Shows / News & Views
News & Views
Conversations with prominent state and national newsmakers – politicians, advocates, analysts, academics and activists — about the news, events and public policy debates that shape life in North Carolina.
Episodes
- News & Views
Sam Hiner of the Young People’s Alliance on efforts to protect young people from evolving technology
Sam Hiner, executive director of the Young People’s Alliance (Courtesy photo) In our fast-changing world, few technological developments of recent years have…
- News & Views
Dr. Latonya Agard with the NC Coalition to End Homelessness on affordability and homelessness
Dr. Latonya Agard, NC Coalition to End Homelessness The affordability crisis plaguing the American economy continues to grow more serious, and if there is a…
- News & Views
Common Cause NC’s Bob Phillips about his organization’s long and ongoing effort for fair elections
Bob Phillips, Common Cause of North Carolina When veteran journalist and advocate Bob Phillips took over as executive director of Common Cause of North…
- News & Views
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle CEO Ron Pringle on how funding cuts are worsening NC’s hunger problem
It continues to be one of the great scandals of modern America that in the world’s richest nation, millions of people – including an especially high percentage…
- News & Views
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle CEO Ron Pringle on how funding cuts are worsening NC’s hunger problem
Ron Pringle, President and CEO of the Raleigh-based Interfaith Food Shuttle (Courtesy photo) It continues to be one of the great scandals of modern America…
- News & Views
Helene survivor Jon Council warns of a growing national crisis in disaster preparedness
Community organizer Jon Council (Courtesy photo) It’s now been nearly 15 months since the worst storm in modern times to hit western North Carolina –…
- News & Views
NC State economist and professor Mike Walden on the affordability crisis that’s plaguing the economy
NC State University economist Mike Walden (Photo: NC State University) The rising cost of housing continues to be a huge problem for millions of Americans…
- News & Views
Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira on the widespread corporate takeover of residential housing
Robbie Sequeira (Courtesy photo) It’s common knowledge that the nation’s housing market – especially in growing areas like North Carolina – has become…
- News & Views
Natalie Murdock on North Carolinians struggling to cover healthcare and the loss of food assistance
Senator Natalie Murdock The record federal government shutdown may be over, but the dysfunction to which it gave rise and helped spur continues to plague North…
- News & Views
Andrew Willis Garcés of Siembra NC on the chaos and fear caused by the latest immigration crackdown
Andrew Willis Garcés of Siembra NC One of the top news items at the start of the holiday season here in North Carolina has been the Trump…
- News & Views
NC Newsline reporter Brandon Kingdollar on the impact of the Border Patrol’s immigration crackdown
NC Newsline reporter Brandon Kingdollar The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is causing heartache and consternation for thousands upon thousands of…
- News & Views
NC Newsline reporter Greg Childress on the state’s vexing affordable housing shortage
Reporter Greg Childress Affordable housing remains one of the most vexing problems in North Carolina and around the country. What’s more, as we were reminded…
- News & Views
UNC law professor and author Gene Nichol discusses his new book on the troubled state of democracy
  One of the most visible and prolific voices for progressive policy change in 21st Century North Carolina is UNC Professor of Law Gene Nichol. Since…
- News & Views
UNC law professor and author Gene Nichol discusses his new book on the troubled state of democracy
Gene Nichol (File photo) One of the most visible and prolific voices for progressive policy change in 21st Century North Carolina is UNC Professor of Law Gene…
- News & Views
Meech Carter of the NC League of Conservation Voters on climate change and Trump policy changes
Meech Carter (Photo: NCLCV) Few national policy changes of the past year have drawn more attention or caused more controversy that President Trump’s on-again…
- News & Views
Meech Carter of the NC League of Conservation Voters on climate change and Trump policy changes
  Few national policy changes of the past year have drawn more attention or caused more controversy that President Trump’s on-again off-again economic…
- News & Views
NC farmer Mary Carroll Dodd on the economic tariffs that continue to roil the U.S. economy
  One of the most visible and controversial economic policy shifts to be implemented during the first year of the second Trump administration has been the…
- News & Views
Newsline government and politics reporter Galen Bacharier on the government shutdown and SNAP cuts
  The federal government shutdown continued to have an array of devastating impacts in recent days and, by any fair estimate, one of the most harmful has…
