Katie Myers/BPR News Duke Energy is preparing for the second hurricane season since Helene, and the utility says new upgrades have readied the grid for future storms. Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic outages in Western North Carolina, with over 1 million and a half customers out of power after the storm in 2024. The storm was […]
Ben Humphries/Education NC Big changes are coming to the State Health Plan, which provides health insurance for nearly 750,000 teachers, state employees, retirees, and their dependents. Starting in 2027, State Health Plan members will be incentivized by lower deductibles and out-of-pocket costs to seek out “preferred providers” for their care. “We are asking our members […]
Michael Koh/WCHL Chapelboro Ed Davis, who played for the UNC men’s basketball team from 2008 through 2010 and helped the Tar Heels win the 2009 national title, is among six former NBA players who are being charged with conspiracy, bribery and money laundering as the result of a federal investigation. An indictment published Monday by […]
Felicia Sonmez/BPR News The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority approved its annual budget Wednesday, outlining how it plans to spend an estimated $34.5 million dollars in tourism tax revenue during the upcoming fiscal year. The budget’s passage comes days after Gov. Josh Stein signed a law that puts new limits on the use of such […]
Shannon Keith/The Sanford Herald The Sanford City Council remain divided on increases in property tax rates and water and sewer rates in next year’s budget. The council on Thursday voted 4-3 to pass an amended budget ordinance raising the property tax rate by 2 cents and the water and sewer rates by 7 percent. Council […]
Senators have passed and sent to the House a regulatory reform package that among other things would force cities and counties to act more quickly on land-use decisions. Senate Bill 1047 gives them a maximum of 135 days to act on a rezoning application, unless the developer involved agrees it can go longer and even […]
Rep. Bryan Cohn, D-Granville, is back on the campaign trail after party leaders in Granville and Vance counties picked him to replace a candidate for the District 32 House seat who backed out of the race for health reasons. Cohn had intended to step down at the end of the year and return to private […]
A Washington-based advocacy group is urging Wake County Commissioners to asked more questions and attach some strings to the proposed WakeMed-Atrium Health merger. The strings should include written commitments that WakeMed will preserve essential services, expand mental-health programs, and maintain its charity care community benefit standards, says the group United States of Care. As for […]
A revamp of the state’s laws for nonprofit corporations unexpected turned into a quarrel on the Senate floor about religious freedom and a threat to North Carolina’s churches. House Bill 517 cleared the chamber on a 32-10 vote, but only after Sen. Paul Lowe, D-Forsyth, objected to a section in it that requires nonprofits to […]
Senators passed and sent back to the House an omnibus transportation bill, without adding to it any language that would penalize Charlotte-area governments that abandoned their support of the Interstate 77 widening project. If it’s addressed at all, the I-77 issue will be addressed in the state budget, Senate leader Phil Berger says. But Berger […]
Lumbee members’ lopsided rejection of a set of amendments to the tribal constitution “means the tribe does not have a path forward on gaming at this time,” their top legislator says. “But it does not mean our work stops,” says Alex Baker, speaker of the Lumbee Tribal Council. “It means we must listen, learn and […]
Senators have rewritten a House bill to ban insurance companies from using AI as “the sole basis” for denying the pre-approval of healthcare claims. The revised House Bill 565 also includes a section that forbids hospital and AI developers from using the technology to “upcode” billings for care. By that, they mean pushing bills into […]
The Senate has passed and sent to the House a bill that would ban governments like China’s or their state-owned companies from buying North Carolina farmland, but not without turning aside a last-minute addition proposed by Democrats. Sen. Kandie Smith, D-Pitt, asked the chamber to add to House Bill 133 a provision requiring farmers to […]
Duke Energy has lowered its rate-increase request as the N.C. Utilities Commission continued to weigh how much it should allow power bills to rise. The company’s North Carolina president, Kendal Bowman, rolled out the reduction at the rebuttal stage of the proceedings. Duke officials stressed that it’s a rare move, as reductions more often come when […]
New statistical analysis confirms that homicide in Durham is predominately a matter of criminals shooting other criminals. Analysts advising a city/county task force looked at all 197 homicides in the city from 2021 through 2025 and found that about two-thirds of victims and suspects were already known to the criminal justice system. That means they […]
