During a Sunday morning in Wilson, NC, Chris Breslin was standing on a pitcher’s mound at his son’s little league game when he heard three sounds close by he’d never heard before. Then everybody on the field hit the ground.

Teachers are leaving in large numbers in some North Carolina school districts. They say they’ve been working with low pay and high expectations for years. But when the pandemic put their routines on pause, they had time to think about their priorities. Host Liz Schlemmer heard stories from three teachers this summer.

This month marks 67 years since Emmett Till was brutally lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Activists in North Carolina are joining the calls for authorities to serve a nearly 70-year-old arrest warrant against the woman who accused him.

In this rebroadcast from January 18, 2022, Howard Dudley and Joe Neff, former investigative reporter for the News & Observer, recount Dudley’s wrongful conviction.

In May, an explosive report on sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy in the Southern Baptist Convention made national headlines. Now, survivors of abuse and their advocates are continuing to question what this means for one of the country’s largest Christian denominations. Host Anisa Khalifa talks with Jules Woodson, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse, and Kate Shellnut, senior news editor at Christianity Today magazine.

In this rebroadcast from March 31, 2022, host Will Michaels speaks with Phoebe Zerwick, former reporter with the Winston-Salem Journal, about her new book chronicling Darryl Hunt's story of wrongful conviction, "Beyond Innocence."

A notable number of North Carolina public school teachers are leaving. In Durham, one in five educators is departing, and other local districts are experiencing higher than usual turnover. On this episode of Tested, we’re featuring the Politics Podcast from WUNC, which recently spoke with several teachers about their reasons for leaving the classroom, while others explain why they have stayed.

In this rebroadcast from February 15, 2022, host Leoneda Inge talks with Tara Roberts, explorer with National Geographic, about Roberts work diving and documenting the wreckage of slave ships. Special thanks to National Geographic for providing some of this episode’s audio.

On June 30, 2009, in Greenville, N.C., two men were shot and killed outside a nightclub. Murder charges against James Richardson relied heavily on a surveillance video. But evidence that has come to light since then casts doubt on his conviction. Host Will Michaels speaks with Pam Kelley, a freelance journalist who recently wrote about the case for The Assembly.

In this rebroadcast from February 10, 2022, host Jason deBruyn speaks with Louise Vincent with N.C. Survivors Union and Michelle Mathis with Olive Branch Ministries about how test strips and other harm reduction strategies could save lives.

As Anita Rao’s home state becomes the nearest safe provider for millions of people, she's observing how abortion providers in North Carolina are preparing for the spike in demand. She reconnects with one of them, Dr. Rathika Nimalendran, who has been providing access to abortions in North Carolina for years, to talk about what action she's taking in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In this rebroadcast from February 1, 2022, host Anisa Khalifa takes a look into who bans books, why, and what kind of impact it has on our communities.

WUNC health and data reporter Jason deBruyn talks with Claire Donnelly, health reporter for WFAE, about abortion policy in North Carolina and what lies ahead in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling. Part this episode contains audio from WRAL

In this rebroadcast from November 24, 2021, host Lindsay Foster Thomas showcases WUNC military reporter Jay Price’s recent story about the seminal court case Keys v Carolina Coach Co, and the work of middle school social studies teacher Rodney Pierce in amplifying Keys’ legacy.

Leoneda Inge hears from Black farmers in the Triangle about their perseverance to bounce back during the pandemic and help the Black agricultural community.

Host Celeste Gracia talks with fishermen, wind energy advocates and state regulators about the questions that remain in North Carolina's advancements toward offshore wind farms.

Charlie Shelton-Ormond talks with Jay Price, WUNC military reporter, about the Marine Corps effort to protect the buildings at Montford Point and preserve the first Black Marines’ legacy.

Leoneda Inge reflects on her son's recent college graduation and speaks with Rebecca Stallworth Inge about being celebrated as the oldest graduate at Shaw University in the Class of 2022

For folks who live on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, keeping up with storm patterns is a pretty common routine. But in recent years, keeping a watchful eye on the horizon has meant bracing for more severe damage to the coast.

