Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
A couple of years ago the small piedmont town of King, North Carolina landed in the soup because the ACLU or someone got into a dither over the town flying a ‘Christian Flag’ over the local Veterans Memorial. Now, they’ve come up with a solution. Here’s how it works: Each December the town collects…
NBC News and Marist University have released an 11th hour poll in Iowa – in the last four weeks 19% of the voters have switched candidates, almost half going to Rick Santorum with most of the rest splitting between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. Ballot Change Romney 23% +4 Paul 21% +2 Santorum 15%…
When the Democrats sued the Republicans over redistricting I thought we might be treated to see a bit of grand political theatre with Republicans arguing for the Voting Rights Act (which they hate) and Democrats arguing against it (even though they’ve been in love with it for four decades). It’s a disappointment but no…
After Senator Richard Burr and former Senator Elizabeth Dole endorsed Mitt Romney, a reporter asked: Do endorsements matter? Answer: Not to voters, but definitely to politicians and reporters. No voter who is torn between, say, Romney and Newt Gingrich will think: “Gee, I don’t know who to vote for. So I’ll just vote for…
This headline should strike fear in us: “State government reorganizes, seeking more efficiency.” Pardon my cynicism, but I’ve seen this movie before. Every administration in Washington and every state capital promises to reinvent, reorganize and rethink government. Now, Rob Christensen reports in the N&O that North Carolina is scrambling the bureaucratic eggs again. This…
Just as the N.C. Department of Agriculture gets new responsibilities, we find out it bungled its current duties. Lynn Bonner reports in the N&O: “The state Agriculture Department failed to fine propane plants, dispensing sites and other facilities that mishandled the highly flammable gas, putting the public at risk and costing public schools…
A week ago, I thought, It’s too farfetched – Rick Santorum rising in the polls in Iowa would be like blind dumb luck or lightning striking. All year with pure steadfastness a quarter of the Republican voters have stuck by Mitt Romney though thick and thin. But they’ve been the only thing steadfast in…
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…
Lisa 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???”) …
Carter Wrenn and I are moving to Substack. That’s where you’ll find our blogs in the…
The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My…
A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…