One of our favorite things at Cardinal & Pine is "Good News Friday."

Every week, we round up some of our favorite positive stories and bundle them together. This week, Cardinal & Pine contributor Ryan Pitkin picked out some real good vibes for your weekend.

First up, of course, are the Buddhist monks whose "Walk of Peace" took them through North Carolina this week. They were met with cheers in Charlotte on Wednesday, but the trip hasn't always been pleasant.

"Two of the original 20 were injured," Pitkin wrote, "one so seriously that his leg needed to be amputated, when a car struck their escort vehicle outside Dayton, Texas. Then their beloved dog Aloka had to leave the procession to undergo emergency surgery for a worsening leg injury in Charleston."

However, when they arrived in NC this week, they were reunited with Aloka.

A Cardinal & Pine reader shared this view of the monks making their way down Charlotte's Tryon Street this week. 

The monks were also planning stops in Salisbury, Greensboro, and Raleigh. As of this afternoon, they were nearing Kannapolis. For their live map, go here. 

Here's what else is in today's Cardinal & Pine newsletter: 

Big shout-out to Cardinal & Pine reader Nick Noble for this sunrise view from Southport. 

Show us your view by tapping the button below, NC. 

A huge Verizon outage this week affected millions of customers. Here's how you can be compensated by Verizon if it affected you. (Tada Images/Shutterstock)

About 1.5 million people, including customers here in North Carolina, were affected by a huge Verizon outage this week. It was reportedly caused by a software issue.

The good news for Verizon customers is you can receive a credit if you were impacted. Customers will be eligible for a $20 credit, although it's not clear when they'll get it.

Affected customers can use their myVerizon mobile app to request a compensation payment for the outage, the company confirmed.

1. Former Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema sued in NC as ‘homewrecker’. USA Today via Reuters

"The case in North Carolina paints Kyrsten Sinema as breaking up the marriage of a troubled Army veteran and alludes to some of the exotic travel that led to ethics complaints against Sinema before leaving office."

2. Black workers disproportionately displaced by AI as tech grows. Public News Service

"Experts say AI will disproportionately impact Black and brown workers through displacement and the environmental burden of data centers, which are more likely to be located in marginalized communities. North Carolina has at least 90 data centers, according to Data Center Map."

3. Does one of NC's US Senate candidates really live in Florida? Officials probing to find out. WRAL

"The State Board of Elections is investigating a complaint that one of the Republican candidates for North Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat lives in Florida. She says it’s false."

4. Four NC men among 26 charged in college basketball gambling scheme. News & Observer

"A wide-ranging sports gambling conspiracy to rig college basketball results led to 26 men, including four with North Carolina ties, being charged with federal crimes, according to documents unsealed in a Pennsylvania federal court on Thursday."

5. North Carolina ranks No. 24 for gun laws in new Everytown report. Everytown Research & Policy

"If North Carolina had the gun death rate of our National Leaders—the 10 states with the strongest gun safety laws—we could save 12,851 lives in the next decade."

(Margaret Wiktor/Shutterstock)

Last week, we tested out your knowledge of quaint little NC downtowns. 

Many of you correctly named Bryson City, aka "the outdoor adventure capital of the Great Smoky Mountains." But only one of you got it first, and that honor belongs to Cardinal & Pine reader Lisa Henderson-Hill. 

Way to go, Lisa!

This week, we're going to a different nook in NC. Where are we? Be the first to get it right and you get a shout-out here next week!

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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Billy Ball. I'm an NC native and journalist. I tend to lean left on opinion, but I lean no way on facts. Today's edition includes stories from Ryan Pitkin, Public News Service, and USA Today via Reuters. It was edited by Paula Solis.

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