U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins made her first visit to western North Carolina to see the damage Hurricane Helene caused on the region’s Forest Service lands. At the NC Forest Supervisor’s Office in Asheville, Rollins says she supports the Trump administration’s reductions in the federal workforce.

While on a tour of Yancey County, Stein highlighted the need for summer school programs and home repairs.

N.C. Sen. Benton Sawrey, R-Johnston, landed an influential role in his second term this session as co-chair of the Senate’s committees on healthcare. He joined this week’s WUNC Politics Podcast to talk about his efforts to address the unusually high costs of healthcare in North Carolina.

At a time when many groups are scaling back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, one group is pushing forward. The Charlotte Strings Collective is a group of local musicians highlighting Black composers and their work.

A new archive project is seeking oral histories, art, voice recordings, videos, and photographs from the disaster.

The university said it will remain open and is pursuing an "arbitration process."