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State Health Plan ready to expand “preferred provider” system

Come July, it appears likely State Health Plan trustees are likely to approve an expansion of the plan’s “preferred provider” program intended to steer members to lower-cost hospitals, clinics and doctors. The docket for next month’s trustee meeting will include votes both on the framework, premiums and provider contracts for...

By Ray Gronberg

June 8, 2026

Reg reform and granny flats

House members have passed and returned to the Senate an omnibus regulatory reform bill that among other things instructs local governments in parts of the state to allow more home construction. The 85-28 vote on Senate Bill 445 came after large, bipartisan majorities rejected amendments proposed by Rep. Jay Adams,...

By Ray Gronberg

June 5, 2026

Chamber pods state on Wilmington rail link

NC Chamber leaders want the state to begin looking at reactivating an abandoned rail corridor that would connect Wilmington and its port to the Goldsboro area. The first order of business for restoring the line from Wallace in Duplin County to Castle Hayne in New Hanover County is obtaining an...

By Ray Gronberg

June 5, 2026

FTC warns Hendrick, other dealers about price ads

Federal regulators in March warned Hendrick Automotive and several other North Carolina car dealers against advertising their vehicles for prices lower than what they actually charge customers. The warning letters from the Federal Trade Commission stopped short of accusing the dealerships of wrongdoing, but they did encourage them to “review...

By Ray Gronberg

June 5, 2026

UNC Health takeover of psychiatric hospitals?

The House’s involuntary-commitment reform bill includes provisions that ask UNC Health to consider taking over the operations of North Carolina’s three state-owned psychiatric hospitals. House Bill 1104 wants an answer from UNC Health by December. It also gives the system the option of taking over only “certain operations,” or of...

By Ray Gronberg

June 5, 2026

DOT boss: Money can’t sit waiting for Charlotte on I-77

State Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson is pushing back against the idea that his agency is making unfounded threats when it comes to pulling money from the Interstate 77 widening. The fate of the $600 million the state’s earmarked for the project has been up for grabs ever since the Charlotte...

By Ray Gronberg

June 5, 2026

Hall on I-77: “Unbelievable to me”

House Speaker Destin Hall says he doesn’t know if there’s “anything in terms of punitive” action legislators will take against Charlotte-area governments for rescinding their support of the Interstate 77 widening. But he’s sure other regions will welcome news that the $600 million the N.C. Department of Transportation otherwise would’ve...

By Ray Gronberg

June 5, 2026

Legislators want to clamp down on occupancy-tax diversions

House members aren’t about to let the ink dry on a recent state Supreme Court ruling without acting to stop Currituck County and other places from using motel-tax money to fund police, EMS and fire services. On Tuesday the House Finance and Rules committees gutted Senate Bill 484and replaced it...

By Ray Gronberg

June 5, 2026

Pay increases pressuring city and county budgets

Now that the calendar has turned to June, it’s about time for cities and counties across to start passing their budgets. Along with those, in many places, will come raises for police, firefighters and other local-government workers. In some way, shape or form, personnel costs are invariably one of the...

By Ray Gronberg

June 5, 2026

Community Colleges struggles to fill nursing posts

North Carolina has a nursing shortage, but the N.C. Community Colleges has its own problems when it comes to hiring instructors in the field to train people who could close the gap. State Auditor Dave Boliek’s recent report on the 136 long-term vacancies in the Community Colleges system found that...

By Ray Gronberg

June 5, 2026

DOT: New I-77 plan gets graded like any other

The N.C. Department of Transportation isn’t going to treat a new Interstate 77 project in Charlotte differently from any other highway project local governments across the state ask it to take on. That means it’ll have to go through the prioritization process legislators and DOT formalized in the 2010s early...

By Ray Gronberg

June 1, 2026

OBX beer-store chain speaks up for canned cocktails

It’s all well and good that the state House wants to legalize the sale of canned cocktails outside of ABC stores, but the Senate needs to get in the act too, the co-owner of a chain of beer and wine stores on the Outer Banks says. The Senate is advancing...

By Ray Gronberg

June 1, 2026

Senate bill funds Khan Academy AI tutors

Legislators returning to Raleigh this week from their Memorial Day holiday will find a docket that includes an omnibus reform bill for the state’s K-12 schools. Senate Bill 1006 is scheduled to receive its first committee review on Wednesday. Its lead sponsor is Senate Majority Leader Michael Lee, R-New Hanover,...

By Ray Gronberg

June 1, 2026

Counties: Inmate medical costs breaking jail budgets

Inmate medical-care costs are busting the budgets of jails all around the state, thanks in no small part to low-bid service contracts, a new white paper for the N.C. Association of County Commissioners says. Surveys that boiled down to 35 of the state’s 100 counties found that many experienced cost...

By Ray Gronberg

June 1, 2026

BorgWarner plans addition in Hendersonville

A Michigan-based car-parts supplier is looking to branch out and will invest $100 million to add 378 jobs over the next four years to its existing plant in Hendersonville. BorgWarner, which also has operations in the Buncombe County town of Arden, will add 140,000 square feet to its current 220,000-square-foot...

By Ray Gronberg

May 28, 2026