Newspapers
Down Ballot Staff Reports Kentucky-based Paxton Media Group purchased nine newspapers from Georgia-based Community Newspapers, Inc. The weekly publications included in the sale are The Franklin Press (NC), The Highlander (NC), Mitchell News-Journal (NC), Smoky Mountain Times (NC), Clay County Progress (NC), Cherokee Scout (NC), The Graham Star (NC), The
Helene
Funding supports projects to build resilient waste reduction, recycling, and composting programs in storm-damaged communities
data centers
By Robbie Sequeira (Stateline) Published: May 28, 2026 Hearing backlash from residents, cities and counties across the country in recent weeks have blocked planned data centers amid concerns over rising electricity prices and environmental harms. The local actions come as state lawmakers also are looking to limit or repeal the
Environment
Anaerobic digester loans showed “significant delinquency rates,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, while environmental groups see the technology driving an expansion of large-scale animal farming operations.
South Carolina
Federal rural health fund meets healthcare desert in eastern NC; Union group wants to bolster Kansas City's affordable housing by investing pension money; After Sarah T. Reed H.S. closure, NOLA teachers worry that school closures will become the new normal
Charlotte
By Penelope Goldstein (Queens University News Service) Published: May 18, 2026 As public funding for nonprofits shifts at the local and national level, arts organizations across Charlotte are beginning to feel the effects through tighter budgets, reduced programming and growing uncertainty about what comes next. The arts play a vital
housing
By Tim Henderson (Stateline), Published: May 14, 2026 Large, immigrant-rich cities saw population fall back between mid-2024 and mid-2025 after nation-leading increases the year before. Mid-sized cities led the pack in U.S. Census Bureau estimates to be released May 14. The largest numeric increases for the year were in
Economy
NC families with disabled children press lawmakers to maintain funding as federal Medicaid cuts loom; Ex-residents of Chicago apartment building targeted in massive immigration raid seek millions in damages
Charlotte
By Allison Chipps (Queens University News Service) Published: April 14, 2026 In Charlotte, the most important decisions aren’t always made under the bright lights of a full council vote. Instead, they begin in quieter rooms — inside committees of the Charlotte City Council — where fewer people are watching and even
The best state and local government news
Mecklenburg County's point-in-time count found 2,018 experiencing homelessness
The 28-mile conduit is part of a huge natural gas infrastructure buildout in the state that Duke Energy says is necessary to keep up with demand, especially from a coming wave of data centers.
Northampton Co., NC residents win 32‑month pause on data centers; xAI now has 46 gas turbines without air permits in Mississippi; Rent Freeze No Sure Thing in First Vote By Mamdani-Majority Board
By Jacob Fischler (DC Bureau (States Newsroom)) Published: April 8, 2026 At least 2.5 million low-income people quickly lost help affording groceries under a Republican-passed law that added new requirements for the nation’s largest nutrition program and shifted hundreds of millions of dollars in costs from the federal
By Taylor Sisk Published: April 23, 2026 DELBARTON, W.Va. — A half-dozen cars had been in the queue for nearly four hours by the time the House of Hope mobile food pantry line began to move. Seventy or so more idled behind them by 11:30 a.m., when the
California to share data on immigrant drivers nationally, NC county creates safety net for uninsured
by Michelle Crouch and Rose Hoban, North Carolina Health News May 1, 2026 By Michelle Crouch and Rose Hoban Atrium Health, the state’s largest hospital system, is seeking to combine with Raleigh-based WakeMed Health & Hospitals, an independent nonprofit with five hospitals and roughly 350 physicians, according to a
By Kristina Peck (North Carolina Newsline) Published: April 16, 2026 There is a version of N.C. Pre-K enrollment that takes twenty minutes. You fill out a form, submit a birth certificate, and your child starts school in the fall. That version does not exist for families like mine. My
The medical school would offer a traditional four-year medical degree and a three-year accelerated track. It wouldn’t be a teaching hospital structure, a deviation from other medical schools in the state, but it would build upon the university’s existing portfolio of health care education.
Bill that would eliminate Calvin Duncan's court clerk position in New Orleans heads to Louisiana governor
NC DEQ to hold public hearing on proposed Craven County permit modification
By Robbie Sequeira (Stateline) Published: April 27, 2026 A New York City mom and domestic violence survivor felt a flashback of fear when she received a notice in March that the emergency housing voucher she and her son have relied on since 2023 will run out soon. “It felt like
