Podcasts about Johnston County

There is a ledger in the North Carolina State Archives. Bound in leather. Column after column of names. It is titled Johnston County Permanent Registration of Voters, 1902 to 1908.Every name in it is white. That was the point.Smith Brooks had sat on the Smithfield Board of Commissioners. Mack Sowell would sit on the Selma Town Council. Between them: ninety-two years. Two names. And everything Johnston County built to keep those names from being closer together.This is A Change Is Gonna Come.

In 1920, a woman in Smithfield sat down and made a decision.Her husband had just died. He'd been the editor of the Smithfield Herald. She had children, half-ownership of a newspaper she'd never run, and a list of things a widow in Johnston County in 1920 was expected to do.She walked into the office and started editing the paper instead.When people asked why, she had an answer ready: she was keeping it for her boys.That's what she said. Here's what she actually did — she ran the paper for thirteen years, won the first journalism award the North Carolina Press Association ever gave, wrote a column that ran for thirty years, and helped build the Johnston County public library.While telling everyone she was just holding it together in the meantime.

The official history of Johnston County gives her exactly one sentence."The first woman to hold elected office was Luma McLamb, Republican Register of Deeds from 1928 to 1932."That's it. No paragraph. No chapter. One sentence in a list of firsts.But here's what that sentence doesn't tell you: she won in a county so reliably Democratic that Republicans controlled it for exactly four years in the entire twentieth century. She served through the stock market crash, and the bank failures, and the first three years of the Great Depression — keeping the county's records while her neighbors sold off land they couldn't afford to keep.And then the wave that brought her in went back out, and sixty years passed before another woman won a countywide election in Johnston County.One sentence. She deserves more than that.#Benson #election #depression

I teach in rural Johnston County. And when I look out at my classroom, I see kids whose great-grandparents farmed this land — and kids whose parents crossed an international border to get here. Families who've been in these communities for two hundred years, sitting next to families who arrived within the last twenty.Nobody has really sat down and told that story out loud.So today we're going to talk about chickens. What they became. Who came because of them. And who was already here when they arrived.#immigration #chicken #agriculture

1998. Johnston County.Republicans take control of the county commission for the first time since 1928. The firewall that had held through decades of presidential Republican waves finally breaks.Same election. Same county. Same year — Dorothy Johnson becomes the first African American ever elected to a countywide office in Johnston County's history.Two stories. Running in opposite directions. Happening at the same time.How does that happen? And what does it tell us about what Johnston County was becoming?This time on JoCoYo: "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)."

At the turn of the twentieth century, Selma, North Carolina was the biggest town in Johnston County. Bigger than Smithfield. The county seat. A town that had existed since 1777.Selma beat it — in thirty-three years — starting from a railroad station and a grid of lots.Then a beetle crossed the Rio Grande. And cotton prices fell to five cents a pound. And three mills closed. And by 1992, there were twenty-five empty buildings on Raiford Street, and a town manager who couldn't sleep.What do you do when the thing that made you is gone?

There's a town in Johnston County most people know from an exit sign and a story about a possum. Four Oaks. Population around two thousand. Nice little place.But here's what the founding mythology leaves out: the man who owned the ground.His name was Isaac Evans. He was Black. His family had been free since the 1700s. And in 1886, when a railroad colonel came looking for land to build a town on, it was Isaac Evans's forty acres that became the footprint of Four Oaks.Every block. Every deed. Every brick building along that old railroad strip — it all starts with him.So who was Isaac Evans? Where did his family come from? And why does that phrase — free since the 1700s — point toward one of the most overlooked stories in this county's history?

In 1945, Sula Hansley was a girl in a city of ash and ruins. A few years later, she was a woman in a quiet, tobacco-farming town in North Carolina. This episode explores the impossible distance between Berlin's front lines and Four Oaks' front porches—and the incredible, untold story of a survivor who built a life in the heart of Johnston County.

From Reconstruction to 1969—a 92-year silence in Johnston County's official history. Were there really no Black elected officials in between? Dive into the Fusion era's lost Black leaders, the Red Shirts' terror, and the laws that erased them from the record. JoCoYo uncovers the deliberate deletion of local Black political power.

In 1901, a barn dance in Selma sparked a full-blown war between a preacher, a deacon, and a fiddler. What started as a night of music and foot-stomping turned into a courthouse case, a community divide, and a story that still echoes in Johnston County history. And yes, we'll talk about Kevin Bacon too.

