Newsletters
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🌘 Watching tonight’s lunar eclipse in NC
Plus: How to spot hummingbirds in NC Share with a friend Hey, it’s Billy. Below, we’ve got a troubling report on NC’s fisheries, and details about NC’s migrating hummingbirds, but first: It’s a good night to be a stargazer. This evening, folks in North Carolina could get a peek at a partial lunar eclipse, depending…
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A big blow to Flock cameras in NC
Plus: Beating news exhaustion w/ Beth Helfrich. Share with a friend Hey, it’s Billy. Politics can be brutal and dismaying. But it can also be a place for connection and peaceful change. Every now and then, it should be fun too. This week, in a new Billy Ball Explains NC segment called “3 dumb questions…
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Why Dolly Parton matters in NC too
Plus: A perfect rainbow over Wilmington. Share with a friend Hey, it’s Billy. Below, we have a tribute to the late, great Southern icon, Dolly Parton, and a rainbow over Wilmington, but first: Everyone loves secret food destinations. Today, we published a look at an under-the-radar taco destination in Asheville called Xico Chico. The name…
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🍂 C&P’s early fall guide to North Carolina
Plus: A historic hero comes home Share with a friend Hey, it’s Billy. Below, we have a rundown on NC’s controversial early voting plans and a guide to early fall daytripping in NC, but first: The shoes are new. The backpack still smells like the factory where it was made. My daughter’s trying out a…
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They want to log NC’s national forests
Plus: Name this NC city Share with a friend Hey, it’s Billy. Below, we’re rolling out Cardinal & Pine’s 2026 voter hub, a one-stop shop for all your midterm election needs, and we also have a story about President Trump’s plan to clear logging in national forests, but first: Good News Friday needs no explanation,…
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🐻 After rare bear attack in NC, let’s get smarter
Plus: A golden sunset in Beaufort. Share with a friend Hey, it’s Billy. Below, we have some must-read bear safety tips following a rare bear attack in western NC, plus an important new story about Senate candidate Michael Whatley’s relationship with a powerful NC utility, but first: Wherever you find people in need, there will…
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NC’s ‘Red Scare’ isn’t what it’s cracked up to be
Plus: What it takes to be ‘middle class’ in NC Share with a friend Hey, it’s Billy. Below, we have new data on what it takes to be “middle class” in NC, and pro tennis returns to NC, but first: Is Roy Cooper—the Democrat running for one of NC’s two US Senate seats—a socialist? Recently,…
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⚡ Watch lightning hit Battleship NC
Plus: Best restaurants, bars in Asheville Share with a friend Hey, it’s Billy. Below we have national honors for some western NC restaurants and big political news from Raleigh, but first: In news, every now and then we see North Carolinians come together on surprising issues. This year, it’s been Flock cameras and data centers.…
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10 of NC’s best Black-owned restaurants
Plus: Gov. Josh Stein laid into this court bill. Here’s why. Share with a friend Hey, it’s Billy. In today’s newsletter, we’ve got a must-read preview for camping season and 10 of the best Black-owned restaurants in NC, but first: 3 things happening in NC is Cardinal & Pine’s weekly guide to the stories, people,…
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⚾ How NC’s Little League team did
Plus: Name this popular camping destination Share with a friend Hey, it’s Billy. Below, we have a pioneering program at a North Carolina prison, and a look at the local electric co-ops providing an alternative to Duke Energy, but first: Little League softball runs through North Carolina. We can say that definitively now, after a…
