Elections
Women broke barriers on election night 2026
The victories put new leaders in charge of policy – and raise a harder question for the political establishment: whose judgment about viable candidates deserves to be trusted?
Local Government
Harris leads NC-8 by 5,179 votes; North State Journal reports win
Mark Harris has 147,094 votes to Colby Watson’s 141,915 and Bo Whitehead’s 2,890 in unofficial districtwide returns. The North State Journal reported Harris’s reelection.
Local Government
NC voters approve 3.5% constitutional income-tax cap
Local Government
Womack leads Moore by 6,415 votes in unofficial NC-14 returns
The Mill & the Track
Bonefish Grill closes Huntersville location after 14 years
Bonefish Grill permanently closed its Birkdale Village restaurant in Huntersville after 14 years, leaving the Concord Mills and Matthews locations as the chain's only Charlotte-area spots.
Concord & Harrisburg
Concord, NC
1:32 am, November 5, 2026
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Race Week
Most Read
Porter seeks reelection to Cabarrus soil and water board
Victoria P. Porter, incumbent chair of the Cabarrus County Soil and Water Conservation District Board, is running for reelection in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election, citing her farming background and years of service.
George Bell seeks NC Appeals Court Seat 2 in 2026
Republican George Bell, a sitting Superior Court judge from Cornelius, is running for North Carolina Appeals Court Judge Seat 2 in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election against Democrat Tobias Hampson.
Cloninger's name stays on Cabarrus ballot despite his death; votes go to Taylor
Judge Brent Cloninger's name remains on the Nov. 3 Cabarrus County ballot for District Court because his Oct. 18 death came too late to reprint ballots. All votes for Cloninger will count as votes for replacement nominee Jennifer Taylor at the Nov. 24 statewide canvass.
Goforth seeks reelection to Cabarrus soil and water board
Jeff Goforth, a lifelong Cabarrus County resident and board supervisor since 2002, is running for reelection to the Cabarrus Soil and Water Conservation District Board in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election.
Roy Cooper wins North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race
Roy Cooper defeated Michael Whatley to flip North Carolina’s open Senate seat. Unofficial statewide returns showed 2,467,963 votes for Cooper and 1,643,088 for Whatley, with all 2,626 precincts reporting.
Cabarrus County sets midterm early-voting record
More than 52,600 Cabarrus County voters cast ballots before Election Day, a 44.5% jump over the 2022 midterms that marks the highest midterm early-vote total in at least two decades.
Local Government
Local Government
NC voters approve 3.5% constitutional income-tax cap
Local Government
Womack leads Moore by 6,415 votes in unofficial NC-14 returns
Education
Education
Rowan-Cabarrus wins national award for online learning support
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College's eLearning department won the 2026 ITC Outstanding eLearning Support Award, a national honor, as 80% of curriculum students took at least one online course during the 2025-26 academic year.
Education
NC drops Math 3 requirement for high schoolers starting 2028
North Carolina's new math standards, approved Oct. 1 and supported by a newly launched teacher resource hub, will eliminate mandatory Math 3 and Math 4 for high schoolers starting in 2028-29, replacing them with career-aligned electives that Cabarrus County students and families will need to navigate.
Education
Harrisburg teachers see speech delays in pandemic-born students
Educators at A.C.E. Academy in Harrisburg report speech and vocabulary delays among the first wave of students born during the COVID-19 pandemic, even as national research finds only modest developmental setbacks for that age group.
Education
Livingstone College enrollment boom pushes students into Concord
Livingstone College's record freshman class has pushed students into furnished apartments in Concord and Kannapolis after campus housing ran out, bringing a new population along the I-85 corridor.
Education
NC board drops Math 3 requirement for Cabarrus students
North Carolina's State Board of Education approved new K-12 math standards that replace Math 3 and Math 4 with pathway electives starting in 2028-29, affecting students across Cabarrus County Schools.
Education
Cabarrus schools debut single magnet application Oct. 1
Cabarrus County Schools will let families apply to up to three magnet or specialty programs through one application starting Thursday, Oct. 1, replacing the old system of separate applications. The district's fifth annual Futures Fair on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the Cabarrus Arena in Concord will showcase the programs alongside a college, career and military fair.
Public Safety
Community
Community
Med students bring free doula program to Concord hospital
Two Wake Forest University School of Medicine students are launching a volunteer birth doula program at Atrium Health Cabarrus in Concord, offering free labor support to patients starting this fall.
Community
Harrisburg Sam's Mart sells $2 million Powerball ticket
A $3 Powerball ticket purchased at Sam's Mart on N.C. 49 in Harrisburg matched all five white balls in the Oct. 31 Halloween drawing, and the 2X Power Play multiplier doubled the $1 million prize to $2 million.
Community
Cabarrus schools guides families to holiday assistance programs
Cabarrus County Schools is pointing families to a Holiday Assistance Programs 2026 web page that lists community gift and toy programs, including the YMCA Empty Stocking Fund and Toys for Tots.
Community
Concord's Sidney Lanier Book Club marks 90 years Nov. 9
Concord's Sidney Lanier Book Club will celebrate its 90th anniversary on Monday, Nov. 9, with Mayor Steve Morris set to present a proclamation honoring the group founded by eight women in 1936.
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Maryam Khanum
Editor
Maryam Khanum is a journalist based in Winston-Salem, NC. She graduated from Wake Forest University in 2024 with majors in Political Science and Communications. Maryam was heavily involved in journalism throughout her college career, serving as Multimedia Managing Editor for the student-run newspaper, the Old Gold & Black. She previously worked for the International Business Times.
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