Both Orage Quarles, The N&O's publisher, and Steve Ford, the recently retired editorial page editor, were guests on "The State of Things" yesterday. The WUNC 91.5 program is hosted by Frank Stasio and "devoted to bringing the issues, personalities, and places of North Carolina to our listeners."

You'll find some interesting tidbits, no doubt, by listening to the interviews here.

Here's how the station's website introduced the segments:

For nearly a quarter century, Steve Ford edited the editorial page at The News & Observer of Raleigh. During that time, he wrote about disgraced politicians, fights over student assignment and a wide array of other issues facing the state and Triangle. Ford retired earlier this month, and today he joins host Frank Stasio to look back at his career and the changing nature of editorial pages.

Today, The News & Observer of Raleigh is putting in place an online paywall — a subscription fee for people who want to read more than 15 articles a month on the paper's website. Host Frank Stasio talks about the changes and the evolving economies of the newspaper business with N&O publisher Orage Quarles, III.

Here's a recap of some of N&O cartoonist Dwane Powell's best cartoons of the year.

The country's financial situation ... big surprise ... dominates the minds of some of the nation's editorial cartoonists. Here are just a few cartoons from the past week.