News & Views

WCU political scientist Chris Cooper (Screengrab from News & Views interview)

North Carolina was rocked by a political earthquake this past week when its senior U.S. Senator, Republican Thom Tillis, broke with President Donald Trump and then announced that he will not seek reelection in 2026. Tillis’s announcement – which came on the heels of his decision to oppose Trump’s hugely controversial omnibus budget bill – initiated a chain of events that has just begun to play out both in Washington and here in North Carolina.

So, what will this chain look like? How will Till...

Mikaela Curry of the Sierra Club of NC (Courtesy Photo)

Among the flurry of bills approved by the General Assembly during the last week of June was an extremely controversial proposal that would make big changes to state energy policy, entitled the “Power Bill Reduction Act.” The bill would repeal a bipartisan 2021 law that committed our state to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 70 percent by the year 2030, as we move to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century.

Proponents like Duke Energy say the interim goal was unnecessary and that changes in the bill will help keep energy pric...

Phi Nguyen, Demos' Director of Democracy, and Sarah Ovaska of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (Courtesy photos)

A new report prepared by the Durham-based Southern Coalition for Social Justice and the national public policy nonprofit D?mos finds more than 1.5 million North Carolinians are eligible to vote but aren’t doing so. The report is entitled “North Carolina’s Missing Voters,” and it finds that these nonvoters — nearly 20% of the state’s estimated 8 million eligible voters — are more likely to be young, Black, or Latino.

What’s more, the report finds that the current situa...

Sen. Lisa Grafstein (Photo: NCGA)

A new state fiscal year commences July 1, but North Carolina will not have a new state budget to greet it. Plagued by major differences over issues like tax policy and pay for teachers and state employees, House and Senate Republicans were unable to reach agreement before commencing their summer break and so the state will continue to limp along on the old budget for the time being.

Republicans did however find common ground on several conservative culture war priorities like weakening gun laws, banning diversity, equity and inclusion, and targeting...

ACLU of North Carolina Policy Counsel Reighlah Collins (Courtesy photo)

Conservative culture war legislation has been front and center of late at the North Carolina legislature, with GOP lawmakers advancing, among other things, bills to limit the rights of transgender people, promote censorship in our schools, ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state government, and force local law enforcement offices to devote limited resources to immigration enforcement actions.

And recently, we got a chance to dig even deeper into some of these proposals with one of the state’s most active and art...

Equality North Carolina executive director Eliazar Posada (Courtesy photo)

The attacks on trans people at the North Carolina legislature are clearly part of a coordinated national campaign from the political right that has also impacted a number of other institutions. This week marks the end of Pride Month and it’s clear that the anti-LGBTQ movement led by the Trump administration has managed to temper the support of some traditional Pride Month supporters in the corporate community.

That said, as NC Newsline’s Rob Schofield learned in a conversation with Equality North Carolina execu...

Rep. Marcia Morey (Photo: NCGA)

In 2025, few societal phenomena pose a greater or more immediate threat to the mental and physical wellbeing of Americans than gun violence. Gun violence is now, quite shamefully, the leading cause of death for children and youth in our country. And when this sobering fact is combined with the ongoing rise in political violence – a fact brought home by the recent horrific political assassinations in Minnesota – it’s hard to describe the situation as anything other than a crisis.

Fortunately, despite the gun lobby money that continues block the enactment of san...

Kris Nordstrom

“A new report from the state Department of Public Instruction confirms what school voucher opponents have been saying: universal voucher programs are a wasteful giveaway to disproportionately wealthy families who have already enrolled their children in private schools.” That’s the opening sentence from a recent essay authored by North Carolina Justice Center senior policy analyst, Kris Nordstrom.

And when one digs deeper into the data Nordstrom analyzed, it’s clear that his assessment is on the mark. The numbers reveal that, in the current school year, only a tiny percentage of vouche...

MaryBe McMillan, president of the NC State AFL-CIO (File photo)

For the past two decades, no single individual has played a more prominent or important role in championing the rights and wellbeing of average working people in North Carolina than MaryBe McMillan. McMillan, who grew up in Hickory, served as the Secretary-Treasurer of the North Carolina AFL-CIO from 2005 to 2017, at which point she was elected as the first woman president of the federation in the state’s history – a role that she has served in ever since and will retire from later this summer.

And...

Common Cause of North Carolina Policy Director Ann Webb (Courtesy photo)

Gerrymandering: it refuses to go away. Despite widespread and growing public awareness and outrage, North Carolina Republican lawmakers continue to use it to rig our state’s elections by drawing districts guaranteed to give themselves large majorities and dilute the power of Black voters. Fortunately, voting rights advocates and good government groups are refusing to give up in their efforts to end this pernicious practice and this week, they’ll be back in federal court in Winston-Salem.

