The drought map looks ominous. In spots, western North Carolina is as dry — or drier — than the same areas during the record-breaking drought of 2016. It was that year on Nov. 6, when the Chestnut Knob fire ignited in Burke County -- then, as now, experiencing a moderate drought -- burning more than 6,400 acres over three weeks.
...
The chemicals that corporate titans Chemours, DuPont and 3M are manufacturing today will likely outlive you. They will most certainly outlive everyone who attended this week’s summit on per-fluorinated and poly-fluorinated compounds. Collectively known as PFAS, there are thousands of these compounds...
...
In 39 days, some children and teenagers under the age of 18 will no longer be charged in the adult criminal system in North Carolina for most non-violent crimes. Raise the Age legislation was passed in 2017 to change the age of juvenile jurisdiction in the state – North Carolina was the last in the nation to make the change – and after years of research, advocacy and waiting, the law is finally going into effect Dec. 1.
...
Common Cause released a report today that shows drawing electoral boundaries using only data for citizens over the age of 18 relies on fundamentally faulty data and is part of a partisan plot to shift representation away from communities of color to areas where white populations live.
...
A troubled charter school in the Rowan County town of East Spencer has turned to a man with a checkered financial and criminal history to help it find its footing after a rocky first year that involved parting ways with its management company and finishing the academic year thousands of dollars in the red.
...
Despite concerns, Treasurer Dale Folwell maintains state investments in much-criticized company that polluted the Cape Fear All winter long, it seemed, there was a spill. A leak. An “accident.” Throughout 2017 and 2018, the Chemours Fayetteville Works plant discharged and emitted GenX, a toxic compound, into the air, the Cape Fear River, and the groundwater, polluting the drinking water supply for hundreds of thousands of people.
...If you only look at the unemployment rate and the stock market, you probably think most families are faring well in this economy. But new data from the Census Bureau and the Annie E. Casey Foundation paints a troubling picture about the number of children who are living in concentrated poverty in our state. Concentrated poverty can be defined as a neighborhood where 30% or more of the population is living in poverty.
...
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a high-profile case that could have major implications for abortion rights in states across the country. The justices announced that they will hear an appeal in a case over a Louisiana law that requires any physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, which critics warn would severely hamper access to those services.
...