In North Carolina, when it snows, people have to be creative if they want to go sledding. 

Not many people are investing in a sled for the once-every-four-years major snow event. So cookie sheets and folding chairs and placemats become makeshift sleds. My kids and I used a plastic Captain America shield. 

However you got out and played in this week’s cross-state snow, there was ample opportunity. Parts of central and eastern North Carolina received several inches of snow. In Elizabeth City (northeastern NC), locals reported totals exceeding 9 inches. 

On that note, Stacker recently published a list of the largest snowfall totals in the state’s recorded history. How does 3 feet of snow sound? That’s what Yancey County recorded back in 1993. 

Cardinal & Pine’s Michael McElroy filmed his dog’s hilarious reaction to the snow this week. Check it out below. It was not unlike my kids’ reaction. 

@cardinalandpine on Instagram

Amid this week’s snow, some big news happened too. Let’s get to that below: 

A woman walks to her damaged home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Pensacola, N.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

In recent days, there’s been a lot of back and forth about President Trump’s freeze on federal spending. 

It’s probably unconstitutional, because Trump is putting a halt on things that were passed by Congress. Presidents, in general, are not able to unilaterally disregard Congress. 

But as the matter’s sorted out in courts, Trump’s administration has been working on ways around the law to stop federal funding the president disagrees with. That includes funding for states like ours that intend to use it for clean energy programs. 

This week, a new report details the ways in Trump’s order could impact those programs. Here’s what NC stands to lose: 

And this analysis only includes grants and funding approved through the US Department of Energy. The total does not include the funding through the Environmental Protection Agency and other departments that help North Carolina fight climate change, reduce energy costs, and drive economic development.

Last April, then-Gov. Roy Cooper announced a $156 million grant from the EPA to help families across the state gain access to solar power, another booming industry in the state.

For more on this important story, click below. 

Republicans in North Carolina have often positioned themselves as proponents of “states’ rights.” 

But that won’t really square with legislation the Republican-controlled legislature filed this month to prevent NC’s attorney general, Jeff Jackson, from suing the Trump administration over any orders that Jackson believes to be a violation of the state’s constitutional rights. 

Jackson, a Democrat who won the statewide office in November, has filed or joined lawsuits calling several of Trump’s recent orders unconstitutional, including moves to end birthright citizenship, which is clearly protected in the US Constitution, and freezes to federal grants that have already been approved by Congress and that fund cancer research and other issues of public health.

NC Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Republican, told the News & Observer this month that the legislation was necessary to prevent Jackson from “expressing [his] personal views” and because the state elected President Trump.

The state also voted for Jackson, who won a larger percentage of the vote here than Trump did and vowed on the campaign trail to protect the rights of all North Carolinians.

More NC news: 

We have to acknowledge this great North Carolina artist’s birthday. 

On this day in 1933, Nina Simone was born in little Tryon, NC. That’s in Polk County. Simone rose from poverty in the rural “Jim Crow” South to be one of the world’s most popular singers, mixing classical, jazz, soul, folk, rock, and pop. 

She was also an outspoken advocate for the Civil Rights Movement. Her haunting performance of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” a song about the lynching of a Black man, is probably one of the greatest performances ever. 

Watch a clip of her performing it here. 

Dee Browning via Shutterstock

Following last Friday’s newsletter, it only took Cardinal & Pine reader Mary Covington about 3 minutes to pinpoint Burlington’s “heart of downtown.” 

The art piece celebrates the center of this old textile town. You can check it out today, and hang an engraved lock on it to leave your mark.  

Now, tell us where today’s North Carolina scene comes from. As always, first one to get it lands a shout-out in this newsletter. 

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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Billy Ball. I’m a NC native and journalist. I tend to lean left on opinion, but I lean no way on facts. Cardinal & Pine is happily free to read for everyone. Your financial support means a lot to us. Donate here.

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