Peter Castagno/Port City Daily Two regulatory agencies face a hearing in a lawsuit over coastal protection policies representing a broader power struggle between the state’s legislative and executive branches. A recent bill would advantage a General Assembly-appointed body that has repeatedly blocked executive actions. The Coastal Resources Commission is a...

Ananya Cox/The Daily Tar Heel Wednesday marked the end of classes for UNC students, and the end of the first full semester led by Chancellor Lee Roberts. University Editor Ananya Cox sat down with Roberts to talk about the unprecedented year, including changes to admissions and criticism from different members...

Will Atwater/NC Health News People use single-use plastics multiple times every day — shopping bags, fast-food containers, disposable forks and spoons, sandwich wrappers and countless other items. Given the abundance of these items, it’s not a surprise to find increasing amounts of plastic debris in the environment. However, a recent...

Morgan Sweeney/The Center Square  U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Ted Budd, R-N.C., have introduced legislation that would help incentivize landowners to sell to the Department of Defense for its Readiness and Environment Protection Integration Program. The Incentivizing REPI Sales Act would “exclude the appreciated land value from federal capital...

Gilat Melamed/CBS 17 News A Wake County principal is letting parents know artificial intelligence is becoming a problem at his school. Wakefield High School Principal Malik Bazzell sent parents a letter saying the school is seeing an increase in students using AI on assignments. Some students are handing in assignments...

Deirdra Funcheon/Hendersonville Times-News For one day only visitors can access the village of Chimney Rock to see how it has been recovering from Tropical Storm Helene and patronize local shops. “A Christmas Event for Chimney Rock Village” will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14. During Tropical...

Vicki Hyatt/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Haywood residents who took a chance on investing in Pactiv Evergreen when it went public in 2020 can cash out at a significant profit, as the company is about to be sold. Pactiv Evergreen will be acquired by Apollo Global Management’s Novolex for $3.2 billion, according...

John Boyle/Asheville Watchdog Asheville’s Water Resources Department announced Monday that the first batch of lead tests for residential customers is back, and the results are favorable. After announcing Nov. 14 that tests had found detectable levels of lead in seven local schools, the city has been inundated with requests for...

James Farrell/WFAE Radio The state Board of Education met last week — you may have heard some of my stories on cellphone use in the classroom and changes to how the state classifies students who are English learners. But I want to dive into some new state data on learning...

Pat Kimbrough/The High Point Enterprise An expansion by a technology company that city leaders hoped would be one of the largest economic development projects ever in High Point has not gotten off the ground more than four years after it was proposed. DC Blox said in a statement last week...

Jennifer Fernandez/NC Health News When the remnants of Hurricane Helene tore through western North Carolina, nurses based in schools and medical personnel from school-based health centers jumped in to help. One counselor and a colleague visited a family in a home that had been washed downriver, where they listened to...

WRAL News The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Board voted to remove Saint Augustine’s University (SAU) from membership following its annual meeting in Austin, Texas. However, SACSCOC found that SAU resolved all issues except those related to finances. SACSCOC’s policies will allow Saint Augustine’s University...

Alexa Wandersee/Port City Daily A 135-acre recreation complex is coming to New Hanover County, making it the second mega-sports facility project announced recently for the area. While downtown’s Northside could potentially have Optimism Oasis, another facility in the northern part of the county is looking to become a mini Olympic-like...

Coastal Review Online The renewable energy company building the 45-turbine Timbermill Wind facility in Chowan County has secured construction financing. Apex Clean Energy, based in Charlottesville, Virginia, announced last week that institutions leading the construction financing are German-based Helaba, Japanese-based SMBC, and BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, both based in...

John Staton/Wilmington StarNews Wilmington lost another historic building last month when the former home of longtime newspaper The Wilmington Journal, a landmark in the Black community, was torn down. Located at 412 S. Seventh St. downtown, the building dated to 1903 and for most of last century served as the...