Recap on Common Core: The main issue is grant funding that was given to our state with strings attached. The Race to the Top Phase II federal grant mandated the implementation of standards common to a majority of states. The RttT agreement was a 3-part initiative: common standards, student data mining, & school reform/transformation – […]
Democratic Senator Kay Hagan’s campaign is highlighting her Republican challenger’s comments about “traditional” North Carolina voters in building a narrative that Thom Tillis is divisive and offensive. The latest addition for this meme came from an old appearance Tillis made on a Charlotte public television show: Williams: Let’s start fairly broad with the Republican Party. You watch— […]
Through a provision within the House-proposed state budget, some NC lawmakers are urging the adoption of a Joint Enforcement Agreement (JEA) between NC Marine Patrol and the federal government. Adoption of the agreement would mean that the NC Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) will receive federal funds (previously estimated at $150,000 – $200,000 annually) in […]
Despite the many benefits of living in South Carolina (ahem, cheaper gas, ahem), there remains a number of practices that I find just silly when it comes to local politics. South Carolina gets it half right in not having it’s citizens register by Party affiliation, but it then continues to run elections in a partisan […]
You may have heard that less than two weeks ago the NC House passed a bill (HB 1061) which would end the state’s participation in Common Core education standards. House Bill 1061 promotes decentralized government and takes control from unaccountable federal bureaucrats and puts it back into the hands of the citizens of North Carolina. […]
prac·ti·ca·ble [prak-ti-kuh-buhl] adjective 1. capable of being done, effected, or put into practice, with the available means; feasible: a practicable solution. This one word in the North Carolina Constitution is always brought up when the issue of higher education is discussed and the method and means of how to pay for it are considered. Article IX, Section 9 of […]
In early April the NCDOT announced they had selected Cintra, a Spanish company, as the contractor for the I-77 toll lane project. (As it turns out, the Cintra bid was the only one recieved.) Under the terms of the contract, NCDOT will donate the remaining public right-of-way and grant Cintra an exclusive concession to design, […]
My Republican Senate colleagues and I unveiled what we believe is a groundbreaking plan to provide North Carolina public school teachers with an average 11.2% permanent pay raise beginning July 1. This new teacher pay plan will move North Carolina from the 47th ranking for overall teacher pay to 27th in the current national rankings! […]
*Editor’s note: The following is a letter from the Chairman of the NC Libertarian Party. Regardless of your political affiliation or ideology, the idea of encouraging more open ballot access should be considered a positive. Ideas and the people who espouse them should not face such hurdles in running for office as they do now. […]
If food were free, would we all be eating steak? Certainly not in the past or today’s America, and likely not in the future. As alluring as the pipe dream of “utopia” may be, the human brain is simply not wired to accept passive compliance with mediocrity. Hypothetically, if all beef on earth were […]
