Amanda Hernández/NC Newsline When President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month threatening to withhold federal funding from states and localities that have adopted “cashless bail” policies, he escalated a national fight over how courts decide who should remain behind bars before trial. The move has already rippled into...

WRAL News Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies opened its new, $3.2 billion bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Holly Springs on Wednesday, and the town is already experiencing impacts. “I’m more excited about what it brings for our residents of Holly Springs,” Sean Mayesfki, the mayor of Holly Springs, said. Mayesfki said new developments...

Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News As on any other rainy late summer morning in Southern Appalachia, the sun rose over densely wooded, knobby green peaks cloaked in a thick downy mist. At a large, nondescript warehouse off Swannanoa River Road just outside downtown Asheville, it may have looked like any other...

Amy Diaz/WFDD Radio Kids in North Carolina returned to class about a month ago for the start of a new school year. Alongside test scores and graduation rates, officials will be closely monitoring another measure: chronic absenteeism. Last year, about a quarter of students in North Carolina were considered chronically...

Jack Igelman/Carolina Public Press On a mild late-summer afternoon in September, 86-year-old Tom Westall watered the flowers newly planted in the median on Locust Street in downtown Spruce Pine in Mitchell County. “I love watching things grow,” said Westall, a life-long Spruce Pine resident whose family operated Westall’s Food Market...

Jennifer Allen/Coastal Review Online A discussion about a proposal to transfer the Division of Marine Fisheries from the Department of Environmental Quality to the state agriculture department looms large on the list of priorities for a newly formed alliance created to support North Carolina’s commercial fishing industry. During the North...

Paul Woolverton/CityView The Fayetteville City Council voted 8-1 on Monday to approve zoning that the Fayetteville Public Works Commission needs to build a solar farm off Ramsey Street. Neighboring residents and property owners had been trying to stop the solar farm for months. They said it would be a bad...

Julian Berger/WFAE Radio The Latin American Chamber of Commerce has named a new head for Spark Centro, a hub for Latino entrepreneurs under construction on Albemarle Road in east Charlotte. Manuel Rey is the new president and CEO for Spark Centro. The hub will serve as an incubator and co-working...

Keaton Eberly/CBS 17 News A new lawsuit accuses the UNC Board of Trustees of “systematically hiding matters of grave public concern,” which includes approving the hire of new football coach Bill Belichick in an illegal closed session in December. Former UNC Provost Chris Clemens filed the suit on Monday, claiming...

Steve Harrison/WFAE Radio The Charlotte City Council on Monday approved a new agreement with the Charlotte Area Transit System’s private security firm to patrol more areas in and near transit property. The vote came a month after 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska was killed on the Lynx Blue Line. Professional Police Services,...

Kathy Hanrahan/WRAL News A lawsuit filed on behalf of a Wake County teen alleges that popular apps Roblox and Discord created an environment that allowed a Louisiana man to exploit her online. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday, Sept. 17 in the Northern District of California. It alleges that the girl...

Gary D. Robertson/The Associated Press North Carolina Republican legislators are poised this week to approve criminal justice measures designed to toughen bail rules, restrict magistrates’ powers and evaluate offenders’ mental health after the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte commuter train. The bill also could help get...

Kate Denning/Carolina Public Press Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Rob Jackson and Mars Hill University President Tony Floyd both used the same phrase to describe their corners of the state in the early days after Tropical Storm Helene tore through — an island. Whether Helene kept college students inside the bounds...

Trey Nemec/CityView The Town of Hope Mills is under an investigation by the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor, according to public records obtained by CityView. Hope Mills Town Manager Chancer McLaughlin confirmed to CityView on Friday that an audit investigation is being carried out by the state. According...

Port City Daily UNCW is pausing the painting of its two spirit rocks and “freedom of expression events” after confrontations arose last week following a vigil for Charlie Kirk and alleged threats that eventually led to a campus lockdown. “Given the tensions that emerged on campus last week related to...