Independent. Informative. Intelligent.

Local

Lavonia Allison

Gov. Josh Stein has joined others in publicly mourning the Jan. 7. death of Dr. Lavonia Allison, a longtime leader of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People. With her passing, “we lost an icon,” Stein said via on social media. “She was a fierce and strong leader — a...

By Ray Gronberg

January 10, 2025

Fire in LA

After getting home from Wednesday’s opening of the General Assembly, I cooked dinner and sat down to watch my hometown burn. The fires in Los Angeles have rapidly become a disaster on the scale of another Hurricane Helene, with an early damage guesstimate of up to $57 billion that will...

By Ray Gronberg

January 10, 2025

Advocacy firms roll out new collaboration

A trio of Raleigh-based advocacy firms joined forces to launch a new partnership they say will move beyond “the antiquated model of lobbying.” Integrated Advocacy Partners is the fruit of a collaboration between Walk Up Advocacy, Capitol Resources of North Carolina, and Kohn Associates. Walk Up’s co-founders, Abby Hammond and...

By Ray Gronberg

January 9, 2025

Toyota plant update

Toyota is conducting pre-production trials at its Randolph County factory in the completed building that’s scheduled to start churning out batteries for its hybrid-electric vehicles by the early spring. That’s the word officials at the N.C. Department of Transportation have received. They are in a position to know because the...

By Ray Gronberg

January 8, 2025

Stein makes more hurricane-relief moves

Gov. Josh Stein continues in the early days his tenure to emphasize western North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene. On Tuesday, Stein signed a new executive order, his sixth, to allow the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Transportation to waive maximum service-hour limits for truck drivers who...

By Ray Gronberg

January 8, 2025

Matthews and the NC DOT

From covering Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Durham I’m no stranger to seeing road-planning fights break out between local leaders and NCDOT. Still, it’s kind of a surprise when it happens elsewhere in the state. Officials in Matthews, however, are balking at the agency’s $25.4 million plan to widen East John...

By Ray Gronberg

January 7, 2025

DMV: A request

With new State Auditor Dave Boliek pledging to follow through on his campaign promise to audit the Division of Motor Vehicles, I want to ask readers for some information and thoughts. My own experiences with DMV as a customer over the years have left me with absolutely nothing to complain...

By Ray Gronberg

January 7, 2025

Attention on Carrboro

Taylor made at least one trustee’s ears perk up when she said another priority is strengthening relationships between UNC Chapel Hill and the town of Carrboro. “As far as I can ascertain, the town of Carrboro has not formerly been part of any relationships or conversations with the university, despite...

By Ray Gronberg

January 6, 2025

New Year brings launch of new lobbying firm

There’s another new lobbying shop in town. On Friday, partners John Hardin and Will Morgan announced the launch of The Raleigh Group, to provide “comprehensive lobbying, consulting, government contracting and economic development services.” Both men previously were part of Manning Fulton, a Raleigh law firm. Hardin is the new firm’s...

By Ray Gronberg

January 6, 2025

BNC’s economic forecast: partly cloudy

North Carolina’s economy likely will keep thriving in 2025, but President-elect Trump’s professed intentions on tariffs and immigration are clouding the picture, panelists in Business North Carolina’s annual economic forecast say. Campbell University economics professor Mark Steckbeck noted that the state defied predictions of a slowdown in 2024. For 2025,...

By Ray Gronberg

January 3, 2025

Ingles details its Helene damage

Ingles Markets suffered $34.9 million in losses related to Hurricane Helene, according to its quarterly SEC filing. The Black Mountain-headquartered grocery chain reported that Helene damaged or destroyed $30.4 million worth of inventory and caused an additional $4.5 million worth of destruction to property and equipment. Company officials charged the...

By Ray Gronberg

December 31, 2024

Berger and Charlotte

Senate leader Phil Berger says the future of Charlotte’s transportation system is an issue legislators have to settle in the upcoming long session of the General Assembly. “We need to figure out whether or not the discussions that are taking place in Charlotte about allowing them to have a vote...

By Ray Gronberg

December 30, 2024

Durham mall fills a five-year void

The holiday’s damp and chilly weather lending itself to cabin fever, I made the short drive from my house to Durham’s Streets at Southpoint mall on Saturday for some shopping and ice cream. While there, I was both gratified and interested to see that construction is underway on the refit...

By Ray Gronberg

December 30, 2024

Receiver takes over debt-laden Barnes Family Farms

Farming is an incredibly challenging way to make a living. I learned that growing up in southern Minnesota, where rich farmland provides world-class yields for corn and soybeans. So it was disappointing, if not surprising, to read my colleague Chris Burritt’s Business North Carolina report yesterday on troubles facing the...

By Welcome

December 20, 2024

Lumbee tribe recognition

There’s been some late-hours movement in the drive to secure federal tribal recognition of the Lumbee. On Tuesday the U.S. House passed H.R. 1101, its version of the “Lumbee Fairness Act” that would confer recognition on the Lumbee and give them access to the same federal benefits as other tribes....

By Ray Gronberg

December 19, 2024

Independent. Informative. Intelligent.

Local

Follow on