The death penalty is now the hottest public issue in North Carolina that you won’t hear a word about on the campaign trail. None of the leading candidates for statewide office are opposed to capital punishment. And few candidates are willing to take a stand on a growing push for halting executions until serious flaws […]
Barbara Solow
Posted inNews
Sudden Death
On a chilly weekday evening, as the lights in most Raleigh office buildings are dimming, the headquarters of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers remains bright. A fundraiser for Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Mike Easley is in full swing, with guests mingling noisily around a small bar and cloth-covered tables heaped with hot hors d’oeuvres. […]
Posted inNews
Practical politics
Supporters of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader are looking for ways to ease worries that in this year’s too-snug-for-comfort presidential race, a vote for the consumer firebrand might add up to a victory for George “Dubyah.” In a recent article in the Village Voice, Nader supporters suggested a unique vote-swapping plan that they liken to […]
Posted inNews
Controlling Choice
For once, Dave Austin feels he has a real choice in this fall’s United Way campaign. For years, the types of groups to which the Durham resident wanted to contribute–activist organizations like Student Action with Farmworkers and Southerners for Economic Justice–were left out of the United Way’s annual drive. But this year, for the first […]
Posted inNews
Facts, figures, feelings
At a press conference in Raleigh last week about North Carolina’s death penalty, the most impressive speaker was also the least well-known. Charisse Coleman, a young writer and newcomer to the Triangle, was there to support a call by the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers for an immediate halt to state-sponsored executions. Seated at a […]
Posted inNews
Prescription: Union
There once was a union maid she never was afraid of goons and ginks and company finks and the deputy sheriffs who made the raid she went to the union hall when a meeting it was called and when the company boys came around she always stood her ground. –Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger On […]
Posted inNews
DOA
Deborah Giles was grinning instead of grim. The political leader of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People had come to the old courthouse downtown to protest a plan for merging city and county government. But last Tuesday’s demonstration quickly turned into a celebration. Earlier that morning, Durham’s City Council had refused to […]
Posted inNews
Looking backward
Feeling like there’s no drama in the upcoming presidential race? Bored by the fundraising…er convention spectacle on TV? Annoyed by North Carolina’s position at the tail end of the primary season? It may be some comfort to know that this isn’t the first time Tar Heel citizens have felt gypped politically. I recently discovered, while […]
Posted inNews
Roll Call
by barbara solowAlthough it went on longer than some had expected, this year’s legislative session was noticeably short on progressive ideas. While they did raise teacher pay and approve a budget, state lawmakers took little or no significant action on expanding health care, reforming campaign laws or protecting the environment. With legislators back in their […]
Posted inNews
Semi-solid ground
The setting: The legislative office building in Raleigh last week, where state House members are debating an alternative to Gov. Jim Hunt’s proposed $13 billion budget. Outside the chunky edifice, the air is filmy and hot. Inside the packed committee room, the atmosphere is cool–until the talk turns to cuts in spending on the state’s […]
