The State of Things on WUNC

The Department of Agriculture has put forward new rules that would make it more difficult for some working-age adults to access SNAP food benefits. The suggested rule change comes after a failed effort by House lawmakers to tighten work requirements through the farm bill. Currently, states have flexibility to waive work requirements for some recipients depending on factors including the state’s unemployment rate. The new USDA rule would strip states of that general waiver option. Host Frank

On a remote, volcanic island in Indonesia, the Lamalaran Tribe is fighting to preserve its ancient language and traditions. The community is thought to be the last subsistence whaling tribe in the world, and it is one that writer Doug Bock Clark knows well. Over the course of three years, Bock Clark spent intimate time with the Lamalerans. He learned their language, got to know the depth of their culture and examined their connection with the natural world. He captures those experiences in his

What images arise with the phrase ‘black girl?’ When choreographer Camille A. Brown asked that question to an audience, she was dismayed with their response: negative comments and mocking gestures.

African-Americans in Asheville are far more likely to be charged with resisting an officer during a police encounter than white people. A five-year analysis of arrest records from the Asheville Citizen-Times shows that 35 percent of resisting an officer charges — sometimes called “resist, delay, obstruct” or RDO — were made against African-Americans, even though black people are only 12 percent of the Asheville population.

This weekend football fans will watch the Los Angeles Rams take on the New England Patriots in the 2019 Super Bowl. While many are wondering when Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will retire, one thing is certain: he will have plenty of options and protection.

In Lori Leachman ’s family, football was life. Her father Lamar Leachman was a former player for the Calgary Stampeders and later a coach with the NFL, Canadian Football League, and now-defunct World Football League. He was a defensive line coach with the New York Giants when they won Super Bowl XXI in 1987. But later in his life, his family started to notice changes in his personality, including increased anger and forgetfulness.

The clock is ticking for Bennett College . The historically-black women’s college aims to raise $5 million by Friday, Feb. 1 to help save its accreditation. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges voted to revoke Bennett’s accreditation last month over concerns the school is not fiscally sound and financially stable enough to keep its doors open.

Seven new African-American sheriffs were voted into office in the November midterms, and among them is Danny Rogers. On Monday, Dec. 3 Rogers became the first African-American at the helm of the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office .

Many Americans know fascism as an authoritarian ideology which blossomed in early 20th century Europe — first with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and later with Adolf Hitler and the rise of Nazi Germany. But historian Michael Joseph Roberto argues that while Mussolini and Hitler were capturing the world’s attention, a type of fascist ideology was also taking hold in the United States, although the system looked different. Roberto says monopoly-finance capitalism and the dominance of big

By age 6, Brenda Nolasco had already laid down her first professional recording — a youthful iteration of Whitney’s Houston’s “Greatest Love of All.” Nolasco was surrounded by music as a child: her uncle was a professional trumpet player, and her brother, sister and aunts were all gifted singers. But Nolasco got a late start on telling her own story through music.