This year’s primary elections in North Carolina were supposed to be in March. But a group of voters challenged the latest round of redistricting in court, arguing Republicans gave themselves an illegal partisan advantage. Now the new maps are in place, and the elections are set. They just need candidates.

There's been a lot of talk about the political ramifications of the U.S. Supreme Court potentially overturning Roe v. Wade, but we wanted to explore what the decision would mean for women's health, particularly in North Carolina.

In North Carolina, local social service departments are able to skirt hiring standards set by the state. In some cases, an unqualified director and lack of oversight have severely affected families' wellbeing.

You may recognize some of the big names in gospel music like Kirk Franklin and Yolanda Adams, but these stars follow in the wake of the Queen of Gospel: Durham-native Pastor Shirley Caesar.

Life is getting back to normal. But some doctors estimate that 30% of people who contracted the coronavirus will experience symptoms associated with "long-COVID." Some have had to drastically change their lives to deal with these symptoms, and doctors are still learning about how to treat these patients.

Teacher turnover. Burnout. Short-staffed schools. After two years in a pandemic, for many people, life is getting back to normal. But schools are not back to normal.

Among aficionados and fans of bluegrass, it's generally accepted that this quintessentially American genre of music was born in Nashville, Tennessee and was introduced by Earl Scruggs. But it's Kentuckian Bill Monroe who is known as the "Father of Bluegrass," not Scruggs. And just before Monroe went to the Grand Ole Opry, in 1939, he was performing regularly for a live 15-minute show called Mountain Music Time on WWNC, in Asheville, North Carolina.

It was one year ago that sheriff’s deputies in Pasquotank County shot and killed Andrew Brown, Junior in Elizabeth City. Today, the small town in eastern North Carolina is at a crossroads. Elizabeth City and its surrounding community are on the brink of local elections that could determine which road they take.

It was one year ago that sheriff’s deputies in Pasquotank County shot and killed Andrew Brown, Jr. The deputies were trying to serve arrest warrants on drug charges. They repeatedly fired into Brown’s car as he tried to steer it away from his home in Elizabeth City, N.C. Over the next two episodes of Tested, we'll take you down Highway 17 to where Elizabeth City stands one year later.

Anyone who’s been to the Outer Banks knows that it’s windy out there. Like, really windy. That wind might be rough for beachgoers or kayakers, but it's great for producing electricity through offshore wind farms.

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority group native to Myanmar, have suffered decades of ethnic cleansing by the country's government. Five years after a deadly peak in violence, the United Stated has finally declared it genocide. But what will this mean for the Rohingya, often called the most persecuted group in the world?

Darryl Hunt spent nearly 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. The people who wrote about and read about his case in the papers were stunned at Hunt’s willingness to forgive the people in a system that had failed him so miserably. But while many had heard about his grace and humility, few knew that Hunt was quietly suffering.

Through a one-person play, North Carolina actor and playwright Mike Wiley has taken the story of Emmett Till across the world. Now, his play carries an even deeper resonance in the wake of the recent Emmett Till Antilynching Act.

Education reporter Liz Schlemmer joins host Anisa Khalifa to discuss what happened when a Black cultural center at UNC-Chapel Hill canceled the exhibition of a Black artist. Cornell Watson, who created a photo series about Black life at UNC-CH for the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, describes the experience as censorship.

Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn has garnered a lot of attention for himself, mostly as a full-throated supporter of Donald Trump and a rabble rouser at hard-right political rallies. But a group of voters recently sought to prevent him from running again.

The Market House in Fayetteville has been a pillar of public discussion for generations. Today, the city continues to grapple with the presence and purpose of the historical landmark.

Depending on where you live, your community may have ended its mandate to wear a mask in public. But the pandemic isn't over and vulnerable people can still get sick or die. So what is our responsibility to the greater good?

