A second county in Western North Carolina is now grappling with a whooping cough outbreak, with Transylvania Public Health confirming 21 cases of pertussis among children on Thursday. Public health staff are working with health care providers, schools and childcare centers to identify possible exposures to pertussis and notify parents. An outbreak in Henderson County, […]
Festering frustration with nearly every aspect of Pactiv Evergreen’s actions taken in closing its Canton paper mill a year ago spilled over into a town meeting May 9, when board members took the opportunity to dump all over Pactiv for its latest putrid mess. “One of my favorite George Strait songs says, ‘there’s a difference […]
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson spoke out recently about the “challenges” his wife is facing amid a state agency’s probe of her nonprofit, saying he and former President Donald Trump are “being pushed to the edge through an unfair system.” In video of his remarks last weekend in Chadbourn at the Columbus County town’s Strawberry Festival, […]
A man arrested on multiple offenses Thursday has been terminated from his position with the county. Courtney Antwain McNeil, 24, was apprehended on Thursday, May 9, and charged with 16 drug offenses and one firearm charge. All are felonies except for drug paraphernalia possession charges: -Five charges of possession of drug paraphernalia -Four charges of […]
AdventHealth cleared a legal hurdle Friday in its quest to build a new hospital in Weaverville, paving the way for the first hospital competition in Buncombe County since Memorial Mission Hospital merged with Asheville’s St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1998. Administrative Law Judge Michael C. Byrne concluded in a 50-page decision filed Friday that the North […]
A little more than two years ago, a clean energy record was broken. For the first time, a regional transmission organization met more than 90% of its electric demand, called load, with renewable power. But if you don’t follow the electric industry closely, you might be surprised where it happened. On March 29, 2022, Southwest […]
On a near-perfect spring afternoon, a crowd of mostly Black retirees and senior citizens poured into Martin Street Baptist Church in Southeast Raleigh to learn about strategies to lower property taxes through Wake County’s appeals process. In their neighborhoods, higher property values have brought higher property taxes. That, in turn, has made it difficult for […]
Norfolk Southern shareholders delivered a split verdict today, sparing CEO Alan Shaw while electing three of activist investor Ancora Holdings’ insurgent director candidates and ousting its independent chair, Amy Miles. Investors sent a clear message that ends the bitter proxy fight. They backed Ancora’s desire for change but sought to give Shaw & Co. more […]
Republican primary voters are headed back to the polls next Tuesday for a rare statewide runoff election for lieutenant governor and state auditor. Until last week, most of the attention in this month’s runoff was focused on the 13th Congressional District. But after former President Donald Trump endorsed former federal prosecutor Brad Knott to be […]
Interstate 95 is the busiest highway on the east coast, running from Miami to Maine straight through North Carolina. For 50 miles, I-95 runs through Nash County. So far in 2024, deputies there have stopped over 1,000 people for various reasons on the interstate and U.S. 64 and 264. Most traffic stops are routine. But […]
A Catholic school in North Carolina had the right to fire a gay teacher who announced his marriage on social media a decade ago, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, reversing a judge’s earlier decision. A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, reversed a 2021 ruling that Charlotte Catholic […]
In North Carolina, annual state funding for public schools totaled $11.6 billion in 2023-24. Federal funding, not including COVID-19 relief funding, provided another $1.10 billion. Local appropriations and supplemental taxes brought in $3.58 billion. That should count as big business. The K-12 education industry includes our state’s Department of Public Instruction and our 115 school […]
Randy Abbott lost his daughter to a drug overdose in 2015. No one called for help in time. Diannee Carden’s son died from a heroin overdose in 2012. No one called for help in time. As North Carolina continues to lose more people to overdoses every year — a record 4,339 in 2022 — parents […]
Pactiv Evergreen, owner of the shuttered papermill in Canton, has been working to clean up two separate seeps leaking toxic substances into the Pigeon River under an administrative order of consent (AOC) with the Environmental Protection Agency. While the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) has been working with Pactiv to address both seeps, […]
A key environmental board controlled by Republican appointees is stalling efforts to regulate chemicals that have contaminated North Carolina drinking water supplies, including forever chemicals and an industrial solvent that is a likely human carcinogen. North Carolina does not have enforceable surface water standards for the chemicals despite scientific evidence showing the risks they pose […]
