On Air Today: Falyn Owens of NC Wildlife Resources Commission

Written by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Diplomats from around the world have failed to reach agreement on a United Nations treaty designed to protect marine life on the high seas, after a fifth round of talks ended in impasse. Negotiations at U.N. headquarters in New York were suspended early Saturday following two weeks of talks that […]

This spring, biologists began to hear about songbirds in the eastern part of the country that were sick or dying for unexplained reasons. Now, the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission is asking residents to keep a lookout for these sick birds in their own backyard.

Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party Anderson Clayton joins 97.9 The Hill News Director Brighton McConnell on Wednesday, May 20.

The District 56 representative joined 97.9 The Hill to discuss the bill he's co-sponsoring to explore new ways for funding public schools.

This Week: Graig Meyer is the Executive Director of the NC Justice Center where he will continue to "prioritize decisions and policies that make our state safer, healthier, more fair, and more prosperous". Meyer brings more than a decade of leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly, where he served in the House of Representatives beginning in 2013 and most recently in the State Senate representing Orange, Person, and Caswell Counties. Throughout his legislative career, Meyer championed strong public education, access to health care, economic opportunity for working families, and policies that strengthen communities across the state. Before entering public office, Graig spent sixteen years working in North Carolina’s public schools. A trained social worker and longtime public-school advocate, Graig has focused his public service on helping families connect to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive. 

This Week: Lisa Sorg is the North Carolina reporter for Inside Climate News. A journalist for 30 years, Sorg covers energy, climate environment and agriculture, as well as the social justice impacts of pollution and corporate malfeasance. She has won dozens of awards for her news, public service and investigative reporting. In 2022, she received the Stokes Award from the National Press Foundation for her two-part story about the environmental damage from a former missile plant on a Black and Latinx neighborhood in Burlington. Sorg was previously an environmental investigative reporter at NC Newsline, a nonprofit media outlet based in Raleigh. She has also worked at alt-weeklies, dailies and magazines. Originally from rural Indiana, she lives in Durham, N.C.

This Week: Holly Lux-Sullivan of Heartwood Death Doula & Bereavement Care is a trusted end-of-life guide, grief counselor, and board-certified chaplain with 18 years of experience supporting people through illness. She is a respected death doula whose passion is caring for those at life’s margins, particularly during severe and terminal illness, and normalizing conversations about mortality. An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, she serves people facing the end of life across central North Carolina. HeartwoodDeathDoula.com

North Carolina legislators are pushing to remove 63 LGBTQ-themed books from CHCCS elementary schools, saying they violate state law for being available in libraries.

This Week: Deana Joy has spent her career working in the nonprofit sector with victims of crime. She began by working with victims of sexual violence then, in 2006, she was promoted to Executive Director of a local Children’s Advocacy and Sexual Assault Center. In 2014, Deana began working as the CEO of Children’s Advocacy Centers of North Carolina, the state chapter for Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs). In 2017, Deana became a national accreditation site reviewer for National Children’s Alliance, the accrediting body of Children’s Advocacy Centers. Deana currently serves as the Chair of the Children’s Justice Act for the Governor's Crime Commission and is on the NC Human Trafficking Commission, the NCDHHS Safety Design Team, the central region Citizen Review Panel, and the statewide Mass Violence Committee.

The Japanese candy company Morinaga held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday to celebrate the opening of its expansion Hi-Chew plant in Mebane.