Feature Stories
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Freedom House Church Leader Heads Harassment Campaigns, Spreads Misinformation
The video seems normal at first glance: a blonde woman, driving a car with her phone in one hand, recording a video using her front-facing camera to post on her Instagram page as she travels down a rural road just outside of a major city. As she speaks to the…
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Neighbors at Odds Over Push for Elizabeth Historic District Status
A few blocks southeast of Uptown’s skyscrapers, in the area surrounding Independence Park and further down East 7th Street, sits a neighborhood at the precipice — at least that’s what it feels like to those Elizabeth residents who for months have been embroiled in debate over a proposed historic designation…
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Family of Mount Holly’s Ransom Hunter Fights to Preserve Legacy
As a boy growing up in Mount Holly in the 1960s, Eric Wilson knew firsthand that each thundercloud had a silver lining. His grandmother, Mena Hunter Wilson, wasn’t fond of storms, so she would call down to Eric’s parents whenever one began to roll in. “She would always call my…
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Charlotte Professor Breaks Architectural Boundaries with Myco-Materials
Jonathan Dessi-Olive sits at a small desk in the corner of a massive room. Between the brick walls and below the high ceilings lie the makings of a construction site — steel beams, tarps, and 17 white sheets, all 6 to 14 feet in length, an inch and a half…
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Queen City Nerve’s Most Read Stories of 2022
Near the end of each year, we provide a listing of the stories we’ve published over the past 12 months that our readers have most engaged with. It gives a glimpse at where folks’ minds have been and what they’ve been most interested in as of late, and there are…
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Tragic Death of Charlotte Artist Francis Wabibi Leaves Family Seeking Justice
It was about two years ago that Francis Wabibi, known around Charlotte’s art scene as Francesko the Artist, made the jump that every artist frets over and aspires to; inspired by a trip to Charlotte Art League, Wabibi quit his job in retail and decided to pursue his art career…
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New County Department Prepares Violence Prevention Plan
As an injury and violence prevention program coordinator in pediatric trauma with Atrium Health, Tracie Campbell found herself as a front-line witness to a spike in gun violence against children that occurred during her seven years there. Between 2014 and 2018, the number of patients admitted into Levine Children’s Hospital…
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Emerald School Continues to Expand its Services in East Charlotte
When I first visited the Emerald School of Excellence in summer 2019, founder Mary Ferreri was puttering around the hallways of the building, located on the campus of Memorial United Methodist Church on Central Avenue, doing some last-minute cleaning in the lead-up to a ribbon-cutting event she had planned for…
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A Welcoming City in Action: One Charlotte Immigrant’s Story
If you’ve ever moved to a new place, you know the experience can come with challenges: finding a place to live, landing a new job, setting up a new bank account, etc. But for many immigrants, the journey is even more complicated and the stakes can be much higher. These…
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Charlotte Black Pride Fought Ignorance, Stigma To Create a Movement
Charlotte Black Pride co-founder Jermaine Nakia Lee remembers when he knew he was a part of something special. It was during the inaugural Charlotte Black Pride Week in July 2005, at a spoken-word event featuring nationally renowned trio The Punani Poets held in the original Carolinas Acting Studio location in…
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Central Market Organizers Wary of Council Member’s Offer
Backed by a slate of Republican candidates that hope to join him on Charlotte City Council later this year, District 6 rep Tariq Bokhari held a press conference on Wednesday announcing that he and his fellow conservatives had found a solution to a months-long issue facing vendors displaced from an…
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Local Incidents Part of Broader Attack on LGBTQ Community, Pride Events
An embrace. A kiss. A “yes” that put those gathered around them in a visible state of excitement, all smiles and phones out, recording a beautiful moment where two people in love committed to spend their lives together. It’s a scene you might have been present for once or twice…
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UNC Charlotte Professor Speaks Out on Systemic Issues at the University
On April 28, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) released a 38-page report that exposed a glimpse of what some professors within the University of North Carolina (UNC) system are calling a crisis of systemic racism, burnout and lack of academic freedom. The AAUP initially chartered the report with…
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New Owner Shares Vision for Long-Vacant Central Avenue Property
After years of trying to find a buyer for 917 Central Ave., commercial real estate agent Mike Sullivan began to think he might go to his grave before it sold. The curved corners of the red brick building — squeezed between Two Scoops Creamery and Seventh Sin Tattoo — paired…
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North Charlotte Starbucks Baristas Fight for a Union
The Starbucks located in northeast Charlotte’s Mallard Pointe shopping center tends to be relatively quiet on Monday evenings, but at 5 p.m. on April 4, the store experienced an evening rush. Activists carrying colorful signs crowded into the shop. Several employees clocked out and sat down together. Meanwhile, half a…
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Supply Chain Woes Complicate Local Beer Production, Distribution
You belly up to a bar, order your favorite local craft beer, grab the ice cold aluminum can and push in the tab to crack it open — tssss kr-pop. For the consumer, it’s pretty simple. But for that can of beer, its journey was a little more difficult, possibly…
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