Jennifer Fernandez/NC Health News The second time appears to be the charm when it comes to North Carolina building a statewide system to assess and track children in its child welfare system. The Partnership and Technology Hub, or PATH NC, launched in 15 counties on June 2 and has been...

WRAL News North Carolina lawmakers approved sweeping foster-care reforms Wednesday, sending a comprehensive bipartisan bill to Gov. Josh Stein. House Bill 612, which sponsors call the Fostering Care in NC Act, would give the state more power to hold county-run social services departments accountable. House lawmakers on Wednesday unanimously approved...

Brighton McConnell/WCHL Chapelboro Exactly 13 months ago, Hope Renovations in Carrboro was hosting a special guest: the acting U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Julie Su. She visited the award-winning nonprofit to see firsthand the efforts being supported by a $713,000 grant from her office’s Women in Apprenticeships and Non-Traditional Occupations...

Hendersonville Lightning The state is accepting applications for a new program to repair or rebuild homes in Western North Carolina that were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Helene, Gov. Josh Stein announced on Monday. The program is the first of a series of recovery initiatives to be offered by the...

Adam Wagner/NC Newsroom Governments across North Carolina are set to receive about $145 million from OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma and its former owners as part of a nationwide settlement that was signed Monday. “We’re now up to $1.6 billion that will be coming to North Carolina. The vast majority of...

Paul Woolverton/CityView Explosive targets are now prohibited at outdoor gun ranges in Cumberland County. The county Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 on Monday to pass the ban. The vote was a win for board Chair Kirk deViere, who spearheaded the ordinance that had previously failed twice to win enough votes...

Steve Harrison/WFAE Radio When Mecklenburg County signed a contract with The Peebles Corporation to redevelop the former Brooklyn neighborhood, the firm and its founder were making headlines for lawsuits and delayed projects. Michael Swerdlow is one of Florida’s biggest developers. Now in his early 80s, he’s been building across the...

Jaymie Baxley/NC Health News A federal proposal to impose a work requirement on Medicaid recipients could have far-reaching consequences for North Carolinians who rely on the government-funded health insurance program. The Republican-backed measure in Congress, which was part of the budget reconciliation bill passed last month by the U.S. House...

Colin Campbell/WUNC Radio Legislation to expand fireworks sales in North Carolina fizzled out in a state House committee Tuesday, potentially dooming the latest effort to allow bigger explosives here. North Carolina limits the sale of fireworks to smaller devices like sparklers. Larger fireworks that shoot into the air aren’t legal,...

Bill Moss/Hendersonville Lightning The decades long conflict between the city and county over utility extensions, annexation and high-density development may have come to an end on Monday with decisions by the two governing boards to endorse a compromise in the state Legislature. The Henderson County Board of Commissioners and the...

Mallory Shelbourne/USNI News President Donald Trump tapped Adm. Daryl Caudle to serve as the next chief of naval operations, nearly four months after the removal of Adm. Lisa Franchetti. The Senate Armed Services Committee received the nomination Tuesday, according to a Congressional notification. Caudle, who is currently the head of...

Dave Levinthal/Fortune Rep. Tim Moore (R-N.C.) appears to have missed a required disclosure deadline under a federal transparency law, failing to properly disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of personal stock purchases he made immediately before or after President Donald Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariff declaration, according to...

David A. Lieb/The Associated Press Louisiana is poised to hike taxes on sports betting to pump more than $24 million into athletic departments at the state’s most prominent public universities. Legislation pending before Gov. Jeff Landry would make Louisiana the first state to raise taxes to fund college sports since...

John Staton/Wilmington StarNews A gritty, soapy thriller of a TV series whose locations showcase Wilmington will soon be seen by viewers worldwide. “The Waterfront,” which shot in and around Wilmington and Southport in 2024, will drop all eight episodes of its first season on Netflix at 3 a.m. Thursday, June...

Paul B. Johnson/The High Point Enterprise An initiative launched nine months ago to increase pay for Guilford County Sheriff’s Office deputies and detention officers to boost recruitment to fill job vacancies hasn’t worked out as county officials hoped. Now county leaders are facing a nearly $4 million funding gap nearing...