Viewpoints

Less than three short weeks ago, North Carolina’s men’s basketball team and its fans were celebrating their first best-ever home season—18 contests without defeat—after closing out a tight, tense win over Clemson.

As a 28-year veteran of public education in North Carolina, and a current principal in a neighboring district, I was deeply saddened to learn that Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) must close two elementary schools.

On February 28, I stood with 40-50 other protesters outside the courthouse in Pittsboro, Many of us have been doing this every week for almost a year, but 2026 has raised the stakes.

I never knew Phil Berger was a wine connoisseur. At his watch party in Rockingham County, the President Pro Tem, equipped with his Latin title and entourage of worthies, served wine in plastic cups and conversed with Important Men in good suits.

A hospital closure in an area with a small population may not seem important but the ripple effect is vast and may end up impacting you. The root cause of most rural hospital closures is straightforward: rural hospitals cannot negotiate as effectively as larger urban systems with private insurers.

I have only begun closely following the fourth-district primary in the last couple of weeks. Mea culpa: Despite the district’s political isolation in North Carolina, this is one of the most significant primaries being held in the state.

I have passed the days since Lynn Blakey’s death on Friday alternating between grief and rage. Grief because a kinder soul has never walked this earth, and rage at the cosmic injustice of her painful end from cancer at age 63. It all just seems so unfair.

One of the distressing aspects of living under NCGOP rule is that the sword of Damocles is always hanging over your head. At any given time, Republicans could do something
catastrophically embarrassing—a bathroom bill, a voter-suppression law, the denial of tenure to a respected Black intellectual.

As clergy serving faith communities in Orange County, we find ourselves now in an awkward position. For many years our churches have been enthusiastic supporters of Habitat for Humanity, but as faith leaders we cannot support Habitat’s current plans for a new housing development in Hillsborough.

This new year was barely underway when we awoke to the news that the US government has once again invaded another sovereign nation, and kidnapped its president.