Agriculture
WRAL: New Orchard of chestnut trees begins on Cherokee territory
But all hope is not lost: a new partnership between the American Chestnut Foundation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians aims to repopulate the region with the lost tree.
THE NEWS AND OBSERVER: NC kids will eat free everyday. Feds extend free school meals through June 2022
North Carolina public schools can continue serving free breakfasts and lunches to all students next school year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently extended the Child Nutrition Program waiver to allow the nation’s public schools to serve free meals to all children through June 2022.
Economic Development
THE NEWS AND OBSERVER: Cell therapy company picks Durham for 200 jobs, after securing incentive from NC
CARsgen Therapeutics Corp., a Chinese biotechnology startup that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors, has picked Durham as the home for its first manufacturing site.
Education
THE NEWS AND OBSERVER: 'Pre-K is critical'. NC Gov. Cooper, US Ed Secretary Cardona back universal preschool
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper toured a childcare center in Cary on Thursday to promote a national plan to give two years of free preschool to all children.
EDNC: Meet 2021's state principal of the year, Broughton High's Elena Ashburn
Elena Ashburn, principal of Broughton High School in Raleigh, is 2021’s Wells Fargo State Principal of the Year. Ashburn, accepting the award in Cary on Friday, reflected on school leadership during the stress and disruption of a pandemic.
Government
WRAL: One way or another, major public funding coming for NC broadband expansion
North Carolina will likely use hundreds of millions of dollars in federal coronavirus funding to expand broadband internet in the state, though the details are evolving.
THE CARLOTTE OBSERVER: NC state employees to return to in-person work. Here are the details of when and how
North Carolina’s thousands of state employees are starting to return to working in person — if they haven’t gone back already. More than half of the state’s adults have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and Gov. Roy Cooper lifted nearly all COVID-19 restrictions May 14.
Healthcare
ABC11: Health care worker staffing shortage only made worse by pandemic, American Nursing Assoc. says
The pandemic is making the shortage of healthcare workers worse than before. The nursing shortage is expected to grow even more in the next year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Dr. Ernest Grant, the president of the American Nursing Association and former nurse at UNC.
Transportation
GOLDSBORO DAILY NEWS: NCDOT; Over 6 Million Pounds of Roadside Litter Collected This Year
The N.C. Department of Transportation’s crews, contractors and volunteers have collected more than 6 million pounds of litter from roadsides and are on pace to exceed the record for litter collection set in 2019.
