NC SPIN Podcasts

Question to Becki Gray and Joe Mavretic – In the past decade 15 of our 100 counties grew more than 10 percent in population but 43 counties actually lost population. Most of them were in the east and far west. We’ve talked about the urban-rural divide since NC SPIN first went on the air in 1998. Do you see any hope for these counties losing people? If so, what is it?

NC SPIN # 1102 - Airdate 12/27/2019

Tom and the panel look back on 2019 and pick the

NC Spin Tarheel of the Year and the NC Spin Tarheel of the Decade

Joe Mavretic, former House Speaker

Chris Fitzsimon, Director of The NewsRoom

John Hood, Syndicated columnist and author

Becki Gray, VP of the John Locke Foundation

Tom Campbell, Moderator

Tom Campbell recaps what a quarrelsome people we were in North Carolina in 2019.

Question to John Hood and Chris Fitzsimon – In what might be considered a preview of next year’s governors race we have the battle of the letters. Governor Roy Cooper sent a letter to teachers explaining that he vetoed a mini-budget with teacher pay raises because it wasn’t enough. Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest sent a letter of his own saying Cooper was blocking their pay increases and hat Republicans had done a lot for teachers. Your reactions on the war of letters.

Question to Peg O’Connell and Rufus Edmisten – The State Education Lottery is proposing an action that is already drawing great pushback. Leaders of the lottery want to institute online scratch off games so that people won’t have to go to stores to purchase tickets. Retailers say they don’t want this competition but the big complaint is that it will make it too easy for people to gamble. What’s your reaction to this proposal?

NC SPIN episode #1101 Air Date 12/20/2019

Topics:

Passing the buck

Silent Sam saga continues

Candidate filings

Tell us something we don’t know

Panelists:

Peg O’Connell, political analyst

John Hood, Syndicated columnist and author

Rufus Edmisten, former Secretary of State and Attorney General

Chris Fitzsimon, Director, The Newsroom

Tom Campbell, Moderator

Tom Campbell discusses the importance of letting peace begin.

Question to John Hood and Howard Lee – The independent Environmental Integrity Project reports that between 2008 and 2018 the legislature cut funding to the Department of Environmental Quality by more than one-third or more than $136 million. Almost 430 positions were eliminated. Our budget was growing during the period. Only Wisconsin, Texas and Louisiana have made larger cuts. Are these cuts justified? Why is DEQ being targeted? How are we being impacted?

Question to Bev Perdue and Anna Beavon Gravely – A recent report indicated that only 1 in 5 high school students could correctly answer basic questions on personal finance. Starting next year the legislature has mandated that all high school freshmen must take an economics and personal finance course before they can graduate. Educators say the only way to fit this into our curriculum is to eliminate a section on American History. What’s your reaction to this requirement and the consequence? Surveys have also said students don’t know our history. How do we balance these priorities?

NC SPIN episode #1100 Air Date 12/13/2019

Topics:

Leandro consultant recommends $860 million more in education spending

More teachers get failing grades

More separation of powers debates

Tell us something we don’t know

Panelists:

Bev Perdue, former Governor

John Hood, Syndicated columnist and author

Howard Lee, former state Senator

Anna Beavon Gravely, Executive Director, NC Free Enterprise Foundation

Tom Campbell, Moderator