A century or so ago, in Winston-Salem, racial segregation was in full force. Black people in the city were not allowed to live in certain areas, eat in certain places, and the city's trolley system did not extend into Black neighborhoods. That last reality sparked a vital solution: Safe Bus – a Black-owned and operated transportation system. WFDD’s David Ford recounts the remarkable story of Safe Bus.

Leoneda Inge reports on the new Black Carolinians Speak project from the African American Heritage Commission and the State Archives, which documents the pandemic stories of African Americans in North Carolina.

In 1992, Eva Clayton became the first Black woman from North Carolina elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Now, at 87 years old, Clayton is keeping her finger on the pulse of North Carolina politics.

It’s been more than three years since Marcus Smith died at the hands of police officers in Greensboro. Now, his family is coming to the end of a long and arduous road after a settlement with the City of Greensboro.

More than 150 years after the emancipation of slavery in America, a team of dedicated scuba divers is busy excavating and restoring wreckage from slave ships that sank across the Middle Passage.

Extremely potent substances like fentanyl and xylazine have flooded the illegal drug market, causing a major increase in overdose ER visits and deaths. Harm reduction policies could help reverse that trend.

In the South, sports betting is largely illegal, but since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a nationwide ban, more states are joining the pool. North Carolina could be next.

The “Pharaoh of Fabulosity” was an unstoppable force of fashion. André Leon Talley’s influence branched across the globe during his illustrious career – one that began in his hometown of Durham, N.C.

Across the nation, we've seen a spike in book challenges and bans in both school and public libraries in the last six months, mostly targeting books that center race and LGBT identity. At the end of 2021, Wake County had its own high-profile censorship controversy.

At this point in the pandemic, health care workers across the country are arguably under more pressure than ever. Some are getting sick themselves or burning out and leaving. But there are signs that COVID trends could turn for the better soon.

As a major redistricting cases lands before the North Carolina supreme court, calls are growing louder for some justices to recuse themselves. Today on Tested, we are highlighting an episode of the WUNC Politics Podcast in which three former state judges talk about the issue of recusal - and the importance of judicial independence.

Electric vehicles are getting more popular, but North Carolina is still well short of Gov. Roy Cooper's goal of having 1.25 million EVs on the road by 2030. What would it take to get there?

Howard Dudley spent nearly 24 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. Now his long journey toward justice has reached new heights

Host Will Michaels gets an update on the Omicron surge from WUNC reporter Jason deBruyn, and then explores how the state is responding with Kody Kinsley, the new secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

The last year continued to bring deep-seated issues of systemic racism and inequality to the surface. Oh, and there was also a pandemic. But despite its challenges, 2021 still had cause for celebration.

Nearly 20,000 North Carolinians have died of complications from COVID-19. Among them are caregivers; people whom others - including their children - depended on for their own health and safety, but who were fatally sickened by a relentless virus.

Tested takes a look back at the year in military stories from North Carolina, including the end of the nation's longest war.

Tested takes a look back at what happened this year in environmental news in North Carolina.

A year-end-sports review typically revolves around remembering the highs and lows of what happened on a field, or a court, or a pitch, but this year, the most compelling and noteworthy sports events in North Carolina happened when two men in their 70s decided to make some life changes.

Tested takes a look back at the year in education in North Carolina.

Tested takes a look back at the year in health care in North Carolina.

Tested takes another look back at the year in Politics in North Carolina. On this episode: redistricting.

Tested takes a look back at the year in politics in North Carolina.

Host Dave DeWitt talks to Celeste Gracia, WUNC's environment reporter, and David Boraks, climate reporter at WFAE, about the wood pellet industry in North Carolina.

People moving from one residence to another is up nationwide by about 3 percent. But in hot markets, like many across North Carolina, moving rates are up well into the double digits.

Durham County plans to build a new youth detention center for an estimated 30 million dollars. But people in the community are skeptical about more dollars being put toward detainment for juveniles.

