N.C.
North Carolina Opens $65 Million Second Round of Helene Repair Grants for Local Governments, Tribes and Volunteer Fire Departments; Applications Due Nov. 23
Gov. Josh Stein announced the state-funded round on Sept. 25, 2026, two days before the storm's second anniversary. The money comes from the budget the General Assembly passed in July and pays for damage FEMA will not cover.
NC Medicaid Restores $901,400-a-Year Contract for Perinatal Quality Collaborative After 2025 Funding Cut
The state health department restored the maternal and newborn care program's money in June, backdated to April. The program had lost its funding on Oct. 31, 2025, during a Medicaid budget fight between Gov. Josh Stein and the Republican-led legislature, and its new newborn-screening and postpartum mental-health projects are now set to start in 2027.
Gov. Stein's Recovery Office Releases 117-Page Economic Plan for Western North Carolina, Two Years After Helene
Released Sept. 23, 2026, the plan creates no new funding. Instead, it combines existing regional strategies. It highlights a $29.2 million federal grant announced in July and a jobs coalition launched in April, while Stein presses Washington for more than $10 billion more.
Gov. Stein Rides in BETA's Electric ALIA Plane at N.C. Showcase for FAA Pilot Program
North Carolina showed off its first flights under a federal test program for new aircraft. The flights used a BETA Technologies electric plane and a Joby Aviation self-flying turboprop, not only electric aircraft as some early summaries said.
Federal Judge Rules USDA's SNAP Rollout Deadline Unlawful in 22-State Case That Includes North Carolina
A federal judge in Oregon ruled on Sept. 17 that the USDA gave states too little time to apply 2025 SNAP law changes. The ruling blocks error penalties that North Carolina's attorney general says put $425 million at risk.
North Carolina Joins 40-State, $694 Million Settlement With Auto Lender Credit Acceptance
State attorneys general say the subprime lender made loans borrowers could not repay; the company settled without admitting wrongdoing, and North Carolina's share is about $9.5 million.
Stein Calls for Change to NC Film Grant Funding Structure at Wilmington Studio Roundtable
At a Sept. 15 roundtable at Cinespace Film Studios in Wilmington, Gov. Josh Stein asked lawmakers to let the state's film grant program run on a multi-year cash-flow basis, after the program stopped making new awards; a Republican state senator blames program mismanagement for the shortfall.
National Weather Service Issued Flash Flood Warnings for Parts of Edgecombe, Halifax and Nash Counties on Sept. 21
The Raleigh forecast office reported 2 to 4 inches of radar-estimated rain near Tillery; the warning expired at 11:15 p.m., and by Sept. 22 the flood threat had shifted to the western Carolinas and the coast.
Lee County Approves Up to $46 Million in Tax Rebates for Unnamed $1 Billion Sanford Manufacturing Project
Commissioners backed a 12-year property tax rebate for a company identified only as "Project Paragon," a week after Sanford's city council approved about $39.5 million of its own.
Wake County Commissioners Vote 5-2 to Let WakeMed Merge Into Atrium Health
The Sept. 21 vote changes WakeMed's founding documents and shifts control to a 14-member joint board; the deal still faces federal antitrust review and a state attorney general review.
Daimler Truck's 573 Mount Holly Layoffs Were Filed in July 2025; Columbus McKinnon Closed Its Charlotte Duff-Norton Plant in September 2024
Both Charlotte-area manufacturing job cuts described as current are on the public record with earlier dates — Daimler's temporary layoffs ran through September 9, 2025, and Columbus McKinnon's plant shut on September 29, 2024.
Judge Finds Tailei Qi Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity in 2023 Killing of UNC Professor Zijie Yan, Orders Indefinite Commitment
Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, that Qi could not understand the wrongfulness of his conduct, dismissed the charges, and committed him to Central Regional Hospital in Butner.