50 NC counties and 1 VA county are under alert, including Wake, Cumberland, Durham, Johnston, and Orange counties.

Shortages of teachers, infrastructure and technology workers will hamper schools' ability to provide the best education, facilities and tools to children, Superintendent Robert Taylor said Thursday.

Higher employee pay will be key to running Wake schools smoothly, superintendent says

Wake County Public School System Superintendent Robert Taylor speaks to the League fo Women Voters of Wake County, April 18, 2024

Compared to pre-pandemic prices, ground beef is up 35%, chips are up 45%, bread is up 57% and a 12-ounce can of soda is up 66%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks trends on common grocery store items.

WRAL Investigates: 'Greedflation' and other drivers behind inflation at the grocery store

A look at inflation at the grocery store

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus resupply spacecraft is seen as it is rolled out of the Horizontal Integration Facility on its way to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman’s 15th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 8,000 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. The CRS-15 Cygnus spacecraft is named after NASA mathematician, Katherine Johnson, a Black woman who time and again broke through barriers of gender and race. The launch is scheduled for 12:36 p.m. EST, Feb. 20, 2021. Photo Credit: (NASA/Patrick Black)

The Antares rocket is rolled out ot the Wallops Island Virginia launchpad ahead of the NG CRS-15 mission