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.

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.

The brother of a man fatally stabbed by a pirate sword last April in Stumpy Point said his family is “very frustrated” that the state keeps pushing them to accept a plea deal for the man accused of murder to serve a seven-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter instead.

The long-awaited new Dare County license plate agency will open in Kitty Hawk on Thursday, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

The General Assembly voted “The Power Bill Reduction Act,” sponsored by 10 Republican senators including the two representing the Outer Banks, into law over Gov. Josh Stein’s veto. Independent analyses claim the legislation will do the opposite of its short title, increasing household bills.

State officials created the Currituck-Knotts Island ferry route in 1962 for the safety and convenience of school kids in an isolated community.

All three area-specific mandatory evacuations for Hurricane Erin were lifted over the weekend. Some hazards, especially in Buxton, remain.

Last-minute changes made to legislation in the state Senate in June would have banned all shrimp trawling in the state’s inshore waters and within a half-mile of the shoreline for four years. After a hastily organized lobbying campaign from shrimpers and their allies, the legislature put the trawling ban on ice—for now.

North Carolina leaders announced Friday afternoon that the Trump administration reversed course and will release the nearly $7 billion in public school funding across the nation it had frozen indefinitely the day before its scheduled July 1 release.

Over $1 million in Opportunity Scholarship funding was distributed to 195 Outer Banks students attending private schools during the recently concluded 2024-25 school year, state records show.

Mayors of the six towns in Dare County co-signed a letter addressed to all the members of the North Carolina General Assembly “regarding S205 and similar bills,” sharing concerns over proposals they see as restricting local authority.

Outer Banks leaders and legislators have voiced opposition to an amended bill that they say would “irreparably damage” the Outer Banks’ shrimping industry.

North Carolina automobile owners will see an average 5% auto insurance increase starting Oct. 1 following the settlement North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey negotiated with the North Carolina Rate Bureau.

From June 5-8, the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Jockey’s Ridge State Park serves up an equal mix of nostalgia and never-seen-before elements, from live concerts to a shoreline planting project, to the Outer Banks’ first large-scale drone show.

A Moyock woman was arrested Friday on three misdemeanor charges: Trespassing/impeding a school bus, communicating threats and disorderly conduct. The arrest warrant for Samantha Spoor, 35, did not mention her alleged racial slur.

The Ocracoke Express passenger ferry that runs between Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island begins its seventh summer season next Tuesday, May 13.

Local governments across the Outer Banks are pushing back on what they view as North Carolina General Assembly’s continuing movement toward consolidating more power at the state level. County governments also have resolutions of opposition to proposed ferry tolls on next week's agendas.

Joshua Lee Lane, 34, is currently being held without bond at the Dare County Detention Center in Manteo on two felony charges of sexual activity by a substitute parent or custodian.

A new Dare County license plate agency is expected to open around mid-August in Kitty Hawk, as an operator contract was awarded in February, according to a North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles spokesperson.

Nearly 300 voters from Currituck, Dare and Hyde counties appear on the list of over 65,000 votes that Jefferson Griffin, the 2024 Republican candidate for a North Carolina Supreme Court Seat 6, continues to challenge in court.