The Carolinian Newspaper

Christine Kushner Sets Sights On At-Large Wake County Commission Seat

Jordan Meadows — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:02:00 +0000

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

Christine Kushner has spent much of her life watching local government from the inside.

First as a journalist, then as a health policy professional, a school board member, and a county health and human services board member, she has built a career around the public systems that most residents notice only when they stop working.

Now she wants a seat on the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

Kushner, a Democrat and former chair of the Wake County Board of Education, won one of two Democratic nominations for the commission's new at-large seats in the March primary. She received about 30% of the vote in a seven-candidate field, with 68,690 votes. Mona Singh won the other Democratic nomination.

The two at-large seats will expand the commission from seven members to nine.

For Kushner, the move from the school board to county government is less a change in direction than an expansion of the work she has already been doing.

"I've gotten an added perspective of the linkages between the school system and social services, between public safety and mental health services, between housing and public safety and stability and economic mobility," Kushner said. "So all those linkages, and especially when it comes to our youth and the stresses that they're feeling, I feel like I'm coming in with a lot of experience that will inform my service as a county commissioner."

Kushner grew up in Fayetteville in a Greek-American family. Her father was a Greek Orthodox priest who founded a church there after finishing seminary, and her mother taught Greek. She attended public schools and describes her hometown as a close-knit immigrant community that also exposed her to a broad mix of people.

As a teenager, she became interested in journalism.

"I loved the news," she said. "I was a news junkie as a kid, loved watching the news, reading the newspaper."

At UNC-Chapel Hill, she studied journalism and political science. She later earned a master's degree in public affairs from Princeton. Her first career was in reporting. But covering local government changed the way she thought about public service.

She found herself fascinated by the people behind the stories: city employees, school administrators, police officers, and firefighters.

"When I was working as a reporter, I really saw the folks who worked for the towns and the cities, and the school systems, and first responders, police officers, and firefighters," Kushner said. "They just fascinated me with their life of public service. I said, ‘I love writing. I love being a reporter, and maybe this is why this interests me so much because I'm interested in this public service’."

Kushner has lived in Wake County since 1989, first in Cary and later in Raleigh. Her professional work included health care policy and efforts to expand access to health care, including supporting grassroots primary-care systems in rural communities.

School Board and Health Board

She eventually became involved in her children's schools, volunteering in classrooms and joining the PTA. Kushner served on a superintendent's parent advisory committee and on an advisory committee for former Wake school board member Rosa Gill. She began attending school board meetings and, in 2011, decided to run.

She won a seat representing central and western Raleigh, including two terms as chair. Those years included some of the school system's most contentious debates—and the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kushner says the experience gave her a practical education in the consequences of local government decisions: even seemingly routine decisions could generate intense reactions.

"The most emails [I received] were around the calendar and bell schedule," she said.

One issue still bothers her: the early start times for high schools.

"I know high school students should start later," she said, but the school system did not have the buses and resources to make the change.

After leaving the school board, Kushner joined the Wake County Health and Human Services Board. The position exposed her to a different part of county government: public health, social services, foster care, environmental health, and programs serving residents in crisis.

She talks about the experience almost as a continuation of her education work.

One example she cites is the county's foster care system.

At one point, she said, roughly 20 children were staying in the social services building because the county could not find appropriate placements for them. County staff worked to reduce the number of children staying in the building and expand placement options. Kushner specifically praised the county's use of a program called “Kinship Care”.

"The fact that these children can stay with an aunt, or grandparent, or an uncle, or a cousin, I mean, it's powerful for that child to be able to remain in their family, and it's led to greater stability," she said. "And also that the system and staff are able to support that extended family who help those children."

Housing, Transportation, Growth

Kushner identifies three issues particularly pressing for Wake County: the strain placed on local governments by state and federal funding decisions, underfunded public schools and increasing homelessness.

Kushner credits local leaders with attracting businesses, expanding parks and greenways, supporting schools and building an arts and cultural economy. But she also sees the consequences of growth: higher housing costs, busy roads, crowded schools and residents who have not shared equally in the county's economic expansion.

"A lot of our issues around housing affordability and homelessness and social services are regional issues," Kushner said. "People are coming to Wake County because they see us as a place of opportunity, and some land on their feet, and some do not. So how do we think regionally to get state support for folks who are immigrating and coming into Wake County? Another issue of regional work needs to be around transit and traffic."

She wants the county to work more closely with local governments and more county services delivered through the county's five regional centers so residents do not always have to travel downtown for government services.

Education

Kushner's school board background is likely to be particularly relevant if she joins a commission responsible for funding county government and providing financial support to Wake County Public School System.

She has criticized the state's approach to public education and said the county has increasingly had to fill funding gaps. The issue became especially visible in 2025, when the commission increased school-system funding by $40 million—less than the approximately $60 million the school board had requested.

Kushner has called the decision difficult but argues that the underlying problem is larger than one county budget. She points to state funding for private-school vouchers and what she considers inadequate state support for public schools.

"The state government and legislature have a constitutional obligation to fund public education for every child," Kushner said. "Public schools serve every child. Every child has the right to a public education, and they're inclusive schools, no matter where students come from, their zip code, their race, their background, their status; public schools welcome everyone."

Her focus is particularly strong on students who require additional services, including special education students and children living in poverty. She also wants the county's health and human services resources — nurses, social workers, psychologists and mental-health professionals — better connected to schools.

Property Taxes and Data Centers

Rising home values have increased the financial pressure on some longtime homeowners, particularly people living on fixed or limited incomes. Kushner supports expanding means-tested property-tax assistance rather than broadly reducing taxes. She also favors preserving existing affordable housing because, in her view, keeping an existing affordable home is often faster than creating a new one.

Her broader concern is that the county's growth could increasingly benefit residents who arrive with the resources to take advantage of it while pushing out people who have lived here for years.

Some of that divergence has influenced her support for a moratorium or pause on large data-center projects while local officials establish stricter rules. Her concerns are primarily infrastructure and environmental: water consumption, electricity demand, and who pays for the infrastructure required by massive facilities. She also wants data centers to shoulder more of those costs themselves.

Public safety and Health Policy

Asked about large gatherings of young people that have prompted police responses and arrests, she said law enforcement needs to protect the public but also argued for safe places for young people to gather. She has emphasized coordination among the county, municipalities, police departments, parents and families.

Kushner has also focused heavily on maternal health and racial disparities in health outcomes. She pointed to county efforts examining maternal health and said she would support expanding health and social services for Black women and families.

"We do know that Black women have worse outcomes in the healthcare system," she said. "We know that we need to educate our providers to be more responsive to Black women in pregnancy, both prenatally and postnatally, to take the prevention issues seriously to help make sure they have healthy pregnancies, but also the postpartum issues so that they are supported."

Kushner's health policy background also informs her view of the proposed combination of WakeMed and Atrium Health. She has said WakeMed may not be able to remain independent indefinitely, but she believes the decision to approve the merger deserved more public discussion and remains concerned about governance and oversight.

On Sept. 21, commissioners voted 5-2 to approve changes to WakeMed's governing documents that allow the proposed combination with Atrium to proceed, with Tara Waters and Vickie Adamson voting against it. WakeMed says it will remain a nonprofit with local leadership and that the county will continue appointing a majority of its board.

Kushner's concern is consistent with an issue she raises elsewhere in her campaign: who is accountable when an institution provides a service that residents depend on?

Accountability and Transparency

Kushner says elected officials owe constituents an explanation, even when residents disagree with the decision. But she also says accountability means being willing to change course.

"There are many times when I came in with some assumptions that were changed by the feedback that I got," Kushner said. "So it's critically important to get that feedback. And there are lots of times I changed my mind because I said, you know, that's a great point. That neighborhood or that family or that school is being impacted disproportionately. And we need to change what we're doing. So that is what should happen in the system. And that is accountability."

She wants to carry the same practice into county government: listen, explain decisions, and acknowledge when community feedback changes the way she sees an issue.

Mother Finds Success On Third try at employment, life skills training program

The Carolinian — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:29:51 +0000

NC NEWSLINE - The third time was a charm for Brooke Jackson.

The mother of three finally completed self-improvement programs at StepUp Ministry that she first began in 2023, but dropped out of twice.

“Things went well for a while until life showed up and I had to separate from the program,” Jackson said, referring to the first time she left. “The second time, I was determined. I made it a little further but once again, life showed up.”

Jackson’s remarks came last week during StepUp’s graduation ceremony in Raleigh. She stood tall and proud as the program’s class speaker. She received the honor because of her perseverance in completing the program on her third try.

“Life didn’t stop lifing” on the third attempt, Jackson told the crowd that gathered at White Memorial Presbyterian Church to cheer on the graduates and enjoy a celebratory meal.

She said her children were among the reasons she wouldn’t allow herself to quit this time.

“My youngest, she has seen the improvement in me and my confidence, and it gives her confidence to want to try out for things at school and do her best in school,” Jackson told NC Newsline in an interview. “All of them do pretty well in school, but my youngest is very observant.”

Jackson was one of seven adult graduates who completed StepUp’s jobs and life skills programs. The nearly 40-year-old nonprofit helps individuals and families overcome barriers to stability through employment training, job placement, mentorship and life skills education.

The nonprofit has served more than 10,000 people since it was founded in 1988. StepUp provides support with employment, legal services, financial management, technology, childcare and other life skills to help participants achieve long-term success.

“We are very much a community-based organization where we’re trying to work with all the different community partners to make sure that people get the resources and the pathway they need to be successful,” said Melvin Breeden, StepUp’s chief operating officer.

Program sees growth

Breeden said the program saw a 55% increase in demand last fiscal year. The increased interest yielded 746 program enrollments, which exceeded that year’s 650 enrollment goal by 96.

Breeden said the nonprofit ended the recent fiscal year with 700 program enrollments, signaling a sustained growth in need for the organization’s services amid tough financial times for many low-to-moderate income individuals and families.

“Fifty-four percent of the people that we served last year self-identified as being housing-insecure, which was an uptick from the year before when it was 46%,” Breeden said.

Some participants come to StepUp, Breeden said, already employed but looking for new skills to secure higher-paying jobs so they can afford to pay higher prices for goods and services.

The organization is fundraising for a new 9,500-square-foot facility on the current site that could serve up to 1,000 people per week.

The organization is in the process of moving out of its current space and into a temporary facility. A completion date for the new facility has not been set.

Breeden said the new facility will allow more case managers and participants to meet face-to-face. Case managers currently meet participants in the community and over Zoom, he said.

“That is going to change,” Breeden said. “Now we can have a safe space for Brooke to come and have a conversation with her case manager, and she has kids, so she can bring her kids and have a safe space for them to be in.”

Jackson told NC Newsline that she’s currently unemployed and feels the financial pressures brought on by the economic crisis.

“I do have three children, so it significantly affects my pockets, having to provide, make sure they are clothed, fed and have everything that they need,” Jackson said. “I feel a lot of it, but it goes back to making my budget and working my budget with the skills and things that I have learned since I’ve been in StepUp. I’ve been able to manage.”

Jackson said all of the skills she’s learned will be invaluable in her search for a new job and after she finds work.

“It showed me how to carry myself when I’m looking for jobs, even when I’m just inquiring about jobs, when I call jobs, when I do interviews, how I present myself when I go,” Jackson said.

Equally important, the program has given her “a lot of confidence,” Jackson said.

At the graduation ceremony, she offered words of encouragement to others who might be struggling to complete the program.

“There’s no shame in trying until you get it right,” Jackson said. “Your journey doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s journey. What matters is that you continue moving forward.”

Jackson told the crowd she’s proud to finally say the words she’d waited to say for a long time – “I finished.”

North Carolina Business Continuity & Employee Ownership Conference

Jheri Hardaway — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:15:00 +0000

By Jheri Hardaway

Staff Writer

Raleigh, NC - Across North Carolina, a quiet demographic shift is heading toward Main Street. Dubbed the “Silver Tsunami,” more than 82,000 business owners in the state are age 55 or older, facing an inevitable crossroads: how to exit their life’s work without shuttering storefronts or displacing the workforces that built them. At the recent North Carolina Business Continuity and Employee Ownership Conference, regional business leaders, advisors, and founders gathered to address this impending wave. Their shared message was clear: employee ownership is not an idealistic fringe concept; it is a pragmatic, capital-smart succession strategy that preserves local wealth and jobs across the state.

Nationwide, roughly 2.3 million business owners over 55 employ an estimated 24.7 million workers. When these founders retire without a viable succession plan, viable enterprises frequently close or sell out to corporate buyers who slash overhead and consolidate staff. The vulnerability is especially real in North Carolina's rural communities. In counties like Polk, where roughly 79% of business owners are nearing retirement age, the loss of even one or two staple businesses can gut local tax bases and employment security and opportunities.

Compounding the problem is an outdated assumption about succession. “In the olden days, the expectation was that you pass it on to your children,” conference panelists noted, observing that the next generation increasingly pursues independent careers. Meanwhile, third-party sales carry steep failure rates: only about 20% of businesses listed with traditional brokers ever reach closing, leaving many founders stranded at the finish line.

Illa Burbank Executive Director of the North Carolina Employee Ownership Center (NCEOC), who organized the conference focused heavily on dismantling long-standing misconceptions that prevent owners from considering internal transitions. The foremost myth: that workers must pay out of pocket to purchase the company. In practice, structures such as Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) are financed through corporate loans paid back over time using the business's own operating profits.

Panelists also dispelled the fear of operational chaos. Employee-owned companies do not abolish management structures or run daily operations by popular vote. Day-to-day hierarchies from executives and supervisors to accounting departments remain intact, while legal ownership transitions into a trust or cooperative structure designed to benefit the employees long-term. Sellers do not sacrifice fair market value. Certified independent valuations establish transaction prices, while state and federal tax structures offer distinct incentives. Under Section 1042 of the Internal Revenue Code, eligible business owners who sell to an ESOP can defer capital gains taxes indefinitely. For businesses structured as 100% S-Corporation ESOPs, federal and state corporate income taxes are completely eliminated, unlocking vital capital to reinvest in operations and compensation.

