Under the Dome

On this latest episode for the week of Feb. 5, 2024, host Dawn Vaughan and N&O politics team colleagues Avi Bajpai and Kyle Ingram talk about campaign finance reports, the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration policy, and much more. Stay tuned to the end for our picks for Headliner of the Week. Host: Dawn Vaughan Guests: Avi Bajpai, Kyle Ingram Executive Producer: Laura Brache Video Producer: Kevin K...

On this latest episode for the week of Jan. 29, 2024, Avi Bajpai, Korie Dean, and Kyle Ingram talk about Lee Roberts, the new interim chancellor at UNC-Chapel Hill, and some important discussions that took place at last week’s meeting of the UNC System’s Board of Governors. We also talk about recent developments in a legal challenge against one of the two major elections bills GOP lawmakers passed...

In mid-October, The News & Observer requested communications from all 170 members of the North Carolina General Assembly, after GOP state lawmakers moved to shield all former and current legislators from having to comply with the state’s public records law. Reporting this story involved several steps: filing initial requests, following up with lawmakers, reviewing and processing their records, and...

Snow is expected up in Washington, D.C., in the coming days, but it is unlikely to chill out the gridlock in Congress right now. Capitol Hill correspondent Danielle Battaglia explains the latest drama related to the impending federal government shutdown and what that means going forward. Yearning to be part of that congressional scene are several primary candidates who want to represent North Caro...

In our first episode of the new year, we bring you up to speed with a primary primer. Host Dawn Vaughan is joined by legislative team colleagues Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi and Kyle Ingram to talk about primary ballots. They both recently wrote about the top of the ticket, which will, in the North Carolina primary on March 5, include incumbent President Joe Biden as the only Democrat, and among R...

Our end-of-the-year Under the Dome podcast has the full News & Observer Capitol Press Corps team that covers the General Assembly. That’s host Dawn Vaughan, along with Avi Bajpai, Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi and Kyle Ingram. Listen to hear our list of 10 moments we’ll remember, and the conversation around each news story. Host: Dawn Vaughan Guests: Avi Bajpai, Kyle Ingram, Luciana Pérez Uribe Gui...

In the latest episode, for the week of Dec. 11, 2023, host Dawn Vaughan talks with reporters Korie Dean and Makiya Seminera about political interference in higher education in North Carolina, and how that compares to Florida, another state that has had partisan influence in universities. Host: Dawn Vaughan Guests: Korie Dean, Makiya Seminera Executive Producer: Laura Brache Recording: Kevin Keiste...

In the latest episode, for the week of Dec. 4, 2023, host Dawn Vaughan talks with our Washington, D.C., correspondent Danielle Battaglia. They discuss what we know, and what we don’t, about who will file to run for Congress in North Carolina’s 14 U.S. House districts. Host: Dawn Vaughan Guests: Danielle Battaglia Executive Producer: Laura Brache Video Producer: Kevin Keister For more North Carolin...

In the latest episode, for the week of Nov. 20, 2023, host Dawn Vaughan talks about the latest in the run-up to candidate filing with N&O politics team colleagues Avi Bajpai and Kyle Ingram. Stayed tuned until the end for our picks for Headliner of the Week, which include a Press Corps departure, how to pronounce Gov. Roy Cooper’s last name and a bit of Thanksgiving gratitude. Host: Dawn Vaughan G...

For the week of Nov. 13, 2023, host Dawn Vaughan is joined by News & Observer colleagues Mary Helen Moore, who covers Durham; Tammy Grubb, who covers Orange County; and Kristen Johnson, who covers western Wake County. Big changes on the local government scene arrived with last week’s Election Day. Overall, the three areas still have a common major issue: the cost of housing. Listen to Moore, Grubb...

For the week of Nov. 6, 2023, host Dawn Vaughan is joined by politics team colleague Avi Bajpai and Korie Dean, who covers higher education. Even with the General Assembly out of session, there is still plenty of news in state government and politics to discuss. Both Bajpai and Dean have been covering the latest in HBCU funding. More higher education and politics crossover: why there have been add...

In the latest episode, for the week of Oct. 30, 2023, host Dawn Vaughan sat down with U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, a Raleigh Democrat who just returned from quite the wild time in Congress this past month. Aside from the drawn out election of a Republican House speaker, the big news for the North Carolina congressional delegation, and potential candidates, was passage of new congressional district maps...

