Podcasts Archives • NC Newsline

quality North Carolina executive director Eliazar Posada (Courtesy photo)

Donald Trump’s return to the White House has helped give rise to many disturbing trends in merican politics and policy in recent months, and one of the most troubling has been the crusade to marginalize and revive discrimination against LGBTQ+ Americans.

Both in Washington and Raleigh, conservative politicians and their appointees have been working hard to roll back hard won victories that allowed LGBTQ+ people to live normal lives free from harassment and even to, quite literally, deny their existence.

Thankfully, a cadre of...

North Carolina senators on the chamber floor during debate on the state budget on April 16, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)

Like many seemingly inexplicable practices that just sort of happened over time, designers of our state government could probably never have imagined something like “crossover week” at the North Carolina legislature.

“Crossover” is an artificial semi-annual deadline by which bills must be approved by at least one body – the Senate or the House – in order to remain eligible for passage that year. This year’s deadline is this Thursday May 8.

While the reasoning b...

People experiencing homelessness in Raleigh pack to leave an encampment off of Highway 70 near Interstate 40. (Photo: Greg Childress)

As anyone who steps outside of a gated community these days is aware, the number of impoverished and homeless people living on the street is, thanks to our unjust and top heavy economy, way up.

What’s more, providing useful assistance to these people – many of whom struggle with disabilities, mental and physical health challenges and just plain hopelessness — is extremely tough.

Here, however, is one thing we do know from the experts who do...

Sen. Val Applewhite is a breast cancer survivor who is demanding action on legislation that would require health insurance companies to cover the cost of diagnostic imaging for the disease. (Screengrab NCGA video)

It’s a pretty remarkable situation when elected leaders feel compelled to share their own intimate personal health stories in hopes of passing legislation that would save the lives of others. And it’s even more remarkable (and troubling) when the leaders doing the sharing are all women and the officials blocking action are all men.

But that’s what happene...

(Photo: Getty Images)

There are many factors that go into the overdose epidemic of opioids and other drugs that kill thousands of North Carolinians each year.

As a pair of law and medicine experts explained, however, in a recent NC Newsline op-ed, there are some increasingly successful strategies that deserve public support.

And topping the list is the urgent need for everyone – health care providers, law enforcement, elected officials – to recognize that substance use disorder – is just that: a medical disorder, not merely an addiction or personal weakness to be frowned upon.<...

Getty Images/Luke Sharrett

North Carolinians are generally of two very different minds on the gun violence that plagues our society. While polls consistently show that most favor stronger laws to regulate firearms, a loud and determined minority opposes virtually any regulation.

Here, however, is at least one simple prevention step that all sides should be able to endorse: installing inside locks on the doors to college classrooms.

As NC State professor Walter Robinson explained in a recent NC Newsline op-ed, he and his faculty colleagues have repeatedly asked sc...

Sen. Graig Meyer (Courtesy photo)

Members of the North Carolina General Assembly took a post-Easter break last week as they prepared for what promises to be the busiest period of the 2025 session in May and June, but prior to that, Republican leaders in the state Senate unveiled and quickly approved their version of a new two-year state budget.

The proposal attracted sharp criticism from Democratic senators who blasted the tiny pay raises allotted to teachers and state employees, as well as the decision to double down on regressive corporate tax cuts at a t...

Common Cause of North Carolina Policy Director Ann Webb (Courtesy photo)

It’s hard to believe, but it’s now been nearly six months since the November 2024 election and one race remains officially undecided – the contest for an associate justice seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Two recounts have confirmed that incumbent Justice Allison Riggs was the narrow victor, but remarkably, challenger Jefferson Griffin refuses to concede and continues to pursue the audacious strategy of seeking to have thousands of ballots – ballots cast according to the rules in effect on Election Day – thrown out.

The c...

Meredith College pollster Professor David McLennan (Courtesy photo)

We’re now more than three months into the second Trump administration and to say that it’s been a tumultuous period would be a vast understatement. From the precipitous economic decline, to the mass firings of federal workers, to the rise of an immigrant deportation program that has cast aside traditional norms of due process, the national news has been chockful of unprecedented and highly controversial actions.

So how has this drumbeat of controversy impacted the views of North Carolina voters? A new public opinion survey from...

Photo: Getty Images

For the second time in recent weeks, a North Carolina Republican judge has courageously put the constitution ahead of their political party.

First, it was Supreme Court Justice Richard Dietz who rightfully dissented when his four Republican colleagues okayed a GOP effort to change election rules after the election in last fall’s disputed Supreme Court contest.

