For many Latino construction workers, work days in the U.S. begin with a simple prayer, Alexis Goldomez says. People pray “to be able to return home,” said Goldomez, a framing carpenter who grew up in Honduras and now works in Charlotte. But in North Carolina, those prayers too often go unanswered. Latino workers are at […]
A North Carolina board that regulates land surveyors didn’t violate a drone photography pilot’s constitutional rights when it told him to stop advertising and offering aerial map services because he lacked a state license, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday. The panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in upholding a trial […]
Part-time state workers could soon be allowed to participate in the state 401(k) retirement savings plan, under a bill that advanced at the state legislature Tuesday. The House Pensions and Retirement Committee passed three bills making a wide range of changes to state pension law. Many were minor or technical tweaks, but some could have […]
Sheila Gasquet, a resident of the Northside neighborhood in downtown Wilmington, grew up on an Air Force base, so she’s accustomed to the sounds of planes. “I support the military,” she said. “I think we do need a robust airport, but being downtown … the noise from certain aircraft are really not compatible with us.” […]
When, on Sunday, May 19, the entire full-time Summerfield town staff collectively and simultaneously announced their resignation – shocking town residents and Town Councilmembers alike – the main reason given was the treatment of Town Manager Scott Whitaker, who had led the town in that position for a dozen years, but wasn’t having his contract […]
A titanium reclamation plant proposed for Fayetteville and Cumberland County would represent an investment of at least $1 billion and employ 450 people, and the workers’ average pay would be $120,000 a year, according to legal notices published ahead of two public hearings about the project. To persuade American Titanium LLC to build the plant […]
After 35 years of talking, planning, designing and redesigning, the I-26 Connector project is finally underway, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation or its contractors are buying land to accommodate the north-to-south downtown bypass. As Asheville Watchdog reported in early March, the NCDOT has been acquiring land for more than a year for three […]
At its May 16 meeting, the Kitty Hawk Planning Board took a step toward potentially making it easier to create more worker housing in the town. According to Kitty Hawk Director of Planning and Inspections Rob Testerman, the proposed text amendment recommended by the Planning Board at the meeting would “allow owners of non-residential properties […]
The Town of Boone is going back to the drawing board on its bevy of changes to parking downtown after citizens, business owners, and others came out in opposition to the proposal during a Boone Town Council meeting on Wednesday, May 8. Among other changes, the parking proposal would have doubled the hourly parking rate, […]
Former Pinehurst Village Council Member Kevin Drum and his non-profit, NC Citizens for Transparent Government, Inc., have filed an appeal to the North Carolina Court of Appeals to determine whether email correspondence between a majority of the Village Council in 2021 constituted a breach of the state’s open meetings law. Drum’s appeal follows an October […]
Two days before Thanksgiving, Lt. Gen. Walter Gaskin visited the North Carolina State Veterans Home in Fayetteville to make a shocking announcement. Gaskin, a former NATO military leader who was secretary of the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), said the 85 aging veterans living there, including many with disabilities and dementia, […]
An administrative judge decided May 10 to uphold the state’s decision to allow AdventHealth to build a hospital in Weaverville, Buncombe County, just north of Asheville. The management of for-profit HCA, which operates the Mission Health group of hospitals and other facilities from an Asheville base, may not be happy that the state chose AdventHealth […]
Weeds have punctured through the vacant parking lot of Martin General Hospital’s emergency room. A makeshift blue tarp covering the hospital’s sign is worn down from flapping in the wind. The hospital doors are locked, many in this county of 22,000 fear permanently. Some residents worry the hospital’s sudden closure last August could cost them […]
In the near term, Johnston’s water and sewer operations are in strong financial health, the county’s financial adviser told commissioners on May 6. But a couple of calculations point to mounting strains on that health, said Kyle Laux, a senior vice president with Davenport & Co. “One of the most important financial metrics is what […]
Lowell’s newly elected mayor is calling for an audit of the city’s budgets going years back as the City Council prepares to consider its 2024-25 budget. At a council meeting May 14, Mayor Larry Simonds, who took office in January, said the city has taken in more money in taxes than it has spent in […]
