Your votes send them to Raleigh. Your state income taxes fund their stipends, furnish their offices and provide a paid staff of assistants and advisers. But North Carolina lawmakers say the documents they produce are none of your business. A provision sneaked into the $30 billion state budget gives legislators the latitude to hide emails, memos, reports and bill drafts […]
ENT – Columns – ENT
Nikki Haley: Far too unhinged for the presidency
I’m neither a fan nor a supporter of Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the also-rans who’s made it to the “debate” phase of auditions for the vice presidency or a cabinet slot in a notional second Donald Trump administration. For the most part, neither his ideas nor his presentation impress me. But his demeanor has a way of usefully baiting the […]
The truth may hurt, but we still have to face it
If the right gets its way, maybe in a decade or two, the United States will be free of its slave-owning past. All gone — gone with the wind. It’s just not taught anymore. Yeah, we had a civil war — about “states’ rights” — and then we moved on: We conquered the West, saved the world first from the […]
Misfeasance, malfeasance and nonfeasance
The budget our legislature has passed is the cherry on top of the upside-down power grab cake our lawmakers have been baking since January. I say upside down because instead of being a budget, this 625-page document is crammed full of non-budget-related special provisions. Drafted behind closed doors with practically no debate, lawmakers had little time to read and study […]
Living in North Carolina still a bargain
Decades ago, when I moved back to North Carolina from the nation’s capital, my rent dropped by half — for a new apartment that was larger and better furnished than the one I rented just outside Washington, D.C. Today, my native state remains less expensive to live in than the average state. And even our fastest-growing metropolitan areas remain more […]
Whatever happened to shame?
No, I am not saying that shame is a good thing when it’s used to belittle and berate another person, trying to make that person feel as small as possible. That is called bullying. I am talking about the interior mea culpa for my own wrongdoing, the kind of shame and embarrassment that calls for the old “I’m sorry” or […]
Child sex abuse case a reminder of government’s built-in limits
Our system of limited constitutional government depends on political actors sticking to their assigned roles. We often see push and pull between competing government powers. The governor complains about legislative inaction. Lawmakers bash the governor for taking emergency powers too far. Courts attract criticism for striking down a state law. These examples involve government’s three branches — legislative, executive, judicial […]
GOP lawmakers betray a surprising lack of confidence
North Carolina Republican legislators have rarely, if ever, been in a stronger position. Their leaders — Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore — have a combined 23 terms of legislative experience and political chits upon which to draw, millions of dollars in campaign cash and dark money at their disposal and loyal and skillfully gerrymandered […]
Living at the speed of autism
When my son Rowan was 8 years old, he was diagnosed as autistic, something that should have been obvious given his aversion to hand-dryers and his proclivity for completing puzzles face-down. The doctor cautioned that Rowan would need more time to process things in school, but I soon realized that my son not only thought but moved on a different […]
Why deplatform, demonetize Russell Brand before a verdict?
A disclaimer, just to clarify things up front: I have no opinion on the truth or falsehood of allegations — made anonymously by multiple women and reported by multiple UK media outlets — that comedian and podcaster Russell Brand is a serial rapist. I happen to have disliked Brand during his earlier comedy career (just a matter of personal taste), […]
The truth will set you free
Did George Washington lie? I asked this question at the end of my most recent column. I’ll answer that question based on the headline of an article published in The Atlantic: “George Washington was a master of deception.” In fact, as the article says, Washington’s talent for deception “remained unequaled by American presidents for the next 150 years.” His deception […]
Don’t let DC and California dictate North Carolina’s auto choices
Not too long ago, extreme environmental activists tried to ban natural gas stoves. It was a bad idea, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Washington smartly voted to pass the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act in June to prevent any federal government gas stove bans, including using federal funds or enforcing new standards that would prohibit […]
The Auman legacy covers the state
When Watts Auman, beloved community and political leader in Moore County, died at age 84 on Sept. 17, I knew that I would have to write about him. But there is a problem. Whenever I have written about Watts in the past, the column turned out to be more about me than him. There is a reason. My connection with […]
Budget achieves big conservative wins
Now that the North Carolina General Assembly has finally passed a state budget for the 2023-25 biennium — and Gov. Roy Cooper has decided not to veto it, allowing it to become law without his signature — conservatives have a great deal to celebrate. The bill achieves major victories for fiscal restraint, tax and regulatory relief and education reform, among […]
The hypocritical anti-health care right
Pat McCrory auditioned for the role of right-wing pugilist by headlining anti-Obamacare rallies. With the bitterness of a Tax Revolt activist, he decried the intrusion of liberal meddlers into the private space of American health care. “Could you imagine if health care became like the DMV?” he queried. The performance was bravura, and it secured his hold on the full […]
Supporting the officers who support us
Protecting the people of North Carolina must be job one for the people who serve our state. It certainly is for the men and women in law enforcement who keep our communities safe each day. But law enforcement agencies across the state are facing significant staff shortages, and they’re struggling to hire and retain officers. Fewer well-trained officers in these […]
You Decide: How can homeowners cope with high interest rates?
One of the busiest times of my career as a faculty member at North Carolina State University was 40 years ago, in the early 1980s. Like now, mortgage interest rates were on the rise, making it more difficult for buyers to afford to purchase a home. To address the situation, the mortgage industry began offering different kinds of financing, such […]
Sheet pan meal features pork tenderloin
Over the last several years, I’ve made many different sheet pan meals. I love the easy of cooking the whole meal — meat and sides — all at one time. Last week, I tried a pork tenderloin cooked alongside butternut squash, a sweet onion and apples. The Pillsbury recipe had popped up in my email at work as the “weekly […]
Budget amendment means lawmakers could destroy their public records
Among the policy changes in the 2023 state budget is a small mention of public records that has escaped notice by nearly everyone, except journalists. In Section 27.9, a small paragraph from bill writers empowers records “custodians” at the N.C. General Assembly to determine what qualifies as a “public record” and what does not. That custodian is also permitted to […]
Government-funded research belongs in public domain
Earlier this year, William Smith writes at the Pioneer Institute, “(t)he federal government announced the formation of a working group to ‘develop a framework for the implementation of the march-in provision of the Bayh-Dole Act.’” Smith thinks it’s a bad idea — the title of his piece is “University Science Research Is Under Threat.” The very simplified version: Under the […]
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