Ben Schachtman
News DirectorBen Schachtman is a journalist and editor with a focus on local government accountability. He began reporting for Port City Daily in the Wilmington area in 2016 and took over as managing editor there in 2018. He’s a graduate of Rutgers College and later received his MA from NYU and his PhD from SUNY-Stony Brook, both in English Literature.
He and his wife met and were married in Wilmington; they returned to the area after nearly a decade in New York City.
Your can reach him at Bschachtman@whqr.org and on Twitter @Ben_Schachtman
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The Cape Fear Housing Coalition hosted a national expert on homelessness for its housing breakfast this year. WHQR’s Kelly Kenoyer and Ben Schachtman attended, and have the highlights.
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Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity held its annual fundraising event on Friday, with a keynote focused on mixed-income development. The case study was Weavers Grove in Chapel Hill, a development blending private development with publicly-supported affordable housing.
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Elected officials from Wilmington and New Hanover County held a joint meeting today to discuss the homelessness crisis in the Cape Fear Region. As WHQR’s Ben Schachtman and Kelly Kenoyer report, they struggled to come up with a meaningful plan of action.
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Late last October, tenants of Holly Plaza were displaced by long-standing mold problems. They filed a class action lawsuit against Pendergraph Management, their former property management company. WHQR News Director Ben Schachtman spoke with reporter Nikolai Mather about the latest — a reply from Pendergraph.
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On Monday, a group of former Holly Plaza tenants filed a lawsuit against the town of Holly Ridge, Pendergraph Management and contractors who did work on the property over the years. WHQR's news director Ben Schachtman and rural reporter Nikolai Mather discuss the complicated legal road ahead.
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In the latest installment of our series based on listener questions, we delve into water quality (and quantity) issues in Pender County.
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The regulations, which set very strict limits for cetain PFAS in drinking water, are the first of their kind and will go a long way toward protecting people from harm, according to the EPA. But meeting the regulations will fall on water utilities, and ratepayers, not companies like Chemours which do the actually polluting.
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The head of Wilmington Housing Authority sees the end of the mold crisis on the horizon, and hopes for growth and development for the authority in the future.
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A retirement home for low-income residents has gone without consistent running water for nearly a week. WHQR’s Kelly Kenoyer went to the scene, and News Director Ben Schachtman asked her about it.
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Our town hall featured questions for the four candidates — two Democrats and two Republicans — facing off for two seats on the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners. On this episode, we'll unpack their responses to tough questions from reporters and the public, and provide some analysis, context, and fact-checking.