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NC Children’s hospital in Apex lands first big donation

Charlotte-based Coca-Cola Consolidated says it’s going to donate $25 million toward the launch of NC Children’s, the new hospital UNC Health and Duke Health intend to build in southern Apex. The company is the country’s largest Coca-Cola bottler and its donation is the first “significant gift” NC Children’s has received,...

By Ray Gronberg

January 16, 2026

Loophole in property tax exemption costing counties

House Speaker Destin Hall’s property tax committee may embark on a side quest, as it’s hearing complaints about a court-opened loophole that can allow some apartment-complex owners to claim an exemption from local taxation. The concern comes from the N.C. Association of County Commissioners and the Self-Help Credit Union and...

By Ray Gronberg

January 15, 2026

State property tax exemptions costing $2.1B a year

State law already exempts about 12% of all real estate in North Carolina from property taxes, legislative staffers told House Speaker Destin Hall’s tax-reform panel on Wednesday. That amounts to $222 billion in assessed value, out of $1.8 trillion total. All told, the exemptions cost local governments around the state...

By Ray Gronberg

January 15, 2026

State urged to bolster outpatient commitment for the mentally ill

North Carolina’s multi-decade revamp of its mental health care system seems to have damaged one of the tools it might find useful in dealing with situations like those that led to two recent killings. State law allows “outpatient involuntary commitment,” a process that Duke School of Medicine professor Marvin Swartz...

By Ray Gronberg

January 15, 2026

UNC-CH making big change to student health service

UNC Chapel Hill officials announced on Tuesday that North Carolina’s state-owned hospital system will “lead and administer” the university’s Campus Health service in the not-too-district future. The move comes amid a campus-wide cost-cutting initiative and targets a service the university’s “all-funds” budget for fiscal 2024-25 said was running at a...

By Ray Gronberg

January 14, 2026

Forum highlights economic challenges

Participants at the NC Chamber’s annual forecast forum say the past year has given consumers and managers much to consider regarding the mid-term economic outlook. The highlights included a warning from former U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-10th, that Republicans are wrong to think they can talk voters out of their...

By Ray Gronberg

January 13, 2026

McHenry: Pressure on fed chair “the wrong thing to do”

Former U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-10th, joined his one-time colleagues Monday in blasting the Trump administration for launching a criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Speaking at a N.C. Bankers Association/NC Chamber forum in the Triangle, McHenry said the move is an administration attempt to be seen as...

By Ray Gronberg

January 13, 2026

NC economy in 2026: steady, but masking problems

It’s long been a truism that there are two North Carolinas economically, but that is both an oversimplification these days and a symptom of flaws in the state’s development strategy. That’s the view, at any rate, of most participants in Business North Carolina’s2026 economic forecast roundtable at the Campbell University...

By Ray Gronberg

January 12, 2026

Biz registrations follow a predictable pattern

Ten counties accounted for about 68% of the new-business registrations in 2025, according to the online database provided by Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. Predictably, almost half of those registrations occurred in Wake and Mecklenburg counties, data from the Secretary of State’s website shows. Another 19% came from the next...

By Ray Gronberg

January 12, 2026

Berger up 4 in race with Page, poll says

A new poll is claiming that Senate leader Phil Berger has about a four percentage point lead in his District 26 GOP primary battle against Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. That effectively makes the race “a total tossup,” in a battle where “both sides are running horrible campaigns,” said Rick...

By Ray Gronberg

January 9, 2026

EMC sends PFAS-testing rule out for comment

State regulators have the green light to begin taking public comment on a rules package that would force some industrial businesses and sewer-plant operators to test for the three best-known types of PFAS. The proposed rules package also would require affected businesses that find the compounds in their samples to...

By Ray Gronberg

January 9, 2026

Appeals Court upholds Smithfield-funded grants

N.C. Court of Appeals judges have rejected a Randolph County minister’s attempt to claim for schools the proceeds of the state’s 2000 hog-farm mitigation deal with Smithfield Foods. Wednesday’s decision, from a unanimous three-judge panel, is but the latest to go against opponents of former Attorney General Mike Easley Sr.’s...

By Ray Gronberg

January 8, 2026

Moore “looks forward” to Trump housing proposal

Folks around the capitol will remember that back in 2023, the late Mecklenburg County state Rep. Kelly Alexander proposed a bill to counter the rise of Wall Street ownership of single-family homes. This quickly got pigeonholed by then-House Speaker Tim Moore, who told reporters the 100-home limit Alexander proposed was...

By Ray Gronberg

January 8, 2026

Regulators seek to resurrect livestock-farm rules

Division of Water Resources officials are going to try resurrecting a trio of restrictions on hog, chicken and cattle growers that state appellate judges struck down because they hadn’t gone through a formal rulemaking process. This time around, they’ll try to convince the Environmental Management Commission — and perhaps the...

By Ray Gronberg

January 8, 2026

Roxboro: Praised for raising property taxes

The Local Government Commission has given Roxboro’s government permission to borrow $922,542 to buy five police cars, a fire truck, a garbage truck and an asphalt roller for street repair. Now, this would ordinarily be newsworthy only in Roxboro, but the LGC sign-off comes amid House Speaker Destin Hall’s push...

By Ray Gronberg

January 7, 2026