News
The financial impact of the Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup run
Each home game of the Stanley Cup Finals is projected to bring in $2 million to $3 million in tourism revenue.
News
2027 Military World Games: Charlotte to make history as first US host city
The Queen City is set to be the first US host of the 2027 Military World Games.
Opinion
What EPA’s power play would mean for NC
California might be known for giving birth to the high-tech industry during the 1970s, but North Carolina, with our famed Research Triangle Park, is quickly becoming Silicon Valley East. Over the past three years, Apple announced it would invest $1 billion to build a new Research Triangle campus. Epic Games is converting a defunct mall into its new headquarters. Wolfspeed is building a...
Opinion
Politicians play with fairy dust
It’s hard not to play along when children come up with cute untruths. Back when one of my now-grown sons was just an Opie Taylor-like tyke, for example, he used to tell me matter-of-factly that if he didn’t go to bed, the moon wouldn’t rise. It was a reasonable conclusion based on his experience at...
Opinion
Don’t subsidize new baseball team
Will North Carolina snag one of two new Major League Baseball franchises? That’s what Gov. Roy Cooper, Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon, and other civic and business leaders are hoping. They’re prepping a bid for a team to be based either in Raleigh or Charlotte. As soon as MLB announces its process and timeline, they’ll...
Opinion
Farm communities know the value of poultry farmers
North Carolina’s tech industry gets a lot of visibility, and understandably so. According to NC TECH’s 2023 report, the industry “supports $72 billion in wages across the N.C. economy” and employs 291,000 people. But the agriculture sector far surpasses tech in North Carolina. Just last month, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler announced the industry reached $103.2...
Opinion
Flavored cigar ban is extreme overreach by Biden’s FDA
When the Tobacco Control Act (TCA) was signed in 2009, it had the admirable goals of eliminating youth smoking and reducing tobacco-related harms. President Obama called the bill the “kids tobacco legislation,” and vowed that the “law will reduce the number of American children who pick up a cigarette and become adult smokers.” But he was clear that the...
Opinion
Honoring our commitment to military retirees
Regardless of your politics, we can all agree that the prolonged sacrifices made by members of our armed forces run deeper than any physical wound.
Opinion
Remembering our agricultural roots
Nearly half a million North Carolinians work in food processing plants. These workers rely on this sector to put food on their table, pay their mortgages, and secure a better future for their families; and these opportunities, along with the economic success of the state, are coming under fire as the Biden administration plans to...
Opinion
Medicaid expansion and job creation: Bad economics, good special interest politics
In December 2018, I wrote the following: “As a general rule, the public and politicians should never view economic impact studies as anything more than an attempt by special interests to manipulate public opinion for their own benefit.” There is no better example of this than the study underwritten by the Cone Health Foundation and the Kate B. Reynolds...
Opinion
Economic impact studies: How special interests tell public interest stories
Question 1: When are special interest subsidies not special interest subsidies? Answer: When the special interests hire consultants to do an economic impact study. Question 2: How often do economic impact studies show that the special interest subsidy will be good for the economy? Answer: Always. Economic impact studies have become part of the standard...
Opinion
Georgia’s movie miracle relies on special effects and spurious assumptions
Time Magazine’s Aug. 6 special issue focuses on the American South. One of the articles is about Georgia’s film production incentives, entitled “How Georgia Became the Hollywood of the South.” The Twitter account G.H. Davey asked me about it. “Having seen some of you criticism re film incentives in other states, what about GA, where it...
