James Farrell/WFAE Radio North Carolina ranked 48th in the country in terms of public education funding for the third year in a row, according to the latest annual state-by-state analysis of school funding from the Education Law Center. The state also ranked 49th in terms of funding effort, which looked...

Port City Daily The film industry brought hundreds of millions of dollars to the state in 2024, thanks to the entertainment industry rolling cameras from mountains to coast. More than 55 productions were set up and made $302 million in purchases statewide for their projects. According to the N.C. Department...

Laura Leslie/WRAL News The Federal Emergency Management Agency is increasing its footprint in the Triangle in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene. The agency has leased a 117,000-square-foot office building in Durham, just outside Research Triangle Park. The building, Danbury Hall, is part of the Sheraton Imperial Office Center. A...

Holly Kays/Smoky Mountain News For the first time in nearly three years, the trail to Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s tallest waterfall is fully open — and following an intensive rehabilitation of its entire four-mile length, Ramsey Cascades Trail is in better shape than it’s been in decades. “It’s a...

Alan Wooten/The Center Square As 2024 closes, prices for a gallon of unleaded fuel in North Carolina are more than a dime lower than a year ago and continue to hover at about 20 cents better than the national average as they have all year. The motor fuels tax falls...

Jaymie Baxley/NC Health News After three eventful years, Kody Kinsley is stepping down from his role as North Carolina’s top health official. The New Hanover native’s relatively short run as secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services was marked by several achievements that will likely be felt...

Felicia Sonmez/WFAE Radio The former Pactiv Evergreen paper mill in Canton has been shut for more than a year and a half. With several lawsuits underway, the site’s future remains in limbo — and so does the status of Canton’s wastewater treatment. For years, Pactiv Evergreen was a fixture in...

Alexa Wandersee/Port City Daily Three deputies from the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office are being sued for seizing thousands of dollars of hemp products and ransacking vape shops, after a controversial operation led to shops being raided statewide. Roughly 100 vape shops were part of Operation Vapor Trail, with 71 in...

Summer Stevens/The Coastland Times On December 11, state lawmakers enacted Senate Bill 382, a bill that provides disaster relief funds to Western North Carolina. However, tacked onto the last two pages of the 132-page bill is an alarming provision for local municipalities on the Outer Banks. The provision, entitled, “No...

John Boyle/Asheville Watchdog Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers: Question: My question is related to the waterways around western North Carolina and their health. I live near the Swannanoa River. The past few weeks the river has been a blue/green color. It’s almost glacial looking....

Kyle Perrotti/Smoky Mountain News Last Friday wasn’t Mark Beam’s first time facing a judge at the defendant’s table in Haywood County District Court, but it seems like it may have been the last. Beam’s defense attorney, Jake Phelps, stood to address District Court Judge Monica Leslie. Phelps’ voice wavered as...

Frank Daniels IV/The (Southern Pines) Pilot Apartments under construction along the north side of Morganton Road in Southern Pines show visible progress, but it will be over a year before the development is ready for tenants. Elam Hall, business managing director for builder D.R. Horton’s Carolinas region, estimates that what...

Moss Brennan/The Watauga Democrat Nearly three months after it was severely damaged by Hurricane Helene’s flooding, the Boone Walmart has reopened with major renovations and updates. The store currently offers all general merchandise and dry grocery items. The bakery, deli, dairy and refrigerated sections will open in mid-February. Store manager...

Sarah Gleason/Wilmington StarNews For North Carolinians, a new year means a few new laws, and provisions within them, that are changing. In the Tar Heel State, bills go into effect throughout the entire year, with a few of the most recent legislative session’s most controversial legislation taking effect in early...

Greg Barnes/CityView The day Errol Jarman became Spring Lake’s interim police chief in April, his officers told him that the most violent property in town was the Plush Sports Bar, a squat, black-and-gray box with tall tinted windows near the intersection of N.C. 210 and Bragg Boulevard. Today, the property...