Tuesday, August 25
Governor Roy Cooper allocates $175 million in COVID-19 relief funds for statewide RENTAL AND UTILITY ASSISTANCE.
Wednesday, August 26
NC STATE announces that it will close its dorms to students after a surge in COVID-19 cases. The school’s FOOTBALL PROGRAM also announces that the Wolfpack’s season opener against Virginia Tech will be postponed from September 12 to September 26. Over 800 students have tested positive for the disease, along with 36 employees, according to university reports. Students are asked to move out by September 6.
RONNIE LONG, a Black man who had been wrongly imprisoned since 1976, is released from prison. Long was charged with the rape of a white woman and convicted by an all-white jury, but new biological evidence that was not seen during his original trial supported his long-standing innocence claim.
Influential state representative DAVID LEWIS successfully pleads guilty to charges related to a scheme that allowed him to funnel campaign donations into a personal bank account.
Thursday, August 27
A white 17-year-old who attended antiracism protests in KENOSHA, WISCONSIN as part of a white militia group is charged with multiple counts of homicide and attempted homicide. He is accused of shooting and killing two protesters—Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36—and injuring at least one more. The shooter, a police cadet whose social media accounts praised President Trump, was filmed that night freely walking past law enforcement while illegally open-carrying an AR-15-style assault rifle.
Donald Trump officially accepts the Republican nomination for president at the end of an in-person REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION featuring unmasked, non-socially-distant crowds gathered on the White House lawn. The official nomination process took place in person in Charlotte on August 25 and led to four attendees TESTING POSITIVE FOR COVID-19.
Friday, August 28
ANTIRACISTS MARCH IN RALEIGH to protest police brutality after the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Fourteen protesters are arrested for breaking a 10:00 p.m. curfew set by Raleigh mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, and one is arrested for assault on a police officer.
Saturday, August 29
Antiracism PROTESTS CONTINUE IN RALEIGH for a second night with fewer reported incidents of violence and no arrests. A similar protest in DURHAM also resulted in no arrests.
Literary icon RANDALL KENAN dies at 57. A professor of Creative Writing at UNC-Chapel Hill, Kenan lovingly chronicled the Black gay experience in the South.
Sunday, August 30
North Carolina reports 1,051 COVID-19 CASES, bringing the reported case total to 166,127 since March. Cases spiked over the weekend thanks to the arrival of late test results to state recordkeepers from LabCorp.
Monday, August 31
Roy Cooper announces that he will EASE RESTRICTIONS on businesses implemented to stop the spread of COVID-19.
NC STATE’S WOMEN’S SOCCER team opts out of fall 2020 competition. As of press time, the Atlantic Coast Conference still plans to proceed with fall sports like football.
Follow Editorial Assistant Cole Villena on Twitter or send an email to cvillena@indyweek.com.
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