New Hanover County to go ahead with Project Grace.
New Hanover County permission to take on $57 million in debt to go ahead with Project Grace.
Truist board to shrink
Truist Financial is cutting its board of directors from 21 to 13 directs effective Dec. 31.
U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture address funding disparities
N.C. A&T’s shortfall relative to N.C. State University is the second-largest disparity among the 16 states the U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture targeted with letters issued Monday.
Elon's Charlotte law school
Elon University has applied to the American Bar Association for a school of law to be located in Charlotte.
Sunday sales at ABC stores are one step closer
The chamber’s Alcoholic Beverage Control committee gave the revised Senate Bill 527 a favorable report on Tuesday and sent it on to the Finance committee.
Casino legislation under debate
Moore has said, and said again on Tuesday, that casinos proposal needs majority support from the chamber’s Republicans for it to see the floor.
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N.C. is solid No. 2 in national park benefits
Park Service sites in North Carolina served about 20.1 million visitors. Only sites in the District of Columbia (39.4 million), California (38.2 million) and Virginia (22.5 million) collectively received more.
Another North Carolina furniture maker has closed
The Mitchell Gold Co., which does business as Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, notified workers on Saturday that it was going out of business, with the wind-down and terminations beginning that day and final days of employment in late October.
Court upholds use of law against pension spikes
Passed in 2014 (by a unanimous House and a 34-15 bipartisan majority in the Senate), the law tries to limit pension-payment increases that flow from late-career salary changes, as legislators were tired of seeing people on the state payroll get big raises just before retiring just so their pension would balloon.
Medical-debt collection lawsuit
Researchers said the extensive use of the courts to collect on medical debt is contributing to poverty and ill health, and Folwell said Wednesday that it’s “tantamount to elder abuse.”
Rules for hemp-based consumables
The bill’s main feature is the establishment of a licensing system for the manufacture and sale of hemp-based consumables, to be administered by Alcohol Law Enforcement.
School calendar dispute still unresolved
Give local school districts more flexibility to start classes in early or mid-August.
Give local school districts more flexibility to start classes in early or mid-August?
Working group to discuss NCInnovation funding
Durham-based group wants regional innovation hubs
House Speaker Tim Moore says he’s assigned a work group in his chamber to work through the issues associated with the proposal to use state funds to bolster NCInnovation Inc.
NCHSAA praised for helping combat heat illnesses
The N.C. High School Athletic Association isn’t particularly in good standing with a number of state legislators, but a group at Duke University that’s working to prevent heat injuries says the association’s policies in that arena are a model for the nation.
Electricities has agreed to sell a share of the power
It slipped under the radar, but Electricities has agreed to sell a share of the power it gets from the Catawba Nuclear Station to a consortium of South Carolina electric cooperatives.
Legislators look over tornado damage
Business-wise, the main concern at this point centers on the Pfizer Inc. plant off U.S. 301 between Rocky Mount and Brattleboro. The 1.4 million square foot facility produces nearly 25% of the “sterile injectables” used in U.S. hospitals, according to the company.
Elections board OKs student and employer IDs
The State Board of Elections checked off another milestone this week on the road to implementing voter ID, giving its stamp of approval to 99 different kinds of students and employee identification cards.
Cumberland County town of Spring Lake is making progres
The Cumberland County town of Spring Lake is making progress in getting back in the good graces of the state’s Local Government Commission, according to a report from LGC staff.
Atrium expansion projects underway
Construction began Wednesday on a 12-story, 448-bed hospital tower that will be the largest building on Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center campus in Charlotte.
UNC Chapel Hill’s free-tuition proposal
Two and a half weeks after their counterparts at Duke University stepped up, UNC Chapel Hill’s leaders announced their latest initiative to reduce the cost of attendance for middle-income families.
IDD workshops poised to gain protection
The Senate’s likely to pass a bill that instructs the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to pump the brakes on phasing out so-called “sheltered workshops” for those with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Consumer legal funding
Senate Bill 176 would allow people to sell a future interest in a legal settlement to a company that in turn would provide them with up to $400,000 they could use on personal needs or household expenses.
Bill would require teaching of civil-rights movement
The House appears likely to take another stab this session at adding to the K-12 curriculum, this time with a bill that would require middle and high school teachers to teach a unit on civil rights.
Two disability rights bills get their say
The Senate Rules committee has a chance to decide whether two bills provoked by the work of Disability Rights North Carolina should go to the floor for votes - House Bill H323 and H361
Feds offering aid to laid-off Canton mill workers
The federal government has given a $7.5 million grant to help the 1,100 workers who lost their jobs when the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill shut down in Canton earlier this month.
Senate OKs bill on infrastructure attack penalties
Senators completed legislative action Thursday on a bill that would toughen criminal penalties for any future attacks on power substations and other critical infrastructure, like the one in December that left Moore County residents without electricity for four days.
Land-use policy dispute in Guilford County
There’s been no obvious movement, but it remains possible that the General Assembly will intervene in an ongoing land-use policy dispute in Guilford County between Summerfield officials and developer David Couch.
