☀️ In Today’s Edition

1. The Artist and the Storm
2. Homeless After Helene
3. Around Our Network
4. What We’re Reading
5. Our Recent Stories

It took Doug Carr a week to learn what happened to his friend Colston Byrd, who nearly died in a landslide during Hurricane Helene. 

As Carr drove around in his silver 2010 Toyota Prius trying to find out how Byrd and others had fared, he wrote the lyrics to “motherfountain.”

“It’s really about awe in the face of just this kind of indifferent power of nature,” said Carr, who describes his music as “glitchy, experimental, electronic pop.” “I tried to capture … just feeling really small in the face of something really powerful.”

Carr, and artists of all ages and mediums, have turned to creative endeavors to cope with the trauma of Helene. Allison Salerno reports from Marshall.

Finding Solace in Art After Helene

In hard-hit Marshall, artists have found their creative work helps them process their losses.

After Helene flooded the apartment Ursula Crawford had rented for four four years, her landlord helped put her up in a hotel and move her possessions into a storage unit. Crawford assumed she’d move back into her apartment eventually.

“My landlord had sent me a message saying that it was going to be a while,” Crawford recalled, “and then she was going to jack up the rent to $1,200.” Before the storm, she had been paying $825.

That’s how the 74-year-old and her dog, Ginger, found themselves among the long-term displaced after Helene. For the first time in her life, Crawford is living in a homeless shelter.

As Jessica Wakeman reports, Crawford and many others are living at the convergence of two crises.

In Asheville, a Natural Disaster and a Housing Crisis Collide

The city saw an increase in the number of people living on the street after Helene. For some, it was their first brush with homelessness.

In Greensboro, Sayaka Matsuoka writes about new life moving into her family’s former restaurant for The Thread.

Border Belt Independent looks at how UNC-Pembroke, which U.S. News & World Report ranked the most diverse regional university in the South this year, is dealing with anti-DEI efforts.

A new historical marker in Durham will recognize Our Day Out, a 1981 protest that is considered North Carolina’s first Pride March, per INDY.

The North Carolina Office of the State Auditor is investigating the town of Hope Mills, per CityView. A trip to Florida and a fishing derby are included in the probe.

A new federal lawsuit alleges a veteran highway state trooper punched a man having an epileptic seizure after the man hit another car and crashed into a utility pole—and then the trooper charged him with assault on an officer and resisting arrest.

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

What We’re Reading

Win, Lose, or Draw: Senate leader Phil Berger, who is facing a primary challenge, is floating the possibility of a new congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterms. The Caucus has more for premium subscribers.

Guest Worker Woes: Women are often shut out of the H-2A visa program, and then face sexual violence and trafficking when they do receive them, per a Prism investigation.

Falling Through the Gaps: NC Health News looks at the gaps the Charlotte light rail killing exposed in the state mental health system, and why the crime bill passed this week does little to address them.

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Our Recent Stories

Bruised, Not Broken

A year after Helene, a Western North Carolina journalist moved to Asheville and found that it’s still healing.

‘Everything They Had is Gone’

After Hurricane Helene, schools reopened long before many students were able to return to their homes. Their learning has yet to recover.

A Fatal Stabbing and Its Aftermath

Republicans have made a political cudgel of Iryna Zarutska’s killing. A crime bill expected this week may be more posturing than solutions.