Sofia DiStefano/Niner Times Months after the fatal stabbing of Iryna Zarutska in August of 2025, which shook riders across Charlotte’s transit system, questions about safety on the city’s light rail persist despite expanded patrols and new security strategies. The death of Zarutska gained national and local attention, with several politicians, including President Donald Trump, criticizing […]
Felicia Sonmez/Blue Ridge Public Radio After severe weather and repeated flight delays left them stranded in New York for four days last year, Susan Kluttz and her husband finally bit the bullet. They abandoned their plane tickets and booked seats on Amtrak’s Carolinian train, which Kluttz said took them from Penn Station in New […]
Guy Lucas/The High Point Enterprise The artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT was used by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency to determine that hundreds of National Endowment for the Humanities were based on “diversity, equity and inclusion” and should be terminated, including one to the High Point Museum to pay for replacing its aging heat-and-air […]
Matthew Sockol/WNCN The Rocky Mount City Council voted Monday afternoon to approve utility bill rate increases across the board. The special meeting lasted for several hours, with dozens of homeowners voicing their opposition. The across the board increases are expected to cost the average homeowner around $45 more per month, with percentage increases ranging from […]
Chase Pellegrini de Paur/IndyWeek Second-term state Senator Graig Meyer is vacating his seat this week to take a job as executive director of the North Carolina Justice Center. Four candidates—including State Rep. Allen Buansi, State Rep. Renée Price, and state Democratic Party Vice Chair Jonah Garson—are vying to finish Meyer’s term and replace him on […]
Wyatte Grantham-Philips/The Associated Press U.S. gas prices jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 on Tuesday, as the Iran war pushes fuel prices higher worldwide. According to motor club AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is now $4.02 — over a dollar more expensive […]
Moss Brennan/The Watauga Democrat While it’s been more than a year and a half since Hurricane Helene ripped through the High Country, the Watauga Long Term Recovery Group is still active and working to help those in need. “There’s a tremendous amount of what I would call a hidden need that doesn’t appear to our […]
Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily A local push to establish a Bible study program during the public school day has split the New Hanover County Schools community since the proposal was brought up at a school board meeting a month ago. On Monday, two members of the program’s steering committee explained why they thought the program […]
Drew C. Wilson/The Wilson Times Wilson County Schools will ask the Wilson County commissioners for $39,772,359 for its current expense fund and $1.5 million in capital outlay funds for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. Wilson Medical information Last year’s county appropriation for the current expense fund was $26,292,960. The capital outlay fund appropriation was $1 million. […]
Elena Marsh/The Southern Pines Pilot Local tourism officials are beginning to see greater revenue totals flowing in following January’s increase of the room occupancy tax rate. The Board of Commissioners last year approved raising the rate from 3 to 6 percent per night on accommodations. From the start of its current fiscal year in July […]
A legislative advisory committee wants to keep State Bar proceedings confidential, protecting lawyers accused of misconduct from public notice until the regulators censure, suspend or disbar the accused. Proponents say the change is needed to protect lawyers from unfair social media posts before the State Bar takes action. Backers on the State Bar Grievance Review […]
The N.C. Utilities Commission is holding hearings this week and on into April to hear from the public about Duke Energy’s request for a set of rate increases. Advocacy groups opposed to the increases have been working to boost attendance. The Washington-based Climate Power Education Fund sent mailers touting the hearings to households in the […]
It was a bit eye-catching earlier this month when the Locke Foundation, advocating for a levy limit on property taxes, said the biggest increase in the local tax burden over the past decade occurred in ruby-red Cabarrus County. As this is not what people generally think happens in Republican-run counties, I opted to take a […]
Chase Pellegrini de Paur/IndyWeek The Durham County government has spent the last month practically begging the Durham Public Schools (DPS) Board of Education to lower its expectations for county funding. Take DPS’s $11 million continuation request—the funding increase that administrators say would do nothing except maintain DPS services at their current level: “That’s already more […]
WSOC News The Catawba County Board of Education unanimously approved a plan Monday to begin contract negotiations for a middle school expansion project. The additions and renovations are estimated to cost between $120 million and $140 million, officials said. The board selected LS3P as the design firm and Hickory Construction as the construction manager for […]
