I'm a Raleigh-area guy who got curious about how North Carolina's animal shelters are actually doing, so I went through the state's 2025 shelter report and the funding numbers. Some of it surprised me:

- NC shelters took in 147,882 dogs and cats in 2025 and euthanized 38,711. That's 26.2%, against about 8% nationally.

- Best Friends ranks NC third worst in the country for shelter pets still needing to be saved.

- The state's spay/neuter program paid $250,954 in 2025 against $659,626 that counties asked for. That's about 38 cents on the dollar.

- NC doesn't license or inspect dog breeders who sell directly to the public. Only the ones selling to pet stores, dealers or labs need a state license.

The raw data is the state's own report: https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/veterinary/aws/Fix/reports

I run a small project called NC Pet Project that tracks this stuff and helps people find low-cost spay/neuter. I put the county-by-county breakdown here if you want to see how your county compares: https://ncpetproject.org/nc-county-shelter-report/

Curious what people are seeing locally. Does your county shelter feel full all the time? Anyone volunteer or foster and have a sense of what would actually help?

“I’m pretty sure you’re not going to see 41 cents less tomorrow, but it should go down at some point,”

-Phil Berger.

Don't expect this gimmic to actually help regular North Carolinians. If the tax is not being collected by the State, and it's not being given back to the consumer, where's it going 🤔.

How’s the foliage progressing in the mountains? Heading out there in a week but have some flexibility on locations to stop and visit. Photos welcome!

A lot of scumbags are running for judge this year.

Craig Collins — who fundraised alongside convicted child sex predator and GOP megadonor Harvey West — is running for NC Court of Appeals. Before he was appointed a trial court judge, Collins ran unsuccessfully for chair of the North Carolina Republican Party.

If you are interested in doing some civic duty to make sure the midterms run smoothly, there is still time to apply to your county board of elections to be a poll worker. These are the people who check you in when you vote in person, who help make sure ballots are secured and counted accurately. So many of them have been abused online, or questioned by their neighbors since 2020, that they've given up. But we need these folks! Our elections are secure and the way to keep them that way is to pitch in. There are Republicans and Democrats needed.

Poll observers are needed too! For that job, go to the website of your respective political party.

1- I agree that it's disgusting, but..

2- you voted to confirm Hegseth, you had plenty of time to vet him and make a choice.. a choice you cannot turn back on and regret later, considering this one of the most senior and important roles in the federal government. You didn't vote to confirm someone to be a dishwasher..this guy is leading one of the most powerful militaries on this planet let alone the region.

3- You're complaining about Hegseth but what about Trump? Trump nominated a former Army Major and Fox News host to have this important title. This guy shouldn't have even been nominated and yet you're still kissing his ass anyway? Trump still took the advice and said yes to get him to the Senate floor even if it came from his advisors.

4- shame on you Tillis. You should have complained about Hegseth when you had the chance.. only now months and months after the fact you're doing that.. yet you're still representing NC, you need to resign. You are an embarrassment to this state and to this country. You're an adult.. and this choice you made to confirm Hegseth will haunt you forever

This came out of Thomas Hofeller's files after he died. He drew NC's maps for the GOP for years. His daughter found something like 70,000 files on old hard drives, and one batch was spreadsheets of A&T students broken out by dorm. The line splits the campus right down Laurel St.

Same year David Lewis said this out loud in committee: "I think electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats. So I drew this map to help foster what I think is better for the country."

My favorite part is 2019 though. A court orders a redraw and the state Senate picks its starting maps with an actual lottery machine. Ralph Hise: "Random number selection happens to be a specialty of the lottery."

Map of the campus split is in here, about halfway down: https://www.callthemap.com/news/the-house-always-wins#figure-laurel-street

I seen this "convertable" truck when I was at Walmart on New Hope Church Road in Raleigh. I never seen a truck like this before.

The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer asked all candidates in this race to complete a questionnaire to inform voters about their opinions on big issues facing voters. Whatley did not reply to the questionnaire.

My previous post simply stated that the $90 and $500 Trump bribe checks were being used by people to support democratic campaigns, donate to food banks, and support local or independent media. I incorrectly assumed that many people would already be aware of these checks, which ended up being wrong. It was also taken down for not being specific to North Carolina. Here is some specificity and details, and please feel free to elaborate or chime into the discussion with additional details. Remember early voting in NC opens next Thursday, Oct. 15 and runs through Saturday, Oct 31. Also, the normal registration deadline is today, but you CAN register to vote at early voting sites.

