You’ve heard it before: North Carolina is growing, and fast. Or maybe you’ve experienced it in your own community. With that growth, there has been a significant increase and change in how people register to vote. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Carolina Population Center predicts the Tar...

There’s a new political movement in Vance County by the name of Down Home North Carolina — and the 20-some members have some big plans. Its focus is on organizing working-class people in counties across the state. Somewhat new, at least — the chapter launched in late February. Efforts to...

Federal prosecutors oppose a plan to split the bribery and fraud retrials of Greg Lindberg and John Gray. Both are scheduled to return to federal court on May 6. The government submitted its latest court filing Friday. The case involves the federal government’s charges that Lindberg bribed state Insurance Commissioner...

Sandhills Community College students wanting to move their educational careers on to Fayetteville now have a new opportunity. Fayetteville State University and SCC have agreed to a new arrangement, called the Bronco Benefit partnership, guaranteeing transfer admissions for qualified students. “It is exciting to expand the Bronco Benefit program because...

After months of consideration, delays, and some intense discussion, the Oak Island Town Council has approved a special building permit for a hotel expansion. Council voted 3-2 in favor of granting approval for hotel owner Kuntal Gandhi to construct a three-story, 20,000 square foot addition to the existing Ocean Crest...

New vehicles, additional police officers, and perhaps a new town park with access to Jonathan Creek may be part of Maggie Valley’s plans for 2024-25 or following years. Those were among the plans and ideas floated during the board of aldermen’s visionary session March 27 to discuss goals for the...

It has been a busy few weeks in the courts for an organization that has been a staunch advocate for North Carolinians with disabilities. Disability Rights North Carolina announced a settlement agreement on Wednesday with the state Department of Health and Human Services in a long-running state court battle known...

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cemented economic links and cultural amity with North Carolina on Friday, following up time in Washington during his official U.S. visit by checking up on benchmark Japanese companies building in the ninth-most populous state and meeting with students. In between, Kishida lunched at the governor’s...

When Democrat Jim Hunt was elected lieutenant governor in 1972, tobacco was still the undisputed king in Eastern North Carolina. And no place was it celebrated as much as in the city of Wilson. Festive tobacco auctions were an annual ritual in the city, not far from the farming community...

The Southern Environmental Law Center is among more than 40 environmentalist groups who sent a letter warning a permit reform bill, co-introduced by Congressman David Rouzer, would “put polluter profits ahead of public health.” On March 21, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 7023 — the “Creating Confidence in...

The search for a suitable software program to verify absentee voters’ signatures has proven more difficult than expected, according to a North Carolina State Board of Elections official. The Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly passed sweeping elections legislation last year. One expansive law required a pilot program for signature verification,...

Voters in the 9th Congressional district will see an independent candidate on their ballots this fall. Shelane Etchison, a former Army officer with two graduate degrees from Harvard, has collected enough verified signatures to make it onto the ballot, according to the state Board of Elections website. She faces incumbent...

On Thursday, UNC Asheville announced layoffs in its Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, and the Office of the Chancellor departments. The layoffs are part of a plan to address a projected $6 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year and an $8 million projected deficit for the following fiscal year,...

Duke is discontinuing its Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholarship Program, a program for “top applicants of African descent,” in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision that ended race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The announcement comes amidst a nascent national trend, with a number of public universities ending their...

Cumberland County and the Fayetteville Public Works Commission are partnering to bring public water to Gray’s Creek and two elementary schools where residents have used specialized filters and bottled water for years to avoid exposure to toxic PFAS chemicals. The news on Friday came two days after Michael Regan, the...