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- What Is Yes for Durham?
- Apex Starts a Land Trust
- Painting the Town, One Sign at a Time
- Organizers Push Duke to “Show Up for Durham”
- What’s The Ultimate NC Hike?
Good morning, readers.
A newly formed nonprofit that endorsed four candidates in Durham’s municipal primary has ties to one of those candidates, raising questions about transparency and potential coordination.
Yes for Durham incorporated as a 501(c)(4) last month and hasn’t identified its leadership. But when the group filed for incorporation on August 18, it listed its office address as a property owned by Ari Medoff, whose wife Diana is one of their endorsed candidates for Ward 3. The address was changed to a different location two weeks later.
Diana Medoff told the INDY she has “absolutely no involvement with YES for Durham.” She said her husband was initially involved, but “when he found out that it could be perceived as a conflict of interest, he removed himself completely from the organization before the organization decided to make endorsements.”
Bob Hall, former executive director of Democracy North Carolina, says the address connection raises questions about coordination, though it likely doesn’t meet the high bar for what legally constitutes coordination. If coordination exists, spending would be subject to North Carolina’s $6,800 contribution limit. Without it, a 501(c)(4) could spend unlimited amounts and keep donors anonymous.
The other three endorsed candidates told the INDY they had no coordination with the group.
Since the INDY published this story Saturday, Medoff, Matt Kopac and Mark-Anthony Middleton have posted statements saying they will not accept contributions from the organization.
Read the full story below. Have a good Monday.
—Lena
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LOCAL
Homing In
Under a newly established Community Land Trust, land owned by the town of Apex can be held in the trust in perpetuity, with affordable housing built on it and sold to residents at affordable rates, INDY’s Jane Porter reports.
ARTS & CULTURE
Sign Language
Joseph Giampino’s brush seems to have touched every business sign in Raleigh, from hair salons to breweries and parking garages to city parks. Nick McGregor writes for INDY about how Giampino gets it all done.
LOCAL
Duke It Out
This election season, labor groups are pushing Duke to put more money toward addressing big issues in Durham like affordable housing, living wages, and school funding, INDY’s Chase Pellegrini de Paur writes.
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LOCAL: The Daily Tar Heel writes about the 200-year-old origins of Carolina’s signature blue.
STATE: North Carolina lifted the prescription requirement to get the COVID-19 vaccine. North Carolina Health News reports on the qualifications.
STATE: Swine gas operations are proliferating, but the environmental and health impacts on nearby communities are largely unknown. Inside Climate News reports the Trump administration canceled a UNC grant that would have studied that.
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