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NC News Oct. 16, 2026

State Fair Ranked 4th Nationally

A recent study ranked the North Carolina State Fair as the nation’s fourth-best state fair, behind only Minnesota, Iowa, and Florida.

The ranking, from the site ACE.com, scored major fairs on ticket prices, visitor reviews, Google search interest, and social media buzz.

The timing is fitting: the 11-day fair opened yesterday in Raleigh and runs through Oct. 25, with more than 80 new foods and a 230-foot-tall America 250 wheel towering over the midway.

Adult gate admission is $13. Seniors 65 and older get in free Oct. 20, and military members and veterans (plus three guests) get in free Oct. 21. The Better Business Bureau is reminding fairgoers to guard against scams and overspending.

Article Icon 1State Health Plan Drops Atrium

The North Carolina State Health Plan on Wednesday moved most Atrium Health facilities to its costliest, out-of-network tier, effective Jan. 1, 2027, for its roughly 750,000 members.

The move came a day after N.C. Business Court Judge Matthew Houston denied the plan’s request to block Atrium’s new Affordability Protection Program, which Atrium says will give members the lowest out-of-pocket costs available at its facilities.

State Treasurer Brad Briner, who chairs the plan’s board, says the program would cost the plan up to $250 million in 2027 and could push premiums up as much as $50 a month for every member in 2028.

Atrium says it will cover the program’s cost itself. Twelve Atrium hospitals—nine rural and three children’s—remain in the plan’s Access tier under a September agreement. Open enrollment runs through Nov. 6.

Article Icon 1Duke To Test Heart-Failure AI

Duke University was awarded up to $15.5 million from a federal health agency to build a platform for testing the first FDA-authorized “agentic” AI system for heart-failure care.

The money comes from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the government’s health research arm, which is funding six teams to create an autonomous AI member of the care team that can monitor heart-failure patients around the clock and loop in doctors when needed.

Durham-based Duke will lead a consortium testing those AI agents across five health systems and rural clinics, working from Epic and Oracle medical records with the American Heart Association.

The FDA has not yet cleared any agentic AI tool for clinical care, and the lead developers must submit an authorization package within two years.