Independent. Informative. Intelligent.

Local

Hurricane recovery update

Gov. Josh Stein’s Helene-recovery team spent much of a Wednesday hearing with a House oversight committee trying to manage expectations about how much and how quickly western North Carolina can bounce back from last fall’s storm. Given an almost $60 billion need, and only about $15.7 billion currently likely to...

By Ray Gronberg

January 30, 2025

A trade war warning

The board chair of a Canadian car-parts maker that has four facilities in North Carolina has issued a dire warning about the impact of a potential U.S.-Canada trade war. If “10% or 25% or, in my opinion, almost anything in the way of tariffs is imposed on auto parts crossing...

By Ray Gronberg

January 30, 2025

Jet maker expanding Asheville factory

Recruiters used a $5.8 million incentive package to convince RTX subsidiary Pratt & Whitney to expand its jet-engine parts factory in Buncombe County. The company’s pledged to add 325 jobs and invest $285 million in the project, which Gov. Josh Stein’s office calls “a significant vote of confidence in western...

By Ray Gronberg

January 29, 2025

Cars, exotic and otherwise

Car dealer and race team owner Rick Hendrick has agreed via an auction to pay $3.7 million for the first 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 that GM’s made available for sale. The proceeds are going to the American Red Cross, while the car (and its 1,064-horsepower engine) will become part of...

By Ray Gronberg

January 28, 2025

Two hurricane hearings due this week

Legislators plan to launch the 2025 long session this week with a pair of committee hearings on hurricane recovery. On the docket is a Wednesday afternoon meeting of the House Select Committee on Helene Recovery, and a Thursday morning meeting of the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations’ newly expanded...

By Ray Gronberg

January 27, 2025

Growth in Charlotte

The Charlotte region is likely to add about 1.3 million people by 2050, with some of the largest percentage increases expected in Union and Iredell counties. That would boost the 15-county area’s population to 4.6 million, from 3.3 million now. That’s the view of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, which...

By Ray Gronberg

January 24, 2025

Summerfield scraps proposed no-attacks policy

Officials in Summerfield appear to have shelved a policy that would have forbidden public comment at their meetings that lodges “personal attacks against members of the Town Council, the town manager or town employees.” The proposed “code of conduct” prepared for consideration in the Summerfield council’s Jan. 14 meeting (see...

By Ray Gronberg

January 24, 2025

Cabarrus County fires its manager and attorney

Speaking of turmoil, and Cabarrus County, the Republican majority of the Cabarrus County Commissioners voted 3-1 on Tuesday to fire longtime County Manager Mike Downs and County Attorney Richard Koch. Downs had worked for the county since 1986 and had been county manager since 2011. Koch, who also has a...

By Ray Gronberg

January 24, 2025

Trump EO calls for Lumbee recognition plan

President Trump has signed an executive order that directs the U.S. Department of the Interior to come up with a plan within three months for giving the Lumbee full federal recognition. The department’s to consider “each potential legal pathway,” including recognition through an act of Congress, the courts or the...

By Ray Gronberg

January 24, 2025

Bailey set to join WUNC board

UNC Chapel Hill trustees are poised to appoint alumna and public-relations specialist Nancy Bailey to the board of WUNC Public Radio. Bailey’s candidacy won the support of the trustees’ External Affairs committee on Wednesday, teeing it up for a ratification vote by all the trustees today. The matter is on...

By Ray Gronberg

January 23, 2025

Rep. Joe John, 1939-2025

Only a day after he turned in his resignation, former Wake County Rep. Joe John succumbed to cancer. The announcement from his wife and children came via Facebook, where they said he had gone “peacefully, surrounded by his loving family.” The 85-year-old five-term House member and former judge “was a...

By Ray Gronberg

January 23, 2025

Uncertainty for wind power

President Trump’s first-day executive order on offshore wind projects appears to bar the issuance of new leasing rights, but it holds out the prospect of eventually revoking the leases the federal government has already issued. That means fresh uncertainty for Dominion Energy’s $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, along...

By Ray Gronberg

January 22, 2025

McDowell sponsoring Panama Canal bill

First-term U.S. Rep. Addison McDowell, R-6th, signed on as one of 26 sponsors of a bill that would formally authorize President Trump to open negotiations to reacquire the Panama Canal. H.R. 283 would also demand a six-month progress report identifying “potential challenges” and “anticipated outcomes.” McDowell and several other sponsors...

By Ray Gronberg

January 22, 2025

The Chamber and the ACC

The NC Chamber has filed a friend-of-the-court brief siding with the Atlantic Coast Conference in its battle to make North Carolina’s courts the main battleground in its fight with Florida State and Clemson. The issue, the Chamber’s Legal Institute says, goes well beyond the reality that college sports is big...

By Ray Gronberg

January 21, 2025

Duke joins TVA-led small-reactor consortium

Also on Friday, Duke Energy announced that it’s joined forces with other utilities and nuclear companies to apply for an $800 million U.S. Department of Energy grant it hopes will push small modular reactor technology forward. The Tennessee Valley Authority is leading the effort to secure the grant, as it...

By Ray Gronberg

January 20, 2025