Trey Nemec/CityView The Spring Lake Board of Commissioners held a strategic policy planning session Wednesday night, collaborating with town department representatives to create a blueprint for the next phases of the town’s development. The meeting was focused on identifying key priorities for the future as the board works to refine...

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press  When was the last time you knew the full cost of a medical procedure before going under? Hospital price transparency has been enforced by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare since 2021, but whether the law is functioning as intended is a topic of heated...

Phil Galewitz/KFF Health News With Donald Trump’s return to the White House and Republicans taking full control of Congress in 2025, the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion is back on the chopping block. More than 3 million adults in nine states would be at immediate risk of losing their health...

Jacob Biba/Asheville Citizen Times When Tropical Storm Helene swept through Western North Carolina in September, the storm’s torrential rains triggered massive floods and landslides that tore through thousands of miles of the region’s roads and bridges. Highways collapsed into rivers, bridges and culverts washed out, and roadways, covered in mounds...

Grace Vitaglione/NC Health News Marian Spicer, 72, was treated for a kidney stone at Duke Health in late October. During the procedure, the doctor accidentally tore her bladder, and she didn’t get out of the hospital until early November. The pain of the experience was compounded by stress over the...

Tiana Kennell/Asheville Citizen Times An East Asheville seafood restaurant known for its oysters, burgers, and global fusion plates will not reopen following Tropical Storm Helene. On Dec. 7, Little Pearl’s social media post announced the restaurant’s closure after four years. “To all our dear friends, followers & loyal customers, for...

Coastal Review Online The state agency “dedicated to the conservation and wise management of fish and wildlife, and the regulation of inland fishing, hunting, trapping and boating regulations” will be under new leadership effective Jan. 1, 2025. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission announced Thursday after its commissioners’ business meeting...

Ben Humphries/Education NC School boards have been thrust into the spotlight over the past few years by livestreamed board meetings, book banning controversies, and “parental rights” movements. They are also increasingly partisan — literally. This November, 52 school districts in North Carolina held partisan elections, where candidates’ party affiliations are...

Lora Lavigne/WRAL News Plans for a multi-million-dollar training facility for the Durham County Sheriff’s Office is getting  pushback. A recently organized group called “Durham Stop Cop City” is hoping to block plans to renovate the training facility for the sheriff’s office. Dozens of people gathered at Forest Hills Park in...

Robert Sullivan/The Salisbury Post    Ever Home Plastics will be creating its first U.S.-based facility in Rowan County, a move that will bring a planned $3.65 million investment and approximately 46 new jobs to the area over the next four years. The Rowan EDC announced on Thursday that the company, which...

Mark Jurkowitz/Outer Banks Voice Back in January 2024, the Outer Banks Community Foundation (OBCF) began a process of examining its role in disaster preparedness. Knowing that its primary post-disaster role is as fundraisers and grant makers, the focus, as President and CEO Chris Sawin notes, was “on how to leverage...

Steve Harrison/WFAE Radio This spring, Charlotte officials told the town of Matthews it can’t build both the Red Line commuter rail to Lake Norman and the Silver Line light rail from uptown to Matthews under a proposed funding formula that limits spending on trains to 40% of the revenue from...

Felicia Sonmez/Blue Ridge Public Radio Diamond Brand Gear Company, a stalwart of Western North Carolina’s outdoor industry, announced Friday that it is closing its doors after 143 years in business. The company is only the latest in the Asheville area to close in the wake of Hurricane Helene. “It is...

Becky Johnson/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer An out-of-town YouTuber has taken to the airwaves with accusations that Haywood County doesn’t care about its flood victims — garnering 750,000 views and creating a divisive wedge among those who were all on the same team up until 10 days ago. Thousands across Haywood County...

Trista Talton/Coastal Review Online Not much has changed in Sledge Forest in the more than 20 years since its distinctive features were captured on the pages of a document created to offer guidance for its future use. That, said geologist Roger Shew, is the beauty of it. The forest that...