No self-respecting columnist passes up the obligatory prediction column the first week of the year. So here goes mine.
2019 was only four days old when we got the announcement the U.S. Supreme Court was going to hear arguments on North Carolina’s redistricting …
RALEIGH — Over the past eight years, conservative lawmakers have done much to constrain the excesses, expenses, and abuses of governmental pow…
Imagine travelling from Raleigh to Charlotte in about 22 minutes; not by train, plane or car, but instead in a pod, transported through an alm…
An FBI investigation of President Donald Trump should surprise no one who has followed current events in recent years. As we learned from the …
Last Friday marked the 46th annual March for Life, an event to celebrate life and honor it as a sacred and precious gift from God. This incred…
Chapel Hill is still stunned.
Lawmakers return to Raleigh next week for the 2019 session of the North Carolina General Assembly. Pledges of harmony and bipartisan cooperati…
The recent brouhaha surrounding the Catholic schoolboys from Kentucky demonstrated the partnering of social media and journalism for the absol…
Candidates are lining up to run in 2020 and we’ve heard those running on a more liberal or “progressive” platform, as well as those espousing …
The request was for me to talk to an audience about how to conduct civil, meaningful and honest discussions among people with different faiths…
This weekend marks the end of a sports era. Since I was around at the beginning, I want to join others in mourning the loss of over-the-air br…
It was Christmas Eve 1914. World War I was in its early stages and trench warfare was the rule of the day. Soldiers on opposing sides could he…
Have you driven around North Carolina recently? More people have decorated with outdoor lights, blowups and festive displays than we’ve seen i…
While many are fretting over the just-right Christmas present, tackling last-minute holiday details or preparing for years-end, many of North …
Back in 1897, an eight-year-old girl, prompted by naysaying friends, wrote The New York Sun wanting the truth about the existence of Santa Cla…
As a young boy I remember hearing the stories about that first Thanksgiving, when the Pilgrims and Indians feasted together. The romanticized …
The 2018 midterm was one of the most interesting elections held in our state. While there wasn’t the “blue wave” many had predicted, this was …
Bill Friday was right. Friday, the founding president of the 16 campus University of North Carolina System, fought with then-Governor Bob Scot…
We talk a lot about today’s tribal, partisan politics, where the camps seem to migrate farther and farther to the right or left, screaming at …
Besides circulation the most complaints I get is about the editorial page. So today’s Friday Five is about questions and complaints about poli…
Many are saying that the November 6 elections are all about Trump, a referendum either affirming or refuting his leadership. Our president cas…
About this time each year we looked forward to receiving the Sears Wish Book. This wonderful catalogue was about three inches thick, packed wi…
When President Trump visited North Carolina he assured our state that the federal checkbook would be opened and that we would get almost anyth…
It happened once again with Hurricane Florence. Whenever North Carolina is in crisis - such as with storms or other catastrophes – we collecti…
We should start a petition for the National Weather Service to eliminate names starting with the letter “F” in naming storms. Fran, Floyd, now…
State Treasurer Dale Folwell administers the State Health Plan, the largest in our state. Folwell believes his office should know what various…
Labor Day was the saddest day of the year when I was young. It signaled the official end of summer and the start of the routine of getting up …
North Carolina is about to undertake the greatest revolution in healthcare since the 1965 advent of Medicaid and Medicare. And yes, that inclu…
What we are currently witnessing in state government feels like watching the movie “Groundhog Day.” Our legislature passes a bill, the governo…
As a young boy I would sometimes walk out of my Greenville home and smell rotten eggs. My mother explained this smell came from the paper mill…
Even when July 4th falls in the middle of a week you can count on fireworks displays, flags hanging, neighbors gathering for cookouts, waterme…
“Whoever thought I was going to live so long,” my 96 year old mother asked? She isn’t alone. 10,000 of us turn 65 every day. In 1990, North Ca…
Note to readers: With all the recent activity regarding immigration we decided to repeat the column we wrote following a visit to Ellis Island…
Every Saturday night our family would gather round the black and white TV to watch the latest Perry Mason episode. Before the hour was over Ra…
When the phone rings at 2 a.m. it’s a pretty safe bet there isn’t good news, as Bill found out that December in 1960. The agent on the other e…
The selection of Peter Hans to head our state’s Community College System was expected, especially after it became known that Governor Roy Coop…
