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As it seeks ways to make healthcare in North Carolina more affordable, a group of some of the state’s main decision-makers in medical care, payments, and policy highlighted the challenges of developing and agreeing on ideas that will lead to lower costs and better health. In on the discussions are the state’s big…
If you are planning to vote in the midterm elections, there are some very important deadlines coming up. The first deadline is 5 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 9, which is the voter registration deadline. If you are eligible to vote, you can complete your registration online or in person at the N.C. Division of Motor
WASHINGTON — This summer, arrests of immigrants in the United States soared to the highest levels since President Donald Trump returned to office. An unprecedented increase in cooperation between local and state law enforcement and federal immigration officers through collaborations known as 287(g) agreements helped…
Suspending state gas taxes in North Carolina could lead to delays in roadwork, according to a leading economist. House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell and Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, announced over the weekend they plan to call lawmakers back to Raleigh for a special session on reducing gas prices. Both…
Kalshi, Polymarket and the Coalition for Prediction Markets have spent at least $3 million this year on lobbying and campaign contributions across the federal and state levels, according to a new report from the government watchdog group OpenSecrets. Prediction market platforms say they are like commodity markets that…
Latino leaders gathered outside North Carolina’s legislative building Thursday to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and look ahead to the future. America Juarez-Maldonado with Carolina Migrant Network said it would be easy to feel anger and despair, especially at a time that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement…
When Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin declared in September that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could serve warrants on individuals at polling places this fall, officials in Denver, a liberal city where roughly 14% of residents are foreign-born, quickly sued. “Every day we find new things to be…
It’s been two years now since Hurricane-turned-Tropical Storm Helene devastated a large swath of the southeastern United States, including much of western North Carolina. But as anyone paying even a little attention is painfully aware, Helene was just one of a growing array of weather-driven disasters to impact our…
North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, and Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, announced Saturday they’ve agreed to call the legislature into a special session to provide relief from high gas and diesel prices. The leaders did not announce a date for the special session or details on what measures…
North Carolina counties are now paying more for a federal program that helps some hungry people eat, as a law shifting more of the cost of the nutrition assistance program to states takes effect. One of the changes in the massive tax cut and social services cut bill Congress passed last year, the One Big
The North Carolina State Board of Elections is planning to ask the 1,599 registered voters flagged by a federal database as potential noncitizens to either confirm their citizenship or ask to be removed from the state voter list. The letters will go out to those registered voters early next week, state elections board…
Multiple media outlets reported Friday that the Senate Leadership Fund, a leading GOP super PAC, is diverting tens of millions of advertising dollars away from North Carolina’s closely watched U.S. Senate race between Republican Michael Whatley and former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The super PAC had pledged just six…
North Carolina education officials said Thursday they could take action against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools if an ongoing review finds financial irregularities in the district. The joint statement from Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green and State Board of Education Chair Eric Davis is the board’s first public…
SALISBURY — Artificial intelligence is making it easier to create realistic political images, videos and audio, leaving voters with a new question as they head toward the midterm elections: How do they know what they are seeing is real? That question was at the center of a panel discussion at Catawba College’s…
Cook Political Report rates the race as “solid Republican.”
