WRAL News A Duke alumna prepares to make history as one of the first women to possibly set foot on the moon and soon Mars. Anna Menon, 39, is one of ten people selected as NASA’s new astronaut candidates. The Houston native holds a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from...

Curt Anderson/The Associated Press Former Republican U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who was defeated in 2022 in a North Carolina primary, is looking for a comeback by running for Congress again, this time from Florida. Cawthorn, 30, announced in an online video Wednesday that he would seek the southwest Florida seat...

Will Atwater/NC Health News Larry Baldwin stood before a crowd of about 60 people gathered in Northampton County for the screening of The Smell of Money, a documentary that follows rural North Carolinians standing up to the industrial hog industry, and he posed a question. “This is a beautiful room,”...

Christine Zhu/NC Newsline Enbridge Gas North Carolina is asking for a 12.37% increase to its residential natural gas rates, which it says would result in a $6.30 increase in the average residential customers’ monthly bill. Last week, the North Carolina Utilities Commission heard expert testimony from Enbridge employees on the...

Charlie Fossen/Port City Daily State regulators are to begin enforcing new air quality requirements at two Port of Wilmington facilities after finalizing plans to control industrial dust following years of community concerns. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality approved dust control plans for wood pellet...

Nikolai Mather/WHQR Nigel Edge has been charged with multiple counts of murder following Saturday night’s shooting at American Fish Company, which left three dead and five injured. During the proceedings, District Attorney Jon David shared additional allegations about Edge, who could face the death penalty. Edge made his first court...

Liz Schlemmer/WUNC Radio The North Carolina Association for Public Charter Schools has won a nearly $53 million federal grant to support the state’s charter schools. The association will use most of the funds on 42 subgrants to charter schools seeking to open or expand seats to more students. The subgrants...

Jack Igelman/Carolina Public Press Swaths of downed timber are a common sight throughout Western North Carolina after Tropical Storm Helene, even a year later. Near Roan High Knob, along the North Carolina-Tennessee state line in Mitchell County, 100-mile-per-hour winds uprooted and shredded hundreds of trees, leaving a 25-acre patch of...

Trista Talton/Coastal Review Online When the Army Corps of Engineers issued its final decision on the terminal groin project here more than eight years ago, the document conveyed a prescient warning. A terminal groin “may increase erosion along the easternmost point of Ocean Isle Beach, down-drift of the structure.” Today,...

Henry Taylor/WCHL Chapelboro Following the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10, the UNC Board of Trustees reviewed current plans to bolster campus security, and reviewed recent upgrades during committee meetings on September 24. UNC Police Chief Brian James addressed the board directly, providing...

John Staton/Wilmington StarNews A TV show whose pilot episode shot in the Wilmington area in 2025 will be made into a full series, according to multiple stories by national entertainment industry publications. “RJ Decker” stars Canadian actor Scott Speedman (“Felicity,” “Grey’s Anatomy”) as “a disgraced newspaper photographer and ex-con who...

Maria Sullivan/The Daily Tar Heel UNC graduate student Sean Taylor spent a year of his doctoral program begging for relief. Following a series of unexpected surgeries and medical setbacks, Taylor asked the University for medical leave. The answer was a resounding no. Taylor began his doctoral degree in sociocultural anthropology...

Bill Moss/Hendersonville Lightning The city of Hendersonville is poised to send a $10 million road bond issue to taxpayers next March in hopes of expediting city street repaving, making handicapped curb ramps ADA-compliant and improving pedestrian and bicycle safety. The city council last week heard details of the proposed borrowing...

Andy Weber/Queen City News A congressional field hearing held in Charlotte Monday morning turned emotional and, at times, contentious as families of violent crime victims shared painful stories and lawmakers clashed over how to reduce crime in communities. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance held the...

Jaymie Baxley/NC Health News Efforts to prevent cuts that could significantly lower reimbursement to providers for services for North Carolinians on Medicaid stalled last week amid a three-way standoff between the state’s Senate, House of Representatives and governor. Lawmakers are at odds over dueling proposals to fully fund the state’s...