News & Views

Jennifer Rublin (Courtesy photo)

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 in North Carolina and around the country, Republican politicians and their appointees are continuing to aggressively pursue policy changes that will – according to an array of critics — makes voting rules more complex and burdensome and elections less fair.

And one of the groups that’s been most outspoken in its criticism of these changes — whether it’s new requirements on voters to provide detailed personal information in order to vote, or renewed efforts by politicians of both parties to gerrymander electoral districts – is the nonpartisan League of Women Voters. And recently Newsline got a chance to discuss these subjects and more with the President of the North Carolina League, Jennifer Rubin.

Click here to listen to the full interview with NC League of Women Voters President Jennifer Rubin.

Infectious diseases professor Dr. David Wohl (Screengrab from Newsline interview)

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 political debate. And tragically, despite a longstanding and overwhelming consensus among public health experts across the globe about the efficacy of vaccines and their vital importance in protecting human health and wellbeing, a small group of naysayers and conspiracy theorists have managed to hijack the debate and, in some instances, ascend to positions of power and influence.

And right now, this phenomenon is in full bloom in the United States as the Trump administration, under the leadership of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is moving aggressively to roll back decades of progress in combating disease by discouraging vaccines and slashing funding for research. Fortunately, an array of gifted and well-informed experts continues to speak the truth on these important subjects, and recently we caught up with one of them, UNC Professor of Medicine and infectious disease expert, Dr. David Wohl.

In Part One of our recent conversation, we discussed some of the controversies roiling the world of public health and vaccine policy right now, as well as some of Dr. Wohl’s recommendations for keeping yourself and your family properly vaccinated. In Part Two of our chat, we continued our discussion of some of the current policy debates, as well as Wohl’s deep concerns about the ongoing federal government disinvestments in health research.

Click here for the to listen to the full interview with UNC Professor of Medicine and infectious disease expert, Dr. David Wohl.

Sam Hiner, executive director of the Young People’s Alliance (Courtesy photo)

In our fast-changing world, few technological developments of recent years have had a bigger impact on young people than the emergence of instant communication and social media. And while it’s not difficult to identify the positive impacts of these phenomena, the worrisome impacts are also numerous. And this is a trend that seems certain to intensify in years to come with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence.

Thankfully, many advocates have started to speak out in favor of stronger laws to protect vulnerable people – especially young people – from exploitation like predatory algorithms, social media bullying, artificial intelligence and other impacts from the online world that endanger people’s mental and even physical health. And recently NC Newsline caught up with the leader of one such group, the co-founder and executive director of the Young People’s Alliance, North Carolinian Sam Hiner.

Click here to listen to our full interview with Sam Hiner, the co-founder and executive director of the Young People’s Alliance.

Jessica Burroughs, Moms Rising (Courtesy photo)

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 or older to carry a loaded concealed weapon without any kind of permit or background check. Gov. Josh Stein vetoed the measure, but the question of whether that veto will be overridden hinges on just a tiny margin of votes in the state House.

And recently we got a chance to learn more about the bill and the concerns anti-gun violence advocates are raising from Jessica Burroughs, Senior Campaign Director for the group MomsRising. We also got a chance to ask Burroughs about another issue her group is monitoring closely – hunger and the impact that recently enacted legislation in Washington will have on this fast-growing problem.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Jessica Burroughs, Senior Campaign Director for the group MomsRising.

Patricia Stottlemyer (Courtesy photo)

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 released the seventh edition of its Best States to Work Index. The index tracks 27 policies across three dimensions—wages, worker protections, and rights to organize—that support low-wage workers and working families, and as has been the case for some time now, the index reports that North Carolina ranks among the worst states for all workers (and women workers in particular). And recently Newsline caught up with Oxfam America’s Senior Domestic Policy Advisor Patricia Stottlemyer to learn more.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Patricia Stottlemyer.

