Let’s try something new. New for me anyway. A different path, if you will. Follow me and I’ll lead you, all the while trying to avoid the spooky, dilapidated house at the end of what used to be a road. The house is filled with sadness,…
A comfortable chair, in a bookstore or coffee shop. Maybe just a hard, splintery bench in a park. A conversation with a stranger, or even an old friend. Someone you haven’t seen in awhile. Mostly gone, now. Not lost, really. We know where to find them. Rather, as my friend…
Will Easter is a promising N.C. musician. A career just starting to take off. I reached him on his cell phone, and he wanted to talk. A bit busy now, though, he said. Hanging drywall. “I actually took a job…
Each week, staff at Carolina Journal looks back at the week in N.C. politics and chooses several interesting, relevant stories you may have missed. This report was updated to include new information. Beware of budget gimmicks: The state unexpectedly received $457 million…
A save-the-system-not-the-student mentality is at the center of the “left-leaning” N.C. Association of Educators’ lawsuit to thrust a dagger into the heart of our state’s school choice options. “Vouchers for private schools are an affront to a state that has a long and…
During a 2020 legislative session immersed in financial doubt and civil unrest, Republican lawmakers flailed against Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto power, fighting executive orders they say hurt North Carolina. It’s a political game, much like the 2019 standoff over the General Assembly’s $24 billion budget bill, which Cooper vetoed. But now, in an election year, the…
Jens and Uwe Kruger, with bandmate Joel Landsberg, are three of the best string musicians on the planet. Jens and Uwe were born and raised in Europe, but, collectively, the Kruger Brothers play a brand of American music that’s simultaneously sweet, soulful, simple, and complex. …
Each week, staff at Carolina Journal looks back at the week in N.C. politics and chooses several interesting, relevant stories you may have missed. Here’s this week’s review: DRIVE Task Force: Gov. Roy Cooper has appointed members to a new task force with the goal of…
Millions of parents are emergency homeschoolers now. They’re adapting gamely to school closures necessitated by COVID-19. But parents are worried about learning in this brave new world. In a Gallup poll released April 8, 49% said they’re concerned the pandemic will negatively impact their child’s education. …
The coronavirus recession, the Great Lockdown, and the Great Suppression are all terms used to describe the global economic downturn produced by COVID-19 mitigation measures. As elected officials issued stay-at-home orders and closed “nonessential” enterprises, unemployment skyrocketed. From mid-March to mid-April, about 22 million Americans, or roughly…
