Thursday, May 29, 2025

Good Morning! On this day in 1810, American politician and Brevet Major General Solomon Meredith was born in Guilford County. Meredith moved to Indiana in 1829 and during the Civil War, became a Union commander of the Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac, which he led into the Battle of Gettysburg.

Just when you thought voter registration lawsuits had ended in North Carolina, along comes a new one. Learn more in Top Stories.

Today’s sponsor is Pacaso, offering an investment opportunity in the real estate industry.

Don’t feel like reading the national edition of The Flyover? Tune in to The Flyover Podcast! New episodes drop daily—watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, all in under 15 minutes.

Trump DOJ Sues NC Elections Board

Backed by President Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing North Carolina and its State Board of Elections (BOE) for violating the Help America Vote Act by failing to maintain accurate voter rolls.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, is similar to the 2024 case filed by former state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin, which targeted a voter registration form that didn’t require a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number.

Although some corrective actions are underway due to Griffin’s suit, the DOJ argues they are insufficient. The department seeks to require North Carolina officials to contact affected voters within 30 days to obtain missing information—or remove them from the rolls—to ensure compliance with federal election law.

Greg Flynn, a Democrat on Wake County’s BOE, said the DOJ’s suit contains inaccuracies because it doesn’t factor in human error and personal information changing over time.

Gang Member Trafficked Fentanyl in Lego Boxes

The DOJ announced on Tuesday the sentencing of 30-year-old Shakeim Weeks of Raleigh, a member of the United Blood Nation gang, to 14 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl pills in Eastern North Carolina and throughout the country.

Weeks was arrested after returning to North Carolina on June 7, 2024, with a suitcase containing approximately 100,000 fentanyl pills stuffed into Lego boxes. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 27 to conspiring to distribute and possess 400 grams or more of fentanyl.

The pills weighed 11 kilograms. Just 1 kilogram of fentanyl has the power to kill 500,000 people, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. Using that metric, the amount that Weeks had in his suitcase had the potential to kill 5.5 million people.

NC Community College Growth Outpaces Nation

New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reveals an 8.3% boost in North Carolina public community college enrollment between spring 2024 and spring 2025, outpacing the national community college growth rate of 5.4%.

Although the boost equates to 16,000 more students enrolling in North Carolina’s public two-year colleges over the last year, it reflects a 2.7% decrease from spring 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic impacted community college enrollment nationwide.

The report also shows a 2.5% increase in North Carolina public four-year college enrollments and a 2.3% increase in the state’s private four-year colleges since spring 2024.

You can view a map and list of North Carolina’s public community colleges here.

Flying together with our sponsor

He’s Already IPO’d Once—This Time’s Different

Spencer Rascoff co-founded Zillow, scaling it into a $16B real estate giant. But everyday investors couldn’t invest until after the IPO, missing early gains.

“I wish we had done a round accessible to retail investors prior to Zillow’s IPO,” Spencer later said.

Now he’s doing just that. Spencer teamed up with fellow Zillow exec Austin Allison to launch Pacaso. Pacaso’s co-ownership marketplace is disrupting the $1.3T vacation home market. They’ve already surpassed $110M in gross profit and $1B in transactions.

They also recently reserved their Nasdaq ticker PCSO. But unlike Zillow, you can invest in Pacaso as a private company.

Become a Pacaso investor at $2.80/share before midnight PST tonight.

➤ Statewide: The North Carolina Supreme Court voted 5-2 Friday to uphold juror substitution after deliberations, reinstating a life sentence and additional prison time for a man convicted in 2022 of first-degree murder at a Raleigh motel. (More)

➤ Western NC: NCDOT says the I-40 stretch near the North Carolina-Tennessee border may not fully reopen for up to three years. Currently, traffic is limited to one lane in each direction with a 35 mph speed limit. (More)

➤ Charlotte: NCDOT also reports that I-485’s express lanes—under construction since 2019—are on track for completion by winter 2025. The project includes an express lane in each direction, a new interchange, and other improvements. (More)

➤ Wake County teachers received a survey Tuesday on the district’s new cellphone policy, which requires students to silence phones, tablets, and smartwatches and store them in a backpack or locker. (More)

