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Granville Co. opposes Franklin in Kerr Lake fight

Granville County isn’t one of Senate Bill 214’s direct targets, but it’s standing with the communities that are in the crosshairs of water-and-condemnation rights battle with Franklin County. That includes opposing the measure “by any means necessary,” Granville commissioners say in a resolution opposing the bill. Members clarified by that, they...

By Ray Gronberg

April 28, 2026

Batch backtracks on Medicaid rebase

Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch, D-Wake, has walked back her caucus’s support of the Medicaid rebase bill that it has already voted in favor of passing. She put out a letter on Friday asking the Senate’s Republican leaders to pull back the bill and rewrite it to drop three of...

By Ray Gronberg

April 27, 2026

Franklin County: Give us the water

Franklin County officials say that while they remain willing to negotiate for access to Kerr Lake’s water, they want condemnation rights in Vance County to use as leverage to ensure talks play out in their favor. Senate Bill 214’s provision on the matter “gives Franklin County a tool it may...

By Ray Gronberg

April 27, 2026

Data-center developer sues Chatham County

A company led by UNC Board of Governors member Kirk Bradley has sued Chatham County, seeking to overturn the county’s moratorium on data-center development. Lawyers for Eco TIP West filed the lawsuit on Thursday. They allege the moratorium violates the firm’s vested rights in a tract within the Moncure megasite,...

By Ray Gronberg

April 27, 2026

GOP puts Cooper on blast over American Efficient scandal

State Republican leaders have begun trying to make the federal government’s move to fine a Durham company $722 million over its energy-efficiency trades a campaign issue against former Gov. Roy Cooper’s bid for a U.S. Senate seat. N.C. GOP spokesman Matt Mercer issued a statement on April 21 that asks,...

By Ray Gronberg

April 27, 2026

Stein floats idea for funding job training

Within Gov. Josh Stein’s budget request for fiscal 2026-27 is a proposal to set up a new program called the “Strategic Workforce Training” fund to underwrite job training and similar services. Stein and his aides would fund it by assessing employers a fee tied to what they pay each year...

By Ray Gronberg

April 24, 2026

Lawmakers, or lawbreakers?

North Carolina’s General Assembly is a serial lawbreaker, a state House member says. Rep. Phil Rubin, D-Wake, made the accusation during this week’s floor debate on Senate Bill 214, the rewritten “various local provisions” package that would give Franklin County a leg up in a regional water-rights dispute. It also...

By Ray Gronberg

April 24, 2026

Boliek asks SBI to probe N.C. A&T student-fee diversions

State Auditor Dave Boliek has asked the SBI to probe what he calls “gross misconduct” at N.C. A&T State University involving its use of about $5.1 million in student-fee money. Between the summers of 2017 and 2025, campus officials channeled the money into “financial assistance for students,” handing it out...

By Ray Gronberg

April 24, 2026

Could Franklin Co. grab Henderson’s water plant?

A “local provisions” bill got pulled from the House’s Wednesday docket because some legislators think it’ll give Franklin County authority to seize ownership of a neighboring community’s water-treatment plant. The House-Senate compromise draft of Senate Bill 214 includes a section that would allow Franklin County to acquire, through condemnation, property...

By Ray Gronberg

April 24, 2026

Lobbyists indicted; charged in connection with legislators’ 2024 bourbon tour

A Wake County grand jury has indicted four prominent North Carolina lobbyists on charges alleging that they solicited violations of state law that bans gift-giving to legislators. Handed up on Tuesday, the indictments target Kevin Wilkinson of The Southern Group, Bo Heath of McGuireWoods Consulting, Doug Miskew of Public Sector...

By Ray Gronberg

April 22, 2026

Legislators to probe COVID-related prison releases

Just in time for this fall’s Cooper-Whatley U.S. Senate race, General Assembly leaders announced Monday they’re forming a panel to investigate COVID-related early prison releases. Sen. Buck Newton, R-Wilson, and House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, R-Columbus, will co-chair the probe, House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger say....

By Ray Gronberg

April 22, 2026

Lumbee advance casino proposal

Lumbee leaders have approved an amendment to the tribal constitution that sets up a vote this summer by the tribe’s enrolled members that would clear the way for casino gaming. According to The Robesonian, the Lumbee Tribal Council voted 17-2 in favor of the amendment during its monthly meeting last...

By Ray Gronberg

April 22, 2026

Activist investor proposes split of Ingles

The activist investor in Ingles Markets that’s seeking a board seat says it wants to split the company, separating it into one that would focus on selling groceries and a second that would operate as a “grocery-anchored real estate” firm. This would “optimize the capital structure of both entities and...

By Ray Gronberg

April 22, 2026

Feds fine Durham energy firm $722M

Federal regulators have fined a Durham-based energy-efficiency trader $722 million, saying it’s behind “one of the largest and most brazen frauds” they’ve ever seen. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also ordered American Efficient and its corporate parents and siblings to return $409.8 million, plus interest, to the PJM Interconnection and...

By Ray Gronberg

April 22, 2026

Port’s future at risk, Wilmington Chamber boss says

The Stein administration’s refusal to endorse plans to deepen the Port of Wilmington’s ship channel has created “uncertainty around a project that has been carefully studied,” one of the city’s key business leaders says. It needs to make good by working with NC Ports and the U.S. Army Corps of...

By Ray Gronberg

April 22, 2026