Few topics of conversation are more compelling in southeastern North Carolina right now than growth and traffic congestion. Across our region, residents and business owners are increasingly feeling the impact transportation challenges are having on daily life, workforce mobility and long-term economic growth.   For many residents, traffic has become a daily frustrat ...

Wilmington-headquartered Atlantic Packaging, a distributor of industrial packaging materials, has launched a venture capital investment firm.  New Earth Ventures is the dedicated investment and innovation arm of Atlantic Packaging, and according to an SEC filing, the firm is targeting a $25 million fund.  "We launched New Earth Ventures because packagi ...

Porch Concepts, a Wilmington outdoor furniture store, has been acquired by Casual Furniture World, another outdoor furniture retailer that's headquartered in Winston-Salem. According to a news release, the acquisition expands Casual Furniture World’s footprint to include four showrooms across the Carolinas, including locations in Winston-Salem, Greensboro and ...

Editor’s note: Local legislative delegation members Sens. Michael Lee and Bill Rabon were among a group of six bipartisan state senators who recently wrote this open letter to J.D. Solomon, chairman of the N.C. Environmental Management Commission.  We write jointly as North Carolina state Senators whose districts collec ...

The state of North Carolina has been experiencing rapid growth for more than 50 years. In the Cape Fear region, for Brunswick and Pender counties, the trend is even faster and shows few signs of slowing. Brunswick County grew by 4.7% between 2024 and 2025, making it the fastest-growing county in the state, according to new Census population estimates released this sprin ...

A stretch of ocean off the coast of Brunswick County made national news earlier this year when the Trump administration announced plans to pay French energy company TotalEnergies to relinquish its lease in the area, along with another lease off New York.   The deal has drawn mixed reactions from groups that for years have monitored the proposed offshore wind project ...

Josh Hallingse, vice president of small business development and business retention at the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, is stepping away from the role later this month. The chamber created the position in 2021 to focus on small business development efforts, and Hallingse assumed the role in November 2021. According to a press release from the c ...

The Wilmington metro area recorded the highest percentage of employment growth in North Carolina over the past year. According to new Current Employment Statistics data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Wilmington metropolitan statistical area – which includes New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties – added approximately 5,900 nonfarm payroll ...

After more than two decades working in local government in northern Virginia, Robert Lazaro knows a thing or two about data centers. Northern Virginia has the highest density of data centers in the world, and Lazaro was working for Loudoun County in the early 2000s when officials began courting data center developers to locate on thousands of acres of vacant industrial- ...

The pipes line a brightly lit hallway imposingly – eight green and blue-painted filters. Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) operates eight of these deep-bed Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) filters at its Sweeney Water Treatment Plant, which is responsible for delivering clean drinking water to about 80% of CFPUA’s customers. The GAC filters’ jo ...