How to craft a teacher pay plan
Editorial by Charlotte Observer, July 9, 2014. It may be both exhilarating and excruciating this week to be an N.C. teacher watching N.C. lawmakers decide how much of raise you might finally get. The... Read More
NC Spin Articles
Humane intent, chaotic result
Suppose the sheriff breaks up a human trafficking ring. A gang has kidnapped girls in Central America, smuggling them into the United States and forced them into prostitution. It's happening in our... Read More
Oregon Inlet jetties: The unjustifiable sequel in NC
Like a shambling zombie reanimated from the grave, a proposal to build Oregon Inlet jetties is once more with us. This, after an almost three-decade-long debate that ended with the “final... Read More
House drops increased lottery ads from state budget proposal
Another budget logjam broke Wednesday afternoon after state House negotiators agreed to abandon their plan to raise about $30 million by selling more lottery tickets. The House plan to increase... Read More
Obamacare doomed? Don't bet on it
The world was supposed to end in 2012 according to various misinterpretations of Mayan culture. Then, when time kept ticking along into 2013 the doomsday preachers had to recalculate. Recently, there... Read More
Uncertainties
Locked in a wrestling match with the Governor over Medicaid (and how much it will go over budget) the Old Bull Mooses invited Art Pope (the Budget Czar) over to the Senate for a cordial visit then... Read More
The problem with vouchers and sending public money to private schools
I’ve been a United Methodist preacher since 1952. All that time I have been married to the love of my life, who spent all of her working years teaching in the public schools of North Carolina. My... Read More
NC Education spending on decades-long slide
North Carolina public schools account for the largest segment of the state budget every year, but that slice of the budget pie has been shrinking for years. WRAL News reviewed budget numbers for the... Read More
Setting the price of sunshine
The North Carolina Utilities Commission has started its process of setting solar energy rates for the next two years. It's a complex process involving weeks of hearings conducted like legal... Read More
Senate drops tenure from teacher raise proposal
by Lynn Bonner, News and Observer, July 8, 2014. Senate Republicans are willing to drop the requirement that teachers give up tenure to get 11 percent raises this year, a major concession in budget... Read More
