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New housing starts, despite an up-and down-market in recent months, are at their highest levels since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008 while interest rates remain near all-time lows. Even better, North Carolina has resources to make home ownership attainable for moderate- and lower-income buyers.

Thirty-one of the state’s employers received grants this month totaling $246,807 to train 612 workers. The federally funded NCWorks Incumbent Worker Training Grants are reimbursements awarded twice a year to employers who qualify for financial assistance in workforce training.

New housing starts, despite an up-and down-market in recent months, are at their highest levels since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008 while interest rates remain near all-time lows. Even better, North Carolina has resources to make home ownership attainable for moderate- and lower-income buyers.

The N.C. Department of Transportation has started construction on the Monroe Expressway, a roughly 20-mile toll freeway that will provide an alternative for high-speed regional travel along the U.S. 74 corridor.

Governor Pat McCrory announced today the release of a new NC4VETS printed resource guide and new updated website that focuses on federal VA benefits as well as opportunities for employment, education, health care, housing and personal services for North Carolina veterans

Kannapolis City Manager Mike Legg presented the proposed Fiscal Year 2016 budget to the Kannapolis City Council Wednesday evening. The proposed FY 2016 Total Budget is $59,539,383. The budget calls for a three cent increase in the property tax rate to cover the cost of acquiring downtown properties, investments in economic development and job creation, implementing a strategic plan for revitalizing the downtown, paying for the new City Hall and Police Headquarters, and establishing the Department of General Services

Reflecting on how years of strategic planning and fiscally responsible actions created a tipping point for this year’s budget, City Manager Thomas Bonfield presented the FY 2015-2016 preliminary budget earlier this evening – which includes no property tax increase – keeping the current tax rate at 59.12 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

Governor Pat McCrory, N.C. Commerce Secretary John E. Skvarla III and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. announced today that Asbury Carbons, Inc. will locate a new facility in Robeson County. The move will create 25 new jobs during the next three years with a company investment of more than $8 million in Lumberton.

Three subsidiaries of North Carolina-based Duke Energy Corporation, the largest utility in the United States, pleaded guilty today to nine criminal violations of the Clean Water Act at several of its North Carolina facilities and agreed to pay a $68 million criminal fine and spend $34 million on environmental projects and land conservation to benefit rivers and wetlands in North Carolina and Virginia.

U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) released the following statement in response to the meeting between officials from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, officials from the Veterans Administration, representatives from North Carolina’s elected official’s offices and members of the community. The meeting took place in Greensboro and focused on the ongoing effort to convince the VA to rely on the most recent and credible body of science that confirms the drinking water at Camp

Last night, Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) voted for H.R. 1732, the Regulatory Integrity Protection Act of 2015, which would block the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from putting into effect its proposed Waters of the United States rule (WOTUS). The proposed rule would give the EPA authority to regulate practically any body of water they want, including ponds and drainage ditches on privately-owned land

“The EPA wants to regulate our mill ponds, irrigation ditches and creeks. This is a tremendous threat to our private property rights, which is why I voted to protect North Carolina’s farms and dam up the EPA’s out-of-control regulatory agenda.”

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., today voted in favor of legislation that would require the Obama administration to withdraw its flawed “Waters of the United States” rule, which would negatively impact North Carolina farmers and landowners

Durham residents interested in issues regarding the finance and development of affordable housing near future light rail transit stations should mark their calendars now to attend a workshop later this month

North Carolina Commerce Secretary John E. Skvarla, III and Assistant Secretary for Rural Economic Development Dr. Patricia Mitchell have announced the creation of the Commerce Fellows/Building Community through Capacity and Knowledge program. The program, which will be offered to local governments, will be administered by the Rural Economic Development Division.