Monthly Edition
November 2025
Dear readers:
We know we’re publishing a whole lot more news these days, and we want to make sure the best of what we do each month still rises to the top of your inbox. So we’re kicking off a new monthly newsletter that brings you some of our most thorough, compelling, and delightful reads.
โKate Sheppard
Executive Editor
The Big Read
Arduous and Unequal: The Fight to Get FEMA Housing Assistance After Helene
An analysis by ProPublica and The Assembly of the more rural counties in North Carolina hardest hit by Helene shows that the households that got the most aid tended to have the highest incomes.
Best of Politics
Why Politicians Learned to Love the Sales Tax
The combined state and local sales tax has more than doubled since 1970. Now Mecklenburg voters are mulling another increase.
Fear Hangs Over Siler City
Residents of this majority-Latino town are afraid, cultural events have been canceled, and the community is at risk of isolation.
Democratsโ Deep Hole
What would it take for North Carolina Democrats to overcome the latest GOP congressional gerrymander? A political earthquake.
Editor’s Corner
On October 13, reporter Ren Larson and I got a chance to go to New York City’s grand Gotham Hall to accept The Assembly‘s two national Edward R. Murrow Awards. It was a chance to dress fancy and celebrate our craft with some of the country’s top journalists, and we were pleased to share the night with friends from Blue Ridge Public Radio, WRAL, and Carolina Connection.
Ren received her award, for her investigation into Charlotte’s U.S. Performance Center, from none other than NPR’s Steve Inskeep (not that I am jealous). For my part, I’ve managed not to leave too many grimey finger prints on our Overall Excellence trophy.
Education
The Fixer
Catty Moore retired. Then she was called in to help save Forsyth County schools from a financial crisis.
Lessons in Civics
A hiring battle at UNC’s School of Civic Life and Leadership is part of a long-running rupture over its mission.
Waiting for Leandro
Itโs been more than 600 days since the state Supreme Court heard arguments. Can they put off a decision forever?
Media
WRAL-TV Fights to Succeed in a New Media World
WRAL confronts a precarious future as locally owned television stations deal with declining viewership and advertising revenue.
Culture
Winston-Salem’s Most Elite Real Estate Is for the Dead
Inside the final resting place of many of the cityโs best-known families.
Raleigh Tries to Break A 54-Year Losing Streak
The city appears to be a good candidate for Major League Baseball, but even a minor league team has eluded it.
Medicine By Design
A sharp dresser and an unabashed evangelist of hope, Dr. Richard Bedlack has built a research and support network for patients with ALS.
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