INDY Week

12/18/2025

If you want to see the future of the arts, you don’t need to head to New York or Los Angeles. You just need to attend a local high school theater performance.

Earlier this fall, one such local production received its flowers in the form of a surprise message from actor Laurence Fishburne.

In November, the Hollywood icon, who played Dr. Larabee in the 2006 film Akeelah and the Bee, sent Hillside High School’s drama department a personal good luck note, thanking them for bringing the Akeelah story to the stage. Hillside’s production, which closed on November 9, honored the film’s legacy while giving young performers space to shine.

✍️: By Russ Campbell
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The profile of local high school drama programs is rising, giving students the chance to experiment—and the community access to theater.

12/18/2025

BREAKING: Former Durham City Council member DeDreana Freeman has filed to run for state senate, initiating a Democratic primary showdown with first-term incumbent Sophia Chitlik in the district that covers much of Durham County.

Freeman filed on Wednesday, according to county records; she has not yet sent out a press release and was not immediately available for comment. Asked about the challenge, Chitlik told the INDY she’s “look[ing] forward to a positive campaign.”

Many voters may know Freeman better than they know the incumbent. Freeman spent eight years on the Durham council before losing her seat in a close race last month. Chitlik has held office since January, after edging out longtime state Rep. Mike Woodard last year.

Read more at the link in our comments.

12/18/2025

A tintype demonstration, a solstice walk, a mid-century modern home tour, and more events around the Triangle we recommend this week.

✍️: By Sarah Edwards and Ryan Cocca
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A tintype demonstration, a solstice walk, a mid-century modern home tour, and more events around the Triangle we recommend this week.

12/18/2025

After years of bouncing around downtown, operating out of storage units, and searching for a sustainable lease agreement, the LGBT Center of Raleigh finally has a new home.

The 3,000-square foot community center on Cabarrus Street is a cozy, comfortable space, inviting you to sit and stay a while—perhaps curled up with one of the 5,000 or so LGBTQ+-focused books that line the walls, or tucked into one of the two private nooks around back.

“One of the things we’ve recognized is that not everybody feels like the LGBT Center is a place for them, even if they are part of the community,” executive director Kori Hennessey told the INDY.

✍️: By Jasmine Gallup
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The Cabarrus Street-based Raleigh LGBT Center provides a safe space to access resources, connect with others, relax, or spend time in its new library.

12/17/2025

On the coldest nights of the year, while many of us snuggle up in the comfort of our homes with a hot cocoa hoping to glance outside and see snowfall, some of our neighbors are searching desperately for ways to keep themselves and their loved ones warm as they brace for frigid temperatures.

This winter, Durham will nearly quadruple the number of beds available for people on “white flag” nights, which occur when temperatures are forecast to be at or below 32 degrees, or 35 degrees with rain or snow.

At the same time, local organizations are collaborating on a new initiative this winter called 100 Days of Warmth, a campaign to raise awareness about white flag shelters and raise funds to expand shelter capacity and other homelessness services further.

✍️: By Justin Laidlaw
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Beds available on “white flag nights” in Durham will quadruple this week as local organizations launch a new initiative to raise money for homelessness services and help people find shelter when temps are freezing.

12/17/2025

A Durham resident has been barred from entering city hall for two years following her disruption of a new council member’s swearing-in ceremony on December 1.

Both the disruption of an oath of office and the ban may be unprecedented; neither has happened in at least 20 years, according to a longtime city employee who works closely with the city council.

The disruption occurred when Amanda Wallace, an activist known for using direct, sometimes abrasive tactics to advocate for child protective services reform, interrupted council member Matt Kopac’s oath of office to loudly denounce the amount of money Kopac raised and spent during his campaign. (Kopac raised $76,100 and spent $64,500—the largest sums of any Durham candidate this cycle, though not an outlier for municipal races.)

✍️: By Lena Geller
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Durham resident Amanda Wallace faces a two-year ban from city hall after interrupting council member Matt Kopac’s oath of office.

12/17/2025

There’s a nearly endless supply of stories worth telling in Wake County and very few other reporters left to tell them, especially outside of Raleigh.

