Nick Fogleman/The Watauga Democrat The Blowing Rock Town Council has tabled a proposed rezoning and redevelopment project for further discussion following concerns over building height, aesthetics and overall community impact. Chris Barefoot of Oak Hill Management presented plans to redevelop the Shoppes on the Parkway property into a mixed-use residential...

WRAL News Brad Briner left a career in high finance to pursue one of the highest-pressure roles in North Carolina government: state treasurer. The treasurer’s department is responsible for managing one of the biggest pension plans in the nation, as well as overseeing health benefits for hundreds of thousands of...

MacKenzie Sigalos/CNBC Bo Hines has no professional background in crypto. He earned his law degree three years ago from Wake Forest. He’s twice unsuccessfully run for Congress in North Carolina. Now the 29-year-old former football player is wrapping up his second month as one of the leaders of President Donald...

Cristina Bolling/Charlotte Ledger For years leading up to 2023, the financial situation at the Aldersgate retirement community in east Charlotte was quietly deteriorating, and neither state regulators nor residents grasped the magnitude of what was happening. Entrance fee refunds that were due to former residents or their estates were going...

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press Last year was an all-time low in the history of North Carolina farming, thanks to drought and flood. Farmers are desperate to catch a break in 2025. But just as planting season begins, large swaths of the state are still plagued by dry conditions. At...

Aaron Sánchez-Guerra/WUNC Radio North Carolina is home to more than half a million people of Mexican origin, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. The Consulate of Mexico in Raleigh is tasked with serving thousands of them annually across the Carolinas and surrounding states. WUNC sat down with Roberto Burgos, the...

Christopher Milller/The (Concord) Independent Tribune As Cabarrus County continues to see its population increase — it is among the fastest growing counties in the state — so too does Concord-Padgett Regional Airport. Just in the past year, the airport, located at 7435 Zephyr Place NW, Concord, formed a partnership with...

Ben Humphries/EducationNC At a press conference on Wednesday, lawmakers and advocates unveiled a bill to restrict youth vaping in North Carolina. The bill would raise the minimum age to buy tobacco in North Carolina from 18 to 21. Federally, the required age has been 21 since 2019. It would also...

Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily Amid commissioner budget discussions on Thursday, county manager Chris Coudriet confirmed progress on the Northside Food Co-op’s grocery store, planned for 10th and Post streets, has been halted at least temporarily. After a question about a hold on the store from Chair Bill Rivenbark, Coudriet told...

Kathy N. Ross/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Almost six months after Hurricane Helene, work will soon begin to start removing flood debris from the Pigeon River. The first phase will focus on removing debris that could pose a hazard to public structures, particularly bridges. An initial 22 sites have been identified, all...

Alice Scott/The Daily Tar Heel The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, Emancipate North Carolina and Muslim Advocates filed a lawsuit against UNC last week, accusing the University of violating the rights of the students and non-students involved in the pro-Palestine encampment on campus last spring. “We hope that...

Matthew Daly/The Associated Press The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research office and could fire more than 1,000 scientists and other employees who help provide the scientific foundation for rules safeguarding human health and ecosystems from environmental pollutants. As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other...

Ahmed Jallow/NC Newsline When 17-year-old Leon Gu died by suicide in 2020, his parents were shocked to learn they had been in the dark about an academic integrity issue he was facing at Wake Tech Community College, where he was dually enrolled. Dual enrollment allows high school students to take...

Anna Pogarcic/Education NC After the State Health Plan’s Board of Trustees voted to allow salary-based premiums earlier this year, Board members recently began discussing what possible changes to the plan could look like. According to the Board, the State Health Plan is facing a $507 million deficit that could grow...

Grace Vitaglione/NC Health News Rob Crane watched his father struggle with lung cancer for months before he died in his mid-60s. It was “really horrendous,” Crane said. As a doctor specializing in family medicine, Crane was inspired by that experience to start raising awareness about the effects of tobacco addiction....