On Tuesday, New Hanover County commissioners voted to end most, but not all, of its contract with Flock, citing insufficient guardrails against abuse of the powerful technology. The controversial license-plate readers and the broader use of AI-powered surveillance have prompted community pushback across party lines.

The campaign for incumbent Republican State Senator Michael Lee recently dropped an AI deepfake ad, mocking his opponent, Democrat Jessica Bichler. It’s not totally surprising, given that AI slop has made its way into almost every corner of our lives. But as some states move to regulate the practice, it’s worth unpacking some ethical, political, and even constitutional facets of AI-generated political messaging.

WHQR arts reporter Demia Avery caught up with Justin Michael Heter — better known as Justin Heter Pan — to talk about his multi-faceted musical career, playing solo and with Dubtown Cosmonauts, and keeping his inner child alive and well.

On today’s show, Rachel Keith sits down with me to unpack her latest reporting on over a dozen resignations from Cape Fear Community College's nursing program. Plus, Port City Daily’s Brenna Flanagan stops by to discuss New Hanover County Schools' town hall and the latest on North Carolina’s film incentive program

This spring, CFCC hired a consultant to review the efficiency of its nursing program, and subsequently updated its policy for how faculty meet their workload expectations. After that, over a dozen faculty members left the college, some of whom told WHQR the exodus was directly due to the policy change.

The replacement for the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge has drummed up a host of community concerns, including bridge design, traffic and whether to add a toll. The Wilmington City Council unanimously passed a resolution addressing some of those issues.

Near the start of Tuesday evening’s New Hanover County school board meeting, Libertarian member David Perry abruptly left the dais after his colleagues declined to take up his motion. Perry wanted formal adoption of raises for board members — but his colleagues felt it had already cleared the proper channels.

Last week, UNCW Swimming and Diving and the Wilmington Swim Academy finished their series of free swim lessons. The volunteer-driven program is designed to teach younger kids a crucial skill for living in a coastal community.

Launched in Scandinavia thirty years ago, Vision Zero is an ambitious program to eliminate traffic-related deaths of pedestrians and bicyclists. Numerous U.S. cities later joined, but many have struggled to meet their goals. Now, Wilmington is implementing its own Vision Zero program.

New Hanover County is trying a new approach to food deserts, based on a South Carolina program, which has had its own successes and challenges. But these efforts take place against the backdrop of a bigger question: why do we have food deserts, and can we actually fix them?