The N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission is scheduled to meet 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 16, to consider and adopt rules for spirits sold and consumed in North Carolina. The N.C. ABC is seeing record profits, at the same time state some lawmakers are looking at…
Research from N.C. State University reveals an interesting link between political competition and the level of charitable contributions in a community. Professor Richard Clerkin discussed the research Monday during a speech to the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society.
Rules are important. Whether it’s a sporting event, a corporate meeting or a board game, rules set the parameters of the interaction. Without rules there’s confusion, uncertainty, ambiguity with participants jockeying for an advantage. Nowhere are rules as important as in apportioning districts to ensure fair and equal representation in government. Our state…
The UNC-Chapel Hill faculty wants a seat at the table for discussions over the fate of Silent Sam. The Faculty Council last month approved a resolution for a faculty committee dedicated to providing input to university administration about what to do…
The N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission has released its initial 2018 annual report, the pages of which are filled with colorful photos of smiling people and happy numbers. Proponents of our ABC system make so much of the commission’s power and propensity to “control”…
Throughout my career in journalism, I’ve tried to make it a point to learn something from all each of my editors, even those I often questioned, or even disliked. One such editor, who falls into that latter category, sometimes made points that were both salient…
A newly released statewide poll from the Pretrial Justice Institute and the Charles Koch Institute seems to show North Carolinians are ready for reform of the pretrial justice system and the practice of requiring money bail. Lake Research Partners, on behalf…
Question 1: When are special interest subsidies not special interest subsidies? Answer: When the special interests hire consultants to do an economic impact study. Question 2: How often do economic impact studies show that the special interest subsidy will be good for the economy? Answer: Always. Economic impact studies have…
Free speech is overwhelmingly popular in courtrooms around the United States, but the jury of public opinion doesn’t support First Amendment rights, a conservative litigator and legal writer says. Political mudslinging happens when people choose sides based on what they hate rather than what they…
Clearly, 2018 was a Democratic year, as it should have been given a Republican was in the White House. The Democrats picked up 40 seats in the House and seven governorships. The Republicans’ veto-proof “super majorities” were broken in both chambers of the General Assembly. It wasn’t quite the “blue…
