Feds planning $34M grant for Belews Creek upgrades
Federal officials want to send $34 million Duke Energy’s way
Health Care
State Health Plan rolls out first “preferred providers”
State Health Plan trustees have approved “preferred provider” contracts with the clinic networks of UNC Health and two other groups, State Treasurer Brad Briner’s office
Conservative group eyes case against nurse-practice limits
A California-based conservative group wants to take on North Carolina’s restrictions on advanced-practice nurses, even as the so-called SAVE Act remains bogged down on the General Assembly. The Pacific Legal...
Duke Health gets OK for tax-exempt bond issue
Duke Health has gained access to up to $275.7 million in tax-exempt bonds to cover the cost of its purchase in April of the former Lake Norman Regional Medical Center....
Budget & Taxes
Nonprofit hospitals get $215M in local taxes breaks a year
The House’s property-tax committee is scrutinizing the tax breaks North Carolina gives its nonprofit hospitals, but a couple of its rank-and-file members are speaking up against
Highway Patrol pay lags neighbors, country
State Highway Patrol pay is at the bottom of the barrel nationally and isn’t even all that competitive with other North Carolina law-enforcement agencies, Highway Patrol Col. Freddy Johnson says....
NCI keeps investments cautious pending state budget decisions
The General Assembly’s budget impasse has left NCInnovation in limbo, at least when it comes to handling the $500 million endowment provided by legislators in 2023. Directors of the Durham-based...
Education
NCSU involved in “Golden Dome” anti-missile project
NC State has a chance to participate in a $151 billion federally funded R&D program designed to bolster the country’s defenses against missile attacks. The
School vouchers: More used in blue counties
Two UNC Charlotte professors have published a study that suggests K-12 school vouchers aren’t as heavily used in the places where they’re likely the most politically popular. Writing in the...
Info about colleges’ NIL program hard to come by
UNC System schools are mostly sticking to the position that the details of the name, image and likeness programs they use to pay their athletes aren’t up for public discussion. Spokespeople for...
Elections
Hall channels campaign money to caucus members
House Speaker Destin Hall has raised $1.2 million so far in the 2025-26 election cycle, his most recent report to the State Board of Elections
Sadler outraising Cunningham for upcoming primary
The Rev. Rodney Sadler has raised more than twice as much money for his state House party primary as District 106 incumbent Rep. Carla Cunningham. Year-end finance reports to the...
Stein: No place for antisemitism among Democrats
Gov. Josh Stein has denounced comments from a state Democratic Party activist who in social-media postings equated Zionism to Nazism. “Antisemitic comments and conspiracy theories have no place anywhere, including...