Cover

• The nightmares of a brutal redistricting battle aside for now, North Carolina is finally proceeding with its long-delayed 2002 campaign season, which has some of the most competitive races in years. Page 1

North Carolina

• Several national television networks question how states, particularly North Carolina, have misused money won in the 1998 tobacco settlement. Page 4
• John Locke Foundation adjunct scholar George Stephens speaks at a foundation luncheon on his new book, Locke, Jefferson, and the Justices: Foundations and Failures of the U.S. Government. Page 4

Education

• Voucher supporters in North Carolina think some sort of the voucher program, now that vouchers have been approved by the U.S. Supreme Court, would greatly benefit children in the state. Page 6
• After switching throughout the 1990s, today 73 percent of all high schools in North Carolina are block-scheduled. Despite its popularity, the reform draws mixed reviews from a number of studies. Page 7
• Lindalyn Kakadelis says a new study ranking each state’s accountability system, rating North Carolina No. 1, raises doubts about the way the study evaluates the states. Page 7
• A recent State Appeals Court decision found that a charter school is entitled to local money collected through fines and forfeitures, just like other public schools. Page 8
• Sherri Joyner reports that closing the achievement gap between white students and black students is a nationwide problem. But one school in Northampton County, N.C. closed the gap in just one school year. Page 9

Higher Education

• The Center for Immigration Studies released a damning evaluation of the Foreign Student Program. Conducted by a professor at Harvard University, the evaluation finds the program rife with corruption and failing abysmally at achieving its advertised benefits. Page 12
• Jon Sanders says SAT changes are a successful end run around the inevitability that racial preferences will be declared illegal across the United States. Page 13

Local Government

• Another public-private partnership in the form of a nonprofit organization has been created in Charlotte, all in the name of getting taxpayers to help fund a whitewater park for the city. Page 14
• In two N.C. cities, local restrictions have been proposed on the design and construction of large retail stores. Unlike previous debates about such so-called “big box” stores, the issue often centers on the design and reuse of such buildings. Page 15
• Wendell Cox of the Heartland Institute writes that despite hype about record ridership on mass transit, the 2000 Census shows a record low. Page 15
• An interview with Phillip Frye, mayor of Spruce Pine in Mitchell County. Page 16

Learning Curve

• George Leef reviews Fool’s Errands by Gary T. Dempsey with Roger W. Fontaine, and Hansmarc Hurd reviews the film “The Sum of All Fears.” Page 18
• Reviews of the books Serving the Word: Literalism in America from the Pulpit to the Bench by Vincent Crapanzano, and The Sixteen-Trillion Dollar Mistake by Bruce S. Jansson. Page 19

Opinion

• Carolina Journal Editor Richard Wagner recounts his first year working for the John Locke Foundation — a legislative year unlike any other in recent history. Page 20
• Citing incompetence and negligence among Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps’s many shortcomings, Thomas Paul DeWitt calls for her resignation. Page 22
• Michael Walden says the key to fairness in an economy of free choice is the opportunity for individuals to prepare themselves to make those choices. Page 23

Parting Shot

• Believe It or Not, Ripley’s is looking to take over Raleigh’s troubled Exploris Children’s Museum. Page 24