Hypocrisy from politicians of the right who claim to be champions of the free market, but only do so selectively, was on display again this week at the state legislature. The issue this time: agricultural lending. Under a bill advancing in the state House, banks and credit unions would be prohibited from considering issues like environmental sustai…

North Carolina General Assembly (File Photo) North Carolina public school teachers and state employees are badly underpaid. The chief cause: repeated and regressive tax cuts enacted by Republican legislators that have caused state revenues (as a share of the economy) to plummet over the past 15 years. Today, even states like Alabama and Mississippi…

In today’s world, voting by mail is increasingly popular and a proven tactic for increasing turnout. In some states it’s the only way to vote. Unfortunately, North Carolina lawmakers keep making it harder. Last year, the legislature required election officials to run a pilot program in 10 counties in which computer software was used to scan every v…

Big corporations and predatory lenders have always hated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ever since it was established 15 years ago. And repeatedly during that period, the bureau has proved its worth by establishing and enforcing commonsense rules that target exploitive practices and help protect average Americans when they’re making big p…

A narrow majority of North Carolina voters supported Donald Trump in last November’s presidential election, but just weeks into his second term in office, large majorities oppose some of his highest profile policy ideas and initiatives, according to the latest Meredith College Poll. Meredith pollsters asked likely voters for their views on an array…

We’re now a month into the 2025 state legislative session and lawmakers have begun the process of crafting what’s always the most important legislation of the year — a new state budget. This year, thanks to the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene and growing softness in state revenue forecasts after years of regressive tax cuts, that work comes …

Among the many deeply controversial proposals emanating from Washington these days is the Trump administration’s announced plan to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. Though details remain extremely sketchy at this point, it doesn’t take a PhD to grasp that such a plan would have devastating impacts across the country — from kindergarten thro…

Today marks a dark day in recent world history. As Scott Peoples — a North Carolinian and U.S. 82nd Airborne veteran — wrote in a powerful essay for NC Newsline, today is the third anniversary of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s criminal invasion of Ukraine. What’s more, as Peoples observes, it’s hard to know what’s worse: the horrible reality of …

A new Meredith College poll shows North Carolina governor Josh Stein is off to solid start. Fifty-eight percent of North Carolina voters — including 54 percent of Republicans — approve of his performance thus far, while only 19% disapprove. Stein’s ratings have been boosted by his energetic and bipartisan work to promote Hurricane Helene recovery. …

New numbers show the U.S. has made some encouraging progress in recent years in curbing homelessness among military veterans. Since 2009, the official count of homeless vets has fallen by more than half, and the reasons behind this trend are not hard to find. Spurred on by lobbying from veterans groups like the American Legion, Congress has investe…

If ever there was a societal moment of desperate need for large and well-funded teams of scientists, researchers, and other experts to help guide our state and nation in this ever more complex world, it’s now. Between climate change, mass migration, artificial intelligence, the threat of new pandemics, and an ever-more competitive global economy, t…

Both North Carolina and the nation have new Secretaries of Health and Human Services and the contrasts between the two leaders could not be plainer. North Carolina’s new health chief, Dr. Dev Sangvai is an accomplished family physician, professor and administrator. Before joining Gov. Josh Stein’s administration, he served as President of Duke Regi…

The biggest story in North Carolina politics right now remains the unsettled race for a seat on the state Supreme Court. Although multiple recounts show incumbent Democratic Justice Allision Riggs as the winner, Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin is seeking to have more than 60,000 ballots cast by registered voters thrown out based on technica…

Two of the most hotly debated topics in law and policy — racial justice and the death penalty — have been on trial in a high-profile criminal case in Johnston County over the last year. In the case, a man named Hasson Bacote challenged the death sentence he received in a murder trial based on his contention that race, and racism played a role in th…

While no one these days is safe from the destructive impacts of climate change and the pollution that plagues our fragile environment, poor people and people of color are disproportionately at-risk, as it’s their communities and neighborhoods that most frequently lie in flood plains, close to sources of toxic pollution, or in otherwise hazardous ar…

It’s a basic cornerstone of the American justice system that judges must not participate in cases in which they have a conflict of interest or even the appearance of one. That’s why state Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs promptly and publicly recused herself from the court’s consideration of a lawsuit filed by her opponent in last fall’s electio…

Republican legislators seldom boost programs that help vulnerable people so, on one level, it’s welcome news that a state House committee advanced a bill this week to increase North Carolina’s maximum weekly unemployment insurance benefit. Under the bill, the max weekly benefit would rise from the laughably insufficient current level — $350 — to th…

North Carolina public school teachers and state employees are badly underpaid. The chief cause: repeated and regressive tax cuts enacted by Republican legislators that have caused state revenues (as a share of the economy) to plummet over the past 15 years. Today, even states like Alabama and Mississippi do a better job of funding government. Amazi…

The Trump administration is making a mockery of a well-designed system the U.S. government has long employed for naming important places for historical figures. The latest example: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s too-clever-by-half move to rename North Carolina’s Fort Liberty Army base as Fort Bragg. The name was changed from Bragg to Liberty j…

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signs a memorandum to rename Fort Liberty, N.C., to Fort Roland L. Bragg, while aboard a military aircraft en route to Germany, Feb. 10, 2025. Credit: Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza, DOD The Trump administration is making a mockery of a well-designed system the U.S. government has long employed for nam…

Photo: Getty Images The more state legislators avert their eyes and ears and pretend not to notice, the more that North Carolina public education experts continue to issue new and urgent pleas to adequately fund our public schools. Two of the most important voices weighed in with new entreaties in just the last few days. Both the Public School Foru…

The more state legislators avert their eyes and ears and pretend not to notice, the more that North Carolina public education experts continue to issue new and urgent pleas to adequately fund our public schools. Two of the most important voices weighed in with new entreaties in just the last few days. Both the Public School Forum of North Carolina …

Whether it was his intention or not, Donald Trump has undoubtedly caused more havoc in the first few weeks of his second administration than any president in U.S. history. The sheer volume of orders, directives, memos, and PR stunts — many of them contradictory and half-baked — has given rise to an atmosphere of widespread fear and anxiety. Fortuna…

Few political controversies in North Carolina loom larger right now than the effort of Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin to overturn the election he lost last fall to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs. Griffin still wants the ballots of more than 60,000 disproportionately Black and young voters thrown out on technical grou…

At the start of the 2025 state legislative session, few needs in our state stand out as more obvious and dire than the ones we see in our public schools. From teacher pay to facilities to student well-being to the way we track performance in and demand accountability from the schools we fund, public education in our state continues to reel from alm…

After having successfully gerrymandered their way to complete control of the state legislature over the last 15 years, you’d think North Carolina Republican lawmakers would be sure enough of themselves to at least occasionally countenance other voices. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong. The latest ridiculous example: a bill introduced last week that wo…

Attorney General Jeff Jackson said he joined a legal challenge to the federal funding freeze out of concern for “widespread and immediate damage” to North Carolinians. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar) After having successfully gerrymandered their way to complete control of the state legislature over the last 15 years, you’d think North Carolina Republic…