In the end, maybe it was the riot gear that doomed Jose Lopez. When you think of the Durham police chiefforced into retirement at year’s end by City Manager Thomas Bonfield last weekit’s hard not to think of those cops, clad for combat in some war-ravaged nation, parading to disperse protesters with teargas in December […]
Billy Ball
Bio: Billy Ball is an INDY Week staff writer.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/billy_k_ball
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With the election looming, Chapel Hill Alliance for a Livable Town shuns incumbents in its endorsements
No big surprises today, as the Chapel Hill Alliance for a Livable Town, better known as CHALT, announced its formal endorsements in the town’s races this fall. The grassroots group, which has hinged its platform on criticism of the Town Council and Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, endorsed a spate of challengers for the November election, shunning […]
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In separation agreement, Chief Lopez and City of Durham agree not to publicly bash each other
You might have been surprised by this week’s announcement that Durham Police Department Chief Jose Lopez was being forced into retirement at the end of the year. Then again, if you’ve followed Lopez’s eight-year career with the city—rising violent crime numbers, great racial tumult, reported allegations of racial profiling and an increasingly chilly relationship with […]
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Budget compromise comes as a blow to mental health funding in prisons
We knew there would be casualties. Consider mental health reform in North Carolina prisons to be at least a partial casualty of the Senate and House budget compromise. The agreement announced this week allocates about $11.9 million for reform efforts in the next two years. Based on the proposal, which Gov. Pat McCrory has indicated […]
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Tasers, trespassing and Twitter at the Harris Teeter
Adrienne Harreveld heard the electrified clap of the Taser. When she turned around, she saw Deonte Rashad Holder, a 24-year-old Durham man, writhing on the floor near the salad bar at a Harris Teeter off Ninth Street. Three Durham police officers stood over him. “He couldn’t open his eyes,” she told the INDY. “He was […]
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Another North Carolina county moves to pass fracking moratorium
Chatham and Lee counties may soon have company in their attempts to take advantage of a loophole in the state’s fracking law. With Chatham approving a temporary moratorium on drilling last month and Lee County considering a similar ban on Monday, leaders in rural Stokes County near the N.C.-Virginia border may do the same. Per […]
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Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez is out
After an often torturous tenure at the helm of the Durham Police Department—including, most recently, last week’s controversial Tasering of an unarmed black man at a Durham Harris Teeter—Chief Jose Lopez Sr. is out. Durham City manager Thomas Bonfield announced Tuesday morning that he had reached a separation agreement with Lopez, which would result in […]
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Environment N.C. report bullish on N.C. solar power
Just in time for legislators’ ongoing discussion over rolling back renewable energy tax credits, environmentalists are pushing back. Hard. On Thursday, the nonprofit Environment N.C. and a couple of legislators, a Republican and a Democrat, released a report that touts North Carolina’s vast potential for solar energy production. The report ranked the state fourth nationally […]
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McCrory administration member warns of leftie conspiracy
You really can’t make this stuff up. Via N.C. Policy Watch, we’ve learned that McCrory administration member Ilario Pantano, the assistant secretary of veterans affairs for the Department of Administration, has some, um, unique views. Enjoy this half-hour clip from Pantano’s address earlier this month to the Cape Fear Christian Men’s Fellowship in Wilmington, in […]
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Chapel Hill Councilman Lee Storrow pledges to stay in this fall’s race for re-election, despite DWI arrest last month.
Chapel Hill Town Councilman Lee Storrow hears the calls for him to stay out of this fall’s race for re-election following last month’s arrest for driving while impaired. He chooses not to heed them however. In an exclusive interview Tuesday with the Indy, Storrow said he will continue his campaign, less than a week after […]
