Stimulus Package Swamping Free Tax Preparers

The lines form early in the morning on the third floor of New Hanover County's main library. By the time the doors open, the murmuring crowd resembles fans waiting for a geriatric rock concert.

Here, as tax preparer Kevin O'Grady put it, "is where the rubber meets the road" on the federal stimulus package...

Read the full story here.

New Hanover County And Strickland Family Settle

New Hanover County has settled with the family of Peyton Strickland for $2.45 million.

The county’s insurer will pay the nearly $2.45 million settlement with the county paying a $25,000 deductible.

The settlement will be presented to county commissioners at the March 10th meeting.

Read more about the settlement and hear Sheriff Sid Causey's taped statment
here.

UNCW Takes Inventory of Its Forest

University of North Carolina, Wilmington has announced that it will take inventory of the 140-acre forest on campus.

UNCW Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo says the move is in response to outrage that UNCW is planning to build dorms on 13 acres of long leaf pine forest currently used for research.

Read the full story
here.

Walking the Halls: Pender High School

Walking up to Pender High School where it stands, nearly alone alongside Highway 53, the scene can appear almost a little desolate.

Flat fields spread into the distance and a chilly wind sweeps past, rich with the smell of invisible hog farms. The life in this little collection of buildings is hardly apparent. But let the buzzer sound for break, and suddenly everything is chaos, action, noise...

Read or listen to the full story here.

City and Developers Debate Proposed Downtown Code

Historically-sensitive and pedestrian-friendly, or unrealistic and bad for business. Wilmington's planners and at least one developer see very different futures when they look at the city's proposed development code for downtown.

The draft land development code Wilmington will present at a public meeting tonight was designed by planners to give the city more control over how the central business district will develop in the coming decades, especially the rapidly growing north end around the PPD building...

Read the full story here.

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Public Input Meeting on the Central Business District Regulations:

Tuesday, February 26th

6:30 pm

Wilmington City Council Chambers

Thalian Hall

Rep. McIntyre Wants FISA Revisions

WILMINGTON, NC (2008-02-21) Representative Mike McIntyre says he wants Congress to strike a balance between individual privacy and national security when revising the new foreign surveillance law.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, regulates the government's ability to spy on Americans. McIntyre voted to extend a revised version of FISA for three weeks, but the extension was voted down.

Read the full story here.

NC NAACP President Wants Legislative Committee Stream

WILMINGTON, NC (2008-02-20) The head of the North Carolina NAACP says he wants lawmakers to stream legislative committee meetings online.

North Carolina NAACP President William Barber says too many bills die in committee and never make it to the floor for open discussion.

Read the full story here.