Archive: Daily Journal

• Fair maps don’t guarantee proportional representation

  Those who advocate competitive election districts should brace themselves for widely varying election results.

  by Mitch Kokai
• Measuring value added is essential

  Some North Carolina teachers have strongly objected to the use of value-added assessments for evaluating schools, instructional practices, and teachers themselves.

  by John Hood
• The General Assembly needs a to-do list, and here it is

  The General Assembly reconvenes Friday for another special session, primarily designated for redistricting business. There will be proposed legislative maps, public hearings, lots of debate and, I predict, an almost straight party-line vote on newly drawn —  per court order — legislative districts. These maps and the expected discussion will take up most…

  by Becki Gray
• There’s no such thing as a universal right to health care

  The power to grant a right to health care is the right to deny it. Anyone who doubts the universal truth of this statement need look no further than the case of 11-month-old British citizen Charlie Gard, who had been on life support with a rare brain disease and recently passed. In November,…

  by Dr. Roy Cordato
• Plastic bag ban should go

  A major reason why paper bags are more expensive than plastic ones is that it takes about 40 times as much energy to make and transport the paper ones.

  by John Hood
• The disturbing trend of erasing history

  It doesn't make sense to pretend that now-tainted events never took place.

  by Mitch Kokai
• Some ideas have hideous consequences

  When people in positions of power or influence abandon the norms of civil discourse and representative government, they aren’t just expressing a political opinion.

  by John Hood
• Local governments getting millions, and something’s just not right 

  There’s been a lot written about this year’s state budget, and there will be more. That’s what happens when you’re dealing with a 438-page bill allocating $24 billion. A lot of money, a lot of competing interests, a lot of detail.   I looked at local government allocations in the budget previously, and it comes…

  by Julie Tisdale
• Beer money and changing markets

  News that beer distributors through political action committees poured nearly $100,000 toward defeating a bill to lift a production cap on North Carolina brewers should surprise no one. Tuesday, The Charlotte Observer, citing campaign finance reports, said from January through June the distributors gave Senate Republican…

  by John Trump
• Know these five budget facts

  If lawmakers continue to budget conservatively in the coming years, the state budget will remain in balance. If they don't, there will be trouble.

  by John Hood