The four-story hub includes a mock courtroom and 60-plus faculty offices, built as North Carolina loses teachers faster than it trains them.

A Raleigh barber and Vision Church are teaming up for a free backpack bash with school supplies, games and giveaways for Triangle students.

Wake County foster teens are sleeping in a county office building as homes and residential placements run short. The stopgap has become a stark symbol of a system under strain.