Shoresides

Poet Delthea Simmons had a license, a car on its last legs, and a hometown she loved. What she didn't have was reliable transportation—so she organized her shopping, her work, and eventually her exit from Wilmington around rideshare apps. In this episode, Shoresides asks whether her story is part of a pattern. Lyft driver Jayce Esterline estimates that 60% of pickups on Wilmington's Nort...

Across the country, communities are confronting a new challenge: what happens when the growing demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure collides with local concerns about land, water, energy and quality of life? North Carolina is at the center of that debate, with at least 20 proposed data center projects across the state. In Edgecombe County, residents from across the community have come...

Data showing that the community surrounding Portia Mills Hines Park has the lowest life expectancy in Wilmington is stark. But what does that reality look like up close—and what’s being done about it? In this episode, Shoresides speaks with Dr. Mayra Galeano, the chief medical officer at a clinic close to the problem. She tells us what it's like to provide care in the community. The clinic is...

“New Hanover County has one of the highest shares of households without vehicle access in North Carolina—about 6 percent—according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey,” transportation expert Andrés Otero wrote in an article for WHQR last year. “People without access to a car often include college students, older adults, and others who either cannot afford a vehicle or a...

Recently, the Wilmington StarNews  and Cape Fear Collective dug into Wilmington, N.C.’s life-expectancy gap. It turns out there are similar disparities regarding the city’s pedestrians. “Wilmington consistently has one of the highest annual pedestrian crash rates in NC. From 2011–2020,” says the 2023 Walk Wilmington Pedestrian Plan . The majority of crashes involving pedestrians occurred in areas...

In this episode, Shoresides talks with Vanessa Gonzalez about what it means when people looking for help can’t easily tell the difference between a real attorney and a convincing impersonator — and why immigration law, with its limited pathways and high stakes, is a particularly easy place to run the con. We also hear from Adonia Simpson at the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration ,...

North Carolina’s latest congressional map is part of Republicans’ efforts nationwide to gain more seats in the House of Representatives ahead of the 2026 election.  Right before Thanksgiving, federal judges ruled against local advocacy groups and voters who have challenged the map on the basis of racial gerrymandering. This decision, along with rulings in states like Texas, could be setting a prec...

Ahead of the 2026 Election, North Carolina’s Republican lawmakers — at the request of President Trump — have passed a new congressional map intended to squeeze out one more Republican seat in Congress.  The new map will also make it more difficult for northeastern Black voters to elect their preferred candidate.  In this episode, we break down what’s happening and how it’s playing out in the court...

North Carolina’s Black Belt is a cluster of northeastern counties known for its rich soil and history. And now, it’s the site of one of the most enduring issues in the state: redistricting.  But this isn’t the first time that the region has been redistricted to disenfranchise Black voters. In this episode, we go back to the turn of the 20th century, when white supremacists dismantled “The Black Se...

Wilmington’s trees are disappearing faster than they can be replaced. In this episode Shoresides talks with Executive Director Isabel Shepherd of the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees about what’s driving the loss and how their new Code & Canopy report lays out a path forward. Helpful Links Alliance for Cape Fear Trees — Code & Canopy Report https://www.allianceforcapefeartrees.com New Hanover...

When a million-dollar beach house in the Outer Banks collapses into the surf, it looks like a sudden disaster. But for the people who study coastal risk, it’s anything but. In this episode, we talk with Travis Klondike of NC State’s Coastal Dynamics Design Lab about why. Links: Coastal Dynamics Design Lab (CDDL) at North Carolina State University https://design.ncsu.edu/research/coastal-dynamics-d...

As the effects of H.R. 1 ripple across the country, North Carolinians are feeling the strain of new SNAP work requirements and a month-long government shutdown. In this episode of Shoresides , host Nicolas Magrino speaks with Emily Kraft and Andrea Cherry of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina about how policy uncertainty is reshaping the state’s hunger relief network. Kraft and Ch...

As the holidays approach, sweetpotatoes are finding their way onto tables across America — but nowhere are they more rooted than in North Carolina. For more than half a century, the state has led the nation in sweetpotato production, shaping both its economy and its culture. In this episode, host Layna Hong travels through eastern North Carolina’s fields to uncover why this region is so perfectly...

