What Are Some Stories That Grabbed Readers In 2025?

By Will Atwater, Anne Blythe, Michelle Crouch, Taylor Knopf

Our most-read communicative of 2025 had a unique “eew!” factor. It was astir caller investigation showing that emissions from hog operations tin recreation beyond workplace boundaries and into adjacent homes. Another study cited by NC Health News recovered DNA from swine feces successful family particulate collected from residences adjacent business hog farms.

The Tar Heel State is 3rd successful nan federation successful hog production. In 2023, hogs generated $2.7 cardinal successful rate receipts, accounting for 16 percent of North Carolina’s astir $17 cardinal successful full workplace revenue, and they are a important contributor to nan state’s $111 cardinal agriculture and agribusiness sector.

But location are different manufacture numbers that galore would alternatively forget.

Statewide, roughly 9.5 cardinal hogs make much than 10 cardinal gallons of waste annually, according to a 2020 archive published by nan Duke Nicholas School of nan Environment. The spraying of hog discarded connected cultivation fields tin dispersed fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), and semipermanent vulnerability to these mini particles has been linked to an accrued consequence of cardiovascular disease.

Health concerns widen beyond aerial quality. A 2022 study recovered that group surviving adjacent concentrated hog feeding operations were treated for acute gastrointestinal unwellness much often than those surviving farther away. Researchers said vulnerability to drinking h2o contaminated by pathogens from hog discarded — aliases inhaling airborne discarded from sprayfields — tin origin diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and different gastrointestinal distress.

The hostility betwixt nan industry’s economical benefits and quality-of-life concerns is a reality Whiteville resident Larry Sparrow knows well. Since moving to Whiteville from Virginia successful 2019 and learning that 1 of his neighbors operated a hog farm, Sparrow has waged an ongoing effort to monitor, archive and situation conditions.

Sparrow said he has precocious recorded less days pinch beardown odors, which intends he and his wife, Susan, person been capable to walk much clip outdoors. 

“I should not beryllium nan police,” Sparrow said. “Residents should not person to constabulary this, but we’re nan only ones retired here. DEQ can’t do it — they don’t person capable people, and they don’t person nan powerfulness either.”

Atrium Health’s executive compensation maturation mirrors company’s accelerated description

As Atrium Health and its genitor institution Advocate Health proceed to turn their footprint, news of double-digit salary raises for its elder leaders raised eyebrows successful 2025 and was NC Health News’ 2nd most-read communicative this year. An article co-published by NC Health News and our publication partner The Charlotte Ledger successful May revealed that the compensation of Atrium Health’s apical executives successful 2024 jumped by an mean of 41 percent.

In November, taxation filings revealed that Advocate Health CEO Gene Woods earned $25.8 cardinal successful 2024, a 49 percent increase from nan erstwhile year. That meant Woods’ full salary had jumped much than 400 percent since 2017, his first afloat twelvemonth arsenic CEO of Atrium Health, earlier nan merger that created Advocate.

Most different North Carolina hospitals CEOs besides received sizable raises successful 2024, including a 41 percent summation for Novant Health CEO Carl Armato to $8.2 million, a 33 percent summation for Duke Health CEO Craig Albanese to $2 cardinal and a 21 percent summation for ECU Health CEO Michael Waldrum to $1.7 million. 

News of Atrium’s executive salary hikes dispersed wide connected societal media, prompting complaints that they acold outpaced those fixed to doctors, nurses and different patient-facing staff. Some critics said specified generous compensation is inappropriate for a tax-exempt nonprofit that gets millions successful taxation breaks.

In a statement, Atrium maintained that its executive salary reflects nan “scale and complexity of guiding 1 of nan nation’s largest wellness attraction systems.” It noted that nan mostly of its compensation is performance-based, tied to diligent safety, value and organization effect metrics. 

Atrium has been connected an fierce description run successful caller years. In 2025 alone, it opened a caller infirmary successful nan Lake Norman area of Charlotte, announced plans for a $450 cardinal infirmary successful Fort Mill, South Carolina, and opened a $1.5 cardinal aesculapian invention district successful Charlotte that features nan city’s first aesculapian school, a surgical training center and a increasing number of aesculapian exertion companies.

Atrium reported $10.5 cardinal successful gross and $1.4 cardinal successful nett income, aliases profit, for nan first 9 months of 2025 — already surpassing nan $1.31 cardinal successful nett income it earned successful each of 2024.  

Those figures do not see gross from Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Health aliases from hospitals successful Illinois and Wisconsin that joined pinch Atrium successful 2022 to create Advocate, nan nation’s 3rd largest nationalist infirmary system. Advocate reported astir $35 cardinal successful gross successful 2024.

