Opinion Columnists
Landry: Subsidy surprises and other ACA nonsense
President Obama said that if you liked your health insurance plan, nothing would change under the Affordable Care Act. Based on reports of skyrocketing premiums, the president must have had his fingers crossed behind his back when he said those words.
Opinion Columnists
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NED BARNETT
NC’s cost of obstinance on Obamacare
The cost of saying no to a state-run exchange has not been so apparent or much debated. Its effects didn’t begin to materialize until last week when Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Coventry insurance companies posted their plans and premium prices on the North Carolina exchange being run by the...
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JIM JENKINS
Raleigh bests Nashville in every way after the International Bluegrass Music Association gathering.
Might Raleigh take over as a music Mecca as its reputation grows following a spectacular bluegrass music festival?
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MARC LANDRY
Landry: Moral Monday protesters should pay for breaking the law
Lawyers for Moral Monday protesters are no doubt planning to make persuasive arguments that their clients are not guilty of the very offenses that the accused willingly and blatantly committed for the very purpose of being arrested.
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NED BARNETT
Barnett: NC Catholic bishops sever a bond with other churches
The NC Council of Churches said with regret last week that the bishops of the stateʼs two dioceses based in Charlotte and Raleigh had informed the council they were withdrawing over differences on gay marriage and abortion.
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MARC LANDRY
Landry: It's time to trim the US Postal Service
Even after recent cutbacks, the USPS has too many employees providing a service for which there are now many alternatives that the public and the government itself are embracing more eagerly each year.
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NED BARNETT
Barnett: Folt off to a promising start as UNC chancellor
Carol Folt, nearly three months into her job as chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is impressing people inside and outside of the Carolina community with her engaging personality, her diplomatic skills, her eagerness to learn and her ability to explain.
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JIM JENKINS
Jenkins: Standing firm against a groundswell
A News & Observer letter writer suggests that a columnist seek the governorship.
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MARC LANDRY
Landry: Raleigh crackdown on drivers just a boost to the DWI industry
Starting next month, $525,000 of your federal tax dollars will pay for a squad of four Raleigh police officers to use specially equipped vehicles to detect and arrest drivers suspected of DWI. Why?
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NED BARNETT
America’s growing income divide
The gap between the rich and everyone else is the widest since the Roaring ’20s. Yet no movement of protest, no populist politics are taking root. Republicans are allied with the wealthy – and the Democrats are, too.
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JIM JENKINS
Dean Smith, beyond the medal
Dean Smith is to receive the nation's highest honor, the Medal of Freedom. He deserves it for reasons many of those who revere and admire him may not even be aware of.

