Jaymie Baxley & Rose Hoban/NC Health News Sally Herndon has spent more than three decades working to get North Carolinians to quit smoking. As head of the state Health Department’s Tobacco Prevention and Control branch, she oversaw various initiatives aimed at reducing tobacco and e-cigarette use among young people. She was instrumental in efforts to […]
Vicki Hyatt/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer N.C. Rep. Mark Pless’s proposals to change requirements for emergency medical personnel and remove local government control over ambulance services are dead in the water, at least for this session of the General Assembly, much to the relief of a number of EMS personnel across the state. Pless had introduced two […]
State Auditor Dave Boliek has notified Charlotte officials that his office is going to investigate its rumored “settlement” with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings. “The Office of the State Auditor will be asking how much money has reportedly been paid, whether a payment exists, where did money for a payment come from, and several other […]
Back in 2023, legislative leaders touted their desire to use part of the state’s Medicaid-expansion bonus to fund a new healthcare collaboration between UNC Health and ECU Health. That year’s budget bill authorized spending up to $420 million on the so-called NC Care initiative, and actually appropriated the bulk of that money. Now, the House […]
House Republicans aren’t exactly sold on the idea of massively subsidizing UNC Health and Duke Health’s plan to build a new children’s hospital somewhere in the Triangle, two of their leaders say. “We have an information deficit,” said Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth. “Our caucus is saying, ‘With tight economic times, can we really afford the amount […]
Alan Wooten/The Center Square Regulations imposed, American consumers ultimately paying, and industry volatility are damaging impacts from across-the-board tariffs in a world economy where measures vary by country and product. “The reason managed trade doesn’t work is no one is smart enough to manage it,” said H.O Woltz, president of Insteel Industries and a veteran […]
Lucas Thomae/Carolina Public Press When Tropical Storm Helene tore across North Carolina in September, it left behind more than just downed trees and flooded homes. It ripped open a hidden fault line in the state’s transportation system — one that has existed for the state’s roads, largely unquestioned, for nearly a century. North Carolina is […]
Steve Harrison/WFAE Radio Republican Edwin Peacock was appointed Monday to finish the final six months of Tariq Bokhari’s City Council seat representing District 6 in south Charlotte. Bokhari resigned last month for a high-level job with the Federal Transit Administration. The vote deadlocked, with five voting for Peacock and 5 voting for Krista Bokhari, Tariq […]
Jessica Wakeman/Blue Ridge Public Radio Funding to rebuild in western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene is severely lagging, according to new data released by North Carolina’s Office of State Budget Management (OSBM). Overall, federal and state government funding allocated for Helene recovery has totaled about $5.95 billion—only about 10% of what’s needed in the region […]
Bradley George/WUNC Radio A town in northwest North Carolina has won a $1.7 million federal grant to clean up a long-abandoned tannery. The Environmental Protection Agency announced the award to the town of North Wilkesboro Friday, one of 23 projects selected for brownfield cleanup in the southeast. The announcement comes as EPA is still trying […]
Ryley Ober/Asheville Citizen Times A monthslong internal audit of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office evidence rooms showed over 1,700 missing items and about 4,800 items stored under poor conditions in shipping containers. The issues have gone “unaddressed for decades” throughout multiple sheriff’s administrations, records reveal. In pursuit of accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation for […]
Lisa Sorg/Inside Climate News The North Carolina Division of Emergency Management last week fired a subcontractor that had been founded by top officials at ReBuild NC, the now discredited state agency that botched response efforts after hurricanes Matthew and Florence in 2016 and 2018. The company, PathBuilt, had been hired to work on disaster recovery […]
Ben Crosbie/WCHL Chapelboro At a work session on Tuesday, the Carrboro Town Council received a presentation of a draft for the Downtown Area Plan (DAP). The DAP is a priority project within the larger Carrboro Connects Comprehensive Plan, a wide-ranging plan outlining the town’s goals through 2042. Danny Wilson, an urban planning manager, delivered the […]
Hannah Vinueza McClellan/Education NC Since 2016, the N.C. Community College System (NCCCS) has been implementing a five-phased approach to modernize Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for the state’s 58 community colleges and system office. An ERP system refers to the software colleges use that contains data on students, core financial management, grants, human resources, and […]
Becky Johnson/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer A civil lawsuit involving Shining Rock Classical Academy charter school concluded Tuesday following five days of both tense and emotional testimony, but a verdict could be weeks away as the presiding judge sorts through the mountains of conflicting evidence and testimony. The lawsuit and countersuit center around head of school Josh […]
