Will Doran/WRAL News A new search warrant outlined thousands in additional spending by a group at the center of an alleged criminal scheme to buy influence in the North Carolina state legislature, including spending on golfing, at strip clubs, on a vacation property and with the Carolina Panthers. North Carolina...

Kip Tabb/Outer Banks Voice With a Jan. 1, 2027 deadline approaching for imposing a toll on all North Carolina ferry routes, local officials are voicing opposition to the item in the new state budget. Of the seven North Carolina NCDOT ferry routes that carry cars, four are currently free, including...

Jack Evans/Asheville Watchdog The University of North Carolina-Asheville should not build a stadium atop the wooded land south of its main campus, according to a committee convened to guide the school’s decisions about several properties. In a slate of recommendations published Monday, the Millennial Campus Development Advisory Committee determined that...

Walker Livingston/Carolina Public Press The last time North Carolina had a state budget, Tropical Storm Helene hadn’t happened yet. But, earlier this month, legislators on both sides of the NC General Assembly agreed on a budget and the governor signed it into law.  Roughly $700 million of the $34 billion...

Molly Steur/Education NC The North Carolina Department of Justice (NCDOJ) announced that their case against Meta is now set to go to trial on August 18, according to a press release. The case began in 2023 when then-Attorney General Josh Stein joined a bipartisan coalition of 41 other state attorney...

Pat Kimbrough/High Point Enterprise  A Canadian producer of amphibious off-road vehicles called Swamp Rider will establish its first U.S. manufacturing facility in High Point, the city announced Monday. The company will create 60 jobs over five years at 1908 Nuggett Road, where it will invest $2.4 million in renovations and...

Bill Moss/The Hendersonville Lightning Jamie Ager continued his fundraising advantage over U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards as the battle for 11th Congressional District seat enters the final 15 weeks, campaign finance reports for the second quarter show. Ager, the Democratic nominee, raised $1.34 million, spent $292,000 and had $2,184,778 cash on...

Emma Dill/WilmingtonBiz North Carolina Ports plans to use $9.8 million in recently awarded federal funds to construct a new off-terminal access and parking facility, along with a pedestrian bridge and shuttle connections at the Port of Wilmington. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced $1.73 billion in federal grants for...

Elizabeth Casolo/Becker’s Payer Issues Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health hospitals have voluntarily dismissed two lawsuits against Humana over alleged 340B drug underpayments, according to July court filings. UNC Health Care System and affiliated hospitals dismissed their case against Humana and ChoiceCare Network July 17 in the U.S. District Court for...

Shea Carver/Port City Daily Two-hundred-ninety-one single-family homes will be added to a development already under construction near Southport. In a 4-1 vote from the Brunswick County Planning Board, the Southport Meadows neighborhood at full build-out will make up 536 units on 232 acres on River Road. Located in the county’s...

Dan DeWitt/Asheville Watchdog The fourth floor of the new apartment building on Long Shoals Road is designed like the upper levels of countless other rental blocks in Buncombe County, the state, and most of the nation: A staircase on one end of the floor is connected by a long corridor...

Heather Hollingsworth, Nicky Forster & Emily Walkenhorst/The Associated Press & WRAL News Nearly 300,000 North Carolina college-goers have defaulted on their federal student loans, collectively owing $7.8 billion, data analyzed by the Associated Press shows. About half of those people, owing an average of $26,500, have gone into default just...

Rachel Crumpler/NC Health News As of July 16, 2,146 people were in custody in Mecklenburg County’s uptown Charlotte jail — 242 people above the jail’s capacity of 1,904. Pods designed for 53 people now routinely hold as many as 84, Sheriff Garry McFadden told NC Health News. Mecklenburg isn’t alone....

Bradley George/WUNC News Sales of private aircraft have boomed since 2020. And that’s causing a problem at general aviation airports, the kind used by corporations, private pilots, flying schools, and the like. It raises the question: Where do you park all those planes when they’re not in the air? At...

Mackenzie Thomas/Carolina Public Press A recent state audit has calmed concerns that Rocky Mount residents were double-billed for utilities, but also drew attention to more than $30,000 in total outstanding utility bills from two City Council members. Rocky Mount provides utility services for more than 31,000 customers across the city...