N.C. House members are looking at setting up a $475 million program to insulate farmers from disaster-related crop losses that happened in 2024. But while the west’s recovery from Hurricane Helene has been front and center with legislators since last fall, House Bill 130 is not a Helene relief measure. To the contrary, its eligibility standards […]
State officials have deployed a couple of One North Carolina grants to seal the deal on two recruiting efforts that between them are promising 251 new jobs. The larger of the two targets is in Hoke County and involves an expansion of Pennsylvania Transformer Technology’s facilities along U.S. 401 east of Raeford. Pennsylvania Transformer built […]
Jack Evans & John Boyle/Asheville Watchdog As it inches toward its billion-dollar I-26 Connector project, the North Carolina Department of Transportation has trumpeted its efforts to keep costs down, including $125 million in cuts it announced this week. But until now, it has not acknowledged a key measure in the tightening of the project’s budget: […]
Mebane Rash & Emily Thomas/Education NC Attainment is on the rise in Burke County, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The percent of high school graduates, as well as those with associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees, and graduate degrees, are all going up, while the percent with some college and no degree is going […]
Sarah Michels/Carolina Public Press To cast an absentee ballot by mail in North Carolina, voters must follow two simple steps. First, they need two witnesses to watch them sign the ballot envelope. Second, they need to attach a copy of an acceptable form of photo identification to their ballot. And if a recently completed pilot […]
Bradley George/WUNC Radio President Donald Trump has called tariffs “the most beautiful word,” but his threats to slap duties on imports are creating ugly uncertainty for governments and businesses in North Carolina, while at least one of the state’s largest companies is welcoming the move. International trade is not the kind of item you usually […]
Haleluya Hadero & Matt O’Brien/The Associated Press Workers at an Amazon warehouse in North Carolina rejected a proposal to unionize, becoming the latest group of the company’s employees to side against union representation. About three-quarters of employees at an Amazon fulfillment center in Garner, a town located near Raleigh, voted against joining a grassroots labor […]
Zachary Turner/WFAE Radio Albemarle collected data between January 19-28, 2025. This chart shows the information collected by the monitor with the highest readings during the days that it picked up the highest levels of hydrogen sulfide gas. A foul odor plagued the city of Kings Mountain this winter as cold weather unearthed a long-submerged gas. […]
Jaymie Baxley/NC Health News A push by Congressional Republicans to slash federal funding for Medicaid could have “dire consequences” for the more than 1.2 million rural North Carolinians who depend on the program. That was the key takeaway from a report released in January by the Center for Children and Families at the Georgetown University […]
Scott D. Yost/Rhino Times Guilford County officials have discovered a major mistake that has left fire departments across the county in a big bind: The departments, which are already struggling financially, do not have $2.3 million in funding that those departments were counting on from Guilford County. The departments across the county already operate on […]
Jakob Emerson/Becker’s Payer Issues A federal judge is allowing a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group to partially move forward, which alleges the company used an artificial intelligence algorithm to wrongfully deny Medicare Advantage patients post-acute care. On Feb. 13, the Minnesota federal court dismissed several claims in the lawsuit, but allowed allegations of breach of contract […]
Andrew Marshall/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority’s 10-year master plan is not just for visitors and the tourism industry. Rather, the plan focuses on quality of life for both visitors and Haywood residents, convinced that what is good for one group will be good for all. The plan, slightly delayed by Hurricane […]
So if he runs again, Senate leader Phil Berger will have a home-county opponent in the GOP primary, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. What can we expect from here forward? First, Berger has some thinking to do. I haven’t been taking it for granted he’s going to run again, regardless of whether Page went beyond […]
In October, I wrote about a couple of cases involving the performance or prerogatives of private law-enforcement agencies operating under North Carolina’s company police law. One has yielded a court ruling. State Court of Appeals Judge Valerie Zachary and two colleagues overturned a trial-court decision that went in favor of Charlotte-based Southeastern Public Safety Group. […]
The first domino in the state’s budget process for the 2025-27 biennium has fallen with issuance of the joint executive/legislative revenue forecast. Analysts from the Office of State Budget and Management and the General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division agree that North Carolina is likely to generate almost $69 billion in general-fund revenue over the coming […]
