Another interesting tidbit from the Council of State’s agenda: UNC Chapel Hill will soon be the proud new owner of a 17-acre island between Morehead City and Beaufort.

If you live in Greenville or other parts of Eastern North Carolina and want to hop on a train, you have to drive to Rocky Mount, Wilson or Selma to find one. N.C. Rep. Brian Farkas, D-Pitt, wants to change that.

Nearly two months into the application period for $350 million in state broadband infrastructure grants, the N.C. Department of Information Technology has received just seven applications. The agency is pushing back the application deadline, which was originally set for April 4, to May 4.

Speed was key in the spring of 2020 when state leaders set up a “Rapid Recovery” loan program to help struggling businesses. They tasked the Golden LEAF Foundation and the N.C. Rural Center with running the initiative, and from a speed standpoint, it was successful: the $75 million allocated was...

One of the biggest challenges for expanding North Carolina’s broadband infrastructure involves the degree to which internet providers can tap into existing infrastructure such as electric and telephone poles.

To make sure future storms aren’t as devastating as Florence and Matthew, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality is creating a $20 million “flood resiliency blueprint.” Legislators got an update on the initiative Thursday from DEQ assistant secretary Sushma Masemore.

Every notice and check that the N.C. Department of Revenue sends out is printed on the same high-speed printer. And its days are numbered.

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis is raising concerns about how the federal government is handling changes to the list of Chinese products that are excluded from tariffs. Tillis wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Thursday, complaining that North Carolina businesses are getting hit with burdensome tariff costs.

Gov. Roy Cooper’s office announced Tuesday that 76 water and sewer projects will get a total of $164 million in state loans and grants. Much of the money is headed to rural communities that are struggling with aging infrastructure.