The N.C. House has approved a measure that could pave the way for ending the state’s twice-a-year ritual of setting clocks forward and back.
All in Opinion
Cooper, in letter, urges businesses to speak out against election laws
Gov. Roy Cooper is leading a nationwide effort in cooperation with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to encourage business leaders to publicly oppose states that pass election-reform laws.
State Senate leader says surplus funds a ‘blessing and a curse’
Addressing the N.C. Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Summit, State Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said the more than $4.5 billion surplus tax revenue North Carolina has in its coffers is both a “blessing and a curse.”
House leadership reassigns Howard after she objected to moving bill
Rep. Julia Howard, R-Davie, has been removed from her powerful role as senior chair of the state House’s tax-writing Finance Committee. Howard has been reassigned to the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, where she’ll serve as a member at large.
Nationalizing politics was a mistake
If Californians want to make their government the monopoly payer of all medical bills, why should North Carolinians be able to tell them they can’t?
Lt. Gov Mark Robinson says ‘no’ to U.S. Senate run
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the firebrand conservative who skyrocketed onto the political scene several years ago, announced Monday that he would not run for U.S. Senate after considering the move for several weeks.
Utilities Commission approves partial rate hike, coal ash settlement
The N.C. Utilities Commission on Friday, April 16, issued an order approving a partial rate increase for Duke Energy Progress and a settlement addressing coal ash cleanup costs.
Too many workers are sidelined
The latest federal job report is out — and it shows North Carolina’s employment recovery stalling out a bit during the first quarter of 2021.
Taxpayer Bill of Rights amendment filed in N.C. Senate
A bill filed in the North Carolina Senate on the traditional April 15 tax deadline day would make tax and spending limits a part of the North Carolina Constitution, if voters approve it in 2022.
House lawmakers push state tax exemption for expenses paid with PPP loans
Lawmakers in the North Carolina House have fast-tracked a bill that would allow businesses that received Payroll Protection Program loans from the federal government to have any expenses the funds were used for deducted from state tax.
Leandro judge says he won’t tell legislators how to spend money
N.C. Superior Court Judge David Lee, the presiding jurist in the decades-long Leandro lawsuit, said at a hearing Tuesday, April 13 that he won’t tell lawmakers how to spend money on public education.
Republicans use Democrats’ words against them as voter ID case continues
During day two of a trial in a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s voter identification law, Senate Republicans highlighted supportive comments uttered by Democrats when the General Assembly approved the law in 2018.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson seriously considering run for U.S. Senate
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican, is thinking seriously about a run for U.S. Senate in 2022 and plans to announce his decision within days, multiple sources tell Carolina Journal.
It could be years before students recover from COVID-era learning loss
Epidemiologists and infectious disease experts have consistently maintained that the risk of spread of the COVID-19 virus among young children is low. But that hasn’t stopped policymakers like N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper from — for most of the past year — keeping in-person instruction closed for all K-12 students. Many families have suffered as a result.
Former Governor McCrory announces run for U.S. Senate
In a video attacking the Biden-Harris administration for open borders and proposed tax increases, on Wednesday morning former N.C. Governor Pat McCrory made it official and became the second high-profile Republican candidate to enter the 2022 U.S. Senate race. The candidates compete to replace three-term Republican U.S. Senator Richard Burr who is retiring from Congress.
Bigger government isn’t the answer
Is it the job of government to make you happy? While it may seem like a straightforward question, there are some important subtleties packed into those few words.
Two-thirds of North Carolinians worry about side effects of COVID vaccine
Nearly two-thirds of North Carolinians worry about harmful side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, even as a growing majority say they’ll take it to get back to normal life.
Cooper signs measures to address effects of pandemic on students
Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday, April 9, signed two bills into law designed to help students who lost more than a year of in-person learning because of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
Republican lawmakers defend N.C. voter ID law in court
Three years after the N.C. electorate decided to add a voter identification requirement to the state constitution, Republican lawmakers are defending voter ID in court.
N.C. average teacher pay $54,392 per year, second best in Southeast
Public school teachers in North Carolina receive an average annual salary of $53,392 for the current school year, according to the latest figures from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. That puts the state second best in the Southeast — behind Georgia — in average teacher pay.