Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits with Gov. Roy Cooper in Raleigh, and two members of North Carolina congressional delegation travel to Ukraine for meetings with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The North Carolina Supreme Court keeps busy with cases on charter schools, voter fraud and alleged racism in local government. Plus the latest updates from EPA Secretary Michael Regan's trip to Fayetteville to talk PFAS, and what NC House Speaker Tim Moore had to say about budget priorities as t...
Apr 12, 2024•21 min
WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL State Government Reporter Will Doran discuss a surge in teacher turnover in North Carolina public schools, and the end of coverage of weight-loss drugs by the State Health Plan. Plus, diversity, equity and inclusion in the UNC system could be in lawmakers' crosshairs this session.
Apr 05, 2024•22 min
WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL State Government Reporter Will Doran talk about the terror watchlist suspect whose North Carolina arrest could turn into a referendum on immigration policy, plus the growing national attention on comments made by 2024 candidates Mark Robinson and Michele Morrow. They also discuss updates on the recount and election protests still delaying official results in a closely contested state legislative race.
Mar 22, 2024•23 min
Donald Trump leads Joe Biden in North Carolina their potential 2024 rematch for president, a new WRAL News poll found. But Republicans don't have the same lead in the race for governor, pitting Democratic nominee for governor Josh Stein against Republican nominee Mark Robinson. In a close primary for a state legislative seat, the Democratic incumbent who appears to have lost is now alleging political shenanigans and "irregularities" may be cause for further investigation. Michele Morrow is makin...
Mar 15, 2024•26 min
In Season 3 of A Brief History of Triangle Sports, Brian Murphy from WRAL News and Tim Donnelly from 99.9 The Fan explore the history of sports betting in North Carolina. Mobile sports betting is legal today but getting to this point wasn’t easy. Brian and Tim cover the legislative twists and turns on the road to legal sports gambling and how NC’s “new normal” will change sports and sports fans going forward. All four episodes are available now. Find Season 3 of A Brief History of Triangle Sport...
Mar 14, 2024•6 min
The week's primary elections brought a spate of upsets by populist conservatives, and that's got the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce concerned. WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and State Government Reporter Will Doran look at the biggest surprises and their potential repercussions in November.
Mar 08, 2024•18 min
WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL Sports Investigative Reporter Brian Murphy bring you a roundup of the week's crazy election stories, the go-live date for sports betting sites in North Carolina, and a rough week on Jones Street for a couple of Cooper administration leaders.
Mar 01, 2024•19 min
Dark money seeps into North Carolina primary races from some unexpected places. The decades-old Leandro public education lawsuit is back in court. And state historians unveil research into the enslaved people who built the state capitol building. WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL State Government Reporter Will Doran break down the week in North Carolina politics.
Feb 23, 2024•28 min
President Joe Biden came to Raleigh to talk broadband internet investments and "Bidenomics" before grabbing a milkshake with Gov. Roy Cooper. WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL State Government Reporter Will Doran discuss how it foreshadows the messaging we'll be seeing from both sides in the 2024 presidential campaign. The GOP primaries for two wide-open congressional seats are also heating up. Plus, insurance companies are asking for a big hike to homeowners rates, and people are ...
Jan 19, 2024•25 min
On this week's episode of The Wrap, WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL State Government Reporter Will Doran have the latest on the multiple lawsuits against the state's new voting maps. Plus: Lawmakers' latest attempts to rein in the power of HOAs, and a look at who's campaigning in North Carolina this week.
Jan 13, 2024•19 min
With another year nearly over we ask: Who won 2023? WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and State Government Reporter Travis Fain have lots of thoughts, and now you're gonna hear about them! Plus: Another redistricting lawsuit, a candidacy challenge in Wake County and blowback on the push to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot. We also turn our attention to 2024, predicting North Carolina's casino debate will return and that the state's child care shortage will demand attention....
Dec 22, 2023•28 min
The 2024 primaries are set, and several people surprised North Carolina political observers by opting not to run. Also: There's another Mark Robinson in North Carolina politics now, and this one's a Democrat. Plus: Out with the old and in with the new (again) in the UNC chancellor's office. WRAL state government reporters Travis Fain and Will Doran break down the week that was in state politics.
Dec 15, 2023•32 min
UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz is out at UNC-Chapel Hill, reopening North Carolina's long-running conversation on political meddling and fair governance in the state's university system. Plus: It's election filing season! Listen to WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL State Government Reporter Travis Fain read a long list of names as candidates sign up for key races. And: Is Jesus Christ going to bring down retribution on Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's political opponents? Tune in.
Dec 08, 2023•31 min
North Carolina on Friday became the 40th state to expand Medicaid, opening the health insurance program to 600,000 people — many of them the working poor. It brings a multibillion-dollar infusion for the state's health care providers. Also: Gov. Roy Cooper tapped Democratic up-and-comer Jessica Holmes, a former Wake County commissioner, for state auditor's job, which opened after the current auditor decided to resign in the wake of a charge for misusing a state vehicle. WRAL state government rep...
Dec 01, 2023•32 min
State Auditor Beth Wood was indicted this week, accused of using publicly owned vehicles for personal errands — a charge that grew out of the scrutiny she received after wrecking a state-owned car after a December holiday party. After Tuesday’s indictment, Wood, who at one point this year said she planned to run for reelection, announced that she'll resign instead, effective Dec. 15. Also: Democrats rolled in local elections, and new candidates have announced statewide runs ahead of next month's...
