Charlie Fossen/Port City Daily State regulators faced sharp opposition this week during a public hearing on proposed PFAS and 1,4-dioxane rules, as residents raised concerns about the lack of enforceable limits, deadlines, or penalties on polluters. An overcrowded Wilmington City Hall had roughly 200 residents, environmental advocates, and public officials,...

Gareth McGrath/USA Today Network Despite its murky look and contamination issues, the Cape Fear supports a wide variety of marine life. If you time it just right, say a few days after decent rains in central North Carolina, and head down to the Wilmington riverfront near Point Peter where the...

Zoe Kolenovsky/The Duke Chronicle The past year has revealed a tale of two Dukes — the University cutting back, and its health system building out. At the University, institutional leaders scrambled to cut costs in response to federal funding shortfalls. Departments began bleeding faculty and staff over the summer after...

Moss Brennan/Watauga Democrat Plaintiffs in the case challenging Watauga County commissioner districts have dropped part of their claim. According to court documents filed by the plaintiffs — the Watauga County Voting Rights Task Force, Ray Russell, Larry Turnbow, Charlie Wallin, James Fenwick, Jr., Laurie Fleming, Patricia Dale and Kinny Ray...

Paul Woolverton/CityView Cumberland County Elections Director Angie Amaro was put on paid administrative leave by the county elections board while a petition to fire her is pending with the state, a source with knowledge of the situation told CityView on Friday. Through an intermediary, Amaro declined to comment. On April...

Alan Wooten/The Center Square  Dominance in national air power defense would be enhanced through three proposals awaiting action in the Committee on Armed Services, says senators from North Carolina and New Hampshire and some of their colleagues. Expanded fighter aircraft production, retention of mid-career Air Force aviators, and a program...

Peter H. Lewis/Asheville Watchdog In comments to financial analysts Friday, Sam Hazen, CEO of Nashville-based HCA Healthcare, cited “a significant workforce deficit” at Mission Hospital and a higher-than-expected number of sick people seeking care in the region. “We’re having to bring in labor – nursing (and) non-nursing – to support...

Justin Moore/WNCN News Deep inside a Fort Bragg training range near Southern Pines, U.S. Army soldiers spent the day testing a new weapon built for one of the fastest-growing threats in modern warfare: drones. About 20 soldiers trained Thursday with the Bumblebee counter-drone system, including the first local field testing...

Steve Harrison/WFAE Radio A leader in the influential Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg said he is disillusioned that the Charlotte City Council hasn’t moved to stop the construction of the toll lanes on Interstate 77 in south Charlotte, a sign the issue remains potent. Raki McGregor, who chairs the BPC’s...

Sergio Osnaya-Prieto/Education NC North Carolina now ranks 32nd nationwide in preschool access for four-year-olds, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research’s (NIEER) 2025 State of Preschool Yearbook, dropping four positions from last year. The report finds that North Carolina Pre-K served 26,707 children, or 21% of the state’s...

Katherine Zehnder/The Carolina Journal In 2012, the US Postal Service began mandating that all new housing developments use cluster box units (CBUs) rather than individual mailboxes. According to Kim Phillips, regulatory affairs director for the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition (TREBIC), this new requirement, which wasn’t enforced in...

Emma Whitford/Inside Higher Ed One in 10 faculty members working in states that restrict academic speech are seeking jobs out of state, according to survey data released this week. Six percent reported they are trying to leave the academy altogether. The new data on relocating researchers underpins anecdotal stories about...

Zachery Eanes/Axios Raleigh Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce says his department is finally back to adequate staffing after years of shortages coming out of the pandemic. But as the city’s population continues to boom, he says the force must keep growing and be given the tools to focus on crime....

Aaron Sánchez-Guerra/WUNC News  Five years ago, 42-year-old Andrew Brown, Jr. died in his car a few yards away from his home in Elizabeth City, with a deputy sheriff’s bullet in the back of his head. Brown Jr.’s death in 2021 made international headlines as a national reckoning of racism and...

Monica Casey/WRAL News Students, faculty and WRAL keep pushing UNC to release results of an investigation into one of its schools. A review of the “School of Civic Life and Leadership” cost the university $1.2 million and wrapped up earlier this year. However, the full report still hasn’t come out....