A titanium reclamation plant proposed for Fayetteville and Cumberland County would represent an investment of at least $1 billion and employ 450 people, and the workers’ average pay would be $120,000 a year, according to legal notices published ahead of two public hearings about the project. To persuade American Titanium...

After 35 years of talking, planning, designing and redesigning, the I-26 Connector project is finally underway, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation or its contractors are buying land to accommodate the north-to-south downtown bypass. As Asheville Watchdog reported in early March, the NCDOT has been acquiring land for more...

At its May 16 meeting, the Kitty Hawk Planning Board took a step toward potentially making it easier to create more worker housing in the town. According to Kitty Hawk Director of Planning and Inspections Rob Testerman, the proposed text amendment recommended by the Planning Board at the meeting would...

The Town of Boone is going back to the drawing board on its bevy of changes to parking downtown after citizens, business owners, and others came out in opposition to the proposal during a Boone Town Council meeting on Wednesday, May 8. Among other changes, the parking proposal would have...

Former Pinehurst Village Council Member Kevin Drum and his non-profit, NC Citizens for Transparent Government, Inc., have filed an appeal to the North Carolina Court of Appeals to determine whether email correspondence between a majority of the Village Council in 2021 constituted a breach of the state’s open meetings law....

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...