Month: September 2025

5. Brunswick commissioners respond to calls for clean water, apply for grant

Charlie Fossen/Port City Daily After years of community pressure, Brunswick County has taken a formal step toward extending a new water line to the North Mulberry Road neighborhood. The Brunswick County Commissioners unanimously approved applying for a Community Development Block Grant-Infrastructure (CDBG-I) grant to help fund a water line extension project at North Mulberry Road […]

Written by on September 18, 2025

6. As Raleigh expands, so does the need for firefighters, department says

Haylee Kennedy/CBS 17 News The Raleigh Fire Department is searching for new recruits, because as the city expands so too does the need for more firefighters, department officials said. “You see something different pretty much everyday,” Assistant Chief of Personnel development, Brian Scherrill said. For Scherrill its been a rewarding career for over 20 years. […]

Written by on September 18, 2025

7. $33 million budget shortfall leads to widespread layoffs in Medicaid Ombudsman program

Andrew R. Jones/Asheville Watchdog Nearly 40 employees connected to North Carolina’s Medicaid Ombudsman program, including nine at Pisgah Legal Services, will lose their jobs by the end of the year because of a $33 million shortfall in the state’s Medicaid Managed Care Oversight Fund. The Medicaid Ombudsman program, which connects thousands of beneficiaries to resources […]

Written by on September 18, 2025

8. Charlotte City Council member Marjorie Molina concedes District 5 primary loss

Ely Portillo/WFAE Radio Charlotte City Council member Marjorie Molina conceded her loss in the District 5 Democratic primary to challenger J.D. Mazuera Arias, after a recount this week confirmed he beat her by 34 votes. In a video posted Thursday, she thanked her supporters and said the outcome is clear. “To all the voters who […]

Written by on September 18, 2025

10. What’s happening with shots in NC in 2025?

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press The weather is starting to cool here in North Carolina, bringing with it the joys of fall. There’s just one thing that could ruin your pumpkin spice latte, apple picking and hay rides: coming down with the flu or COVID-19. This year, there could be some changes to the way […]

Written by on September 18, 2025

Court says DOT immune to accident claim

A N.C. Court of Appeals panel has rejected trucking company C.R. England’s attempt to get the N.C. Department of Transportation to contribute to out-of-court settlements linked to a twice- fatal 2014 traffic accident. The accident occurred during a snowstorm on a partially-cleared Interstate 40 in Johnston County. And as such, Judge John Arrowood and his colleagues […]

Written by on September 18, 2025

UNC enrollment tops quarter-million mark

Enrollment across the UNC System’s universities hit a record high this fall, with preliminary numbers showing a collective 3.4% growth rate from the previous year. All told, the numbers indicate that 256,438 students showed up for fall classes, 8,511 more than in 2024. The system’s three largest campuses remain NC State (2.1% growth, to 39,259 […]

Written by on September 18, 2025

UNC tuition and enrollment

Only one UNC Board of Governors member objected on Wednesday to giving North Carolina public universities latitude to propose tuition increases of up to 3% for newly enrolled in-state students. Former Rep. Art Pope, R-Wake, said the system leaders would undercut their successes in keeping student debt down and a UNC education affordable if they […]

Written by on September 18, 2025

2. North Carolina watches for signs of bird flu as fall migration begins

Will Atwater/NC Health News Mid-September signals the soon-to-arrive familiar fall rhythms: leaves preparing to turn from green to gold and crimson, pumpkin spice flavors reappearing on menus and migratory birds filling the skies. Along with these seasonal markers comes a more troubling one — the likely spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu. […]

Written by on September 17, 2025

4. County outlines $15 million in missing FEMA funding

Sarah White/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Haywood County is still waiting on $15.2 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency almost a year after Helene. Only $623,000 of the total $15.8 million spent on recovery efforts so far has been reimbursed by the federal agency, according to Haywood County’s Finance Director Kristian Owen. “With a tax rate […]

Written by on September 17, 2025

5. Trump admin cuts $38.4 million in research funding at UNC: climate change, AIDS, DEI

Daneen Khan/The Daily Tar Heel Last May, UNC Professor Philip Berke received an email from Kristi Noem, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Berke is the director of UNC’s Center for Resilient Communities and Environment (CRCE). In the email, he learned that two of the Center’s research grants — which totaled around […]

Written by on September 17, 2025

6. Mission cardiac patient dies after telemetry monitor disconnection; hospital declines nurses’ request for emergency meeting

Andrew R. Jones/Asheville Watchdog A Mission Hospital cardiac patient died in late July after becoming disconnected from telemetry monitoring for at least an hour, and hospital administration repeatedly refused to hold an emergency meeting requested by union nurses about the incident, according to union leaders and emails obtained by Asheville Watchdog. Multiple people, who spoke […]

Written by on September 17, 2025