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FDA approves a first-of-its-kind pill to cut cholesterol in high-risk patients

The Carolinian — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:53:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-its-kind pill that can drastically reduce cholesterol in a way that’s previously only been available with expensive, injectable drugs.

The drug from Merck was OK’d on Thursday for patients with artery-clogging cholesterol that persists even after taking statins, the standard medications for cutting heart attack risk. Merck will market its pill under the brand name Lipfendra.

It’s the first noninjectable medication that works by blocking a liver protein called PCSK9. That protein limits the body’s ability to clear cholesterol from the blood, and biotech injectables targeting it have been available from Amgen and other drugmakers for more than a decade. But patient access has been stymied for years by high prices, insurance restrictions and limited prescribing by doctors.

Statins block some of the liver’s production of cholesterol and are the cornerstone of treatment. But even at the highest doses, many people need additional help lowering their LDL, or bad, cholesterol enough to meet medical guidelines.

Merck, which has headquarters in Rahway, New Jersey, won approval based on two studies in high-risk patients who added the company’s pill to their standard treatment, including statins. In one study of 3,000 patients, those taking Lipfendra saw their levels of LDL cholesterol drop more than 55% after six months. In a second study, patients averaged a reduction of 59% compared with patients who received a dummy pill.

That benefit dropped only slightly over a year, and side effects — including dizziness and diarrhea — were similar between those taking the pill or a placebo, researchers found. One caveat: The pill must be taken on an empty stomach.

The FDA reviewed the drug under its program that promises ultra-fast reviews for promising medications that serve the public interest. The pathway was created by then-FDA chief Dr. Marty Makary, who resigned from the agency in May after months of pressure from drugmakers, patients and other outside groups.

Heart disease is the nation’s leading cause of death, and high LDL cholesterol, which causes plaque to build up in arteries, is a top risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. While an LDL level of 100 is considered fine for healthy people, doctors recommend lowering it to at least 70 once people develop high cholesterol or heart disease — and even lower for those at very high risk.

Book Harvest NC Distributes 15,000 Free Books at Annual Summer Block Party

Jordan Meadows — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:04:00 +0000

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

Book Harvest NC hosted its sixth annual Summer Block Party on Saturday at Durham Central Park, offering families across the region a free afternoon of books, live entertainment and community activities.

The centerpiece of the event was a collection of 15,000 free children's books available for kids from infants through high schoolers to take home and keep. The books are described as culturally inclusive and span the full range of childhood and adolescent reading levels. Families were encouraged to take as many as they want.

Beyond the book distribution, the afternoon featured live music, food trucks, magic performances by Happy Dan the Magic Man, custom poems written on request by the Poetry Fox, and activity booths from more than 40 local organizations and community partners, including Rootle PBS Kids, the Museum of Life and Science, the Bull City Wood-shop, Bull City Robotics and Weaver Street Market.

The block party is one of several initiatives run by Book Harvest, a Durham-based nonprofit founded in 2011 that has provided more than three million books to children and families across North Carolina. The organization sends newborns home from hospitals with starter libraries, stocks outdoor book boxes in communities, maintains reading materials in laundromats, and sends pre-K and elementary school students into summer break with books to keep.

Book Harvest frames its work around the belief that getting books into children's hands early is foundational to their long-term development.

"At Book Harvest, we know that literacy begins at birth, in the home, powered by parents and nourished by books," said Ginger Young, founder and CEO of Book Harvest.

Young announced a partnership last year with Blue Cross NC—also a Durham-based nonprofit—to distribute free Book Harvest children's books at community events for families across the state.

The organization has also been expanding its statewide reach through its Books on Break program. Last summer, Book Harvest partnered for the first time with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's 21st Century Community Learning Centers, bringing the program to 66 partner organizations at more than 100 sites across 47 counties. The effort put 76,120 brand new books into the hands of 6,920 pre-K through fifth grade students, each of whom selected ten books to take home in a specially designed backpack that also included a bilingual parent resource sheet on shared reading practices.

Book Harvest NC surveys found that 92 percent of parents felt the program motivated their child to read more over the summer, and 58 percent reported that many of the books were read multiple times; 99 percent of parents said the summer program supported their child's learning. Student excitement around book ownership emerged as the single most prominent theme across all surveys, cited by 67 percent of parents and caregivers in open-ended responses.

Fayetteville Newsmakers Event Highlights War Innovation

Jheri Hardaway — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:29:00 +0000

By Jheri Hardaway

Staff Writer

Fayetteville, NC - On Wednesday, July 15, Fayetteville State University’s Rudolph Jones Student Center became the epicenter for critical regional discourse as it hosted the inaugural "Fayetteville Newsmakers" civic dialogue. Co-organized by The Assembly Network and the News Foundation of Greater Fayetteville, the editorially led forum brought together a formidable panel of state officials, local policymakers, and entrepreneurial leaders—including Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin, Cumberland County Commission Chair Kirk deViere, and NC Department of Commerce Chief Deputy Secretary Kenny Flowers—to confront a vital question: "Where is our community's next economy coming from?" Over the course of two hours, panelists and community members engaged in a forward-looking exploration of strategies designed to diversify the region’s economic footprint beyond its traditional retail and military pillars, focusing intensely on how to attract high-wage external investment to secure a prosperous, multifaceted future for the Greater Fayetteville area.

With regional income trailing state and national averages, the editorially led civic dialogue highlighted a collective determination to diversify the local economy beyond its historical reliance on retail and military staples, pivoting toward high-wage external investments, technological innovation, and structural equity.

The forum opened with insights from Kenny Flowers, Chief Deputy Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Commerce, who emphasized that North Carolina’s top-tier business rankings are the result of intentional, long-term planning. "We stay ready, so we don't have to get ready," Flowers noted, referencing the state's First in Opportunity strategic plan. He identified key growth sectors driving the state's modern innovation economy, including aerospace, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, healthcare, and artificial intelligence. However, Flowers noted that statewide success requires uplifting distressed regions. Despite a metro core, Cumberland County remains classified as a Tier 1 county, a legislative designation marking it among the 40 most economically distressed counties in North Carolina. Rather than viewing this label as a permanent setback, Flowers framed it as a strategic avenue for resources. "Being Tier 1 means you qualify for more resources from the Department of Commerce," Flowers explained, pointing to building reuse programs, downtown economic development grants, and utility account funds designed to build local capacity. Flowers revealed that over the last five years, nearly 75% of North Carolina’s job announcements occurred in Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties, fueled by nearly a billion dollars in rural infrastructure investments since 2018.

Following the state perspective, a second panel moderated by senior reporter Paul Wolverton directly addressed Cumberland County’s localized economic friction. Wolverton introduced sobering benchmark data from 2024: while the national median household income stood at $80,734 and the state average was $72,388, Cumberland County lagged behind at $61,291, with the city of Fayetteville sitting at $58,407. Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin acknowledged that while Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty) serves as a monumental $8.2 billion economic engine, local policy has historically accommodated the base rather than leveraging its full potential.

"Probably 60-plus percent of the people in our community are employed by the government; federal, state, and local," Mayor Colvin stated. "We have not really diversified what that looks like. We need to convert a lot of that talent that leaves the military and let them become business owners, ensuring dollars stay in our local community instead of leaving for corporate retail headquarters."

Cumberland County Commission Chair Kirk deViere echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that building a modern economy requires stabilizing fundamental civic pillars. DeViere highlighted the county's aggressive $610 million investment into school construction and maintenance, alongside a separate $250 million to $300 million allocation explicitly dedicated to expanding water and sewer infrastructure to rural municipalities. "Robert Van Geons [President of the FCEDC] can't recruit industry if we don't have the infrastructure in place," deViere remarked.

The dialogue took a provocative turn during a presentation by Dr. John Hardin, Executive Director of the North Carolina Board of Science, Technology, and Innovation. Dr. Hardin defined innovation simply as "something new that adds value," noting that the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics empirically validated technological innovation as the primary driver of modern rising standards of living. Dr. Hardin challenged the region to lean aggressively into a "defense innovation economy," working directly with warfighters to solve complex logistics, healthcare, and energy issues. This struck a nerve with an audience member, Reverend Dr. Floyd Wicker Jr., who yelled “No!” The panelist acknowledged the disruption and allowed Dr Wicker a moment to voice concerns regarding the ethics of prioritizing defense spending over peace-seeking industries. Dr. Hardin and the panel clarified that military advancements yield critical "dual-use" civilian technologies, particularly in the biomedical and cyber sectors.

Commissioner deViere envisioned a "Pentagon South" corridor model that structurally links local assets ranging from the new downtown Defense Innovation Center to Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville Technical Community College, and the military’s Joint Innovation Operations Center. Meanwhile, Mayor Colvin advocated for a dedicated, physical "innovation site" mirroring Huntsville, Alabama’s success, where companies can cluster, collaborate, and accelerate commercial research.

The panel also addressed the highly debated arrival of modern data centers. While these facilities signal technological progress, Flowers and local officials acknowledged the structural strains they place on limited utility grids. The consensus focused on cautious optimization: welcoming high-value investments without creating environments where local governments run out of core resources.

Closing the forum, leaders agreed that the path forward requires deep institutional alignment. By fusing the academic talent of local universities with strategic infrastructure spending and state-backed small business grants, Fayetteville and Cumberland County aim to shed their economic distress and step firmly into the state's high-wage future.

Chancellor Karrie G. Dixon Named to U.S. Black Chambers’ 2026 Power 50 “Women of Influence” Class

The Carolinian — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 15:18:00 +0000

North Carolina Central University (NCCU) Chancellor Karrie G. Dixon has been named to the 2026 Power 50 “Women of Influence” class by U.S. Black Chambers Inc. (USBC), recognizing her vision and commitment to expanding opportunities for students, communities and future leaders.

Presented by American Airlines, the Power 50 ‘Women of Influence’ initiative celebrates women driving change across business, entertainment, media, finance, public service and philanthropy. This year’s theme, Women Who Lead the Movement, recognizes those who are creating pathways for success and shaping the future.

Since becoming NCCU’s chancellor, Dixon has guided the university through a period of historic growth. She is the first woman to serve as permanent chancellor at two University of North Carolina System institutions, and under her leadership, NCCU surpassed 9,000 students for the first time in its history. The milestone was driven by growth among online, adult and military-affiliated learners, as the university recorded the highest enrollment growth in the UNC System for two consecutive semesters: fall 2024 and spring 2025.

Dixon’s leadership has also accelerated NCCU’s rise as a hub for innovation and excellence. The university became the nation’s first historically Black college or university to establish an artificial intelligence institute, achieved its first clean audit in three years and maintained an affirmed Moody’s rating, milestones that show NCCU’s ability to innovate while strengthening its foundation for the future.

“I am truly humbled to be recognized as one of U.S. Black Chambers Inc.’s Power 50 Women of Influence,” said Dixon. “Every milestone in leadership is shaped by the people who walk alongside us, challenge us, support us and inspire us to keep moving forward. I am grateful to my mentors, colleagues, loved ones and the students who remind me every day why this work matters. I proudly accept this honor on behalf of NCCU and our Eagle community as we continue creating opportunities and preparing the next generation of leaders.”

Dixon’s “Women of Influence” classmates include U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, filmmaker Cheryl Boone Isaacs, award-winning chef and television host Carla Hall, media entrepreneur Issa Rae, entrepreneur Serena Williams and more.

“The Power 50 Women of Influence represent excellence in every sense of the word,” said Ron Busby Sr., president and CEO of U.S. Black Chambers Inc. “This year’s honorees are visionary leaders, barrier breakers and change agents who continue to redefine what is possible.

NC’s Push To Improve Reentry Services

The Carolinian — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:15:00 +0000

NC NEWSLINE - It is hard to imagine finding hope in a steel cargo container. But Shirlye Grandy sees life, fellowship and beauty in the metal box that sits on the Dix Park campus in Raleigh.

Grandy served nearly six years in the N.C. Correctional Institution for Women, but now holds the title of public arts project coordinator for Arise Collective, a Raleigh nonprofit dedicated to helping incarcerated women across the state.

Grandy told members of the N.C. Joint Reentry Council last week that her life was profoundly changed in 2019 when she joined a small group of women at NCCIW crocheting items to be donated and sold. The proceeds were used to help parents on the outside bring children to see those who were incarcerated.

But when COVID-19 hit, everything changed. Prison visits and classes were canceled. There was no outside work. In the minimum custody unit where Grandy and the other women were housed, more than 100 prisoners contracted the virus in one week.

“But what that did was it brought us together as sisters in incarceration,” Grandy said. “It turned into something much larger. It showed that we are determined, we have life, and we are not giving up.”

The women of H.A.T.S. – that’s Handmade and Totally Special – used each week to crochet. Each colorful section joined together represented a year that a woman served behind bars.

Grandy recalled carefully crocheting six squares to mark her own sentence.

“My friend Faye Brown, who passed away from COVID, had 40,” Grandy told the reentry council.

When the 25-foot-long prison quilt was finished just before Mother’s Day 2021, other incarcerated women were invited to tie ribbons to the squares to recognize the children they left behind and the lives lost by family and friends while they were in prison.

According to research by The Sentencing Project, the U.S. has seen a 525% increase in the number of incarcerated women between 1980 and 2021, roughly twice the rate of increase for men. Eighty percent of incarcerated women are mothers.

Grandy lost her own mother during her incarceration.

Jennifer Jackson, chief executive officer for Arise Collective, says opportunity for the crocheters struck two years later when the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and the Mellon Foundation issued a grant proposal to create permanent public art to tell the stories of historically marginalized communities.

“There’s a community of people who have been touched by incarceration across our state that has been hidden,” said Jackson. “We made a pitch that they consider this a community, as we were defining it, as one that fit within their grant guidelines.”

The foundations selected Arise and the Stitching Stories Quilt to be reimagined and transformed for the public.

Four artists — Carlos González García, David Wilson, Eliza Redmann and Owens Daniels — spent the next three years transforming the crocheted quilt into a durable mosaic that captures the lives of the often-forgotten women. On the opposite wall of the shipping container, a mirrored wall portrays the original artists with the phrase, “We are you.”

The work will be displayed on the Dix Park campus until September when it will move to Wilmington.

The project is also an opportunity for the public to learn more about mass incarceration and the challenges that arise after leaving prison.

Each year, more than 18,000 individuals are released from North Carolina state prisons. Without a support network, 49% of those are rearrested within two years.

North Carolina is part of a national initiative to reduce the recidivism rate by 30% by 2030. Its goal is to improve reentry services that help people leaving prison find employment, healthcare and housing. Formerly incarcerated people are up to 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general population.

Grandy credits Arise Collective with helping her successfully transition to a better life after her release. This summer, she’s giving tours of the Stitching Stories exhibit.

She told those gathered at the All Faiths Chapel at Dix last week that while she never liked to talk about herself, she was proud of what her quilting sisters had accomplished.

“In a space that could have been the most dangerous and disastrous and dark place, we created light and beauty,” Grandy said.

Later this year, Grandy will complete her master’s program at Duke Divinity School. She said others who have served their time also deserve a second chance.

“None of that would be possible without good transition programs,” Grandy said, ”places where women like me who want to do something different with their life after incarceration have a place to go and grow and learn how to be a person again.”

Parasitic Infections Likely Linked To Farming Practices , Not Restaurants

The Carolinian — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 21:34:00 +0000

NC HEALTH NEWS - Cyclospora, a relatively unknown parasite, has been making headlines across the country as it’s given thousands of people an unpleasant case of explosive, watery diarrhea. In North Carolina, state leaders report there have been at least 307 cases of the infection.

North Carolina Health News reached out to several experts here in North Carolina to get more context about the foodborne disease: State Veterinarian Carl Williams and infectious disease physician David Wohl from UNC Health.

As of July 20, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists a total of 5,100 suspected cases of Cyclospora nationwide. The CDC’s update page reads: “This is substantially higher than the 249 cases reported nationally by this same time last year.” The CDC’s numbers are likely an undercount, however, given that in an update dated July 20, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reports 6,148 cases in that state alone.

No deaths have been reported related to the outbreak.

State Veterinarian Carl Williams told NC Health News that state health officials are updating case counts weekly.

(Note: These interviews have been edited for length and conversational flow.)

Carl Williams: We’re updating our case counts weekly, and our last update was 307 cases. But when we update our case count on Tuesday (July 21), it’ll go up from that.

