The News & Observer
Big changes at NC highway exit as Buc-ee’s breaks ground
Buc-ee’s founder Arch “Beaver” Aplin said he’s happy Alamance County officials reached out when they did about building the state’s first mega-size travel center in Mebane. He was just moving past Orange County’s decision to reject Buc-ee’s first...
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NCDOT asks lawmakers for help with ferry diesel costs
North Carolina’s ferry system may need to cut back service during the busy summer months if it does not get help paying its unusually high fuel bills, state officials say. The cost of the diesel fuel the state uses in its ferry fleet is up 75% on...
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This year, Holly’s Nest will take in 150 orphaned baby deer
The collection of hard-luck critters relaxing around Holly’s Nest Animal Rescue already includes four beavers sleeping in the bathtub, a skunk nestled in the back bedroom and a one-legged duck nicknamed “Pogo Stick” hopping around the pond...
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NC law denies victim status in fentanyl death case
Winter brought Nicole Holliday’s mother back into her life, but spring took her just as quickly. A little over a year ago, Holliday was working from her Wake Forest home when her grandmother called with the news. “Nicole, they found your mom dead,”...
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Much has changed since 2006 Stanley Cup run
The last time the Carolina Hurricanes hoisted the Stanley Cup, 30,000 fans packed into the sizzling-hot parking lot of what was then called the RBC Center — a riotous celebration that drew Caniacs from Gov. Mike Easley to a 6-year-old girl. That...
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Canes season ticket holders had early access to Stanley Cup seats
Carolina Hurricanes season ticket holders had a three-hour window Saturday to purchase tickets to Stanley Cup Final games before everyone else could buy seats. Even with the early access, though, some season ticket holders weren’t able to buy tickets...
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Lawmakers propose cap on Triangle property taxes
Triangle homeowners are seeing property tax bills ranging from 60% higher to around double what they were a decade ago. And now, many local governments across the Triangle are considering tax-rate increases in their budgets for fiscal year 2027, which...
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Canes tickets come at a steep price
Being there for hockey history comes with a hefty price. Tickets to the Stanley Cup Final between the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights went on sale Saturday and fans found steep prices for the opportunity to watch the Canes in the first...
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WakeMed merger documents won’t change before Wake decision
Wake County commissioners decided earlier this month to wait 90 days before voting on WakeMed’s planned merger with Charlotte-based Atrium Health to “allow ample time for public feedback.” But the public forums WakeMed finished this week have been...
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Raleigh’s $40M amphitheater move just hit a major milestone
The new Red Hat Amphitheater remains on track to open in the spring of 2027, with a sea of corporate and city officials gathering Tuesday to mark a construction milestone. The new amphitheater, across Lenoir Street from the existing Red Hat...
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Woman held without bail after courthouse shooting
The woman accused of shooting two attorneys outside the Wake County courthouse on Friday will be held without bail as she faces two counts of attempted murder, a judge said Tuesday. Gwendolyn White, 57, appeared in court Tuesday morning but did not...
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Crypto ATMs draw scams. Should machines be banned in NC?
At a 76 gas station in Cary on a sunny Tuesday in May, a shop cashier held a sign with the word “Caution” printed in large red letters. “Did someone send you to this crypto ATM? It’s likely a scam,” the sign read, followed by a translation in Spanish...
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‘Mature beyond his years’ teacher celebrated as Wake County’s best
Matin Maani was named the 2026 Wake County Teacher of the Year, but he didn’t get his crown until Thursday in front of hundreds of cheering students. Maani, a seventh-grade social studies teacher, strode through the halls of Apex Friendship Middle...
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Agave’s towering bloom captivates Raleigh neighbors
On a quiet Raleigh street, one humble agave plant has dazzled its neighbors with the final, glorious performance of its life — shooting up 25 feet in a single month. For 15 years, it sat quietly in Agata Slaczka’s yard, looking prickly and...
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NC insurance commissioner faces claims of improper texts
After 10 years as a state probation officer, a dangerous job with low pay and high turnover, April Taylor saw an opportunity to start a new career with the N.C. Department of Insurance. Taylor’s great-uncle was a big supporter of Mike Causey, who was...
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Church’s commencement speech at UNC goes viral
“I want to start with a sound.” That’s how country singer Eric Church began his commencement address at UNCChapel Hill. He compared six of his most treasured values to the six strings of the guitar, using the sounds to call up meditations on each. It...
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As Durham waits for final state reports, 5 parks stay closed
For two years, the orange mesh and metal, chain-link fences surrounding five Durham parks have kept children and families out of public space they used to enjoy. Once vibrant hubs remain padlocked “Keep Out” zones, warning people about toxins found...
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NC Museum of History display from World War I now an oddity
Down West Cabarrus Street, for reasons yet unclear, some mischief-maker propped up a life-sized World War I soldier — crisp in his olive-drab coat, off to face Hell in the trenches. Even more intriguing, this surprise installation on the sidewalk is...
