Associated Press

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced its first-ever limits for several common types of PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Two types, PFOA and PFOS, will be limited to 4 parts per trillion, the lowest level that tests can reliably detect. The agency says it will reduce exposure for 100 million people and prevent thousands of illnesses, including cancer. Utilities groups, however, say the EPA is underestimating the rule's cost and overestimating its benefits. They argue water rates will go up and struggling utilities will only struggle more. The Biden administration has made protecting drinking water a priority.

Front-runners for North Carolina's major-party nominations for governor in next month's primaries have taken dramatically different paths to prominence. Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein and Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson have been ahead in fundraising and support from key party figures. These and other primary candidates are seeking to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Stein is an Ivy League-educated attorney who amassed allies as he climbed the Democratic ladder. Robinson is a former furniture factory worker with a history of blunt commentary who plowed into Republican politics after a viral video. Fellow Republicans running against Robinson question whether he can win in a state where Democrats have held the recent upper hand in gubernatorial politics.

A woman on South Carolina's Hilton Head Island who drew national attention from such stars as Tyler Perry and Snoop Dogg as she fought off developers in her final years has died at 94. A family publicist says Josephine Wright died Sunday at her Hilton Head home. Wright had been fighting a lawsuit from an investment firm that sued her last year. The company alleged her property encroached on their proposed 147-unit neighborhood near land her late husband’s family had owned for over a century. Wright had moved decades ago from New York City to the historic Gullah neighborhood of Jonesville — named for a Black Civil War veteran who escaped slavery and purchased land there.

A North Carolina hospital network is referring transgender psychiatric patients to treatment facilities that do not align with their gender identities. Though UNC Hospitals' policy discourages the practice, administrators say a massive bed shortage is forcing them to make tough decisions. A lack of funding and the absence of uniform treatment standards across the state's hospitals are combining with shortcomings in staff training to create barriers to treating transgender youth.

Another federal lawsuit has been filed challenging provisions in a new North Carolina elections law that critics contend will discourage young adults from voting through a popular method. The complaint filed Tuesday marks the third such lawsuit against portions of a voting bill that became law last week. The Republican-controlled General Assembly overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto. The latest lawsuit focuses on changes made to same-day registration that plaintiffs argue increase the risk that U.S. Postal Service error will deny someone a vote. Meanwhile, GOP legislators say they can't trust Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein to defend the law and want to formally enter two of the lawsuits.

The Supreme Court has rejected North Carolina’s appeal in a dispute with animal rights groups over a law aimed at preventing undercover employees at farms and other workplaces from taking documents or recording video. The justices Monday left in place a legal victory for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in its challenge to the law. An appeals court ruled the 2015 law could not be enforced against PETA when its undercover work is being performed to conduct newsgathering activities. The law is similar to so-called state ag-gag laws that have been struck down by several courts around the country. The Supreme Court has so far refused to weigh in.

A federal judge has ordered the North Carolina state employee health plan provide “medically necessary services" for transgender people linked to gender confirmation. U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs ruled Friday it was unlawfully biased for the State Health Plan to exclude coverage for such treatments.

Gov. Roy Cooper has decided to lift North Carolina’s outdoor mask mandate. The news comes as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that vaccinated Americans no longer need to cover their faces outside unless they are in a large crowd.