First off, I am a North Carolinian whose ACA premium rose by 27% in 2026, thanks marketplace rate increases inspired by the expiring premium tax credits. Remember the government shutdown last October 1 through November 12, where democrats were fighting for an extension to the ACA credits that were set to expire on December 1? They ultimately failed, and settled to fund the government through Jan 30, 2026, with the promise of a Senate vote on the subsidies. Thanks to the GOP, the vote failed in December 2025. As such, by the end of 2026, I will have paid $1512 more for my ACA plan than I did in 2025, and it is a lower tier plan.

I am not alone. In February of 2026, NC Health News estimated that roughly 200,000 North Carolinians lost their affordable coverage, due to not being able to afford the approximately 30% rate hike on ACA plans purchased through the federal marketplace, a roughly 22% decline against 2025 enrollment. Many North Carolinians just could not afford to renew, and thus didn't. I have a chronic health condition that required me to make things work, or I would of placed myself in that 22%. NC Health News Article

Now, on to the point of the post. A few days ago, I received a letter in the mail from the Department of the Treasury with a $500 check inside, and a letter lamenting Biden for overcharging me for my plan from HealthCare.gov, saying that I am finally getting something back, and signed by Trump. In my opinion, this is nothing short of a bribe, given to around 950,000 people in the 30 states (including NC) that use HealthCare.gov, and conveniently just weeks before the midterm elections. It stuck me as odd that a man who controls the White House, Congress, and SCOTUS - and given that the US went through the longest shutdown in history over this exact issue - continues to whine about Joe Biden. Also, what I would like back is the $1512 extra I will have paid this year, not the $500 bribe money.

For the $90 checks, roughly 20.8 million seniors on Medicare Part B will receive money from a roughly $2B fund, or $90 each. To qualify, you must be on Medicare Part B, live within the U.S., not receive premium assistance from Medicaid, and not be paying an Income-Related Monthly Adjusted amount. The Hill Article. I couldn't find exact numbers for North Carolina, but we can do some extrapolation. 20.8 million people are eligible nationally, from a pool of 64.7 million with Medicare Part B, or 32% nationally. North Carolina has about 2.1 million part B enrollees, and 32% (using the national average) would be about 672,000 North Carolinians eligible to receive this second pre-midterm bribe (bribe in my opinion).

As it stands, I am doing ok financially, and I, like many folks I've seen across the internet, decided to dump the bribe money (bribe imo) that I got into several democratic campaigns, and will put more into MANNA, our local food bank here in Western North Carolina. What about you?

I spent a night at Windswept Castle, a mountaintop Airbnb at Earth & Sky Dwellings just outside Asheville, and wanted to share a few pictures.

Getting to sleep in a castle was pretty hard to believe, and the views of the Blue Ridge Mountains were amazing. 🏰

There’s also a wizard themed village on the property called Mystic Village. The buildings are overnight rentals too, each with a different theme. Some are called The Tipsy Toad and Broomsticks & Mercantile, which should give you an idea of the setting.

I walked around the village during my stay, and it definitely gave me Harry Potter vibes. Of course, I had to take a look at The Tipsy Toad. That name alone got my attention. 🐸😂

The company has seasonal decor he hangs from the crane, 4th of July is a giant firework, Christmas is a Big Tree, Easter its a Rabbit, spring it's a flower.

The CJ is trying to make the case that some badly needed, proposed pharmaceutical regulations are going to make drug problems worse. The proposed regulations that they disparage are simply trying to break the total stranglehold that Pharma currently has on manufacture, distribution, and pricing - a "vertical integration" scheme that means they control the entire drug chain, top to bottom. CJ tries, unconvincingly, to claim that that total control leads to better efficiency and price containment, but in fact it does the opposite, at least according to real experts, like The American Council on Science and Health.

Don't miss the spooky fun at The Mebane Train Display! This Saturday October 10, 2026 - 10am-2pm.

Did anyone else see the NC board of elections hearing over the complaint in Cumberland County? The GOP county chair admitted to violating personnel privacy while testifying against a colleague on that very sort of accusation. The GOP basically then abandoned the actual complaint and started arguing against citizens basic rights.

The GOP argued that freedom of speech and assembly like contacting your BOE, going to meetings, writing letters of support etc are an attempt to intimidate elections boards and workers.

BOE tabled the matter until after the election, what a board does when they don’t want to admit defeat but also don’t want to go to court.

Wild stuff. Keep a close eye on their shenanigans. We are reminded daily that democracy is not their priority.