WSOC News Fishermen Luke Beard and Jason Rosenfeld caught and released a shark Tuesday off the coast of Cape Hatteras on Tuesday. “The biggest priority is keeping the fish safe and get a good release on all fish that we catch,” Beard said. “I was about in tears after we...

Business North Carolina The UNC System Board of Governors approved Kevin Howell as chancellor at NC State University, confirming media reports from last week. Howell will succeed Chancellor Randy Woodson, who is retiring this summer after 15 years leading the Raleigh university. Howell has worked at NC State and the...

Greg Childress/NC Newsline North Carolina’s property tax homestead exclusion for disabled veterans would increase from $45,000 to $61,000 under a bill approved Tuesday in the House Homeland Security and Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. Currently, the first $45,000 of a disabled veterans’ assessed value of a permanent residence is exempt...

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press Financial pressures on rural hospitals keep some North Carolina facilities from adequately serving pregnant women, new mothers and babies, but that isn’t the full picture. Workforce shortages and demographic shifts — coupled with a lack of regulatory requirements and policy support — compound the problem,...

Jennifer Fernandez/NC Health News Dr. Bim Akintade, dean of the East Carolina University College of Nursing (left) poses for a photo with nurse practitioner Ivy Bagley. Bagley was one of about 20 people who graduated in December 2024 from the university’s psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program. Credit: Courtesy of...

Bradley George/WUNC Radio North Carolina’s largest county used to conduct property valuations every four years, but that’s changing after a vote from Wake County commissioners on Monday. The next revaluation will take place in 2027, three years after the previous one. Starting in 2029, the county will move to a...

Nick de la Canal/WFAE Radio The Union County Commission voted unanimously Monday night to ban events from county parks that are judged “obscene,” “sexualized,” or “not suitable for young children.” Commissioners approved the changes with no discussion. Commission Chair Melissa Merrell and other commissioners did not immediately respond to requests...

Todd Miller/Coastal Review Online Dr. Donald E. Ensley, an accomplished public health educator, environmental champion, and steadfast advocate for North Carolina’s coastal communities, is in hospice care, preparing to leave behind a legacy that will forever shape the places and people he touched. Born and raised in rural Belhaven, Don’s...

Pat Kimbrough/The High Point Enterprise Motorists should expect to see more small rubber tubes across High Point streets in the coming months. The devices are being used by the N.C. Department of Transportation to collect traffic counts that are used for a variety of planning purposes. The counters were recently...

Andrew Marshall/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer It was an icy mid-winter day when 73-year-old Ann Houghton parked her Subaru Outback at the Smokemont campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, shouldered her pack, and tramped into the woods one Tuesday afternoon in late January. Five days later, search-and-rescue workers found Houghton’s...

Joe Bruno/WSOC News A partner who worked with former Carolina Panthers linebacker Shaq Thompson is accused of embezzling more than half a million dollars from Thompson’s business, Channel 9 confirmed on Tuesday. Shaquille Dixon is facing a lawsuit in Mecklenburg County for embezzling more than $500,000 from a company. This...

Mebane Rash/EducationNC Education Week recently released its Teacher Morale Index, which helps us understand how teachers in North Carolina and across the United States feel about their profession. What matters to our teachers? Pay, of course, but also acknowledgment of hard work and successes, more school counselors and support for...

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press Rural hospitals could be putting pregnant women and babies at risk by slashing labor and delivery services across North Carolina. Natasha Fuller delivered her two children at Charles A. Cannon Memorial Hospital in remote and mountainous Avery County in 2011 and 2014. Now, she works...

Rose Hoban/NC Health News After tens of millions of dollars and nearly a decade of false starts, the state Department of Health and Human Services is finally poised to roll out caseload software designed to assess and track children monitored by the state’s child welfare system. The April rollout will...

Scott D. Yost/Rhino Times Former Summerfield Town Manager Scott Whitaker and former Finance Director Dee Hall have lawyered up and appear ready to take legal action in response to what they claim are false allegations made against them by former North Carolina State Auditor Beth Wood and some members of...