ABOUT US
NC Newsline is a nonpartisan nonprofit news organization dedicated to fearless reporting and hard-hitting commentary that shines a light on injustice, holds public officials accountable, and helps improve the quality of life for all North Carolinians. Founded in 2004 as a small commentary nonprofit known as NC Policy Watch, our newsroom was renamed in 2023 to reflect its evolution into a full-service digital outlet that connects readers and listeners to important news and opinion from across North Carolina and the nation.
NC Newsline is an affiliate of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers. NC Newsline retains full editorial independence.
Free to read and republish
You won’t find ads, hit a paywall or get charged for the content on this site. Our articles are available to other outlets under Creative Commons licensing. If you have any questions about news stories or commentaries you’d like to share in your own publication, email us at [email protected] or leave us a voice message at 919-289-4488.
Story ideas
Send your news tips to the [email protected] or leave us a voice message at 919-289-4488.
Transparency and ethics
NC Newsline abides by the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists. If you have a complaint or correction to offer with respect to any content published on NC Newsline, please contact editor Rob Schofield at [email protected].
To get more NC Newsline
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Rob Schofield
Editor
Rob Schofield, Editor, has nearly four decades of experience as a journalist, commentator, and lawyer. In addition to overseeing NC Newsline operations, Schofield writes a widely-circulated weekly opinion column and handles numerous public speaking and electronic media appearances. He also delivers an audio commentary that’s broadcast weekdays on Raleigh’s MIX 101.5/WRAL-FM and hosts News and Views, a weekly news magazine podcast that airs on multiple online platforms and North Carolina radio stations.
Lisa Sorg
Assistant Editor and Environmental Reporter
Assistant Editor and Environmental Reporter Lisa Sorg is an award-winning journalist of 28 years’ experience, who joined NC Newsline in 2016. Sorg has a keen interest not only in the environment, but also the social justice impacts of pollution and corporate malfeasance. She has won dozens of awards for her news, public service and investigative reporting, including the Henry Weathers Freedom of Information Award for her reporting on government transparency. In 2022, Sorg was a co-winner of the Thomas L. Stokes Award for environmental and energy reporting, presented by the National Press Foundation.
Clayton Henkel
Communications Coordinator
Clayton Henkel, Senior Communications Coordinator/Producer, is one of North Carolina’s most experienced and accomplished multimedia journalists. She is responsible for the project’s website and newsletter management as well as production of daily audio commentaries and the weekly News and Views radio program/podcast. Prior to joining NC Newsline she worked as a special projects reporter, assignment editor and managing editor for Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting.
Greg Childress
Education Reporter
Greg Childress, Education Reporter, joined NC Newsline in December 2018 after nearly 30 years at The Herald-Sun of Durham, where he spent his last five years covering the Durham Public Schools, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools. Greg also covered city and county governments in Durham and Orange counties, as well as higher education, and spent 10 years as an associate editorial page editor.
Joe Killian
Senior Investigative Reporter
Investigative Reporter Joe Killian's work examines government, politics and policy, with a special emphasis on higher education, LGBTQ issues and extremism. A newsroom veteran with more than 20 years’ experience, Killian joined NC Newsline in 2016 after a decade at the News & Record in Greensboro, reporting on everything from cops and courts to higher education and state government. At Newsline he has broken stories that have made national headlines, twice winning the Duke University/Green-Rossiter Award for exceptional higher education coverage from the North Carolina Press Association. His work has been highlighted and published by state and national publications including Poynter and Slate and cited by lawmakers, national education groups and medical organizations.
Lynn Bonner
Investigative Reporter
Investigative Reporter Lynn Bonner joined NC Newsline in 2020 after 26 years as a reporter at The News & Observer. She covered the state legislature and politics for 20 years, and wrote extensively about mental health, state Medicaid policies and spending, and public education. Before coming to North Carolina, she wrote for newspapers in New England.
Kelan Lyons
Investigative Reporter
Investigative Reporter Kelan Lyons has been writing about the criminal justice system since 2017. He joined NC Newsline in 2022. He is most proud of his work that shows the ways a violent crime can linger in a community’s subconscious, explores whether a person who took another’s life can ever make amends, and illustrates the ways people with mental illness can get ensnared in the legal system. His favorite stories are those without easy answers, that examine systemic issues and try to determine whether a policy is broken — or working exactly as it was designed.