Arts & Workforce: Asheville’s River Arts District is getting a long-term boost as the RADA Foundation’s RAD Creative Campus wins a Biltmore Estate grant, aiming to expand artist residencies, shared labs, paid apprenticeships, and a Helene-focused Resilience Hub. Energy Resilience: Duke Energy says it’s readying for the next hurricane season with grid upgrades, including “self-healing” power-line tech that reroutes to restore service faster and helped avoid thousands of outages in Buncombe County. Agriculture Land Protection: Onslow County farmland and timberland totaling 128.65 acres is permanently protected via a conservation easement, limiting future development while keeping working farms and forestry in place. Manufacturing & Investment: A reshoring-focused look at why factories keep expanding even as costs rise highlights new production moves, including Goldhofer’s Hickory facility and other domestic capacity bets. Regulation & Tax: North Carolina’s new budget includes a 6% tax on CFTC-regulated prediction markets starting in 2027, while sports betting faces a higher 23% rate. Defense Innovation: Gov. Josh Stein launches NC ALIGN, a statewide advisory council to connect research, advanced manufacturing, and national security funding. Business Courts: The NC Business Court tossed a $1.45M Helene fee fight by lot owners, rejecting their claims. Transportation & Ports: USDOT awarded $136.8M in BUILD grants to 12 maritime projects nationwide, supporting port upgrades and planning.