December 26, 2008
No doubt about it, more and more people like calling North Carolina home. Last year alone, in-state migration added 181,000 new residents. Compared to most of the nation, we're on a fast track. The state is the fourth-fastest in growth nationwide, accordi...
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New star rating systems for nursing homes and long-term facilities won't tell the entire story, but they can help families better make difficult choices, often on very short notice. And troubling is North Carolina's initial ranking in the Centers for Medi...
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December 23, 2008
State vehicle safety inspections check to make sure turn signals work. So what? No one uses them anymore. The Program Evaluation Division of the state legislature thinks the rest of the safety inspection is just as useless. In a report to a legislative ov...
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Charles Davenport Jr. and I don't see eye-to-eye on much. But when it comes to being a sucker for holiday traditions ("Christmas memories" Sunday op-ed), I have to admit it: I've got the brother's back. According to the unofficial 2008 holiday decorations...
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December 22, 2008
North Carolina goes 15-0 Barack Obama won a narrow plurality of North Carolina's popular vote Nov. 4. He did much better in the real balloting last week, however: 15-0. All 15 of North Carolina's electoral votes went, by law, to the candidate with the mos...
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December 21, 2008
Bankruptcy judges can restructure the mortgages of troubled businesses. They also can restructure mortgages on vacation homes. But they don't have that option for the real estate that's arguably the most important: your home. That means that many who coul...
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December 20, 2008
Kids go to school for roughly nine months, then get the summer off. That's a sacred tradition in North Carolina, but is it a right? The state Supreme Court will answer that question sometime next year. It heard arguments Tuesday in a case from Wake County...
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The recent bloodletting at the top of Guilford government isn't over until Skip and Steve say it is. And neither Skip Alston, the newly elected chairman of the county commissioners, nor Steve Arnold, the new vice chairman, is saying they're done yet.
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December 19, 2008
Every United Way organization in the country knows about the $2 million bungling by the United Way of Central Carolinas in Charlotte. That should help them avoid the same mistakes. UWCC let its former executive director, Gloria Pace King, manipulate her w...
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Gov. Mike Easley finally spoke about the state's probation system failures this week, but his response showed why problems haven't been fixed: no leadership from the governor. Easley blamed the legislature for not providing enough funding to hire more pro...
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December 18, 2008
Two recent deaths of area student athletes may be making parents worried. Will their own children succumb during a game or even a practice? While statistics show that such occurrences are rare, some parents may still be uneasy, even after their sports-pla...
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December 17, 2008
The brazen shooting of a Brinks Security employee during a mid-morning robbery Monday at the Old Navy store in Friendly Shopping Center casts a tragic pall over this holiday season. Now the community must join with law enforcement in bringing to justice t...
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Finding a silver lining in a recession isn't easy, but the economic slowdown could provide extra time for planning how best to use land in the vicinity of the almost-completed FedEx regional hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport. A report prepared f...
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December 16, 2008
If Chairman Skip Alston and other Guilford County commissioners want to spend weeks poring over the budget, taxpayers ought to encourage them. Line-by-line scrutiny will force more accountability for proposed spending. When commissioners set tax rates eac...
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Bank of America on Monday dismissed about 20 senior executives, including the Charlotte-based company's general counsel. We knew this was coming, but it is no less painful. Bank of America's plans to lay off up to 35,000 workers systemwide. The cuts will...
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December 15, 2008
Whither McCrory?
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December 14, 2008
When Greensboro police investigate crimes, they’re usually not looking for strangers. “We are dealing with at least 65 percent repeat offenders,” Chief Tim Bellamy said last week.But making an arrest often just continues a maddening cycle: Suspects...
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What are your predictions for 2009? Please comment below.
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It’s been an incredible year. Nationally, we’ve faced a dynamic primary season, a turbulent economy, the passage of a bailout package, skyrocketing oil prices, and a long election season. Locally, North Carolina faces a 6.7 percent unemployment rate......
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December 13, 2008
The furniture industry in North Carolina is taking more hits. Furniture Brands International said Thursday it will lay off 1,400 workers at plants in North Carolina and Mississippi. The St. Louis-based company owns many of North Carolina’s best-known na...
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A legislative report says the first priority of the state’s ABC system ought to be “optimizing profitability.” Customers might not agree with that. Nor would everyone support recommendations aimed at shifting more control from local ABC boards to Ra...
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December 12, 2008
Energy supply and conservation issues should be on the General Assembly’s front burner, and the Joint Legislative Utility Review Committee should be leading the way. But as the News & Record’s Mark Binker recently reported, under its current leade...
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May 6, 2008
Alamance Regional Medical Center has expanded its facilities and services farther northeast. On Sunday , officials from the hospital, the Alamance County Chamber of Commerce and the city of Mebane were on hand to cut the ribbon to open the Mebane Outpat...
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