Gerard Albert III/Blue Ridge Public Radio Western North Carolina is witnessing a “remarkable” natural event this spring as thousands of cicadas emerge from a 17-year stint underground. With a buzz that is louder than a lawnmower, these cicadas have been waiting almost two decades to surface. And, despite a Bob...

Nathaniel Weixel/The Hill The Medicaid portion of the House GOP’s massive domestic policy bill would result in 10.3 million people losing Medicaid coverage by 2034 and 7.6 million people going uninsured, according to a partial (CBO) Congressional Budget Office estimate. Republicans released the estimates just ahead of the start of...

Amudalat Ajasa/The Washington Post The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it plans to rescind and reconsider limits on four “forever chemicals” under a landmark drinking water standard implemented last year by President Joe Biden. The drinking water rules were adopted as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to limit...

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press This was once a quaint, coastal town, all cobblestone and sand dunes. When Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo graduated from high school in 1978, the vast majority of the graduating class hightailed it out of here as fast as they could. There were no jobs and...

Zachery Eanes/Axios Raleigh For the second time in two years, the North Carolina House has voted to require insurance companies to cover supplemental breast cancer exams — but it remains to be seen whether the bill will make it through the Senate. Why it matters: For many women with dense...

Michelle Crouch/NC Health News & Charlotte Ledger The total compensation of Atrium Health’s top executives soared by an average of 41 percent last year, according to newly released data from the hospital system, but information about the salary of Eugene Woods, CEO of Atrium parent Advocate Health, was not included...

Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News  Henderson County Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards’ repeated failures on economic policy, entitlement programs and Hurricane Helene recovery have left him vulnerable, according to a slew of Democrats who are now competing for the right to run against him in 2026. Last week, The Smoky Mountain News...

Sally Kestin/Asheville Watchdog Mission Hospital’s corporate owner, HCA Healthcare, reported revenue of $18 billion in the first quarter of the year, up $1 billion from the same period last year. Net income, or profit, was also up —  $1.61 billion compared to $1.591 billion in the first quarter of 2024....

Brighton McConnell/WCHL Chapelboro The award-winning founder of a nationally-celebrated Chapel Hill-Carrboro nonprofit vowed to “fight” against the recent termination of the organization’s federal grant funding over its equity goals. Hope Renovations — which offers pre-apprenticeship trade training to women and underemployed demographics to grow the workforce — shared a newsletter...

Outer Banks Voice In a letter dated May 13 and addressed to key state legislators, the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce formally joined the chorus of local opposition to a proposal to toll ferry routes. Here is the letter Dear Senators, The Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce represents over 800...

David Ford/WFDD Radio Following President Donald Trump’s calls to do away with the National Endowment for the Arts, hundreds of organizations across the country began receiving emails saying their grants had been terminated. The dismantling of the NEA is having a large impact across North Carolina and here in the...

Ben Humphries/Education NC A new analysis forecasts the number of students enrolled in North Carolina public schools could drop over the next five years. The analysis comes from Carolina Demography, a nonpartisan team out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Nathan Dollar, the director of Carolina Demography,...

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press Over the last decade, 10 hospitals have eliminated maternity care in North Carolina. Just one has added it: UNC Health Chatham in Siler City. The Chatham County center serves as a rare counterexample to the wave of rural maternity closures across the state. That’s where...

Jaymie Baxley/NC Health News North Carolina health officials are warning that one of the many proposals being floated in Congress to shrink a key Medicaid funding mechanism could devastate hospitals and nursing homes across the state — cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from a system already straining to meet...

Rylee Wilson/Becker’s Payer Issues Insurers are employing different strategies to manage the high cost of GLP-1 drugs. In May, CVS Health announced a partnership with Wegovy manufacturer Novo Nordisk. CVS Caremark will use Wegovy as the preferred GLP-1 medication for its largest commercial formulary. Beginning July 1, CVS Caremark will...