Governor names Carrboro, school board leader Broun to district court judge’s seat

Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Orange County attorney Joal Broun to a district court judgeship, his office announced Thursday.

A former member of the Carrboro Town Council and a Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education member, Broun will serve in Judicial District 15B, which covers Chatham and Orange counties.

“Joal is an experienced leader who will serve our state and its people with distinction,” Cooper said in a statement. “I’m pleased to appoint her to the bench.”

Broun, a 1983 Wake Forest graduate who also received her law degree from the school in 1986, fills the seat vacated by Beverly Scarlett, who held the position since 2007.

Most recently director of the lobbying compliance division in the N.C. Secretary of State’s office, Broun previously was associate general counsel for the N.C. Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement and general counsel in the Secretary of State’s office.

Steve Wiseman

The News & Observer

919-419-6671

Steve Wiseman was named Raleigh News & Observer and Durham Herald-Sun sports editor in May 2025. He covered Duke athletics, beginning in 2010, prior to his current assignment. In the Associated Press Sports Editors national contest, he placed in the top 10 in beat writing in 2019, 2021 and 2022, breaking news in 2019, event coverage in 2025 and explanatory writing in 2018. Before coming to Durham in 2010, Steve worked for The State (Columbia, SC), Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, S.C.), The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.), Charlotte Observer and Hickory (NC) Daily Record covering beats including the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints, University of South Carolina athletics and the S.C. General Assembly. He’s won numerous state-level press association awards. Steve graduated from Illinois State University in 1989.