Opinion
A Tiny Anti-Execution Faction
Is public support for the death penalty weakening? Not according to the best-asked question, which doesn’t use overly broad language or hypotheticals to skew the outcome.
Opinion
Fixing Up NC School Construction
NC school districts project school-construction needs in the many billions of dollars over the next decade. Here are six simple tools for reducing the cost to taxpayers.
Opinion
A Transport Plan Comes Together
Has a certain political scandal ruined the phrase, “I love it when a plan comes together”? Because it applies well to a new commission report on NC transportation and its antecedents.
Opinion
No. 873: Only a Constitutional Amendment Will Protect Property Rights
In the wake of the Supreme Court's Kelo decision, N.C. must enact a constitutional amendment to protect private property.
Opinion
No. 872: General Motors: Why Nothing Stays the Same
It's sad to see General Motors going downhill, but no one company is bigger than our marvelous free-market economy.
Opinion
Lindalyn’s Journal
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said, "There are no facts, only interpretations." While I believe his relativistic views were (and still are) inaccurate, they nevertheless highlight the power of interpretation to "explain away" facts and data. In the world of education, subjective explanations abound, particularly with regard to student performance results. The result is a confusing maze of data, leaving most parents to scratch their heads in perplexity. Consider the following flurry of contradictory test results. On December 1st, the National Center for Education Statistics released 2005 results for the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) − a comparison of fourth and eighth grade NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) scores in 11 urban school systems. Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) outperformed the 10 other school systems in 3 out of 4 categories.
Opinion
A New Prescription for Medicaid
The state’s new Medicaid director is a physician. He is urging more primary care to reduce long-term costs, but more fundamental restructuring is needed.
Opinion
It’s Not Miller Time for Sinsheimer
Democratic activist Joe Sinsheimer has launched a savvy effort to force the resignation of House Speaker Jim Black. He says the alternative would help the GOP — and he’s probably right.
Opinion
Recycling the Yankee Dump Story
Here's another round of media market-bashing when it comes to solid-waste disposal. Rather than slam new landfills likely to meet consumer demand, why not gang up on economic-development projects likely to fail?
Opinion
On Spitting Images & Other Expectoration
After years of contentious debate, the Rocky Mount city council has decided not to spent $45,000 on a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. The episode reveals why coercive funding of the arts is problematic.
Opinion
Assessment of the charter movement
SEATTLE, WA — The National Charter School Research Project recently released a report answering many common questions about the charter school movement. The report identifies key controversies and their effect on the overall success of the movement.
Opinion
A Stubbornly Sticky State Mistake
A syndrome that afflicts many public officials, trying to ameliorate problems caused by government with yet more government, is evident in the regulation of North Carolina health facilities.
