Sarah White/The Waynesville Mountaineer Was N.C. Rep. Mark Pless going to run again? The question loomed over the final week of candidate signups, as the general public — and would-be opponents — waited and wondered why Pless had been mum the first two weeks of filing, and whether he was...

Paul B. Johnson/The High Point Enterprise The Guilford County Board of Commissioners approved incentives Thursday night for the local expansion of a company in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning field that will create 131 new jobs and provide $40 million in investment. The incentives of up to $196,500 are...

Kyle Perrotti/Smoky Mountain News The decision to secure over $10 million to build two new landfill cells was, in a sense, an easy one for Macon County commissioners to make, but what lies ahead is less certain. The issue has come before commissioners each of the last few months. The...

The Southern Pines Pilot A Pinehurst man who was the president of a construction company pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in connection with a bid rigging scam that federal officials say defrauded the Defense Department by as much as $6 million. Brett Sanborn was the president of a construction...

Jack Evans/Asheville Watchdog The inaugural cohort of the University of North Carolina Asheville’s new master’s program in environmental resilience arrived on campus at a fraught and fortuitous moment. The university’s announcement of the program last April came amid growing uproar over its plan to develop 45 acres of wooded campus....

Rob Christensen & Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan/The (Raleigh) News & Observer James B. Hunt Jr., a one-time Wilson County farm boy who rose to become one of the dominant figures in 20th-century North Carolina politics, has died, Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, his daughter, announced on Dec. 18. “It is with deep...

Emily Mikkelsen, Chris Weaver & Brayden Stamps/WGHP News NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Greg Biffle was reportedly killed in a plane crash Thursday morning, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. Around 10:15 a.m., an aircraft crashed at Statesville Regional Airport, they confirmed in a post on their Facebook...

Rose Hoban/NC Health News When new state treasurer Brad Briner walked into his new office at the beginning of 2025, he had a problem. After almost a decade of no premium increases for 750,000 state employees and their dependents, outgoing treasurer Dale Folwell had left the State Health Plan —...

Sharryse Piggott/WUNC Radio As Christmas approaches, pop-up markets selling fresh-cut Christmas trees are becoming more common across the city. The Raleigh Farmers Market remains one of the most popular destinations, offering locally grown North Carolina Fraser firs. While tree farmers are selling more Christmas trees than last year, experts say...

Brian Gordon/The (Raleigh) News & Observer An unnamed Triangle company has agreed to fill more than 1 million square feet of a local campus, in what the site’s developers say is the largest U.S. leasing deal of 2025. Charlotte-based Trinity Capital Advisors and the Florida investment firm Starwood Capital Group...

The (Southern Pines) Pilot A Pinehurst man who was the president of a construction company pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in connection with a bid rigging scam that federal officials say defrauded the Defense Department by as much as $6 million. Brett Sanborn was the president of a construction...

Caleb M. Soptelean/The Sanford Herald A longtime Sanford City Councilman threw his hat into the ring for the Republican nomination for state House in District 51, which includes all of Lee County and part of Moore County. Charles Taylor — who is the only Republican on the city council —...

Richard Sullins & Gordon Anderson/The Rant Lee County Commissioner Taylor Vorbeck announced during Monday’s meeting of the Lee County Board of Commissioners that she won’t seek another term, and in a lengthy and at times emotional speech slammed her own party organization for having an “unelected dictator” and being “ran...

Joseph Williams/The (Whiteville) News Reporter A U.S. District Court judge ordered a federal disaster-mitigation program reinstated last week after finding the Trump administration acted unlawfully in its attempts to shut it down earlier this year. The ruling could allow the City of Whiteville to recoup millions in grant funding for...

Sam Dietrich/News Argus Marcella Barbour, a Republican, filed as a candidate in the N.C. House District 4 race and will challenge incumbent Republican Jimmy Dixon in his reelection bid for a ninth consecutive term in 2026. Barbour and Dixon will face off in the March Republican primary, with the winner...