The University of North Carolina System’s Board of Governors Chairman Harry Smith has recused himself from all communications with East Carolina University, his alma mater, and the third largest school in the system. Now, UNC System offices are refusing to release a personnel review of the school’s embattled Chancellor Cecil Staton — even though Staton...
Media law experts believe the North Carolina Military Affairs Commission violated the spirit — if not the letter — of state laws requiring the conduct of public meetings in a transparent manner. “I feel like a judge would say this is a violation of the law,” Raleigh-based media attorney Amanda Martin said of Commission Chairman...
A three-judge panel heard arguments Friday over whether to grant a temporary injunction blocking Senate confirmation of Gov. Roy Cooper’s Cabinet nominees. That same panel — Superior Court Judges Jesse Caldwell III, Todd Burke, and Jeffrey Foster — on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order in favor of Cooper, who has filed a lawsuit citing...
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...
A recommendation that the state might impose ethics-related restrictions on secondary employment and corporate board memberships on the state treasurer — and possibly other Council of State officers — drew a mixed response from those officials. At a July 28 meeting of the Investment Advisory Committee, Blake Thomas, interim general counsel for the Department of...
The federal government issued tax credits in North Carolina approaching a half-billion dollars for renewable energy investment in the five most recent years for which records are available, and high-income earners have benefited the most from the tax favors. But the names of beneficiaries of that $466,928,000 in carve-outs from 2009 to 2013, the...
While North Carolina’s recently passed college transparency bill awaits the signature of Gov. Pat McCrory, similar federal legislation was approved on Wednesday by the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce. House Resolution 3178, the “Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act,” would increase access to information for all college applicants in the United States and streamline existing...
A bill that would increase access to information about the costs, benefits, and consequences of college degrees available in North Carolina passed the state House on Wednesday by a vote of 101-16 and has been placed on Monday’s Senate calendar. Senate Bill 536, “Students Know Before You Go and Central Residency,” instructs the North Carolina State...
The state-owned North Carolina Railroad Company, which has become a major financial player in the evolving Greensboro-Randolph Megasite in Randolph County, has refused numerous requests from Carolina Journal to turn over records that might reveal where it obtained millions of dollars to complete recent land purchases. CJ first asked on March 28 for all minutes...
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...
Rick Henderson races for Senate & Governor; Joseph Connors on freedom's relationship to a thriving society; legislators debate rolling back regulations & improving supplemental insurance for gov't workers; Sarah Curry on use of incentives by big NC cities
