The Nice List

Illustration by Mathias Marchington for The Assembly

Here are our staff’s favorite stories published throughout the year, which we are putting outside our paywall as a special gift to you.

Black Santa Clauses are Coming to Town

Children take pictures with Santa Claus, played by Stafford Braxton, CEO of Santas Just Like Me. (Cornell Watson for The Assembly)

For 12 years, a Raleigh man has been making Black Santas a holiday tradition.

Published
Categorized as Culture

What Roy Cooper Leaves Behind

Gov. Roy Cooper visits Claxton Elementary in Greensboro. (Carolyn de Berry for The Assembly)

No other North Carolina governor has seen his role so often reduced to trying to thwart his legislative adversaries. But that’s not Cooper’s only legacy.