The Bottom Line from NC Newsline

  North Carolina got yet another frightening wake-up call this week about global warming when a modest tropical depression suddenly exploded over the state. Chantal dumped up to 10 inches of rain in some areas, causing widespread flooding and massive damage. And while it’s true that there’s nothing new about bad weather, it’s also true […]

  President Donald Trump may have only the faintest idea of what’s in the massive budget bill he signed into law last Friday, but sadly, the contents and the destructive impacts they’ll have are no mystery to the nation’s already beleaguered charities. Last week, North Carolina food banks sent out an urgent alert explaining that […]

  When North Carolinians elected Gov. Josh Stein last fall by a wide margin over former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, they made clear they wanted to put a check on GOP lawmakers’ ambitions to take the state down extreme right-wing paths. And in recent days, to his great credit, Stein has validated the trust that […]

  Among the many remarkable news reports that emanated from Washington last week as Congress put the finishing touches on President Trump’s massive budget bill, one was truly shocking. The day before its final passage, Trump told a group of Republican lawmakers that the bill should not touch Medicaid if the GOP hoped to win […]

Today is Independence Day – the holiday on which Americans celebrate the birth of our nation as a free country that’s untethered to any monarch or supreme ruler. This year’s holiday seems especially important to lift up at a time in which President Trump continues to trash guardrail after guardrail in an unprecedented bid to […]

  A study released this week by researchers at NC State University highlights the destructive impact that a bill sent to Gov. Stein by the General Assembly last week will have on electric ratepayers. The bill, which bears the inaccurate and misleading title “Power Bill Reduction Act,” would repeal a bipartisan 2021 law that committed […]

  President Trump’s massive budget bill moved one step closer to passage yesterday when the U.S. Senate approved it 51-50 over the objection of North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis. If it becomes law, the bill will have devastating impacts in our state. Among other things, more than half-a-million people will likely lose their Medicaid health […]

  It’s a sad commentary on the power of the right-wing misinformation machine in modern America that simple and enormously positive concepts like diversity, equity and inclusion have been twisted so that some perceive them in a negative light. What’s next on the hit list? Words like love, tolerance and common ground? Tragically, however, as […]

  In recent years, North Carolina Republican lawmakers have perfected the practice of rigging elections through partisan gerrymandering. The situation has gotten so bad that they don’t even pretend anymore. They not only openly rig districts to disenfranchise voters who don’t vote Republican, they openly admit and brag about it. And now, in a bill […]

  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 […]

  It’s not that often that floor debates in the North Carolina legislature shed much light on important subjects. One impressive exception to this rule took place this week, however, when Durham Democratic Senator Sophia Chitlik addressed a bill that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in state government. In her remarks, Chitlik pointed […]

  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 […]

  A new report from researchers at the national Commonwealth Fund finds that North Carolina has made enormous strides in assuring that people receive the right health care at the right time and are able to avoid hospital stays and emergency room visits by receiving timely care. The percentage of North Carolina adults who reported […]

  Bipartisanship is in precious short supply these days in politics and that makes it especially tragic when elected officials waste rare opportunities to advance it. Unfortunately, that’s what’s happening in the North Carolina Senate. In its original form, House Bil 805 was a commonsense proposal to crack down on the sexual exploitation of women […]

  It’s summer beach season again. Over the coming months, millions of visitors will flock to the North and South Carolina coastlines and fuel a tourism-based economy that’s critically important to both states. Unfortunately, powerful forces could soon jeopardize this amazing natural and economic resource by opening it to offshore oil and gas drilling. Thankfully, […]

These are passionately divided times in our country. And at such a moment, it’s imperative that all Americans – and especially our elected leaders – disavow violence or even the appearance of endorsing it. And it’s in light of this that Wake County State Rep. Julie von Haefen was clearly in error recently for briefly […]

  One of the most disturbing developments of the second Trump administration has been the President’s clear effort to encourage U.S. military service members to endorse his political views and exhibit loyalty to him personally. This pattern was on display last week at Fort Bragg where Trump inappropriately sought to engage the troops in booing […]

  The first months of North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein’s administration have been marked by a striking lack of hostility and conflict. To his credit, Stein has worked diligently to build bridges and find common ground with Republicans – both in Raleigh and Washington. He’s yet to veto a bill. Unfortunately, this move toward the […]

  Americans have long maintained a healthy instinct to be skeptics. We pride ourselves on demanding proof. Unfortunately, in recent years, the explosion of social media in which every person has a public platform has allowed this natural skepticism to fuel a situation in which distinctly unscientific conspiracy theories get way too much attention. And […]

  As long as the United States is going to maintain immigration laws, it’s a given that unauthorized people will be subject to arrest and deportation. This fact is not terribly controversial. That said, there should be enormous controversy over the way federal officials are now carrying out this work. Simply put: we don’t have […]

  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...

  If North Carolinians lived in a perfect world, everyone would have easy access to plenty of healthy and affordable food, the self-control to resist junk food, and genes that would let them stay active, trim and fit throughout their lives. Unfortunately, we don’t live in such a world. And it’s in light of this […]

  If ever there was a once controversial issue in modern society that has since become a settled matter, it is the question of cannabis legalization. While there’s no doubt that cannabis – that is, marijuana and THC products – raises important public health challenges, it’s also clear that this cow is not going back […]

  One of the most encouraging public health initiatives to come along in several years is a state Department of Health and Human Services pilot program launched in 2022 called “Healthy Opportunities.” The program is based on the simple premise that providing for food, transportation, housing, and other non-medical health-related needs of people enrolled in […]

  It’s hard to fathom in a proposal that includes billions upon billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, but one of the most significant changes included in the massive budget bill approved by the U.S. House late last month was this: big cuts to the nation’s main anti-hunger program. Under the […]