That’s what a recent reviewer said about my novel Mountain Folk, which she called an “entertaining and instructive” blend of American history, folklore, and fantasy. “As a long-time teacher of middle school and high school students,” she wrote, “I think Mountain Folk would be a great addition to school reading lists.”
RALEIGH — When officers from the U.S. Marshal Service, the N.C. Department of Adult Correction, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and other agencies approached a home in eastern Charlotte on April 29, their purpose was to serve warrants on a fugitive named Terry Clark Hughes Jr.
As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the interim chancellor at the University of the North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Lee Roberts, ordered the removal on April 30 of an “encampment” on a grassy area of campus called Polk Place. Later that day, protestors returned to Polk Place, took down its American flag, and raised a Palestinian flag in its place.
RALEIGH — Over the past decade, the General Assembly has pursued a tax-reform strategy designed to foster growth and expand freedom in the Tar Heel State. North Carolina now has a flat-rate income tax. State taxes on both personal income and retail sales apply lower rates to broader bases. And lawmakers are in the process of phasing out state taxes on corporate income.
RALEIGH — Which major urban area in America experienced the largest decline in homelessness last year? According to a recent analysis by the Brookings Institution, it was Wake County — North Carolina’s most-populous. It had a rate of 78 homeless residents per 100,000 population, down 40% from 2022.
RALEIGH — It might sound odd to hear this from someone who’s been writing a syndicated column on politics for nearly four decades, but politics has become vastly more important in our lives than it should be.
The debate surrounding immigration and border security dominates in Washington, yet Congress has little to show for it. Protecting our border and reintroducing law and order to our broken immigration system should be goals shared by every one of our elected officials.
In the mosaic of domestic economic vitality, American businesses are the mortar holding our country together. Small businesses, in particular, are responsible for two-thirds of all newly created U.S. jobs, yet they are the most vulnerable to economic shifts and have faced unprecedented challenges in recent years – from lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to persistent supply chain disruptions.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column observing that, over the first eight months of the 2023-24 fiscal year, the state’s General Fund revenue was down slightly from what was collected during the first eight months of the previous fiscal year.
I’ve long been bullish on North Carolina’s community colleges. In the past, I’ve praised the system’s cost-effectiveness, its capacity to serve nontraditional students, and the impressive labor-market returns for associate degrees and other certificates in such fields as industrial technology, home repair, computer sciences, and health care.
RALEIGH — The police department in Winston-Salem uses a commercial product called ShotSpotter, a network of audio sensors and software, to identify possible incidents of gunfire and ensure a faster response to them.
Over the past two years, North Carolina had made critical investments in the future of our state.
