Queen City Nerve’s Most-Read Stories of 2025

We at Queen City Nerve like to spend the last week of the year reflecting on which stories from around Charlotte our readers engaged with most over the last year.

This year’s slate of Queen City Nerve’s most-read stories includes plenty of hard news mixed in with the human-interest pieces, cultural commentary and arts coverage that set us apart.

The stories below weren’t necessarily the most-viewed pages on our site throughout the year — Best in the Nest results, election guides, and our annual homicide tracking are all examples of content that draws a ton of eyes but isn’t included below — but instead reflect the actual stories that our readers were most drawn to in 2025. 

New Details Emerge in Sycamore Brewing Owner Child Rape Case (December) 

By Ryan Pitkin

It’s perhaps not surprising to see this atop any list of Charlotte’s top news stories in 2025, recency bias and all, but the disturbing allegations against Sycamore Brewing’s then-co-owner Justin Bigham after he was found naked outside of the home of a 13-year-old girl he had reportedly just raped did rock Charlotte this month. 

Because it happened just a matter of weeks ago, there haven’t been many updates. Bigham’s next court hearing is scheduled for late January while Sycamore, which cut ties with Bigham shortly after his arrest, took some heat for posting a job opening for a public relations specialist that would pay $150,000-$250,000 a year. The Indeed posting was quickly taken down.  

Employees Speak Out About Belk’s Return-to-Office Order (February) 

By Pat Moran

Belk’s corporate leadership informed employees on Feb. 7 that the company would end its remote work policy in the coming summer, disrupting the lives of those who work out of state and faced a decision to relocate or resign. 

The announcement marked a pivot for the Charlotte retailer, which adopted a remote work policy in 2021 in the wake of the COVID pandemic, telling the Charlotte Observer then that remote work fostered better communication and higher productivity among workers, adding that employees “overwhelmingly” supported the switch. 

Then in February of this year, Belk informed its employees, including those who were hired in or moved to remote cities since that policy was adopted, that they would be required to work at the corporate office in Charlotte for three days a week beginning July 29. The article drew lots of attention from folks around the country who had faced similar challenges. 

DaBaby Brings a Crowd of Famous Friends for Birthday Bash (January)

By Jeff Hahne

Charlotte native DaBaby, who lives part-time in Troutman now last we heard, may not be peaking in popularity the way he was in those pre-COVID years, but folks were apparently still interested in his star-studded birthday party at the Spectrum Center in January. 

The concert, which lasted roughly four-and-a-half hours, featured a long list of rappers including 50 Cent, Sexyy Red, Boosie Badazz, Moneybagg Yo, Toosii, Rob 49, Skillababy, BigXThaPlug, YTB Fatt, Stunna4Vegas, Trap Dickey, and Big Boogie.

He went on to release HOW TF IS THIS A MIXTAPE? later in the year, following that up with a cringey video depicting him as the hypothetical hero who stepped in to save Iryna Zarutska before her deadly light rail stabbing in August.  

OPINION: I’m Ashamed To Be a UNC Charlotte Graduate (June) 

By Cecilia Whalen

A UNC Charlotte employee was forced out of her position in May after a right-wing group recorded her discussing DEI strategies. Janique Sanders, assistant director of the Leadership & Community Engagement office at UNC Charlotte, was fired after a group called Accuracy in Media (AIM) goaded her into speaking about ways to work around the DEI ban then recorded her saying that there were “covert … opportunities” to continue doing the work for those willing to “finesse” the language around it.

“The very idea that Sanders’ statements are scandalous is absurd. She should be applauded for her commitment to UNC Charlotte’s students,” wrote Queen City Nerve contributor Cecilia Whalen in an op-ed responding to the firing. 

“Only a few years ago, while I was a student during the Black Lives Matter movement, numerous university departments published statements of solidarity with the university’s Black students and the movement for progressive change,” she wrote. “The administration itself enthusiastically supported DEI … Not anymore; intentional care for Black and minority students evidently is no longer the university’s platform.”

Earlier this month, Sanders filed a federal lawsuit against the university and two staff members, claiming discrimination and the violation of her First Amendment rights.

Family Calls for Hate Crime Charges in Ardrey Kell Assault (March) 

By Jeff Taylor

The FBI was brought in to investigate a potential hate crime in south Charlotte in March as the family of a 15-year-old female student at Ardrey Kell High School said she was targeted by a male student of the same age due to her Muslim faith.

In April, CMPD announced that the investigation had ended without finding any evidence of a hate crime, while the family of the boy who was involved filed its own civil suit in May claiming that the public accusations made against him were false and defamatory.

Stormy Daniels Tells Her Side During Duckworth’s Show (November) 

By Joshua Robbins

Stormy Daniels, who started her adult film career in 2002, was inducted into both the AVN Hall of Fame and the XRCO Hall of Fame in 2014. 