North Carolina’s not immune from changes to nationalist wellness roiling nan U.S. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first 10 months arsenic U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services person had a profound effect successful North Carolina, bringing radical changes to nationalist wellness infrastructure, world investigation crossed nan authorities and prevention recommendations that person caused interest among providers.

Under Kennedy’s guidance, nan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved distant from broad vaccine recommendations for COVID-19, chicken pox and hepatitis B and alternatively developed guidelines for what his management describes arsenic shared determination making pinch wellness attraction providers. Many of those changes sowed disorder and chaos astatine pharmacies and pediatric accommodation present successful North Carolina.

Kennedy has pushed backmost against long-held technological statement successful galore nationalist wellness areas. He’s been a vocal professional of nan fluoridation of organization h2o systems — a believe antecedently described by nan CDC arsenic 1 of nan “great nationalist wellness achievements” of nan 20th century.

Although overmuch technological investigation contradicts Kennedy’s positions, he has called fluoride “an business waste” linked to little IQ and neurodevelopmental disorders successful children, bony crab and arthritis.

In North Carolina, decisions astir fluoridation successful nationalist h2o systems mostly remainder pinch section governments and utilities. Even earlier Kennedy was sworn successful to lead national wellness agencies, respective North Carolina counties waded into nan fluoride debate. 

In February, Lincoln County became nan second successful this authorities to prohibition fluoride from its nationalist h2o system, astir a twelvemonth aft Union County took nan aforesaid action.

A wealthiness of investigation has recovered that adding fluoride to h2o is simply a safe measurement to trim bony decay and its severity. The recommended level for nan past 9 years successful nan U.S. has been 0.7 milligrams per liter, which nan North Carolina Dental Society likens to 70 cents retired of $1 million. The studies often cited by Kennedy and different critics of organization fluoridation often are based connected populations exposed to fluoride astatine overmuch higher levels than utilized successful U.S. h2o systems.

In April, Kennedy announced plans to put together a task unit to reappraisal nan CDC guidance connected fluoride successful drinking h2o and study imaginable wellness risks. The Environmental Protection Agency besides will look into wellness outcomes related to h2o fluoridation.

Who decides wherever wellness attraction resources get built? 

Laws that headdress nan kinds of aesculapian facilities, instrumentality and services that tin beryllium offered successful circumstantial geographic regions of nan authorities person been arguable for years. In 2025, that statement played retired successful respective authorities courtrooms.

Critics opportunity specified statutes — known arsenic certificate of need, aliases CON, laws — stifle free marketplace title successful nan wellness attraction industry. They contend they protect established systems by creating powerful entities that deficiency costs transparencies and lend to higher prices.

Supporters antagonistic that CON laws foster systematic wellness attraction installation readying that prevents over-saturation of markets and allocates resources based connected organization needs, ensuring much equitable entree to care. They reason that is particularly nan lawsuit successful agrarian areas, wherever sparser populations mightiness not beryllium arsenic enticing to backstage marketplace systems motivated by profit. 

The proprietor of Singleton Vision Center revenge a suit successful April 2020, arguing that nan certificate of request rule has restricted his correct to gain a surviving and reap nan afloat fruits of his labor. He further contended that nan statute violates nan anti-monopoly clause of nan authorities constitution.

The lawsuit initially was dismissed by Superior Court Judge Michael O’Foghludha successful 2021. It went each nan measurement to nan authorities Supreme Court connected appeal, and connected Oct. 18, 2024, nan justices issued an unsigned, unanimous four-page ruling giving nan lawsuit caller life while leaving unfastened nan mobility of nan constitutionality of nan law.

In October, New Bern oculus surgeon Jay Singleton went earlier a three-judge sheet in Wake County Superior Court to situation nan constitutionality of nan law.

At nan October hearing, Singleton’s attorneys based on that though his halfway is “a full-service oculus clinic,” he has had to execute astir of his surgeries astatine nan infirmary conscionable 2 miles from his clinic.

Derek Hall, nan typical lawman lawyer wide representing nan authorities Department of Health and Human Services, countered that nan CON rule doesn’t artifact Singleton from doing nan kinds of procedures he wants. Singleton, Hall argued, would beryllium utilizing a “procedure room” astatine his halfway and a certificate of request is not required for that. The CON law, nan typical lawman lawyer wide argued, requires a certificate to unfastened an operating room.

Earlier this month, nan three-judge sheet — Republicans Jeffrey Foster and Troy Stafford and Democrat Jacqueline Grant — issued a unanimous ruling dismissing Singleton’s case. In their 11-page order, nan judges concluded that thing successful nan CON rule prevents Singleton “from performing nan oculus surgeries patients require successful [a] process room arsenic a certificate of request is not required to create a process room” and truthful did not forestall him from entering nan market.