The case is known as Willi...

Professor of law and policy Sara Rosenbaum (Courtesy photo)

One of the more remarkable facts about some of the policies that state and federal lawmakers adopt for public benefit programs these days is that they’re based not on facts or data, or the money and lives saved, but on gut feelings about the worthiness of the people who would be helped. Nowhere is this better evidenced than in the ongoing effort in Congress to mandate work requirements for low-income people enrolled in the Medicaid health insurance program.

The massive budget and tax bil...

Dr. Helen Egger and Rebecca Egger (Courtesy photo)

One of the most vexing societal problems of the modern, social media-driven era is the ongoing crisis in youth mental health. The latest data on the number of children who suffer from depression and other symptoms – and who even contemplate or attempt suicide – are staggering.

Happily, a small ray of light in this dark situation is the promising growth of new tools to provide online mental health care from a new firm known as Little Otter offering coverage for virtual mental health care for children and t...

State Rep. Julie von Haefen (Photo: NCGA)

Well summer is here and with its arrival, the end of the state fiscal year will soon follow, and that means North Carolina legislators are under some pressure to pass a new state budget. Right now, however, despite complete Republican control of both the Senate and House, the two chambers remain far apart and that could portend a long hot summer at the Legislative Building.

So, what’s at the heart of the dispute and where do both budget proposals come up short? Recently to get a h...

Adam Rust (Courtesy photo)

A decade-and-a-half ago in the aftermath of the Great Recession and the financial crisis that sparked it, consumer advocates in North Carolina and around the country succeeded in spurring the creation of a new federal government watchdog known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In the years since, the CFPB has done prodigious work – winning billions of dollars in refunds for ripped-off homebuyers, student loan borrowers, and banking customers and even putting some predatory lenders out of business.

Now, however, the Trump administration and some congressional Republicans are...

Amy Beros (Photo: Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC)

One of the greatest scandals in 21st Century America is that hunger – a genuine lack of adequate food — is a huge and fast growing problem for millions of people. In 34 central and eastern North Carolina counties, one-in-five people – that’s well over half-a-million men, women and children – suffers from food insecurity.

And sadly, things aren’t going to get better any time soon. Indeed, thanks to Trump administration cuts and more that are planned in Congress and the General Assembly, SNAP food assistance and other par...

State Rep. Phil Rubin (Screengrab)

Each year, the most important piece of legislation approved by the North Carolina General Assembly is the state budget bill – a massive document running to hundreds of pages that details billions of dollars in appropriations and scores of substantive law changes. It’s the kind of legislation that ought to feature days – if not weeks – of discussion and debate.
Unfortunately, that’s not how things have worked on Jones Street in recent years. Indeed, when members of various House Appropriations subcommittees voted on the budget the week before Memorial Day, they h...

NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan (Courtesy photo)

It’s now been eight months since Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc in western North Carolina and permanently altered numerous communities. And while the recovery work continues, one vitally important area that deserves much greater attention than it’s receiving is preparation for the next natural disaster.

As veteran journalist Laura Sullivan explains in a new PBS/NPR documentary entitled “Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning,” while the federal government spends tens of billions of dollars every year to repair damage caused by severe storms, much of the money goes to are...

Karen Brinson Bell joins NC Newsline's Rob Schofield to discuss her six year tenure as director of the NC State Board of Elections. (Photo: Clayton Henkel/NC Newsline)

Over the past six years, few public servants in North Carolina have had a bigger or more positive impact under more difficult circumstances than former State Board of Elections executive director Karen Brinson Bell. Despite woefully inadequate appropriations from the state legislature and relentless attacks from uninformed conspiracy theorists, Brinson Bell persevered, strengthened North Carolina elections and kept them among the nation’s most efficient and honestly run...

NC's Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Dev Sangvai

One of North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein’s first acts upon assuming office earlier this year was to name a new Secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, and from the looks of things thus far, the person to whom he turned, Dr. Dev Sangvai, was a winning selection.

Since taking office, Sangvai — a family medicine practitioner and Duke University professor – has quickly hit the ground running and emerged as forceful voice for commonsense in the often rancorous world o...

Bob Phillips, Executive Director of Common Cause North Carolina

It seemed like it might never happen, but we now know the winner of last November’s election for an associate justice seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Following federal Judge Richard Myers’ complete rejection of GOP candidate Jefferson Griffin’s effort to overturn his narrow defeat by tossing the ballots of thousands of voters, Griffin finally conceded and earlier this past week, incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs was sworn in to serve a new and full eight-year term (albeit six months late).

And rec...

