Feature Stories
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State Board Changes NC Election Rules in Lead-up to Midterms
The North Carolina State Board of Elections has approved a measure that will make it easier to disqualify certain absentee ballots ahead of the 2026 midterms. Members voted 3-2 along party lines on Monday, July 20. The measure allows county elections board staff to take further action on ballots with…
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City to Enact Stricter Curfew in Response to Teen Takeovers
The city of Charlotte appears poised to enact a 9 p.m. curfew for all minors throughout the city in response to recent incidents that city leaders are referring to as “teen takeovers.” Following incidents at Romare Bearden Park and The Boardwalk at University City that saw between 200-300 teenagers gathering…
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Charlotte Family Left in Limbo After ICE Detains Father Ahead of Asylum Hearing
April 7 was meant to be a day of anticipation for the Sidorov* family, asylum seekers who fled political persecution in Russia in 2022 and arrived in America through the CBP One program the following year. With their three school-aged children on spring break from school, parents Polina and Ivan…
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New SNAP Eligibility Rules Will Limit Access to Workforce Training Programs
In fall 2025, after Congress failed to agree on federal funding allocations for the new fiscal year, resulting in the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, the US Department of Agriculture told state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) agencies that the government would discontinue allocation of benefits for the program…
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The 704 Way Project Tackles Youth Violence in Charlotte
The city of Charlotte is partnering with marketing agency CMRignite and local youth mentoring organization My Brother’s Keeper Charlotte-Mecklenburg (MBKCM) to ensure that young people in Charlotte have a seat at the table in the fight against community violence — and it’s not the kids’ table. The 704 Way project…
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Formerly Incarcerated Man Buys Old NC Prison to Open Reentry Campus
In January 2018, Kerwin Pittman was nearing his release after more than 11 years incarcerated, unsure how he would rebuild his life. Where would he work? How would he navigate a society that had changed so much while he was behind bars? Eight years later, he’s purchased a prison. When…
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Rep. Cunningham, Former MCSO Staff Seek Removal of Sheriff McFadden
State Rep. Carla Cunningham, the Charlotte Democrat who sparked controversy in July 2025 with a House floor speech castigating immigrants, filed a petition on the first Monday of the new year asking a Mecklenburg County judge to remove Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden from office. Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO)…
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Abortion Providers Stand on Unstable Ground Three Years After ‘Dobbs’
Shannon Bauerle was at A Preferred Women’s Health Center (APWHC) in southeast Charlotte on June 24, 2022 when the landmark decision to overturn the constitutional right abortion established in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case was announced. APWHC operates as an abortion clinic six days a week, providing services to…
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Cemetery Preservation Project Honors Historic Black Church in Grier Heights
In a wooded area behind the Wallace Terrace Apartments in east Charlotte’s Grier Heights neighborhood, there’s a man who’s been working on a grave for weeks. Now 72 years old, Wayne Johnson has been coming to the grave of his great-grandfather Nelson Walker since he was 5 years old, when…
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NC’s Latest Anti-Immigration Legislation Adds to the Culture of Fear
On July 29, Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly pushed through the state’s latest anti-immigration legislation with the help of a lone Democrat who helped override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto. House Bill 318 — titled the “Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act” — builds on House Bill 10, which requires…
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Five Years Later, Pandemic Teens are Still Dealing with Trauma
It’s 2020. You’re 13 years old and in the seventh grade. Everyone is hooked on the nascent TikTok app and you’re dead set on learning the new “Renegade” dance. Charli D’Amelio is in, VSCO girls are out. You walk into your lunchroom one day to find that the main topic…
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Advocates Speak Against Recent ICE Actions in Charlotte
A devoted father of 11 children, Jose Martinez worked tirelessly to build his own business and become the sole provider for his family. For days following Martinez’s detainment at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Charlotte, it felt to his family as if he had disappeared. “The…
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Man’s Death Highlights Jump in Solitary Confinement Suicides in NC
When the calls from prison suddenly stopped in February 2024, Erik Ramsey’s family started worrying. Frequent communication was their way of trying to help the 29-year-old Ramsey, who’d been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, get through the time until his scheduled release in February 2026. In isolation, Ramsey couldn’t…
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Community Members Speak Against ‘Cop City’ Construction in Matthews
When the police publicly murdered George Floyd in May 2020, the slogan “Defund the Police” became a rallying cry for systemic change within law enforcement. While conservatives and law enforcement advocates have since pointed to the slogan to excuse shortcomings by police or rising crime rates where applicable, police budgets…
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Advocacy Organizations Brace for Second Trump Administration
Following the election of Donald Trump to the presidency for the first time in November 2016, Queen City Nerve editor-in-chief Ryan Pitkin, at the time a reporter for Creative Loafing, spoke with a number of local organizations serving vulnerable populations that found themselves the target of Trump’s most incendiary rhetoric.…
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Lawsuit Unveils Issues with Fast-Growing E2M Fitness Company
Jeff Witherspoon launched Eager to Motivate, known as E2M Fitness, in 2016 with a mission to motivate busy adults who want to lose weight or get back in shape but don’t have the time to attend a traditional gym or fitness center. Since then, building on word-of-mouth that manifested through…
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