Mary C Curtis

On Jan. 20, 2025, when Donald Trump took the oath of office as the 47th president of the United States, he was overshadowed by the memory of a man and a movement that shaped our country’s history and changed the world. In Washington, D.C., there stands a granite statue of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose federal holiday this year, on the third Monday in January, coincided with Inauguration Day.

Some people just won’t take no for an answer. Put in that category the Republican candidate for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Jefferson Griffin lost that race to incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs by just 734 votes out of more than 5.5 million cast, which has to hurt. Ask Democrat Cheri Beasley, who in 2020 lost her North Carolina chief justice race to Republican Paul Newby by about 400 votes from almost 5.4 million ballots cast.

Get ready, Charlotte. Winter is coming. Snow and sleet are in the forecast this weekend. We discuss what to expect and how it could impact the coming days. It’s the election that will not end. The Republican-controlled North Carolina Supreme Court has ruled the North Carolina Board of Elections should not certify a victory for Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs over Republican Jefferson Griffin for a seat on that same bench. Riggs recused herself, while the only other Democrat, Anita Earls, dissented.

It sounds like the plot of an adventure film — an elite, trained military unit is sent on a mission that’s intricate, critical and dangerous. But the story was real. Long before he was president of the United States, Jimmy Carter was one of the heroes of this particular operation, one that called for smarts, bravery and a kind of manhood, one far different from the puffed-up, MMA, “your body, my choice” version so much on display these days.

We take a deep dive into the stories that shaped our world and North Carolina in 2024, from groundbreaking political moments to cultural shifts and global headlines. Host Kenia Thompson sits down with columnist Mary C. Curtis and former Durham County Commissioner Nimasheena Burns to discuss the top trends.

The “L-word.” It took some time for journalists to call a lie a lie when politicians uttered provable falsehoods. After all, don’t all politicians stretch the truth when it comes to policies, opponents or their own accomplishments?

If my mother were alive, she would be disappointed at what her Republican Party has become. But not surprised. She had witnessed the GOP inching its way toward scapegoating some Americans to score political points with others in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, and thought the tactic, while canny and often effective, betrayed longtime African American Lincoln Republicans like herself.

With a recently concluded global climate summit with challenging takeaways, an incoming president who vows to again remove the U.S. from international climate agreements, and increasing weather disasters that defy what went before, a look at what is being called an existential crisis could be grim. But that’s not the kind of book Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has written. “What If We Get It Right?

When the primary for the 2020 presidential contest was just beginning, an acquaintance — an intelligent, wealthy, white Democrat — shared her sure-fire prediction as we shared dinner. “It’s going to be Michael Bloomberg,” she said. “He’s the logical choice” to be the party’s nominee for president.