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...

Kate Denning/Carolina Public Press Where are all the men? That’s the question the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal is asking in its new policy brief analyzing enrollment data, which found that women outnumber men at every UNC System institution but one — not including the North Carolina School...

Jaymie Baxley/NC Health News Cole’s Pharmacy, a family-owned drug store in Person County, closed in early February after nearly 70 years, leaving many residents in and around Roxboro with a longer drive for medications and fewer local health care options. Robbie Carver, who managed the pharmacy with his sister, said...

Becky Johnson/The Waynesville Mountaineer N.C. Rep. Mark Pless has a reputation of introducing surprise bills that meddle in local governance, making enemies of local officials in the process — but Pless defended his tactics in an interview when asked, “Why do you do stuff that makes people mad?” “I don’t...

WRAL News & The Associated Press A 21-year-old man from North Carolina was shot and killed Sunday by U.S. Secret Service agents at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Austin Tucker Martin was a 2023 graduate of Union Pines High School, Moore County Schools confirmed Monday. According...

Josie Frost/WLTX News Lawmakers are considering a bill aimed at putting guardrails on data center growth in South Carolina, with supporters saying it would protect ratepayers and water resources and opponents warning it could drive millions of dollars in investment elsewhere. Data centers are large, often windowless buildings that house...