Month: August 2025

3. UNC Asheville halts stadium plan for wooded campus, will look at other ideas

Jack Evans/Asheville Watchdog The University of North Carolina Asheville will halt negotiations on its plans, announced just two months ago, to build a soccer stadium and surrounding development on campus, the school announced Thursday. Instead, UNCA said, it will form a commission to take public input and consider other ideas for 45 wooded acres south […]

Written by on August 18, 2025

4. 2nd Mecklenburg County chief deputy resigns in less than a year

WSOC News Another chief deputy has resigned from the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office, less than a year after the previous chief deputy quit over disagreements with Sheriff Garry McFadden. Channel 9 obtained a resignation letter submitted by MCSO Chief Deputy Christopher Allen dated on Monday. Allen wrote to McFadden, “After being under your leadership for […]

Written by on August 18, 2025

5. Acting head of Guilford College given two-year term as president

Paul Garber/WFDD Radio Guilford College trustees have named Jean Bordewich to a two-year term as president. Bordewich has served as acting president since January, when Kyle Farmbry stepped down after three years at the helm. Last month, the college wrapped up a successful fundraising campaign, raising more than $6 million. But challenges remain. Among them: […]

Written by on August 18, 2025

6. Pless’s messy campaign finance reporting

Sarah White/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer N.C. Rep. Mark Pless doesn’t have a strong record of following campaign finance rules. In just the last four years, he’s garnered six late filing penalties — the latest could put a hold on his campaign spending entirely. Political candidates and representatives must file regular reports of money they receive and […]

Written by on August 18, 2025

7. East Fork sues insurance company for failing to pay million dollar post-Helene claim

Gerard Albert III/Blue Ridge Public Radio East Fork Pottery filed a lawsuit against its insurance company for failing to provide any financial restitution after the business was closed for almost a month because of Hurricane Helene. The insurance company – Travelers – did pay the Asheville-based business for damages to its properties. But East Fork […]

Written by on August 18, 2025

8. NC lags in civic engagement. Gaps in civics learning part of the problem.

Sarah Michels/Carolina Public Press On a national stage, North Carolina often serves as a state to watch for its purple and swingy political nature. However, its own citizens are opting out of civic engagement at higher rates than most of the country, according to the 2024 Civic Health Index. Ineffective civics education could be part […]

Written by on August 18, 2025

9. Durham County faces lowest vaccine rates in central NC as school year approaches

Grace Hayba/WRAL News The countdown to the return to school is on for many major Triangle-area traditional school systems, including Wake County and Durham County. Pediatricians say now is a critical time for parents to make plans to bring their children to see their family doctor for vaccinations. The North Carolina Department of Human Services […]

Written by on August 18, 2025

10. Holly Ridge residents decry 1,200-acre development

Morgan Starling/The (Jacksonville) Daily News  Tensions were high at the Aug. 12 Holly Ridge Town Council meeting as residents and council members struggled to find common ground on the consideration of a proposed annexation. Holly Ridge Development Group submitted a voluntary satellite annexation request on July 31 to the town for nearly 1,227 acres of […]

Written by on August 18, 2025

Map making

Gerrymandering congressional districts is the hottest topic of the month for state legislators in several states, but not so much in North Carolina. At least so far. That seems strange given that our state has earned a reputation as a particularly bad actor in gerrymandering, according to Democratic Party loyalists and the Brennan Center for […]

Written by on August 18, 2025

Free speech push?

U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, D-2nd, has joined forces with a colleague from Vermont to push back on the Trump administration’s efforts to use visa revocations to discourage pro-Palestine campus protests. They’ve introduced a bill that would repeal the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 that says the U.S. secretary of state can […]

Written by on August 18, 2025

1. CEO of NCInnovation, group that boosts university research, to step down

Will Doran/WRAL News The leader of NCInnovation plans to leave after the end of the year, he told WRAL in an exclusive interview. The group is an ambitious public-private partnership aimed at helping university scientists turn their research into job-creating private ventures. Research Triangle Park has been a key driver of the state’s economy for […]

Written by on August 14, 2025

2. State audit of WS/FCS finds years of overspending, poor budgeting practices — not fraud

Amy Diaz/WFDD Radio The State Auditor’s Office investigation of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools reveals years of overspending, incorrect budgeting practices and a lack of internal controls— but no embezzlement or fraud. The audit was released Thursday morning. It’s a 39-page deep dive into the district’s finances that mostly confirms what officials have said caused its $46 […]

Written by on August 14, 2025

3. Asheville Watchdog’s open meetings lawsuit against city can move forward, judge rules

Andrew R. Jones/Asheville Watchdog Asheville Watchdog’s lawsuit alleging the city of Asheville violated North Carolina’s open meetings laws can proceed, a judge has ruled. Judge Robert Ervin filed a brief order Aug. 8 affirming that The Watchdog and fellow plaintiff Sunshine Request, an Asheville-based public interest project that publishes results of public records requests, have […]

Written by on August 14, 2025

4. Judge orders unpermitted quarry in Mitchell County to halt operations

Adam Wagner/WUNC Radio A quarry that had been operating along the Nolichucky River must stop digging up and crushing rock immediately, a Mitchell County Superior Court judge ordered this week. Judge Theodore McEntire issued a preliminary injunction against Horizon 30, LLC, on Monday. McEntire also directed Horizon 30 to establish ground cover on any land […]

Written by on August 14, 2025

5. Unhoused by floods. Chapel Hill housing complexes no stranger to high water, but Chantal was worse.

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press Flooding from Tropical Depression Chantal displaced more than 150 people from their Central North Carolina homes in early July. The storm exposed deep inequities in the region’s housing market, activists and academics say, with a significant focus on Chapel Hill. Rising waters disproportionately affected older public and low-income housing built […]

Written by on August 14, 2025