Richard Ojeda, retired Army major, former West Virginia state senator and the Democratic nominee for Congress in North Carolina's 9th District, sits down with Peter Pappas. He grew up in coal country, where his choices at 18 were to dig coal, sell dope or join the Army, and he makes his case on three fronts. On labor: why he wants every job unionized and right-to-work repealed ("when you don't have a seat at the table, you're on the menu"). On health care access: keeping VA care close to home f

Welcome back to The Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County’s smartest hour of talk radio. In this episode, Peter Pappas sits down with North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls for an insightful conversation about her personal journey, her dedication to civil rights, and her distinguished career on the bench. Raised in a mixed-race family that overcame legal barriers, Anita Earls shares how those formative experiences shaped her passion for law and motivated her lifelong commitment to justic

Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler welcome Judge Rosalyn Hood, Cumberland County District Court, Seat 6, who is finishing her first four-year term and running unopposed. A Western Carolina University track athlete whose Olympic hopes ended with two fractured ankles, Hood enlisted after 9/11 as a parachute rigger, commissioned as an officer, served multiple overseas tours, and retired in 2024 as a lieutenant colonel after 22 years. She spent 16 years in the district attorney's office before taking th

Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler sit down with Judge Toni King, a Cumberland County District Court judge for 17 years, who is running unopposed this fall. A military kid whose father served 30 years, King first came to Fort Bragg in middle school and came home to Fayetteville after college and law school. Most of the conversation is about the human trafficking court she runs, with separate juvenile and adult dockets. She explains why Fayetteville's spot on I-95 makes trafficking a local problem,

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler sit down with Theodore Lee "Ted" Miller, one of 16 candidates for at-large seats on the Cumberland County Board of Education. Miller, a Flint, Michigan native who came to Fayetteville with the Army and retired in 2001 after a 20-year career, puts one proposal at the center of his campaign: every senior takes and passes the GED to graduate. He argues an 89% graduation rate means

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler open the live show with two Cumberland County parents, Michelle Cazarez and Michel Santana, who pushed back when the district moved to end E.E. Miller Elementary's year-round calendar and Spanish immersion. They describe learning about the change from a February voicemail, why principals were left out of the loop, what a year-round calendar means for military families, and how pa