News

Berger Jr. refers Cooper’s recusal requests to full NC Supreme Court

North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger Jr. has asked his colleagues to decide whether he should take part in two cases pitting the state’s Democratic governor against top Republican legislators. One of those legislators is Berger’s father, the state Senate leader. In two orders released Monday, Berger Jr. referred decisions about his participation in the cases to the other six members of North Carolina’s highest court.

CJ Staff
News

NC Senate approves medical marijuana as conservative support grows

Though some Republicans remain skeptical of a regulated medical cannabis supply system, many conservatives support legalizing cannabis for medical purposes, including Cassie Clark, a North Carolina-based blogger whose content celebrates all the state has to offer.

Brianna Kraemer
News

US government found not responsible for Marine’s NC murder of grandmother

The federal government does not bear legal responsibility for a Marine’s murder of his grandmother in North Carolina in 2018, according to a 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals panel. The ruling issued Monday relied on different reasoning to reach the same conclusion as the trial judge in the case.

CJ Staff
News

Push for regulatory changes to DCM authority could stretch into 2025

Recent changes to House Bill 385 provisions dealing with the statutory authorities of state agencies as they relate to developers and archaeological finds could indicate a more comprehensive reform to come in the long session of 2025. In a housing affordability crisis fueled by supply restrictions, advocates say increased transparency and regulatory certainty are crucial...

Jeff Moore
News

Church argues two SAFE Child Act cases already have been decided

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte is asking North Carolina’s highest court to rule against plaintiffs in two SAFE Child Act cases. The church argued in paperwork filed Friday that courts issued final rulings against both plaintiffs roughly a decade ago.

CJ Staff
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Opinion

Opinion

Citizens should clarify voting rights

North Carolina voters will be asked this fall to remove a troubling ambiguity in the state constitution. An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of state legislators — 40 of 50 senators, 104 of 120 representatives — voted to place the amendment on the ballot. Nevertheless, say some left-leaning critics, the measure is at best an unnecessary distraction...

John Hood
Opinion

Bill puts marijuana pipe dreams before NC health and safety

Today’s high-potency marijuana and THC drugs are medically and scientifically linked to lower IQ, psychosis, depression, suicidality, motor impairment, and schizophrenia — especially for young people with developing brains.

Luke Niforatos, Paul Brintley
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Elections

News

Biden rallies with Stein in Raleigh hours after alarming debate with Trump

A much more energetic President Joe Biden greeted his supporters at a rally in Raleigh Friday afternoon after what both sides of the aisle is calling a disastrous performance in a debate against former President Donald Trump Thursday night.

Theresa Opeka
Opinion

Rape-kit backlog in focus in governor’s race

A new television ad launched by the Republican Governors Association (RGA)  claims the Attorney General Josh Stein “failed women” by taking years to address nearly 12 thousand untested rape kits across the state that could lead to capturing suspected sexual offenders that were yet to be identified.

Dallas Woodhouse
News

Knott is officially NC Republicans’ nominee for Congressional District 13

The Republican runoff race for Congressional District 13 was finalized Tuesday evening, with Brad Knott officially becoming the Republican nominee. Knott was facing a runoff with Republican Kelly Daughtry, but earlier this month Daughtry announced she was dropping out.

CJ Staff
News

Democrats run anti-Morrow bill in NC Senate

Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, is running Senate Bill 867, Superintendent of Public Instruction Minimum Requirements. The measure mandates that the state superintendent “must have at least one year of experience as a teacher or school administrator in this State or a member of a local board of education or the State Board of Education.” The legislation notably leaves out homeschool educators, and few other Council of State positions have such requirements.

David N. Bass
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Videos

Video

Interview: State Superintendent Candidate Michele Morrow

Carolina Journal contributor David Bass sits down with with Republican State Superintendent Candidate Michele Morrow to discuss her goals, qualifications, and campaign. Editor’s note: Equal time was offered to her opponent, Democratic candidate Mo Green, who declined to be interviewed.

Video

Carolina Journal’s Donna King assesses changing NC budget surplus numbers

Donna King, Carolina Journal editor-in-chief, discusses the potential impact of a smaller North Carolina state budget surplus than officials had projected. King offered these comments during the May 10, 2024, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “State Lines.”

Donna King
Video

Interview: Jack Clark, Republican candidate for State Auditor

As the May 14th second primary approaches, Carolina Journal invited the candidates into our studios to talk about their goals and the 2024 race. Under North Carolina’s election laws candidates must win their primary with 30%, plus one, of the vote or the second place finisher in the contest may request a second primary. There...

Video

Interview: Dave Boliek, Republican candidate for State Auditor

As the May 14th second primary approaches, Carolina Journal invited the candidates into our studios to talk about their goals and the 2024 race. Under North Carolina’s election laws candidates must win their primary with 30%, plus one, of the vote or the second place finisher in the contest may request a second primary. There...

Theresa Opeka
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Culture

News

NC school district files motion to dismiss ‘illegal alien’ suspension lawsuit

They argue that Christian’s due process rights were not violated because he was afforded a hearing prior to his suspension in compliance with state law and school policy. They say he was not entitled to appeal his short-term suspension under state law.

Brianna Kraemer
Opinion

Bill puts marijuana pipe dreams before NC health and safety

Today’s high-potency marijuana and THC drugs are medically and scientifically linked to lower IQ, psychosis, depression, suicidality, motor impairment, and schizophrenia — especially for young people with developing brains.

Luke Niforatos, Paul Brintley
News

‘Take Back Title IX’ bus vandalized in Chapel Hill

The controversy surrounding the Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite took a dramatic turn in Chapel Hill this week when a bus for the “Take Back Title IX” tour was vandalized while in the area. The bus, acting as both a vehicle and a mobile symbol for the national movement to preserve women’s sports, was defaced...

David N. Bass
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Civil Society

Opinion

For healthy civil society, politics needs to stay in its lane

Political and cultural causes are important. They motivate us to make the world around us better and hone our sense of justice. Also, the excitement of fighting the good fight can be, for lack of a better word, fun. But everything has its time and place. And even if we think a particular political issue...

David Larson
Opinion

Flashback: North Carolina’s Easter Monday tradition forged on the baseball diamond

On Good Friday state offices will be closed in North Carolina for Holy Week, along with 10 other states. However, that has not always been the case in North Carolina. The Monday after Easter — rather than Good Friday — was a legal holiday in North Carolina for 52 years, and for many years before...

Dallas Woodhouse
Video

Locke’s Mitch Kokai discusses New York Times’ warning about free speech

Mitch Kokai, John Locke Foundation senior political analyst, discusses the New York Times’ column warning about America’s “free-speech problem.” Kokai offered these comments during the March 25, 2022, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “Front Row with Marc Rotterman.”

Mitch Kokai
News

Jordan Peterson returns to Durham 4 years after city moves to ‘cancel’ him

Canadian professor, author, and psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson on Thursday offered a non-political and largely academic lecture on the psychology of beauty, dreams, and purpose. The reaction from city officials and activists to the address at the Durham Performing Arts Center was night-and-day from the one leading up to his appearance four years earlier.  It...

David Larson
News

Ukrainian people in NC rally to support homeland 

As the Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine continues to escalate, North Carolina’s local Ukrainian population is rallying to bring attention to the suffering of people in their homeland and to gather supplies to help them. Donna Goldstein, co-president of the Ukrainian Association of North Carolina, finds herself at the forefront of these efforts.  Goldstein has...

David Larson
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