The in Raleigh will discontinue its operations next month due to not securing enough funds.

It’s Raleigh’s largest professional theatre company that produces live musical theatre. The NC Theatre company is housed within the Martin Marietta Performing Arts Center in downtown Raleigh. It has served the Triangle for 40 years.

The pandemic caused some financial strain on the company, which caused them to suspend their 2024 season. Some factors that contributed to the suspension include declining sales, increasing costs, and loss of sponsorships, . Last year, they filed for bankruptcy and had issues making some payments to the Small Business Administration.

The NC Theatre's chairman John Zaloom gave an update to ��������վ’s Sharryse Piggott.

This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Why is the NC Theatre closing?

“We did not secure the funding we needed. The North Carolina House had an allocation for us in their short session budget last summer, but that budget never passed the North Carolina Senate. We planned to try again with the legislature this summer, but we needed the ability to keep running our Conservatory in the meantime.”

“We learned in November that a hoped-for merger with another professional theater company in Raleigh would not go forward and that we would be losing our space in the Kennedy Space Center on Barrow Drive, where we had offices and where we held our Conservatory classes.”

What happened with the bankruptcy process?

“Because we could not secure enough funding, we could not ‘substantially consummate’ the bankruptcy plan. We were down to one full-time staff member starting in October, we inadvertently missed the November and December payments to the SBA (Small Business Administration) that were called for under the bankruptcy plan, but we made them up in January.”

When will it close?

“The Conservatory students will be performing ‘Into the Woods’ on May 1, May 2, and May 3. The next day will be the end of operations for NCT (North Carolina Theatre).”

North Carolina State University announced that the U.S. government terminated the visas of two of its international students without notifying the school directly.

The two students, whose identities and countries of origin were not disclosed, had their student visas revoked by the government on March 25, according to the Office of International Services. The news was .

The university was not "directly notified" that the students' Student Exchange and Visitor Program records had been terminated.

"We are deeply concerned about the lack of communication from federal agencies and the impact of these actions on our international students," the Office of International Services said in the announcement. "We are committed to assisting these two students in any way we can, including completing the semester from abroad."

The students returned to their home countries after losing their visas, consulting with their embassies and immigration attorneys, the university said.

Student visa programs grant international students legal status to live and work temporarily in the U.S. while completing studies.

Trump Administration cracks down on pro-Palestine students

The university did not state why the student visas were revoked.

The news, however, comes as President Donald Trump's administration cracks down on international students for allegedly protesting or expressing views sympathetic to Palestine in the Israel-Hamas War.

The Trump Administration has accused those students of supporting terrorism for expressing these views or participating in any protests.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last week that the State Department had of people who allegedly expressed support for Palestine in protests or on social media.

NC State declined to answer questions from ��������վ.

Student's roommate speaks out

One the two students was identified as Saleh Al Gurad, a male international student from Saudi Arabia, the Technician reported.

Al Gurad is a graduate engineering student at NC State.

Philip Vasto, a fourth-year chemical engineering student at NC State, identified himself as Al Gurad's roommate in a published by the Technician.

Vasto said Al-Gurad, who went by "Sal," did not know why his visa was terminated and that he was not contacted by the federal government. The second student, who was unnamed, is also from Saudi Arabia, he said.

"No one should be deported for free speech, but in the case of Sal, he was a lowkey individual who never attended any protests or wrote about this issue on social media," Vasto wrote. "He minded his business and studied, yet he was targeted for no other reason than that he is an Arab national."

The two students voluntarily left to avoid being susceptible to an arrest from immigration enforcement, according to Vasto. They may seek to appeal their visa terminations from Saudi Arabia.

The Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball tournament will move from its longtime home in North Carolina to the Atlanta area in 2026, the league announced Thursday.

The tournament will be held at the 13,000-seat Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia, which is about 30 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta. The decision to move the event followed an extensive bid process and evaluation by coaches and administrators.

The tournament has been played in Greensboro, North Carolina, for 25 of the past 26 seasons. It was in Conway, South Carolina, in 2017. Charlotte, North Carolina, was host from 1997-1999 and Rock Hill, South Carolina, from 1992-1996. The first neutral site was Fayetteville, North Carolina, from 1983-1991.

The 2026 tournament is set for March 4-8.

"Women's basketball is thriving, and we are delighted to bring the longest-running collegiate conference women's basketball tournament to a new, state-of-the-art venue in our region, further enhancing the incredible success we have achieved with our partners in Greensboro," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said.

