Archives by: Kelan Lyons

Kelan Lyons

About the author

Kelan Lyons, Investigative Reporter, joined Policy Watch in June 2022. Before moving to North Carolina, he wrote about the criminal legal system for the Connecticut Mirror. He has written extensively about an array of systemic issues within the justice system, including solitary confinement, money bail, racial disparities among the incarcerated population, and the ways people with mental illnesses can become ensnared in the legal system. He has also worked at newsrooms in Utah and Texas.

[email protected]
919-861-1460

Kelan Lyons's articles and posts

Law and the Courts News Top Story

Lawmakers mull letting cities, counties post public notices online, rather than in newspapers

The oft-debated subject pits the decline of local newspapers against the public’s access to information. The fourth generation of his family to publish a newspaper, Lockwood Phillips has a reporter's sensibility for offhandedly recalling moments when journalism served its local community.

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Law and the Courts News Top Story

‘Kayla’s Law’ domestic violence bill clears committee with bipartisan vote

The proposal would allow survivors of domestic violence to testify remotely against their alleged abusers and increase the statute of limitations for prosecution of misdemeanor domestic violence. Kayla Hammonds was afraid to go to court. She couldn’t bear the thought of facing her ex-boyfriend in the courtroom alone, so she’d bring her sister for moral support.

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Law and the Courts News Top Story

Déjà vu: NC Supreme Court rehears arguments in voter ID case 

For the second time in two days, the Republican-majority high court rehears arguments in a case decided by a Democratic majority just months ago The North Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on whether a voter ID law passed in 2018 was intended to discriminate against prospective voters of color.

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Law and the Courts News Top Story

Monday numbers: Nearly 19,000 children in NC have a parent who’s imprisoned

Data obtained through a records request illustrates how many parents are in North Carolina prisons — and how many kids have parents behind ...
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Law and the Courts News Top Story

After the GOP proposes ‘commonsense gun reform,’ Dems float their own ideas

The bills are broadly aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of people deemed a risk to themselves or others. After he found out his fiancée had been shot and killed while walking her dog, a grief-stricken Rob Steele took his gun out of his safe. He unloaded the magazine, put the ammunition back in the metal box, then handed his firearm to a doctor.

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Law and the Courts News Top Story

‘It has ruined me.’ Listening session offers glimpse into solitary confinement 

People who survived solitary imprisonment talk about its lingering effects on the mind, and call for reform Solitary confinement broke John Howell. Stuck in a prison cell, he lost touch with his family, the outside world and eventually, reality. “You sit there in that box,” he said, “and you slowly lose your mind.”

Howell isn’t locked in a cell anymore, but in a way he's still imprisoned. ...
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Law and the Courts News Top Story

Monday numbers: Health care in NC prisons cost $357 million last year — and is expected to increase

Figures presented to an appropriations committee detail the cost of confinement for imprisoned sick and elderly people The cost of providing health care to the roughly 30,000 people in North Carolina’s prisons has always exceeded the amount budgeted by the legislature, a fiscal analyst told state lawmakers last week.

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Law and the Courts News Policy Watch Investigates Top Story

Homelessness and the First Amendment on trial in Asheville

City draws fire for its treatment of unhoused population and arrest of journalists attempting to cover police sweep of city park It was Christmas night, so Veronica Coit hadn’t expected to stay at Aston Park for long. They had come to bring their colleague, Matilda Bliss, a plate from dinner: turkey, sweet potato- and green bean-casseroles, collard greens and a slice of pie.

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Law and the Courts News Top Story

Hours after Michigan shooting, North Carolina Republicans advance bills to loosen state gun laws

GOP lawmakers have passed similar legislation expanding gun access in past legislative sessions. This time, they might have the votes to override the governor’s veto. Hours after three students at Michigan State University were killed by a man who ultimately turned his gun on himself, North Carolina Republicans unveiled several bills Tuesday aimed at making it easier for people to acquire and wield firearms.

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Law and the Courts Top Story

Newly constituted NC Supreme Court revisits the issue of racial discrimination in jury selection

High court weighs whether prosecutors used a ‘cheat sheet’ to eliminate Black people from a death penalty case jury pool The North Carolina Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday over whether a Forsyth County prosecutor used a “cheat sheet” to remove Black people from a jury in a capital trial in 1996.

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