In 1771, Samuel Johnston handed the colonial governor the legal weapon he needed to crush a farmer uprising over taxation without representation. In 1776, Samuel Johnston led the movement for independence over — and I want you to really sit with this — taxation without representation. History is full of villains and heroes. Johnston County's founding lawyer was just... both.

In 1792, a Johnston County man left his son a still in his will. It seemed straightforward enough. Two hundred years, ten federal indictments, that tradition is now open Thursday through Saturday with tours and a tasting room. Welcome to White Lightning. The government gave up. Johnston County=1, Government=0. This is White Lightning.

People who visit Hannah Creek Swamp report cold spots, feelings of dread, and the sound of a hanging. Johnston County has a lot of history, but this particular stretch of swamp has a story soaked into it — a Confederate lieutenant, a band of rogue soldiers who crossed every line, a gold crucifix found around the wrong neck, and a revenge killing so far outside the rules of war that nobody's quite known what to do with it for 160 years. It's a ghost story. It's a war crime story. It's also, it turns out, a case of mistaken identity stretching across two centuries — because the monster at the center of it was already dead before the Civil War started. The swamp, apparently, does not care about the timeline.

It could have been a great April Fool's joke if it weren't so...yikes!In May 2021, a Russian criminal gang broke into the largest fuel pipeline in America using one password. One forgotten, inactive, nobody-bothered-to-delete-it password. Within 72 hours, three quarters of North Carolina's gas stations were empty. People were fighting in line at a Marathon station in Knightdale. Someone issued an official government warning asking people to please stop filling plastic bags with gasoline. The pipeline that caused all of this runs right through Selma, on the same road everything in Johnston County has always run along. It has been that way for three hundred years. Turns out that's also a vulnerability.

In March 1865, Sherman's army stood poised to burn Raleigh to the ground. What stopped it wasn't a general, a battle, or a treaty — it was a railroad stationmaster with no rank, no uniform, and a white flag he had no authority to wave. This is the story of how a desperate ride through Johnston County's pine woods, a "brisk skirmish" five miles east of Clayton, and a peace parley at a white frame house on the town square saved North Carolina's capital — and quietly set the stage for the largest Confederate surrender in the entire war.

Welcome to the Carolina Cabinet, the only homegrown conservative talk radio show in the region, where Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler bring you smart, lively conversations from the heart of North Carolina. In this episode, we're joined by Caitlin Marsh, Republican candidate for NC Senate District 10 in Johnston County, aka "Goose," as she shares her vision, her passion for local issues, and her journey from single mom and domestic violence survivor to candidate on the ballot.We dive deep into the shifting political landscape in North Carolina, discussing the GOP's recent registration victory, the growing importance of independent voters, and challenges around affordability, property taxes, and housing. Caitlin Marsh pulls back the curtain on Johnston County's rapid growth, infrastructure struggles, and her commitment to farmland preservation and family advocacy. Plus, hear her take on tackling issues in local government, reforming family court, and what motivates her to push for change at the state level—even as the youngest woman to ever run for Senate in North Carolina.It's a candid, energetic roundtable full of sharp opinions, local flavor, and a few laughs along the way. Whether you're a long-time listener or new to the Cabinet, tune in for an hour of conversation that puts North Carolina's issues—and its people—at the center of the spotlight.

March 5th, 1943. Clayton, North Carolina. A federal government rationing office gets mobbed. Fistfights break out. Arrests are made.Over gasoline coupons.Now — before you judge these people — you need to understand what March 1943 actually looked like in Johnston County. Three gallons of gas a week. A pleasure driving ban. Two hundred members of Congress quietly driving on unlimited fuel while their constituents couldn't get to church.Johnston County's patience had been stretched to the absolute limit.And then it snapped.This is We're Not Gonna Take It.

There's a Chuck Norris joke you've never heard: there was someone who could beat him. Repeatedly. That man grew up on a farm in Knightdale, trained under Bruce Lee, sold Chuck Norris his karate studio, won everything worth winning in American martial arts, and invented kickboxing on the side. He is buried twelve miles from the Johnston County line. This podcast is apparently the first anyone around here has mentioned it.

March 1849. Stone Creek, Johnston County. Two thousand acres of cotton. Forty-five enslaved people. And a family about to be orphaned by death — then torn apart by war.The Snead brothers didn't start the Civil War. But they lived it up close — in the letters they wrote home, in the hands who slowed their work when news of Lincoln spread, in a family Bible where "Harriet and children gone to freedom, 1863" was entered like any other fact.Four brothers. Forty-five souls. One plantation watching the world crack open.This is People Get Ready.

