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☀️ In Today’s Edition

1. What IS Up With Those Blue Signs?
2. Why Charlotte Was a Test of Border Patrol’s Power
3. Around the Network
4. What We’re Reading
5. Our Recent Stories

For years, businesses who wanted to beckon travelers along North Carolina’s freeways could pay $1,200 a year to get their logo on those ubiquitous blue signs—$600 for roadside signs in both directions and another $600 for signs on each ramp.

The price was the same for all of the 6,000-plus blue signs on freeways, interstates, and interchanges on those roadways, from where N.C. 11 passes through Ayden (average daily traffic: fewer than 20,000 cars) to the Interstate 40 junction in Asheville (average daily traffic: more than 61,000).

But starting this summer, the state handed the keys to the sign program over to a private company, which adopted a new fee structure that more than triples what some advertisers have paid for a spot on the blue sign.

Businesses Pay to Get On Those Blue Road Signs—and the Price Just Went Up

Ever wonder how a restaurant or gas station gets its logo on those signs telling travelers where they can stop? North Carolina recently privatized its program and is hoping the change will be lucrative.

Reporter Jimmy Ryals wondered how the whole thing works, and decided to take the long route to figure it out.

A Test of Border Patrol’s Power

In the alphabet soup of government agencies, federal officers tasked with carrying out immigration law come in different flavors: ICE, ERO, CPB, HSI. Many Americans who now face unprecedented enforcement operations in their own backyards—most recently, right here in North Carolina—are realizing that the agents detaining people aren’t all the same. 

Border Patrol and ICE are both divisions within the Department of Homeland Security assigned to handle aspects of immigration enforcement, but their roles and responsibilities are supposed to be distinct. Last week’s “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” though, illustrated how their efforts are merging, leaving questions about what tactics are legal, who was detained, and where they were taken.

Erin Siegal McIntyre, who is working on a book on the Border Patrol, explains why it matters.

Border Patrol’s N.C. Operation Was a Test for What’s Next

There’s a reason Customs and Border Protection, not just ICE, was deployed in Charlotte and Raleigh. And it says a lot about how the Trump administration is looking at immigration enforcement.

Around Our Network

INDY looks at Emanuel Food Pantry, which over the last five years has grown from a handful of folks serving a weekly hot meal in a church basement, to Durham County’s largest emergency food assistance program.

With the snip of more than a dozen scissors, the final piece of Interstate 295, a.k.a. the Fayetteville Outer Loop, was officially declared complete this week. As CityView reports, the ceremony marked the end of a 26-year construction project.

Organizations in Guilford County working to help people struggling with addiction could have their work transformed by a historic national settlement, per The Thread.

At least 44 counties in North Carolina now have a drug court system aimed at keeping people out of jail. As Border Belt Independent reports, Columbus County recently launched its own program for people charged with crimes while struggling with addiction.

Have a news tip for our team? You can reach us at scoops@theassemblync.com.

What We’re Reading

Duke Rebuke: The Chronicle reports that some Duke University faculty have been directed not to speak to the media amid increased federal scrutiny.

Not a Sucker for You: The aunt of the Jonas Brother’s aunt pleaded guilty to stealing from the family’s restaurant in Belmont, per WSOC-TV.

What Is Going On Over There? A legislative assistant to a state senator has been accused of trying to set two homes on fire, including one with two people inside. WRAL reports on what appears to be at least the third arrest in the General Assembly of late.

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Our Recent Stories

‘Where Are My Friends?’ Teachers Say Operation Charlotte’s Web Rattled Students

Some parents and teachers say they expected better communication and more understanding from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

How Rural N.C. Lowered Overdose Deaths—But Will Struggle to Keep Pace

After years of fighting rising rates of overdoses, communities have been reversing the trend.

Into the Woods with the Dix Park Trolls

Danish artist Thomas Dambo’s family of five recycled troll sculptures now cavort across the Raleigh’s Dix Park.