The author, who leads discussion groups with Black men, writes about why he’s pushing himself and others to talk about HIV and take away the stigma from getting regularly tested. By Martin Henson Beacon Media In 2023, 52% of all newly diagnosed HIV cases among adults...

Anita Yates, a retiree living in Mt. Airy, N.C., argues that Duke Energy’s plans cost people like her too much every month. By Anita Yates Beacon Media There are certain times of year when I know my electricity bill will be through the roof. The middle of the summer...

AI is a tool, but that tool always needs to be in the hands of a human, with human eyes and human intelligence coming afterwards to do fact checking. 

While we may use some AI tools to make some repetitious tasks easier, we will never use a computer to generate stories that you’ll read in our pages. 

So, here’s our pledge to our readers: all our stories are and will be written by real humans using their real intelligence.

My campaign for mayor was grassroots and prioritized people’s needs. Still, the race became the most divisive campaign in Fletcher’s history. As a young Black man, I was always conscious of my identity and presence.

Just before Election Day, I was overtly reminded of my identity. While placing door hangers, my mom and I encountered disturbing anonymous fliers about me. A flier full of dog whistles that I won’t repeat here.

You cannot ask schools to solve every societal ill while refusing to fund the systems that make solutions possible. Public education cannot be reimagined if it is underfunded, undermined, and politicized. At the very least, you should place a moratorium on the expansion of private school vouchers, which siphon vital resources away from the public schools that serve the vast majority of our children. I have said it before and will say it again: public dollars belong in public schools. We cannot keep pretending to champion success for all students while funding systems that are not held to the same standards of transparency, access, or accountability.

An independent study commissioned by Duke Energy found that it could keep bills low and meet the carbon reduction targets by tripling the proposed solar on its grid by 2030. 

Instead, Duke has planned the largest buildout of dirty fossil gas in the nation, according to data compiled by the Sierra Club.