And last week, Superior Court Judge Lori Hamilton helped strike down a law passed by the Republican-dominated legislature last fall to seize powers from Gov. Josh Stein.

The law wou...

Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin continues to pursue litigation in hopes of overturning the results of the November election he lost to incumbent Justice Allison Riggs. (File photos)

Enough! That’s what a large, growing and bipartisan chorus of legal experts, government watchdogs and average North Carolinians are saying right now in response to Judge Jefferson Griffin’s farfetched effort to overturn his Supreme Court election loss last fall to incumbent Justice Allison Riggs.

It’s been almost six months now since Griffin was narrowly defeated – a fact confirmed by two recounts...

Flood debris piles left in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Bat Cave, North Carolina. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Flood insurance. It’s something that most people have heard of and that many probably have a notion they should look into as the climate warms and severe storms grow more frequent.

To their credit, some have done more than think about it. As NC Newsline’s Galen Bacharier reported this week, about 10 percent of businesses and five percent of homeowners in western North Carolina actually had flood insurance prior to Hurricane Helen...

Getty Images/iStock

There’s a vicious downward cycle that’s been at work in North Carolina state government in recent years. And here’s how it worked:

First, conservative politicians blast quote “government bureaucracy” and enact big tax and spending cuts in response.

Next, core services like schools, mental health, transportation, and public safety – plagued by funding cuts and staff reductions — all struggle mightily to keep up with rising demands in a fast-growing state.

Next, besieged by constituent complaints, the same politicians who imposed the big cuts decry the decline in...

A sign advertising units for rent. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

At first blush, the idea that eviction is the solution for landlords when residential tenants fall behind on their rent or otherwise violate terms of a lease seems obvious.

And, indeed, in many situations, it is the only realistic path.

As new research from landlord-tenant law experts at the national Legal Services Corporation shows however, there are actually relatively few situations in which evictions end up being a win for landlords.

The study found that eviction proceedings s...

Sen. Lisa Grafstein (Photo: NCGA)

After several weeks of conducting business at a steady, manageable pace, the North Carolina General Assembly suddenly shifted into high gear. This past week, legislative committees rapidly considered and okayed scores of brand new, never before-heard bills on an array of topics, while at the same time Senate Republicans were unveiling and advancing their proposed version of a new two-year state budget.

So, what is the average lawmaker to do at such a time – especially if you’re not a member of the majority party? For Wake County state...

Former U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-North Carolina) speaks at Wake Technical Community College in Wendell, North Carolina.

We’re now three months into the second Trump administration and, as so many experts had feared and warned, the chaos – in the global economy, in the federal government, in our courts, and on the ground in scores of communities across the nation – is palpable. Between the seemingly random economic tariffs, massive and crude cuts to public services, and cruel and unlawful treatment of lawfully present immigrants, the national mess is already looking as if will be bigger...

North Carolina Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) holds a press conference on Senate Republicans' budget proposal on Monday, April 14, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)

There are many shortcomings in the new proposed state budget approved by the North Carolina Senate last week – the inadequate pay raises for teachers and state employees, the failure to invest in numerous core public services that have been reeling from staffing shortages, the giveaways to unaccountable special interests.

But if there’s an overarching flaw that lies at the heart of the proposal, it is the...

A display of banned books (Photo courtesy of San Jose Public Library via Flickr | CC-BY-SA 2.0/The Daily Montanan).

Sometimes, you have to wonder what century it is that some of our state lawmakers inhabit.

For a classic example of how detached from reality some have become, check out a new proposal advancing in the legislature to establish censorship boards in every school district charged with banning books that quote “include descriptions of sexual activity” or are quote “pervasively vulgar.”

First of all, the definitions are impossibly vague and will invite all kinds of...

A crowd gathered outside U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Tuesday, April 10, 2025, to protest the government's erroneous deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an El Salvadoran national, to a mega-prison in the Central American country. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

Americans have many big and important differences these days, but if we can’t come together to agree on a handful of fundamental ideals and human rights that have been baked into our Constitution and way of life for over two centuries, we’re in big trouble.

And one of those...

NC Supreme Court (Photo: Clayton Henkel)

It’s been almost six months since state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin narrowly lost last year’s election to incumbent Justice Allison Riggs. Two recounts confirmed the result.

Unfortunately, Griffin’s effort to overturn the election based on the farfetched theory that thousands of registered voters should have their ballots thrown out continues.

And last week, four Republican state Supreme Court justices endorsed the scheme — ruling that the votes of numerous military and overseas voters will be trashed unless they can somehow provide a photo ID...

