Month: August 2024

9. App State football program’s ‘busting at the seams’

Appalachian State Athletic Director Doug Gillin, who spoke in the field house during the football team’s Media Day on Thursday, Aug. 1, said the football program is “busting at the seams.” Gillin said there is enough demand to demonstrate the need for more places to sit in Kidd Brewer Stadium. He said more than $8 […]

Written by on August 5, 2024

10. Hendersonville plan lays out ‘unprecedented growth’ and need for affordable housing

City of Hendersonville leaders are focused on how to accommodate overwhelming post-pandemic population growth, which is projected to continue for the next two decades. That’s according to a comprehensive plan council members unanimously adopted Thursday night. The 2045 plan focuses on how the city will expand housing options while maintaining a “small-town character” as it […]

Written by on August 5, 2024

1. NC Medicaid now covers weight loss drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic

Starting Thursday, North Carolina Medicaid will cover weight loss medications like Wegovy and Ozempic. Known as GLP-1s (Glucagon-like Peptide agonists), they’ve become the world’s best-selling prescription medications, but they’re also some of the most expensive. Kody Kinsley, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, says people who could benefit the most […]

Written by on August 4, 2024

3. Weathering the whims of a dry and wet summer on NC farms

North Carolina agriculture is bouncing back thanks to recent rain after a drought devastated crops earlier this summer, though one county — Yadkin County, in the northwest Piedmont — remains in a severe drought. Drought conditions lifted just as suddenly as they started, with many counties, particularly in the eastern half of the state, receiving […]

Written by on August 4, 2024

5. New funding for Graham County highway expansion keeps construction moving despite more than $25 million deficit

New federal funding will move forward a Graham County highway project – originally promised almost 60 years ago. Construction is underway on a 12-mile stretch of the Appalachian Development Highway System, dubbed “Corridor K.” However, the project’s mission to make travel and commerce more accessible in the region still hasn’t been realized. “My stance is […]

Written by on August 4, 2024

6. Buttigieg: Justice Department lawsuit necessary to get freight trains out of Amtrak’s way

The Justice Department needed to file a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern for its poor handling of Amtrak’s Crescent because Class I railroads routinely ignore the law that gives passenger trains preference over freight traffic, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told Trains on Wednesday. The suit, filed Tuesday, July 30, in the U.S. District Court for the […]

Written by on August 4, 2024

8. Tillis’ funding request for Canton fire station moves forward

The effects of deadly flooding in 2021 are still being felt in the town of Canton, but thanks to a federal funding request from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), the town is poised to take another huge step toward recovery. According to a document from the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Committee outlining congressionally […]

Written by on August 4, 2024

9. Critics push back on proposal to end NC car emission inspections

The North Carolina Department of Air Quality determined the state can meet federal air requirements without annual vehicle emission inspections for 18 counties, including New Hanover, but environmentalists argue the change will harm public health even if air pollution levels remain under legal limits. The 1970 Clean Air Act gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency […]

Written by on August 4, 2024

1. Dare and Hyde counties move to build more teacher housing units

As Outer Banks communities face a critical shortage of housing for workers, two projects moving forward with an assist from the Outer Banks Community Foundation will help Hyde and Dare County school systems hire and retain teachers. On Ocracoke, the Hyde County Education Foundation (HCEF) has plans to renovate a former daycare center and create, […]

Written by on August 1, 2024