It’s Tuesday, May 21.
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Good morning, readers.
Mayor Leo Williams had a bashful smile on his face at the beginning of last night’s city council meeting.
“I hate going viral for the wrong reasons,” Williams said. “We had the Bimbé Festival. No, Monica…did not show up. But the Bull City did.”
Williams was talking about the booking SNAFU of the 54th annual Bimbé Cultural Arts Festival last weekend. (Bimbé, which is free and open to the public, follows the West African tradition of gathering after the harvest to feast, dance, and celebrate.) The city had advertised that Monica, Grammy award-winning singer of several chart-toppers, including certified banger “The Boy is Mine,” would be headlining Bimbé. Posters featured the singer superimposed over an outline of Africa.
But apparently no one told Monica herself, as she posted from Rochester, New York, in a now-deleted Instagram reel.
“I was never contacted. I never even heard of the festival until today,’ the singer said. (She repeatedly referred to the people of “Raleigh-Durham,” further proof that she had no idea what was going on.)
Durham Parks and Recreation, after initially posting Friday that “Monica WILL be performing at Bimbé tomorrow,” released an apology and announced an investigation.
“Working with a booking agent, whom we’ve worked with and trusted for years, we have been under the impression since January 19, 2024 and then reaffirmed again on February 9, 2024 that arrangements had been secured for the singer to appear, and we began publicizing her appearance,” said the statement.
It’s another story of a Durham festival gone awry. Williams tried to highlight the positives:
“I know the media reports want to talk about Monica. Monica was going to be a guest. She is not the Bull City, and no artist is. We are the Bull City,” he said. “This was one of the most successful Bimbé festivals that we’ve had. Well over 3,000 people came together…And we had a dang good time.”
The council went on to discuss the budget, which INDY’s Justin Laidlaw previewed here. Highlights from the city manager’s proposal include a 3.85-cent tax increase, higher pay for city workers including sanitation workers, and two bond proposals, including one for street and sidewalk improvements.
Have a good Tuesday.
—Chase
Durham
More than 50 Durham Association of Educators (DAE) members walked out of a meeting with DPS school board members yesterday evening citing frustrations over failed attempts to unionize. In a statement, DPS board chair Bettina Umstead called the move “unfortunate.”
There’s no judgment in Durham’s naked yoga class.
Wake
There have been 30 reported sewer overflows in Wake County in 2024. The overflows are happening because of aging infrastructure, a growing population, and extreme weather.
U.S. News and the Milken Institute have again ranked Raleigh as one of the top cities in the country to live and work.
Orange
Chapel Hill and Orange County have launched a holistic crisis response team.
North Carolina
North Carolinians have wagered more than $1 billion on sports gambling since it became legal in March and have lost $105 million so far.
Today’s weather
Sunny with a high of 84 degrees.
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