North Carolina
North Carolina Broadband Funding Headed to Brightspeed, Charter, Windstream, Others
North Carolina awarded $51 million to cover some of the costs of deploying broadband in 15 rural counties this week. Six broadband providers are slated to receive funding and, collectively, will contribute an additional $16 million toward total project costs of $67 million.
Among the winners were three large providers – Brightspeed, Charter and Windstream. Also among the awardees were three local providers — FOCUS Broadband, Skyrunner and SkyBest Communications.
FOCUS began life in the 1950s as a telephone cooperative serving a rural area of the state. The company, originally known as Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation, began using the FOCUS brand several years ago and changed its name to FOCUS in 2022.
The company has been quite successful in winning broadband funding and using it to expand substantially.
SkyBest is a fiber provider based in North Carolina and subsidiary of SkyLine Membership Corporation, another company founded in the 1950s as a telephone cooperative.
Skyrunner, founded in 1997, offers fixed wireless and fiber internet in the Carolinas and Tennessee.
The awards were made by the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) Division of Broadband and Digital Equity. Of the $51 million awarded, $35 million came through the federal American Rescue Plan Act and $16 million came from the counties.
The funding is expected to make broadband at symmetrical 100 Mbps service available to 15,835 households and businesses.
The awards were made through the state’s Completing Access to Broadband program. NCDIT did not break down how much funding each provider would receive, but instead broke it down by county.
- Brightspeed won funding for six counties, making it the biggest winner measured by number of counties.
- Four providers – including Charter, FOCUS, Skyrunner and Windstream – each won funding for two counties.
- SkyBest won funding for one county.
The CAB program procurement process enables counties to work with NCDIT to identify locations that need access, solicit proposals from prequalified broadband providers and determine awardees.
In a prepared statement, NCDIT Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Jim Weaver highlighted how quickly award decisions were made.
“By partnering directly with county leaders, we can focus on their individual community needs and together make decisions that will benefit their constituents,” Weaver said.
“Thanks to our extensive mapping, previous prequalification process and . . . providers’ responsiveness, we posted these counties’ scopes of work in March and April and worked with them to make awards for new broadband projects in less than three months.”
Additional information about North Carolina broadband, including links to state funding resources, state specific Telecompetitor coverage, awards made and more, can be found on the Telecompetitor Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
North Carolina
North Carolina vs. NC State football betting line, odds, spread | Week 14 2025
A pair of ACC teams meet when the NC State Wolfpack (6-5) face off against the North Carolina Tar Heels (4-7) on Saturday, November 29, 2025 at Wayne Day Family Field at Carter-Finley Stadium. The Wolfpack are favored by 7 points. The over/under for the contest is 47.5 points.
Against the Duke Blue Devils in their most recent contest, the Tar Heels lost 32-25.
The Heels’ Gio Lopez went 21-for-27 for 204 yards against Duke, with one TD and no INTs.
Last time around, the Wolfpack defeated the Florida State Seminoles, with 21-11 being the final score.
In the article below, we’ll give you all the details you need to watch this matchup on ACC Network.
Check out: US LBM Coaches Poll powered by USA Today sports
North Carolina vs NC State line, odds, spread, over/under
College football odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Thursday at 10:15 p.m. ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
- Spread favorite: NC State (-7)
- Moneyline: NC State (-275), North Carolina (+220)
- Total: 47.5 points
North Carolina vs NC State game info
- Game day: Saturday, November 29, 2025
- Game time: 7:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
- Stadium: Wayne Day Family Field at Carter-Finley Stadium
- Live stream: Watch on Fubo! (Regional restrictions may apply)
Watch NC State vs. North Carolina on Fubo! (Regional restrictions may apply)
North Carolina betting info
- North Carolina has won two games against the spread in conference action this season.
- The Tar Heels have covered the spread five times over 11 games with a set spread.
- North Carolina has been an underdog by 7 points or more three times this season in ACC action, and covered the spread in one of those games.
- In games they have played as 7-point underdogs or more, the Tar Heels have an ATS record of 2-2-1.
- North Carolina and its opponents have combined to hit the over three out of five times this year in ACC play.
- This year, four Tar Heels games have gone over the point total.