Galen Bacharier (File photo)

Lawmakers in Raleigh recently concluded crossover week – a chaotic period in which they considered and voted on scores of bills in dozens of important subject areas in just a few days. And for better or worse, a lot of important and controversial measures won approval and remain eligible for final passage this session.

So, what passed? What failed? And what’s on the agenda going forward? Newsline’s Rob Schofield recently sat down with reporter Galen Bacharier, to find out. And as Galen told Rob, while the state budget debate...

NCIOM President Michelle Ries and NC Child's Erica Palmer Smith (courtesy photos)

For nearly three decades, a pair of nonprofits – the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and NC Child – have released a biennial study known as the Child Health Report Card. The goal, as you might expect, is to provide legislators, public health officials, school administrators, parents and other nonprofit leaders with the latest information on the health and well-being of our state’s kids.

This year – as in 2023 – the focus of the report is on the mental health struggles that plague so ma...

Jennifer Rublin (Courtesy photo)

It’s been six long months now, but North Carolina’s seemingly never ending state Supreme Court election may soon be over. This past week, federal Judge Richard Myers II – a Republican appointed by President Trump — issued a complete rejection of GOP candidate Jefferson Griffin’s effort to overturn his narrow defeat by tossing the ballots of thousands of voters. In a detailed 68-page opinion, Myers wrote that Griffin’s effort to change rules governing voter eligibility after the election violates the U.S. Constitution.

One advocacy group especially heartened by...

Rep. Zack Hawkins (Photo: NCGA)

This past week was crossover week at the North Carolina General Assembly – a chaotic period in which lawmakers considered and voted on scores of bills in just a few days – often with precious little informed discussion. It’s a tough time for legislators who take their jobs seriously and try to understand every proposal on which they’re voting – a task that some have more success with than others.

One lawmaker who’s gotten pretty good at the speed-reading and comprehension that crossover week demands is Rep. Zack Hawkins of Durham and e...

Hilary Harris Klein - Photo: Southern Coalition for Social Justice

The challenge of keeping state voting rolls current and accurate has always been a big task and today, in a fast-growing state with more than seven and a half million voters – many of them often on the move – it can be tougher than ever. That said, there are sound and accurate ways to do this important work that keep things up to date without disenfranchising voters who may simply have skipped an election or two — and as a new report from researchers at the Southern Coalition for Social...

NC Conservation Network's Grady McCallie and Luna Homsi (Courtesy photos)

Few issues on the public policy agenda in 2025 are more urgently important than the health of the environment. Whether it’s global challenges like climate change and the rise in weather disasters or hyperlocal matters like land use planning and access to clean drinking water, elected leaders undoubtedly have their work cut out for them.

Fortunately, thanks to the hard work of experts at the North Carolina Conservation Network, we now have a wonderfully comprehensive and data rich report that details exactly where thi...

Equality North Carolina executive director Eliazar Posada (Courtesy photo)

Donald Trump’s return to the White House has helped give rise to many disturbing trends in merican politics and policy in recent months, and one of the most troubling has been the crusade to marginalize and revive discrimination against LGBTQ+ Americans.

Both in Washington and Raleigh, conservative politicians and their appointees have been working hard to roll back hard won victories that allowed LGBTQ+ people to live normal lives free from harassment and even to, quite literally, deny their existence.

Thankfully, a cadre of...

Sen. Graig Meyer (Courtesy photo)

Members of the North Carolina General Assembly took a post-Easter break last week as they prepared for what promises to be the busiest period of the 2025 session in May and June, but prior to that, Republican leaders in the state Senate unveiled and quickly approved their version of a new two-year state budget.

The proposal attracted sharp criticism from Democratic senators who blasted the tiny pay raises allotted to teachers and state employees, as well as the decision to double down on regressive corporate tax cuts at a t...

Common Cause of North Carolina Policy Director Ann Webb (Courtesy photo)

It’s hard to believe, but it’s now been nearly six months since the November 2024 election and one race remains officially undecided – the contest for an associate justice seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Two recounts have confirmed that incumbent Justice Allison Riggs was the narrow victor, but remarkably, challenger Jefferson Griffin refuses to concede and continues to pursue the audacious strategy of seeking to have thousands of ballots – ballots cast according to the rules in effect on Election Day – thrown out.

The c...

Meredith College pollster Professor David McLennan (Courtesy photo)

We’re now more than three months into the second Trump administration and to say that it’s been a tumultuous period would be a vast understatement. From the precipitous economic decline, to the mass firings of federal workers, to the rise of an immigrant deportation program that has cast aside traditional norms of due process, the national news has been chockful of unprecedented and highly controversial actions.

So how has this drumbeat of controversy impacted the views of North Carolina voters? A new public opinion survey from...

