CarolinaCast

CarolinaCast: PNC Arena hosts LCL, a popular Esports tournament

May 22, 2023 William Christensen

Esports, or competitive gaming, is an increasingly popular pastime across the world. Every year, new games enter the competitive scene and live events continue to grow in attendance. Recently, PNC arena was the host of one such event, the League of Legends Championship series.

CarolinaCast: The changing of the guard at the Stone Center, UNC’s hub for Black cultural expression

May 19, 2023 Denise Stroud

The Sonja Hayes Stone Center for Black Culture and History is UNC’s hub for Black issues and cultural expression on campus. The former director, Joseph Jordan, has now handed the role to Laronda Manigold Bryant.

Carolina Connection’s Denise Stroud talked with both Jordan and Bryant to discuss what the role means and what the future of the Stone Center looks like.

CarolinaCast: ‘We’re human beings’: Homeless Chapel Hill residents ask for kindness, respect

May 17, 2023 William Christensen

Since the early 1960s, the Inter-Faith Council has worked to provide food and supplies to struggling citizens in Chapel Hill and Orange County. Today that work continues, and it’s more necessary than ever as citizens grapple with economic issues stemming from the pandemic.

Carolina Connection’s Will Christensen went to the IFC SECU Community House Shelter to speak to some of these people and hear their stories.

CarolinaCast: Anthony James is passionate about DEI – a concept that is increasingly controversial

April 28, 2023 Denise Stroud

Anthony James joins the UNC-Chapel Hill community as the first Director of DEI (or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) for two schools – the School of Education and the School of Information and Library Science.

CarolinaCast: When the world of politics meets the world of education

April 13, 2023 Hannah Noel, Sophie Mallinson and William Christensen

We discuss two politically-charged education topics: a bill in the N.C. legislature that would regulate how sexual identity is discussed in the public schools, and the plan to create UNC’s new School of Civic Life and Leadership.

CarolinaCast: North Carolina BBQ restaurants are changing some of their longest held traditions

March 29, 2023 William Christensen and Christian Phillips

Barbecue is one of the best-known and well liked foods in North Carolina, and many agree that the best way to cook it is over wood. However, wood-cooking BBQ restaurants have been closing rapidly in the past decade.

CarolinaCast: Cornell Watson talks about ‘Tarred Healing’

March 13, 2023 Lorelai Sykes

Nearly a year since UNC canceled the showing of the controversial photography exhibition “Tarred Healing,” the photos are on display at the National Civil Rights Museum.
On this edition of “Carolina Cast,” photographer Cornell Watson joins Carolina Connection’s Lorelai Skyes to discuss Tarred Healing and the controversy.

CarolinaCast: Recent initiatives aim to reduce inequality in Chapel Hill’s housing market

February 24, 2023 William Christensen and Lorelai Sykes

One of Chapel Hill’s most consistent problems is a lack of affordable housing for students and residents alike. But it’s not a new issue. In this edition of CarolinaCast, Will Christensen and Lorelai Sykes discuss the history of racial discrimination in the housing market and recent initiatives to make housing more inclusive in the area

CarolinaCast: 25 years after it started, the Leandro education funding case awaits an N.C. Supreme Court decision

December 9, 2022 Walter Reinke and William Christensen

In 1997, the NC Supreme Court delivered a decision in the original Leandro case. The decision said that every North Carolinian has a constitutional right to a sound, basic education. More than 20 years later, the Leandro case was back before the N.C. Supreme Court this fall.

This time, the issue in the case is whether the judicial branch can force the Legislature to fund a plan that would seek to address inequity in public education funding.

In this edition of CarolinaCast, Walter Reinke discusses the case with William Christensen.

CarolinaCast: The cost of living is going up, but UNC graduate stipends are falling behind

November 2, 2022 Jailyn Neville and Brianna Atkinson

Graduate students at UNC-Chapel Hill say their cost of living exceeds the stipends they receive for teaching and research assistance. UNC professors and administrators say they support higher stipends, but the final decision is in the hands of the N.C. Legislature and the UNC System Board of Governors. On this edition of the Carolina Connection podcast, reporter Jailyn Neville talks with Brianna Atkinson about what graduate students are doing to fight for a stipend increase.