Daily Archives: March 28, 2012

…the only area where you care at all that some people have to pay for other people’s benefits is health care. Food? Nope. Housing? Nope. Education? Nope. Retirement benefits? Nope. Transportation? Nope. Indeed in all of these areas your goal ultimately seems to be the opposite, i.e. to socialize costs. But suddenly for health careContinue Reading

A top N.C. House advocate of hydraulic fracturing told reporters this afternoon that he accepts a report from state environmental regulators spelling out a process for North Carolina to proceed with shale gas exploration. Rep. Mitch Gillespie, R-McDowell, says he also expects to work out what he calls mostly minor differences with Senate counterparts byContinue Reading

I just came across an interesting column in The New York Times from three weeks ago discussing Generation Y’s reticence to move to other states to pursue career opportunities: The likelihood of 20-somethings moving to another state has dropped well over 40 percent since the 1980s, according to calculations based on Census Bureau data. TheContinue Reading

As catalogued in our election updates this morning, N.C. Sen. E.S. “Buck” Newton has dropped a defamation lawsuit against his former Democratic foe in Senate District 11. During the 2010 election, then Sen. A.B. Swindell and the N.C. Democratic Party authorized a mailer claiming that Newton was arrested on drug-related charges in 1990. Check outContinue Reading

At next week’s State Board of Education (SBE) meeting, the topic of “significant shifts in student enrollment from an LEA to a charter school” will be on the table. Earlier this year, a handful of district administrators and school boards complained that new and expanding charter schools would limit their ability to provide a soundContinue Reading

That is the central point in Sheldon Richman’s devastating piece on the flaws of Obamacare. The very problems it purports to remedy are due to previous government meddling, and instead of eliminating those problems, it will make them worse. Those who worship government power never see that it is at the root of nearly allContinue Reading

Today, Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory outlined his K-12 education platform.  Here is a summary of the four components: A Passion for Education: The McCrory Plan for North Carolina Schools 1) Give Families and Students Educational Choices Two Paths to Success – One diploma would certify a student college ready, with the necessary skills toContinue Reading

Scott Mooneyham’s latest column questions the wisdom of the state continuing to pave dirt roads. He mentions an example from Cumberland County, in which the state paid $728,547 to pave a mile of Garden Williams Road to serve two houses. That the state’s dirt road paving efforts have reached such poor returns for the money Continue Reading