Rachel Baldauf/Border Belt Independent Grace Gerberry has been riding horses since she was big enough to sit up on one. When it came time to choose a college, a Google search led her to St. Andrews University in North Carolina. After talking with the roughly 40 members of the school’s...

WRAL News Raleigh is going to have a new mayor in the coming weeks. Five people are vying to replace outgoing Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin (listed in alphabetical order by last name): Janet Cowell, former North Carolina State Treasurer and former Dix Park Conservancy President Paul Fitts, mortgage lender. Ran for...

Emily Thomas/Education NC Sunday, Oct. 27 marks one month since Hurricane Helene ripped through western North Carolina. While recovery efforts are underway, needs will continue to surface in the weeks and months ahead — everything from professional counseling to dehumidifiers to warm clothing as the winter months approach. As community...

Bethany Greene & Matthew Martin/Fed Reserve Bank of Richmond As a regional Reserve Bank, we keep a pulse on the Fifth District economy using a variety of sources, including anecdotal information from contacts in our region. To supplement our initial analysis on the economic impact of Hurricane Helene, we’ve compiled...

Patrick George/InsideEVs The Volkswagen Group has big plans for its new by-America, for-America extended range EV subsidiary, Scout Motors. However, those plans won’t include one longtime ally: its U.S. dealership network. As InsideEVs reported yesterday, one of the biggest announcements in the Scout debut is that the revived brand won’t...

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...