Ask a Journalist

Q: Jefferson Griffin, a Republican candidate for the North Carolina Supreme Court, has been asking the courts to toss out over 65,000 ballots. Several readers and listeners have asked: what could that mean for other races involving those voters?A: Short answer: both the courts and the state’s election board have historically treated races as final once they’re certified. But officials can’t rule out what the courts might do in the future.

Q: This year it was quietly announced there would be no parade in Wilmington to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. What happened?A: Organizers didn’t go into detail, but suggested the overlap with Inauguration Day could be a “conflict, and potentially a security concern” for law enforcement. Police clarified that there are no threats on their radar — but they do have staffing concerns because they've committed officers to help with security for the inauguration in Washington D.C., as they’ve done in the past.

Q: On Friday, the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office (NHCSO) shared a “Flashback Friday” post about former Sheriff Marion Millis — but quickly pulled it down. What happened?A: NHCSO has frequently shared different aspects of its history on social media but this one probably should have been vetted more thoroughly. Millis was controversial in his own time because he and several top deputies had joined the Ku Klux Klan; their claims that they had done so only to surveil the organization were met with skepticism. After some of this backstory was pointed out, NHCSO said they decided to take the post down.

Several people reached out with questions after a particular moment in WHQR’s latest Newsroom episode, so WHQR’s Ben Schachtman invited reporter Kelly Kenoyer into the studio for some answers, in our latest installment of Ask a Journalist.

Q: Several readers have asked what, exactly, the rules are when it comes to disability plates and placards, sometimes called ‘handicapped plates,’ in southeastern North Carolina.A: It’s complicated. There’s state law — which largely removes parking time limits for those drivers — and then there are different evolving policies in different towns and cities, each designed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Q: What is the Cape Fear Regional Special Teams? Who’s involved, what do they do, who’s in charge — and how do they relate to SWAT?A: Cape Fear Regional Special Teams is a regional collaboration between a host of law enforcement agencies, led by the Wilmington Police Department. They’re dispatched when agencies need more personnel — but they also host a collaborative SWAT team. In general, SWAT is rarely dispatched, but when they are it’s for high-risk situations. WHQR sat down with several WPD officers to get a better sense of how the Special Teams and SWAT work and the evolving challenges they face.

Several Brunswick County listeners and readers have written in to ask about James Geiger, a Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was arrested in early January of last year for a DUI in Myrtle Beach. WHQR’s Ben Schachtman did some digging to find out.

A WHQR listener emailed the newsroom to ask about a new charge they saw on their Duke Energy bill. WHQR’s News Director Ben Schachtman interviewed reporter Camille Mojica to see what she found out for our latest ‘Ask a Journalist’ segment

After nearly a decade in the works, New Hanover County’s Project Grace is finally gearing up to break ground. In the latest edition of WHQR’s Ask A Journalist segment, WHQR’s Camille Mojica and Ben Schachtman answer some lingering questions.

A WHQR listener called the newsroom to ask about AMBER Alerts: how do they work, and where do they come from? What happens after? WHQR’s News Director Ben Schachtman interviewed reporter Camille Mojica to see what she found out for our ‘Ask a Journalist’ segment…