INDY Week

01/28/2025

INDY PRESENTS : WHAT’S YOUR VISION FOR DURHAM IN 2030? featured speakers Sean Wilson / Nicole Oxendine / Aidil Ortiz Motorco Presents Wed Jan 29, 2025 6:00 pm Tickets $5 Join us for INDY presents: What's your vision for Durham in 2030?, an in-person gathering that builds on INDY Week‘s coverage ...

01/28/2025

The Durham City Council voted unanimously to rezone almost 100 acres of land nested between Hoover Road, Angier Avenue and US Highway 70. Upstart development firm SpaceCraft plans to offer 1,880 apartment and townhouse units, 90 of which would be offered at 60 percent of the area median income.

✍️: By Justin Laidlaw
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The proposed development in East Durham would create housing, commercial space and walking trails near a key transit hub.

01/28/2025

It’s freezing cold and dark at 5:30 p.m.—time to start planning for summer! That means summer camp sign-ups for when the kids are out of school and you’re still working. In our 2025 Summer Camp Guide, we offer plenty of ideas for summer camps that will keep your kids energized, engaged, learning, and getting creative.

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It’s not too early to start thinking about what your kids will be doing when they’re out of school in the warmer months while you still have work.

01/28/2025

Since the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, Durham Public Schools has struggled to provide its students with bus service to and from school.

This timeline presents portions of our reporting (and reporting from our partners at The 9th Street Journal) as one story that shows where we are and how we got here. We will continue to update this timeline with our future reporting.

✍️: By Chase Pellegrini du Paur
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Durham Public Schools face ongoing issues with providing bus service for students. We've compiled a timeline to help you stay informed.

01/27/2025

Several Triangle chefs and restaurants landed semifinalist nominations today for the annual James Beard Foundation Awards, which recognize America’s top culinary talent.

✍️: By Lena Geller
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A Bollywood-inspired bar, a handmade pasta restaurant, and a beloved seafood spot are among this year's slate of local semifinalists.

01/27/2025

The residents of Chapel Hill do not like the University of North Carolina’s power plant—at least those who turned out to a hearing earlier this month.

They do not like that it burns coal and natural gas, spewing carbon dioxide and methane into the air in the heart of the town. They do not like that administrators promised to stop burning coal by 2020, and then failed to meet that goal.

And they definitely do not like the university’s attempt to amend its air permit to allow for the burning of paper and plastic pellets.

✍️: By Chase Pellegrini du Paur
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UNC’s proposal to burn paper and plastic pellets at its power plant garnered opposition at a Chapel Hill hearing this week. The public can submit comments through January 23.

01/27/2025

Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon is set in Michigan but begins with a reference to Durham: “The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance agent promised to fly from Mercy to the other side of Lake Superior at three o’clock.”

You can find that oft-banned novel on the shelves of the Stanford L. Warren Library, a beloved branch in Durham’s Hayti neighborhood that reopened this past December after a three-year renovation. It is a library that contains many books you’re unlikely to find elsewhere.

✍️: By Sarah Edwards
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The Stanford L. Warren branch reopened after a three-year closure. Its history is anchored by a formative donation—and community support.

01/27/2025

The state board of elections, a federal judge, and several elections experts have all rejected Jefferson Griffin’s attempt to throw out 60,000 votes from November’s state supreme court election and reverse the results in his favor.

Yet the majority-Republican court—the same one Griffin is trying to join—recently blocked the certification of sitting justice Allison Riggs’ victory against him, meaning she still hasn’t been declared the official winner.

Our staffer explores how her ballot ended up as one of the many challenged by Griffin.

✍️: By Chloe Courtney Bohl
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An INDY staffer explores how she ended up on the list of voters with ballots being challenged in the NC Supreme Court race.

01/24/2025

Recently Chloe Courtney Bohl decided to test out whether Amtrak is a viable option for Triangle commuters like her. The resulting story clearly struck a chord, with more than 30,000 online views in 72 hours. Readers shared their thoughts in Backtalk, our reader response section.

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And other things our readers told us.

01/24/2025

Several North Carolina cities have ended ties with the company that uses technology to track gun violence, saying the data hasn’t backed claims. But others have extended contracts despite backlash.

📝: In collaboration with and
✍️: Written by Justin Laidlaw, Michael Hewlett, Johanna F. Still, and Evey Weisblat
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Several NC cities have ended ties with the company that uses technology to track gun violence Others have extended contracts.

01/24/2025

Before he became a filmmaker, David Lynch—the creator of surrealist noirs like Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive who died Thursday at age 78—was just a kid who lived in lots of places.

Durham was one of them.

✍️: By Lena Geller
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Before he became a filmmaker, David Lynch was just a kid who lived in lots of places. Durham was one of them.

01/24/2025

It’s Hollywood awards season and moviegoing weather. In the Triangle, the countdown until downtown Durham’s annual Full Frame Documentary Festival in April has begun.

✍️: By Sarah Edwards
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“Union,” “Daughters, and “Hollywoodgate” will screen in late January and early February, ahead of the April 3-5 festival.

01/24/2025

But now, five years past its self-imposed deadline to phase out coal, UNC is trying to wean itself from one of the main drivers of climate change. Instead, the university is asking state environmental regulators for permission to burn up to 22,000 tons of pellets composed of paper and plastic over the next year—and possibly beyond.

📝: Originally published in Inside Climate News
✍️: Written by Lisa Sorg
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To reduce its carbon footprint, UNC's coal burning plant could burn pellets composed of paper and plastic.

01/23/2025

“Welcome to the Resistance,” wrote INDY’s editor in the days following Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration. “Trump Is President, But Trumpism Can Never Prevail.”

Eight years later, only half of that headline appears to be true.

✍️: By Chase Pellegrini de Paur
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With Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Trump's inauguration coinciding, INDY staffers capture scenes from across the Triangle.

01/23/2025

Dry January is upon us: A month where many abstain from drinking after a wet holiday season. But for people still looking to get a buzz without the booze, more options are popping up all over Raleigh in the form of THC-infused drinks.

✍: Written by Elliott Harrell
🔗: https://indyweek.com/food-and-drink/buzz-without-the-booze-thc-drinks-in-raleigh/

01/23/2025

Speakers lined up to voice their opinions about investing $18 million more in a department that received roughly $50 million in the 2024-2025 budget, the second-highest funding obligation after Durham Public Schools.

✍: by Justin Laidlaw
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After weeks of public comment, the Durham County commissioners approved the $18 million sheriff's office training facility in a divided vote.

01/23/2025

With the new location of La Farm, customers have another reason to be excited: It’s also a pizzeria serving Neapolitan-style pizza.

✍: by Elliott Harrell
🔗: https://indyweek.com/food-and-drink/la-farm-bakerys-latest-location-has-a-hot-new-menu-item-pizza/