News
SBI calls out Carolina Forward over investigation claims
The SBI says Carolina Forward's posts misrepresented the Greater Carolina investigation, with prosecutors denying any current lawmaker is a target.
News
Justice Martin withdraws from Durham event after alleged threats
Former NC Supreme Court Justice Mark Martin withdraws from event due to threats of political violence over Jan 6.
Opinion
Countering confusion about NC flat tax’s impact
Carolina Forward deserves credit for including the words “same rate.” But the commentary still suggests that taxpayers with $40,000 incomes and those with $4 million incomes pay the same tax.
News
NC lawmakers to revisit congressional maps next week
North Carolina lawmakers plan to return to Raleigh next week to consider a new congressional map after President Donald Trump called on Republican-led legislatures to counter redistricting efforts by Democrats in blue states. “President Trump earned a clear mandate from the voters of North Carolina and the rest of the country, and we intend to...
News
Redraw of NC-1 congressional district could pose litigation risk
Berger denies allegations he asked President Donald Trump for an endorsement in his tight primary in exchange for redrawing the lines of NC-1.
Opinion
Tribalism is bad for politics and policy
This week, three North Carolina counties rejected election protests from House incumbent Michael Wray, D-Northhampton, who cited irregularities in the March 5 primary election, ones he says could have changed the outcome. Wray was defeated by primary challenger Rodney Pierce by just 35 votes, or three tenths of a percent (0.3%), so now North Carolina...
Opinion
Most communities have a crime problem
In a recent column, I argued that cities would draw more investment and job creation to their downtowns if people felt safer in them. Because the only North Carolina cities included in the national study I cited were Charlotte and Raleigh, some readers concluded that I thought the problem was limited to those two jurisdictions....
Opinion
Does NC have a ‘child marriage’ problem?
Between two concrete stages in life, society often creates zones with special rules to guide the transition between the two. There are drivers and those too young to drive. In the middle we have “student drivers,” with all sorts of particular limitations around their ability to drive. There are workers, and there are those too...
Opinion
Democrats needed Tricia Cotham in 2007 but then turned on her
North Carolina Democrats desperately needed a fresh-faced 29-year-old Tricia Cotham to succeed when she was appointed to Mecklenburg Counties House District 100 in 2007. The North Carolina Democratic Party was mired in corruption and scandal. The North Carolina Democrat party WAS the face of corruption and scandal. The North Carolina Democrats were the jailbird caucus. Cotham...
Opinion
Outrageous story of the week: Lame ducks squawking
A tectonic shift in N.C. politics happened this week as Mecklenburg County Democrat state House Rep. Tricia Cotham announced that she was switching parties and becoming a Republican. In other years, this might not be such a huge deal. But with a supermajority in the state Senate for Republicans and a state House that was...
Opinion
Stein’s (very early) campaign ad compares first black Lt Gov to segregationist bomber, and other outrageous stories
Apparently current N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein is officially kicking off his campaign for governor. Everybody assumed he would eventually announce, but, maybe in a year or so. For some reason, he decided to make it official now, though, and kicked it off with an ad comparing North Carolina’s first black Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson,...
Opinion
Republicans cut a deal on state budget. Will key Democrats join, or block teacher raises again?
As state budget negotiations get down to the fine details, with an extra $6 billion in over-collected tax revenue on the table, Republicans are moving forward with another conservative spending plan to make key investments and return tax money back to those who earned it. It puts the minority party, legislative Democrats, in a tough...
