Bill Moss/Hendersonville Lightning When they voted no on a $100 million expansion of the Henderson County Courthouse in March, county commissioners Sheila Franklin and Jay Egolf expressed concern that the project — and its $10 million a year debt service — would lead to a property tax increase or cause other capital projects to be […]
Matt Lamb/The Southern Pines Pilot Senior members of the Moore County Schools Central Office recently outlined the district’s book selection and discard process for the Board of Education. The brief gave board members some perspective on the processes and procedures required to remain consistent with state law and the board’s media and technology selection and […]
Katie Myers/Blue Ridge Public Radio The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council on Thursday passed an indefinite moratorium on data centers, following several other counties and municipalities throughout North Carolina that have made similar moves. The alarm was spurred by other data centers in the state, as well as the XAI data center in […]
Lumbee tribe leaders say their initial announcement about the upcoming membership vote on casinos was “confusing” and have clarified it make it clear enrolled members living outside the tribal territory can participate. Voting rights in the June 23 balloting will include people “who live outside the tribal territory [that] make a permanent declaration of their […]
A trio of Congressional Democrats say they’re going to investigate one of President Trump’s pardons that prominent North Carolina and Washington lobbyist Ches McDowell helped broker. The probe targets the October 2025 pardon of Canadian and Emirati crypto billionaire Changpeng Zhao, who two years before had pleaded guilty to violating federal laws that require finance […]
House Speaker Destin Hall doesn’t want to see the ongoing controversy about how and whether to widen Interstate 77 around downtown Charlotte turn into a request to legislators for additional funding. Charlotte and N.C. Department of Transportation officials need to resolve the issue “in a way that they’re not coming back to us and asking […]
Meta’s lobbyists “introduced us” to the idea of adding app stores to the list of online platforms that will have age restrictions if House Bill 301 passes, lead sponsor Rep. Jeff Zenger says. Zenger also isn’t too worried about the possibility that the social-media giant — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — is […]
The Lumbee will hold their member vote on casino deals on June 23, the tribe’s Election Board says. Balloting is open to enrolled members of the tribe who are age 18 or older and who’ve lived in their current voting district for at least 30 days before the election, the board says in a Facebook […]
It’s looking increasingly possible state officials will reel in at least some of tax breaks and other incentives they’ve made available to would-be data-center builders. House Speaker Destin Hall says his chamber “is going to take some action on that” during this year’s session. Echoing Gov. Josh Stein, Hall said the existing tax breaks date […]
Gov. Josh Stein attempted veto last year of Senate Bill 266 and its relaxation of the state’s carbon-reduction targets gets him no credit with one of North Carolina’s more vocal environmental groups. Stein is “complicit in Duke Energy’s crimes,” N.C. WARN leader Jim Warren said on Tuesday as he and other adherents of the group […]
North Carolina’s liquor-control laws are antiquated and need a major overhaul, to allow more retailers to join local ABC stores in selling gin, rum, bourbon and other distilled beverages, the backers of a new PR drive argue. “Break up the monopoly,” the backers of the “Free Our Spirits” campaign say. Led by Carolina Champions for […]
WakeMed and Atrium Health need to come to the table “prepared to answer” concerns about whether their proposed merger will fuel or moderate healthcare cost increases, Senate leader Phil Berger says. But Berger signaled on Tuesday that while the deal bears “some digging into,” he’s inclined to let the Wake County Commissioners do the digging. […]
Rocky Mount is probably two years away from returning to full financial normalcy, its city manager told the Local Government Commission on Tuesday. An upcoming budget request to the city’s elected leaders will propose about $16 million in spending cuts, City Manager Elton Daniels says. To save money, the city’s done away with employer contributions […]
State Auditor Dave Boliek thinks Charlotte’s government is borrowing entirely too much money. The latest such request, reviewed and approved by the Local Government Commission on Tuesday, involves money to pay for upgrades to Charlotte Douglas International Airport. These include the construction of a new, fourth north-south runway and the renovation of one of the […]
Mark Copeland, vice chair of the N.C. A&T State University board of trustees, resigned from that post last week. Copeland’s resignation on April 24 came a day after State Auditor Dave Boliek issued a report that said the university “improperly directed $5 million to students as financial assistance without evidence of merit or need-based criteria.” […]
