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A change atop North Carolina’s Business Court

North Carolina’s specialized Business Court is getting its second new chief judge in as many years. Incumbent Business Court Judge Adam Conrad will step up to the chief’s job on Aug. 1. He replaces current Chief Judge Michael Robinson, who is retiring from the Business Court. Robinson had been chief judge...

By Ray Gronberg

July 20, 2026

State Health Plan picks Duke Health for Triangle care slot

State Health Plan managers have picked Duke Health to serve as the plan’s middle-tier, “access” provider in the Triangle. The decision means members who are Duke Health patients will face about the same co-pays in 2027 that they do now. It also means that WakeMed — currently seeking to merge...

By Ray Gronberg

July 20, 2026

Boliek reports a deficit — his own

State Auditor Dave Boliek is one of North Carolina’s top watchdogs of local-government finances, but some of his targets might have reason to grumble about rocks and glass houses. His office’s fiscal 2024-25 financials show that it incurred a $904,505 deficit on the year, in part because of the computer...

By Ray Gronberg

July 15, 2026

WakeMed: Future borrowing capacity too low

WakeMed has told Wake County commissioners it can likely borrow only another $300 million to $400 million in the short term without affecting its Wall Street-assigned bond ratings. So without its planned merger with Charlotte-based Atrium Health, WakeMed says, “it would take 10 years” to raise the capital it needs...

By Ray Gronberg

July 15, 2026

Auditor: Landfill clean-up would take a century at current funding level

North Carolina’s effort to clean up old landfills is so poorly funded that the Department of Environmental Quality hasn’t been able to even investigate 78% of the 688 it knows about, State Auditor Dave Boliek says. At current rates, it’ll take the department about 99 years to inspect, strategize for...

By Ray Gronberg

July 14, 2026

Blue Cross regains State Health Plan contract

Three years after losing it, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has won back the State Health Plan’s business, and then some. Plan trustees on Friday voted to hire Blue Cross to serve as its third-party claims processor, a job the Durham-based insurer had performed until it fell...

By Ray Gronberg

July 13, 2026

UNC Health, Novant make state’s “preferred provider” list

State Health Plan managers say making UNC Health and Novant two of the plan’s three preferred care providers will have its greatest fallout in the Charlotte area, given that Atrium Health is winding up on the “non-preferred” list. The decision means plan members will face less in co-pays if they...

By Ray Gronberg

July 13, 2026

Feeling the need, the need for speed …

One of the changes CNBC made this year to its Top States for Business ranking system is the addition within it of metrics for the speed of permitting decisions for construction and other needs. It says it’s relying in part on data from Labrynth, an AI firm that puts out...

By Ray Gronberg

July 13, 2026

N.C. back to second in CNBC Top States for Business

North Carolina has slipped out of the top spot in CNBC’s annual Top States for Business rankings, but only dropped to second behind the new No. 1, Ohio. Released Thursday, the new rankings continue a six-year, post-pandemic run that’s seen North Carolina hold down the No. 1 or No. 2...

By Ray Gronberg

July 13, 2026

Rocky Mount, audited again

State Auditor Dave Boliek and his team have found plenty more to criticize Rocky Mount officials about, in a new report on the city’s handling of a utility-billing problem late last year. The fallout included delayed bill payments from a pair of city councilmen, Verb Roberson and T.J. Walker, who...

By Ray Gronberg

July 13, 2026

Work starts on gas line reaching into Rockingham County

MVP Southgate’s backers have notified federal regulators that they’ve begun construction of their 31-mile gas pipeline, which will run from Virginia into Rockingham County. The July 2 notice to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission came nine days after the agency told them they could go ahead. It also followed a...

By Ray Gronberg

July 13, 2026

Health researchers criticize WakeMed/Atrium deal

Brown University analysts have joined State Treasurer Brad Briner and the rest of the chorus that contends the proposed WakeMed/Atrium Health merger will only wind up increasing healthcare costs. This is because mergers like this one give hospitals more leverage to use against insurers, says Dan Arnold and other researchers...

By Ray Gronberg

July 8, 2026

A win off the field for the Tar Heels and Wolfpack

UNC Chapel Hill and NC State are the big winners from the budget’s reshuffle of the split of the proceeds from North Carolina’s sport-book tax — but they both can lament what could have been. The fiscal 2026-27 for the first time allots the flagships a share of the money,...

By Ray Gronberg

July 8, 2026

Stein signs reg-reform bill, touts benefits for housing

Gov. Josh Stein has signed a bill he says will give North Carolina “another tool in the toolbox to build more homes and make housing more affordable.” He was referring to House Bill 162, which loosens parking-space minimums in many parts of the state and drainage-related restrictions on redevelopment in...

By Ray Gronberg

July 7, 2026

Budget upholds JetZero incentives payout plan

The fiscal 2026-27 budget continues the state’s previously announced strategy for supplying up to $450 million in direct appropriations to support JetZero’s plans to build an airliner factory in Greensboro. Now awaiting Gov. Josh Stein’s signature, the bill releases another $133.9 million for the project, on top of the $118.1...

By Ray Gronberg

July 7, 2026