Nov 10, 2023•24 min
North Carolina lawmakers returned to the legislative building this week, maybe for the last time this year, and passed new election maps. Now we wait for the lawsuits. And speaking of lawsuits: A major one is in court next week as Gov. Roy Cooper fights to block the Republican legislative majority from taking away key state appointments. WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and State Government Reporter Travis Fain break down all that and more on this week's episode of The Wrap.
Oct 27, 2023•21 min
The political power play that is redistricting got underway again this week. North Carolina lawmakers will likely have fully approved maps by next week. WRAL state government reporters Travis Fain and Will Doran break down who wins, and who loses, under the newly proposed voting districts. Plus: More lawsuits, more forever chemicals coming to North Carolina, and a child care funding cliff.
Oct 20, 2023•31 min
Lawmakers gathered again in Raleigh Tuesday to override Gov. Roy Cooper's vetoes on five bills, taking the Republican supermajority's override record this year to 19-0. But a resolution on the conflict between Israel and Hamas that some North Carolina Democrats refused to sign dominated the discourse this week. Also: Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's press conference supporting Israel forces him to address his past comments on the holocaust. And the 2024 game of musical chairs is getting underway as lawm...
Oct 13, 2023•25 min
The Wrap turns its attention to Washington, D.C., this week, where the U.S. House of Representatives deposed its speaker and a bow-tied, beer-brewing North Carolinian ended up with the gavel. Plus: The new state budget is law, state lawmakers gather next week for veto overrides and there's another elections lawsuit, with more sure to come. WRAL state government reporters Travis Fain and Will Doran break it down.
Oct 06, 2023•32 min
After months of closed-door talks, leaks and rumors, North Carolina has a new state budget packed with priorities backed by the legislature’s Republican majority. In the end, a long-discussed deal to legalize new casinos in the state fell apart. But stay tuned next year; that conversation is sure to return. WRAL state government reporters Travis Fain and Paul Specht walk through what’s in the budget, what’s not, some surprise bills that popped up this week — and why one lawmaker found himself in...
Sep 22, 2023•37 min
State budget talks — including negotiations over a heavily lobbied gambling expansion — broke down this week between the House and Senate. Senate leadership says the House broke its deal. House leadership says the Senate demands just won't pass. Everyone went to their corners for a while, and now that talks have resumed it's not clear when North Carolina will have a new state budget. Plus: Guns on college campuses, election bills and the first 2024 gubernatorial debate. WRAL state government rep...
Sep 15, 2023•31 min
WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL Sports Investigative Reporter Brian Murphy talk about the push and pull over casinos and video slot machines in lawmakers' negotiations over the state budget. Will the fight over expanding gambling in North Carolina delay the budget another week? Plus, election changes and drama at the State Board of Education.
Sep 08, 2023•13 min
House Republicans plan to gather behind closed doors Tuesday for a meeting that may go a long way toward deciding whether North Carolina's General Assembly authorizes four new casinos and legalizes video poker machines. Plus: Accusations of bias at the state's highest court, lots of campaign donations flowing as lawmakers weigh gambling and medical marijuana bills, and lots of jockeying as political hopefuls mull 2024 political runs. WRAL state government reporters Travis Fain and Will Doran bre...
Sep 01, 2023•23 min
It sounds like state lawmakers are hammering out final budget details ahead of a vote during the week of Sept. 11. What does that mean for Medicaid expansion? WRAL reporters Travis Fain and Brian Murphy get into it. Also: More national coverage for Mark Robinson and his conspiracy theories, casino plans roll on, and why Democrats may soon have another candidate in the 2024 governor's race.
Aug 25, 2023•33 min
The North Carolina General Assembly continues to work in fits and starts, churning through veto overrides and a handful of other bills after weeks of calm. Now it looks we're in another dead period with few answers about the overdue state budget. Meanwhile, a fight looms over the continued push to add casinos and expand legal gambling in the state. WRAL state government reporters Will Doran and Travis Fain break down the week that was in North Carolina politics.
Aug 18, 2023•32 min
A clash over concealed weapons training, and why a national group's bid to get on the 2024 ballot in NC could be in trouble. WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL State Government Reporter Will Doran look at the week that was — get you up to speed on the week ahead — in North Carolina politics.
Aug 12, 2023•19 min
In the course of one legislative session, North Carolina may go from having heavy limits on gambling to allowing sports gambling on cell phones, slot-machine-style machines in restaurants and gas stations and four new casinos. WRAL News reporters Travis Fain and Brian Murphy break down the latest. Plus: state budget news, education policy, a roundup of 2024 political candidates. And are Republican lawmakers about to blow a $13 billion hole in the budget?
Jul 21, 2023•31 min
With North Carolina lawmakers deadlocked, and vacations looming, it looks like a state budget vote won't come until at least August at the General Assembly. Meanwhile, not much is moving, but we keep hearing about a major push to build new casinos in the state. WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL State Government Reporter Travis Fain break it all down in your weekly look at North Carolina politics.
Jul 14, 2023•24 min
In terms of drama, North Carolina politics did not disappoint this week. A federal judge said most of North Carolina's new abortion law can go into effect. The legislature passed multiple LGBTQ bills. A powerful state senator pulled a parliamentary manuever to save his medical marijuana bill, the power struggle continues atop the SBI and the U.S. Supreme Court decided two major cases this week out of North Carolina.
Jun 30, 2023•27 min
Speaker of the House Tim Moore's love life — central to allegations in a new lawsuit against him — sucked a lot of the oxygen out of the room this week at the General Assembly. But the session kept on trucking. Republican lawmakers dropped a surprise abortion bill that looks like it's aimed at derailing a federal lawsuit. Major voting bills moved forward. So did bills limiting care for transgender teens and banning transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams. The state budget...
Jun 23, 2023•30 min
