Thursday’s most-fun news came from the governor’s office, the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences and NC State, which says one of the museum’s “Dueling Dinosaurs” is a new species. Rather than being a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, as was previously thought, they say it’s actually a different kind of tyrannosaur that lived along with the iconic carnivore. […]
North Carolina’s resident maritime-history expert, Campbell University professor Sal Mercogliano, urged members of a U.S. Senate subcommittee to get behind legislation that could revitalize America’s shipbuilding industry. The so-called SHIPS Act, he said, promises “the vision and framework needed to rebuild our shipbuilding base, re-establish a robust [U.S.-flagged] merchant fleet and ensure the United States […]
The unfunded liability of the primary retirement fund for state employees rose to about $12 billion by the end of 2024, about a 7.3% increase from the year before. For fiscal 2026-27, this keeps the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System on track to ask legislators to support the fund to the tune of 17.49% […]
Doug Bock Clark/ProPublica In early 2023, Paul Newby, the Republican chief justice of North Carolina’s Supreme Court, gave the state and the nation a demonstration of the stunning and overlooked power of his office. The previous year, the court — then majority Democrat — had outlawed partisan gerrymandering in the swing state. Over Newby’s vehement […]
Paul Specht & Emily Walkenhorst/WRAL News North Carolina legislators are summoning Chapel Hill school officials to Raleigh to explain their objections to a set of laws that ban discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools from kindergarten to fourth grade, among other things. The law, which sponsors call the Parents’ Bill of […]
WSOC News Gov. Josh Stein announced on Thursday the discovery of a new tyrannosaur species, Nanotyrannus, at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences on Thursday. The discovery, made in collaboration with North Carolina State University, is based on the “Dueling Dinosaurs” fossil, which was found in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana. “This is […]
Kate Denning/Carolina Public Press A court hearing is set for Nov. 6 for University of North Carolina at Greensboro student Alisia Rea, who was seen in a viral video earlier this month being physically restrained by several UNCG police officers, while questioning officers’ treatment of her boyfriend, Greensboro resident Quinten Thomas. Rea is charged with […]
Amy Diaz/WFDD Radio Many federally funded Head Start programs across North Carolina will be forced to close their doors on Friday as the government shutdown continues. The closures could impact roughly 4,500 children in the state — many in rural counties where other child care options are limited, or nonexistent. North Carolina Head Start Association […]
Keaton Eberly/CBS 17 News North Carolina State University formally installed Kevin Howell as the 15th chancellor in school history during a special ceremony on Thursday. The event was held at Reynolds Coliseum, including N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger, UNC System President Peter Hans, UNC Board of Governors Chair Wendy Murphy, N.C. State Board of Trustees […]
Elvis Menayese/WFAE Radio More than 200 people attended a conference at a Charlotte hotel in the University City area on Thursday that aimed to raise awareness about the importance of addressing mental health. With mental health needs still high years after the COVID-19 pandemic and access to care a challenge for many — more than […]
Liz Schlemmer/WUNC Radio Michelle Reed is in her 22nd year of teaching English at Cedar Ridge High School in Orange County Schools. Her family has been saving scrap metal to help pay for a big field trip for her daughters. North Carolina’s state budget is now nearly four months overdue. For public school employees, that […]
Aaron Keck/WCHL Chapelboro This month, UNC’s Nabarun Dasgupta was named as a recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, an $800,000 award in recognition of his lifesaving work to help fight the opioid epidemic. Dasgupta is an epidemiologist and researcher with UNC’s Gillings School of Public Health. His Opioid Data Lab tries to determine the actual […]
Felicia Sonmez/Blue Ridge Public Radio Growth is an issue throughout most of Western North Carolina. But it ranks especially high on residents’ minds in Weaverville. The town of about 5,000 people in Buncombe County has seen its population double in the last 25 years — and it’s expected to double again in the next three […]
My boss, Dave Mildenberg, reports that an annual assessment of the Charlotte area’s housing market shows that supply is catching up with demand, prices are moderating, but finding affordable homes remains a major challenge. And the region’s growth is off the charts. For the seventh year, UNC Charlotte’s Childress Klein Center for Real Estate published […]
The fact that so much of the revenue the Division of Motor Vehicles brings in goes to financing the work of its parent organization is flummoxing legislators as much as it does auditors. DMV is under the N.C. Department of Transportation’s umbrella, and according to State Auditor Dave Boliek’s aides, it raises about $2.2 billion […]
