The Carolina Museum of the Marine was years in the making, but it's open now. We talked about it—and North Carolina's close history with the Marines—in a new Billy Ball Explains NC. 🔗 in the thread.

NC leads the nation in people who lost their enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans. That's going to make health care more expensive for everybody, whether you have a plan or not. In a new Billy Ball Explains NC (🔗 in thread), we talk about why Republicans in Congress could have stopped this.

Today at 4:30 pm, Cardinal & Pine talks the 2026 elections with US Senate candidate Roy Cooper and NC Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls. Register to attend this free virtual event 👇 us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Republicans don't have a lot of dirt on Roy Cooper, so they're just going to make some stuff up. In a new Billy Ball Explains NC, we break down the massive amount a GOP super PAC is spending to try to make Cooper look like a villain. 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Qf...

The Republican-dominated NC Supreme Court just dealt a devastating blow to public education in North Carolina. 🔗 below for this breaking news story cardinalpine.com/2026/04/02/n...

Get this: ICE has three of these "hold rooms" in North Carolina. To find out where they are, watch the new Billy Ball Explains NC at the 🔗 below. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWso...

Phil Berger conceded, but the GOP still has a HUGE problem with election denial. Watch the new Billy Ball Explains NC at the link below. Make sure to like and subscribe so you never miss an episode! www.youtube.com/watch?v=39FH...

One state senator reportedly even begged Page to stay out of the race.

This year, Berger acted at Trump's request to gerrymander North Carolina again in order to make it easier to elect Republicans.

President Trump and Berger's allies in the NC legislature have tried to get Page out of the race. So far, it's not working.

The 2026 election is already looking like a wild one in North Carolina. Phil Berger, the NC Senate majority leader, is perhaps the most powerful Republican in the state. But he is being challenged in the 2026 primary election by the far-right sheriff of Rockingham County, Sam Page. Keep reading 👇

The coalition of grassroots organizations behind the effort is encouraging consumers to support local small businesses in their communities for their Thanksgiving and holiday shopping instead.

Organizers pushing the boycott argue these companies have profited from the worst policies pushed by the Trump administration, stayed silent despite its attacks on immigrant communities, and followed along with its attempts to end diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

For 4 days from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, the “We Ain’t Buying It” movement wants Americans to avoid shopping at Amazon, Home Depot, and Target. Here's what to know. 👇

Important thread alert, NC. Keep reading. 👇 Border Patrol says they’re targeting “the worst of the worst.” But the News and Observer reports that a woman they arrested in Raleigh, Fatima Issela Velasquez-Antonio, is 23, a high school graduate, a homeowner, with two traffic violations on her record.

The bill faces another formal vote in the Senate, then must be approved by the US House and signed by President Trump. But Senate procedural rules were the only real option Democrats had to block a funding bill, so now that the party splintered, there is little they can do to stop final passage.

The Democrats faced criticism for dropping the effort to protect healthcare subsidies tied to the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Without subsidies, premiums will double or triple for tens of thousands of North Carolinians and nearly 160,000 people in the state could lose insurance entirely.

The longest shutdown in US history seems close to an end. Seven Democrats and an independent who normally votes with Democrats broke from the party line to help pass an initial Senate bill that clears the way for the government to reopen. Keep reading. 👇

Well, that’s a new one.

Over the next two election cycles, North Carolinians, including plenty of Trump voters, will continue to be hit hard by Trump’s SNAP cuts, Medicaid cuts, rising grocery costs, and soaring Affordable Care Act premiums. And then they will vote.

Local elections in North Carolina are non-partisan, meaning candidates don’t have party affiliations listed on the ballots. But both state parties made endorsements, and there’s little distance between local and national politics when the consequences of federal policies besiege communities.

Voters in Charlotte and Greensboro ousted the lone Republicans on their city councils, and several towns chose Democrats over longtime Republican mayors, including Burlington, Graham, Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs, and Wake Forest.

North Carolina didn’t have any high-profile elections last week, but the results still offer a glimpse of how voters feel about the state of things during President Trump’s second term. Cardinal & Pine's Michael McElroy breaks it down. 👇

In North Carolina, roughly 19,500 children are enrolled in Head Start. Working families represent the vast majority of children enrolled in Head Start.

Head Start is a federal program established in 1965 as part of the War on Poverty, and provides child care to children from low-income families.

These providers have closed: 1. East Coast Migrant Head Start Project 2. Salisbury-Rowan Community Action Agency Inc. temporarily closed in Rowan, Davidson, and Cabarrus counties. 3. Southeastern Community Action Partnership closed locations and emphasized the shutdown would delay services.

Several child care centers closed this week. That's because federal funding for Head Start programs didn’t materialize due to the government shutdown. Keep reading. 👇

While Republicans in D.C. are blocking renewed Affordable Care Act subsidies, NC is passing along steep rate hikes for health care coverage. 🔗below for the approved Affordable Care Act rate increases 👇 cardinalpine.com/2025/11/04/a...

Who TF is Billy Ball (@billyball.bsky.social) and why is he trying to explain North Carolina? 🔥 For the full video series, click the 🔗 in the thread below.

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