Cover

• Counties use public funds to push tax hikes
• League of Municipalities called NC’s ‘shadow government’

North Carolina

• NC drought relief efforts affecting private property rights, page 4
• Bakst: NC needs a ‘coast law’ for wind turbines, page 5

Education

• Proposed fines have charters worried, page 8
• Economic realities surround Guilford discipline measures, page 9
• Terry Stoops commentary: Schools’ bulging bureaucracy
• Group seeks at-large school board voting, page 10
• Mountain summer camp focuses on Western values, page 11

Higher Education

• Football at UNCC? First, get a second opinion, page 12
• Scholars say NC restrictions hold back new law schools, page 13
• Jane Shaw commentary: Competition improves education, page 13
• Bats in the Belltower, page 14
• Proposed UNC System changes could affect student choices, page 14
• Issues in Higher Education, page 15

Local Government

• Rules, fines accompany historic preservation, page 16
• Wilmington garage-apartment rules called unconstitutional, page 17
• Chad Adams commentary: Poor planning and water woes, page 17
• Water affecting annexations, page 18
• Local Innovation Bulletin Board, page 18
• Transit Commission wants to to ‘bold’ with recommendations, page 19

Learning Curve

• Book review: Carla T. Main’s Bulldozed, page 20
• Troy Kickler commentary: Murphey led effort to get support for ‘internal improvements,’ page 21
• Short Takes on Culture, page 22
• Book review: Clint Bolick’s David’s Hammer, page 23

Opinion

• Richard Wagner commentary: Water world, page 24
• Editorial: NC’s vanishing air routes, page 24
• John Hood commentary: NC leaders have “quicken pox,” page 25
• Editorial: Environmental cost-benefit, page 25
• Editorial: Volume can’t help a deficit, page 25
• Michael Walden commentary: Waste is a relative term, not always bad, page 26
• Becki Gray commentary: It seems like they just left, but, THEY’RE BAAAAACK!, page 27
• Letters to the editor, page 27

Parting Shot

• NC film industry vying for Gov. Eliot Spitzer movie (a CJ parody), page 28