• Weather

    Severe Weather Map 21 NC counties are under alert, including Wake, Durham, Johnston, Orange, and Harnett counties. Details

N.C. Rural Center Coverage

  • Shop local: This Small Business Saturday is critical for local businesses

    MIKE HAWKINS & DON FLOW: An opportunity to help small businesses that won't come twice
    Monday, June 7, 2021 -- Approached correctly, and supported with significant federal and state relief funding, North Carolina can emerge from this pandemic with a healthy mix of businesses in all areas of our state. Let us suggest two broad areas of opportunity: public health and broadband technology.
    June 7, 2021 5:00 a.m. EDT
  • Report: Internet speeds down 20% in Raleigh, 22% in Fayetteville, stable in Durham

    Nelle Hotchkiss: Expand rural broadband without burdening rural people
    Sunday, April 11, 2021 -- We must not move money from the pockets of rural people into those of Fortune 100 shareholders. Not-for-profit co-ops - and their members - should not be expected to subsidize broadband deployment costs, especially after more than $140 million in funding has been awarded to a for-profit cable provider for broadband expansion.
    April 11, 2021 8:36 p.m. EDT
  • Reliable broadband crucial for rural businesses and economic sustainability

    PATRICK WOODIE: Rapid Recovery Program provides support to N.C. businesses and farms during COVID-19 crisis
    Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020 -- The Rapid Recovery Loan Program is serving businesses at the margin of survival in these trying times but of importance to their communities -- and may not have been served by other federal and state programs. Of the approved Rapid Recovery loans, 64% have been made to historically underutilized businesses, which are primarily women- and minority-owned businesses, two groups that been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, 75% of the Rapid Recovery Loans administered so far have been to companies with fewer than 10 employees.
    August 26, 2020 6:33 a.m. EDT
  • NC PLATE

    LESLIE BONEY: Four forces can close N.C.'s urban-rural divide
    Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019 -- The idea of a clear divide between thriving North Carolina urban areas and struggling rural regions is wrong. We have undeniable gaps in education, broadband access, and medical care, but those challenges are all over the map. There are struggling cities and thriving small towns, along with a huge number of people living in loose suburbs that don't fit either category. We need less focus on divides and more focus on connections.
    January 27, 2019 5:00 a.m. EST