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INDY Week Progressive news, culture & commentary for Raleigh, Cary, Durham & Chapel Hill DURHAM OFFICE:
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Durham, NC 27701
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INDY Week's page encourages community conversation, particularly regarding the issues we cover. All comments are subject to potential publication via our Letters to the Editor print section, our website and our Twitter account.

In a packed auditorium at North Carolina Central University on Tuesday, the Campus Echo hosted this Durham municipal ele...
10/30/2025

In a packed auditorium at North Carolina Central University on Tuesday, the Campus Echo hosted this Durham municipal election’s only mayoral debate. While Anjanée Bell and Leo Williams have met in forums through the primary it was the only opportunity they had to appeal to voters in a head to head format before Election Day on November 4.

The candidates agreed on issues including fare-free buses and increased support for the arts, and had their biggest disagreements over a controversial development proposal in the historic Hayti community, approaches to crime, and whether or not Williams is overly dismissive of residents’ concerns about overtaxation. They also dug into homelessness, the city budget, downtown parking, student housing, and more.

Here are our biggest takeaways from the debate.

✍️: By Chase Pellegrini de Paur
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Ahead of the November 4 election, Durham mayor Leonardo Williams and challenger Anjanée Bell discussed budgeting, homelessness, public safety and what it takes to lead the Bull City.

Hatch Burritos will open a brick-and-mortar at 721 North Mangum Street in Durham after seven years of pop-ups that saw c...
10/29/2025

Hatch Burritos will open a brick-and-mortar at 721 North Mangum Street in Durham after seven years of pop-ups that saw customers hopping between local spots for warm, foil-wrapped breakfast burritos stuffed with Hatch green chiles.

The new space will allow customers to sit down for a smothered burrito plate or grab one to go via curbside pickup. Owner Talitha Benjamin designed the curbside set-up with early-morning workers in mind.

“We really want to get nurses, doctors, parents, new parents, all the tradespeople,” Benjamin says. The restaurant will open at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and at 9 a.m. on weekends.

✍️: By Lena Geller
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Hatch Burritos, a Durham burrito business with a cultlike following, is getting a permanent storefront next month.

When Nnenna Freelon feels overwhelmed, she gets busy. No, that’s not in the wrong order. The bigger the feelings, the mo...
10/29/2025

When Nnenna Freelon feels overwhelmed, she gets busy.

No, that’s not in the wrong order. The bigger the feelings, the more she packs onto her schedule. “My normal go-to, when I’m stressed, is to get busy,” she says. “I just do stuff. I’m a busy little bee.”

In the past six years, Freelon has experienced plenty to be overwhelmed by. In July 2019, her husband, renowned architect Phil Freelon, died of ALS; six months later, in January 2020, her sister, Deborah Pierce—a hospice and palliative care physician—died of lung cancer. In between this massive sequence of losses, Freelon’s beloved dog, Basie, passed away. Left alone in her newly quiet Durham home, Freelon, a celebrated jazz vocalist, initially wanted to pour herself into a demanding jazz tour. But then COVID-19 arrived, putting live music on hold.

At first, Freelon didn’t give up on the idea of a tour. But then, as “a couple weeks turned into a couple months turned into a couple years,” she says, she settled into a renewed creative practice. “It was the quality of the quiet that allowed me to sort of lean into writing music.”

✍️: By Shelbi Polk
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Amid a period of profound loss, the Durham jazz musician poured herself into a lyrical memoir that takes the shape of musical improvisations.

Bella Huang, a candidate for Cary’s District C town council seat in the municipal election this fall, tells a story abou...
10/29/2025

Bella Huang, a candidate for Cary’s District C town council seat in the municipal election this fall, tells a story about her son’s piano teacher who lives close by and is supporting Huang’s campaign with a sign in her yard.

Huang says the musician, a “strong Trump supporter,” surprised neighbors with the yard sign for Huang, a Democrat in an officially nonpartisan race (Huang’s opponent, Renee Miller, is active in the local Republican Party).

It’s just one example, Huang says, of how she’s been able to build bridges with a diverse electoral base and head into early voting as the top fundraiser out of all six candidates running in Cary this cycle. She’s reported a haul close to $100,000, according to the most recent filings available, $30,000 ahead of the next most-moneyed candidate.

✍️: By Jane Porter
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Asian American candidates Bella Huang in Cary and Sue Mu in Apex could win town council seats.

Stories about the dead—the dead dead—often fade away over time, but there’s something about ghost stories that has stayi...
10/29/2025

Stories about the dead—the dead dead—often fade away over time, but there’s something about ghost stories that has staying power. Maybe it’s the way that such stories activate our otherwise suppressed connection to the liminal and unknown. But there’s also something strangely localizing about a good haunting, reminding us that the places where we live are textured with past stories.

“The phrase that keeps coming to mind—it’s such a terrible pun, but it’s that ghost stories have a weird power to bring a particular place alive,” the writer Ed Southern says, a little ruefully. “For me, reading ghost stories as a child was my first introduction to North Carolina as a place, you know? The first time I began thinking about the whole state as my home, as opposed to just the town where I live.”

The new collection, The Devil’s Done Come Back: New Ghost Tales from North Carolina, is a fresh take on such stories.

✍️: By Sarah Edwards
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In "The Devil’s Done Come Back: New Ghost Tales from North Carolina" a slate of Tar Heel writers reimagine lore from around the state.

