Talking taxes
A couple of weeks ago, when Gov. Beverly Perdue surveyed the carnage in a state budget to be balanced by spending cuts alone and declared the proposed cuts "horrific," it wasn't hard to figure where things were headed.
Voting on tobacco
Tobacco has been big business in North Carolina for centuries, with farms and production companies playing a key role in the state's economy.
Fuel for fires
It's wet as all get-out outside, but dry weather surely will be back, and with it a particular fire hazard that is 100 percent preventable -- if a common-sense safety standard is put in place.
Time insensitive
Doubtless the Raleigh City Council meant well in approving a budget that adds money to protect employees from higher health care costs and that maintains spending for the arts and for programs serving those in various kinds of need.
Obama's checkup
President Obama has moved beyond invoking the physician's creed of "Do no harm" when it comes to treating the nation's ailing health-care system. This is about a lot more than avoiding harm.
Next up at NCSU
Faculty, staff and almuni of N.C. State University never figured to be looking for a new chancellor right about now, but with the resignation of James Oblinger in the wake of the controversy involving former Gov. Mike Easley and his wife, Mary Easley, the process of finding a leader begins.
Assembly must make hard choices
It's crunch time -- number-crunching time -- at the General Assembly. In just two weeks the state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 is due to be signed into law. As things stand, the budget has only begun to take its final shape.
Cut out wasteful spending
The analogy wouldn't work in the dead of winter, but this time of year it's right on target: North Carolina's state budget is like a garden with a weed problem.
Air travel scrutiny
Americans this year have seen the best and possibly some of the worst from commercial airline pilots.
Across the Yadkin
You might say it's the opposite of The Bridge to Nowhere. The Interstate 85 bridge over the slow-flowing Yadkin River north of Salisbury connects two of the biggest metropolitan regions in North Carolina.
Archer Lodge, Inc.
Out in the Midwest and elsewhere, some hard-hit small towns are taking "Town of" out of their names. The costs of running a municipal government, they find, exceed the benefits. In Johnston County, Archer Lodge is headed in the opposite direction.
Leader of the pack
He's been on the job only since Monday, but Jim Woodward, the interim chancellor at N.C. State University, has put in more than a week's worth of work.
Tobacco's days
With the FDA regulating tobacco, more changes are in store for a North Carolina mainstay. But Americans' health will improve.
Savoring a mimosa
There's an ancient English adage, "A bee in June is worth a silver spoon." If that's so, it must also be true that a tree that's taken up residence in the southern United States, bearing the scientific title of "Albizia julibrissin," must be worth a whole set of silver spoons.
Abuse alarms
Doris Weaver has had some questions, and she has wanted some answers.
Faults and fires
For months, North Carolina homebuilders have been itching to overturn a new building code requirement meant to cut down on electrical fires. The hammer was expected to meet the nail this week, at a meeting of the state Building Code Council.
N.A.S. Cherry Point?
The U.S. Navy is nothing if not determined to build a new practice landing field for carrier-based jet fighters within hailing distance of its Oceana air station in Virginia Beach.
Tax dodge city
Even if North Carolina's budget were as healthy as a horse -- that's the budget that pays for teachers, health inspectors, highway patrolmen and other essential folks -- the burden of paying the necessary taxes should be broadly and fairly distributed.
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