Rachel Heimann Mercader/CityView Cumberland County commissioners grappled with a question that has become increasingly urgent across North Carolina: whether the economic upside of billion‑dollar data centers outweighs the pressure they place on local power and water supplies, as well as nearby neighborhoods. Officials stressed throughout a special work session on...

Nick Broadway/WAVY News It was Feb. 3, right after a snowfall, and a cold day to be on a boat taking water, but thanks to quick thinking, a fellow fishing captain was able to get there in a matter of minutes and help make the rescue. Lifelong fisherman Capt. Buddy...

Josh Shaffer & Chantal Allam/The Raleigh News & Observer When it opened in 2002, Triangle Town Center drew 1,500 shoppers before sunrise, all of them eager to browse the state’s first Saks Fifth Avenue, gawk at the mall’s 18-foot indoor waterfall and stroll down the artificial river that burbled alongside...

Sarah Krueger/WRAL News Nonprofit CJF America President Kristen Picot was found guilty on Wednesday of one count of a simple worthless check charge. A judge found Picot not guilty of two other counts of issuing a simple worthless check. The judge dismissed a fourth count of the same charge because...

Katie Myers & Laura Hackett/Grist & NC Health News Regina is haunted by the specter of mold. She found the insidious spores in the closet, behind the refrigerator, and around the bathtub for two years after the dishwasher flooded her apartment in Asheville, North Carolina. The infestation only got worse...

Nick Sullivan & Desiree Mathurin/The Charlotte Observer Charlotte City Council committed to vote on a 60-day pause on the Interstate 77 toll lane project as a raucous crowd demanded action during Monday night’s meeting. Council members are in near unanimous agreement to stop the project, at least temporarily. They’ll take...

Charlie Fossen/Port City Daily Residential and commercial projects requiring new sewer line extensions in Brunswick County are effectively stalled as state regulators apply a new wastewater capacity calculation, counting future development flow as already in the system. Since November, Brunswick County has requested the state freeze several new sewer extension...

Rachel Crumpler/NC Health News Teenagers in some North Carolina juvenile detention centers are spending nearly the entire day locked in their cells — sometimes allowed out for only one or two hours — according to a yearlong review of the state’s 13 juvenile detention centers by Disability Rights North Carolina....

Liz Bell/Education NC The child care center at Davidson-Davie Community College (Davidson-Davie) helps student parents stay in school, attracts faculty to the college, and provides hands-on learning to prospective teachers, college administrators told members of the North Carolina Task Force on Child Care and Early Education last Wednesday. The college...

Kate Denning/Carolina Public Press Sunday marked two years since the NC Supreme Court last heard arguments in the school funding suit Leandro v. State of North Carolina, though the case’s full history spans decades. The court remains at a standstill despite previous rulings in favor of Leandro and the other...

Caroline Yaffa/WRAL News North Carolina’s election technology is long overdue for an upgrade, state officials say, and a bipartisan commission met for the first time Tuesday to dive into the nitty-gritty of modernizing the systems. In the end, officials say, election results should come faster, voter data should be better...

Lauren Rhodes/WUNC News The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is preparing for its biggest expansion since the university’s founding in 1789. Carolina North, a satellite campus, could turn 250 acres of primarily empty land into a “live, work, play and learning” space. Located 1.6 miles north of UNC-Chapel...

Cory Vaillancourt/Smoky Mountain News In a move that underscores shifting political terrain in Western North Carolina, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has placed a candidate in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District on its radar — an unusual step for a district long considered safely Republican. Calling Jamie Ager “a top-tier...

Mark Rogers/The Sanford Herald There were hugs, laughter, stories and even a few tears Sunday as retired and former employees said goodbye to an old friend — the Belk store at Riverbirch Corner Shopping Center. The store closed recently and now sits empty as Casto Development Co. plans to replace...

Emma Cooke/WCHL Chapelboro Amid discussions from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education about which elementary schools to close in light of declining student enrollment and funding challenges, Carrboro Elementary School will not be in consideration. Instead, the school district is making headway on its plans to replace the existing school...