Independent. Informative. Intelligent.

Local

Senate passes adversary land-buys bill

The Senate has passed and sent to the House a bill that would ban governments like China’s or their state-owned companies from buying North Carolina farmland, but not without turning aside a last-minute addition proposed by Democrats. Sen. Kandie Smith, D-Pitt, asked the chamber to add to House Bill 133...

By Ray Gronberg

June 29, 2026

Duke pares requested power-rate increase

Duke Energy has lowered its rate-increase request as the N.C. Utilities Commission continued to weigh how much it should allow power bills to rise. The company’s North Carolina president, Kendal Bowman, rolled out the reduction at the rebuttal stage of the proceedings. Duke officials stressed that it’s a rare move, as...

By Ray Gronberg

June 29, 2026

Study looks at gang ties in Durham homicides

New statistical analysis confirms that homicide in Durham is predominately a matter of criminals shooting other criminals. Analysts advising a city/county task force looked at all 197 homicides in the city from 2021 through 2025 and found that about two-thirds of victims and suspects were already known to the criminal...

By Ray Gronberg

June 29, 2026

SEIU role in Charlotte council race draws criticism

An anti-union Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group is asking federal officials to study whether the Service Employees International Union violated laws in helping oust a Charlotte City Council candidate last year in an election decided by 34 votes. For years, the SEIU has urged the Charlotte council to pressure American Airlines...

By Ray Gronberg

June 29, 2026

Van der Vaart questions legality of exclusion from Duke-plans vote

N.C. Utilities Commission member Donald van der Vaart says his exclusion from its decision-making on Duke Energy’s Carolinas Resource Plan doesn’t square with state law. It’s based instead on an in-house “procedures manual” that doesn’t have the force of statute or of a fully approved, published regulation, van der Vaart...

By Ray Gronberg

June 23, 2026

AI video targets Barnes-Gailliard race

An AI-generated video that’s making the rounds on social media depicts a state Senate candidate and prominent Rocky Mount pastor, James Gailliard, as a literal tool of Satan. By contrast, it portrays the Republican incumbent in the District 11 Senate race, Lisa Barnes, in beatific terms as someone blessed and...

By Ray Gronberg

June 23, 2026

Boliek criticizes Mid-Currituck Bridge planning

By this point, legislators take it as gospel that the N.C. Department of Transportation has sunk about $60 million or so into planning a toll-funded widening of Interstate 77 in downtown Charlotte that may not happen. But State Auditor Dave Boliek and staff say another big state road project has...

By Ray Gronberg

June 23, 2026

Stein OKs revaluation moratorium

Gov. Josh Stein has signed into law a one-year moratorium on the use of the new-for-2026 valuation updates Guilford County and a few other counties were intending to use to assess property taxes. Stein says Senate Bill 889 “provides tax relief for North Carolinians who are feeling pain in their pocketbooks,”...

By Ray Gronberg

June 22, 2026

UNC Health requests target Wilmington, Asheville

UNC Health officials say they’ve applied to state Department of Health and Human Services for certificates of need that would allow them to build new hospitals in Wilmington and Asheville. The Wilmington application proposes a 150-bed hospital on 62 acres at the corner of South 17th Street and Shipyard Boulevard....

By Ray Gronberg

June 22, 2026

Land-buy restrictions for foreigners advance in NCGA

Supporters of restricting “adversarial foreign government” land purchases in North Carolina have coalesced around one bill that’s now one stop away from a Senate floor vote. House Bill 133 cleared the Senate’s Judiciary committee on June 17 and awaits only a review by Senate Rules before reaching the floor. It...

By Ray Gronberg

June 22, 2026

Tax bill on the move, despite R&D complaints

House and Senate Republicans are poised to pass an omnibus tax bill that will also allow credit unions to broaden their membership base. The compromise version of Senate Bill 595 passed a second-reading vote in the Senate on Thursday, via a 28-14 party-line vote. A third-reading vote is scheduled for...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Chamber report warns of Canada/Mexico trade instability

The Trump administration’s approach to trade relations with Canada and Mexico risks destabilizing markets that accounted for nearly a third of North Carolina’s export business in 2025, the NC Chamber says. Its assessment, appearing in a report issued this week, concerns the future of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement or USMCA. It’s...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Compromise struck on hotel-tax use

House and Senate members have passed two bills intended to settle the debate about hotel-tax policy created by a recent state Supreme Court decision. Senate Bill 484 puts a general ban on using occupancy tax revenue earmarked for tourism-related purposes on law enforcement, fire protection, trash collection and other ordinary...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Sawyer I-77 amendment still up in the air

Senators advanced an omnibus bill for the N.C. Department of Transportation on Wednesday without tacking on language to punish Charlotte-area governments for rescinding their support of the Interstate 77 widening. But Sen. Vickie Sawyer, R-Iredell, told members of Senate Transportation that the clawback amendment she’s proposed “is not a hollow...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Utilities commissioner excluded from vote on Duke Energy plans

N.C. Utilities Commission member Donald van der Vaart can’t vote on the next version of Duke Energy’s Carolinas Resource Plan because he’s been on vacation during some of the panel’s recent public hearings on it. Commission Chairman Bill Brawley announced the ruling on Wednesday. “The commissioner is allowed to participate...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026