The COVID- pandemic has produced both health and economic consequences A new misery index attempts to document how those consequences have played out in states across the country Joseph Coletti John Locke Foundation senior fellow explains why he developed the index He explains how North Carolina compares to neighboring states and others throughout the United States Gov Roy Cooper set up a new bipartisan group to focus on health insurance coverage The governor is focusing on one aspect of coverage Medicaid expansion But lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle want to turn attention to other issues including relaxation [... more]

Founder of Caregivers by Wholecare returns to the show to help share the new changes in home care services in light of the COVID- Technology is playing a huge role in how our seniors and impaired loved ones are cared for at home and Elizabeth brings her decades of experience to help unpack the new look of home care Learn more at - For Christmas this year give that gifts that speak fluent caregiver [... more]

A Union County judge has approved a deal calling on the state of North Carolina to boost education spending by more than million a year It's the first stage of a plan that would lead to billions of dollars of new spending The money is tied to the long-running Leandro lawsuit Terry Stoops John Locke Foundation vice president for research and director of education studies analyzes the latest developments in the quarter-century-old Leandro case The N C Association of Educators teachers union is leading a lawsuit designed to kill the state's Opportunity Scholarship program But three families are going to [... more]

Tele-medicine Virtual monitoring Emergency Contacts Engagement Safety Caregivers need these boxes checked and Gracie and I use a system doing all that and more Imagine a parent at the end of her rope while caring for a special needs child getting a daily phone call from a caring person breaking through the isolation to check on that stressed mom What kind of difference would that make It's all just one click away for you as a caregiver https mycompanion com protect [... more]

Carolina Journal Radio celebrates its th weekly episode marking more than years of documenting interesting developments in N C politics and public policy Using that milestone as a starting point John Locke Foundation CEO Amy Cooke looks ahead to the future for JLF efforts to spread the message about individual freedom personal responsibility and limited constitutional government Plaintiffs tied to the N C Association of Educators teachers union are challenging Opportunity Scholarship school vouchers in court Opponents contend vouchers violate the state constitution despite the fact that the N C Supreme Court upheld Opportunity Scholarships in Jeanette Doran president and [... more]

The state of North Carolina requires more than hours of training and a year of apprenticeship before a person can become a barber Jon Sanders John Locke Foundation director of regulatory studies says those requirements stem from the racism that helped guide North Carolina's earliest occupational licensing Sanders discusses the history of barber regulations Ever since the COVID- pandemic threw hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians out of work state government has faced problems getting unemployment checks into people's hands A recent legislative hearing highlighted public concerns about the slow pace of unemployment relief State lawmakers added new funding for [... more]

Candidates in North Carolina's high-profile elections have been coping with the impact of the COVID- pandemic Now they could face challenges linked to looting and riots that followed protests of the controversial Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd Rick Henderson Carolina Journal editor-in-chief analyzes potential impacts of these unforeseen developments on the state's most important electoral contests The pandemic has caused stress for North Carolina's meat supply State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler assessed this issue and other ag-related challenges during a recent online forum sponsored by the John Locke Foundation The John Locke Foundation and Washington D C -based Brookings [... more]

As North Carolina recovers from the negative impacts of the COVID- pandemic the John Locke Foundation is offering help The new Carolina Rebound project is designed to give policymakers ideas that will help the state recover as quickly and efficiently as possible Joseph Coletti JLF senior fellow discusses Carolina Rebound's recommendations for state tax and budget policy The pandemic shut down many N C businesses Even those allowed to stay open had to scramble to adapt their business plans to changing circumstances Ron Joyce of Triad-based Joyce Farms recently explained during a John Locke Foundation online forum how COVID- has [... more]

The time is NOW for caregivers to rethink how we give care You've seen the headlines https news yahoo com man- -charged-nursing-home- html https www cnn com us alejandro-ripley-killing index html These incidents are just from the last week I invited Mark Gray of Constant Companion to come on the show to discuss how their secure affordable reliable and easy to use new product can provide family caregivers the connection support and assistance so desperately needed Imagine a parent at the end of her rope caring for a special needs child getting a daily phone call from a caring person [... more]

The COVID- pandemic has generated more attention for telemedicine As more people access health care through their phones and computers the John Locke Foundation and Brookings Institution have prepared a new telemedicine report Co-author Jordan Roberts JLF's health care policy analyst discusses the report's key findings and recommendations North Carolina has entered the first stage of Gov Roy Cooper's phased reopening of the state's economy Critics contend the state ought to be reopening more quickly During a recent online forum sponsored by the John Locke Foundation N C House Speaker Tim Moore R-Cleveland offered his ideas for moving North Carolina's [... more]

The COVID- coronavirus pandemic is reshaping lives in North Carolina across the country and around the world The John Locke Foundation is helping N C leaders respond to challenges linked to the pandemic CEO Amy Cooke discusses freedom-forward ideas JLF is promoting to help the state She also assesses the impact on people's wallets job opportunities and plans for the future Ohio University economics professor Richard Vedder has spent more than five decades teaching in college classrooms He's had a front-row view of higher education's problems Vedder discusses his concerns in the recent book Restoring the Promise During a recent [... more]

