Call Legislative Leaders About Gun Measures
By Aleta Payne, Deputy Executive Director We will never know if George Zimmerman would ever have gotten out of his car if he hadn’t had a gun. We do know that countless children of God have died in the...
View ArticleVoter ID: We Get the Picture
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate Democracy can become a farce if the rules by which votes are cast are skewed so that the voices of some citizens are muffled. That is the troubling prospect...
View ArticleA Year of Setbacks, Pushbacks
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate At the close of a momentous year for politics and public policy in North Carolina – a year that challenged many people of faith to act on their beliefs — we...
View ArticleThe Stakes with Teachers’ Pay
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate Whether anecdotal or empirical, the evidence is clear: North Carolina has done a poor job of furnishing its public school teachers with adequate salaries. By...
View ArticleOut of the Ashes – Creation Care?
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate Living in harmony with the world of nature has never been all that simple for us humans. One could say that the reported misadventures of a couple of folks...
View ArticleFrom Superior Court to Supreme Court, Education in the News
By Aleta Payne, Deputy Executive Director Education figured prominently in the news over the past few days, both nationally and locally. As a country, we marked the 60th anniversary of Brown vs. Board...
View ArticleProtesters’ Last ‘Salute’ as Legislators Wrangle
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate With one final gathering that on June 25 drew more than 1,000 people to the heart of North Carolina’s state government, the NC NAACP and its allies say they...
View ArticleCapital Clash over Education, Health
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate North Carolina legislators faced with vexing conflicts over a new state budget spent a solid week pawing and snorting at each other without a lot of movement...
View ArticleWarning Signs in Budget ‘Deal’
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate UPDATE: After this blog was posted, the final budget was unveiled and passed by the House and Senate. The large reductions in Medicaid reimbursement rates...
View ArticleRevenue-starved Budget Rattles and Rolls
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate The debate is familiar: State government is too big. No, it’s too small. People in the too-big camp typically think government – the state agencies and...
View ArticleThe Ruling on Same-Gender Marriage
By George Reed, Executive Director The immediate impact of the most recent court decisions regarding marriage is that same-gender couples who want to get married in North Carolina now can, clergy who...
View ArticleGene Nichol Won’t Let Us Ignore Poverty
By George Reed, Executive Director Gene Nichol was the recipient of the Council’s 2013 Faith Active in Public Life Award. (To see his keynote address at our 2013 Legislative Seminar, “It’s Better Not...
View ArticleCouncil Puts Hot Topics on the Table
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate The mission of the NC Council of Churches extends into many areas that highlight the links between faith and public policies. And of the various events and...
View ArticleRevenue Boosts and Tax-cut Boasts
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate The rooster crowed. The sun came up. The rooster puffed his feathered chest as he beheld his magnificent handiwork. Phil Berger led the state Senate in...
View ArticleRepublican Budget makes Republicans Fume — Updated
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate Let’s admit it – we were fooled. We never realized that the N.C. House of Representatives, with Republicans firmly in charge, was a nest of liberals. At least...
View ArticleVeto Overriders Flex Their Muscles
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate North Carolina’s General Assembly has muddled through many undistinguished moments since conservative Republicans took charge four years ago. Now, with an...
View ArticleVoting Rights Sense, in a New Light
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate Over and over, we heard North Carolina’s stringent voter identification law, enacted by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2013 over the protests of...
View ArticleTale of Two Chambers Amid Budget Conflict
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate North Carolina has two legislative bodies, the 120-member House of Representatives and the 50-member Senate. They’re set up to be equal in power, although it...
View ArticleBudget Struggle’s Bitter End
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate The proverbial elephant labored and, against all hopeful expectations, brought forth a mouse. The “elephants” who run the Republican-controlled General...
View Article2015: Our Conservatives Weren’t Kidding
By Steve Ford, Volunteer Program Associate For those of us who want to see North Carolina governed with the interests of all its residents in mind – not mainly the interests of the well-off and...
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