Tagged: News & Observer

  The General Assembly is expected to consider legislation this week that will reform the federal unemployment insurance program. Republican leaders say the changes will help pay back a growing debt the state owes the federal government.

Advocates for workers say they are unnecessary and will push thousands of residents over a financial cliff. News and Observer reporter Mandy Locke joins Frank Stasio to discuss the changes and how it may affect tens of thousands of North Carolina residents.

Today, the News and Observer of Raleigh is putting in place an online paywall — a subscription fee for people who want to read more than 15 articles a month on the paper's website. Host Frank Stasio talks about the changes and the evolving economies of the newspaper business with N&O publisher Orage Quarles, III.

For nearly a quarter century, Steve Ford edited the editorial page at the News and Observer of Raleigh. During that time, he wrote about disgraced politicians, fights over student assignment and a wide array of other issues facing the state and Triangle. Ford retired earlier this month, and today he joins host Frank Stasio to look back at his career and the changing nature of editorial pages.

Negative political advertising has become a mainstay of national and local campaigns, but it wasn’t always this way. North Carolina had a unique role in shaping the evolution of attack advertising. News & Observer political reporter and columnist Rob Christensen talks about North Carolina’s rancorous political ad past with host Frank Stasio.