News & Views

NC Newsline investigative reporter Joe Killian

NC Newsline investigative reporter Joe Killian discusses the latest developments in the UNC system – including yet another big leadership change in Chapel Hill and the challenge posed by some impending shifts in our college-aged population.

Congresswoman Deborah Ross (Courtesy photo)

US Rep. Deborah Ross discusses the last few months in Washington, including budget challenges, the election of a new speaker, the expulsion of Rep. George Santos, and her own plans for reelection.

William Lassiter, head of the NC Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

North Carolina Deputy Secretary of Juvenile Justice Billy Lassiter discusses the latest of efforts to keep his agency adequately funded and staffed and the vital role that properly securing firearms and combating school bullying can play in keeping our kids safe.

Kendra Johnson, Equality NC

For the last five-and-a-half years, few people have been busier and more visible in the fight for human and civil rights in our state than Equality NC executive director, Kendra Johnson. Whether she was responding directly to the political right’s repeated and cynical attacks on LGBTQ people or championing a host of other causes to lift up vulnerable North Carolinians – from voting rights to healthcare access to public education – Johnson has made a big and positive mark on the state.

Recently, however, Johnson announced that she’ll soon be leaving Equality NC to start a new chapter in her life and earlier this past week NC Newsline caught up with her to get some of her thoughts – both on the policy debates of the last year and her tenure on the frontline.

Attorney Lindsay Bass-Patel of the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke University Law School (Courtesy photo)

As more and more states and localities have come to realize in recent years, there is a big practical conundrum that often arises when people of low income interact with the criminal justice system.

The problem is this: While the system regularly imposes big fines and fees on those accused of violating the law and, indeed, depends on those fines and fees to fund itself, a huge proportion of defendants simply don’t have the money to pay. The result: As a new report from the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke University Law School explains, approximately one in 12 North Carolina adults has an unpaid criminal court debt. Meanwhile, the system remains chronically underfunded.

The report is entitled “When dollars don’t add up to sense” and recently NC Newsline caught up with one of the authors, attorney and policy analyst Lindsay Bass-Patel.

Ellen Gaddy (Courtesy photo)

If you’re an American of a certain age, you undoubtedly remember Jesse Helms. Helms was a North Carolina U.S. Senator from 1973 to 2003 – a period in which he was widely recognized as America’s best known and most outspoken arch-conservative politician. On a long and sobering list of issues – race, reproductive freedom, equality for women and LGBTQ people, and dozens of others – Helms was consistently reactionary, outspoken, provocative, and uncompromising.

Interestingly, as has often been the case with reactionary historical figures, some of Helms’ descendants have gone on to chart a very different path, and one enormously impressive example of this is his granddaughter, Dr. Ellen Gaddy. Gaddy spent some of her childhood years aiding her grandfather’s Senate campaigns and has some fond personal memories of him, but as an adult she’s dedicated herself to exposing and ending his legacy – especially when it comes to a federal law that still bears his name. And recently, Gaddy was kind enough to join NC Newsline for a special extended conversation. In Part One of our talk, we discussed her journey and how it coincides with that of so many other individuals who’ve sought to escape cycles of family trauma.

In Part Two of our conversation, we delved into the details of her present-day work – including, in particular, her efforts to secure repeal of the Helms Amendment – a federal law that greatly restricts access to reproductive healthcare for women in nations that receive U.S. government aid.

Kody Kinsley, secretary of the NC Department of Health and Human Services. (Photo: DHHS)

In a special two-part conversation, NC Newsline chats with North Carolina state Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley about the upcoming December 1st expansion of Medicaid, how it will work, and what it will mean for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians.

Political scientist and pollster David McLennan

The 2024 primary election in North Carolina is only just over three months away and according to the most recent Meredith College poll, we may very well already know which major party candidates are likely to prevail. According to Meredith College political scientist and pollster David McLennan the latest poll found Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein and Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson way ahead of their top challengers – Democratic former Supreme Court Justice Mike Morgan and Republicans, attorney Bill Graham and state Treasurer Dale Folwell.

McLennan told NC Newsline, however, the undecided vote in both races remains very large. What’s more, in all likelihood, whoever prevails in March will almost certainly face a tight general election race. McLennan also discussed his findings that a large percentage of North Carolina voters remain worrisomely uninformed on some basics of state government and civics, along with some of his thoughts on why this is the case.

Read the complete findings from the Meredith College poll here.

House Minority Leader Robert Reives (Photo: NCGA)

The job of leading North Carolina House Democrats – a diverse group with an array of ideologies and priorities — has always been a tough job. And in the current era in which aggressive Republican gerrymandering has rigged the outcome in so many districts that it’s all but impossible for Democrats to win their fair share of seats, the leader’s role can frequently be a downright thankless task.

All that said, the current holder of the position – State Rep. Robert Reives of Chatham and Randolph Counties – has somehow managed to negotiate a tough balancing act in which he serves as the principal voice of opposition to the Republican majority’s hard right policy agenda, while also keeping his caucus united and articulating a different vision for the state.  Recently NC Newsline caught up with Reives for a post-mortem on the 2023 session, recent election results and what’s he hopes may be on tap as we look to 2024.

ACLU of North Carolina attorney Michele Delgado

In “The Consequences of Cops in North Carolina Schools,” researchers report that current state law – which grants police broad and vaguely worded authority – has led to a situation in which school-based complaints of disorderly conduct against Black students occur at four times the rate of white kids. In some counties, the numbers were even worse.

Recently, in order to get a better handle on the report’s findings and the recommendations it makes, NC Newsline caught with one of the experts behind it, ACLU attorney Michele Delgado.

The full report can be found online here: https://www.acluofnorthcarolina-bts.org/cops-in-schools.