Three North Carolina schools made big gains on chronic absenteeism. Here’s what they’re doing.

By Ahmed Jallow

At Washington County High School, Principal Torrey Hines learned that some students were spending part of the school day at a barbershop instead of attending an intervention period, a designated time for additional academic support.

So Hines went to the barbershop one morning to find out why. A student told him they skipped because intervention was scheduled  first thing in the morning. Hines said the school responded by moving that intervention block to “smack dab in the middle of the day.”

By Clayton Henkel

North Carolina is consistently ranked among America’s top states for business. But a new ranking by Oxfam lists the state dead last in this year’s 2026 Best States to Work Index.

(Commentary)

By Paul Osterman

When I leave my Boston condo every day, I say good morning to the concierge, who works for a contracting company providing staff to residential buildings. When I conduct an interview in a nearby building, the people who clean that office at night are contractors. The person who serves me my lunch sandwich is a part-timer with no career prospects in that job.

More absentee ballots in NC in danger of being tossed under new directives | Lynn Bonner

FEMA is off the chopping block. But disaster aid is still a guessing game. |Alex Brown

Labor unions are growing, but where depends on state politics | Kevin Hardy

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