On April 3 The Wall Street Journal‘s editorial board praised a Nebraska bill to reform its occupational licensing system. This bill, the editors noted, would bring about “wholesale reform.” The editors found several aspects of the bill praiseworthy. So do I. They include several ideas we at the John Locke Foundation have been promoting to...
Journalists are criticized today for any number of things. They’re biased and even evil. They invent stories and propagate fake news, an allegation, by the way, that’s as dangerous as it is wrongheaded and ridiculous. That’s not what good journalists do. Period. Good journalists are vital purveyors of information and are indispensable in protecting the...
It seems like all public officials celebrate transparency, until it applies to them. Case in point: Gov. Roy Cooper, who (years ago as attorney general) wrote the introduction to the North Carolina Guide to Open Government and Public Records for the N.C. Press Association. “The spirit with which public officials work to comply with the...
Tracing the ownership of the land hosting a Nash County solar farm built on a former cow pasture is complicated business. [Editor’s note: The headline of this story was changed to reflect new information from Judge Pell Cooper. See correction below.] On his Statement of Economic Interest covering 2014, then-Attorney General Roy Cooper, in November...
Legislative Republicans and Democrats bristled at excuses Department of Health and Human Services officials gave Tuesday over their failure to create a mandated watchdog program. “Do you understand how frustrating this is for the members of the General Assembly? Three years now we have required the creation of an office,” Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, said...
Mark Martin was elected chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court in November 2014, three months after Gov. Pat McCrory appointed him to serve the remainder of retiring Chief Justice Sarah Parker’s term. Two years ago, Martin, who has served on the court since 1999, convened the North Carolina Commission on the Administration of...
Some government watchdogs believe the UNC system is rife with wasteful spending and would like to have a fiscal tool to probe complicated financial information so they could prove or disprove that contention. Lawmakers say the ability to see exactly how much is being spent, and on what, is good government. “The main reason we...
Open government violations at a Feb. 7 North Carolina Military Affairs Commission meeting prompted legislation to make such offenses a crime. The incident could affect the Senate confirmation process of Larry Hall as secretary of military and veterans affairs, according to state Sen. Norman Sanderson, R-Pamlico. Sanderson said he co-sponsored Senate Bill 77 partly in response...
The North Carolina State Board of Education last month used a rare exemption to go behind closed doors and vote on a lawsuit against the state. Board members have yet to disclose which members supported and opposed the lawsuit, a move that’s at odds with public meeting standards, said Jonathan Jones, director of the Sunshine...
It’s an interesting time for news reporters in North Carolina and across the country. Newspapers, for example, are closing and consolidating. The consistency and frequency in which this is happening isn’t alarming, really. It’s been going on for a while. It does, however, portend a certain future, which is by no means rosy. More papers...
The UNC system operates several foundations that raise money for their associated universities, and national researchers who have looked at these types of organizations have called them “slush funds” and “shadow corporations” that too often operate in secrecy, even though they spend taxpayers’ money. In North Carolina, these foundations buy property and then lease space...
Get Reminded When We Go LIVE on Election Night!
