The Assembly

12/31/2025

Right now, every single one is filling your inbox with year-end pleas for help: donations, subscriptions, an extra kidney, anything you can spare. Including us, obviously.

This is something of a zero-sum game—money is finite, after all—but I won’t knock our fellow players or tell you not to support them. A robust media ecosphere benefits everyone.

But I will tell you why The Assembly deserves to be at the top of your list. It’s pretty simple: Nobody in North Carolina does the kind of journalism we do.

You can now get the Assembly for 50% off for New Year's Eve. Consider getting a subscription to ring in 2026: https://theassemblync.com/subscribe/?utm_campaign=eoy_socials

12/31/2025

It seems that the only thing a pair of top congressional candidates can agree on is that they spoke earlier this month.

From there, state Sen. Bobby Hanig and Army veteran Laurie Buckhout have wildly different accounts of a phone call the two shared.

Hanig and Buckhout are among five Republicans running in the primary for the 1st Congressional District, vying for the chance to take on Democratic Rep. Don Davis in a recently redrawn northeastern district.

Buckhout narrowly lost to Davis last year, but she took a cyber defense job in the Trump administration in March and seemed unlikely to run again. Instead, she endorsed Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson.

Laurie Buckhout and Bobby Hanig are jostling for positioning in an increasingly contentious North Carolina primary.

12/29/2025

Another year is in the books. Between the beginning of President Trump’s second term, the never-ending state Supreme Court race that finally ended, a new governor, and legislative wrangling, it was hard to keep up with the news.

Nearly 3.6 million different readers visited The Assembly Network this year, an all-time high. And the stories that drew you in were as diverse and unique as this place we call home.

Here are the 10 most-read Assembly stories of 2025.

These are The Assembly stories that made the biggest waves this year, from beach parking to cattle fraud to the state Supreme Court race.

12/26/2025

At The Assembly, we are lucky to work with a number of photographers around the state. Their eye for detail and ability to capture just the right moment is unmatched–and really makes our stories come to life.

Here are some of our favorite images from North Carolina news this year.

See them all at the link in our comments.

12/24/2025

When eCourts went live in the final 13 counties this October, officials touted the conversion from paper to electronic filings as a “historic transformation.”

Ryan Boyce, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), said saving North Carolinians trips to the courthouse and expanding access to records “was the foremost priority, and proud legacy, of the eCourts conversion.”

But the multi-year rollout of the system has been anything but smooth, plagued with delays, software glitches, and data errors that prompted calls from some quarters to hit pause so problems could be addressed.

State lawmakers said court officials in their home districts have not seen the conveniences and cost-savings eCourts was supposed to bring.

12/24/2025

Every holiday season, we ask the staff of The Assembly to pick some of their favorite stories we published throughout the year. These can be hard-hitting investigations, timely features, or just stories that were really fun to read. They aren’t always the journalism that drew the most readers or had the biggest impact, but they are what stuck with us weeks and months later.

As a special treat, we’re putting all our favorite stories outside the paywall for the next week so you can enjoy them–and perhaps share them with your friends and family.

We know you’ve all been very good this year and definitely deserve it.

Here are our staff's favorite stories published throughout the year, which we are putting outside our paywall as a special gift to you.

12/24/2025

How did the rapper, still omnipresent three decades after his death, come to rest in a Lumberton grave? Journalist Jeff Pearlman went down to Robeson County to find out.

How did the rapper, still omnipresent three decades after his death, come to rest in a Lumberton grave? Writer Jeff Pearlman finds out.

12/23/2025

Undoubtedly, The Assembly sets the bar for the higher education beat. I joined the team this fall, and I clearly have big shoes to fill.

It takes time—something that’s becoming more and more rare in journalism—to do this work. We do it because we believe the results are worth your time and attention, too.

I’m committed to telling more of the stories shaping higher education in North Carolina, in 2026 and beyond. Our state deserves it.

https://theassemblync.com/subscribe/?utm_campaign=eoy_socials

12/23/2025

New charter schools in North Carolina are struggling to enroll enough students to stay solvent. One High Point school’s mid-fall implosion shows the consequences for families.

New charter schools are struggling to enroll enough students to stay solvent. One High Point school’s implosion shows the consequences.

12/19/2025

Syllabi for all courses in the UNC System will now be considered public records and soon must be made available online, under a rule issued Friday by system President Peter Hans.

The regulation finalizes a proposal from system officials that had been circulated among faculty leaders for feedback this month.

The final version includes some changes, such as a new requirement that syllabi include a disclaimer that the inclusion of an assigned reading in a course does not imply an endorsement of the material by the professor—a change that stemmed from feedback from members of the system’s Faculty Assembly, chair Wade Maki said.

The regulation, which includes some changes from a previous draft, takes effect on January 15.

12/19/2025

If you didn’t know better, you might think Gov. Josh Stein’s December 10 press conference was a victory lap, not a concession speech.

Stein announced that he was reversing the “real and damaging” cuts, which he said would allow the state’s 3 million Medicaid recipients to “continue to receive the care that they need and deserve.”

There was some irony in the commendations. It was Stein’s administration, after all, that cut Medicaid rates in October over the objections of the Republican lawmakers he blamed and many of the people standing behind him. He changed course only when courts left him no other option—or, in his words, when his health department “read the writing on the wall.”

Facing an uphill legal battle, Gov. Stein reversed his administration’s Medicaid cuts. But the crisis isn’t over.

12/18/2025

BREAKING: Former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt has died, his family announced on Thursday.