She has pivoted to become a different type of performer following the release of her 2018 book Full Disclosure, in which she gave her side of a controversy that sprang up earlier that year when the Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Trump’s attorney had paid Daniels $130,000 in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election with the understanding that Daniels would deny that she had an affair with Trump a decade earlier in 2006.

Daniels, a tireless thorn in the side of Trump, wrapped up a tour for her one-woman show in Charlotte in November at The Comedy Club at Duckworth’s in Uptown. Joshua Robbins was there to check out the show, a mix of stand-up comedy, sensational storytelling and a short Q&A session. 

North Carolina Universities Host Cannabis Research Programs (April) 

By Pat Moran

Part of our annual 4/20 Issue, Pat Moran dug into the emergence of research programs centering cannabis at two North Carolina universities: NC State University and NC Agricultural and Technical State University.

Each school hosts programs that are focused on the best ways to grow hemp as an agricultural entrepreneur, including the most efficient and cost-effective means to extract the plant’s beneficial properties while maintaining soil health.

On Nov. 12, the longest government shutdown in US history came to end when the Senate finally passed a spending bill. One consequence of the deal missed in many national news stories about it at the time could lead to the fall of a $28-billion industry, harming small business owners across North Carolina. It’s unclear how, if at all, the new legislation will impact the programs hosted by the aforementioned universities. 

Baymont Hotel Displacement Upends Lives of Already Vulnerable Tenants (May)

By Ryan Pitkin

Dozens of families were ousted from the Baymont by Wyndham hotel off Sugar Creek Road after operations at the site transitioned from Heal Charlotte, which operated a year-long housing program at the hotel that ended in April, to Cedric Dean, who activated his Heal Empower Love Protect (HELP) program in the space in May. 

The facility made headlines when a mother and her baby, both originally part of the Heal Charlotte program, were found dead at the site in early June. Dean shut down his HELP program at the site about a week later, citing a violent atmosphere surrounding the site that went unchecked by police.

Then in October, federal law enforcement officials raided three Charlotte properties connected with Dean. Federal records showed that agents were investigating Dean and his company Cedric Dean Holdings for Medicaid fraud. In December, a misdemeanor charge of breaking-and-entering against Dean connected to the Baymont displacement was dropped, though the federal investigation continues. 

Dean has vehemently denied the allegations of fraud while comparing himself to Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela in social media videos. 

The True Charlotte Crime Story Behind Channing Tatum’s New ‘Roofman’ Movie (June)

By Pat Moran

Paramount and Miramax in June released a trailer for Channing Tatum’s latest movie, Roofman, which was shot in Charlotte last fall and is based on the true local exploits of an infamous but benevolent burglar who operated in the area after escaping from prison in 2004. It was filmed on location where some of the real events actually occurred.

In the true-crime feature film, Magic Mike star Tatum plays serial robber Jeffrey Manchester, the former Army Ranger who was dubbed “Roofman” or the “Rooftop Robber” by law enforcement officials and press during his early-aughts crime spree. 

The movie, directed by Oscar nominee Derek Cianfrance, also starred Kirsten Dunst and Peter Dinklage. It was filmed in Charlotte in November 2024. In his piece, Pat Moran digs into the sympathetic story of Manchester, who became a member of a local church, dated a local woman and hid out in a Toys “R” Us store and an abandoned Circuit City while on the run in Charlotte.

We were there for the North Carolina premiere of the film at Carolina Theatre in September and found it a heartwarming, if bittersweet, tale. The film grossed just over $30 million worldwide, against a reported budget of just under $20 million, according to Collider, and is expected to find an audience on streaming services. 

Community Members Speak Against ‘Cop City’ Construction in Matthews (March)

By Annie Keough

A new “public safety training facility” is in the works in Mecklenburg County, planned for the property surrounding Central Piedmont Community College’s (CPCC) Levine campus in Matthews after Hendrick Automotive Group gifted the college around 23 acres of land near the campus in June 2024.

CPCC simultaneously announced it will construct a new training facility for law enforcement, fire and rescue, EMS, forensics, detention, and telecommunication staff on the land. With the news of widespread arrests during protests of a similar facility in Atlanta the previous year fresh in their mind, local activists quickly pegged the planned facility as “Cop City Charlotte,” as Annie Keough reported in March. 

After becoming aware of CPCC’s plans, students and community members opposed to the idea launched Stop Cop City CLT, a decentralized movement that began with an Instagram page, where they post any available information about the planned development, questioning the school’s involvement and the need for the facility.

Opposing community members filed a lawsuit in April, alleging a lack of transparency around the project and challenging the banishment from campus of two women who attended a public meeting to inquire about it. In June, the plaintiffs dropped the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning they can’t refile, after CPCC officials agreed to lift the ban and respond to another plaintiff’s pending public records requests by the end of that month.