In much of the state, fewer than 1% of for-sale homes are available at any given time — far below the 2–3% economists consider a healthy market. In the Triangle and Charlotte, where employers keep adding jobs faster than builders can add roofs, the math simply doesn't work for a growing share of families.
North Carolina is in the middle of a housing crisis that is often treated like background noise. Home prices across the state have climbed far faster than wages, and rents in cities like Charlotte, Raleigh, Wilmington, and Asheville have pushed working families—teachers, nurses, restaurant workers, the people who keep our communities running—further and further from the neighborhoods they serve.
Every winter, before the ground thaws, North Carolina farmers sit down with the same local banks their families have used for generations to work out how they will pay for a crop that won’t come in for another eight months.
Several years ago a childhood friend told me he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. We met in kindergarten and maintained that friendship for decades. His life ended too soon and he left behind a grieving family even after the best medical treatment available, treatment that often left him sick for weeks afterward.
As a former executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, I have spent years talking with voters about the same basic promise: government should stand up for taxpayers, reward work and protect American strength.
North Carolina has long been at the center of America's tobacco story. Today, members of our congressional delegation are helping lead an important new chapter—one focused on reducing the harm caused by smoking and ensuring adult tobacco users have access to scientifically reviewed alternatives.
When a patient walks into Matthews Drug Store in Clinton, North Carolina, they're trusting me with their health. That trust is something I take seriously, and it's why I pay close attention to anything that helps me do my job better or gets in the way.
Most Americans spend their lives working to achieve the American Dream. The idea of upward mobility, and the promise that each generation can achieve a higher standard of living and social status than the previous one, is something many people spend their lives working for.
RALEIGH — As we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, here is a question worth pondering: was the event it sought to explain and justify, the American War of Independence, fated to succeed?
For generations, North Carolinians have believed that when you buy something, you own it. That simple principle is now under threat as automakers increasingly restrict access to the vehicle data needed to diagnose and repair modern cars and trucks.
RALEIGH — Do you or someone you know suffer from mental illness? I suspect most readers will say yes. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, behavioral-health disorders affect a fifth of adults and a sixth of school-aged children in North Carolina. One in 18 of us lives with a “severe mental illness,” defined as “a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder that results in serious impairment and interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.”
RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina Senate committee was scheduled Thursday to consider bills dealing with criminal law and court operations, putting both measures closer to possible Senate floor action.
