Henry Taylor/WCHL Chapelboro UNC announced Monday morning it has placed Michael Lombardi, general manager for the Tar Heel football program, on paid administrative leave. The change is effective immediately. As of July 27, the university has not provided the reason behind taking this action. “As is standard procedure with personnel...

Coastal Review Online An advocacy organization created to improve transportation access to Ocracoke Island and the Outer Banks is urging state lawmakers to the North Carolina Ferry Division’s deadline to begin collecting tolls on all of its ferry routes by one year. In a July 23 email to members of...

Emma Dill/WilmingtonBiz Local transportation officials will hear an update this week on an unsolicited proposal for the replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. Delaware-based firm Delivering Bridges LLC submitted a proposal to replace the aging bridge to the N.C. Department of Transportation in February. During a meeting of the...

Aarik Long/The Waynesville Mountaineer   A bill passed overwhelmingly by the N.C. General Assembly and signed by Governor Josh Stein earlier this month legalized elk hunting in the state with a caveat. Only two permits, each for a single male elk, will be up for grabs by hunters. One will...

Sophia DePhillips/Port City Daily Ferry service to and from Bald Head Island are running on a limited schedule after shoaling at the Bald Head Island entrance channel has created unsafe conditions. Shoaling is the build-up of sand and sediment, creating shallow waters and typically occurs on the island two to...

Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be reopening a for-profit prison in Winton, North Carolina, as one of the largest immigrant detention facilities on the East Coast, according to reports from the New York Times. The report cited internal ICE documents showing plans for a mass detention...

Alan Wooten/The Center Square  Carolina and Virginia Tech have succeeded Ivy League institutions War Department Secretary Pete Hegseth says are “woke breeding grounds of toxic indoctrination” in being chosen for a fellowship program for senior military officers. The 10-month professional military education program, known as the Senior Service College Fellowship,...

Ted Clifford/Asheville Watchdog A report from the independent monitor tasked with supervising Mission Hospital has found two areas of “potential noncompliance” with the agreement HCA Healthcare signed when buying the hospital in 2019. The potential violations were a warning from federal regulators in October 2025 that Mission stood to lose...

Lily Levin/Smoky Mountain News Nearly all counties in The Smoky Mountain News coverage area have fewer childcare facilities than just several years prior, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Haywood and Swain counties experienced a 10-19% net decline between July 2024 and January 2026. For Macon,...

Steve Harrison/WFAE Radio North Carolina Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson told community leaders last week that Interstate 77 toll lanes could provide more community benefits to west Charlotte, so long as local governments reverse an earlier decision and back the project. One possible community benefit would be two new grocery stores...

Cece Nunn/WilmingtonBiz Three of the defendants in a lawsuit filed by a Wilmington-based luxury homebuilder are seeking a motion to dismiss the case, according to court filings entered this week. In June, attorneys for Mark Batson, owner of Tongue & Groove, filed a complaint in New Hanover County Superior Court...

Paul Specht/WRAL News The state government is taking over a program designed to protect North Carolinians from people charged with sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking and other offenses. The $34 billion state budget, signed into law July 7, eliminates the North Carolina Criminal Justice Information Network, or CJIN, a quasi-governmental...

Kate Denning/Carolina Public Press The University of North Carolina System Board of Governors approved UNC-Chapel Hill’s plan to offer a Bachelor of Social Work degree during its meeting Thursday. The degree expands UNC’s School of Social Work, which currently offers master’s and Ph.D. programs. UNC System leaders hope it will...

Claudia Zamora/CityView Covered in mud, climbing obstacles, crawling across unforgiving terrain, and pushing her body through exhaustion while protecting the life growing inside her, Yeniz Parton was not simply participating in a Spartan Race. Without necessarily intending to, she was quietly challenging many of the traditional ideas surrounding age, illness,...

Will Atwater/NC Health News & WUNC News At Olive Chapel Elementary in Apex, students are learning that what they leave on their lunch trays can help feed someone else. Since joining SHARE — Stop Hunger and Restore Earth — in 2025, the Wake County public school has turned food waste...