July 28, 2025

Chatham/North Carolina

Big, Beautiful Bill

Axios Raleigh: North Carolina Food Bank Warns It Won’t Be Able To Meet Food Demand After SNAP Cuts

Cardinal & Pine: Video: NC Mothers Took Their Kids to DC To Fight Against Medicaid Cuts

Cardinal & Pine: These NC Kids Rely on Medicaid To Survive. Trump’s Cuts Could Force Them Out of Their Homes.

Education

Axios Raleigh: Trump Administration Releases Portion of Frozen North Carolina Education Funding 

Cardinal & Pine: Opinion: NC Public Schools Are the Beating Heart of Our Communities. They Deserve Better.

Cardinal & Pine: Trump Releases All $165M in Frozen Education Funds, Says NC Attorney General Jeff Jackson

NC Newsline: Commentary: North Carolina’s Unbelievable and Embarrassing Disinvestment in Public Education

The Assembly NC: UNC Board of Governors Demands New DEI Compliance Committees

WRAL: UNC System Leaders Discuss Financial Worries, NC’s Place in ‘National Reform of Higher Education’

Elections

Axios Raleigh: A Guide to 2025 Local Elections Across the Triangle, from Apex to Zebulon

CBS17: North Carolina Congressional Race Already Showing Signs of Competitiveness

Democracy Docket: North Carolina, RNC Team Up on New Rule Change To Restrict Student Voting

NC Newsline: A Voter Targeted By Judge Griffin in 2024 NC Supreme Court Race Testifies Before Congress

Federal Budget Impacts

Carolina Public Press: End of Federal Funding Threatens Public TV and Radio in NC

FEMA

The Assembly NC: FEMA’s Uncertain Future Leaves N.C. and Other States in Limbo

Governor Stein

ABC11: State Lawmakers Prepare for Override Votes on Bills Vetoed By Governor Stein

Carolina Public Press: NC GOP Legislators Seek To Override Gov. Stein’s Vetoes. Swing Democrats Have Final Word.

Charlotte Observer: NC Lawmakers To Return Soon for Override Votes on Several Bills Vetoed By Stein

Health Care

Carolina Forward: The Opioid Settlement: Impact and Implementation in North Carolina

The Assembly NC: For Thousands of 9/11 Survivors in NC, Health Care is Under Threat

Hurricane Helene

Vox: The Government Stepped in To Clean Up a Hurricane Disaster in North Carolina. Then They Created Another One.

Immigration

Carolina Journal: Immigration Arrests Up 162% in NC Under Trump Administration

WUNC: ICE Arrests of Immigrants Rise By 170% in North Carolina. Here’s What To Know.

LGBTQ

Cardinal & Pine: How NC LGBTQ+ Organizations Are Adjusting After Trump Eliminates Mental Health Hotline Option

Carolina Public Press: Jackson Co. Threatens To Break Up Another NC Regional Library

NC Politics:

WUNC: Politics Newsletter

Reproductive Rights

NC Health News: Delays, Confusion, Adaptation Mark First Two Years of NC’s Stricter Abortion Laws

Senator Thom Tillis

Axios: Tillis Crashes Trump’s Fed Tour

Tropical Depression Chantal

Chapelboro: Volunteers, Cleaning Supplies and $20,000 in Cash: How Triangle Mutual Aid is Helping Flood Victims

Chapelboro: Gov. Stein Surveys Flooding Damage in Chapel Hill, Pledges To ‘Do Everything We Can’ for Relief

U.S. Senate Race

Axios: Senate Democrats Buoyed by Cooper’s Decision To Run

Cardinal & Pine: Video: NC’s Senate Race Could Be the Most Important Election of 2026

Newsweek: Roy Cooper’s Chances of Flipping NC’s Senate Seat -- Polls

The Assembly NC: Trump and GOP Leaders Line Up Behind Michael Whatley for N.C. Senate Seat

WRAL: Former NC Gov. Roy Cooper To Announce Bid for U.S. Senate Seat

Workers’ Rights

Associated Press: Trump’s Labor Department Proposes More Than 60 Rule Changes in a Push To Deregulate Workplaces

U.S./International

A.I.

NY Times: The Morning: A.I. vs. A.I.

