Feature Stories
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North Carolina Protection Alliance Disbands, Accounts To Cease Across State
The North Carolina Protection Alliance, a statewide network of Instagram accounts that posted allegations of abuse sent in by followers in Raleigh, Charlotte, Wilmington, Asheville and other cities, abruptly disbanded on Sunday, posting a message that reads, “We are sad to say NCPA is dissolving.” It’s unclear why the accounts…
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Mecklenburg County Point-in-Time Count Will Adapt in Pandemic
In a usual year, about 100 county staff members and volunteers would spend today preparing to hit the streets of Mecklenburg County to carry out the annual point-in-time count, a census of our neighbors experiencing homelessness in which staff and volunteers gather information through in-person surveys and deliver donated winter…
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Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners Can Be Hard to Find in NC
After a sexual assault, survivors have choices to make. Do they seek help at a hospital? If they do, they might be in for a wait. If they are lucky, they’ve arrived at a hospital with nurses who are trained to help sexual assault victims. Called sexual assault nurse examiners,…
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Boris & Natasha Set to Relocate After 22 Years in Plaza Midwood
As Hope Nicholls lounged on a couch in her Plaza Midwood clothing boutique Boris & Natasha on a recent Wednesday night, it was clear the store’s upcoming move would be bittersweet for her — but a little more leaning to the sweet side. She will miss the neighborhood, but then…
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Loopholes Lead to Confusion Over Mecklenburg County Vaccinations
As Mecklenburg County Public Health officials work to distribute doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, following a changing set of guidelines and groups put in place by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS), some residents remain confused as to who can get vaccinated when, leading to…
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Charlotte Man in Deportation Limbo Due to Obsolete Immigration Law
When 44-year-old Kelvin Silva, a detainee at Stewart Detention Center since summer 2020, saw that all the money had been removed from his commissary account on Jan. 14, he worried that his time for deportation had arrived. When he was sent for a COVID-19 test that afternoon, he was sure…
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Hospitals Face Staff Shortages as Coronavirus Hammers North Carolina
North Carolina’s hospitals are quickly filling up with patients stricken by the coronavirus, even as health systems in some of the hardest-hit regions — the Triad and greater Charlotte area — take steps to make room for a wave of new patients. The looming crisis is fueled by lack of…
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Carolina Pharmacy Provokes Response After Influencer Post Promotes Rapid Testing
As a local small-business owner who recently celebrated 10 years in business, Carolina Pharmacy co-owner Chi Patel has always struggled with how to spread the word about his company, and the pharmacy’s recent addition of rapid COVID-19 testing made that struggle all the more urgent. With six locations and a…
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Detainees Report Outbreaks, Excessive Force at ICE Detention Facilities
When Roberto Blanco-Gonzalez experienced the first symptoms of COVID-19, he was fearful to tell anyone. A detainee at Stewart Detention Center, an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Georgia, Blanco-Gonzalez did not want to be placed in solitary confinement — the designated quarantine location for detainees like himself. …
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Many in Mecklenburg County Still Face Crisis Despite Eviction Moratorium
Tasha Baker was a young, single Black woman working full-time at a medical center when COVID-19 hit. Already at high risk of getting exposed to the virus, she and her coworkers saw their hours cut so as to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Paying her bills, buying food, and…
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Mourning Mothers March Against Gun Violence in Charlotte
While the city slept and soaked in the rain and fog of the first Saturday of 2021, hoping to leave the destruction of 2020 in the past, Sevhn Doggette, founder of Mommies Matter 2 Kyyri, marched alongside her fellow “Angel Mommies,” all of whom had lost loved ones to gun…
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Queen City Nerve’s Most-Read Stories of 2020
A look back at Queen City Nerve’s most-read online stories of 2020. North Carolina Pastor Who Peed on Woman Identified By Ryan Pitkin Thanks to a FOIA request filed with the Wayne County Airport Authority, Queen City Nerve learned that the “well-known North Carolina pastor” accused of peeing on a…
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Black Diamond Caters to Growing Population of Black Gun Owners
The year 2020 has forced myriad changes upon us all. Across many walks of life and many cultures, one of the most prominent changes has been the rate at which Black Americans have newly become gun owners. Following the onset of a pandemic and racial justice protests around the country…
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NC Didn’t Track Involuntary Commitment Data, So Advocates Did the Work
Advocates found the state had a big problem, but because no one was counting, no one was aware of how many psychiatric patients were being treated against their will. This is the second story in a series about how more people in mental health crisis end up under involuntary commitment…
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Habekah Cannon Launches Abolitionist Law Firm After Being Fired
When the courts began to shut down in March, Habekah Cannon, then with the Mecklenburg County Public Defenders’ Office (MCPDO), knew she would have to pivot in the ways she served the community. She didn’t know that work would lead to multiple arrests and her being fired. Now she’s taken…
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Legal Aid of NC Files Suit as Evictions Continue Despite Moratorium
On Sept. 2, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a nationwide moratorium on evictions to help stem the spread of COVID-19, Isaac Sturgill praised the order. “In my lifetime I have not seen a moratorium on evictions that is this broad and this all-encompassing,” said Sturgill,…
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