Tested Podcast

From news to arts and culture, The Broadside dives into issues that might not be on a front page, but deserve a closer look. Along the way, host Anisa Khalifa explores the nuances of our home—and how what happens here ripples across the country. Find The Broadside every Thursday wherever you listen to podcasts

During a Sunday morning in Wilson, NC, Chris Breslin was standing on a pitcher's mound at his son's little league game when he heard three sounds close by he'd never heard before. Then everybody on the field hit the ground.

During a Sunday morning in Wilson, NC, Chris Breslin was standing on a pitcher's mound at his son's little league game when he heard three sounds close by he'd never heard before. Then everybody on the field hit the ground.

Teachers are leaving in large numbers in some North Carolina school districts. They say they've been working with low pay and high expectations for years. But when the pandemic put their routines on pause, they had time to think about their priorities. Host Liz Schlemmer heard stories from three teachers this summer.

Teachers are leaving in large numbers in some North Carolina school districts. They say they've been working with low pay and high expectations for years. But when the pandemic put their routines on pause, they had time to think about their priorities.

This month marks 67 years since Emmett Till was brutally lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Activists in North Carolina are joining the calls for authorities to serve a nearly 70-year-old arrest warrant against the woman who accused him.

This month marks 67 years since Emmett Till was brutally lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Activists in North Carolina are joining the calls for authorities to serve a nearly 70-year-old arrest warrant against the woman who accused him.

In this rebroadcast from January 18, 2022, Howard Dudley and Joe Neff, former investigative reporter for the News & Observer, recount Dudley's wrongful conviction.

In May, an explosive report on sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy in the Southern Baptist Convention made national headlines. Now, survivors of abuse and their advocates are continuing to question what this means for one of the country's largest Christian denominations. Host Anisa Khalifa talks with Jules Woodson, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse, and Kate Shellnut, senior news editor at Christianity Today magazine.

In May, an explosive report on sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy in the Southern Baptist Convention made national headlines. Now, survivors of abuse and their advocates are continuing to question what this means for one of the country's largest Christian denominations.

Darryl Hunt spent nearly 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. The people who wrote about and read about his case in the papers were stunned at Hunt's willingness to forgive the people in a system that had failed him so miserably. But while many had heard about his grace and humility, few knew that Hunt was quietly suffering.

In this rebroadcast from March 31, 2022, host Will Michaels speaks with Phoebe Zerwick, former reporter with the Winston-Salem Journal, about her new book chronicling Darryl Hunt's story of wrongful conviction, "Beyond Innocence."

Public school teachers are leaving their careers at what appear to be alarming rates; one in five in Durham Public Schools and higher-than-normal rates in Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Wake.

A notable number of North Carolina public school teachers are leaving. In Durham, one in five educators is departing, and other local districts are experiencing higher than usual turnover. On this episode of Tested, we're featuring the Politics Podcast from WUNC, which recently spoke with several teachers about their reasons for leaving the classroom, while others explain why they have stayed.

More than 150 years after the emancipation of slavery in America, a team of dedicated scuba divers is busy excavating and restoring wreckage from slave ships that sank across the Middle Passage.

In this rebroadcast from February 15, 2022, host Leoneda Inge talks with Tara Roberts, explorer with National Geographic, about Roberts work diving and documenting the wreckage of slave ships. Special thanks to National Geographic for providing some of this episode's audio.

On June 30, 2009, in Greenville, N.C., two men were shot and killed outside a nightclub. Murder charges against James Richardson relied heavily on a surveillance video. But evidence that has come to light since then casts doubt on his conviction.

On June 30, 2009, in Greenville, N.C., two men were shot and killed outside a nightclub. Murder charges against James Richardson relied heavily on a surveillance video. But evidence that has come to light since then casts doubt on his conviction. Host Will Michaels speaks with Pam Kelley, a freelance journalist who recently wrote about the case for The Assembly.

Extremely potent substances like fentanyl and xylazine have flooded the illegal drug market, causing a major increase in overdose ER visits and deaths. Harm reduction policies could help reverse that trend.

In this rebroadcast from February 10, 2022, host Jason deBruyn speaks with Louise Vincent with N.C. Survivors Union and Michelle Mathis with Olive Branch Ministries about how test strips and other harm reduction strategies could save lives.

Access to abortion care remains uncertain in several states, including North Carolina. In this special episode of Embodied, host Anita Rao speaks with an abortion provider about the steps she's taking.

As Anita Rao's home state becomes the nearest safe provider for millions of people, she's observing how abortion providers in North Carolina are preparing for the spike in demand. She reconnects with one of them, Dr. Rathika Nimalendran, who has been providing access to abortions in North Carolina for years, to talk about what action she's taking in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Across the nation, we've seen a spike in book challenges and bans in both school and public libraries, mostly targeting books that center race and LGBT identity. At the end of 2021, Wake County had its own high-profile censorship controversy.

In this rebroadcast from February 1, 2022, host Anisa Khalifa takes a look into who bans books, why, and what kind of impact it has on our communities.

The legality of abortion is now left up to the states, and in North Carolina, it's future is uncertain.

