Independent. Informative. Intelligent.

Local

Trouble in Rocky Mount

Rocky Mount’s government announced last week that “for over two years, the city has spent millions more each month than it received.” This requires at least $30 million in cutbacks, they say. To get there, layoffs affecting at least 10% of the town’s full-time employees and half of its part-time staff are...

By Ray Gronberg

September 30, 2025

Congressional panel probes N.C., S.C. murders

A fair fraction of the political set is likely to focus its attention on a Monday morning Congressional hearing set up to look at “will examine violent crime in Charlotte … and the surrounding areas.” The 10 a.m. hearing will occur at the federal courthouse on West Trade Street and...

By Ray Gronberg

September 29, 2025

Zoning exemption for UNC awaits Stein’s pen

Gov. Josh Stein, a Chapel Hill native, ironically may have the last word on whether the town loses its right to regulate UNC Chapel Hill’s land-use moves. House members completed action earlier this week on House Bill 926, sending this year’s regulatory reform package to the governor for his signature...

By Ray Gronberg

September 26, 2025

Granny flats in Charlotte

Officials in Charlotte have rolled out a new financial incentive to convince homeowners not just to add a granny flat to their property, but to rent it to a tenant who makes less than the area’s median income. The Queen City ADU Program is offering them a forgivable, interest-free loan...

By Ray Gronberg

September 26, 2025

An incentives reset for Apple?

A portion of the legislature’s latest mini-budget could give Apple more time to deliver on the promises it made in 2021 to obtain the state’s promise of a $845.8 million incentive grant. The provision in House Bill 358 applies to so-called “transformative projects” and would allow Apple to ask and...

By Ray Gronberg

September 26, 2025

Fuel-delivery contract

The House government-efficiency committee’s first hearing probed briefly into a new, statewide fuel-delivery contract that will pay out an estimated $164 million over three years. At the end, it identified “possibly a failure in communication” that led to the disqualification of a third of the vendors who’d voiced interest in...

By Ray Gronberg

September 26, 2025

Jones and Cooper

House Majority Leader Jones, by the way, opened Wednesday’s hearing with another blast at former Gov. Roy Cooper, who’s now running for a U.S. Senate seat. This is not in itself new, as Jones has repeatedly faulted Cooper’s handling of housing reconstruction Down East in the wake of 2018’s Hurricane...

By Ray Gronberg

September 25, 2025

Helene oversight

Legislators, Gov. Josh Stein’s aides and local leaders in western North Carolina all are asking themselves, and each other, whether the juice is worth the squeeze when it comes to federal disaster aid. The question dominated Wednesday’s latest joint House-Senate hearing on post-Helene recovery efforts in western North Carolina. Complaints...

By Ray Gronberg

September 25, 2025

Boliek: N.C. needs better disaster-aid oversight

North Carolina’s sufficiently disaster-prone that it needs to install some permanent oversight mechanisms to monitor the deployment and uses of recovery aid, State Auditor Dave Boliek says. “We spend millions of dollars and thousands of dollars training first responders on swift-water rescue,” Boliek told members of a new House committee...

By Ray Gronberg

September 24, 2025

Regulatory reform bill passes in Senate

Senators voted 31-17 on Monday to pass a regulatory reform bill that will exempt UNC System institutions from local zoning and land-use regulations in Orange, Buncombe and Watauga counties. The provision builds on an existing exemption in Wake County for NC State, and comes amid local controversy over UNC Asheville’s...

By Ray Gronberg

September 23, 2025

Senate releases draft of “Iryna’s Law”

The Senate’s promised rewrite of the state’s laws regarding bail would eliminate the ability of judges and magistrates to release individuals accused of crimes after they sign a written promise to appear in court. That falls short of being a strictly defined elimination of so-called “cashless bond” because it would...

By Ray Gronberg

September 22, 2025

More Helene money heads west

U.S. Sen. Ted Budd and Gov. Josh Stein’s offices are reporting progress in getting more federal disaster-recovery aid out the door to western North Carolina. Budd’s staff is claiming credit for their boss in getting $64.3 million in aid released by FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. This followed...

By Ray Gronberg

September 19, 2025

Chamber opposes military right-to-repair reforms

The NC Chamber and other business groups are opposing pending congressional moves to bolster the ability of the country’s soldiers, sailors, aviators and Marines to repair their own equipment. Both the U.S House and Senate versions of the next National Defense Authorization Act address the point. The House’s version demands...

By Ray Gronberg

September 19, 2025

Court says DOT immune to accident claim

A N.C. Court of Appeals panel has rejected trucking company C.R. England’s attempt to get the N.C. Department of Transportation to contribute to out-of-court settlements linked to a twice- fatal 2014 traffic accident. The accident occurred during a snowstorm on a partially-cleared Interstate 40 in Johnston County. And as such, Judge...

By Ray Gronberg

September 18, 2025

Feds reopen part of the Blue Ridge Parkway

National Park Service officials announced Monday that they’ve reopened a 26.7-mile portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway that runs north from Asheville to the entrance of Mount Mitchell State Park. The move follows the completion of landslide-repair projects at mileposts 380 and 375, which respectively are near the Haw Creek...

By Ray Gronberg

September 16, 2025