Podcasts Archives • NC Newsline

State Senator Graig Meyer (D-Orange) holds a copy of the draft budget that was not passed in the 2025 session. After 12 years in the General Assembly, Meyer will resign to become the next executive director of the N.C. Justice Center. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)

Over the last few years, we’ve had several opportunities to chat with former state lawmaker Graig Meyer of Orange County during the four terms he served in the state House and two in the state Senate. Recently, however, Meyer decided to leave elected office to become the executive director of one of the state’s most important nonprofit advocacy organizations, the North Carolina Justice Center.

It won’t be an easy task. Meyer assumes his new role at a time in which many of the positions the Justice Center espouses – progressive tax policy, a stronger safety net, fair treatment for immigrants, tough consumer protection laws – are not in vogue at the state legislature. Nonetheless, as we learned in our most recent conversation, Meyer is energized by the new challenge and optimistic about the organization’s prospects for policy success at a time of big change at the General Assembly.

Click here to listen to the full interview with former state Senator Graig Meyer.

NC State Professor of Political Science Steven Greene (Photo: NCSU)

Even before his fateful and thus far largely unpopular decision to go to war with Iran in late February, both President Donald Trump and his party had been encountering some significant political headwinds as a result of an array of controversial policy actions. Now, with the war dragging on without much explanation or any clear plan for a conclusion, and rising prices for fuel and related items hitting Americans in their pocketbooks, standard political wisdom would predict a good chance of big Republican electoral defeats this fall.

That said, the fall elections are still seven months off, so how accurate are such predictions likely to be? Recently, to get a better gauge on where things stand, what people are thinking and where the president is likely playing with political fire as a result of some of the approaches he’s taken, Newsline sat down for a two-part conversation with one of our state’s most experienced and astute political observers, NC State University Professor of Political Science, Steven Greene.

In Part One of our recent conversation with Greene, we discussed President Trump’s deeply controversial decision to attack Iran, its impacts here at home, and how both matters are playing out in domestic politics as we look forward to the 2026 elections.

In Part Two of our conversation, we turned our attention to the North Carolina political scene and, in particular, the massive earthquake that just hit the state legislature as a result of the primary defeat of the state’s most powerful politician – longtime Republican Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.

Click here to listen to the full interview with NC State University political scientist Steven Greene.

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

Despite its many benefits, few technological developments of the 21st Century have had a larger negative impact on the overall mental health and wellbeing of American young people than the rise of social media. And while no one can imagine putting the social media genie back in the bottle from which it came, a growing chorus of parents, educators, mental health professionals and advocates is calling for better and tougher regulation of the giant corporations that dominate this field.

And it’s in light of this that many are welcoming a pair of recent court rulings in California and New Mexico that held corporations liable for damages to children injured on their platforms. One of those advocates is Sam Hiner, the co-founder of a national organization birthed in Chapel Hill known as the Young People’s Alliance. And recently Hiner joined NC Newsline to discuss the debate over social media as well as several other formidable challenges facing young people in the modern world.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Sam Hiner of the Young People’s Alliance.

Learn more about the Young People’s Alliance. 

Kris Nordstrom (Courtesy photo)

One of the most remarkable, and in the minds of many, most shameful, developments in North Carolina public policy over the last three decades has been the failure of state leaders of both parties to fulfill their constitutional duty to provide all children in the state with access to a sound basic education. It’s now been over thirty years since the state Supreme Court clearly established the existence of such a right in the landmark Leandro case, but since then, elected leaders have found one excuse after another for ignoring it.

Thankfully, a cadre of dedicated researchers and advocates continues expose and push back against this unconstitutional inaction and this past week, Newsline caught up with one that group’s most persistent voices – North Carolina Justice Center senior policy analyst Kris Nordstrom.

Click here to listen to the full interview with North Carolina Justice Center senior policy analyst Kris Nordstrom.

University of North Carolina law professor Marcus Gadson (Photo: UNC.edu)

Unlike many others, North Carolina is not a “ballot initiative” state in which citizens can place constitutional amendments on the ballot by gathering enough signatures. Here, the power to advance constitutional amendments resides exclusively with the state legislature and right now, Republican lawmakers are proposing to do just that this fall with a proposal to limit the ability of local governments to set their property tax rates.

Like all tax cut proposals, this one is being couched as a boon to taxpayers that would help address the rising cost of living, but as we were reminded in a conversation this past week with University of North Carolina professor of law Marcus Gadson, it’s also the case that local taxes play a critical role in funding core public services that all residents depend on. What’s more, as Gadson also noted, at this point, the amendment proposal being advanced is very short on the kinds of specifics that would enable voters to make an informed decision.

