Brenee Goforth

This week, a judge ruled that Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker could not suspend pistol permitting approvals during the Coronavirus outbreak. As JLF’s Jon Guze writes in his most recent research brief, Sheriff Baker suspended pistol permitting applications for two reasons: an unmanageable backlog of recently filed applications and…

On Tuesday, March 24, Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker suspended pistol permit and concealed-carry services in light of the coronavirus outbreak. That week, JLF’s Jon Sanders published a research brief explaining that Baker did not have the statutory or constitutional authority to make that decision. That Friday, The…

Carolina Journal’s Julie Havlak reported on March 30, North Carolina is pivoting the way it tracks coronavirus. Havlak writes: With a shortage of COVID-19 lab tests, North Carolina is pivoting in how it tracks the spread of the virus. The state plans to use syndromic surveillance to track COVID-19 —…

On Thursday, March 26, Carolina Journal’s Julie Havlak wrote a story about the runoff election in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district. Havlak writes: The coronavirus is interfering with state elections, and it could make the runoff for the Republican nominee in N.C.’s 11th U.S. Congressional District problematic… The N.C. State…

On Tuesday, March 24, Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker announced his office was suspending all pistol permit and concealed-carry services. However, as JLF’s Jon Sanders writes in his recent research brief, Baker does not have the authority to make that decision. Sanders writes: There’s a big problem with this announcement: Baker…

The John Locke Foundation continues its coverage of the way the Coronavirus outbreak is affecting North Carolina this week in the latest episode of the “HeadLocke” podcast. In this week’s episode, host Mitch Kokai has two guests from the John Locke Foundation itself, CEO Amy Cooke, and Director of Education…

K-12 schools in North Carolina are closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak. This has many children switching from in-person schooling to online education. This transition can be difficult, not just for students, but for teachers as well. As JLF’s Dr. Terry Stoops writes in his most recent research brief on…

A group of criminal justice reform researchers and advocates have sent letters to the governor and the commissioner of prisons requesting that the state take steps to minimize the likelihood of a Coronavirus outbreak in North Carolina’s correctional institutions. The recommendations included: commuting sentences for older and vulnerable citizens with compromised…