By now, you've probably heard that the $21 billion state budget for 2014-15 gives teachers raises and doesn't cut thousands of people off of Medicaid, as once proposed. But the budget, signed last... Read More
Editorial by Burlington Times-News, August 8, 2014. About a month ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released figures about how states are faring five years after the end of the Great Recession. To... Read More
Editorial by Greenville Daily Reflector, August 10, 2014. Make no mistake. State Attorney General Roy Cooper never liked North Carolina’s constitutional amendment that opposes gay marriage. Passed... Read More
Critics of the Republican-led General Assembly allege that the teacher-pay raise included in this year’s state budget could have been implemented in a much simpler fashion: by giving across-the... Read More
We can agree, all of us, on this: It's our distinct good fortune that the Bonner Bridge is still standing. OK, maybe there are a few folks out on Hatteras Island who'd like it to really be an island... Read More
The most important thing the legislature did this year is what it did not do. Instead of adjourning and closing down as is customary shortly after the state’s budget has been revised, the... Read More
Editorial by Rocky Mount Telegram, August 9, 2014. Gov. Pat McCrory may have signed the 2014 budget adjustments into law last week, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the N.C General Assembly is... Read More
We don’t know what the composition of the North Carolina General Assembly will look like after the November election. Republicans are favored to hold their majorities in both legislative chambers... Read More
Art Pope has been the indispensable man in the McCrory administration. Pope, who announced last week he was stepping down as state budget director, had been a political lightning rod – the man who... Read More
It’s easy to see state legislators as partisan politicians driven by egos and personal or special interests. That’s typically what the rhetoric from either side of the political spectrum makes... Read More
