North Carolina lawmakers voted Wednesday, Oct. 7, to set the state’s motor fuel tax on gasoline and diesel to zero from the day after the bill becomes law through Nov. 30. The bill now awaits Gov. Josh Stein’s signature.
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Hickory City Council on Tuesday approved a resolution supporting a long-range water plan for the Catawba River basin, a plan that concludes cutting interbasin transfers alone would not fix the basin’s water supply challenges. The vote comes as a coalition of local governments from Catawba and four neighboring counties opposes Charlotte Water’s request to move more water out of the river.
ReBuild NC, the Matthew and Florence homeowner program run by the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency, closed Sept. 30 under a 2025 state law. A November 2025 state audit found a $297 million shortfall, families in temporary housing for more than 1,400 days, and vendor payments that were never reconciled.
Catawba Valley News & Weather reported that Catawba County Schools filed a 23-page informational brief with the State Board on the county’s three-district merger plan, saying it takes no side while listing crowded elementary schools and $98.9 million in repair needs.
In a brief filed Oct. 5, the Hickory City Schools Board of Education asks the State Board of Education to reject Catawba County’s three-district merger plan, citing an unresolved boundary question, lost state funding and no independent study of student outcomes.
The State Board of Elections is sending letters this week to 1,599 registered voters a federal database flagged as potential noncitizens, asking them to confirm citizenship or ask to be taken off the rolls. No one is removed automatically, the board says.
Catawba County commissioners approved $301,419.20 in state money Monday for one-time $1,750 bonuses covering 160 eligible law enforcement positions, payable around Oct. 15. No county money is required.
The filed Catawba Superior Court complaint in Armstrong v. Reilly shows the DA’s Oct. 9, 2025 Giglio letter, the March 2026 mutual-aid cutoff, and what Brookford’s chief is asking a judge to undo.
Hickory City Council on Tuesday will weigh a $3.59 million airport-area sewer bid, a $1.23 million Sandy Pines Park Phase 1 contract, and rezoning for the CREEC river education center.
Catawba County Tax Administrator Brian Myers will present the proposed 2027 Schedule of Values at tonight’s Board of Commissioners meeting, with a public hearing eyed for Nov. 2.