Evey Weisblat/CityView Real estate professionals, local elected officials and business leaders gathered Tuesday at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville were presented with a dire message: a large portion of Cumberland County’s growing workforce cannot afford to live here. That’s according to Patrick Bowen, founder and president of the national real...

Catherine Kozak/Coastal Review Online Wind projects that are leased, permitted or under construction in or near North Carolina are likely to survive buffeting by renewed wind energy skepticism from the Trump administration. Shortly after taking office in January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order barring new offshore wind leases...

Colin Campbell/WUNC Radio Senate leader Phil Berger said Tuesday he’s not concerned by a projected $823 million drop in state revenue in 2026. The revenue forecast — developed by nonpartisan economists at the legislature in partnership with the governor’s budget office — shows a $544 million surplus this fiscal year....

Megan Messerly & Bob King/Politico President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive order bringing independent agencies under the control of the White House — an action that would greatly expand his power but is likely to attract significant legal challenges. It represents Trump’s latest attempt to consolidate power...

Andrew Marshall/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is considering instituting a paid pass to access the game lands under its purview — which include national forest lands, the agency announced earlier this month. The proposed Conservation Access Pass program is in its infancy and only a general concept...

Mike Stone, Fanny Potkin & Wen-Yee Lee/Reuters The White House is seeking to renegotiate U.S. CHIPS and Science Act awards and has signaled delays to some upcoming semiconductor disbursements, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The people, along with a third source, said the new administration is reviewing...

Richard Stradling/The (Raleigh) News & Observer As state officials this week urged President Donald Trump’s secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, to help rebuild Interstate 40 in Western North Carolina, they also sought assurances that the government would follow through on a big transportation project in the Triangle. A year ago,...

Diana Olick/CNBC Sentiment among the nation’s single-family homebuilders dropped to the lowest level in five months in February, largely due to concern over tariffs, which would raise their costs significantly. The National Association of Home Builders’ Housing Market Index, or HMI, dropped a sharp 5 points from January to a...

Cristin Severance/WRAL News One week after WRAL exposed critical failures within North Carolina’s foster care system, state lawmakers have committed to trying to fix things. The investigative documentary “Broken: Foster Care in North Carolina” shined a light on tragic instances where children were placed in the system only to later...

Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily The city manager of Southport resigned last week with little explanation —  the news becoming public only after the Southport Board of Aldermen decided to appoint a 25-year-old interim replacement. His past employment indicates the resignation is part of a similar pattern in other communities. Stuart...

Sally Kestin/Asheville Watchdog A real estate investor and prominent figure in Asheville Watchdog’s series, Equity Erased, has been criminally charged in a long-running state investigation. Robert Perry Tucker II of Asheville, who is also an attorney, faces two counts each of filing a false lien, a felony, and conspiracy to...

Peter Castagno/Port City Daily An upstream wastewater facility released record levels of a toxic chemical into the drinking water supply of the tri-county region after a judge voided discharge limits. The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce is urging Congress to stop the EPA from requiring North Carolina to regulate the...

Trista Talton/Coastal Review Online  A judge has ordered that more than two dozen longstanding rules used to guide coastal development and protect resources be placed back into the North Carolina Administrative Code. All 30 rules removed from the code in fall 2023, shortly after the N.C. Rules Review Commission kicked...

Colin Campbell/WUNC Radio A nonprofit led by former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s wife is appealing a state agency’s order to repay more than $100,000 in federal funding following a scathing review. Until shutting it down amid a state probe last year, Yolanda Hill led a nonprofit called Balanced Nutrition that...

Aarik Long/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Canton leaders expressed relief that former mill owner Pactiv Evergreen is out of the picture once and for all following the settlement of a state lawsuit last week. Pactiv Evergreen agreed to pay back $6.25 million of a $12 million state incentive package after failing to...