Tyler Davis/The (Henderson) Daily Dispatch Kerr Lake Solar, a nearly 600-acre installation planned for White Farm Lane near Bullocksville, has drawn fierce opposition from homeowners in the area. Over the course of the nearly three-hour Oct. 10 meeting, the Vance County Board of Adjustment heard both sides. The eight-member board,...

Kevin Crowe, Shannon Osaka & John Muyskens/The Washington Post The federal government’s flood maps, which are used nationwide to signal areas vulnerable to inundation, vastly underestimated the flood risk faced by properties in the parts of North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene, according to data analyzed by The Washington Post....

Carolina Public Press For much of Western North Carolina, there was everything that happened before Sept. 27 when Helene swept through the region. And then there is everything that happened since Helene produced floods, landslides and fallen trees that brought destruction, danger, death and despair. It’s been just over two...

Peter Castagno/Port City Daily Rep. David Rouzer and Sen. Thom Tillis are seeking to restructure federal aid for catastrophic storms like Hurricane Helene, but critics argue their voting records on climate change and infrastructure are exacerbating storm costs and risks in North Carolina. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced...

Joel Rose & Rolando Arrieta/WFAE Radio At a public housing complex, volunteers knock on apartment doors offering assistance with an activity most of us take for granted. They carry 5-gallon buckets of water to flush the toilets of grateful residents like John Brown. “I appreciate the fantastic work you guys...

Becky Johnson/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer The tourism industry that relies on the fall leaf season to sustain it through the leaner months of winter was panicked by the official message pushed out to tourists last week: ‘It’s too dangerous to travel to Haywood County.’ The message was crafted at a time...

Dave DeWitt/WUNC Radio Mark Robinson’s campaign for governor used images captured by freelancer Lynn Hey, originally published by WUNC, on his website without permission or compensation. It may not be the most damaging or inflammatory scandal in the past month for Mark Robinson’s campaign for governor, but a WUNC analysis...

Renuka Rayasam & Fred Clasen-Kelly/KFF Health News It’s been 35 years since John Parker died after a pickup collided with the bike he was riding on Cheek Road in east Durham before school. He was 6. His mother, Deborah Melvin-Muse, doesn’t display photos of him, the second-youngest of six children....

The (Southern Pines) Pilot The Moore County Democratic Party chairman, who is also a candidate for a N.C. House race, was charged Friday in connection with the theft of political signs in Seven Lakes. Lowell Evan Simon, 68, of West End was charged with two counts of misdemeanor larceny of...

The Associated Press One of the two companies that manufacture high-purity quartz used for making semiconductors and other high-tech products from mines in a western North Carolina community severely damaged by Hurricane Helene is operating again. Sibelco announced on Thursday that production has restarted at its mining and processing operations...

Caleb M. Soptelean/The Sanford Herald The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of November 2021 provided $15 billion over five years for lead pipe mitigation, and Sanford has a good start on the 10-year process, according to a Cary consultant. Glynn Fleming of WithersRavenel, a civil and environmental engineering firm, updated the Sanford...

Vicki Hyatt/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Pactiv Evergreen is suing the potential purchaser of its Canton paper mill property, trying to force the sale to completion and saying the purchase agreement remains legally binding. That purchaser, E.J. Spirtas Group and Two Banks Development, backed away from closing the sale on the Canton...

Destinee Patterson/WRAL News Franklin County Sheriff Kevin White is calling on County Manager Kim Denton to resign, saying her request for reimbursement paperwork related to Helene relief is a roadblock for aid in western North Carolina. “Bureaucracy often interrupts people’s lives,” White said in a Facebook post. “But it should...

Zachery Eanes/Axios Raleigh Insurance companies in North Carolina want to raise homeowner premium rates statewide by more than 42% on average. Whether or not they will, though, will be determined at a hearing in Raleigh over the coming weeks. Why it matters: An increase in insurance rates comes as many...

Christopher Miller/The Indepedent Tribune Several school board members expressed frustration and concern during Monday’s Cabarrus County Board of Education work session about the viability of key school projects, which are currently in a state of limbo. They directed much of their criticism at the state’s Local Government Commission, the nine-member...