Month: April 2025

2. RNC chair Michael Whatley defends Trump tariffs in NC, arguing that market chaos is ‘overreaction’

Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline The chair of the Republican National Committee said Monday evening he believes recent chaos in global stock markets was an “overreaction” to President Donald Trump’s new tariffs. “I think there’s a lot of false equivocation that the market equals the economy,” argued Michael Whatley, who was elevated to the national post by […]

Written by on April 8, 2025

4. Military, farmland proposal clears homeland, VA committee

David Beasley/The Center Square Prohibiting hostile foreign governments such as China or Russia from purchasing farmland and property within 75 miles of a miliary installation has cleared a committee in the North Carolina House of Representatives. N.C. Farmland and Military Protection Act, or House Bill 133, would bar governments designated by the U.S. State Department […]

Written by on April 8, 2025

5. Schism emerges between Black, Muslim community leaders after Ardrey Kell incident

James Farrell/WFAE Radio Last month, the family of a 15-year-old Muslim girl accused a 15-year-old Black boy of beating her because of her religion at Ardrey Kell High School. Now, a schism has emerged between some of the city’s Black and Muslim residents and activists, as recriminations and demands for more investigations continue. After referring […]

Written by on April 8, 2025

6. Western NC forest plan under pressure from storm devastation, lawsuit and Trump

Jack Igelman/Carolina Public Press A decade in the making, the future of the forest plan to manage Western North Carolina’s national forests is now hazy, threatened by a lawsuit, a presidential executive order accelerating timber production, and the scars of Hurricane Helene, which leveled thousands of acres of forest. Finalized in 2023, the forest plan […]

Written by on April 8, 2025

7. Stein creates spaces for cooperation across party lines, establishes Advisory Council on Student Safety and Well-being

Mebane Rash/Education NC In addition to building relationships across party lines, Gov. Josh Stein is creating spaces for cross-partisan cooperation to happen. Stein in his inaugural address said, “North Carolina strong also means working together across our differences to get things done. And so to the members of the General Assembly, I say let’s work […]

Written by on April 8, 2025

8. $145 million Crown Event Center project will resume in Fayetteville

WRAL News Following a March decision to pause the $145 million Crown Event Center project for 30 days, Cumberland County has lifted the suspension on the project’s contract. On Tuesday, the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners announced the project will resume under contractual obligation. “The Board has taken this action under our contractual obligations,” said […]

Written by on April 8, 2025

10. GOP senator facing reelection issues big tariff warning

Igor Bobic/Huffington Post One of the most vulnerable Republican senators in next year’s election is sounding the alarm on President Donald Trump’s global tariffs ― and he’s not mincing words about it. “Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) asked top White House trade negotiator […]

Written by on April 8, 2025

Friendship with trade-war targets?

Just in time for a global trade war, House members have proposed a pair of resolutions that profess the state’s undying friendship with the United Kingdom and France. House Resolution 777 deals with France, noting that it “provided decisive support” for U.S. independence during the American Revolution. More to the point, French companies have invested […]

Written by on April 8, 2025

“Paper towns”

The “paper towns” debate has reared its head again, thanks to a development-related quarrel in Alexander County. Some residents of the Bethlehem area in the county’s southwest corner want to incorporate a town government to take control of land-use decisions there away from the Alexander County commissioners. The trigger for their petition drive was the […]

Written by on April 8, 2025

1. Decades on, mid-Currituck bridge plan faces same hurdles

Catherine Kozak/Coastal Review Online Fifty years after the need for a bridge between mainland Currituck County and its barrier island beaches was first identified, and 30 years after a draft planning document for the proposed mid-Currituck bridge was first released, a recent public meeting revealed that the same issues are still being vigorously debated, costs […]

Written by on April 7, 2025

2. Troubled water: NC cities can dump a chemical linked to cancer in rivers. The EPA may change just how much.

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press The Cape Fear River Basin is the source of drinking water for 1.5 million North Carolina residents. It is also where three municipal governments — Asheboro, Greensboro and Reidsville — are legally dumping dangerous levels of 1,4-dioxane, a colorless industrial solvent linked to cancer. But on the eve of an […]

Written by on April 7, 2025

4. Did prison have to ‘be a death sentence’ for man with mental illness?

Rachel Crumpler/NC Health News When the calls from prison suddenly stopped in February 2024, Erik Ramsey’s family started worrying. Frequent communication was their way of trying to help Ramsey, 29, who’d been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, get through the time until his scheduled release in February 2026. In isolation, Ramsey couldn’t make or […]

Written by on April 7, 2025