Earlier this month, Republicans required a cloture vote on Barbara Keenan for the 4th Circuit Court in Richmond. Keenan was subsequently confirmed 99-0.
Richard Burr is part of this perversion of the United States Senate. Like a little boy holding his breath, fingers in his [...]
Another editorial about Titan America’s plan to rebuild a former cement plant in Castle Hayne rekindles the smoldering embers of the Stop Titan bonfire. The latest effort to delay plant construction comes from a state regulator’s recommendation: Before issuing an air quality permit to the company he wants to [...]
In a speech from the U.S. House floor, Rep. Bob Etheridge told stories of his constituents who are urging him to vote "yes" on the Democratic health care reform bill.
Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, has not yet said how he intends to vote on the bill and has [...]
Because of the Vice-President's visit to Durham tomorrow morning, the ACEEE report relase at Southern Energy Management has been moved to 1pm.
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PRESS RELEASE
With the Health care debate one part of the equation is left out which is our responsibility as consumers.
I think we as Americans expect too much from medicine. It is not all are faults. You can not watch the evening news with out the deluge of miracle drugs for ailments [...]
Oh, the irony. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urges more governmental transparency while desperately trying to find a way for Democrats to pass Obamacare without having to cast a vote for it.
Not to take anything away from these proposals, which do little but nibble around the edges, but wouldn’t having [...]
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr broke ranks Wednesday and voted with Senate Democrats in support of a sweeping jobs bill estimated to provide $35 billion in job-related tax breaks and funding for construction projects.
Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, recently boasted to GOP supporters that "it is impossible for any [...]
Earning one of Steve's coveted Blue Stars for environ...okay, I don't really have any blue stars, but, if I did, the Charlotte Observer would definitely get one:
This failure to adequately assess the environmental impact of a plant that could put significant amounts of mercury emissions into the air each' [...]
I’ve known Group Captain Hood a frighteningly long time. For this reason his column the other day on this nation’s impending health care Dunkirk seemed somewhat out of character — exasperated, defiant, and more than a little pissed off. That’s my petulant gig, not John’s — his is the [...]
Only 37 percent of the voters in U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge's district support the Democratic proposal for health care reform, according to a poll by Public Policy Polling.
Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, has been the focus of pressure from both sides of the debate and has not yet' [...]
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation today released a report that shows middle class families have been hardest hit by the increasing cost of health insurance. Barely Hanging On: Middle-Class and Uninsured, looks at trends of health coverage from 1999-2008.
NC tied with Rhode Island and was only beaten by [...]
Politifact bothered rating the new ad by Americans for the Prosperous where the group continues to push its health reform death panel thesis.
Not surprisingly, the Pulitzer Prize winning fact check project of the St. Pete Times found that AFP makes ridiculous claims. It’s not [...]
“When is the economy going to get markedly better?”
“How can we lower the unemployment rate when there aren’t enough jobs?”
“Shouldn’t we be worried about the deficit and inflation?”
Noted economist Dean Baker appears in Raleigh Thursday to answer those questions and many others. Baker, co-director of the Center [...]
Politifact, the Pulitzer Prize winning fact checker, says a new ad run by Americans for Prosperity rates a "Pants on Fire" designation — meaning the ad isn't true and makes a ridiculous claim.
' [...]At 11.1%, North Carolina’s unemployment rate is tied for eigth highest in the nation. State revenues are below projections for this year, and so sluggish that next year’s projections are likely to be revised downward. Struggling North Carolina families are scraping together funds to pay their taxes, or [...]
An amendment sponsored by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) was defeated in the U.S. Senate by a vote of 68-29. 15 Republicans joined with the Democrats to defeat the amendment that would have temporarily banned earmarks for a year.
Since I know a lot of conservatives come here and read, I [...]
Since Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx has declared that a member of the Charlotte city council sexually harassed a city employee — the obvious question is — who did it?
I have my hunches — particularly someone with a track record of this sort of thing. Still, did Foxx send his [...]
It was great to see over 500 supporters turn out for Cal’s hometown campaign kick-off event in Lexington last night. It felt like a big family gathering, and Cal even led folks in singing Happy Birthday to a member of his staff. He spoke directly with the community that [...]
Quickly on health care: Dennis Kucinich has decided to vote for health reform. Is one of the deciding factors that in nine states, health insurance companies can deny coverage to survivors of domestic violence — citing the battery as a “pre-existing condition”?
No. Obama just gave him the [...]
We’ve all heard plenty about some of the backroom deals being discussed in Congress to secure votes for health care legislation – the Cornhusker Kickback for Nebraska, the Louisiana Purchase – just to name a few. Voters made aware? Issue resolved? Not even.
After some strong words about removing all special [...]
Add Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s “yes” vote for the congressional health care bill to the stack of evidence for Duke University professor Dan Ariely, who so brilliantly has concluded that people are predictably irrational. Here’s Mr. Kucinich’s rationale for supporting the government’s takeover of one-sixth of the economy:
“Even though…I’ve had [...]