Furthermore, they wrote, location are 82 work areas successful nan authorities for operating rooms, and galore not only had aggregate providers but caller providers had entered those markets. Moreover, nan judges recovered that while Singleton’s main competitor owns 9 operating rooms successful nan Craven, Jones and Pamlico counties work area wherever he is, patients location person entree successful bordering areas to 80 operating rooms owned by 9 different providers.

Singleton’s arguments attraction connected his “own inability to unfastened an operating room without certificate of need, but those allegations taken arsenic existent do not show that nan CON Law is invalid successful each circumstances,” nan judges ruled. “The beingness of galore healthcare providers who person obtained certificates of request statewide confirms that nan rule operates constitutionally successful a wide scope of applications.”

Singleton’s attorneys person announced plans to appeal, which could nonstop nan lawsuit backmost to nan authorities Supreme Court.

Even arsenic nan ineligible situation was wending done nan courts, authorities lawmakers modified nan law. In 2023, successful conjunction pinch nan description of Medicaid to astatine slightest 700,000 much group successful North Carolina, nan General Assembly removed certificate of request requirements for ambulatory surgical centers successful nan 23 counties that had populations greater than 125,000 successful nan 2020 census. The lawmakers besides exempted immoderate MRI instrumentality and psychiatric and chemical-dependency accommodation from nan review.

The changes were rolled successful gradually, pinch nan requirements for nan ambulatory surgical centers taking effect this twelvemonth connected Nov. 1.

Progress and peril successful America’s supplier crisis

In 2017, nan opioid situation successful nan United States reached nan constituent of a nationalist wellness emergency. A twelvemonth later, our newsman Taylor Knopf boarded a level to Europe to spot firsthand really France and Switzerland dealt pinch supplier usage differently. In a multi-part series, she reported connected nan philosophies and methods they utilized to tackle their erstwhile precocious rates of supplier overdose deaths and related infections — galore of which were not wide embraced aliases forbidden successful nan U.S. astatine nan time. 

One communicative from that bid — “Switzerland fights heroin pinch heroin” — continues to make NC Health News apical 10 most-read communicative database each year, this twelvemonth it was number five.

The communicative examines Switzerland’s astir arguable supplier policy: a heroin-assisted curen program. It involves medically prescribed heroin fixed to group pinch terrible opioid usage upset arsenic portion of treatment. This attack — which legalized heroin nether definite circumstances successful 1994 nether nan country’s four-pillar supplier policy — has caused rates of overdose deaths, HIV infections and spot crime to plummet. Also reduced: caller heroin use. 

At look value, nan programme whitethorn sound shocking, but it delivered results. As agelong arsenic nan United States battles this supplier crisis, stories for illustration this, which connection solutions and hope, will proceed to beryllium publication and shared. 

There person been steps guardant since Knopf traveled to Europe successful nan autumn of 2018. A nationally recognized strategy for checking thoroughfare drugs for harmful additives was started successful 2021 present successful North Carolina done nan business of a Greensboro-based harm simplification group and a laboratory astatine UNC. After a surge successful overdose deaths during nan COVID-19 pandemic, deaths started to driblet astatine nan extremity of 2024. Though galore factors contributed to this decline, supplier experts opportunity that flooding nan streets pinch naloxone, nan opioid overdose reversal drug, played a large domiciled successful keeping group who usage narcotics alive. Over nan past respective years, location has been a increasing nickname that addiction is simply a illness that needs treatment, and that group pinch addiction request support successful each areas of life, including housing, education, employment, nutrient assistance and thief pinch ineligible issues. 

Local governments successful North Carolina are using their costs from nationalist opioid settlements to thief found galore of these types of supports crossed nan state. 

However, lately, advancement has looked for illustration 2 steps guardant and 1 measurement back. Over nan past year, President Donald Trump’s management has been slow dismantling nan infrastructure supporting programs for group pinch addiction. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes changes and cuts to Medicaid, which galore group pinch constituent usage upset trust connected for treatment. The Trump management slashed staffing and funding astatine nan Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which supports programs successful nan states. Trump has undermined evidence-based harm simplification strategies and banned nan usage of SAMHSA assistance money for buying immoderate harm simplification supplies specified arsenic sterile syringes, which trim nan dispersed of infectious diseases including HIV and hepatitis C. In July, Trump issued an executive bid that claimed that “so-called ‘harm reduction’ efforts” only facilitate forbidden supplier use. 

Though nan gains person been modest, nan caller diminution successful overdose deaths shows advancement is possible.

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