Durham · Chapel Hill · Raleigh · November 3, 2026

Election Day: Polls Open Until 7:30

⚡ Quick Hits

🗳️ Polls are open until 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, and anyone in line at 7:30 can vote.
🏀 Duke, UNC and NC State all won their basketball openers Monday night.
🎨 Golden Belt's free winter artists market, with 30 local makers, is Saturday.

🔔 Heads Up

🌤️ Weather: Sunny and warm through Thursday, with highs from 76 to 79, then showers and thunderstorms likely Thursday night and Friday before Saturday clears. (NWS)
🗳️ Voting: It's Election Day. Polls are open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at your assigned polling place, you'll be asked for a photo ID, and your sample ballot is in the Voter Search. (NCSBE)
🏫 Schools: Durham Public Schools' traditional-calendar students, Chapel Hill-Carrboro, and Wake County's traditional-calendar students are all off Tuesday. For DPS it's an inclement-weather reserve day.

📌 Top Story

All three Triangle teams opened the college basketball season with wins Monday night, two of them under new coaches. Michael Malone, who won the 2023 NBA title with Denver, got his first Tar Heel win, 80-72 over Western Carolina, and former Wolfpack point guard Justin Gainey started his NC State tenure by beating Campbell 83-64. No. 2 Duke beat Army 84-50 behind 15 points from freshman Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, who at 17 is the youngest player in Division I.

📰 Around the Triangle

Durham police have 911 drones, but they aren't flying yet: the department approved a Drones as First Responders program this year and owns two drones, but it can't say when they'll launch. (WRAL)
A charge in Keegan Brooks' death: Durham police charged a driver with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and failure to reduce speed in the Sept. 13 crash that killed the 9-year-old on his bike at Knightwood and Bengel drives. (WRAL)
DPS tries a new way to fill special ed jobs: nearly half of the 68 teaching jobs Durham Public Schools still had open this fall were in special education, so it's contracting with an agency to place teachers while they train for the job. (INDY Week)
Chatham asks for a data center pause: county leaders and environmental activists called for a statewide moratorium on data centers, making Chatham the sixth North Carolina county to ask for one. (Chapelboro)
School bonds are on Wake's ballot: Wake voters are electing new school board members and deciding whether to raise property taxes for hundreds of millions of dollars in school and community college construction bonds. (WRAL)

📅 Plan Your Week

🗳️ Tuesday, November 3 (Today)

Kids Voting Election Day Celebration: Durham Central Park Pavilion, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kid ballots, buttons and face painting. Free. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)
First Tuesday Social Ride: CCB Plaza, Durham, 6 p.m. Black Spoke Society's no-drop, social-paced group ride. Free. (Details)

🏺 Wednesday, November 4

Porcelains and Power: Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, 5:30 p.m. Historian Ian Shin on how Americans collected Chinese art as the country rose. Free; RSVP. (Details)

🎸 Thursday, November 5

AJJ with Greet Death: Motorco Music Hall, Durham, 8 p.m. The Phoenix folk-punk band. $33. (Details)
NCMA After Hours: North Carolina Museum of Art, East Building, Raleigh, 5:30 to 9 p.m. A night celebrating new installations by Nancy Baker Cahill and Ronny Quevedo. Free with registration. (Details)

🌼 Friday, November 6

A Festival of Fabulous Mums: Duke Gardens, noon to 4 p.m. Exhibition chrysanthemums in full show form. Free; parking fees apply. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)
Little Big Town: DPAC, Durham, 7:30 p.m. The country quartet behind "Girl Crush." (Details)

🚂 Saturday, November 7

Golden Belt Artists Winter Market: Golden Belt Arts, Durham, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thirty local makers join the studios for early holiday shopping. Free. (Details)
Alternative Baseball at the DAP: Historic Durham Athletic Park, noon to 4:30 p.m. Athletes with disabilities play nine innings for the ballpark's 100th year. Free. (Details)
Saturday Science Sparks: Morehead Planetarium, Chapel Hill, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. UNC's Magic of Science students run hands-on experiments in the Launch Lab. Included with paid admission. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)
Raleigh Fall Train Show: Graham Building, State Fairgrounds, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sixteen working layouts. $10; kids 12 and under free with an adult. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)

That's the short list. The calendar has everything else we've checked, weeks out.

🍴 Openings & Closings

Gallicchio's Market & Eatery is open on Person Street: an Italian-leaning market in Raleigh with housemade provisions to go, a muffuletta, and wine and beer. (Raleigh Magazine)
Village Coffeehouse is closed after a fire: the Durant Road shop near Capital Boulevard caught fire Monday night. No one was hurt, and the owner says it's closed until further notice. (WRAL)

💬 Heard Around Town

North Carolina is one of 20 states suing Dollar General, alleging register prices ran higher than the shelf tags. (Thread)
Oak City Wildlife is asking for new or used fleece and flannel for baby animal care, holes and stains welcome. (Thread)
A Durham fire crew stopped its truck, flipped on the lights, and handed candy to a big group of trick-or-treaters. (Thread)

🏡 Triangle Pulse

Did you know that Cameron Indoor Stadium opened as Duke Indoor Stadium on Jan. 6, 1940, in front of 8,000 people, the biggest crowd southern basketball had ever seen. The architect had called 8,000 seats “rather liberal.” Duke built it in nine months for $400,000 and finished paying it off after the football team won the 1945 Sugar Bowl. (GoDuke)

Before You Go

Drink A Bull pours canned fruit wines (peach, apple, blackberry, raspberry, pear) at its Old West Durham tasting room and tea house, which opened in June. The family's winemaking traces to a 1933 winery near Valdese, where an invitation to the wine cellar meant you were a friend.

🧠 Brain break: today's Daily Fury is live. Five questions, the same five for everyone. Defend the Triangle's honor.

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