Weekend reads: Rebuilding WNC, Trump’s cabinet raises eyebrows, and hundreds of uncounted ballots

People walk across a makeshift bridge in Bat Cave, North Carolina as repair work contrinues following Hurricane Helene flooding. (Photo by Mario Tama/)

Josh Stein faces a tall first task as governor: Rebuilding western NC after Helene

By Galen Bacharier

Gov.-elect views recovery in west as 'top priority' entering administration. Here's what he's said about his approach.

When Attorney General Josh Stein is sworn in as governor in January, he'll inherit the largest disaster recovery effort in the history of North Carolina.

Efforts to rebuild communities in the mountains following Hurricane Helene are underway — and will continue in the coming months as billions of state and federal dollars flow into the west. A spokesperson for Stein's transition team said hurricane response was a "top priority" for the governor-elect. [ Read more ...]

Western NC officials set to visit White House, Capitol Hill to push for federal aid post-Helene

By Galen Bacharier

A group of western North Carolina officials will travel to Washington next week to meet with White House staff and the state's congressional delegation, where they will request further federal aid to help the region recover from Hurricane Helene.

Esther Manheimer, the mayor of Asheville, told NC Newsline in an interview Friday that she and other local government leaders, as well as Gov. Roy Cooper, would visit the nation's capital on Wednesday and Thursday, November 20 and 21. [ Read more ...]

U.S. Supreme Court rejects former Rep. Mark Meadows' bid to move election case to federal court

By: Brandon Kingdollar

Former North Carolina U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows will have to try his election subversion case in Georgia after the Supreme Court rejected a bid to remove it to federal court Tuesday.

Meadows, who was charged with racketeering and a slew of other felonies for participating in then-President Donald Trump's scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, sought to move the case to federal court on the grounds that he was acting in his official capacity as Trump's White House Chief of Staff. [ Read more ...]

Trump cabinet picks draw mixed reviews from NC congressional delegation

By Christine Zhu

Sen. Thom Tillis delivers a "wait and see" take on controversial nomination of Matt Gaetz as Attorney General

The latest frenzy in Washington is over President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet appointments.

The transition effort began with "relatively orthodox choices," CNN reported , like campaign co-chair Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff.

Other choices — namely Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary and just-resigned Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general — have the political world scratching their heads. [ Read more ...]

Bonus reads:

Trump picks Fox News host to run Pentagon; Tulsi Gabbard to head national intelligence

* Meet the North Carolina members of the U.S. House

* Here's a look at the new North Carolina Council of State

Hundreds of Wake ballots arrive too late to count as NC counties work to finalize election tallies

By: Lynn Bonner

Dozens of late-arriving ballots were sent by express mail.

Red and yellow containers sat at the end edge of the Wake County Board of Elections meeting table on Wednesday as members prepared to sift through their contents as part of the painstaking work of reviewing voter information that accompanied absentee ballots.

Thousands of ballots had no problems and were approved in bulk. But some absentee ballots arrived initially without a voter signature. Some were sent without all the witness information included. Some didn't have the proper notary seals. [ Read more ...]

Republican control in Washington could mean trouble for expanded Medicaid in North Carolina

By Lynn Bonner

A reduction in federal funding would jeopardize health insurance coverage for more than a half-million NC residents

Health insurance coverage on which millions of Americans rely — Medicaid and plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act — were scarcely mentioned during the presidential campaign but may face extensive changes in President-elect Donald Trump's second term.

At a campaign stop in Pennsylvania last month, House Speaker Mike Johnson promised "massive" changes to health care in a second Trump administration. [ Read more ...]

Winston-Salem public housing residents want representation on housing authority board

What's next for Republicans defeated in NC? Vying for federal jobs and fighting GOP battles

By: Galen Bacharier

Michele Morrow seeks Trump administration job, while Mark Robinson fires more broadsides and Dan Bishop hints at possible return to D.C.

Some of North Carolina's most prominent Republicans lost their races last week . But with a second Trump administration in the offing and party jockeying in progress in Washington, some of them appear primed to stay in the mix.