While most U.S. homeowners are sitting on a mountain of home equity after years of rising house prices, a number of mortgage holders in pockets of North Carolina are underwater on their loans. Why it matters: That means these folks owe more on the mortgage than their home is worth,...

State Treasurer Dale Folwell, a longtime Republican politician who refers to himself as the “keeper of the public purse,” is being investigated for the possible use of state-owned vehicles for commuting and personal errands. State investigators launched an investigation in March after the state Department of Administration’s Motor Fleet Management...

Shareholder backing for Toyota (7203.T), opens new tab Chairman Akio Toyoda slid for a second straight year, results from its annual general meeting showed on Wednesday, with his support rate dropping to 72% amid certification scandals and governance concerns. The result marks the lowest level of backing for Toyoda, the...

The North Carolina House of Representatives released a budget proposal June 17 for the fiscal year that begins July 1 that would raise state employee salaries, put funding toward child care needs, boost some Medicaid provider rates and provide enhanced reimbursements for freestanding psychiatric hospitals. The spending plan also includes...

A politically connected board has applied to open a charter school in Iredell-Statesville School’s old Mt. Mourne School in Mooresville. Buried deep in the 271-page House budget bill introduced Monday night, there’s a provision that would allow an unnamed charter school to bypass state review and open in August. The...

A prominent financial research firm downshifted the credit rating for Wilmington’s municipal bonds, citing a new evaluation method and the cost of debt service compared to public spending. Fitch Ratings downgraded Wilmington’s Issuer Default Rating — an assessment of how likely an issuer is to default on their financial obligations...

Novant Health closed on the sale of 16 of its North Carolina properties earlier this month, a transaction that included four facilities in the Wilmington area. The sales are part of a “larger, multi-phased sale/leaseback transaction with Remedy Medical Properties Inc. and Kayne Anderson Real Estate,” according to a Novant...

The Senate voted nearly unanimously Tuesday evening to pass major legislation designed to reverse the American nuclear industry’s decades-long decline and launch a reactor-building spree to meet surging demand for green electricity at home and to catch up with booming rivals overseas. The bill slashes the fees the Nuclear Regulatory...

An appeals court threw out convictions Tuesday against a North Carolina woman who was charged after a teenager fatally shot himself in her home, saying she was absolved because the weapon had been initially unloaded. State law makes it a crime for a gun owner to improperly store a weapon...

High caseloads and limited staff at the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner are leading to families waiting for closure in their loved ones’ deaths. One of those is the family of Joyce Alexander. She wants to know why her brother died after suddenly collapsing 14 months ago. “We...

North Carolina teachers and state employees would receive higher salary bumps than are currently planned, while child care providers could access some financial aid as federal assistance ends in a state budget measure advanced Tuesday by House Republicans. They are running their own a bill that would adjust the second...

Raleigh City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to levy an additional tax on a portion of west Raleigh that’s home to some of the city’s biggest attractions: PNC Arena, the N.C. Museum of Art and the state fairgrounds. Why it matters: With two stadiums, a hospital, a vet school,...

A major expansion in Johnston County is on the horizon for one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. It could be North Carolina’s largest capital investment announcement of the year. Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO), manufacturer of the in-demand weight loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, has been issued more...

A recent poll suggests the crisis-level shortage of affordable housing could have a major impact on the outcome of fall’s election in swing states like North Carolina. The Swing State Housing Poll was conducted by HIT Strategies — a company founded by Democratic pollster Terrence Woodberry — and funded by...

As extremely high rates of student absenteeism drag on, some people are frustrated with the adults who let it happen. “There are a lot of people who say, ‘I want to make sure that kid gets to school, and if the parents can’t ensure they get that kid to school,...