Editor’s note: This story is part of Gen Z at the Ballot Box, a collaboration between States Newsroom and The 19th. Brenna Vandergeest was a teenager when her grandmother told her about Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court case that ended the federal right to an abortion. She said it lit a…
Voters beware! At the end of your ballot, you’re asked to approve permanent changes to the North Carolina constitution that will harm families for generations. In particular, a proposed amendment to cap local property taxes looks appealing, but it’s really a gift to data centers, Duke Energy and Raleigh politicians…
President Donald Trump is scheduled to kick off a month-long blitz of campaign stops with a Thursday rally in deep-red Oklahoma before heading to other states with strong Republican leanings. The first events in the closing stretch of the midterm election campaign suggest his strength with swing voters is limited, as…
Even as partisan divisions on the state Board of Elections deepen, a majority of voters want an elections board that operates outside of party politics, according to a new poll sponsored by Common Cause North Carolina. Eighty percent of likely voters said the elections board should operate independent of party…
WASHINGTON — A D.C. Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors cannot, for a second time, charge former Olympic canoeist David Hearn with damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Judge Todd E. Edelman wrote in his ruling that “the observed damage to the Reflecting Pool was due to a contractor’s ‘rushed…
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said Thursday the state has received its first $45.2 million payment from Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, as part of a multistate settlement over allegations that the company’s social media platforms harmed children. The payout is the first installment of a…
North Carolina’s Advisory Council on Cannabis faces a December 31st deadline to issue final recommendations for a comprehensive cannabis policy to Gov. Josh Stein. While the legislature would have to agree to enact any changes in existing law, the council gave the public its first glimpse this week of how a public…
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators departed Capitol Hill on Wednesday night for their campaign break, leaving numerous policy disputes unresolved. The chamber won’t return until Nov. 9 for the five-week lame-duck session, when party leaders will have to decide which bills they want to negotiate during what could be the final…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury released new guidance Thursday for participating states, scholarship-granting organizations and taxpayers as the federal scholarship tax credit program prepares to take effect in January. Created through President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending law in 2025, the Education…
Editor’s Note: This story is part of Gen Z at the Ballot Box, a collaboration between States Newsroom and The 19th. WINDHAM, Maine – As 24-year-old Maya Brooks walked winding roads in rural parts of Maine, a water bottle hooked to her fanny pack and a stack of “lit” on absentee voting and candidates her
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans did not gain any support Wednesday from Democrats as they attempted to advance a bill that mashed together two hot-button midterm issues: requiring voter ID in federal elections and limiting stock trading for members of Congress. The Republican-led bill, titled the Stop Insider…
A North Carolina housing advocacy group and nine other nonprofits have asked a federal court to issue a temporary restraining order to block the Trump administration from withholding funds for housing counseling programs. The request for a temporary restraining order was filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for…
'These are two ads that only would have been run in NC-11,' said political scientist Chris Cooper.
When a slow-moving nor’easter battered the Outer Banks last weekend, the North Carolina Department of Transportation worked around the clock to remove broken asphalt, rebuild the dunes and shore up the vulnerable stretch of NC 12 near Pea Island. It’s a scene that’s played out many times over the past few years. NCDOT…
A federal grand jury indicted 10 noncitizens for unlawfully voting in Minnesota, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday, highlighting the administration’s effort to keep election security a top issue, in line with President Donald Trump’s longstanding unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. The indictments…
In a crowded hotel conference room in Raleigh Tuesday, traffic safety researchers, industry experts and state government officials attended the final summit hosted by the North Carolina Alliance for Safe Transportation. On the agenda: how to improve North Carolina’s distracted driving, speeding and impaired driving…
President Donald Trump is tapping $20 million in Homeland Security funding to pay for TV ads that heavily feature him ahead of the midterm elections, Democrats said Tuesday as the promos critics call propaganda come under bipartisan attack. The Trump administration recently moved the funds into a U.S. Customs and…
School finance officers told a state commission Monday that North Carolina’s complicated funding rules and delayed state budget decisions make it harder for districts to plan and spend money where they need it most. The comments came during a panel before the Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Education. The panel…
WASHINGTON — Small businesses will once again challenge President Donald Trump’s tariffs in federal court this week as they continue to feel the squeeze of the administration’s roller coaster policy on import taxes. Spice importer Burlap & Barrel and rare watch importer Collective Horology will argue Wednesday in the…
The North Carolina elections board says it has the names of nearly 1,600 potential noncitizens on its voter rolls who were flagged by a federal database. But as of two weeks ago, it hadn’t tried to contact any of them. The U. S. Supreme Court is allowing states to use a Homeland Security database called
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted, for now, the Trump administration’s request to continue rapid third-country deportation of immigrants to countries not their own. The decision will allow the Trump administration to carry out its aggressive deportation method of quickly removing immigrants to one…
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration must spend the $810 million that it said last week it planned to cancel, according to a report released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. The congressional watchdog’s decision contends the White House budget office doesn’t hold the ability to claw back…
Dare County officials declared a state of emergency for Hatteras Island on Saturday, barring visitors and non-resident property owners from entering.