Democratic Party

NY Times: The Morning: Democrats in the Wilderness

Education

ABC News: Trump Administration Releasing $6 Billion in Education Funding It Had Withheld

NY Times: The Evening: Judge Challenges Trump’s Harvard Cuts

NY Times: The Evening: White House To Release Education Funding

Elections

NBC News: Trump’s Intelligence Chiefs Try To Rewrite the History of the 2016 Election

NBC News: Republicans Plan To Use the Threat of Impeachment as a Key Midterm Issue

NY Times (Gift Article): Opinion: Inside the Rise of the Multiracial Right

Politico: Democratic Poll Warns GOP Redistricting Could Cost Republicans Up to 7 Points in Competitive Seats

Politico: Inside Trump’s Plan To Keep Control of Congress in 2026

The Atlantic: The 2028 Presidential Race Has Begun

Time: The Difference Between Gerrymandering and Redistricting, Explained

Epstein Files

ABC News: DOJ’s Meeting With Longtime Jeffrey Epstein Associate Ghislaine Maxwell Happened After Maxwell Initiated Contact: Sources

ABC News: Ghislaine Maxwell Received Limited Immunity During Meetings With Deputy Attorney General: Sources

Associated Press: Justice Dept. Official Meets With Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s Imprisoned Former Girlfriend

Axios: House Bails Early for Its August Recess Amid Epstein Files Uproar

Axios: “Such Bulls**t”: Not Every Democrat Wants To Talk About Epstein

BBC: Trump Calls Epstein Controversy a ‘Witch Hunt’ as Justice Department Seeks Meeting With Ghislaine Maxwell

CBS News: To Former Prosecutors, Everything About the Justice Dept. Interview With Ghislaine Maxwell Looked Unorthodox

CNN: House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Ghislaine Maxwell for Deposition

NBC News: House Cancels Last Day of Votes Before Summer Break as Epstein Consumes Capitol Hill

NBC News: Ghislaine Maxwell’s Meetings With Justice Department Shrouded in Secrecy

NY Times: The Morning: Understanding the Epstein Saga

NY Times: The Evening: House Stalls Over Epstein Case

NY Times: The Evening: Trump Was Told He’s in Epstein Files

Politico: House Republicans Back Epstein Subpoena

Politico: ‘The Bill Is Going To Come Due’: House GOP Braces for Epstein Crisis To Intensify

Politico: The Epstein Files Timeline Raises Real Questions for Trump

The Hill: Democrats Play Hardball on Epstein Files

Time: From the Grave, Jeffrey Epstein Shuts Down the House

Federal Budget

ABC News: Both Parties Promise Bipartisanship To Pass Spending Bills Before Shutdown Deadline

Axios: Senate Dems Preserve Shutdown Leverage Over Trump, GOP

MSN: Mass Resignations at NASA Spark Alarm: 3,870 Employees Set To Exit Amid Trump-Era Workforce Cuts

NY Times (Gift Article): Hundreds of NASA Employees, Past and Present, Sign Letter of Formal Dissent

The Hill: Republicans Fear Washington Heading for Shutdown After Bruising Fights

Gaza

NYTimes: The Morning: Hunger in Gaza

Homelessness

Axios: What To Know About Civil Commitment, Trump’s New Policy for Homelessness

Immigration

CNN: Facing Pressure from All Sides, ICE Gets a Windfall of Cash To Ramp Up Enforcement

Justice

CNN: Another Whistleblower Claims That Top DOJ Official Suggested Department Could Ignore Court Orders

Media

NY Times: On Politics: Late-Night Drama

MLK

ABC News: Trump Administration Releases FBI Records on MLK Jr.’s Assassination

Palestine

NY Times: The Evening: France To Recognize Palestinian Statehood

Social Security

Axios: Social Security Recipients Set To Face an $18,000 Benefit Cut in Just 7 Years

Supreme Court

NPR: Supreme Court Blocks Rule That Blocks Voting Right Act for Now

Politico: Judges’ Orders ‘Need To Be Respected,’ Elena Kagan Says Amid Trump’s Escalating Conflict With the Courts 

Trump Presidency

NY Times: On Politics: Old Complaints, New Actions

NY Times: The Morning: Why Trump is Changing So Many Names

Politico: A Polling Analyst Digs Into Trump’s Ratings and the Epstein Saga

Politico: Independents Are Increasingly Souring on Trump, New Poll Finds

War on Science

Politico: National Science Foundation Staffers Express Concerns About ‘Politically Motivated and Legally Questionable’ Trump Actions

Union of Concerned Scientists: Science and Democracy Under Siege: Documenting Six Months of the Trump Administration’s Destructive Actions

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