Three months after a resident group requested Attorney General Josh Stein’s oversight of the New Hanover County Endowment, his office forwarded a reminder letter about diversity requirements to local officials. The county’s $1.25 billion endowment was created from the sale of the county-owned hospital to Novant Health in 2021. It...

Tractor Supply is ending an array of corporate diversity and climate efforts, a move coming after weeks of online conservative backlash against the rural retailer. Tractor Supply, with 2,250 stores, said it would be eliminating all of its diversity, equity and inclusion roles while retiring current DEI goals. The company,...

The Moog Store located in Asheville’s Moog Music factory has closed, Moog Music announced June 28, ending the sale of its world-renowned synthesizers at the location where they are built. The store offered the opportunity to play, test and buy synthesizers produced by the Asheville-based company that was founded in...

A project to remove the Shull’s Mill Dam will open up a corridor of 78 miles on the Watauga River and create a healthier aquatic ecosystem. The dam, which sits on the Watauga River along N.C. 105 near the entrance to Old Shull Mill Road, will be removed over the...

Before the Town of Southern Shores made a decision about how to treat milfoil, an invasive weed found in the town’s canals, council members heard an online presentation from NC State professor Dr. Paul Richardson at their June meeting. Richardson explained what milfoil is and why the growth has been...

In a major ruling, the Supreme Court on Friday cut back sharply on the power of federal agencies to interpret the laws they administer and ruled that courts should rely on their own interpretation of ambiguous laws. The decision will likely have far-reaching effects across the country, from environmental regulation...

The North Carolina General Assembly wrapped up this year’s chief work session Thursday after overriding Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes, putting a constitutional amendment about citizens and voting on the November ballot and sending to Cooper’s desk many additional bills. But during its two months of work, the Republican-dominated legislature...

It was an ear-popping remark to hear Wednesday evening at GLOW Academy: “We can’t build our way out of this.” Terri Burhans, community development network officer of the New Hanover County Community Endowment, was speaking to a packed house of community members, county and city leaders, as well as endowment...

The new cost projections on the next two Guilford County Schools construction projects being considered came in radically higher — a total of up to $110 million more combined — than the initial ones five years ago. Architects for the two projects summarized their assessments of the schools, Lindley Elementary...

The U.S. Supreme Court Friday sided with a local ordinance in Oregon that effectively bans homeless people from sleeping outdoors, and local governments will be allowed to enforce those laws. In a 6-3 decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the opinion that the enforcement of those local laws that regulate...

Just as in Marvel comics, when a superhero summons the team with the “Avengers assemble!” rallying cry, one member of the national disability rights group ADAPT put out a call — and advocates from across the country responded with collective force. This past week, people with disabilities from Minnesota, Texas,...

State regulators have canceled the 2024 recreational flounder fishing season, citing continued overfishing of the fishery. The move has angered many recreational fishermen, who are now courting legislators in Raleigh. With flounder off the fishing table for the time being, North Carolina’s recreational fishermen are turning to legislators in Raleigh...

Residents of five mobile home parks in Buncombe and Henderson counties rely on water systems that exceed the limit of PFAS compounds, known as forever chemicals, putting them at greater risk of cancer and other illnesses. Two of the parks had nearly double the limit of the compounds allowed in...

A logging project in Macon and Jackson Counties has been dropped after conservation groups filed a lawsuit earlier this year. The Southside Project, which sits near Cashiers, has been a point of discussion since at least 2015. The final decision on the project was released in 2019 and the logging...

A National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration proposal would require many recreational boats along the East Coast to travel at just 10 knots for up to 90 miles from shore to protect the Right whale. “This is asking boaters to go the speed of a bicycle, for any boat over 35 feet,”...