The N.C. Senate has passed House Bill 890, an all-encompassing measure that could help distillers succeed in a crowded and burgeoning industry. The bill passed the Senate on third reading, 35-7, Wednesday, Sept. 8, with a couple of technical amendments. The bill, in large part, aims to level the playing field for distillers, making rules...
Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed a high-profile bill that would have ended North Carolina’s pistol permit requirement. The governor also nixed a hotel safety bill. With his sixth and seventh vetoes of this legislative session, Cooper has now issued 60 vetoes since taking office in 2017. No other N.C. governor has vetoed more than 20...
RALEIGH — U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is cracking down on marijuana use — but the move shouldn’t derail efforts to legalize medical cannabis in North Carolina, Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, told Carolina Journal. Sessions last week overturned an Obama-era policy that took a hands-off approach to state level cannabis operations. The “Cole Memo,” a...
RALEIGH — Medical researchers should be allowed to dive “into the weeds,” a handful of U.S. senators who want to roll back regulations for marijuana studies say. The Marijuana Effective Drug Study Act of 2017, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would simplify rules for scientists who want to learn more about the plant’s pros...
One lawmaker thinks it’s high time that North Carolina sack a ban on plastic bags. A proposed committee substitute from Sen. Bill Cook, R-Beaufort, aims, as part of House Bill 56, to repeal the longstanding ban. The provision, enacted in 2009, prohibits businesses in several Outer Banks counties from using plastic bags, with some exceptions. The intent...
RALEIGH — Reporting about U.S. Supreme Court debates often revolves around disagreements between liberal and conservative voting blocs. But Damon Root, senior editor at Reason magazine and Reason.com, says most debates actually involve competing concepts of judicial activism and judicial restraint. Root has written a book on the topic titled Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court. He discussed his work with Mitch Kokai for Carolina Journal Radio.
RALEIGH — Right-leaning lawyers and legal analysts agree that the courts are a vital venue for preserving constitutional rights. But they note a surprising trend of conservative support for using judicial activism to achieve that aim rather than the traditional conservative deference to state and federal legislative decisions. Supporters of judicial activism note that, in The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton envisioned an active role for judicial review.
RALEIGH — Debates about U.S. Supreme Court politics often involve competing blocs of conservative and liberal justices. But that focus on left versus right misses an important constitutional debate among right-of-center thinkers. Damon Root, senior editor at Reason magazine and Reason.com, focused on that latter debate during a speech Thursday in Raleigh for the Triangle Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society.
RALEIGH — Once a self-described liberal consumer affairs reporter convinced that government needed to do something about greedy, cheating businessmen, John Stossel is now one of the nation’s leading libertarian voices. He recently visited Chapel Hill to record an episode of his Fox Business Network program, “Stossel.” He discussed his love of freedom during an interview with Mitch Kokai for Carolina Journal Radio.
RALEIGH — An initiative by the Food and Drug Administration regulating salt content in packaged foods and on restaurant menus would alter the flavor and character of a host of regional specialties — and prevent chefs from offering signature dishes.
RALEIGH — The latest addition to the Carolina Journal staff is no stranger to North Carolina. Wilkesboro native Rick Henderson, CJ’s managing editor, recently discussed journalism and free speech issues with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Radio.
