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Chamber report calls for repealing franchise tax

A new report commissioned by the NC Chamber contends state leaders should repeal North Carolina’s franchise tax on business net worth, arguing that it punishes innovative start-ups that have yet turn a profit. The tax is expected to raise $851.2 million in fiscal 2026-27, according to the state budget. That’s...

By Ray Gronberg

August 27, 2026

Pembroke unveils finalists for fundraising post

UNC Pembroke officials are holding a string of public meet-and-greets starting today with three people who are in line to become the university’s next chief fundraiser. The sessions will give alumni and other members of the university community a chance to “learn more about their experience and vision for the...

By Ray Gronberg

August 20, 2026

Court overturns ski-town eminent-domain ruling

Court of Appeals judges have overturned a ruling that could’ve left Beech Mountain’s government on the hook for paying the “lost rental value” of some vacation homes next door to a prominent ski resort. The door was open to that because the Watauga County town, located in North Carolina’s northwest...

By Ray Gronberg

August 20, 2026

Toyota wins state Supreme Court case

State Supreme Court justices have sided with Toyota and another Japanese carmaker in a a product-liability case stemming from a fatal car crash that happened in Columbus County back in 2021. Its 6-1 opinion, authored by Justice Anita Earls, overturned procedural rulings from trial Judge James Gregory Bell and the...

By Ray Gronberg

August 20, 2026

Hardister, King now have JetZero as a client

JetZero has added former state Rep. Jon Hardister and one of his former aides to its team of lobbyists. Recent filings with Secretary of State Elaine Marshall’s office show that Hardister, R-Guilford, and Sebastian King joined the JetZero team on Aug. 13. King and Hardister are managing partner and COO,...

By Ray Gronberg

August 20, 2026

Judge says state fishery management falls short

North Carolina’s coastal-fisheries management is such an across-the-board failure that it amounts to a violation of the state constitution, a Wake County judge says. Issued this week, Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins’ ruling points the finger of blame squarely at the state’s failure to control shrimp trawlers and gillnetfishers. Excessive...

By Ray Gronberg

August 20, 2026

Stein vetoes judges’ bill

Gov. Josh Stein has vetoed House Bill 377, siding with House Democratic Leader Robert Reives and other critics who oppose a provision that would allow judges to be suspended without pay. The power is one “no other [state supreme court] chief justice in the country has,” Stein says in his...

By Ray Gronberg

August 20, 2026

A Powell-ful incentive

The state has not one but three pressure points to try to induce Charlotte’s City Council and other local governments to reconsider their recent rejection of the controversial I-77 South Express Toll Lanes. After the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization voted in May to withdraw its support of the 11-mile,...

By Ray Gronberg

August 20, 2026

Supreme Court sides with Charlotte Latin critics

The N.C. Supreme Court’s five Republican justices agree that a Charlotte-area couple’s lawsuit against a private school that expelled their children can continue, at least into the fact-gathering stage. Writing for the group, Justice Richard Dietz conceded that Nicole and Doug Turpin’s case against Charlotte Latin probably would get tossed...

By Ray Gronberg

August 20, 2026

NC State and Gaston land military textile funding

NC State University and Gaston College’s Kimbrell Campus in Belmont will lead a Department of Defense initiative aimed at improving production and performance of textiles used by the military. The FutureTEX award launches the Defense Department’s ninth Manufacturing Innovation Institute, and includes $36 million in the first year and has...

By Ray Gronberg

August 20, 2026

Auditors: CATS riders jump fares as often as not

As of late 2025, about 45% of the people who ride Charlotte’s buses and trains weren’t paying the CATS system’s fares, State Auditor Dave Boliek and his aides say. This costs the system between $5 million and $6.5 million a year in revenue, they say, basing both findings on the...

By Ray Gronberg

August 20, 2026

Hall reports raising $1.9M for 2026 elections

Outgoing Senate leader Phil Berger is still the General Assembly’s champion fundraiser, but House Speaker Destin Hall is shaping up as a potential inheritor of the mantle. Berger’s campaign committee reported taking in $3.1 million through the end of June, for the cycle that saw that saw the Rockingham County...

By Ray Gronberg

July 28, 2026

Boliek reports on off-year election costs

Taxpayers in most of the state shouldered $8.4 million in costs for 2025’s off-year city and town elections, State Auditor Dave Boliek says in a report that cites wide disparities in the per-vote cost of the voting. The 2025 vote saw jurisdictions in 91 of North Carolina’s 100 counties go...

By Ray Gronberg

July 28, 2026

Lee top fundraiser among would-be Bergers

The four men most often mentioned as potential successors to Phil Berger as the next Senate president pro tem between them have raised $2.7 million so far this election cycle. Senate Majority Leader Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, has raised just under $1.3 million. He occupies a known, R+1 swing seat...

By Ray Gronberg

July 28, 2026

Opposition to ABC pricing plan steps up

North Carolina’s leading trade group for the restaurant industry has sharpened its attack on a prospective move by the state ABC Commission to establish “minimum baseline pricing” for liquor. A poll conducted for and released by the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association says the idea is unpopular, with 55% of...

By Ray Gronberg

July 27, 2026