MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2026

Good Morning! On this day in 2018, Hurricane Florence came ashore near Wrightsville Beach as a Category 1 storm, then crawled across the Carolinas and became one of the wettest hurricanes in North Carolina history.

📣 Major Announcement: We are launching Flyover Focus, a new video series that spotlights a single topic and covers its impact on your life. Some weeks that means a Top 10 list, and other weeks a chance to dig deeper into a subject making headlines, where we strip away bias and stick to the facts. Look for short informational videos every Monday.

We're starting with what may be the biggest story in the world, artificial intelligence. Is AI coming for your job? Why is AI showing up in your electric bill? Who decided a building full of computers belongs down the road from your house? And is anyone actually in charge of any of this? The answers are messier than either side wants to admit, and they reach further into your daily life than you'd expect. (Tune in here)

Later today, you’ll get an email from our partner, Fisher Investments, with seven principles that high net worth investors use to help keep their retirement strategy working as one cohesive plan.

Today’s sponsor, Miso Robotics, is bringing NVIDIA-powered AI into restaurant kitchens with its Flippy Fry Station while attracting more than $133 million from investors betting on the future of food automation.

NC Nursing Homes Earn 1-Star Rankings

Federal ratings from Medicare.gov reveal multiple one-star nursing homes across North Carolina as of September 2026.

In the Charlotte area, 14 facilities within 25 miles earned the lowest rating—including five in Charlotte itself—such as Pine Crest Health & Rehabilitation and University Place Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. One Concord facility, Copperfield Health & Rehabilitation, also recorded abuse-related citations.

In the Triangle, several homes received one-star ratings, with Fuquay-Varina Health and Rehabilitation Center, Siler City Center, and Southpoint Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Durham cited for abuse. Other low-rated facilities include Sunnybrook Rehabilitation Center in Raleigh and Highfield Nursing and Rehabilitation in Cary.

Ratings factor in health inspections, staffing, safety, and infection control. The annual cost of a private room in a North Carolina skilled nursing facility averages $129,575, or about $10,798 monthly.

85+ Car Break-ins Being Investigated

Chapel Hill police are investigating nearly 60 vehicle break-ins reported in the area over Friday night, most of them in hotel and apartment lots along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Raleigh Road.

In many cases, thieves smashed windows to get inside. Chief Celisa Lehew asked residents to check home and business cameras and to call 911 with any footage.

Investigators are weighing whether the cases connect to a wider string across the Triangle. More than 25 cars were hit around the same time at Brier Creek hotel lots in Raleigh, part of a run of thefts at hotels and apartment complexes stretching back more than a month.

Police made several arrests Aug. 25 in earlier Chapel Hill break-ins. Police urged drivers to lock up, take valuables inside, and never leave a gun in a vehicle.

NC State Lands $20M Grant for AI Tools

The National Science Foundation awarded NC State a five-year, $20 million grant to develop AI tools that build interactive stories to help K-12 students learn.

The award renews the National Science Foundation AI Institute for Engaged Learning (EngageAI), which NC State has led for five years alongside Vanderbilt, UNC-Chapel Hill, Indiana University, and the nonprofit Digital Promise.

The next phase aims to build a system that keeps improving over a school year and uses emerging “world model” AI to generate stories teachers and students can tailor to their classrooms.

Lead investigator James Lester, a Goodnight Distinguished Professor in AI, said the research will yield technologies that “fundamentally improve both the learning process and learning outcomes for K-12 students.” The university announced the renewal last week.

Flying together with our sponsor

Why Robotics Investors Keep Going Back to This NVIDIA Collaborator

Most investors write one check and wait. Miso Robotics keeps pulling them back.

With $133M+ raised to date across 44K+ investments, Miso has built something rare: a base of true believers who return round after round. And with today’s new progress at Miso and the U.S. IPO market seemingly heating up, it's easy to see why many are investing ahead of Miso’s share price change Thursday night.

Miso’s AI-powered Flippy Fry Station restaurant kitchen robot is now NVIDIA-powered, Ecolab-backed, and targeting 100K+ U.S. fast food locations in a $1T market. And the company just made two major asset acquisitions in 2026, including from a once-SoftBank-backed robotics pioneer, growing its IP portfolio 10X overnight to 300+.

As one investor put it: "This is my 4th investment in Miso. Progress seems to be moving exponentially now."

Another: "Truly believe that this technology will expand into all fast food restaurants worldwide. Steady growth and frequent communication kept me coming back.”

This is your chance to join these forward-thinkers. Just don’t wait. Invest in Miso Robotics at $5.48/share before Thursday’s share price change.

