Boone/High Country

Boone Town Council unanimously approved a one-year moratorium on data center development Monday night. Watauga County leaders may soon consider a similar step.

Boone will consider a temporary ban on new data centers at a Monday meeting. The idea comes as proposals in Forsyth and Stokes counties face pushback.

The company says its line crews will remain on high alert throughout the weekend.

"Until we see a day above freezing, we are not going to make a lot of progress quickly," said NCDOT Maintenance Engineer Mark Crook, who covers part of the Triad.

The survey also asks about housing challenges like affordability and neighborhood safety.

In the 1990s, Howard Knob was sold to a private investor, sparking a conservation movement that led to the founding of what’s now the Blue Ridge Conservancy.

It's the first update to the region's maps that show areas with a high risk of floods since 2009.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina CEO Eric Aft says federal budget cuts to food and farm programs mean people are getting less on each visit.

The rivers and streams of western North Carolina are still recovering from Hurricane Helene almost a year later. Contractors have pulverized those streams with heavy equipment to remove storm debris — causing a second ecological disaster in the storm’s wake.

The fall foliage season brings in hundreds of millions of tourist dollars into the North Carolina mountain economy each year.