News

UNC protesters remove American flag and fly Palestinian flag; chancellor puts it back up personally

Tuesday on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill, protesters broke through police barricades to lower the American flag in the main quad and fly the flag of Palestine instead. Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts then walked to the quad surrounded by law enforcement officers, to put the American flag back up. Counter-protesters surrounded the flagpole and chanted "USA," thanking Roberts for his intervention.

CJ Staff
News

NC Senate advances immigration bill that mandates cooperation with ICE

A bill that would mandate all North Carolina sheriffs cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement was approved by the Senate Committee on Judiciary on Tuesday, positioning the proposal one step closer to becoming law.  House Bill 10 passed in the House chamber last year at the lead of primary sponsor Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell. During...

Brianna Kraemer
News

Phone carriers slapped with fines for selling location data – a political commodity

Four of the nation’s largest phone carriers must pay a combined total of nearly $200 million for selling customers’ location data to third parties unlawfully, sparking conversations around privacy and technology policy.  The Federal Communications Commission said on Monday that AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon illegally shared access to customers’ location information without consent and...

Brianna Kraemer
News

Judge limits new witnesses, documents in May 6 voter ID trial

A federal magistrate judge has issued an order limiting the number of new witnesses and documents plaintiffs can use during next week's trial challenging North Carolina’s voter identification law. US District Judge Loretta Biggs is scheduled to hold a bench trial starting Monday in Winston-Salem.

CJ Staff
News

NC school choice program for special needs students continues growth

North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship Program has gotten a lot of headlines recently, and with good reason. The state’s voucher for private schools is poised to more than double its enrollment, dependent on whether lawmakers OK additional funding in the short session that convened just last week. But a lesser known school choice program in the...

David N. Bass
News

Appeals Court rejects qualified immunity for Avery sheriff, deputy in 2016 arrest

A federal Appeals Court has ruled that the Avery County sheriff and a deputy did not have qualified immunity from a lawsuit challenging a 2016 arrest as unconstitutional. The unanimous decision Monday affirmed a trial court ruling against Kevin Frye, Avery’s sheriff at the time, and Lee Buchanan, the deputy in charge of sex offender registrations.

CJ Staff
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Opinion

Opinion

Cities must clear out homeless camps

Which major urban area in America experienced the largest decline in homelessness last year? According to a recent analysis by the Brookings Institution, it was Wake County — North Carolina’s most-populous. It had a rate of 78 homeless residents per 100,000 population, down 40% from 2022. If you live in or near the state’s capital...

John Hood
Opinion

Why are students demonstrating for Hamas terrorists on NC campuses?

If you’ve been on a North Carolina college campus in recent days, you likely heard chants like “Israel is a terrorist state,” “from the river to the sea,” “How many kids did you kill today?,” intifada revolution,” “glory to the martyrs,” “queers for Palestine,” and other provocative and ignorant slogans. These protesters chant while waving...

Amy Rosenthal
Opinion

1864 and abortion law

On April 9, 2024, the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated a statute criminalizing those who perform abortions, except to preserve the life of the mother. The blogosphere and the networks were aghast that this statute was originally adopted in 1864. Is a statute better because its origins are of old, or is it worse? Liberals can’t...

Paul Stam
Opinion

The necessity and dangers of anonymous speech

Wild, disruptive protests in support of the Palestinian cause are in progress at campuses across the country. At many of them, there are threats and antisemitic language. But it can be difficult to trace much of what is said back to particular people because of attempts by protesters to remain anonymous by covering their faces....

David Larson
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Elections

News

Federal judge strikes down NC crime for felon voting

A federal judge has struck down North Carolina’s law criminalizing felon voting. The law “was enacted with discriminatory intent, has not been cleansed of its discriminatory taint, and continues to disproportionately impact Black voters,” according to a court order US District Judge Loretta Biggs issued Monday.

CJ Staff
News

Trailing in the NC polls, Biden and Harris return to Raleigh

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were in Wake County to deliver speeches with Gov. Roy Cooper, a fellow Democrat, on healthcare costs. The visit comes during the week of the 14th anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act under the Obama administration.

CJ Staff
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Videos

Video

Carolina Journal’s Brianna Kraemer discusses NC student suspended for saying ‘illegal alien’

Brianna Kraemer, Carolina Journal public policy reporter, discusses the suspension of a 16-year-old Davidson County high school student for using the words “illegal alien” in class. Kraemer offered these comments during an April 19, 2024, interview on One America News Network.

Brianna Kraemer
Video

Locke’s Mitch Kokai analyzes court ruling against Cooper’s shutdown of NC bars

Mitch Kokai, John Locke Foundation senior political analyst, discusses the N.C. Court of Appeals’ decision against Gov. Roy Cooper’s decision to keep private bars closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kokai offered these comments during the April 19, 2024, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “State Lines.”

