Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News Today in the North Carolina General Assembly, Haywood County Republican Rep. Mark Pless filed a bill that would strip the county of its ability to levy room occupancy taxes. “I think they are mismanaging that money,” Pless told The Smoky Mountain News. “It’s tax money and it’s accountable, but they don’t […]
Becky Johnson/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer The prevailing strategy in the works to fix I-40 will take lots of rock. Lots and lots and lots of rock. There’s nothing left of the mountainside that once held up I-40 after Pigeon River scoured away the slope, sending it tumbling into the river. Hauling in enough rock to pile […]
Mebane Rash/EducationNC Stephanie Sneed, the chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education, sent a letter on Feb. 21 to three members of the U.S. Congress, expressing concerns about possible cuts to Medicaid and school meals currently included in the House Concurrent Resolution Budget moving through the legislative process. “These cuts will impact students across […]
Mike Schuler/gCaptain The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has announced sweeping new measures targeting China’s growing dominance in global maritime sectors, including potential fees of up to $1.5 million per port call for Chinese-built vessels and mandatory U.S.-flag shipping requirements. The proposed actions, published to the Federal Register on Friday by Acting […]
Max Tendler/WUNC Radio After two decades of development, a new lightweight metallic material created by North Carolina State University engineering professor Afsaneh Rabiei and her Raleigh-based company Advanced Materials Manufacturing (AMM) has hit the industrial market. Likening it to a metal bubble wrap, AMM says their “composite metal foam” design can make almost any metal […]
Pat Kimbrough/High Point Enterprise The city says statewide transportation needs are impacting its top legislative goal from a year ago. Securing state funding for the widening of E. Lexington Avenue is not on High Point’s newly adopted list of 2025-26 legislative priorities. City leaders said this is because the N.C. Department of Transportation’s focus will […]
David Beasley/The Center Square Paying into a fund monitoring an eradicated insect that nearly wiped out North Carolina’s cotton crop a century ago could easily be translated to a tax. This one is pretty good for the nation’s fifth leading producer of the soft, fluffy staple fiber. “In North Carolina, we are completely eradicated,” Bill […]
Elena Marsh/The (Southern Pines) Pilot It will be another year or more before Woodlake’s central water feature, Lake Surf, is filled again. The dam reconstruction project is seeing significant setbacks in construction following damage sustained during the last hurricane season. A media release sent late Friday afternoon from Atlantic National Capital (ANC) — the company […]
More North Carolinians in their prime working years are earning college degrees or post-high-school educational credentials, but the state still isn’t on track to meet its attainment goals. As of 2023, not quite 1.7 million of residents age 25 to 44 had a degree, completion certificate, license or some other credential. That was 58.4% of […]
Rep. Neal Jackson, R-Moore, is riding to the defense of a bill he and the chairs of the House’s Agriculture and Environment committee introduced to make it illegal for banks to deny loans to farmers based on ESG factors. The application of environmental, social and governance goals to farming threatens to create “unrealistic expectations,” plus […]
Peter Castagno/Port City Daily The state’s monopoly utility cites surging demand from data centers in North Carolina as a top reason for its multi-billion investment in new gas plants and pipelines projected to spike ratepayer bills in coming years. But a new Duke University study casts doubt on the need for expansive new infrastructure to […]
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 […]
Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline After Hurricane Helene left his Asheville store beyond repair, Russ Towers had a plan — and the good fortune — to relocate. Second Gear, his outdoor gear shop, was almost entirely submerged at the peak of the storm’s flooding. When the waters receded, the roof of the Riverside Drive building had collapsed. […]
Michaela Ratliff/WGHP News The U.S. Department of Agriculture has suspended a scholarship program that serves students from rural or underserved communities pending further review, according to its website. The USDA 1890 National Scholars Program was established in 1992 as part of the partnership between the USDA and the 1890 land-grant universities. The 1890 National Scholars […]
Andrew R. Jones/Asheville Watchdog A patient in Mission Hospital’s emergency room died in the bathroom last week after calling for help but getting no immediate response. Hospital spokeswoman Nancy Lindell confirmed the incident to Asheville Watchdog on Thursday and said one employee has been fired and more action may be taken in an ongoing investigation. […]
