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…
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”…
When Apple announced plans for a major expansion in Austin, Texas, it appeared that Raleigh and North Carolina had “lost” another competition for a major economic development. That was despite the state’s willingness to give Apple substantial tax incentives. Jon Sanders, the John Locke Foundation’s director of regulatory studies, assesses…
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…
Teachers and parents, we have a trust problem. Just 36 percent of public school teachers express “complete” or “a lot of” trust in parents, EdChoice’s new “Schooling in America Survey” says. What’s eroding trust? One likely culprit: Parental expectations are sky-high. Harried millennial parents want schools to teach skills once considered part…
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…
Dozens of protesters gathered in the rain outside the UNC Center for School Leadership Friday, Dec. 14, to protest the potential return of the Confederate statue dubbed “Silent Sam” to the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Now it looks as if the debate will continue into next…
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…
