WFAE Radio Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings on Sunday night disclosed the details of a $305,000 settlement agreement with the city and said he plans to retire at the end of the year. Charlotte City Council agreed to pay Jennings in a closed session vote last month, after the chief complained about threatening text messages […]
Tim Henderson/NC Newsline Like many moderate-income workers, public school teachers Julia and Scott Whitnall didn’t think they’d become homeowners in their early 30s. Especially in California. “We never felt homeownership was in our cards. But we did it!” Julia Whitnall said. “We’re extremely happy.” The couple moved May 16 to a $509,000 two-bedroom house in […]
Paul Nielsen/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer A post-Helene budget crunch in Waynesville could force hard choices for the Downtown Waynesville Commission — to cancel some of its events or to axe planned downtown improvements. The town budget allocates $2,000 more for the Downtown Waynesville Commission next fiscal year compared to the current budget of $198,000. But it […]
Jimmy Tomlin/The High Point Enterprise Did a controversial handgun carried by a High Point Police officer discharge accidentally two years ago, without the officer ever putting his hand on the trigger? The gun’s manufacturer says that’s impossible, but the recently retired officer — who was shot in the leg with his own service weapon during […]
Sydney Brainard/WCHL Chapelboro With every passing second, more and more of the North Carolina coast is eroding. Some of the most intensely affected coastal areas, like Rodanthe, where videos of homes pitching, heaving and crumbling into the sea have been going viral since 2020, have erosion rates as high as 14 feet per year. It’s […]
WFDD Radio The electric company Caudill’s in Kernersville, has released a statement after a fire destroyed its historic building on Saturday night. In reads, in part, “Last night, we experienced a heartbreaking total loss at Caudill Electric as our building went up in flames. Watching it burn was incredibly difficult and left us feeling helpless […]
Deep in the fine print of the House’s latest hurricane-recovery aid package, there are two proposed appropriations that would help a pair of western North Carolina short-line railroads. House Bill 1012’s proposed allocations include a $9 million grant to the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad and $1 million for the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. The Blue Ridge Southern is an […]
To tie up a loose end from Wednesday, I checked the vote lineup on the House’s decision to add a ban on tolling U.S. 1 in Wake County to its draft of the budget. The 71-37 vote came at the behest of Rep. Mike Schietzelt, R-Wake, who represents Wake Forest and other parts of northern Wake County that […]
Senate leader Phil Berger appears willing to use the House’s new $464.8 million hurricane-aid bill as leverage to get his chamber’s way in upcoming House-Senate budget negotiations. Berger was non-committal on Thursday when asked whether the Senate will take up the aid package, House Bill 1012, as a standalone piece of legislation or would instead insist […]
Ely Portillo/WFAE Radio On Thursday, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Russ Ferguson announced that Charlotte City Council member Tiawana Brown faces federal indictments on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, stemming from allegedly fraudulent loan applications for COVID relief funds. According to the indictment, Brown, 53, and […]
Jennifer Berry Hawes & Mollie Simon/ProPublica When Hurricane Helene plowed over the Southeast last September, it caused more inland deaths than any hurricane in recorded history. The highest per capita death toll occurred in Yancey County, a rural expanse in the rugged Black Mountains of North Carolina devastated by flash flooding and landslides. On Monday, […]
WRAL News Memorial Day weekend continues to to be one of the most popular weekend for folks to hit the road and skies. This year, AAA forecasts a record 45.1 million people in the U.S. will travel at least 50 miles from home during the five days of the long weekend, starting Thursday. According to […]
Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline The firm that will run North Carolina’s Hurricane Helene recovery program in the western mountains, as it sought to win the critical contract, described itself as the only one up to the task. “Only the HORNE Team has the system, expertise, and experience required to deliver this mission quickly and bring thousands […]
Liz Schlemmer/WUNC Radio North Carolina House lawmakers have passed a budget bill that would raise beginning teacher pay by about 22% by fall 2026. The House’s budget makes several moves to raise teacher pay that are absent in the Senate’s budget bill. During the House’s final debate of its budget bill Wednesday night, Representative Dean […]
Gerard Albert III/Blue Ridge Public Radio There’s no property tax increase planned, for the fourth year in a row, in Henderson County. Despite the economic burden from Hurricane Helene on local governments, commissioners say they won’t raise taxes on property owners. The county is one of the only in Western North Carolina not considering a […]
