☀️ In Today’s Edition

1. Assessing the Damage to Charlotte’s Latino Businesses
2. Everything Else That Happened This Week
3. Trolls on Parade
4. What We’re Reading
5. Our Recent Stories

Amid conflicting reports about whether a six-day U.S. Border Patrol operation had concluded, Charlotte’s Latino business owners and community leaders are beginning to gauge how much harm “Operation Charlotte’s Web” has done.

Late Thursday morning, Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, and other local officials said they’d been told that the operation was finished.

But Thursday afternoon, DHS claimed it would continue, and posted a meme of a smiling man behind bushes on social media with the message, “Dear Criminal Illegal Aliens: we are gone. It is safe to come out!”

Given the uncertainty, businesses and public spaces in the city’s Latino neighborhoods remained largely vacant. Now they’ll have to assess the damage.

‘It’s Very Bleak’

As the Border Patrol’s Charlotte operation continued—or ended?—the city’s Latino businesses began to assess the damage done.

“I think right now, we’ve been terrorized,” said Karla Cruz, vice president of programs and operations for Spark Centro, which works with Latino businesses, “and so we want to make sure we build that trust with everybody.”

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

So a Lot Happened This Week…

The North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency’s disaster response efforts was itself “a disaster,” State Auditor Dave Boliek concluded in a scathing 506-page report this week detailing mismanagement of the program to rebuild homes following hurricanes Matthew and Florence.

Appalachian State and North Carolina Central are applying to join the new accreditation agency that the UNC System and several other Southern states are seeking to establish. 

The State Bar and the leaders of the committee that oversees grievances are at logger heads over a request to turn over political information about its 101 employees, per The Caucus.

North Carolina’s 4th District was the hardest hit in the entire country when it came to the Trump administration’s cuts to research and aid funding. Could that come back to bite Republicans in 2026?

UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Lee Roberts believes “the AI bubble will burst,” but that the technology is here to stay and the school will have to adapt. Catch up on what Roberts and the school’s vice provosts told the crowd at our Newsmakers event in The Quad.

Trolls on Parade

Now for something completely different and considerably more fun.

At Raleigh’s Dix Park, Daddy Bird Eye now keeps watch over his family while Mother Strongtail stretches on her side in the forest about three-quarters of a mile away, her 620-foot tail trailing through the trees. Dix, the baby troll, who stands at the edge of the woods gazing across the field, inviting visitors to come explore the woods.

The trolls are the creations of Danish artist Thomas Dambo, who works almost entirely with recycled materials to build massive, interactive pieces. This fall, he brought his team to North Carolina to construct the largest collection of his trolls anywhere in the United States. There are five at Dix Park and one each in High Point and Charlotte, as well as a traveling exhibit at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville.

Into the Woods with the Dix Park Trolls

Danish artist Thomas Dambo’s family of five recycled troll sculptures now cavort across the Raleigh park’s 308 acres. Daddy Bird Eye, Mother Strongtail, and their three baby trolls have a message: Protect the trees.

What We’re Reading

Spin It Like a Black Helicopter: Greenville native Petey Pablo says the Border Patrol used his North Carolina anthem, “Raise Up,” without permission, per WUNC.

Zeal of the Convert: The New York Times looks at why young men are increasingly drawn to the Orthodox Church, focusing on All Saints Orthodox Church in Raleigh.

Bar Back: Punch, a national outlet dedicated to covering drinks and drinking culture, reports from Asheville about bartenders on the frontline of the opioid epidemic, often with little training or support.

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Our Recent Stories

Law and Orders

Even for immigration lawyers, navigating the Border Patrol’s opaque operation in N.C. is nearly impossible.

The New Head of N.C.’s Prisons Tries to Unwind a Staffing Quagmire 

Leslie Cooley Dismukes, the new secretary of the state Department of Adult Correction, wants to prioritize reentry and reduce recidivism. But she has to solve a staffing crisis first.

Avast! Blackbeard Videographer Continues Suit Against N.C.

Rick Allen says the state copied his work without permission or payment. More than a decade later, he’s still trying to get paid.