North Carolina
Senator Thom Tillis shares statement on North Carolina native Keith Siegel’s release from Hamas captivity
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – Senator Thom Tillis released a statement following the release of North Carolina native Keith Siegel from Hamas captivity.
“Today, after more than a year in the brutal captivity of Hamas, North Carolina native Keith Siegel is finally free and reunited with his family, including his beloved wife Aviva,” Tillis said.
Tillis went on to say that while this is a moment of great relief and celebration, “we cannot forget about the remaining hostages.”
He also discussed his confidence in President Donald Trump. “I am confident the Trump Administration will continue to work closely with our ally Israel as it seeks to free every remaining hostage. This fragile ceasefire is completely dependent on the behavior of Hamas and we must remain vigilant.”
Hamas militants freed three male hostages held for more than a year in the Gaza Strip on Saturday and Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in the fourth such exchange of a ceasefire deal that has halted 15 months of intense fighting.
Militants handed Yarden Bibas and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon to Red Cross officials in the southern city of Khan Younis, while American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, looking pale and thin, was released to the Red Cross later Saturday morning in Gaza City to the north.
All three were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Their release brings to 18 the number of hostages released since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19.
Copyright 2025 WITN. All rights reserved.

North Carolina
Former NC Gov. Cooper to teach at Harvard University

RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) – Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is accepting a teaching role at Harvard, according to WRAL.
The Democrat was governor from 2017 to 2024 and is considering challenging Sen. Thom Tillis next year, when the North Carolina Republican will be seeking reelection.
In a statement to the TV station, Cooper said, “I want to keep making a difference and together with my family, we are considering all the options including elected office. As I weigh those options, I look forward to teaching and working with aspiring public servants who, despite everything going on in the world, still care deeply about improving people’s health and using their work to build bridges,” he said of his role at Harvard.
The News & Observer says Cooper’s position will be for eight weeks as a Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and will teach about the intersection of government and public health.
Copyright 2025 WITN. All rights reserved.
North Carolina
Like the Nation, North Carolina’s Airport Towers Are Understaffed

After a commercial airplane collided with a military helicopter in Washington, D.C. last week, killing 67 people, President Donald Trump immediately blamed diversity initiatives, condemning what he described as loose standards for air traffic controllers that prioritized politics over safety.
That specious argument aside, the incident has certainly highlighted safety concerns amid a chronic air traffic controller staffing shortage that’s been building for decades, including at airports here in North Carolina.
Control towers at the state’s largest airports are short-handed, according to the latest federal data. Vacancies at federally staffed air traffic towers in North Carolina are on par with the nation’s shortage, with both the state and the U.S. at about 72 percent of staffing goals. Congress requires the Federal Aviation Administration to report its staffing data annually, and the latest analyzed by The Assembly is current as of 2023.
Dan McCabe, Southern Regional Vice President for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said that though the data is outdated, it still roughly reflects staffing problems that persist today. “It’s among the shortest it’s been in 30 years,” he said. “Markets get busier. Charlotte’s exploded,” he said, referencing growth at Charlotte Douglas International, the nation’s ninth-busiest airport.
McCabe emphasized air traffic controllers undergo rigorous training and described the crash at Reagan Washington National Airport as every controller’s worst nightmare. The nation has about 10,800 working certified controllers but needs thousands more to meet staffing goals. “It has gotten better, but 3,600 bodies short, that’s tight,” McCabe said.
Data shows the state’s federally operated towers had 178 certified controllers as of 2023, which is 57 controllers below the industry agreed-upon goal for the six airports combined.
About 92 percent of air traffic controllers are union represented, and McCabe oversees union members in the southern region, which includes North Carolina. McCabe noted that Charlotte, a desirable airport for controllers, still struggles with filling roles. “They’re not even 100 percent staffed,” he said.
Of the state’s six airports with federally controlled towers, Charlotte had the lowest vacancy rate, with 14 open positions out of a target of 90 total. Fayetteville had the highest vacancy rate with 12 positions shy of the staffing goal of 28 controllers.
North Carolina is home to 72 publicly owned airports, and the Federal Aviation Administration directly employs air traffic controllers at six of the state’s largest airports. The FAA also contracts with private companies to employ air traffic controllers in smaller airports, but staffing data at those airports is not publicly available.
McCabe said the prolonged labor shortage can lead to delays and stress endured by controllers in stretched-thin towers. But safety is always nonnegotiable, he said.
“At the end of the day, you really only have two things at your disposal: You have safety and efficiency. And you can’t allow safety to fall off at all,” he said. “Sometimes the efficiency just isn’t there.”
Since 2010, aviation officials have reported 30 near-midair collisions in North Carolina to the Aviation Safety Reporting System, a voluntary publicly maintained database, according to data reviewed by The Assembly. Some reports cite miscommunication with traffic control as a contributing factor, and several cite close calls involving drones, aircraft not appearing on scanning technology, or inexperienced pilots. Six near-misses took place last year, with the most recent in October at the Asheville Regional Airport, in which a passenger jet captain reported being so close to a private plane that he could see its pilot.
North Carolina’s biggest airports have rapidly expanded in recent years, with several consistently breaking annual passenger records.
By far the busiest, Charlotte Douglas International Airport saw nearly 26 million outbound passengers in 2023, according to the latest federal data. Ranking 35th in the nation, Raleigh-Durham International Airport assisted more than 7 million outbound passengers, followed by 1.1 million at the Asheville Regional Airport, nearly 896,000 at the Piedmont Triad International Airport, 654,000 at the Wilmington International Airport, and 166,000 at the Fayetteville Regional Airport.
Each airport was mum on how it’s affected by the air traffic controller shortage.
All but Fayetteville, which didn’t respond, redirected The Assembly’s inquiries to the Federal Aviation Administration, which also didn’t respond. Representatives for the Asheville and Charlotte airports each said it was experiencing no impacts.
Asked to address how or whether air traffic controller staffing levels affect operations at Piedmont Triad International Airport, a spokesperson responded in a one-word email: “No.” That airport, which serves the Greensboro area, was short six controllers out of a staffing goal of 28, according to the latest data.
Skeleton crews at some control towers make six-day workweeks and overtime typical for many controllers, McCabe said, but it varies depending on the airport. “It takes a toll,” he said. “Some facilities are better off than others.”
The median wage for air traffic controllers was about $137,000 in 2023, per the latest data, but issues with understaffing and a high barrier to entry have exacerbated recruitment. Just a sliver of workers make it through the many hoops and years of training required to become a certified controller, which has a mandatory retirement age of 56. “There’s no quick fix to it,” McCabe said. “That’s how you end up with a compounding issue.”
On top of his union role, McCabe is an air traffic controller in Atlanta and was among the more than 2 million federal employees who received an email last week from the Trump administration asking them to resign. The administration is offering federal workers paid leave through September 30 if they take the separation deal, which employees must decide on by Thursday.
The air traffic controllers union has asked whether their members were intended to be included in the separation deal. While Trump administration officials have indicated that they shouldn’t have been, controllers are still awaiting final clarification.
“If people chose to do it, it could only make things worse,” McCabe said.
Johanna F. Still is The Assembly’s Wilmington editor. She previously covered economic development for Greater Wilmington Business Journal and was the assistant editor at Port City Daily.
North Carolina
Is I-40 still closed? Interstate 40 at Tennessee/North Carolina border to open this spring

