This week’s Dive is short! We mostly just want to thank you for being an early reader these first few weeks. And we wanted to let you know we’re taking a little summer break. The break will help us think about what we’ve learned so far, and what we’d like to do with this newsletter going forward.

To that end, we’d love it if you’d take a 5-minute survey to let us know what you think so far.

We will be back on August 10. See you then!

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Around the Region

Signal to Noise: The Wilmington International Airport is conducting its first-ever federally authorized noise study, Port City Daily reports, following complaints that decibel levels have increased.  

Left on Read: WHQR reports that the New Hanover County School Board voted 4-3 this week to conduct a public hearing about the book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, following complaints from a parent who linked it to “socialistic principles, the fulfillment of communist goals” and “promoting divisive, anti-American sentiment.”

One Thing Florida Has Going For It: The StarNews brings us the story of a 100-year-old,10,000-square-foot boat that once housed a floating restaurant: The Fergus Ark. Once a Wilmington attraction, it has since retired to Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

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Across the State

An NBA Star’s Grief and an Ongoing Search for Justice 

Chris Paul’s new memoir talks about his grandfather’s brutal killing. But new evidence suggests the case against five teens wasn’t so straightforward.

A New Era In the War on Drugs 

North Carolina is getting $1.4 billion to fight the opioid epidemic, but there’s much debate over how to spend it.

The Race to Save Our Vanishing Birds

Behind the scenes with the conservationists trying to build public support for saving birds in North Carolina.

The Assembly is a digital magazine covering power and place in North Carolina. Sent this by a friend? Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Kate Sheppard is the executive editor of The Assembly Network. She was previously a senior enterprise editor at HuffPost, a reporter at Mother Jones, and taught journalism and innovation at UNC-Chapel Hill.