Two days before Thanksgiving, Lt. Gen. Walter Gaskin visited the North Carolina State Veterans Home in Fayetteville to make a shocking announcement. Gaskin, a former NATO military leader who was secretary of the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), said the 85 aging veterans living there, including...

An administrative judge decided May 10 to uphold the state’s decision to allow AdventHealth to build a hospital in Weaverville, Buncombe County, just north of Asheville. The management of for-profit HCA, which operates the Mission Health group of hospitals and other facilities from an Asheville base, may not be happy...

Weeds have punctured through the vacant parking lot of Martin General Hospital’s emergency room. A makeshift blue tarp covering the hospital’s sign is worn down from flapping in the wind. The hospital doors are locked, many in this county of 22,000 fear permanently. Some residents worry the hospital’s sudden closure...

In the near term, Johnston’s water and sewer operations are in strong financial health, the county’s financial adviser told commissioners on May 6. But a couple of calculations point to mounting strains on that health, said Kyle Laux, a senior vice president with Davenport & Co. “One of the most...

Lowell’s newly elected mayor is calling for an audit of the city’s budgets going years back as the City Council prepares to consider its 2024-25 budget. At a council meeting May 14, Mayor Larry Simonds, who took office in January, said the city has taken in more money in taxes...

Toyota is building its first car battery manufacturing plant in Randolph County off U.S. 421, about 20 miles southeast of Greensboro. The highway has been designated “Future Interstate 685.” Toyota Interstate highways continue to multiply in North Carolina. State and local officials on Monday unveiled signs for “Future I-685,” which...

Insufficient child care is keeping 300 individuals out of the labor pool in Watauga County, a new study estimates. “If you put all 300 of those people under one roof, that would be a top-10 business, based on employee count, in Watauga County today,” David Jackson, president and CEO of...

Red Lobster, America’s largest seafood chain known for its shrimp and Cheddar Bay biscuits, has filed for bankruptcy. Its seafood restaurants are in hot water after a series of bad choices by a parade of executives, including an ill-fated promotion for all-you-can-eat-shrimp starting at $20. Almost 580 locations in the...

After being closed for five months, a key North Carolina license plate office will reopen at the coast. The previous operator’s contract ended and the office closed in Shallotte on Dec. 20, 2023, according to a news release from the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles. A new operator has...

Alan Freeman has worn several hats when it comes to the homeownership topic. He’s a home buyer and seller. Recently, Freeman moved into a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Oakdale, a small area between Oakwood and Mordecai near downtown Raleigh. “We were only really looking for places that were walkable or...

Federal child care relief funding runs out in less than seven weeks. Hundreds of providers, parents, and advocates showed up at the North Carolina legislature Thursday to call for emergency funding to replace it. Without intervention, about 20% of the state’s child care facilities are at risk of closing within...

Three lawsuits filed in 2024 against the U.S. Forest Service highlight concerns that the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forest Land Management Plan is failing to protect mature and old-growth forests, safeguard endangered species and evaluate the climate impact of timber cutting accurately. The Forest Service finalized its forest plan for...

The leadership of North Carolina’s public university system is expected to vote this week to repeal its diversity policies, raising questions of what’s to come for thousands of minority students at the state’s 17 UNC System campuses and hundreds of professors and staff who work to promote diversity, equity and...

Haywood County fly anglers are trying to counteract a massive reduction in the trout stockpile, viewing it as a detriment to trout fishing and a hindrance to the outdoor industry. Trout stocked in Western North Carolina rivers and streams will be curtailed by two-thirds over the next few years due...

Recently, the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority awarded a contract to Lindsey Architecture, P.C. to provide the architectural and engineering design services for the Authority’s “Terminal Modernization Project.” The total estimated fees and expenses under the contract come to $13,428,986. That’s just for the design phase; once that phase is complete,...