Month: August 2025

1. Mecklenburg Commissioners vote to place 1-cent transportation tax on November ballot

Steve Harrison/WFAE Radio Supporters of a 1-cent sales tax increase for transportation packed the Government Center Wednesday night. Mecklenburg Commissioners voted 8-1 Wednesday night to place a 1-cent sales tax increase on this November’s ballot, setting the stage for a three-month campaign that will determine the future of the region’s multibillion-dollar plan to build out […]

Written by on August 7, 2025

2. Erosion threatens Ocracoke ferry terminal, but moving it would be unpopular

Colin Campbell/WUNC Radio Ocracoke Island is facing major erosion around the busy ferry terminal that connects it to Hatteras. But proposals to move the ferry docks are facing opposition. Drivers waiting on the ferry from Ocracoke to Hatteras can’t line up in the original stacking lanes anymore, because the asphalt there has crumbled into the […]

Written by on August 7, 2025

3. Manufacturer opens new facility in Hope Mills, promises major investment

Trey Nemec/CityView Rollease Acmeda, a manufacturer and distributor of window coverings, has officially opened a new warehouse site in Hope Mills. A crowd of about 30 community leaders, local officials and company employees gathered at the facility located at 103 Tom Starling Road on Monday afternoon to celebrate its grand opening, which promises to invest […]

Written by on August 7, 2025

4. Cary Wendy’s removes noose display, which was part of Netflix promotion campaign

Carly Haynes/WRAL News A Netflix promotional campaign with a popular restaurant is getting the attention of customers, but for reasons outside of the television show. On Wednesday afternoon, customers walked into Wendy’s on North Harrison Avenue in Cary and saw what appeared to be a noose hanging from the ceiling of the dining room. ECU, […]

Written by on August 7, 2025

5. SBI not currently investigating Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools

Amy Diaz/WFDD Radio Some media outlets are reporting that the State Bureau of Investigation is poised to launch a criminal probe into Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. According to Chad Flowers, an SBI spokesperson, the department is not investigating the school district right now. He says Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill called SBI more than a […]

Written by on August 7, 2025

7. New NC law makes regulating polluters much more difficult

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press North Carolina just made it much harder to pass expensive regulations. HB 402, now law after legislators overrode a veto from Gov. Josh Stein, adds major hurdles for new and existing rules — including those that would limit PFAS and other toxic chemicals in drinking water. The new law, also […]

Written by on August 7, 2025

9. Asheville’s Urban Forestry Commission speaks for the city’s trees. It hasn’t met since Helene.

Jack Evans/Asheville Watchdog Asheville’s Tree City USA distinction, which it held for nearly 45 years, has lapsed. Eric North, a program manager for the Arbor Day Foundation, which administers the Tree City program, said in an email Asheville began its application last year but, like some other communities preoccupied by hurricane recovery, didn’t finish it. […]

Written by on August 7, 2025

10. Rock mining for I-40 repairs to gear up in Pisgah National Forest

The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Another milestone in the I-40 repair job in the Pigeon River Gorge: the N.C. Department of Transportation has officially received permits to mine stone from the nearby Pisgah National Forest. Rock will be mined from the national forest on the opposite side of the river as the massive Helene-triggered landslides that washed […]

Written by on August 7, 2025

1. ‘Thanks for the donuts’: NCDOT responds to NC State coach’s long day at DMV

Laura Leslie & Brian Murphy/WRAL News Basketball games — even in the Atlantic Coast Conference — can’t be as difficult as navigating North Carolina’s Division of Motor Vehicles to get a new driver’s license. NC State men’s basketball assistant coach Brandon Chambers arrived at the Cary office at 5:45 a.m. Tuesday, hoping to score one […]

Written by on August 6, 2025

2. RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine contracts

The Associated Press The Department of Health and Human Services will cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines that are being developed to fight respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a statement Tuesday that 22 projects, totaling $500 million, to develop vaccines using mRNA technology will be […]

Written by on August 6, 2025

3. ‘A wing and a prayer:’ Henderson County owed $20M reimbursement from FEMA

Gerard Albert III/Blue Ridge Public Radio Henderson County is in the hole about $20 million, waiting for reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Hurricane Helene-related debris removal. Commissioners discussed the issue at a Monday night meeting. The conversation came as state officials last week urged lawmakers to push the federal government to speed […]

Written by on August 6, 2025

4. ‘Dreadful’ and ‘hopelessly behind’: FEMA flood maps reveal their flaws in a time of warming and extreme storms

Dan DeWitt/Asheville Watchdog If Steve Dunning’s Okie Dokies Smokehouse in Swannanoa appeared on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood maps, his lender would have almost certainly required flood insurance as a condition of the mortgage that he and his wife, Jody, took out on the property in 2006. But Buncombe County’s mapping website shows the […]

Written by on August 6, 2025

5. More than 1 in 4 people released from NC prisons faced homelessness in 2024

Rachel Crumpler/NC Health News More than one in four people leaving North Carolina prisons in 2024 were released to homelessness, according to a reentry housing assessment presented at the July meeting of the Joint Reentry Council. The assessment identified someone as homeless if they had no verified home plan, self-reported as homeless, provided an intersection […]

Written by on August 6, 2025