North Carolina’s top Republicans have reached an agreement on key budget sticking points, but still have some policy disagreements to continue working out.
House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger said at a news conference on Tuesday that they struck a deal on taxes, teacher pay raises, and funding for a children’s hospital, which were the biggest sources of disagreement between the two chambers when talks collapsed last year.
“This is a starting point,” Berger said. “There’s still a lot that will need to be decided and discussed between the two chambers, but this agreement sets out a good framework for us to move forward.”
Under the agreed upon framework, starting teacher pay will increase to $48,000 before bonuses and local supplements. On average, teachers will see their base salary increase by 8%. Most other state employees, however, will receive only a 3% raise. Retirees will get a 2.5% bonus.
Read more at theassemblync.com.
Harm reduction groups and health care workers helped avert the worst after Hurricane Helene. Federal, state, and local officials worked in tandem with local organizations to ensure people with substance use disorders had the resources they needed during the disaster response effort.
But what about the next emergency?
Read more at the link in our bio. Published in partnership with @grist and @blueridgepublicradio .
This story was produced as a project for USC Annenberg’s Center for Health Journalism and Center for Climate Journalism and Communication 2025 Health and Climate Change Reporting Fellowship.
✍️ Story by Katie Myers
📷 Photos by Jesse Barber
Disasters like Hurricane Helene level communities and upend even the stablest lives. For people recovering from addiction, the financial strain and fractured routines that follow can rupture the stability they’ve spent years working toward.
➡️ Tap the link in our bio to read the full story, published in partnership with @grist and @theassemblync .
This story was produced as a project for USC Annenberg’s Center for Health Journalism and Center for Climate Journalism and Communication 2025 Health and Climate Change Reporting Fellowship.
✍️ Story by Katie Myers
📷 Photos by Jesse Barber
🖼️ Graphics by Stephanie Rogers
As lawmakers return to Raleigh on Tuesday, House and Senate Republican leaders have a lengthy to-do list. The top priority will be something they haven’t done in 942 days: passing a comprehensive budget.
Talks between the two chambers collapsed last year amid a dispute over whether to implement tax cuts as planned, as well as high-profile disagreements over two projects—a proposed children’s hospital and a research support nonprofit—championed by Senate leader Phil Berger. Legislators also kicked the can on closing a Medicaid shortfall into 2026.
Then, last month, Berger lost his GOP primary, creating a leadership shake-up following his more than 15 years in the chamber’s top job. Several Republicans have already begun jockeying for the job. Across the two chambers, at least 18 other lawmakers are also lame ducks, either because they lost primaries or didn’t seek reelection.
Upheaval aside, General Assembly leaders have said they plan to pass a budget and have shown some openness to negotiate on some issues. Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall said Tuesday that they had reached a deal to fund Medicaid. But no one has indicated, publicly at least, that they have resolved the tax fight that was the biggest sticking point last year.
Read more at the link in our bio.
Local news matters—and so do you.
On April 9, join us for the first-ever Local News Day. Newsrooms across North Carolina are hosting NC News Cafes, where you can:
👋 Meet local journalists
💬 Share what issues matter most to you
☕ Connect over a free cup of coffee
These events are happening in communities across the state, hosted by local newsrooms in partnership with one another.
Stop by Cocoa Cinnamon in Durham from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and meet teams from The Assembly, INDY, and NC Local.
Come by, have a conversation, and help shape the future of local news.
BREAKING: The state Supreme Court ended a marathon court battle over funding for public schools with a ruling Thursday that said state courts can’t order the legislature to spend money on education.
Chief Justice Paul Newby wrote the 4-3 majority opinion that brings a close to the long-running Leandro case. Republican Justice Richard Dietz and Democratic Justices Allison Riggs and Anita Earls dissented.
The lawsuit, which took on many iterations over the past three decades, became a test of the division of power between the three branches of state government in recent years.
“As this litigation comes to a close a few weeks shy of its thirty-second anniversary, we are reminded of these principles from our prior cases: In our constitution, the people established a tripartite system of government,” Newby wrote.
“In doing so, the people did not vest the judicial branch with the power to resolve policy disputes between the other branches of government or to set education policy. We would be especially ill-equipped to resolve such questions in any event.”
Read more at theassemblync.com.
This is a clip from The Assembly's March 11 event "The Caucus: North Carolina's 2026 Primaries Recap." Politics Reporter Bryan Anderson answers the question: "Who could succeed Phil Beger if Berger were to lose?"
Republican state Senate leader Phil Berger on Tuesday conceded defeat to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page on March 24. The NC State Board of Elections certified the results on March 25.
