This column originally appeared in The News and Observer of Raleigh.

For most people, 16 West Jones St. has a far less familiar ring than 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. But what happens inside the Legislative Building on Jones Street in Raleigh is just as critical to the lives of North Carolinians as what goes on in the White House or on Capitol Hill.

For more than 80 years I have gone to church nearly every Sunday. But because of the coronavirus I haven’t attended church in well over a year and a half.

About the same number of young Black men and women reach voting age in North Carolina every year, but there’s a huge gender gap each time ballots are counted. In 2020, when Trump won the state by 74,500 votes, Black women cast 622,000 ballots but Black men cast only 402,000 — a startling gap…

I think it’s finally time to reveal some of the dirty little secrets that motivate the immoral policies of Moore County school board members David Hensley and Robert Levy.

BY STEVE EARWOOD

Editor’s Note: This column originally appeared in The News & Observer of Raleigh.

How do you say goodbye to a group of young men who, for 14 years, believed in a blueprint focused on creating champions in the game of life, and a community that never said no and never let you down because they believed in it just as strongly as you and your players?

“Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all she had; and she was no better.”

Transgender children are under attack by political leaders across the nation, and Robert Levy has brought that to Moore County.

A client of Legal Aid of North Carolina lived with her grown son and teenage daughter. She had always had a job until she got sick, and her doctor advised that continuing to work on her feet was harming her health. Her son worked in manufacturing to support the family, but when the pandemic …

Voting is the right by which all our other rights are protected, to paraphrase Thomas Paine. Equal access to the ballot box is the bedrock foundation of our democracy and vital to the health of our nation.

Last week, Sandhills broke ground for its new nursing education building. 
As you might imagine, in this modern age it will be a technological marvel. It will have the equipment and the simulation technology we will need to train our nurses — and our radiographers, surgical technologists, me…

Reprinted with permission by The News & Observer of Raleigh

We know there are certain controllable factors that affect our risk of developing cancer. Whether you smoke, what you eat and drink, and how often you exercise can all play a role.

Reprinted with permission by The News & Observer of Raleigh

Are the Lost Causers and their confederates finding they may have better luck becoming Charters of Freedom banner wavers?

We are now just over one year into the coronavirus pandemic and, thanks to the diligent work of our public health experts, front-line and essential workers, state leadership and countless others, the hope of moving to a new “normal” feels more realistic than ever.

Why are some Americans obsessed with other citizens who are not like them? Right now the obsession seems to be against Asian Americans.

Farming — it was the first profession, along with botany. I often wonder how long it took Adam to name all those animals, insects, fish and birds. It must have gone quickly with the Great Shepherd parading them by — now that is a farmhand I’d happily pay $15 an hour.

In an article published in the March 21 edition of The Pilot, it was reported that about two dozen Moore County citizens attended the March 16 Board of Commissioners meeting seeking a statement to expand on the previous support by the board for gun ownership.

It was 209 years ago this month that “gerrymandering” was coined, and our nation has paid the price ever since.

Pope Francis recently visited Iraq. This trip brought together leaders of the two most populous religions in the world: Christianity and Islam.

We are liberal and conservative leaders with decades of experience at policy organizations. We often disagree, but after looking at data from the 2020 election, we agree on this: North Carolina’s unique mix of procedures made voting easy and cheating hard, and helped produce a record turnout…

It’s “Sunshine Week” across America, a time when the public’s right to see government records and attend government meetings — in order to hold government officials accountable to the people who employ them — is traditionally celebrated.

Like you, my heart breaks to see the Capitol swathed in fencing and concertina wire. Who would take their families to visit this year with access denied and buildings boarded up or shut down?

First, we thank The Pilot for bringing attention to Freedom Matters NC. It has allowed us to share our story with the public.

For the better part of two decades, I had an unshakable gnawing at the back of my mind to purchase land. Constant military moves brought me to various locales across this great nation but there was never that “aha” moment to act.

The United States is currently leaderless and has been for some time. Leaderless in the home. Leaderless in its towns and cities. Leaderless at the state and national level. This lack of leadership cuts across culture and politics, and no party or group is blameless.

This column has generally tried to avoid politics and stick to religion, and both subjects can be quite controversial.

On the political front, here are some goals for North Carolina as state lawmakers return to Raleigh for the 2021 legislative session.

Participating in public health is a civic duty. In America, we have access to a wealth of experts for many institutions. Many crises and emergencies have been avoided over the years due to advances in public health and public safety.

BY JOHN C. STRICKLAND

Where do we go from here? 
The successful transfer of power to President Joseph R. Biden and his administration has been completed, albeit not easily.

“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” 
With those words, James Madison explained why, in the Constitution he was asking people to support in 1788, it was vital that the national government have a system of what our civics books like to call “checks and balances.” Each branch of gov…

Again, we are horrified. 
Anjanette Young, a veteran social worker in Chicago, was handcuffed, held naked and harassed for half an hour after nine police officers rammed their way into her private home unannounced, fully armed, with a search warrant granted on faulty information.

Each day, I find a new reason to be shocked and offended by what has transpired of late. These last few days, I am perplexed and extremely disappointed — even disgusted — by the total lack of faith, trust and confidence in our judicial branch of government.

Editor’s Note: In honor of the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday coming up Monday, we reprint here his “I Have a Dream” speech, given on Aug. 28, 1963 at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The speech was the crowning moment of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful mar…

On Jan. 9, a political event was held in Vass by local conservatives. The event was advertised as a “peaceful rally in support of the Second Amendment,” a “muster” to “plan for the war of good against evil,” and a meeting organized “to expose the leftist hoax of COVID-19” in promotional post…

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s deeply insightful novel “The Scarlet Letter,” an early pivotal conversation takes place in the prison cell where Hester Prynne, the young mother in disgrace for having become pregnant by a man not her husband, has been confined with her child.

During the next few weeks, as we become accustomed to dating our checks 2021, we will likely also issue a sigh of relief that 2020 is now happily in the past.

“Explain to me why in Heaven’s name we have this thing called the Electoral College. Seriously, tell me why we have it, then write an essay giving your opinion on whether we should keep it as it is, reform it, or scrap it and go to a model where the popular vote winner becomes president.”

What is Donald Trump’s next move? 
I’ve heard so many national news pundits talking about how he plans to influence U.S. politics over the next four years. They either fear that he will be the puppet-master of the Republican Party or that he is already fundraising for a 2024 presidential bid.

The Moore County Board of Education is stating the value of Southern Pines Primary School is worth $630,000 based on its appraisal. The Southern Pines Land and Housing Trust states the value is $200,000, based on a separate appraisal it initiated.

Reprinted with permission by The News & Observer of Raleigh

How do you feel about garlic? Do you have a love-hate relationship with it like some people I know who love the taste but don’t love the stomach upset that quickly follows its consumption? Or are you one of those who appreciate its contribution to a dish but don’t like its negative effect on…

Reprinted with permission by The News & Observer of Raleigh

Do you remember any Christmas during your life that was anything like our 2020 holiday?