Local officials across North Carolina are bracing for what they fear will be cuts in their state funding. The answer, for some, is to push for hikes in the local sales tax rate. John Locke Foundation Director of Research and Local Government Analyst Michael Sanera explains the tax-raising mechanisms given to local governments by a previous General Assembly and reviews the history of votes on the sales tax hike and land transfer tax hike. Then Locke Foundation Health and Fiscal Policy Analyst Joe Coletti discusses North Carolina’s need for Medicaid relief and the reasons last year’s health reform law impedes the state’s ability to receive that relief. Coletti also discusses efforts by other states to alter Medicaid mandates and bring Medicaid costs into line with states’ ability to pay. Next we turn to widespread support received by a recent legislative effort. A unanimous Senate recently endorsed Senate Bill 16, which would require N.C. law enforcement officers to seek a blood sample from any person criminally charged in a case of death by vehicle. Sens. Don East, R-Surry, and Doug Berger, D-Franklin, explain their support for the bill. That’s followed by a look at student assignment policies. For more than a year, North Carolina’s largest public school system has been dealing with a fight over its school assignment policy. The dispute has been described as “busing for diversity vs. neighborhood schools.” The John Locke Foundation and Campbell Law School Federalist Society recently hosted a debate on the topic. Carolina Journal Radio interviewed both debaters. Richard Kahnlenberg, senior fellow at the Century Foundation, is described as the “intellectual father of the economic integration movement” in K-12 schools. Kahlenberg makes the case for student assignments that focus on diversity. Abigail Thernstrom, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, opposes forced busing for any purpose. Thernstrom explains why the debate over busing makes her feel as if she’s entered a “time warp.”