UNC-Chapel Hill will “scrap” a policy that would have allowed administrators to secretly record professors, Chancellor Lee Roberts said Friday. The move comes less than three weeks after the controversial rules were enacted. www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...

“If we win, I’m not just going to smile and say, ‘You guys were all wrong about me.’ Like, who cares? … That’s not something that makes me tick. I love the game of basketball. That’s why I’m here.” For @theassemblync.bsky.social, I wrote about Kara Lawson: www.theassemblync.com/news/culture...

Buckhout has one significant advantage over her competitors: She loaned her campaign $2 million and reported having nearly five times as much available cash as all her opponents combined as of February 11. www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that immigration agents disregarded their own policies in making warrantless arrests and violated the constitutional rights of five North Carolina residents. www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

Paused plans to build a stadium district on property south of UNC Asheville’s main campus have forced questions about the university’s future. www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...

Misinformation continues to swirl around the brutal death of Iryna Zarutska on a light-rail train in Charlotte last year. This time, it came from the country’s largest, loudest megaphone: President Donald Trump’s State of the Union delivered on Tuesday night.

For most of his 27 years in office, Sam Page hadn’t worried about local officials looking over his shoulder. But recently, and in increasingly blunt terms, commissioners had questioned his management, scrutinized his finances, and criticized jail operations. www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

Via @kffhealthnews.org | As the Carolinas near 1,000 cases, health care workers who’ve never seen the vaccine-preventable disease can get caught by surprise. www.theassemblync.com/news/health/...

For years, Alamance County NC sheriff Terry Johnson—a Republican who claimed immigrants were "raping our citizens"—held ICE detainees at his jail in return for millions of federal dollars. Then, in November, he ended the agreement with ICE. @jacobbiba.bsky.social @theassemblync.bsky.social #ncpol

Via @insideclimatenews.org | A Wake County Superior Court judge has ruled against several cities, concluding that state environmental regulators can legally limit the amount of a likely carcinogenic chemical that they discharge into the drinking water supply. www.theassemblync.com/news/environ...

The deluge of PAC-funded mailers and TV ads may feel like déjà vu for 4th District voters; the 2022 matchup between Allam and Foushee was the most expensive congressional primary in state history thanks to millions in outside spending. www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

More than 200 years ago, George Washington toured the newly born nation and struggled to find North Carolina’s charm. I retraced his route to separate fact from mythology about his journey. www.theassemblync.com/news/culture...

For years, the Alamance County Detention Center in Graham had been holding ICE detainees in return for millions of dollars from the federal government. Then in November, just as CBP agents were about to descend on the state, they ended their agreement with ICE. www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

The nonprofit organization that owns most of the land once belonging to St. Andrews University, which closed last year, filed a notice for bankruptcy in federal court Tuesday. www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...

Last week, prosecutors argued that a Madison County man’s conviction on child sexual abuse charges should be upheld, despite a judge finding that favorable evidence that could have helped his defense nearly 40 years ago was withheld. www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

Michele Morrow is betting that the name recognition she earned running for superintendent of public instruction will help her win a seat in the U.S. Senate. But is all publicity good publicity? www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

Durham’s Stephanie Diaz Mendoza is a reigning state high school champion in the growing sport of girls’ wrestling. Her prospects on the mat depend on that momentum continuing. www.theassemblync.com/news/culture...

Black-owned barbecue restaurants have continued the whole-hog tradition and anchored their communities across North Carolina. But there aren’t many left. www.theassemblync.com/news/culture...

Administrators, faculty, staff, and students at the nation’s colleges and universities spent the first year of Donald Trump’s second term careening from one headline-making announcement to another. The sheer quantity of changes, updates, and reversals was hard to follow. 🧵

Really important piece by partner @renlarson.bsky.social @theassemblync.bsky.social: As Helene Survivors Wait for State Help, Some Victims of Earlier Hurricanes Are Still Out of Their Homes

With @propublica.org | NC created a new housing recovery program to avoid the delays and cost overruns that plagued rebuilding efforts after hurricanes Florence and Matthew. The Assembly and ProPublica have found that similar problems are starting to surface. www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

Among the dozens of races across the state, here's our list of ten to watch in 2026. These are the primaries in North Carolina that are expected to be the most competitive, consequential, or interesting—or all three. 🧵

unc is finalizing a classroom recording policy that would allow administrators to secretly record faculty in some cases www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...

UNC-Chapel Hill is putting finishing touches on a university-wide policy governing recording of classes that would allow administrators to secretly record faculty in some cases. www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...

The N.C. State Health Plan has mostly excluded transition-related care from its coverage since the 1990s. While the plan on paper excluded mental health benefits related to gender transition, it never enforced this aspect of its ban, according to legal filings. www.theassemblync.com/news/transge...

