Raleigh: black-only shopping center? | Thieves target churchgoers | GOP election board shakeup | Waning attendance for anti-Trump protest?
No. 133 — Jul. 13-Jul. 19, 2025
Black-only children's bookstore to reopen in Black-only shopping center
Raleigh's Liberation Station bookstore to reopen in Montague Plaza on Juneteenth 2026 - WRAL
Black-owned children’s bookstore launches fundraiser to reopen in Raleigh - N&O
Can a landlord choose to only rent to tenants of their own race? That's apparently the case with "black real estate developer" James Montague's eponymous 16,000-square-foot Montague Plaza in South Raleigh, whose 14 commercial spaces were exclusively leased by black-owned small businesses when in opened in 2023, according to ABC11.
This is not merely a coincidence: ABC11's reporting on Montague Plaza's groundbreaking in 2021 described it as "a new gateway for Black business ownership" which was "billed as space to ensure Black and Brown talent can be a part of the growth," while F&M Bank described its financing of the project as "supporting black-owned businesses."
This apparently makes it the perfect new location for Liberation Station, a children's bookstore centered around its identity as a black-owned business featuring only black authors.
Liberation Station was started in 2019 by Victoria Scott-Miller and her family as a "pop-up shop specializing in children’s literature that centers on Black children and families" with "113 books by Black authors or Black illustrators."
The store's exclusive black focus led to it exploding after George Floyd's death in 2020, including being featured on CNN, Good Morning America, the Washington Post, and Oprah Magazine.
Scott-Miller was able to leverage mainstream media attention with a fundraiser shared by outlets like the News & Observer, Spectrum News, and CBS17 which collected over $10k to open a brick-and-mortar location in downtown Raleigh on Juneteenth 2023: "It will always be a space that houses the narrative of Black children, Black creators, diasporic writers and illustrators...With our Raleigh location, we are allowing children to walk into a bookstore and learn about their history, their present and their future, and they can practice possibility."
However, the high profile of the store's open black identitarianism did not only attract supporters. with Scott-Miller attributing the closure of the physical location in April 2024 to "numerous threats" including a "disturbing phone call". (Raleigh Police told WRAL they had not received any reports of the alleged threats.)
This week, after over a year without a physical location, Scott-Miller announced a $60k fundraiser to reopen Liberation Station at Montague Plaza on Juneteenth 2025 (once again shared by WRAL and the News & Observer); as of Saturday, the fundraiser was approaching the halfway-point with $24k raised.
Thieves target dozens of churchgoers' vehicles at five locations
5 Raleigh churches targeted in weekend car break-ins - ABC11
Wave of car break-ins hits Raleigh churches: $2,000 and handgun stolen - WRAL
RPD: Pick-up trucks targeted in string of vehicle break-ins at churches - WRAL
Over thirty vehicles were broken into during religious services last weekend in Raleigh in parking lots at Our Lady of Lourdes, Highland United Methodist Church, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Providence Church, and a Summit campus.
Surveillance video from Our Lady of Lourdes shows a thief wearing what appears to be a black hood and a white mask getting out of the passenger's side of a black Infiniti sedan to break into a pickup truck, making off with $2k in cash and a handgun from the six vehicles targeted at this location:
Raleigh Police say that thieves appear to be targeting vehicles which are more likely to contain firearms, such as pick-up trucks or those with certain bumper stickers.
Harnett GOP replaces incumbent board of election members
Former GOP County Election Officials Say They Were Forced Out - The Assembly
After the results of the 2024 election revealed that they would lose their supermajority in the NC House, one of the bills passed by the GOP in the lame-duck session over the governor's veto was to pass SB-382, which included a provision shifting control of the state and county boards of elections from the Democrat-controlled governor's office to the state auditor's office, where the incumbent Democrat Jessica Holmes had been defeated by her Republican challenger Dave Boliek.
Under North Carolina law, each county Board of Elections has five members, with two each selected by the State Board of Elections from a list of three provided by each of the two largest political parties (currently Republicans and Democrats).
Prior to SB-382, appointment of the fifth member of each county board, the chair, was reserved to the governor, allowing the Democrats to have a majority in each of the state's 100 counties since 2017.
Although much of the county boards' role is routine and uncontroversial in ensuring the smooth executing of the county's election process, the partisan control of the boards do come into play with choices like early voting, or whether to illegally count dead voters (like the three Democrats on the Wake County Board of Elections decided to do last election, without consequence).
With the number of Republicans on each county board expanding from two to three, counties such as Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Orange, Vance, and Wake have kept both incumbent Republican board members, while Johnston, Lee, and Person have kept one, according to data compiled by The Assembly.