Starting Oct. 1, about 14,000 people living in North Carolina who were admitted to the United States for humanitarian reasons will no longer have comprehensive health insurance coverage through Medicaid. The provision ending most Medicaid coverage for refugees and people granted asylum was in the giant bundle of…
Dr. Ellen Essick said there is a lot of good news about mental health in the 2025 North Carolina High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey. But there are areas that clearly need attention when it comes to the overall well-being of North Carolina’s young people. Essick, section chief for N.C. Healthy Schools in the state
WASHINGTON — The three news organizations that President Donald Trump barred from entering the White House grounds earlier this month have asked a federal judge to ensure their reporters continue to have access after a temporary restraining order expires in early October. Attorneys for CNN, MS Now and Politico filed…
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan measure to overhaul the college sports landscape got a step closer to becoming law Monday after passing the U.S. Senate. The bill — which sailed through on a 77-22 vote — would set a national framework for college athletes’ compensation, provide certain antitrust protections to the NCAA…
A lot of big changes are underway at the Raleigh Rescue Mission, which this month opened a new $41 million campus in Knightdale for women and children experiencing homelessness. The new campus, named The Garden, allows the faith-based nonprofit to increase its capacity to serve as many as 350 women and children daily…
Five weeks before Election Day, President Donald Trump’s sprawling effort to identify and remove noncitizen voters hasn’t produced the kind of large purges that could meaningfully affect the midterm elections. Even a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision giving states access to a supercharged Department of Homeland…
At its core, U.S. census data is about money, government representation, and community visibility. The Trump administration has proposed changing the census to stop counting noncitizens without green cards, eliminate questions about race and ethnicity, and alter the definition of “usual residence.” The administration…
Older voters typically have the highest turnout in elections.
Democratic and Republican governors say they will more aggressively push back on federal overreach regardless of which party controls Washington. Earlier this month, the bipartisan National Governors Association for the first time in over a decade updated its internal principles on federalism — the system of power…
It was two years ago this past week that Hurricane-turned-Tropical Storm Helene inundated and devastated large swaths of western North Carolina with unprecedented rainfall and flooding. All tolled the disaster took more than 100 lives, inflicted more than 60 billion dollars in damage and wrecked many significant…
We’re now several years, thankfully, past the COVID-19 pandemic, but as even a casual glance at daily news headlines reminds us, the challenge posed by infectious diseases is not going anywhere anytime soon. And with the arrival of fall weather and the holiday gatherings that will soon be right around the corner, it’s…
The U.S. Department of Education’s suspension this year of a comprehensive monitoring process puts billions of K-12 dollars at heightened risk of undetected waste, fraud and abuse, according to a new report by the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office. The congressional watchdog’s report also raised…
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has, once again, infuriated lawmakers from both political parties by using a controversial maneuver to cancel funding previously approved by Congress. The $810 million in the “pocket rescission” would have gone to refugee assistance programs at the Department of Health and Human…
Government should tax only to raise money for its essential functions. I support a thorough review of expenditures each year. A goal I share with proponents of this amendment is a mechanism that will restrain state government from overspending. Does this amendment actually restrain spending? Why is it a constitutional…
WE BUY HOUSES. CASH 4 HOMES. FA$T CA$H. The signs, text messages and mailers promise cash, quick sales and a seamless means of unloading unwanted homes. But advocates say the business of buying homes for cash can confuse vulnerable homeowners and rob them of home equity. And now, many states are cracking down…
Project Kitty Hawk is serving 2,889 adult learners in online degree programs this fall, a 54% increase from last fall, according to the UNC system. The General Assembly created the program in 2021 to help more working adults earn college degrees and credentials. It launched its first degree offerings in October 2023…
At least 10 people were arrested or detained Thursday evening during a license checkpoint operation in Tabor City, according to Siembra NC, an immigrant rights advocacy group. The checkpoint took place near N.C. Highway 904 and Pireway Road between about 5:30 and 7 p.m., Siembra NC said. Video obtained by the group…
Nick Blanchard tumbled out of bed and poured himself a cup of ambition Friday morning, then headed straight to a table in front of the Wake County Express Library in downtown Raleigh. Blanchard and his friend Kelly Forbes were presiding over a children’s book drive to honor the late music icon and philanthropist Dolly…
No other source reached more than 17%, according to the poll.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration Thursday made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow for rapid third-country deportations of noncitizens to continue, after an appeals court blocked the policy last week. In a brief, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the high court to temporarily halt the…