Residents got a first look at possible designs for making Roxboro and Mangum streets in Durham two-way at an open house ...
10/28/2025

Residents got a first look at possible designs for making Roxboro and Mangum streets in Durham two-way at an open house this week.

The design concepts’ debut a big step forward in addressing two dangerous streets in Durham, and one of transit advocates’ top priority projects for reducing road deaths and injuries.

The Roxboro Street portion of the project stretches from Lakewood Avenue on the south side of downtown to Highway I-85 on the north end. The Mangum Street portion also starts at Lakewood but ends at Markham Avenue. Construction is expected to begin in 2027. This year’s budget includes $1.2 million from the city’s Capital Improvement Plan to move forward on the design process, but total costs are still unclear (traffic lights can cost hundreds of thousands per signal, and other material costs could fluctuate based on tariffs and other national trends.)

✍️: By Justin Laidlaw
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Transit advocates have long sought two-way conversions of dangerous stretches of Roxboro and Mangum Streets in Durham. With funding in the city budget and design concepts sketched out, the project is moving forward.

Food insecurity is on the rise in North Carolina. Nearly 14 percent of people in Durham County struggle with food insecu...
10/28/2025

Food insecurity is on the rise in North Carolina. Nearly 14 percent of people in Durham County struggle with food insecurity, and between January 2024 and January 2025, SNAP participants had increased by 84,000 residents, according to state caseload data. This spike occurred shortly before President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law, tightening parameters on SNAP eligibility and cutting off an estimated 2.4 million Americans from food aid.

One thing there isn’t a shortage of, though, is food waste: in 2023, there were over two million tons of food waste generated in North Carolina.

Both are problems that Michael Woods, the founder of Triangle Central Kitchen (TCK), is excited to tackle with his recently launched nonprofit.

✍️: By Elliott Harrell
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With plans to launch pilot programs in 2026, Triangle Central Kitchen aims to reduce food insecurity while creating job opportunities.

Municipal elections are approaching in Wake County. We sent out questionnaires—covering everything from affordable housi...
10/28/2025

Municipal elections are approaching in Wake County. We sent out questionnaires—covering everything from affordable housing to transit to climate change—to nearly 100 candidates seeking office and published all of the responses we got to help you be informed when you head to the polls.

Today we're sharing the responses from candidates running for office in Hillsborough. Below, read responses from Kathleen Ferguson, a candidate for Hillsborough Town Board.

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Full name: Kathleen Ferguson Party affiliation: Democrat Campaign website: N/A 1) In 300 words or less, please give our readers your elevator pitch: Why are you running? Why should voters entrust you with this position? What prior experience will make you an effective member of the Hillsborough boar...

Municipal elections are approaching in Wake County. We sent out questionnaires—covering everything from affordable housi...
10/28/2025

Municipal elections are approaching in Wake County. We sent out questionnaires—covering everything from affordable housing to transit to climate change—to nearly 100 candidates seeking office and published all of the responses we got to help you be informed when you head to the polls.

Today we're sharing the responses from candidates running for office in Hillsborough. Below, read responses from Mark Bell, a candidate for Hillsborough Mayor.

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Full name: Mark Bell Party affiliation: Democrat Campaign website: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellForHillsborough/ 1) In 300 words or less, please give our readers your elevator pitch: Why are you running? Why should voters entrust you with this position? What prior experience will make you an eff...

Cary town council candidate Marjorie Eastman is sending out misleading campaign mailers that criticize her opponent, at-...
10/27/2025

Cary town council candidate Marjorie Eastman is sending out misleading campaign mailers that criticize her opponent, at-large incumbent council member Carissa Kohn-Johnson, on letterhead that imitates official Town of Cary branding.

The mailers come in an envelope emblazoned with a logo similar to the Town of Cary’s trademarked logo and the words “URGENT: PROPERTY TAX INCREASE NOTICE, IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED.”

The letter inside begins with the warning “THIS IS YOUR OFFICIAL NOTICE: Property Taxes are Going to Increase” before noting that it was paid for by the Friends of Marjorie K. Eastman campaign committee.

✍️: By Chloe Courtney Bohl
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A mailer from at-large candidate Marjorie Eastman’s campaign makes misleading statements about tax increases while using a logo that resembles the Town of Cary’s.

How well do you know the Triangle’s biggest stories? Put your knowledge to the test with INDY’s weekly news quiz.
10/27/2025

How well do you know the Triangle’s biggest stories? Put your knowledge to the test with INDY’s weekly news quiz.

How well do you know the Triangle's biggest stories? Put your knowledge to the test with INDY's weekly news quiz.

Witches Night Out, a zine festival, a book talk from Danish sculpture artist Thomas Dambo, and more events we recommend ...
10/27/2025

Witches Night Out, a zine festival, a book talk from Danish sculpture artist Thomas Dambo, and more events we recommend this week.

✍️: By Sarah Edwards, Kennedy Thomason and Eva Flowe
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Witches Night Out, a zine festival, a book talk from Danish sculpture artist Thomas Dambo, and more events we recommend this week.

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INDY Week's page encourages community conversation, particularly regarding the issues we cover. All comments are subject to potential publication via our Letters to the Editor print section, our website and our Twitter account. DURHAM OFFICE: 320 E Chapel Hill Street, Suite 200 Durham, NC 27701 919-286-1972 RALEIGH OFFICE: 227 Fayetteville St., Suite 105 Raleigh, NC 27601 919-832-8774