Radio Interviews
Senator Natasha Marcus weighs in on the state budget, Medicaid expansion and casino gambling
After an extended period of inactivity that’s left the state without a new budget for the first quarter of the new fiscal year, the state legislature kicked things into high gear last week passing a $30 billion budget and a series of lengthy, momentous, and controversial proposals. The sudden deluge of contentious ideas — most […]
North Carolina Budget & Tax Center director Alexandra Sirota on the latest poverty data
One of the very few silver linings to accompany the COVID-19 pandemic was a significant decline in American child poverty. Thanks to various relief initiatives and, most notably, the expansion of the federal child tax credit that the Biden administration championed, poverty numbers fell significantly for a time as the federal government provided what was, […]
Reporter Joe Killian on the effort by Republican lawmakers to remake our public universities
For several years now, North Carolina’s Republican-dominated state legislature has been pursuing a determined effort to overhaul the state’s university system. Whether it’s the makeup of the boards and chancellors that oversee the system and its various campuses, or the actual academic programs the campuses house and the professors they hire and fire, conservative politicians […]
Rep. Marcia Morey on the budget saga, casino gambling, gun violence, and election law changes
When state lawmakers returned to Raleigh last week, the word on the street was that, at last, two-and-a-half months into the new state fiscal year, a budget agreement between House and Senate Republicans had finally been achieved. As it turned out, however, this rumor proved inaccurate as a dispute over whether to introduce casino gambling […]
Ana Pardo of the NC Justice Center discusses the 2023 State of Working Women
For the past two years, unemployment in North Carolina has done more than return to pre-pandemic levels; it’s actually dropped to the lowest level in more than 20 years. A closer look, however, reveals a more complicated picture — especially for the state’s women. Indeed, in Oxfam America’s recently released ranking of the Best and […]
The Public School Forum of North Carolina’s Lauren Fox on NC’s private school voucher program
It’s been ten years since North Carolina’s experiment with private school vouchers commenced and, as multiple reports have made clear, when it comes to student achievement, widely shared opportunity, and the wise use of public resources, the program has been a dramatic failure. Given however, that state lawmakers have no intention of scaling back the […]
Melissa Price Kromm on the efforts of a Supreme Court Justice to defend her right to free speech
By any fair estimation, North Carolina Republican legislators and judges enjoy commanding positions of authority when it comes to the workings of the General Assembly, the judiciary and many of the areas of state government that those two branches impact. Elections and election law are prime examples. As some recent actions by legislative and judicial […]
The state of hunger in North Carolina
When it comes to the current economic well-being of average Americans, it’s clear that the nation has made great progress in recent years. Unemployment and poverty are down, wages are up and recently, even inflation has started to cool. Despite this encouraging progress, however, the number of people struggling to stay afloat and avoid hunger […]
WRAL-TV doc producer Cristin Severance discusses “Forever Chemicals”
The new WRAL Documentary explores the damage caused by massive amounts of toxic chemicals dumped into the Cape Fear River. Watch the documentary here.
NC Health and Human Services Sec. Kody Kinsley on the need to make Medicaid expansion a reality
North Carolina’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Kody Kinsley joins NC Newsline for an extended conversation in which we discuss the desperate need to make Medicaid expansion a reality, the inadequate funding allotted by lawmakers to serve people with mental health problems and developmental disabilities, and a hopeful bit of progress in expanding donations […]