The 2025 tournament drew more than 70,000 fans for the first time since 2009. The title game between Duke and North Carolina State set an attendance record of 11,823.

___

AP March Madness bracket: and coverage: Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

The latest cuts to federal funding for public schools are hitting four of the poorest school districts in North Carolina, and more funding losses could soon be coming for other schools in low-income communities.

State Superintendent Mo Green announced Thursday that late last week he received a notifying him that "stabilization grants" to some school districts were immediately canceled.

Green said the letter ended a deadline extension that the Biden administration had given schools to finish spending down these pandemic-era grants on building repairs that were still underway.

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction confirmed those grants were being used for school construction projects at these districts:

• $14.6 million to Robeson County Schools
  
• $1.3 million to Richmond County Schools
  
• $886,000 to Halifax County Schools
  
• $252,000 to Lenoir County Schools

A department spokesman said the districts had faced some supply chain issues that had slowed down projects to replace windows, faulty HVAC units and other projects.

Green and the State Board of Education approved a today urging McMahon to "reconsider this harmful decision" and honor the previously approved extensions.

The four affected school districts are in counties that are designated by the state with , placing them among the poorest counties in the state.

Latest Trump administration announcement targets thousands of NC schools in low-income communities

Meanwhile, McMahon sent another letter today to state education officials nationwide threatening to end Title 1 funding for schools in low-income communities unless they end any diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

There are 1,669 North Carolina public schools eligible for Title 1 federal funding based on the high percentage of low-income students served by the school. That's based on a from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The figure includes both charter schools and traditional public schools.

Green has not yet released a public statement responding to this latest announcement from the U.S. Department of Education.

In another recent statement, Green said North Carolina schools receive more than $1 billion in federal funding, and those funds help pay the salaries of more than 14,000 North Carolina educators.

The State Board of Education heard a major update on teacher turnover this week. The annual "" seeks to quantify how many North Carolina teachers have left the profession, and how many schools have on-going vacancies.

Teacher turnover is improving...

First, the good news: teacher turnover is improving after hitting a long-term peak last year. This school year, the rate of North Carolina teachers leaving the profession fell, although it's still higher than it was before the pandemic.

The draft report released Wednesday is based on data collected between March 2023 and March 2024. In that time, about 9.9% of North Carolina teachers left the profession, including retirements. That compares to 11.5% of teachers who left the profession last year and 7.8% the year before that.

...but overall teacher vacancies hit a new high.

The bad news: the number of vacancies for teaching positions across the state rose for the third year in a row.

Once the fall 2024 semester was well underway, North Carolina's instructional vacancies hit a high of 7,141 vacancies. The Department of Public Instruction took that count on the 40th day of school. It includes nearly 3,000 vacancies in the core classes of math, English, science and social studies.

The official count of teaching vacancies is higher than what the North Carolina School Superintendents' Association reported last fall, based on self-reports from school districts. The Association's report also tallied non-teaching vacancies.

The official vacancy count includes classrooms that do have a teacher, but one who is not fully licensed.

"Everyone wants a fully licensed teacher in every classroom in the state of North Carolina, so the current vacancy rate tells us how far we are from that," said Tom Tomberlin, the Department of Public Instruction's Senior Director of Educator Preparation and Licensure.

In the last few years, the state started counting long-term substitutes and teachers who don't have enough college credits to pursue a long-term North Carolina teaching license as a vacancy. That means the last three years of data can't be fairly compared to the lower vacancy rates clocked in before 2021.

Fewer teachers come to the profession via a traditional route, with a degree and classroom experience

Tomberlin presented data that showed how there are now far fewer first-year teachers who have a bachelor's degree in education and student teaching experience compared to five or six years ago.

Traditionally licensed teachers used to make up more than a third of newly hired teachers in North Carolina. Last school year, they made up about a quarter of new teachers.

As teachers with traditional training decline, they're being replaced by teachers who are taking an alternative path to teaching, making a career change, or being hired from other countries. Last year, nearly 9% of newly hired teachers in North Carolina schools were international teachers on time-limited contracts.

Teachers who don't take a traditional path to the classroom are also statistically less likely to stay in the profession.

"As we see the pipeline changing dramatically, are we being responsive to the needs of that differing population of teachers?" Tomberlin asked.

