Paul Nielsen/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Waynesville has at least $100,000 in the bank to repair storm-damaged Dutch Fisher softball field in Hazelwood, but the how and when is still an open question. Town council unanimously voted earlier this month to allocate $50,000 to make repairs to the field that was damaged...

Brian Burns/WUNC Radio One of Wake County’s most active library branches has reopened after the completion of some major renovations. The West Regional Library, which serves residents of western Cary and sections of Morrisville, has been closed since early January. Major additions to the library include a teen nook, improved...

Dan DeWitt/Asheville Watchdog The Happy Hour crowd on South Slope pops into the breweries and restaurants that have helped land Asheville on best-of lists, largely oblivious to what once stood nearby. The adjacent Southside neighborhood was the biggest hub of Black life in Asheville, housing beauty and barber shops, funeral...

Dan DeWitt/Asheville Watchdog The Happy Hour crowd on South Slope pops into the breweries and restaurants that have helped land Asheville on best-of lists, largely oblivious to what once stood nearby. The adjacent Southside neighborhood was the biggest hub of Black life in Asheville, housing beauty and barber shops, funeral...

Lisa Sorg/NC Health News Emily Donovan stood before 100 people in the pews at Ocean View United Methodist Church in a small seaside town in Brunswick County, North Carolina. It was May, the start of beach season. She had invited a scientist to speak about the astronomical levels of PFAS—nicknamed...

Liz Bell/Education NC Child care providers and advocates are asking for $145 million in recurring funding in the state budget to stabilize programs struggling to retain teachers and make ends meet. Legislators returned to Raleigh this week without having passed a budget earlier this year due to gridlock between Republican...

Andrew Marshall/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer At Smoky Mountain Coffee in Hazelwood, Kevin Duckett hasn’t raised the price on a cup of black coffee in thirty years. But recent developments in the java world haven’t made that easy to maintain, and items on his menu that aren’t regular old joe have definitely...

Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily The Brunswick County commissioners granted the school board’s request for a $349.6-million bond referendum, though not exactly on the timeline the school board was hoping for. Brunswick County Schools Superintendent Dale Cole appeared before the county commissioners on Monday to advocate for the bond a second...

WFAE Radio Two people were killed and 13 others were wounded in a shooting early Saturday morning in the Robeson County town of Maxton. Robeson County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to 298 Dixon Drive in Maxton around 1:15 a.m. on October 25 for a loud music violation. Before officers...

Jason Canady/CityView Commissioners on Wednesday accepted the findings of a personnel investigation that indicated a fellow board member “more likely than not” made a racially discriminatory remark stating “there are too many Blacks running” the town of Hope Mills. Commissioners held a special meeting this week to receive a general...

Jennifer Allen/Coastal Review Online The 18.8 million visitors to North Carolina’s nine National Park Service sites in 2024 injected $2.3 billion into the state’s economy, second only to California’s $3.7 billion, finds a recent report. Of that $2.3 billion statewide, around 4.7 million visitors spent $732.2 million in the communities...

April Laissle/WFDD Radio Greensboro’s two remaining mayoral candidates found common ground at a forum on Wednesday. But questions about government oversight revealed some key differences. Democratic City Council Member and current Mayor Pro Tem Marikay Abuzuaiter and former mayor, Republican Robbie Perkins, appeared to agree on several issues, including keeping...

Bob Liepa/Wilmington StarNews AJ Trelease loves his 97-year-old grandmother. That comes across when he talks about her. But he also worries about her. He said she takes over 20 medications every day. “The number one thing that worried me is is she taking it at the right time?” Trelease, founder...

The Athletic Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested Thursday as part of a federal investigation into illegal betting activities, federal law enforcement officials said during a news conference in New York. Rozier, 31, was taken into custody in Orlando, where the Heat...

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press Federal regulators have officially placed Asheville’s Mission Hospital in Immediate Jeopardy for the second straight year. The hospital now has 18 days to make things right, or else lose its Medicaid certification and the critical funding that comes along with it. Preventable patient death, unsafe...