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  • Stick A Fork In It
  • Ask INDY: Local Labor
  • A Professor’s Final Lesson
  • Protesting Across Triangle Bridges
Credit: Illustration by Nicole Pajor Moore

Good morning, readers.

After years of planning, two successful bond referenda, a design plan, and more than $9 million spent so far, the Raleigh City Council voted yesterday to cancel the Six Forks Road widening project which would have added bike and pedestrian lanes to one of the city’s busiest roadways.

At the council’s meeting yesterday, city officials said costs for the project—originally budgeted at $31 million in 2020—had ballooned fourfold to $119 million. Even after the city tried to re-scope the project with a smaller budget, costs escalated too quickly for it to be feasible. 

City council members and residents alike are upset with the final decision. Council members called their unanimous vote to scrap it “frustrating” and “disappointing” from the council table, while some in the public want accountability for the poor planning and the money the city has already received to pay for the project upon the passage of the transportation bonds in 2013 and 2017. 

“We talked a lot about process, and it is extremely frustrating to hear it took six years for a corridor study, years of design,” said mayor Janet Cowell at yesterday’s meeting. “Just, you know, what are the ways we can do these things more efficiently?”

Read more below about how the project faltered and how the money will be spent instead. Have a good Wednesday.

—Jane

Read the Full Story on INDYWeek.com

North Carolina’s hemp industry is at risk. Senate-backed HB 328 threatens over tens of thousands of jobs, billions in revenue, and the well-being of local farmers, veterans, and small businesses. This damaging bill could ban widely used hemp products, paving the way for out-of-state marijuana corporations to dominate. Learn how this legislation could devastate our communities and why we must act now. Click to read how you can help protect North Carolina’s economy and hemp industry.

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Federal Cuts and Local Workers

For the latest installment of Ask INDY, Lena Geller answers a reader question about the impacts of tariffs and federal funding cuts on workers in the Triangle.

A Professor’s Last Lesson

Tony Brown challenged his students on their values and what they wanted to do with their lives. At 82 and facing Stage 4 cancer, he’s still pushing them to be their best selves, The Assembly reports.

Credit: Photo by Chase Pellegrini de Paur

In Chapel Hill, A Council Divided

In a rare budget vote split, the council voted 5-4 over raising taxes. INDY’s Chase Pellegrini de Paur reports on what it says about dynamics among town leaders and upcoming elections.

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STATE: A bill that would have banned unhoused people from camping outside of designated areas appears to be stalled, for now, Carolina Public Press reports.

STATE: Environmental groups are alleging in a lawsuit that the likely carcinogen 1,4-dioxane has been leaking into the Deep, Haw and Cape Fear rivers, Inside Climate News reports.

STATE: President Trump’s spending bill would force states to shoulder more of the costs to support the food assistance program known as SNAP—in North Carolina, to the tune of $700 million, WUNC reports.

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  • On Friday, mark July 4th with Stagville’s annual group reading of Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” address.
  • A series of protests on bridges across the Triangle are planned for July 6th. Find one near you.
  • People on Reddit are talking about where to get drinks that aren’t coffee or alcohol in Durham.
  • And over in Raleigh, they’re talking about third spaces where nerdy interests are encouraged.
  • Join us for: ANTICONFESSIONAL : MISTRIAL a 90-minute participatory performance and political workshop by queer artists Telmo Branco and Ren Mauney on July 6th at the Fruit, questioning state allegiance and practicing queer abolition through immersive artistic intervention.
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