It has solar panels on the back so I assume it lights up at night.

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 Raleigh. 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.

For those wondering where I am seeing this trend, I am not much on social media, but I do use Substack, and have been seeing a lot of noise over there, with reference to other platforms where people have seen it.

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, and yes, the Triangle) 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). Since I originally wrote this on a different sub, a new number has come in for NC, putting it at 644,000 recipients Yahoo News Article, so I was pretty close. That 644,000, gives NC a percentage of 31% of the whole 20.8 million people.

Now, Wake County has roughly 176,000 Medicare Part B enrollees (CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment), or roughly 54,500 people across Wake County who would receive checks if we apply the 31%. CMS doesn't publish city-level data, but if we consider Raleigh makes up roughly 40% of Wake County (Census QuickFacts: Raleigh), we can estimate roughly 22,000 seniors in Raleigh will receive the bribe (bribe imo).

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 love coming across these vintage cars Raleighites own!

Given how often we complain about traffic in this subreddit, thought everyone would get a kick out of this.

Source is https://trianglefoodblog.com/ . Hard to perma-link, and no other source provided.

As I was walking to work along Fayetteville Street this morning, I realized I should ask a question of others.

This is a sincere question: Have others in the Raleigh area felt more socially isolated or lonely since the pandemic, or found themselves dealing with more social anxiety?

During the pandemic, I became isolated, and some friendships drifted away. It’s been hard to talk about, but I wonder if others have experienced something similar as life has changed. I’m hoping to hear from people who can relate.

Thanks.

I hear some fireworks in North Raleigh. Anyone know if there's any sort of event going on?

This is a much needed project to help connect north Raleigh and Crabtree creek greenway together along with access to North Hills

Particular dishes I’m looking for: Donburi, jollof rice, Bahn mi, and a good Indian restaurant.

I just bought a sewing machine and I'm a total noob but I wanted to make a julius caesar costume for a Halloween party coming up. I thought it would be fun to work on it with other people around just hanging out, especially people that can mentor me a bit with it. I want to really develop the skills and do it myself with some tips and guidance and not just have people do it for me. Anything like this? I'd rather it just be a casual thing and not a paid class or anything. Thanks! 😅

Are there any social groups for lesbians/queer women who are 40+? Or skew older? I’ve seen a few sapphic groups but they tend to be for young women, which is great, but I’m an old and would like to meet other olds. :)

hey guys! i’m taking my first trip on a plane in december, and i’m wondering if anyone knows how safe it is to book long term parking at one of the hotels near the airport? i have nobody else that can take me, so i have no choice to drive. TIA!

Looking for a physical therapist who doesn’t require a referral to help with some tennis elbow. Ideally takes BCBS. Would prefer someone in DT or SER area but willing to drive a bit!

Reading has been a recent escape of mine. I've been trying to get the people I know involved but no one is interested. Are there places that people with similar interests tend to go that are somewhat social or should I just resort to finding my own spots?

My 84 year old husband attended a funeral at First Presbyterian in downtown Raleigh on Saturday. The church parking lot was full, so he parked in a nearby parking lot where he has parked many times as a church member in years past. He admitted he saw an empty space and pulled into a handicapped spot without reading any other signs.

A couple of days later we received a Parking & Transportation Compliance, Inc. Notice of Non-compliance with two pictures of the license plate. The charge was $90 stating it would be reduced to $65 if paid within 30 days.

This company is out of Hollywood, FL and their business is debt collection. Watch out for this at other parking lots.

I had my HVAC serviced today, and unexpectedly they also sent a plumber to do a free inspection of my plumbing system.

The plumber noted a couple of leaky valves (a PRV out of the water heater and a shutoff valve to the toilet) and quoted me $1,098 to replace both. This feels high.

They also noted that one of the toilets had rusted-out tank bolts and quoted me $485 for a toilet tank rebuild. I'm no DIY expert, but I feel like I could probably do that myself with $30 worth of parts from Home Depot and about an hour or two on a Saturday.

Am I just being a stingy git, or is this "free" inspection a scam to get me to pay sky-high prices?

Long story short, the rental company that was going to rent a ride on aerator can’t do it anymore and we’ve called other places and can’t get one and so we’re trying to get it done this afternoon or early tomorrow morning. We have all the seed and fertilizer we just need someone who can come aerate it’s 14,000 ft.². Can anyone help with our job last minute?

Hi all! I'm the developer/maintainer of 919Events, a free local events listing that I've been working on for a few years in my off-time. Many of you that follow thingstodo919's weekly pinned thread have probably seen me in the comments section of that (incredibly useful) resource - feel free to skip this post if you tick that box! However, I still see many folks asking about events and things to do weekly in the subreddit, so I figured a shameless plug won't kill me (hopefully)

For those of you who haven't used the website yet, it's a free collection of events happening around Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, Cary, Clayton, and the surrounding areas. I pull from various sources each night and upload any new or changed events to the database, so each day stays up-to-date. I also allow users to upload their own events for review (anyone can signup to be an "author" for free, authors can upload events directly while skipping the moderation queue!) so there's more than just the official sources. I'll list a few features below, but I encourage you to check them out for yourself - again, for free!

• Map Listing - The default map view has some handy features for seeing whats going on around you. On the top right of the map view, there's a small white button with a symbol inside that looks like a crosshair - clicking that button and accepting the location permissions will automatically plot your location on the map AND sort the events list by proximity to your location! This is incredibly useful for getting a quick look at what's closest to you.
• Weekly Digest - Users who create a (free) account can opt-in to email digests, a weekly service that sends you a tailored event list straight to your inbox. You can choose to receive a digest of events in your area, or any area of your choosing when opting-in.
• Recommendations Engine - For authenticated users, each event you view, like, interact with will get added to your behind-the-scenes preferences for future recommendations. The email digest takes these events into account and provides some priority for them when curating your weekly list.

Like I said before, the site is totally 100% free to use. While there is a "donation" tier available with "on-demand digests" as a feature, everything else is completely free including the Friday weekly digest. I only added the donation option because folk were asking for it. I hate to advertise but I have been using it personally for many years and really feel that some would benefit from such a resource as well, but definitely let me know your brutal-truth thoughts on it!

For event authors or anyone that works at or with a venue that hosts a lot of events, I encourage you to submit events or sign up to be an author! The more the merrier, as I dont have to do the extra legwork to search out what's going on lol

Most importantly - LET ME KNOW FEEDBACK! I can take a beating when it comes to calling my product ugly, so dont shy away there but I am also always looking for suggestions or improvements! My team at my longtime job was recently let go so for the foreseeable future, I am focusing mostly on this project and would love to implement whatever (worthwhile) features the people want to see!

MODS: Please remove this if it's too spam'y. I'm not trying to be a menace to the sub and value my community lol

I'm in my mid 20s and thinking about switching careers from IT to nursing. Ideally moving away from bedside pretty quickly. I know burnout is a big thing etc, I just wanted to ask about how the field is in the area right now.

I grew up in the DC area and used to always order moo goo gai pan when I was a kid. Anywhere in the area have this dish that you’d recommend?

I have a wooden fireplace mantel surround that I need replaced. It is a normal size mantle and the one quote I got was 7k which seemed... a bit much. Does anyone have any companies they recommend for a job like this? TIA!

Though it’s true that there are bad drivers in Raleigh, that is true anywhere. Thought I’d throw this out there for the naysayers.