The coronavirus scare reminds us about government-erected barriers that stand in the way of an effective response Jordan Roberts John Locke Foundation health care policy analyst discusses policy changes at the state level that would help North Carolina deal better with problems linked to the virus's spread Medicaid expansion has dominated the N C political debate in recent years A recent report challenges a key claim from expansion's proponents They say the infusion of government money linked to expansion would help shore up struggling rural hospitals Roy Lenardson government affairs director with the Foundation for Government Accountability explains why those [... more]

Joe Biden's win in the Democratic presidential primary topped the headlines but voters made other significant choices in North Carolina's March election Rick Henderson Carolina Journal editor-in-chief analyzes key primary results He looks ahead at the potential impact for the general election in November Government rules can have a major impact on the food we eat Sometimes those rules stand in the way of local entrepreneurs Donald Bryson president and CEO of the Civitas Institute discusses the harmful impact of overly burdensome regulations He makes the case for freedom of the fork State lawmakers continue to look for ways to [... more]

With the N C General Assembly wrapping up work for the year now is a good time to review some of the year's victories for the freedom movement Becki Gray John Locke Foundation senior vice president focuses on advances in taxes spending regulation education choice and criminal law reform She also places this year's events in the broader context of changes seen since Republicans took over the legislature at the beginning of the decade Medicine continues to make major advances But most of those advances involve new treatments for diseases We've seen very few cures in recent years Rep Jim [... more]

New research from Duke University scholars questions Medicaid's value for the people the health care program was designed to help The research arrives as the N C General Assembly and Gov Roy Cooper continue to bicker over Cooper's proposal to expand Medicaid to several hundred thousand more people in the state Jordan Roberts John Locke Foundation health care policy analyst assesses the new research and its potential impact The latest U S Supreme Court term yielded several important rulings including two with direct impacts on N C congressional elections and the state Revenue Department's taxing authority Ilya Shapiro director of [... more]

Republican U S Sen Thom Tillis of North Carolina will not face an easy path to re-election in While Democrats have not yet lined up a high-profile challenger retired conservative businessman Garland Tucker recently announced his plan to challenge Tillis in the GOP primary Rick Henderson Carolina Journal editor-in-chief analyzes the current state of the U S Senate race The recent death of a South Carolina college student helped attract attention to concerns about safety involving Uber Lyft and similar ridesharing operations Some N C lawmakers are pushing the Passenger Protection Act to address those concerns You'll learn key elements [... more]

US Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee called the show to discuss broadband in rural areas of Tennessee and the country Access to broadband creates more opportunities for tele-health education and many other applications affecting the family caregiver For example in the picture above Senator Blackburn and I were giving an interview at the US Capitol in DC Just prior to that interview I used my phone to allow a phlebotomist into my home in Nashville where she drew blood from Gracie for regular lab work I then secured the door behind her as she left Gracie didn't have to put [... more]

Candidates are already lining up for the elections in North Carolina It's not unusual to see candidates jump into a race a year before the election But some might be throwing their hats into the ring even earlier than normal That's because primary elections have been moved up from May to March Rick Henderson Carolina Journal editor-in-chief discusses developments in the upcoming races for governor U S Senate and other important statewide elected positions Some governments use sin taxes to nudge people away from behavior that elected officials and bureaucrats dislike Adam Hoffer associate professor of economics at the University [... more]

A state legislative committee plans to hire an outside investigator to look into a controversial million fund tied to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Rick Henderson Carolina Journal editor-in-chief analyzes the decision to seek outside investigative help Henderson explains why the fund has raised concerns about North Carolina's environmental permitting process Some people want to target hate by censoring or banning so-called hate speech Nadine Strossen professor at New York Law School and former national president of the American Civil Liberties Union disagrees During a recent visit to North Carolina Strossen touted free speech as the best tool to fight hate [... more]

Telemedicine can play an important role in the future of North Carolina health care But that doesn't mean the state needs a law forcing insurers to pay health care providers the same amount of money for services provided through technology as they would for in-person visits Katherine Restrepo the John Locke Foundation's director of health care policy explains why North Carolina should not follow the lead of other states that have adopted so-called telemedicine parity laws Speaking of government restrictions on health care North Carolina's certificate-of-need law continues to stifle innovation and reduce options for patients Dr Jay Singleton a [... more]

Devastation in Texas linked to Hurricane Harvey and the threat of East Coast damage from Hurricane Irma helped lead to higher prices at N C gas pumps State officials also invoked North Carolina's price-gouging law Roy Cordato John Locke Foundation senior economist and resident scholar explains why the law ignores the laws of economics He explains the link between price-gouging restrictions and gasoline shortages While U S Supreme Court justices enjoy a brief break in their work Ilya Shapiro is busy analyzing the court's work from the past year Shapiro is senior fellow in constitutional studies at the libertarian Cato [... more]

Gov Roy Cooper wants the N C Supreme Court to declare part of the new state budget unconstitutional In a recent court filing the governor expanded his Cooper v Berger lawsuit It now includes a challenge to budget provisions targeting Opportunity Scholarship school vouchers roughly billion in block grant funding and the use of million secured from a legal settlement Carolina Journal Editor-in-Chief Rick Henderson analyzes Cooper's argument The N C Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice presented a report this year designed to address long-term changes that would improve the state's court system State Supreme Court Chief [... more]