➤ Winston-Salem: Catty Moore, a current member of the North Carolina State Board of Education, will serve as interim superintendent of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools following Superintendent Tricia McManus’ June 30 retirement. (More)

➤ Hatteras Island’s Chicamacomico Banks Water Rescue team and the Hatteras Island Rescue Squad started their seasonal beach patrols over Memorial Day weekend. Both teams also respond to out-of-the-water emergencies. (More)

Enjoy reading Flyover North Carolina? Click here to share with your friends and family. ✈️

➤ The Hurricanes lost 5–3 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final last night. Despite early goals from Aho and Jarvis, Carolina’s playoff run ends as Florida advances to the Stanley Cup Final. (More)

➤ UNC senior David Ford won the 2025 Haskins Award, given to the nation’s top college golfer. Ford finishes his Tar Heels career as one of the greatest golfers in the school’s history. (More)

➤ UNC Charlotte will launch a sports analytics degree this fall, making it just the fifth school in the nation to offer such a program. (More)

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ Goldman Sachs says this phenomenon is creating 1,600 new millionaires daily—yet it’s flying under the radar. The analyst who foresaw Amazon and Qualcomm’s rise is now revealing his next big prediction, claiming this opportunity could surpass anything investors have seen before. (See It Here)

➤ Following its merger with Carowinds owner Cedar Fair, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is cutting over 10% of its full-time workforce to achieve $120 million in cost savings by the end of 2025. Carowinds, now under the Six Flags umbrella, is expected to raise season pass prices by 3-4%. (More)

➤ Turkish manufacturer Pelsan Tekstil plans to invest $83 million in Goldsboro, where it will build its first U.S. facility by 2030. The project is expected to create up to 216 jobs with an average salary of $48,800. (More)

➤ The York County Council can’t issue a cease-and-desist order against Silfab Solar’s permits despite concerns over its proximity to two schools because state and federal officials have deemed the site safe and legally compliant. (More)

➤ Weyerhaeuser is acquiring 117,000 acres of timberlands in North Carolina and Virginia for $375 million, expanding its holdings to around 744,000 acres in North Carolina and 150,000 acres in Virginia, with the deal expected to close in Q3. (More)

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ She Ate This Vegetable For 10 Years (Her Doctor Was Shocked) Denise thought she was eating “healthy” for 10 years until her doctor pointed to ONE food in her journal…But after 3 months of eliminating this ONE common “health food” from her meals, she dropped 30 pounds and finally felt the mental clarity she’d been missing for years. Get the name of this “health food” to avoid in your diet >>

Flying together with our sponsor

The Stock Ticker Top Investors Are Holding

They may not be trading on the Nasdaq just yet, but Pacaso just reserved the ticker “$PCSO.” No wonder investors are excited to secure a stake now in Pacaso as a private company.

Founded by the man who took Zillow from seed to IPO, Pacaso brings co-ownership to the $1.3T vacation home industry. They’ve already generated $1B+ worth of luxury home transactions across 2,000+ buyers. Top firms like SoftBank and Maveron are already holding shares.

Now, after 41% gross profit growth last year, surpassing $110M+ total, Pacaso is ready for what’s next. Best of all? You don’t have to wait to join, but time is of the essence.

Until midnight PST, you can become a Pacaso investor for just $2.80/share. Buy Pacaso stock before tonight’s deadline.

This is a paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals. Under Regulation A+, a company has the ability to change its share price by up to 20%, without requalifying the offering with the SEC.

➤ The Sanderling Resort in Duck is celebrating its 40th anniversary with redesigned rooms, a new Vivian Howard restaurant, and summer activities like stargazing, mixology classes, and ghost crab hunts. (More)

➤ The 88th season of The Lost Colony begins on Roanoke Island on May 29 and features eight new leading roles. Residents of Dare, Tyrrell, Currituck, and Hyde counties will receive free admission May 29 and 30 with proof of residency. (See Details)

➤ North Carolina had a 4.9% car accident rate among drivers in 2024—the seventh-highest in the country—based on data from Insurify. Massachusetts scored the highest rate at 6.1% while Michigan scored the lowest at 1.7%. (See Map)

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ How often do you eat eggs? Did you know it does THIS to senior brains? If you think you know the answer, don’t be too sure. If you care about your memory, click here now.