Terry Spencer/The Associated Press Hurricane Helene killed and destroyed far and wide — from Tampa to Atlanta to Asheville, North Carolina, its high winds, heavy rains and sheer size created a perfect mix for devastation. The storm made landfall late Thursday along a largely undeveloped expanse of pine trees and...

Moss Brennan/The Watauga Democrat Emergency services personnel are confirming the catastrophic damage in Watauga County as recovery efforts remain underway. “Immediate swift water rescues have tapered off,” Watauga County Emergency Services Director Holt said. “We are operating to get roads open and get access to folks that have been cut...

Becky Johnson/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Apocalyptic. That’s how Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers described the flooding unleashed by the Pigeon River on Friday. Indeed, even for this battle-hardened town that’s been through it before — once in 2004 and once in 2021 — the utter destruction was the worst yet. The river...

Jalyn Baldwin/Port City Daily Community outcry and the effects of last week’s unnamed storm led one commissioner to propose a halt to all residential development in the county. During Monday’s commissioner meeting in Brunswick County, Chair Randy Thompson introduced a non-agenda item: a motion directing staff to conduct an updated...

Cristin Severance/WRAL News With a rise of teens vaping in the state, advocates have called on lawmakers to address what they call a “loophole” in state law that is allowing young people to get easier access to tobacco products. Gov. Roy Cooper signed a bill into law in July that...

Tyler Davis/The (Henderson) Daily Digest The muckraking has begun. Well, the NC House District 32 race has been a little heated for some time now. Democratic candidate Bryan Cohn took a pot shot against incumbent Rep. Frank Sossamon on social media — one post compared the representative to the character...

Tom Joyce/Mount Airy News The Renfro company based in Mount Airy long has been known as a producer and marketer of socks and legwear products, but is expanding into the athletic and lifestyle apparel segment. This is occurring through Renfro Brands’ acquisition of MJ Soffe, a strategic diversification move that...

Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson went to the hospital Friday evening after being burnt during a campaign event. Matt Hurley, a political consultant recently hired onto Robinson’s campaign, wrote on social media that the Republican gubernatorial candidate was “currently being treated for burns following an incident at a...

Amy Diaz/WFDD Radio Wake Forest University announced Thursday that it would be canceling a campus lecture led by a Palestinian scholar and activist. Rabab Abdulhadi is a professor and founding director of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Program at San Francisco State University. She was scheduled to...

Mark Jurkowitz/Outer Banks Voice By a 6-1 tally at a special Sept. 26 meeting, the Dare County Board of Education approved a motion to ask the Dare County Commissioners to fund a “universal meals” program that would provide free meals to all students in the Dare County Schools. That presentation...

Kevin Hardy & Casey Quinlan/NC Newsline The signs on the empty historic buildings envision an urban utopia of sorts, complete with street cafes, bustling bike lanes and a grocery co-op. “IMAGINE What Could Be Here,” gushes one sign outside the empty, Neoclassical post office. “IMAGINE! A Vibrant Downtown,” reads another...

Emma Dill/WilmingtonBiz The Port of Wilmington has released a contingency plan ahead of a possible strike. Contract negotiations are ongoing between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance Ltd., an entity representing the management of ports, terminals and shipping lines. The current contract is set to expire...

Hannah Vinueza McClellan & Emily Thomas/Education NC As the N.C. Community College System (NCCCS) awaits funding from lawmakers to enact the system’s new funding model, Propel NC, system leadership is working to make sure that policies, codes, and guidance to support local colleges is available if funding is approved. “We...

Liz Schlemmer/WUNC Radio More North Carolina high schoolers are taking college-level classes and passing exams to earn college credit than ever before. Many high schools offer Advanced Placement (AP) classes designed to teach college-level content. Students who pass a standardized final exam for the class can earn college credit for...

Jakob Emerson/Becker’s Hospital Review GLP-1 manufacturers are now offering significant discounts to entice payers and employers to cover their popular medications, The Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 20. Weight loss medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy can cost upward of $10,000 a year, leaving insurers, health systems, state health plans...