The landscape of Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) programs has changed significantly in recent years, from the number of applicants to the requirements needed to become a law enforcement professional, according to local law enforcement officials. Even more changes are coming as the course’s curriculum is being revised to account...

For more than 20 years, North Carolina has wielded its incentives program to grow its economy and lure corporate expansions to the state — from large-scale manufacturers such as Toyota to tech companies like Apple. But this year’s gubernatorial election will be a contest between candidates with differing views on...

Medical marijuana can now be legally purchased in North Carolina with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians opening its long-planned dispensary this weekend on tribal land. Hundreds of people, many with approved medical patient cards to purchase items, celebrated the historic opening of the Great Smoky Cannabis Co. on Saturday...

As the one-year anniversary of the fatal SouthPark construction site fire nears, so does a potential toughening of North Carolina’s safety codes, which officials hope will prevent similar tragedies. On May 18 last year, flames erupted from the diesel engine of a trailer carrying spray-foam insulation on the bottom floor...

Codie Bruce Schiene was sitting in his SUV in a hotel parking lot, scrolling through his phone, when two Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers approached him back in 2020. He told them he was a guest at the Baymont Inn. The officers quickly ordered Schiene and his nephew out of the GMC...

At Wednesday’s annual joint meeting between the New Hanover Airport Authority and county commissioners, parking bogarted a great deal of conversation, as did ILM’s expedient growth and what infrastructure is needed to keep pace. Last year, the airport had a 21% increase in passengers (1.3 million), a 70% increase in...

Guilford County has been tracking infant deaths for decades, yet officials there continue to struggle with high death rates and no answers. Jean Workman and Leandra Vernon with Every Baby Guilford hope to change that with the formation of North Carolina’s only Fetal and Infant Mortality Review program. “As time...

Those white blades the length of a city block that have been at the North Carolina Port at Morehead City the last few weeks are destined for great heights. Vestas, a wind turbine company based in Portland, Oregon, manufactured the onshore wind turbine components, which arrived in mid-March from India...

Waynesville’s planning board is still weighing whether short-term vacation rentals should be regulated and limited in town — with plans to examine the issue more thoroughly before making a recommendation. Proposed changes from the town’s Development Services Department would ban some short-term vacation rentals in certain neighborhoods while also imposing...

Jefferson Currie steps outside his home in Moore County, and the stench of chicken waste lingers in the air. He takes a sip of his morning coffee and grimaces. The coffee tastes like the beans have been roasted with rancid chicken. Currie lives half a mile from a chicken farm....

The Sheetz convenience store chain has been hit with a lawsuit by federal officials who allege the company discriminated against minority job applicants. Sheetz Inc., which operates more than 700 stores in six states, discriminated against Black, Native American and multiracial job seekers by automatically weeding out applicants whom the...

The future of diversity, equity and inclusion staff jobs in North Carolina’s public university system could be at stake after a five-person committee swiftly voted to repeal a key policy Wednesday. The Committee on University Governance, within the University of North Carolina Board of Governors that oversees 17 schools, voted...

While Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s wife told her nonprofit’s clients that she was shutting down because of her husband’s campaign for North Carolina governor, she told a state agency a different story. For years, Yolanda Hill has led a nonprofit called Balanced Nutrition that helps childcare facilities apply for and...

Anyone who has dreamed of owning a property at the beach knows that it’s a goal shared by many. Couple in the growing popularity of coastal living in general − the Wilmington-areas’s population jumped from 200,000 in 1990 to more than 450,000 in 2020 − and home ownership is increasingly...

The Wilmington City Council meeting did not passTuesday evening without one member bringing up the weekend shooting at a downtown nightclub. At the end of the meeting, council member Luke Waddell brought up the April 14 shooting at Pravda, which resulted in the hospitalization of one victim facing serious injuries....