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☀️ In Today’s Edition
1. Siler City On Edge
2. Drawing Lines
3. Around Our Network
4. What We’re Reading
5. Our Recent Stories
Every September, Siler City’s El Vínculo Hispano throws a massive fiesta.
The nonprofit has supported the cultural traditions and legal needs of Chatham County’s Latino residents for three decades. But this year, the organization announced that it was canceling the big annual party because too many people felt unsafe congregating in the current political climate.
Siler City has the highest percentage of Latino residents in North Carolina; more than half of its 7,700 residents identify as Hispanic or Latino and speak Spanish at home. Sara Heise Graybeal reports on the chill the second Trump administration has sent through the community.
In Siler City, Fear of ICE Hangs Over Latino Community
Amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, residents of this majority-Latino town are afraid, beloved cultural events are being canceled, and the community is at risk of becoming more isolated.
“It’s enraging that these politics of fear are infiltrating our community in such a big way,” said El Vínculo Hispano founder and executive director Ilana Dubester.
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Drawing Lines
On Monday, Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall announced that lawmakers would follow “President Donald Trump’s call” and vote on a new congressional map when lawmakers return to Raleigh next week.
They released a proposed map late yesterday afternoon. As Jeffrey Billman reports, that could help ensure the GOP wins even more U.S. House seats in the next election.
When Trump Says Jump
Hoping to preserve a razor-thin majority in the U.S. House, the White House has ordered red states to redraw congressional districts. North Carolina Republicans plan to oblige.
“North Carolina’s democracy, in many ways, depends upon a handful of down-ballot judicial elections down the road,” said Dave Daley, a senior fellow at FairVote. “It’s a long-term mess, and North Carolina is ground zero right now.”
Around Our Network
Border Belt Independent looks at a philanthropy-backed summer program that partners with rural churches to improve literacy outcomes for students in first through third grade.
The Pentagon is seeking information on the feasibility of privatizing on-base grocery stores, raising questions about what that could mean for the two commissaries at Fort Bragg, per CityView.
Democrats’ hopes for a Senate majority hang on three candidates who are over age 65, NOTUS reports, including 68-year-old Roy Cooper.
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What We’re Reading
Yalla to Y’all: Michael Lombardi, general manger of UNC-Chapel Hill’s football team, traveled to Saudi Arabia to gauge investor interest, The Athletic reports.
Ban Back: The State Health Plan can reinstate its ban on covering gender-affirming care for state employees and their dependents, a federal appeals court ruled this week. The Center Square has more.
Biomass: Stat News looks at how Holly Springs became a boomtown for biotech, drawing multi-billion projects from around the country.
Will It Be: Dawson Leery’s Wilmington home, “an instantly recognizable symbol of coastal life and coming-of-age nostalgia,” is on the market for $3.2 million, according to Us Weekly.
Our Recent Stories
Waiting for Leandro
It’s been 601 days since the state Supreme Court heard arguments over funds for public schools. Can they put off a decision forever?
Cops on Ketamine? Largely Unregulated Mental Health Treatment Faces Hurdles
Combining psychotherapy with a low dose of the hallucinogenic drug is a relatively new approach to treating PTSD.
A Short-Lived Win in a Never-Ending Fight Over Forever Chemicals
N.C. activists overcame political and scientific hurdles to get the EPA to regulate PFAS. Now the Trump administration is reversing progress.
Joy Follows the Flood
After a year that was both hard and heartening, much of the mountain community of Lansing has finally reopened.
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