The City & State section is now in its second year covering North Carolina and the Winston-Salem community, with hopes of bridging the gaps in local coverage and giving the Wake Forest community insight into issues that often go unnoticed. We strive to give light to people’s stories, not through hollow numbers on a national scale, but to show how a singular issue will affect the residents of North Carolina and Winston-Salem.
In Spring 2025, Nick Costantino took over as City & State editor and led the coverage of the effects of the Trump administration’s funding cuts on North Carolina and the fight for a seat on the NC Supreme Court between Allison Riggs and Jefferson Griffin.
Governor Josh Stein began his term as the 76th governor of North Carolina on Jan. 1st, 2025 and was immediately put under the spotlight for many issues, including funding for Hurricane Helene recovery and Republicans’ many attempts to strip power away from him.
We also covered the many local schools and universities across North Carolina that lost funding due to Department of Education and NIH funding cuts, and how many shuttered or adapted their DEI initiatives to better align with the Trump administration’s policies.
Costantino also covered the attempts of Griffin to contest over 60,000 ballots in his NC Supreme Court race, including 246 Wake Forest students, ultimately losing his challenge.
In Fall 2025, we reported on many national issues that were affecting North Carolina, such as the immigration crackdown in Raleigh and Charlotte and the loss of SNAP benefits for Forsyth County residents. And, we covered the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system’s ballooning budget deficit and the growing presence of The Grounds development.
In September, we discussed a new law banning cellphones in North Carolina schools, an increasingly popular issue in education as phones become even more important in our everyday lives. We gave an update on The Grounds and what that project will look like when it is finished.
We covered the Winston-Salem schools’ budget deficit of $46 million and the accompanying 222 layoffs that resulted in dozens of protests across the school district and the superintendent’s resignation. We reported on new construction downtown, including a new path on Salem Parkway to improve walkability and a new amphitheater to host live music and community events.
In October, we discussed the changes in prescription laws for the COVID-19 vaccine and NC Republicans’ move to gerrymander Democrats out of power in an effort to gain more seats in the House of Representatives. We covered Iryna’s Law, a comprehensive criminal justice bill passed in response to the stabbing of Iryna Zarutska on Aug. 22.
We covered the “No Kings” protest in downtown Winston-Salem that brought together hundreds of people against the Trump administration. We also discussed a case going before the Supreme Court involving Duke Energy, the main energy company for North Carolina, that could spell disaster for them if ruled against.
In November, we covered many issues pertaining to the government shutdown and its effects on North Carolina and Winston-Salem. We reported on the loss of SNAP benefits for North Carolinians and the intensified demand on food banks and pantries in the community to provide essentials.
We covered the loss of a legal aid fund in North Carolina, leaving North Carolinians across the state without access to free legal services. We also discussed Innovation Quarter’s Phase Ⅱ plan to add 28 acres to the 330-acre mixed-use development space.
Most recently, we reported on the massive federal immigration crackdown across the state, with a focus on Charlotte and Raleigh, that led to the arrests of more than 250 people, and led to confusion among state officials.
As local newspapers shut down across the country and in Winston-Salem, covering these issues with clarity and detail has never been more crucial. As the saying goes, all politics is local. We hope we have embodied this principle through our reporting.
We, as students, do not have the capacity to be full-time journalists. But we hope that our stories this year have helped readers understand the importance of reading local news and given a little more insight into the city and state they call home for at least four years.
Lastly, this section and The Old Gold & Black are saying goodbye to James Watson. Watson helped create this section a year ago and has been a section editor since he was a freshman. While it’s undoubtedly time for Watson to move on to his next chapter, we wish him all the best — and hope we never have to write about him.
