Pack Square Plaza has a winding, checkered history. City planners want to center the coming redesign around the stories and concerns of Black residents.

The BPR news team marks the two-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, and talks in-depth about Western North Carolina politics

Incumbent Republicans will face each other in both state senate district 47 and state house district 113 thanks to redistricting

Nature has been a solace for folks in Western North Carolina long before COVID-19. But during the pandemic, local trails and forests saw record-breaking numbers of visitors who wanted to find a quiet place to safely escape the masked reality of crowded public spaces.

Advocates on the right and left say this year's school board campaigns will be ground zero in America's culture wars. The conservative North Carolina Values Coalition prepared people for that battle this week by holding training sessions for prospective school board candidates in Raleigh and Mooresville. Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the Raleigh-based group, says the issues that have led to heated protests at board meetings are fueling intense interest in running for office. "Parents are upset about what their kids have been learning in school," she said. "They're upset about the mask mandates that still perpetuate around the state. And it just seems like there's been a great awakening among parents." Reporters weren't allowed into the "school board boot camps." In an interview after Thursday's session at Trinity Baptist Church in Mooresville Fitzgerald said attendance for the two sessions was about 200, with about 100 saying they plan to run. In the Charlotte area, she said

UNC Charlotte will start a new program with the goal of helping to predict and fight future pandemics.

Duke Energy says it expects to reduce energy generated by coal to just 5% of its total by 2030 and to eliminate coal entirely by 2035.

A trial court panel will name an outside remapping expert to help them determine whether upcoming replacement redistricting maps comply with partisan limits required by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Oral arguments are scheduled to begin Wednesday at the North Carolina Supreme Court over lawsuit s that will define this year's election in the state - and potentially for the whole decade.

The new Angel Medical Center in Franklin is starting to take shape. BPR took a tour of the construction site. David Sibilio is the superintendent of the project. "This right here is our biggest OR for you guys to see," said Sibilio. Bigger rooms - both for operations and for care - are one of the highlights that Angel's CEO Clint Kendall wants the community to see. "Normal rooms, you have more than enough room right now. It's about the size of a two bedroom room at the current hospital," said Kendall. Kendall, who began his job last summer, says despite some community skepticism the hospital will provide all of the current services. But there are no current plans to resume labor and delivery services - which were discontinued at Angel Medical Center back in 2017 . "Is it the same, yes, only better. Is it smaller yes, only in square footage. We're going from around 180,000 down to 80,000," said Kendall. Kendall says this is because extra space at the former location was for needs