Opponents of an industrial-scale solar utility in Beaufort County rejoiced earlier this month when a state regulatory agency rejected the developer’s application to revise plans for the facility. But the David versus Goliath celebration was short-lived. Wilkinson Solar Plant appealed the split decision by a three-member panel of the N.C. Utilities Commission to the full...
In the United States, there are between 45 million and 46 million turkeys killed each year by profit-seeking farmers for consumption at Thanksgiving dinners around the country. In total, about 245 million turkeys are raised on American farms every year, with pretty much all of them headed for an afterlife of human consumption. Yet, it...
Possible GenX contamination in municipal water supplies is a reason cash-strapped municipalities have discussed merging public works systems with larger cities and counties. The UNC School of Government’s Environmental Finance Center is working with the Local Government Commission in the state Treasurer’s Office and the Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Quality to find...
I have shared a list about North Carolina politics with you before. It was fun, at least for me. Here’s another one. In no particular order, these are my top five most interesting and impactful members of the state’s congressional delegation from the critical Civil-War-until-World-War-II period. George Henry White only served two-terms in Congress, but his impact...
A legislative panel is hiring a special outside investigator to get answers from Gov. Roy Cooper about his creation of a $57.8 million discretionary fund tied to payments from Atlantic Coast Pipeline partners. A Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations subcommittee voted Wednesday, Nov. 14, to probe whether Cooper’s conduct was legal. The special investigator...
North Carolina officials insist the state is prime territory for the next big industrial manufacturing facility — most likely an automaker. Auto assembly plants can attract billions of dollars in investment, create hundreds of high-paying jobs, and revitalize a local economy. But we keep losing the competition for new auto plants to nearby states. South...
Dr. Donald van der Vaart, John Locke Foundation senior fellow and former secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, analyzes N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order on reducing state government greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent. Van der Vaart offered these comments during an interview with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Radio.
Voters will choose all 170 members of the N.C. General Assembly Tuesday. The elections will determine whether Republicans maintain veto-proof supermajorities in both the state House and Senate. Becki Gray, John Locke Foundation senior vice president, explains how the legislative elections could affect state policy. That includes relations with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Most of...
From the time it was announced in January, the agreement between Gov. Roy Cooper and the companies building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline invited questions about its constitutionality, legality, and practicality. North Carolinians are poised to get answers when work by a subcommittee of the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations gets under way Nov. 14. At...
Jon Sanders, John Locke Foundation director of regulatory studies, discusses Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order linked to climate change. Sanders offered these comments during the Nov. 1, 2018, edition of Spectrum News’ “Capital Tonight.”
Senate District 9, New Hanover County. • Michael Lee. Republican (two-term incumbent). Education: Wake Forest University School of Law, J.D., and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A. Occupation: Lawyer. Career highlights: Co-chairman of the committee for Appropriations on Education/Higher Education. • Harper Peterson. Democrat. Education: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill....
