Santiago Ochoa/WFDD Radio Three months after Tropical Storm Helene tore through North Carolina, the federal government has committed half a billion dollars toward individual assistance — but the process of getting that relief is proving to be long and lacking for some. Max Gibbons works for Pisgah Legal Services. He’s...

Shaun Gallagher/WRAL News Cleanup at Duke University Hospital entered its second day Saturday after a burst pipe flooded the hospital’s emergency department a day earlier. The hospital sent WRAL News photos of the cleanup, which showed a gray cleaning liquid on the floor, which the hospital said was safe –...

Jessica Wakeman/NC Health News Three weeks after Helene hit western North Carolina, Marcia Whitney thought she was close to a breakthrough. The president of Verner Center for Early Learning was desperate to reopen and help their families and children return to at least some of their routines. Through her involvement...

Julian Berger/WFAE Radio Gabriel Esparza, who resides in Charlotte, will become North Carolina’s first Latino Cabinet member when he’s sworn in with Gov.-elect Josh Stein on Jan. 11. Stein selected Esparza earlier in December to lead the Department of Administration, which oversees state government operations. He spoke with WFAE about...

Parker Asmann & Henry Shuldiner/Insight Crime As a growing number of people fled their homes across Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024, migrant smuggling completed its transformation from a tertiary criminal economy to a major revenue stream for some of the region’s most powerful organized crime groups. This criminal...

Peter Castagno/Port City Daily A local brewery and its owner concluded a year-long defamation lawsuit triggered by a viral social media post after its author posted a public apology recanting her allegations. Two other women involved in the case expressed relief the suit has ended but are standing by their...

Jimmy Potts/The (Waynesville) Mountaineer The Town of Canton received a clean bill of financial health during its most recent audit, but it is far from out of the proverbial financial weeds due to a myriad of issues largely beyond its control. That was the word from Sheila Gahagan, a certified...

Paul B. Johnson/High Point Enterprise Piedmont Triad International Airport leaders hope that passenger counts in 2025 ascend to levels not seen since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. nearly five years ago. Airlines serving PTIA have steadily built up passenger yields since the pandemic throttled aviation traffic...

Hannah McLeod/Smoky Mountain News Jackson Community School — Jackson County’s alternative learning center — is the most expensive school in the district per pupil, and now the Board of Education is considering whether it should invest more money into the aging building or relocate the small student population into a...

Brooke Elliott/WCHL Chapelboro Stores across the state are running flash sales on puppies for the holiday season: Friendly Pets in Greensboro offered $200 off in late November, Petland Raleigh offered a 35 percent discount for Black Friday, and The Pet Warehouse in Jacksonville will send five lucky customers away with...

Peter Castagno/Port City Daily A Novant executive is the incoming chair of a powerful hospital lobby group seeking to maintain a law requiring state review to approve new healthcare facilities. An ongoing lawsuit is challenging the regulation’s constitutionality. North Carolina is among 35 states with a certificate of need law...

James Doubek/WUNC Radio Of all the products that would be affected by President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Mexico, avocados stand out: 90% of avocados consumed in the U.S. are imported. And almost all of those imports come from Mexico. Trump has said he plans to impose a blanket tariff...

David Ford/WFAE Radio A scenic section of Pilot Mountain State Park, long closed due to access issues, is slated to reopen to the public next year. Beyond the iconic geologic knob of Pilot Mountain sits nearby Bean Shoals, which provides access to the Yadkin River —But there are challenges getting...

Rebecca Santana & Travis Loller/The Associated Press Congress is allocating more than $100 billion in emergency aid designed to address extensive damage caused by disasters after this week’s scramble to find consensus on a government spending bill. The money comes after back-to-back hurricanes — Helene and Milton — slammed into...

Mari Yamaguchi & Elaine Kurtenbach/The Associated Press Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan have announced plans to work toward a merger that would form the world’s third-largest automaker by sales, as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels. The two companies said they had signed a...