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1 week ago | 
ncnewsline.com | Clayton Henkel
Democrats serving on the North Carolina Senate Judiciary Committee asked Republican Sen. Buck Newton (R-Greene, Wayne and Wilson) a week ago to reconsider his efforts to amend House Bill 805 — a noncontroversial measure designed to prevent sexual exploitation of women and minors that won unanimous support in the House — into a vehicle to advance the conservative social agenda on issues of gender identity and sexuality.
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1 week ago | 
ncnewsline.com | Clayton Henkel
In a political climate in which Republicans and Democrats rarely find themselves on the same side, House Bill 328 provided a vehicle for common ground on Tuesday. Lawmakers praised the bill to regulate hemp-derived consumables as something that was long overdue in North Carolina.
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1 week ago | 
ncnewsline.com | Clayton Henkel
by Clayton Henkel, NC Newsline June 16, 2025 Gerrymandering: it refuses to go away. Despite widespread and growing public awareness and outrage, North Carolina Republican lawmakers continue to use it to rig our state’s elections by drawing districts guaranteed to give themselves large majorities and dilute the power of Black voters.
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1 week ago | 
ncnewsline.com | Clayton Henkel
by Clayton Henkel, NC Newsline June 16, 2025 One of the more remarkable facts about some of the policies that state and federal lawmakers adopt for public benefit programs these days is that they’re based not on facts or data, or the money and lives saved, but on gut feelings about the worthiness of the people who would be helped.
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1 week ago | 
ncnewsline.com | Clayton Henkel
by Clayton Henkel, NC Newsline June 16, 2025 One of the most vexing societal problems of the modern, social media-driven era is the ongoing crisis in youth mental health. The latest data on the number of children who suffer from depression and other symptoms – and who even contemplate or attempt suicide – are staggering.
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1 week ago | 
ncnewsline.com | Clayton Henkel
As President Donald Trump celebrated his 79th birthday and the Army’s 250th birthday with a massive military parade, demonstrators held ‘No Kings’ day protests across the country. Hundreds gathered Saturday afternoon at the NC State Capitol to voice support for democracy, due process, and immigrants rights. As demonstrators held signs above their heads, others circled the capitol grounds honking their car horns in approval. Similar events were held at 2,000 communities across the country.
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2 weeks ago | 
ncnewsline.com | Clayton Henkel
House Bill 805 started as a bipartisan bill to fight human trafficking and provide women with an avenue to remove nonconsensual content and images from the internet. House members on both sides of the aisle felt so strongly about the issue, they passed the bill 113-0 last month. But when the bill (‘Prevent the Sexual Exploitation of Women and Minors Act’) moved to the upper chamber, Senator Buck Newton (R- Greene, Wayne, Wilson) saw an opportunity to rework the legislation.
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2 weeks ago | 
ncnewsline.com | Clayton Henkel
by Clayton Henkel, NC Newsline June 9, 2025 Well summer is here and with its arrival, the end of the state fiscal year will soon follow, and that means North Carolina legislators are under some pressure to pass a new state budget. Right now, however, despite complete Republican control of both the Senate and House, the two chambers remain far apart and that could portend a long hot summer at the Legislative Building.
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2 weeks ago | 
ncnewsline.com | Clayton Henkel
by Clayton Henkel, NC Newsline June 9, 2025 A decade-and-a-half ago in the aftermath of the Great Recession and the financial crisis that sparked it, consumer advocates in North Carolina and around the country succeeded in spurring the creation of a new federal government watchdog known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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2 weeks ago | 
ncnewsline.com | Clayton Henkel
by Clayton Henkel, NC Newsline June 9, 2025 One of the greatest scandals in 21st Century America is that hunger – a genuine lack of adequate food — is a huge and fast growing problem for millions of people. In 34 central and eastern North Carolina counties, one-in-five people – that’s well over half-a-million men, women and children – suffers from food insecurity. And sadly, things aren’t going to get better any time soon.
