• Weather

    13 NC counties are under alert, including Johnston, Halifax, and Northampton counties. Details

N.C. Rural Center Coverage

  • 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