Month: July 2025

1. Flooding from Chantal’s remnants forces dozens to flee homes in North Carolina

Allen G. Breed/The Associated Press Heavy rain and flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal forced dozens of people to flee their homes in central North Carolina, officials said Monday. The Chapel Hill Fire Department and neighboring agencies completed more than 50 water rescues, many of them in areas where floodwaters entered or threatened […]

Written by on July 7, 2025

2. Advanced practice nurses call ‘matchmaking’ services linking them to physicians expensive, exploitative

Grace Vitaglione/NC Health News Doctor: “Good evening, Just checking in.” Advanced practice nurse: “Hi! All is well here. No changes or concerns.” A phone with a text conversation shows a conversation with an advanced practice nurse and a supervising physician. Those texts cost one advanced practice registered nurse in North Carolina $6,000 a year, according […]

Written by on July 7, 2025

3. Soldiers are inventing the tech needed to fight today’s wars

Morgan Casey/CityView 82nd Airborne soldiers William Rambin and Jesus Naranjo were 8 miles deep in the pine forests surrounding Fort Bragg as part of a training exercise when they got called to shoot the mortar system they were carrying. Their squad was a mile outside of the shooting range. By the time they got where […]

Written by on July 7, 2025

5. ‘Meeting people directly where they are’: After quick success, Triangle recidivism reduction org opens second mobile support center

Max Tendler/WUNC Radio A support system for the Triangle’s formerly incarcerated residents expanded this week as Recidivism Reduction Educational Programs and Services unveiled their second mobile support center. The aid-on-wheels program, which began this past January, served 3,000 individuals in its first 70 days, illustrating the “urgent need,” the organization said in a statement, for […]

Written by on July 7, 2025

6. WNC municipal elections: Who’s up, who’s moving up, who’s staying in and who’s getting out

Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News Across Western North Carolina this fall, local governments will hold their first municipal elections since Hurricane Helene ravaged the region and saddled many small, rural towns across the mountain west with damages that in most cases approach or exceed millions. As these communities recover, the candidate filing period approaches — providing […]

Written by on July 7, 2025

7. Pender landowner on mission to conserve hundreds of acres

Trista Talton/Coastal Review Online There have been nights Clint North has lost sleep thinking about his land. Ten years from now, he knows exactly what he wants the hundreds of acres of land he’s bought up in this unincorporated area of Pender County to look like: exactly the same, if not better. But North has […]

Written by on July 7, 2025

8. Fire and strain: How staff shortages affect the N.C. Forest Service in the Wilmington area

Renee Spencer/Wilmington StarNews The North Carolina Forest Service is facing critical staffing shortages, impacting daily operations and wildfire response. Low pay, limited career advancement, and poor work-life balance are the primary reasons employees leave. While employees enjoy their work, many cannot afford to stay due to low salaries and the increasing cost of living. The […]

Written by on July 7, 2025

9. Southern Shores Council expected to approve resolution opposing offshore drilling

Mark Jurkowitz/Outer Banks Voice At their July 8 meeting, the Southern Shores Commissioners are expected to approve a resolution formally adding their voice to those opposing the opening of the waters off North Carolina to offshore energy drilling. That follows a mid-April announcement from the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy […]

Written by on July 7, 2025

10. New business provides platform for local producers

Abigail Eggers/The Watauga Democrat A new business has found its home in the old Goober Peas location just outside of Boone. Crop and Trade is a producer-owner and worker-owner-run store that opened June 1. The business was co-founded by a former frequent visitor to Goober Peas and a Boone native, Krystal Illich. Illich owns and […]

Written by on July 7, 2025

2. Cherokee tribal authority crucial in arrest of Swain County sheriff on sexual assault charges

Lucas Thomae/Carolina Public Press Officers with the State Bureau of Investigation and the Cherokee Indian Police Department arrested Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran last week following a joint investigation into alleged sexual assaults he committed against women on Cherokee land. Sheriff Cochran, 72, was suspended from office by a superior court judge shortly after his […]

Written by on July 6, 2025

3. They’re NC’s fastest-growing source of new teachers. But thousands of them are leaving every year

Emily Walkenhorst/WRAL News Thousands of people who switched careers to become North Carolina public school teachers are leaving their roles within three years, new data shows, the latest indicator of the hiring challenges plaguing school districts across the state. Temporarily licensed teachers — largely people who enter the profession from another field are the fastest-growing […]

Written by on July 6, 2025

4. Pender newspaper claims First Amendment violation in county lawsuit

Charlie Fossen/Port City Daily The ongoing dispute between the Pender-Topsail Post & Voice and Pender County has escalated, with the local newspaper issuing a lawsuit against the county and several commissioners. Filed on Tuesday, July 1, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, the lawsuit names Pender County and Commissioners […]

Written by on July 6, 2025

5. The bus driver search goes round and round, round and round …

Andrew Marshall/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer North Carolina’s school bus driver shortage continues unabated in Haywood County, with the local school system looking to hire 13 drivers to plug existing gaps in its 70 routes. “It takes a unique fit to need to drive in the morning, drive in the afternoon, but not work in the middle […]

Written by on July 6, 2025