In 1893, the American economy collapsed — and Johnston County's cotton farmers watched decades of work evaporate at six cents a pound. What came next was a gamble: build a curing barn you'd never operated, raise a crop you'd never grown, and sell it at an auction that didn't yet exist in your county. This is the story of how the Panic of 1893 killed King Cotton, how a sleeping blacksmith accidentally invented bright leaf tobacco, and how one desperate pivot in 1898 built nearly everything you see in Smithfield today.

For 250 years, Johnston County was farmland. Then Interstate 40 arrived, and Raleigh suddenly felt like a neighbor. This is the story of how one county went from tobacco rows to rooftops — and how a single date, October 1st, 1991, set everything in motion. From the first zoning ordinance to the Unified Development Plan being written right now, Johnston County has been racing to manage a growth it never quite asked for. The fields are still out there. But you have to look harder to find them.

Before it was I-95, before it was US 301, before Johnston County even had a name — there was a path. Deer made it first. The Tuscarora walked it for centuries. Colonial settlers used it as their address system. And today, seventy thousand vehicles a day travel it without a second thought. This is the story of Greens Path: the ancient road hiding in plain sight beneath the highway you drive every day.

In 1864, Johnston County farmer William Rains Lee made a choice few dared—he walked away from the Confederate cause. Once a loyal soldier in North Carolina's 24th Infantry, Lee saw the truth behind the slogans: a “poor man's fight” fueling a planter's empire.With or Without You tells the untold story of a Confederate deserter who refused to die for slavery's survival—and found courage in conscience. His quiet rebellion reveals the soul of a war North Carolina tried to forget.

Strap in for the story of Easy Street Drag Strip, where Johnston County's red clay meets American speed. We trace Korean War veteran Charles Tart's journey from Army half‑tracks to Newton Grove farmland, where in 1957 he built Eastern North Carolina's first drag strip from scratch. From moonshine‑chasing sheriffs to flathead Fords under homemade Christmas lights, this is the roar that turned backroads into racing history.

It's March 2, 1933, and a U.S. Senator fresh off busting the Teapot Dome scandal—America's biggest political corruption case—is secretly honeymooning with a glamorous Cuban widow when his train suddenly stops between Wilson and Rocky Mount. He doesn't get back on. In this episode of JoCoYo, we ride the rails with Thomas J. Walsh from Montana mines to Havana romance, through poisoning rumors and political enemies, to his mysterious final stop just 40 miles from Benson—where a political titan met eternity and Johnston County entered the history books.

Welcome to the Carolina Cabinet, the only homegrown conservative talk radio show in the region, where Peter Pappas and Laura Musler bring you smart, lively conversations from the heart of North Carolina. In this episode, we're joined by Caitlin Marsh, Republican candidate for NC Senate District 10 in Johnston County, aka "Goose," as she shares her vision, her passion for local issues, and her journey from single mom and domestic violence survivor to candidate on the ballot.We dive deep into the shifting political landscape in North Carolina, discussing the GOP's recent registration victory, the growing importance of independent voters, and challenges around affordability, property taxes, and housing. Caitlin Marsh pulls back the curtain on Johnston County's rapid growth, infrastructure struggles, and her commitment to farmland preservation and family advocacy. Plus, hear her take on tackling issues in local government, reforming family court, and what motivates her to push for change at the state level—even as the youngest woman to ever run for Senate in North Carolina.It's a candid, energetic roundtable full of sharp opinions, local flavor, and a few laughs along the way. Whether you're a long-time listener or new to the Cabinet, tune in for an hour of conversation that puts North Carolina's issues—and its people—at the center of the spotlight.

