Raleigh
Snow Day MIAs
Something was missing from the usual snow day TV fare. Bill and Renee ran down the shutdowns. Elizabeth and Greg kept predicting the snow would end any minute. Gilbert was giddy. Various teams showed us various roads. But…something just wasn’t there. Oh yes! The Governor’s snow briefing! Where was Governor McCrory warning us not…
Read MoreSee-Nothing SEANC
For years, Dana Cope and the State Employees Association of North Carolina have pursued a vendetta against State Treasurer Janet Cowell. They didn’t like the way she manages the state’s pension fund. They’re the ones to talk. Cope and SEANC demanded more answers and more transparency from the Treasurer’s Office. But, to them,…
Read MorePure Baloney
Reverend William Barber went down to the newspaper and sat down with Ned Barnett to have a chat about the state’s soul. Now the main problem with the state spiritually, according to Reverend Barber, is Republicans. He’s thundered from podiums from Asheville to Wilmington that Republicans are heartless varmints who stomp on women, children,…
Read MoreNo Saints
Once when Democratic County Commissioner Betty Lou Ward was in the hospital she asked the Republican Commissioners to allow her to participate in a board meeting by phone – but the Republicans said no. Another time, in the middle of a fight, the Republicans waited until Ward left the board room to go to…
Read MoreIn the Morgue
EMS medics found Larry Green lying face down by the road with a head wound and no vital signs – he’d been hit by a car. But, then, when a state Medical Examiner, Dr. J.B. Perdue, arrived and opened Green’s jacket his chest and abdomen moved. A medic asked if Green was breathing. The…
Read More1K = 3 Front Pages
Yes, 1,000 wins in college basketball is remarkable. But three front pages? That’s what greeted readers of the N&O print edition Monday morning. First there was Page One of the main news section. In approximately the same size type that might say “WAR!” was “1,000” – in Duke Blue, of course. Beneath were a…
Read MoreChasing Pat from the Left
The liberal folks over at ProgressNC let fly with a broadside at the Governor about his ethics, then let fly again with a press conference and, by then, they had the folks at the Charlotte Observer so stirred up they let fly with broadside of their own asking, Was Pat McCrory fibbing then, or is…
Read MoreChasing Pat from the Right
After being blasted by the liberals (for hiding conflicts of interest) Governor McCrory ran head-on into a second broadside from the opposite direction: Tired of Medicaid wrecking havoc on its budget the State Senate served notice on the Governor his time is up – he’s had his chance to fix Medicaid and failed so the…
Read MoreRighteousness
The mystery isn’t how he died; it’s the Department of Prisons’ silence. Michael Kerr was in and out of trouble with the law for a decade – he was a thief, assaulted a woman and tried to outrun a policeman in a patrol car – then two crimes committed against him left him on…
Read More0-3 Start for Pat?
On their first day in session, legislative leaders sent a message to Governor McCrory: We’re back, and we’re in charge. McCrory has talked about three things in recent weeks: He wants more money for economic incentives, he may want to expand Medicaid and he wants a Dix deal with Raleigh (not Charlotte). In…
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