Chantal Brown/Education NC The State Board of Community Colleges reflected at its meeting last week on the work of the previous academic year while looking toward a future without current N.C. Community College System (NCCCS) President Dr. Jeff Cox, who announced his retirement earlier this month, effective June 30, 2026....

Catherine Kozak/Coastal Review Online It was the massive scale of destruction in the North Carolina mountains after Hurricane Helene last year that spotlighted how advantageous microgrids — small independent power grids — can be to communities that have suffered disasters. After horrific flash floods from the storm that hit Sept....

Sarah Michels/Carolina Public Press When Southeast Middle School social studies teacher Eric Shock’s eighth-graders walked into class one day last semester, they noticed a piece of paper on the board. It was a bill being considered by the North Carolina General Assembly that would ban cellphones in schools. His students...

Port City Daily  The New Hanover County commissioners chose to change the process by which additional units above a zoning district’s allowance are approved, thus opening up each request to more layperson scrutiny. The commissioners voted unanimously Monday to change the process for obtaining an additional dwelling allowance from special...

Lily Levin/Smoky Mountain News Kevin Seagle, chair of the Swain County board of commissioners, has given the county his resignation effective Aug. 31, according to Swain County Sheriff Brian Kirkland. Amid rumors of his resignation that have swirled the last week, Seagle was absent from the meeting and Vice Chair...

Steve Harrison/WFAE Radio The Black Political Caucus (BPC) has endorsed political newcomer Joi Mayo in her bid to unseat embattled Charlotte City Council District 3 incumbent Tiawana Brown. Mayo narrowly edged Brown in BPC voting, 46–45. Brown questioned the result, saying one of her supporters requested a BPC ballot but...

Brighton McConnell/WCHL Chapelboro The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced the cut of roughly $500 million worth of contracts for mRNA research and vaccine development for emerging pathogens. It comes after the agency also canceled $600 million for similar vaccine development against bird flu. The moves set...

Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News The American Flood Coalition’s Recovery and Resilience Partnership is barely six months old, but it’s already helping to deliver results in the form of a $20 million mitigation grant program aimed at helping communities in Western North Carolina recover from Hurricane Helene and prepare for the...

Sarah Michels/Carolina Public Press In 2020, while their parents planned pilgrimages to the polls, Henderson County public school students from Kindergarten to 12th grade cast ballots of their own. In this civic education exercise, the youngest grades voted on whether there should be more hopscotches painted on the playground and...

Gary D. Robertson/The Associated Press Voter registration records for more than 20,000 people in North Carolina have been successfully amended thus far in an effort by election officials to add missing identification numbers. In mid-July, the State Board of Elections began formally an effort that seeks to resolve a lawsuit...

Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily No clear plan of action emerged from the Wilmington City Council’s special meeting on homelessness Monday, though service providers were able to illuminate concerns they have as the city reviewed its ordinances to target camping on its property. The meeting began with a presentation overviewing homelessness...

Michael Copley/WUNC Radio The Trump administration’s plan to undo a landmark finding that climate pollution threatens public health and welfare poses lots of risks for corporate America. The Environmental Protection Agency’s endangerment finding has served as the legal basis for federal climate regulations under the Clean Air Act since 2009....

Pat Kimbrough/The (High Point) Enterprise The City Council on Monday unanimously authorized a real estate transaction aimed at promoting the development of housing in the downtown area. The vote clears the way for the sale of 4.06 acres the city owns at the northeast corner W. English Road and N....

Rachel Crumpler/NC Health News To give more seriously ill incarcerated people the opportunity to go home before they die, North Carolina lawmakers expanded the eligibility criteria of prison medical release in 2023. But data obtained by NC Health News shows that more people aren’t getting released. Since 2008, medical release...

Andrew R. Jones/Asheville Watchdog Mission Hospital has applied to become a Level I trauma center, the highest designation a healthcare facility can receive for caring for severely injured patients, according to a state health department document obtained by Asheville Watchdog. If approved, the HCA Healthcare-owned hospital would be the only...