The Associated Press One of the two companies that manufacture high-purity quartz used for making semiconductors and other high-tech products from mines in a western North Carolina community severely damaged by Hurricane Helene is operating again. Sibelco announced on Thursday that production has restarted at its mining and processing operations...

Caleb M. Soptelean/The Sanford Herald The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of November 2021 provided $15 billion over five years for lead pipe mitigation, and Sanford has a good start on the 10-year process, according to a Cary consultant. Glynn Fleming of WithersRavenel, a civil and environmental engineering firm, updated the Sanford...

Vicki Hyatt/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Pactiv Evergreen is suing the potential purchaser of its Canton paper mill property, trying to force the sale to completion and saying the purchase agreement remains legally binding. That purchaser, E.J. Spirtas Group and Two Banks Development, backed away from closing the sale on the Canton...

Destinee Patterson/WRAL News Franklin County Sheriff Kevin White is calling on County Manager Kim Denton to resign, saying her request for reimbursement paperwork related to Helene relief is a roadblock for aid in western North Carolina. “Bureaucracy often interrupts people’s lives,” White said in a Facebook post. “But it should...

Zachery Eanes/Axios Raleigh Insurance companies in North Carolina want to raise homeowner premium rates statewide by more than 42% on average. Whether or not they will, though, will be determined at a hearing in Raleigh over the coming weeks. Why it matters: An increase in insurance rates comes as many...

Christopher Miller/The Indepedent Tribune Several school board members expressed frustration and concern during Monday’s Cabarrus County Board of Education work session about the viability of key school projects, which are currently in a state of limbo. They directed much of their criticism at the state’s Local Government Commission, the nine-member...

Emma Dill/WilmingtonBiz N.C. Department of Transportation officials presented three design alternatives for the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement on Tuesday during the first of two public input meetings. For years, local leaders across the Cape Fear region have pushed to replace the aging Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, built in 1969....

Melissa Goldin/The Associated Press A video of a helicopter attempting to land in a Burnsville, North Carolina, parking lot used to store supplies for victims of Hurricane Helene has been viewed millions of times online, with many claiming that it shows an unidentified government aircraft sent to destroy the aid....

Ryley Ober/Asheville Citizen Times A month after registered nurses at Mission Hospital voted 97% in favor to allow a strike over pay, staffing and safety issues, a new deal has been struck between HCA and its nurses. This week, Mission nurses represented by National Nurses United voted in favor of...

John Boyle & Starr Sariego/Asheville Watchdog Sagging rooflines and toppled cinder block walls are the order of the day in the River Arts District right now, but a development team that owns 11 buildings in the district says nearly all of their buildings are salvageable. Standing near what was the...

Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline As North Carolina legislators debated Wednesday afternoon how best to help western North Carolina recover and rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Rep. Caleb Rudow noticed two words that were going unsaid: climate change. Rudow and Rep. Deb Butler, both Democrats, urged colleagues in a news...

Madeline Ashley/Becker’s Hospital Review Durham, N.C.-based Duke University Health System and UnitedHealthcare have been in contract negotiations over the last few weeks regarding around 172,000 Duke Health patients and their care access. Should the parties be unable to come to an agreement, Duke Health’s hospitals, facilities and physicians will be...

Michelle Crouch/NC Health News & Charlotte Ledger Six years after breaking away from Atrium Health to build Charlotte’s largest independent physician practice, the doctors at Tryon Medical Partners are teaming up with a private equity firm in a move they say will help them reach more patients. The deal, finalized...

Brighton McConnell/WCHL Chapelboro The Siler City local government became the latest to approve an interlocal agreement to merge its water and sewer utilities with the City of Sanford on Monday, as the town’s commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the change. It means – like Pittsboro did earlier this year...

Aarik Long/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer Water is now flowing in Maggie Valley and Jonathan Creek again, after nearly a week of no water for some residents following ruptured main lines in the Maggie Valley Sanitary District system. “The main roads have gotten their water back,” Town Manager Vickie Best said. “There...