Jonathan Bym/The (Southern Pines) Pilot Paul Ross was tired of his weekly cross-country commute for work, so he’s moving his gun manufacturing company closer to where he lives. Ross, who lives in Moore County and runs his Carthage Cattle Co. with his wife, also is president of OA Defense, which...

Brianna Atkinson/WUNC Radio The North Carolina Senate’s proposal for the upcoming biennial state budget includes more than $180 million in cuts to the state’s public universities. The reductions could impact several higher education initiatives, ranging from tuition and academic centers to scholarship programs. One proposal, a $9.5 million cut to...

Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily The focus of conversation surrounding the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge has largely taken place on the Wilmington side of the platform, though it shifted west earlier this week as Leland Town Council received an update on progress. Trevor Carroll, North Carolina Department of Transportation Division 3...

Rebecca Pifer/Healthcare Dive There’s still significant support in Congress for overhauling the pharmacy benefit manager industry, after reforms almost made it across the finish line late last year but died at the 11th hour, lawmakers said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. “Americans are fed up… they’re eager...

Mark Hibbs/Coastal Review Online The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, speaking Wednesday during a Senate budget hearing in Washington, D.C., dismissed reports that the agency was weakening standards on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also called “forever chemicals.” During questioning by the chair and ranking member, respectively, Sens. Lisa Murkowski,...

Colin Campbell/WUNC Radio While the legal battle over last year’s N.C. Supreme Court election is now settled, it’s not the last unresolved election contest remaining in North Carolina. A legal dispute over the 2023 election for mayor of the Robeson County town of Pembroke is still dragging on, heading now...

Brian Murphy & Shaun Gallagher/WRAL News Nina King spent the second half of Duke University’s most important men’s basketball game of the season huddled in the Alamodome concourse. As the top-ranked Blue Devils tried to hold off Houston for a spot in the NCAA Tournament national title game, King —...

Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News  On May 2, 2024, a brief, awkward moment inside a women’s restroom at Western Carolina University was recorded, uploaded to social media and sparked a flashpoint in America’s ongoing culture wars. At the center of the encounter was Payton McNabb, a former high school athlete and...

John Boyle/Asheville Watchdog While you might not be wowed by the frequent flotillas of brightly colored tubes drifting down the French Broad River this summer, the river will be plenty busy with recreational users. Tropical Storm Helene’s raging flood waters did a number on the river, and particularly on its...

Brighton McConnell/WCHL Chapelboro Horace Johnson, a longtime elected official who became the first Black mayor of the Town of Hillsborough, died Thursday. He was 95 years old, having celebrated his birthday just days before. The town government shared the news of the six-term mayor’s death Friday night in a release....

Nick Fogleman/Watauga Democrat  Local leaders and business owners are raising alarms over a planned closure of the Blue Ridge Parkway between Blowing Rock and Linville later this year. They cite potential devastating economic impacts and urge the National Park Service to reconsider the project’s timing. Jesse Pope, President and CEO...

Colin Campbell & Mary Helen Moore/WUNC Radio The N.C. House began releasing its budget proposal Thursday, and Republicans are planning cuts in what’s expected to be a tight budget year. Lawmakers got their first look at parts of the spending plan during a series of subcommittee meetings. The full budget...

Hannah Vinueza McClellan/Education NC The North Carolina Republican-led Senate unveiled its 2025-27 budget proposal on Monday night, calling for pay raises for teachers and most state employees and additional funds for Hurricane Helene recovery, among other things. Most state employees would receive an across-the-board raise of 1.25% in FY 2025-26,...

Sarah Michels/Carolina Public Press In 2021, after months of tough negotiations over clean energy policies, North Carolina lawmakers, Gov. Roy Cooper and public energy utilities made a commitment: by 2050, North Carolina’s largest electric generating facilities would reach carbon neutrality. By then, facilities would offset each ton of carbon dioxide...

Tyler Davis/The (Henderson) Daily Dispatch Monday morning, Henderson city council members received word of a complaint made by a city employee as well as the results of an employee survey administered by the city’s human resources department. Though they didn’t discuss specifics at the regular meeting that afternoon, it would...