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  • Saint Aug’s Loses Accreditation
  • Trouble for NC’s Renewable Energy Industry
  • Support for a Raleigh Affordable Housing Bond
  • A Scrumptious Meal at Sarah’s Empanadas
  • The Latest on Eno River Trails Post-Chantal
Credit: Photo by Chloe Courtney Bohl

Good morning, readers.

Monday brought bad though not unexpected news for Saint Augustine’s University, the 150-year-old Raleigh HBCU that’s been fighting to stay afloat amid steep enrollment declines and self-inflicted financial turmoil.

The university owes tens of millions of dollars to creditors including the IRS, just graduated a class of only 25 people, and, as of this week, has officially lost accreditation. For real this time, according to its accreditor, SACSCOC.

SAU’s leaders have vowed to sue SACSCOC to pause the decision. But they haven’t offered a justification for why a judge should grant the injunction. Nor does the school have cash on hand for what’s sure to be an uphill legal battle. Instead, they’re asking for donations.

Even if SAU is able to raise the $1 million they say they’ll need for litigation, Robert Kelchen, a higher education researcher based at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville tells INDY that “lawsuits to regain accreditation are rarely successful.”

So what’s the path forward for SAU? Depending who you ask, it could involve some combination of finding a new accreditor, getting new leadership, and/or entering into a mysterious new “major partnership” to redevelop its campus property (yep, they’ve tried that one before).

Read more below, and have a good Tuesday.

—Chloe

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Credit: Photo by Chase Pellegrini de Paur

Solar Flares

At a roundtable, representatives from NC solar and renewable energy companies said Trump’s spending plan will force layoffs and set back the industry locally, INDY’s Chase Pellegrini de Paur reports.

Credit: Photo by Chloe Courtney Bohl

Bonded Together

At a ONE Wake event, Raleigh city council members said they would support a future affordable housing bond, INDY’s Chloe Courtney Bohl reports.

Lunch Money

From INDY’s Lena Geller: A visit to a Research Triangle Park staple and scrumptious lunch order of a sweet corn arepa, a spinach empanada, and rice and beans. 

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STATE: The Trump administration cancelled a UNC grant that funded research into “forever chemicals” around the Chemours plant in Fayetteville, CityView reports.

STATE: Trump has also reduced states’ access to resources for natural disasters, including Hurricane Helene relief in North Carolina, NOTUS reports.

STATE: It costs incarcerated people 10 cents per minute to talk on the phone in North Carolina, Bolts reports, as the state resists a push to make calls free.

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  • The Eno River Association announced a few trails have re-opened following Tropical Storm Chantal (read more from INDY’s Justin Laidlaw on the scale of historic flooding in the state park.)
  • There’s a rally Thursday night in Durham focusing on voting rights and the legacy of John Lewis on the anniversary of his death.
  • People on Reddit are talking about the most quintessential Triangle idioms.
  • Raleigh is bringing back live jazz concerts in Moore Square starting next month.
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