It’s Tuesday, January 30.

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Good morning, readers. 

Last week, the staff of Duke’s Chronicle and UNC’s Daily Tar Heel, the schools’ student newspapers, faced off in their annual Rivalry Challenge basketball game. 

The Chronicle lost last year’s game, partly because one of its star players went down in the final minutes.

“Both my legs cramped,” Chron’s Ranjan Jindal told me during warmups this year. “I guess I just wasn’t eating my potassium or whatever.”

The game marked the beginning of a joint fundraising campaign—“HATE GREAT TOGETHER,” reads the banner on the site—and comes ahead of UNC’s and Duke’s always-anticipated matchup in men’s basketball this weekend. 

Duke and UNC love to hate on each other. The student publications monetize that hatred and fund important journalism, like Chron’s exposure of a 2022 Duke graduation speaker who lifted her speech from a Harvard address and DTH’s coverage of a shooting on campus last year. 

As of early Tuesday morning, DTH leads the challenge with $21,000 to Chron’s $15,500.

But Tar Heels shouldn’t get complacent—“[The Chronicle staff] tend to come in at the last minute with all these big-wig big-time donors,” DTH Sports Editor Shelby Swanson told me. 

In the on-court game this year, Jindal kept his cool and didn’t cramp. His teammate Dom Fenoglio, however, took a tumble into a concrete wall and hopefully through a rigorous concussion protocol. 

“Was it worth it?” I asked Fenoglio as he held an ice pack to his bloody head. 

“If we win, anything’s worth it,” he told me. (Two blue-polo’d Duke employees quietly put “CAUTION: WET FLOOR” signs up around his splash zone.)

With Fenoglio out, DTH tallman Ethan Horton blocked shots from the paint. But Jindal dropped a pair of threes beyond Horton’s reach to secure the game for the Blue Devils. 

“Am I pissed that we let [Jindal] walk into two wide-open threes? Yes, incredibly,” said UNC’s Swanson. But “honestly—the sports writer in me—that’s a beautiful story. He had a great game.” 

Victory in the fundraising challenge is still up for grabs. Track the totals for the Duke Chronicle here and UNC’s Daily Tar Heel here. And have a great rivalry week.

—Chase

Editor’s note: Earlier this month, The Assembly reporter Tim Funk wrote about Mark Harris, the Baptist minister and politician who stepped aside in 2019 after ballot fraud tainted his congressional race. Harris now says the seat was stolen from him—and he wants it back.

Join our partners at The Assembly this Friday for a virtual discussion about the story with Funk and contributing editor John Drescher. You will have the opportunity to hear about the reporting and writing process, and ask your own questions about the story.

Who: Reporter Tim Funk, in conversation with contributing editor John Drescher

What: Live discussion and Q&A

When: Friday, Feb. 2, 1-2 p.m.

Where: Virtual; register here

Hope to see you there!

Durham

A committee led by NC Central alum and UNC business school professor James Johnson Jr. will seek a new chancellor for NC Central. Chancellor Johnson Akinleye will step down in June. 

Durham Public Schools is facing bus driver shortages for a second day this week. On Monday, 25 routes didn’t run.

Wake

Maintenance workers at Duke Raleigh Hospital voted to join a union last week. 

The Raleigh City Council will hear public comment and could vote on the proposed Transit Overlay District, a high-density rezoning proposal, along the New Bern Avenue Bus Rapid Transit Corridor at its meeting tonight. More on the TOD here. 

Orange

UNC Health has announced a leadership team for the new Triangle-area children’s hospital. 

McLendon Clinical Laboratories inside UNC Hospitals is being evaluated after several workers and former workers received cancer diagnoses in the past 20 years.

North Carolina

Gov. Cooper has issued an executive order that will help people leaving prison with finding housing, enrolling in Medicaid, and accessing education and training. 

NC Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, one of two Democrats on the court and its only Black judge, is at the center of an ongoing debate about the court’s politicization.

Today’s weather

Sunny with a high of 53 degrees.

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