State Board member J. Wendell Hall, a former interim superintendent of several districts in northeastern North Carolina, said he doesn't think there's any surprise as to why teachers leave.

"It's simple to me, teachers stay in environments where they feel supported, that they feel honored, and where they feel their voice is heard," Hall said.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the N.C. House of Representatives this week tweaks several processes around foster kids to give foster parents more of a say over the fate of children in their care and increase N.C. Department of Health and Human Services oversight of county agencies.

"What we are focused on in this bill are the life outcomes for children. So we are focused on creating an environment that is conducive to permanency and reunification when possible," Rep Allen Chesser, a Nash County Republican, said during a Wednesday press conference.

Chesser is a primary sponsor of House Bill 612, which is co-sponsored by nearly 70 members of the House as of Wednesday afternoon.

Rep. Vernetta Alston, a Durham Democrat, said the legislation offers efficiency and consistency when key decisions are made about a child in foster care.

"It does these things while creating fairer and clearer opportunities for the children and the caretakers to be heard and to be supported and to, again, achieve permanency," Alston said.

A N.C. Department of Health and Human Services administrator also spoke in favor of the legislation at Wednesday's press conference.

Lisa Cauley, DHHS' senior director for Child, Family and Adult services, pointed to a provision allowing someone who reported abuse or neglect to request that DHHS review a county social service department's determination in the case.

"For the first time, citizens will have a process to review case decisions and the state will have the authority to intervene when needed, supporting county decisions or correcting those decisions to help improve overall practice," Cauley said.

Additionally, the bill would require county social service departments to notify a foster family of its plans to move a child who has been in that family's safe care for more than a year if that family has also expressed interest in adopting the child.

"I think at that point, you've got a pretty good emotional bond being built with the child. You know about intricate needs for the child, and therefore them being able to weigh in and have a voice in the decision is important to them," Chesser said.

The bill will help the system support the young people who are in it, said Marcella Middleton, an advocate representing SaySo. Middleton specifically addressed a provision requiring that the Department of Social Services be represented by an attorney and the process allowing placements to more easily continue.

"I want people to think about how important it is ... if you are in a system, that the system needs to work for you. The system needs to work for you so that you can transition out of that system and actually have a full life and that you're not just sitting there, a victim of circumstance that you didn't even put yourself in," Middleton said.

'That bill has a chance'

While there is no companion legislation in the Senate, Chesser said he has had discussions about its provisions with lawmakers in that chamber and they are "awaiting" the legislation.

"This is something that everybody agrees needs to happen," Chesser said.

Chesser previously sponsored a 2023 bill allowing exceptions to a state law that prevents families with five children in the home from accepting additional foster kids. Intended to address a shortage in foster homes, the bill allowed DHHS to grant an exemption if siblings are being placed together or if the denial was solely based on the number of kids in the home.

This year's legislation has not yet appeared before lawmakers, but its first stop will be the House Health Committee.

House Speaker Destin Hall discussed the bill after session Wednesday, noting that he believes there are things that need to change about the foster care system and that he's discussed the legislation with Chesser.

"I think it's a worthy cause that we ought to look at, and I think that bill has a chance," Hall said.

The North Carolina State Board of Education members said Wednesday that they still have reservations about a state pilot program that gives grants to a company that uses a video game to teach kids science, technology, engineering and math concepts.

Plasma Games develops a science-fiction-themed video game to teach students concepts like chemistry. Since 2021, the General Assembly has allotted more than $7 million for grants that schools could use to access the game and other STEM-based resources. As ��������վ has reported, the program was created in the state budget process — not as a standalone law — and the company never bid for a state contract.

But annual reports from the Department of Public Instruction have questioned the program’s efficacy and whether schools are using it. The found that there were more school districts that chose not to reapply for the grant this year than there were new districts applying for it. There have been 21 school districts using the platform in the 2024-25 school year, down from 29 last school year.

“I think the number of districts that are not reapplying should signal to us that there’s something going on around how we ensure, or do what we can at this level, that the use of these funds is actually making a difference — or just saying it’s not,” board member Catty Moore said.

The report also found only 64% of the anticipated students were using the program, and that the total funding requests since 2022 were nearly $1.8 million less than what was allocated.

“I think in past occasions, this board has expressed reservations that this is not an effective program for our students and that perhaps we could put these valuable resources to some different uses,” board member Alan Duncan said. “That’s been said more than once from this table.”

