Come spring, the eyes of North Carolina’s political community are going to be locked on Rockingham and Guilford County to see how Senate leader Phil Berger fares against GOP primary challenger Sam Page. But it’s looking like there’s another primary in western North Carolina that will command attention. No, we don’t mean the one involving […]
Charlotte’s time in the national spotlight might be making the city a political lightning rod, but the country’s three major bond-rating agencies all agree it’s a well-managed economic powerhouse. Fitch, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s all recently reaffirmed the city’s AAA bond rating ahead of its move to refinance some of its existing debts. Typifying […]
Bernard J. Wolfson/KFF Health News Medical educators and health professionals warn that new federal student loan caps in President Donald Trump’s tax cut law could make it more expensive for many people to become doctors and could exacerbate physician shortages nationwide. And, they warn, the economic burden will steer many medical students to lucrative specialties […]
Emma Dill/WilmingtonBiz An analysis presented to local transportation leaders this week examined two different tolling approaches that could help fund the more than $1 billion replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. The comparative analysis, which is required for projects costing over $750 million to receive federal funding, looked at a traditional toll delivery and […]
Sophia Luna/Education NC As North Carolina school districts face the deadline to adopt policies that will limit students’ cellphone use by January, the governor’s Advisory Council for Student Safety and Well-Being met on Nov. 17. The council heard from two school districts about the successes of the cellphone policies they already have in place. In […]
Sarah Michels/Carolina Public Press North Carolina lawmakers did not intentionally discriminate against minority voters in the 2023 drawing of the state’s congressional map, a federal district court ruled Thursday evening. However, the judges’ decision does not apply to an ongoing challenge to 2025 redistricting. A group of voters and several voting groups challenged various congressional […]
Zachary Turner/WFAE Radio Last year, the number of jobs in North Carolina’s economy grew by about 1%. But growth in clean energy employment outpaced other sectors, according to a new report. The advocacy group E2 found that clean energy jobs grew by about 3% in 2024. That includes jobs that make new clean energy, as […]
Dan DeWitt/Asheville Watchdog Owning the land beneath their mobile home has given Laura Garcia and her husband the security to replace its ceilings, rebuild its exterior, add on a front porch and apply a fresh coat of light gray paint highlighted with wine-colored trim. “Rather than depend on a landlord we depend on ourselves as […]
Catherine Kozak/Coastal Review Online As neighborhood businesses go, Timbermill Wind is quiet, clean and visually striking. And barely a year from the start of its wind energy production in this rural northeastern North Carolina community, it is already pumping money into local coffers. At a ceremony held Tuesday at the site of the project’s local […]
Frank Daniels IV/The (Southern Pines) Pilot A prominent commercial property in Aberdeen is back on the market after a failed attempt to repurpose it as an indoor food court, known as Junction Food Hall. Located at 124 W Main St. on the corner of North Poplar and Main streets in Aberdeen, the building sold in […]
Becky Johnson/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer A housing development surge in Waynesville five years ago cooled abruptly when the state halted new hookups to the leaky old sewer plant — no more new developments until the sewer plant rebuild. That is now here, and the development gates will soon open again with a sewer plant rebuild nearly […]
Katie Myers/Blue Ridge Public Radio MountainTrue and the Center for Biological Diversity are suing the U.S. Forest Service because of unannounced logging near the Nolichucky River. The U.S. Forest Service has been harvesting and selling timber from 135 acres of the Pisgah National Forest near the Nolichucky River as part of post-Helene debris removal. In […]
North Carolina’s retirement system ended the Sept. 30 fiscal year with $139 billion in assets, an 10% increase from a year earlier. The N.C. Investment Authority reported that the retirement fund had an investment return of about 11%, reflecting “a robust market and strategic decisions.” The retirement funds aim for a 6.5% annual rate of […]
Duke Energy is asking state regulators to approve an increase of more than 13% in its rates in 2027 for residential customers, with business customers likely to see smaller increases. The requests continue a trend of sharply higher electricity costs over the past decade. Residential rates in the U.S. climbed 32% in the last decade, […]
Officials intend to have all the remaining home rebuilds left from Hurricanes Matthew and Florence under construction by the end of the year, N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency boss Pryor Gibson told legislators on Thursday. As far as completing them, “it is our hope, it is our intention, to be finished well before the […]
