For some in eastern North Carolina, it’s not really spring until the Azalea Festival. 

Wilmington’s annual spring fling is filled with parades, contests, street fairs, pageants, music, and—of course—that flowering shrub that lights up our yards this time of year. 

As C&P contributor Ryan Pitkin noted in today’s “3 things happening in NC,” the Azalea Festival has been going on since 1948.

This week, NC’s also celebrating the historic accords that started colonial North Carolina on the path to revolution. Tap here.

This year’s Azalea Festival princess, Emma Steele, during her crowning in March. The Wilmington festival returns this week in NC. (Azalea Festival on Instagram)

Happy Monday, North Carolina. Here’s what’s in today’s Cardinal & Pine newsletter:

Thanks to C&P reader Mary Davidson for this moonrise view on the Neuse River. 

Send us your view from NC! 

A grumpy, grumpy man fills up his gas tank. (Irene Miller/Shutterstock)

OK, so we know gas prices are high. 

There are several reasons for that, but mostly it’s because of the war in Iran. 

This newsletter is meant to be useful, though. And since neither you nor I have any power over the war, the only thing I can offer is where gas is the cheapest right now in NC. Here’s where.

1. UNC intends to hire Michael Malone as the school’s next basketball coach. WRAL

“Longtime NBA coach Michael Malone is due to take over the UNC head coaching job after the school fired Hubert Davis.”

2. Black bears are returning to central NC, where they’ve been missing for decades. WUNC

“Once relegated to small isolated pockets at the ends of the state, and down to fewer than 1,000 individuals, bears are now pushing farther into the Piedmont, filling in habitat they haven’t lived in for decades. And their population has expanded to an estimated 20,000.”

3. Could higher tolls be in the NC ferry system’s future? These NC lawmakers want a state audit first. NC Newsline

“At an oversight committee in March, Sen. Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick) said coastal North Carolina could not function without the ferry division, but the current model is not working.”

The 2024 Miss North Carolina, Carrie Everett, hailed from Johnson County. (Via MissNC.org)

Absolutely heartbreaking news today.

Carrie Everett, the Johnston County resident who won Miss North Carolina in 2024, has died. Her family confirmed the news on Instagram Monday.

Everett was a historic winner. She was the first Miss North Carolina to be studying at an historically Black college at the time.

She was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer last summer. Life is often not fair. RIP, Carrie, and thank you for breaking down so many walls in your short time here.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Billy Ball. I’m an NC native and journalist. I tend to lean left on opinion, but I lean no way on facts. Today’s edition includes stories from Ryan Pitkin and USA Today Network via Reuters Connect. It was edited by Paula Solis.

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