☀️ In Today’s Edition

1. On the Frontline of a Growing Extremist Movement
2. Seeing Green
3. Around Our Network
4. What We’re Reading
5. Our Recent Stories

After the attack on two electrical substations in Moore County in December 2022, reporter Jordan Green became obsessed with figuring out who was behind it. He had spent years covering right-wing extremism, and here was an incident right in his home state that may be linked to some of the same groups.

He didn’t realize then how much the pursuit would upend his life, and his family’s. Today he writes about the two years he spent under threat from the people he was writing about, and the unique insights that gave him to how these groups work.

I’ve Seen How the Neo-Nazi Movement Is Escalating. You Should Worry.

After he committed to unmasking extremist groups in North Carolina and beyond, reporter Jordan Green got a first-hand look at how a movement known as ‘militant accelerationism’ operates.

“Just from the breadth of people who have harassed my family—not all of them are even captured in this account—and their associates who have been implicated in various crimes, it should be clear by now that teenage boys and young men don’t wake up one day on their own and decide to hurl a brick through a synagogue window or menace people at a drag show,” he writes.

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

Seeing Green

On Friday, we were pleased to learn that our team took home several awards from the southern branch of the Society of Professional Journalists. Known as the Green Eyeshades, the awards recognize the best work across Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

This email you’re reading right now took first place in the newsletters category. The story we co-published last year with Inside Climate News on North Carolina’s natural gas buildout took first in feature writing, while the Assembly–CityView collaboration on PFAS in Fayetteville took second in environmental reporting.

INDY also took first in newspaper cover design, second in food and dining reporting, and third in criticism and reviews.

Read more about the awards here.

In Greensboro, The Thread reports on a different kind of summer camp offering families an affordable, community-centric place for kids to build friendships and expand their worldview.

A new podcast looks back at a cold case that’s haunted Chapel Hill for years—the 1951 murder of the woman that Crook’s Corner is named after. INDY has more.

Upgrades to North Carolina’s air quality monitoring tools are giving Cumberland County residents a more detailed look at air quality levels, per CityView.

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

Phone Home: The Federal Communications Commission recently blocked Biden-era limits on the rates and fees telecom companies can charge people who are incarcerated. For Bolts, an inmate at Neuse Correctional Facility in Goldsboro writes about the impact.

ICEd Out: The increase in workplace immigration raids could affect everything from sweet potato farms to Christmas trees in North Carolina, Axios reports.

The Story of a Hurricane: The new newsletter Down from DC looks at the state of disaster response and how changes in Washington are affecting recovery in N.C.

Scratch That: The Burke County school board recently passed a resolution calling for classrooms to go back pencil and paper instead screens and tech. The Paper has more.

Our Recent Stories

What a Lawsuit Involving a Top Legislator Reveals About the Hemp Industry

State Rep. John Bell’s former hemp-business partners say he threatened to use his “power and influence” to jail them if they didn’t pay his company $1.6 million.

Lawmakers Tried to Weaken Climate Change Goals. Then Came Chantal.

The tropical system dumped rain across central N.C. days after Gov. Josh Stein vetoed a bill canceling carbon reduction goals. GOP lawmakers will likely attempt an override.

Trump Administration Wants to Close Key Weather Labs Across the U.S.

The labs are responsible for the forecasting that the nation relies on for storm warnings and emergency preparedness.

Want to see your message here? Contact advertise@theassemblync.com to learn how you can reach The Assembly’s 120,000 readers statewide.