RALEIGH - North Carolina students continue to see gains in most grades and subjects, according to the 2023-24 state test results presented to the State Board of Education on Wednesday. Schools also showed progress on accountability measures.
Governor Cooper Tours Leicester Elementary School in Buncombe County, Highlights How Strong Public Schools Make Strong Communities
RALEIGH: On Tuesday, Governor Roy Cooper visited Leicester Elementary School in Buncombe County as part of the “Year of Public Schools” education tour and delivered supplies collected from the Governor’s School Supply Drive. The Governor was joined by teachers, students, local and state education leaders and local elected officials as he highlighted the outstanding work taking place in North Carolina’s public schools and how public education is strengthening North Carolina’s communities.
John Hood - Let a Thousand Billboards Bloom
RALEIGH — Put me down as entirely unsurprised that media companies are adding commercials back into their streaming services as a means of making them profitable. Advertising has never been as unpopular as its critics imagine — a truth that North Carolina policymakers should embrace as they try to finance new infrastructure without irritating taxpayers.
Governor Cooper Encourages North Carolinians to Help Accurately Pinpoint High-Speed Internet Needs Across the State
RALEIGH: On Tuesday, Governor Roy Cooper urged North Carolina local and tribal governments, nonprofits and broadband service providers to help identify areas across the state that need better access to high-speed internet. These organizations are encouraged to submit data challenging eligible locations for inclusion in the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, which launches in early 2025. The program provides $1.53 billion to North Carolina to bring high-speed internet infrastructure to unserved and underserved locations across the state.
John Hood: Debates will inform state voters
RALEIGH — Brace yourself. The arrival of Labor Day traditionally begins the homestretch of electoral campaigns. You may well join millions of fellow voters in utter exhaustion with the politics of 2024. But I promise you the candidates and their surrogates are raring to run this final leg of the race.
RFK sues to have name removed from NC ballot
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed suit Friday to have his name removed from North Carolina’s election ballot. Kennedy went to court a day after the State Board of Elections voted 3-2 to reject his request to drop his name from the list of presidential candidates.
OPINION Recession: Not if, but when
In reaction to an array of economic indicators pointing toward an upcoming recession, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated during an August press conference that the Federal Reserve would be shifting its focus from quelling inflation to promoting employment. This change in language signals a transition toward interest-rate cuts soon.
North Carolina's July County and Area Employment Figures Released
Unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) increased in 83 of North Carolina’s counties in July 2024, decreased in three, and remained unchanged in 14. Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 7.8 percent while Dare County had the lowest at 3.2 percent.
John Hood: Campus peace for everyone
Now that fall term has begun for most colleges and universities, we’re about to witness one of the most predictable phenomena in modern American politics: for every raucous or violent campus protest that gets significant media attention, Democratic candidates will lose voters.
Leader Reives Statement on NCGOP Attempted Voter Purge
The same folks who try to rig our legislative and congressional elections with gerrymandered maps now want to rig our statewide elections by purging hundreds of thousands of voters from the voting rolls just weeks before a presidential election.
Causey responds to state court ruling in Causey v. Southland National Insurance Corp
North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey issued the following statement in response to a N.C. Supreme Court decision allowing a motion to withdraw the petition for discretionary review in Causey v. Southland National Insurance Corporation, with the court also dismissing the remaining items in the case:
Op Ed: Opportunity Scholarship A Critique of the Second “Duke Attack”
Jane Wettach of Duke Law School’s Children’s Law Clinic was on the attack again. "School Vouchers in North Carolina – The First Three Years” was authored by Professor Jane R. Wettach of the Children's Law Clinic, Duke Law School in March, 2017. In May 2020 she released another broadside.
OPINION: War on 3rd parties could come back to haunt Dems in November
For years, the Carolina Journal has been following Democratic Party efforts to keep third parties off the ballot. The Democrat strategy makes some sense practically, since the fewer left-of-center options there are, the more Democrats can dominate that voter pool. But it was always a strategy with some risks.
Cooper delivers remarks ahead of Harris nomination
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper set the stage Thursday night to introduce Vice President Kamala Harris before she accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president at the Democrat National Convention in Chicago.
Republicans sue NC elections board over noncitizen voter roll cleanup
The Republican National Committee and North Carolina GOP are suing the State Board of Elections. Republicans claim state election officials are ignoring a 2023 state law requiring removal from the voting rolls of noncitizens identified through jury questionnaires.
Governor Cooper Announces District Court Appointment
RALEIGH: Today, Governor Roy Cooper appointed Alexandria E. Leake to serve as District Court Judge in Judicial District 35, serving Avery, Madison, Mitchell, Watauga and Yancey counties. Leake will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of the Honorable Hal Harrison.
Alarming Outcomes from Private School Voucher Expansions in Other States Provide Cautionary Tale for North Carolina
As North Carolina legislators consider expanding the state’s private school voucher program, alarming outcomes from other states serve as a stark warning of the potential dangers.
North Carolina Woman Sues to Overturn State’s Ballot Selfie Ban
RALEIGH, N.C.,— A Raleigh resident is challenging North Carolina’s ban on taking photos of ballots, arguing that it violates First Amendment rights. Susan Hogarth filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to halt enforcement of the state law that prohibits ballot selfies.
John Hood: Downtowns Change, Like It or Not
Four years ago, communities in North Carolina and beyond were reeling from the COVID-induced Great Suppression. After spiking into double digits in April 2020, the state’s headline jobless rate was still a painful 7.3% by August, with some 376,000 fewer North Carolinians employed than on the eve of the pandemic.
Private School Vouchers in North Carolina: The Math Doesn’t Add Up
With the new school year ramping up in North Carolina, Republican lawmakers remain committed to funneling hundreds of millions more taxpayer dollars into vouchers for unaccountable, unregulated private schools.