Sponsored by

☀️ In Today’s Edition

1. Pulling Forsyth Schools Out of a $42 Million Hole
2. Around Our Network
3. What We’re Reading
4. Our Recent Stories

When Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools found itself in a $42 million budget hole this summer, the district turned to Catty Moore to help navigate them out of it.

Moore, 62, is perhaps the most prominent member of North Carolina’s public school rescue crew—about a half-dozen retired superintendents willing to take short-term contracts to help a school district through a particularly tumultuous period.

In Forsyth, the hole was so big the district would have have to lay off hundreds of employees, just as the new school year was about to kick off.

The Fixer

Catty Moore retired as Wake County schools’ superintendent two years ago. Then she was called in to help save Forsyth County schools from a financial crisis.

“When you don’t have the money, you’ve got to make decisions and choices,” Moore warned at her first school board meeting after taking the job, “and they’re going to be hard and they’re going to hurt.”

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

Around Our Network

INDY dug into candidate financial disclosures for the upcoming city council elections, finding out who’s giving, who’s spending, and who’s missing data.

As the federal government shutdown nears the one-month mark, Cumberland County is scrambling to find ways to fill gaps, per CityView.

The U.S. Forest Service is consolidating oversight of regional offices, part of “interim” changes that mean fewer staff overseeing larger areas, NOTUS reports.

Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here to get The Assembly’s statewide newsletter every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

What We’re Reading

Pardon Me: The N&O reports that Greg Lindberg, the Durham insurance mogul twice convicted in a state bribery scheme, has hired Donald Trump’s former bodyguard to lobby for a pardon.

If the Suit Fits: Rev. William Barber, founder of the state’s Moral Monday movement, signaled he would be part of legal action against the state’s new congressional map. WUNC has more.

Take a Seat: Wall Street Journal looks at how tariffs are affecting North Carolina’s already-suffering furniture industry.

Doorstep Delivery: The number of home births has surged in North Carolina since the pandemic, though they still accounts for less than 1 percent of all births. Axios breaks it down.

Our Recent Stories

Getting Ghosted With Onlyphantoms

Missing mugs, cold gusts of air, and a strange smoky smell: Why I turned to these North Carolina ghost hunters.

UNC System Faculty Seek to Define ‘Academic Freedom’

As some professors feel their work is being threatened, a faculty group wants UNC officials to be more precise about which activities are protected.

On the Rocks

A Wilmington distillery owner is selling bottles of his signature spirits from a downtown storefront—and daring the state ABC Commission to stop him.