➤ Statewide: A Trump-linked super PAC has reserved about $5 million to boost Republican Michael Whatley in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race against Democrat Roy Cooper, ranking the state fifth among contests the group is funding. (More)

➤ Also Statewide: Cooper leads Whatley 49% to 38% among likely voters in the latest Elon University Poll, released this week. The former governor also holds a wide name-recognition edge, and 54% of registered voters expect him to win the Nov. 3 election. (See Poll)

➤ Triad: North Carolina House Democrats and the Guilford County party dropped support for nominee Shelly Headen after posts on accounts in her name promoted political violence and likened Trump supporters to Nazis. (More)

➤ Charlotte: DeCarlos Brown Jr., charged in the fatal stabbing of Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train, was moved to the federal medical center in Butner on Sept. 9 after being found incompetent to stand trial. (More)

➤ Greensboro: A staff member at the Woods of Terror haunted attraction died after a medical emergency on the season’s opening night Friday. The owners said firefighters and EMS could not save the worker despite life-saving efforts. (More)

➤ Raleigh: NC State’s Brickyard—the red-and-white plaza at the heart of campus since 1968—is reopening after nearly three years of being fenced off during Woodson Hall construction. (See Photo)

Enjoy reading Flyover North Carolina? Click here to share with your friends and family. ✈️

➤ The Carolina Panthers lost a shootout, 59-37, to the Chicago Bears yesterday in their season opener. Third-year receiver Jalen Coker led the way for Carolina with 138 receiving yards. (More)

➤ UNC basketball made the top seven for five-star guard Adan Diggs, a 2027 recruit from Arizona who trimmed his list to UNC, Duke, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, and USC. Diggs, rated the nation’s No. 1 shooting guard, visits Arizona on Sept. 25. (More)

➤ Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller hosted hundreds of kids at his youth basketball camp in Indian Trail on Saturday, running on-court drills and a Q&A. Miller and his family hold camps each year in the Charlotte area and Nashville. (More)

➤ Short-track racing legend Gary Myers, who won 38 NASCAR Modified races at Winston-Salem’s Bowman Gray Stadium, died Sept. 10 at 76. Myers was a founding member of the SMART Modified Tour and passed his craft to sons Burt and Jason. (More)

➤ Yesterday’s Results: US Open | NFL | MLB | NASCAR | F1 | Soccer | FIBA

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ Boost Your Memory By 75% Just By Stopping This Kitchen Mistake. Memory researchers say one common kitchen habit accelerates memory loss. Stop doing it today and discover the simple change helping thousands sharpen focus and recall. Find Out All About It Here!

Flyover Focus takes a deeper look at the topics that matter—click the link to watch this week’s full episode.

➤ What is AI actually changing right now, and is anyone in charge of what happens next?

AI is rapidly changing how Americans work, how businesses hire, and even what gets built in our own backyards. Our inaugural episode of Flyover Focus has the facts, from the predictions the biggest names in AI have already walked back, to what the data actually shows about who's losing work and who isn't, to why Washington and Europe are heading in opposite directions on this. (Watch Now)

➤ Electric-vehicle maker VinFast is fighting North Carolina’s bid to reclaim its Chatham County megasite, calling the state’s lawsuit premature. Attorney General Jeff Jackson sued in May, alleging the automaker missed a construction deadline. (More)

➤ Guard and Grace, the Michelin-recommended steakhouse, opens its Charlotte location Oct. 1 on the 10th floor of the Vivian tower at Queensbridge Collective, a mixed-use development on Tryon Street between uptown and South End. (More)

➤ North Carolina-based Krispy Kreme’s apple cider glazed doughnut ran only through Sunday, but its Fall & Football Dozen—featuring football-shaped, pumpkin spice, and maple cheesecake doughnuts—is sticking around for the season. (More and See Photos)

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ Why thousands are replacing their pillows with this "Cervical Decompression" breakthrough. Your pillow is destroying your neck, but VelaSleep can fix it! Our Cervical Decompression Design™ gently applies targeted traction to relieve pressure, restore alignment, and support your neck & spine all night long. Learn More

Flying together with our sponsor

[ACT FAST] This Robotics Stock’s Price Changes Thursday

Fresh off two major product acquisitions, including from a once-SoftBank-backed robotics pioneer, Miso Robotics' share price will change Thursday.

From those acquisitions alone, Miso added new customers like Jersey Mike’s, Cinnabon, and Auntie Anne’s and grew its patent portfolio 10X overnight.

And that’s not all Miso’s done this year. In addition to major restaurant chains, Miso’s robots are now being deployed on college campuses and even an NBA arena.

Everyday people like you who don’t want to miss the robot boom have already invested more than 44,000 times to date. Industry powerhouse Ecolab even invested too.

Hurry to join them before Miso’s price changes from $5.48/share Thursday night.

This is a paid advertisement for Miso Robotics Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.misorobotics.com

➤ A new mural along Reynolds Boulevard in Winston-Salem—billed as the largest on the East Coast—traces R.J. Reynolds Tobacco’s 150-year history and the city it built. Artists Leo Rucker and Joey Allen spent about 2,000 hours and 9,000 spray cans creating it. (See Photos)

➤ UNC Athletics rolled out its first officially licensed line of Tar Heel spirits, Spirit of Carolina. Made by Cape Fear Distillery, the lineup includes Chapel Thrill Vodka, Old East Whiskey, Rams Head Silver Rum, and Best Blue Coconut Cream. (See Photo)

➤ The Farmers’ Almanac reports that the southern Appalachians will be among the earliest areas of North Carolina to receive snow this year, while the Piedmont and coast may have to wait until December. (More and See Map)

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ 1 Cup of This Morning Drink FLOODS Your Body with Stem Cells. Harvard Researchers found that people who drank this hot morning drink had a 47% improvement in blood vessel function, a sharp drop in blood pressure, and a 220% increase in stem cells. See which drink here.