By Johnny Kampis – Carolina Journal News Service RALEIGH — When the General Assembly reconvenes next week, broadband promises to be a hot topic. One of lawmakers’ first order of business, according to Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, will be to pass legislation handling money in the rural broadband grant program. In December, legislative leaders and Gov.…

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By Andrew Dunn, Carolina Journal News Service RALEIGH — Gov. Roy Cooper is again pushing for a multibillion-dollar infrastructure bond, but Republican leaders caution that North Carolina’s still-unsteady economy makes it impossible to tell whether it would be prudent. In remarks to the N.C. Association of County Commissioners on Thursday, Jan.14, Cooper said “now is the time”…

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by Johnny Kampis, Carolina Journal News Service RALEIGH — Less than a year after an audit of the N.C. Department of Transportation found massive overspending, a blue-ribbon panel is recommending the department get a 40% budget hike. The N.C. First Commission recently suggested that state transportation should get an additional $2 billion annually to deal…

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by Julie Havlak, Carolina Journal News Service Lawmakers are returning to Raleigh, and they have a loaded agenda.  The legislative session begins Wednesday, Jan. 13, when lawmakers will deal with the pandemic, pass a budget, complete redistricting, and tackle needed reforms. Republicans remain in control of both chambers, but they lack the numbers to override…

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by John Trump Gov. Roy Cooper — and scores of politicians like them — have since March imposed noxious closures and lockdowns with the altruistic goal of keeping us safe. In reality, these government-imposed suppressions have done little but wreck our mental and physical health and devastate our economy. About 100 Triangle restaurants, bars, and similar service businesses…

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