Charlotte Newsmakers

Melanie Hempe (familiesmanagingmedia.com) joins Sharon Smith in-studio to discuss digital addiction in children, how to set boundaries, how much connection to friends is too much, and how she established her home as "Video Game Free."  

Charlotte values its tree canopy. In this episode, host Sharon Smith talks with Chuck Cole and head arborist Tim Porter from Trees Charlotte, about the canopy, its importance to the quality of life in Charlotte and the greatest threats to its well being.

WBTV's Dedrick Russell joins Sharon Smith in-studio to discuss how his special community conversation "Black Boys and the Promised Land" came to be, and what he learned about being young and black in Charlotte.

Wrongly convicted of a crime he didn't commit, Willie Grimes spent 24 years in prison. Now free, he joins Sharon Smith in studio to talk about his case, the evidence that would have cleared him and why it didn't, and his first days behind bars.

Host Sharon Smith talks with Charlotte paramedics Lester Oliva and Veronica Michaelis from Mecklenburg EMS MEDIC about the stress, the reward, and what Charlotte residents can do to make it easier for first responders to do what they do, and save more lives.