Gov. Pat McCrory wasted no time in getting to work as North Carolina’s 74th governor. During his first full weekday on the job, the governor issued Executive Order No. 1, which reversed Gov. Beverly Perdue’s executive order that had created a judicial nominating commission. Carolina Journal Managing Editor Rick Henderson discusses McCrory’s move to return the nomination of judicial appointees back to the governor, as outlined in the N.C. Constitution. Then we turn to the economy. North Carolina’s economy has struggled since the onset of the Great Recession, but N.C. State University economist Michael Walden thinks 2013 might show some positive signs for recovery. Walden shares details from his state-based index of leading economic indicators. Next is a look at history. Serious fighting in the American Revolution ended in Yorktown, Va., but the American victory at Yorktown depended in large part on earlier battles in North Carolina. John Locke Foundation President John Hood explained during a recent public presentation how North Carolina patriots helped win the Revolutionary War. That’s followed by a closer look at the new McCrory administration. Recent editions of Carolina Journal Radio have analyzed Gov. McCrory’s selections to fill top posts within his Cabinet and senior staff. Now You’ll hear from some of those selections themselves. Chief of staff Thomas Stith, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Aldona Wos, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary John Skvarla, Revenue Secretary Lyons Gray, Cultural Resources Secretary Susan Kluttz, Public Safety Secretary Kieran Shanahan, Chief Legal Counsel Bob Stephens, and Deputy Budget Director Art Pope share their thoughts about their new roles. And finally, we turn to education. A staggering number of recent North Carolina high school graduates are unable to handle community college-level work. John Locke Foundation Director of Research and Education Studies, Terry Stoops, analyzes why two-thirds of these graduates require remedial education in math, reading, and writing, and why the K-12 education establishment is largely shutting its eyes to the problem, choosing instead to tout an increase in the graduation rate.