Outside recognition of Carolina Journal, John Locke Foundation

When Accuracy in Media listed a handful of “conservative media outlets that are worth watching next year,” Carolina Journal earned a spot on the list. In addition to that honor, a CJ writer and the John Locke Foundation earned recognition from The Heritage Foundation in its latest Insider online update. The widely distributed e-mail cited a blog post noting CJ Associate Editor David Bass‘ work on exposing school-lunch fraud. The e-mail also highlighted the recent “parent-friendly” schools Spotlight report from JLF Education Policy Analyst Terry Stoops, along with a Policy Report and pocket guide on government transparency from Fiscal and Health Care Policy Analyst Joseph Coletti. Speaking of the “parent-friendly” schools report, a recent Burlington Times-News editorial noted the large volume of online comments generated by the newspaper’s coverage of that story. In other education news, CJ contributor Karen Welsh wrote a recent article for The Heartland Institute that quoted Stoops discussing teacher turnover data. Turning back to transparency, the News & Observer published Coletti’s most recent opinion column on that topic. A separate opinion piece in The Charlotte Observer also noted NCTransparency.com‘s high grade of the Mecklenburg County government Web site. The Lincoln Tribune picked up Coletti’s comments about transparency in a recent CJ exclusive, along with a separate story linked to the state’s latest unemployment numbers. Coletti learned officially that he will be serving on a new commission studying the future of the state government’s retirement system. Coletti also played a role, along with CJ Managing Editor Rick Henderson, in helping to assign the nickname “Cash for Cloture” to the congressional wheeling and dealing linked to health-care reform. Henderson coined the phrase, while Coletti passed it along to the Washington Post‘s Dana Milbank, who used it in the opening paragraph of an article on the health-care deal. In one last note of outside recognition, the CampusReform.org Web site highlighted the John Locke Foundation’s upcoming 20th anniversary dinner Jan. 13.