Now Playing

Loading streams...

WFAE Voices

Ben Bradford
Ben Bradford
Reporter
Greg Collard
Greg Collard
News Director
Mike Collins
Mike Collins
Charlotte Talks Host
Briana Duggan
Briana Duggan
CAJA Fellow
Duncan McFadyen
Duncan McFadyen
Weekend Edition Saturday Host/Reporter
Lisa Miller
Lisa Miller
Reporter
Julie Rose
Julie Rose
Reporter
Mark Rumsey
Mark Rumsey
Community Engagement Coordinator/All Things Considered Host
Tasnim Shamma
Tasnim Shamma
Reporter
Marshall Terry
Marshall Terry
Reporter/Newscaster
Michael Tomsic
Michael Tomsic
Reporter

Julie Rose

Credit Jennifer Lang
Reporter

Julie Rose has been reporting for WFAE since January 2008, covering everything from political scandal and bank bailouts to homelessness and the arts.  She's a two-time winner of a national Edward R. Murrow Award for radio writing. Prior to WFAE, Julie reported for KCPW in Salt Lake City where she got her start in radio.  Before that, she was a nonprofit fundraiser and a public relations manager in the San Francisco Bay Area.  It took a few career changes, but Julie finally found her calling in public radio reporting because she gets paid to do what she does best – be nosy. She's a graduate of the communications program at Brigham Young University and contributes frequently to National Public Radio programs. 

Pages

Local News
4:30 pm
Wed February 27, 2013

Plan For Charlotte Airport Authority Moves Forward

Credit Ken Lund / flickr
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

A bill to hand control of the Charlotte Airport over to a regional authority passed the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday and now heads to the full Senate for approval. The move comes over the objection of Charlotte city leaders and several Mecklenburg County lawmakers. 

Read more
Local News
5:04 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

The Mayor Said What About The Airport? Not What Rucho Says

Credit ncleg.net
State Senator Bob Rucho (R-Matthews, Mecklenburg County)
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

Formal debate over the future control of Charlotte's airport begins in earnest Wednesday at a 1 p.m. hearing of the State Senate Finance Committee. Senator Bob Rucho of Matthews co-chairs that committee and is sponsoring the measure. Speaking on WFAE's Charlotte Talks Tuesday, Rucho argued a separate "airport authority" is the best way to keep Charlotte officials from drawing down airport coffers to pay for city services.

Read more
Business
5:38 am
Mon February 25, 2013

Insurance Industry Lab Creates Indoor Hailstorm

Share
E-mail
Comments
By

Originally published on Mon February 25, 2013 9:11 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Bad weather can mean big losses for homeowners and insurance companies. So recently, the insurance industry built a laboratory in rural Richburg, South Carolina in hopes of developing more weather-resistant buildings. The latest experiment was a giant, indoor hailstorm.

Julie Rose of member station WFAE takes us inside.

JULIE ROSE, BYLINE: Tanya Brown has had a single obsession these past two years...

TANYA BROWN: I'm a research engineer and the lead engineer on this project.

ROSE: How to make hail.

Read more
Local News
12:45 am
Fri February 22, 2013

New Outlet Mall On Fast-Track

Credit Tanger Factory Outlets
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

  The proposed outlet mall for southwest Charlotte is on a fast track to get city and county approval for tax breaks and land-use changes.  The county commission has already approved a gift to the developers of up to $6 million. The city council is poised to do the same. WFAE's Julie Rose explains.

Tanger Factory Outlets and Simon Property Group are in a hurry to start attracting those zealous shoppers who drive for hours to hit the outlet mall.

Read more
Local News
4:37 pm
Wed February 20, 2013

Hail Breaks Loose In Name Of Insurance Research

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Julie Rose
A full-size home and car await an onslaught of homemade hail inside the testing facility of the Insurance Institute of Business and Home Safety.
Credit Julie Rose
Patio furniture and childrens' toys joined the small house on a turntable that slowly rotated during the test.
Credit Julie Rose
Cameras on the model home captured the hail storm for future study.
Credit Julie Rose
IBHS Engineer Ian Giammanco fired the hail cannons from a control room.
Credit Julie Rose
Some 9,000 hail stones made from a mix of seltzer and tap water were used during the test. They ranged between 1 and 2 inches in diameter.
Credit Julie Rose
IBHS CEO Julie Rochman gives an update on the hail test.
Credit Julie Rose
The IBHS Research Center's test chamber is 21,000 square feet.
Credit Julie Rose
The IBHS Research Center is equipped with 105 fans that can recreate the winds of a Category 3 hurricane.
Credit Julie Rose
IBHS Engineer Tanya Brown
Credit Julie Rose
The IBHS research center opened in Richburg, SC in 2010.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

Hail causes about $1 billion in damage to U.S. property and crops each year. Insurers would like to minimize those losses. That's where the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety comes in. On Wednesday morning, the Institute created a full-scale hailstorm inside its laboratory in Richburg, South Carolina – about an hour from Charlotte. WFAE's Julie Rose sent this report:  

Tanya Brown has had a single obsession these past two years: how to make hail.

