The Bottom Line from NC Newsline

  Two decades ago, the leaders of Capitol Broadcasting Company had a bold and courageous idea: to devote one minute each night after the simulcast of the WRAL News on Mix 101.5 to a no-holds-barred commentary from veteran journalist and political observer, Chris Fitzsimon. For more than a decade, Fitzsimon held forth on scores of […]

  He may now be 83, but few if any American political leaders do a better job of truth-telling and connecting with young people than Vermont’s sagacious Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders was in Asheville this week as part of a national “Fight the Oligarchy” tour and as NC Newsline’s Clayton Henkel reported, the senator pulled […]

  Gerrymandering. Most Americans are familiar with this phenomenon in which politicians rig electoral maps and elections for partisan purposes. But unless you’re a serious political observer, you may not be up to speed on just how far out of control this practice has gotten of late or, indeed, how unless something is done soon, […]

  As has so often been the case with a legislature that refuses to work and negotiate in good faith, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein had little choice last week but to sign the so-called mini-budget that state lawmakers approved a few days earlier. With the new fiscal year already well-underway and numerous vital public […]

  The next time someone tries tell you that the North Carolinians with Medicaid health insurance are lazy slackers who participate in a wasteful program that warrants the massive bloodletting President Trump just approved, tell them talk to an actual frightened person who depends on the program. Someone like Maddie Wertenberg. She’s a Wake County […]

  Early childhood education. Across much of the rest of the world, free, public early childhood education is a basic right. At a time in which it’s necessary for almost all parents to work in order to make ends meet, these nations have long recognized that there’s no good reason to hold off on providing […]

  Tax policy can be maddeningly complex and confusing. Indeed, keeping it that way is one tool the super-rich use to avoid paying their fair share. As Alexandra Sirota of the nonpartisan North Carolina Budget and Tax Center recently observed, however, it doesn’t have to be that way. As she notes, there’s a simple and […]

  There are many things that have changed for the better in North Carolina prisons over the last century. That said, it’s also true that North Carolina summers have always been miserably hot and that commercial air conditioning was first introduced nearly a century ago — facts that render the lack of air conditioning in […]

  Ever since North Carolina legislators established the so-called “Opportunity Scholarships” school voucher program, sponsors and proponents have pitched it as a means of helping low-income students escape struggling public schools. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, a new report from the Department of Public Instruction shows that this was all baloney. The DPI researchers found that [&#823...

  It’s no surprise that State Rep. Carla Cunningham – a Democrat from Mecklenburg County — declined to speak with reporters this week after helping to override Gov. Stein’s veto of a mean-spirited and ill-conceived anti-immigrant bill. That’s what often happens when a politician puts their foot in their mouth. House Bill 318 will force […]

  New research from the national news organization Stateline highlights some of the big flaws in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. While the administration has made much of its supposed commitment to cracking down on violent criminals and blaming Democrats for failing to do so, the research actually reveals a significant decline in this […]

  The rapid development of artificial intelligence has the potential to spur amazing advances in human society that are definitely worth pursuing. That said, AI also has the potential to do dreadful harm that we must guard against. As one of the nation’s tech leaders, OpenAI’s Sam Hartman, explained recently, for all of AI’s amazing […]

  Twenty years ago, investigative reporter Barry Levine started covering a wealthy socialite named Jeffrey Epstein. Five years ago, after he was convicted of sex crimes and died in jail, Levine published an acclaimed book on Epstein. And last week, as the controversy surrounding mountains of FBI data and evidence about Epstein slowly consumed the […]

  Like the rest of the nation, North Carolina faces some enormous policy challenges these days. Thanks to sustained disinvestments in an array of core public services, our state is fast becoming coarser, less healthy and more divided. Unfortunately, Republican legislative leaders seem unconcerned. Rather than working with Governor Josh Stein to tackle our numerous […]

  Over the last 87 years – particularly during the 20th Century – few innovations in the American economy have done more to lift up average people than the minimum wage. As it was first conceived and applied, the federal minimum wage law assured that a person who worked full-time was paid enough to support […]

  There was always something that didn’t quite add up when American conservatives complained about federal budget deficits. Despite their supposed commitment to fiscal discipline, no factor has played a larger role in soaring deficits than Republican tax cuts enacted under presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump. Indeed, during the administration of […]

  When state lawmakers first opened the door to school vouchers in North Carolina, they billed them as quote “opportunity scholarships,” and assured us that their only goal was to help low-income kids escape failing public schools. Today, more than a decade later, it’s clearer than ever that that explanation was simply part of a […]

  North Carolina Republican lawmakers’ mad rush to slash income taxes on corporation and the wealthy in recent years has produced many disastrous impacts. See, for example, our threadbare and crumbling public schools. But there’s another big and negative impact: the effect on property taxes. Thanks to fast rising home prices, there’s a growing need […]

  After almost 12 years, it’s familiar by now, but sadly, the pattern in which Senator Thom Tillis raises hopes that he’ll act with courage and then backs down at the last minute continues to repeat itself in maddening fashion. The latest incident: Tillis’s utterly inexcusable vote last week to endorse President Trump’s nomination of […]

  There are probably plenty of days in which North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson wishes his job duties were similar to those of past AG’s – prosecuting criminals, helping consumers, targeting corruption. Unfortunately, thanks to the relentless illegal acts of the Trump administration, he’s quickly come to have another top job priority – defending […]

  It’s an article of faith on the political far right that the Trump administration’s mass immigrant deportation policies will be a boon to U.S. born workers. A new report from economists at the Economic Policy Institute, however, finds the opposite to be true and that the net impact of mass deportation on employment – […]

  The next time someone tries tell you that the North Carolinians with Medicaid health insurance are lazy slackers who participate in a wasteful program that warrants the massive bloodletting President Trump just approved, tell them talk to an actual frightened person who depends on the program. Someone like Maddie Wertenberg. She’s a Wake County […]

  At a time in which our nation continues to experience the regular horror of school shootings, it’s understandable that everyone grasps for ideas – anything – that seems like it might prevent or reduce the terrifying carnage. The gruesome notion of a disturbed killer gunning down innocent children is enough to make anyone wish […]

  It’s no secret that bipartisanship is in short supply these days in state politics and that fact makes it especially tragic, as has happened recently at the state legislature, when opportunities for finding common ground are casually and cynically trashed. See, for example, an important bill designed to prevent people from being victimized by […]

  Early childhood education. Across much of the rest of the world, free, public early childhood education is a basic right. At a time in which it’s necessary for almost all parents to work in order to make ends meet, these nations have long recognized that there’s no good reason to hold off on providing […]