TCB at Ten: 10 big stories that shaped the Triad

Featured photo: A shot of a BLM protest in June 2020 in Greensboro.

This story is part of our 10-year-anniversary issue. To find all of the stories in the issue, go here.

Black Lives Matter

The first time the words “Black Lives Matter” appeared in our work was Dec. 5, 2014 as it was chanted by a group of protesters in Greensboro, and then again a couple weeks later by BLM protesters in Winston-Salem, who blocked the entrance to Hanes Mall right before Christmas. We covered the movement extensively, with some of our best materializing during the Racial Reckoning protests in the summer of 2020. We also covered those who made the movement necessary: Marcus Smith, John Neville, Nasanto Antonio Crenshaw, Joseph Lopez Jr., Fred Cox,  Chieu Di Thi Vo and the many others who died at the hands of law enforcement in the Triad.

COVID-19

The pandemic posed an existential crisis for TCB. We lost every single one of our advertisers and were pretty sure we’d go under. But we leaned into the news anyway, publishing nightly updates on the slow encroachment of COVID-19 in the Triad, detailing the advent of the vaccine and helping to understand what it all meant for our region.

Triad Stage

For months we sat on allegations of sexual assault by Triad Stage founder Preston Lane, until he announced his retirement and we were able to convince some sources to go on the record. We followed the scandal as it wound through UNCG’s theater department, and then across T-Stage’s resurgence and eventual dissolution in June 2023.

Crystal Towers

We first wrote about Crystal Towers, the embattled low-income highrise in downtown Winston-Salem, for our Feb. 25, 2015 issue: a history of the building and two others — Sunrise Towers and Healy Towers — in the city. Most recently we’ve been clocking the deteriorating conditions for the people who live there, including fire hazards, mold and faulty elevators.

UNCG

We were there in May 2015 when Frank Gilliam took over as chancellor at UNCG. Since that time we’ve covered his victories and his travails, from expansion of the school to the most recent round of austerity that included major cuts to programs.

Pushback against Trump

We covered the rise of Trump starting in August 2015 — Jordan Green was the only one on staff who thought (knew) he would win the presidency the next year. We watched, bewildered, as he swept through the primary season and then fact-checked his Greensboro appearance and documented the atrocities of his supporters. When the worst happened on Election Night 2016, we swung into action with a strong cover image, and a new section “Trump’s America,” where we detailed our national descent into madness, along with a guide on how to resist the creep of fascism in our country. We followed up with reams of coverage about the alt-right, Jan. 6 and other disasters Trump has wrought.

LGBTQIA2S+ coverage

Our coverage of the LGBTQIA2S+ community has been a bedrock of of TCB from the beginning. From an investigation into a trans person ejected from Greene Street Club on LGBTQ night, to the economic devastation wrought by HB2, to the continued demonization of the people who continue to be marginalized today.

Abortion access

Even before the repeal of Roe v. Wade, we’ve been keeping tabs on abortion access in the Triad, including pieces on protests and policy, reports from clinics and their pressure points on a person’s right to choose.

High Point rising

From the early days, when Al Heggins was released for talking about white supremacy, to the Andres Duany fiasco that eventually cost Wendy Fuscoe her job with the city, all the way up to the vote on reparations, the new ballpark, the football club and other hallmarks of downtown development, we’ve watched High Point rise.

Brewery boom

There were just a small handful of Triad breweries when we started in 2014, and we’ve covered all the hits (Preyer Brewing, Brewer’s Kettle, XII Tribes, Wise Man and others)  and misses (remember Stone Brewing?). Even now, when it seems like every neighborhood has its own brewery, we continue to report on this important beat.