Anecdotal feedback in the report showed teachers believed the game increased student engagement and that the program was easy to learn. But they were unable to link the program to any specific academic outcomes, and some reported finding it difficult to figure out how to best ensure the program aligned with course standards.

In an emailed statement to WFAE, Plasma Games CEO Hunter Moore said the company was encouraged by the percentage of students using the platform and argued usage was likely higher, with educators often using printable resources and working with Plasma Games on services outside the scope of the grant program. Those services, Moore argued, wouldn’t be reflected in state data.

He also cited two studies through and that found usage of the program resulted in increases in STEM knowledge and awareness of STEM-related careers.

“At Plasma Games, our mission is to empower teachers and inspire students through relevant and engaging science learning,” Moore said. “We’re committed to supporting districts year-round with ongoing professional development and tailored assistance, always striving to make teachers’ work easier and to elevate the important role they play.”

Past news reports have pointed to Plasma Games' ties to the North Carolina Republican Party, which controls the General Assembly. ��������վ reported last year that Moore donated more than $40,000 to the North Carolina GOP and the North Carolina Republican Senate Caucus around the same time Plasma received state funding. And the News & Observer the wife of state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby has been listed as an investor.

The company has previously denied any impropriety, and Moore previously told ��������վ, “Any donations that I have made have nothing to do with our business.”

It's Weezy F. Baby and the F stands for final Dreamville Festival.

J. Cole's music festival will go down at Raleigh's Dorothea Dix Park this weekend, and New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne will be there performing with the Hot Boys and the Big Tymers.

This will be the fifth and final iteration of the music festival, which brings in attendees from around the country, and around $146 million to the Raleigh economy.

Cole grew up in nearby Fayetteville, and uses this music festival as an opportunity to shine a light on the place that helped shaped him as an artist. In addition to Lil Wayne, Erykah Badu, 21 Savage, Wale, Bas, EARTHGANG, Young Nudy, and GloRilla will perform. So will North Carolina's Lute and South Carolina's Trap Dickey.

We asked the staff at ��������վ to share their favorite songs from the festival's artists. Here's what they had to say.

Sharryse Piggott

Love Me by Lil Wayne
I listened to this everyday before I use to physical therapy in the mornings during my time in the Marine Corps.

Incapable by Keyshia Cole
This song helped me through my breakup in 2017. True story.

Yeah Glo by GloRilla
I love GloRilla's entire album, but Yeah Glow is on repeat right now on my "going to work" playlist.

On & On by Erykah Badu
When I was about 8 or 9 I heard this song, and I just loved it ever since. I had no idea what it meant when I was a kid.

Brian Burns

The Healer by Erykah Badu

From the dream team of Badu + Madlib. Also love by Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band.

Honey by Erykah Badu

Produced by Durham's own 9th Wonder!

Me & U by Tems

Vibes for days. This was the first Tems song I heard and I was a fan immediately.

California Dream by Ab-Soul (ft. Vince Staples & Kamm Carson)

Another great 9th Wonder production!

Surround Sound by JID (ft. 21 Savage & Baby Tate)

Love the warped Aretha sample on this one.

Passport Bros by Bas (ft. J. Cole)

I didn't really know Bas until last year's Dreamville Fest, but this one made me a fan when he performed it then.

Mary Helen Moore

Go DJ by Lil Wayne
Belongs on every party playlist.

La La La La by Ari Lennox
The PHO EP made me fall in love with Ari, and this track showcases her incredible voice.

Interference by Tems
Sometimes I need a song that makes me cry and cry and cry. This does the trick.

Work Out by J. Cole
I drove around for years with this CD in my car, and still get happy every time I hear this song.

Hello by Erykah Badu (feat. Andre 3000)
This mixtape is dazzlingly creative and I love sinking into the warmth of this song.

Paul Hunton

Vizine by Lil Wayne
The greatest rap song to never get a proper release. Wayne, having just settled his lawsuit against Cash Money, released this , that takes shots directly at his former partner and mentor, Birdman. "No one man should have all that power if he

The Healer by Erykah Badu
It had been 5 years since Badu's last album, "Worldwide Underground," and the anticipation for a new album was high. She delivered with "New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)," and the Madlib produced, The Healer, easily its best song.

Rollout (My Business) by Ludacris
24 years later, I still listen to this song once a week. Ludacris intentionally created both an intense hype song, and one of the funniest, satirical, over the top trope-filled hip-hop songs of all time.

