Editorial:  Time was, and it wasn't such a long time ago, that nonpartisan membership on the Wake County school board was just that, literally and philosophically.

Editorial:  Who knew that high school history had such a vocal constituency? A proposal to alter the state's public school U.S. history curriculum touched off a broadside worthy of Old Ironsides. Much of the criticism, however, is just smoke and noise.

Editorial:  Recent days have been especially hard for North Carolina-based soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Pentagon says nine of them were killed within 10 days. Past Afghan winters have seen a pause in fighting, but this year U.S.

Editorial:  Publicly sponsored programs aimed at keeping people who might otherwise be in institutions at home are valuable indeed. To the individuals, of course, but also to society.

Editorial:  I f you're accustomed to having a dog under the dinner table at home, keeping an eye out for fallen morsels and generally doing doggy things, then the idea of taking an outdoor meal at a restaurant in canine company won't bother you.

Editorial:  Come Wednesday, North Carolina will have a new, officially certified poet laureate. Cathy Smith Bowers, who teaches at Queens University of Charlotte, will be inaugurated, if that's the word, at the Capitol. The honor is no doubt deserved.

Editorial:  To its credit, the state Division of Motor Vehicles conducted an internal study showing that many of the state's license plate and driver's license offices are not accessible to those with disabilities.

Editorial:  After two North Carolina high school football players died in 2008, following head injuries, the association of which high schools are a part became really serious about concussions and policies to deal with them.

Editorial:  North Carolina's Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan knows all about the national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which was a major help to her in her defeat last year of incumbent Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Editorial:  Squirrels are cute, nimble, alert and utterly insane creatures that insist on dashing in front of a car rather than waiting for its passage. Sudden braking starts them zigzagging and reversing course. Luckily, most times they manage to escape.

Editorial:  The four newly elected members of the Wake County school board saw their victories last fall as a mandate for change.

Editorial:  Not all the dust has settled from last year's ConAgra plant explosion. The Garner facility - home of Slim Jim meat products - has started up again, but only partially. Hundreds of workers have been laid off.

3 million The number of jobs that would have to be created this year to lower the average unemployment rate by 1 percentage point

Editorial:  Surely young Mike Easley, growing up in the days of "decoder rings" and X-ray glasses and invisible ink, most available from cereal boxes, was fully equipped for life as a secret agent. Want to bet he was an accomplished hide-and-go-seek gamer as well?

Editorial:  Even though it came from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a recommendation to allow gay men and women to serve openly in the United States armed forces was guaranteed to draw vehement opposition in Congress, most of it from conservative Republicans.

Editorial:  North Carolinians were growing skeptical of their government leaders long before the clouds rolled in over the administration of former Gov. Mike Easley.

Editorial:  If money makes the world go round, debt makes it spin faster. On the plus side, borrowing allows individuals and companies - or cities, states or nations - to multiply their spending power for worthwhile projects.