Have you ever found yourself echoing the apostle Paul's words: “The very things I don't want to do… those are the things I keep doing” (Romans 7)? In this heartfelt and honest sermon from RiverSide Church in Princeton, NC, Lucas Barnett walks us through Paul's inner struggle and brings it right into our own daily battles.Preaching from Romans 7, Lucas explores the tension every believer knows—the fight against sin, the weight of unforgiveness, and the quiet danger of harboring resentment in the heart. With clarity and compassion, he shows that Paul's cry of desperation is not the end of the story, but the doorway to real hope.The riddle Paul asks—“What hope is there for me?”—is answered with triumphant certainty: JESUS CHRIST! Not self-effort. Not willpower. But grace.Lucas also shares from his own heart as one of the founding members of Rock Bottom Ministries, a growing street ministry in Johnston County dedicated to reaching the homeless and those battling addiction. His passion for the broken and the overlooked gives this message a raw authenticity and a deep sense of gospel hope.This sermon is warm, real, and deeply encouraging—an invitation to lay down guilt, release resentment, and rest in the freedom only Christ can give. Whether you feel stuck in a cycle or weary from the struggle, this message reminds you that hope is not a concept…it's a Person.Come listen—and be reminded that in Christ, there is always hope.

What was once hidden is now beautifully revealed. In this rich, verse-by-verse teaching through Ephesians 3, Mason Tucker unfolds the breathtaking “mystery of Christ” and why it matters so deeply for us today.Preaching at RiverSide Church in Princeton, NC, Mason traces how God's redemptive plan—hinted at throughout the Old Testament—comes fully into focus through the person of Jesus Christ. He explains how those once considered outsiders, particularly the Gentiles, are no longer kept at a distance by religious boundaries or regulations. Because of Christ, the doors are flung wide open, and all are welcomed into God's family.As a founding member of Rock Bottom Ministries in Johnston County, Mason brings a pastoral warmth and a deep love for Scripture, carefully walking listeners through the text while keeping the message accessible, hopeful, and Christ-centered. This sermon reminds us that the gospel is not exclusive or elite—it is an invitation of grace to all who were once far off.If you've ever felt on the outside looking in, or wondered how God's big story fits together, this message will encourage your heart and strengthen your faith. Tune in and be reminded that in Christ, the mystery is revealed—and you are invited in.

The Johnston County town of Benson is mostly known for an annual festival called Mule Days. But in the coming years, it’s expected to become known as a critical destination for a key national security initiative. WRAL State Government Reporter Paul Specht explains what’s coming to this town of 4,000 people.

Johnston County deputies and State Bureau of Investigation agents searched for evidence at a home in Zebulon Tuesday after four children were found dead. Deputies say their father told 911 he killed them. WRAL's Shaun Gallegher explains what we know about the case so far.

Cursed cat bones. Dead dogs. A haunted pond. Master storyteller Todd Narron is our tour guide as we explore the mysterious, spooky American South.STORIESBarbara Nichols PondEver since a little girl died a watery death, the kids in Johnston County steer clear of the pond. Years later, Todd thinks that she might just be avenging her untimely end.The Cat Bone CurseTodd's uncle was one mean son of a biscuit. But long after he's dead and gone, his descendants worry that his meanness might rub off on them.Thank you Todd, for sharing your stories! If you want more stories from Todd, check out his books, Country Stories of Ghosts and Bad Men and Country Stories of Ghosts and Bad Men: Series 2 - The Dead Ones.Produced by Anna Sussman, original score by Renzo Gorrio, artwork by Sanaa Khan.

Brittni Evans recorded her older son's reaction to seeing his younger brother back home after nearly two months in the hospital. The video has since reached hundreds of thousands of people on social media. WRAL's Carly Haynes talked to the family.

Opening statements began in the trial of Dorian Thomas, a Johnston County man, charged with killing his child's aunt, Emily Steinhoff. Steinhoff was shot while accompanying her sister on a custody exchange at Thomas' home in March of last year. WRAL's Chelsea Donovan walks through what played out in the courtroom.

Opening statements began in the trial of Dorian Thomas, a Johnston County man, charged with killing his child's aunt, Emily Steinhoff. Steinhoff was shot while accompanying her sister on a custody exchange at Thomas' home in March of last year. WRAL's Chelsea Donovan walks through what played out in the courtroom.

Opening statements began in the trial of Dorian Thomas, a Johnston County man, charged with killing his child's aunt, Emily Steinhoff. Steinhoff was shot while accompanying her sister on a custody exchange at Thomas' home in March of last year. WRAL's Chelsea Donovan walks through what played out in the courtroom.

