Paige Masten

Charlotte

Deputy Opinion Editor at The Charlotte Observer

✍️ deputy opinion editor @theobserver. UNC alum and lifelong North Carolinian. she/her 🌈🤍

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Articles

If NC universities don't show courage now, they won't be safe from Trump later

1 week ago | charlotteobserver.com | Paige Masten

At the time I'm writing this, the Trump administration has terminated the visas of six international students at UNC-Chapel Hill. Six more at UNC Charlotte. Three at Duke University. Two at NC State University. All in all, more than 650 student visas have been revoked nationwide, according to a database maintained by Inside Higher Ed. The ability of those students to remain in the country and finish their education is now deeply threatened. Some have been told to leave immediately.
Bad NC bills, part 2: Risking public health and treading on your freedom

2 weeks ago | charlotteobserver.com | Paige Masten

General Assembly police remove demonstrators from the gallery after the North Carolina House voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of a Helene relief bill that reduces the power of incoming Democrats in the executive branch during a session on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, at the North Carolina Legislative Building. Cooper vetoed Senate Bill 382 on Nov. 26, calling it "a sham" and criticizing it for lacking hurricane relief and including various power grabs.
How bad has Trump been for North Carolina? Now we can track the ways

3 weeks ago | charlotteobserver.com | Paige Masten

Protesters opposed to cuts and actions by DOGE and Elon Musk rally outside of the N.C. Legislature, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. [email protected] How bad has Donald Trump's presidency been for North Carolina so far? As it turns out, we can actually count the ways. American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic super PAC and research organization, released a database Monday that tracks the impacts of the Trump administration's agenda in all 50 states.
Demand for NC school vouchers is slowing down, but the damage has already been done

3 weeks ago | newsobserver.com | Paige Masten

Amelia Copersito reads during her first grade class at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic School in Apex, N.C., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2024. [email protected] When Republican lawmakers radically expanded North Carolina's voucher program last year by removing all income requirements, it was met with a surge in applications. So many applications, in fact, that lawmakers went back and gave the program even more funding so they didn't have to turn down a single applicant.
Pickleball and plastic silverware: What are NC Democrats doing?

1 month ago | newsobserver.com | Paige Masten

State representatives take the oath of office during the North Carolina General Assembly's first 2025 legislative session on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, at the Legislative Building. [email protected] With Republicans just one vote away from having veto-proof control of the legislature, one of the biggest powers that North Carolina Democrats retain is the power of their messaging.
Virginia Foxx has a lame excuse for not doing town halls with voters

1 month ago | charlotteobserver.com | Paige Masten

Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., speaks during the House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing on the rise in antisemitism on college campuses.. USA TODAY NETWORK Republican members of Congress have been advised to avoid holding in-person town halls as public backlash against the Trump administration and its agenda steadily rises. That's not a problem for U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, who apparently has never been much of a fan of town halls.
It may be chaos in Washington, but keep your eye on these bad bills in NC right now

1 month ago | newsobserver.com | Paige Masten

A new legislative session means the introduction of a flurry of bills on every subject imaginable. There are the big ones, like the plan to seize more power from the Democratic attorney general and the push to require more law enforcement cooperation with ICE. But for the most part, what's happening in Raleigh has been overshadowed by the chaos that's happening at the national level. That doesn't mean that the nature of North Carolina politics has changed, however.
DOGE's closure of 4 Social Security offices is bad news for these NC regions

1 month ago | newsobserver.com | Paige Masten

As Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency hack away at federal services and funding, one of the consequences has been the shuttering of Social Security offices across the country. Nearly 50 offices are slated for closure thus far, many of which are concentrated in the South. Four offices in North Carolina are among those affected, the most of almost any state.
NC Republicans make a welcome commitment to increase access to voting

1 month ago | newsobserver.com | Paige Masten

Republicans in the state legislature have introduced their fair share of election-related bills that are cause for concern. But there's one proposal that none of us should have any trouble getting on board with. A group of House Republicans proposed a bill last month that would make Election Day a holiday in North Carolina.
'Law and order' Dan Bishop gives mixed signals on following the law at Senate hearing

1 month ago | newsobserver.com | Paige Masten

Dan Bishop debates Jeff Jackson in the Attorney General race at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, N.C., on Friday, June 21, 2024. [email protected] Former Rep. Dan Bishop has had plenty of opportunities to say that he will follow the law if confirmed as a member of Donald Trump's administration. You'd think that would be an easy question. But it's one that Bishop has struggled to answer.