By Alan Wooten | The Center Square A vehicle is refueled at a gas pump as evening light reflects off its surface. | Alan Wooten / The Center Square Affects local / State – North Carolinians and others filling up at the state’s pumps for gasoline and diesel fuel are getting a break on the 41 cents per gallon tax. Effective immediately through Nov. 30, Relief at the Pump (House Bill 3 of first extra session) was signed into law on Friday by first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein

By Dustin Turner | Cleveland County Agricultural Fair | Press Release Cleveland County Fair — The Southern Steel Demolition Derby brings metal crunching, engine-roaring excitement to the Cleveland County Agricultural Fair for one night only. Be sure to catch the powerful collisions, battered cars, and nonstop thrills as drivers battle to be the last car running. The family-friendly, action-packed derby begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct.10. Demolition derby tickets are $8 for

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square Protect College Sports Act of 2026, known also as Senate Bill 4663, passed 77-22 Monday evening and next gets a stop at the House of Representatives. | file photo COLLEGIATE SPORTS — Regulation of college sports, potentially corralling a volatile period of amateur athletes zooming forward with multi-million dollar deals and major conferences expanding their footprints as valued TV properties, includes the support of both North Carolinians in

By Lauren Becatti | Opinion Gardner-Webb stidnets gather for a photo with the President of Finland(center). From left, Dr. Rennie, General Rudd, Maverick, President of Finland Alexander Stubb, Marisol, Molly, Bethany, Allie, Hilda. | photo by Dr. Richard Routh. From left, Marisol, Molly, Bethany, Allie, Hilda and Lauren. | photo by Dr. Richard Routh. Seven Gardner-Webb University students, including myself, had the honor of meeting the 13th President of Finland, Alexander Stu

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square Michael Whatley, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, left, and Roy Cooper, former North Carolina governor and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, right. Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 4.0, NCDOTcommunications POLITICS – With apologies to Mark Twain, the reported campaign death of Republican Michael Whatley from lack of ongoing cash from

By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent | THIRTY A rendering of how "Charlie" saw itself when I asked for a picture for the cover photo of the feature article. | Submitted portrait Editor’s Note: This conversation that isn’t quite like any conversation I've had before. I don't trust AI, mostly because it's new and I'm uneasy about it. I don't have a lot of experience with it and not onboard with the whole idea, yet, but I'm cautiously open-minded. However, I needed an of

By Chuck Thompson | The Sunday Column Everyone needs a hobby. Some people golf. Some fish. Some people restore old cars, collect baseball cards, grow tomatoes or spend their Saturdays standing in a garage staring at a lawn mower they have no idea how to fix. I decided to start a magazine. Why? Oh, I don't know... Because for starters, if I was good at golf you wouldn't be reading this right now and apparently I don’t have enough to do as the founder, editor, reporter, adverti

Record-Breaking Crowd Celebrates Peers, Engages in Professional Development, and Discusses Ways to Prevent Burnout By Chris Cowperthwaite, CAE, APR | North Carolina Nurses Association Christina Liverman, of Lawndale, was among the graduates of NCNA’s Leadership Academy. | Courtesy photo LAWNDALE / RALEIGH – A record-breaking crowd of nurses gathered in Concord last week to celebrate the nursing profession, give valuable continuing education, and map out strategies to prevent

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square A vehicle is refueled at a gas pump as evening light reflects off its surface. Photo: Alan Wooten / The Center Square Affects Local / The Center Square – Diesel fuel is up 84% and regular unleaded gasoline up 58.2% in North Carolina, each since the first of the year adding misery for consumer goods pricing that relies on the trucking industry. Voters are already marking ballots in the nation’s longest voting window and what is in their walle

Staff Reports | Pinnacle Classical Academy EDUCATION — Pinnacle Classical Academy's proficiency rate on required state tests in 2025-26 exceeded the proficiency rate of 111 of the state's 115 K-12 local school districts, according to data released by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Pinnacle Classical Academy's proficiency rate also exceeded that of all five UNC system laboratory schools. Pinnacle Classical Academy had a higher proficiency rate than every

By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent President Donald Trump, in red cap, standing under NC state flag, greets those in attendance as he enters the stage at the 'Make America Safe Again' event at the Gastonia Airport on Wednesday. | Chuck Thompson A wider view of the event while President Trump speaks from the podium as the sun sets in the distance. | Chuck Thompson Local, State and National / GASTONIA - President Trump showed up in Gastonia on Wednesday to campaign

By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent Gardner-Webb University pictured in July, 2026. | Chuck Thompson BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – More shakeups are happening at Gardner-Webb University (GWU) as the school announced it had laid off roughly four percent of its workforce at the end of last week. After a university meeting on Thursday, layoffs commenced. Of the roughly 400 people employed at GWU, approximately 14 employees were no longer employed by the weekend. These layoffs,

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square file graphic | The Shelby Independent State / Affects Local – Twenty years since launch with four scratch-off instant games, the North Carolina Education Lottery and its policy objective have reached a new crossroads courtesy of online slot machine gaming offering an 87% payout rate. In a performance audit report from first-term Republican state Auditor Dave Boliek, he and his staff have recommended the Republican majority chambers of the Ge

North Carolina is among 22 states alongside the Federal Trade Commission filing litigation against Amazon, a company the state and Richmond County have been happy to welcome with a $10 billion data center investment.

Republican nominee for the North Carolina Court of Appeals By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent FEATURE — Judge Craig Collins, 54, was driving from the Carolina Coast to the North Carolina mountains when I spoke with him on the phone as he traversed from the eastbound and down area of Brunswick County to the Northwest region of the state, encompassed by the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Alleghany County. (He was not driving at the moment) Collins was traveling from

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square A USPS mail truck parks along a residential street as the postal carrier makes deliveries. | Joel Moysuh / Unsplash AFFECTS LOCAL / STATE – On-time delivery of the mail by the U.S. Postal Service in North Carolina was among the worst in the nation in the second quarter, a report from the agency’s dashboard says. North Carolina was No. 44, with on-time service percentage of 78.2%. That’s well below the target of 87% and the national norm of 8

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square Photo: Phil Roeder / Flickr AFFECTS LOCAL / STATE — Supporters called it a measure of integrity for North Carolina elections. The governor said it was “anti-voter legislation.” Election Law Changes, known also as House Bill 958, was vetoed by first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein late Monday afternoon. The proposal would change early in-person voting periods for primaries, primary runoffs and special elections to 10 days rather than 17. The

By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent Eddie Holbrook and Robert Farrow go over final details before the event. SPORTS / FEATURE — The American Legion World Series (ALWS) Host City Welcome is the ceremonial event that marks the official kickoff to the series. Robert Farrow, this year's overseer of the event, was followed around by the Shelby Independent before the dinner to take a look inside the event. To say Robert Farrow is difficult to keep up with is an understatemen

By Ron Humphries | Contributing Columnist for The Sunday Column OPINION — Growing up in an era defined by black-and-white TV news broadcasts, I vividly recall the authoritative voice of Walter Cronkite, whose signature sign-off, "And that's the way it is," epitomized his commitment to pure journalism. The role of the Press was pivotal in shaping democracy, and the Founding Fathers understood this, viewing a free press as essential for an informed citizenry and a healthy gover

By Thérèse Boudreaux | The Center Square Senate Democrats are withholding support unless Republicans push back SNAP cost-sharing requirements by at least two years. | Wix file photo National / AFFECTS LOCAL – American farmers, ranchers, and the agricultural industry will have to wait until at least September for the U.S. Senate to take up the long-delayed farm bill. “We’re going to come back in that first week and have another vote on the same bill again,” Senate Agriculture