In the last week, president Trump's latest trade policies have provided a whole lot of whiplash for Americans, their wallets, and the global economy. Part of Trump's tariff plan includes maintaining and increasing his tariffs on China, one of the U.S.'s largest trading partners. China spends billions on American agricultural products every year, meaning American farmers are likely to get caught in the middle of Trump's trade war, again. MSNBC's Alex Wagner travels to Johnston County in North Carolina to hear from farmers who are standing by Trump, even as he stands down his own policies. Then, a conversation with The Atlantic's Annie Lowrey on what this all means for our global economy.And please vote for your favorite MSNBC podcasts in this year's Webby Awards! (Voting closes April 17th)Prosecuting Donald Trump in the Podcasts - Crime & Justice category: VOTE HEREWhy Is This Happening? With Chris Hayes in the Podcasts - Interview/Talk Show category: VOTE HEREInto America: Uncounted Millions in the Podcasts - News & Politics category: VOTE HERE

  Two of the most hotly debated topics in law and policy — racial justice and the death penalty — have been on trial in a high-profile criminal case in Johnston County over the last year. In the case, a man named Hasson Bacote challenged the death sentence he received in a murder trial based […]

Before travel ball and summer AAU competition, Ronda Mueller Johnson grew up in Eastern North Carolina developing her athletic skills the old-fashioned way, playing with and against her seven siblings and neighborhood friends.   The daughter of a Marine Corps veteran and mother who had played on the best AAU women's basketball teams in the country, Ronda grew to love basketball and softball.   She attended the Campbell Basketball School, fell in love with Buies Creek, and has never lost touch with the University.   Ronda enrolled at Campbell 1978 and was named outstanding female athlete three times before graduating in 1982.  She then accepted a position as assistant basketball and head softball coach at her alma mater.   The first female inducted into Campbell's Athletics Hall of Fame, Ronda taught and coached for three decades in Johnston County schools before returning to Campbell as an adjunct instructor in the exercise science program.   In the next installment of Tales from the Creek, two-sport star Ronda Mueller Johnson talks with Stan Cole about growing up in Coastal North Carolina as one of eight siblings, her path to Campbell, softball, hoops, her family and more.

There was a time before 2010 in which conservative Democrats ran NC politics, including the General Assembly and much of its leadership team.  And behind the campaign curtain of the 'Crone Caucus' was campaign consultant Brad Crone.  The Johnston County native talks about his career in politics, the partisan realignment in NC, and an assessment of where Democrats are today in the aftermath of the 2024 election.    Skye and Brian also break down the House veto session, constitutional amendments, the NC State Board of Election hearing, Dan Bishop's nomination, #TOTW, and more.   The Do Politics Better podcast is sponsored by New Frame, the NC Travel Industry Association, the NC Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association, the NC Pork Council, and the NC Healthcare Association.

Former Congressman Bob Etheridge stepped on the Campbell College campus in the fall of 1961 to play basketball and pursue his degree in business administration.  He joined the Fighting Camels when they were just starting competition as a four-year institution.    While Campbell has grown exponentially over the last six-plus decades, Bob Etheridge's travels have taken him all over the state and to Washington, D.C., where he served 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.   A native of Johnston County, Congressman Etheridge and his wife, Faye, have for the last 50 years made their home in Harnett County, where he has been a businessman, part-time farmer, and full-time public servant.   In the next installment of Tales from the Creek, Campbell Hall of Fame member Bob Etheridge talks with Stan Cole about growing up on the farm, his path to Campbell, then on to a career in business and public service.

In this episode, Rick chats with Todd Johnson of the Johnston County Museum about the secret history of moonshining in Johnston County and what you can discover for yourself at the County Museum. This is a collaboration between The Scene Vault Podcast and North Carolina's Department of Cultural and Natural Resources made to spotlight the history of moonshine, motorsports, and the state of North Carolina. You can also listen to every episode of the Moonshine and Motorsports Racing Podcast on all your favorite podcast apps. Find more here: https://dailydownforce.com/moonshine-motorsports/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep 549 features Jonathan, TC CTO, with Johnston County, NC.  Sponsored by INdigital - Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Web Episode topics – The emotional toll of a significant 911 call that changed Jonathan's perspective The importance of supportive family and coworkers in dispatch work Navigating the transition between different dispatch roles The intensity and unpredictability of dispatch work The journey of personal growth and leaving a positive legacy in the field If you have any comments or questions or would like to be a guest on the show, please email me at wttpodcast@gmail.com.

Ep 542 features 911 dispatch stories from around North Carolina. The North Carolina 911 board and Within the Trenches podcast partnered on classes and podcast episodes to highlight the amazing work of 911 professionals throughout the state in celebration of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. This is the last installment in this series out of Johnston County 911. Sponsored by INdigital - Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Web Episode topics – Answering 911 Calls: The Emotional Rollercoaster of a Dispatcher's Job The Power of Self-Care: Personal Story and Professional Insight The Importance of Recognition for 911 Professionals: Celebrating their Essential Role and more As always, if you have any comments or questions, or you would like to be a guest on the show, please email me at wttpodcast@gmail.com.

