining costs would be covered by entrance fees, investor capital and deferred developer fees.

The project is being built on 24 acres of a 75-acre parcel at High House Road and Davis Drive.

CORRECTED VERSION: The Town Council on Monday will consider moving forward with a $16-million expansion of the Chapel Hill Public Library.

The town has already borrowed and spent about $2 million planning the project, and the council must decide whether to borrow another $14.23 million approved by the voters in 2003. The project would more than double the size of the current library, to more than 60,000 square feet.

Town Manager Roger Stancil says the town's budget for debt service can accommodate the new borrowing, but operating the larger facility will add about 1.3 cents per $100 of valuation to the tax rate once it opens in 2012, meaning additional taxes of about $40 on a year on a $300,000 house.

"The increased ongoing operating costs are significant and will present real challenges as the town's budgets for upcoming years are developed," Stancil wrote in a memo to the council.

UPDATE: I made a decimal point error on the original version of this post. The additional cost on an average home will be about $39 a year, not $390. Sorry for the confusion. See Sunday's Chapel Hill News for more.

Even as it gobbles up failed banks to expand its lending business, Raleigh-based First Citizens Bank is shedding another subsidiary.

The bank has agreed to sell its bond-trustee division to U.S. Bank of Minneapolis. The division helps municipalities, universities and corporations sell bonds, and protects the interest of bondholders.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, weren't disclosed.

First Citizens is selling the division to focus on other parts of its institutional investor business, including asset management and retirement plans, said Gene Lewis, a First Citizens' senior vice president.

In recent months, First Citizens has bought two troubled West Coast banks in deals orchestrated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. First Citizens now has about 430 branches.

U.S. Bank is a division of U.S. Bancorp and has more than 2,800 branches.