News & Views

Samuel Gunter, executive director of the North Carolina Housing Coalition.

North Carolina faces a dire shortage of affordable housing. One need merely talk to friends and family members – even those with middle class incomes – to understand just how difficult it is to find affordable rental housing, much less homeownership opportunities.

That said, the numbers are bleak. The National Low Income Housing Coalition released a report this past summer entitled “Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing” which showed how the wages that millions of hourly workers are earning don’t come close to what’s n...

Amy Beros (Photo: Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC)

In 34 central and eastern North Carolina counties, one-in-five people – that’s well over half-a-million men, women and children – suffers from food insecurity.

And sadly, things aren’t going to get better any time soon. Indeed, thanks to recent acts of Congress and the state legislature, SNAP food assistance and other parts of our already threadbare and inadequate anti-hunger system are experiencing new, big and devastating cuts that are sure to worsen the problem. Not surprisingly, anti-hunger advocates are speaking up and demanding better and back...

Pollster Jason Husser

Few areas of modern American popular culture have undergone greater or more rapid changes in recent years that college sports. Thanks to a series of successful legal challenges, the nation’s longstanding practice of treating college athletes as amateurs has been completely upended and, especially at big schools engaged high-profile sports like football and basketball, teams have become professionalized, with many athletes switching schools yearly, and raking in multi-million dollar deals under so-called “name image and likeness.”

In a time of such rapid change and upheaval, it comes as little surpris...

Attorneys Sara Harrington and Holly Stiles

Over the last several decades, much of the world has made significant progress in how it views and responds to the affliction we’ve come to refer to as substance use disorder. Whereas people who once struggled with the misuse of and addiction to drugs and alcohol were once dismissed as weak and flawed, we’ve learned that substance use disorder is an illness not unlike many others that can and should give rise to treatment rather than judgment and ostracization.

A recent lawsuit settlement should help advan...

Bob Phillips, Executive Director of Common Cause North Carolina

If there’s a single factor that’s playing the largest role in spurring the dysfunction and divisiveness that plague modern American politics, gerrymandering – the intentional rigging of electoral districts for partisan purposes – is it. With the assistance of digital technology and recent judicial rulings that have given them complete carte blanche, state legislatures across the country are making a mockery of fair elections by drawing and redrawing electoral districts to assure partisan electoral outcomes even before the candidates are selected.

And sadly, one of the na...

Drew Ball, Natural Resources Defense Council (Photo: Screengrab from NC Newsline interview)

Despite the fact that they have yet to adopt a budget for the state fiscal year that commenced July 1, and are scheduled to return to Raleigh a couple more times this year, it appears that state lawmakers have wrapped up most of their action for the 2025 legislative session. And if that is in fact the case, one of the biggest losers in the Raleigh policy battles this year will have been our natural environment.

In addition to passing new laws to we...

Rep. Carolyn Logan of Mecklenburg County (Photo: NCGA)

State lawmakers returned to Raleigh in late September for a brief stay, and in the aftermath of a horrific killing that had occurred just weeks before on a Charlotte commuter train, legislative leaders made criminal justice and their stated intention of “getting tough on crime” the central focus. Among the law changes sent to Gov. Stein for his review were provisions that would make it easier to hold people accused of crimes without bail pending trial and jumpstart the state’s death penalty law.

Despite its rap...

Jake Sussman

The North Carolina General Assembly was back in Raleigh in late September to enact legislation that leaders say will quote “get tough on crime” by limiting access to bail and pre-trial release for more criminal defendants and jump-starting the state’s long un-used death penalty.

Shortly after lawmakers departed the capital, Newsline caught up with an attorney who has studied this kind of legislation and its impact on crime in several states — the Chief Counsel of the Justice System Reform team at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Jake Sussman. And sadly, Su...

Alex Campbell

North Carolina is now into the second year of Hurricane Helene recovery and as we discussed in a special edition of News & Views last week, while there have been many encouraging and inspiring aspects to this story, the hard truth is that we have a very long way to go. And as Newsline learned recently in a conversation with policy analyst Alex Campbell of the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center, the main reason for the slow pace of the recovery is funding – or more precisely, the lack of it from both the fed...

Matt Calabria (Courtesy photo)

This past week marked the one-year anniversary of Helene – a deadly hurricane-turned tropical-storm that wreaked unprecedented havoc in western North Carolina. Helene caused widespread and massive flooding that killed scores of people and caused more than $60 billion dollars in damage to North Carolina’s mountain west.

In the year since, clean-up and recovery have been ongoing – sometimes seemingly never-ending — tasks for the communities affected and state leaders. Indeed, since he took office just a few months after Helene, Gov. Josh Stein has made Helene recovery his administration’s top priority an...