The Employee Ownership model is in action across North Carolina. The conference highlighted varied paths to shared ownership, illustrating that the strategy fits small creative ventures as well as sprawling industrial employers:

The ESOP Path: Charlotte-based highway contractor Blythe Construction adopted an ESOP to protect its century-old family legacy and avoid layoffs after an earlier brush with international ownership. More recently, C. Herman Construction converted in 2024. Nick Terasovic, CFO of C. Herman Construction, emphasized how shared ownership combats high turnover in competitive industries: “A lot of businesses in the United States over the years have figured out ways to cut benefits to improve the bottom line. An ESOP is a way that we’re actually putting benefits back in our employees’ hands.”

The Worker Cooperative: In Durham, the Electric Violin Shop turned to a worker co-op over a decade ago after two attempts at traditional broker sales fell through. The transition allowed the founder to retire while preserving a niche, worldwide trade specialty within the local staff.

The Employee Ownership Trust (EOT): Durham-based CNC router manufacturer ShopBot Tools and Mooresville safety leader HMS Motorsport chose the EOT model—a flexible, lower-overhead alternative to federally regulated ESOPs. For HMS Motorsport, the transition secured long-standing relationships with NASCAR suppliers and created tangible profit-sharing incentives that convinced younger staff to build permanent careers within the firm.

Generational Wealth Building: For mature employee-owned businesses like Columbia Forest Products, which has operated as a 100% ESOP since the 1990s, the model creates life-changing outcomes for working-class households. Across its rural manufacturing communities, generations of line workers and plant operators have retired as ESOP-backed millionaires.

Mariana Amaro, a strategic advisor presented at the conference, “What stood out most during the conference was the consistent message that people are at the heart of sustainable business success. Discussions around succession planning, ownership, accountability, and employee engagement reinforced the critical role of culture in driving performance. Employee-owned companies demonstrate that it is possible to achieve strong financial results while creating meaningful value for society and maintaining a deep commitment to the people who make that success possible.”

Soyini Abdul-Mateen, Founder & Principal Consultant, Brilliant Corners Innovations reflected, “What stayed with me most is that employee ownership isn’t simply an exit strategy—it’s a continuity strategy. It gives founders another way to protect what they’ve built, create opportunity for the people who helped build it, and keep value rooted in the community. The conference also reinforced something central to my work: whatever next chapter a founder chooses, the business first has to be ready to carry forward beyond them.”

We are building collective wealth right here at home, but we have to be strategic. Research presented at the North Carolina Business Continuity and Employee Ownership Conference indicates that employees at worker-owned companies see median wages roughly 33% higher, job tenure 53% longer, and household net worth 92% higher than their peers at traditional enterprises. As baby boomer retirements accelerate, keeping North Carolina businesses locally rooted remains paramount. While an ESOP or cooperative conversion requires planning, clean financial records, and deliberate cultural communication, conference speakers emphasized that state resources, technical assistance networks, and regional advising programs are actively available to guide business owners through each phase of the journey.

$2B WakeMed-Atrium Merger Was Approved

Jordan Meadows — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 13:12:00 +0000

Photo: Clayton Henkel/NC Newsline

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

The Wake County Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 Monday evening to let the proposed $2 billion merger between WakeMed and Atrium Health move forward, capping a five-hour meeting that ended with sheriff's deputies clearing a packed chamber before the final vote was cast.

The vote would allow WakeMed to amend its articles of incorporation and governing documents, transferring control from the county's Board of Commissioners to a new 14-member board jointly selected by Atrium and county leaders.

Board Chair Don Mial asked deputies to clear the room after spectators, some of whom had been in the chamber for more than five hours, grew disruptive as commissioners began voting; commissioners then took a five-minute recess before resuming.

Commissioners Vickie Adamson and Tara Waters cast the two dissenting votes, both citing insufficient time to review revised legal documents that arrived just days before the meeting.

"In my eight years on this board, I don't think I've ever been handed this complicated of legal documents on Thursday night and had to vote on it on that day, and that's just normally not how we do business," Adamson said.

Waters, who represents District 5, home to WakeMed's Raleigh campus, said she'd heard extensive resident concerns and wanted to weigh the decision carefully.

"It's an important decision and one that I will do thoughtfully, prayerfully, and with the citizens of Wake County in mind," she said.

Commissioners who voted in favor pointed to a revised agreement WakeMed announced late last week that added protections beyond the original May proposal. That revision brought an additional $150 million to the county over the next decade for the county-controlled Wake County Whole Health Program, which will fund priorities including foster youth placement, homelessness, supportive housing, food security and senior services.

It also raised WakeMed's minimum indigent care requirement from 4.8% to 8% of annual adjusted revenue, gave commissioners more control over board appointees, limited Atrium's power to alter WakeMed's governing documents, and confirmed that Atrium—not WakeMed—would fully fund the $2 billion in capital investment, which includes roughly half a billion dollars for WakeMed's flagship Southeast Raleigh campus and a new Whole Health Campus in Garner featuring a 150-bed mental health hospital.

"I believe that this action will make WakeMed stronger in the face of growing demands, workforce pressures, rising costs, and the real headwinds facing healthcare today," Mial said.

Commissioner Safiyah Jackson said she saw the vote as protecting WakeMed's mission long-term.

"I believe my vote protects WakeMed's legacy," Jackson said. "It protects our most vulnerable neighbors, and it guarantees great care for our children and grandchildren."

Commissioner Cheryl Stallings credited weeks of negotiation for the improved terms.

"We have worked diligently over the past couple of weeks to secure a stronger agreement," Stallings said. "The $2 billion in capital investments will be coming from Atrium, and not WakeMed. There are sound financial assistance policies in place that have already been presented."

Adamson remained unconvinced and noted that a price-increase cap Gov. Josh Stein had announced with Atrium over the weekend wasn't actually included in the documents commissioners were voting on, meaning the county would still need to finalize that piece separately.

"Quite frankly, the plot twists have been nonstop," she said. "For residents, the questions are real: What will this mean for the cost of health care? What will it mean for access to care? What will it mean for the quality of care? Why give up so much local control to a sole member?"

She argued the board should reject the agreement outright and start over.

"The deal is much better than it was when it first came to county leaders," she said, but added the board should "send it back to WakeMed and get a new board that's willing to do the hard work, the due diligence, to look at hospitals, do a public process, because we're in no hurry."

A county attorney confirmed to Adamson during the meeting that the deal does represent a significant shift in control, with the current board no longer retaining the authority it holds today.

Around 50 people spoke during the meeting's public comment period, the majority opposed to the deal. Many in the packed chamber wore white T-shirts reading "Save WakeMed" and held signs declaring "We Will Remember Every November" and "Patients are Watching." Speakers described the arrangement as a corporate takeover and raised fears about rising health care costs, the loss of local accountability, and reduced transparency; several health care workers testified that mergers of this kind often bring higher patient-to-nurse ratios and declining care quality.

Monday's meeting capped months of public organizing against the deal, which began after it was quietly placed on the commissioners' consent agenda in May and removed following backlash. On July 27, hundreds of people packed Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church in Raleigh for a community town hall organized by The Patients Union, where residents pressed WakeMed and Atrium representatives for guarantees that costs wouldn't rise, and services wouldn't shrink.

Stein, who had raised concerns in a July letter to WakeMed leaders about county oversight of the proposed board, announced Sunday that he no longer opposed the merger after Atrium agreed to two of his requests: capping price increases at WakeMed to no more than 1.5 times the annual increase in Medicare costs for the next five years, and fully funding the $2 billion in capital investment itself rather than relying on WakeMed.

Stein noted he has pushed since his time as attorney general for the General Assembly to grant that office formal authority to review hospital transactions, an effort that included bipartisan legislation he helped draft in 2023 with Sens. Jim Burgin and Julie Mayfield that would let the attorney general block mergers found to raise costs, reduce care quality or harm local communities; that legislation has not yet passed.

The merger is not yet final. It still requires approval from the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice before Atrium and WakeMed can complete the combination.

Wages, Economic Worries Take Center Stage At NC AFL-CIO Convention

The Carolinian — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 21:26:00 +0000

NC NEWSLINE - Like a lot of people who’ve moved to North Carolina in recent years, Christa Jackson was looking for a lower cost of living. These days, she’s not finding it.

“I moved here three years ago from Los Angeles. Never thought that my very fuel-efficient, 12-gallon car would cost me $46 to fill-up here,” said Jackson. “It’s ridiculous.”

Jackson, a member of the Actors Equity Association, attended the North Carolina AFL-CIO’s annual convention in Cary to discuss policies that would improve the outlook for working families struggling in the current economy.

Gov. Josh Stein did not shy away from addressing one of the greatest economic disparities in the state as he addressed the convention Thursday.

A new report released over Labor Day weekend ranked North Carolina as the worst state in the country for workers. By contrast, in each of the last six years, North Carolina has been ranked number one or number two in the nation for business.

“The General Assembly has not raised the minimum wage in 17 years,” said Stein. “And the minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 an hour. You have to work an hour to fill up your gas tank with half a gallon.”

Republican state lawmakers have argued it’s unnecessary to raise the $7.25 minimum wage because many employers already pay more than that in the current labor market. But advocates say that isn’t always the case, especially in rural areas where unemployment is higher.

Stein also pointed out that North Carolina is the only state in the country with a complete ban on collective bargaining by public employees.

“Shame! Shame!” responded union members in the audience.

Stein told the audience of 250 labor activists that it is possible to build an economy that supports both working people and businesses.

“Strengthen public education. Invest in workforce development, including apprentices. Lower the cost of living. And make sure that you all have a seat at the table,” said Stein.

Stein said his administration is working to rein in rapidly rising costs for healthcare and housing, two of the largest expenses for working families in North Carolina.

‘Harder to make ends meet’

Jackson lives in Angier, where housing costs are lower than in Raleigh or Holly Springs, but she’s still noticing that people are tightening their belts.

“I’m seeing the prices are higher. Restaurants are empty. Folks can’t afford to go out,” said Jackson.

Jackson said she’s been a union member for three decades and is now fighting for the next generation.

“I never went without health insurance. I have a pension from that work, which is so rare, I can retire, and I made a living wage,” said Jackson.

She said while some younger workers may be content with the gig economy, collective bargaining can help them get the job security and benefits they’ll need as they get older.

“I’m thinking they’re not going to be able to afford healthcare,” said Jackson. “They’re not going to have jobs that give them retirement. They’re just going to have to continue to work and work and work and work.”

Calandra Hackney, also with the Actors Equity Association, agreed with that assessment.

“I think it’s harder to make ends meet for everyone,” said Hackney.

Hackney said she was worried about some of her colleagues being able to afford transportation.

“In order to get a job. you have to get to the interview,” said Hackney. “I went to the pump yesterday and paid $4.19 a gallon for gas in Durham. For regular gas. That’s insane.”

Marching orders

Dolly Parton’s iconic “9 to 5” – a workplace anthem for many – played over the convention center speakers just before Braxton Winston, president of the North Carolina State AFL-CIO, took the stage.

Winston told delegates that real progress happens when workers, unions, community organizations, and elected officials work together to win lasting change.

He said one of the best ways to improve the current economic landscape is to encourage working people and their families to register, vote, and stay involved in local, state and national politics.

Winston encouraged union members to stick around after the two-day convention to help knock on doors in Raleigh in support of pro-worker candidates. Representing over 125,000 union members, Winston said, the NC AFL-CIO has the power to shape the outcome of many races this fall. The group has been mobilizing voters since spring.

“As we know, if you don’t have a seat at the table…” Winston said.

“You’re on the menu!” responded the audience.

From The Mollie Huston Lee Collection: Review Of The Book Titled Black Jacob

The Carolinian — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 19:47:51 +0000

By Jheri Hardaway

Staff Writer

Mollie Huston Lee was the first African American librarian in Wake County and the founder of the  Richard B. Harrison Wake County  Library Branch. Not only did she leave behind a legacy of helping others and encouraging a love of literacy, but her treasured collection is a rare and special intellectual treat she left for us to share, analyze, and dissect. Mrs. Lee started and maintained a collection chronicling the African American experience locally, nationally, and internationally on the history of the African Diaspora. The literary collection comprises adult and juvenile nonfiction, fiction, journals, even a first edition signed copy of Alex Haley’s Roots.

As I continue to explore the collection many books have drawn my attention. One that stood out was a 100 page three by two inch mini book called Black Jacob: A Monument of Grace by A. D. Eddy of Newark, New Jersey. Published in 1842, this quarter sized book is a biography of an African American man born in 1763 near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Jacob Hodges, was born free, but he was granted no other signal accommodation. The text begins by outlining that, “The family, though extremely depressed, living in ignorance and poverty, were not, as it is known, ever subjects of slavery. Either from the poverty, ignorance, or wickedness of his parents, Jacob was suffered to spend his early years wholly without education or moral restraint.”

Jacob took only what life gave him, as shared by his biographer. He took to trades around the sea and worked jobs on ships which led to drinking in excess and other vices that guided him down the wrong path. Jacob traveled far and wide, seeing many continents and ports in many countries around the world during his time. Eventually, his inability to act or work in a dignified manner, impacted his employment. When his job on the seas came to an end he found himself in rural New York. Eventually, living with his employer he performed common laborer tasks. Jacob’s employer, a woman and two men had their eye on a plot of land in the area owned by a Black man. He had fought hard to own the land and remain independently working it with his family. Jacob’s employers began to scheme on how they could kill the man and take the land. They enlisted Jacob in this plot and by keeping him drunk and sufficiently employed they were able to persuade him to commit the crime of cold blooded murder.

The tale outlines the extensive trial process and litigation that followed. Jacob was not the only person who went to prison for this crime. His time incarcerated was life changing for him and his community. Entirely ignorant, Jacob was able to forge a relationship with a chaplain who visited consistently in prison. This man of a cloth will eventually use the Bible to teach Jacob to read and guide him towards faith to become a dedicated and faithful believer. The book was all about God and obedience. It was evident to the community that Jacob was changed, man. Upon his release from prison, Jacob was not excited and very fearful of what the world had to offer. The chaplain encouraged him to trust in God to continue on his spiritual path. He was gifted the very Bible that taught him to read, and it became his most prize possession.

Jacob himself began to preach the word, became a trusted member of his community, and a testament to faith, perseverance, deliverance. He was haunted by his crime, his entire life, but committed to serving God in every way.