Read more
Around the Nation
4:09 pm
Tue February 19, 2013

Cold War Bunker Network Repurposed For 21st Century Threats

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Courtesy of Jerry Dowd
WBT radio's bomb shelter in Charlotte, N.C., part of a government-funded emergency communications network, as it looked in 1963.
Credit Julie Rose / WFAE
WBT chief engineer Jerry Dowd sits at the shelter's console. All of the bunker's communications equipment is still functional.
Credit Lauren McFadden / FEMA
FEMA has constructed new buildings known as Primary Entry Point Stations, like this one in Fresno, Calif., to support the nation's Emergency Alert System.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

Originally published on Tue February 19, 2013 6:42 pm

There's an underground bunker at a radio station in Charlotte, N.C., where time has stopped. Built decades ago to provide safety and vital communications in the event of a nuclear attack, it's now a perfectly preserved relic of Cold War fear that's gained new relevance.

The secret bunker is part of the office lore that old-timers at WBT Radio whisper to the newbies. That's how radio host Mike Collins learned of it back in the 1980s.

Read more
Local News
5:00 am
Tue February 19, 2013

WBT Cold War Relic Gains New Relevance

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Jerry Dowd/WBT
A photo of WBT's bomb shelter as it looked in 1963.
Credit Julie Rose
WBT chief engineer Jerry Dowd sits at the console of the station's government-funded emergency shelter built in 1963 in the event of a nuclear attack.
Credit Jerry Dowd/WBT
WBT's bomb shelter shortly after it was built in 1963.
Credit Julie Rose
WBT's bomb shelter is a perfectly-preserved relic of the Cold War era.
Credit Julie Rose
WBT chief engineer Jerry Dowd shows off the all-important sanitation kit that came standard with the station's 1963-era nuclear bomb shelter.
Credit Jerry Dowd/WBT
WFAE reporter Julie Rose prepares to save the day in WBT's 1963-era bomb shelter.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

There's a bunker beneath WBT Radio's transmitter on Nations Ford Road in Charlotte where time has stopped. The shelter was built decades ago in the event of a nuclear attack. Today it's a perfectly-preserved relic of Cold War fear that's gained new relevance, as WFAE's Julie Rose reports.

The secret bunker is part of office lore WBT Radio old-timers whisper to the newbies. That's how radio host Mike Collins learned of it, working there in the 1980s – long before he moved to WFAE.

Read more
Local News
4:43 pm
Mon February 18, 2013

Outlet Mall Developers Seek Tax Incentives

Share
E-mail
Comments
By

Developers of a proposed outlet mall in southwest Charlotte want the city and county to pitch in up to $6 million for streets and utilities.  The request goes before the city council Monday night and will be in the Mecklenburg County Commission's hands Tuesday. WFAE's Julie Rose explains:

The city and county are increasingly being hit up by developers for what's called a "tax increment grant."

Read more
Local News
9:13 am
Mon February 18, 2013

Charlotte Offers New Incentive To Build Affordable Housing

Credit City of Charlotte
The affordable housing incentive will only apply to developments in more affluent neighborhoods (in green) that are also zoned for higher-density.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

City leaders believe Charlotte has a shortage of housing that's affordable to families making less than $54,000 a year. Monday night, the city council is expected to approve a new zoning ordinance aimed at changing that. WFAE's Julie Rose reports:

Read more
Local News
4:32 pm
Thu February 14, 2013

A Cautionary Airport Tale For Charlotte As US Airways/American Merge

Credit wallygrom / Flickr
A statue of Queen Charlotte, for whom the city was named, greets travelers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

  Thursday's official news of a merger between US Airways and American Airlines brought a sigh of relief to Charlotte, which seems poised to maintain its prominence as a major hub. But WFAE's Julie Rose reports there's reason for some caution amid the optimism.

Adie Tomer of the Brookings Institution has one word for Charlotte – Cincinnati. It was a major hub for Delta back in 2008 when the airline merged with Northwest. Everyone was breathing a sigh of relief there, too, says Tomer.

Read more

Pages