
Bigger Buffers Better
… It is well known that erosion, sedimentation and pollution from industrial and agricultural activities or sewage is reduced by “maintaining forests in riparian zones along watercourses” (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).…

Short-Changing Babies
… I thought that women and doctors insisting on early births for nonmedical reasons lived only in cynical imaginations and television soap operas. Turns out that, in the last decade, the main stream has effectively reduced ‘full-term’ to 37 weeks…

Why Not Free Choice?
… if the school system is broken, let’s fix it, not undermine it by creating alternatives that compete on an unlevel playing field. If charters receive public funds, they should have the same requirements, for better or for worse, of other publicly funded schools…

What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck Champions Truly Equal, Inclusive, and Just Governance
…From the legal definition of "penumbra" to positive verses negative rights to the Town of Castle Rock versus Gonzalez and other frightening Supreme Court decisions, every American should experience the lessons contained in What the Constitution Means to Me.


Mail Order Ministers
… As long as exceptional financial benefits and protections exist for churches and religious leaders, a person shouldn’t be eligible for legal ordination simply because (s)he can click a mouse.…

Homeowners Hung Out to Dry
… The legalities surrounding stormwater issues are gray at best. Apparently, the state owns the water, the city owns the pipes and streams (though even that is debatable), and the property owners own the land. So who is accountable when stormwater redirected by private developers damages property downstream?…

Rewriting America’s Tax Code
What a mess. The US needs to rewrite its tax code from scratch in order to root out all the loopholes enabling the ultra wealthy to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. #NotHoldingMyBreath

Lessons from Down Under
… Last month we returned to Melbourne with our kids. I couldn’t help comparing Melbourne and Durham, and in the process Australia and America, and noting things that would improve our county and country. I have a two-page list but have space here for only two of the most far-reaching comparisons …

Will the East Coast Learn Anything from Hurricane Florence?
In the wake of Hurricane Florence, one question plagues me (again): Are we going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in FEMA and other public emergency funds to rebuild homes along the hurricane-battered coast, only so we can do it all over again when the next hurricane/tornado hits? Or will we finally adopt the common-sense, economically sustainable long-term solution: Don't Build/Rebuild Along the East Coast?

Discrimination Against Edible Plants
An article about an HOA’s attempts to force a Durham family to remove the edible garden they planted in their side yard.

Who Pays for Schools?
…For virtually a decade, several NC counties including Chatham County, Orange County, and Chapel Hill/Carrboro, have been legally permitted to levy ‘builder impact fees’ (solely on new development) for schools, while Durham and the rest of NC have been prohibited from doing so…

To Walk the Sky: How Iroquois Steelworkers Helped Build Towering Cities
“…details the history of the Mohawk men from eastern Canada’s Caughnawaga reserve who supported their families by constructing some of the longest and tallest bridges and buildings in Canada and America.”

Jesus takes back seat to Easter Bunny?
The pervasiveness of hypocrisy seems greatest at Christmas and Easter, when Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny vie for importance with Jesus Christ and the integrity of Christianity.

#My Ten Cents: Amazon’s Shipping Advantage
Our county’s shipping services should be in the hands of our federal government, not Amazon.

Better Stormwater Solutions
… Instead of hiring more consultants, Durham should establish a Watersheds Improvement Committee similar to the Joint City-County Planning Committee. The mission of this committee would be to eliminate redundancies and develop long-term, holistic approaches to storm-water management.…

Robert Was Right
I am left wondering why this historically relevant, common and effective decision-making doctrine is not included in middle or even elementary school social-studies curricula.

Job-Creation No Free Pass
… I’m so sick of the ‘jobs argument.’ Yes, this fertilizer plant (or bio-lab, off-shore oil site, fracking, etc.) may potentially be toxic (omission: potentially = inevitably), but we will take every security and environmental measure (omission: ‘that we know of’) to ensure there will never be a malfunction. Besides, think of the hundreds of jobs that will not be generated if this plant is not constructed…

This Book Is Banned: A Hilarious Picture Book about Censorship and Free Speech
“Let’s face it. Without their caretakers' insistent input, most children do not know that books are being made unavailable to them at their schools. It’s debatable whether adult caretakers who oppose book bans even want them to. But the adult-child combination who reads This Book Is Banned together will have fun discussing the issue of “banning” in the hypothetical, thanks to the busy and engaging illustrations and text that await them.”

The American Way?
Sunday morning at the RDU Airport Observation deck, as my kids climbed the giant sandbox spider, I talked with a small business owner from Raleigh, a self-proclaimed conservative Republican and Marine Corps retiree, who was waiting with his young son for his wife’s plane to take off…