Displaying items by tag: north carolina

Along with public health, the COVID-19 pandemic is testing government transparency in North Carolina. 

RALEIGH — About 400 North Carolina churches could join a lawsuit challenging Gov. Roy Cooper’s statewide stay-at-home order.

ROCKINGHAM — Richmond is the latest North Carolina county to become a Second Amendment Sanctuary.

RALEIGH — Twenty-five years ago, Robert Leandro and his mother, Kathleen Leandro, lent their name to one of the most significant education lawsuits in North Carolina history. At the time, the family lived in Raeford, a town with a small tax base and a struggling economy. Robert attended a local high school.

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s state pension plan is prepared to weather another recession, a Pew Charitable Trusts stress test says. 

So far this decade, North Carolina’s economy — as measured by inflation-adjusted gross domestic product — has expanded by an average of 1.7 percent a year. That’s a bit faster than the Southeastern average but slower than the national one.

I remember when the inherent boredom of redistricting was a laugh line.

The latest ratings of highway systems are out — and for North Carolina, the news is mixed. In general cost-effectiveness, our state’s roads and bridges rank a bit better than average. We fare well on some measures. But when it comes to the safety of rural roads, North Carolina comes in next-to-last.

RALEIGH — The Senate approved a plan to return millions in surplus tax revenue to taxpayers, despite complaints from some Democratic lawmakers who wanted to use the money for education or infrastructure.

As a policy analyst and opinion journalist, I have spent much of my career advocating the expansion of choice and competition in education. I purposefully use both of those terms, because I think that families making choices and schools competing for students are distinct but mutually reinforcing mechanisms for improving educational outcomes.