By Mark Jaben

Last time, we talked about EMTALA (the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act), managed care and how far the pendulum has swung, leading to decreased capacity in the system. The availability and provision of health care is not determined by system planning, but by unintended downstream effects, resulting in uneven, unfair health care rationing. Do the rules of the system still work?

In the aftermath of last week’s election, we’ve seen a seemingly endless parade of politicians and pundits on both sides of the aisle making wild claims about just what it all means, the pasting of the Republicans by the Democrats.

It’s time to change the voting laws and procedures in North Carolina to reflect today’s reality and to help alleviate a confusing situation that could hurt candidates and confuse voters.

By Kirkwood Callahan • Guest Columnist

Every election year there are always claims and counter claims over federal tax policy. Liberals claim Republican income tax cuts benefit the rich and ignore the lower and middle classes.

By the time we hit the streets with this edition and this column is read, the election that has been dominating the news will be behind us. Talking heads and columnists will be digesting and spinning the results, givingtheir take on what it all means. As of this writing, though, we don’t know who will win.

By Rob Schofield

This year, those who care about preserving and expanding the common good in North Carolina would do well to treat Wednesday, Nov. 8, as less a day of celebration or mourning and more as the day on which they renew their commitment to studying and articulating a policy agenda that will help to build a modern, moral and progressive state.

Do the rules of our health care system work anymore? That is the question posed in this column two weeks ago.

“Riding the range once more

Toting my old 44

Where you sleep out every night

Where the only law is right

I’m back in the saddle again.”

— Gene Autry (and others)

By Al Smith • Guest Columnist

Hazel Creek Trail in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is located in the middle of the most extensive roadless area in the eastern United States.

“Excuse me, miss, but did you happen to see a princess and a small cow come through here a minute ago?”