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Ben Rappaport is a passionate storyteller and an ever-curious reporter. He is interested in service journalism that improves the well-being of his community and focuses on solutions. After several years reporting for outlets across North Carolina, Ben moved to New York City in the fall of 2025 to pursue his masters in journalism from the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Ben is also a graduate of the Hussman School of Journalism & Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His previous coverage has focused on education, politics and rural communities.

Featured Articles

GitHub •

Mamdani wants to build new affordable housing on city-owned vacant lots. Where might he build?

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has vowed to tackle New York City’s affordable housing crisis by building on thousands of vacant city-owned lots. But a NYCity News Service analysis shows a geographic mismatch that could complicate his housing pledge.

New York City owns more than 2,400 vacant parcels, city data shows. Many of the highest-vacancy districts are in the city’s least populated areas, including the Far Rockaways, southern Staten Island, and large stretches of eastern Queens. These neighborhoods have ample open land but limited transit access and low-density zoning — major obstacles for large-scale affordable housing construction.

The most realistic opportunity for Mamdani’s pledge to build 200,000 new, permanently affordable units lies in neighborhoods with both high vacancy rates on city-owned property and high rent burden among residents.
GitHub •

Despite Record Funding, Trash Can Inequity Persists in NYC

Despite record funding for new litter baskets across New York City, data shows trash can access is still inequitable across the five boroughs.

Mayor Eric Adams announced in May his intent to invest $31 Million by 2028 for new litter baskets across the city. He said at the time that the funding would “protect the cleanliness and quality of life of city neighborhoods for generations to come.” The New York City Department of Sanitation also said it’s in the process of replacing all wire mesh baskets with Better Bins, which are rat-resistant, leak-proof and harder to misuse with household trash.

Currently, however, high income neighborhoods have much greater access to litter baskets than lower income neighborhoods, an analysis of Department of Sanitation data by The NYCity News Service shows. Communities with a median household income of higher than $100,000 per year have more than double the number of litter baskets per capita compared to neighborhoods where the income is less than $97,000.
YouTube •

Harlem Art Gallery May Shutter After State Flags Lease Violation

A Harlem art gallery that has showcased local Black artists for more than 30 years may be forced to close after a state review found it has been operating without a lease.

The Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Art Gallery has been housed on the second floor of the state office building on 125th Street since 1992. More than 60 paintings adorn the walls, all by local Black artists. There are portraits of iconic Black figures like Martin Luther King Jr., interpretive paintings about the Black Lives Matter movement and abstract works about artists’ African roots. Paintings by first graders are displayed alongside professional works.

But soon, the gallery might disappear. The New York Office of General Services (OGS), which is in charge of managing and leasing state-owned property, found in a review of its buildings last month that the art gallery has been occupying the space without a lease, making it a violation of state law.
SoundCloud •

After the trauma of post-9/11 raids, Mamdani represents a new future for Brooklyn

Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected New York City mayor, energized voters in New York’s Muslim community. Voter turnout among Muslims in June’s primary increased by 60% from the previous mayoral election. Enthusiasm for the first Muslim mayor is especially high among Pakistanis in the city. Reporter Ben Rappaport takes us to Midwood, Brooklyn where Mamdani’s victory means more than just a new mayor.
Border Belt Independent •

What remains of St. Andrews

For decades, drivers turning from U.S. 401 onto the campus of St. Andrews University in Laurinburg saw crepe myrtles, pine trees, and flags adorned with azure shields.
Now, the welcoming greens and blues clash with yellow caution tape, orange “road closed” signs, and red warnings telling trespassers to stay away. Silver barbed wire surrounds the athletic fields.
St. Andrews, which opened in 1961, was once a home for free thinkers seeking a liberal arts education in rural southeastern North Carolina. But the blocked roadways across campus are symbolic of an institution that is gone and a local community that is struggling to cope.
Border Belt Independent •

Downtown Lumberton, gritty and historic, looks for new life

If Richard Sceiford ever dreamed of donning a hard hat, it would have been for a stage role as a construction worker. But the lifelong thespian now spends much of his day in a work zone in downtown Lumberton, where the scraping of concrete and laying of bricks fill the once-quiet space.

Sceiford, the executive director of the Carolina Civic Center, has a front-row view of the construction of a $3 million theater annex in the heart of downtown. The 8,200-square-foot expansion
Ben Rappaport •

Central Harlem Residents Say Trash Can Inequity Stinks of Neglect

Central Harlem’s 125th Street corridor is bustling with businesses — and with garbage. While New York City officials say they’re prioritizing trash clean up, residents say the effort hasn’t reached their streets.

Central Harlem’s busiest roads — Frederick Douglass Blvd, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. and St. Nicholas Avenue — have major gaps in litter basket access, according to city data. In some of these areas, pedestrians have to walk up to five blocks to toss their garbage.

READ MORE: https://www.nycitynewsservice.com/2025/10/30/central-harlem-residents-say-trash-can-inequity-stinks-of-neglect/
Border Belt Independent •

Southern Columbus County: Where new development collides with a rural way of life

The aroma of cigarettes, coffee, and Snickers bars fills the air outside of Fowler’s Supermarket on a rainy Sunday morning.

Just before they head to church, a dozen men gather on the long wooden benches and plastic rocking chairs outside the store and debrief the local goings on. It’s been a weekly tradition for nearly three decades since the store opened in southern Columbus County.

If you want to hear about the new
Border Belt Independent •

Fabric of community: The legacy of the Jewish population in rural southeastern NC

In Judaism, l’dor v’dor means passing history and lessons from generation to generation. It’s a core value about carrying traditions and honoring a shared past.

