In an apparent attempt to answer concerns about a controversial home loan, Democrat J.D. Wooten may have raised questions about where he lived when he filed documents to run in state Senate District 24. Wooten, a Greensboro lawyer, is one of six Democratic candidates in “Republican-leaning” Senate districts the left-wing 501(c)4 group Education Now is...
Republican primary, state House District 59 • Rep. Jon Hardister (incumbent, three terms). Education: Greensboro College, political science degree. Occupation: Vice president for marketing of family owned First Carolina Mortgage. Career highlights: House Majority Whip, named legislator of the year by various organizations, board member of numerous civic and college organizations, chairman or vice chairman...
North Carolina lawmakers late Tuesday night stripped from House Bill 500 a provision that would have lifted the proverbial cap on the state’s most successful brewers and effectively allows distributors to retain control of the retail market. Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, a primary sponsor of H.B. 500, called parts of the current law for the...
Todd Ford, along with his wife, Suzie, invested their entire 401(k) toward a nascent brewery in a part of Charlotte once known for textile mills and for the homes of those who worked in them. Several million dollars later, after years of failed and successful recipes, of struggle and, finally, of success, the Fords opened...
RALEIGH — Craft beer is on tap at the state legislature, where lawmakers have introduced three bills to roll back laws that stifle unprecedented growth in the brewing industry. On Tuesday, Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, announced House Bill 500, which would allow local beer operations to self-distribute up to 200,000 barrels of their product. Current...
Grover Norquist is using his considerable influence to push North Carolina lawmakers toward reforming restrictive laws governing craft beer. Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform, is calling for an end to the state’s “protectionist, anti-consumer restriction on craft brewery self-distribution.” Norquist in 1985 founded ATR, which promotes a system in which taxes are simpler,...
North Carolinians have an insatiable taste for craft beers, and they have little tolerance for lawmakers who want to tamper with how they get their stouts and IPAs. A survey of North Carolina voters bears that out. Brewers around the state, some 180 of them, simply want what’s fair. One goal of craftfreedom.org — a...
RALEIGH — State Rep. Michael Speciale, R-Craven, has filed a bill that would increase the amount of beer smaller craft breweries could brew and sell without having to contract with a wholesale distributor. House Bill 67 would increase the cap from 25,000 barrels per year to 100,000 barrels per year. A barrel of beer is 31...
While some of North Carolina’s craft breweries are gearing up for a 2017 legislative fight related to the distribution of their beer, Raleigh’s Lucas Smith is developing a documentary to tell the story of how some of the state’s beers get from the brewery to the taproom. Smith is using the crowdfunding website Indiegogo.com as...
Some North Carolina craft breweries plan to ask the General Assembly next year to change a state law they say is stunting their growth, but there’s little indication the association representing large beer wholesalers will cede any of their control over the state’s beer distribution. The law places a limit of 25,000 barrels any brewery...
RALEIGH – The state House has said cheers to a compromise beer distributorship agreement that will make changes to the state’s decades-old beer franchise law. The distributors would gain in that breweries essentially would have to sell their products to distributors at the same price statewide.