Bradley George

Window Seat by Erykah Badu

One of the greatest songs about letting go and moving on. The video is haunting.

Let It Go by Keyshia Cole

Keyshia, Missy Elliott, and Lil Kim are an unbeatable trio. Brilliant production, immaculate mid-2000s vibes.

Taste by Coco Jones

An iconic Britney Spears sample? I'm in.

Kamaya Truitt

Still Fly by Big Tymers

This song is basically a negro spiritual about perseverance and manifestation. It was also a part of the soundtrack of my youth so it brings back a lot of nostalgia from my middle school days in Atlanta, GA.

Glorilla

If she is solo, then LET HER COOK would be my top request. It is what I bump whenever I’m second-guessing myself, it helps remind me I do in fact cook, quite often, and very very well.

Deep Blue by Earthgang

They dropped Perfect Fantasy last year in collaboration with Spillage Village. Not only is it an ethereal song, but they used to listen to Little Dragon during the beginning of their careers on long road trips to their gigs and then they got the collab!

Erykah Badu

I think Love of My Life Worldwide would be a beautiful tribute to Angie Stone who transitioned at the beginning of March. She is featured on the song, and is one of the neo-soul pioneers so I would like to see that dedication at the festival.

Josh Sullivan

Foldin' Clothes by J.Cole

A love song about all the real things. I never thought I'd see the day I'm drinking almond milk.

Duffle Bag Boy by Playaz Circle and Lil Wayne

The beat is so hot. The flow is so ice cold.

Down Bad by J.I.D., J. Cole, Bas, EARTHGANG, and Young Nudy.

Last year, before J.I.D. played this song, he warned the crowd "you're going to hear this song a lot this weekend." That's because a good chunk of the festival performers is on it. The second song off of Revenge of the Dreamers III starts off with a screech, then Young Nudy introduces us to what we're about to experience in a little less than 3 minutes. J.I.D.'s on the hook, Bas, Johnny Venus, and Cole lay down verses littered with bars that make you say "wait…what'd he say?" over and over again.

Surf Swag by Lil Wayne

There are too many fantastic Lil Wayne songs to pick from, and all of them send me spiraling into nostalgia. But only one rhymes tomorrow with the name of my childhood hero: Nomar Garciaparra.

Focused by Wale and Kid Cudi
A song that epitomizes the 2010s. It’s got that synth-heavy beat produced by Kore that is synonymous with Kid Cudi’s early stuff. This one narrowly edges out Ambition for my list.

Sticky by Lil Wayne, GloRilla, Tyler the Creator, Sexyy Red

A small part of me is holding out hope that Tyler is a special guest and everyone comes out to perform this song. The simplicity of the intro features a whistled melody with some background singers chanting. The only two ways to listen to this song? In your car with the base turned all the way up, or performed by a marching band.

Aaron Sanchez-Guerra

Other Side of the Game by Erykah Badu

Big Ballin by Big Tymers

No Role Modelz by J. Cole 

When Hurricane Helene ripped through western North Carolina, it downed power lines, leaving tens of thousands of residents without electricity for days, even weeks.

, including submerged substations, thousands of downed utility poles and fallen transmission towers. The company also noted that mudslides, flooding and blocked roads hampered efforts to quickly restore power.

At Duke Energy’s Marshall Substation in the town of Hot Springs, heavy rains and flooding forced the shutdown of the facility. But Hot Springs was more fortunate than most. In 2023, Duke Energy had installed a microgrid of solar panels and lithium-ion batteries to restore power quickly in case of emergency.

A microgrid is a self-contained electricity system that can operate independently of, or in coordination with, the main power grid. A common example is rooftop solar panels that supply electricity to homes, enabling residents to either disconnect from the main grid entirely or rely on it only as needed.

Hot Springs' system, which can provide 100 percent of the town’s peak load and up to six hours of backup power, . The microgrid operated continuously for the next 143.5 hours, providing power to the town’s center until power was restored to the area on Oct. 8.

The project, initially intended to be a proof of concept, worked to help the town get back online far ahead of its neighbors.

“It wasn’t as luxurious as a typical grid-powered home,” said Sara Nichols, energy and economic program manager for the Land of Sky Regional Council, a multi-county, local government organization. “It kept that town going when most people had nothing. It’s a huge success story.”

Hurricane Maria provides example

Rural and community health centers are a vital safety net for millions of Americans.