When I first started reading this book, I had no indication of what direction the story would go in. I was actually shocked that it ended up being such a spiritual book when it started as an adventure with a wild young man who had no moral compass drinking at sea. I read the book 50 pages at a time, you cannot check out books from this collection they’re all rare and must be read in the reading room. This book was very delicate and well read from all the spots and marks on some of the pages.

Black Jacob was spoken about affectionately by others according to his biographer. He was proud to carry a key to the home he shared with others, having a key was meaningful to him. He was very proud of this trust that he had built. Trust and faith where the overarching themes of the story. This short book outlined a very meaningful life experience. I can’t wait to see what else collection reveals to me.

Nation’s Lynching History On Display As Cases Of Blacks Found Hanging Grows

The Carolinian — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 18:39:59 +0000

A makeshift memorial for Tasia Fortune is seen in the backyard of a vacant home in the 500 block of Road of Remembrance in Jackson on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. According to authorities, Fortune’s body was found hanging from a tree in the backyard of a vacant home Monday, Aug. 3, 2026.

AP NEWS - The death of a Black Mississippi woman found hanging from a tree has stirred distressing memories of the grim history of lynchings across the U.S. South.

The body of Tasia Fortune, 29, was found behind an abandoned home in Jackson, the state capital, on Aug. 3. Jarques Ratliff, 51, who is also Black, pleaded not guilty to murder on Monday. Police and prosecutors haven’t given a suspected motive and say more arrests are expected.

Regardless of the circumstances of the case, for many Black people, the imagery of a rope and noose evokes the legacy of lynching and vigilante violence against Black people in the U.S. and brings with it deep pain and trauma.

“Black folks down here in 2026, we are feeling and experiencing some of the same things we felt in 1956 and 1966 and that should not be happening,” Jackson activist Brad Franklin said of Fortune’s death.

“But because it’s Mississippi and the racist history of our state, our skin has been toughened a lot to deal with it.”

Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, told The Associated Press that she doesn’t believe race had anything to do with her daughter’s death. Spivey is white. She said Fortune’s father is Black.

“I think this is something very personal, very personal,” Spivey said, insisting that someone who was acquainted with Fortune was involved.

Recent cases have triggered skepticism — and private autopsies

Over the past two years, about a half-dozen Black women and men have been found hanged across the South. Police in some of those cases quickly deemed them suicides — often eliciting historically grounded skepticism when investigators provide limited evidence ruling out foul play.

“I say let the evidence show,” said Sean Joe, a professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis and a nationally recognized authority on suicidal behavior among Black people. “But if ... you go into a definition or a conclusion of suicide, you have to show some evidence for that.”

Spivey says she is certain her daughter would not have killed herself. “Absolutely not. Even if she could climb that tree, no, no, she would never, ever, ever,” Spivey said.

In Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, police are investigating the Aug. 21 death of Demetrius Eugene Fleming, 38. Police Chief Lawrence Wiggins said Tuesday that his office is waiting on reports from a medical examiner.

In February, police in Cobb County, Georgia, found the body of 21-year-old Kyle Bassinga in a park. While investigators said there was no indication of foul play, Bassinga’s death “caused many to think of the days of slavery and of Jim Crow,” said Cobb County Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.

The September 2025 death of 21-year-old Black student Trey Reed at Mississippi’s Delta State University was ruled a suicide, as was that of Dennoriss Richardson, 39, in September 2024 in Alabama’s rural Colbert County.

Richardson’s wife, Leigh, has said she doesn’t believe he killed himself and, as has occurred in other cases, a private autopsy was conducted, finding his death consistent with a hanging, according to news reports.

Leigh Richardson told ABC News that despite chronic asthma and other breathing problems that would cause her husband anxiety attacks, “that is just not a way that he would even process to leave this world.”

Group has chronicled thousands of lynchings in US

More than 4,400 lynchings occurred in the U.S. between Reconstruction and World War II, according to the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative. The 1955 lynching of teenager Emmett Till in Mississippi over accusations he flirted with a white woman helped catalyze the civil rights movement.

“These were public, intentionally public in order to convey terror, not just to the individuals and their families, but to a whole community,” said Karlos Hill, professor of African and African American Studies at the University of Oklahoma and author of “Beyond The Rope: The Impact of Lynching on Black Culture and Memory.”

Nearly 60 members of Congress signed a letter in September demanding the Justice Department investigate hanging deaths of Black individuals and enforce the 2022 Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which made lynching a federal hate crime.

“In this moment of anti-Blackness and emboldened white supremacy, we cannot stand idly by while the strange fruit of Black bodies hang from trees across the country,” U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley said in a statement.

The Justice Department confirmed it received the letter but has not responded, according to the office of Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat and the letter’s lead author.

‘I know the skin I’m in’

Trent Thompson, 58, of Florence, Alabama, says the recent hangings and deaths of Black people led to talk in the Black community about the death this summer of Nolan Xavier Wells.

Wells, 18 and Black, joined friends on a Fourth of July boat excursion to an island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast but did not return with them. His body was found two days later. Scrutiny of the investigation has deepened with the state’s history of racist violence and distrust of law enforcement — triggering suspicion in the Black community toward many cases involving deaths of Blacks, Thompson said.

“I know the skin I’m in,” he said.

Unpacking The Reality Of Sexual Exploitation, Trafficking

Jheri Hardaway — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 12:41:00 +0000

By Jheri Hardaway

Staff Writer

In August, a 12-year-old girl was taken during an overnight sleepover at a friend's house by 38-year-old Daniel Francis Gear, the uncle of her friend. Harnett County Sheriff Wayne Coats stated that automated Flock cameras along U.S. Highway 421 helped investigators track Gear's truck to a wooded area near Erwin. North Carolina Senate Candidate Michael Whatley has been widely criticized for his political associations with convicted sex offenders, resulting in a major campaign controversy. Just this past week in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, a local pastor faced a crowd of angry parents to answer questions about how a 70-year-old registered sex offender was allowed to volunteer at the church’s school. Headlines warning of child exploitation and sex crimes seem more prevalent than ever. Between congressional hearings with social media executives and daily alerts about digital predators, a pressing question echoes across living rooms and church pews alike: Are our communities facing an unprecedented epidemic, or are we simply waking up to a horror that was always there?

The answer is not simple, but it is slightly sobering. Criminologists, child advocates, and public health researchers emphasize that while physical, contact abuse is an ancient trauma finally being addressed after centuries of silence, the internet has created an entirely new, industrialized crisis that targets our youth where youth live: online.

For generations, society operated under a convenient illusion: that predatory harm was a rare anomaly confined to dark alleys and strangers. In reality, historical records and retrospective adult insights reveal that in-person abuse was widespread throughout human history.

It was largely sustained not by lack of frequency, but by silence and institutional cover-ups in schools, families, religious bodies, legal frameworks that ignored domestic violence, and a culture that placed the burden of shame on the victim rather than the perpetrator. Social media has given folks an outlet to share their experiences, old and new, causing darkness to be brought to light and the public having to reckon with painful and disturbing information that has plagued some people for years.

The apparent "explosion" of reported sexual assaults beginning in the late 20th century was not a sudden surge in abusive behavior, but the result of a cultural awakening. During the era of chattel slavery, there was no such thing as sexual abuse of African Americans. Since Blacks were considered property, abuse was as normal to the perpetrators as the sunrise. Times have changed. During the “Me Too” era, the passage of mandatory reporting laws, the rise of specialized trauma care, mental health services, and investigative journalism dismantled the wall of denial and shame.

Decades of public health data, including studies from the Crimes Against Children Research Center and the CDC, suggest that in-person sexual victimization in the United States has actually plateaued or slightly declined from peak reporting eras in the 1990s. Greater community vigilance, background checks, and youth education have begun to work as meaningful defenses.

While community awareness has strengthened protections in physical spaces, technology has unlocked an unmonitored back door into our children’s bedrooms. Experts agree we face an unprecedented crisis is in online child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSAE). In the early 2010s, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) processed approximately one million reports annually through its CyberTipline. Today, that number has surged into tens of millions. While improved automated detection flags more material, the raw volume circulating globally represents a genuine, compounding crisis.

The dangers have rapidly outpaced traditional safety advice. For example, Organized Sextortion where coordinated cyber syndicates deliberately targeting adolescents, frequently teenage boys, using fake profiles on popular social platforms, coercing them into sending compromising images, and then demanding money under threat of exposure. Physical borders once offered a measure of geographical protection. Today, bad actors can groom minors from across the street or across the globe via direct messaging, gaming platforms, and encrypted chat apps. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence tools that generate deepfakes and non-consensual imagery creates modern vulnerabilities that existing statutes were never written to govern. Understanding the distinction between historical abuse and modern digital exploitation is essential for effective prevention.

Physical abuse remains an intimate, interpersonal trauma that demands transparent institutions, open family communication, and communities that believe children and victims when they speak. Digital exploitation, by contrast, requires systemic accountability, holding tech corporations responsible for platform design, equipping law enforcement with modern forensic tools, and teaching young people digital literacy and boundary-setting.

We are not witnessing a sudden breakdown in human nature; rather, the age-old impulse to exploit the vulnerable has been handed high-speed broadband and pocket computers. Protecting the next generation requires recognizing the hard truths of the past while confronting the digital realities of the present.

Converse Pulls Sneaker Ad On Social Media After Racist Imagery Criticism

The Carolinian — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:36:00 +0000

AP NEWS - The sneaker company Converse has removed a social media ad that sparked outrage among critics who viewed it as evoking the Ku Klux Klan and lynching.

The Instagram ad photo showed K-pop singer Karina wearing a skirt and holding a pair of Chuck 70 X sneakers. Critics lashed out online, saying that a white triangular image created by lighting on the skirt resembled a KKK hood and that the way she held the sneakers made them look like the dangling feet of a lynching victim.

Converse, owned by Nike, issued a statement apologizing and saying it removed the ad.

“We’re sorry,” said the statement, first released on Friday. “We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong. We removed it from our channels and are working to remove it everywhere it appeared. This should not have happened and we will do better.”

Converse, based in Boston, declined on Sunday to answer questions seeking additional information, including how the company screens ads before they are posted and how the ad was approved.

Karina and her management company, SM Entertainment Group, did not immediately respond to messages through their Instagram accounts.

Retailers and top fashion brands have issued a string of apologies over the years for products criticized as being racially insensitive.

Last month, retailer Target pulled a children’s Halloween costume from its shelves after widespread social media backlash, apologizing for selling a garment that critics said evoked racist minstrel caricatures.

The Converse photo sparked swift criticism, including calls for staff involved in the ad to be fired and for a boycott of the company. In a slew of comments on social media, posters questioned how the ad could have cleared the company’s advertising vetting process. Other commenters defended Converse, saying they didn’t believe it was intentional.

Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney based in Texas, posted on Instagram that Converse’s apology “doesn’t undo what got past legal, marketing and leadership at every step.”

“We keep having this conversation because corporations keep failing the same test,” he wrote. “Do better means catching this before it airs — not after we’re offended.”

Converse, founded in Malden, Massachusetts, in 1908, makes the iconic Chuck Taylor All Star sneaker. It was first released in 1917 as a non-skid basketball shoe, adding the signature of Taylor — a basketball player who promoted the sneaker — in 1934, according to the company’s website.

Black Children In SC Are More Likely To Be Detained Than Their White Peers, Report Finds

The Carolinian — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 20:43:25 +0000

SC DAILY GAZETTE — South Carolina locks up Black children at a higher rate than white children, found a report from a civil rights group released Wednesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union’s report, which drew from public records, came amid a push from legislators to crack down on violent crime among youth and improve conditions at the state Department of Juvenile Justice, where complaints about overcrowding and violence have persisted for years.

“Vulnerable youth are suffering through a crisis in the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, and our state owes them a chance at real healing and rehabilitation,” said Jace Woodrum, head of the state’s ACLU chapter, in a statement.

“We are calling on the state legislature to address the dangers and inequities exposed in this report,” Woodrum continued. “These children can’t wait another year for justice.”

Legislators’ efforts will continue this year, said Rep. Brandon Cox, a Republican from Goose Creek who led a six-member bipartisan committee tasked with tackling youth crime rates. The panel’s existence suggests an appetite among legislators to tackle the problem in the coming session, he said.

DJJ officials support changes to help the children in the agency’s care, spokeswoman Michelle Foster said in a statement Thursday.

“SCDJJ agrees that meaningful juvenile justice reform requires both strong community-based alternatives that prevent deeper involvement in the juvenile justice system and safe, effective secure services for the small population of youth that require that level of care,” the statement read. “SCDJJ remains committed to advancing both.”

The ACLU is also suing the state agency over alleged mistreatment of youth and uninhabitable conditions. The report is not part of the lawsuit, which is ongoing, but instead meant to fill in the gaps left when DJJ stopped publishing regular reports about the number of youth housed in its facilities and the charges they faced, according to the ACLU.

Racial disparities

Since 2017, the first year the ACLU included in its report, the number of youth under the age of 18 held in DJJ facilities has dropped from a daily average of 400 to 271.

Roughly three-quarters of those children are Black, the ACLU found. The report doesn’t include disparities in arrest rates or explain the reasons for the disparity.

A decade ago, in 2016, 64% of children detained were Black, and 31% were white, the group found. About 28% of youth statewide are Black, according to the report.

The reason for the disparity remains unclear, according to the report. However, the number of Black children detained compared with white children likely begins with which youth local law enforcement officers are stopping and arresting, which can lead to a referral to DJJ, the report reads.

“You can come and sit in our courtrooms here in Charleston County and watch the cases that are being brought before the family court, and it’s Black child after Black child after Black child after Black child,” public defense attorney Tamara Coppinger Green said in the report.

Figuring out for certain what’s driving that disparity will be key to resolving it, Cox told the Daily Gazette.

Cox wants to take a more comprehensive look at what leads children and teenagers to getting locked up. Legislators and advocates have pointed to a series of socioeconomic factors as reasons youth might commit crimes.

In 2023, 44% of Black children lived in two-parent homes, compared with 76% of white children and 67% of Hispanic children, according to the SC Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Black children in the state are also more likely to live in poverty, with 32% in households below the poverty line in 2023, compared to 10% of white children, according to United Health Foundation’s national data.

Addressing overlooked problems, such as child nutrition and excessive screen time, might help steer more teenagers on the right paths, Cox said. Getting to the root of the issue is important because getting out of the legal system can prove difficult for children once they’ve gotten in trouble once, he said.

