News

National Republican group backs N.C. leaders at U.S. Supreme Court

A national group representing Republican state officials is backing N.C. legislators at the U.S. Supreme Court. Legislative leaders want the high court’s permission to intervene in a federal lawsuit targeting voter ID. That request in a case called Berger v. N.C. State Conference of the NAACP has prompted a friend-of-the-court brief from the Republican State...

CJ Staff
News

Appeal means $1.7 billion Leandro transfer could end up at N.C. Supreme Court

A Democrat-controlled N.C. Supreme Court could end up deciding the constitutionality of a $1.7-billion transfer ordered by the presiding judge in the long-running Leandro school funding lawsuit. That outcome could be in the cards after plaintiffs in the case filed an appeal Dec. 15 challenging a Court of Appeals that blocked enforcement of the order...

David N. Bass
News

Getting COVID-19 shot is matter of personal choice, conservatives say

The voices of those urging government officials to rely on individual liberty and personality responsibility as the founding principles relate to getting the COVID vaccine are getting louder. While conservative politicians in North Carolina and throughout the U.S. are urging people to get the shot, which has proven safe, they stop well short of supporting...

John Trump
Opinion

Critical race theory seeks to recast America’s foundational beliefs

Published below are the full and unedited remarks of NC Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, on the threat to critical race theory to American society and its founding principles. Berger offered up the remarks on July 14.  Certain Enlightenment Era concepts have defined American culture since our nation’s founding. Sometimes referred to as “classical liberalism,”...

Phil Berger

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News

Senate gives bipartisan 32-18 approval to state budget plan

Editor’s note: The Senate took a final 32-17 vote Friday morning to approve its budget plan. Senate Bill 105 now heads to the House. The N.C. Senate voted Thursday to pass the body’s state budget plan by a vote of 32-18, with four Democrats joining all Republicans in supporting the plan. Sens. Ben Clark, D-Cumberland,...

Donna King
News

Senate leader urges Cooper to immediately drop mask mandate

Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect the governor’s latest directive on masks. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, says Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, should immediately withdraw his imposed mask mandate. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday said people who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks indoors, and...

CJ Staff
Opinion

We won’t get there: Cooper’s vaccine mandates are ‘shockingly silly’

A decision by the governor and his health secretary to further ease state lockdowns only when two-thirds of adults are vaccinated is shockingly silly. I wrote that last week. It’s silly because, not only is it wide government overreach, it’s possibly unconstitutional, as is the idea of vaccination “passports.” More than anything, it’s silly because...

John Trump
News

Cooper, lawmakers announce school reopening deal; governor signs it into law

Article updated at Thursday, March 11. to include Senate and House proceedings and governor’s signing. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican lawmakers have reached an agreement on reopening public schools for in-person instruction under a compromise plan that returns most decision-making autonomy to local school boards. The state Senate voted 49-0 to approve the measure...

David N. Bass
News

Senate to try again on school reopening bill override

After coming up one vote short in its first effort to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill to reopen schools, the Senate is moving to try again. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, announced that he would bring the override to another floor vote. The Senate will first vote Wednesday on a...

Andrew Dunn
News

Poll: Nearly half of N.C. likely voters oppose Cooper veto; want lawmakers to override and reopen schools

Gov. Roy Cooper’s 11th-hour veto of a school reopening bill Friday isn’t sitting well with nearly half of North Carolina likely voters, a Civitas Flash Poll shows. More than 49% of respondents to the poll say they oppose Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 37, a measure that requires school districts to offer in-person...

David N. Bass