“As the largest primary care network in the nation, community health centers serve one in three people living in poverty — many in communities most impacted by environmental and climate hazards,” said Kyu Rhee, president and chief operating officer of the National Association of Community Health Centers,

“Community health centers [are] not for profit organizations that receive a limited amount of federal support to provide care to anyone — [including] primary medical, dental, behavioral health, discounted Pharmacy [services] — and there in all 50 states and territories,” said Ben Money, from the association.

Money used to run the N.C. Community Health Center Association and knows the needs of this state well, including its extensive history of hurricanes disrupting power to crucial services. He pointed to , as a turning point that accelerated efforts to equip health centers with solar-powered microgrids to improve disaster recovery.

Arturo Massol-Deyá, based in Puerto Rico, described the conditions on the ground after Maria.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico in 2017, Casa Pueblo de Adjuntas — a nonprofit community organization — worked to diversify the energy grid by installing solar and microgrid systems across communities, providing power to homes, schools, businesses, and essential institutions. “The disaster in Puerto Rico was not the hurricane,” Massol-Deyá said. “It was the aftermath of the government’s [inability] to restore basic services and all the mismanagement of the situation.”

In the aftermath, Casa Pueblo used support from donors to help “democratize the energy grid” by installing solar and microgrid systems across communities — powering homes, schools, businesses and essential institutions.

“We have addressed health issues by building energy security,” he said, “because there’s a lot of people with chronic diseases — like high blood pressure, diabetes and respiratory issues — that require therapy and medication.”

Money echoed that point and emphasized the importance of keeping health clinics operational during and after emergencies.

“When community health centers are down, they can’t see patients,” Money said. “Those patients that need care end up going to the emergency room, where it costs an exorbitant amount of money to get something that could be delivered at a fraction of that cost at a community health center.”

“Each day a health center is closed due to a power outage puts the organization at a financial risk,” Money said, potentially leading to reduced services, staff layoffs or even permanent closure. By contrast, a solar microgrid system can lower operating costs, allowing centers to reinvest savings back into patient care and services.

In 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy at rural community health centers. The investment is part of its Energy in Rural or Remote Areas program that’s managed by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.

The initiative targets rural health centers across the southeastern U.S., a region that — more than any other part of the country, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers.

The NACHC was also awarded a contract by the Department of Energy in 2024 to equip rural health clinics in North Carolina and other Southeastern states with solar microgrids. While the project is still in the planning stage, it is moving forward — despite federal funding cuts and increased scrutiny of Biden-era climate investments, Money said recently.

Advocating for microgrids

Long before Hurricane Helene battered western North Carolina, Sara Nichols had been working on ways to strengthen local power infrastructure in remote mountain locations — but she had struggled to gain traction with funders who denied multiple applications for support.

“We were working with designers and learning what projects needed — all the logistics,” said Nichols,whose organization serves four counties and 16 municipalities in western North Carolina.

Nichols said funders were hesitant to invest because the region lacked a history of major weather disasters.

“When I got a denial days after [Hurricane Helene] I was like, ‘Are you sure about that?’”

Despite being hundreds of miles from the coast and more than 2,000 feet above sea level, few expected the western North Carolina region to be so vulnerable. But Helene made one thing clear: No place is safe from severe weather.

As a result of Helene — and with the Hot Springs example in mind — Nichols and others have renewed their advocacy around communities — especially rural ones — to include microgrid technology in their resiliency planning.

“I feel like we may have better chances now being able to tie things to our hurricane relief work,” Nichols said.

‘Emerging technology’

While the microgrid in Hot Springs delivered power in the wake of Helene, Duke Energy spokesperson Logan Stewart cautioned that microgrids are still an emerging — and costly — technology. “They’re not the best solution in every situation,” she said.

Duke Energy is , which automatically reroutes electricity from functioning service lines when an outage occurs.

“It’s kind of like a GPS in your car,” Stewart said. “If there’s an outage on your line, it’s going to just automatically reroute you to another line.

“We have [self-healing technology] integrated across about 60 percent of our grid in the Carolinas,” Sewart noted. “We’re going to continue to expand, but we have miles and miles of line, so it just takes [time] to do that.”

Stewart noted that self-healing technology is better suited for urban areas, where terrain is less of a challenge.

“Microgrids can be a solution,” she said, “but it depends on the community terrain, cost and several other factors. It’s something we’re going to continue to explore — because the performance during Helene was fantastic.”

