The Assembly, Chapel Hill, NC (2025)

10/17/2025

Although the two university presidents described the strengths of both institutions and spoke warmly of a collegial partnership, it’s clear that the Elon side of the merger will be in charge.

Book told reporters that Elon’s 37-member board will expand to add 10 members from the Queens side. That means that Elon will control nearly 80 percent of the merged entity’s board seats.

Like most universities, Elon and Queens are organized as nonprofits. When nonprofits combine, there is no financial transaction; they just merge the boards and the assets.

The deal will provide Queens with stable financial backing and Elon with improved access to Charlotte’s growing business opportunities.

10/17/2025

Republicans netted three seats in North Carolina last year, changing the state’s congressional delegation from an even 7-7 split to a 10-4 GOP majority.

Now Republicans are looking to pad that margin. 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 on Thursday afternoon.

Last month, Berger denied a rumor that he’d agreed to redraw the state’s districts in exchange for Trump’s endorsement in his looming primary against a hard-right, Trump-aligned sheriff. To date, Trump hasn’t endorsed anyone in Berger’s race.

The White House has ordered red states to redraw congressional districts. North Carolina Republicans have been happy to oblige.

10/16/2025

For 20 years, the location in the Westridge Shopping Center was my second home. When my parents opened Kyoto Fantasy Express there in 1998, I was just six years old.

Now, a different restaurant occupies the space.

Once Kyoto Fantasy Express, Thai Square stirs memories of a family restaurant and a life well lived in Greensboro.

10/15/2025

In 2023, Huntersville was a showcase for Mecklenburg Democrats.

Registered Democrats trail Republican and unaffiliated voters in North Carolina’s 16th largest municipality, and Republicans have done well in local elections. After the 2021 elections, only one Democrat was on the six-member board.

Kromer, the party’s county chair in 2023, used the Huntersville elections as an experiment for what he hoped would be big Democratic gains across Mecklenburg the following year. The party mobilized resources and volunteers in Huntersville–including phone bankers from Boston—behind a slate of candidates. Democratic turnout jumped in early voting.

A proposed nondiscrimination ordinance to protect transgender people in Huntersville has divided the Democratic-controlled town board.

10/15/2025

Via KFF Health News | Combining psychotherapy with a low-dose of the hallucinogenic drug is a relatively new approach to treating severe depression and post-traumatic stress.

Combining psychotherapy with a low-dose of ketamine is a relatively new approach to treating severe depression and post-traumatic stress.

10/15/2025

The 82nd Airborne Museum is a stop during orientation for every new soldier in the division, which has about 20,000 members. It is where every battalion change of command is held, Lopez said.

The museum’s main gallery includes exhibits on division deployments, plus a theater and gift shop. Back rooms hold about 600 feet of shelving full of archives and a weapons vault.

Outside are memorials to fallen soldiers, from the founding of the division in 1917 to the Global War on Terror. One commemorates the several hundred soldiers who have died in training accidents. Nearby are examples of the kinds of aircraft that paratroopers have leapt from, starting with designs from the 1930s.

The Army has not publicly confirmed which museums will be closed, but local leaders fear the 82nd Airborne Museum is on the chopping block.

10/15/2025

When Republican lawmakers asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider a landmark ruling in the Leandro case in 2023, it took the court’s new Republican majority only 30 days to grant the unusual request. It was the latest in a 30-year legal battle over the right to a “sound, basic education” for North Carolina’s 1.5 million public school students.

The justices held oral arguments on February 22, 2024. But 601 days later, they have yet to issue a decision.

Leandro v. North Carolina began in 1994, when five low-wealth counties sued the state over what they contended was inadequate funding. The case has been in and out of court ever since as the state grapples with how to ensure a fair education for students in both wealthier and poorer districts.

It’s been 601 days since the state Supreme Court heard arguments over funds for public schools. Can they put off a decision forever?