For those who thought that Congresswoman and modern day religious crusader Sue Myrick had given up her nuttier ways, think again. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is out today with a plea for Myrick to withdraw her support for an anti-Muslim group known [...]
COLUMBIA, N.C. (March 17, 2010) – Three Mexican women employed on temporary worker visas in North Carolina sued a seafood processing company today for unlawfully restricting them to certain work solely because they are women.
The lawsuit also claims that the company underpaid them, unlawfully failed to reimburse their travel costs and [...]
Now that all of the arguments have been made it’s easier to shake out the respective positions of Democrats and Republicans on how we should reform health care. To better understand the differences here are a few questions about our health system:
1. Do you think [...]
With all of the attention devoted the health care and the economic recovery, it’s easy to lose sight of some of the other important progress that’s been made in Washington over the last 14 months – especially on non-sexy, bread and butter issues that lack media [...]
Burlington Times-News reports Alamance County officials “are considering legal action against a Portland, Oregon company they say has not lived up to a 2006 agreement that netted the manufacturer $60,000 in incentives.”
You guessed it — recouping the incentives “could prove challenging” because a “tangle of corporations” had interests in [...]
Former N&R reporter Alex Wayne —-now working for Congressional Quarterly —- talked healthcare on this morning’s Washington Journal.
But the really interesting discussion came at the 102-minute mark of the video, when Public Knowledge Communications director Art Brodsky and Adam Thierer of the Progress & Freedom Foundation Center for Digital [...]
QUALITY NOT QUANTITY: State Auditor Beth Wood has halved her office's production of investigative reports, saying she wants to ensure that they are unimpeachable.
In her first 15 months in office, Wood, a Democrat, has issued 10 investigative audits. Those reports focus less on accounting and more on complaints [...]
RALEIGH — Every editor knows the importance of a headline. Ideally, you want that hurried reader to be enticed to read the story because of the headline. Failing that, you want the reader, as he bolts to his car slurping his coffee and holding his paper in the other hand, [...]
The latest entry in Civitas’ 20 for 2010 is up. It deals with the Death Penalty in North Carolina.
Most North Carolina citizens do not realize that NC has had a moratorium on the death penalty in place for almost 4 years. Not only do we have 158 murederers sitting on death row, [...]
Economist William Anderson refutes the oft-repeated fallacy that Obamacare will somehow “cut costs” in the delivery of medical care in this Freeman article.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, Obama’s plan will produce “savings” in medical procedures. Not surprisingly, much of the media (and especially the New York Times), has [...]
Those of the words of State Representative Greg Delleney (R-Chester) regarding the defeated State House bill that would have banned the funding of abortions in the state health insurance plan for women who became pregnant through rape or incest. While I’m sure Mr. Delleney has [...]
Next time, don't let him have the window seat:
Many Senate Democrats are choosing not to lobby House members in their state delegations on the healthcare bill. Other Senate Democrats said their hands are tied because their colleagues seem entrenched in their positions.
Freshman Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) got involved,' [...]
John Locke Foundation President John Hood yesterday announced that, as an individual, he would not comply with any unconstitutional mandates that might be included in the massive health care takeover bill. He’s not alone:
Virginia’s state Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, will mount a legal challenge to the federal health [...]
Nancy Pelosi has reportedly called a LADIES ONLY meeting this morning. Gee, do you think the liberal Democratic women might be finalizing their talking point that taxpayer funded abortion is simply a woman’s right to “reproductive health care”? By the way, imagine the furor if, say, Newt Gingrich had [...]
Charles Perusse, Gov. Perdue’s budget chief, received a pointed question yesterday from Rep. Larry Womble about how long taxpayers will have to wait to receive their state income tax refunds. Best I can tell, six to seven weeks is the estimate, but it’s based on state cash flow according to [...]
Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones is to be commended for making clear that $95m. in budget cuts are needed immediately if the county is to avoid endangering its AAA bond rating. But make no mistake, it did not have to happen this way.
The county simply went on a spending [...]
After he lost the race for Bald Head Island mayor by three votes, Larry Lammert started checking into an issue that has challenged coastal Carolina communities for years: improper voter registration by people who maintain domiciles and voter registrations elsewhere. Lammert was convinced that at least three voters in Bald [...]
The Greensboro City Council talks tax cut. But with an $11 million budget deficit, it’s going to be painful, at least for those who rely on the government dime.
Interesting how the N&R frames the issue:
A penny on the tax rate costs the average homeowner $20 a year, assuming a [...]
The Jacksonville Daily News cites two recent North Carolina examples to make the case for strong public records laws — the recent Kathy Taft homicide in Raleigh and another homicide that occurred in a nearby community the previous year. In both cases, law enforcement sought to withhold calls, warrants, [...]
