March 25, 2009
North Carolina's lottery began because two senators missed a critical vote. It survived, perhaps, because a Supreme Court justice missed a critical case. Lottery luck? I doubt it. In both instances, lottery proponents left little to chance. Go back to Aug...
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March 11, 2009
It’s a serious step to ask North Carolina voters to amend our state constitution. Too serious to do so on false pretenses. Or with ulterior motives. I’m referring to a bill filed in the N.C. House of Representatives last week proposing a constitutiona...
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March 4, 2009
I spent a few days in Washington and saw President Obama everywhere. My first encounter took me by surprise. I was jogging along the Tidal Basin at dawn and spotted him at the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial. He seemed to be meditating in front of a statue of...
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February 25, 2009
Sympathy isn't out of place in court, as long as it serves -- rather than denies -- the cause of justice. N&R reporter Sonja Elmquist's accounts of a criminal trial last week captured the impact of powerful emotions on judge and jurors. Christopher Br...
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February 11, 2009
High Point was founded in 1859. The city fathers' first act was to petition the legislature to split High Point from Guilford County. "We're tired of being treated like Greensboro's red-headed stepchild," they said. The legislature ignored them, as it wou...
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February 4, 2009
It didn't take long for Kay Hagan to get in a bind. "Less than a month into my service here in the U.S. Senate," the Greensboro Democrat said in a floor speech last week, "I'm faced with a situation in which the health of millions of my state's children a...
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January 28, 2009
Among the many confident statements delivered by President Barack Obama in his inaugural address last week, this one may be tested most often: "As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." The pronouncement...
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January 21, 2009
"That's where we have Bible study," the young woman said, pointing to a comfortable common room in Mary's House, a residential drug-treatment facility. Mary's House is a faith-based ministry that takes in homeless women and their young children for up to...
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January 14, 2009
Rents are dropping for furniture market showroom space in High Point. In some cases, all the way to nothing. Lisa Shankle understands the business. The leasing and property manager for Hamilton Properties in the market's design district, she's been in it...
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January 7, 2009
Elizabeth Dole had a tough year. Not only did the former senator lose her seat to Kay Hagan, she again failed to appear on the list of Most Admired Women in the annual Gallup survey. Earlier in her career, when she was a Cabinet secretary and then America...
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December 31, 2008
A week after Christmas, the solicitors for worthy causes called again at the offices of Scrooge and Marley. "Good day to you, Mr. Scrooge." "Happy New Year, Mr. Scrooge." "Gentlemen, come in. Welcome," Scrooge exclaimed in a warm voice. "I am very glad to...
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December 17, 2008
Michelle escaped from an abuser only to feel pushed around in a High Point battered women's shelter. It made her stronger, she says several months later. "I'm thankful for the experience. I'm thankful for the mistreatment because it gave me a reality chec...
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December 10, 2008
North Carolina's Man of Mystery was at it again last week. Gov. Mike Easley, with other governors, met with President-elect Barack Obama in Philadelphia to discuss a possible economic stimulus package. Easley reportedly was given a few minutes to talk abo...
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December 3, 2008
There's this guy at Carolina. He's into chemistry but also plays in a band. Digs the Heels -- football, basketball and other sports. Enjoys road trips. And writes a blog that's pretty much a must-read. See, he's not a typical college dude. Name's Holden......
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November 19, 2008
Long-time Greensboro lawyer Bob Hunter was elected to the N.C. Court of Appeals Nov. 4, just two years after Bob Hunter was elected to the N.C. Court of Appeals. They're not the same. One is Robert C. Hunter, from Marion, who was first elected to the cour...
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November 12, 2008
When it comes to downtown Greenville, S.C., you've got to see it to believe it. To apply Greenville's success to your downtown, though, you've got to believe it first. I joined a bus load of High Point sightseers who spent last Friday touring downtown Gre...
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November 5, 2008
It's all over ... but the re-counting? I'm writing on a deadline that doesn't allow waiting for election results, so I don't know yet who's won and lost in races from president to school board. I expect many to be tight, maybe keeping us all on edge until...
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October 22, 2008
There's an undercurrent in High Point's Ward 2 City Council race: Beat the white guy. He's Pride Grimm Jr., one of five candidates running for a seat from the east-central district. The other four are black, as is a fifth who filed but quit his campaign.
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October 15, 2008
It usually takes a constitutional amendment or activist court ruling to establish a new right. Barack Obama hasn't said how he hopes to create a right to health care for all Americans. Maybe we'll hear more during tonight's debate. It would take the full...
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October 8, 2008
Milt Mild's campaign manager, Ax Grinder, leveled with him. "Milt, the election is less than four weeks away and we're stuck in quicksand. It's time to change our tactics." "I really like our 'Wild for Mild' fliers. Aren't they making an impression on vot...
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October 1, 2008
Some of our most important elected officials get the least attention from voters and the media: judges. They represent the third branch of government and carry tremendous power, settling questions of law affecting vast amounts of money, people's freedom...
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September 24, 2008
Mark Harris patrols the halls of Ferndale Middle School, exchanging special greetings with smiling students: a raised right hand, palm turned forward, then twisted side to side. "We wave and salute at the same time," Harris explains. That fits. Harris liv...
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September 17, 2008
You could subtitle Anna Hayes’ brilliant biography of Susie Sharp, “The previously secret lives of judges.” Not just for its most surprising revelations: that Sharp, a lifelong spinster thought to have no serious romantic interests, maintained intim...
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September 10, 2008
My wife and I are dog people. We've owned dogs throughout our marriage and made them a real part of the family. Our current dog is our favorite. Maybe that's because our kids are grown and gone and we've replaced them, emotionally, with a pet. They would...
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September 3, 2008
Americans are learning plenty about Sarah Palin's family. The Republican vice presidential candidate gave up personal privacy when she accepted John McCain's offer to join his ticket. Her decision to carry to term a baby with Down syndrome rather than hav...
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