N.C.
Gov. Stein Opens North Carolina's Largest DMV Office in East Charlotte; State Reports 23-Minute Average Wait in August
The Albemarle Road office replaces a nearby branch that closed. The governor's office says it is one of four facility upgrades paid for by 2025's House Bill 125. It also says average statewide waits fell 86% in a year, a figure that depends on a baseline taken at the worst point of the crisis.
Stein Asks NC Supreme Court to Reverse 2-1 Ruling That Upheld Party-List Limit on His Judicial Vacancy Picks; Arguments Set for Nov. 10
A 2024 law makes the governor fill Supreme Court and Court of Appeals vacancies from three names chosen by the departing judge's political party. Gov. Josh Stein says the state constitution gives that choice to the governor alone, and Republican legislative leaders say lawmakers may set the process.
NC Legislature Returns Sept. 28 for Veto Override Votes on Judge Suspensions, Public Camping Bills
Under the adjournment resolution, lawmakers may take up vetoed bills for override votes, appointments, and a handful of other specified categories such as election-law and redistricting bills. Two of the bills Gov. Josh Stein vetoed are House Bill 377, which would let the chief justice suspend trial judges without pay during misconduct probes, and House Bill 437, which bans unauthorized camping on public property and creates drug-free zones around homeless service providers.
Court Preliminarily Approves Plan to Pay Consumers From $96.5 Million in Generic Drug Price-Fixing Settlements; NC Attorney General Urges Claims by March 8, 2027
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson and 47 other states and territories say people who bought certain generic drugs between May 2009 and December 2019 can now file claims, while the drugmakers that settled deny any wrongdoing.
North Carolina Opens $65 Million Second Round of Helene Repair Grants for Local Governments, Tribes and Volunteer Fire Departments; Applications Due Nov. 23
Gov. Josh Stein announced the state-funded round on Sept. 25, 2026, two days before the storm's second anniversary. The money comes from the budget the General Assembly passed in July and pays for damage FEMA will not cover.
NC Medicaid Restores $901,400-a-Year Contract for Perinatal Quality Collaborative After 2025 Funding Cut
The state health department restored the maternal and newborn care program's money in June, backdated to April. The program had lost its funding on Oct. 31, 2025, during a Medicaid budget fight between Gov. Josh Stein and the Republican-led legislature, and its new newborn-screening and postpartum mental-health projects are now set to start in 2027.
Gov. Stein's Recovery Office Releases 117-Page Economic Plan for Western North Carolina, Two Years After Helene
Released Sept. 23, 2026, the plan creates no new funding. Instead, it combines existing regional strategies. It highlights a $29.2 million federal grant announced in July and a jobs coalition launched in April, while Stein presses Washington for more than $10 billion more.
Gov. Stein Rides in BETA's Electric ALIA Plane at N.C. Showcase for FAA Pilot Program
North Carolina showed off its first flights under a federal test program for new aircraft. The flights used a BETA Technologies electric plane and a Joby Aviation self-flying turboprop, not only electric aircraft as some early summaries said.
Federal Judge Rules USDA's SNAP Rollout Deadline Unlawful in 22-State Case That Includes North Carolina
A federal judge in Oregon ruled on Sept. 17 that the USDA gave states too little time to apply 2025 SNAP law changes. The ruling blocks error penalties that North Carolina's attorney general says put $425 million at risk.
North Carolina Joins 40-State, $694 Million Settlement With Auto Lender Credit Acceptance
State attorneys general say the subprime lender made loans borrowers could not repay; the company settled without admitting wrongdoing, and North Carolina's share is about $9.5 million.
Stein Calls for Change to NC Film Grant Funding Structure at Wilmington Studio Roundtable
At a Sept. 15 roundtable at Cinespace Film Studios in Wilmington, Gov. Josh Stein asked lawmakers to let the state's film grant program run on a multi-year cash-flow basis, after the program stopped making new awards; a Republican state senator blames program mismanagement for the shortfall.
National Weather Service Issued Flash Flood Warnings for Parts of Edgecombe, Halifax and Nash Counties on Sept. 21
The Raleigh forecast office reported 2 to 4 inches of radar-estimated rain near Tillery; the warning expired at 11:15 p.m., and by Sept. 22 the flood threat had shifted to the western Carolinas and the coast.