Weekly Briefing Archive

Lawmakers would fund, build new six-lane road using out-of-date numbers

As has been reported in this space previously, one of the most troubling decisions by budget writers in the state House of Representatives this spring has been the decision to take $25 million out of the state’s General Fund (the source of dollars for education, crime prevention and human services, etc…) and to redirect it toward helping to subsidize the construction of a new six-lane toll road often referred to as the Triangle Expressway.

Elizabeth Dole’s anti-immigrant pandering marches on

There are very few prominent North Carolina political leaders of either major party with clean hands in the ongoing discussion of immigration policy. With a few exceptions (Governor Easley, for one, has at least occasionally displayed a little bit of backbone), most have either piled on the anti-immigrant bandwagon or remained shamefully silent.

Five simple, common sense tactics to control the state foreclosure mess

The national home mortgage foreclosure crisis continues mostly unabated. Here in North Carolina, the gavel will bang down on as many as 60,000 homes this year. Nationwide, the number may exceed two-million. Last month, we reported in this space about the ongoing battle in Washington and the apparent determination of the Bush Administration and some of its allies in Congress to stymie any meaningful reform proposals that might curb the tide. A month later the congressional logjam continues and it remains unclear what, if anything, congressional leaders will be able to accomplish this summer.

Five quick points regarding North Carolina’s debate over “illegal aliens”

The nonsense and venom are flowing fast and furious on the far right these days. Last week, the Pope Civitas Institute and a group that calls itself Americans for Legal Immigration (or ALIPAC) both continued to do their worst to make a mountain out of the molehill over the issue of whether North Carolina should admit undocumented immigrants to its community college system. Meanwhile, over at the General Assembly, opportunistic legislators piled on.

Ten things lawmakers ought (and ought not) to do before heading home this summer

The 2008 “short session” of the North Carolina General Assembly convened yesterday. With Governor Easley in full-fledged lame duck status and state budget coffers anything but full, most analysts and observers are predicting a fairly quick and uneventful gathering.

Innocent humans continue to be sentenced to death in our name

Yesterday’s primary election offers several good reasons for civic-minded North Carolinians to feel a real sense of excitement and pride. For one, voters shattered all turnout records for a primary election. Indeed, as of the close of the new, one-stop early voting process this past weekend, around a half-million people (or almost 60% of the entire 2004 primary total had voted). By the end of voting yesterday, the total exceeded two-million.

State Ag Commissioner helps block real protections for farmworkers

As a general political rule, there’s nothing inherently wrong with compromise and incremental change. Compromise, after all, is embedded in the very DNA of the American system of checks and balances and incremental change is often the best that advocates for the poor and the marginalized can realistically expect – especially when battling powerful vested interests.

Will Senators Dole and Burr get out of the way?

The last seven years in Washington have produced plenty of disastrous policy results: the bloody and seemingly endless occupation of Iraq, the ballooning national debt, exploding wealth and income gaps, a complete failure to produce a 21st Century energy policy, and the meltdown of the national health care system - just to name a few.

It’s time for the state to calculate the cost of providing all kids with a sound basic education

Eleven years ago, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued what appeared, at the time, to be one of the most important rulings in its more than two centuries of operation. In the 1997 case of Hoke County Board of Education v. State of North Carolina and State Board of Education - often commonly referred to as the Leandro ruling - the court established the constitutional right of every North Carolina public school student to a “sound basic education.”

New analysis shows how many North Carolinians are dying (literally) for lack of health insurance

One of the major ideological bones of contention between progressives and market fundamentalists these days relates to the impact of societal inequality. Does it really matter and, if so, how? Does inequality just bruise people’s egos or is there something more to it?

What will the presidential candidates do for North Carolina?

With the May 6 presidential primary right around the corner, many North Carolinians are asking a simple question: Which of the three remaining presidential candidates is most likely to do the most to help North Carolina (and other similarly situated American states) to construct a vibrant 21st Century, post-NAFTA economy? A look at their records and recent statements on the matter is instructive.

New transportation reform coalition tells General Assembly: Now’s the time to get ahead of the state’s population boom

It’s been said more than once of late, but it’s a remarkable fact, so it bears repeating. By the year 2030, more than 12 million people will call North Carolina home. It will be as if the entire population of South Carolina picked up and moved to North Carolina during the first three decades of the 21st Century.

Flawed “street gangs” bill is not the answer

The state of North Carolina has been shaken in recent weeks by the horrific murder of UNC-Chapel Hill student body president, Eve Carson. The terrible circumstances under which such a vibrant and promising young life was so senselessly ended in such a gruesome and (what appears to be) random fashion have stunned and saddened North Carolinians across the state from all walks of life.

Though better than some, North Carolina’s tax system still socks it to the poor and the middle class. The results are bad for everyone.

All taxes are not the same. Most North Carolinians “get” this simple premise. Even the most mathematically challenged among us understands that there is a difference between a sales tax applied to a bill at Target and the income tax deducted from one’s paycheck every two weeks.

Noted scholar reminds N.C. progressives of what they’re all about

What is it that defines and unifies the progressive movement in modern America? What distinguishes it from conservatism? How can progressives reassert themselves and reclaim their rightful place as the true heirs to the American traditions of freedom and liberty espoused in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?