Ep 541 features 911 dispatch stories from around North Carolina. The North Carolina 911 board and Within the Trenches podcast partnered on classes and podcast episodes to highlight the amazing work of 911 professionals throughout the state in celebration of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. This is a continuation of this series out of Johnston County 911. Sponsored by INdigital - Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Web Episode topics – Technology Boosts Safety: Tracking Callers for Better Help The Importance of Compassion in Customer Service: How Being Human Can Lead to Success The Importance of Leadership and Support in Building a Successful Community and more As always, if you have any comments or questions, or you would like to be a guest on the show, please email me at wttpodcast@gmail.com.

Join hosts Brad and Steve in an insightful conversation with Rachel Gardiner, a high school teacher turned First Priority Director in Johnston County. Together, they dive into Rachel's story, her passion for empowering students, and her vision for spreading the message of hope across campuses. Highlights:  Rachel's Transition: Rachel's journey from being a high school teacher to assuming the role of Executive Director of First Priority in Johnston County. Passion for Gospel: Rachel's innate passion for spreading the gospel, evident in her words and actions throughout her teaching career and current leadership role. Navigating Challenges: Insights into the challenges Rachel faced in bridging the gap between education and ministry, and how she overcame them to empower students effectively. Empowering Student Leaders: Rachel's commitment to empowering student leaders, instilling in them the confidence and tools needed to share the message of Christ on their campuses. Understanding Spiritual Climate: Rachel's perspective on the importance of understanding the spiritual climate of schools, and how it informs effective outreach strategies. Personal Growth: Reflections on Rachel's personal growth and development as she transitioned into her role at First Priority, navigating obstacles and seizing opportunities along the way. Vision for Expansion: Rachel's vision for expanding First Priority's reach, both within Johnston County and beyond, driven by a desire to see more students impacted by the hope of Christ.

The post Fatal flaws in North Carolina's death penalty on display in Johnston County appeared first on NC Newsline.

This week in Johnston County, the death penalty – a punishment our state has not inflicted in close to two decades – will, effectively, go on trial, when one of more than a hundred pending challenges to the racially discriminatory way North Carolina long sentenced people to death is heard in the case of a […] The post Noel Nickle of the NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty on the Racial Justice Act appeared first on NC Newsline.

On August 10th, 2009, the North Carolina legislature passed the Racial Justice Act, or RJA. A first of its kind law that allows people on death row to challenge their sentences if they could show race played a factor at the time of their trial. This historic legislation allowed us at the ACLU to successfully bring claims on behalf of four people back in 2012, getting their sentences changed to life without parole. This momentum was short lived, because a year later, the North Carolina Supreme Court repealed the RJA. Then, in 2020, the court ruled that those who had already filed their cases under the RJA were entitled to move forward despite the repeal. The same year the RJA was passed, Hasson Bacote was sentenced to death in a Johnston County courtroom. As a Black man in a deeply segregated county with a history of racial terror, Bacote's fate was all but sealed, well before the jury issued his death sentence. Now, more than a decade after the law was passed, he will be the first to challenge his death penalty sentence under the RJA since 2020. Beginning February 26th, Bacote's team will argue that race not only played an impermissible role in this case but in all capital cases in Johnston County and across the state of North Carolina. The success of this case could determine our future ability to reverse more sentences and end the death penalty in the state. Joining us today to discuss Hasson Bacote's landmark hearing and our ongoing work to fight against the death penalty is Henderson Hill, Senior Counsel for the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project.

In celebration of Valentine's Day and Black History Month, we're bringing back a special ENCORE episode: meet Dawn and Martin Blagrove — Together for 30 Years — as we celebrate Black Love on Built By Us. Tune in for a love story, laughs, and advice for Black couples everywhere. Tune in for Black Love.Dawn Blagrove is the Executive Director of Emancipate NC.Martin Blagrove is a Nurse Anesthetist in Johnston County.Support the show

I absolutely love it when we uncover almost uniquely geological marvels that exist under our feet, and in our backyard. Johnston County, and East, North Carolina, are home to thousands of lakes. You've never seen them, you say? You would know if we had thousands of lakes? Well, let's take a trip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/message