(Getty Images)

Today is Tax Day – the day the political right – lazily and predictably – likes to use as a crutch for blasting government.

What all of us would do well to recall today, however, is where we would be without taxes and the essential services they provide that make civilized society possible.

And we should also remember two huge failings of the North Carolina tax system that are the handiwork of political conservatives:

First, is the regressive nature of our state tax structure – a system in which the wealthy pay vastl...

State Rep. Maria Cervania (Photo: NCGA)

It’s been more than six months now since Hurricane Helene devastated much of western North Carolina, and while there’s been a great deal of heroic recovery and rebuilding effort at all levels of government since then, recent actions in Washington are raising red flags in many corners.

At the North Carolina General Assembly, for example, lawmakers like Wake County state Rep. Maria Cervania have expressed deep concern that big Trump administration budget and staffing cuts to federal agencies, along with big price hikes caused by new T...

NC State Professor of Political Science Steven Greene (Photo: NCSU)

The Trump administration continues to enact, retreat from, and then renew dozens of norm-shattering policies that threaten to alter and undermine the fundamentals of our economy and even American democracy itself. From the massive and unilaterally imposed budget and staffing cuts to key federal agencies, to the on-again-off-again economic tariffs, to the unprecedented and deeply disturbing disappearances of immigrants, Trump has unleashed a fusillade of controversial actions.

So, what does it all mean and where might it all lead? Recently, NC Newsline’s Rob...

Journalist Kevin Hardy (Courtesy photo)

Recent federal government budget and staffing cuts imposed by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency are having devastating impacts in dozens of areas, but one that’s received less attention than it probably deserves is agriculture. As journalist Kevin Hardy of the national news outlet Stateline reported recently, the administration has yanked funding for programs that allowed schools and food banks to buy fresh products from small farms.

Originally funded under the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan, the U.S. Department of Agri...

U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a chart while speaking during a “Make America Wealthy Again” trade announcement event in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025 in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The use of economic tariffs to promote fairer trade and better outcomes for workers, consumers and the environment is not a new or bad idea.

In a world in which some countries rely on slave labor and treat the earth’s air and water like a garbage dump, thoughtfully designed and implement...

A nurse administers a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to a patient in Utah. More states are loosening vaccine mandates, scaling back vaccine promotion efforts and taking other steps that likely will lower vaccination rates. (George Frey/Getty Images)

If there is one American elected official who you’d think would make disease prevention among their highest priorities, it would be President Donald Trump. Just five years ago, Trump’s dreadful response to COVID-19 helped unleash one of the nation’s worst public health crises.

Tragically, however, by all indications, he hasn’t learned a...

NC Supreme Court (Photo: Clayton Henkel)

Many North Carolinians have been rightfully angered in recent months by Republican efforts to overturn Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin’s election loss to Justice Alison Riggs by seeking to throw out thousands of legally cast ballots. But sadly, there are other equally treacherous efforts underway.

The most obvious are bills from GOP lawmakers that slash the powers of two Democrats who won convincing victories last fall – Gov. Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson.

Rather than respecting the will of the voters, Republicans have sough...

The author sees obvious parallels between the policies of the British government in its treatment of Irish peasants during The Great Famine (1845-1849) and modern Medicaid work requirements in the U.S. The thatched roof of the house in this image is being removed to prevent it being re-tenanted. Original publication - Illustrated London News - The Ejectment Of Irish Tenantry - pub. 16th December 1848 (Photo by Illustrated London News /Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

What could the tragic 19th Century Irish potato famine have to do with modern Medicaid work requirements promoted by North Carolina R...

Sen. Sophia Chitlik seeks clarity on SB 558 - legislation eliminating "DEI" in Public Higher Ed. (Photo: Screengrab from NCGA video)

As part of their ongoing effort to manipulate and capitalize on irrational white voter fears, state Republican lawmakers are advancing legislation this session that purports to attack quote “DEI” in public education.

Under the bill, state law would spell out a long list of supposedly “divisive concepts” that would be banned from public schools. For example, the bill says it will be illegal to teach that a quote “meritocracy” — whatever that is — is inheren...

Leighton Ku, lead author and Director of the Center for Health Policy Research and professor of health policy and management at GWU’s Milken Institute School of Public Health (Courtesy photo)

As NC Newsline has reported at length recently, Republicans in Congress are seeking to enact massive and unprecedented cuts to two of the nation’s core social safety net programs — Medicaid and SNAP food assistance. And while it’s not hard to show how such cuts will impact the people in need who depend on those programs, a new report from the Commonwealth Fund and The G...

