Rickie Houston/WilmingtonBiz The film industry in Wilmington has encountered a slowdown, and it’s uncertain when things will pick back up. While the state has its own film incentive, the slowdown has affected the number of projects being shot in the area, and more attractive incentives offered by other countries have...

Lucas Thomae/Carolina Public Press Last month, Jackson became the second county in Western North Carolina to vote to exit its library system following local controversy over books with LGBTQ+ content. The move is the latest example of public libraries in the region being turned into political battlegrounds over such issues....

Jennifer Allen/Coastal Review Online The state has the protocols in place for successful fisheries management, but North Carolina is missing the mark, recently released state-mandated research concludes. A top recommendation: Hire more fisheries scientists. And the head of the state body formed to coordinate scientific research for the legislature, in...

Frank Daniels IV/The (Southern Pines) Pilot It’s important to stay sharp through one’s years, especially if you run a knife-making company like Southern Pines-based Spartan Blades. After 30,000 blades, Curtis Iovito and Mark Carey, who founded the company in 2008 in an old mule-barn, continue to keep the company honed...

Gareth McGrath/USA Today Network Imagine featureless plains of sand extending for as far as the eye can see. Now imagine them underwater. While a simplistic visualization, that’s basically what the ocean bottom off North Carolina’s coast looks like for roughly 40 miles until it hits the deep water and canyons...

Giselle Jimenez Del-Carmen/Niner Times The Bobcat Company and UNC Charlotte’s William States Lee College of Engineering partnered to provide academic opportunities for engineering students through Bobcat’s student development program and a $200,000 scholarship fund. Bobcat is a growing company that has been seeking future engineers to expand its workforce further....

April Laissle/WFDD Radio It’s been a turbulent summer at Greensboro City Hall. Earlier this month, City Attorney Chuck Watts abruptly resigned. A day later, the State Bureau of Investigation announced plans to review the activities of a member of the city council. Now there’s talk of a separate investigation into...

Shea Carver/Port City Daily More consideration is being made on an ordinance intended to strengthen protections for homes built in a floodplain in one Brunswick County town. After Town of Leland council members heard from area constituents regarding a change to chapter 26 of its town ordinance, they tabled moving...

Will Doran/WRAL News When North Carolina legalized smokable hemp in 2018, police and prosecutors spoke frequently and clearly about their biggest fear: It would effectively legalize marijuana in North Carolina, they said, due to the fact that hemp looks and smells exactly like marijuana. Those similarities, the thinking went, would...

Sarah Michels/Carolina Public Press  North Carolina State Board of Elections Executive Director Sam Hayes is setting off on a mission to correct 103,000 North Carolinians’ voting records from which some information is missing. He maintains that the process, dubbed the Registration Repair Project, will not remove any eligible voters from...

Bradley George/WUNC Radio The RDU Airport Authority and Pacific Elm Properties will work on a plan to redevelop a 136-acre tract of land adjacent to Lake Crabtree County Park. The board that manages Raleigh-Durham International Airport has approved plans for a new development around Lake Crabtree. The RDU board announced...

Heidi Perez-Moreno/Border Belt Independent James Granger says primary care doctors shouldn’t just focus on patients’ physical health. Their mental well-being is just as important. “Being able to do both, to understand both aspects, makes sense to us in being able to send that person on their journey,” said Granger, the...

Catherine Kozak/Coastal Review Online After wrestling for years to secure timely maintenance of the Rodanthe-Stumpy Point emergency ferry channel for Hatteras Island, the Dare County Waterways Commission decided Monday that the best solution would be for the county to secure the permits to have its local dredge do the work....

John Boyle/Asheville Watchdog Ten months after Tropical Storm Helene wrought devastation on our area, a key safety feature of the North Fork Reservoir’s dam has not been replaced and likely won’t be until next year — after the end of the 2025 hurricane season. During Helene, a concrete fusegate at...

Moss Brennan/The Watauga Democrat More than 30 people filled the Watauga County Board of Education meeting room as staff members spoke out against the classified staff bus driving requirement policy and asked the BOE to reconsider it. Speakers at the July 14 meeting claimed that Policy 6301 violates ADA requirements...