Chris Joyell (Courtesy photo)

As with virtually all natural disasters, public funds and programs are at the heart of the ongoing recovery effort from Hurricane Helene. That said, federal relief from the Trump administration has been maddeningly minimal and slow, and that hard reality has helped force local private actors to display unusual resiliency and creativity in helping to keep the recovery up and running.

One group that’s been making a real impact is a nonprofit known as Mountain True. Not only have Mountain True staff and volunteers played an important role in...

Matt Raker (Courtesy photo)

If western North Carolina is going to fully rebuild and recapture the economic vitality it enjoyed prior to Helene, small businesses will be at the heart of the effort. And make no mistake, the challenges are enormous.

Surveys show that 96% of small businesses in the region were impacted by the storm, and while the majority have reopened, revenue for most is still more than 20% below pre-Helene levels.

Fortunately, some smart and energetic nonprofits are working energetically and successfully to help revive small business and one such group i...

Jared Bernstein (Courtesy photo)

Over the last couple of decades, few if any American economists have played a more prominent role in the national debate over the economy or in actually crafting economic policy than Jared Bernstein. Bernstein served as chair of the national Council of Economic Advisers under President Biden and is currently a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

And recently Bernstein was kind enough to join NC Newsline for a conversation about the current state o...

Senator DeAndrea Salvador (Photo: NCGA)

It’s almost impossible to turn on one’s computer, phone or TV these days without hearing about or, indeed, experiencing the impact of AI – artificial intelligence. The rapid rise of this remarkable technology is reshaping our world in many important ways – some that provide grounds for great hope and others that give rise to profound concerns.

Not surprisingly, AI’s rapid rise is also spurring discussion of a raft of ethical and public policy issues – from questions of privacy and consumer protection to the need to regulate so-called deepfakes, to the very...

Rep. Pricey Harrison (Photo: NCGA)

North Carolina state government continues to operate without a budget for the fiscal year that commenced July 1. Thanks largely to a disagreement between Republican leaders of the House and Senate over whether the state should plow ahead with a series of scheduled tax cuts – even as fiscal analysts warn of big impending budget shortfalls – the state is operating on a makeshift continuation budget that’s leaving a host of core public services inadequately funded.

What’s really behind this stalemate and what are some of the impacts it’s producing...

Kris Nordstrom (Courtesy photo)

It’s an interesting fact that while North Carolina’s population continues to steadily increase, enrollment in public schools is trending in the opposite direction. Part of the explanation for this is to be found in demographic shifts, but as Newsline learned in a recent conversation with veteran education policy analyst Kris Nordstrom of the North Carolina Justice Center, there are other factors involved as well – things like the state legislature’s ongoing expansion of private school options and its failure to adequately fund traditional public schools.

Nordstrom has authored...

Jennifer Rublin (Courtesy photo)

The 2026 midterm elections are still a long way off, but that isn’t keeping debates over voting rights and election laws off the front page. Indeed, both here in North Carolina and around the country, Republican politicians and their appointees are continuing to aggressively pursue policy changes that will – according to an array of critics — makes voting rules more complex and burdensome and elections less fair.

And one of the groups that’s been most outspoken in its criticism of these changes — whether it’s new requirements on voters to provide detailed per...

Infectious diseases professor Dr. David Wohl (Screengrab from Newsline interview)

Ever since the world was overtaken by the COVID-19 pandemic, public health policy and vaccine policy have been front and center in the national political debate. And tragically, despite a longstanding and overwhelming consensus among public health experts across the globe about the efficacy of vaccines and their vital importance in protecting human health and wellbeing, a small group of naysayers and conspiracy theorists have managed to hijack the debate and, in some instances, ascend to positions of power and influence.

And right n...

Sam Hiner, executive director of the Young People’s Alliance (Courtesy photo)

In our fast-changing world, few technological developments of recent years have had a bigger impact on young people than the emergence of instant communication and social media. And while it’s not difficult to identify the positive impacts of these phenomena, the worrisome impacts are also numerous. And this is a trend that seems certain to intensify in years to come with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence.

Thankfully, many advocates have started to speak out in favor of stronger laws to pr...

Jessica Burroughs, Moms Rising (Courtesy photo)

One of the most controversial bills to win approval by the North Carolina legislature during the 2025 session was a bill (SB 50) to allow any person 18 or older to carry a loaded concealed weapon without any kind of permit or background check. Gov. Josh Stein vetoed the measure, but the question of whether that veto will be overridden hinges on just a tiny margin of votes in the state House.

And recently we got a chance to learn more about the bill and the concerns anti-gun violence advocates a...

