---
title: Between Two Bridges
description: Last week, New Hanover County Commissioner Dane Scalise came under fire for his call to defund the County’s Office of Diversity and Equity. In comments he made ...
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[ ![DEI: Dangerous for the Nation, Dangerous for New Hanover County ](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/TwoBridges/2025/DEI/DEI-Instagram.png) ](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/between-two-bridges/dei-dangerous-for-the-nation-dangerous-for-new-hanover-county)

Last week, New Hanover County Commissioner Dane Scalise came under fire for his call to defund the County’s Office of Diversity and Equity. In comments he made to Port City Daily, Scalise said it’s a matter of government efficiency, not ideology.

  04 February 2025

 

 

 

 

[ ![Small Business](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/TwoBridges/2025/small_business/SmallBusiness-Article.png) ](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/between-two-bridges/small-business-big-voice)

Since the pandemic, if you’re a business owner, you’re probably still feeling the pressure. Small businesses everywhere are on the brink of closure due to rising rent, continued inflation, lack of access to capital, and supply chain shortages. They can’t find good employees, and they’re losing foot traffic. Stricter regulations are making it more expensive to stay open. We must change the tide because our small business economy is too big to fail.

  28 January 2025

 

 

 

 

 

[ ![The Party Versus The People](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/TwoBridges/2025/planning/GOPvParty/GOPvParty-Intro.png) ](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/between-two-bridges/the-party-versus-the-people)

The future of the Republican party and achieving more local Republican victories does not lie within the organization itself but in a decentralized model. It’s time for the party to go from adopting a plan of organization to adopting a plan of action.

  23 January 2025

 

 

 

 

 

[ ![Less Screaming, More Planning](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/TwoBridges/2025/planning/Growth-Intro.png) ](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/between-two-bridges/less-screaming-more-planning-finding-common-ground-on-development)

You hear it everywhere around Wilmington– from Carolina Beach to Southport, even up in Hampstead – people are saying, “We need to stop building!”

  15 January 2025

 

 

 

 

 

[ ![Monopoloy in Health Care](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/TwoBridges/2024/December/monopolyarticle-intro-2.png) ](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/between-two-bridges/certificate-of-need-playing-monopoly-with-our-healthcare)

North Carolina has the second most regulated Certificate of Need (CON) law in the nation, the impetus for the massive hospital monopolies we see in the state; and it's hurting smaller healthcare providers and their patients.

  30 December 2024