Thousands of public school teachers greeted the N.C. General Assembly when lawmakers returned to work in Raleigh. Teachers demanded higher pay and more spending on items such as school textbooks. Terry Stoops, John Locke Foundation vice president for research, examines the teachers’ complaints. State lawmakers have been debating potential changes to the system North Carolina uses to select its judges. The John Locke Foundation and Western Carolina University’s Center for the Study of Free Enterprise co-hosted a recent panel discussion of the topic. Carolina Journal Radio asked panelists to share highlights from their presentations. Scott Gaylord, professor of law at Elon University, supports the current system of partisan judicial elections. Gaylord discusses the pros and cons of various forms of judicial selection. Bryan McCannon, assistant professor of economics at West Virginia University, focuses on the choice between partisan and nonpartisan elections. McCannon says partisan elections offer voters more information, a characteristic economists tend to like for most transactions. As the nation struggles with an opioid epidemic, prosecutors and law enforcement agencies have renewed their focus on some drug-related crimes. In Raleigh, U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon recently briefed Attorney General Jeff Sessions on steps taken locally to combat opioid-related criminal activity. Gov. Roy Cooper wants to repeal scheduled personal and corporate income tax cuts, spend nearly every dollar available to state government this year, and take on additional $2 billion in state debt. Joseph Coletti, John Locke Foundation senior fellow, explains why Cooper’s plan would guarantee additional tax hikes in future years.