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

North Carolina lawmakers are advancing a bill that would encourage job cuts for government efficiency, an effort similar to the one playing out nationally.

The most powerful politician in the Senate, Republican leader Phil Berger, is sponsoring the so-called . DAVE is an acronym for a new Division of Accountability, Value, and Efficiency.

It would be led by the state auditor, Republican Dave Boliek.

If the bill becomes law, all state agencies would submit reports by Oct. 1 justifying their existence and explaining any vacancies that have gone unfilled for at least six months.

"My commitment is to do this in a non-partisan way that's data-centric," Boliek said Wednesday during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Regulatory Reform.

The bill is North Carolina's answer to the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. DOGE has gutted several federal agencies and left tens of thousands of federal employees without jobs.

Berger noted that in North Carolina, the auditor would not be empowered to fire other agencies' employees.

"The auditor has no authority to discharge anyone. He has the authority to identify problems, and any discharge or any elimination of positions would be left up to the General Assembly," Berger said.

DAVE will recommend eliminating positions, dissolving offices

DAVE would be required to recommend positions for elimination, as well as state offices or agencies that should be dissolved. Those findings would be due in a report to the General Assembly by Dec. 31.

As of February, state agencies employed around . There were over 14,000 vacancies.

Ardis Watkins, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, said that 20% vacancy rate could lead to massive force reductions. But Watkins also argued that many of those positions have remained vacant due to low pay.

"There's no parameters laid out to explain exactly what's assessed, how this data would work," Watkins said. "There's genuine concern around all of this."

Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, has proposed a different efficiency initiative that would be housed under the Office of State Budget and Management, whose leader is appointed by the governor.

"People should know that their tax dollars are being well spent," Stein said in a . "But let's get this right. Let's use a scalpel, not a chainsaw."

Democrats worry about cuts

Senate Democrats are against the bill, and question the use of artificial intelligence, which is explicitly permitted in the bill.

Sen. Lisa Grafstein, a Wake County Democrat, said she worried the process would be “demonizing state employees” by “looking at them as numbers on a spreadsheet.”

“Behind every one of these jobs, we have a reason, community, a team, and it strikes me as actually very inefficient to summarily negate the work that went into identifying these needs,” added Sen. Sophia Chitlik, a Durham Democrat.

"I think we're here to create middle class jobs and not to destroy them," she continued.

DAVE would shut down at the end of 2028. It passed its first committee Wednesday along party lines and will next head to the Senate Rules Committee.

Berger did say during Wednesday's meeting that the DAVE Act will likely need to be tied into the upcoming state budget because it would require additional positions in the auditor's office.

Eighty-four years after the Pearl Harbor attack, the remains of one of the last victims to be identified from the battleship USS West Virginia have come home to North Carolina.

Mess Attendant 3rd Class Neil Frye, who was 20 years old when he was killed, will be buried with military honors Thursday at the state veterans cemetery in Spring Lake.

In later wars, families would learn of a service member's death from a uniformed notification team to cushion the blow. But it was 1941, so word that Frye was missing and presumed dead simply came by telegram to his family, who lived on a farm in Hoke County, near Vass.

“The postmaster brought it out and read it to my mom and dad, and that’s how they found out,” said the last of Frye's nine siblings still living, Mary Ruth Frye McCrimmon, 87.

Weeks later, a tricycle her brother had heard she wanted arrived from Hawaii.

All the Frye siblings worked to keep the family farm going, helping harvest tobacco and cotton and driving tractors before they even turned 10 years old.

But the fact that Neil Frye’s body hadn’t been identified became a kind of undercurrent in family history, sparking the tiny possibility that somehow he hadn’t died.

“My mom used to say she loved to people watch. She would go anywhere she could get a chance to go to a little town and just watch all the men go by to see if she could see Neil,” McCrimmon said.

In more recent years, several family members sent the military DNA samples, with the hope that they could be matched to remains of unidentified service members.

In 2014, the family heard the Pentagon’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, or DPAA, was hosting regular regional meetings to keep families of the missing updated.

For more than a decade, members of the Frye family attended these, traveling as far as Georgia to hear the latest news on MIA identifications, even as fewer and fewer of Neil’s siblings were left.

Like some of the other family members who went to the meetings, McCrimmon’s daughter, Denise, never met her uncle. But she said it wasn’t in the family’s nature to just move on.

