Month: July 2025

6. Plan for new city hall paused

Pat Kimbrough/The High Point Enterprise High Point leaders say they’re reevaluating plans for a potential future City Hall on a downtown site. The city bought the campus of First Baptist Church of High Point in 2023 for $11 million for the development of a new municipal facility there at an estimated cost of $70 million. […]

Written by on July 6, 2025

7. Union Grove Farm to appeal ruling preventing construction of music stage

Michael Koh/WCHL Chapelboro Union Grove Farm in rural Orange County will appeal a ruling from the county’s Planning & Inspection Director preventing the construction of a “Farm Stage,” and shared its first public rendering of the project. The county’s ruling came as part of a Final & Binding Determination letter issued in early June, which […]

Written by on July 6, 2025

8. 5 ways Trump’s megabill will limit health care access

WFAE Radio The tax and spending legislation the House voted to send to President Donald Trump’s desk on Thursday, enacting much of his domestic agenda, cuts federal health spending by about $1 trillion over a decade in ways that will jeopardize the physical and financial health of tens of millions of Americans. The bill, passed […]

Written by on July 6, 2025

9. Greensboro city attorney retires amid questions over outside legal work

Woody Marshall/The (Greensboro) News & Record The news that Greensboro City Attorney Chuck Watts would be leaving his position after six years came suddenly on Wednesday afternoon. Neither Watts nor city officials had publicly announced beforehand that Watts was planning to leave the city. The news came as Watts faced scrutiny from local government critics […]

Written by on July 6, 2025

Stein, Boliek clash over veto of auditor bill

Gov. Stein’s veto pen also landed Wednesday on House Bill 549, which expands the investigative authority and other powers of the state auditor. The governor raised two objections, the first being a prospective risk to the state’s economic development program. “House Bill 549 would grant the auditor sweeping access to the data and records of any private corporation […]

Written by on July 3, 2025

Gov. Stein vetoes bill dropping carbon goal, citing cost risks for families

Gov. Josh Stein has vetoed a bill that would eliminate the state’s interim carbon-reduction goal, citing worries about future fuel costs and a potential cost shift from business to residential customers. “This summer’s record heat and soaring utility bills have shown that we need to focus on lowering electricity costs for working families — not raising […]

Written by on July 3, 2025

1. Western NC can expect to lose population after Helene. How much remains unclear.

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene, some in government and the news media were sounding the alarm on the prospect of population loss in affected areas of the state. The fear that there would be a mass exodus from the North Carolina mountains was contagious. The storm’s effect on […]

Written by on July 2, 2025

2. Megabill could force NC legislature to find $700 million for food stamps

Colin Campbell/WUNC Radio President Donald Trump’s megabill could cost North Carolina hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for a federal food assistance program. Sometimes referred to as food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps cover the cost of groceries for low-income families. Both the House and Senate versions of the megabill would […]

Written by on July 2, 2025

3. Woodard pens letter to Senate leader on roots of ‘Shrimpgate’

Joy Crist/Coastal Review Online Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard sent a letter June 30 to Senate Leader Phil Berger expressing “deep concern” about the last-minute changes to House Bills 442 and 441, which resulted in last week’s “Shrimpgate” protests. Following the surprise introduction of legislation that would ban shrimp trawling in nearly […]

Written by on July 2, 2025

4. The what and why of ‘meet and confer’ in North Carolina school districts

Ben Humphries/Education NC “We are the union! The mighty, mighty union!” members of the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) chanted at meetings in school districts across North Carolina. The word choice — union instead of association — is intentional and represents an organizational shift. Though NCAE is classified as a 501(c)(6), a nonprofit designation […]

Written by on July 2, 2025

5. NC to get $150M from new opioid settlement as counties expand treatment and recovery services

Taylor Knopf/NC Health News North Carolina is poised to receive $150 million from a new multi-state legal settlement with pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, for their alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic. Attorneys general from all 50 states and the United States’ territories finally reached a $7.4 billion agreement […]

Written by on July 2, 2025

6. Analysis shows Trump’s tariffs would cost US employers $82.3 billion

Josh Boak/The Associated Press An analysis finds a critical group of U.S. employers would face a direct cost of $82.3 billion from President Donald Trump’s current tariff plans, a sum that could potentially be managed through price hikes, layoffs, hiring freezes or lower profit margins. The analysis by the JPMorganChase Institute is among the first […]

Written by on July 2, 2025

7. Lawsuit alleges sexual abuse of minors at Waynesville Bojangles

Kyle Perrotti/Smoky Mountain News An Asheville law firm has filed a civil suit on behalf of two minor female clients alleging that the girls were sexually abused while employed at a Bojangles fast food restaurant near Lake Junaluska in Haywood County. According to a press release, the suit, filed June 17 by attorneys with Lanier […]

Written by on July 2, 2025

8. Southport greenlights Waterway Community development

Port City Daily A long discussed development in Southport has now been given the green light to move forward. On Monday, June 23, the Southport Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a comprehensive package of measures for the Waterway Community project, a 378-acre development off West 9th Street. After two project names and nearly five years, […]

Written by on July 2, 2025