Lucas Thomae/Carolina Public Press As Western North Carolina works to regain a sense of normalcy four weeks after Tropical Storm Helene and sessions for most courts resume, judicial officials in some disaster-area counties are attempting to catch up on a case backlog. When Helene rolled through North Carolina on Sept....

Jennifer Allen/Coastal Review Online The science panel that advises the state Coastal Resources Commission is showing with a new report how the findings of a 2022 federal-level report projecting that sea levels will rise by more than a foot by 2050 apply to North Carolina. Released in mid-October, the “North...

Parker Asmann/InSight Crime For the first time, a US bank has admitted to helping criminal networks in Colombia launder hundreds of millions of dollars in dirty money, highlighting the fruits of a renewed push to target those aiding the region’s money launderers. TD Bank, N.A. and TD Bank USA, N.A....

The Independent Tribune The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced $2.5 million in brownfields assessment selection grants for the Centralina Regional Council and the city of Kannapolis. The EPA has selected the Centralina Council of Governments to lead a Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grant of $1.5 million, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure...

Gilat Melamed/CBS 17 News Musicians and music lovers came together in Raleigh Sunday night to help Western North Carolina. The ‘Music for the Mountains’ benefit concert was held at Red Hat Amphitheater. The concert raised $1,104,000, according to organizers. Band Together, which uses music to benefit non-profits, is one of...

Matt Lamb/The (Southern Pines) Pilot Two years after Pinehurst codified rules and regulations surrounding short-term rentals (STRs), the Village Council is considering a handful of minor tweaks to make the ordinance more effective. During the council’s most recent October work session, Village Manager Doug Willardson presented a series of potential...

Sally Kestin/Asheville Watchdog The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved and paid more than $63 million to residents of Buncombe County in housing and financial assistance for Tropical Storm Helene. FEMA had paid a total of nearly $174 million in North Carolina as of Oct. 26, one month into the...

Jane Winik Sartwell/Carolina Public Press Retail outlets in East Asheville, from big box stores like Walmart to specialty tourist destinations like Antique Tobacco Barn, are struggling to return to normal after Tropical Storm Helene ravaged the area in late September. Retail locations that remain closed for an extended time not...

Steve Harrison/WFAE Radio Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and the majority of the Charlotte City Council voted last week to “end” the employment of the city attorney, Patrick Baker, according to a memo obtained by WFAE and people familiar with the matter. The memo does not disclose the reason for Lyles’...

Gerard Albert III/Blue Ridge Public Radio A claim that the Helene death toll in Buncombe County is more than three times higher than state officials are reporting has gone viral over the last week. But, after a thorough fact-check, BPR News has found plenty of evidence the claim is not...

David Klepper/The Associated Press Russia has helped amplify and spread false and misleading internet claims about recent hurricanes in the United States and the federal government’s response, part of a wider effort by the Kremlin to manipulate America’s political discourse before the presidential election, new research shows. The content, spread...

Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News Lost in the aftermath of the damage Hurricane Helene dealt to Canton is the fact that when the storm hit on Sept. 27, the town still hadn’t fully recovered from deadly flooding in 2021. But on Oct. 24, Mayor Zeb Smathers and Canton’s governing board approved...

Aaron Sánchez-Guerra/WUNC Radio The largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River is heading to the polls and could make a decisive impact in North Carolina’s 2024 election. The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina of approximately 55,000 members reside in their ancestral homeland of Robeson County as well as...

Peter Castagno/Port City Daily Access to clean water remains a chief issue for Pender County residents as leaders agreed to carry out a $400,000 study to determine the best methods for limiting PFAS pollution. Pender County Commissioners unanimously approved a $400,000 contract with Cary-based engineering firm WithersRavenel at the Monday...

Madison Lipe/Wilmington StarNews The New Hanover Board of Education, school district staff and county staff have been discussing ways to fund much needed expansions, renovations or even new school buildings. As New Hanover school district leaders discuss renovations, expansions and possibly new school buildings, they’re grappling with which needs to...