News
NC ranks in top ten “social media obsessed” states as TikTok ban looms
As House passes bill to ban TikTok, north Carolina is ranked in the top ten "social media obsessed" states.
News
United Nations Foundation funding ‘Green’ staff positions in Governor’s office, state agencies
Cooper's office and state offices receive grants for funding staff climate positions.
News
Keeping teens safe online: Can policy balance privacy and security?
Cyberbullying, scammers, and child predators are a few of the many harms children can encounter while online, along with mental health issues. Public policy experts examine the challenges of balancing privacy and security.
Opinion
Baby formula shortage should spur new thinking about regulations
No one should be happy about the baby formula shortage. There’s nothing good about watching families scramble to meet life-and-death needs of society’s most vulnerable members. That’s why this observer remains reluctant to declare any piece of the story a proverbial silver lining. Nonetheless, there is a chance that a good result could emerge from...
Opinion
Green New Deal would feature high costs, focus on fear
A recent forum highlighted the burden each N.C. household would bear if Congress approves a left-of-center environmental program.
News
Foxx-sponsored bill limiting unfunded mandates passes U.S. House
The U.S. House of Representative on Friday, July 13, voted to close a loophole in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, which requires agencies to curtail the regulatory costs on local governments and businesses. The 230-168 vote fell closely along party lines. Current law only requires agencies to report the expected cost of regulations...
News
Van der Vaart: Trump expected to scrap excessive green regulations
President-elect Donald Trump is likely to reshape the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and alter some of its most burdensome regulations, which will benefit North Carolina farmers, businesses, and utility ratepayers, state Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Donald van der Vaart says. Two of President Obama’s signature regulations, the Clean Power Plan, and Waters of the...
News
Senators double down ‘web of denial’ allegations vs. JLF
A letter dated July 22, sent by nine Democratic U.S. senators to John Locke Foundation President and CEO Kory Swanson and the heads of 21 other free-market public-policy organizations, restated accusations that the groups are part of a “web of denial” about the role of human activity in climate change and reiterated a demand for the organizations...
News
National analysts praise N.C. regulatory reforms
North Carolina was lauded for “impressive reforms” curtailing its regulatory burdens on businesses and individuals, and national policy analysts discussed methods of further reducing costly restrictions during a June 22 teleconference call. “North Carolina has been a model for a lot of things,” said Patrick Gleason, director of state affairs at Americans for Tax Reform....
News
Experts: Anonymous Speech Essential For Open Dialogue
The Founding Fathers might have been unable to create the foundations of a new American nation had they operated in today’s climate of federal government harassment and intrusion into citizen privacy, a constitutional lawyer says. “I don’t think it’s a stretch to say our Constitution probably never would have been ratified had it not been...
News
Quietly, Government Stops Counting ‘Green’ Jobs
RALEIGH — As a candidate for president in 2008, Barack Obama said he would create 5 million green jobs, and in 2009 the U.S. Department of Labor had developed plans to define and count them. Officials in the N.C. Department of Commerce received nearly $1 million allocated by the federal government to survey companies across North Carolina. But the BLS programs measuring green jobs and reporting on green-job activities ended in March 2013.
News
Report: N.C. Pension May Be Underfunded
RALEIGH — A recent study concluded that North Carolina’s $87 billion state pension fund is the second-best performing plan in the nation, even though new government-mandated accounting methods show it might be underfunded by more than $15 billion instead of operating in the black, as official state figures claim. Government officials generally use much rosier financial predictions than the private sector.
