Thursdays at North Carolina Placebook now mean that I’m combing through the best of the alt-weeklies, the papers that show up once a week, usually Wednesday, at your favorite bar. As we celebrate #throwbackthursday on The Black Urbanist with an essay called “Urban Design Must Have Heart and Soul,” today on North Carolina Placebook, we will share the best content from the states numerous alt-weeklies, along with the major highlights from the state’s newspapers and TV stations, like we always do. So, let’s get started:
Triad City Beat is the newest of the alt weeklies on the scene. Founded by several guys who have become friends as we navigate the Greensboro press landscape, they are hoping to build a true, fair and balanced, news source for the Piedmont Triad area. This week’s place-related highlights:
- An editorial on the challenges of creating a paper from scratch and their goals.
- Why Greensboro residents should stop using “between the mountains and the coast” as a calling card.
- New issues in High Point with the hiring of a consultant.
- Greensboro’s new police complaint-review process.
- How people profit from their own nonprofits.
- Why the new uptown Greensboro district will help northeast Greensboro grow.
Yes! Weekly was right here when I arrived back in Greensboro from college. You can always count on these three pages to deliver the right amount of local news:
The Rhino Times was dead and now it’s alive again. Greensboro’s premier conservative alt-weekly always has something to say about what Greensboro should be doing for it’s citizenry. Its entire front page is worth a browse.
I first met Indy Week (Then The Independent Weekly) as a bright-eyed NC State freshman. Now I know it as the gold standard of a good alt weekly:
- High levels of lead have been found at a Raleigh recycling processing plant.
- Durham’s police citizen review board has not expanded it’s authority.
- Ligon High School in Raleigh celebrates it’s 60th anniversary this weekend.
- An official at the State Department of Public Safety has resigned.
- A vignette on jaywalking in Durham with an interesting twist.
Creative Loafing is the name that might ring a bell if you pick up one of these papers in Charlotte or Atlanta. Here are highlights from Charlotte’s edition:
- Their First Drip clip roundup has a study on Charlotte homelessness and more info on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools budget request.
- A profile of a young Charlotte-area off-the-grid family.
- More details on Charlotte’s new mayor and the process to get him in place.
Of course Asheville and Western North Carolina has an alt weekly. The Mountain Xpress makes me think of the name I want for the long overdue reinstatement of passenger rail through the North Carolina mountains. It’s also celebrating its 20th anniversary this month.Highlights here:
- Asheville’s considering a Housing Trust Fund, plus everything else the city council did in the last week.
- The poetry community in Western North Carolina.
Wilmington is bringing up the rear here with Encore, their weekly paper. Highlights:
- What is happening with the superfund and water contamination sites that were recently found in Southeastern North Carolina.
- This weekend’s Azalea Festival will highlight Wilmington’s Historic District.
And if you want to check in with the dailies, as we always do here at North Carolina Placebook, here are your direct links for Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High-Point, Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greenville, Wilmington, Raleigh, Durham and Cary.
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