House and Senate Republicans opened a new front this week in their finger-pointing about who bears responsibility for their budgetary deadlock, extending it to take in the so-called Medicaid rebase. This, you’ll recall, is the expected shortfall in state support for the program that prompted the Stein administration to order cuts to reimbursement rates for […]
The State Ports Authority incurred a $6.3 million operating loss in fiscal 2024-25, according to financial statements released Wednesday by State Auditor Dave Boliek’s office. But the authority nonetheless improved its overall net position by $51.2 million over its showing from the year before. That came thanks in no small part to $45 million in […]
Dan Kane/The Charlotte Observer At a Mooresville town board meeting three years ago, a developer pitched a large planned community — a combination of 560 single-family homes and apartments across 125 acres two miles southwest of downtown. To gain the board’s support, the developers promised a $15 million road through the middle of its development […]
Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press A legal migrant farm worker was fatally injured while working at a major sweet potato farm in Nash County, marking the second such death at the same farm in just over two years. Daniel de la Cruz, a 36-year-old from Mexico, was at work at Barnes Farming and FarmPak on […]
Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News Hurricane Helene recovery czar Michael Whatley is blaming Democrats for the growing chorus of criticism over his job performance — but in heavily Republican Western North Carolina, it’s not just Democratic voices calling for Whatley to be replaced or step down. “It’s kind of funny to say ‘step down,’ because I […]
Ha Lien Gaskin/The Daily Tar Heel On Sept. 29, the N.C. Utilities Commissionruled that affordable housing nonprofit EMPOWERment Inc. will not be able to use a centralized energy measurement system in its Pine Knolls, EMPOWERment, Affordable, Community Housing (PEACH) property. EMPOWERment Inc.’s complaint against Duke Energy argued for an exception to North Carolina’s master meters […]
Rhonda Waterhouse/Coastal Review Online As you near Wilmington for your beach vacation, you take in the classic coastal Carolina scenery — tall longleaf pines, grassy marshes, and the wide Cape Fear River. But then something strange catches your eye: a forest of bare white tree trunks rising from the swamp like a field of bones. […]
Bradley George/WUNC Radio About 1.3 million checked suitcases are inspected every day in the U.S., according to the Transportation Security Administration. A startup company in the Triangle is hoping to speed up the screening process with a new spin on old technology. Like its product, the Quadridox office and lab in Hillsborough is a work […]
Charlie Fossen/Port City Daily The Leland Town Council has adopted an open-burning ordinance, a measure residents have been vocal about for years. Council unanimously approved an open-burning ordinance during an emergency meeting called on Oct. 20. The ordinance enacts an immediate ban on all open burning for land-clearing purposes, prohibiting the practice within town limits. […]
Alli Lindenberg/Education NC A lifelong educator has taken the helm at Rockingham Community College (RCC). Dr. Sylvia Cox became the college’s sixth president in May 2025. With a career in education spanning more than 25 years, this teacher-turned-higher education leader brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and heart for rural communities to her new role. […]
DJ Simmons/WFDD Radio High Point has approved the Southwest Mill District, which could pave the way for new jobs, homes and stores along West Green Drive. The decision would rezone around 171 acres of land in the area southwest of downtown High Point and establish additional development standards to create a walkable, mixed-use district. Several […]
Mary Smith/CBS 17 News A man passes away, and an apartment complex throws his things out before his family even has a chance to gather them — that’s what the family of Blake Decena says happened about two weeks ago. They say Decena was found dead in his apartment at Berkeley Crossing in Goldsboro, and […]
Duke University President Vince Price has made his administration’s distrust of Durham city and county leaders all but explicit, based on his comments about the local push for Duke to give them a payment in lieu of property taxes. Campus administrators briefed Duke’s Academic Council — its version of a faculty senate — earlier this […]
Speaking of mini-budgets, the count of those is now three. Legislators have passed and sent to the governor a revised version of Senate Bill 449, which raises out-of-state tuition for the four “NC Promise” schools in the UNC System. The bill cleared the Senate on a 46-0 vote on Tuesday. The House completed action later […]
North Carolina’s House-Senate budget deadlock continues, and House Speaker Destin Hall now believes a resolution is unlikely by the end of the year. Calendar 2025 “probably will end without a full-on budget,” Hall said, alluding to the series of “mini-budget” bills the chambers have passed as stopgaps. Hall said he conferred with Senate leader Phil […]
