This summer, a Canadian grocery store took the war on plastic bags to the next level. Vancouver’s East West Market not only charges 5 cents per plastic bag, but the bags also carry embarrassing messages: saying things such as “Dr. Toews’ Wart Ointment Wholesale,” “Into the Weird Adult Video Emporium,” and “The Colon Care Co-op,”...
Jones County residents are still feeling the effects of recent hurricanes. At least one of the county’s three towns remains flooded, and two of its six schools were condemned. Those facts came out during a Wednesday, Aug. 28, news conference at the state Legislative Building. Republican state lawmakers and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., used...
North Carolina’s farm bill has passed the House, but it now may be frozen in the Senate. Senate Bill 315, “North Carolina Farm Act of 2019,” was approved Wednesday, Aug. 21, by a 63-48 vote, but only after House members revised the omnibus legislation to outlaw the sale and use of dried, smokable hemp flowers...
If passed, North Carolina’s hotly contested hemp law will probably end up in court, says the state legislator leading efforts to ban the plant’s smokable flower. Meanwhile, a new statewide poll shows voters wish the government would stay out of the weeds. A new version of Senate Bill 315, North Carolina Farm Act of 2019,...
Tax credits claimed by clients of Dan McCready’s solar investment company may be jeopardized by Gov. Roy Cooper’s Department of Revenue. McCready, the Democratic nominee in the 9th Congressional District special election, started the investment firm Double Time Capital in 2013. The company set up partnerships letting investors in solar projects take advantage of a...
If your goal is to reduce carbon emissions in electricity generation, the primary tools available are to replace coal with lower-emitting natural gas and to expand nuclear.
A major solar energy financing company says the N.C. Department of Revenue may be breaking the law. The company has formally asked DOR to justify a regulation rejecting state tax credits the company’s clients have claimed. The request came Aug. 1 from Monarch Tax Credits, a Georgia-based company that facilitates investments in renewable energy, historic...
Gov. Roy Cooper, an advocate for renewable energy whose family leases land for solar farms, is denying tax credits for solar energy investments. Investors could lose as much as $500 million they were expecting from the state, one tax lawyer told Carolina Journal. Cooper’s Department of Revenue is basing the decision on a faulty interpretation...
North Carolina may soon see $168 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery, after more than a year-long delay. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Friday, Aug. 2, that it will soon start releasing mitigation funds in two installments, one for states and the other for Puerto Rico and the U.S....
A bill allowing federal funds to continue flowing to North Carolina hasn’t earned Gov. Roy Cooper’s signature yet, but one political analyst said it would be wise for the governor to let it become law. Weeks have passed since Cooper vetoed the biennial budget bill. Negotiations have stalled on a compromise between the governor and...
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline remains on hold. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday, July 26, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to follow the Endangered Species Act when it approved a permit for the ACP. This is the second time this court has considered the issue. The pipeline is supposed to...
