Independent. Informative. Intelligent.

Local

McDowell-brokered pardon target of probe

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...

By Ray Gronberg

May 11, 2026

Hall on I-77

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...

By Ray Gronberg

May 11, 2026

Lumbee schedule June 23 casino vote

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...

By Ray Gronberg

May 11, 2026

Data center tax breaks

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...

By Ray Gronberg

May 11, 2026

WARN attacks Stein

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...

By Ray Gronberg

May 11, 2026

Liquor law

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....

By Ray Gronberg

May 11, 2026

Rocky Mount preps for budget cuts

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...

By Ray Gronberg

May 11, 2026

Charlotte’s borrowing

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...

By Ray Gronberg

May 11, 2026

Blue Cross NC posts $497.3M loss for 2025

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina posted a $497.3 million loss in calendar 2025, a report to the N.C. Department of Insurance says. The loss comes after BCBSNC netted $68.5 million in calendar 2024. “Like insurers nationwide, [BCBSNC] faced significant cost pressures in 2025 as health care costs continued...

By Ray Gronberg

May 1, 2026

Cohn’s hat in the ring for Everitt Senate seat

State Rep. Bryan Cohn, D-Granville, says he’s signaled to the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate that he’s willing to step in as a replacement for former Sen. Terence Everitt. “We’ve got the donors, the infrastructure [and] the network,” Cohn says. Everitt, D-Wake, announced Tuesday evening, on Facebook, that...

By Ray Gronberg

May 1, 2026

Senate advances moratorium on property tax-value changes

Senate leaders have begun pushing through committee a bill that would freeze property value assessments for a year in a handful of the state’s counties, they say to buy time for a broader rethink of property tax policy. Senate Bill 889 — sponsored by among others Senate leader Phil Berger...

By Ray Gronberg

May 1, 2026

Ski industry seeks liability limits

North Carolina’s ski industry wants legislators to revamp the state laws that regulate it, to among other things cap jury awards in accident-liability cases. A committee substitute for Senate Bill 648 discussed Tuesday in House Judiciary 2 would impose a $1 million cap — adjusted for present value — on...

By Ray Gronberg

May 1, 2026

Legislators postpone intervention in Kerr Lake water-rights battle

House and Senate negotiators have dropped the idea of giving Franklin County a clear lane to acquire land in neighboring counties to gain access to the waters of Kerr Lake — for now. Released Tuesday afternoon, a freshly revised version of Senate Bill 214 omits language that would’ve let Franklin...

By Ray Gronberg

May 1, 2026

Democrats offer data-center bills

House Democrats and a Democratic senator have rolled out separate bills that begin to spell out a different approach to the data center boom than the state’s taken to date. One of the bills, House Bill 1063, counts House Democratic Leader Robert Reives, D-Chatham, and much of the chamber’s Democratic...

By Ray Gronberg

May 1, 2026