As recently as 2015, nearly 60% of Americans told Gallup that they had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in U.S. colleges and universities as a whole. Today, just 36% of respondents agree — not much different from the shares who say they have only “some” confidence (32%) and very little or none (32%).
RALEIGH — Put me down as entirely unsurprised that media companies are adding commercials back into their streaming services as a means of making them profitable. Advertising has never been as unpopular as its critics imagine — a truth that North Carolina policymakers should embrace as they try to finance new infrastructure without irritating taxpayers.
RALEIGH — Brace yourself. The arrival of Labor Day traditionally begins the homestretch of electoral campaigns. You may well join millions of fellow voters in utter exhaustion with the politics of 2024. But I promise you the candidates and their surrogates are raring to run this final leg of the race.
Now that fall term has begun for most colleges and universities, we’re about to witness one of the most predictable phenomena in modern American politics: for every raucous or violent campus protest that gets significant media attention, Democratic candidates will lose voters.
Four years ago, communities in North Carolina and beyond were reeling from the COVID-induced Great Suppression. After spiking into double digits in April 2020, the state’s headline jobless rate was still a painful 7.3% by August, with some 376,000 fewer North Carolinians employed than on the eve of the pandemic.
RALEIGH — Before the United States had a Congress, North Carolina had a Congress — and this week marks its 250th birthday.
RALEIGH — In 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted a budget that funded core state responsibilities, instigated critical repairs and renovations of government facilities, built up savings reserves, and slashed tax rates on personal and corporate income.
RALEIGH — Our state levies a motor-fuels tax of 40.65 cents per gallon. This is one of the highest rates in the nation — but don’t jump to conclusions. North Carolina doesn’t spend more on highways than the average state. And motorists aren’t being overcharged.
RALEIGH — If you look at North Carolina’s state flag, you’ll see two dates: May 20, 1775 and April 12, 1776. Each signifies a moment when North Carolinians played a key role in the emerging American Revolution. Each strengthens the claim that our state was, in this context, “First in Freedom.”
RALEIGH — I have no idea who will be elected president this November. Respectfully, neither do you.
During each election cycle, we are treated to an endless parade of politicians extolling freedom. Given how many of them subsequently vote to restrict our freedom in myriad ways, we have ample reason to be skeptical about politicians.
North Carolina plays a starring role in the origin story of college basketball’s shot clock.
