Gov. Roy Cooper has promised $445 million state tax dollars to corporations so far in 2020. At the same time, he’s kept a large swath of North Carolina’s small businesses closed under his COVID-19 orders. It’s another example of the governor’s double standards and egregious misuse of taxpayer money, said Jon Sanders, director of regulatory...
It’s a beautiful day for golfing in Pinehurst, or so North Carolina’s politicians would have you believe. Look closer, experts say, and you’ll see it’s a beautiful day for government handouts and corporate welfare. On Wednesday, Sept. 9, the U.S. Golf Association — already set to hold the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort —...
The coronavirus did what years of lawmaking and lawsuits failed to do — pushed North Carolina to temporarily waive barriers on telemedicine and the controversial certificate of need laws that restrict the supply of health care. Ambulatory surgery centers can now act as temporary hospitals. Out-of-state telemedicine providers can treat patients. Adult care homes, mental...
Editor’s note: Some names in this story have been changed to protect identities. Jane, a Raleigh-based cosmetologist, wanted to keep working when her salon closed March 25. She didn’t know providing in-home manicures was illegal. Last month, Gov. Roy Cooper ordered all hair and nail salons to close as COVID-19 spread in North Carolina. But...
Planning is essential in a capital-intensive field such as health care. But it shouldn’t be centralized in a state agency and coupled with the power to shove people around.
Dale Owen has been called many things, depending on who’s talking. He’s a cardiologist with a “bullseye” on his back, who is fighting to resurrect a dinosaur: independent, doctor-owned practices. Last year, he led 88 doctors away from Atrium Health, North Carolina’s behemoth hospital system. This year, he’s fighting to free seven primary care doctors...
It’s illegal for him to treat his patients. By law, he can’t get an MRI machine because the hospital down the street already has one. Under certificate of need laws, state planners decide which medical providers can have medical equipment. In Dr. Gajendra Singh’s case, the planners decided his area didn’t need another magnetic resonance...
North Carolina taxpayers are paying Merck, the $210 billion dollar pharmaceutical company that produces Viagra, among other drugs, some $12.5 million in tax incentives to build in Durham. North Carolina has a robust history of giving targeted tax breaks to encourage particular businesses. The state’s Job Development Investment Grant Program alone will need $71.6 million...
If it were a film, North Carolina’s subsidy program wouldn’t be a box office smash. A recent study from the Western Carolina University Center for the Study of Free Enterprise says the $400 million North Carolina taxpayers have invested in film subsidies has failed to pay dividends. Kennesaw State University economics professor John Charles Bradbury...
Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, won’t seek re-election when his term expires next year, but he’s far from finished. House Bill 971, which McGrady sponsored, has stalled in the legislature. Still, McGrady got a hearing for a proposed committee substitute in the House’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee on Tuesday, July 23. He co-chairs the committee. The...
The Raleigh City Council has voted to allow people to rent one or two guest rooms, but homeowners won’t be allowed to rent entire houses. Unless bills pending in the General Assembly block Raleigh and other cities from micromanaging similar short-term rental properties. In a 5-2 vote, the City Council on Tuesday, May 21, passed...