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St. Augustine’s seeks $2M loan for campus security
A group of people broke into empty dorms at St. Augustine’s University and threw furniture out of the windows over the weekend, according to the university’s lawyer, Ciara Rogers. The crime comes after the 160-year-old historically Black university in...
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New woman-owned garage shucks auto industry’s ‘boys club’
Nikki Puckett Bosov still remembers the pair of brakes she bought when she was 20. The pricey repair, which a mechanic pitched as a musthave replacement for her brand-new sedan, still rings in her mind 20 years later because it’s one she now sees...
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Could AI make Duke business school students more human?
If an artificial intelligence agent informed you that you were talking over your peers too often in group discussion, would you heed its advice? Some Duke business school students do. It’s part of an experiment in which Duke professors and students...
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Downtown Raleigh campus to unite state education offices
The massive construction site in downtown Raleigh, covering a city block, is taking shape as the new North Carolina Education Campus. The News & Observer has the exclusive first look at all the images of the campus that will bring together the UNC...
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Alumni demand transparency amid St. Augustine bankruptcy
When St. Augustine’s University, Raleigh’s 160-year-old HBCU, announced last week that it was bankrupt and losing its accreditation, the leader of its young alumni association, Olivia Huckaby, was shocked she hadn’t received any advance notice. She...
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WakeMed leaders begin to make case for merger with Atrium Health
WakeMed leaders say they’ve got a lot of work ahead to sell skeptics on the benefits of merging with Charlotte-based Atrium Health but are confident they will win people over. The two nonprofit health systems announced the planned combination late...
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Pharma giant AbbVie plans to invest $1.4B in Durham facility
An American pharmaceutical giant plans to create hundreds of jobs at a new manufacturing site in Durham. On Wednesday, North Carolina awarded AbbVie a job development investment grant to open a Durham campus, where the company pledges to hire 734...
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Thousands of teachers expected to march in Raleigh on May 1
Teachers across North Carolina are submitting requests to take May 1 off to participate in a protest in Raleigh organized by the North Carolina Association of Educators. May 1 is a Friday so principals and district administrators are scrambling to...
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4 weather-watching tips from Raleigh NWS meteorologists
Remember back in elementary school when you learned about the water cycle? Evaporation. Condensation. Precipitation. It’s one of the few things about the weather still rattling around my mind left from school. So, now when I hear or read forecasts...
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Raleigh enforces water restrictions amid severe drought
Raleigh residents and businesses face water-usage restrictions starting Monday as central North Carolina enters a severe drought. The city announced the new restrictions Wednesday in a news release. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR RESIDENTS? ● People with...
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UNC faces backlash over sealed School of Civic Life probe
UNC-Chapel Hill spent $1.2 million investigating allegations of misconduct surrounding its own School of Civic Life and Leadership. Then, UNC announced that no one would get to see what that investigation found. Not everyone inside the school is at...
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Record number of NC high school students do college courses
A majority of North Carolina’s high school graduates are now taking and passing college-level courses, state leaders said Thursday. A report presented by the state Department of Public Instruction shows that 56% of graduates took at least one college...
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Apartments, townhomes planned for 27-acre Cary mobile home park
For decades, Chatham Estates Mobile Home Park has been a quiet pocket of affordability for hundreds of families, seniors and immigrants in Cary. But fears of displacement have loomed over the 27-acre mobile-home community, and now with a planned sale...
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NC’s first mosque gets historic marker in Durham
When she was just 5 years old, Dr. Rhonda Muhammad followed her father south to Durham, where he led North Carolina’s first mosque from a storefront on Pettigrew Street — an outpost for Islam and civil rights in the thick of Jim Crow. “It was scary,”...
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Leandro lawsuit tossed, NC public school fight continues
Public education supporters are livid that the North Carolina Supreme Court threw out the Leandro school funding case, but they say they aren’t giving up the fight for more public school funding. Last week, the Supreme Court dismissed the 32-yearold...
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UNC approves contract for new men’s basketball coach
Michael Malone officially became the new Tar Heels men’s basketball coach Tuesday after the UNC Board of Trustees approved his new contract. “Michael was the first coach we engaged with as part of the search process because of his reputation as a...
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Recent rain wasn’t enough to make a dent in statewide drought
Locally heavy downpours may have washed a layer of pollen from cars and patio pavers on Sunday, but they weren’t enough to get the Triangle or much of anywhere else in North Carolina out of drought. As of March 31, all 100 counties of the state were...
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Duke Gardens reopens April 8 with upgraded amenities
For years, the entrance to one of the Triangle’s most picturesque landscapes was a stretch of asphalt and a single building. But as the gates swing open this week, the $30 million Garden Gateway project will reveal a Sarah P. Duke Gardens that has...
