One year after Helene, Asheville’s service industry contends with weaker tourism, fewer jobs and lingering storm trauma, all while trying to keep a happy face for customers.

The award recognizes the work educators at Washington Elementary have done over several years to embed health and wellness into its culture.

A quarter of the country's National Park Service positions have now been cut in 2025. The National Parks Conservation Association is now warning of more cuts in President Trump's and the U.S. House's budget proposals.

Cleanup is underway at Cape Hatteras National Seashore after a house in Buxton collapsed into the Atlantic this week, and the superintendent of the seashore said threatened structures on the barrier islands are not a new phenomenon.

Small rural fire departments across North Carolina are struggling to recruit volunteer firefighters and pay for the rising cost of equipment. That’s prompting the state legislature to look more closely at the future of firefighting.

A memorial created as part of a vigil for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been a flashpoint for political tensions on UNCW’s campus this week, leading to online threats and heightened security. Chancellor Aswani Volety said he was "appalled" at a video of the memorial being painted over by protestors, adding that the university was taking all physical and online threats seriously.

Blue Ridge Public Radio is collaborating with AP, Honolulu Civil Beat, CalMatters, and Centro de Periodismo Investigativo in Puerto Rico to examine how school communities are recovering from the disruption of natural disasters.

The U.S. government urgently is trying to develop a homegrown American supply chain of rare earths — especially for military use.

By January, a new state law will require NC school districts to restrict students’ cell phone use. Some schools were already trying similar policies, and students say they're less distracted in class.

The rivers and streams of western North Carolina are still recovering from Hurricane Helene almost a year later. Contractors have pulverized those streams with heavy equipment to remove storm debris — causing a second ecological disaster in the storm’s wake.