Lynn Bonner (File photo)

After several months of uncertainty and waiting, the State Health Plan board finally made some decisions recently about how it will deal with the half-billion-dollar shortfall it’s been running. And topping the list, as had been expected, will be some new and not insignificant premium hikes for state employees. The increases – especially when paired with the state legislature’s failure to reach agreement on a new state budget (and the freeze that’s effectively placed on employee salaries) – is causing a lot of heartburn for teachers and state employees and recently to learn more about how the increases will work, the concerns they’re provoking in various circles, and some of the other changes in store for Health Plan enrollees, senior contributor Rob Schofield caught up with NC Newsline reporter Lynn Bonner.

Click here for the full interview with reporter Lynn Bonner.

NCAE President Tamika Walker Kelly (Courtesy photo)

The recent action of the State Health Plan Board to raise employee premiums at a time in which teacher and state employee salaries remain stagnant is causing great concern in many circles – especially among the employees who will see their take-home pay decline even further.

Indeed, as became clear in a recent conversation with the President of the North Carolina Association of Educators, Tamika Walker Kelly, these developments can be seen, especially when combined with recent actions in Washington, as just the latest in what amounts to an ongoing ideological war on public schools.

Click here for the full interview with the President of the North Carolina Association of Educators, Tamika Walker Kelly.

Energy and Policy Institute Research and Communications manager Sue Sturgis.

Duke Energy. Most households in North Carolina pay their electric bill each month to the Charlotte-based energy giant. What many may not realize, however, is that there are two Duke Energies — Duke Energy Carolinas in the west and Duke Energy Progress in the east. And now, thirteen years after they first got together, the two have filed documents with state and federal regulators to complete their merger into one giant utility provider. So, what does this mean, what is Duke saying and what happens next? And how will all of this interact with a new state law that allows Duke to delay its carbon reduction goals?

Recently Newsline got a chance to pose all these questions and more to a journalist and researcher who has followed the state’s electricity industry for many years — Energy and Policy Institute Research and Communications manager Sue Sturgis.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Energy and Policy Institute Research and Communications manager Sue Sturgis.

North Carolina Health News founder and editor Rose Hoban (Courtesy photo)

It’s been six weeks now since President Donald Trump signed the so-called one big, beautiful bill act into law and as you’ve no doubt heard, the new law will soon bring massive funding cuts and policy changes to core safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP food benefits. Meanwhile, here in North Carolina, state lawmakers have passed a so-called mini-budget that, while vastly smaller in scale and scope, will still have significant impacts on health policy.

So, what do these changes look like? Who will be impacted? What issues remain unresolved? And why are some important players in the health care system deeply concerned? NC Newsline recently got a chance to explore all of these questions and more with the editor and founder of the nonprofit news outlet North Carolina Health News, Rose Hoban.

Click here to listen to the full interview with North Carolina Health News founder and editor Rose Hoban. 

David Daley (Courtesy photo)

Gerrymandering. Most Americans have come to be familiar with this phenomenon in which politicians rig electoral maps and elections for partisan purposes, but unless you’re a serious political observer, you may not be up to speed on just how far out of control this destructive practice has gotten of late or, indeed, how unless something is done soon, it might well spiral out of control.

Fortunately, a handful of experts have been monitoring and chronicling the gerrymandering mess for some time and one of the most knowledgeable is author Dave Daley. Daley — a senior fellow at the nonprofit FairVote — is author of the books “Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count” and “Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections,” and recently he penned an op-ed for the Washington Post in which he noted that the 2026 midterms might not be decided by tariffs or President Trump’s approval ratings, but by gerrymandering. And NC Newsline recently  caught up with him to learn the details.

In Part One of our extended conversation, we explored the sobering current reality of how Republican state-level politicians – most notably right now in Texas — are, at the urging of President Trump, attempting to rig the 2026 midterm elections by gerrymandering their state congressional maps in unprecedented ways.

In Part Two of our conversation, we looked into the ways in which the gerrymandering wars could spin out of control, how the only realistic solution to the problem lies in congressional action, how President Trump’s effort to initiate a mid-decade census is fraught with problems, and how yet another case to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court this fall could further fuel the fires that threaten American democracy.

Click here to listen to the full interview with gerrymandering expert and author David Daley.