Hannah Vinueza McClellan/Education NC The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced on Tuesday, Oct. 15, the launch of the second stage of testing (Beta 2) for the 2025–26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) — which is set to launch for all students and families by Dec. 1. The...

Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline As North Carolina rebuilds from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, the loss of $70 million in FEMA funds — $18 million of which would have helped western North Carolina to prepare for floods — may come back to haunt the state. The shortfall can in part be...

Marshall Terry/WFAE Radio Former President Donald Trump has accused Gov. Roy Cooper of blocking aid to victims of Helene in western North Carolina on his Truth Social site. Last week, Trump wrote, “It has just come out, the Democrats in Washington and the Democrat governor’s office of North Carolina were...

Hannah McLeod/Smoky Mountain News Anyone on the internet knows that it can be a place of negativity and division. But it’s also a powerful tool for connection, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Crystal Cochran harnessed that connection to build a community of volunteers that provided vital assistance to...

Emily Antoszyk/Education NC Welcome back to Consider It Mapped, where we mark our sixth installment of mapping school performance grades in North Carolina. As I sit down to reflect on the latest mapping, I am struck by how little has changed since we started investigating the data in 2014-15. We’ll...

Andrea Hsu & Miguel Macias/WUNC Radio The Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program has run out of money, it announced on Tuesday, after warnings that funding would soon run out following increased demand from hurricanes Helene and Milton. The SBA added that the pause of disaster assistance loans it offers...

Rylee Wilson/Becker’s Hospital Review UnitedHealth Group is seeing “unusually aggressive and high unit cost asks” from hospitals, CEO Andrew Witty said. On an Oct. 15 call with investors, Mr. Witty said UnitedHealth wants to find a “new way of working with hospitals.” “We want to see less abrasion in the...

Emily Walkenhorst/WRAL News Recent comments online about a Martin Middle School teacher are distractions and offensive, Wake school board and community members said Tuesday night. Online comments and Moms for Liberty — a group that describes its mission as securing “parental rights” — have targeted the teacher, who wore a...

Vicki Hyatt & Kathy N. Ross/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer From Cruso and the West Fork to Jonathan Creek and lower Crabtree, Hurricane Helene’s fury has claimed not only harvests but land. She has swept away row crops, cattle, feed and barns, and she has stripped soil from the creek and river...

Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily Rumors swirling in the wake of recent hurricanes, some of which have led to threats toward meteorologists and disaster relief workers in western North Carolina, have also been picked up by a local candidate. Republican Natosha Tew has reposted a tweet from United States Rep. Marjorie...

Langston Wertz Jr./The Charlotte Observer North Carolina’s public school athletes can monetize their NIL rights now that a Wake County judge has signed the order making that possible. Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley ruled in favor of a motion submitted by the family of Greensboro Grimsley quarterback...

Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson sued CNN and a former clerk at a porn store in Greensboro on Tuesday, alleging that they defamed the Republican candidate for governor in news reports about him. A CNN investigation published last month found that an account tied to Robinson had made...

Katie Myers & Lilly Knoepp/Blue Ridge Public Radio Helene caused catastrophic flooding across the region, particularly in the French Broad and Toe Rivers. The floodwaters washed across businesses, roadways and homes taking debris, chemicals, oil and more downstream. Some posts online and conversations in the community suggested that the floodwaters...

Emma Dill/WilmingtonBiz Land once eyed for a minor-league baseball stadium development could now officially become part of the town of Leland. On Thursday, the Leland Town Council is set to consider directing town staff to investigate the annexation of more than 1,100 acres owned by Jackeys Creek Investors LLC. The...

Tom Murphy/The Associated Press Walgreens is planning to close around 1,200 locations, as the drugstore chain and its rivals struggle to define their role for U.S. shoppers who no longer look to them first for convenience. Drugstores that once snapped up prime retail space in towns and cities across the...