Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
If you’re up at 7 a.m. Sunday and desperate for entertainment, listen to Don Curtis and me on “Carolina Newsmakers” on WPTF. We about covered the waterfront on politics: redistricting, money, Governor Perdue and the legislature, 2012, etc. The show will also be available at www.carolinanewsmakers.com.
The other morning on one page of the newspaper Governor Perdue (or rather the Perdue administration), pleading hard times, announced the Department of Health and Human Services will no longer pay for eye exams, and eyeglasses and dental care to Medicaid patients. On top of that times are so hard the department’s also limiting physical…
President Obama better connect this time. His much-hyped economic speech next week may be his last chance. For all his strengths, Obama has one great failing: He hasn’t been able to forge an emotional connection with the American people since the election. He did it during the campaign by fulfilling a yearning…
Back in 1985 I got a call from George Crile a producer at 60 Minutes who said he and Mike Wallace wanted to come to Raleigh to interview Tom Ellis and me. I thought, An interview with 60 Minutes – what’s the difference in that and sticking your head in a lion’s mouth? I…
Overnight Rick Perry has soared from unknown to Republican frontrunner; — it’s reminiscent of four years ago when another unknown appeared out of nowhere, soared into the lead in the Democrat Primary, then rolled straight into the White House. Now, Rick Perry – Governor of Texas, Air Force pilot, rugged cowboy – is the…
A new issue of North Carolina DataNet, published by the Program on Southern Life at the UNC J-School, is available now. Click here for a link to the report. The focus is what report calls the “metropolitanization’’ of North Carolina’s population, and the impact that has on the state’s economy, culture and politics. …
There’s always been a healthy dose of class warfare in the debate over maintaining roads to barrier islands like Hatteras. It exploded in letters to the N&O today. Said one writer: “Why is it that we all have to cater to the rich and their Shangri-Las at the coast? Isn’t it time that we…
A biography of former Lt. Governor Bob Jordan, written by long-time North Carolina reporter and editor Ned Cline, is on the bookshelves. Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh will host a book signing and presentation by Jordan and Cline at 7:30 p.m. this Wednesday. The book, “The Man From Montgomery,” traces Jordan’s life and…
This will make my friends at DOT mad, but face it: When it comes to informing the driving and tax-paying public, your 511 line – and your website – flunked the Irene test. Anybody who tried Sunday to get updated information on specific roads from DOT knows that. Apparently, the 511 line is…
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…
Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…