After a months-long closure of Interstate 40 at the North Carolina and Tennessee state line, the highway is expected to reopen this spring.
I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge has remained closed since late September when Hurricane Helene ripped through the region, leaving mass devastation in the storm’s wake. Helene temporarily closed or damaged thousands of roads in both Tennessee and North Carolina. The storm triggered at least 10 collapses alone across a 9-mile stretch of I-40 in North Carolina.
Originally, the highway was going to reopen to traffic in “early 2025,” however, another chunk of the road fell away from an eastbound lane in December, further delaying the possibility of establishing the traffic flow so soon.
Once the highway is deemed safe, I-40 across the state line will reopen in directions, according to David Uchiyama, spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
The heavily traveled four-lane highway will be reduced to just two narrowed lanes. This will accommodate eastbound and westbound traffic while leaving space for crews to work on long-term repairs with the goal of eventually opening the important route through the Appalachians.
Additionally, vehicles traveling through the gorge will have to obey a 40 mph speed limit. This logistical information has not changed since it was announced in November.
Commercial vehicles will be allowed to use the reopened highway, according to Uchiyama.
NCDOT and the Tennessee Department of Transportation are working together. Tennessee will open its side of the highway at I-40 Mile Marker 451 to the state line once North Carolina is “ready to handle traffic again,” according to TDOT spokesperson Drew Rutherford.
“TDOT and NCDOT have been and will continue to meet regularly to coordinate recovery efforts,” Rutherford said.
There will likely be congestion when I-40 reopens at the state line, according to Uchiyama. He “highly recommends” that drivers use an alternate route to travel between Tennessee and North Carolina.
A multiyear reconstruction plan for Interstate 40
To stabilize and reopen a portion of I-40 has taken NCDOT months. To fully repair I-40 at the gorge, it will take years, according to Uchiyama.
NCDOT hired Wright Brothers Construction, with GeoStabilization International as a sub-contractor, to stabilize the eastbound lanes, according to an NCDOT press release. Uchiyama said fully restoring I-40 could take “multiple years.”
“We are barely 10% into designing the reconstruction,” Uchiyama said.
Where is I-40 closed?
Still, you’re unable to drive across the Tennessee state line into North Carolina on I-40.
In Tennessee, there is one lane of traffic open in each direction between Mile Marker 446 and Mile Marker 451 at the state line. Commercial traffic cannot go any further than Mile Marker 440 on I-40 East, according to TDOT SmartWay.
The highway is closed in both directions from Mile Marker zero to 20 in North Carolina.
What part of I-40 collapsed due to Helene?
The initial partial collapse of Interstate 40 happened along the Pigeon River Gorge. Flooding from Tropical Storm Helene triggered a mudslide which caused part of the highway to collapse.
Following the devastating storm, I-40 East was closed from Mile Marker 432 in Tennessee until Mile Marker 3 in North Carolina. I-40 West was closed starting at Mile Marker 3 in North Carolina through Mile Marker 435 in Tennessee. Much of that highway stretch has reopened since.
How many people travel across I-40 at the gorge?
I-40 is a major thoroughfare through the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The stretch of I-40 in North Carolina that was damaged by Helene supports about 7,610 trucks daily and a total average daily traffic of over 26,000 vehicles.
How long is I-40?
The highway is 2,559 miles long. It passes through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. Of that total, 455 miles of I-40 go through through Tennessee.
Knoxville News Sentinel reporter Myron Thompson contributed to this report.
-
Technology1 week ago
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta isn’t worried about DeepSeek
-
Business1 week ago
Tulsi Gabbard Defended Russia and Syria. Now She Must Defend Those Views.
-
News6 days ago
Hamas frees more Israeli hostages in Gaza as fragile ceasefire holds
-
Health6 days ago
New bird flu strain detected on poultry farm as experts monitor mutations
-
Technology1 week ago
OpenAI has evidence that its models helped train China’s DeepSeek
-
World1 week ago
Meta agrees to pay $25 million to settle lawsuit from Trump after Jan. 6 suspension
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump tells senior FBI ranks to resign or be fired
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump administration offers buyouts to remote employees who don’t return to the office