A big pay increase for police was one of the early links in the chain of events that plunged Rocky Mount’s government into a financial crisis, State Auditor Dave Boliek and his aides say. Widely reported at the time, Rocky Mount’s 2023 decision to raise the starting pay of police officers to $60,000 led to […]
Orange, Person and Caswell counties need a new state senator. On Monday, District 23 Sen. Graig Meyer, D-Orange, announced that he’s resigning as of March 31 to become the executive director of the N.C. Justice Center. Meyer announced the move on Facebook, a day after posting there that the state needs “organizing beyond politics to […]
Bringing together North Carolina leaders to discuss statewide business, government, and public policy issues. May 15, 2026 | 8:30 am – 12:00 pm NC Museum of Natural Sciences 11 W Jones St, Raleigh, NC 27601 2026 PANEL DISCUSSIONS The New North Carolina: Migration, Housing, and the Politics of Belonging: Explosive in‑migration is reshaping North Carolina’s electorate, […]
Kate Denning/Carolina Public Press US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Feb. 27 that the Department of War, previously the Department of Defense, would be severing ties with several elite universities, including five of the eight Ivy League schools and others like MIT and Georgetown. Included in that same announcement were suggestions of “potential new partner […]
Gerard Albert III/Blue Ridge Public Radio The news of Kristi Noem’s firing from the Department of Homeland Security late last week brought bipartisan enthusiasm in North Carolina as the state waits for millions of federal relief dollars after Hurricane Helene. President Trump’s new pick to lead DHS is Markwayne Mullin, a Senator representing Oklahoma and […]
Christine Zhu/NC Newsline North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek declined Monday to recuse himself from oversight of a state Senate race recount in which one candidate says Boliek has a conflict of interest. Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page holds a narrow lead of 23 votes over Senate leader Phil Berger for the Republican primary in […]
John Boyle/Asheville Watchdog Lou Bissette was the hard-charging, 45-year-old mayor of Asheville in 1989, when he heard the exciting news that state lawmakers had green-lighted the construction of the Interstate-26 Connector. Three years later, no longer in office but helping to lead a group pushing the project, he was thrilled to learn that funding had […]
Marc Levy/The Associated Press One of the so-called fixers in a sprawling betting scheme that allegedly raked in millions of dollars off of big bets on rigged NCAA basketball games pleaded guilty Monday. Jalen Smith appeared in federal court in Philadelphia and pleaded guilty to wire fraud and bribery charges, becoming the first of 26 […]
The Greater Fayetteville Business Journal Mission Roll Call and the Fayetteville Woodpeckers have announced a local partnership, making Mission Roll Call the official Naming Rights Partner of Segra Stadium’s club level. “We are proud to be partnering with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers,” said Ray Whitaker, COO of Mission Roll Call in a press release. “This creates […]
Emily Walkenhorst/WRAL News A new study shows students in schools in states without firm cellphone policies spend a third of their school day on their phones. The results detail the magnitude of a problem education leaders, politicians and advocacy groups have been attempting to solve in recent years, as bipartisan concern has shot up over […]
Rachel Heimann Mercader/CityView When Fayetteville rolled out its public forum under the city’s new rules and schedule on March 2, the new setup brought both expanded speaking time and a few early kinks—along with renewed calls for greater transparency in how the council conducts its business. The council voted in February to move the monthly […]
James Farrell/WFAE Radio Last week, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released its annual report on teacher attrition, vacancies and employment trends, giving us our latest window into schools’ efforts to recruit and retain educators. Teacher attrition — a measurement of teachers who leave North Carolina public schools entirely — ticked up from 9.88% […]
Sarah White/The Waynesville Mountaineer When Canton’s leaders decided not to host Pickin’ in the Park last year, WPTL owner Terryll Evans kept the tradition alive — first moving the bands and cloggers to a parking lot, then a picnic pavilion. But this year, Pickin in the Park could be on the chopping block. “At this […]
National Park Service officials say it’s going to take until late this year to repair enough of the damage from Hurricane Helene to get the full length of the Blue Ridge Parkway back in service. The remaining closures affect much of the parkway between Mount Mitchell and Linville Falls. Current targets are to have the […]
Among the many questions that’s hanging fire amid the House-Senate budget deadlock is the future of North Carolina’s coastal ferry system. The chambers roughly settled on a package of capital aid for the system, the Fiscal Research Division’s Aaron Cornell told members of the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight committee earlier this month. Senators proposed giving […]
