Child care costs have surged by 220% since 1990, outpacing inflation, Axios' Astrid Galván reports.

• New data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows families have deeply struggled to afford care.
• In many cases, families have been forced to quit jobs to stay home with their child — especially if they are Latino, Black or live in poverty.

By the numbers: The average annual cost of child care for one child in 2021 nationally was $10,600, or one-tenth of a married couple's median income and more than one-third of a single parent's income.

• In North Carolina, child care cost on average was $9,116 — or 33% of the median income of single mothers in the state.

Driving the news: Child care providers in North Carolina anticipate hiking prices further and potentially cutting staff if lawmakers don't include millions of dollars for the industry in the 2023-2024 budget, the Observer reported.

• Pandemic-era federal grants that helped North Carolina child care centers stay afloat these last few years run out at the end of the year, I reported in April.
• Federal stabilization grants increased compensation for teachers, who for years have made as little as $12 an hour, and helped offset the rising cost of operating a child care center.
• So far, neither the House nor Senate budgets include new funding to offset costs when those grants end, the Observer noted.

Of note: The U.S. has historically treated child care as a private market instead of an essential government service, like K-12 public education, as The 19th News reported. The industry has therefore not received consistent government funding.

Zoom out: Gov. Roy Cooper and nine other Democratic governors signed a June 13 letter asking congressional leaders to maintain the current funding levels and increase recurring funds for child care as they draft their next budget bills, per The 19th News.

• "I'm worried that with these grants [expiring] we're going to fall off a cliff here — and we're going to make the problem that's there already even worse," Cooper told the outlet.

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• Director of Communications for the College of Computing & Informatics at UNC Charlotte. Apply.
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Uptown Cabaret will close after July 1. The strip club's prominent building will be torn down to make way for a transformative two-tower development called Queensbridge Collective, between South End and Uptown. (Observer)

Coca-Cola Consolidated is investing $15 million to expand its regional remanufacturing center at the Monroe Corporate Center, per a statement from the Charlotte-based corporation.

2ULaundry, a Charlotte laundry and dry cleaning startup, is acquiring rival The Folde. The combined entity is positioned for more M&A, CEO Alex Smereczniak tells Axios. (Axios Pro)

Charlotte-based Watts Leaf Architects, PA, a boutique multi-family housing architecture studio, has been acquired by Kaas Wilson Architects, a national multi-family housing architecture firm based in Minnesota.

Philip Blount of Charlotte won gold in the shot put finals at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin on Thursday, according to a statement from the organization.

• Blount, who also has a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo, competed in the quarterfinals of the 100m competition, where he placed eighth.
• Way to go, Philip! 👏

Other athletes and coaches at the Special Olympics World Games:

• Erin Cagle of Wake County (artistic gymnastics) 
• James Price of Davidson County (head bocce coach)
• Jake Harkey of Watauga County (head cycling coach)