Michelle Crouch/NC Health News & The Charlotte Ledger In 2020, Charlotte businessman Michael Estramonte set out to build a nonprofit treatment center to create more space for kids in mental health crisis. The idea quickly won support from state and local lawmakers. Since 2023, the Katie Blessing Center has secured...

Tom Fiedler/Asheville Watchdog Will Rogers, who called himself the Cowboy Philosopher in his newspaper columns and stage acts, had it right when he was asked about his partisan politics: “I don’t belong to any organized political party,” he replied. “I’m a Democrat…. If people agree with each other all the...

Jill Doss-Raines/The High Point Enterprise   Duke Energy plans to build two 1,360-megawatt natural gas power plants in eastern Davie County and will build its largest-ever liquefied natural gas facility nearby in western Davidson County. Bill Norton, Duke Energy’s communications manager, said that the projects will be multibillion-dollar infrastructure investments....

Mebane Rash/Education NC Asheville-Buncombe Tech Community College (A-B Tech) has been awarded $29.2 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) for construction of the proposed Western North Carolina (WNC) Futures Factory, according to a press release from the college. Announced July 27, the funding targets Hurricane Helene recovery and...

Jane Winik Sartwell/The Raleigh News & Observer UNC-Chapel Hill is pouring millions of dollars into developing a satellite campus two miles north of campus, a 230-acre tract of land now dubbed Carolina North. But there are some old and unusual strings attached to the development, thanks to a former professor’s...

Felicia Sonmez/Blue Ridge Public Radio A lawsuit filed by the North Carolina attorney general’s office against HCA Healthcare over conditions at Asheville’s Mission Hospital can proceed to trial, a judge ruled Monday. In a 55-page ruling, North Carolina Business Court Judge Julianna Theall Earp denied motions by HCA Healthcare and...

Emily Walkenhorst/WRAL News A Wake County lawmaker wants to prevent elementary school employees from dressing in ways that don’t conform with their biological sex. State Rep. Erin Paré, R-Wake, in a post on her campaign Facebook page Monday night, floated the idea of a state law that would require sex-based...

Walker Livingston/Carolina Public Press Every Wednesday afternoon in the heart of Swannanoa, volunteers hand out seasonal produce while community members flow through the produce market in an old church building that nonprofit Bounty and Soul hosts. Last week, it was summer squash, fresh tomatoes and watermelon for the summer season....

Sophia DePhillips/Port City Daily After resolving a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall in June, Pender County Schools is once again tightening its financial belt. This time the district needs to absorb a $1 million gap caused by state-mandated teacher raises and bonuses that exceeded district projections, along with cuts to federal Title...

Sarah White/The Waynesville Mountaineer In a matter of hours, Canton’s former Fire Department building off Park Street was razed to a pile of rubble. Demolition on the building began two weeks ago — nearly two years after the building was inundated with water from Helene, leaving it empty and unusable....

Claudia Grisales, Barbara Sprunt/NPR President Trump heralded the late Sen. Lindsey Graham as a “legend” and “giant of the U.S. Senate” during a funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday. Trump’s remarks came on the first of two days of remembrances for Graham, who died earlier this month...

WSOC News The football team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may soon be under investigation by the College Sports Commission. The New York Times cited sources saying the group who oversees compensation rules for athletes approached the team after Michael Lombardi, general manager for the Tar...

Mackenzie Thomas/Carolina Public Press A dispute over First Amendment rights has resulted in the North Carolina National Guard settling a lawsuit with a veteran who claimed he was pressured to retire over his criticism of leadership. Timothy Stanhope, a retired guardsman who spent roughly 20 years in the military, received...

Flynn Snyder/WRAL News On Monday, a group of key stakeholders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill toured the site of what is set to be a major expansion project for the university. Dozens of faculty members, students, community members and alumni walked the old runway at Horace...

Dee Pridgen/828 News NOW8 A new annual review of HCA Healthcare’s compliance with the agreement governing its purchase of Mission Health has raised concerns about several areas of potential non-compliance, including emergency services, oncology care, a Care Partners rehabilitation program and Mission Hospital’s Medicare status. Dogwood Health Trust and the...