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Western NC Helene rebuilding program faces funding shortfall
It’s been just over a year and a half since the remnants of Hurricane Helene struck Western North Carolina, and so far, 30 homes out of more than 3,500 active applications have been completed through the state program that uses federal funds to...
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NC State alum Gainey returns home as men’s basketball coach
Justin Gainey bought a Tshirt, but he couldn’t get Final Four tickets. He watched the game from his hotel. Gainey, despite coaching at Tennessee, wanted a piece of his alma mater’s historic run in the 2024 ACC Championship and NCAA Tournament. Almost...
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Raleigh Ponzi scheme mansion reborn as $6M luxury home
A sprawling North Raleigh mansion that was once owned by a real-estate fraudster, then abandoned to squatters and graffiti artists, has been reborn as $6 million palace featuring its own helipad, basketball court and floating spiral staircase. At...
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Helene-ravaged Nolichucky River faces pollution from illegal mine
Tessa and Leo Sharp figured things couldn’t get much worse than Hurricane Helene, which dropped up to 2 feet of rain across mountainous Mitchell County in September 2024. The storm and resulting reThe cord flooding sent so much debris down the...
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END OF THE ROAD FOR THE BLUE DEVILS
Duke guard Cayden Boozer covers his face as he leaves the court with his teammates after falling to Connecticut, 73-72, on Sunday in Washington. The No. 1-seeded Blue Devils were just a few seconds from a trip to the Final Four when their season came...
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No Kings demonstrations fill downtown Raleigh streets
Protesters carrying signs moved silently through the streets of downtown Raleigh Saturday afternoon. Their destination: the State Capitol. And while they may have moved incognito on their way to the state’s seat of power, they showed up to bring the...
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Will Wade one and done at NC State, has eyes on LSU reunion
Will Wade made a lot of promises a year ago, when N.C. State introduced him as its new head men’s basketball coach. The Wolfpack would finish in the top half of the ACC, he said. The Pack would make the NCAA Tournament, and imloyalty? prove on last...
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Davis out after five years as UNC’s head basketball coach
Hubert Davis will not return for a sixth season as North Carolina’s head coach, the program announced Tuesday night, marking the end of a five-year tenure defined by both historic highs and mounting inconsistency. Details of the separation were not...
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Second recount shows Berger trailing Page in GOP primary
Two recounts later, the result remains the same: North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger trails his Republican primary opponent, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, by 23 votes. Election officials in Guilford and Rockingham counties completed a...
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‘Fairy hair’ brings clients joy, but is she breaking a law?
State officials warned Leslie Stern with a letter. Then they sent inspectors to shops and events she was working at in Wilmington, Durham and Winston-Salem. It wasn’t illicit contraband they were after. It was information about glittery threads of...
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Can Chapel Hill add housing density without losing its past?
Historic properties don’t always stay frozen in time, instead growing and changing to meet modern needs, a process that can lead to renovation and demolition. That means anything is possible with a 1.24-acre site composed of four lots and five homes...
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Wake County teachers, parents protest proposed special-ed cuts
Teachers and parents protested across Wake County Thursday morning against special education cuts that would lead to the elimination of 130 teaching positions. The Wake County school system plans to cut $18 million from the special education budget...
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Raleigh to place new stop signs intersections on Clark Avenue
The city will erect stop signs at three intersections on Clark Avenue near N.C. State University, including the one with Pogue Street where a biology professor was hit and killed in a crosswalk last fall. The signs, due to go up within the next week,...
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Wake County schools planning more budget cuts as costs go up
Wake County Superintendent Robert Taylor plans to ask for a local funding increase of around $25 million this year along with higher school meal prices and budget cuts in areas such as special education. Taylor will preview on Tuesday the budget...
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Growth in NC homeschooling leads to more programs for them
Bennett Place is often filled with school groups, but on Friday it was dozens of homeschool students who walked through the rural farm site to learn more about North Carolina history. More than 100 homeschool students and their parents visited the...
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Displaced NC families finally return home post Storm Chantal
Nearly eight months after tropical storm flood waters ravaged Carrboro’s Weatherhill Pointe neighborhood near Morgan Creek, Peter and Catherine Burke, both in their 80s, have finally returned home. Despite torrential rain, movRepair ers pulled up to...
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2 votes separate Senate leader Berger and Sheriff Page
It’s not over yet. In unofficial results with all precincts reporting, just two votes separate the leader of the North Carolina Senate, Phil Berger, and his challenger in the Republican primary election, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. “We are...
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NC’s voucher program changing how private schools operate
North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship program has exploded in growth with many private schools either encouraging or requiring families to apply for a taxpayer-funded voucher to help cover tuition costs. A News & Observer analysis of state data...
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UNC System’s new definition of academic freedom approved
The UNC Board of Governors authorized a new definition of academic freedom on Thursday, a move that enshrines an explanation of the concept into UNC System policy — but also places key limits on what kind of faculty activity it protects. Academic...
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