Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Once upon a time, owning a newspaper was literally a license to print money. Then came Craigslist and EBay, there went profitable classified ads and then came the waves of layoffs and furloughs. How far a newspaper’s value has fallen is shown by the sale of 16 regional papers – including the Wilmington Star-News and…
Read MoreLisa Piercy was right when she tweeted: “There are too many bowl games.” I figured that out as I sat freezing in temperatures in the 40s and winds in the 30s at the Belk Bowl. (When I tweeted about where I was, a friend replied: “Where are you sitting: Men’s wear, shoes, jewelry???”) …
Read MoreThe other day in the newspaper, below an article about unemployment, there was another article headlined “NCSU chancellor gets ‘a great venue.’” Now, someone thought very carefully about the choice of that word ‘venue.’ North Carolina State University has a problem. Because building a new $3.5 million house for its chancellor in the…
Read MoreGovernor Perdue has been taking heat from Republicans for allegedly breaking the law by releasing federal job numbers. Which raises two questions: Since when did Republicans get so concerned about protecting federal-government information? Was it since the numbers were good for the Governor?
Read MoreThe President of Afghanistan’s in a fix: The U.S. Army, he says, hasn’t won the war so there’s no peace to give his people the “individual personal security” they need. Half a century ago, in four years, we crushed Hitler’s armies and occupied his country and there was peace, but, today, it appears whatever…
Read MoreIt’s going to be too funny if Newt Gingrich, who took negative politics to a new level in the 1990s, is undone now by negative politics. That’s karma. If his swoon continues in Iowa, the only way Iowans can pull off their quadrennial surprise is to give a victory to Ron Paul or Rick…
Read MoreWe defeated Libya with laser-guided missiles that, NATO said, never ever blew up anyone but the bad guys. It sounded too good to be true – and it was. Now, NATO admits, those laser-guided missiles killed a fair number of civilians – which isn’t a shock. But does leave one loose end. It may…
Read MoreIt didn’t take Republican legislative leaders long to learn the high-handed ways that they used to complain about when Marc Basnight and Tony Rand were running the Senate. Witness Senator Berger’s threat to wreak vengeance on six cities that appealed the legislature’s curbs on involuntary annexations. There’s just something about being in power, especially…
Read MoreLast month, the state’s economy didn’t grow and create new jobs but unemployment went down. How is that possible? Well, look at it this way: Imagine you’re a politician running for reelection and you’re praying your policies work and unemployment drops but the Labor Department just insists on putting out pesky figures that make…
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