Carolina Journal News Reports | 2008 Archive

RALEIGH — What’s a neighborhood? That seemingly simply question was at the core of a recent ruling by the state’s second highest court.

CHARLOTTE — The cost of local government continues to climb, according to the recent edition of By The Numbers, the John Locke Foundation’s analysis of tax and fee collections by localities in North Carolina.

RALEIGH — The state’s second-highest court has rejected an attempt by the Moore County town of Pinebluff to prevent a local Habitat for Humanity group from building a 75-home subdivision. The N.C. Court of Appeals held that the town had improperly found the development not to be in harmony with the surrounding area.

RALEIGH – An average North Carolina public school teacher earns $5,400 more than her average peer across the country, once cost of living and other factors are weighed correctly. That’s according to a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report.

RALEIGH — Today, Carolina Journal Radio’s Mitch Kokai discusses limiting government and promoting free markets with Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity. (Go to http://www.carolinajournal.com/cjradio/ to find a station near you or to learn about the weekly CJ Radio podcast.)

RALEIGH – North Carolina will face “insurmountable” budget problems linked to retiring baby boomers if the state continues on its current course of long-term care public policy, according to a new Policy Report prepared for the John Locke Foundation by the Center for Long-Term Care Reform.

RALEIGH — Dozens of residents attended a joint meeting of the Raleigh City Council and Planning Commission Tuesday night to fight a proposed watershed ordinance change that opponents say would infringe on private property rights in the name of environmental conservation.

RALEIGH — Parents angry over on-going school reassignment used a recent public hearing to give the Wake County School Board a tongue-lashing for offering a new proposal that would continue shuffling students across the county to meet socio-economic diversity goals.

RALEIGH — One day after the Wake County Board of Education met to discuss a school reassignment proposal that would require more students to change schools for the 2008-2009 school year, the N.C. Court of Appeals heard arguments in a lawsuit that seeks to prevent the county from forcing families to convert to year-round schools.

RALEIGH — For nearly five years, in the 1780s, western North Carolina was actually a separate autonomous state. It was called the State of Franklin. Carolina Journal Radio’s Donna Martinez discussed recently this fascinating piece of North Carolina history with Dr. Troy Kickler, director of the North Carolina History Project. (Go to http://www.carolinajournal.com/cjradio/ to find a station near you or to learn about the weekly CJ Radio podcast.)

RALEIGH – An outside consultant’s report on proposed global warming policies is plagued by problems that render it “useless” to North Carolina policy makers. That’s the assessment of a new peer review from a Boston-based economic research group.

RALEIGH — The Partons stretched the adage “wearing out your welcome” to new limits when ordering wardrobes with public money, according to Randy Parton Theatre documents obtained from North Carolina’s Northeast Commission.

RALEIGH — State Senate leader Marc Basnight, House Speaker Jim Black, and DOT Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett helped state economic developer Rick Watson launch the Randy Parton Theatre in Roanoke Rapids, according to documents obtained by Carolina Journal.

CHARLOTTE — Conservatives have good reasons to worry about the outcome of the 2008 presidential race, political analyst George Will warned a John Locke Foundation audience five days before the Michigan primary.

RALEIGH — Michael Munger, chairman of the Political Science Department at Duke University, and a Libertarian running for governor of North Carolina in 2008, discusses third parties with Carolina Journal Radio’s Mitch Kokai. (Go to http://www.carolinajournal.com/cjradio/ to find a station near you or to learn about the weekly CJ Radio podcast.)

RALEIGH – A model the Appalachian State University Energy Center used to project the economic impact of N.C. climate change policies has “serious flaws” that undermine its credibility. That’s the verdict of a new peer review report from a Boston-based economic research group.

RALEIGH — State legislators warned the State Board of Education on Tuesday that North Carolina’s efforts to step up high school graduation requirements could cause unintended problems, from higher dropout rates, to overly stressed teachers, to increased student obesity.

RALEIGH — Charter schools in major metropolitan areas across North Carolina reported fewer acts of crime and violence during the 2006-07 school year than many traditional public schools in the same regions, according to statistics from the Department of Public Instruction.

RALEIGH — Many of the individuals, agencies, and organizations that pushed the Randy Parton Theatre project were so intertwined that it became a minefield of potential conflicts.

RALEIGH — Amity Shlaes, senior fellow in economic history at the Council on Foreign Relations, recently addressed a John Locke Foundation Headliner luncheon in Raleigh. She also discussed her book, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, with Mitch Kokai for Carolina Journal Radio.

RALEIGH — The N.C. Global TransPark might go bankrupt because of its inability to pay an outstanding loan, according to a report released Tuesday by the Office of the State Auditor.

CHAPEL HILL — Win or lose in the presidential campaign of 2008, John Edwards will have one thing to cheer about: That pesky Chapel Hill neighbor that his wife complained about last spring will be gone.