Makiya Seminera/The Associated Press North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Josh Stein decided Wednesday against appealing a trial court ruling that did not go in his favor last month, securing a small victory for Republican lawmakers whom the governor was challenging. The case focused on whether Stein has the authority to choose...

Lucas Thomae/Carolina Public Press “The state is not your friend,” a local social services director told employees as she urged them not to cooperate with a NC Department of Health and Human Services probe into her agency’s child welfare operations, Carolina Public Press has learned. Surry County Department of Social...

Cheyenne McNeill/Education NC The State Board of Education’s virtual meeting on Thursday covered multiple topics, including policy amendments, a review of the Charter Schools Annual Report, and an update on cut scores for the edTPA exams. To start, the Board welcomed three new advisors: Freddie Williamson, Superintendent of the Year...

Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily The City of Wilmington’s investment portfolio, at least the portion it has direct control over, now is intended to be free of fossil fuel assets. At its Tuesday meeting, the Wilmington City Council voted 5-2 for a resolution directing the city manager — the newly appointed...

Trista Talton/Coastal Review Online When contractors began cleaning up debris from the grounds of a former wood treatment plant in Navassa last year, they expected they’d be removing old railroad ties, pieces of treated wood and tires. “We didn’t expect to see a tank there,” Ngozi Ibe said of the...

Caleb M. Soptelean/Sanford Herald The largest residential annexation in recent years in Sanford, but maybe ever, was approved 6-1 Tuesday, July 15, with Councilman Charles Taylor voting no. The Cherokee Land Co. and the Dalrymple and Moore families requested it for 470 acres east of Colon Road between Post Office...

Lisa Sorg/Inside Climate News About nine hours after Tropical Depression Chantal inundated central North Carolina last week, Jeff Mahagan’s phone woke him at 3 in the morning. The person working on call at the Hillsborough wastewater treatment plant was scared. Mahagan, the town’s deputy utilities director for water treatment, didn’t...

Will Doran/WRAL News North Carolina Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives say they voted for the new budget plan backed by President Donald Trump largely because of its large income tax cuts and ramped-up federal spending on immigration enforcement. They also said its large cut to Medicaid funding “restores...

Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily The New Hanover County Board of Education heard several options for long-needed repairs to the 104-year-old New Hanover High School last week, yet how those capital projects would be funded may be more complicated than expected. The master plan, which Port City Daily first reported about...

Adam Wagner/WFAE Radio The most recent Helene relief package included $15 million to bolster the N.C. Forest Service’s efforts to fight wildfires in western North Carolina. House Bill 1012, which Gov. Josh Stein signed into law in late June, provides the funds for wildfire assets and preparedness, as well as...

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...

Brian Mann/WUNC Radio The Trump administration has delayed and may cancel roughly $140 million in grants to fund fentanyl overdose response efforts, according to four staff members with close knowledge of the process at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The staffers shared detailed information with NPR about the...

Kate Denning/Carolina Public Press When Tammy Finch entered the Orange County charter school she co-founded to assess the damage from Tropical Depression Chantal, instead of seeing children in the halls, she saw a fish. The Expedition School was hit hard by Chantal earlier this month due to its location inside...

Paul B. Johnson/High Point Enterprise Construction crews at High Point University are nearing completion of two major projects while starting another one. Construction on the buildings for the Workman School of Dental Medicine and Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law is at least 90% complete. A grand opening ceremony for...

Jenna Fryer/The Associated Press Legacy Motor Club on Wednesday sued the broker who helped negotiate its purchase of a charter from Rick Ware Racing, accusing him of tortious interference for now trying to buy Ware’s NASCAR team. Legacy alleged in its filing in North Carolina Superior Court that T.J. Puchyr,...