North Carolina students are reporting fewer mental health challenges and suicidal behaviors, according to results from the 2023 NC Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The biannual survey, which anonymously surveys middle and high school students, has been conducted in the spring of every odd year since 1993. The last survey was...

The U.S. surgeon general has called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms and their effects on young people’s lives, similar to those now mandatory on cigarette boxes. In a Monday opinion piece in the The New York Times, Dr. Vivek Murthy said that social media is...

A campaign by St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church and other area churches has used $17,738 in donations to abolish $4.5 million in medical debt in six counties. This is the second year Father Paul Castelli has led the effort to abolish crippling medical debt. In 2023, the Easter Medical Debt Jubilee...

Ahead of a multi-year, $140 million renovation to Dabney Hall, faculty and students in the chemistry department have flagged concerns about the safety of the project. Construction and safety managers involved in the project say the University is confident the occupied renovation will be conducted safely. According to a September...

A lawsuit in eastern North Carolina could force almost one-quarter of the state’s public school districts to start their school years later than they’d like in 2025 and beyond — a legal battle that is causing consternation among coastal business and local education officials. About 27 of the state’s 115...

She opens the door wearing a gray tank top, Hello Kitty pajama pants and pink fuzzy slippers. With her 6-year-old son standing quietly beside her, she listens patiently as Liz Purvis begins discussing what’s at stake in the election this November. The woman, Cynthia, tells Purvis she doesn’t watch the...

As Eric Spirtas does his research before possibly buying the Canton paper mill site, he says he’s discovering the property’s unique nature. “You’re not like anybody,” the president of Spirtas Worldwide said, pointing to the downtown location and the many possibilities for the site. Pactiv Evergreen shut down the mill...

UNC Asheville Chancellor Kimberly van Noort announced six program eliminations, including four academic departments and two language concentrations. Religious studies at UNC Asheville hasn’t always had its own department. In the early 2000s, it was considered a branch of the philosophy department and offered to students as a minor. That...

State lawmakers dropped language from a bill that would have shielded autopsies from public review, but the Senate’s thumbs-up on the revised measure June 12 may not be the end of the issue. The previous language could return in a future session, state Sen. Danny Britt Jr. (R-Lumberton) said at...

In 2023, the drinking water produced by the Fayetteville Public Works Commission had as much as 28 times the maximum level of “forever chemical” contaminants in it than the Environmental Protection Agency will allow under new standards announced this spring. Since the EPA did not set a standard until April...

Greensboro residents voiced frustration with city officials about a proposal to move contaminated soil from Bingham Park to a local landfill at a community meeting on Wednesday. The plan, if approved, would involve moving more than 11,000 truckloads of dirt to the White Street Landfill. The site is the closet...

Mission Health board members were blindsided by HCA Healthcare’s decision to aggressively cut patient care staff in order to save money following its purchase of the hospital system in 2019, according to a working draft of a study out of Wake Forest University from a leading scholar on health care...

Damage to a utility’s power equipment by gunfire found in Durham was associated with an outage that left hundreds of people without power earlier this week, the company said. About 730 people experienced a power outage for about two hours on Monday after reports of “a fire and equipment failure”...

Two stabbings in less than a month at Scotland Correctional Institution in Laurinburg have brought renewed scrutiny to the prison that has been plagued with reports of mistreatment, unsafe conditions and overcrowding. The most recent incident, on April 30, resulted in the death of 39-year-old Christopher Michael Edwards, who was...

North Carolina lawmakers have expanded their reach over state government. At the same time, they’ve made it harder for the public to see what they’re doing. State legislative leaders two years ago tucked $6 million into the state budget for a newly formed company developing a novel COVID treatment —...