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…
Terrance Merriweather is the new deputy director of The N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. He replaces Bob Hamilton, who left the agency in late July, a couple of weeks before the state released a scathing audit of the agency. The reasons for Hamilton’s abrupt…
The General Assembly’s newly created subcommittees to investigate the pace of spending on recovery efforts for Hurricane Matthew and the unusual side fund negotiated by the Cooper administration with the operation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline are complete. In a Thursday, Sept. 6, press release, from the office of…
At last count, there were 48,000 farms tilling crops and tending poultry and livestock on 8.2 million acres of North Carolina soil. Agriculture and agribusiness are the state’s No. 1 industry, contributing $87 billion to the state’s economy. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, the man overseeing the N.C. Department of Agriculture…
Eric Davis was chosen to replace Bill Cobey as chairman of the State Board of Education. Davis recently became vice chairman after A.L. “Buddy” Collins left to campaign for a seat on the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners. Board member Alan Duncan was chosen as the…
A handful of lawsuits which threatened to upend North Carolina’s November elections resolved quietly over the past few days. With the situation settling, several N.C. political experts offered insights into the winners and losers. Congressional redistricting Background: In 2016, North Carolina’s congressional districts were…
Republican legislative leaders fear more lawsuits and constitutional showdowns with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper will occur if, in their view, he keeps stepping on their control over state revenues. The concerns surfaced during a Wednesday, Aug. 29, meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Governmental Operations.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from UNC Board of Governors member Marty Kotis. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is poised to set a national example of allowing lawful protest while protecting free speech. But campus administrators and law enforcers so…
A three-judge Superior Court judge panel handed Gov. Roy Cooper a victory over the General Assembly in a continuing battle over appointments to state boards and commissions. The ruling, published late Friday, Aug. 31, said the legislature violated separation of powers by claiming the right to pick the majority…
