The Assembly

This story is republished from NOTUS. Embattled U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards sent a 22-page letter to his colleagues defending himself against sexual harassment allegations that led to his decision to not run for reelection in November.

For more than a year, research universities across the country were on red alert over the Trump administration’s drastic proposed cuts to federal research funding. So it’s no surprise that University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill administrators were excited to see funding levels stay steady as the 2026 fiscal year closed. “Things aren’t nearly as dire as we might have figured,” Chancellor Lee Roberts said at an event The Assembly and The Atlantic hosted in April.

North Carolina’s leading contenders for U.S. Senate haven’t agreed to participate in a debate before the November election. If they don’t, it would be the first time in almost 30 years that the state’s two major party nominees haven’t squared off. Former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has consistently led Republican Michael Whatley in public opinion polls. At a campaign event in High Point on Tuesday, Cooper was noncommittal when The Assembly asked about his plans.

It was a humid night in July, and the patrons of Atomic Clock Brewing looked at me like I’d lost my mind when I asked if they knew who Dolly Parton was. Of course they knew Dolly: her charity, her looks, her vibes. Some mentioned songs like “Jolene” or “9 to 5.” Others called her an angel. But no one knew that this converted 1920s-era municipal garage in Durham was once home to the small record label that released some of her most critically acclaimed music.

“I’m glad we already got friends,” said Shana Richards, the counselor at A&T Four Middle College, grinning as she peeked into a freshman homeroom on a Thursday in early August. Inside, a dozen teenagers in fresh braids, sneakers, and polo shirts talked in clusters as the morning light blasted through the windows of Hodgin Hall. The new school year at the all-boys high school on North Carolina A&T State University’s campus had just begun.

On a rainy afternoon in April 2007, satellite trucks lined up outside Raleigh’s 19,000-seat RBC Center. Inside, scores of reporters from around the country, including CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, settled into a makeshift press room. They trained their cameras on a wooden lectern bearing the seal of the N.C. Department of Justice. A few miles away in a downtown hotel, three Duke University athletes huddled with their families, attorneys, and supporters, eyes glued to a TV.

When Chris Barnhill decided to put solar panels on his Bladen County farm, his uncle tried to convince him otherwise. Four generations of their family have farmed blueberries here, and his uncle believed it was risky to pivot. But the solar panels, Barnhill insisted, wouldn’t disrupt the family business; the 500 acres of blueberries would remain 500 acres of blueberries. It would be another 1,000 acres of his unused land that would generate energy.

An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled on Thursday that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill does not have to release any of its 400-page, $1.2 million investigation into allegations of retaliation, hiring irregularities, and other issues at the School of Civic Life and Leadership. The Assembly and other outlets asked for the report in March under public records laws.

North Carolina lawmakers don’t expect to return to Raleigh for votes until after the November election. But a few of them have less-than-stellar attendance records so far this session. The N.C. General Assembly has several months left in its two-year session, but the bulk of the policy work—including passing a budget—is already done.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park lake cemetery crew member Shawn Massey braces his tattooed left arm for James Calhoun,  who cautiously steps out of a utility terrain vehicle at the edge of Bone Valley Cemetery. Calhoun, from nearby Robbinsville, wears a navy blue ball cap with the words “North Shore” embroidered in yellow. He shuffles up an embankment onto the graveyard’s sloped pitch carpeted with a veneer of rain-slicked orange mud.