Click here to listen to the full interview with University of North Carolina law professor Marcus Gadson.

WRAL TV investigative reporter and producer Cristin Severance discusses sports gambling with former Carolina Hurricanes hockey player Aaron Ward. (Photo courtesy of WRAL TV)

It’s been two years now since sports betting became legal in North Carolina, and it’s quickly become one of the most impactful and transformative law changes in state history. In a remarkably short time, sports gambling – and, indeed, all kinds of gambling – have overtaken our society and produced one of the biggest and profitable industries in the nation.

Unfortunately, despite its popularity, rapid growth and sudden omnipresence, gambling has led to an array of deeply troubling trends – both for the sporting games that play such an important role in our culture, and for millions of average people – especially young people – for whom gambling is an expensive and often destructive addiction. A new WRAL documentary examines these developments – it’s called “The Gamble: Sports Betting in North Carolina,” and recently Newsline caught up with the journalist behind it, WRAL TV investigative reporter and producer Cristin Severance.

Click here to listen to the full interview with WRAL TV investigative reporter and producer Cristin Severance.

Watch “The Gamble: Sports Betting in North Carolina.”

Energy and Policy Institute Research and Communications manager Sue Sturgis.

If you’re like most average consumers, you’re acutely aware of how your monthly energy bill has been rising steadily in recent years. And a new report from the nonprofit Energy and Policy Institute shines a bright light on one big factor behind those hikes that turns out to be very much in the utility companies’ control – profits.

The report is entitled “Paying for Their Profits: How Ratepayers Foot the Bill for Soaring Utility Profits” and it finds that big investor-owned utilities like Duke Energy are making a mint even as huge numbers of average ratepayers struggle mightily to keep up with their bills. And recently NC Newsline sat down with one of the report’s co-authors, Energy and Policy Institute Research and Communications Manager Sue Sturgis, to learn more.

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

Kimberly S. Jones, 2023 NC Teacher of the Year (Photo: NCDPI)

If there’s a core public service in North Carolina that’s found itself most consistently in the crosshairs of hostile politicians the last several years, it’s public education. Thanks to the repeated enactment of budgets that have underfunded everything from teacher salaries to facilities to the number of administrators, nurses, and counselors, North Carolina’s public schools have fallen among the lowest funded in the nation.

Despite this trend, thousands of dedicated educators are hanging in there and continuing to advocate for a time in the not-too-distant future in which state leaders will see the error of their ways and renew our state’s historic commitment to supporting a first-class public education system. Recently Newsline caught up with one of those professionals – North Carolina 2023 Teacher of the year and nationally board-certified teacher, Kim Jones – to discuss teacher retention and Governor Josh Stein’s critical needs budget.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Kimberly S. Jones, 2023 North Carolina Teacher of the Year

Scott Peoples (Courtesy photo)

As the U.S. rapidly moves toward the one-month mark in President Trump’s highly controversial war with Iran, the costs – both in human lives and dollars and cents — continue to mount rapidly. And these costs are impacting virtually all Americans. Not only are direct expenditures on the war impacting the U.S. Treasury and the government’s ability to fund core public services, the economic impacts – most notably in the form of soaring fuel prices – are taking a toll on millions of average consumers.

And it’s in light of these developments that the group Veterans for Responsible Leadership has launched a new billboard campaign in North Carolina critiquing the war and calling for Congress to exercise its authority to control the president’s thus far unilateral actions. And recently, Newsline caught up with the group’s North Carolina-based executive director, former U.S. 82nd Airborne Division captain, Scott Peoples.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Scott Peoples, executive director of Veterans for Responsible Leadership.

N.C. Budget & Tax Center policy analyst Alex Campbell

As the overwhelming majority of North Carolinians are well aware, the economic news of late remains a mix of good and bad news. On the hopeful side, the official unemployment rate remains comparatively low. What’s more, there are some important ways in which our state remains better situated than many others. On the other hand, however, there are several areas in which things are trending in a negative direction.

Perhaps most notable here, is the ongoing affordability crisis that continues to keep prices for several basics of life – housing, health care, groceries – beyond the reach of many average households. Now add the failure of state and national policy leaders to tackle these matters effectively and it’s no wonder that concerns are running high – both among experts and average citizens. And recently NC Newsline caught up with North Carolina Budget and Tax Center Policy Analyst Alex Campbell to learn more.

Click here to listen to the full interview with North Carolina Budget and Tax Center Policy Analyst Alex Campbell.