Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News Few volunteer service organizations can claim a century of community engagement alongside world-changing influence, but as Waynesville’s Rotary club rolls into its second century, its leaders are looking to bolster the personal, professional and philosophical ties that have brought the organization to where it is today....

Maya Waid/WFAE Radio At Creekside Elementary, Megan Reed sits in a too-small desk chair, looking around the classroom that wasn’t hers just weeks ago. The name tags on the cubbies still bear the handwriting of the teacher who had left midyear. The children are still adjusting — so is she....

Peter Lewis/Asheville Watchdog HCA Healthcare executives will be awarded performance bonuses in 2025 based primarily on hitting profit targets, rather than success in providing quality of care, the company disclosed in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. HCA operates Asheville’s flagship Mission Hospital and five other regional hospitals...

Mebane Rash, Kristen Blair & Ben Humphries/EducationNC On March 6, 2025, Gov. Josh Stein visited Micaville Elementary School in Yancey County with Holly Jones, the director of the Governor’s Western North Carolina Office. They met Superintendent Kathy Amos and had a chance to talk — really talk — to Principal...

Trista Talton/Coastal Review Online Campers, cyclists, hikers, birding enthusiasts and other outdoor recreationalists would be required to buy an annual pass to access game lands in the state under a proposal floated by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. The “conservation access pass” proposal targets those users because they are...

Emma Cooke/WCHL Chapelboro The future Hillsborough Station is currently set to be completed in 2027, but the town might have to wait a little longer before it comes into fruition. The Orange County Board of Commissioners recently met with the Town of Hillsborough to hear the latest updates. The 20...

Santiago Ochoa/WFDD Radio The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is carving out a space for itself in the Triad’s growing battery manufacturing landscape. The school’s recently launched BRIGHT Institute will work with students to train and prepare them for careers in the field. The race to train new professionals...

Rusty Jacobs/WUNC Radio In this file image, protestors gathered outside the state capitol to protest N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin’s effort to invalidate more than 65,000 votes in a race for a state Supreme Court seat. Jefferson Griffin’s effort to invalidate thousands of ballots in his bid for...

Aaron Beard/The Associated Press N.C. State fired men’s basketball coach Kevin Keatts on Sunday, an abrupt end to an eight-year tenure coming less than a year after the Wolfpack’s improbable run to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and the Final Four. The school announced the move a day after the...

Aarik Long/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Documents on file with the Haywood County Register of Deeds give a purchase price for the former paper mill and a suite of related properties now owned by Eric Spirtas and his company. This file shows the list of all 29 parcels included in the $3.36...

Will Hofmann/Asheville Citizen Times With easy access to local transportation and a central location near the heart of downtown, Buncombe County’s Coxe Avenue “100% affordable” housing project is moving ahead as county staff have suggested a developer for the site. The 50-52 Coxe Ave. project, produced in partnership with the...

Ari Hawkins, Doug Palmer & Daniel Desrochers/Politico President Donald Trump, in an abrupt about-face, announced Thursday he will delay 25 percent tariffs on a significant portion of Mexican and Canadian goods until next month. The carve-out applies to autos and all other goods from the two countries that comply with...

Ellen Knickmeyer & Michael Kunzelman/The Associated Press A federal judge on Thursday gave the Trump administration until Monday to pay nearly $2 billion owed to partners of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department, thawing the administration’s six-week funding freeze on all foreign assistance. U.S. District Judge...

Destinee Patterson/WRAL News The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Board has denied Saint Augustine’s University’s appeal to fully regain its accreditation. The school has been on probation since December. Issues with financial management and lack of oversight at the school put the its accreditation in...

Will Michaels/WUNC Radio Treasurer Folwell and Treasurer-elect Briner attend an Investment Advisory Committee meeting on Nov. 20. The N.C. Treasurer’s office is crafting a proposal to overhaul the way his office controls investments in the state pension plan. North Carolina’s pension plan for state employees is nearly 90% funded, which...