Award-winning craft distillers in North Carolina are making a plethora of products. Rum with pecans and honey, for example, and organic wheat whiskey, and strawberry moonshine. The distillers come from diverse backgrounds and apply myriad methods and processes. Yet a common theme runs throughout the state, regardless of…
Several counties hard hit by Hurricane Florence can’t send absentee ballots to military and overseas voters for the Nov. 6 election. So the Bipartisan State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement is taking on that task. “We are assessing emergency options, and our team is committed…
For North Carolina’s distillers, getting their products into ABC stores is arduous and time-consuming. Distillers must first check all the boxes pertinent to federal and state laws. The state must then approve their products before distillers send those products to Raleigh for distribution to ABC stores across the state. …
Gov. Roy Cooper issued several executive orders waiving enforcement of transportation-related regulations to help the agriculture industry prepare for Hurricane Florence. If the rules can be suspended temporarily, why impose them permanently? One reason is that states must obey federal Environmental Protection Agency regulations dealing with…
The N.C. Community College System, following the abrupt departure of fledgling former President James C. “Jimmie” Williamson, is under new leadership that could better partnerships between community colleges and the University of North Carolina System. Peter Hans, who in May became president of the N.C. Community College System, is…
The Civitas Institute has released a new poll showing incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. George Holding and Democratic challenger Linda Coleman neck-in-neck in a race for North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District seat. SurveyUSA conducted the poll on behalf of the conservative public policy organization between…
With Hurricane Florence fast approaching — and parts of the state still recovering from Hurricane Matthew — the governor, for the first time, issued an evacuation order. Local evacuation orders as of Tuesday afternoon were in effect for 12 counties, and 14 counties have issued…
In a rare show of unity, the state elections board unanimously agreed during a Sept. 7 teleconference to challenge federal subpoenas of millions of voter records. The board said state law barred it from sharing information from individual voters to…
Head distiller Chris Jude steps through a door at the High Wire Distilling Co. in Charleston, South Carolina. Jude, who’s from Boone, enters the tasting room and bar, making the short trip from the place spirits are made to the place spirits are served. Customers sitting at the long…
The 2017-18 school performance grades are in, and it’s mixed bag of good news and bad. Meanwhile, education leaders continue to promise improvements in academic performance. All 2,537 of the state’s public schools are graded on an A-F scale and…