“We all stick together, so, you know, you take care of your own,” she said, nodding toward her mother. “That’s her brother, that’s my uncle.”

Mary Ruth Frye McCrimmon was only three years old when Neil Frye joined the Navy, following a older brother into service. Eventually, four of her five brothers and one of her sisters enlisted.

“That time they couldn't get no jobs,” she said. “They had … I'm just going to say, racial thing, they didn't get no jobs, so they went where they could get paid. It was such a little amount that they got, you know, but it was an honest living.”

At that point, Black sailors were allowed only to serve as mess attendants, essentially doing whatever officers wanted, from cooking their meals to doing their laundry.

“You could almost think of them as personal servants,” said historian Glenn Knoblock, who has written books on the experiences of Black sailors in the U.S. Navy.

Battleships like the West Virginia with their huge crews and large numbers of officers had the greatest need for mess attendants; there might be a cadre of 40 or so.

"And it's important to understand that the Navy at the time, prior to World War II, was largely a southern outfit," Knoblock said. "Most of the officers were southern. And the prejudices that they brought with them came not only from their home geographic area, but also from their years of service."

During battle, Knoblock said, the mess attendants did have more important duties.

"There is still this perception that Black men only served as waiters and servants to officers, and while that was their primary duty, especially during peacetime, they also served as fighting men," he said.

A key battle station for Black sailors was have been passing ammunition up from deep in the bowels of the ship. That's where Frye's remains were found when the ship was raised, along with those of dozens of other sailors.

It may never be known what Frye was doing when he was killed, said forensic anthropologist Laurel Freas, who leads the DPAA project identifying the remains of troops lost in the Pearl Harbor attack.

Those found inside the ship, she said, had a wide variety of jobs. There were foremen, mess attendants, gunners mate, and machinists.

"It was an all hands on deck effort, of course, to try to save the ship," she said. "During the attack, the West Virginia was hit by seven torpedoes and began to list very strongly to its port side, and the crew realized that they were in danger of capsizing, just as the Oklahoma did. And so through their swift action, they were able to counter flood the opposite side of the ship."

That meant it sank essentially in an upright position.

"Which is what allowed the West Virginia to be salvaged and and returned to the battle during World War II," Freas said. “What I think it says about the group of individuals is their bravery and their heroism, fighting until the very last moments they had to save their ship and contribute to the defense of Pearl Harbor, to the defense of Hawaii, and ultimately the defense of the United States.”

Perhaps even as Frye was dying, one of his fellow mess attendants, a burly Texan named Doris "Dorie" Miller, had helped move the ship's dying captain before jumping behind a machine gun and — despite not being allowed to train with the weapon because of his race — blazed away at the attacking aircraft. Then he helped injured reach safety ashore.

Miller was awarded the Navy Cross and became a famous war hero. Schools, parks, roads and community centers across the country were named for him

The powerful Black press of the time seized on his story and used it to help force the Navy to open other jobs to Black sailors.

Freas' DPAA colleagues work on MIA cases from all over the world, but she said her job feels particularly immediate and personal. The building they work in is on the base, little more than a mile from where the West Virginia sank.

"I used to drive past some buildings on the Hickam (Air Force Base) side of the base that still have bullet holes in the facade from the attack that day," she said. "So we are surrounded and immersed in this history and reminders of it every day."

And both her grandfathers served during the war, one in the Navy and one in the U.S. Army Air Forces — branches of service she makes identifications from.

Those working in the lab always have in mind the aging family members oping for answers, she said.

"We strive to make our identifications of our missing service members as rapidly and as efficiently as we can, still making sure that they are scientifically sound and unimpeachable, but we're very, very aware of the time constraints that we're working under," she said.

The remains of dozens of sailors were found aboard after the West Virginia was refloated in 1942. Many were identified early. But about 25 were buried until 2017, when DNA analysis and other techniques had improved enough to lead to more identifications.

They were disinterred and moved to the lab, where they undergo an elaborate identification process that can take years, as the scientists have to be certain.

Now, just five of those lost on Neil Frye’s ship remain to be identified.

For Frye's sister and her family, it seems like his identification came just in time.

"I was more happy than sad because I knew that they had found him," McCrimmon said. "I knew where he was. We didn't have to wonder."

"I know my mom and dad, there's any kind of way they know about this, I know they’re some kind of happy,” she said.

This story was produced by the , a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans.