Cover

• N.C. Commerce lets failed expo center slide
• Obama immigration action reveals partisan divide

North Carolina

• Poll: Voters reject idea of Medicaid expansion, Page 2
• Smaller N.C. companies bracing for Obamacare premium increases, Page 3
• Audit: NCDOT retread contracts too costly, Page 4
• State Briefs, Page 4
• Watchdog group objects to HUD loan for boutique hotel in Cary, Page 5
• Election turnout appears to refute claims of voter suppression, Page 6
• Experts: Governors’ suit over commissions a long shot, Page 7

Education

• Voters prefer debt rather than taxes in ’14 elections, Page 8
• Kristen Blair commentary: From tiger moms to guerrilla dads, Page 8
• Common Core replacement panel has mission but no money, Page 9

Higher Education

• Community colleges mull four-year nursing degree, Page 17
• Jane Shaw commentary: Why preserve the humanities?, Page 17
• Admissions standards drop at three UNC campuses, Page 18
• Campus Briefs, Page 18
• Issues in Higher Education: Student evaluations a poor measure of teaching competence, Page 19

Local Government

• Counties cut hours, jobs due to Obamacare, Page 10
• Town and County, Page 10
• Fire department merger possible in Wilmington/New Hanover, Page 11
• County board partisan shifts reflect regional differences, Page 11
• Ruling on shooting ranges implicates property rights, Page 12
• Localities ask legislature to regulate ‘sharing economy,’ Page 13

Learning Curve

• Book review: Memoir reveals Panetta as partisan but hard-working, Page 20
• From the Liberty Library, Page 20
• Troy Kickler commentary: In nation’s early years, politics sometimes became physical, Page 21
• Book review: Cuomo acts as cheerleader for ‘cool government’ in All Things, Page 22
• Book review: Walters finds cities need free-market atmosphere to thrive, Page 23

Opinion

• Editorial: Don’t count on miracles, Page 24
• Sarah Curry commentary: Work under way for next N.C. budget, Page 24
• Editorial: Spend like it’s 1969, Page 25
• Editorial: Ranking ’14 pollsters, Page 25
• John Hood commentary: Legends of the fall, Page 25
• Media Mangle: When the media ignores the news, Page 26
• Michael Walden commentary: Factory and farm, Page 26
• Roy Cordato commentary: Minimum wage and social problems, Page 27
• Jon Sanders commentary: Facts: Stubborn, bothersome, but necessary, Page 27

Parting Shot

• McCrory’s Christmas gift list shows he’s no Grinch (a CJ parody), Page 28