Viewpoints

Here in beautiful springtime North Carolina, many of us are preparing to celebrate our mother-child bonds with special tokens of love and appreciation. Many of us have also been gathering during the past month in “Hands Off!” Rallies in our communities.

Included among countless other pages in the State Senate’s budget proposal last week was a provision that would cut all funding from North Carolina’s Innocence Inquiry Commission.

So, I ask that you take a closer look at our agricultural system. Next time you pass a beautiful stretch of N.C. farmland, look at who is there working hard to feed us. Think about how their bodies must suffer and how they must need medical care.

Ever notice how many new developments, especially housing complexes, there are when driving through Chapel Hill lately? It’s pretty impossible not to.

Every time it rains, a neighborhood near Carrboro Town Hall holds its breath. As temperatures worldwide continue to rise with increased greenhouse gas emissions, so does the intensity of storms and rainfall.

It’s not only in coverage of foreign affairs that I feel the need for independent news media. Plenty of pundits have analyzed recently the angst and soul-searching among Democrats about what they should do in order to win in the mid-terms and in 2028.

Last month, WRAL reported that Triangle hospitals have seen a rise in tuberculosis cases. Yet, the reassurance offered—that three-quarters of these cases originated outside the U.S.—misses a crucial point: diseases do not respect borders.

It’s hard to keep up with the headlines these days, but if you are following along, you may have seen recent news about proposed cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

In Jesus’ famous parable of the Good Samaritan, we are challenged to consider what it truly means to be a good neighbor – someone who offers help and compassion without hesitation. Who are we called to help? Who deserves our care?

In the wake of natural disasters, the images of destruction—homes reduced to rubble, streets submerged under floodwaters, and entire communities left in tatters—are devastating. But what is often hidden beneath the visible wreckage is the invisible chaos that follows: the legal struggles that survivors face.