(02-09-05) The 2005 session of the General Assembly is starting like every session starts—slowly. There have been a few Senate committee meetings scheduled and floor sessions generally last only a few minutes. But the lobbyists are busy, holding nightly receptions for lawmakers and filling up Raleigh’s finest restaurants.

(02-08-05) Just one day after the national recognition of the devastation that HIV/AIDS is causing in the African-African community comes news that makes it hard to have much confidence that public officials are ready to do much about it.

(02-07-05) Monday was National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, the latest reminder that the AIDS epidemic is still raging in North Carolina and across the nation, still taking lives and devastating families.

(02-04-05)What is the deal with the obsession with the sales tax around the state? There are other taxes.State lawmakers need to raise a lot of revenue this year to balance the budget and make important investments in human services and education, but the regressive sales tax can’t be the only way.

(02-03-05)There were two headlines about high schools in the Thursday morning edition of the News and Observer in Raleigh. “High school may get tougher” and “State’s high school dropouts rise.”

(02-02-05)Driver licenses for immigrants will be a major battleground this session. Republicans always bring it up and will have draconian proposals soon. Conservative Democrats in the House and Senate have already filed legislation to tighten the laws.

(02-01-05)Folks attending the Legislative Conference of North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry had barely settled in their seats when Chairman Barry Eveland mentioned two of the group’s top priorities, lowering the corporate tax rate and letting the 2001 tax increase on the state’s richest taxpayers expire this year