The Kicker from Carolina Public Press The Kicker from Carolina Public Press

Stephanie Carson talks with Jordan Wilkie, reporter at Carolina Public Press, Leah Kang, staff attorney at the ACLU of NC, and Taleed El-Sabawi, assistant professor of law at Elon University School of Law about conditions in North Carolina's prison system, specifically related to COVID-19.

2020 is a year few of us will forget, but other than COVID-19, what stores are top of mind for our news team at Carolina Public Press? Managing editor Frank Taylor sits down with host Stephanie Carson to discuss the stories of note for this year.

Each year, North Carolina designates the 40 most economically distressed counties as tier one, a middle group of 40 counties with some signs of distress as tier two and the 20 most economically well-off counties as tier three.

The N.C. Department of commerce released the annual tier rankings Nov. 30.

On this week's show, Carolina Public Press's Capitol Bureau Chief, Kirk Ross who closely follows these rankings; and Nathan Ramsey, Executive Director of Land of Sky Regional Council.

Did you ever think eating in a restaurant would be a novelty? On this week’s Kicker by Carolina Public Press we talk about the impact the pandemic is having on the industry. Lynn Minges, president and CEO of the NC Restaurant & Lodging Association; and Katie Button, CEO of Katie Button Restaurants.

In this week’s kicker by Carolina Public Press, we talk to Alisa Chapman, executive director, Association of Teacher Educators and Chasity Robinson, Former Cumberland County Teacher.
Some educators are at least temporarily leaving the profession because of the pressures of virtual schools, or fears of contracting the virus from in-person instruction, and for many the added demands of educating their own children.
These stresses fall on top of problems that existed before the pandemic that included low teacher pay, and long hours.

On this week's Kicker, Jess Stanford, demographic analyst with Carolina Demography at the UNC Population Center talks with host Stephanie Carson about what we can learn from the state's election turnout trends, and what is at stake as we await returns of the 2020 Census.