The Republican legislature’s “tax reform” plan represents a high-risk political strategy for the GOP.
In fact, Republican tax reform has the potential to do for the GOP what health care reform did for the Democrats – create tremendous political blowback.
Republican lawmakers are considering a nearly complete rewrite of the tax code, abolishing corporate and income taxes […]
Newly sworn-in N.C. Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker returned to her Charlotte roots Monday, and said the state could take a cue from its largest city’s history of growth.
Speaking at the Charlotte Chamber’s quarterly advisory board meeting, Decker said Charlotte has “set the pace for this state for a long time.” She cited unpublished figures that […]
Lawmakers will return to Raleigh Jan. 30 to begin to debate legislation during the 2013 long session, which is expected to last at least four months. The following are 10 issues to watch, from a Southeastern North Carolina perspective. Of course, there are others.
1. Tax reform
Much of the pre-session talk has been about Republicans’ intentions […]
DURHAM —Rather than building their own crime lab, local officials increasingly see the solution to evidence-testing backlogs as paying the state each year to hire technicians to work only on Durham cases.
On Friday the Durham Crime Cabinet endorsed a proposal to channel $180,051 a year to the State Bureau of Investigation so the agency can […]
One might think North Carolina municipal leaders should feel pretty relaxed about state legislative issues as the 2013 session approaches. The new governor will be the former seven-term mayor of the state’s largest city, and the House speaker represents the same urban area.
But the state’s mayors are rightly concerned about the new political reality in […]
RALEIGH — The number of people killed on North Carolina’s roads increased slightly last year, but remains hundreds lower than a few years ago, according to preliminary numbers compiled by the state Department of Transportation.
The NCDOT says 1,224 people were killed as the result of automobile accidents last year, including 23 bicyclists and 170 pedestrians. […]
Asheville is fighting to keep its municipal water system and avoid a soaking. But the state legislature has the last word.
Other cities should tune in to this drama playing out in the water-wealthy mountain community.
While Asheville operates its own water system, wastewater service is handled by a Metropolitan Sewerage District that covers all of Buncombe […]
“You cannot build a skyscraper economy on a foundation designed for a farmhouse,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in talking about America’s infrastructure. We yearn for that bright future but seem unwilling to take care of what we already have. This failure to invest in infrastructure will result in lost jobs, lost opportunities […]
Sweepstakes halls across North Carolina will be out of business at least temporarily, after the state’s highest court on Friday upheld a law banning the video games run by businesses that often mimic small, electronic casinos. “The operators and the developers will have to go back to the drawing board to see how they can […]
A new bipartisan group of business and city leaders has formed to push urban issues in the new Republican-controlled state government. The group, called the N.C. Communities and Business Alliance, includes Democrats such as former Gov. Jim Hunt and Republicans such as former Charlotte mayor Richard Vinroot. The group recently held its inaugural meeting. The […]
