Editorial:The state House speaker should not be blocking a bill that would help people pursuing access to public records.

Editorial:In the face of determined opposition from many doctors, and in a break with its own overly passive past, the N.C. Medical Board has moved to give the public a better view of the mistakes that doctors sometimes make.

Editorial:The Golden LEAF Foundation has jumped into turbulent waters with a one-sided grant. It should have kept its powder dry.

Editorial:Said the late, great Will Rogers: "I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." These days, the witty cowboy would be characterized as a master of understatement.

Editorial:The General Assembly makes progress on ways for the state to survive droughts and deal with heavy rains on the coast.

Editorial:Sixty-thousand outstanding arrest warrants? Just in Durham? Surely that had to be a sign of a criminal justice system long gone toward deterioration.

Letter:In "The matter's closed for many voters" (Point of View, July 11), William Boettcher and Michael Cobb wrote that core opinions "regarding the decision to go to war" in Iraq remain negative despite reports that the war is going better lately.

Letter:Regarding the July 11 Point of View "The matter's closed for many voters": Professors William Boettcher and Michael Cobb conclude that voters are closed-minded on Iraq because they won't reconsider their opinions now that the surge has reduced levels of violence.

Letter:We should all realize that your recent series "Suspect Soldiers" from the Sacramento Bee on problem members of the military, due to lowered standards for enlistment, was predicted by Michael Moore in his much-maligned documentary in which he shadowed Marine recruiters on the streets and in shopping malls.

Letter:Regarding your July 15 article "Bio lab backers seek cash for PR": Excuse me, but who are the Einsteins who selected Butner as a viable location for a bio-tech lab that would house dangerous viruses, with "only 10 percent animal viruses that have no cure"?

Letter:This is a short, incomplete list of the high-paying blue- and white-collar jobs that would accompany a Carolina oil and natural gas drilling program.

Letter:Regarding the July 11 Life, etc., article "Oprah 'gospel' worries evangelicals": I read this article with complete disbelief.

Pope Benedict XVI, like many world leaders, has spoken passionately about the urgent need to protect the planet from climate catastrophe. B

Erase food and gas from the economic picture and inflation is minor.

POINT OF VIEW:Is there something in the water at the General Assembly? We now have a new $21.3 billion state budget that authorizes the University of North Carolina system to borrow a staggering $523 million to finance new building projects.

When Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain take the stage for the presidential debates, attentive viewers may notice both candidates scribbling notes with their left hands.

Point of View:Thanks to accelerating genetic technology, the ability to live an examined life is at hand in a way that Socrates couldn't have dreamt of.

The chief stewards of U.S. financial market policies seem to be living out an old-time movie serial.