Rylee Wilson/Becker’s Payer Issues CVS Health’s new executives are working “tirelessly” to improve margins in the company’s insurance business, CFO Tom Cowhey told investors. The company reported its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings for 2024 Feb. 12. CVS Health reported $4.6 billion in net income in 2024, down from $8.4 billion in 2023. The company faced […]
Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News Nearly $6 million in taxpayer money will be coming back to Haywood County after Attorney General Jeff Jackson and Gov. Josh Stein announced that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit alleging that Pactiv Evergreen had violated the terms of a decade-old economic development grant agreement when it closed its […]
Laura Hackett/Blue Ridge Public Radio On Tuesday, the Asheville City Council ousted the local housing authority’s chair and vice-chair after Mayor Esther Manheimer changed her mind about using unilateral authority to remove several board members. Council members voted unanimously to eliminate two seats on the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville (HACA) board and […]
Hannah Vinueza McClellan/Education NC The State Board of Education voted to approve its joint 2025 legislative agenda with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction (DPI) last Thursday, calling among other things for higher teacher pay, additional aid for schools in western North Carolina impacted by Hurricane Helene, and for a moratorium on the expansion of […]
Ayana Archie/WUNC Radio Major retailers across the country have begun limiting the number of cartons of eggs shoppers can buy, as prices continue to climb amid a decimated chicken supply. At Trader Joe’s, customers can only buy one or two dozen a day. The limit is in effect at all locations. “We hope these limits […]
Zachary Turner/WFAE Radio The Environmental Protection Agency froze Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds two weeks ago. Those funds are still frozen, though Politico reports some grant recipients have been able to access funds since the federal agency implemented the order. The Inflation Reduction Act funded the $7 billion Solar for All program, […]
Keaton Eberly/CBS 17 News A nonprofit research institute based out of Research Triangle Park is laying off hundreds of workers across the U.S. Research Triangle Institute (RTI) announced “temporary layoffs” for 226 staff members, including 61 workers in North Carolina, due to “the ongoing pause on U.S. foreign assistance,” according to a news release on […]
The Washington Post Airline pilots received more than 100 cockpit warnings over the past decade that they were in danger of a midair collision with a helicopter near Reagan National Airport, according to flight-tracking and government incident data, a record of repeated risks compiled by air traffic controllers before the Jan. 29 crash that killed […]
Morgan Casey/CityView For the next 18 months, a team of government officials and community stakeholders from Cumberland, Sampson and Harnett counties will examine how to create more affordable housing in the region. The trio of counties comprises one of fourteen teams in the Our State, Our Homes program, a North Carolina program dedicated to developing […]
Senate leader Phil Berger said he expects legislators will soon deal with the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency’s request for $217 million to complete its housing rebuilds in eastern North Carolina. “We’re having conversations with the governor’s office,” Berger said after Wednesday’s Senate session. “Obviously, with the House as well. I think you will […]
Sen. Jim Burgin’s bill proposing a cap on health-insurance coverage mandates cleared the Senate on an almost party line, 30-15 vote Wednesday afternoon. The vote on Senate Bill 24 came after Republicans rejected a Democratic request for a comprehensive examination of the cost issues, to include a look at medical debt, drug prices and the […]
Rep. John Bell, R-Wayne, is defending the GOP’s approach to hurricane relief and small business as the House’s Helene recovery bill moves closer to passage. Since October, the leading point of dispute between Republicans and Democrats about disaster-relief strategy has been whether the state should provide grants to businesses that need money to get them […]
Two House members with considerable experience in the healthcare industry don’t find anything too surprising about the big jump in projected acute-care bed needs in the 2025 State Medical Facilities Plan. “I would guess that a lot of that is driven by population growth in North Carolina” and the aging of its population, said Rep. […]
Andrew Ackerman/The Washington Post Inflation heated up more than expected in January, as prices for groceries, housing and energy all rose for Americans in early 2025, complicating President Donald Trump’s agenda. A key gauge of inflation — the consumer price index — showed Wednesday morning that prices climbed by 3 percent in January from a […]
Becky Johnson/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer The new Trump-appointed head of the U.S. Department of Transportation visited Haywood County on Monday to see the destruction of Interstate 40 for himself, and it seemed to have just the effect that local, state and Congressional leaders were hoping for. After the requisite handshakes and greetings from the waiting delegation […]
