Gov. Josh Stein’s office says the state’s completed the first repair of a Hurricane-Helene-damaged home approved for assistance through the Renew NC Single-Family Housing Program. The program’s $807 million in funding comes from the federal government, specifically out of the $1.4 billion in CDBG disaster recovery subsidies the state’s getting from the U.S. Department of […]
The state treasurer’s office was also in the news Thursday because it announced that it’s “uncovered $170 million in unspent and unallocated funds” during a review of the state’s cash accounts. Going forward, and given statutory limitations on its use, the treasurer’s office intends to deploy the money to reduce the state’s outstanding debt, Briner […]
State Treasurer Brad Briner and many of his Republican colleagues around the country are once again at odds with BlackRock, the New York City-based investment manager. Back on July 29, Briner and 25 other GOP finance overseers in other states wrote BlackRock CEO Larry Fink to demand what they termed “a recommitment to the foundational […]
Buncombe County saw an estimated 10.8% reduction in visitor spending in 2024, a year where Hurricane Helene’s devastation left its tourism industry and that of western North Carolina in general reeling. According to the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, Buncombe saw about $2.6 billion in visitor spending for the year. In 2023, visitors spent […]
Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press Attorney General Jeff Jackson agrees with the findings of an independent monitor that HCA may be in violation of its purchase agreement of Mission Health, the dominant hospital system in Western North Carolina. This marks the most recent step in a process designed to hold HCA — the largest hospital […]
Brianna Atkinson/WUNC Radio Nearly a year ago, Helene brought unprecedented flooding to western North Carolina – wiping out roadways, triggering more than 2,000 landslides, and taking the lives of more than 100 people. The Swannanoa Valley was especially hard hit, home to a namesake river that broke a flood record after it crested over 26 […]
Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News Scenic Chimney Rock has historically been an out-of-the-way place, nestled tightly against the Broad River in a narrow valley between lush, towering peaks that peer down at nearby Lake Lure. It’s always been difficult to get there — especially now, with most roads still closed 11 months after Hurricane Helene — […]
NC Voices Earlier this month, President Donald Trump officially implemented tariffs ranging from 10% to 41% on 70 countries. Small business owners in the Triangle are saying that these tariffs are already affecting their bottom lines. “I can’t charge $30 for a chocolate bar, I can’t raise your price three times and leave us in […]
Elisabeth Rosenthal/KFF Health News Wary of inflation, Americans have been watching the prices of everyday items such as eggs and gasoline. A less-noticed expense should cause greater alarm: rising premiums for health insurance. They have been trending upward for years and are now rising faster than ever. Consider that, from 2000 to 2020, egg prices […]
John Peters/The Mount Airy News The chairman of the Surry County Board of Elections resigned shortly before noon on Thursday, two days after he was arrested and charged with multiple crimes, including felony child abuse, in the city of Wilmington. Among the accusations are that he spiked the food of two of his granddaughters with […]
WRAL News Two self-proclaimed religious leaders were arrested Wednesday on federal indictments for their alleged roles in a nationwide forced labor and money laundering conspiracy. The two people involved are 53-year-old David Taylor and 56-year-old Michelle Brannon, both associated with the Kingdom of God Global Church (KOGGC), formerly Joshua Media Ministries International (JMMI), an organization […]
The Associated Press The Democratic National Committee is seriously considering scrambling the party’s 2028 presidential primary calendar. And South Carolina — the state that hosted the Democrats’ first-in-the-nation contest in 2024 — is far from a lock to go first. That’s according to several members of the DNC’s new leadership team, including Chair Ken Martin. […]
Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily Two resolutions aimed at the state government — one advocating for the release of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and the other supporting law changes to address student vaping — were voted down by the New Hanover County Board of Education Monday. According to the dissenters, both resolutions were […]
Sarah White/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Haywood County’s tax collection rate has fallen for the third year in a row, but municipalities within the county aren’t seeing the same downturns that County Tax Collector Sebastian Cothran credits to Helene. “Helene did not impact any of our collection rates,” said Wanda Lurvey, Canton’s tax collector. Tax collectors in […]
Wolfspeed says it lost $1.6 billion in fiscal 2024-25, more than its loss in the prior two fiscal years combined. The Durham-based chipmaker told investors and the SEC that it booked $757.6 million in revenue for the year, about 6.1% less than the year before. But it lost even in the course of selling its […]