“My goal is to keep children out of that system,” Cox said. “All children.”

Several of the ACLU’s proposals for improving the system include diversion programs, such as requiring family counseling before a child is sent to DJJ for non-violent offenses or encouraging community-based programs that teach children problem-solving skills. Legislators proposed bills that would do that, though none became law this year.

Status offenses

Generally, the rate of crime among children and teenagers has decreased over the past two decades, the report found. In 2005, 2,489 youth received referrals to DJJ for violent offenses. By 2025, that had fallen to 1,149.

Of the total referrals last year, roughly 14% were cited for status offenses, which are only illegal until a child turns 18. Running away, skipping school and “incorrigibility,” which means failing to listen to their parents, are all offenses that can land a youth in legal trouble.

So can loitering in a billiards hall and sneaking into an R-rated movie, though those offenses aren’t enforced. Legislators this year repealed a portion of the law banning pinball for minors, which also went unenforced.

South Carolina is the only state that locks up youth on status offenses alone, according to the ACLU.

Legislators have talked for years about eliminating status offenses, though no comprehensive bill has made it over the finish line. The effort to legalize pinball for youth took a decade of proposals to become law.

That should be a top priority for legislators when it comes to addressing crime among youth, Cox said.

“Being in the DJJ facilities, it’s pretty sad when you see a kid who skipped multiple days of school sitting next to someone who’s been accused of adult homicide,” Cox said.

‘Further traumatized’

The report was intended to take the place of regular reports the Department of Juvenile Justice stopped publishing years ago. Those featured data about its detention and evaluations centers, including how many children were housed there and what offenses they were charged with committing.

Police officers, solicitors and school officials can refer youth to DJJ for certain offenses. During the 2024-2025 fiscal year, DJJ received nearly 12,700 referrals for children as young as 5 years old, according to the report.

The agency can either release the child back to a parent or guardian or keep them in a detention center while waiting for their day in court. South Carolina has two state-run detention centers, one in Columbia and one in Greenville, as well as a youth wing at the Charleston County jail.

The agency has an estimated 356 beds, though the children housed are often not distributed evenly across buildings, meaning the detention center can remain overcrowded while evaluation facilities have beds to spare.

Once a judge has found a child delinquent, that child is evaluated and committed to DJJ to serve out the length of their sentence, which can be a set amount of time or until the youth’s 22nd birthday.

Overcrowding and general conditions for youth have improved in recent years, the report acknowledged. DJJ opened an Upstate detention center in June 2025 to increase capacity, and a treatment center for youth with mental health needs started accepting patients in March.

Still, the ACLU raised concerns about continued violence and maintenance issues at DJJ’s detention centers.

In 2025, DJJ reported nearly 850 instances of physical violence, 170 incidents described as “sexual in nature,” and 27 near fatalities. The report did not include any more details on those incidents.

Youth were reported as restrained 62 times and put in isolation 36 times that year, according to the report. That suggests an environment that punishes teens rather than rehabilitating them, the ACLU wrote.

“Traumatized children that have had, most likely, a high number of adverse childhood experiences, end up in systems where they’re further traumatized, where they’re not getting help, and also where they’re exposed to other youth with violent proclivities,” said Aleksandra Chauhan, an attorney who represented youth in court, in the report.

Tuskegee Airmen Won The First Air Force ‘Top Gun’ Aerial Gunnery Competition

The Carolinian — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 14:39:00 +0000

332nd pilots at the 1949 Air Force 'Top Gun' Aerial Gunnery Competition. (U.S. Air Force)

Military.com—Lt. Col. James Harvey had one wish for much of his Air Force career. He wanted the 332nd Fighter Group — the Tuskegee Airmen — to be recognized for winning the Air Force's first-ever aerial gunnery competition.

"We were the original 'Top Gun,'" he told AARP Studios. "Our competitors didn't think we were real. We were Black and flying this obsolete aircraft. We weren't supposed to win it."

Harvey was drafted into the Army in 1943 as an Army Air Corps engineer. Just a few years earlier, he'd seen a group of Curtiss P-40 Warhawks flying over his home in Pennsylvania, which planted the idea of flying one someday into his mind. So when the chance to apply to the Air Corps' Aviation Cadet Training Program came up, he jumped at it.

In October 1944, he graduated from the Tuskegee Flight Program and was commissioned a second lieutenant. Like many of the new Tuskegee Airmen, he was assigned to replace pilots in the 332nd fighting in Europe. Although Harvey never saw action during World War II, he and his fellow Black pilots continued serving.

The postwar Tuskegee Airmen made history just a few years later, but their accomplishment went unrecognized for decades afterward.

Despite what the movie "Top Gun" will tell you, the U.S. military's first real-world "Top Gun" program wasn't set up by the Navy. It was an Air Force program that first took place in 1949. Tuskegee Airmen Capt. Alva Temple, 1st Lt. Harry Stewart, 1st Lt. James H. Harvey III and alternate Halbert Alexander, competing in P-47N Thunderbolts, would win it.

In January 1949, the chief of staff of the Air Force put a call out to all USAF fighter groups to send their three top scorers to represent their group at the first Top Gun "weapons meet."

The airmen went to Las Vegas Air Force Base, now Nellis Air Force Base, and pilots competed in five events: aerial gunnery, dive bombing, skip bombing, rocket firing and panel strafing. Harvey called it the "highlight of my career."

Harvey had a reason to be proud of his team's achievements. Despite flying obsolete aircraft, they led the 10-day event almost every step of the way. Their competitors flew the P-51 Mustang and the P-82 Twin Mustang fighters.

"It didn't matter, though," Harvey said. "It's the skill of the pilot that determines what's going to happen. They were there to compete, and we were there to win."

The competition is now called "William Tell," and the winners of the annual event have their names added to the list of past winners in the Air Force Association's yearly almanac. For 46 years, the winner of the 1949 competition was listed as "unknown." It wasn't until 1995 that it finally listed the winner as the 332nd Fighter Group.

"When it was announced that we, the 332nd, had won the trophy, the room was quiet," Harvey recalled. "There was no applause or anything like that. Because we weren't supposed to win it. Little did I know, this was the last time the public would see the trophy for 55 years."

The trophy sat in storage at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, for much of that time. Harvey went on to fight in the Korean War, becoming the first Black jet pilot in combat, flying 126 combat missions. He retired in 1965.

Historian Zellie Rainey Orr discovered the trophy and the story of the 332nd's epic "Top Gun" victory. In 2004, the trophy was finally put on display in the Air Force museum. Harvey's wish that Nellis Air Force Base would recognize the win took a few more years and intervention from AARP.

AARP's Wish of a Lifetime program seeks to change the way society views the values of older people by granting them one of their lifelong wishes. It learned about Harvey and looked into the true story. The result was that Nellis Air Force Base recognized the victory with a commemorative plaque posted there in January 2022, honoring the achievement of the Tuskegee Airmen.

"It proves that if you believe in something, and you stay at it, you'll finally get the recognition you deserve," said Harvey, who turned 98 in 2021. "This plaque, finally, after many years, will be at the top, number one."

Are Way Too Many Americans Taking Antidepressants?

The Carolinian — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

By: Andrew McLean

University of North Dakota

Drugs for treating depression are among the most prescribed category of medications in the U.S. – 1 in 6 American adults take them.

Some health researchers and advocates have raised concerns that too many patients are using antidepressants and that patients who want to stop taking them struggle to do so. One of the most prominent voices on this point is Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who launched an effort in May 2026 encouraging doctors to find other ways besides antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs to treat depression when possible.

As a psychiatrist for over 35 years, including a past role as the medical director of North Dakota’s Department of Human Services, I’ve seen both the benefits and the problems with antidepressants. In my view, there are grains of truth to claims that they are overused, but the full picture is much more nuanced.

Over half of all antidepressant medications prescribed are a type of drug called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. The first SSRI – fluoxetine, better known by its brand name Prozac – was approved in 1987. A handful of other types of SSRIs, which work through different mechanisms, also exists.

Antidepressants can be helpful for moderate to severe depression, but they are typically not warranted for mild depression, as the side effects might outweigh any potential benefits. For mild depression, many effective nonmedication treatments exist.

However, the distinction between mild and more severe symptoms sometimes gets lost. In everyday language, people use the term “depression” to describe everything from a minor sense of the blahs to a serious clinical condition requiring treatment.

Healthcare workers in primary care clinics routinely screen patients for depression using a widely used questionnaire. This tool can be effective in flagging patients who might need further testing or treatment. But in my experience, if used on its own to diagnose, it can be easily misinterpreted.

A person having a bad week or two who scores higher on a screening test might be prescribed a medication that was not necessary. But the tool can also fail to flag people who do need care. Over a third of people who die by suicide have visited a primary care provider in the month before their death. For those 55 and older, it rises to more than two-thirds.

According to a 2026 analysis, most prescriptions for antidepressants in the U.S. are not written by psychiatrists. In some cases, these medicines are prescribed by nurse practitioners or physician assistants with psychiatric qualifications, but most are written by primary care providers, who are not specialists in mental health.

Clinicians who provide primary care don’t just have less time to evaluate patients’ mental health concerns. They also have less access to ways of treating depression apart from medication, such as talk therapy.

Primary clinics that have behavioral health providers and consult with psychiatrists tend to help patients more effectively and provide more treatment options. These types of collaborative approaches to care are still rare but are becoming more common.

I recall my father, who was a country doctor in general practice, saying that half of his patients’ problems had to do with mental health issues, and he didn’t know how best to help them. Today’s primary care providers do receive more training on mental health issues, and they are often more equipped to recommend lifestyle changes that can be especially helpful for people with less severe depression symptoms.

But it’s simply human nature that when given a choice between taking a daily medication and engaging in activities that require commitment and intention, many will choose medication.

Stigma has been a long-standing barrier in seeking mental healthcare.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety and depression have become more prevalent. That’s particularly true among adolescents and young adults – especially young women, who tend to experience less stigma around mental health issues.

New rules during the pandemic also made it significantly easier for people to access mental health treatment – both therapy and medications – remotely, via telehealth. Such access continues to grow. Before the pandemic, only 1% to 2% of antidepressant medications were prescribed via telehealth. By 2022, it was roughly one-third.

Given these trends, and the fact that clinicians often turn to medication for treating depression regardless of the severity, the uptick in antidepressant prescriptions since 2020 should come as no surprise. Virtual visits allow people to navigate more easily around stigma and find increased and convenient access to care. And many people feel more comfortable getting such care in a primary care clinic rather than a mental health clinic.

For all these reasons, I would say that antidepressant medications are likely overused in some cases. Undoubtedly, some people who take them either don’t benefit from them or could address their symptoms in other ways.

On the other hand, expanded access to mental healthcare – including medication – has also enabled people who need treatment to receive it. Even now, many Americans with serious depression receive no or limited treatment.

What’s more, in my view, this imbalance reflects systemic problems in the U.S. healthcare system at least as much as physicians’ prescribing habits or patients’ requests.

For example, primary care clinics are a great place to screen for mental health issues, but getting proper treatment may involve more specialized care – which many patients can’t access. And on the business side, clinicians get little support in helping patients with lifestyle changes and nonmedication treatments – rather than prescribing drugs.

Kennedy has claimed that for some people, stopping antidepressants can be harder than quitting heroin.

Research suggests such extreme effects of discontinuing medication are rare, though not unheard of.

Any time a person is on a medication for a significant period of time, the brain and body adapt to establish a new balance. This happens with other substances, too – as any regular coffee drinker who has tried abruptly quitting knows.

People who want to stop taking antidepressants after being on them for a long time generally do best when they gradually taper their dose over weeks to months, unless they have a specific reason for stopping more quickly.

For antidepressants, clinicians watch for withdrawal symptoms including sleep problems, flu-like symptoms, headaches and an electrical buzzing sensation in the head. A 2024 review of dozens of rigorous studies that compared the experiences of people taking antidepressants with those taking a sugar pill found that roughly a quarter of people stopping antidepressants experienced some withdrawal symptoms, and for 3%, they were severe.

While certain antidepressants might be more likely to cause withdrawal symptoms, it’s tough to tell who might have the most difficulty. And for some patients, depression is a chronic illness for which they must take medication indefinitely.

However, most people working with an experienced clinician are able to successfully discontinue these drugs. Ultimately, what’s most important is that patients are able to consult with a knowledgeable provider in making that decision.

Farley Announces Return Of The Carolina Mining Star Program

The Carolinian — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 19:13:37 +0000

RALEIGH, N.C. – Today, North Carolina Labor Commissioner Luke Farley announced the return of the Carolina Mining Star Program, a voluntary workplace safety and health initiative that recognizes mine and quarry operations demonstrating a strong commitment to protecting workers and continuously improving workplace safety.

The program’s return builds on a strong year for mining safety in North Carolina. No fatal injuries were reported among North Carolina’s mine and quarry workers during the 2025-2026 state fiscal year, and the industry’s nonfatal injury rate remained well below the national average.

North Carolina recorded 1.33 nonfatal injuries per 200,000 employee-hours, compared with the national average of 1.62 during the same period.

“North Carolina’s mining industry has shown that a strong commitment to safety can save lives and prevent injuries,” Commissioner Farley said. “By bringing back the Carolina Mining Star Program, we can recognize the job creators who are leading by example while helping mine and quarry operations across our state identify practical ways to make their workplaces even safer.”

The Carolina Mining Star Program is administered by the N.C. Department of Labor’s Mine and Quarry Bureau. Participation begins with an application to the Department. After reviewing an application, NCDOL will work with the operation to schedule a pre-site visit and begin the program’s evaluation process.

The program is designed to help participating operations:

Increase employee participation in workplace safety and health;
Strengthen communication of safety policies and standard operating procedures;
Identify opportunities to improve existing safety and health programs;
Reduce workplace injuries and their associated costs; and
Earn recognition for an exceptional commitment to protecting workers.
The evaluation process looks beyond written policies to examine how an operation’s safety and health programs work in practice. Areas considered include hazard assessments, employee training and involvement, emergency procedures, accident investigations, contractor safety, and management leadership.

“This program is about more than recognition,” Farley said. “It is about bringing management and workers together, identifying hazards before someone gets hurt, and building a workplace culture in which everyone accepts responsibility for safety.”

