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Stein makes more hurricane-relief moves

Gov. Josh Stein continues in the early days his tenure to emphasize western North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene. On Tuesday, Stein signed a new executive order, his sixth, to allow the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Transportation to waive maximum service-hour limits for truck drivers who...

By Ray Gronberg

January 8, 2025

Matthews and the NC DOT

From covering Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Durham I’m no stranger to seeing road-planning fights break out between local leaders and NCDOT. Still, it’s kind of a surprise when it happens elsewhere in the state. Officials in Matthews, however, are balking at the agency’s $25.4 million plan to widen East John...

By Ray Gronberg

January 7, 2025

DMV: A request

With new State Auditor Dave Boliek pledging to follow through on his campaign promise to audit the Division of Motor Vehicles, I want to ask readers for some information and thoughts. My own experiences with DMV as a customer over the years have left me with absolutely nothing to complain...

By Ray Gronberg

January 7, 2025

Attention on Carrboro

Taylor made at least one trustee’s ears perk up when she said another priority is strengthening relationships between UNC Chapel Hill and the town of Carrboro. “As far as I can ascertain, the town of Carrboro has not formerly been part of any relationships or conversations with the university, despite...

By Ray Gronberg

January 6, 2025

New Year brings launch of new lobbying firm

There’s another new lobbying shop in town. On Friday, partners John Hardin and Will Morgan announced the launch of The Raleigh Group, to provide “comprehensive lobbying, consulting, government contracting and economic development services.” Both men previously were part of Manning Fulton, a Raleigh law firm. Hardin is the new firm’s...

By Ray Gronberg

January 6, 2025

BNC’s economic forecast: partly cloudy

North Carolina’s economy likely will keep thriving in 2025, but President-elect Trump’s professed intentions on tariffs and immigration are clouding the picture, panelists in Business North Carolina’s annual economic forecast say. Campbell University economics professor Mark Steckbeck noted that the state defied predictions of a slowdown in 2024. For 2025,...

By Ray Gronberg

January 3, 2025

Ingles details its Helene damage

Ingles Markets suffered $34.9 million in losses related to Hurricane Helene, according to its quarterly SEC filing. The Black Mountain-headquartered grocery chain reported that Helene damaged or destroyed $30.4 million worth of inventory and caused an additional $4.5 million worth of destruction to property and equipment. Company officials charged the...

By Ray Gronberg

December 31, 2024

Berger and Charlotte

Senate leader Phil Berger says the future of Charlotte’s transportation system is an issue legislators have to settle in the upcoming long session of the General Assembly. “We need to figure out whether or not the discussions that are taking place in Charlotte about allowing them to have a vote...

By Ray Gronberg

December 30, 2024

Durham mall fills a five-year void

The holiday’s damp and chilly weather lending itself to cabin fever, I made the short drive from my house to Durham’s Streets at Southpoint mall on Saturday for some shopping and ice cream. While there, I was both gratified and interested to see that construction is underway on the refit...

By Ray Gronberg

December 30, 2024

Receiver takes over debt-laden Barnes Family Farms

Farming is an incredibly challenging way to make a living. I learned that growing up in southern Minnesota, where rich farmland provides world-class yields for corn and soybeans. So it was disappointing, if not surprising, to read my colleague Chris Burritt’s Business North Carolina report yesterday on troubles facing the...

By Welcome

December 20, 2024

Lumbee tribe recognition

There’s been some late-hours movement in the drive to secure federal tribal recognition of the Lumbee. On Tuesday the U.S. House passed H.R. 1101, its version of the “Lumbee Fairness Act” that would confer recognition on the Lumbee and give them access to the same federal benefits as other tribes....

By Ray Gronberg

December 19, 2024

Auditors say unemployment claims processing rates still lag

State auditors have criticized the Division of Employment Security’s handling of unemployment claims, saying it was too slow in processing many of them in 2023. Federal regulations, they say, require North Carolina to process at least 87% of first-time claims within 14 days. The Division of Employment Security managed only...

By Ray Gronberg

December 19, 2024

Furniture and wire

State recruiters on Tuesday rolled out two more incentive packages that they hope will between them facilitate the creation of at least 583 new jobs and $244.6 million in new corporate investment. One of deals targets a furniture factory that a Lithuanian company, SBA Home, proposes to build in Mocksville....

By Ray Gronberg

December 18, 2024

Helene budget update

As its director warned last week, the Office of State Budget and Management’s revised damage estimates for Hurricane Helene now say North Carolina faces about $59.6 billion in potential recovery cost. That includes $53.8 billion for actual damage and another $5.8 billion for “strengthening and mitigation” out west to try...

By Ray Gronberg

December 17, 2024

State recruiters land two more projects

Gov. Roy Cooper and his aide rolled out two more state incentive packages on Monday, one each for Caswell and Cabarrus counties. In Caswell, Cherokee Tobacco Co. is pledging to create 39 new jobs and invest more than $14 million to build a new manufacturing and distribution operation there. In...

By Ray Gronberg

December 17, 2024