However, the Harnett GOP replaced both incumbent Republican board members; according to one of the replaced members, Bill McNutt, he had made enemies in the party by opposing a joint resolution by the county's board of education and board of commissioners against using public schools as voting places.
Although lacking the approval of his own county's GOP, McNutt does have the support of Jim Womack, election integrity activist and chair of the Lee GOP. This perhaps highlights the fact that while election integrity, as a principle, is widely agreed upon by the Republican party, there is not full consensus what that goal looks like and how it should be achieved.
Chantal aftermath
Chantal floods cause $56M in damages to Orange County buildings and businesses - N&O
Chapel Hill business owners get support at resource fair for flood victims - ABC11
Mold a major concern for Chapel Hill businesses after flooding: 'Growing all over the walls' - ABC11
Community steps up for flooded Hillsborough school, salon and home for the arts - N&O)
Here’s How You Can Help Orange, Chatham Locals Affected by Tropical Depression Chantal - Chapelboro.com
In the wake of Tropical Storm Chantal, Gov. Stein has declared a state of emergency in counties including Chatham, Durham, Lee, Orange, Person, and Wake to "facilitate and support long-term recovery efforts from flooding" under NC's Emergency Management Act.
Orange County officials estimate the storm did approximately $56 million in damage across the county, including $12.7 million to residential property, $20.7 million to commercial property, and $22.6 to public property.
The damage includes $17 million to Eastgate Crossing/Mariakakis Plaza/University Place, $3.2 million to Cameron Village, and $5.9 million to Parks and Recreation property.
The town of Hillsborough estimates it will cost $2.3 million to replace vehicles lost at the public works facility; 200 volunteers who came out to help clean up the school at the historic Eno Mill building are among many members of the community to step up in the aftermath of the storm.
If you haven't already, there's never a better time than now to look up your home on the NC Flood Risk Information System.
Raleigh arrest in $3 million fraud/money laundering scheme
Moldovan Russian Fraud Scheme Arrest - NCSBI Press Release
A resident of Raleigh has been charged in what the NC State Bureau of Investigation describes as a "large-scale Moldovan and Russian money laundering scheme" involving up to $3 million in stolen funds, while his brother and alleged co-conspirator remains at large.
Valentin Virlizanu, 41, has been released on a $25,000 bond after he arrested this week in Pender County and charged with conspiracy, money laundering, obtaining property by false pretenses, and using a government computer to defraud.
An arrest warrant has also been issued for his brother, Vasile Virlizanu; the NCSBI is requesting the public's help in locating him.
According to the NCSBI, the brothers took money from customers for antique cars advertised online under the names "Specialty Vehicles of Tulsa" and "Bonucci Auto of Arizona", but failed to actually deliver the vehicles.
In response to an inquiry by the Triangle Trumpet, the NCSBI indicated that they did not have information on the immigration status of the Virlizanu brothers, while the Pender County Sheriff's Office did not respond at all.
Follow-up
Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools move principal to new job after completing investigation - N&O
Previous coverage: Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools faces apparently unrelated same-day student walkouts (No. 126 — May 31, 2025)
Protest Watch
Nationwide "Good Trouble Lives On" protest
'Good Trouble' rally targets new voting legislation - ABC11
‘Antithesis of democracy’: Protesters gather for ‘Good Trouble’ rally in Raleigh - N&O
The latest nationwide demonstration by anti-Trumpers on Thursday featured nine Triangle locations in Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Hillsborough, Morrisville, Pittsboro, Raleigh, Smithfield, Wake Forest.
The event, held in memory of Rep. John Lewis (D), appears to have attracted significantly less attendance than the thousand total Triangle attendees at the previous "No Kings" protests in June, with only 300 protesters in Raleigh (as reported by the News & Observer), and approximately one hundred at the location I covered in Wake Forest.
The Wake Forest protest featured largely older white participants, with approximately half the attendees raising their hand when asked if they were on social security.
Unlike some of the previous anti-ICE protests which featured a lot of foreign flags and not many American flags, many of these demonstrators were wearing or carrying American flags. I didn't get the feel that this was done for "optics", like at some protests, especially as I believe I was the only member of the media present.
The central theme of the protest was opposing Trump, with speakers bringing up specific issues ranging from anti-capitalism to voting rights to abortion to anti-ICE activism.
Durham Wingstop employees go on "strike", read demands at counter
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Decided to get a quote for flood insurance this week, though we don’t live in a flood plain. The agent said the rate was quadruple what it was a year or so ago. He was shocked. 😢