The showdown between an eastern North Carolina hog farm and its neighbors continued Wednesday in the second day (not including a day dedicated to jury selection) of a trial about the odors and nuisance allegedly caused by industrial hog operations. The outcome of the trial could force the world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods subsidiary […]
Erica Hellerstein
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Opening Statements Begin in the First Case Against Pork Giant Murphy-Brown
Opening statements kicked off yesterday in the nuisance trial against Murphy-Brown LLC, the pork-producing subsidiary of the global food giant Smithfield Fields.The trial is part of twenty-six federal lawsuits filed by more than five hundred plaintiffs living near hog farms in Eastern North Carolina. The plaintiffs say that the farms’ waste-management systems, which consist of […]
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The First of the Murphy-Brown Hog-Farm Nuisance Trials Began in Raleigh This Week
For years, neighbors of some North Carolina hog farms have complained about the nauseating stench of hog waste that they say blankets the air around them. This week, they’ll begin making that case to a jury. In a federal court in Raleigh, the first trial in a series of groundbreaking lawsuits against Murphy-Brown LLC, the […]
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Why Can’t North Carolina Let Go of the Lost Cause?
On a cloudless day in October 1909, North Carolina governor William W. Kitchin addressed a crowd at the dedication of a granite and bronze Confederate monument in Granville County. Thousands took part in the day’s festivities, which included a parade and music. As the crowd waited for the statue’s unveiling, “the rebel yell broke against […]
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Oh, Wonderful, Another Long Debate on Removing Confederate Monuments from the State Capitol. We Went So You Didn’t Have To.
“These monuments represent sacred history to a vast majority of North Carolinians. Leave them where they are.” That was pretty much the takeaway at a public hearing yesterday concerning the relocation of Raleigh’s Confederate monuments. The meeting, hosted by the North Carolina Historical Commission, asked for the public’s remarks on a semi-recent petition from Governor […]
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As the State Slashes Mental Health Funding, a Local Pilot Program Seeks to Keep People With Mental Health Issues Out of the ER
In the fall of 2017, Danny, a twenty-nine-year-old from Durham, stopped by the office of Carolina Behavioral Health Urgent Care in the middle of an acute mental health crisis. Danny, whose real name the INDY is not sharing for medical privacy reasons, was homeless and suffering from a major depressive disorder with psychotic features. When […]
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Walkout at Raleigh’s Broughton High Postponed Due to a Social Media Threat
Students at Broughton High School in Raleigh were just filing into the football field at 10 a.m. this morning when they were instructed to promptly turn around. Although they planned to take part in a nationwide, student-led walkout to call attention to gun violence, the event they coordinated would be postponed, they learned. Students abandoned […]
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North Carolina is One of the Country’s Worst States for Renters
North Carolina is one of the least accommodating states in the country for renters, according to a new study by the apartment search website RENTCafé. The report analyzed landlord-tenant laws in all fifty states and the District of Columbia and then ranked states based on those criteria. The results for North Carolina are pretty dismal. […]
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In Wake County, the Libertarians Are Coming—and They’re Not Just Old Whites Dudes Looking to Skip Out on Taxes
In November, Robyn Pegram decided to make a change. Pegram, a twenty-four-year-old Apex native, had been a Democrat, but the party’s handling of Bernie Sanders’s candidacy and the HB 2 aftermath left her feeling alienated. Pegram had always been interested in libertarianism”I had always kind of prided myself on being a free thinker,” she saysso […]
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North Carolina Transgender Congressional Candidate Wendy May Officially Files for Federal Office
North Carolina congressional hopeful Wendy May made history Wednesday by becoming the first transgender candidate in the state to file for federal office. May, a fifty-six-year-old army veteran, filled out the requisite paperwork at the State Board of Elections office in Raleigh and then cheerfully announced her candidacy on Facebook live. “I am running as […]