News

Private schools appeal trial court rulings in dismissed Opportunity Scholarship lawsuit

Sixteen private schools in Cumberland and Durham counties are appealing a series of trial court rulings in a lawsuit dismissed earlier this year challenging North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship Program. One ruling involves the schools’ attempt to collect more than $25,000 in sanctions against scholarship critics.

CJ Staff
News

One piece struck from federal lawsuit challenging NC abortion law

A Duke Health doctor has dismissed one part of an ongoing federal lawsuit against North Carolina’s new abortion law. Two other pieces of the law continue to face a legal challenge. A federal judge issued a Sept. 30 injunction against the two targeted items.

CJ Staff
News

Earls seeks 4th Circuit injunction denied by lower court in First Amendment case

State Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls is asking a federal Appeals Court to issue an injunction that would block the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission from proceeding with an investigation against her. Without an injunction, the commission could consider Earls’ case on Friday.

CJ Staff
Video

Locke’s Mitch Kokai assesses Gov. Roy Cooper’s approach to the national political stage

Mitch Kokai, John Locke Foundation senior political analyst, discusses Gov. Roy Cooper’s work with national Democrats ahead of the 2024 election season. Kokai offered these comments during the Dec. 1, 2024, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “State Lines.”

Mitch Kokai
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Opinion

Opinion

Budget reform requires belt and suspenders

Key members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation have it right: unless we do something meaningful about the federal government’s chronic budget deficits, America’s future is in peril. “Reckless spending has led our country into a dire economic situation threatened by inflation and mountains of debt,” says Rep. Richard Hudson, R-NC9, chairman of the National Republican Congressional...

John Hood
Opinion

Key consultant says NC Dems lost by winning on redistricting

North Carolina Democrats have already lost the first skirmish in the next round of redistricting wars, as a federal judge rejected an urgent call to block new state Senate districts from going into place before the start of candidate filing in early December.  US District Judge James Dever labeled the proposed timeline “meritless,” in a scathing...

Dallas Woodhouse
Opinion

Medicaid expansion launches, but the CON continues

Medicaid expansion officially launched on Dec. 1, expanding government-funded coverage to North Carolinians earning up to $20,000 annually and families of four who earn up to $41,000 annually. As people are recruited into the state’s Medicaid expansion program over the next month, it is important to remember that the healthcare system will continue to be...

Donna King
Opinion

School choice can help solve the student behavior crisis in NC schools

On Monday, a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death and another was hospitalized after a brawl at Southeast Raleigh High School. The situation was complicated, with the family of the 14-year-old boy charged with the crimes saying that he had been targeted for violence by those he stabbed. A video of the incident circulated widely...

David Larson
Opinion

‘The Holdovers’ review: An early Christmas gift

One scene in director Alexander Payne’s latest movie, “The Holdovers,” epitomizes the entire film. On Christmas morning, Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), the usually cantankerous classics teacher at a New England boarding school in the early 1970s, summons rebellious student Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) and grieving cafeteria lady Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) to the mess...

Grant Lefelar
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Elections

News

AFP Action’s endorsement of Nikki Haley highlights the race for second place

Nikki Haley got a boost in her bid for the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday in an endorsement from Americans for Prosperity Action. The Koch group pushed out a campaign to promote the former South Carolina governor and former United Nations ambassador.

News

RNC pushes Republicans to vote early and by mail

Republicans are pushing to get more party faithful to vote early and mail in their ballots, while also trying to assure them of ballot security. An initiative from the Republican National Committee, Bank Your Vote, is aimed at tapping into turnout tactics that Democrats have been nurturing for years.

Donna King
News

Election staff will hand count some ballots Wednesday in accuracy checks of municipal contests

On Tuesday, voters cast ballots in the last of three municipal contests in the state's first elections with Voter ID requirements in place. On Wednesday, state elections staff will conduct statutorily required random accuracy checks.

Donna King
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Videos

Video

Locke’s Mitch Kokai assesses Gov. Roy Cooper’s approach to the national political stage

Mitch Kokai, John Locke Foundation senior political analyst, discusses Gov. Roy Cooper’s work with national Democrats ahead of the 2024 election season. Kokai offered these comments during the Dec. 1, 2024, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “State Lines.”

Mitch Kokai
Video

The Debrief: Voter ID, Gen Z Shifting the Polls, and Rising Crime in our Schools

This week on “The Debrief”: *A new Civitas Poll is out this week – Voter ID retains strong approval among voters. *As 2024 looms, Gen Z could really start shifting electoral outcomes. *The State Board of Elections is preparing for a high stakes election year. *A stabbing at a local high school takes a young...

Video

Locke’s Mitch Kokai analyzes lawsuit challenging NC state Senate election map

Mitch Kokai, John Locke Foundation senior political analyst, discusses a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s state Senate election map. Kokai offered these comments during the Nov. 24, 2023, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “State Lines.”

Mitch Kokai
Video

Thanksgiving costs, crowded primaries, and education achievements

This week on “The Debrief”: *The cost of your Thanksgiving meal should be lower this year than last, but it’s still much higher than in the recent past. *Candidate filing starts Dec. 4, but we already have some crowded primaries for the 2024 elections in North Carolina. *Now that the General Assembly has finished its...

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Culture

News

Student stabbed to death at Wake County high school

On Monday, the Raleigh Police Department reported that two students were stabbed at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School and transported to the hospital, where one of the students died of injuries. The second victim remains hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to a press conference delivered by Raleigh Chief of Police Estella Patterson.

CJ Staff
News

Turkey prices are down, but food prices still soaring

While consumers may see a slight dip in food costs for this Thanksgiving, prices are still up compared to pre-pandemic 2019. The American Farm Bureau says this year’s classic feast for 10 family and friends should cost, on average, $61.17. However, in 2022 the nation saw a dramatic 9.9% increase in food prices.

Donna King
News

The Old North State celebrates its 234th birthday today!

Today marks North Carolina’s 234th birthday! U.S. Sen. Ted Budd, R-NC, was among those remembering the Old North State’s special day on social media.  On Nov. 21, 1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the United States Constitution and the only state with two ratification conventions. In 1729, the state started as a...

Theresa Opeka
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Civil Society

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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