Carli Brosseau & Sarah Nagem/Border Belt Independent By the time Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene resigned in January 2023, it was clear that state investigators were chasing leads far beyond a recorded phone call in which he called his deputies “snakes” and “Black bastards.” District Attorney Jon David was prepared...

Jacob Biba/Asheville Citizen Times In a Dec. 6 ruling, a North Carolina Business Court judge dismissed counterclaims HCA Healthcare filed in response to N.C. Attorney Josh Stein’s lawsuit against the Nashville-based for-profit health system. Stein, North Carolina’s incoming governor, sued HCA in December 2023 alleging HCA breached the terms of...

Evey Weisblat/CityView Businesses in low-to-moderate income areas in Fayetteville could be eligible to receive up to $750,000 under a new city loan program designed to grow small businesses in economically disadvantaged areas. Administered by the Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corporation and supported with $2.5 million of Fayetteville’s American Rescue Plan...

Selena Simmons-Duffin/Public Radio East In the wake of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killing, there’s been a lot of attention on the dysfunction of the health insurance industry. The shooting triggered a flood of emotional posts online about health insurance denials. Since suspect Luigi Mangione’s arrest, attention has turned to a...

Peter Castagno/Port City Daily The New Hanover County endowment announced Shannon Winslow will take over as chair of the organization’s board of directors. Winslow previously served as vice chair alongside outgoing chair Bill Cameron, who will remain an active board member. She led the search committee that hired the endowment’s...

Guy Lucas/High Point Enterprise The day he first took a seat on the Guilford County Board of Education about 15 months ago, Michael Logan raised two fists in celebration. On his way out of office at his final board meeting Tuesday night, he kept his hands down, but his gesture...

Vicki Hyatt/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer The town of Canton has less than four months to figure out how its wastewater will be treated as of April 1 of next year — and right now, it has no answers. The wastewater treatment plant in Canton, part of the old Champion/Pactiv paper mill,...

Deirdra Funcheon/Hendersonville Times-News After the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024, on Dec. 10, Rep. Chuck Edwards issued a statement highlighting water infrastructure projects in Western North Carolina that will receive funding and dam-related laws that will go into effect if...

Rylee Wilson/Becker’s Payer Issues Payer CEOs are reckoning with the public vitriol directed at the industry in the wake of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mark Bertolini, CEO of Oscar Health, told Yahoo Finance the U.S. healthcare system has been “broken for some time.” “While this act in...

Sarah Krueger/WRAL News FEMA approved 536 households impacted by Hurricane Helene for temporary housing units, which are move-in ready trailers. WRAL has learned only 57 households have received them, more than two months since the storm hit. That is far behind FEMA’s original projection of having 103 units occupied by...

Peter Castagno/Port City Daily Two regulatory agencies face a hearing in a lawsuit over coastal protection policies representing a broader power struggle between the state’s legislative and executive branches. A recent bill would advantage a General Assembly-appointed body that has repeatedly blocked executive actions. The Coastal Resources Commission is a...

Ananya Cox/The Daily Tar Heel Wednesday marked the end of classes for UNC students, and the end of the first full semester led by Chancellor Lee Roberts. University Editor Ananya Cox sat down with Roberts to talk about the unprecedented year, including changes to admissions and criticism from different members...

Will Atwater/NC Health News People use single-use plastics multiple times every day — shopping bags, fast-food containers, disposable forks and spoons, sandwich wrappers and countless other items. Given the abundance of these items, it’s not a surprise to find increasing amounts of plastic debris in the environment. However, a recent...

Morgan Sweeney/The Center Square  U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Ted Budd, R-N.C., have introduced legislation that would help incentivize landowners to sell to the Department of Defense for its Readiness and Environment Protection Integration Program. The Incentivizing REPI Sales Act would “exclude the appreciated land value from federal capital...

Gilat Melamed/CBS 17 News A Wake County principal is letting parents know artificial intelligence is becoming a problem at his school. Wakefield High School Principal Malik Bazzell sent parents a letter saying the school is seeing an increase in students using AI on assignments. Some students are handing in assignments...