NC Health News: At the end of last week, we heard that apparently this outbreak is being related to Taylor Farms lettuce. Do we think that is the only source, and the outbreak is related to the lettuce from that company?

Williams: What we suspect, based on previous years, is that there are multiple vehicles for Cyclospora beyond just the lettuce. And what we know is that the lettuce is what was implicated, especially in association with Taco Bell restaurants in the Midwest.

The large outbreak in Michigan, Ohio and a couple other states did implicate lettuce with a trace back to Taylor Farms, but that’s not what we’re seeing in North Carolina or the other states. We’re seeing that it seems to be associated with a large number of products, and it’s really hard to nail down a specific one.

Our best guess is that there’s probably multiple contaminated fresh fruits and vegetables that are contributing to this increase in cases that we’re seeing in North Carolina and across the country.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Sunday withdrew its guidance about avoiding lettuce provided by Taylor Farms de Mexico, noting on its outbreak update website that, “Due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive. Information about the sample has been removed from the July 18, 2026 update… As of July 19, 2026, there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for Cyclospora.”

NCHN: Tell us a little bit about Cyclospora. I understand that it can be challenging to diagnose and then a little bit challenging to treat.

Williams: It’s a parasite, and it’s resistant to chlorine, and it’s hard to get off of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Humans are the only known reservoir for it. There’s no animal component. The only reservoir is people, but it’s not transmitted directly from person to person. Once the oocysts (spores) are shed in the feces, it takes up to a week for them to become infective. So it has to hang around in the environment and attach to a food product. It’s not going to be something like Shigella that’s directly transmissible from person to person.

What we’ve noticed in North Carolina and the United States is that it’s really a summertime phenomenon. We see almost all of our cases in June and July, with very few outside of that window.

NCHN: So this is, what, someone pooping in a field? And then somehow or another, the lettuce gets contaminated with that soil. Is that what you’re telling us?

Williams: It could be that. But in the past, outbreaks have been traced to surface water being contaminated with human feces, and then that water being used to either irrigate crops or to apply pesticides. So then, you can get, as opposed to just imagining an individual person having a bowel movement that might affect a very small area of a field. But if it’s being sprayed across the entire field for irrigation, that is how, or one way, that it could be placed on all of these fruits and vegetables.

The FDA has a lot of good information on their website for farmers and producers.

It’s very important where these fruits and vegetables are grown that the farmers adhere to good practices for septic systems, septic field placements, as well as using clean surface water for irrigation and pesticides and things like that, because these are all ways that the product could become contaminated at the source.

I think that’s an important distinction because restaurants [associated with the outbreak] aren’t really doing anything wrong. They’re getting product that’s contaminated, but they obviously don’t know it. You can’t see it, and unlike ground beef or chicken, which we cook to kill pathogens, there’s generally no “kill step” for fresh fruits and vegetables. Your tomatoes are served raw, they’re sliced up and put on the hamburger. The hamburger is safe because it’s been cooked, but the tomato, it’s not going to be cooked, right? Or the cilantro, or the parsley, or whatever it is.

That’s one of the reasons that it gets really tricky to figure out what specifically is associated with transmitting Cyclospora.

NCHN: When you have a bacterial outbreak, you can do DNA testing and maybe identify the source, but I understand that’s harder to do with Cyclospora. Why is that?

Williams: In North Carolina and in most states, we can do whole-genome sequencing for things like Shiga toxin producing E. coli or salmonella right at our state public health laboratory. But Cyclospora, because it’s a parasite, number one, it has a much larger genome, so there’s a lot more genetic material to go through and only the CDC does it. Everything needs to be shipped to the CDC, but they can do the molecular analysis and they can identify clusters for us based on genetically relatedness. It just takes longer.

What we’ve heard from the CDC is that this year, in particular, their lab is overwhelmed, and they’re probably going to implement some type of a strategy to prioritize cases for sequencing. But they’ve not specifically told us yet. All the states have a weekly call with them [on Mondays] so they might tell us more.

NCHN: Is it correct that the CDC stopped tracking Cyclospora last year?

Williams: It’s been reportable in North Carolina for years, and it’s been notifiable to the CDC. It’s still something we have always reported to the CDC.

The CDC website notes that reporting on Cyclospora by states became optional in 2025. Previously, reporting on Cyclospora had been required since 1997. Multiple media outlets reported last year that the federal agency has cut back on foodborne illness surveillance.

Reporting infections with Cyclospora is still required in North Carolina.

More Than One-Third of the North Carolina Jails Have Exceeded Capacity Just This Year

The Carolinian — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 20:06:00 +0000

NC Health News - In North Carolina’s largest jail, hundreds of people sleep on the floor on portable bed platforms.

As of July 16, 2,146 people were in custody in Mecklenburg County’s uptown Charlotte jail — 242 people above the jail’s capacity of 1,904. Pods designed for 53 people now routinely hold as many as 84, Sheriff Garry McFadden told NC Health News.

Mecklenburg isn’t alone. As sheriffs and jail administrators across North Carolina monitor their daily population counts, many are confronting a similar problem: jails that are near or beyond capacity.

State data show that at least 36 jails — more than one-third statewide — have operated above capacity at some point so far in 2026, according to a NC Health News analysis of a July 14 confinement report showing the average monthly population in each county jail. Another 17 have come close, reaching at least 90 percent of capacity.

Statewide, the average monthly jail population reached at least 22,543 people in April, the highest monthly average since at least January 2024, according to NC Health News’ analysis of data.

Sheriffs and jail administrators attribute the rising jail populations to many factors, including North Carolina’s population growth, gaps in community mental health and substance use treatment resources that can land people in jail, and slow-moving court cases that can keep people in jail longer. They also point to Iryna’s Law, which took effect in December and limits the use of pretrial release for certain defendants, as further straining jail capacity by keeping more people in jail longer.

Scotland County Jail Administrator John Hunt told NC Health News the jail regularly holds about 180 people — well above its capacity of 109. Many cells with bunks designed for two people now house three people, with one sleeping on a mat on the floor. In recent months, Hunt said he’s had to order more mats, uniforms and food to keep up with the growing population.

But there’s only so much space. State data show Scotland County has the state’s most overcrowded jail, averaging about 160 percent of capacity so far this year. Its average monthly population rose from 116 in January 2024 to 194 in June 2026.

The Robeson County Detention Center is also overflowing. Designed to hold 410 people, Maj. Ryan Howard told NC Health News on June 1 that the jail had a population of 508 people. Another 53 people connected to the county were being housed elsewhere — either in one of five other county jails with space or in state prison as a “safekeeper,” which is someone who poses security risks or requires a higher level of medical or mental health care than counties can manage.

Robeson’s jail has exceeded its capacity every month since at least January 2024, making it one of the most chronically overcrowded facilities in the state based on NC Health News’ analysis of jail population data. So far this year, the jail has operated at an average of 123 percent of capacity.

“It’s an everyday struggle,” Howard told NC Health News.

Overcrowding isn’t new for many jails. After jail populations dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have steadily rebounded in many counties — stretching facilities to and beyond capacity.

“The numbers just keep going up,” Hunt said about Scotland’s jail population.

North Carolina has 98 jails operating across 93 counties, with a combined bed capacity of 25,838. Thousands of people cycle in and out of them every year; some spend only a few days behind bars, while others remain for weeks, months or even years either awaiting trial or serving sentences.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services maintains an annual confinement report that tracks each jail’s average monthly population, providing a snapshot of capacity and overcrowding.

During the first half of 2026, 26 jails averaged more than 100 percent of capacity. If the pace continues the rest of the year, that will be more than the 16 jails in 2025 that averaged over 100 percent occupancy.

Of the one in three jails that have exceeded capacity in at least one month in 2026, many weathered consecutive months of overcrowding. Nineteen jails have exceeded capacity every month in 2026 for which state data is available.

Some jails exceeded capacity by only a handful of people, while others housed dozens more than they were designed to hold.

Luke Woollard, an attorney at Disability Rights North Carolina, has tracked jail populations and inspections for years to ensure that people with disabilities in local jails receive proper treatment. He told NC Health News he’s increasingly concerned about overcrowding across the state, particularly with an uptick in jail deaths.

Woollard said a jail doesn’t have to exceed its capacity to become unsafe. Another important factor to consider is staffing — a number not captured in the statewide confinement report.

“If you have a serious staffing shortage, you might as well be overcrowded,” Woollard said. “Yes, to some degree, it is what the building can hold, but before that becomes a problem I would say really when we talk overcrowding, what we’re talking about is safe staffing ratios.”

As an example, Woollard pointed to the June 29 takeover at Bertie-Martin Regional Jail in Windsor, where some of the 88 incarcerated people overpowered the three correctional officers on duty — a typical level of staffing for the jail — and took two of them hostage. The jail has a capacity of 90, and state data shows that the average monthly population has remained below capacity this year. Based on the population count alone, Woollard said the jail wouldn’t necessarily raise concern.

Woollard said North Carolina has no statewide mandatory staffing ratio for jails, allowing staffing levels to vary across the state, particularly as some counties struggle to recruit and retain correctional officers.

Vivian Saunders, chairwoman of the Bertie-Martin Regional Jail Commission, told Bertie County commissioners on July 13 that three to four correctional officers working per shift to supervise the population is normal. She said the jail currently employs just 14 correctional officers.

Scotland County is also facing staffing pressures. Sheriff Ralph Kersey addressed his county commissioners on July 6, after the Bertie hostage situation, about his jail’s dire staffing levels and the risks posed to staff and those in custody. He said his jail houses more than double the number at Bertie-Martin Regional Jail — yet has the same number of officers working each shift.

“Right now with four officers with 189 inmates, that’s 62 inmates assigned to one person,” Kersey told commissioners.

He said just 20 people are assigned to work at the jail and that he needs at least six more officers to keep up with the larger population.

Increases in jail populations can quickly strain detention centers. Every incarcerated person requires food, clothing, a bed and medical care — costs that add up quickly and demand more staff to handle daily operations, security rounds and services.

“I’m just asking for some help,” Kersey said. “We’ve got serious problems over there,” he added, referring to staffing gaps, along with the aging infrastructure of the jail.

McFadden, Mecklenburg County’s sheriff, is upfront that overcrowding deteriorates the conditions at his jail — with people sleeping atop portable platforms on the floor and dozens more people sharing the limited number of showers, toilets and phones. He also said tensions can flare with more people in tight quarters, placing staff and those in custody at greater risk.

“No time is really a good time to come to jail, but if you come to jail now, you will be here for a while, and accommodations will be even worse,” McFadden said.

While overcrowding is a common problem, not all North Carolina jails are over capacity. Twenty-two jails operated at less than 70 percent of their capacity, on average, during the first half of 2026.

Lauren Earnhardt, executive vice president of the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association, said some counties — which are responsible for funding jails — have prepared better than others by investing more in their jail space and staffing than others.

Iryna’s Law takes effect

Sheriffs and jail administrators say one of the newest factors adding pressure on jail capacity is Iryna’s Law, which took effect in December in response to the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in August on the Charlotte light rail. The man accused in her killing has a criminal history and severe mental health challenges, prompting lawmakers to scrutinize gaps in North Carolina’s mental health and criminal justice systems.

The law requires magistrates and judges to apply stricter criteria when weighing release decisions for people charged with violent offenses, or for those who have been charged with a Class 1 or higher misdemeanor three times within the past decade. Class 1 misdemeanors include offenses such as breaking and entering, drug paraphernalia possession and criminal trespassing.

The law also eliminates the option for defendants to be released on a “written promise to appear” and requires judicial officials to make written explanations for release decisions.

Supporters, including the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association, argued that the law would improve public safety by keeping more people in jail and breaking the cycle of quick releases followed by repeat offenses. At the same time, several sheriffs warned it could further strain already crowded detention centers.

Mecklenburg’s sheriff was among those who voiced concerns. Since the law took effect, McFadden said his jail population has swiftly climbed to the highest level he’s seen since he became sheriff in 2018. The jail’s population has climbed from its monthly average of 1,530 in November 2025 — the month before the law took effect — to an average of 2,016 by June 2026, an increase of about 32 percent.

McFadden acknowledged the law isn’t solely responsible for driving the growth.

Six months ago, McFadden said, several housing pods sat empty. Now, not only is every pod full, many are overcrowded.

In response to what he describes as “unprecedented overcrowding,” McFadden announced in May his plans to reopen Mecklenburg County Jail North — a 721-bed facility — later this summer. Jail North most recently housed juveniles before closing in 2022 because of staffing shortages at the county’s adult jail.

Wake County Sheriff Willie Rowe said in a statement to NC Health News his jail population has also risen, exceeding the combined capacity of the county’s two detention facilities, which have 1,574 beds.

In June, the monthly average population was 1,736 — 162 people above capacity. He attributes some of the population growth to more people being held in custody without bond due to stricter pretrial release rules under Iryna’s Law. On Dec. 1, when the law took effect, about 198 people were held in custody without bond. By April 21, that number had more than doubled to 424.

Earnhardt of the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association said the direct impact of Iryna’s Law on statewide jail populations is still not clear, and she’s not aware of any formal analysis that has examined it.

Another factor sheriffs and jail administrators frequently say contributes to capacity strains is the backlog of people who have been sentenced but continue occupying space in county jails while waiting to be transferred to the state prison system to serve their time. As of June 23, 1,432 people were in county jails because the N.C. Department of Adult Correction didn’t have room and/or staffing for them at state prisons.

Chronic correctional officer staff shortages have prevented the prison system from taking more people into its custody, Keith Acree, the department’s communications director, said in a statement to NC Health News.

He said staffing shortages have forced the department to close 4,686 beds at 17 prisons — about 12 percent of the prison system’s total capacity.

Meanwhile, Acree said an increasing number of convictions from the courts have slowly grown the backlog over the past year.

Acree said that people that have been on the backlog longest are generally transferred to prison first, though the department works with sheriffs’ offices “when special issues arise.”

As of June 23, the department also housed 199 “safekeepers” for county jails, and Acree said those placements occupy beds that would otherwise be available to admit people into prison.

Expanding jail capacity

For overcrowded jails, there’s not much relief in sight.

“Sheriffs are in a tough spot,” Earnhardt said. “The sheriff cannot decline to take people into the jail. They’re required by law to accept whatever comes to the jail door that cannot make bond, and so the options for a sheriff are pretty limited … They’re really at the mercy of the court system, and that’s a really hard place to be.”

In Robeson County, Howard, the jail administrator, reviews the population daily, looking to identify anyone who can safely be moved. He works with the county district attorney to see if there are options to speed up court proceedings, consider electronic monitoring or adjust bonds for people who don’t pose a danger.

Those efforts can temporarily ease crowding, Howard said, but relief is often short-lived as new people enter the jail.

Howard and other jail administrators facing overcrowding also lean on other counties with available bed space to house some of their detainees. But finding space at other jails has become increasingly difficult as more facilities fill up and have less space to offer. When beds are available, they may be hours away, creating transportation challenges for court appearances.

As overcrowding persists, many counties are building — or planning to build — larger jails.

In the past two years, Haywood, Randolph and Wayne counties have completed jail expansion projects, while eight other counties have construction projects underway, according to DHHS data provided to NC Health News.

Man Charged with Hate Crimes After Confrontation at NBC, ‘Today’ Show

The Carolinian — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 19:10:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — A 40-year-old New York man faces hate crime charges following a confrontation with “Today” show host Craig Melvin at NBC’s studio in Manhattan.

The man was arrested Thursday morning inside 30 Rockefeller Center in Midtown by an officer responding to reports of a disorderly individual inside the building, police said Friday.

NBC News says in a statement that an individual approached Melvin after entering an unauthorized area in a vestibule near Studio 1A. Melvin notified security, who held the man until police arrived, according to NBC.

No altercation occurred and no injuries were reported. NBC did not say how the man gained access to the area.

“We are reviewing the incident and our security protocols and remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for everyone who works at and visits our studios,” the network said in a statement.

The man has been charged with burglary, menacing and criminal trespass as hate crimes, as well as harassment. It was not clear Friday if has appeared in court or if he has an attorney.

Police did not say what led to the hate crime enhancements on the charges. Police records show a court date has been scheduled for Wednesday.

Melvin, who is Black, discussed the incident on-air Friday morning.

