Podcasts Archives • NC Newsline

Dr. Hope Thompson is an expert on climate adaptation policy, comprehensive risk management, and equitable disaster resilience. (Courtesy photo: NRDC)

One of the most expensive and worrisome immediate impacts of climate change and the weather disasters it spawns is the fast-rising cost of homeowners insurance. Here in North Carolina and in many parts of the country, these soaring costs are a big contributor to the housing affordability crisis that plagues so many communities.

As Newsline learned in a recent conversation with Natural Resources Defense Council climate adaptation expert, Dr. Hope Thompson, there are several practical and affordable regulatory steps that we can take to address the problem – steps that will both make buildings more resilient and assure the availability of affordable homeowners insurance in the future.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Natural Resources Defense Council climate adaptation expert, Dr. Hope Thompson.

Click here to read Dr. Thompson’s latest commentary: Navigating North Carolina’s home insurance affordability crisis 

States Newsroom national democracy reporter Jonathan Shorman

Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, hardly a day goes by in which there is not some brazen, precedent shattering action by the president or his allies.

Indeed, the orders, directives, proposals and court rulings are coming at such a rapid pace that it’s easy to become numb to them and what they might portend for our country.

Fortunately, many excellent journalists continue to chronicle and analyze these developments. One of the best is States Newsroom Democracy Reporter Jonathan Shorman. And recently, Newsline caught up with Shorman for an extended conversation about some of the most important current stories.

In Part One of our conversation with Shorman, we dug into President Trump’s unprecedented effort to establish a special fund that would enable him to dispense taxpayer money to allies of his who he says were harmed by the Biden administration.

In Part Two of our chat, we dug deeper into the politics surrounding the fall elections, the big challenges that Republicans face given the state of the economy and the fact that Trump himself will not appear on the ballot, and some of the controversial actions Trump has taken or threatened to take in order to directly impact who can vote and how they do it.

Click here to listen to the full interview with States Newsroom national democracy reporter, Jonathan Shorman

Click here to read more of Shorman’s reporting on NC Newsline.  

Amy Beros, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina

Genuine food insecurity in which people don’t know where their next meal is coming from is a subject that merits a lot of attention. By any fair assessment the fact that literally millions of North Carolinians – a large percentage of them children – go to bed hungry in the world’s richest nation is, or at least ought to be, a gigantic scandal.

As grim as some of these numbers are, recent actions in Washington – most notably big cuts to federal food assistance and the rising prices caused by the war in Iran – have conspired to make the situation even more dire. Recently, to take stock of just how desperate things have gotten and some of the things average folks can do to help respond, Newsline recently caught up with the President and CEO of the Foodbank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Amy Beros.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Amy Beros, President and CEO of the Foodbank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

Brooks Fuller (Courtesy photo)

Ever since Republicans captured control of the state legislature at the outset of the last decade, North Carolinians have been witness to a steady stream of proposals designed to make voting harder and more complicated and make the day-to-day oversight and regulation of elections more partisan. And now, with yet another national election of great importance just over five months away, new proposals are being introduced.

One such measure in the state Senate would reduce the state’s early voting period from 17 days to 10 despite the enormous bipartisan popularity of the current system. In addition, a series of proposals at the GOP-controlled state Board of Elections would make it easier to both toss out provisional ballots and mailed ballots on technicalities and restrict nondisruptive demonstrations designed to get voters to the polls. And recently to learn more about these proposals and how average North Carolinians can weigh in on them, Newsline spoke with the Policy Director of Common Cause North Carolina, Brooks Fuller.

Click here for the full interview with Brooks Fuller, Policy Director of Common Cause North Carolina.

NC Newsline government and politics reporter Brandon Kingdollar.

North Carolina state lawmakers are in the midst of the 2026 legislative session and, as had been expected, several important proposals are advancing that could impact everything from alcohol sales to the state constitution.

In Part One of our recent extended conversation NC Newsline government and politics reporter Brandon Kingdollar, we examined the ongoing debate at the General Assembly over our state’s regulation of alcohol sales and how proposals to liberalize and privatize the process and move away from older, more restrictive regulatory schemes appear to be making headway.

In Part Two of our chat, we turned our attention to a series of constitutional amendments that Republican leaders are moving to place on the fall ballot that deal with an array of subjects – some of them potentially hugely impactful and some more symbolic that appear to be designed mostly to help drive conservative voter turnout.

Click here for the full interview with NC Newsline government and politics reporter Brandon Kingdollar.

