TL;DR — 3 Things to Know This Week

• Durham moved all 18 people camping at Oakwood Park into interim housing, then fenced the 1.2-acre park for health and safety repairs, a very different outcome from an April sweep that failed.
• Gov. Stein and Attorney General Jackson are pushing Duke Energy to turn a federal pledge on data center costs into a legally binding rate rule, as Duke seeks rate hikes of up to 18% on households.
• Koki closed its downtown Durham restaurant after seven years, the latest in a string of local restaurant exits this year, though its Morrisville location stays open.

Durham Housed All 18 Oakwood Park Residents, Then Fenced the Park

Three months after tents came right back the same evening a sweep ended, every single person camping at Oakwood Park said yes to housing this time.

• The difference from April wasn't force, it was an offer. Outreach teams brought transportation, care managers, and interim housing instead of just clearing people out, and all 18 residents accepted voluntarily.

• The park stayed a flashpoint because there was nowhere else to put people. Community Safety director Ryan Smith has said Durham's shelter waitlist is full, which is part of why the first clearance didn't stick.

• The city fenced the 1.2-acre park on Holloway Street for health and safety repairs, with City Manager Bo Ferguson saying a reopening date will come once restoration plans are set.

• The 18 residents will enter Durham's next Housing Sprint later this summer, the same program that placed 14 of 15 participants into housing in its last round.

Why it matters: Durham counted 1,593 people experiencing homelessness citywide as of June 30. The city's goal, backed by a new $4 million budget line, is functional zero by 2031, meaning nobody waits more than 30 days for housing once they lose it.

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Duke Energy Signed a Pledge on Data Centers. NC Leaders Say It Needs Teeth.

Duke Energy told the federal government households won't pay for data center power costs, and North Carolina's governor and attorney general responded with a shrug and a demand for something that actually shows up on a bill.

• Duke signed the federal Ratepayer Protection Pledge Thursday alongside other utilities and data center developers, part of a Trump administration push amid national worry that the AI buildout will raise electric bills.

• Attorney General Jeff Jackson said the pledge doesn't lower anyone's power bill in North Carolina, since it carries no state enforcement mechanism.

• Gov. Josh Stein is calling on Duke and the Utilities Commission to create a legally binding large-load tariff that would force data centers to cover the full cost of the power they draw.

• Duke says it already backs that principle through its Customer Protection Plus framework, but hasn't said whether it will propose the binding tariff itself.

What to watch: The fight lands as Duke Energy Progress seeks rate hikes of up to 18% on regular customers. Whether the Utilities Commission adopts a binding large-load tariff will decide if data center costs and household rate increases stay separated on future bills.

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Quick Hits

• Durham found that Pearson Flats, a planned 204-unit affordable apartment complex on Fayetteville Street, needs no full environmental impact statement. HUD would fund $14 million of the $70.3 million project, with public comments accepted through August 12 before the city requests the money on August 13.

• The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina opened a 64,000-square-foot distribution center in Durham, nearly double the size of its old Angier Avenue site. Nearly 97,000 people across the six-county region it serves don't know where their next meal is coming from, and Food Lion FEEDS put $1 million toward the building.

• SelSym Biotech landed its first equity investment from Research Triangle Park firm Persephoni BioSciences to develop SymClot, a synthetic bleeding-control therapy meant to work without the shelf-life limits of donated platelets. SelSym will move from downtown Durham to Persephoni's RTP building as part of the deal.

• Koki closed its downtown Durham restaurant on City Hall Plaza after seven years, giving no reason for the move. The Puerto Rican kitchen's Morrisville location stays open, and the closure follows True Flavors Diner's exit earlier this year over rising costs and rent.

• Duke's Dec. 21 basketball game against Michigan was called off after a broadcast rights dispute between Amazon Prime and the Big Ten, and Texas Tech will take the Michigan game's spot at Madison Square Garden instead. Duke keeps its other two Prime Video games, against UConn in Las Vegas and Gonzaga in Detroit.

• Durham-based Atsena Therapeutics dosed its first Phase 3 patient in a gene therapy trial for X-linked retinoschisis, an inherited vision disease affecting about 35,000 males. Early data showed seven of nine treated eyes held their improvement at 12 months with no serious safety issues, and the company plans to seek FDA approval in late 2028.

Events

Eleni Mandell w/ Dawn Landes
Thu, July 30 · Cat's Cradle

Underground Latin Social
Thu, July 30 · Weldon Mills Durham

Beer Garden Concert Series with the Hourglass Kids
Fri, July 31 · Glass Jug RTP

CLUB XCX : CHARLI XCX + HYPERPOP NIGHT
Fri, July 31 · Motorco Music Hall

Mr. Don’s Famous Chicken & Ribs Anniversary Party
Fri, July 31 · Durham Central Park

The Mavericks & Friends
Fri, July 31 · Carolina Theatre

Derek Hough
Sun, August 2 · DPAC

Durham Fiesta Latina
Sun, August 2 · Durham Central Park

Deep Purple
Tue, August 4 · Red Hat Amphitheater

QUICKSAND / BANE
Tue, August 4 · Motorco Music Hall

Stephen Wilson Jr
Sat, August 8 · Red Hat Amphitheater

The Wallflowers
Sun, August 9 · Carolina Theatre

Real Estate

1047 Coldspring Cir
$879,900 · 3 bed, 4 bath, 3,242 sqft

901 Gurley St #D
$789,000 · 3 bed, 4 bath, 2,090 sqft

1308 Ruffin St
$625,000 · 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,553 sqft
1940s cottage on a corner lot in coveted Trinity Park, full of classic detail.

Durham's Talking About

Animal Protection Society is highlighting adoptable cats this week, including a 10-year-old cuddler named Maxine, among the shelter's many kittens available now.

Highlighting Adoptable Cats at APS · r/bullcity