Sarah White/The Waynesville Mountaineer After months of due diligence and negotiations, Canton inked a deal to buy 52 acres of former paper mill property to build a new flood-proof and town-owned sewer treatment plant. The purchase allows Canton to bring sewer treatment in-house. The town historically relied on the mill,...

Steve Harrison/WFAE Radio Mecklenburg County’s environmental committee on Tuesday discussed the negative impact of the proposed Interstate 77 toll lanes on county parks, streams and air quality. Commissioners were angry that the North Carolina Department of Transportation didn’t disclose the impacts until after the state said it was too late...

Jaymie Baxley/NC Health News North Carolina’s new Medicaid plan for children in the foster care system has enrolled more than 32,000 young people, and state and health plan officials told lawmakers Tuesday they’ve cut the average time to arrange a child’s placement from 45 days to 16. The update came...

Willie Daniely/WRAL News Wake County residents gathered on Tuesday night to weigh in on a proposal to build new mountain biking and hiking trails near Lake Crabtree County Park. County leaders say the project, called Haley Branch, would span about 400 acres and could help replace trails that were lost...

Brenna Flanagan/Port City Daily A proposal to convert a Market Street motel into affordable housing units received the go-ahead from the Wilmington Planning Commission last week despite staff’s disapproval, raising questions over the city’s ability to accommodate adaptive reuse cases. Premier Hotels LLC is requesting a rezoning of the property...

Guy Lucas/The High Point Enterprise Guilford County Schools would ask for a 9% increase in local funding by Guilford County under the proposal for the school system’s operating budget presented Tuesday night by Superintendent Whitney Oakley to the Guilford County Board of Education. That would be an increase of $25.58...

Sarah Michels/Carolina Public Press Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger is down by 23 votes to Rockingham Sheriff Sam Page. It’s not the end of the story. Elections aren’t over until the last vote is counted — and even then, maybe not. That may be the case in the close...

Julian Berger/WFAE Radio A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the case of a U.S. citizen detained and charged with a felony for allegedly assaulting Border Patrol agents during its November operation in Charlotte. Miguel Angel Garcia Martinez, 24, was charged with using his vehicle to assault, resist or impede federal...

Theresa Opeka/Carolina Journal North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek said his office will soon release a series of major audits, including reviews of the state Education Lottery, voter-approved bonds, and the UNC system, as part of a broader effort to expand oversight of government spending. For the first time, the...

Shaun Gallagher/WRAL News To breathe easier, it’s helpful to have some plants around, quite literally. It’s Biology 101 really. Your carbon dioxide converts into oxygen through those plants. But that’s what makes it so ironic at the plant shop at the corner of S. Salisbury & W. Hargett in Downtown...

David Ford/WFDD Radio North Carolina’s top elected officials have announced the formation of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Education. Governor Josh Stein, Senate Leader Phil Berger and Speaker of the House Destin Hall announced the plan in a joint press release. Stein called the new bipartisan commission of 28...

Bradley George/WUNC News A federal report says employees who worked in a now-closed building at North Carolina State University could have been exposed to cancer-causing chemicals. The report states, however, that more research is needed to prove a definitive connection between cancer cases among employees and exposure to those chemicals....

Catherine Muccigrosso/The Charlotte Observer A 10-year-old Charlotte-area technology company has found a new application for its circuit breaker. Atom Power is shifting focus from electric vehicle charging equipment to the burgeoning data center industry. Atom Power developed the world’s first commercial solid-state circuit breaker, which is drawing attention from hyperscale...

Penelope Lopez/WTVD News As the war in Iran enters its second week, tactical gear shops in Cumberland County are seeing a spike in business, with both companies and service members seeking protective equipment in response to the overseas conflict. Local store owners say the surge in demand has been noticeable...

Catherine Kozak/Coastal Review Online Even as the proposed Mid-Currituck bridge project has been uncharacteristically zipping along in the planning process, a new analysis of two revenue options has cast doubts on the project’s future, with serious concerns raised about the latest estimated construction costs that hover around $1.2 billion. The...