Take a slow listen to coastal North Carolina. This Shoresides soundscape moves through ordinary places that shape life along the coast — the surf at Wrightsville Beach, a trawler crossing the Intracoastal, a walk through the pines at Carolina Beach, frogs calling from Greenfield Lake, and the background hum of a favorite local restaurant. These everyday sounds trace a portrait of place — familiar,...

Along North Carolina’s coast, shrimping isn’t just an industry — it’s a way of life. This summer, a proposed state ban on shrimp trawling nearly upended that tradition. The measure, added quietly to an unrelated bill, would have outlawed the practice of dragging nets across the sea floor to catch shrimp in the state’s sounds. When word got out, local fishers pushed back — and won. Now, they’re org...

In this episode of Storm Stories , Shoresides talks with Joe Friday—longtime meteorologist, former director of the National Weather Service—about how staffing shortages and fewer weather balloon launches have recently made forecasts less precise, a  dangerous situation with two hurricanes spinning off our Coasts. Friday reflects on the pressure on forecasters, the human connections that make emerg...

In this episode of Shoresides, we talk with sports-betting expert Steve Bittenbender about the impacts of legal mobile sports betting in North Carolina. We explore what betting apps like FanDuel and DraftKings (and their tax dollars) mean for the future of local college basketball teams, like the Seahawks, as well as for residents seeking help with problem gambling. Steve Bittenbender: https://www...

As more people move to the N.C. coast—and winters grow warmer—human encounters with alligators are on the rise in North Carolina. In this episode, Shoresides speaks with John Henry Harrelson, district wildlife biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, about the challenges of “alligator season,” the launch of the new Gator Wise program, and why keeping gators wild is key to k...

This episode, Shoresides captures a pivotal moment in AI policy as North Carolina State Representative Zack Hawkins discusses a federal proposal that would have blocked state-level AI regulation for a decade and drew bipartisan criticism. Speaking to Shoresides during the final hours of budget negotiations—before federal lawmakers would ultimately strip the moratorium from the bill—Hawkins warns a...

When a false shark sighting shut down Carolina Beach, the confusion that followed revealed something deeper: how much we rely on the local National Weather Service office and its communication networks to keep coastal communities safe. In this episode, Shoresides speaks with Stephen Pfaff, meteorologist-in-charge at the NWS-Wilmington, about the challenges of misinformation, the delicate partnersh...

Public radio stations across North Carolina — especially in rural and coastal communities — are facing devastating funding cuts following the passage of the Rescissions Act of 2025. That includes WRVS in Elizabeth City, which could lose up to 70% of its funding. What does that mean for you and your neighbors? No local tornado warnings. No emergency alerts. No hometown voices spinning music, sharin...

When alligators show up in swimming pools, under cars, or at the local Bojangles drive-through, Kate Marshall gets the call. As Southport's jurisdictional alligator handler, she's seen relocations quadruple this year alone. She tells Shoresides all about what it's like. Helpful Links North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission - Alligators NC Wildlife Coexist with Alligators Guide...

Lately, the town of Southport, North Carolina has had some excitement, 20 alligator removals since May, setting a new record. For a resident named Bonner Herring and his trusty Labrador Strike, that almost ended in tragedy. In this episode, Shoresides catches up with them to hear their story and to wonder about the prospect of increased human-alligator conflict in coastal communities. Here are fiv...

In this episode of Shoreside , host Nicholas Merino explores the long-standing struggle for food access in Wilmington’s Northside neighborhood—classified by the USDA as a food desert. But as guest Sierra Washington, Executive Director of the Northside Food Co-Op, explains, “desert” doesn’t begin to capture the systemic inequality at play. Instead, she and many others call it “food apartheid”—the r...

In this final episode of Temperature Check: Coastal Edition , host Natalia Sanchez Loayza steps into one of North Carolina’s most cherished traditions: high school sports . But instead of focusing on touchdowns and rivalries, she takes us behind the scenes to examine how climate change is reshaping the very conditions under which student athletes train and compete. Natalia sits down with Jana Fons...