UNC Health Sent WakeMed an Offer. The Raleigh Hospital Says It’s Sticking with Atrium.
Lawmakers Direct Funds for Teaching Civil Rights History to Conservative Group
The General Assembly earmarked $350,000 for the Clarence Henderson Education Foundation, named for an outspoken Black Republican.
A Year After Federal Job Cuts, Workers in the Triangle Are Still Picking Up the Pieces
Hundreds of federal workers in the Triangle lost jobs in the Trump administration’s early cuts. A year later, the future still seems uncertain.
Holding Hospitals to Their Big Charity Care Promise
Hospitals agreed to forgive debt for millions of residents and to help more patients avoid future bills. Now they have to deliver.
A 60-Year Duke Professor on Literature, Grade Inflation, and Whether Academia Will Survive
Victor Strandberg reflects on what’s changed and what comes next.
Politics
How Growing Up in Smithfield Shaped Harmeet Dhillon
The high-ranking DOJ lawyer was reared in the 1970s as an outsider—an Indian Sikh girl in a town with a Ku Klux Klan billboard.
Elections Board Rule Could Limit Public Access to Campaign Finance Complaints
A newly proposed rule seeks to formalize the process for how the state responds to alleged campaign finance violations. The draft says complaints would now be “confidential.”
N.C. House Votes to Override Stein Veto, Join Federal School Choice Program
Two lawmakers who recently left the Democratic Party joined Republicans to override the veto.
Higher Ed
How Two Duke Alumni Helped Conservatives Take Over the NEH
The Trump administration fired most of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ advisory board last year. Two Duke-trained political theorists are key figures now running the agency.
Low Morale Plagues UNC-Chapel Hill Fundraisers After Overhaul
The university centralized its donor operation last year, frustrating some employees and deans. While fundraising has ticked up in the year since, employee job satisfaction took a hit.
State Lawmakers Revive Push to Exempt Campus Discipline from Public Records Law
GOP Sen. Michael Lee says the bill would prevent sexual assault victims from being identified. Critics say it would protect perpetrators.
Culture
Brought to You By Japan, But Made in Mebane
Morinaga America is expanding its North Carolina factory to meet the growing demand of Americans obsessed with HI-CHEW.
The Canes Were in a Death Spiral. Now They’re Hot.
Less than a decade ago, the Carolina Hurricanes’ future was uncertain. Today they’re a model Sun Belt operation.
The End of the Line
For decades, K&W Cafeterias fed the South on familiarity and habit. Their closure marks the loss of more than a restaurant chain—it signals the erosion of a shared, middle-class dining culture.
Courts & Justice
Charles McNeair Spent His Adult Life in Prison. At 63, He’ll Go Home.
A man imprisoned as a teenager for a crime he has maintained he didn’t commit has finally been granted parole.
DeCarlos Brown Again Found Mentally Incompetent to Stand Trial
The man accused of killing a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte light rail train has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial for a second time. Prosecutors and defense attorneys said that the case has not ended.
A Tangled Legal Hell
The legal battle over a judge confiscating a reporter’s notes and issuing a gag order has grown increasingly Kafkaesque.
From Our Network
Chapel Hill Public Library At Risk of Losing County Funding
In response to a budget crunch, Orange County officials are proposing a budget cut that would wipe about $620,000 from the library over the next two years.
A Family’s Fight for Education Spans Generations
Long before the Leandro case began in 1994, Angus Thompson’s ancestors advocated for equality in Robeson County public schools.
A Comedian Walks Into a Police Station
A social media manager has made the Greensboro Police Department’s social media wildly popular. But a pattern of offensive posts may threaten the department’s reputation at a critical time.
Meet the Black Women Reclaiming the Soil in Fayetteville
Local nonprofit owner Angela A. Tatum has ushered in a new era of Black women homesteaders.
Proposed WakeMed-Atrium Deal Prompts Calls for Transparency
Wake County officials have delayed their role in the approval process for 90 days amid pushback.
Fayetteville to Explore Building Downtown Convention Center
Mayor Mitch Colvin urged the City Council to explore a city‑led feasibility study for a downtown convention center, arguing the city must take charge of revitalization after years of county investments outside the area.
Featured Stories
Even if Phil Berger Wins, He Lost
The Senate leader’s primary might not be resolved for weeks. But even Berger’s best-case scenario will leave the political giant diminished.
Whistleblower Pushes to Regulate Controversial Organ Retrieval Technique
A North Carolina surgeon has raised concerns about an innovative procedure that reanimates a dead body to enable organ transplants.
Greg Bovino’s Last Stand
North Carolina native Greg Bovino was known for being theatrical and hyperaggressive. Those traits just cost him his job.
As Helene Survivors Await State Help, Some Victims of Earlier Hurricanes Are Still Out of Their Homes
A new housing recovery program created to avoid the delays and cost overruns that plagued past efforts is already seeing similar problems.
The Enduring Hazards of College Hazing
Administrators have worked for years to eliminate fraternity hazing. But we found more than 1,500 pages of records showing it continues.
Well I’ll Be Dammed
North Carolina is about to get its first Buc-ee’s, the massive, cult-classic gas station. What’s all the hype about?
Lost and Found
Meet the teams working to reunite people with mementos they lost during Hurricane Helene.
If You Build It, Will They Come?
New charter schools are struggling to enroll enough students to stay solvent. One High Point school’s implosion shows the consequences.
How Tupac Came to Rest in North Carolina
The cremated remains of the rapper, still omnipresent three decades after his death, now lie in a Lumberton grave.
UNC-Chapel Hill’s Lesson in Civics
The School of Civic Life and Leadership’s hiring battle is part of a long-running rupture over the mission of similar efforts.
From ‘Superstar’ Cop to Drug Kingpin
A talented police officer busted drug rings along I-85. Then he bewildered everyone who knew him by becoming a drug trafficker himself.
How North Carolina Officials Kept the Truth About a Police Shooting Hidden
In 2019, a state trooper killed Brandon Webster claiming self defense. Evidence contradicted that account but wasn’t made public—until now.
A Tale of Two Six: J. Cole’s Fayetteville
A native son, a homecoming-inspired final album, and how Fayetteville—if only for a weekend—became the center of the hip-hop universe.
Transgender State Workers Are Facing Whiplash
The state’s health insurance plan no longer covers gender-affirming care, which has left some employees in limbo.
I’ve Seen How the Neo-Nazi Movement Is Escalating. You Should Worry.
A reporter gets a first-hand look at how the ‘militant accelerationism’ movement operates.