Sen. Lisa Grafstein (Photo: NCGA)

After several weeks of conducting business at a steady, manageable pace, the North Carolina General Assembly suddenly shifted into high gear. This past week, legislative committees rapidly considered and okayed scores of brand new, never before-heard bills on an array of topics, while at the same time Senate Republicans were unveiling and advancing their proposed version of a new two-year state budget.

So, what is the average lawmaker to do at such a time – especially if you’re not a member of the majority party? For Wake County state...

Former U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-North Carolina) speaks at Wake Technical Community College in Wendell, North Carolina.(Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)

We’re now three months into the second Trump administration and, as so many experts had feared and warned, the chaos – in the global economy, in the federal government, in our courts, and on the ground in scores of communities across the nation – is palpable. Between the seemingly random economic tariffs, massive and crude cuts to public services, and cruel and unlawful treatment of lawfully present immigrants, the national mess is already looking...

State Rep. Maria Cervania (Photo: NCGA)

It’s been more than six months now since Hurricane Helene devastated much of western North Carolina, and while there’s been a great deal of heroic recovery and rebuilding effort at all levels of government since then, recent actions in Washington are raising red flags in many corners.

At the North Carolina General Assembly, for example, lawmakers like Wake County state Rep. Maria Cervania have expressed deep concern that big Trump administration budget and staffing cuts to federal agencies, along with big price hikes caused by new T...

NC State Professor of Political Science Steven Greene (Photo: NCSU)

The Trump administration continues to enact, retreat from, and then renew dozens of norm-shattering policies that threaten to alter and undermine the fundamentals of our economy and even American democracy itself. From the massive and unilaterally imposed budget and staffing cuts to key federal agencies, to the on-again-off-again economic tariffs, to the unprecedented and deeply disturbing disappearances of immigrants, Trump has unleashed a fusillade of controversial actions.

So, what does it all mean and where might it all lead? Recently, NC Newsline’s Rob...

Journalist Kevin Hardy (Courtesy photo)

Recent federal government budget and staffing cuts imposed by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency are having devastating impacts in dozens of areas, but one that’s received less attention than it probably deserves is agriculture. As journalist Kevin Hardy of the national news outlet Stateline reported recently, the administration has yanked funding for programs that allowed schools and food banks to buy fresh products from small farms.

Originally funded under the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan, the U.S. Department of Agri...

Leighton Ku, lead author and Director of the Center for Health Policy Research and professor of health policy and management at GWU’s Milken Institute School of Public Health (Courtesy photo)

As NC Newsline has reported at length recently, Republicans in Congress are seeking to enact massive and unprecedented cuts to two of the nation’s core social safety net programs — Medicaid and SNAP food assistance. And while it’s not hard to show how such cuts will impact the people in need who depend on those programs, a new report from the Commonwealth Fund and The G...

Jason Husser (Photo: Elon.edu)

As has been well-documented in recent weeks, the Trump administration is implementing a massive and chaotic bloodletting of the federal government. From the attempted elimination of the Department of Education to the evisceration of several other key departments — including the National Weather Service and the Department of Veterans Affairs — President Trump and Elon Musk have moved, without legislative authorization, to end or dramatically reduce funding for a host of programs and initiatives.

So how is this playing with North Carolina voters? According to new survey data released by the E...

Rep. Lindsey Prather (D-Buncombe Co.)

It was six months ago that Hurricane Helene devastated much of western North Carolina with record-breaking rainfall and flooding. Since that time, federal, state and local officials have worked in determined — often heroic — fashion to help communities recover.
Today, however, the situation is best described as mixed. As NC Newsline learned in a conversation with Buncombe County State Representative Lindsey Prather, while much of the region is back up and running, the situation varies widely from place to place. While most roads are clear and many homes and businesses back...

Journalist Sara Murphy (Courtesy photo)

The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina six months ago was, in many communities, enormous. Few aspects of normal life escaped being upended, and one very important such area was child care.

As journalist Sara Murphy detailed in a recent report published by NC Newsline and the national news site, the Hechinger Report, six months after the storm, many young children and their families are still struggling with the disaster’s consequences. At least 55 early child care centers were damaged in the storm, and several rem...

Duke University Sanford School Emeritus Professor of Public Policy Phil Cook (Photo: Sanford School of Public Policy)

Across the United States, gun violence continues to be an ever-more-serious national plague. According to the latest mortality data from the CDC, firearm-related deaths among children and teenagers in the United States have soared by 50% since 2019. In 2023, firearms remained the leading cause of death among American youth for the third year in a row.

So what impact is this having on the attitudes of average Americans? A new report published in the Proceedings of the National A...