The Mine and Quarry Bureau supports safety at North Carolina’s 243 active or intermittent mine sites through education and training, technical assistance, on-site consultations, safety and health evaluations, and accident and complaint investigations.

Mine and quarry operators interested in participating in the Carolina Mining Star Program may contact the NCDOL Mine and Quarry Bureau at 919-707-7932 or visit www.labor.nc.gov/safety-and-health/mine-and-quarry for participation requirements and application information.

Citizen Spotlight: Preserving Legacy with Shenette E. Swann

Jheri Hardaway — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 12:35:00 +0000

By Jheri Hardaway

Staff Writer

Raleigh, NC - When Shenette E. Swann speaks about cultural preservation, she doesn't just talk about artifacts behind glass. She speaks about living rooms filled with music, the quiet courage of local educators, and the transformative power of ensuring Black families feel seen.

As the newly appointed Director of the African American Cultural Resources Unit within the City of Raleigh’s Historic Resources and Museum Program, Swann steps into leadership with a clear, deeply personal compass. "These are big shoes to fill," Swann notes, "and I want to do it with grace and support."

To understand Swann’s approach to public history, one must look to her foundation. "I am the daughter of two heroes. Period," she says. Her parents, James and Brenda, forged a home where service and creativity went hand in hand. Her father, who retired from the United States Navy, was an enrolled student during the historic uprising at North Carolina A&T State University. Her mother, an educator and soul singer who carried childhood memories of seeing crosses burning in open fields, channeled her energy into grassroots action, serving as president of the Navy Wives Club and directing a nonprofit in Memphis, Tennessee, for families living below the poverty line.

Together, they were working musicians, raising Swann amid band rehearsals, resilience, and unapologetic joy. It was also her mother who placed the primary tools of cultural preservation directly into her hands. "When I was a child, my mother created a notebook she called ‘Black History.’ At a time when Black History Month in school often meant learning about the same few historical figures, she made photocopies of Black leaders and put them together in a notebook for me... I still have that notebook today." That notebook became the blueprint for a career dedicated to putting Black history and dignity into the hands of others.

Swann’s ten-year tenure at Marbles Kids Museum in the heart of downtown Raleigh served as a crucible for her community-centered philosophy. Upon entering the space, she posed an essential question: “What would it look like if Black families could walk into this space and know that they belong here?”

S he moved beyond surface-level representation, establishing cultural programs centered on Black artists, farmers, and innovators, alongside intentional staff dialogues addressing racial bias and tokenism. During this period, she created "Clumsy Conversations," an internal framework designed to let staff address uncomfortable issues around privilege, bias, and equity without needing all the answers upfront. The program's impact extended far beyond Marbles. Swann presented the model twice to the North Carolina Museums Council, earning the council's Diversity and Inclusion Award and offering institutions statewide a practical roadmap for engaging historically excluded audiences. "Inclusion is not simply about inviting people into a space," Swann explains. "It is about making sure they can recognize themselves once they arrive."

In her new role with the City of Raleigh, Swann oversees vital cultural landmarks, entering at a moment of significant revitalization: First, John P. "Top" Greene African American Cultural Park: Preparing for an extensive two-year renovation to expand its facilities and community programming. Next, the Pope House Museum: Continuing to expand its collections while breaking ground on a dedicated heritage garden honoring North Carolina's pioneering Black physician, Dr. Manassa Thomas Pope. Finally, South Park Heritage Trail: Promoting engagement along the 3.2-mile walking loop celebrating the historic South Park neighborhood.

Swann anchors her vision for these sites in three core actions: Remembering the foundational stories that built Raleigh, Celebrating current traditions and civic achievements, and Growing through deliberate, cross-generational dialogue.

Beyond her civic duties, Swann moves through the Triangle as a creative, a professional jazz and soul vocalist, songwriter, percussionist, and mental health journaling coach. Her journey underscores a message she urges the readers of The Carolinian to extend to the next generation: give young people room to evolve. "We can't always give them answers based on the world we grew up in," Swann advises. "What we can do is give them space to process what they are experiencing and come alongside them. Our communities become stronger when we replace judgment with support."

For Swann, the core of citizenship remains simple and actionable: "Community is what happens when we decide that our neighbor's story matters, that our history is worth preserving, and that the next generation deserves opportunities we may not have had."

Looking back, Swann realizes how much of her life's work was planted in her long before she knew what she would become. “My parents taught me that our history matters, our communities matter, and that we can experience hardship without losing our joy. My mother put Black history in my hands as a child, and in many ways, I've spent my career putting those stories into the hands of other people, especially children. Because I wasn't constantly trying to live up to someone else's expectations of who I was supposed to become, I had the space to discover who I actually was. We can guide them, support them, and help them navigate difficult experiences without deciding who they should be or what their lives should look like.”

The Youngest American Killed in the Vietnam War

Jordan Meadows — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 13:05:00 +0000

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

Dan Bullock was 15 years old when he was killed in Vietnam on June 7, 1969, making the Goldsboro native the youngest American service member to die in the war.

Bullock was born Dec. 21, 1953, in Goldsboro and lived in North Carolina until he was about 12, when his mother died, and he moved to Brooklyn to live with his father.

Family members later said he'd talked about wanting to become a pilot, a police officer, a firefighter or a Marine. Unsatisfied with his living situation in New York and discouraged by the lack of opportunity he saw around him, Bullock went looking for a faster path forward—and told his father that enlisting seemed like the quickest way to get an education.

In September 1968, at 14 years old, Bullock walked into the Marine Corps recruiting station at Albee Square in downtown Brooklyn. At 5-foot-9 and roughly 160 pounds, he was big enough to pass for 18, and he had altered the year on his birth certificate from 1953 to 1949.

Recruiters never questioned it. He enlisted on Sept. 18, 1968, and his family found out only when he came home with the signed paperwork in his hand.

Bullock reported to Parris Island, South Carolina, assigned to Platoon 3039, and struggled through parts of the 13-week training regimen before fellow recruits helped pull him through. He graduated from boot camp on Dec. 10, 1968, eleven days before his 15th birthday.

Private First Class Bullock arrived in South Vietnam on May 18, 1969, assigned as a rifleman in 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division. His posting was An Hoa Combat Base in Quang Nam Province, a forward hub surrounded by some of the most contested terrain in the country. Bullock kept largely to himself, and while his fellow Marines didn't know his real age, several sensed something was different about him.

On the evening of June 6, Bullock had been assigned cleaning duty, but took another Marine's place on the night watch near the airstrip after that Marine was wounded. Shortly after midnight, North Vietnamese Army sappers breached the perimeter wire and launched a coordinated assault with rockets, mortars, and small arms. Accounts of exactly what happened next differ.

Fox Company accounts hold that sappers crawled beneath the wire and hurled a satchel charge through the firing slot of Bullock's bunker, an explosion that killed Bullock; other accounts describe Bullock being killed by small arms fire on the perimeter.

Bullock's company commander, Capt. Robert Kingrey, described the young Marine's actions during the attack in a letter home.

"Dan immediately realized that the attack was stronger than usual and that the ammunition supply was becoming depleted," Kingrey wrote. "He rushed to get more ammunition for his unit. He constantly exposed himself to enemy fire in order to keep the company supplied with the ammunition needed to hold off the attack."

Bullock had been in Vietnam for 21 days.

A week after his death, the New York Times broke the story of his real age, and the Defense Department subsequently confirmed Bullock was the youngest of the roughly 58,000 Americans killed during the war.

His remains were returned to Goldsboro and buried at Elmwood Cemetery with full military honors, but no headstone marked the grave. It stayed that way for 31 years, until television talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael learned of the unmarked plot in 2000 and purchased a headstone. NYPD officers, state troopers from four states, and two veteran motorcycle groups escorted a 600-mile caravan from Brooklyn to Goldsboro for the dedication ceremony.

In 2003, the New York City Council renamed a stretch of Lee Avenue in Brooklyn—the street where Bullock had lived—as PFC Dan Bullock Way.

North Carolina dedicated a state highway historical marker near his childhood home on West Ash Street in Goldsboro, and the entrance to Elmwood Cemetery in southwest Goldsboro was also named PFC Dan Bullock Way.

His name is inscribed on Panel 23W, Line 96 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington.

Appeals Court Hears Challenge to NC Ballot “Selfie” Ban

Jordan Meadows — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 21:38:00 +0000

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

A federal appeals panel heard oral arguments on Tuesday in a Wake County woman's challenge to North Carolina's ban on "ballot selfies," weighing whether the state's restrictions on photographing marked ballots violate the First Amendment.

Susan Hogarth, a Raleigh native and the 2024 Libertarian candidate for state Senate District 13, sued members of the Wake County Board of Elections and the State Board of Elections in federal court after posting a selfie with her completed primary ballot on X in March 2024.

The State Board of Elections sent her a letter roughly two weeks later warning that the post violated state law and demanding she take it down; under North Carolina statute, photographing a voted ballot is a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to 120 days in jail and a fine.

Represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Hogarth argues the law criminalizes core political speech protected by the First Amendment. She has said she posts the photos partly to promote Libertarian candidates, partly to encourage voting generally, and partly to protest the law itself.

The case has already produced one skirmish inside a polling place: Armed with an October 2024 court order from U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan, she was allowed to photograph her ballot alone without fear of prosecution. Hogarth took several ballot selfies during early voting that October, including photos of both sides of her marked ballot and of herself holding it up inside the booth.

According to court filings, a Wake County election official stationed about 10 feet away approached her as she took her final photo and told her, "You cannot take a picture of your ballot; you need to delete that, please."

Hogarth told the official a court order protected her; the official asked her to wait, stepped away to call the county elections board, and returned roughly two and a half minutes later to confirm she was in the clear.

Hogarth's attorneys have said the confrontation left her "uncomfortable and anxious" despite the court order, and argued in filings that the interaction would chill an ordinary voter from taking or sharing similar photos.

Flanagan ultimately ruled against Hogarth in March, upholding the five state statutes that make up the ballot selfie ban in a 15-page order. She found the state's interest in preventing vote-buying and voter coercion justified the restriction even without documented instances of ballot selfies being used in such schemes.

"Common sense and logic support the proposition that photographs of voted ballots or voters, taken within voting booths, create opportunities for abuse through vote-buying and coercion," Flanagan wrote, adding that defendants were not required to "adduce specific factual evidence that the statutes advanced its interests."

At Tuesday's argument, FIRE attorney Jeff Zeman told the three-judge panel that the law reaches well beyond polling place conduct.

"The only thing North Carolina's ballot selfie ban does is criminalize otherwise lawful speech," Zeman said, noting the restriction also bars voters from photographing a completed absentee ballot in the privacy of their own home.

He argued the ban amounts to unconstitutional content-based regulation that fails strict scrutiny, the most exacting standard of judicial review, because the state has never shown the law actually prevents the vote-buying or coercion schemes it claims to target.

"This is speech about the election; not part of the election," Zeman said. "Expression about elections and referenda is the type of speech indispensable to decision-making in a democracy, and thus at the heart of the First Amendment's protection."

Deputy Solicitor General Thad Eagles, representing the State Board of Elections, its investigator and Executive Director Sam Hayes, countered that the law protects the secrecy of the ballot rather than the content of anyone's speech.

"North Carolinians are free and encouraged to tell everyone they want who they voted for and why in any number of different ways," he said. "The state's concern is not with the message here. It's not about the communication; it's about the probative effect of a picture of a marked ballot."

The state's legal briefs have also raised a more pointed hypothetical, arguing the law protects voters who might otherwise face covert pressure—including "a person experiencing domestic violence who, though not explicitly threatened, fears what will happen if their abuser learns that they voted against the abuser's preferred candidate."

U.S. Circuit Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr., a Trump appointee, pressed Eagles on whether the law's reach outside polling places changes the constitutional analysis, noting the case for restricting absentee ballot photography is less clear-cut.

"There does seem to be ways these statutes apply outside of the polling place," Quattlebaum said, asking directly, "Is the ballot itself a forum?"

Eagles maintained that allowing widespread ballot-photo sharing could pressure voters away from voting their genuine conscience. U.S. Circuit Judges Allison Rushing, also a Trump appointee, and DeAndrea Gist Benjamin, a Biden appointee, rounded out the panel, which did not indicate when it would rule.

Courts have struck down comparable ballot-selfie bans in at least six states, including New Hampshire, Georgia, Indiana and Colorado, while more than a dozen states, including North Carolina, still enforce some version of the restriction.

North Carolina became the first state in the country to begin mailing absentee ballots for the November midterms, meaning the outcome of Hogarth's appeal could still shape what voters are allowed to do with their ballots before Election Day.

For Durham’s Black Community, Restoration Starts With the Land

Judaea Ingram — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000

By Judaea Ingram

Special To The Carolinian

DURHAM, N.C. — In a garden in North Durham, restoration means more than planting vegetables. It means reconnecting with the land, building community, sharing food and creating space for Black people to slow down and reconnect with themselves and one another.

Those ideas came together Sept. 13 at Soul Sanctuary during Black Restoration Day, a community celebration centered around Soil Sanctuary, a garden collective in North Durham.

The afternoon brought people together for garden tours, food, movement and opportunities to connect with the land. The event was designed as a family-friendly gathering for Black, African, Caribbean and diasporic communities.

At its core, the event asked a simple but significant question: What does restoration look like for Black communities?

For organizers, one answer can be found in the soil.

Soil Sanctuary is a garden space stewarded by Black women and nonbinary people. The space creates an opportunity for community members to engage with growing food and caring for the land while also creating connections that extend beyond the garden itself.

The emphasis on land carries particular weight in Black communities.

For generations, Black Americans have had their relationships with land shaped by slavery, displacement, discriminatory housing policies and unequal access to property ownership. At the same time, agriculture, gardening and food traditions have remained important parts of Black cultural life.

Black Restoration Day placed those histories alongside a more present-day vision: creating spaces where Black people can gather, grow and restore.

The event also reflected a broader understanding of environmental justice. Environmental justice is often discussed through pollution, climate change and access to clean air and water. But for communities organizing around restoration, it can also mean having access to green spaces, healthy food and places where people can develop a relationship with the environment.

The North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, which listed the event, describes its work as supporting communities in addressing environmental justice and developing community-driven solutions.

