• Following the Walk for Peace in NC
  • ICYMI: Big Ideas from Raleigh City Council Hopefuls
  • A Dire Situation for Organ Transplants
  • Audit: UNC Emergency Alert Training is Lacking
  • A College Basketball Ticket Scam

Good morning, readers.

The Buddhist monks who walked through the Triangle two weeks ago are now officially 100 days into their 2,300-mile trek across America, nearing their final destination of Washington, D.C. 

Along the way, they’ve captivated crowds both online and in person; 20,000 people reportedly lined up to see them in Columbia, South Carolina, and they’ve amassed 2.6 million followers on Facebook. 

Writer Storms Reback followed the venerable monks in North Carolina to get a better understanding of their journey, as well as the people from all walks of life who filled streets, gas station parking lots, and town facilities to get a glimpse. 

“Buddhist monks have led peace walks for thousands of years,” Reback writes. “Hoping to heal the pain that lingered in Cambodia from the genocide orchestrated by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, Maha Ghosananda organized one that gained international attention in 1992. Strife in the United States hasn’t risen to that level, but for many it’s uncomfortably high right now.”

“Every time you turn on the television, it’s something negative,” one onlooker in Salisbury told Reback. “When I saw this on social media, it was like a shiny beacon of hope.”

Read more below and have a good Thursday.

—Sarah W.

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Credit: Illustration by Nicole Pajor Moore

Thought Leaders

Yes in God’s Backyard, zonal transit, Major League Baseball—here are the big ideas at-large candidates for Raleigh City Council are bringing to the table, from INDY’s Jane Porter.

Vital Signs

N.C.’s largest organ procurement nonprofit, which has an office in Chapel Hill, says federal policies are creating “Hunger-Games-style competition” for organs, The Assembly reports.

State of Alert

UNC-Chapel Hill officials responsible for the university’s emergency alert system haven’t received annual training on threat-notification requirements, The Assembly reports.

Sponsored Content

LOCAL: Novartis, a pharmaceutical company with existing Triangle facilities and plans for a $770 million expansion in the Morrisville area, is being sued by the state for price-fixing, WRAL reports.

LOCAL: After a judge blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end Temporary Protected Status for Honduran immigrants, beloved Duke University bus driver Luis Juaréz is getting back behind the wheel, The Chronicle reports.

EDUCATION: New state data show crimes in North Carolina schools decreased for the third year in a row, WFAE reports.

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