Axios Raleigh

🪧MAY DAY RALLY: Thousands of people took to the streets of downtown Raleigh on May 1 for a march around the state capitol in support of public education.

🍎 WHY IT MATTERS: Classes are canceled across much of the state and hopes the mass protest amps up the pressure on state lawmakers to pass teacher raises and put more money toward education.

📉 BY THE NUMBERS: North Carolina ranked 50th in the Education Law Center’s 2025 ranking of public education spending.

🧑‍🏫 STATE OF PLAY: North Carolina allows families who pick private or charter schools to pass along to those schools the money their child’s public education would have cost.

- That’s leading public school enrollment to flatten out. Fewer students results in less money from the state, and public school districts are making difficult decisions about what to cut.

🔗 Click the link in bio to read more about the state’s budget decisions.

✍️ Mary Helen Moore

🚀 WE HAVE LIFTOFF: The Artemis II Moon mission successfully launched from Florida’s John F. Kennedy Space Center Wednesday evening.

🌛 WHY IT MATTERS: The crewed lunar flyby will mark the closest humanity has come to the Moon since the Apollo days, over 50 years ago.
- It’s also a key step towards ’s grand ambition to return human boots to lunar soil.

👩‍🚀 ZOOM IN: North Carolina astronaut Christina Koch is one of four crew members aboard the spacecraft. graduated from and after growing up in Jacksonville, N.C.
- She is a Mission Specialist and will be the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit.

🔭 FUN FACT: The flight path will carry humanity farther than it has ever been from Earth.

🌎 WHAT’S NEXT: Over 10 days, the crew will circle the Earth, then fly around the Moon before splashing down off the coast of southern California.

🍽️ JAMES BEARD NODS: Meherwan and Molly Irani, the Asheville couple behind and Botiwalla, are still in the running for the James Beard Awards’ most prestigious prize, Outstanding Restaurateur.

WHY IT MATTERS: Chai Pani Restaurant Group operates a popular location at and will open another this spring in .

THE LATEST: Several North Carolina chefs, including those in the Triangle and Charlotte, were semifinalists for various awards, but were shut out of the list of finalists announced Tuesday.
- Taylor Montgomery of in the mountain town of Leicester is still in the running for Best Chef: Southeast.

WHAT’S NEXT: The will announce winners on June 15 in Chicago.

🏀 RED RECKONING ENDED: N.C. State basketball coach Will Wade, who promised a “red reckoning” in the ACC, is out after one year in Raleigh.

🐺 WHY IT MATTERS: In a stunning move, Wade announced on Thursday he would be returning to Louisiana State University, where he previously coached before getting snarled in an NCAA investigation.

WHAT HE’S SAYING: “This was not an easy decision ... but the opportunity to return to [LSU] is deeply personal,” Wade said in a statement. “It’s a chance to go home — to a place that means a great deal to me and my family.”

👀 THE BIG PICTURE: The Triangle now has two monumental coaching searches underway, as both and will look to find longterm coaches that can restore them to consistently competing for championships.

🏛️ 10 YEARS LATER: A decade ago this week, North Carolina passed House Bill 2, the so-called “bathroom bill.”

💡 WHY IT MATTERS: The now-repealed law sparked nationwide backlash, political fallout, corporate boycotts and major economic losses for the state.

📉 BY THE NUMBERS: HB2 is estimated to have cost North Carolina $3.76 billion in lost business over 12 years.

⏪ FLASHBACK: The law was passed in 2016 after the city of Charlotte expanded LGBTQ+ protections.
HB2 limited LGBTQ+ rights and required transgender people to use bathrooms matching their birth certificate.

🏀 FALLOUT: Among the notable boycotts, PayPal canceled a Charlotte expansion, the NBA moved its All-Star Game, and major artists canceled shows.

🔍 THE BIG PICTURE: HB2 helped push transgender rights into the national spotlight — and similar debates continue shaping policy today.

🔗 Click the link in Axios Charlotte’s bio to read how HB2 reshaped North Carolina and what’s changed since.

