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Plus: A snowy scene in Blowing Rock. Share with a friend     Hey, it’s Billy. “The Nutcracker” doesn’t have a sequel, per se.  The fanciful Christmas classic, however, does enjoy plenty of adaptations and reimaginings. Here’s a local one worth your time, North Carolina. The Charlotte-based dance and performance outfit Caroline Calouche & Co.…

Inside: Cardinal & Pine’s 2025 Giving Guide Support     Hey, it’s Billy. We can never have enough do-gooders.  If the world is a machine, the people who volunteer, contribute, and generally show up are the ones who keep it running. The world thrives with the people who don’t just stay in their lane, people…

Plus: ‘Good News Friday’ returns Share with a friend     Hey, it’s Billy. Did you know that North Carolina has seven museums that are officially affiliated with the Smithsonian? The state landed its seventh this week. The Charlotte Museum of History joins six other institutions around the state. Cardinal & Pine contributor Ryan Pitkin…

Share with a friend     Hey, it’s Billy. In November, construction ground to a halt on a new Raleigh city hall.  The work stopped because, like many industries that are reliant on immigrant labor, Border Patrol and ICE operations in North Carolina frightened workers.  Because of stories like this, the construction industry is asking…

Plus: Yes, a raccoon broke into a liquor store and got drunk Share with a friend     Hey, it’s Billy. If the first few episodes of “Billy Ball Explains NC” lacked for anything, it was holiday cheer. Not a problem for the new one.  This week, I looked at one of our state’s most…

Plus: Where your Thanksgiving food came from Share with a friend     Hey, it’s Billy. It is one of the terrible ironies of North Carolina that we have some of the premier hospitals in the world, but when it comes to ensuring healthy pregnancies for people who live here, we’re falling behind.  We took…

Plus: 3 things happening in NC this week Share with a friend     Hey, it’s Billy. It’s appropriate that “Giving Tuesday” falls a day after most of the “Black Friday” and holiday shopping deals ship out.  The latter is a time of crass commercialism. The former is the opposite.  It’s about finding a cause…

Plus: Something to be grateful for. Share with a friend     Hey, it’s Billy. Gratitude is a funny thing. If you try to force it, it just feels unearned and cheap. Separating the fake kind from the real kind is worth the extra mental flex.  This week, as we take off for the Thanksgiving holiday,…

Plus: Holiday events abound, including a big Thanksgiving parade. Share with a friend     Hey, it’s Billy. Ever heard of the term “popcorn brain?”  “It’s the real, biological phenomenon of feeling your brain is popping because you’re being overstimulated online,” Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Aditi Nerurkar wrote in Harvard Health Publishing. “Then it’s hard…

Plus: The need is great at the Salvation Army’s holiday drive. Share with a friend     Hey, it’s Billy. We begin this last week of November with the holidays. They are, impossibly, upon us. North Carolina’s capital city, Raleigh, held its annual holiday parade Saturday. Cardinal & Pine’s Michael McElroy was there, and he…