WRAL Daily Download

NC Capitol reporter Travis Fain takes a look back at the most impactful--and most intriguing--events in North Carolina politics in 2023.

If you love what you do for a living, it doesn’t feel like a job. Right? Well, this isn’t always the case. As we get older, and become more set in our ways, it’s easy to forget that much of our creative thinking processes grew out of our abilities as children to play and imagine new things. In this episode, we speak to B.J. Davis about her desire to spark these same creative processes in the workplace at any age.

Man-made tornadoes, beached sharks, Mount Rushmore and North Carolina legislators all have one thing in common: They were subjects of some of our most popular PolitiFact fact-checks of 2023. WRAL PolitiFact North Carolina reporter Paul Specht breaks down the year in misinformation and offers tips on spotting misleading ads and social media posts as we head into the 2024 election.

Mary Brown has an army behind her, an army of volunteers and people who donate their time and food to feed people in downtown Raleigh on Christmas day at City Market. She fills in the gaps when many organizations that help people yearround are closed. Mary's Christmas day event has become a tradition for many local families who spend their holiday in service instead of on the couch in front of a cozy fire. Hundreds of people who need a hot meal show up. In this episode, Mary explains her "why" and how she's kept the event going for twenty years.

Downtown Raleigh is full of parking lots – but you never know when a plain-looking parking lot is hiding some amazing history. Did you know that there once was a castle on the former campus of Meredith College? In today’s episode, WRAL’s Hidden History reporter Heather Leah and news production assistant Arri Woodhouse unlock the secrets of this mysterious place.

There’s a good chance it has happened to you. You’re driving down the highway and something flies off a truck and hits your windshield cracking it. Windshield repair companies say business is booming. As our population grows, so does traffic. The more cars on the road, the more chances there are for your windshield to get damaged. But who is at fault when this happens? 5 On Your Side’s Keely Arthur investigated one man’s fight to get a trucking company to pay for the damage to his windshield.  

It's rare in the television news business for a station to be able to tap into the expertise of a reporter who has cultivated sources and instrinsic knowledge of a community for nearly thirty years. Amanda Lamb is just that reporter. She's leaving WRAL at the beginning of 2024 as one of the longest-serving reporters in the station's history. She's also an accomplished author, blogger, and podcaster. In this episode Debra Morgan interviews Amanda about her WRAL career, her thoughts on the future of journalism, and what's next for her. 

Individual and small-group tutoring sessions are helping North Carolina students catch up after falling behind during the Covid-19 pandemic. But the federal funding that pays for the tutoring is nearly gone, and it won’t be coming back. WRAL Education Insider Emily Walkenhorst explains how schools are working to keep the tutoring going.

For Jon Frey, recovery from his alcohol and drug addiction six years ago involved more than just a program, it involved a committment to overall health, a committment to fitness. Frey credits Healing Transitions, a program for men and women struggling with addiction, for getting him on the path to recovery. He credits his dedication to fitness for helping him stay there. Frey is the founder of the Oakwood 24, a 24-hour walk/run in Oakwood cemetery on December 22-23 which raises money for Healing Transitions. 

For the past year, assessors have been evaluating 450,000 residental and commercial properties in Wake County to prepare for new property taxes in early 2024. The last evaluation in 2020 resulted in a 20% hike in taxes. They are likely to climb by an even higher percentage next year. WRAL Investigates reporter Matt Talhelm is covering this issue in multiple reports and joins us in this episode to explain how it all works.