OPINION: Facts help counter expected climate spin
temperatures warm and the annual Atlantic hurricane season approaches, you’re bound to be bombarded with reports about the dangers of climate change.
Opinion
John Hood: Sweat the details on teacher pay
The General Assembly ought to enact big pay increases for educators in North Carolina’s public schools. In the context of soaring prices, strong revenue collections, tight labor markets, and persistent vacancies in key teaching positions, it’s the right thing to do.
OPINION: Inflation is not just an ‘NC teacher tax.’ It’s an everybody tax
Kim Mackey, a Wake County social-studies teacher, put together a website called N.C. Teacher Tax, which calculates how much money teachers lose to inflation compared to the pay they “signed up for” when they started.
John Hood: Blue Cross bill makes good sense
How often do the majority and minority leaders of any legislative chamber in America agree on a significant policy change? You can probably count those occasions on your fingers without putting down your coffee cup.
OPINION: Cooper’s tax hikes hide beneath the surface
Roy Cooper’s latest budget proposal wouldn’t raise tax rates. But his plan still calls for tax hikes.
John Hood: Patriotism Requires a Common Story
Is a picture really worth a thousand words? In very online debates among very online people, the exchange rate is even more skewed. Case in point: a recent Wall Street Journal illustration generated tens of thousands of words of argument, invective, and speculation.
OPINION: Charter school students deserve equal funding
In the coming weeks, state lawmakers will consider a fundamental issue of fairness in public education: Should some students be educated with less taxpayer funding than others simply because their parents chose a different type of public school?
OPINION: It’s time HOAs had some oversight
In a nationwide survey of Yelp reviews on homeowners associations, Raleigh tied for the city with the lowest ratings. Yelp's lowest rating is 1 star out of 5, and Raleigh's HOAs averaged 1.00 stars.
OPINION: Judge exposes activist group’s dubious legal tactic
The activist group Emancipate NC can continue to work with Raleigh residents fighting police in federal court over a 2020 raid. But the group cannot continue to take part in the case as a plaintiff.
OPINION: Book bans are dangerous. Curating age-appropriate school material is not
Book bans have been a real problem in history, typically by totalitarian governments — whether Marxist, fascist, theocratic, or otherwise. But parents who don’t want their young children given explicit tutorials on how to practice the latest sexual fads are not Robespierres in training.
John Hood: Let workers be more independent
Are you an employee or a contractor? This isn’t simply a matter of what you call yourself, or how you think about your relationship to those who pay you to perform services. Because formal employment is the subject of so many local, state, and federal rules, its definition is spelled out in law — and penalties for violating it can be severe.
OPINION: Medicaid expansion would hurt, not help North Carolinians
Medicaid expansion has been a topic of lively and lengthy debate in the North Carolina General Assembly for the better part of a decade. As a representative of the people, I have thoroughly reviewed the presented data, listened to the feedback provided by my constituents and concerned citizens in neighboring counties, and have come to the conclusion that ObamaCare Medicaid expansion is a bad deal for North Carolina.