Alan Wooten/The Center Square As 2024 closes, prices for a gallon of unleaded fuel in North Carolina are more than a dime lower than a year ago and continue to hover at about 20 cents better than the national average as they have all year. The motor fuels tax falls...

Jaymie Baxley/NC Health News After three eventful years, Kody Kinsley is stepping down from his role as North Carolina’s top health official. The New Hanover native’s relatively short run as secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services was marked by several achievements that will likely be felt...

Felicia Sonmez/WFAE Radio The former Pactiv Evergreen paper mill in Canton has been shut for more than a year and a half. With several lawsuits underway, the site’s future remains in limbo — and so does the status of Canton’s wastewater treatment. For years, Pactiv Evergreen was a fixture in...

Alexa Wandersee/Port City Daily Three deputies from the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office are being sued for seizing thousands of dollars of hemp products and ransacking vape shops, after a controversial operation led to shops being raided statewide. Roughly 100 vape shops were part of Operation Vapor Trail, with 71 in...

Summer Stevens/The Coastland Times On December 11, state lawmakers enacted Senate Bill 382, a bill that provides disaster relief funds to Western North Carolina. However, tacked onto the last two pages of the 132-page bill is an alarming provision for local municipalities on the Outer Banks. The provision, entitled, “No...

John Boyle/Asheville Watchdog Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers: Question: My question is related to the waterways around western North Carolina and their health. I live near the Swannanoa River. The past few weeks the river has been a blue/green color. It’s almost glacial looking....

Kyle Perrotti/Smoky Mountain News Last Friday wasn’t Mark Beam’s first time facing a judge at the defendant’s table in Haywood County District Court, but it seems like it may have been the last. Beam’s defense attorney, Jake Phelps, stood to address District Court Judge Monica Leslie. Phelps’ voice wavered as...

Frank Daniels IV/The (Southern Pines) Pilot Apartments under construction along the north side of Morganton Road in Southern Pines show visible progress, but it will be over a year before the development is ready for tenants. Elam Hall, business managing director for builder D.R. Horton’s Carolinas region, estimates that what...

Moss Brennan/The Watauga Democrat Nearly three months after it was severely damaged by Hurricane Helene’s flooding, the Boone Walmart has reopened with major renovations and updates. The store currently offers all general merchandise and dry grocery items. The bakery, deli, dairy and refrigerated sections will open in mid-February. Store manager...

Sarah Gleason/Wilmington StarNews For North Carolinians, a new year means a few new laws, and provisions within them, that are changing. In the Tar Heel State, bills go into effect throughout the entire year, with a few of the most recent legislative session’s most controversial legislation taking effect in early...

Greg Barnes/CityView The day Errol Jarman became Spring Lake’s interim police chief in April, his officers told him that the most violent property in town was the Plush Sports Bar, a squat, black-and-gray box with tall tinted windows near the intersection of N.C. 210 and Bragg Boulevard. Today, the property...

Santiago Ochoa/WFDD Radio Three months after Tropical Storm Helene tore through North Carolina, the federal government has committed half a billion dollars toward individual assistance — but the process of getting that relief is proving to be long and lacking for some. Max Gibbons works for Pisgah Legal Services. He’s...

Shaun Gallagher/WRAL News Cleanup at Duke University Hospital entered its second day Saturday after a burst pipe flooded the hospital’s emergency department a day earlier. The hospital sent WRAL News photos of the cleanup, which showed a gray cleaning liquid on the floor, which the hospital said was safe –...

Jessica Wakeman/NC Health News Three weeks after Helene hit western North Carolina, Marcia Whitney thought she was close to a breakthrough. The president of Verner Center for Early Learning was desperate to reopen and help their families and children return to at least some of their routines. Through her involvement...

Julian Berger/WFAE Radio Gabriel Esparza, who resides in Charlotte, will become North Carolina’s first Latino Cabinet member when he’s sworn in with Gov.-elect Josh Stein on Jan. 11. Stein selected Esparza earlier in December to lead the Department of Administration, which oversees state government operations. He spoke with WFAE about...