Host Dave DeWitt looks back at Dr. Mandy Cohen's legacy as North Carolina's DHHS Secretary - and what's next in the pandemic - with WUNC Health Reporter Jason deBruyn.

As teacher vacancies continue to create problems, public schools in North Carolina are having a particularly hard time filling positions for special education.

Today on Tested, we introduce to our listeners the fantastic new podcast from WUNC: Me & My Muslim Friends

Nearly seven decades after a Black Army private named Sarah Keys helped end discrimination on interstate buses, North Carolina is recognizing her nearly-forgotten civil rights case.

Annual reports for university endowments are starting to come in and, in many cases, are indicating impressive gains in the last year. So what are universities' responsibility and parameters for using this money after a year of budget cuts?

Host Will Michaels digs deep into the North Carolina state budget to unpack what's really in it for education and health care with WUNC reporters Liz Schlemmer and Jason deBruyn.

WUNC's Jeff Tiberii, Rusty Jacobs, and Will Michaels dissect the proposed North Carolina state budget.

When counties consider building or expanding a jail, are they adequately weighing the potential benefits with the long term costs?

COVID-19 booster shots and starting to become widely available in North Carolina. Meanwhile, doses for young children have been released, and about 40 percent of the state's population remains unvaccinated.

The $5.5 billion North Carolina schools got in COVID relief funds is the single highest boost to K-12 funding in state history. But there are rules on how they can spend it and challenges in getting some projects off the ground.

In early November, lawmakers at the General Assembly passed the latest version of congressional and state legislative voting maps. But as legislators deliberated over district lines, they used data that included a group who are counted, despite being barred from the ballot box.

Host Dave DeWitt speaks with Kyle Villemain, the Editor In Chief of The Assembly, about his profile of UNC System President Peter Hans.

On April 21, 2021, deputies with the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office shot and killed 42-year old Andrew Brown, Jr., an unarmed Black man, in Elizabeth City, N.C. Six months later, have any law enforcement policies changed?

Host Dave DeWitt checks in on the very latest in North Carolina redistricting with WUNC political reporter Rusty Jacobs

The North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro has administered first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to 33 of its animals.

Part four in a four-part series that examines redistricting in North Carolina

Most people want nothing to do with rats. They're pests, vermin with voracious appetites. But they're also clever, adaptable and so pervasive around the world, it's easy to forget that, in most places, rats are an invasive species.

Part three in a four-part series that examines redistricting in North Carolina

Most childcare facilities operate around parents and guardians who work some version of a 9-5 job. But not all. With help from our friends at the podcast Embodied, we learn about 24-hour childcare providers who answer the call, and the diversity of needs, for parents who travel or clock in on second and third shift schedules. | Power the future of public radio with a contribution at wunc.org/give.

Meet the newest podcast in WUNC's on-demand portfolio: Me & My Muslim Friends. The show explores nuances of identity within Muslim communities across the nation and the world. In this episode, host Yasmin Bendaas discusses a population of Muslims that is underrepresented in mainstream portrayals of Islam — Latinx converts to the faith. | Power the future of public radio with a contribution at wunc.org/give.

Part two in a four-part series that examines redistricting in North Carolina

WUNC's Kamaya Truitt talks with Mitchell Silver, former city planner for Raleigh, about the city's growth in the last decade, and how policies like zoning laws influence that community growth.

The North Carolina Watchdog Reporting Network examined COVID-19 policies in North Carolina’s school districts as we approach two months into this new year. And they found wide disparities in the way that districts across the state are choosing to protect their students.

In this crossover episode, the WUNC Politics Podcast presents part one in a four-part series examining redistricting in North Carolina.

The Raleigh city council is considering a change to its zoning laws that would open the doors for more corner stores across the city.

Pauli Murray was ahead of her time. The Durham-based activist was a tireless hero for social justice, a battle-ready solider against racism and sexism, and a spiritual mentor for today's justice advocates.

The longleaf pine is an iconic tree species in North Carolina. It once covered 90 million acres across the Southeastern U.S.