So when I’m deciding what to cover, I ask myself: Can people find this news elsewhere? Can I introduce a new voice into the conversation? Will this help readers understand their local government, engage in their community, or relate to their neighbors in a new way?

And still, I’ve barely scratched the surface. If you value that kind of reporting and think Wake deserves more of it, consider joining INDY’s Press Club.

https://indyweek.com/join/?utm_campaign=eoy_socials

12/16/2025

Last month, Chase Pellegrini de Paur reported that Durham Public Schools (DPS) has seen its largest enrollment drop since the COVID era, with about 1,000 fewer students than the year before. While the district doesn’t have a definitive answer for where each student went, Chase reported on some of the factors at play. Readers shared their thoughts and theories in Backtalk, our reader response section.

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And other things our readers told us.

12/16/2025

The Durham Public Schools (DPS) board of education voted last week to modify its immigration-enforcement related school policies.

The board’s recent changes to policy 5120 won’t change much in practice. At recent meetings, administrators repeated that district and building administrators already followed the now-policy, but the board’s vote makes those provisions more official, gives a clearer path for recourse if they’re broken, and gives the public more insight into how the district may respond to enforcement situations.

The policy update, which spells out broad protocol for law enforcement’s access to schools and student information, meets some, but certainly not all of, the requests of groups like the district’s union staff, the Durham Association of Educators (DAE).

✍️: By Chase Pellegrini de Paur
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The Durham Public Schools Board of Education approved a policy outlining law enforcement access to schools and student information, but it doesn’t change much in practice.

12/16/2025

The Cary Town Council announced town manager Sean Stegall’s resignation and swore in Russ Overton as interim town manager at an emergency meeting on Monday evening.

During the meeting, mayor Harold Weinbrecht said the town asked for Stegall’s resignation after public records requests filed earlier this year revealed that he had undertaken or directed others to engage in “over-the-top spending and inadequate financial reporting … lack of transparency with the full council, staff, and citizens, [and] an unhealthy work environment.”

Weinbrecht told reporters after the meeting that Stegall’s discretionary spending fund had ballooned to $1 million dollars in his decade as town manager. He did not know what the original amount was. Weinbrecht also said Stegall signed off on a land purchase near Cary Elementary School without the town council’s approval.

✍️: By Chloe Courtney Bohl
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In an emergency meeting Monday, the Cary town council voted to terminate its contract with town manager Sean Stegall.

12/16/2025

When Tropical Storm Chantal hit Durham on July 6, 77-year-old Fred Foster lost nearly everything.

His military uniforms? Washed down the Eno River. His dream Mercedes? Submerged and completely unusable. His home? Close to $100,000 in damages.

Five months later, Foster and his wife are living on the second floor of his home, because the first floor remains gutted and uninhabitable. Even though he paid off his home 10 years ago, he’s once again in debt from a disaster recovery loan from the federal Small Business Administration. And, despite applying for a state grant specifically for victims of Chantal, he has yet to receive that money.

📝: Originally published in The 9th Street Journal
✍️: Written by Katelyn Cai
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Over 50 homes in North Durham’s Old Farm neighborhood were flooded in the storm. With disaster assistance coming slowly, around 20 of those remain damaged.

12/15/2025

In the culture section, we try to produce a blend of reporting on the things people are talking about and the things we think people should be talking about—the polished new restaurant, yes, but also the mom and pop eatery that deserves more shine. Ditto across coverage of books, music, plays, movies, and the like.

Many of the stories we published this year leaned into that blend and were big on color. We wrote about new restaurant openings, art exhibitions, and album releases. We wrote about an adult talent show, an $8,887 Bloody Mary, a true crime podcast with unexpected ties to a legendary local restaurant, and a magician traveling to the “Olympics” of magic competitions.

That’s the fun stuff, but 2025 also saw memorials, closures, and dramatic slashes in funding to the arts—threads we’ll continue to follow into the next year. In looking back and saying goodbye to another year, here are some of the stories and themes that stuck out.

✍️: By Sarah Edwards
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From the future of arts funding to an adult talent show, restaurant openings to an $8,887 Bloody Mary—here are standout culture stories from 2025.