Zachary Turner/WFAE Radio A huge new Amazon data center development and the diesel-burning generators to power it are the subject of a hearing Thursday afternoon in Rockingham. The 650-acre project will include 21 data center buildings powered by nearly 600 diesel generators. In order to proceed, Amazon and Duke Energy...

Sophia DePhillips/Port City Daily As a result of a state law allowing students to miss up to four hours of school per week for religious instruction, New Hanover County Schools Board of Education decided Tuesday to cancel a planned public hearing on whether to partner with a nonprofit Bible-study group....

Scott Yost/The Rhino Times Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston is about to add another chairmanship to his lengthy resume on Saturday, Aug. 1, when he takes over as chairman of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission. Alston, who is, of course, seemingly chairman for life...

Moss Brennan/The Watauga Democrat The Boone Planning Commission recommended denial of a proposed 185-unit student housing development off Beverly Heights Avenue on July 27 after hours of near-unanimous opposition from residents at a joint public hearing with the Boone Town Council. The commission’s recommendation is advisory. The applicant can go...

Diana Lopez/NC Health News As North Carolina weathers one of its worst droughts in more than 18 years, farmers are seeing the results in withering yields of corn, fruits and other crops. This has affected their bottom line, to be sure, but the effects are more widespread. Hunger relief programs...

Michelle Crouch/NC Health News & The Charlotte Ledger In 2020, Charlotte businessman Michael Estramonte set out to build a nonprofit treatment center to create more space for kids in mental health crisis. The idea quickly won support from state and local lawmakers. Since 2023, the Katie Blessing Center has secured...

Tom Fiedler/Asheville Watchdog Will Rogers, who called himself the Cowboy Philosopher in his newspaper columns and stage acts, had it right when he was asked about his partisan politics: “I don’t belong to any organized political party,” he replied. “I’m a Democrat…. If people agree with each other all the...

Jill Doss-Raines/The High Point Enterprise   Duke Energy plans to build two 1,360-megawatt natural gas power plants in eastern Davie County and will build its largest-ever liquefied natural gas facility nearby in western Davidson County. Bill Norton, Duke Energy’s communications manager, said that the projects will be multibillion-dollar infrastructure investments....

Mebane Rash/Education NC Asheville-Buncombe Tech Community College (A-B Tech) has been awarded $29.2 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) for construction of the proposed Western North Carolina (WNC) Futures Factory, according to a press release from the college. Announced July 27, the funding targets Hurricane Helene recovery and...

Jane Winik Sartwell/The Raleigh News & Observer UNC-Chapel Hill is pouring millions of dollars into developing a satellite campus two miles north of campus, a 230-acre tract of land now dubbed Carolina North. But there are some old and unusual strings attached to the development, thanks to a former professor’s...

Felicia Sonmez/Blue Ridge Public Radio A lawsuit filed by the North Carolina attorney general’s office against HCA Healthcare over conditions at Asheville’s Mission Hospital can proceed to trial, a judge ruled Monday. In a 55-page ruling, North Carolina Business Court Judge Julianna Theall Earp denied motions by HCA Healthcare and...

Emily Walkenhorst/WRAL News A Wake County lawmaker wants to prevent elementary school employees from dressing in ways that don’t conform with their biological sex. State Rep. Erin Paré, R-Wake, in a post on her campaign Facebook page Monday night, floated the idea of a state law that would require sex-based...

Walker Livingston/Carolina Public Press Every Wednesday afternoon in the heart of Swannanoa, volunteers hand out seasonal produce while community members flow through the produce market in an old church building that nonprofit Bounty and Soul hosts. Last week, it was summer squash, fresh tomatoes and watermelon for the summer season....

Sophia DePhillips/Port City Daily After resolving a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall in June, Pender County Schools is once again tightening its financial belt. This time the district needs to absorb a $1 million gap caused by state-mandated teacher raises and bonuses that exceeded district projections, along with cuts to federal Title...

Sarah White/The Waynesville Mountaineer In a matter of hours, Canton’s former Fire Department building off Park Street was razed to a pile of rubble. Demolition on the building began two weeks ago — nearly two years after the building was inundated with water from Helene, leaving it empty and unusable....