How some of the top H-1B worker employers in North Carolina have shifted their approach to this foreign worker program after Trump administration set $100,000 fee on visa applicants not already living in US:

North Carolina will have hyperscale data centers from five of the world’s 10 most valuable companies, if confirmed projects from Amazon and Microsoft go forward. Last week, Gov Stein questioned whether NC should continue offering data center operators sales tax exemptions:

North Carolina has jumped ahead of Georgia for the nation’s 2nd most Dollar Generals. The discount chain has expanded considerably statewide since the Great Recession, with 1,150 locations today:

“This is where I wanted to serve, right here at home. But these are not ordinary times.” - former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper accepting the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate at a party event in Raleigh.

How fast has Nvidia reached an unprecedented $5 trillion valuation? These are all stories I’ve written in the past 2.5 years:

“Everybody’s here.” Original Queer Eye cast member/TV personality Carson Kressley gave me an interview yesterday at High Point, NC’s famed biannual furniture market.

The Durham semiconductor supplier Wolfspeed officially filed for bankrupcy today. The company looks to emerge from Chapter 11 by end of September after erasing 70% of its debt.

North Carolina added another Dollar General every eight days over the past year, on average, according to new store numbers released by the largest U.S. dollar store chain. The state has the third most Dollar Generals after Florida and Georgia.

By far, the largest revenue source of FHI 360, a Durham-based global research nonprofit is USAID. The imperiled federal agency accounted for more than 67% of FHI 360's revenue in 2023.

Breaking: The EPA says staff must report to full-time in-person work by Feb. 24 to comply with President Trump's "Return to Work" memorandum. The EPA had the lowest percentage of in-person office time among federal agencies, 36%, per an August report by the Office of Management and Budget.

A CAUSE member shared this poster. He said Amazon recently began displaying it in RDU1 break rooms.

Breaking; More than 4,000 Amazon workers in Garner, NC will have the opportunity to vote on unionization after the organizing group CAUSE collected authorization cards from at least 30% of RDU1 employees. The election will last six days in February. Union needs more than half of the votes to win.

Amazon says it’s dubious union organizers at the RDU1 warehouse have collected enough authorization cards to get an election NLRB will settle whether the 30% threshold’s been met.

Amazon organizing group in Garner, NC filed for a union election today. If successful, the RDU1 warehouse would be the company’s second unionized facility. The NLRB will now review workers’ signed authorization cards and call an election if 30% of workforce signed them.

The Duke Quantum Center houses the only academic quantum computers in the Triangle. Got a peak at several of these ion trap machines this week. The computers poke suspended atoms with lasers to manipulate their quantum state.

Line out the door at Ideal’s in Durham — the Triangle’s best sandwich spot.