Paul Woolverton/CityView The 30-day pause on construction of the Cumberland County Crown Event Center in downtown Fayetteville stems from a $1.9 million “additional architect’s fee” from the EwingCole architecture firm. That is specified in a legal representation agreement, signed March 5, between the Hutchens Law Firm of Fayetteville and the...

Jeff Stein & Theodoric Meyer/The Washington Post President Donald Trump is pushing senior advisers to go bigger on tariff policy as they prepare for what the White House has called “Liberation Day,” the April 2 date he has set for a major escalation in his global trade war, four people...

Peter Castagno/Port City Daily Environmentalist groups notified the City of Asheboro and two of its major industries of their intent to sue for violating the Clean Water Act with toxic pollution flowing downstream to the tri-county region. This comes as local officials urge state regulators to enforce 1,4-dioxane limits. The...

Brian Slodysko & Michael Biesecker/The Associated Press A judge challenging the outcome of his North Carolina Supreme Court race was photographed wearing Confederate military garb and posing before a Confederate battle flag when he was a member of a college fraternity that glorified the pre-Civil War South. The emergence of...

Lucas Thomae/Carolina Public Press Just after noon in front of the manufacturing building at Guilford Technical Community College, first-year student Khniya Hames recited her lines. “She has remained dedicated to education and public service throughout her life. … She also served in North Carolina’s House of Representatives. …” Hames gazed...

Jacob Hancock-Hernández/WFDD Radio Six months after Helene wreaked havoc on Western North Carolina, roughly one-third of the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway remains closed. But the National Parks Service has begun projects to repair the damage. While there are areas all throughout the parkway that need to be addressed, these projects...

Doug Bock Clark/ProPublica For years, North Carolina’s Republican-majority Legislature has taken steps big and small to wrench power from Democratic governors and the agencies under their control. One move that didn’t get much attention — tucked into a 628-page budget bill four years ago — was to direct $15 million...

Willie Daniely/WRAL News Sunday marks the last day of service for 42nd Street Oyster Bar in Raleigh. The southern seafood restaurant opened in 1931. According to an employee of 42nd Street Oyster Bar, the famed Raleigh restaurant will close its doors on Sunday, March 30. The news was first reported...

Wes Platt/Southpoint Access Pickett Road Apartments, a project whose consideration was postponed from February to allow developers to collaborate with opponents on points of compromise, on March 17 won approval from a divided City Council. Chin Page Road Apartments, expected to add about 360 apartment units across the road from...

Andrew R. Jones/Asheville Watchdog Melanie Wetmore’s tenure as chief nursing officer spanned some of the most tumultuous years in the history of Asheville’s Mission Hospital, including the COVID-19 pandemica mass exodus of nurses in 2022 and 2023, and a finding of immediate jeopardy in 2024, the most severe federal sanction...

Jackson Davenport/(NC State) Technician Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell delivered her first “State of the City” address Wednesday evening, focusing on housing affordability, public safety, transportation, quality of life and resilience in the city. Cowell aimed to highlight the work she and city council have done in the first 100 days...

Brianna Sacks, Brady Dennis & Jake Spring/The Washington Post Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem and other Trump administration officials expressed support in meetings this week for dramatically diminishing the role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with the aim of all but eliminating the embattled agency’s role...

WRAL News The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is planning to cut 80 jobs and will lose more than $100 million in funding. The reductions are due to the federal government’s “abrupt and immediate termination of several federal grants,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. The...

David Mildenberg/Business North Carolina Wolfspeed, the Durham-based semiconductor manufacturer, named Robert Feurle as CEO starting May 1. Predecessor Gregg Lowe, who had led the business since 2017, was fired late last year amid mounting losses. The company is nearing completion of its $5 billion factory in Chatham County, one of...

Lena Geller/IndyWeek As North Carolina restaurants and hotels navigate the pandemic’s lingering effects on worker expectations and wages—and brace for renewed scrutiny of immigrant workers under Trump’s second administration—the hospitality sector finds itself at a critical juncture. Amid these shifting dynamics, Lynn Minges will conclude her 13-year tenure as president...