At its May 7 meeting, the Southern Shores Town Council, by a 3-0 vote of the three members attending the meeting, passed an ordinance banning the release of balloons in the town. In doing so, it became the second Dare County municipality, after Duck, to enact such a measure. The...

North Carolina officials downgraded a projected state revenue surplus through mid-2025 by $430 million on Friday, citing lower than anticipated April 15 individual income tax payments due to recent business tax changes. Still, the state expects nearly $1 billion more to enter its coffers. Last month, economists working for Democratic...

The number of North Carolinians whose tap water comes from systems that contain at least one chemical compound exceeding new federal contamination limits is “coming down daily,” according to a state environmental official. Rebecca Sadosky, N.C. Drinking Water Protection Program coordinator, told members of the state Environmental Management Commission Thursday...

The student-athletes on UNC-Chapel Hill’s baseball team have received negative messages from fans expecting certain performances before. But now that sports betting is legal in North Carolina, as of March 11, the messages and pressure from sports bettors may increase. Carter Hicks, the baseball director of player and program development,...

More licensed child care programs in North Carolina are closing their doors as the state approaches the expiration of pandemic-era stabilization funding. According to data provided by the NC Child Care Resource and Referral Council (CCR&R) in partnership with the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE), the...

A second county in Western North Carolina is now grappling with a whooping cough outbreak, with Transylvania Public Health confirming 21 cases of pertussis among children on Thursday. Public health staff are working with health care providers, schools and childcare centers to identify possible exposures to pertussis and notify parents....

Festering frustration with nearly every aspect of Pactiv Evergreen’s actions taken in closing its Canton paper mill a year ago spilled over into a town meeting May 9, when board members took the opportunity to dump all over Pactiv for its latest putrid mess. “One of my favorite George Strait...

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson spoke out recently about the “challenges” his wife is facing amid a state agency’s probe of her nonprofit, saying he and former President Donald Trump are “being pushed to the edge through an unfair system.” In video of his remarks last weekend in Chadbourn at the...

A man arrested on multiple offenses Thursday has been terminated from his position with the county. Courtney Antwain McNeil, 24, was apprehended on Thursday, May 9, and charged with 16 drug offenses and one firearm charge. All are felonies except for drug paraphernalia possession charges: -Five charges of possession of...

AdventHealth cleared a legal hurdle Friday in its quest to build a new hospital in Weaverville, paving the way for the first hospital competition in Buncombe County since Memorial Mission Hospital merged with Asheville’s St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1998. Administrative Law Judge Michael C. Byrne concluded in a 50-page decision...

A little more than two years ago, a clean energy record was broken. For the first time, a regional transmission organization met more than 90% of its electric demand, called load, with renewable power. But if you don’t follow the electric industry closely, you might be surprised where it happened....

On a near-perfect spring afternoon, a crowd of mostly Black retirees and senior citizens poured into Martin Street Baptist Church in Southeast Raleigh to learn about strategies to lower property taxes through Wake County’s appeals process. In their neighborhoods, higher property values have brought higher property taxes. That, in turn,...

Norfolk Southern shareholders delivered a split verdict today, sparing CEO Alan Shaw while electing three of activist investor Ancora Holdings’ insurgent director candidates and ousting its independent chair, Amy Miles. Investors sent a clear message that ends the bitter proxy fight. They backed Ancora’s desire for change but sought to...

Republican primary voters are headed back to the polls next Tuesday for a rare statewide runoff election for lieutenant governor and state auditor. Until last week, most of the attention in this month’s runoff was focused on the 13th Congressional District. But after former President Donald Trump endorsed former federal...

Interstate 95 is the busiest highway on the east coast, running from Miami to Maine straight through North Carolina. For 50 miles, I-95 runs through Nash County. So far in 2024, deputies there have stopped over 1,000 people for various reasons on the interstate and U.S. 64 and 264. Most...