2025 North Carolina leaders
- Lopez: 1,629 PASS YDS / 162.9 YPG / 64.9% / 9 TD / 5 INT / 78 CAR / 141 RUSH YDS / 3 TD
- Demon June: 82 CAR / 461 YDS / 46.1 YPG / 2 TD / 17 REC / 159 YDS / 19.9 YPG / 1 TD
- Davion Gause: 60 CAR / 253 YDS / 28.1 YPG / 3 TD / 14 REC / 123 YDS / 15.4 YPG / 2 TD
- Jordan Shipp: 52 REC / 581 YDS / 52.8 YPG / 5 TD
- Kobe Paysour: 30 REC / 388 YDS / 38.8 YPG / 1 TD
North Carolina
Judges approve North Carolina’s use of GOP-friendly district map – UPI.com
Nov. 26 (UPI) — A three-judge panel on Wednesday permitted North Carolina to adopt a redrawn congressional map that is expected to favor the Republican Party.
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina unanimously ruled against the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction against legislation approved in October by the state’s General Assembly that critics say threaten one federal congressional district, specifically Congressional District 1, which represented by Democrat Don Davis.
In their 57-page ruling on Wednesday, the three Republican-appointed judges said the plaintiffs failed to prove that the state’s General Assembly enacted the legislation, Senate Bill 249, with the intent to “minimize or cancel out the voting potential” of Black North Carolinians as they had claimed.
The ruling comes in protracted litigation that began in 2023, when the Republican-led state sought to redraw some of the districts for electing representatives to the state Senate and federal Congress.
The plaintiffs, who include the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, sued that December. In October, amid litigation on the maps, the state’s General Assembly passed legislation to swap counties between Congressional District 1 and Congressional District 3.
The plaintiffs again sued the state, alleging the legislation was unconstitutional and asking the court to enjoin S.B. 249.
Earlier this month, the same three-judge panel issued a ruling approving the changes to the map put forward in 2023.
A hearing on S.B. 249 was held Nov. 19, during which the plaintiffs argued that the speed with which the General Assembly passed the 2025 plan was evidence of discriminatory intent.
But the panel of judges disagreed, stating “they have offered no reason to believe that the speed of the 2025 process indicates an intent to discriminate on the basis of race. Nor do they explain what weight we are supposed to assign to what they call ‘the near uniform outcry among North Carolina voters against the map and the process.’”
The ruling comes amid something of a gerrymandering race in the United States that began in earnest when Texas this summer — under pressure of President Donald Trump — sought a mid-decade redraw of its maps to make them more favorable to the Republican Party.
California is in the process of redrawing its maps in retaliation and other states under control of both parties have followed with similar plans.
North Carolina
North Carolina calls on Shopify to stop illegal e-cigarette sales on its platform
RALEIGH, N.C. (WLOS) — North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson has joined a coalition of 25 other attorneys general calling on Shopify, a popular e-commerce platform, to take stronger action against merchants who use its services to sell illegal tobacco products and e-cigarettes.
In a Nov. 24 news release, the AG’s office said there are more than two dozen illegal e-cigarette websites that utilize Shopify’s platform and another 200 websites that are selling illegal tobacco products.
“If states and the federal government create laws to protect our residents, companies can’t sidestep those for their own profit,” Jackson said in the news release. “We have protections against selling e-cigarettes to children because we know how harmful it is for them, and we need Shopify to step up and keep those products off of its platforms.”
VAPING IMPACTS BLOOD VESSELS & OXYGEN, NEW STUDY SAYS
The AG’s office said that due to their highly addictive nature and potential health risks, especially for young people, e-cigarettes are strictly regulated by federal law, as well as by many state laws across the country. E-cigarettes also cannot be sold to people under the age of 21.
Jackson’s office said Shopify has removed merchants for using its services for unlawful activities in recent years, but merchants continue using it to sell e-cigarettes.
The bipartisan attorneys general are asking Shopify to work together to find a solution that keeps unlawful products off their platforms and out of the market, according to the release.
NORTH CAROLINA LAWSUIT DOCUMENTS AGAINST JUUL NOW PUBLIC
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In 2019, North Carolina sued electronic cigarette company JUUL for unlawfully designing, marketing, and selling e-cigarettes to teenagers. It won a $47.8 million judgment against Juul in 2021.
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