So when the opportunity came for Ricky Leinwand, the grandson of Austrian Jewish immigrants, to take over his family’s clothing store in Bladen County, there was no question what he’d do.

The store, Leinwand’s, has been in Elizabethtown since 1935. For 88 years, it’s been a staple of the community, offering work wear, shoes and more to
Border Belt Independent •

Crisis in children's mental health takes a heavy toll in rural southeastern NC

This is the first in a two-part project about the children’s mental health crisis in Bladen, Columbus, Robeson and Scotland counties. Read the second story, which focuses on the foster care system, story here.

A 9-year-old girl who spent four months last year inside the Columbus County hospital’s emergency department lashed out at nurses and clawed at the drywall. She wasn’t allowed to use a fork over fears she would use it as a weapon.

Each day, staff at the Columbus Regional Healthcare Syste
Border Belt Independent •

PFAS concerns plague the Robeson County Landfill

Stepping outside her home on Britt Road near St. Pauls has become a burden for Viv Tolson Wayne. 

Warm days are the worst. That’s when dozens of buzzards line her yard, attracted by the stench of the Robeson County Landfill across the street. 

Wayne, 74, said the odor irritates her persistent cough and makes her eyes sting. Sometimes her arms break out in a rash. Several neighbors have developed chronic illnesses and cancer since the landfill was built in 1995.
HUNTERBROOK •

What's Going On With VinFast?

Hunterbrook Media’s investment affiliate, Hunterbrook Capital, did not take any positions related to this article. It was like taking a victory lap at the starting line. Ground broke. Cameras flashed. Politicians celebrated a purported economic victory: an upstart Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer, VinFast (NASDAQ: $VFS), was building a factory in North Carolina. VinFast pledged to bring $4 billion in investment and 7,500 new jobs to Chatham County over the plant’s first five years. In re
Border Belt Independent •

‘Feel more pain’: southeastern NC is at the heart of a 30-year public education fight

For 28 days, Angus Thompson has been undergoing intensive radiation therapy at UNC Health Southeastern in Lumberton. The treatments have left him tired and he now walks with two canes for support.

But the fire hasn’t left the 72-year-old retired public defender. Neither has the fervor in his booming voice. He’s a presence that demands attention and a listening ear when he speaks.

When he’s not recovering from radiation therapy, Thompson is fiercely advocating for the same struggle that has bee
Border Belt Independent •

NC’s diverse Robeson County now has GOP voting streak. What’s behind support for Trump?

Jimmy and Timmy Bullard, 32-year-old twins who grew up in the Robeson County town of Pembroke, were raised to believe they should always vote for Democrats. 

Then came Donald Trump. 

“My granddaddy was a Democrat. He goes to church, he’s a Christian,” Timmy Bullard said. “But when he saw what Trump did, that’s when he turned from Democrat to Republican.”  

The way the Bullards see it, Trump secured the southern border...
Rest of World •

Recall-plagued EV maker VinFast is betting big on a new U.S. factory

On a cloudless day at the end of July, the Vietnamese electric-vehicle manufacturer VinFast broke ground on its first overseas manufacturing plant in Chatham County, North Carolina. Nine executives and political leaders thrust gold-painted shovels into the ground at once, including state governor Roy Cooper and VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy. “Today’s event marks a new milestone for VinFast,” said Thuy, “affirming our commitment to the North American market.”

The scale of the project is stunning f
Border Belt Independent •

Low pay, lack of resources lead to burnout in southeastern NC schools, teachers say

It’s an epic vocal trio of Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Tensions are rising within George Washington’s presidential cabinet. Jefferson can’t take it anymore.

“If there’s a fire you’re trying to douse,” Jefferson raps in the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton,” “you can’t put it out from inside the house.”

Those lyrics hit Kaylan Ganus like a brick. It was the wake-up call the public school teacher had needed for some time....
The Chatham News + Record •

The long road home

Adam Sides Jr. has a long fuse.

As a kid, Adam always told people he wanted to be in the military. He said he wanted to help people who couldn’t help themselves. His doctors, however, told him those dreams wouldn’t become a reality.

Now, the 43-year-old Chatham County resident has endured countless tribulations of his own in his quest for stable housing.

Yet, through it all, he’s maintained his positive attitude and affable personality.

When a construction accident in the 1990s left Adam with a ruptured disc, spinal issues and chronic pain, he found himself doing odd jobs for friends to make ends meet. But when those jobs dried up, or those friends went away, Adam was left with limited options.
The Chatham News + Record •

Moncure residents express frustration, fear at plans for their community

MONCURE — Lisa Palmer, like many of her neighbors, grew up in Moncure and has lived there all her life.

Now, at 71 years old, she fears for the future of her beloved community, and the land she grew up on.

“How am I going to pay my taxes?” she said. “I don’t want to pass away anywhere except my home.”

Her home holds the memories of her loved ones — holiday dinners with her parents, after-school playdates with friends and bringing her son home for the first time.

But Moncure is on the fast tr
Border Belt Independent •

Race, equality and alliances: The story behind Lumberton's contentious election

A slate of political hopefuls wanted to shake up the Lumberton City Council in last month’s contentious election that highlighted issues of race and equality in the Robeson County town.

Voters, however, opted to stick with the status quo. They re-elected Mayor Bruce Davis and three incumbent council members. In another district, voters rejected the only candidate on the ballot — Erich Von Hackney, a former council member who often clashed with Davis — and wrote in a candidate endorsed by the ma
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