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...

Matt Lamb/The (Southern Pines) Pilot A series of fights at Crain’s Creek Middle School toward the end of last school year spurred a discussion at the Board of Education’s most recent business meeting, along with a subsequent statement from the board’s chair addressing the issue. Meant to assuage concerns regarding...

WUNC Radio The homes are on G.A. Kohler Court in Rodanthe — the same stretch where several homes have collapsed into the ocean in recent years. Rodanthe has lost more than a dozen homes to the Atlantic since 2020, including six in 2024 alone. Officials with Cape Hatteras National Seashore...

Taylor Knopf/NC Health News Just days before Christmas 2024, a group of female teen patients broke into the nurse’s station and medication room at a psychiatric hospital in Raleigh, where they tore down parts of the ceiling, hurled objects at staff, damaged equipment and used syringes as weapons. Several police...

Jack Evans/Asheville Watchdog The University of North Carolina Asheville will halt negotiations on its plans, announced just two months ago, to build a soccer stadium and surrounding development on campus, the school announced Thursday. Instead, UNCA said, it will form a commission to take public input and consider other ideas...

WSOC News Another chief deputy has resigned from the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office, less than a year after the previous chief deputy quit over disagreements with Sheriff Garry McFadden. Channel 9 obtained a resignation letter submitted by MCSO Chief Deputy Christopher Allen dated on Monday. Allen wrote to McFadden, “After...