The 2026 primary election takes place on Tuesday, March 3, with early voting kicking off next month and absentee voting already underway. Across the Outer Banks, voters’ primary ballots depend on their geographic location and political party affiliation.

The Outer Banks Hospital Medical Office Building LLC purchased the iconic former Kelly’s Outer Banks Restaurant & Tavern property in Nags Head last week for $4.4 million, according to Dare County land transfer records.

The school resource officer at Nags Head Elementary School on Tuesday arrested a parent attempting to pick up his child from school, charging him with a violation of a domestic violence protective order.

The 46 people and four dogs participating in the First Day Hike at Jockey’s Ridge State Park got a first glimpse of what will become the new park boardwalk.

A courtroom electronics ban went into effect across the seven-county First Judicial District for both superior court and district court settings. Public opinions vary, as do possible exemptions for journalists.

These are the stories that commanded the most attention from readers in 2025.

A milestone was officially celebrated earlier this month as plans were set for a $900,000 fully accessible playground—the region’s first—to be built at Kitty Hawk Elementary School in Kitty Hawk.

A Moyock man died after suffering an unspecified “medical emergency” in the water near Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head on Sunday afternoon, according to information provided Monday by the Town of Nags Head.

The Rules Review Commission during its Thursday morning meeting in Raleigh approved the rule designating Jockey’s Ridge an area of environmental concern after over two years of objecting to the rule and returning it to the Coastal Resources Commission for revisions.

A temporary North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles’ (NCDMV) driver license office is open in Manteo for four days amid a two-week-long closure of the Nags Head office due to an insect infestation.

Cape Hatteras sees record-breaking cold temp Monday; the Outer Banks has localized snow and ice; and 1,700 Dominion customers lose power.

The very end of Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head is currently closed to visitors as the first of two planned offseason renovation projects is underway.

The school resource officer at Nags Head Elementary School arrested a parent in the school pick-up line on Thursday on four drug charges, including felony possession of cocaine and methamphetamine.

A 74-year-old Outer Banks woman died Wednesday afternoon after a head-on collision with a dump truck on U.S. Highway 64 just west of the Plymouth city limits in Washington County, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

A judge on Monday ruled that the district attorney can withhold case information from the mother of the teen fatally shot outside Avalon Pier in Kill Devil Hills in July.

A 40-year-old Kill Devil Hills man arrested Sunday, charged with the Saturday night shooting that sent another Kill Devil Hills man to the hospital, bonded out within minutes, court records show.

Two men who said they were employed as maintenance workers for Dare County Schools until their recent dismissals because of the Manteo Elementary School trespass incident shared what they saw as concerning systemic issues.

Manteo High School’s varsity men’s soccer team made history when it won the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 2A State Championship on Friday.

Bond was increased for the man arrested for allegedly trespassing inside Manteo Elementary, and the Dare school board has set a Tuesday evening special meeting on school safety.

The Dare County Board of Elections certified the results of the 2025 municipal election in its Friday, Nov. 14, canvass meeting, including a Kitty Hawk mayoral race decided by three votes.