Chantal Brown/EducationNC An annual report found that about one in five teaching position vacancies in North Carolina were in Exceptional Children’s (EC) departments across the state during the 2023-24 school year. Every spring, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) releases the State of the Teaching Profession report for review by...

Kyle Perrotti/Smoky Mountain News Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran has been charged with several crimes after allegedly soliciting two women for sexual acts and is now suspended from office. Cochran, who was first elected to office in 2006, was charged on June 27 with one count of sexual battery, soliciting...

Aarik Long/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Haywood County School’s elected leaders are deep into a hard look at the system’s buildings and facilities, and that means a lot of ideas are being tossed up for discussion, from combining high schools to closing a middle school to bringing the football stadiums on campus....

Trista Talton/Coastal Review Online Aligning North Carolina’s wetlands definition with that of the federal government’s would put the state’s waterways at risk, erase nature’s pollution filtration systems from the land, and increase flooding, speakers at a public hearing said. More than a dozen people commented during the Thursday night hearing...

Emma Kate Williams/Niner Times The Charlotte Ballet lost a $15,000 grant that would have supported the ballet’s Reach program, which provides need-based dance scholarships to students who demonstrate potential for dance training. According to the Associated Press, dozens of arts organizations around the United States have received notifications that grants...

Elena Marsh/The (Southern Pines) Pilot Following weather-related damage last fall that significantly set back rebuilding efforts, the owners of Woodlake Country Club say construction work has now resumed on a new dam that will allow the development to refill its central water feature, Lake Surf. In an update sent last...

Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News In a move more than a half-century in the making, the Town of Canton has announced the pending purchase of a key parcel of land where it plans to construct a new, state-of-the-art flood-proof wastewater treatment plant — ending a long chapter of dependence on a...

Ben Jacobs/Politico President Donald Trump said he would explore backing a primary challenger to two-term Sen. Thom Tillis Saturday — just hours after the North Carolina Republican voted against advancing the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agena. Trump berated Tillis in mutiple Truth Social posts, saying he was making a “big...

Liz Bell/Education NC State lawmakers passed legislation this week to change child care regulations with a stated goal of expanding child care access by reducing costs for providers. The bill heads to the governor for his signature. “Most of these provisions allow for flexibilities and reforms that are aimed at...

Lucas Thomae/Carolina Public Press A recent federal policy brief on North Carolina’s past child welfare reform efforts didn’t mince words: “Children in North Carolina suffer the consequences of an inadequate child welfare system.” But a sweeping bill that Gov. Josh Stein signed Thursday after unanimous passage last week by the...

Kelly Kenoyer/WHQR A sign inside the space that Vigilant Hope uses behind the Lake Forest Baptist Church. Vigilant Hope along with many other faith-based organizations provide a wide variety of services including meals, laundry services, and free mobile showers. Saturday marks the one-year anniversary for the Supreme Court’s landmark Grants...

Colin Campbell/WUNC Radio The state legislature gave final approval this week to three different bills to ban diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programs. One bill would put the prohibition in state government agencies. Another would ban DEI at public universities and community colleges. And the third would impact K-12...

Sophia Walsh/Port City Daily Brunswick County’s fastest-growing town is poised to expand development rules in its most vulnerable areas — a move that could reshape how and where homes are built across thousands of acres. Following a unanimous approval that was made by the Leland planning board on Tuesday, June...

Pat Kimbrough/The High Point Enterprise Plans to redevelop a former High Point retirement center property have been slowed by high construction costs, contractor disputes and vandalism at the site. John Hannon, whose company owns the long-vacant high-rise portion of the old Presbyterian Home at 2911 Jamestown Parkway (formerly Greensboro Road),...

Andrew Marshall/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer The crucial thoroughfare of Interstate 40 through the gorge between Tennessee and North Carolina has re-opened. North Carolina Department of Transportation workers moved barricades blocking the ramp getting on the interstate at Exit 20 just after noon on Friday. Currently, one lane is open in each...