Happy Friday, everyone! We’ll have some pretty terrific weather this weekend, and there’s a ton of cool stuff to do, so get out there an enjoy yourselves, before another Monday rips the joy from your soul. Anyway, on to the headlines: 1. The new congressional district map is nearly complete. Some new wrinkles: under the […]
Jeffrey C. Billman
Posted inNews
Do Your Job, Senators: A Quick Lesson on Supreme Court Vacancies
Before Antonin Scalia’s ghost even had a chance to haunt its first homosexual, Senate Republicans had already decided on his replacement on the U.S. Supreme Court: no one. That decision should be left to “the next president,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a bunch of other Republicans declared, even though the next president won’t […]
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The Morning Roundup: For God’s Sake, Stay Home, People
Perhaps you noticed the snow (cool!) and ice (boo!) covering the street in front of your house, especially if you live in Durham. At 7:21 this morning, the Durham County Sheriff’s Office emailed: “The Durham County Sheriff’s Office has responded to at least eight weather-related accidents since Sunday evening. The number of wrecks increases as […]
Posted inNews, Housing
A Counterintuitive Solution to the Triangle’s Affordable Housing Problem: Build More Luxury High-Rises
The Washington Post is out with a story today that picks up on a report from California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office on Cali’s affordable housing crunch, which is particularly pronounced in its urban centers (especially the get-out-if-you’re-not-a-Silicon-Valley-millionaire San Francisco). And while you often hear well-intentioned politicians and planners talk about things like density bonuses and using […]
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The Morning Roundup: Oh God It’s Going to Snow!
Greetings and salutations and Happy Friday, everyone! Let’s dive right in, get this week over with, and commence with our Friday afternoon binge drinking, shall we? First off, did y’all see the debate? No? Here’s the tl;dr: Hillary is hugging Obama so hard the president might well suffocate, and Bernie has developed an almost Rubioesque […]
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Wayne Goodwin’s Obamacare Letter Sets Off a Firestorm
Since the Affordable Care Act’s inception, conservatives have been predicting its imminent demise. The direst prognostications (recession! job losses! tyranny!) have gone belly-up, but it’s true that significantly fewer people enrolled in the exchanges than expected. It’s also true that insurance costs have risen (though at a lower rate than before). And so Republicans remain […]
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The Morning Roundup: Well, That Was … Ugly
1. Let’s get this out of the way.The Panthers lost, and lost badly. The referees were godawful, yes—seriously, how the fuck was that not a catch?—but even a fairly called game wouldn’t have saved the squad that showed up last night. Denver’s defense was unbending, Carolina’s offense was dazed, and Cam Newton kept throwing the […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Drink This Now (Well, Tomorrow): Crank Arm Brewing’s BMX, a Powerhouse Limited-Release Barleywine
To my mind, there are few styles of beer more versatile than barleywine. The European-style versions are often sweet in that malt-heavy way and boozy, dark, and complex, almost approaching old ales. The American take on it, meanwhile, is traditionally more hop-centric and bitter (sort of like a better-balanced double IPA) and often paler, with […]
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Pat McCrory Tells You to Keep Pounding: The Gov’s First 2016 Ad, Annotated
Governor McCrory is out with his first ad of this election year. You can watch it here: Here’s a quick transcript: North Carolina’s working again. Unemployment is down from our mountains to the coast. Families are paying less in taxes. We’ve helped seniors with medical bills. We’ve raised teacher pay. There’s still work to do, […]
Posted inNews
The Morning Roundup: Is It Sunday Yet?
via GIPHY via GIPHY Greetings, comrades and fellow travelers. Perhaps—but probably not—you, like I, stayed up late (late, at my age, apparently means 11:15) to watch the Democratic tête-à-tête in a little town called Durham … New Hampshire. Who won? you ask. I imagine that depends on which candidate you supported going in. To my […]
