Consensus requires solid data
North Carolina’s public schools have just released end-of-grade and end-of-course test scores for the 2013-14 school year. You may have heard something about them, particularly from districts eager... Read More
NC Spin Articles
Art Pope ranks No. 15 on political power list
by Mary Cornatzer, Under the Dome, September 8, 2014. Former state budget director Art Pope is ranked No. 15 in the U.S. Billionaires Political Power Index. The ranking as the title indicates... Read More
Amendment measure drawing little attention
Editorial by Burlington Times-News, September 8, 2014. Aside from casting ballots for specific candidates, North Carolina voters will be asked to decide whether to amend the state constitution to... Read More
A con job on contraceptives
Lacking popular support to turn back the clock, the right tries to pull a fast one It’s one of the great political wonders of 21st Century America: Nearly 50 years after the United States Supreme... Read More
Now THAT was a debate
A TAPster unimpressed by the Hagan-Tillis debate says, “If you want to see a real debate, watch Jim Hunt debate Jesse Helms in 1984. That was like Ali and Frazier.” Ah, take me back to those... Read More
Many unknowns as private organizations take over job recruiting
By this time next month, a private, nonprofit corporation will have opened its doors at a small office building in Cary with a big mission – recruiting jobs to North Carolina and promoting the... Read More
Following the money trail
by Senator Kay Hagan, published in the Greensboro News-Record, September 8, 2014. In what has been called one of the worst Supreme Court rulings since the founding of our nation, the 2010 Citizens... Read More
Baron's Epstein probes 'Please Stop Helping Us'
Gene Epstein of Barron’s is the latest reviewer to heap praise on Jason Riley’s book Please Stop Helping Us. A member of the editorial board at The Wall Street Journal (published by Dow... Read More
Art Pope gives the UNC System a checkup
Editorial by News and Observer, September 7, 2014. Was Art Pope, who is leaving his post as state budget director, giving the University of North Carolina Board of Governors an educated critique of... Read More
System allows ex-legislators to lobby former colleagues
Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, September 2, 2014. The cozy relationship between legislators and lobbyists is even tighter when the lobbyist is also a former fellow lawmaker. Recently retired state... Read More
