- News & Opinion
OPINION: A Life in the Shadows of North Carolina’s Fields
I was 14 the first time I worked in a tobacco field alongside my family. We entered a field we couldn’t see the end of. We slit holes in black trash bags to wear over our clothes, keeping us dry from the dew. The spray from the tractors across the…
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OPINION: Why Do We Hate Places We’ve Never Been?
I spent the weekend celebrating the marriage of a childhood friend, away from my home in Western North Carolina, among the hot rolling hills of Surry County near the Virginia border. Weddings like that quickly become a who’s who of familiar faces. They remember who you were before you became…
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OPINION: Student Loan Confusion Is Stalling Dreams
The faint smell of chlorine marked my walk, preceded by wet footprints and the laughter of children on the other side of a hotel door. We were at a hotel in California in 2016 and I was dropping my 5-year-old daughter off with my cousin, Taylor. The informal designation of…
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OPINION: Josh Stein Must Continue Bold Leadership on Environment
Working together, states and the federal government have been able to achieve significant climate progress over the last four years. At the federal level, landmark legislation is boosting the clean energy industry, funding home weatherization, and reducing pollution. In North Carolina, transitioning to clean energy and growing electric vehicle manufacturing…
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OPINION: How Do We Find Candidates Who Represent the Working Class?
I grew up tagging along behind my dad at construction sites. He would find a hard hat for me to wear, and it would wobble around on my too-small head. Usually, we were there to look at some problem — the wrong lumber had been delivered and the team was…
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