That community-driven approach was visible in the structure of Black Restoration Day. Rather than treating environmental work as something separate from culture or community, the gathering connected the land with food, movement, family and collective care.

For participants, a garden can become more than a place to grow food. It can become a gathering place, an educational space and a way to pass knowledge between generations. That is particularly important as Durham continues to change.

The city has experienced significant growth and development, creating new opportunities while also raising questions about affordability, displacement and who gets to benefit from the city's growth.

Spaces such as Soil Sanctuary offer a different model of community development, one centered on relationships and collective stewardship rather than simply economic growth.

Black Restoration Day also highlighted the importance of rest. For communities that have historically carried the weight of racial discrimination and economic inequality, restoration can mean intentionally creating opportunities for joy, reflection and connection.

The event's focus on food and the land also creates an opportunity to think about where food comes from and who has access to growing it.

Gardening can reconnect people with traditions that have existed across generations while giving younger members of the community an opportunity to learn through participation. In that sense, restoration becomes both physical and cultural.

The Sept. 13 gathering was only one afternoon, but its larger message reaches beyond the event itself.

The work of restoring a community can happen in many forms. Sometimes it happens through advocacy. Sometimes through preserving history. And sometimes, it happens by putting hands in the soil, sharing a meal and creating a place where people feel connected.

For Durham's Black community, Soil Sanctuary represents one of those spaces. Black Restoration Day offered a reminder that caring for the land can also be a way of caring for one another.

Fuquay-Varina 7th Grader Climbs to Top 15 in National Youth Athlete of the Year Competition

The Carolinian — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 12:53:00 +0000

FUQUAY-VARINA, N.C — Makai, a 12-year-old 7th grader from Fuquay-Varina, has advanced to the Top 15 in Russell Wilson's Youth Athlete of the Year competition, a national program that recognizes young athletes for making a difference both on and off the field. Top 10 finalists will be announced tonight at 8:00 PM.

Makai plays for a local club competing at the National 1 League level, one of the highest levels of youth club soccer in the country. Between practices, games, and travel with his team, he maintains straight-A honor roll grades and volunteers with local charities, a combination his family and community say sets him apart in the competition.

“I'm incredibly proud of how he juggles it all at such a young age,” said Janel Woodard, Makai's mother. “What amazes me most is that he's always looking for new ways to get involved and give back. He's a thoughtful, respectful kid, and our whole community would love to see him go all the way.”

The Youth Athlete of the Year competition is produced by Colossal in partnership with NFL quarterback Russell Wilson, and past winners have been featured in national campaigns, including advertising with 3BRAND appearing on CBS and in Sports Illustrated. Voting is open now and the public is encouraged to cast a vote for Makai.

Makai comes from a long lineage of Honduran soccer players. He enjoys being part of a team, working toward a common goal, and overcoming challenges together. One of his favorite parts of the game is the brotherhood he has built with his teammates through both the victories and the adversity. Most of all, he loves having fun while playing the sport he enjoys.

Adams Co-Signs Letter Requesting DOJ/FBI Probe Into Black Hangings

The Carolinian — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 20:27:44 +0000

By Cash Michaels

Contributing Writer

North Carolina Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC-12) is a primary co-signer of a Sept. 8th letter by Massachusetts Democratic Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and approximately 60 other members of Congress, to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel, requesting an investigation into a troubling “series of deaths” by hanging of Black people across the country in recent weeks. The deaths “ raise significant suspicion of foul play even the role of lynching in our nation’s history," their letter stated.

Rep. Alma Adams

“Therefore, we write to urgently demand a thorough, transparent, and comprehensive federal investigation into every hanging death of a Black individual across the United States.,” the letter continued.

The official congressional request for a federal investigation is particularly

important to North Carolina given a tragic mid-August incident in downtown Raleigh where the body of a 32-year-old Black man was found hanging from a tree in a parking lot. Raleigh police later determined from cameras in the area that the victim actually committed suicide.

Reportedly, the victim’s mother described her son as struggling with mental problems that likely led to the suicide. There was no evidence of a criminal act involved, authorities said.

Still, a federal investigation would confirm that local police finding.

Then, there is the August 26th death by hanging in Roanoke Rapids of Demetrius Eugene Fleming, 38, and father of nine. At press time, local authorities were still investigating. Fleming’s body was found in his home. His obituary called him a man who was close to his church, and was fond of music.

Rep. Adams “…has expressed deep concern regarding the recent incidents of Black hangings, labeling them as acts of racial violence and a stark reminder of America's history of racism. She emphasizes the need for justice and accountability in addressing these heinous acts.”

“The growing number of Black people found hanging in public is a national crisis,” Rep. Pressley’s letter continued. “A recent report documented more than 70 modern-day lynchings in the United States between 2000 and 2025. In 2026 alone, there have already been at least 10 reported hangings of Black people. They were as young as 18 years old and lived in different parts of the country, including Mississippi, Michigan, and New York. Each of their deaths should be treated with the utmost seriousness and investigated without bias by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”

“We know there is a long history of neglecting to prevent or investigate deaths of Black individuals," Pressley’s congressional letter continued. “For decades, the DOJ and FBI ignored widespread lynchings which motivated more killings. Inaction by the federal government is tantamount to complicity. This is part of the legacy of racial terror in the United States, and this neglect has long-term consequences. Not only are innocent lives lost, but lynching inflicts deep traumatic and psychological wounds on family members, neighbors, and the entire Black community.”

Rep. Presley reminded both AG Blanche and Director Patel that her’s was not just a simple request from several concerned members of Congress, but in fact, federal law.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley

“Congress enacted the Emmett Till Antilynching Act in 2022 to ensure the DOJ and FBI are empowered to fully investigate suspicious deaths and hold individuals accountable. It is incumbent upon you to do just that. At a minimum, each federal investigation, with permission of the decedents’ families, should include an independent autopsy, an audit of local and state law enforcement investigations, review of physical and testimonial evidence, and a final report submitted to Congress explaining the agency’s findings. Additionally, there must be robust data collection that tracks the hanging deaths of Black people in a transparent and systematic manner.”

Rep. Presley concluded her letter with, “We would appreciate the opportunity for our offices to connect with your teams at regular, scheduled intervals to share updates, feedback, and concerns from the broader community, as appropriate.”

At press time, there was no response from either DOJ or the FBI to Rep. Pressley’s request for a federal investigation into recent Black hanging incidents.

Raleigh Native Achieves Scientific First In Tuberculosis Research

The Carolinian — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 19:00:00 +0000

KODAK Digital Still Camera

Spelman College—MaKyra Wilson, C’2027, recently became the first person to engineer variants of AmiB2, a newly characterized gene involved in bacterial metabolism and cell-wall maintenance, and introduce them into a safer model bacterium used to study Tuberculosis. As a result, the DNA tools used in the discovery will be subsequently named after her and used to support future research.

Tuberculosis remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, claiming approximately 1 million lives each year. According to Wilson, research like this is critical because Tuberculosis still has no definitive cure capable of overcoming many drug-resistant strains.

"Our work in the Fortune Lab represents one of the first steps toward understanding how metabolic genes such as AmiB2 influence bacterial survival and dissemination throughout the body,” said Wilson, who aspires to become a physician-scientist. “This discovery provides a scientific foundation that may guide the development of future therapeutic strategies against resistant M. tuberculosis populations.”

Wilson, a biology major and Ethel Waddell Githii Honors Scholar, made this discovery under the guidance of the Du Bois Scholars Program. Launched in 2024, the program seeks to honor and uplift academic excellence through research-based collaboration with Harvard University and HBCUs. It is a fully funded nine-week internship at the Harvard Summer Undergraduate Research Village (HSURV) for rising juniors and seniors.

As a scholar, Wilson received hands-on mentorship from Harvard faculty through access to rigorous, cutting-edge research opportunities. At the conclusion of the Du Bois Scholars Program, Wilson presented her findings to the faculty, researchers, physicians, fellows and scholars at Harvard Medical School.

“MaKyra’s work was important because we hypothesize that Mtb bacteria are evolving mutations in metabolic genes that allow them to spread through the body more efficiently and hide in tissues like lymph nodes,” said Dr. Sarah Fortune, Wilson’s mentor and John LaPorte Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard. “By making these clinically relevant mutant strains, MaKyra accelerated our ability to understand Mtb dissemination.”

In the future, Wilson aspires to pursue a joint MD/Ph.D to develop innovative, equitable approaches to patient care and medical practice.

“As a Spelman student, it has been a privilege to represent the College while contributing to groundbreaking research at Harvard,” said Wilson. “I hope my experience can inspire other students to pursue opportunities in scientific research and medicine.”

North Carolina Drops “Barrier” Teacher Entrance Exam

The Carolinian — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:24:00 +0000

WUNC - This fall, colleges of education across North Carolina are welcoming back students who had previously left their programs solely because they struggled to pass a standardized entrance exam.

At UNC-Greensboro's School of Education, about 35 students returned.

"We saw a large number of music ed students, dance ed students, birth through kindergarten students, and elementary (education) students who returned to the major," said Jacqueline Dozier, Director for Student Success at UNC-Greensboro's School of Education.

The students are eligible to return because a provision in the state budget eliminated a requirement for them to pass the Praxis Core test before taking upper level education classes.

Supporters of the new policy change say the exam was a barrier for some who wanted to pursue a career in teaching. In the past, those who failed to pass the test by the end of their sophomore year were forced to switch majors.

"We had some happy students," Dozier said. "It just came in time for them to register for classes and not delay their time in the program."

Praxis Core was a gateway, but colleges say there are others ways to evaluate prospective teachers

The Praxis Core tests high school math, reading, and writing, with content similar to the ACT and SAT. More universities have made the ACT and SAT optional for admission in recent years, relying more heavily on students' high school grades for admission.

"We have students who are coming to us, and the first time they're going to experience a standardized test could be the Praxis Core, and so there's been testing anxieties," Dozier said.

Dozier said a handful of UNC-Greensboro students fail to meet the Praxis Core requirement each year, with many more needing to take the exam multiple times before they pass. Each attempt costs $90 to $150, depending on how many subjects are retaken.

With the policy change, students must still meet GPA minimums in their college coursework to take advanced education classes, and pass content exams in the subjects they intend to teach before becoming fully licensed teachers.

Plus, colleges of education may begin rethinking other ways to evaluate students to ensure they're ready for the classroom with the elimination of the Praxis Core.

"It has been seen as a potential barrier, but I think we're also being very aware of okay, it was a barrier. We saw some issues, but what did we get from it?" said Nichole Smith, interim chair of the Department of Educator Preparation at North Carolina A&T State University.

Smith said N.C. A&T also uses an assessment to evaluate students' qualities as a teacher, such as communication skills, professionalism and ability to take constructive feedback.

Change could boost enrollment at teaching colleges

Education officials in State Superintendent Maurice "Mo" Green's administration advocated for the change in state law, which could boost enrollment at North Carolina teaching colleges after a decline among traditional undergraduate students.

"This can be very important if this is one less thing that the students have to worry about in order to become a teacher," said Smith.

Smith and Dozier said their universities will be closely tracking how the policy change affects enrollment in teaching programs.

"We want to know: Okay, was it Praxis Core keeping people from going into the profession, or was it a myriad of other things?" Smith said.

Smith added that there are many other barriers for students interested in teaching, such as poor perceptions of pay and working conditions. Dozier said she's hopeful about what this change in the state budget – plus the budget's boost for beginning teacher pay – will do for recruitment.

"We're really interested or curious as to what this means as the undergraduate admissions counselors go on the road to recruit for us for the coming year, and will we have more students willing to become teachers?" Dozier said.

Business Owners Press Leaders For New State Contracting Goals

The Carolinian — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 11:17:00 +0000

NC NEWSLINE — For years, Gerald Carr knew where to turn when his Charlotte construction company needed help navigating North Carolina’s state contracting system.

Now, Carr said, the rules have changed and businesses like his are scrambling to figure out what comes next.

Carr, CEO of All-Pro Builders and Restorations, was among the dozens of Black and minority business owners and advocates who gathered in Greensboro Thursday to press state leaders for new contracting opportunities. The move follows the dismantling of the state’s Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses.

The town hall, held at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, was organized by The Collective, a coalition of minority business organizations including the Greensboro Business League, the Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce and the NC Black Alliance.

The message from the business owners and advocates in the room was straightforward: The state needs to make sure minority-owned and other small businesses don’t lose access to state contracts.

The group is calling for all businesses previously certified through the HUB program to be transferred into the state’s Small Business Enterprise program, which is intended to provide contracting opportunities to small businesses across North Carolina. The group also called on Gov. Josh Stein’s administration to create a new Advisory Council on Black Affairs.

The asks come less than two months after lawmakers eliminated the HUB office as part of the state’s 2026 budget. As part of a greater state effort, House Republicans also overrode multiple vetoes from Stein, passing bills to cut government spending on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The office was created in 1999 following an executive order from then-Gov. Jim Hunt. The HUB office helped minority small businesses compete for state and local government contracts.

Businesses certified through the HUB received dedicated training, were directly notified of new bidding opportunities and were part of a public searchable database.

The budget change ended the state’s recognition of HUB certifications for state government contracts. The state Department of Administration said businesses can continue pursuing state contracts, but HUB certifications won’t be renewed.

The distinction offers little comfort to some business owners who say the certification was an important part of how they found work and built relationships with larger contractors. Carr said he worked closely with the HUB office when he needed support competing for contracts and connecting with other construction companies.

He said his company lost a contract worth more than $400,000, just three days after the HUB office was shut down.

Carr’s experience was part of a larger discussion at Thursday’s gathering about how the loss of the HUB office could affect more than just individual businesses. Other speakers described the closure as a disruption to businesses that had spent years building relationships and pursuing contracts through the state system.

Rep. Amos Quick III, D-Guilford, said the state needs to do more to communicate the economic effects of programs designed to support minority-owned businesses.

“We must begin to amplify the impact and the positive impact that these types of initiatives and policies have,” he said.

The criticism comes as the state tries to build a replacement system.

At the event, state officials announced a new accelerator program scheduled to open Oct. 15. The program is expected to help businesses affected by the HUB office’s closure navigate the transition and fast-track small-business certifications. The state Department of Administration will oversee the program.

Gabriel Esparza, the department’s secretary, said more than 6,000 businesses were enrolled in the HUB program when it closed. That left many business owners trying to understand what the changes meant for their existing certifications and future contracts.

“We want to make this the best thing it can be, not only for small businesses but also to honor the spirit and legacy of all of the work that so many of you did and continue to do to lift Black businesses, minority businesses, and women-owned businesses across the state,” he said.

How NC Communities Marked 9/11

Jordan Meadows — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 20:20:23 +0000

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

North Carolina communities marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks this week with a series of memorial ceremonies, stair climbs, service projects and permanent dedications spanning from Raleigh to Fayetteville.

At Chavis Park in Raleigh on Friday, Gov. Josh Stein reflected on the sense of national unity that followed the attacks.

"We cannot forget our feelings that day," Stein said. "We cannot forget the feelings the days after when we came together as a country."

Dozens gathered at the park, including Raleigh Fire Department Lt. James Jones, a volunteer fire department when the attacks unfolded.

Apex Fire Chief Tim Herman urged attendees to remember the victims as individuals rather than statistics.

"They were people who had families waiting for them. They were people who had served together for years," Herman said. "They were not numbers. Members of companies. Brothers and sisters. Mothers and fathers. Sons and daughters."

Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks nationwide, including six Duke University alumni and hundreds of first responders.

Stein spent much of the week moving between ceremonies across the Triangle. On Thursday, he ordered state flags lowered in observance of Patriot Day and issued a statement tying the anniversary to the nation's 250th year.

"This year, during America's 250th year, we cherish what it means to be an American: to love freedom, justice, security, democracy, and peace," Stein said. "Let us honor the memories of our heroes: the brave passengers of Flight 93, the firefighters who rushed toward danger as people ran for their lives, and the neighbors who helped their neighbors through unthinkable tragedy. And let us remember that there is more that unites than divides us. America is strongest when we stand together."

Stein attended the North Carolina National Guard's memorial ceremony Friday morning at Joint Force Headquarters in Raleigh before joining the City of Raleigh and the nonprofit Activate Good for a day of service and remembrance.

At the Guard ceremony, Stein specifically recognized Greensboro native Sandy Bradshaw, a flight attendant aboard United Flight 93 who helped fight back against hijackers before the plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and John Cerqueira, then a recent North Carolina State University graduate who helped carry a woman in a wheelchair down 68 flights of stairs in the World Trade Center's North Tower. The ceremony also honored the 30 North Carolina National Guard members killed in direct combat operations over the past 25 years, whose photos and names were displayed on memorial boards.

In Chapel Hill, UNC Army ROTC hosted a public memorial stair climb at 6 a.m. at Kenan Memorial Stadium, with participants climbing 2,071 stairs — the equivalent of the World Trade Center towers' 110 floors — in tribute to the 2,977 victims and the first responders who served that day. Organizers said the physical challenge was intended to give younger generations a more tangible understanding of the sacrifice firefighters made climbing the towers on Sept. 11.

Fuquay-Varina held its own remembrance ceremony at 8:30 a.m. at the Fuquay-Varina Arts Center, and Clayton hosted a public ceremony at 9 a.m. at Municipal Park featuring an honor guard, a bell tolling and 423 small flags representing the 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers and eight emergency medical personnel killed in the attacks.

In Raleigh, roughly 1,000 volunteers gathered at NC State for the inaugural Raleigh meal-packing event tied to 9/11 Day, packing an estimated 226,000 meals, which will be distributed by the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

In Fayetteville, members of the Fort Bragg military community gathered Friday morning at the U.S. Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum for a remembrance ceremony featuring moments of silence, the national anthem, a performance by an All-American band and a wreath-laying honoring the 2,977 people killed on Sept. 11. Krystal Huff, an attendee, reflected on the aftermath of the attacks.

Chief William Lehmann, now chief of emergency medical services at Fort Bragg, was working as a paramedic with the New York City Fire Department on the day of the attacks and said the memory of colleagues lost that day remains raw.

16th Street Baptist Church Marks Bombing Anniversary with a new visitor center

The Carolinian — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 19:41:43 +0000

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Sixty-three years ago, dynamite planted by Ku Klux Klan members exploded through the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four girls as they prepared for Sunday services.

Hundreds of people filled the church on Tuesday on the 63rd anniversary of the bombing. The church marked the anniversary with the opening of a new visitors center that leaders said is aimed at educating people about one of the most horrific events of the Civil Rights Movement and urging a recommitment to continue the struggle for justice.

Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and the guest speaker for the annual memorial service, said the remembrance falls at a time when politicians are trying to take content out of museums, attacking the Voting Rights Act and turning to the politics of division.

“We’re in a critical moment in America. There is a narrative struggle. There are people who are preaching the politics of fear and anger, and they want to govern through fear and anger,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson, who helped build memorials and museums tracing the legacy of slavery in America, said a “whole network of elected officials” — not only the Klan — shared responsibility for the climate that led to the deadly bombing.

“And today we have those same voices, and we have to stand against those voices by being committed to truth and justice,” Stevenson said.

Klansmen had placed a bundle of dynamite outside the church under a set of stairs. The bombing came during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, eight months after then-Gov. George Wallace pledged “segregation forever.”

The girls were gathered in a downstairs washroom before Sunday services when the dynamite exploded at 10:22 a.m. on Sept. 15, 1963. The explosion killed 11-year-old Denise McNair and Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins, all 14. A fifth girl, Sarah Collins Rudolph, the sister of Addie Mae, was in the room and was severely injured but survived.

Three Ku Klux Klansmen were eventually convicted in the blast: Robert Chambliss in 1977; Thomas Blanton in 2001; and Bobby Frank Cherry in 2002.

The opening of the education center comes at a time of uncertainty about how history is presented in national parks and museums. President Donald Trump in March 2025 signed an executive order aimed at defunding museum exhibits and programs that he said promote “divisive narratives.”

The church sits within the bounds of the National Park Service’s civil rights monument in Birmingham, an area that includes the park where Black protesters were met by police dogs and fire hoses. But the church independently runs the visitors center.

The new center has space for exhibits, oral history initiatives, artist residencies, community quilting projects, public speaker series and other programming.

Church leaders envision the center as a place where people can reflect after visiting the church and bombing site.

“I want them to take away that history is not just in the past. History is also present, and that there’s still work to do,” said the Rev. Arthur Price Jr., the pastor of 16th Street Baptist. “When we talk about the challenges in our country, when we talk about the injustice, the inequity, and the inequality, there’s still a whole lot of work for us to do.”

Lisa McNair’s sister, Denise, was one of the girls who lost their lives in the 1963 bombing.

“It’s part of our shared American history, and if we don’t know our history, we’re destined to repeat it,” McNair said at Tuesday’s event.

Cumberland County Bus Mechanic’s Emotional Plea Prompts Review

Jheri Hardaway — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 18:57:02 +0000

By Jheri Hardaway

Staff Writer

Fayetteville, NC - As an educator, there is nothing more frustrating than hearing an announcement during the school day that a bus isn’t running. Students lose all focus and have to think about how they will get home. Phone calls must be placed; the teaching and learning process is completely disrupted. Recently, in a tense Cumberland County Board of Education meeting, a veteran school bus mechanic, Robert “Tilly” Tillberg, stepped to the podium; not to ask for a raise, but to tender his resignation out of fear for student safety in relation to transportation. His warning, delivered with an emotional voice before district leadership, laid bare severe staffing shortages within the Cumberland County Schools (CCS) Transportation Department. Days later, district officials responded by hiring an outside Raleigh law firm to investigate operating conditions across its fleet.

Tillberg, an employee stretched to his breaking point, is directly responsible for 38 school buses. He told board members that severe understaffing leaves the remaining crew with impossibly small windows to keep vehicles road-ready. According to Tillberg, roughly 15 road mechanics shoulder the burden of servicing approximately 500 buses daily. Between the time morning routes end and afternoon runs begin, mechanics often have only a three- to four-hour turnaround window. Within that short timeframe, technicians must execute mandatory mechanical inspections, perform scheduled maintenance, and diagnose sudden breakdowns.

Under such acute pressure, Tillberg explained, technicians are forced to triage repairs, occasionally leaving minor issues like heating and air unaddressed to get buses back on the road. "I should not have to worry that I cannot do my job to the standards that I know should be done because I am stretched too thin," Tillberg told the board. "This is not because I stopped caring about my job. It’s actually because I care too much." Tillberg warned that at least three other mechanics are actively seeking outside employment due to friction with departmental leadership, cautioning that further departures will compound an already unsustainable workload. His final day with the district is September 18th.

Following the public testimony, Cumberland County Schools announced on September 11th that it has retained the Raleigh-based law firm Tharrington Smith, LLP to conduct an independent investigation into the transportation department’s management, safety practices, and day-to-day operating conditions. Superintendent Dr. Eric C. Bracy sought to reassure parents and staff that vehicle safety remains strictly governed by state guidelines. "We want our families and employees to know that CCS is listening and taking responsible action," Dr. Bracy said in a statement. "Our transportation procedures are guided by state standards, and this external review will provide an additional, objective assessment of our practices."

According to the district, CCS operates 482 yellow buses across the county. The district is allotted 20 bus mechanic positions; 15 are currently filled, leaving five vacancies. Two slots were recently addressed through a new hire and an internal promotion. District policy adheres to North Carolina Department of Public Instruction mandates, requiring 30-day cyclical inspections alongside daily driver pre- and post-trip logs. Buses deemed out-of-service are barred from routes until cleared by maintenance.

Tillberg’s impassioned stand aligns with growing civic frustration among Cumberland County parents and advocates. Toni Stewart, a CCS parent whose child attends Anne Chesnutt Middle School, has been rallying community members to speak directly at school board sessions. Stewart, who previously organized against the proposed closure of Anne Chesnutt Middle and raised alarms when air-conditioning failures forced Westover Middle School into remote instruction, emphasized that community oversight is vital. Stewart’s message to families across the county has remained resolute: show up, speak out, and hold elected leaders accountable to the staff and children inside local facilities.

As Tharrington Smith begins its external assessment, Cumberland County parents and employees will look to the next Board of Education meeting for transparent answers on whether real structural relief is on the way for the workers who keep North Carolina’s schoolchildren safe on the road.

As A Tough Summer Draws To A Close, McClatchy Chain’s Cut Journalists’ Jobs

The Carolinian — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 14:48:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — Closing out a turbulent summer for the news industry, the McClatchy newspaper chain has made deep cuts at The Miami Herald and other papers it owns across the nation.

The union that represents McClatchy journalists said Friday that more than 90 unionized journalists and media workers across 17 publications had been laid off, accounting for about 30 percent of all McClatchy workers unionized with The NewsGuild-CWA. The layoffs have impacted news outlets including The Sacramento Bee, The Kansas City Star, The Charlotte Observer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and others.

“We are waist-deep in the quicksand and we are still sinking,” Carol Marbin Miller, deputy investigations editor of The Miami Herald, said in a phone interview.

Marbin Miller, who was not impacted by the layoffs, told The Associated Press she was speaking out to stress how dire the situation was at her paper, where a total of 32 jobs were cut. Those included 28 lost jobs and four positions that were frozen, according to a person familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity. They included the entire writing staff of El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language publication.

“Miami is the biggest city in Florida,” Marbin Miller said. “Florida is a crucial state. I can’t imagine any scenario in which Miami no longer has a vibrant, powerful news outlet. It’s just too important.”

A McClatchy spokesperson did not respond to an email requesting comment or information.

The U.S. newspaper industry has been contracting for two decades, pushed first by the rise of the internet and the decline of classified advertising, then by the fragmentation introduced by social media and evolving user consumption habits. More recently, many newspaper operations have reduced or cut print editions. Media advocacy groups warn that fewer eyes of accountability are on U.S. communities and their governments and institutions.

Internal memo says a ‘different choice’ was required

All those laid off from McClatchy were informed on Thursday. Later, an internal memo from Greg Farmer, executive vice president of local news, seen by the AP, told staff: “For the past five years, McClatchy made a deliberate choice to maintain our investment in local news reporters. We believed continued investment in our journalism would strengthen our relationship with subscribers and our business.”

“We measured the results,” Farmer added. “The results are clear and require us to make a different choice ... We are making these changes because the status quo no longer works. We cannot continue investing where subscriber interest does not support the investment.”

The union said four McClatchy papers in Washington state had lost seven reporters in total. “Tacoma will no longer have even a single dedicated journalist tracking city hall, Pierce County government or local schools,” it said. Other cuts included the only two investigative reporters at The Charlotte Observer, and a team of government accountability reporters at The Kansas City Star.

Other news organizations have taken similar action recently, including USA Today Co., formerly Gannett, earlier this month. It was not immediately clear how many staffers were affected.

“We will continue adapting our business to evolving audience behaviors, changing market dynamics and advances in technology,” spokesperson Lark-Marie Antón said in an email to The AP.

“These decisions are never made lightly,” she wrote. “They are intended to position USA TODAY Co. for long-term success and maintain our ability to invest in innovation, products and experiences that best serve our audiences.” Antón declined to give further information, including numbers.

In an internal memo, Senior Vice President Michael Anastasi told staff: “The challenges we face are not temporary. Rapid shifts in audience behavior, technology and innovation, and continued pressure on advertising and revenue models are changing the economics of journalism at a pace our industry has not experienced before.”

Also affected this summer: The Associated Press, where 19 U.S.-based video producer jobs were recently relocated to India, according to their union, with another 10 photo editors told they will lose their jobs sometime this year.

Those cuts come just under four months after the news cooperative laid off 20 U.S.-based journalists, part of a restructuring that pivoted away from print and toward visual journalism “to align our operations with what our top customers need from us today,” an AP spokesman, Patrick Maks, said at the time. He did not immediately respond to an email Friday.

Kimberlee Kruesi, acting president of the News Media Guild, said the union “remains shocked and alarmed by AP’s decisions.”

“Coverage of the U.S. should be done in the U.S.,” Kruesi said.

In a June 30 email to staff, executive editor Julie Pace wrote that the new hub in India would “increase the size of our production staff to scale both our video and photo capabilities while improving speed and quality.”

“Our ability to sustain world-class reporting depends on adapting to changes in the industry, thinking strategically about where to allocate our resources and investing in the areas where we can grow and best serve customers,” Pace wrote.

At the Miami Herald, the union noted, layoffs will leave the paper without a City Hall reporter. Also cut were its only female photographer, the entire audience team, the sole video producer and “all reporters covering an entire South Florida county, Broward.”

In a post on X, Marbin Miller likened the impact of the cuts to a surgical operation.

“We long ago cut past the skin and the bone and the muscle and the tendons and the ligaments,” she wrote. “We are now slicing out the vital organs.”

Shelton, Tiafoe Make US Open History

The Carolinian — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:39:00 +0000

NEW YORK—Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe gave American tennis a night to remember at the U.S. Open, meeting in a historic all-American semifinal that showcased two friends, two generations of African American tennis and a rivalry that has helped define the sport’s next chapter.

Shelton emerged from the Arthur Ashe Stadium showdown with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 victory Friday, earning his first Grand Slam final appearance. The match was significant before a ball was struck: It guaranteed that a Black American man would reach the U.S. Open final for the first time since Arthur Ashe in 1972.

For Tiafoe, the semifinal represented another deep run at the tournament where he has become a familiar presence. For Shelton, 23, it became the defining achievement of his young career.

The match also carried the particular weight of an encounter between two players who have shared the spotlight as prominent figures in American tennis. Their history includes a memorable U.S. Open meeting in 2023, when Shelton defeated Tiafoe in the quarterfinals.

Shelton's accomplishment grew even larger after he had already produced one of the tournament's most remarkable victories, defeating defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set quarterfinal that ended at 3:33 a.m., the latest finish in U.S. Open history.

The run continued into Sunday's championship match against Germany's Alexander Zverev.

Shelton ultimately fell 6-3, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2 in his first Grand Slam final. Zverev, who won his second major championship of the year, maintained his composure through a heavily pro-Shelton crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Yet the trophy ceremony offered a fitting conclusion to a tournament defined by sportsmanship as much as achievement.

When Ben Shelton took the podium to accept his 2nd place trophy, the speech that ensued moved people to tears. After playing his heart out, his first words glorified God. “I would like to thank God. My successes are a gift. My failures are a gift. And being here, playing in front of you guys is a gift.” The way Shelton and Zverev competed against each other, you would think they were bitter rivals. However, as Ben continued with his speech, he presented the highest praises towards Zverev’s level of play. Both Shelton and Zverev are coached by their fathers. This fact led Shelton to also show honor and respect to Zverev’s father. The level of humility was a throwback to a different decade where sports truly represented the best from us. Not just in regards to the level of play, but the level in which we conduct ourselves once the match has concluded.

As great as Ben’s speech was, no one was prepared for the heartfelt impromptu speech Zverev gave. His opening statement praised Ben’s play and he said “Ben, you are an incredible player, an incredible person. This was your first Grand Slam final, but I’ve already told you, you’re gonna be back here many, many more times. And if I would have to bet all my money on it, I would bet that you would lift this trophy one day.”

He then extended appreciation and gratitude to Ben’s father who coaches Ben. Followed by praise to Ben’s mother who was in attendance and even spoke directly to Ben’s girlfriend calling her Ben’s good luck charm. He spent more time initially talking positively about Ben and his family than talking about himself. Eventually he turned the topic to his father and team and capped it off with the highest praise for his mother as the world watched, hanging on to his words. “When your 4 year old son gets diagnosed with diabetes and doctors in the office tell you that life and sports will be very, very limited for that child; it takes a very, very strong mother to walk out of those offices and say my son will be whatever he wants to be. If he wants to be a tennis player, then he will be a tennis player… but this illness will no define us.” He profusely thanked his mom for being the wind in his sail.

Both players won that day. Zverev won the trophy. Shelton made history. They both captured the hearts of tennis fans around the world.

Though the result left Shelton without the championship, his tournament had already secured a place in American tennis history. His victory over Tiafoe produced a landmark meeting between two African American stars, and his subsequent run to the final made him the first Black man to reach a U.S. Open men's final since Ashe.

For a sport that has spent years waiting for another American man to capture a Grand Slam singles title, Shelton's run provided something more enduring than a trophy: a historic stage shared by two American players who helped make the future of U.S. tennis impossible to overlook.

Triangle Water Faces Post-Drought Growth, Infrastructure Challenges

Jordan Meadows — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 21:35:00 +0000

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

Raleigh Water officials told the City Council on Tuesday morning that the region's water demand is projected to double by 2065, laying out a set of costly long-term supply options as the Triangle emerges from its worst drought since 2007.

Whit Wheeler of Raleigh Water delivered the work-session presentation, covering current drought status, potential changes to the city's Water Shortage Response Plan, future demand scenarios, new water resource projects and regional planning efforts through Wake One Water and the Triangle Water Supply Partnership.

Wheeler said that while demand is growing roughly 3% a year, per-capita water use has dropped every year since about 2007, a trend he credited with dramatically extending the region's existing supply. Raleigh currently uses about 50 gallons per person per day, with single-family homes using roughly 100 gallons daily.

Falls Lake and Jordan Lake serve as the two main water sources in Wake County, with the Triangle Water Supply Partnership distributing Jordan Lake water across seven counties including Lee, Orange, Durham, Wake, Johnston and Harnett.

Wake County's water demand is being driven by a population expected to exceed 2 million residents. About 85% of county residents currently rely on municipal water systems, while the remaining 15% depend on private groundwater wells.

Raleigh Water, which serves Raleigh, Wake Forest, Zebulon, Knightdale and Fuquay-Varina, is expanding its primary treatment facility to handle up to 120 million gallons a day by 2031. The system currently draws roughly 60 million gallons a day, with demand projected to reach 98 million gallons a day by 2047.

Officials say current water resources are adequate through at least 2045, but the options under investigation for beyond that horizon carry significant price tags.

Mayor Janet Cowell and other regional leaders are weighing a new reservoir on the Little River that would net an additional 14 million gallons a day, though inflation has pushed its estimated cost above $380 million, and environmental researchers at NC State have argued new reservoirs can be counterproductive because large open water surfaces lose enormous volume to heat evaporation. Another option under discussion would pull water from Kerr Lake, north of Henderson, which could supply roughly 40 million gallons a day but would require moving water across multiple counties; the Little River or Neuse River could serve as alternatives, though both would be needed together to match Kerr Lake's output.

Depending on how much water the city ultimately pursues, those projects could cost anywhere from $540 million to $1.8 billion.

The presentation came on the heels of a severe, yearlong drought that stretched from late 2025 into mid-2026, escalating by summer into the region's worst dry spell since 2007, with parts of the Triangle reaching "exceptional drought," the highest federal classification. Raleigh Water triggered mandatory Stage 1 Water Shortage Restrictions in April 2026, heavily limiting yard irrigation for more than 650,000 customers across Raleigh, Wake Forest, Garner, Knightdale, Rolesville, Wendell and Zebulon.

Despite the rules, customer water consumption actually rose early in the summer compared with the previous year, and the city logged more than 1,100 violations, issuing hundreds of warnings and multiple fines. Heavy late-summer rainfall finally replenished Falls Lake from a low of 62% back to 84% capacity, allowing officials to formally lift restrictions on Aug. 3.

Council members raised questions about both environmental strategy and enforcement data.

The mayor pro tem Jane Harrison noted that while the water supply pool looks healthy, an Army Corps report rated water quality at only 40%.

"That's not Raleigh's water, but we're all part of the system," she said, adding that "the more we can be a leader, hopefully that can have some positive effects; we're all playing in the same pools."

She asked whether the city could divert resources toward environmental measures to preserve the Falls Lake supply, and warned that shifting to smaller rivers would carry far greater land-use consequences for surrounding communities. She described North Carolina as a water-rich state but pressed staff on what policy options might save residents money while drawing on more sources.

Council member Christina Jones asked how the department distinguishes between noncompliance and simple growth when measuring increases in water usage, demand and irrigation.

"As we look forward, on the growth and future measurements on growth increases vs. non-compliance increases," Jones said.

Staff noted that treating water drawn from more stressed sources requires more chemicals and affects downstream users more heavily, and pointed to Cary as an example of a system that runs conservation campaigns even when its supply is adequate.

While newer developments trend less water-intensive—multifamily complexes and smaller lawns mean less seasonal irrigation, historically the driver of peak summer demand — data centers have emerged as a new kind of industrial demand. Unlike typical commercial users, which return most of their water to the municipal sewer system for treatment and reuse, data centers rely on evaporative cooling, permanently removing millions of gallons from the local ecosystem.

Raleigh Water received one proposal on June 30 for radio telemetry services covering preventative maintenance and emergency response for its Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition network, which remotely operates and collects data from water storage tanks, sewer pump stations and flood warning sites across the utility system. The system's vulnerabilities were underscored recently when a 30-inch water main break on N.C. 55 triggered system pressure advisories and boil water notices for tens of thousands of residents across Cary and Morrisville.

Faith Leaders Call For ‘Courage’ To Combat Voter Confusion

The Carolinian — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 20:19:59 +0000

NC NEWSLINE - One month before early in-person voting begins in North Carolina, civil rights leader and Repairers of the Breach President Bishop William Barber said voters should not fall victim to the confusion surrounding voting in the midterms.

The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to approve the president’s executive order restricting mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections, directing the postal service to refuse to deliver mail ballots to certain voters. Late Monday, the high court kept in place a lower court’s order blocking President Donald Trump’s plan to place new restrictions on mail ballots ahead of the Nov. 3 elections.

Voting rights advocates remain concerned that Homeland Security and ICE may dissuade some individuals from showing up at the polls.

Trump has called voting by mail a “hoax,” and he and Republican supporters claim more restrictions on it are needed to prevent election fraud in November. However, Trump himself regularly votes by mail, and study after study has found that mail-in voting fraud is extremely rare.

Barber, founder of the Moral Monday movement, told reporters at a Monday press conference at Raleigh’s Martin Street Baptist Church this was all about creating confusion.

Trump won North Carolina in 2024 by 183,000 votes, but Barber said 1.2 million poor and low wage workers stayed on the sidelines and did not vote. If just 15% of the voters who didn’t cast a ballot two years ago were mobilized to vote in the midterms, the entire outcome could shift, said Barber.

Barber said extremists trying to cling to power are trying to sow confusion into the election process, even as North Carolina absentee ballots are being mailed out, in hopes that some potential voters will become discouraged and decide not to vote.

“What they’re doing is creating confusion where there has been no confusion. That’s what’s going on,” said Barber. “It’s not good for North Carolina. It’s not good for democracy. And lastly, they’re creating confusion that’s so bad that they’re hurting their own people.”

Barber said the only way to push back against the confusion surrounding the mail-in voting rules and other changes is to vote early and, if possible, in person.

Barber and faith leaders announced in early August plans to mobilize 1,000 marches to the polls. Their goal is to engage with 5 million low-wage voters and at least 1 million Black men, particularly in the South. As of Monday, they had 320 marches organized in 23 states.

Rev. Dr. Hanna R. Broome said the country is facing a moral crisis when people in power try to make it harder for eligible voters to participate.

“You are telling somebody their voice is too much trouble to count,” said Broome. “And here’s what people behind these attacks are counting on – that no one will call it what it is. This is evil.”

Broome said the best way to combat that strategy is to make a plan to vote, and volunteer to lead a local march to the polls.

“Anyone – your church, your organization, fraternity, sorority, lodge, barbershop, hair salon, or family reunion – can march or caravan to the polls,” said Broome.

Barber said the hope is that five people can organize 50, and that 10 people might have the power to encourage 100 more to vote. He calls such visible demonstrations “conspicuous courage” that will inspire infrequent or anxious voters to cast a ballot this fall.

Even though early voting hours and Sunday voting hours may shift in some counties this fall, he said voters must remain determined and vote en masse.

“What we’re not going to do is retreat,” said Barber. “Don’t you get weary. Know what side you’re on. You’re on the side of democracy.”

Raleigh – Wake Chapter Member Named NCCU Alumnus Of The Year For 2026

Jheri Hardaway — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 18:52:41 +0000

By Jheri Hardaway

Staff Writer

Durham, NC - The Raleigh-Wake Alumni Chapter of North Carolina Central University (NCCU) proudly congratulates Stephanie Wilson Jones on being named the recipient of the 2026 NCCU Alumnus of the Year Award, also known as the Eagle Excellence Award.

The award recognizes alumni who demonstrate exceptional leadership, service, and commitment to NCCU through their contributions of time, talent, and treasure in support of the university, alumni association, and surrounding communities.

A proud member of the Raleigh-Wake Alumni Chapter and current Region IV Vice President of the NCCU Alumni Association, Stephanie has remained dedicated to advancing the mission of NCCU through scholarship fundraising, alumni engagement, student support initiatives, and community service efforts.

As the 2025 Ms. NCCU Alumni, Stephanie campaigned under the motto, “Grounded in Truth. Soaring in Service.” Through her campaign, she raised more than $41,500 for student scholarships and has remained steadfast in her belief that service to NCCU extends far beyond Homecoming, titles, or special recognition. Since being crowned, she has continued to serve through alumni leadership, student engagement initiatives, scholarship fundraising efforts, support of NCCU Athletics, campus pantry initiatives, and community outreach efforts throughout Region IV and beyond.

Stephanie is a proud magna cum laude graduate of NCCU’s School of Business, earning her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing in 2004. She is the Broker-in-Charge and owner of Next Move Realty, LLC, a devoted mother of two sons, and a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

This honor holds special significance for Stephanie, who credits her aunt, Daphne Magee-Hunter, NCCU Class of 1975, for inspiring her to attend North Carolina Central University. Stephanie often shares that none of these accomplishments would have been possible without her aunt leading the way and showing her what it means to be an Eagle. The Raleigh-Wake Alumni Chapter celebrates Stephanie’s continued leadership, service, and dedication to North Carolina Central University and congratulates her on this well-deserved recognition. Congratulations to the 2026 NCCU Alumnus of the Year and Eagle Excellence Award recipient, Stephanie Wilson Jones!

North Carolina Central University located in Durham, NC, was the first state-supported liberal arts college for African American students in North Carolina. It was chartered as a private institution in 1909 and opened its doors to students in July 1910. Its founder, James E. Shepard, served as its first president. Its purpose continues to be the development of young African American men and women into citizens with fine character and sound academic training.