✍️: Katie Peralta Soloff
📸: Sara D. Davis/Getty Images

🏀 UNC COACHING CHANGE: has fired its men’s basketball coach after the team crashed out of the tournament in the first round for a second straight year.

⛹🏽‍♂️ BY THE NUMBERS: Hubert Davis was head coach for five years, taking over when Roy Williams retired. He won 70% of his games, and finishes with a 125-54 record.
- In his first year, the Heels made an improbable run all the way to the championship game, which they barely lost. They also beat Duke twice — in the Final Four and in Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game at Cameron.
- The next season, despite being ranked No. 1 preseason, the Heels didn’t make the tourney.
- In the years since, the school hasn’t made it past the Sweet 16.

🏆 WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: That’s a tough pill to swallow for one of the winningest programs of all time.
- Athletic director Bubba Cunningham announced the firing late March 24, saying the team must “compete more consistently at an elite level.”

🔍 WHAT’S NEXT: , a former Tar Heel player who has only ever coached at Carolina, said on social media he hopes “to coach again in the very near future.”
- Meanwhile, UNC is beginning a nationwide search for its next coach.

📢 TELL US: Who do you want to see coaching in Chapel Hill?

🎯 NEW TARGET: The now-closed Northgate Mall in Durham will the site for a new , the retailer and its landlord told Axios.

🛒 CATCH UP QUICK: After closing in 2020, Northgate Mall has sat empty and its future has become a contentious topic for nearby neighborhoods.

The arrival of a Target will mean, at least, that a portion of the site will become a hub of retail again.

🏗️ ZOOM IN: Regency Centers, a developer that owns one-third of the property, plans to demolish a portion of the mall, the old movie theater there and a parking deck to make way for the Target and other retail spaces.
Target and Regency said a timeline for construction is not yet known.

WHAT’S NEXT: The future of the rest of the mall property, which is owned by Northwood Investors and Duke, has not been determined.

👀 BIG REZONING: The future of at its current Raleigh location is uncertain.
- The Italian restaurant has been a fixture of the city’s dining scene and a favorite of the crowd since 1963.

🏗️ STATE OF PLAY: Amedeo’s owners have filed for a rezoning of its property on Western Boulevard to allow for up to 7 stories of height on the property.
- The group said they’re exploring a potential sale of the property ahead of big changes made to Western Boulevard, as part of the city’s bus-rapid transit expansion.

WHAT’S NEXT: Amedeo’s said no immediate changes are expected at the site, and any rezoning or sale would take several years.
- But the restaurant said if it does move forward with redevelopment, it will explore moving the restaurant to a new location.

🍽️ PAY WHAT YOU CAN: Eight years ago opened in downtown Raleigh, becoming the city’s only pay-what-you-can restaurant.

💵 WHY IT MATTERS: At a time with rising food insecurity, A Place at the Table offers a space that is welcoming to all walks of life in Raleigh, bringing together people over a delicious and warm meal.

🧇 HOW IT WORKS: The restaurant offers a suggested price to all customers, but for those who can’t afford it, it offers the option of either paying a minimum of $3 or volunteering in the cafe for one hour.
- Once a week, it offers free meals to any family.
- Altogether, the restaurant has served 350,000 meals since opening, its founder Maggie Kane told Axios.

☕️ STATE OF PLAY: But as the need for food grows in Raleigh, so does the strain on the model, Kane said.
- Kane said A Place at the Table needs more full-paying customers to come in and eat and support the mission to keep it thriving in the years to come.

🎤 CONCERT NEWS: will make two concert stops in North Carolina this summer.

🗓️ DETAILS: The neo-soul artist will perform in Charlotte on June 16 at Belk Theater as part of her ‘To Whom This May Concern Tour.’
- She’ll perform in Durham on June 18 at .

🔜 WHAT’S NEXT: Presale tickets are available at 10am on March 10 and March 11 to the general public.
- Tickets are available on her website missjillscott.com.