News

The solar industry has been booming in North Carolina, but that boom could be coming to an end, as Ben Bradford reported this week. Ben Bradford provides analysis of what's going on.

Greg, Lisa and Ben also discuss the Houston school system's recruitment of North Carolina teachers, and the legislative debate over capping county sales taxes. Plus, the MeghaMeter returns.

Last year’s cut of the personal income tax rate is costing North Carolina far more than originally projected.  This according to new figures released by the General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division.

Nearly seven million people donned American military uniforms to fight in the Korean War.

Of those, just 145 received the highest military commendation this country can bestow…the Medal of Honor.

Saturday, at Arlington National Cemetery, the United States Postal Service, will issue a new set of stamps immortalizing a few of those Medal of Honor recipients, the 13 still alive when the series was commissioned. One of them was a man who called Fayetteville home. 

Conflict over disclosure of charter-school salaries flared anew Thursday as House Democrats said a Senate-approved bill shields for-profit management companies from revealing who they hire and how much they pay.

In a Thursday evening news conference, Rep. Tricia Cotham, D-Mecklenburg, led the call for the public and Gov. Pat McCrory to fight a move that she says blocks accountability and transparency at charter schools, which are run by nonprofit boards and funded with public money.

“It’s a simple principle: The public should know where public money is going,” she said.

The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra’s reputation is at the center of a violinist’s application for an EB-1 green card. These green cards are awarded to professionals with “extraordinary ability” in a specialized field. Distinguished academics and artists, for example, or top international business executives.

The North Carolina Senate tentatively passed an overhaul of the state's Medicaid program Thursday afternoon. It includes major differences from what Governor Pat McCrory and the House are pushing for.  

On Wednesday, the North Carolina Senate passed a bill capping county sales tax rates at 2.5 percent.

The vote was 33 to 16.   

The final tally came after more than an hour of contentious debate.

North Carolina’s urban vs. rural divide was front and center throughout the debate.  

In the span of five years, the solar industry in North Carolina has grown from nearly non-existent to fourth-largest in the nation, behind California, Arizona, and New Jersey. The pace is accelerating, with solar capacity set to more than double in the state, at least this year. The state’s powerful electric utilities are pushing changes that could blot out the industry in North Carolina.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is hoping to relieve congestion on I-77 by adding two toll lanes. NCDOT officials came to the Charlotte Chamber Wednesday to talk up the project, but as WFAE’s Nick de la Canal reports, there are still basic questions that haven’t been answered.

  DOT officials made a hard sell to the Regional Transportation Committee Wednesday for adding toll lanes between Charlotte and Mooresville on I-77.

The Levine Museum of the New South is unveiling a historical exhibit Friday that is in itself historic.

Called “LGBTQ Perspectives on Equality,” the show is a combination of exhibits that tell the history of Charlotte’s gay and transgender community, including the largely forgotten stories of average Charlotteans who made that history happen. The show then puts their stories in context of the national gay civil rights movement.