Patricia Stottlemyer (Courtesy photo)

Another Labor Day is upon us and in anticipation of that, Oxfam, the global nonprofit that works to fight inequality and end poverty and injustice, has released the seventh edition of its Best States to Work Index. The index tracks 27 policies across three dimensions—wages, worker protections, and rights to organize—that support low-wage workers and working families, and as has been the case for some time now, the index reports that North Carolina ranks among the worst states for all workers (and women workers in particular). And recently Newsline caught up wi...

Lynn Bonner (File photo)

After several months of uncertainty and waiting, the State Health Plan board finally made some decisions recently about how it will deal with the half-billion-dollar shortfall it’s been running. And topping the list, as had been expected, will be some new and not insignificant premium hikes for state employees. The increases – especially when paired with the state legislature’s failure to reach agreement on a new state budget (and the freeze that’s effectively placed on employee salaries) – is causing a lot of heartburn for teachers and state employees and recently to...

NCAE President Tamika Walker Kelly (Courtesy photo)

The recent action of the State Health Plan Board to raise employee premiums at a time in which teacher and state employee salaries remain stagnant is causing great concern in many circles – especially among the employees who will see their take-home pay decline even further.

Indeed, as became clear in a recent conversation with the President of the North Carolina Association of Educators, Tamika Walker Kelly, these developments can be seen, especially when combined with recent actions in Washington, as just the latest in what amounts to...

Energy and Policy Institute Research and Communications manager Sue Sturgis.

Duke Energy. Most households in North Carolina pay their electric bill each month to the Charlotte-based energy giant. What many may not realize, however, is that there are two Duke Energies — Duke Energy Carolinas in the west and Duke Energy Progress in the east. And now, thirteen years after they first got together, the two have filed documents with state and federal regulators to complete their merger into one giant utility provider. So, what does this mean, what is Duke saying and what happens next? And...

North Carolina Health News founder and editor Rose Hoban (Courtesy photo)

It’s been six weeks now since President Donald Trump signed the so-called one big, beautiful bill act into law and as you’ve no doubt heard, the new law will soon bring massive funding cuts and policy changes to core safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP food benefits. Meanwhile, here in North Carolina, state lawmakers have passed a so-called mini-budget that, while vastly smaller in scale and scope, will still have significant impacts on health policy.

So, what do these chang...

David Daley (Courtesy photo)

Gerrymandering. Most Americans have come to be familiar with this phenomenon in which politicians rig electoral maps and elections for partisan purposes, but unless you’re a serious political observer, you may not be up to speed on just how far out of control this destructive practice has gotten of late or, indeed, how unless something is done soon, it might well spiral out of control.

Fortunately, a handful of experts have been monitoring and chronicling the gerrymandering mess for some time and one of the most knowledgeable is aut...

Sally Hodges-Copple (Courtesy photo)

It’s been 16 years since the federal government raised the national minimum wage – a fact that continues to worsen the nation’s soaring income inequality. Interestingly, in recent months, rather than proposing to make the minimum wage a living wage, some politicians – including President Trump – have championed the idea of ending taxes on the tips. Indeed, it’s a change that was included in the so-called big, beautiful bill Trump recently signed into law.

Unfortunately, while it’s an idea that may have superficial appeal in some circles, as researchers at the North Caro...

Matt Calabria (left), who leads the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, and Will Ray, director of Emergency Management

It’s hard to believe, but we’re fast-approaching the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene and the devastation it wreaked in western North Carolina, and it seems appropriate to check in on the state of the recovery. Last week, we learned from a legislative oversight hearing on hurricane response and recovery that the process has been moving forward, albeit slower than most would like.

Today we’ll hear excerpts from that hearing in which state la...

Samuel Gunter, executive director of the North Carolina Housing Coalition.

You don’t have to be policy wonk with an affinity for crunching numbers to understand that North Carolina faces a dire shortage of affordable housing. One need merely talk to friends and family members – even those with middle class incomes – to understand that the picture is bleak when it comes to finding affordable rental housing, much less homeownership opportunities.

That said, the numbers are bleak. The National Low Income Housing Coalition recently released a report entitled “Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing” and it dem...

Dr. Arthur Lavin

Among the most disastrous public health development to afflict the United States in recent years has been the rise of the so-called anti-vax movement. Thanks to the unfortunate rise of misinformation, disinformation and misguided parental anxiety, millions of people – especially children – are being placed at serious and unnecessary risk of grave illness and death from diseases that once had been largely conquered.

Fortunately, a lot of smart, caring and thinking people are working hard to reverse this dangerous trend and many are associating themselves with a new national nonprofit called Grand...