Mitch Kokai
Video

Carolina Journal’s Donna King analyzes CJ Poll numbers for president, governor

Donna King, Carolina Journal editor-in-chief, discusses the latest Carolina Journal Poll numbers in North Carolina’s races for president and governor. King offered these comments during the April 12, 2024, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “State Lines.”

Donna King
Video

The Debrief: Republican runoffs ahead, DOJ clears decades-long backlog, and the latest CJ Poll

This week on the Debrief, former president Donald Trump wades into the Republican runoff for Congressional District 13, the state finally clears an embarrassing backlog of more than 10,000 untested rape kits that sat on shelves for decades, and the state’s high court hears arguments in big cases. Plus, the latest Carolina Journal poll reveals...

Video

The Debrief: Is this the end of DEI on campus?

This week on the Debrief, Vice President Kamala Harris is back in North Carolina, for the second time in two weeks, and there will be s a new name on your November presidential ballot. What is a “benefits cliff?” We’ll explain how a raise can be a net loss for those on entitlement programs, plus...

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Culture

News

NCSU Board of Trustees passes resolution in support of free speech, institutional neutrality

The North Carolina State University (NCSU) Board of Trustees University adopted a resolution Friday reaffirming the University’s commitment to freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and institutional neutrality. The resolution comes as college campuses around the country, several in North Carolina, experience disruptive protests related to the Israel/Gaza conflict. Chairman of the board, Ed Weisiger...

CJ Staff
News

Wake-up call ahead as universities revive testing requirements

High school students looking to apply to colleges within the University of North Carolina system may have to face SAT or ACT testing in the years ahead after a four-year hiatus from standardized testing in response to COVID-19. Colleges initially paused testing requirements because students couldn’t go into testing sites in person. However, that pause...

Brianna Kraemer
Opinion

Why are students demonstrating for Hamas terrorists on NC campuses?

If you’ve been on a North Carolina college campus in recent days, you likely heard chants like “Israel is a terrorist state,” “from the river to the sea,” “How many kids did you kill today?,” intifada revolution,” “glory to the martyrs,” “queers for Palestine,” and other provocative and ignorant slogans. These protesters chant while waving...

Amy Rosenthal
Opinion

1864 and abortion law

On April 9, 2024, the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated a statute criminalizing those who perform abortions, except to preserve the life of the mother. The blogosphere and the networks were aghast that this statute was originally adopted in 1864. Is a statute better because its origins are of old, or is it worse? Liberals can’t...

Paul Stam
Opinion

The necessity and dangers of anonymous speech

Wild, disruptive protests in support of the Palestinian cause are in progress at campuses across the country. At many of them, there are threats and antisemitic language. But it can be difficult to trace much of what is said back to particular people because of attempts by protesters to remain anonymous by covering their faces....

David Larson
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Civil Society

Opinion

Flashback: North Carolina’s Easter Monday tradition forged on the baseball diamond

On Good Friday state offices will be closed in North Carolina for Holy Week, along with 10 other states. However, that has not always been the case in North Carolina. The Monday after Easter — rather than Good Friday — was a legal holiday in North Carolina for 52 years, and for many years before...

Dallas Woodhouse
Video

Locke’s Mitch Kokai discusses New York Times’ warning about free speech

Mitch Kokai, John Locke Foundation senior political analyst, discusses the New York Times’ column warning about America’s “free-speech problem.” Kokai offered these comments during the March 25, 2022, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “Front Row with Marc Rotterman.”

Mitch Kokai
News

Jordan Peterson returns to Durham 4 years after city moves to ‘cancel’ him

Canadian professor, author, and psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson on Thursday offered a non-political and largely academic lecture on the psychology of beauty, dreams, and purpose. The reaction from city officials and activists to the address at the Durham Performing Arts Center was night-and-day from the one leading up to his appearance four years earlier.  It...

David Larson
News

Ukrainian people in NC rally to support homeland 

As the Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine continues to escalate, North Carolina’s local Ukrainian population is rallying to bring attention to the suffering of people in their homeland and to gather supplies to help them. Donna Goldstein, co-president of the Ukrainian Association of North Carolina, finds herself at the forefront of these efforts.  Goldstein has...

David Larson
Opinion

Why the Fourth Estate is in receivership

The fourth estate, journalism, is racing to receivership unless we can rescue it from its rapacious self. The hubris hasn’t always been this bad, this blatant, or this biased, yet it worsens daily. In the town I grew up in, Nashville, Tennessee, there were two newspapers in the 1950s and 1960s, one for the morning,...

Mark Herring
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