News

UNC System Board of Governors votes to amend DEI policy for ‘institutional neutrality’

With just two dissenting votes, the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted Thursday to amend Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policy on campuses statewide. The two “no” votes on the board were from Sonja Phillips Nichols and Joel Ford. The new policy centers on maintaining “institutional neutrality,” a point made in comments from...

Donna King
News

State Supreme Court rejects 2016 defamation case against McCrory supporters

The North Carolina Supreme Court has rejected a defamation case filed against out-of-state lawyers supporting Gov. Pat McCrory after the 2016 election. The court ruled that the lawyers enjoyed legal protection connected to official election protests.

CJ Staff
News

State Supreme Court rules against Revenue Department in machinery tax exemption dispute

A unanimous state Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling against the state Revenue Department in a dispute over a tax exemption for machinery purchased to make asphalt. In an unsigned opinion Thursday, justices endorsed the state Business Court’s January 2023 decision in the dispute between the Revenue Department and contractor FSCII.

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

Locke’s Mitch Kokai analyzes Berger’s election concession

Mitch Kokai, John Locke Foundation senior political analyst, discusses Sen. Phil Berger’s concession in his primary election loss to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. Kokai offered these comments during the March 27, 2026, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “State Lines.”

Mitch Kokai
Video

Cooper, King analyze recent polling in NC’s US Senate race

Political scientist Chris Cooper of Western Carolina University and Carolina Journal Editor-in-Chief Donna King discuss recent polls in North Carolina’s 2026 US Senate race. Cooper and King offered these comments during the Jan. 23, 2026, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “State Lines.”

Donna King

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