Shannon Osaka/The Washington Post Sales of solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles have soared over the last few years — helping to slow global warming and take dangerous pollutants out of the atmosphere. But one technology critical to fighting climate change is lagging, thanks to a combination of high interest...

Madeleine May, Chrissy Hallowell & Katrina Kaufman/CBS News In a video obtained by CBS News, the leader of an “election protection” activist group of 1,800 volunteers in North Carolina is seen instructing attendees at a virtual meeting to flag voters with “Hispanic-sounding last names” as one way to identify potentially...

Peter Castagno/Port City Daily A New Hanover County commissioner is advocating the purchase of a long-vacant property to preserve the region’s greenspace and potentially create an ‘Airlie Gardens 2.0.’ At the same time, a Charlotte-based developer seeks to use the site for a major new rental complex in Wilmington. Next...

Kathy N. Ross/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Nine days after Helene’s flood waters drilled through the Ferguson dairy on Riverside, a caravan of five trucks pulling gooseneck trailers headed up Panther Creek, carrying round bales covered with Bible-verse references spray-painted in red on their white wrappings. It was a convoluted way to...

Pat Kimbrough/High Point Enterprise A new public-private venture is seeking to raise $40 million for an affordable housing loan program in High Point. The High Point Community Foundation Housing Impact Fund would go toward construction of multifamily “workforce housing” rental units for teachers, firefighters, police officers and others who earn...

Trista Talton/Coastal Review Online The state’s environmental regulatory agency has established temporary caps on the amounts of several PFAS that industries will be allowed to release into groundwater. Until permanent limits are set, interim maximum allowable concentrations introduced by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources...

Will Doran/WRAL News A new ruling from the North Carolina Supreme Court has the potential to massively reimagine the state’s health care industry, allowing for more competition between hospitals, doctors and other medical providers. The case in question concerns “certificate-of-need” laws, an issue that in recent years has deeply divided...

Will Atwater/NC Health News Since the remnants of Hurricane Helene tore through western North Carolina’s mountains, flooding rivers and damaging water systems, the demand for drinking water wells has soared in Buncombe County. Shaken, homeowners, businesses, schools and care facilities want to guard against water disruption in the event of...

Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News With the North Carolina General Assembly’s preliminary $273 million relief bill in the rearview mirror, Western North Carolina Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Macon) is looking down the road at the General Assembly’s next move — a billion-dollar relief bill coming Oct. 24. During a recent meeting with...

Steve Harrison/WFAE Radio North Carolina Republicans are showing signs of strength after three days of early, in-person voting — by casting ballots at essentially the same rate as Democrats. After Saturday’s voting, 13.9% of registered Republicans have cast ballots in both mail voting and early, in-person voting. That compares with...

Jeff St. John/Canary Media For years, Duke Energy has studied the threats that climate change poses to its power grid. It has produced tomes forecasting the risk to its power lines, substations, and power plants from fires, heat waves, and floods. But the scope of Hurricane Helene’s devastation in the...

Becky Johnson/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer As soon as the skies cleared from Helene’s ferocious storm, a massive undertaking was launched to knock on the door of every home in Haywood County impacted by flooding and landslides. Firefighters from the county’s 13 fire departments led the charge, fanning out in their communities...

April Laissle/WFDD Radio As much of western North Carolina works to recover from Helene, some business owners say they’re worried about what they’re calling a “second disaster”: the loss of tourism during peak season. Though many cities have asked visitors to stay away during the recovery process, Bryson City officials...

Matt Cortina/USA Today Network Gerry Mahon has owned the Mellow Mushroom in downtown Asheville for over 20 years. He’s weathered a lot of storms, but nothing like Tropical Storm Helene. So now, he’s thinking about the future. Not just the quotidian concerns of getting his 60-person staff back to work,...

Jonathan Bym/The (Southern Pines) Pilot Public comment speakers had no time limit for their remarks regarding the rezoning request for the proposed Uwharrie Motorsports Park and Resort, leading to a continuance for the public hearing with the county Board of Commissioners Tuesday night. After four hours broke up between the...