Category: Columns

Music venues, closed since March, struggle to survive. Some have closed for good

adult artists back view band

By John Trump Raleigh, NC – The Pour House Music Hall and Record Shop is eerily quiet.   Dusty. Empty.   It’s as though the music hall is still under construction, or in some stage of renovation. A cordless drill and some…

NC past governors budgeted more carefully

By John Hood Raleigh, NC – As a fiscal conservative, I long for the days when North Carolina had responsible governors who responded to recessionary budget gaps with fortitude and common sense. You know, governors like Bev Perdue, Mike Easley,…

COVID-19 response creates policy options

woman in gray sweat shirt sitting beside window

By John Hood Raleigh, NC – Although working from home provides a great deal of flexibility and potential benefits, professional and personal, most of us don’t want to make it our default setting — even after, or perhaps because of,…

Schools and our children

girls on desk looking at notebook

By Kevin Roche Nothing about the handling of this epidemic angers me more than the treatment of our children.  What we are doing to these young people is unconscionable and I literally want officials held accountable.  We are depriving them…