Before there was Helene, there was Katrina. The destructive Category 5 hurricane that devastated New Orleans in 2005 convinced Alex Webber to move from Louisiana to the mountains of western North Carolina. Webber thought she’d found a climate-safe area in the picturesque town of Marshall until 2024, when Hurricane…
The juvenile detention center in Durham no longer confines youth to a solitary cell they called “the hole” for discipline or suicide watch, Disability Rights of North Carolina reports, but youth still spend almost all day on weekends alone in their cells. Disability Rights NC published new findings about the Durham…
WASHINGTON — Government investigators Thursday released a report that found the Department of Homeland Security wasted more than $20 million in federal funding in its rapid expansion of immigration detention, including warehouse purchases strongly opposed in numerous U.S. communities. The nonpartisan Government…
If you’re a millennial like me, climate anxiety is practically in your DNA. I’ve lived through my fair share of climate change-induced disasters, and 2024’s Hurricane Helene was just the latest and gravest — though most certainly not the last or worst I’ll ever experience in my lifetime. And I consider myself lucky…
WASHINGTON — A vast and growing network of artificial intelligence-driven Flock cameras could violate constitutional privacy rights, U.S. senators on a Judiciary Committee subcommittee said during a Wednesday hearing. GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, the chair of the Crime and Counterterrorism Subcommittee, said the…
WASHINGTON — U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly early Thursday issued an order that temporarily blocks President Donald Trump’s ban of three news organizations from the White House. Kelly, in the eight-page order, said that the White House must “immediately return, reinstate, and restore the White House ‘hard…
WASHINGTON — Republicans on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee used a hearing Wednesday to continue voicing opposition to transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, which the top Democrat on the panel called a distraction from cost-of-living issues voters are more concerned about. Republicans, vying to defend…
WASHINGTON — U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly indicated during a Wednesday hearing he may order the Trump administration to reinstate White House press passes for reporters from three news organizations who had their credentials revoked this weekend. Kelly, of the U.S. District Court for the District of…
DURHAM — At Kate’s Korner, the day begins early – children arriving, classroom doors opening, small voices calling for teachers, parents saying quick goodbyes before heading to work. For the childcare center’s staff, the morning comes with one less worry: they don’t have to figure out how to pay for care for their own…
Tens of thousands of Americans continue to lose access to food assistance each month, even as Congress debates slowing down major cuts to federal food stamps. New data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows more than 330,000 Americans lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP…
More than half of women of reproductive age have seen or heard the false claim that hormones in contraceptives are harmful, and about 4 in 10 have been exposed to the false idea that hormones in contraceptives limit your ability to get pregnant in the future, according to a new survey. The survey by KFF,
Three North Carolina nonprofit organizations and two voters are suing over new absentee ballot requirements that put votes in jeopardy of being discarded. The North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, North Carolina Asian Americans Together, Down Home North Carolina, and two voters filed a federal lawsuit on…
There will be much at stake in November when North Carolinians go to the polls. The state has one of the nation’s most closely-watched U.S. Senate races. A win by former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper — a Democrat matched against Michael Whatley, former chairman of the Republican National Committee — could help change…
Federal officials charged a Utah letter carrier Tuesday with throwing 300 primary ballots in a church parking lot dumpster, an incident that a top U.S. Justice Department official said made the case for stricter regulations of voting. The prosecution of Damon Matai Seei, of Payson, Utah, showed “voting fraud is real,”…
This fall, voters in at least nine states will decide whether to cut, cap or raise taxes through ballot measures that will give them a direct hand in steering state tax policy in a conservative or progressive direction. Some states, such as California, will weigh whether to tax — or untax — their wealthiest residents.
Updated: September 23 @ 9:20am Less than 24 hours after the Wake County Board of Commissioners voted to advance plans to consolidate WakeMed and Atrium Health, North Carolina Treasurer Brad Briner says he is “profoundly concerned” that the deal is proceeding. Briner dismissed claims by merger supporters that Atrium’s…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump faces a “big decision” to make a deal with Iran or “annihilate” the country, he told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. During a 37-minute speech to his international counterparts including Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in New York City, Trump asked, “Will a deal…
At least 30 local governments across North Carolina have passed moratoria on data center development in recent months.
