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Berger proposes freezing tax values for a year

Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, says he’s going to file a bill in April that would “halt all property tax revaluation changes for 12 months” while legislators study broader changes to local-government tax law. Announced on Friday, the proposal would interrupt the property valuation cycles of Guilford County and other...

By Ray Gronberg

March 2, 2026

State pension returns in double digits

North Carolina’s state pension system had a 13% annual return in 2025, the N.C. Investment Authority reported this week. When excluding fees, that performance ranked in the 54th percentile of U.S. public pension funds with assets topping $20 billion, according to a report filed by State Treasurer Brad Briner. (Lower percentiles reflect...

By Ray Gronberg

March 2, 2026

Get to know Rep. Kelly Hastings

Kelly Hastings lives in the Gaston County town of Cherryville, although about 30% of his Republican-leaning district includes Cleveland County. He will be 65 at the end of his eighth term and in the spring of 2025 said he did not plan on running again, citing his length of service,...

By Ray Gronberg

March 2, 2026

DEQ objects to Wilmington port dredging plan

Gov. Josh Stein’s administration questions whether the planned $1.4 billion deepening of the Port of Wilmington’s ship channel makes economic sense. The concern appears in the Department of Environmental Quality’s objection, released this week, to the project as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers currently envisions it. DEQ officials said...

By Ray Gronberg

February 27, 2026

Italian gun-maker makes play for Ruger

One of Rockingham County’s largest employers, firearms maker Ruger, is the target of an apparent takeover bid by a competitor that’s recently acquired nearly 10% of its stock. Beretta Holding on Thursday announced that it’s going to nominate a four-person slate for the Ruger board at the company’s annual shareholders...

By Ray Gronberg

February 27, 2026

N.C. congresspeople scuttle aviation-safety bill

Eight Republican members of North Carolina’s U.S. House Delegation helped vote down an aviation-safety bill that would have ordered reviews of flight patterns around Charlotte’s Douglas International and other airports. The “ROTOR Act” is the U.S. Senate’s response to last year’s mid-air collision between a U.S. Army helicopter and a...

By Ray Gronberg

February 27, 2026

Dorm plans at UNC flagships to cost about $1B

Plans for close to $1 billion in new dormitory construction at UNC Chapel Hill and NC State merit more scrutiny from UNC System officials, a Board of Governors member says. Swadesh Chatterjee says this should occur via a “separate session” of the BOG so it can quiz officials from the two...

By Ray Gronberg

February 27, 2026

Durham runs afoul of legislators’ downzoning ban

Durham officials canceled a hearing on a top-to-bottom zoning-law rewrite this week after the owners of a convenience-store chain complained they were about to break the state’s ban on downzoning. The rewritten “land development code” had been scheduled for a planning-board review Tuesday afternoon and evening. But in the face...

By Ray Gronberg

February 25, 2026

Pierce, Wray chart different course on campaign funding

House District 27 incumbent Rep. Rodney Pierce and his Democratic Party primary opponent, former Rep. Michael Wray, are both well-funded but are going about things in different ways. Pierce, D-Halifax, told the State Board of Elections he’s raised $157,388 so far in the 2025-26 election cycle. Wray, D-Northampton, has raised...

By Ray Gronberg

February 25, 2026

Speed victimized by scam, auditor says

Town officials in a tiny Edgecombe County community fell victim to “a common foreign scam” in the course of losing their grip on the use of the town’s bank accounts, State Auditor Dave Boliek and his aides say. Leaders of the town of Speed failed to notice for several months...

By Ray Gronberg

February 25, 2026

Project Kitty Hawk grads to date: 96

To date, 96 people have graduated from the online degree programs some of the UNC System’s campuses are offering through Project Kitty Hawk. That includes 73 from N.C. Central University and 22 from East Carolina, according to data Project Kitty Hawk chief Andrew Kelly’s presenting to the system Board of...

By Ray Gronberg

February 24, 2026

Duke seeking seeking excessive return, advocacy group says

An environmental group is making the case that Duke Energy’s latest rate request is asking too much of the utility’s customers and too little of its stockholders. Duke’s filing seeks a 10.95% return on equity, which the Environmental Defense Fund says is the third-highest that any U.S. power company has...

By Ray Gronberg

February 24, 2026

Cook raises $42K for District 60 primary

State Rep. Amanda Cook, D-Guilford, appears to hold a sizable fundraising lead in her battle to hold on to the District 60 House seat she gained in November after former Rep. Cecil Brockman resigned. Cook told the State Board of Elections she’d raised $42,181 as of the end of 2025....

By Ray Gronberg

February 24, 2026

Get to know Rep. Eric Ager

We’re pulling a Colin Campbell-era feature off the Tribune shelf and resurrecting the regular “get-to-know” series of capsule profiles of legislators, agency heads and lobbyists. Rep. Eric Ager has represented southeast Buncombe County since 2023. His district includes such towns as Montreat, Black Mountain, Fairview and Arden. He’s been one...

By Ray Gronberg

February 23, 2026

Kidwell, Armstrong close in fundraising

Financially, the incumbent and challenger in one of the state’s most-watched primaries are tightly matched. District 79 incumbent state Rep. Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort, reported to the State Board of Elections that he’d raised $66,163 for his re-election campaign as of the end of 2025. His challenger, farmer and seed-store operator Darren...

By Ray Gronberg

February 23, 2026