Two decades ago, the leaders of Capitol Broadcasting Company had a bold and courageous idea: to devote one minute each night after the simulcast of the WRAL News on Mix 101.5 to a no-holds-barred commentary from veteran journalist and political observer, Chris Fitzsimon.

For more than a decade, Fitzsimon held forth on scores of vitally important and frequently controversial issues with insightful takes that spoke truth to power and championed the rights of average North Carolinians.

In 2017, I was fortunate enough to inherit that role and since then I’ve done my best to build on Chris’s pioneering work.

As the old saying goes, however, all good things must come to an end and so it is that this will be — for now anyway – the final commentary in this series. It’s been a great run.

Fortunately, the tradition established here continues online. So, if you’d like to keep consuming commentaries that speak truth to power, be sure to make visiting ncnewsline.com a regular part of your week.

And so, for one final time: for NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.