Michelle Crouch/NC Health News & Charlotte Ledger If you’ve ever been hit with a slew of confusing bills after a hospital stay, had a long wait for an insurance approval or struggled to pay an unexpectedly high medical bill, you know how frustrating health care in North Carolina can be....

Peter Castagno/Port City Daily A national report called for stronger tenant protection laws after finding states with the largest concentrations of private equity apartment ownership do not sufficiently guard against exorbitant rent increases and poor maintenance practices. This includes North Carolina. Private equity firms use loans and pooled capital from...

Mebane Rash/Education NC Plans to close the U.S. Department of Education have come with repeated assurances from President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon that federal dollars will continue to flow and services to students will not be disrupted. But a first look at what’s called a “skinny budget”...

Jack Brook/The Associated Press The textile mills that once served as the backbone of Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, have long been shuttered, and officials believed federal money would be key to the town’s overdue revitalization. They hoped an improved stormwater drainage system and secured electrical wires — funded through a...

Trista Talton/Coastal Review Online Coastal towns and large homeowner associations representing beachfront properties now have the choice to install a controversial alternative to sand fencing on ocean-facing shores. The North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission last week amended a rule to allow those entities to apply for a permit to place...

Tiana Kennell/Asheville Citizen Times On April 30, Molly Hastings, an Asheville resident, purchased a dozen eggs for $7 from Sugar Hollow Farm at the River Arts District Tailgate Market. Eggs are typical farmers’ market purchases, as she prefers buying directly from farmers instead of chain grocery stores. “They taste better....

Emily Walkenhorst & Destinee Patterson/WRAL News After a hacker accessed the digital records of students worldwide, including perhaps millions in North Carolina, the company that was breached — PowerSchool — began assuring families that the exposed data was no longer at risk of ending up in the hands of other...

Sarah Michels/Carolina Public Press Western North Carolinians need bridges in more ways than one. Seven months after Tropical Storm Helene hit the region, many feel at a standstill. Federal money is in the pipeline, but may not arrive for months — or even years. State funding is coming in waves,...

Katie Dukes/Education NC “I’ve been an advocate for a long time. I love children. I love families. But at some point, your hands are tied. What can you do?” That’s what Cassandra Brooks, owner and operator of Little Believer’s Academy, says she’s been asking herself lately. She kept her small...

Nell Greenfieldboyce/WUNC Radio The Trump administration is sharpening its attacks on the National Science Foundation, the government agency that is a major funder of basic science, math and engineering, especially at colleges and universities across the United States. The latest salvo: a preliminary budget request from the White House that...

Rose Hoban/NC Health News Work on a major renovation of the State Public Health Laboratory screeched to a halt in late March when the administration of President Donald Trump notified states that the federal government was halting some $11 billion in post-pandemic aid that was scheduled to be distributed to...

Andrew Marshall/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer May 7 is the day that the TSA will start requiring a REAL ID to fly domestically. But, “we don’t call it a deadline,” said North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles Communications Director Marty Hofman. “A lot of people think that it’s mandatory and they have...

Pat Kimbrough/The High Point Enterprise High Point-based Blue Ridge Cos. has delegated part of its operations to a third party as it seeks to grow other aspects of its business. It recently hired another firm to manage the more than 10,000 apartment units across the 35 residential complexes it owns....

Scott D. Yost/Rhino Times Residents of the town of Oak Ridge showed up in force at the Guilford County Commissioners meeting on Thursday evening, May 1, to voice their strong opposition to a proposed natural gas pipeline that would cut through their community. They cited threats to safety, water quality,...

Paul Garber/WFDD Radio Four graduates of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts have been nominated for Tony Awards. Paul Tazewell is having a good run this year. In March, he became the first Black man to win an Oscar for costume design for his work on the...