Here are some of the people Bryan mentioned in his response:
"The name I kept hearing from folks was Michael Lee. Nobody's willing to really stick their neck out publicly at this point and say, ‘If Berger loses, this is who our next Senate leader would be.’ Really, there's a lot of uncertainty right now. But from the people I spoke to — and with that caveat — Michael Lee, he's a name that came up. He is someone who has gotten the GOP through some thorny issues on vouchers, on abortion issues, on Parents’ Bill of Rights. So there's a number of issues where Michael Lee has played an instrumental role.
The other name I had heard was Todd Johnson. That was someone who has had greater political ambitions in the past. He ran for a congressional seat in 2016. He's more of a quiet operator, but he serves as Majority Whip. He's in leadership. He's a consideration. Ralph Hise — he would probably be the most establishment person of these three people so far.
I've heard some people argue for Warren Daniel. Warren Daniel also being someone who's very prominent, but Hise outranks Daniel in terms of leadership. Heist has been deputy pro tem. So if you're going to go with someone from maybe more of the establishment-y, Berger-adjacent corner, Hise might be your person.”
Watch the full clip to see who else could throw their hat in the ring.
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The Assembly publishes deep reporting on power and place in North Carolina. Read more at theassemblync.com.
The Assembly published its investigation yesterday of a whistleblower’s concerns about a controversial organ retrieval technique called NRP. The whistleblower’s reports prompted federal regulators to begin drafting standardized policies for the procedure, which is currently unregulated.
The procedure has gained traction in the U.S. in recent years as a way to help address the nation’s organ-shortage crisis. It involves reanimating the body of a donor by hooking them up to a machine that pumps oxygenated blood back through their organs, effectively reversing the damage caused by death. During the procedure, surgeons typically clamp certain blood vessels to stop blood flow from returning to donors’ brains.
The whistleblower, transplant surgeon Claire Morgan, reported three cases where she says blood flow may have returned to the donor’s brain. She worries the donors could have regained some level of consciousness, and says those in charge have been slow to address her concerns.
Read reporter Johanna F. Still's takeaways.
Assembly's All-Access Members can join us for a text Q&A with Johanna on Wednesday, April 8, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Learn more at theassemblync.com.
Republican state Senate leader Phil Berger on March 24 conceded defeat to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page.
After all votes were counted and Rockingham and Guilford counties finished machine recounts, Page led Berger by 23 votes.
While Berger had seemed poised to ask for a hand recount and set up a legal expense fund, he declined to drag things out.
Read more at theassemblync.com. #ncpol #ncpolitics
☀️ In conjunction with Sunshine Week, an annual celebration of open government and public records, NC Local, @theassemblync , @wfae and @915wunc requested the same set of emails from North Carolina’s 20 largest cities at the same time.
Some provided the documents within minutes. Others placed the requests into queues that could take months or even years to clear.
Read the full story at nclocal.org.
Republican state Senate leader Phil Berger on Tuesday requested a recount in his primary against Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, according to the State Board of Elections.
Page leads Berger by 23 votes—a difference of 0.08 percentage points.
The next step is for the State Board of Elections to direct the elections boards in Guilford and Rockingham counties to perform a machine recount, which should be completed during open meetings before the state canvass on March 25.
Read the full article at the link in bio.
This is a clip from The Assembly's event "The Caucus: North Carolina's 2026 Primaries Recap." Politics Reporter Bryan Anderson answers the question: "What were some of the major themes of this election?"
His response:
"The biggest takeaway for me is this rage against incumbents, I would call it. We had eight incumbents lose their seats, three on the Democratic side, five on the Republican side — would be six on the Republican side if Berger were indeed to lose this race.
For the Democratic side, it was a very easy story. It was: 'If you have crossed party lines, if you have voted against our governor, then we are going to kick you out of office.' That happened to Nasif Majeed, that happened to Carla Cunningham, and to my surprise, and many other surprise that happened to Shelly Willingham. We saw people who are ideologically centrist, independent thinkers, and more willing to buck the governor get absolutely pummeled on the Democratic side.
The Republican side is a little bit more complicated of a story. We saw some more establishment people and some Tea Party-esque people get the boot. The biggest one being Keith Kidwell. If there's one incumbent that many House Republican lawmakers would have wanted out of office, Keith Kidwell probably would have been at the top of the list. I mean, he was vocal about the shrimp trawling issue. He is the House Freedom Caucus leader. He's been a thorn in the side of GOP leadership for many, many years. He ended up losing to someone who had the backing of representative Jimmy Dixon, which is notable.
So that was probably your one establishment-y win if you're House Republicans, but you're also surprised about Caroline Eason. I talked to her. She had defeated Kelly Hastings. That was a race practically nobody had on their radar. And so you had a lot of interesting dynamics on the Republican side, the Democratic side was a little bit more easy of a trend."
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The Assembly publishes deep reporting on power and place in North Carolina. Read more at theassemblync.com.