- News & Views
NC Justice Center’s Rebecca Cerese on Congress refusing to extend health insurance tax credits
  The government shutdown and its devastating impact on millions of federal workers and average citizens is not the only dysfunction emanating from…
- News & Views
Melissa McDonald of the NC Community Schools Coalition on schools as the center of community support
  Amid the federal government shutdown and the pause in SNAP benefits, a growing number of groups and individuals are coming together and collaborating to…
- News & Views
Jared Bernstein, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, on the state of the economy
  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…
- News & Views
Senator DeAndrea Salvador discusses AI – its policy implications and abuse of the technology
  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…
- News & Views
Samuel Gunter of the NC Carolina Housing Coalition on the state’s dire affordable housing shortage
  North Carolina faces a dire shortage of affordable housing. One need merely talk to friends and family members – even those with middle class incomes –…
- News & Views
Amy Beros of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC on hunger and the threat to SNAP benefits
  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…
- News & Views
Elon University poll director Jason Husser on the rapidly changing world of college athletics
  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…
- News & Views
Disability Rights NC about a groundbreaking settlement impacting people with substance use disorders
  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…
- News & Views
Common Cause of North Carolina’s Bob Phillips on the threat of mid-decade redistricting
  If there’s a single factor that’s playing the largest role in spurring the dysfunction and divisiveness that plague modern American politics…
- News & Views
Drew Ball of the NRDC on the most important environmental policy issues confronting NC
  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…
- News & Views
State Rep. Carolyn Logan on the new anti-crime legislation approved by the General Assembly
  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…
- News & Views
Jake Sussman of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice on services to enhance public safety
  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…
- News & Views
Alex Campbell of the NC Budget and Tax Center on the state’s fiscal policies and Helene recovery
  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…
- News & Views
Matt Calabria, the Director of Governor Josh Stein’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina
  This past week marked the one-year anniversary of Helene – a deadly hurricane-turned tropical-storm that wreaked unprecedented havoc in western North…
- News & Views
Chris Joyell of Mountain True on efforts to better prepare for the next time disaster strikes
  As with virtually all natural disasters, public funds and programs are at the heart of the ongoing recovery effort from Hurricane Helene. That said…
- News & Views
Matt Raker of Mountain BizWorks on how investments are helping WNC recover from Helene
  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…
- News & Views
Jared Bernstein, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, on the state of the economy
  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…
- News & Views
Senator DeAndrea Salvador discusses AI – its policy implications and abuse of the technology
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…
- News & Views
Rep. Pricey Harrison on the overdue state budget, new proposed changes to state voting laws
  North Carolina state government continues to operate without a budget for the fiscal year that commenced July 1. Thanks largely to a disagreement…
- News & Views
Education policy expert Kris Nordstrom on declining enrollment in public schools
  It’s an interesting fact that while North Carolina’s population continues to steadily increase, enrollment in public schools is trending in the opposite…
- News & Views
NC League of Women Voters’ Jennifer Rubin on some of the latest controversies surrounding voting
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…
- News & Views
UNC Health infectious disease expert David Wohl on the respiratory virus season and public health
  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…
- News & Views
Sam Hiner of the Young People’s Alliance on efforts to protect young people from evolving technology
  In our fast-changing world, few technological developments of recent years have had a bigger impact on young people than the emergence of instant…
- News & Views
Jessica Burroughs of MomsRising on NC legislation that would further deregulate concealed weapons
  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…
- News & Views
Patricia Stottlemyer with Oxfam America discusses the best U.S. states for workers
  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…