Jason Husser (Photo: Elon.edu)

As has been well-documented in recent weeks, the Trump administration is implementing a massive and chaotic bloodletting of the federal government. From the attempted elimination of the Department of Education to the evisceration of several other key departments — including the National Weather Service and the Department of Veterans Affairs — President Trump and Elon Musk have moved, without legislative authorization, to end or dramatically reduce funding for a host of programs and initiatives.

So how is this playing with North Carolina voters? According to new survey data released by the E...

Demonstrators in downtown Raleigh declare Allison Riggs rightfully won the state Supreme Court race against Jefferson Griffin. (Photo: Clayton Henkel/NC Newsline)

It’s now been more than five months since North Carolina voters elected incumbent Justice Allison Riggs over challenger Jefferson Griffin to a state Supreme Court seat, but amazingly, Republican efforts to overturn the election continue.

Last Friday, a pair of GOP state Court of Appeals judges accepted Griffin’s ridiculous theory that sixty-five thousand registered North Carolina voters who complied with all voting rules, including providing a valid photo ID, must still none...

A 7-year-old boy picks up a handgun during the 2022 National Rifle Association annual convention in Houston. The number of firearm deaths among children and teens in the United States have jumped 50% since 2019. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

North Carolina legislators continue not to “get it” when it comes to the state’s ever-worsening plague of gun violence. The latest disturbing example: a bill making its way through the state House that would allow private schools to arm teachers and, conceivably, even some students.

Bill sponsors say their intent is only to facilitate schools...

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson stands and claps during Gov. Josh Stein's State of the State address in the House chamber on March 12, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)

As North Carolina’s top lawyer, Attorney General Jeff Jackson has many important jobs — handling important criminal prosecutions, protecting consumers, representing state agencies in litigation. But if there’s a duty that is clearly his Number One priority, it has to be defending North Carolinians from unlawful attacks on their rights and well-being.

And it’s in light of this obvious fact that Jackson should be...

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein delivers his first State of the State address to the General Assembly at the Legislative Building in Raleigh on March 12, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)

The hypocritical double standards at work on the modern political right these days are often enough to make your head spin. Just think what Fox News shouters would be saying right now if a Kamala Harris administration had committed an outrageous breach of national security like the one Trump’s defense team did recently by divulging details of planned military operation.

And the sam...

Nicholas Hemachandra listens to his father Ray talk about the needs of people with disabilities at the NC Legislative Building. (Photo: Lynn Bonner)

The issue of how best to provide services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities is, admittedly, a challenging one.

Complex questions about the roles played by institutions and sheltered workshops, and the leeway given to families to chart their own courses in finding services, give rise to many competing and legitimate opinions.

That said, there’s one simple truth about IDD services in North Carolina that’s indis...

Rep. Lindsey Prather (D-Buncombe Co.)

It was six months ago that Hurricane Helene devastated much of western North Carolina with record-breaking rainfall and flooding. Since that time, federal, state and local officials have worked in determined — often heroic — fashion to help communities recover.
Today, however, the situation is best described as mixed. As NC Newsline learned in a conversation with Buncombe County State Representative Lindsey Prather, while much of the region is back up and running, the situation varies widely from place to place. While most roads are clear and many homes and businesses back...

Journalist Sara Murphy (Courtesy photo)

The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina six months ago was, in many communities, enormous. Few aspects of normal life escaped being upended, and one very important such area was child care.

As journalist Sara Murphy detailed in a recent report published by NC Newsline and the national news site, the Hechinger Report, six months after the storm, many young children and their families are still struggling with the disaster’s consequences. At least 55 early child care centers were damaged in the storm, and several rem...

Duke University Sanford School Emeritus Professor of Public Policy Phil Cook (Photo: Sanford School of Public Policy)

Across the United States, gun violence continues to be an ever-more-serious national plague. According to the latest mortality data from the CDC, firearm-related deaths among children and teenagers in the United States have soared by 50% since 2019. In 2023, firearms remained the leading cause of death among American youth for the third year in a row.

So what impact is this having on the attitudes of average Americans? A new report published in the Proceedings of the National A...

Students line up as they return to school in Durham County. (File photo)

It’s been two decades since state legislators bowed to tourism industry lobbyists and passed a law forbidding local school districts from starting the traditional calendar school year prior to the last week of August.

It was a familiar case of industry campaign cash trumping recommendations of education experts and the wellbeing of children.

In the years since, local school districts — anxious to take advantage of completing their first semester prior to the Christmas break — have repeatedly tried to buck...