North Carolina’s most notorious antisemite is willing to do whatever it takes to become our next governor. So in the wake of last month’s Hamas attack, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson pulled out all the stops to show everyone just how much he loves Israel. Robinson waited until actual NC Governor Roy Cooper left for a trip to Japan to hold an “acting governor” dress-up event where he declared North Carolina’s solidarity with Israel. Proclamation This week Robinson took his charade on the road, traveling to Israel with the North Carolina chapter of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group t ..read more

At the November 2 meeting of the North Carolina State Board of Education, State Superintendent Catherine Truitt was pressed on her decision to not appeal the controversial approval of American Leadership Academy Monroe. ALA Monroe will be managed by out-of-state for-profit charter operator Charter One, and Truitt received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions in June from representatives of this corporation–shortly after changes in state law gave her authority to appeal approval or denial of charters. The State Board of Education had previously denied ALA Monroe’s charter on two oc ..read more

Here’s some excellent news to kick off Banned Books Week. An attempt by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Moms for Liberty chair to have five books banned from the Ardrey Kell High School media center has failed. The school’s School Media Advisory Committee determined that all five books will be retained in the media center, and the objecting parent is free to restrict their own child’s access to those titles as permitted by district policy. Students in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools were not allowed to check out books for the first two weeks of school while the district waited to hear objections ..read more

photo courtesy of Rep. John Autry It’s somehow fitting that a legislative session that included an intra-party fight over casinos, draconian restrictions on women’s access to health care, and a lawmaker defying the will of her voters and switching parties would end this way, with a childish act of petty vengeance by the state’s second most powerful legislator. Welcome to the rotten world of North Carolina politics. As the session drew to a close, this week Wake County Representative Terence Everitt was unexpectedly evicted from his office and exiled to a janitorial closet while he waited to v ..read more

Student flying Confederate flag at Union County high school, Feb 2023 Educators returning to work in Union County Public Schools for the 2023-24 school year are being required to agree to a handful of specific policies including one stating that they won’t cause any student to feel “discomfort” during discussions about race or gender while at school. The policy was initially enacted by the county’s far-right school board in 2021, the year extremist groups across the United States carried out their manufactured CRT hysteria campaign. Union County Public Schools’ efforts to ensure staff are a ..read more

North Carolina’s most polarizing politician may be attempting something of an image reboot as he sets his sights on the governor’s mansion. Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson has been both reviled by those on the left and celebrated by fringe elements on the right for his extreme views, including regular doses of anti-LGBTQ and antisemitic rhetoric. Now that Robinson has declared his candidacy for governor in the 2024 election, there are signs that the firebrand who once referred to homosexuality as “filth” may be trying to soften his public image in an effort to attract more mainstream vote ..read more

Sunday’s New York Times deep dive into Mecklenburg County Representative Tricia Cotham’s shocking decision to switch parties and give North Carolina Republicans a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature contained few bombshells on the now-infamous legislator’s controversial move. For the most part, the Times rehashed details many North Carolinians already know: ➢ That Cotham was recruited by Republicans to run for a second stint in the legislature after several years away ➢ That Cotham spent the years between her first and second stretches as an elected official working as a educ ..read more

*originally published by the Charlotte Observer As North Carolinians wait for state legislators to wrap up their vacations and pass an overdue state budget, details on what to expect are beginning to emerge.   According to House Speaker Tim Moore, proposed expansion of the state’s controversial school voucher program “will be part of the final budget agreement.” Assuming no major changes to voucher bills filed earlier this session, the legislation will triple funding for school vouchers as well as eliminating income eligibility requirements so that any student in the state–regardl ..read more

NC House Speaker Tim Moore has some explaining to do. Moore leads Republicans in North Carolina’s House of Representatives and is second only to Senate Pro Tempore Phil Berger when it comes to political muscle in the state. WRAL just broke the news that Moore and an unidentified “John Doe” are being sued in Wake County Superior Court over Moore’s alleged extramarital relationship with the wife of a Wake County Public Schools assistant principal. Scott Lassiter serves as an administrator at Connections Academy Middle School and was on Apex’s Town Council from 2011-2015. Lassiter’s lawsuit ..read more

With North Carolina’s Republican state legislators poised to massively expand public funding for school vouchers, a new analysis of school enrollment vs. current voucher spending finds that private schools may be fraudulently claiming millions of dollars in vouchers for students they don’t have. Charlotte-area Representative Tricia Cotham’s recent betrayal of her constituents by switching parties just months after being elected handed a supermajority to the NC GOP and effectively ended Governor Cooper’s ability to veto bad legislation. Cotham and her school-privatizing colleagues then filed ..read more