Zachery Eanes/Axios Raleigh Estella Patterson, Raleigh’s outgoing police chief, says she believes she will have successfully brought the Raleigh Police Department back to full strength by this summer. Why it matters: Like many police departments across the country, RPD has been plagued by a large number of unfilled positions since...

Catherine Muccigrosso/The Charlotte Observer A Formula 1 racing team wants to expand its operations to the center of NASCAR country in Concord, spend up to $85 million and create up to 350 jobs. Not to be outdone, a NASCAR team also is plotting an expansion for a new manufacturing building...

Sammy Fretwell/The (Palmetto) State In a push to help South Carolina meet future energy needs, the state House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a comprehensive bill intended to make building power plants easier by limiting some government restrictions on new projects. The complex bill, which advances efforts to build a...

Kristen Blair/Education NC The North Carolina Charter Schools Review Board (CSRB) approved renewals for four public charter schools at its virtual meeting on Monday, Feb. 10. The CSRB delayed its vote on a fifth charter renewal until March, in order to hear from school leaders about financial management issues outlined...

Brighton McConnell/WCHL Chapelboro A partnership between the Town of Chapel Hill and the UNC Health system is officially ready to help boost local affordable housing efforts. In a release Thursday afternoon, the local government announced its Affordable Housing Loan Fund with the healthcare system and Self-Help Ventures Fund is launching...

Nick Fogleman/The Watauga Democrat In December, a group of Amish volunteers from Pennsylvania partnered with local organizers in Boone to construct tiny homes for individuals displaced by Hurricane Helene. Now, weeks after their construction, the homes have been successfully delivered to communities in need, marking another success in a grassroots...

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan/The (Raleigh) News & Observer A local sheriff from his district is challenging the most powerful Republican lawmaker in North Carolina. Senate leader Phil Berger, who lives in Eden, will have a primary opponent in the 2026 election if he decides to run for reelection. Rockingham County Sheriff...

Rylee Wilson/Becker’s Payer Issues CVS Health’s new executives are working “tirelessly” to improve margins in the company’s insurance business, CFO Tom Cowhey told investors. The company reported its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings for 2024 Feb. 12. CVS Health reported $4.6 billion in net income in 2024, down from $8.4 billion...

Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News Nearly $6 million in taxpayer money will be coming back to Haywood County after Attorney General Jeff Jackson and Gov. Josh Stein announced that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit alleging that Pactiv Evergreen had violated the terms of a decade-old economic development grant...

Laura Hackett/Blue Ridge Public Radio On Tuesday, the Asheville City Council ousted the local housing authority’s chair and vice-chair after Mayor Esther Manheimer changed her mind about using unilateral authority to remove several board members. Council members voted unanimously to eliminate two seats on the Housing Authority of the City...

Hannah Vinueza McClellan/Education NC The State Board of Education voted to approve its joint 2025 legislative agenda with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction (DPI) last Thursday, calling among other things for higher teacher pay, additional aid for schools in western North Carolina impacted by Hurricane Helene, and for a...

Ayana Archie/WUNC Radio Major retailers across the country have begun limiting the number of cartons of eggs shoppers can buy, as prices continue to climb amid a decimated chicken supply. At Trader Joe’s, customers can only buy one or two dozen a day. The limit is in effect at all...

Zachary Turner/WFAE Radio The Environmental Protection Agency froze Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds two weeks ago. Those funds are still frozen, though Politico reports some grant recipients have been able to access funds since the federal agency implemented the order. The Inflation Reduction Act funded the $7...

Keaton Eberly/CBS 17 News A nonprofit research institute based out of Research Triangle Park is laying off hundreds of workers across the U.S. Research Triangle Institute (RTI) announced “temporary layoffs” for 226 staff members, including 61 workers in North Carolina, due to “the ongoing pause on U.S. foreign assistance,” according...

The Washington Post Airline pilots received more than 100 cockpit warnings over the past decade that they were in danger of a midair collision with a helicopter near Reagan National Airport, according to flight-tracking and government incident data, a record of repeated risks compiled by air traffic controllers before the...