Paul Woolverton/CityView It’s now expected to cost almost $111.2 million for the Fayetteville Public Works Commission to build a filter system to extract PFAS “forever chemicals” from its drinking water, according to PWC documents. This is $30.2 million more than a previous estimate of $80 million. The PWC is Fayetteville’s city-owned water, sewer and electricity […]
Randy Foster/Cherokee Scout A long-awaited meeting between county commissioners and school board members Monday night included sometimes angry comments from the public and an agreement for further meetings to map out the future for the building-rich, cash-poor school system. Cherokee County Schools has 13 schools spread out over 12 campuses, total numbers almost no one […]
The Federal Trade Commission’s battle with pharmacy benefit managers has escalated, with both sides taking legal action in the past week to advance their point of view. On Friday, the FTC announced that it’s initiated an administrative-court lawsuit against CVS Caremark, OptumRx and Express Scripts, the county’s three leading PBMs. It alleges that the PBMs […]
A new report from Washington-based nonprofit research firm TRIP rated the conditions of North Carolina’s rural bridges as 19th worst in the U.S. Along the state’s rural roadways, the rate of traffic fatalities rated as sixth-worst. The report underscored TRIP’s findings earlier this month that more than a third of major locally and state-maintained […]
Meanwhile, a large-employers trade group, the ERISA Industry Committee, on Thursday issued a position paper arguing that Congress can fix PBMs simply by changing the law to make them fiduciaries. That, it said, would clear up any questions about them profiting at the expense of their clients. The change would make them duty bound under […]
Two North Carolina projects are among those across the country that could share a further $3 billion in subsidies from the U.S. Department of Energy as the Biden administration tries to promote the re-shoring of critical-mineral supply chains. The department’s announcement on Friday indicated that Forge Battery’s planned factory in Morrisville could receive $100 million […]
Liz Bell/Education NC Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday vetoed House Bill 10, the “mini budget” bill Republican legislators passed last week to clear waitlists for the private school voucher program, among other items. “We know that private school vouchers are the biggest threat to public schools in decades,” Cooper said at a press conference […]
Peter Castagno/Port City Daily The state’s chief administrative judge ruled against the Department of Environmental Quality in a dispute over regulation of a toxic chemical contaminating the tri-county region. Some critics argue the decision may also present a conflict of interest. Sandra Van der Vaart is the spouse of Chief Administrative Judge Donald Van der […]
Jane Winik/Carolina Public Press Pressure is mounting on HCA’s management of Mission Health in Asheville from all sides. The hospital responded with a change in leadership this week. This round of renewed urgency comes from a new Buncombe County lawsuit and unproductive bargaining with the nurses union. The union indicated earlier in the week that […]
Nathan McDermott/The Bulwark North Carolina gubernatorial candidate and current lieutenant governor Mark Robinson, already under fire for a series of racist remarks, once waxed nostalgically about the Jim Crow era of intense segregation. “During Jim Crow, you can go back and you can look at it and the record will show you, that’s when black […]
Paul Specht/WRAL News A series of racist and lewd posts on a pornographic website more than a decade ago, unveiled last week, have produced a surreal scenario: The election to decide the next leader of the free world could be upended by a down-ballot candidate in the ninth-largest state in the country — a Republican […]
Brighton McConnell/WCHL Chapelboro The UNC Board of Trustees met Wednesday and Thursday in the Spangler Center in Chapel Hill for its regular bi-monthly meeting — the first of which since Lee Roberts was formally selected as Carolina’s permanent chancellor. Though he took over as interim chancellor in January, Roberts still is going through some campus […]
Emma Dill/WilmingtonBiz Republican incumbent Sen. Michael Lee and Democratic challenger David Hill outlined their policy positions and priorities Thursday morning during the Greater Wilmington Business Journal’s Power Breakfast: Election 2024. The two are locked in a contentious race to represent District 7 – an area encompassing much of New Hanover County – in the North […]
Mary Helen Moore/The (Raleigh) News & Observer Consultant Robin Hunden began his presentation Thursday with a hail of compliments for Durham. “You’re so unique and authentic as a destination,” Hunden told the City Council, praising the restaurant scene and thriving downtown. Then came the tough love. The Durham Convention Center, bound on a single, city […]
Tyler Davis/The (Henderson) Daily Dispatch Family members of Javion Magee and civil rights attorneys representing them held a brief press conference outside of Vance County Courthouse Wednesday afternoon. Minutes prior, the family had been in the Vance County Sheriff’s Office, meeting with Sheriff Curtis Brame and command staff, reviewing what evidence has been made public […]
