Anne Blythe/NC Health News A legislative proposal put forward by the state Senate that would open the door for hedge funds and private equity firms to acquire, open and operate dental practices not run by licensed dentists in North Carolina has hit a hurdle in the state House of Representatives....

The Associated Press The Green Party will remain an official party in North Carolina, able to field candidates statewide through the 2028 elections, even though their 2024 nominees for governor and president failed to get the votes required by state law. The Republican-led State Board of Elections voted 3-2 on...

Outer Banks Voice Following passage in the NC Senate last week, a bill with an amendment calling for a ban on shrimp trawling in the state’s inland waters and within a half mile of the Atlantic shoreline is expected to be voted by the House on Tuesday, June 24. The...

Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News  Finally face to face amid a simmering standoff over library governance and subjectively inappropriate material in a regional library system that’s served locals for more than 80 years, Jackson County commissioners spent nearly three hours in a joint meeting with the Fontana Regional Library Board of...

Kristen Blair/Education NC Seven charter schools have secured final approval from the state’s Charter Schools Review Board to open for the 2025-26 school year, with the CSRB clearing the new schools to open at its monthly meeting on Monday, June 9. The seven schools are members of this year’s Ready...

Nick Fogleman/The Watauga Democrat In a major shift for local emergency services, Watauga County announced that it will transition from a privately contracted ambulance provider to a fully county-operated emergency medical service. The Watauga County Board of Commissioners approved a purchase of Watauga Medics, Inc. for $1.7 million at its...

Aarik Long/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer A rockslide and flooding struck Interstate 40 when heavy rain pelted the Pigeon River Gorge on Wednesday, once again closing the interstate. The I-40 washout occurred just over the state line from Haywood County in Tennessee. Luckily, transportation officials expect a much quicker fix than the...

Jack Hagel & Paul Specht/WRAL News Dan Forest’s term as North Carolina lieutenant governor ended like an episode of “This Old House.” An architect by trade, Forest took great pride in raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in private donations to painstakingly renovate and refurnish the 140-year-old Hawkins-Hartness House, which...

Paul B. Johnson/The High Point Enterprise The announcement last week that the region has recruited the lucrative JetZero aircraft manufacturing project carries far-reaching implications beyond the borders of the development. JetZero plans a factory that itself would employ more than 14,000 workers and carry an investment of $4.7 billion over...

Lucille Sherman/Axios Raleigh North Carolina House Rules Chairman Rep. John Bell, who is also the president of a hemp manufacturing and distribution company, has been the point person in his chamber on several proposed bills making their way through the legislature that could impact his company. He also has the...

Geoff Hing/The Marshall Project Wilkes County, North Carolina, has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic, but local officials have been open to approaches for making the crisis less deadly. They recently embraced a new strategy: a recovery court offering services, treatment and the potential to avoid prison. But, just...

The Associated Press North Carolina Democratic Gov. Josh Stein vetoed his first bills on Friday, blocking for now Republican legislation that would let adults carry concealed handguns without a permit and make state agencies and local sheriffs more active in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Stein, who took office in...

Liz Schlemmer/WUNC Radio New research shows that many North Carolina private schools accepting vouchers significantly increased their tuition after the state expanded funding for the Opportunity Scholarship program. Starting this past school year, any North Carolina family could apply for a state-funded scholarship to attend a private school, regardless of...

Charlie Fossen/Port City Daily Beneath North Carolina’s vibrant blueberry fields, a hidden pest poses a long-term threat. Scientists are now working to uncover its secrets and protect the state’s valuable crops. For North Carolina’s multi-million blueberry industry, a new threat is emerging: the prionus beetle. The long-lived larvae of this...

Robert Sullivan/The Salisbury Post     On Tuesday, June 24, the political party affiliations of about 34,000 North Carolina voters registered with four parties — Constitution, Justice for All, No Labels and We the People — will be moved to unaffiliated status in the state’s voter registration database. When the 2024 general...