News

State health departments hits the brakes on mandatory student COVID vaccinations 

Action on a petition from university faculty asking for mandatory vaccines for college students would be premature, the state health department says. The petition asks for the implementation of COVID-19 jabs as an immunization requirement for all N.C. college students who are 17 years old or entering 12th grade.  The N.C. Commission for Public Health...

Theresa Opeka
News

Follow the money: How lawsuits are trying to drive your 2022 elections 

As the Biden administration and Congress struggle with plummeting approval numbers, a battle is being waged in North Carolina and other states over who will control the drawing of congressional districts. The 2022 elections could turn the balance of power to Republicans in Congress.   The latest Cygnal poll shows 51% of likely voters surveyed said...

Donna King
News

New Bern eye doctor reignites fight against CON law

A New Bern-based eye surgeon continues his campaign against North Carolina’s certificate-of-need restrictions. A newly filed brief at the N.C. Court of Appeals aims to help keep that campaign alive. “The State wants this case to be about whether the legislature could have thought it was rational to adopt the CON Law over 40 years...

CJ Staff
News

Appeals Court rejects challenge of now-repealed Mecklenburg judges’ law

The N.C. Court of Appeals has affirmed a ruling against challengers of a repealed law affecting Mecklenburg County judges. The law would have converted countywide District Court judicial elections into district races. The General Assembly repealed the districting plan in 2020, rendering the legal challenge moot, according to the Appeals Court. The unanimous three-judge panel...

CJ Staff
News

Three targeted N.C. Supreme Court justices will take part in redistricting case

All seven N.C. Supreme Court justices will take part in Wednesday’s oral arguments in a high-profile challenge of the state’s new election maps. In separate orders, three justices announced they were rejecting requests for them to step away from the case. Plaintiffs who want the high court to throw out the maps had sought disqualification...

CJ Staff

Opinion

Elections

News

Trump nominates Bishop to be deputy director for budget at OMB

"Dan has been a tireless fighter for our MAGA Movement in the House of Representatives on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees," Trump said in a press release issued Tuesday night. "Dan will implement my cost-cutting and deregulatory agenda across all Agencies, and root out the Weaponized Deep State."

Theresa Opeka
News

Democrats want federal court to address GOP challenge of 60,000 NC ballots

The North Carolina Democratic Party filed a lawsuit Friday to ensure challenges of 60,000 ballots in the state's latest election are addressed in federal court. Republicans filed the challenges with the State Board of Elections. The challenges could affect the outcome of the state Supreme Court race between Democrat Allison Riggs and Jefferson Griffin, along with a handful of state legislative contests.

CJ Staff
News

Griffin asks Appeals Court to order decision on election protests by Tuesday

Republican North Carolina Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin is turning to North Carolina’s second-highest court for an order that would force state election officials to make a final decision about Griffin’s election protests Tuesday. The State Board of Elections had planned to hear oral arguments about the protests the following day, according to a document Griffin filed Friday with the state Court of Appeals.

CJ Staff

Videos

Video

The Debrief: Remaining Covid Lawsuits + Sam Hayes Interview

This week on The Debrief, Mitch Kokai and Donna King discuss the remaining covid lawsuits and other court cases in North Carolina. Plus, North Carolina State Board of Elections Executive Director Sam Hayes sat down with Carolina Journal’s Theresa Opeka to talk about his first year in office, including his accomplishments and what’s on the...

Culture

Civil Society

Opinion

For healthy civil society, politics needs to stay in its lane

Political and cultural causes are important. They motivate us to make the world around us better and hone our sense of justice. Also, the excitement of fighting the good fight can be, for lack of a better word, fun. But everything has its time and place. And even if we think a particular political issue...

David Larson
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