The Nice List

Every holiday season, we ask the staff of The Assembly to pick some of their favorite stories we published throughout the year. These can be hard-hitting investigations, timely features, or just stories that were really fun to read. They aren’t always the journalism that drew the most readers or had the biggest impact, but they are what stuck with us weeks and months later. 

As a special treat, we’re putting all our favorite stories outside the paywall for the next week so you can enjoy them–and perhaps share them with friends and family.

We know you’ve all been very good this year and definitely deserve it. Happy holidays to all, and best wishes as we head into the last days of 2024.

Mark Robinson and the Suspension of Disbelief

We wrote a lot about Mark Robinson this year, but this story did more to explain him than anything else I read anywhere. –Jeffrey Billman, politics reporter

One of my favorite stories this year was Joe Killian’s “Mark Robinson and the Suspension of Disbelief.” We were deluged with stories about Mark Robinson detailing how outlandish his social media comments had been. This story actually explained Mark Robinson in a way no other story I had read had done. The writing was solid and Joe Killian had clearly done his homework that showed deep knowledge of Greensboro, wrestling and Robinson. It was a fascinating story.–Michael Hewlett, criminal justice reporter

Shrimpin’ Ain’t Easy

I cheated and asked my husband what his favorite Assembly story of 2024 was, and he immediately said it was Johanna F. Still’s “Shrimpin’ Ain’t Easy.” He said he thinks about it all the time as a window into what it’s like for a small business to compete in a global market. In addition to a business story, it’s also a profile of a colorful shrimping family, and Johanna’s photos of the Davises are fantastic. –Emily Stephenson, deputy managing editor

Bobby Huckabee’s New Poker Face

I love stories that reveal behind-the-scenes operators using their influence or money to get things done. Bobby Huckabee, who’s been trying to legalize video lottery terminals in North Carolina for 20 years, is one of them. Ren Larson showed how Huckabee, who was once tainted by scandal, has used generous campaign contributions to get the attention of key legislators. They didn’t want to talk to Ren and neither did Huckabee, but with skillful reporting, Ren nailed the story. –John Drescher, senior editor

Nobody Knows Where the Line Is

It’s not hard to find people on campus decrying consultants and administrators for the budget cuts and transitions rippling across higher ed. It’s less clear who, specially, is actually making the decisions, much less why. That’s what I loved about this story investigating program cuts at UNC-Greensboro from my fellow higher ed reporter Erin Gretzinger and The Chronicle of Higher Education‘s David Jesse: They combed through 600 pages of emails to pull back the curtain for the rest of us. – Matt Hartman, higher ed reporter

TikTok’s Prince of Poverty

Love it or hate it, I’m not on TikTok. But the personalities that leach power and profits from the social media platform need as much accountability reporting as traditional businesses. Johanna F. Still and Kevin Mauer knocked it out of the park reporting on slumlord Thomas Cruz, his business practices, and the people caught in his schemes, living in homes without heat or water, as the Rolls Royce-driving, Dubai-partying millionaire mocks their misery. Cruz, dare I say, is as ugly on the inside as he is on the outside, and the reporting is a read I couldn’t put down.–Ren Larson, reporter

It’s rare to find someone as cartoonishly villainous as the TikTok star at the center of this piece from Johanna Still and Kevin Maurer. He openly flaunts the money he earns skirting building codes and exploiting the poor. (“If y’all wanna fuck the middle class and the poor at the same time, lemme hear a ‘hell yeah’ in the comments,” he said in one video.) But what I think is even better about this story is it’s not just a hate read: it’s a necessary—and horrifying—look at how housing inequality has adapted to the hustle culture of the influencer era. –Matt Hartman, higher ed reporter

Too Good To Be True

In 1996, the editorial staff of the Independent Weekly was looking for creative ways to cover the election that year. They lamented the lack of political candidates that aligned with their own progressive values. Enter gubernatorial candidate Jolene Strickland. She had it all: she was an educator, a NASCAR fan, and used folksy North Carolina charm to connect with voters. The only trouble was—she never existed. This story follows the decision and the creation of a fabricated campaign that spotlighted the thin line between political fact and fiction, and why so many wanted to believe. It’s a 2024 must-read! –Emily McCord, senior regional editor

Could there be a better campaign slogan? In a year of politics that prompted more than a few people to tune out in despair, this story was a breath of fresh air. –Carli Brosseau, investigative reporter

What Is Really Going On With Charlotte the Stingray?

Hands-down I have to give it to Charlotte the stingray. The piece has everything you could possibly hope for in an Assembly story (and more). Dubious ecclesiastic claims. International fanfare. Cops called on the reporter visiting the townie aquarium to investigate. I mean, you can’t make this stuff up. Perfectly executed through and through. No notes. –Johanna F. Still, Wilmington editor

The Making of Michele Morrow

Michele Morrow surprised pretty much everyone by winning the Republican primary for superintendent of public instruction last March. It seemed, to many, like she came out of nowhere. But Carli Brosseau’s reporting showed her origins in pandemic-era conservative activism and her ties to national efforts to win local races. This is the kind of context and original insight missing from so much campaign reporting. –Kate Sheppard, managing editor

Asheville Residents Describe Rescue From Swannanoa River

In general, Holly Kays had some incredible reporting on the ground in the days following Helene. But her story about people trapped in an Asheville complex watching the floodwaters rise and their cars float away really showed how harrowing the scene was for the people who lived through it. More than the stories about the politics or economics of the damage, the vignettes of life during and after the storm, reported from Cherokee land and Junaluska, Chimney Rock and downtown Asheville, brought to light the deep effects of Hurricane Helene for the people who lived through it. –Grace McFadden, audience editor

North Carolina’s $55 Million Olympic Dream

As long as we have government, we will have government boondoggles. They are, perhaps, the most bipartisan and dependable feature of our politics. Less dependable, these days: the deep reporting the public needs to properly vet these multi-million dollar giveaways. Ren Larson puts on a clinic in minding the peoples’ business with this great story. –Joe Killian, Greensboro editor

Yeti or Not, Here They Come

A few weeks after I moved to North Carolina and started at The Assembly, I knew I would feel right at home in the state and at the publication after reading “Yeti or Not, Here They Come.” Learning about all the lore that attracts Bigfoot hunters to the East Coast (when I always thought it was just a West Coast phenomenon!) was just what I needed as I settled in. The compelling scenes and in-depth interviews with earnest Sasquatch searchers made this story one I won’t forget! – Erin Gretzinger, higher ed reporter