U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross (NC-02)

We’re now six months into the second Trump administration and recent weeks, in particular, have been filled all kinds momentous and often disturbing news from Washington. Topping the list, of course, is the massive new budget reconciliation package – what supporters dubbed the “one, big, beautiful bill” that the president signed into law on July 4th.

Unfortunately, as recent reports and analyses from an array of nonpartisan experts have made clear, the impacts from the bill will be anything but beautiful. Among other things, the new law promises to end life...

Zahava Stadler Project Director, Education Funding Equity Initiative (Courtesy photo)

One of the most disturbing hallmarks of the Trump administration has been its relentless effort to defund public education – an effort that hit a new low earlier this month when Trump’s Department of Education announced suddenly and without warning that it would be freezing billions of dollars in essential funds – funds that Congress already appropriated and for which school districts had already budgeted.

Recently, in order to learn even more about this troubling action, Newsline’s Rob Schofield caught up with a national...

EPI senior economist Ben Zipperer (Courtesy photo)

It’s an article of faith in many conservative circles that the Trump administration’s tough anti-immigrant policies will free up jobs for U.S. born workers. New research from Economic Policy Institute senior economist Ben Zipperer, however, demonstrates conclusively that the opposite is the case. Zipperer’s calculations actually show that the net impact of mass deportation on employment – both for immigrants and U.S. born workers – is decidedly negative.

Indeed, he calculates that the administration’s goal of deporting one-million people per year will lead to a los...

Sen. Sydney Batch (Photo: NCGA)

The North Carolina General Assembly has gone home for the month of July, and perhaps – depending on some of the political machinations between House and Senate Republican leaders – the rest of the summer. But that doesn’t mean there’s a lot to point to in the way of major accomplishments.

Not only have lawmakers yet to pass a new state budget to coincide with the fiscal year that began July 1, but the list of truly significant legislation in other areas – Helene relief, education, infrastructure — was extremely limited.

One of...

Galen Bacharier (File photo)

The new state fiscal year started July 1, and the state legislature is on vacation for most of the month, but that doesn’t mean we have a new state budget. Thanks to big disagreements between NC House and Senate Republicans, the state is listing along on its old budget and several major decisions – most notably around teacher and state employee pay – remain on hold.

Lawmakers will return to Raleigh the week of July 28th and at that time they’ll have a long list of potential agenda items, including the budget, several...

SEANC Executive Director Ardis Watkins (Courtesy photo)

Despite their failure to agree on a new state budget, North Carolina lawmakers are taking most of the month of July – the first month of the new fiscal year – off. Not surprisingly, this is not a situation that’s sitting particularly well with a lot of state employees as they wrestle with another year of declining pay, staff shortages, and soon-to-be-announced premium hikes for the State Health Plan.

NC Newsline’s Rob Schofield got the chance to discuss some of these issues and concerns with the executive...

Professor Michael Bitzer (Photo courtesy Catawba College)

North Carolinians received another powerful reminder recently that their state’s electoral politics are never boring, when Republican U.S. Senator Thom Tillis suddenly announced he will not seek reelection next year. The announcement has set off a flurry of activity in which it has sometimes seemed that more politicians are considering entering the 2026 Senate race than not.

So, what should we make of Tillis’s announcement and what it portends? And what do the latest polls say voters are thinking about Tillis and the people who m...

WCU political scientist Chris Cooper (Screengrab from News & Views interview)

North Carolina was rocked by a political earthquake this past week when its senior U.S. Senator, Republican Thom Tillis, broke with President Donald Trump and then announced that he will not seek reelection in 2026. Tillis’s announcement – which came on the heels of his decision to oppose Trump’s hugely controversial omnibus budget bill – initiated a chain of events that has just begun to play out both in Washington and here in North Carolina.

So, what will this chain look like? How will Till...

Mikaela Curry of the Sierra Club of NC (Courtesy Photo)

Among the flurry of bills approved by the General Assembly during the last week of June was an extremely controversial proposal that would make big changes to state energy policy, entitled the “Power Bill Reduction Act.” The bill would repeal a bipartisan 2021 law that committed our state to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 70 percent by the year 2030, as we move to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century.

Proponents like Duke Energy say the interim goal was unnecessary and that changes in the bill will help keep energy pric...

Phi Nguyen, Demos' Director of Democracy, and Sarah Ovaska of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (Courtesy photos)

A new report prepared by the Durham-based Southern Coalition for Social Justice and the national public policy nonprofit D?mos finds more than 1.5 million North Carolinians are eligible to vote but aren’t doing so. The report is entitled “North Carolina’s Missing Voters,” and it finds that these nonvoters — nearly 20% of the state’s estimated 8 million eligible voters — are more likely to be young, Black, or Latino.

What’s more, the report finds that the current situa...