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N.C. ferry system needs money

North Carolina’s ferry system needs a significant infusion of money to ensure its continued reliability, deal with the upkeep on its boats and to update its maintenance yards, its leader says. Ferry Division Director Jed Dixon and his staff reckon the system needs $23.5 million more a year in recurring...

By Ray Gronberg

November 6, 2025

Football at the Court of Appeals

North Carolina’s Court of Appeals found itself having to referee an arbitration dispute between two sets of sports agents that emerged after their attempts to form an alliance fell apart. Judge Allegra Collins and two of her colleagues ruled that the NFL Players Association has no role in trying to...

By Ray Gronberg

November 6, 2025

Small-town troubles

Perhaps the most vexing issue facing the Local Government Commission is the the troubles North Carolina’s smallest towns have in keeping their finances in order. Tuesday’s meeting highlighted this again when the commission decided to again hold off on giving the town of Speed its full allotment of state-shared sales-tax...

By Welcome

November 5, 2025

Questions for Charlotte and Raleigh

LGC members didn’t voice any concerns about the Durham project, but they did have questions about two other affordable-housing initiatives in Charlotte and Raleigh. The Charlotte project envisions building 238 units off West Boulevard near Charlotte Douglas International Airport, for people making up to 60% of the area median income....

By Ray Gronberg

November 5, 2025

Local government

Local Government Commission members on Tuesday approved financing for a passel of affordable-housing projects around the state, among them one for a site in Durham that’s defied redevelopment for the bulk of this century. The LGC’s vote included authorization for the Durham Housing Authority to issue $44 million in conduit...

By Ray Gronberg

November 5, 2025

Elizabeth City’s food bills, audited

State Auditor Dave Boliek’s office says Elizabeth City officials played “fast and loose” with procurement-card charges, mainly for food they provided to employees during an assortment of city-sponsored events. Its review of purchases by former City Manager Montré Freeman and other officials found a number of food buys that “could...

By Ray Gronberg

November 4, 2025

Stein in Asia

Gov. Josh Stein’s trip to Japan last week for the annual Southeast United States/Japan conference also gave him a chance to stop in Taiwan to visit with the island’s president and various corporate leaders there, his aides say. Stein hosted a “North Carolina Business Seminar for a number of leading...

By Ray Gronberg

November 4, 2025

N.C. repped in the World Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers are once again the champions of baseball, by virtue of defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 in the seventh and final game of this year’s World Series. This came despite the efforts of East Carolina University product Trey Yesavage, who pitched an inning and a third...

By Ray Gronberg

November 3, 2025

Tillis floats a banking bill

North Carolina U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis is circulating a “discussion draft” of a bill that would bar large banks and credit unions from discriminating against customers based on their politics or type of business. Called the “Ensuring Fair Access to Banking Act,” the draft seeks “to eliminate ‘reputational risk’ as...

By Ray Gronberg

November 3, 2025

Brockman update

Former Rep. Cecil Brockman’s time in the General Assembly has ended. From jail, the High Point Democrat turned in his resignation late Friday afternoon. He said he needed to “focus on my defense” against statutory sexual assault charges. “As a result, I am currently unable to fulfill my duty and...

By Ray Gronberg

November 3, 2025

Challenging a dinosaur’s ID

Thursday’s most-fun news came from the governor’s office, the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences and NC State, which says one of the museum’s “Dueling Dinosaurs” is a new species. Rather than being a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, as was previously thought, they say it’s actually a different kind of tyrannosaur that lived...

By Ray Gronberg

October 31, 2025

Senators, ships and a Campbell prof

North Carolina’s resident maritime-history expert, Campbell University professor Sal Mercogliano, urged members of a U.S. Senate subcommittee to get behind legislation that could revitalize America’s shipbuilding industry. The so-called SHIPS Act, he said, promises “the vision and framework needed to rebuild our shipbuilding base, re-establish a robust [U.S.-flagged] merchant fleet...

By Ray Gronberg

October 31, 2025

Pension talks

The unfunded liability of the primary retirement fund for state employees rose to about $12 billion by the end of 2024, about a 7.3% increase from the year before. For fiscal 2026-27, this keeps the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System on track to ask legislators to support the fund...

By Ray Gronberg

October 31, 2025

Charlotte housing: moving on up (in price)

My boss, Dave Mildenberg, reports that an annual assessment of the Charlotte area’s housing market shows that supply is catching up with demand, prices are moderating, but finding affordable homes remains a major challenge. And the region’s growth is off the charts. For the seventh year, UNC Charlotte’s Childress Klein...

By Welcome

October 30, 2025

Paying for roads

The fact that so much of the revenue the Division of Motor Vehicles brings in goes to financing the work of its parent organization is flummoxing legislators as much as it does auditors. DMV is under the N.C. Department of Transportation’s umbrella, and according to State Auditor Dave Boliek’s aides,...

By Ray Gronberg

October 30, 2025