New one tonight charlotteoptimist.com/cmpd-chief-j...

On building up a city, a family legacy and a storied golf tournament. We are here today, and drinking in all CLT has to offer! @michaelngraff.bsky.social #thecharlotteoptimist #thequeencity #PGA #QuailHollow charlotteoptimist.com/pga-champion...

lol'd at this @michaelngraff.bsky.social lede about one of Charlotte's most powerful men charlotteoptimist.com/pga-champion...

Always read @michaelngraff.bsky.social (which will be much easier to do if you sign up for The Charlotte Optimist). Fantastic debut piece: charlotteoptimist.com/charlotte-wo...

Just read inaugural essay by @michaelngraff.bsky.social - charlotteoptimist.com/charlotte-wo... It’s a wonderful piece of writing. Subscribe and you, too, can read the Charlotte Optimist, a weekly Sunday column - helping to keep ties alive to my beloved former city 💕👑🌷

"I hope it lasts a long time," says @michaelngraff.bsky.social.

It’s about time some of the real journalists in #CLT took their city back. Hell yes, @michaelngraff.bsky.social this is something I am genuinely excited to see!

My bud @michaelngraff.bsky.social launched The Charlotte Optimist today ... it's for Charlotte, but the way Mike writes, it'll be for everyone. Sign up now. charlotteoptimist.com/why-im-launc...

This from @michaelngraff.bsky.social will be worth it.

Excited about this one. But I’d also be excited to subscribe to a @michaelngraff.bsky.social project about most anything. A Graff substack comparing the consistency of oatmeal brands? Sign me up. A new Graff project about the hidden joy of formica? I’ll be an inaugural subscriber.

Our Friday newsletter: How do you define journalism? Plus: Mary Schmich revisits Studs Terkel's "Division Street," Livingston Award finalists, @michaelngraff.bsky.social's stories about Charlotte, and @nazriahi.bsky.social's ode to rejection. niemanstoryboard.org/2025/04/25/w... #storytelling

Hats off to Easter, the only holiday that doesn’t end with fireworks in our neighborhood.

We live across the street from an Airbnb that’s kinda tucked behind a house, and let me tell you, people are not at their best when they arrive at a destination they can’t find.

This week's edition of my newsletter features stellar journalism and storytelling by @allisonbsalerno.bsky.social, @cmgreer.bsky.social, @saragentzler.bsky.social, @mckenziefunk.com, @michaelngraff.bsky.social, @jeffreybillman.bsky.social, @natedimeo.bsky.social and others, plus my own latest story.

Jack Cobb, a lifelong Republican with decades of blue-chip legal experience, gave up a lucrative role in private practice role in 2024 to take a federal consumer-protection job. Then Elon Musk took a chainsaw to his agency. @michaelngraff.bsky.social @theassemblync.bsky.social

The second, by my pal @michaelngraff.bsky.social, on a lifelong Republican who lost his job at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: www.theassemblync.com/politics/cha...

Two DOGE stories for you this morning ... the first one, via my SouthBound podcast, on a UNC Charlotte professor whose team lost a grant on counseling for sexual violence in the LGBTQ community: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

EB White’s lovely “wind the clock” letter to a reader, written 52 years ago this week. lettersofnote.com/2012/01/06/w... @lettersofnote.com

Happy Opening Day!

“The city can be a lot.” What I wrote a year ago. www.charlottemagazine.com/inherit-the-...

RIP John Feinstein. It’s hard to imagine what a breakthrough A SEASON ON THE BRINK was when it came out in 1986. It gave me and countless others a new idea of what sportswriting could be. www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

This from @michaelngraff.bsky.social is gonna be good. Sign up.

Mr. @michaelngraff.bsky.social, one of the best writers, editors, and people I know, has a new project in the works, and you should sign up for it here: charlotteoptimist.com

Missed this amid the fire hose of news: The Trump admin is now putting Education Department employees on administrative leave for simply attending a diversity training offered by the agency. www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

Wrote a little something the other day www.axios.com/local/richmo...

The Governor of NC has called for a GOP Supreme Court candidate to concede after I revealed for @propublica.org that Jefferson Griffin was trying to overturn his election loss by seeking to toss 5.5k military ballots--which is exactly the same way that Griffin has voted in the past. #ncpol

Before the football resumes: Here's my latest newsletter, featuring great work from @greenwell.bsky.social and @mcsweeneys.net and Jason Isbell ... plus the thread connecting David Lynch and Bob Uecker. tommytomlinson.substack.com/p/the-magic-...

New today for @politico.com.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court upheld a law that could ban TikTok in the U.S. The court unanimously rejected TikTok's claims that the law violates the First Amendment.

This week's top 5 #longreads: • Trader No’s? (@fastcompany.com) • Carnivorous curiosity (Alta Journal) • A meditation on power (Switchyard) • The overlooked sense of smell (@nautil.us) • Riding bulls in Manhattan (The Paris Review) longreads.com/2025/01/17/t...

people in the south are on balance better at driving in winter conditions than people in the midwest/northeast because salt trucks are far more scarce. when they do face inclement weather they have experience driving through it on a far higher difficulty setting. in addition the food is better there

I just overheard a 2 year old referring to her jacket pockets as “snack holes” and that is what I shall call them forever and ever!

Some reading for Thanksgiving break?

The real family Thanksgiving story is in the text messages my wife and I exchange from across the same crowded room.

I'm more a Michael but I nonetheless went on Mikes on Mic.

Packing for road strips without kids is now a core memory.

the curse of @theassemblync.bsky.social

Last night our 4-year-old said he wanted Hot Wheels and a racetrack for Christmas, and then told me to “text Santa that.”