Emily Cataneo, Author at The Assembly NC

Yeti or Not, Here They Come

Bargain hunters at the Bigfoot festival in Marion. (Cornell Watson for The Assembly)

What is it about North Carolina that attracts the Sasquatch-curious?

What Is Really Going On With Charlotte the Stingray?

A still from one of the videos ECCO has posted of Charlotte.

A Hendersonville aquarium blew up the internet with the announcement of a “miracle” pregnancy.

How South of the Border Keeps Going After All These Years

South of the Border visitors pose outside the rest stop. (Cornell Watson for The Assembly)

South of the Border is not what it used to be, but people keep stopping.

The sun rises during the Dare Boat Builders Tournament July 29, 2023 in Manteo, North Carolina. The tournament is an event for recreational anglers and it helps raise scholarship money for students with parents in the marine industry. (Allison Joyce for The Assembly)

As competing interests vie for the state’s fisheries and coastal tourism, how can policymakers ensure a future for both?

Welcome to the Afterlife

The skull, jaw and other bones of someone who donated their body to WCU’s forensic anthropology program sit on a metal tray in a lab after being cleaned by students on Feb. 7, 2023. (Julia Wall for The Assembly)

A Western Carolina research facility is teaching us new things about what happens to our bodies when we die.

The State of Last Resort

Photos by Kate Medley

If the Supreme Court overturns the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade this month, up to 70,000 more patients from across the South could come to North Carolina for the procedure. Here’s how one clinic near the border is preparing.

Trying Times at ‘The Great 58’

Photos by Matt Ramey

North Carolina’s community college system is broad, diverse, and imbued with a remarkable level of autonomy. But turnover and enrollment woes are raising concerns about its future.

The Making of a Mask Mandate

Photo by Cornell Watson

A fight over school mask mandates in a GOP county lauded for its high vaccination rate shows just how tough it is to lead a public institution in the midst of a fast-changing pandemic.

The Unstable Permanence of Mobile Homes

Photo by Rachel Jessen

Two recent showdowns with investment firms in Chapel Hill outline the trap for mobile home residents: a home you own sits on land that outside investors are eager to buy and profit from.

Graves by the Sea

Illustration by Isabel Seliger

Across two narrow strips of sandy, marshy land, a team of volunteers is making Currituck County unique in answering a statewide call to document lost Black gravesites. What can their efforts teach us about remembrance and memorial?

Author: Emily Cataneo