Another moving day for legislation
Thursday was another moving day for legislation, with the Senate voting to send a handful of bills to the House for consideration or concurrence, and two to the governor for signing: Senate Bill 582, Senate Bill 675, House Bill 130
Business backing for Kane
Some of North Carolina’s most influential business leaders are endorsing Raleigh businessman John Kane Jr.’s effort to unseat Michael Whatley, the incumbent chair of the state Republican Party.
Why a cut for the School of Government?
Conferees are working to reconcile the House and Senate versions of that bill, and it’s not exactly clear when we’ll see some white smoke come from the chimney of whatever room they’re locked away in. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger has indicated that tax policy remains a key point of discussion.
State incentivizes Bosch expansion in Lincoln Co.
Power-tool manufacturer Bosch will invest $130 million and add 400 jobs to its operations in Lincolnton, the company announced Thursday.
Senate shrugs off amendment, OKs wagering bill
Opposition to House Bill 347 remained bipartisan in the final vote, with three Democrats and eight Republicans voting against passage.
Senate Bill 512: Pack your bags
House members rewrote a section of the bill that reworks appointments to a number of state boards and commissioners to end the terms of the incumbents on the Board of Transportation on June 30.
Familiar faces joining university trustee boards
Banker Hugh McColl Jr. and lobbyist David Powers are likely the most prominent names on the list of people the UNC System’s Board of Governors is preparing to appoint to campus trustee boards
Sports wagering bill on the move in Senate
The Commerce and Insurance committee turned its attention to House Bill 347, which would legalize and regulate sports wagering in North Carolina.
A visit to our zoo, the North Carolina Zoo
My ears perked up when a zoo staffer told our group that she and her colleagues have their fingers crossed that the state budget will bring them some good news. The zoo needs money to build a replacement for the aviary it had to permanently close last year. The dome lasted 40 years but succumbed to what the zoo officially called “the effects of high humidity and wet conditions.” I take that to mean it rusted out.
Hog farmers sizing up fallout of court ruling
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld California’s animal-welfare standards for hog producers that want to sell their wares in that state, the next question is what might North Carolina see in the way of economic fallout.
Is North Carolina ready for a power pool?
To date, there’s been little sign that North Carolina will follow South Carolina’s example and study the merits of joining a multi-state electric power pool like the PJM Interconnection. A bill that would order such a study, Rep. Larry Strickland’s House Bill 503, languished in the House Rules committee as crossover came and went last week. And even if it was to move, its prospects in the Senate are dubious, given the influential presence there of Sen. Paul Newton, R-Cabarrus, a former state president of Duke Energy.
Asheville crime issues draw attack
Long thought to have ties to Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, the Carolina Partnership for Reform uses polls and a blog to help drive the agenda for the General Assembly’s Republicans. So it’s worth paying attention to, especially when it starts taking shots at people.
Rollback of some environmental regulations
H462 had caught my eye earlier in the session, as it calls for the rollback of some environmental regulations pertaining to aquaculture, which is the fancy way of saying fish farming. On first impression, it wasn’t obvious what the beef was all about (so to speak), but I presumed the answer would emerge in due course.
Bill clears path for rough-sawn lumber
As for sawmills, House Bill 295 would set up a framework for the use of what’s called “rough-sawn lumber” processed by small local sawmills, Gillespie told the House Regulatory Reform Committee.
Senate drops idea of broadening powers of Community Colleges president
Senate leaders appear unwilling to give incoming N.C. Community Colleges President Jeff Cox any of the expanded powers they contemplated granting a new system president before the announcement of his hiring.
Anti-crypto bill pending in House
Not that any of them are doing so now, but state agencies and courts won’t be able to accept cryptocurrency as payment for fees, fines or services if a bill making its way through the House becomes law.
Cooper names new SBI director
Gov. Roy Cooper has appointed the chief of the N.C. State Capitol Police, Chip Hawley, as the successor to State Bureau of Investigation Director Bob Schurmeier, whose term ends on June 30.
House moves Blue Cross, credit union, PBM bills
With crossover looming just a week away, the scramble to get bills through at least one chamber of the General Assembly before the deadline well and truly began on Thursday.
Senate mulls antitrust exemption for UNC Health
Senators are weighing a rewrite of the basic governance rules for the UNC Health System that will give it an antitrust exemption and cuts anyone it hires after Nov. 1 out of the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System.
Blue Cross bill starts moving toward a vote
Legislation giving Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina permission to transfer assets to a new nonprofit holding company cleared its first hurdle Tuesday, albeit in a way that suggests the road ahead has at least a few potholes.
County group objects to charter omnibus
The N.C. Association of County Commissioners says its members don’t want authority to allot capital funding to charter schools and will try to have the idea removed from omnibus legislation that the House Education - K-12committee is scheduled to review today.
Senate bill proposes restrictions on microchipping humans
Media reports suggest at least 11 states have banned employers from forcing their workers to get microchipped. A bill filed in the N.C. Senate just before the Easter holiday would add North Carolina to the list.
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