Opinion
Health Care Winners and Losers
Politicians and bureaucrats continue behaving as if they can allocate health care resources better than consumers and providers in the marketplace.
News
Court: State Can Prepare For 2nd Year of Vouchers
RALEIGH — The N.C. Supreme Court says the state can commence administrative preparations for the Opportunity Scholarship Program while it considers an appeal from a lower court’s order that ruled the program unconstitutional. However, the court stopped short of allowing the State Education Assistance Authority from actually distributing funds for next year’s scholarships. Distribution had been scheduled to start Aug. 15, 2015.
News
Election Turnout Appears To Refute Suppression Claims
RALEIGH — More than 2.9 million North Carolinians went to the polls during the 10 days of early voting and election day on Nov. 4, more than any other midterm election in the state’s history. That’s 44 percent of North Carolinians registered to vote. It’s also 38 percent of North Carolina’s voting age population of nearly 7.7 million — higher than the 37.4 percent in 2010.
News
GOP Incumbent Meredith Faces Comeback Candidate Richardson
RALEIGH — The race in state Senate District 19 matches two-term incumbent Republican Sen. Wesley Meredith against Fayetteville attorney Billy Richardson, who is trying to make a political comeback after being out of the state House since 1996. Meredith swept out incumbent Democrat Margaret Dickson in the GOP wave of 2010; two years later, he defeated George Tatum, a weak challenger who wasn't supported by the state Democratic Party.
News
N.C. Supreme Court Takes Over Voucher Appeal
RALEIGH — The N.C. Supreme Court will decide the constitutionality of the state’s fledgling Opportunity Scholarship Program, bypassing the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court on Friday issued an order stating it would take the case on its own initiative. Friday’s action pleased people on both sides of the issue.
News
Supreme Court Disallows Same-Day Registration, Out-of-Precinct Voting
RALEIGH — A majority of the justices agreed to halt an Oct. 1 order from the 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals that would have blocked two aspects of the North Carolina law from taking effect in the current election cycle: a ban on voter registration during the early voting period, and a provision invalidating ballots cast by voters in a precinct where they do not live.
News
Appeals Court OKs Same-Day Registration, Out-of-Precinct Voting
RALEIGH — A mere 22 days before the start of early voting and with 4 million voter guides in the mail to North Carolina residents, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled that the state cannot enforce the parts of its election law eliminating same-day registration during early voting and prohibiting voters from casting ballots outside their precinct.
Opinion
CJ Editorial: The State Raised School Spending
Overall K-12 spending will increase by more than $1 billion under Republican leadership in the General Assembly, a 3-percent increase in inflation-adjusted, per-pupil terms, following a two-year drop of 9 percent under Democratic rule.
News
Appeals Court Releases Voucher Money For Low-Income Students
RALEIGH — The N.C. Court of Appeals will allow nearly 1,900 students to get vouchers for the current school year while a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the fledgling Opportunity Scholarships is on appeal. The appeals court’s order releases scholarship funding for 1,878 applicants, who will be allowed to receive up to $4,200 each in vouchers from the state to pay toward their tuition at a private school.
News
Voucher Parents Send Kids to Schools Anyway
RALEIGH – Parents of nearly 1,900 students who had been awarded Opportunity Scholarships that were ruled unconstitutional last month by Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood are sending their children to private schools anyway. They’re hoping that an appeals court will put Hobgood’s order on ice while the legal wrangling over North Carolina’s fledgling private school voucher program goes through the appeals process.
Opinion
CJ Editorial: Legislators Deserve A Time-Out
Many legislative leaders behaved like petulant children at the end of the short session.
News
Voucher Supporters Call Ruling ‘Temporary Roadblock’
RALEIGH — The move Thursday by Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood to strike down the state’s fledgling Opportunity Scholarships program is seen as a short-term setback by supporters of the private tuition vouchers. Even so, the ruling comes as parents were preparing to use those scholarships to send their children to private schools for the new school year.
