Opinion

RALEIGH — The North Carolina General Assembly has made our state a more attractive place to live, work, and do business by reforming our tax code, reshaping our regulatory system, renovating how we fund infrastructure, and taking some initial steps toward a more competitive hospital market.

RALEIGH — During the just-ended 2024 election campaign, candidates for offices such as governor, legislature, county commission, and state superintendent of public instruction talked a lot about raising the pay of public schoolteachers in our state — as well they should have.

RALEIGH — To describe North Carolina as one of America’s chief political battlegrounds is a well-worn cliché. I’ve certainly done my part to wear it out. In past columns I’ve called our state a “flirt” (which happens to be a reddish shade of purple) that still contains just enough split-ticket…

RALEIGH — Although our state’s economy has grown faster than the national average over the past decade, not everyone has fared well. Some regions and communities are struggling — a condition now worsened in parts of western North Carolina by Hurricane Helene. Moreover, too many of our fellow North Carolinians…

RALEIGH — Over the next couple of years, you’ll hear a great deal about the 250th anniversary of our country’s founding.

RALEIGH — Whether the frame of reference is North Carolina or the nation as a whole, no one can dispute the fact that there is a partisan divide — and that it has been growing.

RALEIGH — As economist (and North Carolina native) Thomas Sowell once observed, “there are no solutions — there are only tradeoffs.”

RALEIGH — I got it wrong. Deeply wrong. Embarrassingly wrong.

RALEIGH — Republican Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson was likely to lose the 2024 gubernatorial election to Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein before the September 19 CNN piece tying him to a series of grotesque posts made more than a dozen years ago on a pornography site.