The pandemic has made screen time super popular and nothing more than the sharing of recipes! Tik Tok, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and a plethora of Food Bloggers.
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Reece Gardner: What would you do if you were the devil?
So what would you do if you were the Devil? Your answer might go something like this: If I were the Devil, I would want to engulf the whole world in darkness. I'd already own a sizable portion of it, but I wouldn't be satisfied until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, the United States of America. I'd begin with a campaign of whispers. To you, as I had whispered to Eve, I'd say, "Do as you please."
John Hood: Picking winners Is for losers
Taxing the income, sales, or property of a business is a means of paying for government services associated with that business activity. It pays for police, courts, and other means of protecting property and adjudicating disputes. It pays to train current workers and educate future ones. It helps pay for local streets and other infrastructure.
Mike Parker: Attitudes still caught, not taught
I wrote a column nearly 30 years ago discussing problems of race relations here in Kinston and Lenoir County. I came across the column recently and marveled at how what I wrote in 1993 still applies today.
Sen. Jim Perry Op-Ed: PPP - I support small businesses
NC State Senator Jim Perry (R - Lenoir, Wayne) issues an op-ed on how the State of North Carolina should handle tax liability associated with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). “The State of NC shouldn’t think about these extraordinary events through the lens of normal operations. We shouldn’t saddle business people with a surprise state tax liability just because they helped distribute federal stimulus dollars to the people of North Carolina. I worked with Senator Chuck Edwards and Senator Dave Craven to file Senate Bill 104 requiring that NC not burden small business owners who participated in the Paycheck Protection Program.”
John Hood: I thought blacklisting was bad
I’ve never really been a victim of cancel culture. But that’s not to say my critics haven’t tried to make me one. I began my syndicated column in 1986. It ran initially in a couple of newspapers in eastern North Carolina, then spread to dozens of others over the ensuing decade. On several occasions, left-wing activists have tried to get editors to drop my column. It never worked. In my experience, local newspaper folks didn’t like obviously orchestrated attempts to dictate editorial decisions.
Cooking with Tammy Kelly: Super healthy soups!
If you want to know what to cook that is in season, this time of year it’s soup!! It’s the season for turning on the logs, donning your fuzzy socks and grabbing a warm blanket, and of course a cup of warm comforting soup!!
Reece Gardner: The passage of time
Today I want to talk about the passage of time and how we handle it. Life is NOT about how far we can go, how high we can jump, or how much weight we carry. Life IS about family, friendships, experiences, and memories. We all suffer heartbreaks over such things as losing a loved one or seeing a child suffer, but broken hearts can give us strength, understanding and compassion toward ourselves and others, and help us to appreciate life's peaceful moments.
John Hood: Sales Tax hike Is unneeded
Due to GOP tax policy over the past decade, in other words, North Carolina’s state sales-tax burden went down, not up, by hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Alas, some of this effect was offset by increases in county sales taxes. Who is responsible for those hikes? Democrats, overwhelmingly. Democratic politicians authorized those sales-tax referenda and Democratic voters were most likely to favor them.
BJ Murphy: Killing the American Dream One Stimulus Check at a Time
Whatever happened to tax credits and tax deductions? How many more payments will people expect in the future before we declare the pandemic over? The utter reliance and potential household budgeting for future stimulus payments disincentivizes Americans from using their skills and creativity to find a way to meet their obligations. The unintended consequence of stimulus payments may very well be a methodical way of killing the American dream by taking away all incentives of hard work and individualism.
Mike Parker: Kinston Civil Rights pioneers deserve recognition
Some may be uncomfortable reading my words today, but they need to be said. As a community, we need to take action. Last week I wrote about Barbara Johns of Farmville, Va., who organized a walkout at Moton High School on April 23, 1951.
Cooking with Tammy Kelly: Valentine Day at home!
For those of you who prefer to stay home and cook a sweetheart meal for two, here are some simple but delicious recipes for you to give a try.
John Hood: Left Is damaging public education
“One of the most unhappy series of events in the state’s history began in 1835,” stated a textbook used in elementary schools across North Carolina. “As more and more white people came into their territory the Cherokee Indians had been driven further into the hills, but white settlers looked with greed on all their territory.”
Reece Gardner: It's all about love!
I plan to talk today about Valentine's Day, and I will do so, but first I want to open my Column with a huge salute to our Lenoir County Health Department for the superb job it is doing in administering the Covid-19 Vaccine to multitudes of people in our area and beyond.
Mike Parker: Farmville student a pioneer for Civil Rights
When I started researching the Adkin High School Walk-out of 1951, I heard about another student walk-out – one that occurred in Farmville. Since I had taught at Farmville Central High School in Pitt County, I assumed the walk-out occurred there. We all know what happens when we assume. I had missed the location by roughly 170 miles. That walk-out took place in Farmville, Va., in Prince Edward County.
Kristy Bock: The benevolent benefacting government
Poverty is a state of life that I have been intimately familiar with for the better part of my four decades on this planet. At first glance, Senator Mitt Romney’s Family Security Act sounds like a solution to elevate 5.1 million people out of poverty.
John Hood: Build on North Carolina’s strengths
When will North Carolina’s economy return to normal, or at least to a “new normal”? Unfortunately, that destination is many months away, if not years. Still, we’ll know we’re making progress when we can see the most damaging events of 2020 only in our rearview mirrors.
Reece Gardner: Trump accomplished a lot
With the constant barrage of Negative Reporting on Donald Trump, a casual observer might conclude that he accomplished very little during his 4 years as our President, but as newsman and political activist Mark Patricks pointed out last week, he accomplished a lot.
John Hood: Legislators should reclaim their power
Among the many reasons the political discourse in Washington has gotten so toxic, and at the same time so unproductive, is that the legislative branch of our federal government has allowed itself to become increasingly irrelevant.
Mike Parker: Remembering my teacher, mentor, and friend
On January 26 I received an email from Professor Michael Aceto of East Carolina’s Department of English. He wrote to let me know that Dr. McKay Sundwall passed away on January 20. McKay’s wife Marilyn wanted me to know. Dr. Sundwall was one of my English professors at East Carolina. I first met him when I audited a class in Medieval Literature as I was preparing for my oral comprehensive exams for my Master’s degree.