Laurel to the news that a company is looking at a site in northern Kannapolis for a cannabidiol (CBD) processing facility.

With an average salary exceeding $57,000, 161 jobs and $21.4 million in investment, the company would be an important new employer and provide good jobs in southern Rowan County.

The company plans to extract, process and refine CBD oil, which will come from hemp, and then sell it to other companies that make specific products.

As always, some will quibble with the fact that commissioners have agreed to provide tax incentives to a yet-to-be-named company, but incentives are practically a requirement in modern economic development. If Rowan County’s and North Carolina’s offer isn’t good enough, the company, nicknamed Project Bay, could decide to move to sites it’s considering in South Carolina and Kentucky, with the Bluegrass State likely serving as an attractive option because of its progressive attitude about industrial hemp.

We hope to see an announcement in the near future that Project Bay has chosen Rowan County for its processing facility.

Dart to the fact that North Carolina legislators have abandoned compromise this session and left the state without a full budget.

When Gov. Roy Cooper stood firm on his belief that Medicaid must be expanded, vetoing the state budget, it prompted a months-long, still-unresolved stalemate.

Rowan County’s state legislators had mixed responses last week when talking to the Post about the possibilities of a state budget passing, but it’s now November. After a “long session” that’s lasted nearly the whole year, there’s slim to no chance that North Carolina will get a budget before the end of the year.

From Salisbury, it appears that there’s been no good-faith effort by either side — Democrats or Republicans — to negotiate. The first order of business when the Republican-led legislature convenes for its “short session” next year should be embracing compromise and hammering out a budget with Cooper.

Laurel to news that Rowan-Cabarrus Community College’s $45 million bond proposal will contain money to build a facility for students in Rowan-Salisbury Schools.

An article published Thursday (“Bond will have plan for Early College”) reported that students in Rowan County Early College would move from mobile classrooms to a new building on RCCC’s campus. Roughly $10 million of the $45 million would go toward a building that would, in part, house the Early College, with space for other RSS students, too.

That the students could be moved out of their mobile classrooms is particularly important because of complaints about mold, standing water and leaky roofs.

According to test scores, Rowan County Early College consistently ranks as the best high school in the district. As such, its students deserve better than moldy, mobile classrooms.