Dec. 20, 2023

Scroll below for that holiday homecoming, but first:

Want to know the best part of our job? It’s the food.

One thing we added to Cardinal & Pine this year was “Leah Tries,” a segment where C&P’s Leah Sherrell tests out the dives, diners, restaurants, and food trucks that populate North Carolina.

The South is a place of fusion, a heady stew of Latin, African, Caribbean, Asian, and European cultures, just to name a few. Fittingly, so’s the food. 

Which is why fusion reigns in Leah’s list of her top 5 NC restaurants in 2023.

Leah tries the Korean hog dog at Cafe Soul Cups in Wake County. The restaurant made her list of Top 5 “Leah Tries’ in 2023. 

Head on over to Instagram to watch a video of Leah explaining her top 5.

And here’s what else we have for you this Wednesday:

The holidays are breathing down our necks. Hope your shopping is done. Tell your friends about us, or—better yet—ask them to sign up if they like nuanced, NC culture and news. It’s how we grow!

Jessica Landis, center, with Chance Spieser, 3, and Harmony Spieser, a rising 5th grader in New Hanover County public schools. They attended a public school rally in Raleigh on June 21. (Photo by Michael McElroy)

The North Carolina state constitution guarantees children in the state the fundamental right to a sound, basic education. But the biggest developments in education policy in the state in 2023 may have taken the state further away from delivering on that promise.

Today, C&P Political Correspondent Michael McElroy wrote about another seismic year in public education.

In short, the Republican-controlled legislature helped wealthy families pay for private school, offered teacher raises that lag behind inflation, and continued to ignore court-orders to adequately fund public schools. 

More NC news:

The NC State Fair in Raleigh. One of a million reasons NC has become one of the fastest growing station in the nation. (Shutterstock) 

NC is dope. New population counts from the US Census are a testament to that.

The state added 140,000 new permanent residents in the last year. Only Texas and Florida had more new people.

More fun stats? About 121,000 babies were born in NC last year. And, on average since 2020, NC has gained every year about 99,000 people who moved from other states—”the equivalent of adding a little more than the population of Asheville annually,” according to NC demographer Michael Cline.

Former civil rights lawyer and activist Floyd McKissick watches work begin on his “Soul City” project, a long-gestating Black empowerment utopia that ultimately couldn’t escape the bad press from white supremacists. (AP Photo/Harold Valentine)

A Black refuge for economic empowerment, a lesbian commune, and a hideaway for enslaved people: Let’s take a tour of the hidden societies within North Carolina society.

This is one of my favorite stories at Cardinal & Pine. Make sure you read and share! 

Image via @cardinalandpine on Instagram

Really scary stuff out in Asheville recently, when a small plane was forced to land on Interstate 26. Fortunately, everyone’s ok.

Two people escaped with non-life threatening injuries from the Dec. 14 crash, which was captured on camera by a passing motorist. 

Image via US Marines Lance Cpl. Emma Gray

The cameras caught this holiday homecoming Wednesday at Fort Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC.

These Marines had been deployed overseas to support U.S. operations in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. NC has one of the top 10 largest active duty and reserve populations in the nation, so scenes like this are common. Welcome home, troops.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by NC journalist Billy Ball. Cardinal & Pine is happily free to read for everyone. Your financial support means a lot to us. Donate here.

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