North Carolinians voting in the primary on March 5 will be doing so under increased observation, due to changes the state legislature made last year to the role that a poll watcher may play. Carolina Public Press interviewed experts, a leader of a voting rights organization and a former poll...

A new Duke University report reveals the AI-powered gunshot detection technology ShotSpotter helped Durham police make several gun-related arrests last year. But it also often sent reports that police ultimately could not find evidence for. Why it matters: Durham launched a yearlong pilot of ShotSpotter — now rebranded as SoundThinking...

Early voting is underway for the March 5 primary — the biggest election North Carolina has held under the state’s photo ID law. To get an idea of the impact of photo ID, Inside Politics is looking at the November 2023 election, which was mostly city and town contests across...

The economic shakeup in Haywood following the Pactiv Evergreen mill closure created an opportunity to re-envision the future, and that’s what is happening. County commissioners have approved a $56,338 agreement with Shining Rock Ventures consulting firm to develop a vision for the next three to five years, to be created...

The legal battles involving HCA Healthcare, the owner of Asheville’s Mission Hospital, took another twist this week. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that a June 2022 lawsuit filed against HCA by the city of Brevard can go forward. Buncombe and Madison Counties and the City of Asheville joined the...

In February 2022, a fire ignited at the Weaver Fertilizer Plant, causing Wake Forest students and Winston-Salem residents within one mile to evacuate from the area. Two years later, the city is still feeling its effects. The Weaver Fertilizer Plant sat next to underserved block groups in Winston-Salem –– which...

In less than a decade, the Triangle’s biotech industry has more than doubled its lab space and added tens of thousands of new workers, as the region’s profile among investors and companies soars. The big picture: Some of the nation’s oldest biotech hubs, like Boston, now see the Triangle as...

A Democratic candidate running for a state Senate seat representing Davidson and Davie counties was excluded from a candidates forum where her opponents were given the opportunity to speak. Davidson County resident Tina Royal, who is running for N.C. Senate in District 30, said she was not invited to attend...

Meeting on Feb. 7, the Nags Head Commissioners rejected a text amendment approved by the Nags Head Planning Board that would have permitted multi-family dwelling in certain parts of town—opting instead to create a task force to work on the issue. The planning board’s unanimous approval of the amendment to...

The Town of Leland has announced its 2024-2025 fiscal year budget proposal, which if approved will hike up the property tax rate from 23 cents per $100 valuation to 39 cents to pay for road work, police and fire equipment, and new personnel. Leland has not raised taxes since 2022....

Appalachian State University is planning to launch its own 911 dispatch center. The move comes as a surprise to Boone officials who spent years consolidating emergency services between the town and county. It’s raising tensions and questions over the emergency response implications for local residents. App State is in the...

Coastal communities will see more than $55 million of the $238 million the state is awarding across North Carolina for drinking water, wastewater and stormwater projects, and lead service line inventories and replacements. The water and wastewater infrastructure funding and stormwater planning grants will go to help pay for 114...

Alamance-Burlington School System Superintendent Dain Butler says he has a plan that could help balance the district’s budget without cutting employees or salaries. Instead, the district would need to close the Alamance Virtual School at the end of the year. On Thursday, Butler sent a message to the ABSS community...

HCA Healthcare-owned Mission Hospital in Asheville laid out plans to fix deficiencies in a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report made public Feb. 15, after regulators found violations that posed “immediate jeopardy” to patients’ health and safety. The hospital must rectify those issues by Feb. 24 or it may...

A recent US congressional hearing illustrated how the wanton use of the word “cartel” has made it virtually meaningless and gets us further, rather than closer, to understanding modern-day criminal organizations and how best to direct resources to fight them. The overuse of the term was abundantly clear at the...