April Laissle/WFDD A survey recently found evidence of plastic pollution in a lake north of Greensboro. Volunteers combed waterways across the state looking for tiny plastic pellets, known as nurdles, as part of the second-annual International Plastic Pellet Count. They surveyed six sites and found nurdles at just one: a section of Lake Brandt in […]
John Boyle/Asheville Watchdog You know, I try to be kind to people, because life is a struggle and we’re all doing the best we can. Scratch that. Or part of it anyway. Life is a struggle, but some people are just pigheaded and reckless and really aren’t doing the best they can. They just keep […]
Aarik Long/The Waynesville Mountaineer While road construction has been a headache all over Haywood County, one Maggie Valley woman is claiming in court that road work caused an accident that resulted in significant physical injuries. Wanda Deutsch is suing the contractor who constructed pedestrian islands and medians down the middle of Soco Road in Maggie […]
Senate Republicans haven’t taken up a House bill that would close a property tax loophole because they want to address local taxation policy more broadly, Senate leader Phil Berger says. “We’ve got members who are looking at that,” he said of House Bill 1042, which has been parked in Senate Rules since coming over from […]
Democrats are voicing increasing criticism of a budget-bill provision that establishes a 6% tax on the net trading-fee revenue prediction markets receive from sports betting. Sens. Julie Mayfield and Michael Garrett, and Rep. Pricey Harrison, all questioned why legislators would set a lower tax rate than the 23% the state will charge licensed sports-book operators […]
Republican Sens. Bobby Hanig and Norman Sanderson say they voted against the budget bill because it requires the N.C. Department of Transportation to institute tolls on all of the state’s coastal ferries. The move is unfair to coastal residents and a threat to the economic vitality of eastern North Carolina, they say. “Many of you […]
Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page has sued one of Senate leader Phil Berger’s sons, alleging that he and the county government improperly retaliated against him for running against the elder Berger. Page’s federal-court lawsuit against Rockingham County Commission Kevin Berger, and the county government, contends the alleged retaliation also concerned his opposition to the idea […]
Tenants and landowners in Research Triangle Park have approved a set of new development standards that line up with park leadership’s vision for “RTP 3.0.” This is an expansion of the park’s push over the last decade or so to accommodate a broader range of development beyond just the corporate offices and factories it originally […]
Federal officials announced they’ve made a deal with Duke Energy to give it “partial reimbursement” for its $129.2 million offshore-wind lease south of Bald Head Island. Duke agreed to “voluntarily terminate” the lease it signed in 2022 and will use its money on other generating capacity. Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe, CEO of Duke Energy Carolinas, says this […]
Alan Wooten/The Center Square In some hamlets of the mountains, the impact of Hurricane Helene isn’t easily seen anymore. Elsewhere, the need is only in the second of as much as five years of recovery. In the state budget passed by lawmakers and sent to the governor just before the Fourth of July, plans to […]
Will Doran/WRAL News Wake County will have the most understaffed prosecutor’s office in the state if North Carolina’s new budget plan becomes law. It’s currently the third-worst in the state in terms of staffing levels, according to state judicial reports. But while the budget provides funding to hire new prosecutors in many other parts of […]
Riya Manchanda/The Duke Chronicle Five new members have joined the Duke Board of Trustees, University officials announced Wednesday. Effective July 1, the new trustees are Chris Kempczinski, Trinity ‘91; Janine Brown, Law School ‘86; Scott Raney, Pratt ‘91; Belton Moore, Fuqua and Sanford ‘26; and Kaitlyn Williams, Trinity ‘26. The five will join the 37-member […]
Hannah Vinueza McClellan/Education NC More than a year after the original due date, lawmakers have passed a state budget. The North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS), amid enrollment growth and a pivot to a workforce-driven funding model, saw much of its legislative request met in the 2026-27 budget. The budget appropriates a total of $1.86 […]
Chandler Inions/The Salisbury Post Landis’ top law man, Police Chief Matthew Geelen, is stepping away from his role with the town. In a Thursday evening press release, Town Manager Michael Ambrose indicated that Geelen, the police chief and capital projects coordinator for Landis, was taking a town manager position in Pilot Mountain. Ambrose congratulated Geelen […]
Liz Schlemmer/WUNC News A provision in the proposed state budget would require all public school districts to create committees to review book challenges brought by parents, teachers, or local residents. In the last decade, there’s been a rise in public challenges to the books in school libraries and classrooms, especially books with LGBTQ characters. The […]
