The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled on April 28 that partisan gerrymandering claims were “nonjusticiable, political questions” and ordered the General Assembly to redraw the state’s House, Senate, and congressional maps. The legislature will take up that task later this year. With the threat of a (successful) political gerrymandering lawsuit largely behind them, how should...
The North Carolina General Assembly is about to make all children eligible for the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program. They won’t all receive the same amounts — poor and middle-income families will be eligible for vouchers in the range of $6,500 to $7,200 per student, while upper-income households will receive much less. Nevertheless, both proponents and...
A current controversy in the nation's capital reminds this observer of North Carolina's latest Leandro education funding fight.
It is state budget season down on Jones Street in Raleigh, and numerous large dollar amounts are floating back and forth between chambers at the North Carolina General Assembly. One number has caught the business community’s attention — a $1.4 billion allocation in the state Senate’s budget to go to a non-profit organization called NCInnovation. A press release from...
Early last month, arthouse theaters across America screened a strikingly titled independent feature: How to Blow Up a Pipeline. Despite its name, the film is not a documentary-style instruction manual showing viewers how to complete what the title suggests á la The Anarchist Cookbook. Instead, Pipeline is a narrative feature following the exploits of a...
Based on the headline of this article, you could be forgiven for asking questions like, “Who is this Eric fellow, why did you use to back him, and why don’t you back him anymore?” First, ERIC is not a who but a what. It is the Electronic Registration Information Center, a nonprofit organization registered in...
In Washington, Republican lawmakers are insisting that any deal with the Biden administration to raise the federal debt ceiling be accompanied by stricter work requirements for such programs as cash welfare, nutrition assistance, and Medicaid. In Raleigh, Republican state senators tried to make work requirements a condition for expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act,...
