This year, WHQR's Cape Fear Conversation series is taking a closer look at the four focus areas of the New Hanover Community Endowment. First up, community development. It's a board area that includes a lot of different facets, but for this forum we focused on housing.

On this episode, WHQR's Rachel Keith helps unpack the latest work from New Hanover County Schools' Turnaround Task Force. The group has been generating some actionable ideas that could see local funding — but the district as a whole still faces challenges, including increased market pressures as it struggles against charter and private schools for public funding. Plus, we hear from some student leaders who are trying to bring their own perspective — and some valuable data — to tough conversations in the district.

Walk-on Day? Falling Cadillacs? Multi-million dollar politics? There's a lot to unpack when it comes to the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge (in fact, when it comes to bridges over the river, in general). On today's show, as we brace for a traffic nightmare, we add some context and historical backstory to the weedy world of bridges.

In the past year or so in New Hanover County, we’ve seen public officials pushing back on the homeless population, even as it grows because of our housing crisis. As homeless individuals are pushed into the margins of the community, and into the woods, the justice system continues to interact with the unhoused.On this week's episode, we’ll dig deep into the many ways the police, courts, and judges interact with the unhoused, in ways that help, and in ways that harm. It’s an exploration of the criminalization of homelessness, and the compassionate court systems that may offer a helping hand, and not just shackles.

On this episode, WHQR News Director Ben Schachtman reflects on the past year with Kelly Kenoyer, Rachel Keith, Nikolai Mather, and Camille Mojica.

On Monday, the New Hanover Community Endowment announced its second grant cycle: this round features much larger, multi-year grants that take on systemic issues. But the rollout was not without criticism. In this episode, we dig into those concerns and how the Endowment is responding.

Ben David has served as District Attorney for New Hanover and Pender counties since 2004. Next year, he’ll leave office, setting up an election for his replacement. WHQR News Director Ben Schachtman sat down with David to talk about why he’s leaving, how he sees his legacy, and what comes next.

On this episode, Rachel Keith digs into voter turnout and the beach town elections, Kelly Kenoyer talks about Wilmington's city council race, and New Hanover County Democratic party chair Jill Hopman talks about her party's success this year and the challenges it will face next year.

On this edition, WHQR's Kelly Kenoyer and Ben Schachtman break down the highlights from this week's forum for City of Wilmington Council candidates, hosted in partnership with WECT and Port City Daily.

On this episode of The Newsroom, WHQR's Rachel Keith shares what she heard at a recent roundtable event, held by New Hanover County Schools' Turn Around Task Force, charged with getting to the bottom of what ails the district's lowest-performing schools. At the most recent meeting, task force members heard from teachers — who spoke unsparingly about what they really need to help students succeed.