WHQR Public Media

06/04/2026

Anthony Leone and his wife, Corinne Saunders, have already started watching the weather. In a few weeks, they'll be filling coolers and plugging in generators. He has lived in North Carolina's Outer Banks for more than 20 years. So he's familiar with this routine that precedes the inevitable — hurricane season.

Hurricane season is expected to be milder than usual this year. But that's not stopping cell phone companies from pulling out all the stops.

06/04/2026

President Trump has issued an executive order turning an estimated 8,000 federal workers into at-will employees, which means the government could fire them without providing any reason.

President Trump signed an executive order that puts some 8,000 high-ranking civil servants into a new category of employees who can be fired for any reason.

06/04/2026

The N.C. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to advance legislation that puts some guardrails around data center development in the state while also preventing Duke Energy from retiring coal- or gas-fired power plants until it obtains permission to build a new nuclear plant.

The bill represents North Carolina's most sweeping effort so far to put regulations around data center development.

06/03/2026

At Tuesday evening’s public comment period at the New Hanover County school board meeting, about a third of the participants were educators. They shared concerns about funding and infrastructure improvements. Another third spoke about the controversial ‘during school hours’ Biblical program, LifeWise Academy. The board also supported a measure that would subject future members to a background check.

At Tuesday evening’s public comment period at the New Hanover County school board meeting, about a third of the participants were educators. They shared concerns about funding and infrastructure improvements. Another third spoke about the controversial ‘during school hours’ Biblical program, L...

06/03/2026

In New Hanover County, The Endowment has seven new members for its Community Advisory Council (CAC).

06/03/2026

Council whittled down the recommended budget's tax increase of 5.75 cents, though some members remained uncomfortable with the final result or using the general fund to make ends meet.

06/03/2026

This week, the chairman of Bladen County backed away from a controversial proposal to change how — and how many — commissioners are elected. WHQR’s Ben Schachtman spoke with Morgan Casey from the Border Belt Independent about her reporting on the issue.

06/02/2026

Florida is accusing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman of putting profit over safety, in the first lawsuit brought by a state against the ChatGPT maker over the alleged shortcomings of the chatbot.

The lawsuit accuses the company of failing to warn users that ChatGPT could be dangerous and instead marketing it as safe and reliable.

06/02/2026

The state is rolling out a round of "SUN Bucks" benefits to help pay for food for kids and families this summer.

06/02/2026

New data show the Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOP) program, which shut down last summer, saved North Carolina residents with Medicaid more money than previously estimated.