“Unfortunately, an intruder made his way into an unauthorized area here at Studio 1A,” Melvin said. “Thankfully, he was apprehended quickly. He was placed under arrest. We are just very happy that everyone is safe.”

Melvin also posted about the incident on Instagram.

“Hey everyone. I’ve heard from so many of you over the last few hours,” he wrote on Thursday. “I’m doing just fine. Thanks for reaching out.”

Longtime “Today” show meteorologist Al Roker also took to social media to thank everyone reaching out to check on Melvin.

“We are both okay,” Roker posted on Instagram. “It’s moments like these that serve to pull us together. You all, like Craig, said ‘You come after one of us, you come after all of us.’”

Melvin and Roker are among a relatively small group of prominent Black journalists and anchors with regular, highly visible roles on national broadcast network news programs.

Melvin joined NBC and MSNBC in 2011, according to the “Today” show’s website. He replaced Hoda Kotb in 2025 as co-host of the 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. hours of “Today.” He had been hosting the show’s third hour while serving as the news anchor during the first two hours.

Roker also is a feature anchor on “Today” and co-host of the show’s third hour. He joined the show in 1996. Roker also co-hosted the “Wake Up with Al” morning show on the Weather Channel from 2009 to 2015.

Duke Energy Carolinas reaches agreement with North Carolina Public Staff

The Carolinian — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:26:32 +0000

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After listening carefully to customer and stakeholder feedback, Duke Energy Carolinas and stakeholders have reached an agreement that will allow the company to continue building the infrastructure needed to reliably serve North Carolina while reducing the proposed rate increase by more than half.

The changes are reflected in a new agreement between the company and North Carolina Public Staff, the agency representing utility customers. Other parties to the agreement include Carolina Industrial Group for Fair Utility Rates, Carolina Utility Customers Association, North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association and Walmart, with others expected to join in the coming days.

Our view: "In light of the cost pressures our customers are facing, along with continued conversations with other stakeholders, we felt we had to do more," said Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy's North Carolina president. "We appreciate our stakeholders' engagement in finding a path that allows us to more cost-effectively serve the Tar Heel State. Our shareholders will also contribute $10 million to low-income bill assistance and weatherization programs – over and above our existing funding – which will make a real difference for customers who need help the most."

The company agreed to pursue similar terms for its Duke Energy Progress customers.

Agreement summary:

If approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC), the result is an average annual increase of 3.7% over two years.
9.8% return on equity and 53% equity component of the capital structure.
New Multiyear Rate Plan (MYRP) refund rider will return money to customers, with interest, if planned infrastructure upgrades are not completed on time.
Reduced customer costs for Belews Creek reliability upgrades due to federal funding.

Why it matters: Since the request was initially filed last November, customers have made clear they're struggling to pay their bills, and Duke Energy has responded.

"We've agreed to reduce rates even more than in our prior settlements, while still allowing us to make vital infrastructure investments to meet existing and future customer needs," said Bowman. "Our duty is to protect reliability at the lowest possible cost, and we believe this agreement achieves that balance."

What's next: NCUC will consider the agreements and make the final decision – if approved, new rates will go into effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Duke Energy Carolinas serves about 2.3 million households and businesses in central and western North Carolina, including Charlotte, Durham and the Triad, while Duke Energy Progress serves about 1.6 million customers in central and eastern North Carolina and in the Asheville region.

State audit clears up one Rocky Mount utility headache, draws attention to another problem

The Carolinian — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:06:18 +0000

Carolina Public Press - A recent state audit has calmed concerns that Rocky Mount residents were double-billed for utilities, but also drew attention to more than $30,000 in total outstanding utility bills from two City Council members.

Rocky Mount provides utility services for more than 31,000 customers across the city as well as nearby areas of Nash, Edgecombe and Wilson counties. These services include electric, gas, water and sewer, the audit report said.

Some residents first raised questions about utilities in late 2025, when they received two bills within a month and thought they had been double-billed, the report said.

While the audit found that residents were not double-billed, it revealed that two City Council members — Charles Roberson and T.J. Walker — had racked up more than $30,000 in total outstanding utility bills. Both council members have since paid off those balances.

This latest development comes as Rocky Mount has faced pressure from the state Local Government Commission to fix serious financial problems. While the city has made significant progress in its recovery efforts, the audit report emphasized the city still has “little margin for error,” calling into question the current council’s ability to lead the city through the remainder of its recovery.

The misplaced concern over double-billing stemmed from a large gap between meter reading and billing dates, which the city’s Director of Business and Collections Services first discovered in December 2025 after staff layoffs, the report said.

The reason for the gap was “unauthorized and undetected modifications” to the meter reading and billing schedules, which led to meter readings occurring earlier and earlier each month, even though the city’s policy is to schedule these readings for roughly the same week each month, the report said.

Proper billing practices are outlined by the North Carolina Utilities Commission, which instructs utilities to bill customers within roughly five days of the meter reading. While Rocky Mount’s utilities technically don’t fall under the jurisdiction of the commission, the city still tries to abide by its guidelines, the report said.

However, Rocky Mount was billing customers seven to 14 days after meter readings, even 30 days afterward in some cases. These delays had been going on as far back as January 2025, the report said. City Manager Elton Daniels said these kinds of delays can cause “corresponding fluctuations in the amount due on a customer’s invoice.”

To resolve the gap, the director decided to send an additional utility bill in either December 2025 or January 2026. The city made multiple efforts to help residents understand the reasoning for the additional bill including discussions at council meetings, meeting with customers in person and over the phone to discuss concerns, and posting information on the city website and social media pages, Daniels said.

Despite these efforts, some residents still thought they were being double-billed and went to the news media to share their concerns, the audit report said. When CPP asked how receptive residents seemed to be to the audit’s findings, Daniels said that while the situation “understandably created frustration and uncertainty for citizens,” the audit confirms no improper billing occurred.

City officials are still unsure who was responsible for making the schedule changes that caused the billing gap in the first place and reasons behind that change, the report said.

When CPP asked whether the city plans to investigate further who was behind the schedule changes that led to the gap and whether there are concerns it might happen again, Daniels said: “We will continue to implement improvements that strengthen our operations while maintaining our commitment to transparency, accountability, and quality customer service.”

Outstanding payments

The audit found that council members Roberson and Walker each had their own outstanding payments. Roberson had 30 utility accounts that had a total outstanding balance of more than $27,000 and hadn’t made a payment in more than six months, the report said.

Walker had an outstanding balance on one utility account of more than $3,000 and hadn’t made a payment since February, the report said.

After the billing gap was discovered in December, the city initiated a temporary pause on late fees and service disconnections for all utility customers due to potential financial difficulties from the additional bill, the report said. If any customers — including the council members — fell behind on payments, the pause meant they wouldn’t be penalized or have their service disconnected.

However, the billing gap was discovered in December 2025, and these council members continued to not pay their bills through April 2026, the report said.

When CPP reached out to Roberson and asked how it reached this point, he explained that he’s had multiple utility accounts for several years for city redevelopment projects which were on AutoPay. Before the billing problem, he removed his accounts from AutoPay because he couldn’t determine how payments were being applied across his accounts.

“My questions were never about avoiding payment,” Roberson told CPP. “They were about the accuracy, transparency and accountability of the city’s billing system. My goal has always been to help build a utility system that is efficient, reliable and works fairly for every customer.”

Roberson also said he supported bringing in the state auditor to conduct an independent audit of the utility billing system.

The report argued that the lack of payments from council members suggested “they took advantage of this decision to further their own personal financial interests.”

Roberson, on the other hand, said he respectfully disagrees.

“The temporary suspension of late fees and utility disconnections was a citywide administrative policy that applied to every utility customer,” he said. “I did not vote to create that policy, I did not direct staff to implement it, and I received no preferential treatment, write-offs, or debt forgiveness.

“I believe the report establishes facts regarding account balances, but I do not believe it identifies evidence supporting conclusions about my personal intent or motivation. I have respectfully asked the Office of the State Auditor to reconsider that language during the review process.”

Council members did follow through on the auditor’s recommendation that they pay their outstanding bills. Letters from the city obtained by CPP showed that Roberson — whose outstanding balance had grown to more than $34,000 at that point — paid his bills and had a zero balance on his accounts as of June 9. Walker also paid his outstanding bills and had a zero balance as of June 16.

Carolina Public Press reached out to Walker’s office for comment, but he did not respond prior to publication.

This isn’t the first time a City Council member has been delinquent in their utility payments, according to a 2020 state audit.

Council member Andre Knight previously had an outstanding utility balance of more than $47,000 that accumulated over two decades, starting as far back as 1999. Previous city officials went against city policy by ensuring Knight’s services weren’t disconnected despite his lack of payment and ultimately wrote off the amount he owed, arguably giving him “preferential treatment,” the 2020 report said.

When the state auditor recently followed up on the status of Knight’s written off balance, it found there had been no change since 2020. Brianna Kraemer, deputy communications director for the state auditor, said that unlike the other two council members, Knight’s outstanding balance is not active since it was written off.

“That said, the Auditor’s Office is not abandoning its accountability efforts in Rocky Mount, and Councilmember Knight should not be let off the hook,” Kraemer said.

More recently, Knight had more than $300 written off from two utility accounts last year, though he paid the original balances owed afterward, the report said.

CPP reached out to Knight’s office for comment, but he did not respond prior to publication.

Considering the recently discovered outstanding payments of the other council members, the auditor pointed to a “longstanding culture” among the City Council that “prioritized individual gain over the public interest,” the report said.

The findings couldn’t come at a worse time for the city, which is still recovering from a financial crisis first identified in a state audit earlier this year. As part of the city’s response to increase revenue, it hiked utility rates by 15%, the report said.

“While such measures are likely necessary, they can be unpopular with the public, and therefore it is incumbent on the governing body to reinforce the public understanding of the City’s commitment to its priority of sound management of public funds,” the report said.

“Thus, private actions that lend even an appearance contrary to that understanding put this priority at risk.”

After the revelations about City Council members, the auditor argued the council’s ability to lead the city through the remainder of its recovery is “diminished,” the report said.

However, Roberson said he’s as committed as ever to improving the city’s finances.

“For years before I got on the council, I have advocated for modernizing the utility billing system, improving transparency, strengthening internal controls, reducing unnecessary costs to utility customers, and ensuring that residents have confidence in the city’s billing practices,” Roberson told CPP. “I intend to continue that work.”

The report indicated the city’s total operating budget is $279 million — making $30,000 merely a drop in the bucket. But its documented financial issues mean it’s already on thin ice. The message from the state auditor and the LGC since March has been clear: there’s very little room to mess up again.

“Rocky Mount continues to face financial and personnel issues that need to be addressed,” State Auditor Dave Boliek said in a press release.

“The State Auditor’s Office will not stop providing much-needed transparency to the people of Rocky Mount, so that they can make informed, educated decisions on what’s best for their community.”

In addition to paying off outstanding utility balances, the auditor recommended that the city automate its bill scheduling process, correct its meter reading and billing schedules, and protect these schedules from unauthorized changes, the report said.

The city affirmed the auditor’s findings and said it has made “good-faith efforts” to address the auditor’s recommendations, having already completed some actions while others are still underway.

“Collectively, they demonstrate the city’s commitment to implementing meaningful corrective actions, strengthening governance and utility billing practices, enhancing internal controls, and ensuring compliance with applicable laws, policies, and industry best practices,” the city said in its response letter.

“The city believes that the actions already taken, along with those currently underway, will improve operational effectiveness, promote accountability, and support the continued restoration and enhancement of public confidence in City operations.”

Justice Jackson’s birthright citizenship opinion includes Black Americans in the story of the nation’s search for equality

The Carolinian — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:39:00 +0000

The Conversation - In the annals of Supreme Court decisions, the public likely remembers what justices wrote for the court in famous cases, such as the Brown v. Board of Education ruling that outlawed racial segregation in public schools.

Or perhaps the public remembers great dissenting opinions that display foresight and speak across the ages. Justice John Marshall Harlan’s dissent in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case, which legalized racial segregation, is a shining example.

But Supreme Court scholars and the public alike seldom pay much attention to concurring opinions, in which a justice expounds on the views of their colleagues in the majority. Some legal experts have denigrated concurring opinions as “the worst form of legal clutter… that are, usually, better left unwritten.”

On June 30, 2026, in the Trump v. Barbara ruling, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson showed how wrong that view can be when she delivered a monumental concurring opinion in the birthright citizenship case.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, ruling that the 14th Amendment guarantees automatic citizenship to virtually everyone born on U.S. soil. The decision invalidated President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to deny citizenship to children born to foreign parents who are unlawfully in the United States.

Jackson, however, used her concurrence to go far beyond that and offer a new understanding of the origins of the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship and its promise of equal treatment. She did so while emphasizing the singular contributions of Black Americans to that endeavor.

Along the way, Jackson criticized Justice Clarence Thomas and the court’s dominant originalist jurisprudence – centered on interpreting the Constitution based on how it was understood when it was adopted – for distorting the historical record. Jackson has previously signaled that a responsible use of history requires examining all relevant sources instead of cherry-picking among them to make a particular point.

As a politics scholar who has written about history and law, I believe that years from now, when Americans look back on Trump v. Barbara, it will be Jackson, not Roberts, whom they remember.

No shrinking violet

During her brief tenure on the court, Jackson has shown herself to be no shrinking violet. From the start, she has made her voice heard during oral arguments and in her written opinions.

As political scientists Jake Truscott and Adam Feldman wrote in December 2022, after her first three months as a justice, Jackson “was by far the most active participant in oral arguments.”

Since then, nothing has changed about Jackson’s style on the bench. The Washington Examiner reports that she “took up more than 20% of the Supreme Court’s questioning last term.”

Jackson also is not shy about writing dissenting opinions, and the occasional concurrence, whether in combination with others or alone. In both her dissents and concurrences, Thomas, the court’s only other Black member and its leading proponent of originalism, has been one of her main targets.

For example, in her 2023 dissent from the court’s decision to end affirmative action in higher education, Jackson directly criticized Thomas when she wrote that “those who demand that no one think about race … refuse to see, much less solve for, the elephant in the room – the race-linked disparities that continue to impede achievement of our great Nation’s full potential.”

Originalism, Jackson-style

Jackson has also called herself an originalist. However, she departs from Thomas’ brand of originalism.

For Jackson, to understand how any provision of the Constitution was understood requires unearthing sources of constitutional meaning that have been largely ignored by others on the court.

That vision was on display in her concurring opinion in the birthright citizenship case. There, Jackson paid particular attention to what Black Americans did in inspiring and crafting the 14th Amendment.

This contrasts with the traditional originalist story that highlights white protagonists such as Pennsylvania Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, who introduced the proposal to add the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, or President Andrew Johnson, who resisted the 14h Amendment on the grounds that it infringed on states’ rights.

Justice Thomas embraced this sort of vision in Trump v. Barbara. As he tells it, the birth of the 14th Amendment can be traced to the concerns of members of the Reconstruction Congress that the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which extended certain fundamental rights to “all persons born in the United States,” would be repealed or overturned in the courts.

Black people have little or no role in Thomas’ account.

Black Americans and birthright citizenship

Jackson’s opinion registers her impatience with such an exclusion. She faults Thomas for his “narrow vision of the Fourteenth Amendment (that) bears little relationship to the history of its ratification.”

Instead, Jackson traces the 14th Amendment to work done by people “within and beyond Congress.”

Jackson follows Harvard historian Jill Lepore’s suggestion that originalist judges should always attend to “all the people who are basically knocking on the windows and banging on the doors with their ideas about what should be in the Constitution.”

As Jackson recounts, “In the decades leading up to the ratification of the 14th amendment, black Americans organized and gathered at more than 600 local and national conventions across the country. There, delegates erected the political and intellectual scaffolding of the 14th amendment and, later, for the black civil rights movement more generally.”

Contrary to Thomas, who argues that birthright citizenship applies only to former slaves and their offspring, Jackson notes that Blacks “helped galvanize the push for full equality.” When ratified, Jackson explains, “the citizenship clause thus vindicated the universalist vision of the delegates at the colored conventions and their allies in Congress.”

And in a pointed dig at her colleague, Jackson writes that the “distortion of historical facts – retellings that reimagine and repurpose past events to lend credence to misbegotten aims” – poses a grave threat to the constitutional project and America’s well-being.

Extending the work of the 1619 Project

Jackson’s concurrence in the birthright case builds on the approach to history taken by the so-called 1619 Project. That project, unveiled by The New York Times in 2019, “aimed to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”

Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the 1619 Project, insists “the United States simply would not exist without us. The idealistic, strenuous, and patriotic efforts of black Americans have helped the country live up to its founding ideals.”

Jackson fully embraces that story and, in her concurring opinion in Trump v. Barbara, extends it to include what happened in 1866 when the U.S. restated and renewed its founding commitment to equality. She suggests that the 14th Amendment would not have come into being without similar “patriotic efforts” by Black Americans.

What makes Jackson’s concurrence extraordinary, Slate’s Robyn Nicole Sanders writes, “is that it insists on telling the 14th amendment story honestly … (and) it is at moments elegiac in its remembrance of the people whose suffering and resistance gave birth to the citizenship clause.”

That is why I believe Jackson’s concurrence will be remembered as one of the great opinions produced by a Supreme Court justice.

International Black Theatre Festival Returns to Winston-Salem, Celebrating the Power of Black Storytelling

The Carolinian — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 15:01:00 +0000

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — As actors, playwrights and theater enthusiasts prepare to gather in Winston-Salem later this month, organizers of the International Black Theatre Festival are putting the final touches on one of the nation's premier celebrations of Black theater, an event that has spent more than three decades amplifying Black voices, stories and artistic excellence.

Scheduled for July 27 through Aug. 1, the biennial festival will once again transform downtown Winston-Salem into a hub for theatrical performances, workshops, film screenings, educational programming and cultural events, drawing artists and audiences from across the United States and around the world.

Founded in 1989 by the late Larry Leon Hamlin, the International Black Theatre Festival was created to provide a national stage for Black playwrights, directors and performers whose work was often overlooked by mainstream theater. Since its inception, the festival has grown into one of the largest gatherings dedicated to Black theater, earning the nickname "Black Theatre Holy Ground" among artists and attendees.

Now presented by the North Carolina Black Repertory Company, the festival continues Hamlin's vision of celebrating the richness and diversity of the African American experience through the performing arts.

This year's festival will feature more than 100 events, including stage productions, poetry performances, film screenings, youth programming, educational workshops and panel discussions. Organizers say the weeklong celebration is designed not only to entertain audiences but also to create opportunities for artists to collaborate, share ideas and inspire the next generation of Black creatives.

Beyond the performances, the festival has become an important cultural gathering that strengthens connections within the Black arts community. Emerging playwrights have the opportunity to showcase new work, while established actors, directors and producers mentor younger artists and participate in discussions about the future of Black theater.

For many attendees, the festival is as much about community as it is about performance. Visitors often travel from across the country to reconnect with colleagues, attend professional development workshops and celebrate the accomplishments of Black artists working in theater, film and education.

The International Black Theatre Festival has also become a significant economic driver for Winston-Salem. Hotels, restaurants, local retailers and small businesses experience increased tourism during festival week as thousands of visitors fill downtown for performances and special events. The festival's impact extends beyond the stage, supporting the local economy while showcasing Winston-Salem as a destination for arts and culture.

Organizers say this year's lineup reflects the broad range of stories that define the Black experience, from historical dramas and contemporary plays to musicals, family productions and works exploring social justice, identity and resilience. The festival also continues its commitment to youth engagement by offering educational opportunities that introduce students to careers in theater and the performing arts.

As conversations continue nationwide about representation in entertainment, the International Black Theatre Festival remains an important platform where Black artists can tell authentic stories on their own terms. Many productions featured during the festival examine themes of family, faith, culture, history and perseverance, offering audiences perspectives that are often underrepresented on mainstream stages.

The festival's continued success also reflects North Carolina's longstanding role in supporting Black arts and culture. Through the work of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company,

Winston-Salem has become internationally recognized as a destination where Black storytelling is preserved, celebrated and shared with audiences from around the globe.

More than three decades after its founding, the International Black Theatre Festival continues to fulfill Larry Leon Hamlin's vision of creating a space where Black artists are not only welcomed but celebrated. While audiences come for the performances, many leave with a deeper appreciation for the history, creativity and resilience that have shaped Black theater for generations.

When the curtain rises later this month, the festival will once again demonstrate why Winston-Salem has become home to one of the world's most influential celebrations of Black theater, proving that powerful storytelling continues to unite communities across cultures and generations.

Before The Streets Fell Silent: How A Film Titled Pitch a Boogie Woogie Preserved the Heart of Black Greenville

Judaea Ingram — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:54:00 +0000

By Torrie Walker

Special To The Carolinian

You walk down the street and familiar faces greet you from every direction. Someone waves from across the sidewalk. The smell of fried catfish drifts from Bell's Restaurant as people gather inside for dinner. Down the street, a crowd begins to form outside the Roxy Theatre, eager to see the latest film. The neighborhood is alive with conversation, music and movement.

This is The Block.

Today, much of it is gone.

But one little-known film preserved what time nearly erased.

Released in 1948, Pitch a Boogie Woogie captured a glimpse of Greenville's thriving Black business district at a time when Black communities were creating their own spaces for business, entertainment and fellowship. More than 75 years later, the film remains one of the few visual records of a neighborhood that helped shape the city's Black history.

Bill Myers remembers that neighborhood firsthand.

"It was the center of activities," said Myers, executive director of the Freeman Round House and African American Museum in Wilson. "Everybody who did anything would migrate to the block. People would congregate on the block. People would walk from all parts of town just to stand around on the block and see the ladies go by. All the activity was centered around the block."

Growing up on The Block, Myers watched Greenville's Black community gather around restaurants, churches, barbershops, beauty salons, pool halls and social clubs, all within walking distance of one another.

"It was very tight-knit," Myers said. "I lived on the block. I was raised by my grandmother who lived on the block."

For Myers, Pitch a Boogie Woogie is more than a piece of history.

"I remember very, very well," he said. "I was a little boy."

His uncle, Ernest Glover, worked as the projectionist at Greenville's Roxy Theatre, where much of the film was shot.

"He would always let me come up and watch him work," Myers said. "So I happened to be there to see a lot of the filming. I remember that very, very clearly as a little boy."

According to Myers, theater owner John Warner wanted the film to celebrate Greenville's Black community.

"He wanted to do things that would glorify the people in the Black community," Myers said. "So he got a lot of Wilsonians, then he went into Greensboro and got musicians to come and perform."

Decades later, filmmaker and historian Alex Albright began researching the forgotten film. What started as curiosity soon became an effort to document a neighborhood whose history had largely faded from public memory.

"It started with just trying to figure out what the movie was," Albright said. "Then the making of the documentary got us into the story."

As Albright interviewed former musicians, cast members and residents, he realized the story extended far beyond the film itself.

"The documentary gives you much more of the musicians' memory and less of the film," Albright said. "The process was just trying to create a narrative."

That narrative uncovered more than a forgotten movie. It revealed a neighborhood where Black-owned businesses, churches and entertainment venues created a close-knit community despite the realities of segregation.

As Greenville changed, so did The Block.

"My people wanted better housing," Myers said. "They wanted a better neighborhood."

The changes were gradual. Businesses closed, longtime residents moved away and community leaders who had once organized events and brought neighbors together passed on.

"I remember my good friend Thomas Foreman, who was always making things happen," Myers said. "'Let's have a party. Let's have a meeting. Let's do this.' Well, he passed, and we lost that."

For Albright, the greatest loss wasn't simply the buildings.

"The people that lived there are telling me what I think was lost," he said. "That was a sense of community."

Although many of the businesses have closed and several buildings have been demolished, pieces of The Block remain. Bell's Restaurant still stands, and a mural now honors the neighborhood and the businesses that once made it the heart of Black Greenville.

For Myers, remembering The Block is about remembering the people who built it.

More than 75 years after Pitch a Boogie Woogie was filmed, the movie continues to preserve the sights and spirit of a neighborhood that shaped generations of Black Greenville. Through the memories of those who lived there, The Block continues to tell its story.

"There are people who did so much," Myers said. "The things that people tried to do to make sure there would be businesses... the churches, the music clubs, the entertainment. All of that should be remembered and not forgotten."

For NC State Health Plan Members, Blue Cross NC Is Back In 2028

The Carolinian — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:46:00 +0000

NC NEWSROOM - Blue Cross Blue Shield will soon return as the third party administrator of North Carolina's State Health Plan, set to supplant Aetna in 2028 after a unanimous vote by the Health Plan's Board of Trustees on Friday.

"Blue Cross brings deep experience, proven capabilities and a shared commitment to delivering better value and a better experience for the people who depend on the plan," State Treasurer Brad Briner told reporters after the vote.

In addition to the third party administrator role, where it processes claims for the health plan and builds out a provider network, the Health Plan's Board of Trustees also unanimously voted to make Blue Cross NC the plan's pharmacy benefit manager. It will begin both roles on Jan. 1, 2028.

The contract is for an initial three-year term, with two one-year options for 2031 and 2032.

"In the months ahead, our focus will be on ensuring a seamless experience for members and partnering with the plan and their leadership to deliver practical solutions that reduce costs and support a better health for the State Health Plan and all North Carolinians," said Roy Watson Jr., a vice president at Blue Cross NC.

Blue Cross NC served as the health plan's third party administrator for more than 40 years before then-Treasurer Dale Folwell pushed for a change in late 2022. The board at the time selected Aetna to replace Blue Cross NC, with the change taking effect in 2025.

Earlier this year, the State Health Plan decided not to trigger year-long extensions on either the Aetna contract of that of pharmacy benefit manager CVS Caremark.

There were three respondents to the state's request for proposals for the third party administrator, including Aetna, with two making it past minimum requirements.

"We ran a fulsome RFP process here. We got the results of that and the decision was very, very clear. Both from a cost perspective, from a member service perspective, as well, and then from every dynamic we can think of, there was really not much of a contest," said Briner, a Republican in his first term in office.

State Health Plan Executive Administrator Tom Friedman said the cost of the contract to the state is not immediately available because there are a number of options around population health management programs or member steerage programs that plan officials need to decide to activate or not. That process will take about two months, Friedman said, and plan officials will be focusing on what can best help their members.

"We are in the ROI business, not getting the lowest admin fee business," Friedman said.

Among the concerns Folwell raised when he was treasurer about Blue Cross NC's oversight of the State Health Plan was a lack of transparency about pricing.

Asked about that Friday, Briner said that the State Health Plan has started to take a much more active role in contracting directly with healthcare providers, making it more of a partner to the third party administrator than a customer of it.

"Our ability to understand exactly what is going on increases dramatically as a result of that, and so those two things are linked in that way in that we have a front-row seat now rather than a back-row seat to all these conversations," Briner said.

Put together with the preferred provider program announced earlier Friday, Briner said, the State Health Plan expects to save about $1 billion between 2028 and 2030.

Aetna's response

Aetna responded Friday by saying it remains committed to supporting the State Health Plan and its members until the current contract expires on Dec. 31, 2027.

"We continue to believe Aetna is the strongest partner for the State Health Plan. Our expertise and service have helped the State Health Plan to advance its cost containment goals, successfully implement the Plan’s complex provider tiering strategy, and provide members access to high-quality care," Phil Blando, an Aetna spokesman, wrote in a statement.

Blando also said that Aetna would review the Health Plan's decisions "in the coming weeks" and then decide how to move forward, raising the possibility of a lawsuit over the decision.

When Aetna won the bid in 2022, Blue Cross NC unsuccessfully sued in administrative court.

State Health Plan leaders said they are confident in their decision to award the new contract to Blue Cross NC.

"There was really no contest in these RFPs. The decision was so very clear that I would hope that it would make people think twice about bringing action," Briner said.

After Turmoil, Raleigh Festival Brings Community Together

Judaea Ingram — Sun, 19 Jul 2026 19:05:13 +0000

By Judaea Ingram

Special To The Carolinian

RALEIGH, N.C. — One week after a chaotic night in downtown Raleigh left several people injured and raised concerns about large gatherings in the city, residents returned to the area Saturday for a celebration focused on community, culture and connection.

Raleigh’s All-American Summer Festival transformed City Plaza into a day of family-friendly entertainment, featuring food trucks, carnival games, live music and activities for residents of all ages.

The event celebrated America’s 250th anniversary with a summer festival designed to bring the community together through entertainment and shared experiences. Attendees enjoyed carnival-style games, prizes, a kids zone, sweet treats, ice cream and contests celebrating everything from summer outfits to pets.

The festival also featured live performances from Adam Lee Deckers and the Donnie Bentley Band, who provided music throughout the day as families and visitors gathered in downtown Raleigh.

The celebration came just seven days after thousands of young people and teenagers swarmed downtown Raleigh during the Fourth of July weekend in an incident that ended with several people hurt. Following the incident, city leaders prepared additional safety measures in case similar concerns arose during another large downtown gathering.

Raleigh police officers were present throughout Saturday’s festival to help monitor the event and ensure attendees could enjoy the celebration safely.

For many residents, however, the increased security did not change their feelings about spending time downtown.

“I feel like it’s safe,” said Alyssa Cadiz, a Raleigh native. “I’ve grown up here my whole life, so I feel safe when I’m here.”

Cadiz said events like the All-American Summer Festival are important because they give residents opportunities to gather and enjoy the city with friends and family.

Throughout the afternoon, children played carnival games, families explored food truck options and attendees gathered around the stage to enjoy live performances.

Local vendors also used the event as an opportunity to connect with residents and showcase their businesses. Community festivals like the All-American Summer Festival provide small businesses with opportunities to reach new customers while contributing to Raleigh’s local culture.

For families attending the festival, the event offered a chance to focus on community and create positive memories downtown.

The All-American Summer Festival was one of several summer gatherings designed to bring Raleigh residents together through food, music and entertainment. Organizers highlighted the importance of creating spaces where people of all ages can celebrate and connect.

While city officials continue discussions surrounding public safety following the Fourth of July weekend incident, Saturday’s festival showed another side of downtown Raleigh: a space filled with music, families and community spirit.

As the live bands played and visitors enjoyed the final hours of the celebration, Raleigh residents once again filled downtown with a different kind of energy, one centered on connection and togetherness.

City Moves Forward On SE Raleigh Project Despite Alarms

Jordan Meadows — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 19:16:54 +0000

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

Southeast Raleigh residents are demanding answers over the implementation of voter-approved parks bond projects, as community members allege that key plans have been altered without transparency and that public input has been effectively sidelined.

The concerns, first reported by The Carolinian in May, center on projects tied to the historic South Park–East Raleigh neighborhood, including the renovation and expansion of the John P. “Top” Greene African American Cultural Center, the South Park Heritage Trail, and other components of the John Chavis Memorial Park master plan.

While residents previously raised concerns about limited communication and a growing disconnect between the community and city staff, newly obtained documents and correspondence suggest those concerns have deepened into broader accusations of deception and misuse of public funds.

At the center of the dispute is the Top Greene Cultural Center, long envisioned by residents as a community-driven space for cultural programming, historical preservation, and public gatherings. According to documents from the South Park–East Raleigh Neighborhood Association (SPERNA) obtained by The Carolinian, residents now say the current design significantly departs from that vision. Among the most contentious changes is the proposed inclusion of a recording studio within the existing building—an element residents say was never part of the original community plan and would replace space intended for meetings, exhibitions, and revenue-generating rentals. Community members argue that the shift would limit public access and transform the facility into a space primarily used by city staff rather than the neighborhood it was intended to serve.

“The staff decided how the money would be spent to implement these projects without any community input,” one resident said in earlier reporting. In more recent correspondence, residents go further, describing the revised plans as “deceptive” and alleging they were presented to the Raleigh City Council in December 2024 without the community’s knowledge or review.

Residents also say they have repeatedly requested access to updated design plans but have not received them, despite seeking input from community members with construction and engineering expertise. That lack of access, they argue, has made it impossible to verify city claims about the cost and feasibility of proposed changes.

The latest concerns also draw on past experiences with city-led park projects. Residents point to Phase I of the John Chavis Memorial Park master plan, where a feature known as “Heritage Plaza” was removed from implementation plans without public notice. According to community members, the omission was only discovered after construction planning was underway, leaving little opportunity for correction. That experience has contributed to what residents describe as a broader pattern of decision-making in which city staff alters plans after receiving formal approval from advisory boards and elected officials, without returning to the public for input.

In addition to design concerns, questions have emerged about how bond funding is being used. The 2022 parks bond, approved by Raleigh voters, allocated funding for several Southeast Raleigh projects rooted in years of community-led planning. Residents now say the current proposals do not reflect the scope or intent of those original plans, raising concerns about whether millions in public funds are being directed as promised. According to documents, community members say they have met multiple times with city staff, senior administrators, and elected officials to raise concerns, but have seen little action in response.

In one instance described in the correspondence, a senior official reportedly questioned the purpose of a meeting, leading residents to conclude that earlier discussions had not been meaningfully addressed.

Despite the growing frustration, some elements of the broader vision remain in progress: the South Park Heritage Trail, a long-planned project designed to connect historically significant sites throughout the neighborhood, continues to advance through the design and environmental review phases.

“In a few words, it’s a rotten-to-the-core situation,” one community member wrote in correspondence obtained by The Carolinian, describing what they see as a breakdown in transparency and responsiveness.

The Carolinian requested comments from City officials who have not yet responded.

RTP Approves Mixed-Use, Residential Developments

Jordan Meadows — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 12:18:00 +0000

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

In a unanimous vote at a meeting of the RTP Owners and Tenants Association, companies and landowners across the 7,000-acre research campus approved a sweeping set of new development standards under the RTP 3.0 framework. For the first time in the park's nearly 70-year history, the approval clears the way for mixed-use and residential projects on land that has been governed by a single corporate-campus model since 1959.

The vote capped a five-year planning effort by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina to chart what officials describe as a 50-year vision for the park. The Foundation's board subsequently ratified the measure, and starting Thursday, July 16, 2026, landowners will be able to formally apply to redevelop their properties under one of three new options: an enhanced corporate campus, a residential neighborhood development, or a mixed-use node. Owners can also continue operating under the traditional corporate campus model that has defined RTP for more than six decades.

The scale of the shift is significant. RTP has long limited building coverage to roughly 15 percent of a given site and capped heights at 120 feet, favoring the kind of low-density, tree-shielded office campuses built for commuting employees rather than nearby amenities.

About a fifth of the park's land (roughly 1,400 acres) is devoted to parking. The new standards loosen those constraints, reducing setback requirements and allowing greater density, though the residential option comes with its own limits: detached single-family homes won't be permitted, with townhouses serving as the lowest-density housing type allowed.

Travis Crayton, the Foundation's vice president of planning and public policy, has called RTP 3.0 the most significant modernization of the park's land-use framework since its founding, while also cautioning that the physical character of the park won't change overnight.

The approval follows groundwork laid when Wake County commissioners unanimously amended RTP's zoning rules in June 2025 to accommodate the new framework, and Durham's board followed suit that fall—a necessary step given that the park straddles both counties, though it sits predominantly in Durham. A Durham planning commissioner welcomed the change as a fix for zoning restrictions that had constrained investment and innovation in the park.

RTP 3.0 builds on an earlier phase of change, often referred to as RTP 2.0, which introduced Hub RTP, a walkable district that brought the park's first apartments, along with retail and coworking space through developments like Boxyard RTP and Frontier RTP. Additional Hub RTP projects. Hub RTP is expected to include roughly a million square feet of office and life-science space, tens of thousands of square feet of retail, more than a thousand residential units, hundreds of hotel rooms, and expanded green space.

"For decades, these 7,000 acres… were defined by a single-use corporate campus model. That model served RTP well, but the future demands more," said Scott Levitan, the Foundation's president and CEO, adding that the new standards are meant to "create spaces where people can work, live, collaborate and connect."

A signature piece of the broader RTP 3.0 vision is the proposed RTP Greenway, a 10-mile north-south trail corridor intended to link corporate campuses, mixed-use nodes and natural areas, building on the park's existing 20-mile trail network.

Gina Andersen, RTP's site engagement lead for Cisco and president of the RTP Owners & Tenants Association, pointed to the vote's unanimity as a signal of confidence in the plan.

"This unanimous vote reflects the strong alignment and shared confidence among RTP companies and landowners in the future of the Park," she said. "Every organization in RTP has different needs, and these updated standards provide the flexibility to thoughtfully evolve campuses over time."

Planners have also built the framework around future transit possibilities, including potential bus, bus rapid transit and rail connections, positioning the park for transit-oriented growth down the road.

The Triangle is among the fastest-growing metro areas in the country, with projections pointing to roughly a million new residents by 2050. RTP remains North America's largest research park, spanning an area roughly half the size of Manhattan and home to more than 385 companies and some 55,000 employees, with Fidelity Investments now holding the largest workforce and other major tenants including Cisco, Lenovo, and Eli Lilly.

The park has not been immune to disruption; however, IBM relocated most of its local workforce out of RTP last year.

The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce and McAdams are hosting a "Reimagine the Park" lunch and learn session on August 13, aimed at RTP companies and members of the local development, design and real estate community.

The Hidden Tariff Racism: Racial Inequity Stifles American Economy

Jheri Hardaway — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 04:30:00 +0000

By Jheri Hardaway

Staff Writer

When economists discuss the "bottom line" of American industry, the conversation often centers on interest rates, supply chains, and consumer spending. Yet, a growing body of research from the Federal Reserve, Citigroup, and the Brookings Institution points to a much older, more corrosive factor: the "hidden tariff" of systemic racism. The roots of this economic drag are not modern; they are foundational. Recently uncovered correspondence from General George Washington reveals that as early as 1775, the Continental Army was paralyzed by a policy crisis over Black enlistment. By initially barring Black soldiers to appease Southern enslavers, the Patriots inadvertently handed a massive strategic advantage to the British.

Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation, which promised freedom to those who fought for the Crown, forced the Americans into a war that lasted eight years instead of perhaps much less. The cost of those extra years in lives, debt, and delayed stability was the first of many installments in a 250-year debt.

Today, the numbers are staggering. A landmark Citigroup study found that the U.S. lost $16 trillion in GDP over just the last two decades due to racial gaps. When we project this compounding loss back to the Revolution, including the systemic destruction of Black business districts and the denial of commercial credit, the cumulative loss to the American ecosystem exceeds $100 trillion.

For North Carolina’s burgeoning tech and manufacturing sectors, this is not just a social issue; it is a productivity crisis. Every denied business loan is a lost innovation; every wage gap is a reduction in the state’s total purchasing power. Here in North Carolina, the 2026 Appropriations Act, which became law as Session Law 2026-41 on July 7, 2026, eliminated the Office of Historically Underutilized Businesses (“the HUB Office”), repealed HUB-related statutes, and struck references to minority participation in public contracts throughout the North Carolina General Statutes. Over the past 25 years, the Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses within the Department of Administration has worked to increase the number and types of businesses competing for government contracts across the state.

“If you are not prepared to make your organization more receptive to all people of all backgrounds, then you will not be competitive in the 20th century.” Dr. Randal Pinkett. Competition, disruptive ideas, and open-mindedness are the hallmarks of an innovative society. By eliminating resources that help create equitable opportunities, we are crippling our future generations. We are making it harder for the Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, and Sam Waltons of the world to access resources to make their big ideas pop. As we look toward the next century of American industry, closing these gaps isn’t merely an act of justice; it is the only way to ensure national competitiveness in a global market.

Self-Titled “Urban Explorers” Target Saint Augustine University’s Campus

Jheri Hardaway — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 22:30:00 +0000

By Jheri Hardaway

Staff Writer

Raleigh, NC - The Carolinian received an anonymous tip that “Urban Explorers” are breaching security to trespass on Saint Augustine’s University, which is already grappling with a fragile financial recovery and a complex federal bankruptcy process. Saint Augustine’s University (SAU) is now facing a new threat after dark. Self-styled "urban explorers" and internet video creators are infiltrating the historic campus, documenting their trespassing on social media while leaving behind thousands of dollars in property damage.

The trend has transformed the campus, a historic cornerstone of Black higher education in North Carolina, into a playground for digital clout-chasers. For the staff and caretakers fighting to preserve the university’s physical and academic integrity, the nightly intrusions are a worsening nightmare.

According to local sources, these trespassers are highly organized. They operate using a coordinated, multi-stage scouting system designed to bypass police and campus security. A campus source, who requested anonymity, detailed how these groups coordinate their entries: “Groups go around... they just go in there, shoot videos, take pictures, whatever. What they do is they have a scout. The scout will come through, look over, and say, 'Nobody over there,’ and that’s where they enter. They bust windows, set fires, whatever they want to do.” Footage of the empty, historic campus corridors is routinely uploaded to social media platforms under the guise of "exploring abandoned spaces," ignoring the fact that SAU is a protected, historically black university under active restructuring.

The source mentioned that the police are often called, but by the time authorities arrive, the troublemakers are gone. The source also stated that those who are caught only receive a citation for trespassing. “They’re hard to catch in the act.”

Recently, Raleigh Police were dispatched to the campus following reports of significant property damage. Officers discovered 20 shattered dorm room windows, causing up to $10,000 in immediate damage. The scale of the destruction has drawn the attention of the federal court system. The U.S. Bankruptcy Administrator's office confirmed it is actively working with SAU's legal counsel to ensure the debtor takes aggressive measures to secure the campus, prevent unauthorized entry, and preserve the physical condition of the university's assets.

The historical and psychological impact of these break-ins cuts deep, and it stings as well. Founded in 1867, Saint Augustine's University has survived over a century and a half of societal change and economic hardship. To see its empty spaces treated as lawless backdrops for likes and comments on internet videos feels, to many, like a profound sign of disrespect. Local advocates point out that the trespassers view the school's financial vulnerability as an invitation. "They hit buildings all over the state," another source noted, "but Saint Aug is a regular spot because they think, 'Saint Aug, ain't nobody going to do nothing!'"

As the bankruptcy proceedings continue and academic leaders work to stabilize the institution, community members are calling for increased vigilance, sturdier physical barriers, and a harsher legal response than simple trespassing citations to protect a priceless piece of North Carolina's educational heritage.

125 Teens Gain Real-World Financial Skills and Career Inspiration at Third Annual Stacks & Tracks

The Carolinian — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 18:19:00 +0000

RALEIGH, N.C. (July 2026) — Boys & Girls Clubs of Wake & Johnston Counties successfully hosted its third annual Stacks & Tracks, presented by First Horizon Bank, bringing together 125 youth and over 90 volunteers for an immersive day of financial literacy and career exploration. The event equipped teens with practical skills to make informed financial decisions while inspiring them to pursue meaningful career pathways.

Stacks & Tracks combines two powerful learning experiences. During the “Stacks” Reality Store simulation, participants were assigned careers, salaries, and family situations before navigating real-life expenses such as housing, transportation, childcare, and savings. The activity challenged youth to balance a monthly budget while making difficult financial decisions, helping them better understand the true cost of adulthood. In the “Tracks” career exploration experience, young people connected directly with professionals representing a variety of industries and learned real tech skills.

Following the experience:

• 98% of participants reported learning how to better balance a budget.

• 95% learned something they can apply in everyday life.

• 94% explored a new career path.

Youth reflections demonstrated the lasting impact of the experience.

"I learned that it's important to invest your money," shared Joshua, who hopes to become a video game designer.

"I learned to use money on things that are needed, not wanted," said Carmen, an aspiring first responder.

Others emphasized the importance of saving money, making smart decisions with credit, and understanding how today's financial decisions affect tomorrow's opportunities.

The success of Stacks & Tracks continues to be driven by the organization's partnership with First Horizon Bank, which has supported the event since its inception. Over the past three years, First Horizon has grown from a dedicated volunteer group into the event's Presenting Sponsor. Each year, approximately 35 employees volunteer their time to lead banking and investing activities, provide one-on-one financial coaching, and share their career journeys with participants. Their hands-on involvement transforms financial concepts into meaningful, real-world learning experiences while helping youth envision successful futures.

“This year’s Stacks and Tracks session underscored what community partnership can achieve,”, said Todd Warrick, Triangle Market President for First Horizon Bank, “Financial literacy turns a first paycheck into a plan; it’s a life skill that compounds over time.”

Other sponsors include Duke Energy, Pulte Homes, and AmeriHealth in partnership with United Way of the Greater Triangle.

As Boys & Girls Clubs of Wake & Johnston Counties continues to expand workforce readiness and financial literacy programming, Stacks & Tracks remains a cornerstone event that empowers youth to dream bigger, plan smarter, and build a strong foundation for lifelong success.

ICE Revises Enforcement Tactics Following Fatal Shootings

Jordan Meadows — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 17:09:00 +0000

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has temporarily suspended most vehicle stops during enforcement operations nationwide following two deadly shootings involving ICE agents in Maine and Texas. The directive was issued by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin who told the department to stop non-urgent vehicle stops following the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old Colombian man in Biddeford, Maine.

The pause applies to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), the division responsible for civil immigration arrests and removals, but does not apply to Homeland Security Investigations, which primarily handles criminal investigations. The change is expected to remain temporary while officers receive additional training on vehicle-stop procedures. ICE officers will still be allowed to conduct vehicle stops in cases involving high-priority criminal targets, judicial warrants, or when working with partner law enforcement agencies, according to sources.

Vehicle stops have been a common enforcement tactic during the Trump administration, allowing ICE officers to identify and arrest targeted individuals away from homes or workplaces. Under the temporary directive, officers are expected to rely more heavily on other methods, including surveillance and arrests conducted after individuals leave residences or workplaces.

The policy change follows two fatal shootings within six days involving ICE agents attempting vehicle stops.

In Biddeford, Maine, ICE agents were conducting surveillance related to a person with a final order of removal when they attempted to stop a vehicle driven by Joan Sebastian Guerrero. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Guerrero was not the intended target of the operation. ICE officials said agents attempted to stop the vehicle after an individual matching the description of the immigration target left a residence.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the vehicle attempted to flee, and an officer fired a weapon after determining there was a threat to public safety. The Maine Attorney General’s Office said the vehicle moved toward the officer before the shooting occurred.

King has called for an independent investigation into the shooting, saying the review should not be controlled solely by federal agencies.

“I want a full, fair, open, transparent investigation of this, not strictly run by the feds,” King said. “Unfortunately, the feds don’t have the credibility today.”

The Maine shooting came less than a week after another deadly encounter in Houston, Texas. On July 7, ICE officers shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, during a vehicle stop while officers were attempting to locate another individual. DHS said officers were conducting surveillance after receiving information from law enforcement partners and stopped a white van because the driver resembled the person they were seeking.

Federal officials said Salgado Araujo ignored commands and attempted to strike an officer with the vehicle, prompting an officer to fire in self-defense. His family said Salgado Araujo had no criminal record and had lived in the United States for more than three decades while working toward obtaining legal authorization to remain in the country.

The shootings have increased scrutiny of ICE enforcement practices, including how agents conduct stops and how officers interact with people during operations. The changes come as the agency has also faced criticism following other high-profile incidents, including enforcement operations in Minnesota.

Earlier this year, federal officials indicated a possible reduction of Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he remained skeptical until federal agents actually leave.

The operation previously included U.S. Border Patrol official Greg Bovino as the public face of enforcement efforts in Minnesota. Bovino was later moved to another position outside the state, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was removed from her post in the weeks that followed. The agency also instructed ICE agents not to engage with protesters during operations.

North Carolina has seen increased immigration enforcement activity amid the federal crackdown and recent state-level changes. More than 6,300 immigration arrests have occurred in North Carolina since President Donald Trump began his second term, according to federal data reported by NC Local.

The state also recently expanded its cooperation requirements with ICE after lawmakers overrode Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of Senate Bill 153, known as the “North Carolina Border Protection Act.” The law requires officers from four state agencies (the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Department of Public Safety, Department of Adult Correction, and State Bureau of Investigation) to sign agreements committing to cooperate with ICE “to the fullest extent of the law.”

The law also prohibits sanctuary policies, restricts certain state-funded benefits for undocumented immigrants, prevents University of North Carolina system schools from interfering with immigration operations, and expands requirements for law enforcement agencies to notify ICE about individuals who are not U.S. citizens or lawful residents. The legislation builds on previous immigration laws passed in North Carolina, including House Bill 318 in 2025 and House Bill 10 in 2024, which require local jails to notify ICE when certain individuals in custody are suspected of being in the country unlawfully.

North Carolina does not currently operate a long-term ICE detention facility. Individuals detained in the state are typically transferred to ICE detention centers outside North Carolina, including facilities in Georgia.

What goes on behind the scenes in an NC election? This nonprofit wants you to know.

The Carolinian — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 15:05:00 +0000

NC NEWSLINE - A new nonprofit in North Carolina will focus on spreading accurate information about how elections are run at a particularly volatile time when questions about vote counting and who gets to cast a ballot are increasing.

Keep Our Republic will host community conversations around the state on the “nuts and bolts” of the election process, from casting a ballot to certification, election security and even the use of artificial intelligence, said Deanna Ballard, a former Republican state senator who is Keep Our Republic’s North Carolina senior advisor.

‘It’s really having some of those conversations at the local level that help inform and engage those active community members who are going out to vote, leading into the 2026 general election but also the ‘28 cycle as well,” Ballard said.

Keep Our Republic is nonpartisan, said Executive Director Ari Mittleman.

It has Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters on its North Carolina advisory council, including former Republican Gov. Jim Martin, former Democratic state Rep. Grier Martin, and Paul Brintley, a church pastor and former GOP state House candidate.

Also on the advisory board are experts who know elections administration inside out, including Kimberly Strach, a former state elections director, Paul Cox, a former state elections board general counsel, Damon Circosta, a former state elections board chairman, and retired Wilkes County elections director Kimberly Caudill.

Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper and Duke University professor of the practice Asher Hildebrand are also on the advisory council.

The state has seen recent similar efforts. The North Carolina Network for Fair, Safe, and Secure Elections, supported by the Carter Center, held community meetings meant to foster confidence in elections from 2022-2024. Former Republican Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr and former Democratic Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts headlined that effort.

“I think we are all rowing in the same direction and in similar boats,” Middleton said.

Keep Our Republic has worked in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and is expanding into North Carolina and Georgia.

President Donald Trump narrowly lost Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia in 2020 and he continues to challenge the results. In January, the FBI seized 2020 election documents in Fulton County, Ga., and hundreds of FBI analysts are examining those records, according to the Georgia Recorder, as Trump pursues baseless claims that voter fraud cost him that election.

In North Carolina, election skeptics have also continued to make claims about noncitizen voters, pushing lawmakers to make administrative changes that voting rights advocates say are suppression tactics.

Keep Our Republic has experience hosting public forums in states with deep divisions, Mittleman said. Attendees leave with an understanding about election administration and election security, he said.

“Generally, with the four dozen-plus events that we’ve done in those states — sometimes 50 people in a firehouse, sometimes 300 people in a county government center — I think people have left thinking it was an evening well spent,” he said.

N.C. Budget Redirects Legal Funds To Criminal Defense, Away From Legal Aid

The Carolinian — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:01:00 +0000

CAROLINA PUBLIC PRESS - After months of uncertainty about the future of the Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts program, Gov. Josh Stein signed off on a new state budget with a provision that will redirect IOLTA funds away from civil legal aid and put them toward the state’s criminal defense services, making North Carolina the only state in the nation to do so.

The repurposing of the IOLTA funds has been met with immediate pushback from some lawmakers, IOLTA officials and leaders of civil legal aid organizations alike. They’ve been sounding the alarm since July 2025 when North Carolina legislators first froze these funds due to so-called “inappropriate political activity,” Carolina Public Press previously reported last year.

A recent state audit from April found no IOLTA funds were misused, but it emphasized room for improvement in post-award oversight that could reduce the risk of “improper use” of grant funds. Officials have been working on addressing the auditor’s recommendations over the past few months to show cooperation as they advocated for funding to return.

With the freeze ending on June 30, the funding for legal aid could have resumed, but the budget closes off that option.

What is indigent criminal defense?

The state is constitutionally required to provide attorneys to defendants who can’t afford them.

Before providing an attorney, the court must determine whether a defendant is indigent, but that can be ambiguous.

“Some people can afford counsel for a low-level charge but cannot afford to hire a lawyer for a more complicated and serious charge,” NC Indigent Defense Services said on its website.

“Some people have well-paying jobs but also have extraordinary ongoing expenses related to medical issues or a disabled dependent. The court must assess each individual’s circumstances.”

Once the court deems a defendant as “indigent,” an attorney is provided at no cost to them. Amanda Bunch, communications specialist for IDS, explained the difference between the two types of defenders: state-paid public defenders and private assigned counsel.

State-paid defenders are considered state employees; they have salaried positions and get state benefits. North Carolina has a total of 27 defender districts that cover 60 out of 100 counties, Bunch said. This means not all counties have access to public defenders.

Private assigned counsel, on the other hand, are not state employees. They serve private firms and will take on court-appointed cases as necessary. The state uses these private attorneys to bridge gaps in coverage in counties without public defenders. They also step in if a public defender has a conflict of interest in a case. In these circumstances, the attorneys are paid from the PAC Fund, Bunch said.

Indigent defense services have historically been funded by state-appropriated funds, funds from court fees and the collection of attorneys’ fees from defendants, Bunch said.

In 2011, the hourly rates for these attorneys were cut down from $75 per hour to $55 per hour by the state legislature. This is their gross pay, not net earnings. Before taking anything home, these attorneys have to pay self-employment taxes and overhead costs including benefits, malpractice insurance, office equipment, bar dues and more, according to a 2019 IDS report.

Because of the rate cuts, their jobs became more difficult. To reduce overhead costs, a third of public defense attorneys got rid of malpractice insurance, cut down on support staff and more. In the three years prior to this report being published, 50% of respondents reported reducing their public defense workload or stepping back from the work completely, the report said.

“The rate at which attorneys have left the public defense rosters across the state since the 2011 rate cut is a major concern for the criminal justice system, as it has led to court inefficiencies, delays, and increasing numbers of court continuances,” the report said.

“As experienced attorneys remove themselves from public defense, fewer attorneys remain to handle cases. Those who remain are pressured to join multiple lists and even to join lists in multiple counties. The result is more continuances and more court delay as attorneys cannot be in two courts simultaneously and they struggle to handle larger caseloads.”

What will the budget provision do?

The provision added by lawmakers will ensure that any IOLTA funds received from July 1, 2025 and onward will instead go toward indigent criminal defense services, specifically the PAC fund.

With the new funding, IDS staff are currently assessing how to adjust hourly rates, with plans to present their findings at a meeting next month, according to an online post.

“IDS is grateful that the General Assembly has recognized the need for additional PAC funding,” the organization said. “We will act as quickly as possible after budget certification and we look forward to raising rates as early as this fall.”

IDS could receive up to $15 million per fiscal year, with any surplus carried over to the next fiscal year, according to the provision.

While IDS will benefit from the repurposed funds, civil legal aid organizations will suffer.

In 2025, IOLTA was responsible for awarding $12 million in grants to more than 40 organizations across the state, according to its website. Moving forward, only a “small portion of funds” the program received prior to July 1, 2025, can be awarded to “programs designed to improve the administration of justice” — no more than $2 million per fiscal year, according to the budget provision, said Mary Irvine, executive director of the IOLTA program.

Because the provision ensures no future funds will be given to the program, that leaves IOLTA with only a fixed amount of money. When CPP asked how long it would take for these funds to run out and whether the program was exploring alternatives, Irvine said they were still working to determine the full impact of the change.

Lesley Albritton, chief operations officer for Legal Aid of NC, acknowledged that while the work indigent criminal defense services does is important, it’s very different from what civil legal aid does.

“If someone is charged with most types of crimes, there is a right to a court-appointed attorney, even if you cannot afford one,” she told CPP.

“There is no such right in civil cases. Indigent defense services is so important, and we on the civil side acknowledge that. The state has to fund that work anyway, so the people who do indigent defense services are by-and-large private attorneys who are getting court appointments to represent people in criminal cases, so it’s very distinct from what civil legal aid providers do.”

Jackie Kiger, executive director of Pisgah Legal Services, also acknowledged the importance of the state’s criminal defense work, but argued funding for that should come from the state budget, not IOLTA funds.

“If they have a budget gap there, they’ve got to figure something out for it,” Kiger said. “But we do not believe that this is a pot of money that should be used for that.”

Responses from officials and civil legal aid organizations

State Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham, told CPP last month she was hopeful that IOLTA funding would resume upon the June 30 deadline, but feared a budget provision might delay it or even dissolve the program. That fear is now coming true.

“Thousands of your constituents did not receive any legal assistance for civil matters,” she told lawmakers while debating the budget on the House floor on July 1. “What is this budget doing? It’s not just a budget, it’s a total policy change.”

State Rep. Laura Budd, D-Mecklenburg, also shared her thoughts on the House floor.

“We cannot sit here and say that we give a damn about affordable housing, homelessness, veterans, victims of domestic violence, and the list goes on and on, while we actively destroy the very system that helps provide the support and the resources for them,” she said on July 1.

Albritton told CPP that lawmakers’ decision to redirect the funds was not what Legal Aid had hoped. The largest provider of civil legal services in North Carolina, it lost more than $6 million in funding, closed nine offices and laid off 50 employees as a result of the freeze, CPP previously reported.

“We are deeply disappointed to see that the General Assembly has undone 40 years of a decision that the attorneys in the state of North Carolina made to fulfill the promise that everyone should have access to justice regardless of their income or their ability to pay for an attorney,” Albritton said.

The organization was previously responsible for preventing more than 5,900 evictions and obtaining more than 2,500 domestic violence protective orders, among other accomplishments, according to an April press release.

Mark Scott, the communications outreach specialist for the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy, told CPP that while the organization can understand there were many factors for the governor to consider when signing the budget, their clients will nonetheless face adverse effects.

“We have seen the faces of these real-life people and know that thousands more in our community and tens of thousands across the state will suffer because of this,” Scott said in a statement to CPP.

“Those impacted will include people already facing hardships as victims of domestic violence, victims of human trafficking, veterans, those impacted by natural disasters like Hurricane Helene and so many more vulnerable populations.”

Disability Rights NC emphasized that it lost more than $400,000 in anticipated revenue from the freeze and stressed that the recent changes would have “serious consequences,” in an online post.

Kiger also shared her disappointment and said she’s “gravely concerned” about the provision.

“I don’t believe that it belongs there, and the fact that this funding is being diverted almost completely away from civil legal aid for the poor across North Carolina is devastating,” Kiger told CPP. “It’s such a tragedy.”

Her organization serves almost 28,000 people in the western part of the state, which was the hardest hit by Hurricane Helene two years ago. Since then, Pisgah Legal has faced increased demand for aid from those survivors, but because of the freeze, it could no longer rely on IOLTA funds to address that need, CPP previously reported.

The organization received $1.9 million in IOLTA funds before the freeze in 2025, which Kiger said was roughly 14% of Pisgah Legal’s budget. Kiger had to lay off 12 employees last August because of the freeze and other challenges, she said.

What led to this decision?

House Speaker Destin Hall said the decision to redirect IOLTA funds for criminal defense was based on the past session’s concerns that certain recipients of the funds were engaging in political activity and had “crossed the line.”

“One of the things we’ve done with this budget is increase our spending on that indigent criminal defense, and we think that cures a lot of ills in areas of the state that maybe they don’t have enough lawyers who represent court-appointed defendants, and it’s a better use of the money at the end of the day,” he told reporters on July 1.

The issue was first raised during a hearing last October while rehashing the history and purpose of the IOLTA program.

Created in 1983 by the North Carolina State Bar and the North Carolina Supreme Court, the program takes accrued interest from lawyers’ trust accounts and distributes it to legal services and other public programs across the state.

These trust accounts consist of retainer fees, settlement fees, and more and are eventually given to the appropriate parties, but the interest that these accounts earn goes to the public because lawyers cannot ethically claim it.

“Simply put, IOLTA uses that interest to help those who can’t afford legal services,” State Rep. Harry Warren, R-Rowan, said during the October 2025 hearing.

Though lawmakers acknowledged that the program does good work, they voted to freeze the funds after it seemed like they were being awarded to organizations that engaged in “inappropriate political activity,” CPP previously reported.

One example cited by Warren included the Children’s Law Center of Central North Carolina, which tries to break down “systems of oppression that don’t support equitable outcomes,” according to the October 2025 hearing.

As lawmakers questioned the motives of grant recipients such as these, they also raised questions about who the money truly belongs to.

“Whose money is it anyway?” Warren posited during the October 2025 hearing. “Does the interest earned belong to the client? Or since the State Bar is a state agency, should the money be considered part of the General Fund to be appropriated by the General Assembly?”

Morey told CPP that while indeed some IOLTA funds were awarded to groups that Warren initially described as “leftist,” these funds are not made up of taxpayer dollars, so it shouldn’t be a legislative matter, she said.

Hall argued otherwise.

“It’s most certainly not private money. The lawyers in this state who have trust accounts, they don’t voluntarily give those funds to IOLTA,” Hall told reporters on July 1.

“They’re made to by … a rule from the Supreme Court, but it’s essentially by force of law that they’re required to pay over those funds. It’s really not any different than a tax, and so it’s not as if these folks are just privately donating to these groups.”

The freeze took effect in July 2025, halting distribution of all IOLTA grant awards from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. If any grants were approved before the freeze but weren’t distributed before then, those funds simply weren’t awarded at all, a state audit report said.

The freeze sparked an outcry among several civil legal aid organizations across the state with leaders calling it “beyond devastating,” CPP previously reported.

The audit

Following the allegations of “inappropriate political activity,” the state conducted an audit of the program released in April that examined how grants were being awarded and monitored by the IOLTA program after being distributed to various legal aid organizations across the state between Jan. 1, 2023, and June 30, 2025.

Ultimately, the audit found that no funds were misused during the review period and the IOLTA grant process “complied with applicable eligibility requirements.”

But it also highlighted a lack of independent verification by the program itself, an issue that was first raised in a June 2013 report by a former state auditor, Beth A. Wood.

Brianna Kraemer, deputy director of communications for the state auditor, said reports submitted to the program detailing how organizations used funds were essentially taken at face value.

Legal aid organizations across the state expressed support for more oversight, but emphasized that they already employ their own oversight and accountability measures and undergo regular independent financial audits.

Irvine said the program in 2013 was merely a “fraction” of what it is today and had “considerably fewer, smaller grants.”

“With limited revenue, the program’s Board of Trustees made strategic decisions about how to allocate available resources,” Irvine said in a statement to CPP.

Though the auditor argued “similar deficiencies” remained during the current audit period, Irvine said the program has made “good-faith efforts” to address them since 2013, having tried to increase oversight while also considering the cost associated with independent verification.

“Our current policies and procedures reflect that balance,” Irvine said. “That said, we are receptive to the OSA’s recommendations and are working to propose additional monitoring procedures that would further strengthen our process.”

Dave Boliek, the state auditor, also argued in a press release that the audit showed funds were going to some organizations with “clearly partisan, political agendas.”

When asked what specific organizations and evidence from the report he was referring to, Kraemer pointed CPP to the North Carolina Justice Center and the Carolina Migrant Network as two examples, referring to them as “openly political.”

The North Carolina Justice Center is an advocacy organization whose mission is “to create lasting, equitable change for people with low incomes and those harmed by systemic oppression across our state,” according to its website.

Kraemer shared a link to a February blog post from the organization that focused on the new federal school voucher program that President Donald Trump rolled out as part of his “One Big Beautiful Bill.” She highlighted a line in the post that refers to the Trump administration as an “authoritarian and fascistic” administration that is “openly hostile to public education.”

The Carolina Migrant Network is an organization serving immigrants whose mission is “to provide legal services for individuals in removal proceedings,” according to its website. During a previous operation in Charlotte by U.S. Border Patrol, the organization reportedly “informed the public where agents were through social media alerts,” according to a Charlotte Observer article that Kraemer shared.

Now that funding is being pulled, it’s unclear right now what the IOLTA program will do with the auditor’s recommendations moving forward.

What’s next for civil legal aid services?

With a crucial funding source gone, civil legal aid organizations across the state are currently figuring out how to face the loss.

Legal Aid has been working on identifying other funding sources since the freeze. As of now, the organization is still looking, Albritton said.

“This was our second-largest funding source,” she told CPP. “Depending on the year, I think it represents around 13% of our overall budget. It’s hard to make up $6 million.”

Kiger said options for alternative funding are already scarce.

“The hard truth right now is that there’s not a lot of other options for nonprofits right now,” she said. “It’s a hard time generally speaking. Federal funding, we are seeing that dry up and less opportunities for funding.”

While disappointing, some organizations did plan for it. For its 2026 budget, Legal Aid already assumed it wouldn’t be receiving any future IOLTA funding, meaning the lack of funds shouldn’t impact current operations, according to a statement from June 30. The organization isn’t planning to lay off any more staff and hopefully won’t have to close any more offices, Albritton said.

Pisgah Legal also planned for the setback in their 2026 budget, though it’s merely a temporary fix since the organization was hopeful that funding would resume after the June 30 deadline. Now that the lack of funding appears to be a long-term, permanent change, it’s going to be hard, Kiger said.

“Are we immediately in crisis like today or tomorrow? We’re not,” she said. “But we have an uphill battle that is going to be really hard to continue to fill a gap year after year.”

Right now, Legal Aid is focusing on how to provide the best service possible with the resources they currently have, Albritton said.

“This definitely means that we’re not going to be able to handle the volume of cases that we did last year, so that’s our main focus right now, is how do we continue to do this really important work for the sake of families in North Carolina?” she told CPP. Pisgah Legal and the Charlotte Center said they are also moving forward with the same mindset.

Those who received grants in 2025 reported 22% less cases closed on average and 11% less clients served in the first quarter of this year compared to the same time the previous year. Roughly 29% less clients served have been reported by organizations helping people with domestic violence protective orders, child custody agreements and other services, according to the press release from IOLTA.

The continued lack of funding will be detrimental.

“These numbers translate to thousands of North Carolinians — families, seniors, veterans, children, people with disabilities — without access to legal aid to secure and protect their fundamental needs such as housing, health care, employment and safety from violence in 2026,” Irvine said in the press release.

“That’s a significant step backward in the journey toward fulfilling America’s promise of ‘justice for all.’”

Cyclosporiasis vs. a Stomach Bug: Why This Foodborne Parasite Can Keep You Feeling Sick For Several Weeks

The Carolinian — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 22:38:00 +0000

VCU HEALTH - For hundreds of people living in the United States, what first felt like a minor stomach bug has turned into weeks of serious gastrointestinal problems.

Federal officials are tracking outbreaks of cyclosporiasis in dozens of states. As of early July, the states hardest hit are Michigan, Ohio and New York.

The parasitic illness isn’t like other 24-hour stomach infections, according to Gonzalo Bearman, M.D., an infectious diseases expert at VCU Health.

“Cyclospora can cause severe, prolonged watery diarrhea. It tends to last longer than other illnesses associated with diarrhea, like norovirus. For people with weak immune systems, such as those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS or are transplant recipients, the symptoms can be more severe and last longer,” Bearman said.

VCU Health News spoke with Bearman about cyclosporiasis symptoms, how it is transmitted and how you can protect yourself from getting sick.

What is cyclosporiasis?

Cyclosporiasis is a gastrointestinal illness that is usually not life-threatening. It is caused by the cyclospora parasite which can be found in feces. People can get sick with cyclosporiasis by consuming contaminated food and water.

If it goes untreated, people can be sick with the illness for days to weeks and a month, with potential relapsing symptoms.

What are the symptoms of cyclosporiasis? How are they different from a typical stomach bug?

It can take about a week to begin experiencing symptoms after being exposed, but sometimes symptoms may start after a few days.

Some people with cyclosporiasis don’t get any symptoms. Those who do will experience watery diarrhea that can be debilitating, with frequent – sometimes explosive – bowel movements.

Other cyclosporiasis symptoms include:

Intense bloating
Stomach cramps and nausea
Fatigue
Gas
Loss of appetite

What makes cyclosporiasis different from the typical stomach bug is that it can last for weeks, with potentially relapsing symptoms. It is also very difficult to spread from person to person.

How does cyclosporiasis spread?

Cyclosporiasis spreads when people eat food or drink water contaminated with feces. While we still do not know what is causing this current rise in cases, past outbreaks of the cyclospora parasite have been connected to imported or domestic produce.

If someone is sick, it is very unlikely that they will spread it to someone else directly. That’s because it takes about 1 to 2 weeks for the parasite to become infectious when it leaves the body after a bowel movement.

How is cyclosporiasis treated?

Cyclosporiasis can be treated with antibiotics. Patients are also recommended to rest and drink plenty of fluids if they are experiencing diarrhea.

Most people with healthy immune systems can recover without treatment. However, if you don’t get medication, you may be sick for several days, weeks or even a month. People who are immunocompromised may be at higher risk of being sick longer.

How can I protect myself from cyclosporiasis?

Avoid food and water that may be contaminated with feces. If you are traveling to subtropical or tropical areas, be aware that regular food and water disinfecting measures may not kill this cyclospora.

After picking up your groceries, pay close attention to how you’re handling fresh or raw produce. Normal washing doesn't completely eliminate the cyclospora parasite because it can be deeply wedged in the folds or skin of produce.

Health officials recommend the following steps to protect yourself against cyclospora:

Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before and after handling raw produce.

Rinse all fresh produce under running water and scrub produce skin like melons, cucumbers and tomatoes with a clean brush or cloth. Packaged produce labeled “prewashed” does not need to be washed again, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cut damaged or bruised areas on fruits and vegetables before preparing and eating.

Refrigerate cut, peeled or cooked produce soon after preparing.

If I think I have cyclosporiasis, at what point should I see a doctor?

If you have severe, watery diarrhea that lasts more than 48 hours and also have a fever, seek medical attention. This is particularly important if you have an underlying condition or take a medication that weakens your immune system.

While healthcare providers can diagnose cyclosporiasis by testing a sample of your stool, sometimes lab tests have a hard time detecting the parasite even if a patient has symptoms.

Feds Encourage Public Housing Authorities To Impose Work Rules

The Carolinian — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 18:48:00 +0000

NC NEWSLINE - Dozens of public housing authorities, tribes, property owners and community groups have joined a new coalition organized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to promote work requirements and time limits for people who receive federal housing help.

HUD is currently finalizing a rule that would allow public housing authorities and property owners who participate in federal housing voucher programs to impose work requirements and time limits on work-ready adults, or working-age adults (younger than 62) who are not disabled.

The federal agency says members of the coalition support the idea of giving housing authorities and providers discretion to require work of up to 40 hours per week for nonelderly, nondisabled adults, supplementing those rules with job training and other supportive services.

HUD argues that current housing policies discourage work and self-sufficiency, and extend the amount of time that people remain on housing assistance. In a social media post, Public and Indian Housing Assistant Secretary Ben Hobbs said the new requirements could generate over $500 million in new resident income.

In 2023, 31% of the people receiving federal housing assistance were nonelderly, nondisabled adults. Of that group, 44% were working and 56% were not, according to a 2025 report by the Congressional Research Service.

More than a hundred public housing authorities, tribes, property owners and community groups have joined the Work & Dignity Coalition, according to HUD. The National Housing Law Project, a nonprofit that advocates for more low-income housing, produced a list of 58 entities, including the public housing authorities in Fort Worth, Jacksonville, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Tampa.

Less than 1% of public housing authorities, known as Moving-to-Work agencies, are currently allowed to impose time limits or work requirements on people receiving housing assistance. HUD cites Champaign County, Illinois — which requires each able-bodied adult to work or be in school for at least 15 hours per week, and each household to generate 30 hours of work income at the minimum wage.

“I think that the important thing to note is that this is all about self-sufficiency, even if there might be some fear over what is required and how that would affect their housing,” said Peyton Pannell-Johnson, a spokesperson for the Housing Authority of Champaign County. “There is a team that needs to connect people to work, and then a team that follows up with each client.”

But housing advocates argue that the proposed requirements will make it more difficult for people to keep their housing assistance. The Congressional Research Service also warned in its 2025 report that imposing work requirements on federal aid recipients often trips up people who are working already.

“Work requirements can increase the burden for working recipients to prove that they remain eligible for benefits by requiring that they produce additional or more frequent information about their wages and hours,” the research agency stated. “There is an inherent tension between helping families meet their basic needs and promoting work in low-income assistance programs.”

A July 4 Boat Trip, An 18-Year-Old’s Death & A Family’s Search for Answers in the Deep South

The Carolinian — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 17:58:44 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — A week ago, 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells took a boat trip with friends to celebrate the Fourth of July on an island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. He never came back.

Two days later, he was found dead. What happened, Wells’ parents say, is a mystery riddled with conflicting stories, implausible explanations and missing details. It is a case shadowed by the state’s fraught racial history and lingering distrust in law enforcement.

At a news conference Friday in New York City, Christine and Elmore Wonsley called for a thorough and transparent investigation into their son’s death, skeptical of claims that Wells told his friends to leave the island without him and suggestions that he, an elite athlete who knew how to swim, had accidentally drowned.

Wells’ body was found early Monday along the shore of Horn Island, about 7 miles (11.2 kilometers) off the Mississippi coast, more than a day after he was last seen alive. The roughly 11-mile long (17.7 kilometer) spit of land is near the Alabama state line. The island is uninhabited and accessible only by boat. About 200 people were there on July 4, the family’s lawyers said.

“We just want to know what happened and why our baby didn’t come home,” Christine Wonsley said, looking upward several times as she stood alongside her lawyer, Ben Crump, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who will officiate Wells’ funeral.

Family commissions independent autopsy

Crump said Wells’ family has commissioned an independent autopsy, performed by a forensic pathologist in Washington, D.C. with no ties to Mississippi law enforcement, while they await the results of an official autopsy, which could take weeks. They also plan to employ experts to recover messages that appeared to have been deleted from his cellphone, Crump said. They will eventually turn the device over to authorities, he said.

Wells’ family also encouraged witnesses to come forward and asked people to submit any video they recorded that may show him on Horn Island, echoing a call by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office to help shed light on the moments before Wells’ disappearance and death.

A photo posted on social media, purportedly from the boat ride to the island, shows Wells with his arms around three white male friends. Sheriff John Ledbetter said Wells’ friends were cooperating and that investigators don’t suspect foul play. Crump said those friends now have lawyers and that his investigators haven’t attempted to speak with them yet.

Wells’ death has led to rampant speculation and suspicion as people grapple with Mississippi’s history of racial tension and what it means to be a Black person in a majority white space.

Actor and producer Tyler Perry is helping pay for Wells’ funeral, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is helping pay for his independent autopsy, and filmmaker Spike Lee showed up to the news conference to show support for Wells’ family.

Family doesn’t trust Mississippi authorities, Crump says

Crump said Wells’ parents hired him to conduct an independent investigation into their son’s death because they don’t trust that law enforcement officials will perform a fair inquiry in a state still reckoning with its Jim Crow past, including the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and the murders of three civil rights workers in the 1960s.

“The history of Mississippi is something that they don’t just read about in books,” Crump told reporters at Sharpton’s National Action Network headquarters in Harlem. “It’s a lived experience for many Black Americans that oftentimes when our children are killed in highly questionable situations that there is this notion that ‘Oh, there was nothing wrong, no foul play, let’s just sweep it under the rug.’ Well, we refuse to sweep it under the rug.”

It is the second case that Crump has taken on in the state in recent months. He also was recently retained by the family of a Mississippi 1-year-old who was killed when police fired into a moving car.

Ledbetter told The Associated Press this week that investigators suspect that Wells “chose to stay on the island with the assumption that he was going to ride back to the mainland with someone else.”

Wells didn’t have his cellphone or keys

But Wells didn’t have his cellphone or his keys — his friends did.

“What teenager would leave their phone behind if they’re going to stay on this island? What teenager wouldn’t take their phone?” Crump said. “It’s not adding up at all.”

Crump said bystander video from the island showed a person he said was Wells arguing with someone to give him his phone back. In another discrepancy, Crump said that a witness reported Wells had planned to leave on the boat with his friends, contradicting the sheriff’s theory.

“The friends come back and he’s left there with some story about how he said leave him behind,” Sharpton said. “But then by some magic one of the friends has his keys and his phone.”

The sheriff did not return The Associated Press’ messages seeking his response to the family’s concerns.

Parents try to track down their son, then report him missing

Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, said she started to worry when a friend of his called her just after 11 p.m. on July 4.

After trying to track him down on her own, she reported him missing to police and went with her husband to meet an officer in a McDonald’s parking lot, she said, a process exacerbated by a dispute over which law enforcement agency had jurisdiction over the island. One of Wells’ friends had also reported him missing to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Wells’ father, Elmore Wonsley, said he went out on a boat on the morning of July 5 looking for his son near Horn Island. Crews from multiple local and state agencies began an extensive search, and his body was recovered early Monday, family members confirmed.

“If he’s drowning, nobody sees him drown? Nobody offers assistance? Nobody tries to help? I mean, obviously he stands out,” Crump said. “I think he’s the only Black person I saw when I’m looking at the videos.”

Christine Wonsley said she used an app to track his phone and, after a friend went to where it was on land to pick it up, noticed that some of his messages appeared to be deleted. Wells, a shutterbug at social and family events, had two Snapchat accounts — but both were devoid of pictures or saved messages, she said.

As they searched for their son, Elmore Wonsley went to retrieve Wells’ keys from the home where he stayed with his friends from the boat the night before their island trip. He said his son’s car was still parked in the yard.

A peacemaker with football aspirations

Wells, who would have turned 19 next month, played wide receiver on the football team at Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit, Mississippi, and had aspirations of playing at a high-level Division I program.

His coach, Les George, told WAPT-TV that Wells “was a guy that never had a bad day. Never.”

“He was very sociable with everyone, didn’t meet a stranger,” George said. “He would pop up at my office and come sit on the couch just to hang out and talk.”

Christine Wonsley said she and her husband schooled Wells in history and talked to him about navigating the racial tensions that still permeate the South.

Wells was a peacemaker who didn’t like division, once breaking into a dance while still in diapers to ease tensions while his parents were arguing, they said. He wanted everyone to be included and shied away from confrontation.

“Nolan is a person with a big heart,” Elmore Wonsley said.

Wells’ parents said they last saw him the night before the boat trip. He came to their house, baked them salmon for dinner and hugged his mother goodbye.

As people mourn and protest Wells’ death, Christine Wonsley urged them to follow his example.

“Please be peaceful,” she said. “Nolan was not someone who liked fights, physical fights. He didn’t even really like arguments. Don’t go out there trying to be tough. Think about what Nolan would want, and he wouldn’t want that type of behavior.”

As Temperatures Rise, Durham Families Seek Relief At Hillside Pool Amid Extreme Heat

The Carolinian — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 12:21:00 +0000

DURHAM, N.C. – For Durham mother Sierra Hurdle, a trip to Hillside Pool has become more than a summer activity. It has become a way for her children to escape the heat, stay active and enjoy a safe place to cool off.

“You can expect from the time that it opens there are already people waiting to jump inside,” Hurdle said.

As temperatures continue to climb across North Carolina, families across Durham are looking for affordable ways to stay safe during periods of extreme heat. For many residents, public spaces like Hillside Pool have become an important resource during one of the hottest summers on record.

Hillside Pool, operated by Durham Parks and Recreation, is the city’s only open public outdoor pool this summer, making it a popular destination for families looking for relief from high temperatures. With limited outdoor swimming options available, residents say the demand for the pool has increased as temperatures rise.

For Hurdle and other parents, the pool provides more than a place to swim. It offers children an opportunity to spend time outdoors while avoiding the dangers associated with prolonged heat exposure.

Extreme heat can be especially dangerous for children, older adults and people with underlying health conditions. Medical experts warn that extended exposure to high temperatures can lead to heat exhaustion, dehydration and heat stroke, which can become life-threatening without proper treatment.

The need for accessible cooling options has become a growing concern across North Carolina as summer temperatures continue to increase. While some families have access to private pools or air conditioning, others rely on public spaces and community resources to stay comfortable and safe.

Beyond recreation centers and public pools, organizations throughout the Triangle are also responding to the effects of extreme heat.

In Durham, the Durham Rescue Mission has opened its Operation Cool shelter, providing a place for people experiencing homelessness and others in need to escape dangerous temperatures. The cooling center is open seven days a week and offers visitors access to air conditioning, water, meals, showers and clean clothing.

“People don’t realize it, but hot weather is just as dangerous and sometimes even more dangerous than cold weather,” said Durham Rescue Mission CEO Rob Tart.

Tart said the organization works to make sure residents know they can use the cooling center without committing to the mission’s long-term programs.

“We want to make sure they know they can come here and get some relief and get some air conditioning, get some water or some other fluids in them to make sure that they got everything they need,” Tart said.

Medical professionals say extreme heat can affect people differently depending on their health, access to resources and living conditions.

Dr. Ryan Lamb, medical director with UNC Health, said individuals with chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease may have a more difficult time adjusting to extreme temperatures.

“When your body is trying to make those adjustments, it makes it much harder if you have those underlying conditions,” Lamb said.

Heat-related risks can also be influenced by broader community factors. Neighborhoods with fewer cooling resources, limited green space or older housing can leave some residents more vulnerable during extreme weather events.

For Durham families, public spaces like Hillside Pool serve as an important reminder of the role community resources play during challenging conditions. The pool offers children a chance to enjoy summer while providing parents with an affordable option to help keep their families cool.

As extreme heat becomes a growing concern throughout North Carolina, local organizations and public spaces continue working to provide residents with places to find relief.

For families like Hurdle’s, Hillside Pool represents more than a summer tradition. It is a community resource that helps children stay safe, active and connected during the hottest months of the year.

As temperatures continue to rise, Durham residents are finding that staying cool requires more than simply escaping the heat. It requires access to spaces where everyone has the opportunity to find relief.

A Proud History And A Cloudy Future: Congressional Black Caucus Hit By Supreme Court Ruling

The Carolinian — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 18:45:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — The long, often agonizing struggle for Black political clout in Washington faces a new, uncertain and potentially troublesome chapter.

Black political power in the nation’s capital is centered on the Congressional Black Caucus. In the U.S. House, the caucus has enough members to comprise roughly-one fourth of the votes needed to reach a 218-vote majority, including some of the most senior and influential Democrats in Congress. Their numbers and cohesion have been enough to push landmark legislation such as the Affordable Care Act across the line.

But the April 29 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais narrowing the scope of the federal Voting Rights Act, as well as this year’s aggressive Republican redrawing of congressional district lines in conservative states, is a serious threat to Black political momentum. Analysts see more than 20 caucus members possibly at risk of losing their seats.

“Not since Jim Crow have we seen this level of systematic disenfranchisement of Black voters,” Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clark, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

In May, the Congressional Black Caucus joined with the NAACP to demand that Black athletes withhold financial and athletic support from public universities in states where redrawing congressional lines has threatened to unseat Black lawmakers.

Among the schools that could be impacted are historic football powers Alabama and Georgia, as well as Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Louisiana.

Black progress and setbacks

Black progress in Congress was supposed to get rolling after the Civil War when voting rights were significantly strengthened and the first Black senator and House member began serving in 1870.

Then came the end of Reconstruction in 1877, the rise of the Jim Crow segregationist South, and the brutal erosion and in effect the denial of Black voting rights in the South. From 1881 until 1967, the U.S. Senate did not have a single Black member. The House saw a 28-year drought in the early 20th century.

The post-World War II civil rights movement led to the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a landmark achievement that truly marked the start of a new era for Black political representation — and influence.

Thirteen Black lawmakers created the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971. Today it has 60 members.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is the House minority leader, in line to become the first Black speaker if Democrats win control of the House in November.

Caucus members are the top Democrats on four of the House’s committees: Reps. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Financial Services; Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Homeland Security; Bobby Scott, D-Va., Education and the Workforce; and Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., Foreign Affairs.

A ‘new Jim Crow era’?

The clash over what constitutes fair representation has been raging since the country, now celebrating its 250th anniversary, was created.

The Louisiana v. Callais decision opens a new — or in some eyes, a recycled and disturbing — debate.

“The backward-looking U.S. Supreme Court decision in Louisiana vs. Callais opens the door to a new Jim Crow era by drastically diluting the right of Black voters to choose lawmakers who represent their concerns,” said Karen Dolan, senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal research organization.

She estimated that one-third of the Congressional Black Caucus seats could be at risk, as well as thousands of state and local elected officials over the next few years.

Conservatives offered a different take. Constitutional amendments adopted just after the Civil War, establishing voting rights among other things, “were forged at tremendous human cost to secure a constitutional order grounded in equality before the law—not racial classifications,” said Kevin Roberts, president of Heritage Action, a conservative advocacy organization.

He said the court decision “restores that understanding and reaffirms that the Constitution does not permit sorting Americans by race in the exercise of political power.”

Why the Black Caucus matters

Since the Voting Rights Act and subsequent revisions that until recent years strengthened its provisions — and routinely won bipartisan support — the Black Caucus has acquired leverage from its numbers as well as its generally consistent unity on policy.

Its members, usually almost all Democrats, have for years supported an agenda grounded in civil and worker rights, education and health care.

The Affordable Care Act was the 2010 bill that overhauled the nation’s health care system, creating new help for people to buy insurance and adding strong consumer protections.

“Without representatives of Black voters from the South, there would be no ACA,” said Bishop William Barber II, founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. The bill passed the House by seven votes. No Republicans voted for it.

The caucus has also been active in securing funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which the caucus says in its agenda statement “have always been agents of equity, access, and excellence in education – especially for students of color.”

Connected with the caucus is the nonprofit Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which provides scholarships, leadership training, research and other programs. Its annual legislative conference in Washington, scheduled this year for mid-September, is regarded as an important forum for Black policy debate and advocacy. It says its mission is to “advance the global Black community.”

Struggles and victories

The 15th Amendmentn to the Constitution, ratified in 1870, bars federal or state denial or curbs on voting rights because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

But once Reconstruction effectively ended in 1877, in many instances so did federal protection for Black voting rights in the South.

“Once U.S. troops withdrew, the federal ability to protect minority voting rights in the South was substantially limited until Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act in 1965,” said a June report by the Congressional Research Service.

Black voting, particularly in the South, was severely curbed, as people in the community could be subject to nearly impossible-to-pass literacy tests, poll taxes, and outright intimidation.

Democrats controlled much of the South after the Civil War, until civil rights laws eroded its grip starting in the mid-1960s. “One-party control in many areas, even entire states, meant that the party often wielded at least as much power as the government itself. Even where voter protections were enshrined in law, they could be avoided,” CRS said.

“These and other voting barriers meant that, practically, African Americans remained disenfranchised throughout much of the South.”

The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s spurred radical changes. In January 1964, the 24th Amendment was ratified, banning the poll tax or any other tax as a condition for voting.

In August 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which barred barriers to voting such as literacy tests.

It also established “preclearance,” which required the Justice Department to approve any changes in voting procedures in certain places with a history of racial discrimination.

The act had “an immediate and substantial impact on political participation among African Americans,” CRS found.

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, president of the Joint Center on Political and Economic Studies, which studies Black issues, said that prior to the act, “Black political representation was not just limited — it was nearly nonexistent.”

The civil rights victories changed the political landscape dramatically.

“By dismantling formal barriers to voting, it opened the door to Black political participation and, over time, increased representation,” he said.

But in recent years conservatives gained more clout in courts, and in 2013, the Supreme Court virtually ended preclearance.

In April, the Callais decision allowed an effective end to districts drawn largely to include more minority voters. The law, said Justice Samuel Alito, has been too often viewed by courts “in a way that forces States to engage in the very race-based discrimination that the Constitution forbids.”

A cascade of redrawn seats

Many conservative states have moved quickly to draw new districts, districts where Black incumbents or candidates are likely to find it more difficult to win.

Without Voting Rights Act protection, “Republicans now have the ability to move forward with a nationwide scheme to rig congressional maps in their favor—to manufacture more districts for themselves by eliminating majority-Black districts, while stripping away the ability to challenge those racist, anti-Black maps in court,” said Black Caucus Chair Clark.

Louisiana redrew its districts. At the moment, it has four Republican and two Democratic congressmen. After redrawing one of the majority-Black districts, it’s likely to have five Republicans and one Democrat following this year’s election.

Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., a Black Caucus member whose New Orleans area district was retained, noted that about one-third of Louisiana’s population is Black.

“As a matter of fairness and representative democracy, African American voters should have a meaningful opportunity to elect candidates of their choosing,” he said in a statement.

Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson, the House speaker, had a different view.

“The court restored a simple but profound truth, yes, the Constitution protects every American equally, and that’s a very important concept for us to maintain,” he told reporters.

“Democrats spent decades trying to engineer electoral maps that divided Americans, and this decision from the Supreme Court hopefully ends that terrible practice once and for all,” he said.

Other states moved fast to effect changes favorable to Republicans. Tennessee officials chopped up a predominantly Black district in the Memphis area. Florida went ahead with a new map that could give the GOP a net gain of four seats in that state.

In Alabama, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the state to use a map that would redraw and effectively eliminate one of the two majority-minority districts.

How much lost clout?

Judging how much the Black Caucus could shrink, if at all, is difficult because different House races are influenced by a variety of factors, many local.

All of this year’s redistricting efforts have resulted in two states with maps that could help Democrats, while eight new maps give more edges to Republicans, according to the nonpartisan Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

For Republicans, the center sees gains of up to four seats each in Florida and Texas, and one seat each in Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Alabama and Tennessee. Democrats stand to gain as many as five seats in California and one in Utah.

While all that gives Republicans an advantage, the analysis notes that “the House map is not red enough to protect Republicans from what appears to currently be a bad political environment. We continue to favor Democrats to flip the House in November.”

The House currently has 218 Republicans, 212 Democrats and one independent who usually sides with Republicans. There are four vacancies.

Beyond the voting rights debate, the independent analysts offer this reminder when handicapping upcoming elections: It hasn’t been unusual in recent midterm elections for voters to turn against the party in the White House.

In Trump’s first term, Democrats gained 40 seats in the midterm election. The Black Caucus gained nine new members.

North Carolina Releases Statewide First-Ever AI Roadmap

Jordan Meadows — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:18:00 +0000

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

North Carolina's AI Leadership Council released a statewide artificial intelligence strategic roadmap last Tuesday, offering the state's most comprehensive policy framework yet for how government agencies, workers and residents should navigate the growing influence of AI across public life.

The roadmap, developed over roughly ten months following Gov. Josh Stein's creation of the AI Leadership Council through Executive Order 24 in September 2025, organizes 17 strategic goals into three broad categories: protecting residents from AI-related harms, preparing the workforce and broader public for an AI-driven economy, and transforming state government services through responsible AI adoption.

"Artificial intelligence is already changing how we work, learn, and serve the people of our state, and North Carolina must lead with urgency and care," Stein said in the announcement. "Together, we can make North Carolina a place where innovation and trust move forward together."

The document arrives as AI’s reach across industries, government services, and daily life expands. The roadmap acknowledges that shift. It states that AI creates genuine economic opportunities while simultaneously accelerating job displacement, enabling new forms of fraud and misinformation, and raising serious questions about bias, privacy and public accountability.

On the protection front, the roadmap calls for strengthened safeguards for workers, consumers and critical public infrastructure. From January through September 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received nearly 200 victim complaints related to AI-assisted scams targeting elderly residents, resulting in more than $1.9 million in losses.

The workforce preparation dimension may be the roadmap’s most urgent component.

By 2029, according to figures cited in the document, roughly half of all U.S. jobs are expected to be transformed by AI, with 92 million positions globally projected to be displaced by 2030. The roadmap aims to position North Carolina to respond to that disruption through a statewide reskilling infrastructure, building on existing assets like the 2025 establishment of the Council on Workforce and Apprenticeship within the NCWorks Commission and programs such as NC State University's AI Academy, which has already partnered with more than 100 industry organizations and prepared more than 2,000 individuals for AI-related careers.

"AI will play a major role in the future of work, business, and economic competitiveness," said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley. "This roadmap positions North Carolina to help workers build new skills, help businesses responsibly adopt new tools, and help communities prepare for the economy of the future."

On the government transformation side, the roadmap focuses on using AI to improve the delivery of public services while putting governance structures in place to ensure that adoption is both transparent and accountable.

NCDIT Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Nate Denny framed that challenge in terms of public trust.

"This is not just a technology plan. It is a plan to build public trust," Denny said. "People are relying on AI to interact with information, government services, and one another. That means North Carolina has a responsibility to put the right governance, safeguards, training, and transparency in place so AI is developed responsibly, deployed thoughtfully, and used in ways that improve lives."

Duke Energy's 2025 Integrated Resource Plan projects that total net load across its two North Carolina systems could increase between 16 and 60 percent over the next 15 years, a sharp contrast to the 7 percent increase the state saw over the previous two decades. Data centers, which serve as the physical backbone of AI systems, account for a significant share of that projected demand growth.

In response, Stein established an Energy Policy Task Force to manage rising electricity demand while maintaining affordability and reducing carbon emissions. The task force released an interim report in February 2026 with nine preliminary recommendations aimed at balancing those competing pressures.

The council charged with producing the roadmap brought together stakeholders from the private sector, state government, education, and labor, reflecting an effort to ground the document's recommendations in the practical realities facing different parts of the state's economy. Each of the 17 strategic goals includes an implementation plan and timeline, with primary owners identified for each recommendation.

The release also coincides with a new legislative development. Earlier this Summer, the General Assembly established the North Carolina AI Caucus, a bipartisan coalition of legislators focused on AI policy and emerging technologies, suggesting the roadmap may find a receptive audience in the legislature as specific proposals move toward implementation.

Rediscovering Edmonia Lewis: America’s First World-Renowned Black Sculptor

Jordan Meadows — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:16:00 +0000

By Jordan Meadows

Staff Writer

Edmonia Lewis, widely considered the first sculptor of African American descent to achieve international prominence, is receiving renewed attention more than a century after her death, following a pair of recognitions: a commemorative stamp issued by the United States Postal Service and a posthumous degree awarded by Oberlin College in Ohio.

Lewis, who was born on the Fourth of July 1844 near Albany, New York, built a career that spanned the Civil War era and the late 19th century, producing marble sculptures that drew on her dual African American and Mississauga Ojibwe Native American heritage at a time when Black women had virtually no foothold in the American art world.

Her father was of Afro-Caribbean descent, and her mother was of Ojibwe and African American heritage. Both parents died before Lewis reached the age of nine, and she was raised by maternal aunts near Niagara Falls, where she spent several years selling Ojibwe baskets, moccasins, and embroidered goods to tourists. With financial support from her older half-brother Samuel, who found success in the California gold rush, Lewis enrolled at Oberlin College in 1859, one of the first institutions in the country to admit both women and students of color.

Her time at Oberlin was marked by repeated racial hostility. In 1862, she was charged with poisoning two white classmates after they fell ill following a social outing. She was acquitted at trial for lack of evidence — the victims' stomachs had never been tested, leaving no proof of poisoning — but was beaten and left for dead by unknown assailants before the verdict was reached. She later faced additional accusations of theft and left the college without a degree.

Lewis moved to Boston in the midst of the Civil War, where she studied briefly under sculptor Edward Augustus Brackett after three other male sculptors refused to take her on.

She began producing portrait busts and medallions of prominent abolitionists, including William Lloyd Garrison and Charles Sumner, and later made a bust of Civil War Colonel Robert Gould Shaw that sold well enough in plaster reproduction — one hundred copies at fifteen dollars each — to fund a move to Rome in 1865.

In Rome, Lewis established a studio and spent the bulk of her career producing work in marble. Unlike most sculptors of the era, who hired craftsmen to execute the final carving, Lewis did all her own stonework, a deliberate choice she made to ensure her work could not be dismissed as someone else's.

Her Roman studio became a popular stop for Americans traveling in Europe, and she produced busts of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant alongside works rooted in her Native American heritage, including a series of figure group sculptures inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem The Song of Hiawatha, each depicting Native American life with care and specificity.

Her most ambitious piece, The Death of Cleopatra, was displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. The three-thousand-pound marble sculpture was later lost for decades before being recovered in a Chicago suburb, covered in graffiti, and donated to the Smithsonian Institution in the early 1990s, where it remains on display today.

Lewis largely disappeared from the public record in the 1880s, and much of the latter part of her life remains undocumented.

She died on September 17, 1907, in London of chronic kidney failure and was buried at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery, in a grave that fell into disrepair before a crowdfunding campaign in 2017 financed its restoration. Oberlin College's decision to award her a posthumous degree in 2022 acknowledged what the institution had denied her in life. And the U.S. Postal Service stamp marked the latest in a series of efforts to recover and formalize Lewis's place in American art history.

Her work is now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Howard University Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Baltimore Museum of Art, among others.