Young Law Student vs Old Guard: Carrboro's Leadership Crisis of '74

Carrboro Mayor Robert Wells Jr. and Town Manager Frank Chamberlain resigned during a heated board meeting. The catalyst: UNC law student and Alderman George Beswich's persistent legal challenges to board decisions. Chamberlain cited seven-day workweeks destroying his health, while Wells bristled at having statutes read "on every issue."​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The More Things Change: NC's 1974 Tax Reform That Wasn't

50 years ago, Durham journalists did the math on tax fairness - with findings that feel eerily familiar today. The fundamental pattern the 1974 editorial identified - that lower-income North Carolinians pay a higher percentage of their income in total taxes - persists today, though the specific mechanisms have evolved.

When Shoe Repair Was Poetry: Remembering W.O. Lacock's 58 Years of Craftsmanship

W.O. Lacock, opened his shoe repair shop on E Franklin St. in 1916. He died at age 82, 6 months after retiring from the shoe repair shop he ran for 58 years. He worked six days a week, built (and lost) a building during the Depression, and ran his business from five different locations.

He sold the business to his sons Carl and Vernon who continued running the business until they moved the business to Village Plaza on Elliott Rd, and sold the business to Vernon’s daughter Kimi. It eventually closed in 2018.

The story captures a moment when multi-generational craftsmanship was still a cornerstone of local commerce.