This year’s legislative session finally hit high gear on Tuesday, marked by the start of this year’s round of joint appropriations hearings. With five hearing kicking off at 8:30 a.m., I had to make an up-front choice about which seemed most newsworthy and so I started with the transportation hearing. There, Mark Gibbs, the N.C. […]
Gary D. Robertson/The Associated Press Another $500 million would be spent toward Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in western North Carolina in legislation the state House unanimously approved Tuesday. The measure, if enacted, would add to the funds the Republican-controlled General Assembly already approved in late 2024 to spend on disaster recovery activities following the historic […]
Alan Wooten/The Center Square Interest-free loans for Hurricane Helene relief have begun to flow, the North Carolina treasurer says. Buncombe County ($8.4 million), Chimney Rock Village ($7.7 million) and the city of Morganton ($5.4 million) were the three largest. Twenty governments were awarded more than $1 million. The first round is being delivered from the […]
Julian Berger/WFAE Radio North Carolina Senate Republicans filed a bill Monday to require state law enforcement agencies to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The “North Carolina Border Protection Act” would require the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Adult Correction, the State Highway Patrol and the State Bureau of Investigation to cooperate […]
WWAY News The North Carolina Department of Transportation is expected to replace three bridges in Wrightsville Beach, according to the town. The Town of Wrightsville Beach says that due to the aging infrastructure of these bridges, it has been determined that the three bridges must be replaced, as upkeep and maintenance projects are no longer […]
Becky Johnson/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Local governments in Haywood County have been hemorrhaging cash to pay for flood recovery and repairs, with no clear timeline for when FEMA reimbursements will start rolling in. Towns and the county have been footing the bill for everything from roadside debris pick-up to bridge repairs to repairing damaged facilities. Hundreds […]
Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily A local state legislator aims to enshrine legal marriages between those in the LGBTQ+ community in North Carolina as protections for the community erode at the federal level. New Hanover County’s Rep. Deb Butler introduced two bills affecting the North Carolina General Assembly Monday. The bills are also sponsored by Phil […]
Coastal Review Online Of the more than $265 million that will go to fund 99 drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects in 45 counties, about $60 million will go to the coast, the governor’s office announced last Friday. “When we invest in our infrastructure, we build a stronger and safer state for every North Carolinian,” […]
Laura Leslie/WRAL News Michelle Kirchner graduated from NC State in spring 2024 with a double Ph.D. in biology and entomology. She was excited to find a position with the United States Department of Agriculture [USDA] that allowed her to apply her scientific skills outside the lab. Kirchner was working in the fields with alfalfa farmers […]
Jessica Stump/The Watauga Democrat Appalachian State University has received a Research Activity Designation of Research 2 from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education — the nation’s leading framework for categorizing U.S. higher education institutions. This new designation is awarded to institutions with high research activity and doctorate production. “This designation aligns with App […]
Mark Jurkowitz/Outer Banks Voice The series of six community open houses that begins on Thursday in Kitty Hawk and Nags Head represents a new attempt to build momentum and progress on the thorny issue of generating more housing in the county. These events also introduce a new player in the process, Eastern Carolina University (ECU), […]
North Carolina U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis is doubling down on his support for helping Ukraine defeat Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin. Tillis took to the Senate floor last week to deliver about a seven-minute speech that highlighted Russian war crimes and terror tactics, and that spared no criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He […]
Senate leaders on Monday put a bill in the hopper that, if passed, would allow Mecklenburg County to hold a referendum on whether to add another penny to the county’s local-option sales tax to pay for road and transit projects. Senate Bill 145’s lead sponsors include Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, chair of the chamber’s Rules […]
Michelle Crouch/NC Health News & Charlotte Ledger Atrium Health received a $45 million sales tax refund from North Carolina in 2023 and 2024, hitting a statutory limit allowed by the state for nonprofits, tax records reviewed by The Charlotte Ledger/NC Health News show. And that may not even be the full amount. Thanks to a […]
New York Times & WRAL News Days after Apple’s CEO met with President Donald Trump, the company said Monday that it planned to spend $500 billion and hire 20,000 people in the United States over the next four years and open a factory in Texas to make the machines that power the company’s push into […]