Alexandra Sirota (Photo: NC Budget & Tax Center)

Republican state legislative leaders made headlines in recent days by announcing that they have finally reached agreement on a new state budget. But even as that long overdue news was being made, the lawmakers also moved to advance a series of state constitutional amendments that would, if enacted, have massive implications for future state budgets and core public services.

Click here to listen to the full interview with the executive director of the North Carolina Budget & Tax Center, Alexandra Sirota.

Jackson Ewing (Photo: Courtesy Duke University)

Earlier this month, regulatory commissions in North and South Carolina approved a merger between the two energy monopolies that dominate electricity production and distribution in our state: Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress. The merger comes at a time of rapid consolidation in the energy industry. Indeed, even as the merger of the two Duke entities is moving forward, Florida-based NextEra announced that it is acquiring Dominion Energy, which serves part or northeastern North Carolina.

So, what does all of this mean? What do the companies say about why it’s taking place? What are the potential benefits? What are the potential concerns – both for residential consumers and the wellbeing of our environment as the effects of climate change grow ever-more concerning? Recently, to get a handle on these questions and some others of importance, Newsline had an extended conversation with the Director of Energy and Climate Policy at the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University, Dr. Jackson Ewing.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Dr. Jackson Ewing, Director of Energy and Climate Policy at the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University.

Wake County State Rep. Phil Rubin

It appears that, finally, after a year-long delay that has left North Carolina the only state in the union without a budget for the current fiscal year, Republican state legislative leaders may soon give final approval to a comprehensive budget plan and send it to Gov. Josh Stein.

Of course, as is usually the case, funding for public education was and remains one of the most hotly debated budget items. And while it appears that teachers will finally receive some long overdue but still modest raises, as we learned in a conversation with Wake County State Rep. Phil Rubin, the plan does little if anything to address the fundamentally skewed funding priorities that have long plagued and worn down our public schools. As Rubin explained to NC Newsline, not only does the budget plan continue to favor unaccountable private voucher schools at the expense of public schools, new plans to impose a one-size-fits-all scheme on county property taxes could make funding problems even worse.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Rep. Phil Rubin. 

NewDEAL CEO Debbie Cox Bultan (Courtesy photo)

When it comes to politics and policymaking, the present era is among the most divided and rancorous in modern American history. At the national level, the U.S. seems as if it’s more divided than ever on a host of basic issues. But is this really the case?

CEO of the national nonprofit, the NewDEAL Forum, Debbie Cox Bultan, says when you dig a little past the surface, it becomes evident that, in many ways, Americans are not as divided as it might seem. Especially at the state and local levels, it turns out that large majorities are actually in agreement on many of the issues that matter most and in their desire that public officials of all parties work together to find common ground solutions.

In Part One of Newsline’s extended conversation with Bultan, we explored her group’s findings about the many fundamental issues on which large majorities of Americans agree and their shared desire that elected leaders of all stripes find ways to work together and compromise to promote the common good.

In Part Two, we learned more about how the New Deal Forum is working to lift up the notion that public service can and should remain a thoroughly honorable profession. We also discussed the importance of combating the scourge of gerrymandering and election rigging that is afflicting our politics in the aftermath of a recent Supreme Court ruling that guts the federal Voting Rights Act.

Click here to listen to the full interview with the NewDEAL Forum’s Debbie Cox Bultan.

Southern Coalition for Social Justice Senior Counsel Chris Shenton (Courtesy photo)

One of the greatest achievements of the American Civil Rights movement was the enactment more than 60 years ago of a law known as the Voting Rights Act. Though it had several provisions, the basic objective of the law was simple – it was to eliminate centuries of deep-seated racial discrimination that had infected and polluted U.S. elections by assuring that all the nation’s citizens had an opportunity to be full participants in our democracy.

Unfortunately, despite the progress the law has helped usher in and the fact that the country still has miles to travel in overcoming racial discrimination, opposition to the law and excuses for weakening it have been a constant ever since its enactment. And last month, opponents and excuse makers succeeded in convincing the U.S. Supreme Court to gut a key provision that had barred politicians from rigging elections to dilute the impact of minority voters. And recently, to get a better handle on this troubling news, Newsline caught up with Southern Coalition for Social Justice Senior Counsel Chris Shenton for a special two-part conversation in which we examined the ruling and the damage that it will cause.

Click here to hear the full interview with Southern Coalition for Social Justice Senior Counsel Chris Shenton