10/14/2025

When the convoy finally clears the threshold, the dining room erupts. The customers, 34 travelers from Longview, Texas, are gathered around one giant central table, wearing matching T-shirts that say “Don’t Mess With Texas” on the back and inexplicably bearing the Buc-ee’s logo on the front.

This isn’t the group’s first pilgrimage to The Blind Pelican. The mission all started a year ago when the same group made the trek for Alexis Walters’ 40th birthday trip and ordered a giant Bloody Mary, a menu item the restaurant is famous for.

During that trip, the group set The Blind Pelican’s in-house record for biggest Bloody Mary with a $2,600 order. But soon after, another group of people broke that record with a slightly more expensive one.

A Holly Springs restaurant and 34 Texans teamed up to build an $8,887 Bloody Mary topped with crab legs, lobster, steaks, and caviar—now under review for Guinness World Records.

10/14/2025

Via NOTUS | The increased focus on transgender issues is a preview of the Republican Party’s message in the 2026 midterm election—including in North Carolina’s high-profile Senate race, according to political strategists in both parties.

Republicans in the Virginia race have dedicated 57 percent of all their paid media campaigning toward transgender-related issues, according to data from AdImpact. Crime and immigration, two issues that Republicans have relied on heavily in recent elections, amount for only a combined 1 percent of ads, the data show.

Officials have signaled their interest in using similar attacks against other candidates, such as former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who is expected to be the Democratic Senate nominee. He is likely to face Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman.

More than half of GOP ads in Virginia are focused on trans issues. Officials plan to run similar attacks in North Carolina's Senate race.

10/13/2025

Nobody wishes for disaster; no one relishes the suffering of friends and neighbors. But across Western North Carolina, people have also found joy in the wake of calamity.

They’ve formed intense, tightly bonded communities. They’ve felt a clarity and shared purpose that is all too rare in the fragmented hustle of regular life. And along the patchy road back to normalcy, there’s a bittersweet nostalgia for the urgency and unity of those early days.

“You’re waking up in the morning with a fire lit in you and charging hard all day,” remembered Leeth Davis, who drove into Lansing every morning for weeks with his wife Emily to aid the disaster response last fall. “Then every night, you’re hanging out with all of these people and having way too many beers and talking about the day. All of that feels really good.”

The mountain community came together to rebuild after Helene. After a year that was both hard and heartening, much of the town has finally reopened.

10/13/2025

Before Senate GOP leader Phil Berger unveiled an amendment calling for additional death penalty ex*****on methods, Iryna’s Law appeared likely to pass the General Assembly with broad bipartisan support. Democrats believed Gov. Josh Stein would sign the crime bill, according to legislative sources. At least half of state Senate Democrats planned to back the bill, as did many House Democrats.

But after Republicans passed the amendment, most Senate Dems walked off the floor, and those who remained voted against the bill. The next day, House Democrats faced a dilemma. Stein’s office didn’t tell them whether his plans had changed, several Democrats said.

State Senate Democrats asked Gov. Josh Stein to veto the crime bill. Some in his party are angry he signed it.

10/13/2025

With Inside Climate News & WHQR | In 2013, scientists first discovered seven different types of PFAS in the Lower Cape Fear River, the drinking water source for several public utilities in the region. The insidious chemicals were eluding traditional water treatment systems and flowing through the taps of hundreds of thousands of people.

The scientists traced many of the compounds to Chemours’ Fayetteville Works plant, 80 miles upstream. State and federal documents show that for 40 years Chemours and its predecessor, DuPont had been quietly tainting the drinking water of a half-million North Carolinians.

N.C. activists overcame political and scientific hurdles to get the EPA to regulate PFAS. Now the Trump administration is reversing progress.

The Assembly

10/17/2025

10/17/2025

10/16/2025

10/15/2025

10/15/2025

10/15/2025

10/15/2025

10/14/2025

10/14/2025

10/13/2025

10/13/2025

10/13/2025

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category