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The Council of State kept North Carolina's ongoing game of political tag in motion this morning by approving a revised "protocol" for the implementation of death sentences by lethal injection. The Council voted 6-3 (Insurance Commissioner Jim Long (at right), Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson were the "no" votes). […]
Death Penalty Study Concludes
Despite the mounting drumbeat for death penalty reforms, the House Select Committee on Capital Punishment concluded several months of work this afternoon by adopting only a modest list of mostly technical proposals to recommend to the 2007 session of the General Assembly. The Committee, which was chaired by Speaker Joe Hackney, found itself unable to reach consensus on the major controversial […]
Five reasons to march this Saturday
Thinking People Should Consider Marching This Saturday By Rob Schofield Quick Take
- This Saturday, February 10, the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP will spearhead what its leaders hope will be an historic rally and march in downtown Raleigh.
- The event will take place inside Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium at the Progress Energy Center and will conclude with a march to the state Legislative Building.
- If recent trends are any indication, the event should be a big success.
Encouraging Signs from Yesterday’s EITC Event
Economic justice advocates should take heart from a couple of things about yesterday's media event in which a collection of groups led by the N.C. Justice Center touted the enactment of a state earned income tax credit: 1) The event got a lot of well-deserved attention; and 2) House Minority Leader Skip Stam and Senator Eddie Goodall took the […]
Blurring the Line Between Reporting and Advocacy
In the modern political world, the lines between politicians and lobbyists and reporters and pundits and even bloggers are often quite blurry. People switch jobs with increasing frequency and many new jobs are, in effect, hybrids that require multi-skilled multi-taskers. My colleague Chris Fitzsimon spent several years as a reporter and as a top […]
EITC Media Event
Those interested in learning about the Earned Income Tax Credit and the latest effort to establish a state version should check out the Justice Center's 11:30 press conference today. Click here to go to the G.A. audio site and then click on "Press Conference Room."
Minimum Wage Moving – No Thanks to Richard Burr
The Center for American Progress' blog ThinkProgress.org reports: "After repeated delays by conservatives, the Senate voted 87-10 today to end debate on legislation that will raise the minimum wage for the first time in a decade, from $5.15 to $7.25. The bill will move to a full vote in the next several days. Ten […]
News (and a New Website) for Budget Geeks
The General Assembly's Fiscal Research Division folks kicked off the annual dance that is the state budget making process this morning with a "General Overview of Revenue Availability and the Economic Situation." With little to do so early in the session (House and Senate committees have not even been appointed yet) legislators and lobbyists packed the big […]
In Case You Missed It – Part II…
Though the General Assembly doesn't really figure to get going in earnest for at least a few weeks, the Honorables did adopt a pair of resolutions ("temporary" in the House and "permanent" in the Senate) last week that lay out the framework for this session's legislative calendar. Among the highlights: All "public bills" (i.e., non-money bills) must be […]
In Case You Missed It…
Last week's Independent Weekly had a nice series of pre-legislative session stories by Bob Geary, Lisa Sorg and Fiona Morgan. Among the highlighted figures: my former colleague, Adam Searing of the N.C. Justice Center's Health Access Coalition (at right), who has spent a decade fighting to make Blue Cross/Blue Shield live up to the rhetoric of its omnipresent marketing machine, and […]
NAACP on Witnessing Executions and More
"I have decided that we must bear witness to the suffering our State inflicts on another human being, so I can report to the people what is done in their name." One angle on the story surrounding the state's bumbled efforts to carry out its planned three-week, death penalty marathon (kill-a-thon?) in recent days was […]
Executions on Hold
As had seemed likely after yesterday's preliminary ruling that gave Governor Easley and the council of state until 10:00 this morning to come up with a way to execute folks that somehow bridged the gap between what doctors say they can do and what state law appears to require them to do, Judge Don Stephens […]