Month: July 2025

1. Durham flooding victims turned away from hotel because of address

Monica Casey/WRAL News A North Carolina couple told WRAL News their reservation was canceled at a local hotel because they are Durham residents. Gwendolyn and Ira Montague live in north Durham, and their home of 50 years was severely damaged in flooding from Chantal. The retired couple stayed at a nearby Holiday Inn for a […]

Written by on July 23, 2025

2. How church-based literacy camps are filling a gap in summer learning for rural students statewide

Kristen Richardson-Frick, Mebane Rash & Hannah Vinueza McClellan/Education NC In 2012, The Duke Endowment partnered with one rural church to test a program to combat summer learning loss. Thirteen years later, the initiative that has grown from that investment includes several funders who work together with statewide nonprofit supporters and local partners to provide evidence-informed […]

Written by on July 23, 2025

3. Program focuses on youngest kids in NC’s child welfare system

Jennifer Fernandez/NC Health News Imagine a courtroom that’s not a courtroom and a judge who doesn’t look like a judge. Imagine a less adversarial system where social workers, court officials, community members and others work with families to help them address the issues that led to their children being taken away. Imagine a system where […]

Written by on July 23, 2025

6. North Carolina farmers confront frozen USDA funding

Stella Mackler/WFAE Radio Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded $50 million in grants to 140 small and midsized farms across the country. This year the grant program — meant to help farmers hire and retain workers — was frozen by the Trump administration. Hart-T Tree Farm was one of four North Carolina farms […]

Written by on July 23, 2025

8. Volunteers overhaul Waynesville little league field following Helene

Kyle Perrotti/Smoky Mountain News  Mountaineer Little League Baseball has been around since the 1970s, but like everything else, once Hurricane Helene hit, its immediate future was uncertain. The program, which allows kids from the western part of Haywood County to partake in America’s pastime, relies on the use of five fields to play ball. Some […]

Written by on July 23, 2025

9. Novant opens new Thomasville health facility

Jill Doss-Raines/The High Point Enterprise Davidson County’s first outpatient mental health facility opened Tuesday as part of a $6 million new Novant Health Wellness and Education center at Thomasville Medical Center. Novant Health administration and staff, Thomasville city officials, hospital foundation members and community members gathered for the ribbon cutting of the new facility in […]

Written by on July 23, 2025

10. What’s in the latest defense authorization bill for Fort Bragg?

Morgan Casey/CityView Fort Bragg could receive $240 million in federal funds to support the installation’s programs and infrastructure. The funds are included in the U.S. Senate’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2026, which the chamber’s Armed Services Committee passed earlier this month. It’s a piece of legislation that permits the […]

Written by on July 23, 2025

1. Why was Warren Wilson omitted from NC Helene bill’s aid to colleges?

Kate Denning/Carolina Public Press The most recent Helene recovery package from the state allocated $500 million to help address remaining damage to Western North Carolina, more than $4 million of which went to small private colleges and universities in the area. Even so, Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, which says it sustained $12 million in […]

Written by on July 22, 2025

3. WNC 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 22, 2025

4. JCAR cost spikes as county nears vote on Phase 1

Bill Moss/Hendersonville Lightning The two newest Henderson County commissioners expressed alarmed last week when they learned that the latest cost projection added more than $15 million to the price of the jail and courthouse expansion. Already the costliest capital project in the county’s history, the jail addition and new four-story courthouse building are now projected […]

Written by on July 22, 2025

5. ‘Has ICE been through here?’: Deportation fears leave local laundromat empty

Julian Berger/WFAE Radio On a busy stretch of North Tryon Street, cars speed past a small strip mall dominated by Latino-owned small businesses, including a taqueria, a bakery and a Mexican grocery store. But inside one of its storefronts, a laundromat, it’s quiet. Blanca Barbosa has worked at the laundromat for about seven years. She […]

Written by on July 22, 2025