WUNC health and data reporter Jason deBruyn talks with Claire Donnelly, health reporter for WFAE, about abortion policy in North Carolina and what lies ahead in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling. Part this episode contains audio from WRAL

In this rebroadcast from November 24, 2021, host Lindsay Foster Thomas showcases WUNC military reporter Jay Price's recent story about the seminal court case Keys v Carolina Coach Co, and the work of middle school social studies teacher Rodney Pierce in amplifying Keys' legacy.

Nearly seven decades after a Black Army private named Sarah Keys helped end discrimination on interstate buses, North Carolina is recognizing her nearly-forgotten civil rights case.

Before Biden's “American Rescue Plan,” three friends in Durham County came up with their own plan to save the Black farmers they knew. Now they're seeing their work pay off.

Leoneda Inge hears from Black farmers in the Triangle about their perseverance to bounce back during the pandemic and help the Black agricultural community.

Recreational and commercial fishermen in North Carolina have a lot of questions about plans for offshore wind farms. But the technology is new to the United States, and there are not a lot of answers yet.

Host Celeste Gracia talks with fishermen, wind energy advocates and state regulators about the questions that remain in North Carolina's advancements toward offshore wind farms.

In the 1940s, thousands of the first Black Marines trained at a segregated base called Montford Point. Now, a project is underway to make sure their legacy survives.

Charlie Shelton-Ormond talks with Jay Price, WUNC military reporter, about the Marine Corps effort to protect the buildings at Montford Point and preserve the first Black Marines' legacy.

Leoneda Inge reflects on her son's recent college graduation and speaks with Rebecca Stallworth Inge about being celebrated as the oldest graduate at Shaw University in the Class of 2022

Walking across a graduation stage and turning the tassel has not been easy for many Black students, who have traditionally taken longer to graduate than white students. So when you hear 'Pomp and Circumstance" play, it's time to celebrate.

For folks who live on North Carolina's Outer Banks, keeping up with storm patterns is a pretty common routine. But in recent years, keeping a watchful eye on the horizon has meant bracing for more severe damage to the coast.

This year's primary elections in North Carolina were supposed to be in March. But a group of voters challenged the latest round of redistricting in court, arguing Republicans gave themselves an illegal partisan advantage. Now the new maps are in place, and the elections are set. They just need candidates.

There's been a lot of talk about the political ramifications of the U.S. Supreme Court potentially overturning Roe v. Wade, but we wanted to explore what the decision would mean for women's health, particularly in North Carolina.

In North Carolina, local social service departments are able to skirt hiring standards set by the state. In some cases, an unqualified director and lack of oversight have severely affected families' wellbeing.

You may recognize some of the big names in gospel music like Kirk Franklin and Yolanda Adams, but these stars follow in the wake of the Queen of Gospel: Durham-native Pastor Shirley Caesar.

Life is getting back to normal. But some doctors estimate that 30% of people who contracted the coronavirus will experience symptoms associated with "long-COVID." Some have had to drastically change their lives to deal with these symptoms, and doctors are still learning about how to treat these patients.

Teacher turnover. Burnout. Short-staffed schools. After two years in a pandemic, for many people, life is getting back to normal. But schools are not back to normal.

Among aficionados and fans of bluegrass, it's generally accepted that this quintessentially American genre of music was born in Nashville, Tennessee and was introduced by Earl Scruggs. But it's Kentuckian Bill Monroe who is known as the "Father of Bluegrass," not Scruggs. And just before Monroe went to the Grand Ole Opry, in 1939, he was performing regularly for a live 15-minute show called Mountain Music Time on WWNC, in Asheville, North Carolina.

It was one year ago that sheriff's deputies in Pasquotank County shot and killed Andrew Brown, Junior in Elizabeth City. Today, the small town in eastern North Carolina is at a crossroads. Elizabeth City and its surrounding community are on the brink of local elections that could determine which road they take.

It was one year ago that sheriff's deputies in Pasquotank County shot and killed Andrew Brown, Jr. The deputies were trying to serve arrest warrants on drug charges. They repeatedly fired into Brown's car as he tried to steer it away from his home in Elizabeth City, N.C. Over the next two episodes of Tested, we'll take you down Highway 17 to where Elizabeth City stands one year later.

Anyone who's been to the Outer Banks knows that it's windy out there. Like, really windy. That wind might be rough for beachgoers or kayakers, but it's great for producing electricity through offshore wind farms.

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority group native to Myanmar, have suffered decades of ethnic cleansing by the country's government. Five years after a deadly peak in violence, the United Stated has finally declared it genocide. But what will this mean for the Rohingya, often called the most persecuted group in the world?

Darryl Hunt spent nearly 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. The people who wrote about and read about his case in the papers were stunned at Hunt's willingness to forgive the people in a system that had failed him so miserably. But while many had heard about his grace and humility, few knew that Hunt was quietly suffering.

Through a one-person play, North Carolina actor and playwright Mike Wiley has taken the story of Emmett Till across the world. Now, his play carries an even deeper resonance in the wake of the recent Emmett Till Antilynching Act.

Education reporter Liz Schlemmer joins host Anisa Khalifa to discuss what happened when a Black cultural center at UNC-Chapel Hill canceled the exhibition of a Black artist. Cornell Watson, who created a photo series about Black life at UNC-CH for the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, describes the experience as censorship.