An eight-state coalition filed lawsuits Tuesday challenging the Trump administration’s payments to private companies to cancel offshore wind leases, escalating an ongoing legal battle over the government spending billions of dollars to block wind projects. Attorneys general from eight East Coast states are suing the…
Women giving birth in rural communities were more likely than peers in urban areas to receive oral opioid prescriptions for pain upon leaving the hospital after a cesarean section, according to a new analysis of data from half a million C-sections. The study was conducted by researchers at Truveta, a health data and…
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources. The mistrial in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial earlier this month places her future in doubt, three years after she killed her three children…
The Wake County Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 late Monday to approve a controversial merger between WakeMed and Atrium Health. The vote came after a five-hour public hearing during which deputies cleared protesters from the chambers as commissioners were preparing to vote on the transfer agreement. Atrium has…
WASHINGTON — Diesel prices hit a record average of $6.51 a gallon Monday, and some in President Donald Trump’s own party are breaking their support for the ongoing war in Iran that has driven fuel prices to staggering levels in the United States and across the globe. Already House Republicans locked in tight races as
One of the most important and worrisome threats to our natural environment and human health to emerge in recent decades is a group of chemicals commonly referred to as PFAS. Also known as “forever chemicals,” PFAS are especially pernicious because they’re toxic, cause all kinds of health problems, and don’t break down…
The fall midterm elections are just six weeks away and that means that North Carolinians will soon cast their ballots in an array of races that will both help determine the makeup of the next Congress and General Assembly, and whether future legislatures and governors will have two the most important tools they use
Medicaid enrollees from five states and leading medical organizations filed a lawsuit Friday challenging new Medicaid work requirements. The broad tax and spending law that President Donald Trump signed last summer, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, established work, school or community service requirements for…
North Carolina’s midterm elections are on Nov. 3, and some voters in both parties are thinking about childcare before they hit the polling place. A share of the state’s voters say finding and affording childcare is an issue, with many also saying the cost of care is affecting their finances and availability to work…
The event comes less than a week after Trump’s rally in Gastonia last Wednesday, where the president addressed a crowd of less than 1,000 people.
The latest public opinion survey shows generally strong support amongst voters for a trio of proposed constitutional amendments that will appear on the North Carolina ballot this fall that address incomes taxes, property taxes and voter photo ID. However, Alexandra Sirota, the executive director of the nonprofit North…
The Trump administration’s top wildlife official issued a directive last week that expands a recent rollback of endangered species protections much further than the feds had told the public. Individuals and industries may kill endangered animals in the course of logging projects, developments and other activities, it…
WASHINGTON — The three news organizations that President Donald Trump has barred from entering the White House filed a lawsuit against the administration on Monday. CNN, MS Now and Politico wrote in a joint statement the suit is intended “to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the…
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court Friday struck down the Trump administration’s policy to quickly send noncitizens to countries they are not from, finding that immigrants must have an opportunity to challenge their removal if they fear for their safety. The decision largely upheld a Boston federal judge’s February…
Like a lot of people who’ve moved to North Carolina in recent years, Christa Jackson was looking for a lower cost of living. These days, she’s not finding it. “I moved here three years ago from Los Angeles. Never thought that my very fuel-efficient, 12-gallon car would cost me $46 to fill-up here,” said Jackson.
WASHINGTON — A federal judge told the Trump administration Friday a case against the Department of Justice’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund is “still alive and kicking.” The administration sought to dismiss the case brought against President Donald Trump’s negotiated settlement terms to drop his $10 billion…
At a mosque in suburban Durham, Nigel Edwards set up a table with voter registration information and a QR code directing people to election resources. It was part of a push Friday by Muslim organizations across North Carolina to encourage members of their community to register and vote in the November election. The…
Neighbors across the Colville Tribes communities in Washington state knew Matilda Bob’s log home as the “rainbow house,” for its brightly painted exterior. Now it’s gone. Sparked by a lightning strike in mid-July, the Kaiser Canyon Fire destroyed Bob’s home and 42 other houses on the Colville Reservation, along with…
WASHINGTON — A coalition of civil rights groups and union organizations Friday sued the Trump administration to prevent the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling locations during November’s midterm elections. The suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is the…
A day after President Donald Trump delivered a grim campaign speech in Gastonia, Gov. Josh Stein described Trump’s categorization of North Carolina as “political nonsense.” In his stump speech for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, Trump portrayed the state as one of the most violent in the nation. He…
WASHINGTON — The White House Thursday withdrew the nomination of Richard “Lance” Schroyer to lead the agency the president tasked with carrying out his mass deportation campaign, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, had yet to have his confirmation hearing before the…
National voting rights group Common Cause is training thousands of volunteers to assist voters during the 2026 midterm elections. The nonpartisan advocacy group announced the effort Thursday during a virtual news conference. It said it has recruited thousands of volunteers so far and is seeking more than 10,000…