On the cover

• Lost: Government orders, edicts in response to pandemic break businesses, leaving tradition, culture in tatters

News

• Quick Takes, Pages 3-4

• Hospital consolidation complicates issues of who’s at fault in Mission Health union debate, Page 5

• Dem candidate faces challenges over loan, residency, Page 6

• Powerful House leader Lewis faces federal charges, resigns from General Assembly, Page 7

• Suddenly silent: Music venues, closed since March, struggle to survive. Some are gone for good, Page 8

• No fair: Year without a state fair leaves North Carolinians sad, nostalgic, Page 12

• Without live shows, artists seeking ways to reach fans, Page 14

 

Features

• Polls, Page 2

• Q&A: Mike Long: U.S. Supreme Court boosts school choice in critical case, Page 15

 

Opinion

• Amy Cooke commentary: Black men speak out, demonstrate difference between blm and BLM, Page 2

• Terry Stoops commentary: Inputs, outcomes, and the school that spent $25k per student, Page 16

• Andrew Gillen commentary: Credential inflation: What’s causing it?, Page 17

• Anthony Hennen commentary: Across colleges of all types, student anxiety a growing issue, Page 17

• Becki Gray commentary: Cooper’s post-COVID-19 plans should worry all North Carolinians, Page 18

• Mitch Kokai commentary: Bowling alley case reminds up of important fruits, Page 19

• Jordan Roberts commentary: Insurance markets need state innovation, Page 20

• John Trump commentary: ‘If I die in Ralegh, at least I will die free’: Well, not exactly, Page 22

• Andy Taylor commentary: N.C. politics anything but sleepy, Page 23

• Michael Walden commentary: You decide: Is it really 2030?, Page 23

 

Commentary by John Hood

• New monuments could unify state, Page 2

• Homicides spiking in Carolina cities, Page 21

• County races turn on governance, Page 21