Farming is an incredibly challenging way to make a living. I learned that growing up in southern Minnesota, where rich farmland provides world-class yields for corn and soybeans. So it was disappointing, if not surprising, to read my colleague Chris Burritt’s Business North Carolina report yesterday on troubles facing the Barnes family of Nash County. […]
Yesterday’s Tribune noted state auditor criticism of the Division of Employment Security’s handling of unemployment claims, saying it was too slow in processing many of them in 2023. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders and her staff say the division’s been doing better this year, but remain hampered by having a short staff in this tight […]
Travis Loller & Leah Willingham/The Associated Press American farmers and small business owners are among those who will suffer if Congress cannot agree on a new spending bill after President-elect Donald Trump abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan that included more than $100 billion in disaster aid. The money is urgently needed after Hurricanes Helene and […]
Rusty Jacobs/WUNC Radio Not so fast. Republican Jefferson Griffin’s urgent bid to get the North Carolina Supreme Court to take up his election protests in a race for an associate justice seat has been shifted to federal court. Griffin, a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, has not conceded his race to Democrat […]
Dan Mangan/CNBC A father and son pleaded guilty Thursday to orchestrating a brazen stock manipulation scheme involving a small, money-losing New Jersey deli whose publicly traded parent company had an improbable market capitalization of $100 million. The men, Chapel Hill resident Peter Coker Sr. and his former fugitive son Peter Coker Jr., are scheduled to […]
Lucas Thomae & Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press State oversight of nursing homes received a scathing performance audit, released on Wednesday. The Office of the State Auditor (OSA) released its audit of the Department of Health and Human Services’ oversight of nursing homes, accusing the department of consistently failing to conduct timely inspections and investigations […]
Jacob Biba/Asheville Citizen Times The Buncombe County Democratic Party has tapped an environmental advocate, volunteer firefighter and community organizer to fill an open seat on the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. At a Dec. 18 special election held at party headquarters in East Asheville, Drew Ball beat out nine other candidates for the seat, which […]
Trista Talton/Coastal Review Online Dr. Jordan Poler did not want to create an environmental problem by trying to solve one. More than a decade ago, the University of North Carolina Charlotte professor decided to focus on chemistry that could be both sustainable and have minimum impact on the environment. He believes he and his team […]
Rachel Crumpler/NC Health News Ninety-five percent of incarcerated people in North Carolina will eventually be released back into the community — roughly 18,000 people return home each year from state prisons and thousands more from county jails. It’s a day that people yearn for, but also a day met with trepidation and fear. “When you […]
Julian Berger/WFAE Radio A center aimed at expanding job opportunities for people in east Charlotte has raised $5.5 million of its $20 million goal to help get its work started. Spark Centro, run by Charlotte’s Latin American Chamber of Commerce, will house nonprofits focused on workforce development, entrepreneurship training and recruitment. The center’s goal is […]
Abigail Celoria/WUNC Radio Back in July, Gov. Roy Cooper and the Department of Health and Human Services announced a plan to relieve medical debt for North Carolinians. In exchange for federal funding, North Carolina hospitals would agree to forgive eligible medical debt, set new standards for charity care, and limit the impact of future debt. […]
Joe Bruno/WSOC News Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles told Channel 9 she is undecided on whether she will run for re-election in 2025. Lyles has been mayor since 2017. Filing for Charlotte City Council and the mayoral election is in July. “I have not made (a decision),” Lyles said. “Come down to the board of elections […]
There’s been some late-hours movement in the drive to secure federal tribal recognition of the Lumbee. On Tuesday the U.S. House passed H.R. 1101, its version of the “Lumbee Fairness Act” that would confer recognition on the Lumbee and give them access to the same federal benefits as other tribes. U.S. Senate action is still […]
State auditors have criticized the Division of Employment Security’s handling of unemployment claims, saying it was too slow in processing many of them in 2023. Federal regulations, they say, require North Carolina to process at least 87% of first-time claims within 14 days. The Division of Employment Security managed only 57% in calendar 2023. That […]
Lilly Knoepp/Blue Ridge Public Radio While disaster workers were still carving out roads in washed away mountainsides after Hurricane Helene, some national publications focused instead on misinformation swirling in the communication-less region. Many stories focused on rumors that the federal government sent the hurricane to the mountains to steal land instead of focusing on […]
