Pipeline report reveals abuse of power
Investigators concluded that Gov. Roy Cooper had “improperly used the authority and influence of his office” to pressure Duke Energy for concessions as it sought permits for a natural-gas pipeline.
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Category: Opinion
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Conservatives might need a dose of the 1970s
The times have a fin de siècle feel for small-government conservatives. The Republican Party is now “owned” by Donald Trump who, in his first year, increased government expenditures by 86% over the last budget proposed by George W. Bush in 2008. The self-professed “king of debt” requested…
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Constitutions are inherently inconvenient
It’s easy to celebrate free speech when the speaker says things you like. It’s easy to embrace the procedural rights enjoyed by criminal defendants when you’re sure they are innocent.
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When government push comes to shove
Government is inevitable and necessary because human beings are flawed creatures with temptations, inherent in our unchangeable human natures, to break the very rules that allow civilization to flourish.
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States should drive health reform
Democrats and Republicans have been debating health care reform for decades in Washington. It’s the wrong location — and which national plan to adopt is the wrong question.
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Self-government requires local news
When reporters aren’t around to cover counties, municipalities, and school boards, the public lacks the basic raw material with which to practice self-government.
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Must test scores be political weapons?
The fact that North Carolina is significantly above average when it comes to the estimated effectiveness of schools ought to serve as a helpful corrective to the hyperbole that so often pervades political debates about education policy.
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Name-calling won’t help Cooper
Repairing roads damaged by hurricanes and paying property owners harmed by the Map Act have been costly, but they do not fully explain the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s cash crunch.
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What’s the biggest problem facing schools today?
Recently I asked my 14-year-old son to identify the biggest problem at the public school he attends in Wake County. He didn’t hesitate to answer. “People who pay with cash or check in the lunch line,” he said. He explained that it takes longer for…
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Sanders, Warren, and the problem with taxes
The Democratic party’s most radically progressive candidates, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have promised to impose a tax on wealth. To be clear, wealth is distinct from income. Wealth is accumulated income in the form of savings and investments and real assets such as real estate, antique or art collections,…