The top leader of the N.C. Senate and the state’s public school superintendent have tussled recently over a budget issue. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, contends that Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson tried to avoid a budget cut by shifting money away from student reading programs and into bureaucrats’ salaries. Terry Stoops, the John Locke Foundation’s director of research and education studies, assesses the significance of Berger and Atkinson’s public spat. We’ve already seen plenty of excitement during the 2016 presidential race, and we’re likely to see more. That’s the assessment from longtime campaign correspondent John Gizzi of Newsmax. Gizzi analyzes this year’s presidential campaign and compares it to other hard-fought contests from American political history. A lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s Map Act recently reached the state Supreme Court. You’ll hear arguments from supporters and critics of the law that helps the N.C. Department of Transportation block development in designated highway corridors. North Carolina lawmakers could take another step to reduce growth in the state’s regulatory burden by adopting a state-level REINS Act. That’s the recommendation JLF Director of Regulatory Studies Jon Sanders made during a recent legislative committee meeting. Officially named the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act, REINS would force major new state rules to go through the legislative process governed by elected officials, rather than a rule-making process governed by unaccountable bureaucrats. The nation’s legal community suffered a huge loss with the recent death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. JLF Director of Legal Studies Jon Guze assesses Scalia’s legacy.