In the latest episode, for the week of Oct. 23, 2023, News & Observer Capitol bureau chief and host Dawn Vaughan sat down with state Sen. Benton Sawrey, a Johnston County Republican. Sawrey talks about his beginnings in politics, being a freshman in the supermajority party. He also talks about his first, unsuccessful run for state Senate, how he won in 2022 and why he’s not impacted by redistricti...

For the week of Oct. 16, 2023, News & Observer Capitol bureau chief and podcast host Dawn Vaughan is joined by politics team colleague Kyle Ingram and environment and N&O climate change reporter Adam Wagner. Our discussion centers around power: veto overrides, boards and commission appointments, elections and the environment. The Republicans’ supermajority in the General Assembly gives them the ab...

In the latest episode, for the week of Oct. 9, 2023, host Dawn Vaughan is joined by politics team colleague Kyle Ingram and N&O investigative reporter Tyler Dukes to talk about redistricting and what it means. By the end of the week, the public might get to see some of the new maps drawn by lawmakers for the 2024 General Assembly and congressional races. Stay tuned after the break for our picks fo...

It’s three months late, but today is the day for the long-awaited North Carolina state budget to become law. Dawn Vaughan here, The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief and host of Under the Dome. Along with the budget comes Medicaid expansion. So our guest for this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast for Oct. 2, 2023, is the man leading the major health care change. I talked with N.C....

For the week of Sept. 25, 2023, News & Observer Capitol bureau chief and podcast host Dawn Vaughan is joined (again) by politics team colleagues Avi Bajpai and Kyle Ingram. The General Assembly is full of surprises, not just policy provisions hidden deep in the state budget, but we cover that part, too. This past week brought the final, actually here, budget deal, and casinos weren’t in it. Within...

In the latest episode, for the week of Sept. 18, 2023, Dawn Vaughan, your News & Observer Capitol bureau chief and podcast host, is joined by politics team colleagues Avi Bajpai and Kyle Ingram. As much as everyone — especially state employees and teachers waiting on raises — wished for final budget votes last week, they didn’t happen. Will they happen this week? Don’t hold your breath. After the...

For the week of Sept. 11, 2023, News & Observer Capitol bureau chief and podcast host Dawn Vaughan is joined by politics team colleagues Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi and Avi Bajpai to talk about the potential for the long-awaited, much anticipated arrival of the state budget. Stayed tuned to the end for their picks for Headliner of the Week, which range from political soda to the weather to downto...

For the week of Sept. 4, 2023, News & Observer Capitol bureau chief and podcast host Dawn Vaughan talks about the future of sports gambling in North Carolina with Scott Ward, vice president of the Sports Betting Alliance. The alliance is comprised of sports betting companies Draft Kings, FanDuel, BetMGM and Fanatics Sportsbook. After the break, Korie Dean, who covers higher education, and politics...

For the week of Aug. 28, 2023, News & Observer Capitol bureau chief and podcast host Dawn Vaughan talks with retired UNC Chapel Hill history professor Reginald Hildebrand and N.C. Sen. Natalie Murdock about the new North Carolina Freedom Park in downtown Raleigh. Hildebrand and Murdock, who both served key roles on the park’s planning, discuss the site selection to why “I Can’t Breathe,” the words...

For the week of Aug. 21, 2023, News & Observer Capitol bureau chief and podcast Dawn Vaughan talks with N&O politics team colleagues Kyle Ingram and Korie Dean about the busy one-day voting session last week — from the veto overrides of bills about transgender youth and athletes to new bills. Stay tuned to the end for their picks for Headliner of the Week. Spoilers: they range from new music to th...

For the week of Aug. 14, 2023, News & Observer Capitol bureau chief and podcast host Dawn Vaughan talks with Suzanne Beasley, the government relations director for the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC). She’s been through delayed budgets before, which means a delay in raises for tens of thousands of state employees. But it’s not just about the wait on raises, according to Beasl...

For the week of Aug. 7, 2023, N&O politics reporter Kyle Ingram is podcast host for Dawn Vaughan. First up is a look into the North Carolina Speaker of the House position, which longtime Speaker Tim Moore recently said he does not plan to run for again. After the break, DC Correspondent Danielle Battaglia joins to discuss former President Donald Trump’s latest criminal indictment. Plus, stick to t...

For the week of July 31, 2023, we broke down our episode into two segments. First up are two of our local government reporters, because while statewide elections are more than a year away, local ones are coming up this fall. After the break, I’m joined by our summer politics interns: Makiya Seminera with The N&O and Jazper Lu with NC Insider, one of our two daily politics newsletters. Host: Dawn V...