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Power players

North Carolina’s top energy-market watchdog believes the increasing demands for electricity from of data centers, factories and other large-load business customers will compel regulators and utilities to make policy changes. Above all, these may force Duke Energy (and to a lesser degree Dominion Energy) to accept more transparency in its...

By Ray Gronberg

August 25, 2025

The Chamber’s energy report and SB 266

The NC Chamber’s new energy policy report expects renewables to keep making inroads despite the enactment of Senate Bill 266 and its elimination of North Carolina’s interim carbon-reduction goal. Instead of flowing from the now-moot 70%-by-2030 target, the pace and scale of solar and wind-energy deployment will depend on cost...

By Welcome

August 22, 2025

Novo Nordisk clamps down on hiring

Here’s a good-news/bad-news thing for North Carolinians: Novo Nordisk is feeling the effects of increased competition for its popular GLP-1 drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic. The good news in that is downward pressure on prices. The bad news is that downward pressure on prices is translating into downward pressure on profit...

By Welcome

August 22, 2025

Malpractice liability ruling

In a case that drew interest from the NC Chamber and other business groups, the state Court of Appeals has rejected a constitutional challenge to North Carolina’s limits on medical-malpractice damage awards. Writing for a unanimous and bipartisan panel, Court of Appeals Chief Judge Chris Dillon said state legislators “generally...

By Welcome

August 22, 2025

As Cabarrus turns …

They just don’t stop having drama in Cabarrus County. The Charlotte Observer and other media outlets in the Interstate 77 corridor report that the Cabarrus County Commissioners voted 3-2 on Monday to fire their new county manager, Sean Newton. For those keeping score, that’s the second manager the Cabarrus Commissioners...

By Ray Gronberg

August 21, 2025

Appeals judges slap down Durham County project

A divided N.C. Court of Appeals panel has invalidated the Durham County Commissioners’ approval of a 141-home, 288-acre “conservation subdivision” off U.S. 501 in the rural northern part of the county. The decision overturned a lower-court ruling that had favored the project’s Florida-based developer. Republican appeals Judges Donna Stroud and...

By Ray Gronberg

August 21, 2025

Chamber energy report

North Carolina needs a quicker and more predictable approval process for power-generation and grid upgrades, no matter the technology a project’s backers are pursuing, a new report from the NC Chamber Foundation says. “If North Carolina is to meet its energy goals while supporting rapid economic growth, the regulatory environment...

By Ray Gronberg

August 21, 2025

Free speech push?

U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, D-2nd, has joined forces with a colleague from Vermont to push back on the Trump administration’s efforts to use visa revocations to discourage pro-Palestine campus protests. They’ve introduced a bill that would repeal the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 that says the...

By Ray Gronberg

August 18, 2025

Stein, Boliek clash over veto of auditor bill

Gov. Stein’s veto pen also landed Wednesday on House Bill 549, which expands the investigative authority and other powers of the state auditor. The governor raised two objections, the first being a prospective risk to the state’s economic development program. “House Bill 549 would grant the auditor sweeping access to the data and...

By Ray Gronberg

July 3, 2025

Gov. Stein vetoes bill dropping carbon goal, citing cost risks for families

Gov. Josh Stein has vetoed a bill that would eliminate the state’s interim carbon-reduction goal, citing worries about future fuel costs and a potential cost shift from business to residential customers. “This summer’s record heat and soaring utility bills have shown that we need to focus on lowering electricity costs for...

By Ray Gronberg

July 3, 2025

Federal fraud dragnet yields charges in N.C.

Federal prosecutors based in North Carolina have charged 13 people as part of a nationwide crackdown on Medicare and Medicaid fraud. What U.S. Department of Justice officials are calling the “2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown” is yielding criminal charges against 324 people across the country. Among them are 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists...

By Ray Gronberg

July 2, 2025

Child care task force favors reimbursement changes

Legislators ought to peg child-care subsidies to a statewide benchmark instead of letting them vary from county to county, a bipartisan task force appointed by Gov. Josh Stein says. The current approach sets child care reimbursements at 75% of a county’s market rate, but the problem is that it winds up shortchanging...

By Ray Gronberg

July 2, 2025

Wolfspeed files for bankruptcy to cut $4.6B in debt

Wolfspeed has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reduce its debt load by $4.6 billion amid continued uncertainty about whether it will ever receive CHIPS Act subsidies from the federal government. The widely-expected move came late Monday afternoon, with an announcement coming directly from the Durham-based chipmaker even as its lawyers were...

By Ray Gronberg

July 2, 2025

Puppies vs. squatters

One of the bills awaiting Gov. Josh Stein’s signature after June’s legislative bonanza includes a provision that would bar cities and counties from restricting the sale of animals by licensed pet shops. The provision got tacked on the otherwise-unrelated House Bill 96 on June 19 by the Senate’s Judiciary committee. The rest of...

By Ray Gronberg

July 1, 2025

State lands two more manufacturers

North Carolina’s business recruiters have notched two more wins, which between them are promising to bring 1,306 new jobs to Rowan and Rutherford counties. The larger of the two by far involves Jabil Inc., a Florida-based Fortune 500 company that says it’s “one of the leading [third-party] providers of manufacturing services and solutions...

By Ray Gronberg

July 1, 2025