As midterm campaigns heat up, Republicans are saying former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper released inmate DeCarlos Brown early, even though Brown served his full term. Brown has been charged with fatally stabbing Iryna Zarutska in August in Charlotte. www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

N.C. Senate candidate Jerry Tillett sued his former daughter-in-law, her new husband, a website publisher, and a social media antagonist for defamation on Wednesday. The lawsuit attempts to rebut accusations of racism that have threatened to derail his campaign. www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

A baby’s photo album. Pottery tools. A coffee mug depicting Reba McEntire and a middle-aged man. www.theassemblync.com/news/culture...

I have a new piece today on @theassemblync.bsky.social about a woman who is reuniting people with their lost objects from Helene. It's not "feel good," but it will definitely make you feel something: www.theassemblync.com/news/culture...

From 2023: Some college athletes, like UNC-Chapel Hill star quarterback Drake Maye, are now making big money from endorsements. Next up: whether they should be paid as university employees. www.theassemblync.com/news/culture...

From 2023: On a 5,000-square-foot scrap of land on a hillside in the Blue Ridge Mountains, faculty members place recently deceased bodies on the clay-rich soil and leave them for observation. Students then observe these bodies and see what they can teach us. www.theassemblync.com/news/culture...

North Carolina’s largest organ procurement nonprofit is suing the Trump administration over a new rating system the group argues could upend the transplant system and risk lives. www.theassemblync.com/news/health/...

Several organizations that coordinate organ procurement across the country argue new federal rules will throw the system into chaos. Others say the rules are desperately needed. @theassemblync.bsky.social www.theassemblync.com/news/health/...

Through no fault of their own, more than 70,000 North Carolinians could hit an extra obstacle when trying to cast a ballot in this year’s primaries. www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

UNC-Chapel Hill plans to close its six “area studies” centers this year as part of an effort to cut more than $85 million from the university’s budget. www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...

The Buddhist monks walking from Texas to Washington, D.C. have become a viral feel-good story. A reporter followed their journey in the middle of North Carolina to learn why. www.theassemblync.com/news/culture...

"Their voting records likely wouldn’t differ dramatically," writes Chase Pellegrini de Paur. Both support Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, codifying Roe v. Wade, and raising the federal minimum wage. But Allam is "a step more antiestablishment," with an "aggressively pro-worker message." #ncpol

@propublica.org and The Assembly have been reporting on the impact of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, and we know recovery is far from over. Are you still rebuilding after Hurricane Helene? We want to hear from you. www.theassemblync.com/news/environ...

A winter storm put school on ice for parts of the state this week, and another is forecast for this weekend. But snow has long been rare in most of North Carolina, lending every dusting a mythic excitement. For school-aged kids, these days mean snow angels, movies, and hot cocoa.

A UNC System Board of Governors committee on Wednesday advanced a proposal to define “academic freedom” across the state’s public universities, despite pushback from a faculty group and their lawyers. www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...

From 2024: In July, Davis joined 214 Republicans and five Democrats in support of a resolution criticizing how Vice President Kamala Harris has handled immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. Less than 24 hours later, Davis endorsed Harris’ presidential bid. www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

For much of the past year, Greg Bovino was a top Border Patrol officer and the swaggering leader of immigration enforcement efforts from Charlotte to Los Angeles, winning public praise from President Donald Trump himself.

Incumbent Valerie Foushee and challenger Nida Allam present starkly different approaches to politics. Could it be a bellwether for Democrats?

Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam is challenging incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee in this year’s Democratic primary. The race is a rematch: Foushee defeated Allam in 2022 and cruised to victory in the general. But a lot has changed since their last matchup. www.theassemblync.com/news/valerie...

Via @notus.com | Republican lawmakers say that the detainment of Native Americans—and other U.S. citizens—is part of a broader operation in which, as Rep. Addison McDowell of North Carolina put it, “There will be mistakes.” www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...

The National Endowment for the Humanities announced last week that it was awarding $10.1 million to UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Civic Life and Leadership, also known as SCiLL. www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...

Via @insideclimatenews.org | Duke Energy could build a 1,360-megawatt natural gas power plant on company-owned land in western Davidson County, which, if approved by the N.C. Utilities Commission, would add tons of greenhouse gases into the air each year. www.theassemblync.com/news/environ...

“I think I’m wired to want to know what’s coming,” Russell said. “Life can’t be predictable, but taking away some element of unpredictability, there’s power in that when you can do it.” www.theassemblync.com/news/media/r...

New: For the first time, the UNC System could soon define “academic freedom” for its universities. A Board of Governors committee will consider adopting an explanation of the concept that sets "parameters" for faculty and "protections" for students. www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...

BREAKING: For the first time, the UNC System could soon define “academic freedom” across North Carolina’s public universities. The move comes as professors and administrators warn that Trump administration policies are threatening their rights. www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...