For families with special needs children, putting kids into institutional care is often a desperate act of last resort. Many parents and caregivers prefer to keep their children at home where they can give them as much love and attention as possible, but they need help to do so. Families of children with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities are eligible for assistance from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services through a portion of Medicaid called the Innovations Waiver.

North Carolina-based filmmakers Eryk Pruitt and Edith Snow have both submitted their work to film festivals plenty of times. But with their latest films, they wanted to do something different: take their work on the road, similar to a book tour.

Etaf Rum was on “the right path” according to many of her family members. She was married with children and had several degrees and a teaching job. She was doing everything right, but she felt stuck. Despite her education, Rum was living out the same pattern as her mother and many of the women of Palestinian descent that came before her. Though Rum was born in Brooklyn, her parents were born refugee camps in Palestine where they were raised by parents who spent their lives in refugee camps.

North Carolina Central University officially unveiled the new name of its administration building Wednesday. The name of former North Carolina governor, Clyde Hoey, a known segregationist, is no longer on the building at the historically black institution.

North Carolina Conservation Network just released its first-ever “State of the Environment” report. It includes data analysis, polling and more than 100 indicators that measure the overall well-being of the environment and the people of North Carolina.

Democrats in the North Carolina House are fighting to raise the state’s minimum wage, which has been stagnant at $7.25 an hour for more than 10 years. Lawmakers argue that wages have not kept up with the cost of living: full-time minimum wage workers in North Carolina earn $15,600 annually, while the federal poverty level for a family of two is $16,910. North Carolina Rep. Susan C. Fisher (D- Buncombe) is the sponsor of one of two Democrat-led house bills which aim to raise the minimum wage to $15 over the next five years.