With a massive state shortfall looming around the corner, this year’s Legislature will focus, squarely, on the budget. And, in the N.C. House of Representatives, two Durham democrats have retained senior posts that place them in control of the proverbial purse strings. Rep. Mickey Michaux will again be senior chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, […]
Matt Saldaña
Posted inUncategorized
State regulators OK Durham developer’s version of Jordan Lake map
The N.C. Division of Water Quality has signed off on a private developer’s controversial survey that significantly redraws Jordan Lake’s boundaries, paving the way for Durham city and county elected officials to alter the lake’s protected areas as early as April. Simultaneously, an online petition has gathered 1,400 signatures opposing the plan, which signatories say […]
Posted inCulture
Duke holds on to beat Miami in OT thriller
CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM/DURHAM – After losing by 27 to Clemson, Duke looked like it was headed for another loss Saturday against Miami. But after relentless three-point shooting (Duke attempted an astonishing 38 treys in regulation–many of them unassisted shots–and made just 12), and forcing a few key turnovers, Duke was up by three with 31 […]
Posted inNews
State regulators approve Jordan Lake revisions
State regulators have approved a private developer’s survey that significantly re-draws the boundaries of Jordan Lake, and the protected areas that surround the drinking-water supply reservoir. In a letter to the Durham City-County Planning Department (PDF, 580 KB) dated Feb. 4, 2009, the N.C. Division of Water Quality announced that it “accepts and approves your […]
Posted inNews
Bill would deny bail for illegal immigrants
The North Carolina Criminal Procedure Act, subject to the the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, guarantees that all defendants accused of non-capital crimes can post bail, and be released, pending their trial. A bill introduced today by two first-term state representatives would remove this protection for illegal immigrants convicted of any one of a […]
Posted inMusic
Live: Alina Simone comes back
Alina Simone The ArtsCenter, Carrboro Jan. 24, 2009 The homecoming show of Alina Simone, a Ukraine-born songwriter who lived in Carrboro before moving to Brooklyn last year, often felt like a performance intended more for her living room than The ArtsCenter’s mostly empty mid-sized theater: She joked with friends and family members in the audience […]
Posted inNews
With its usual rhetoric, ALIPAC berates Chatham Commission over 287(g) resolution
Sound the alarm: Chatham County is now “ground zero invasion central for North Carolina,” according to the president of a Raleigh-based anti-immigration group. The comment and others that compared Chatham to the Soviet Union, and human rights activists to “foot soldiers” in a war for illegal immigrationcame from William Gheen, head of Americans for Legal […]
Posted inNews
Of blood and chickens
City Council was abuzz Monday night, as Mayor Bill Bell told Durhamites to “prepare for the worst” in his annual State of the City address (read the Indy write-up here), and a standing-room-only crowd stuck around to lend their support for a code amendment that would allow backyard chickens within city limits. After Bell’s dire […]
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Bill Bell: The only certainty is uncertainty
As President Barack Obama seeks Senate approval for an $825 billion stimulus package to kickstart a recession-plagued U.S. economy, Durham Mayor Bill Bell told a packed City Hall audience Monday that, “in a sense, city government can provide our own economic stimulus for our communityif executed properly.” The declaration, which came during Bell’s annual “State […]
Posted inNews
Day 1: Stam invokes Defense of Marriage, and other notes from the Ledge
Well, that was fast. Within one hour of the 2009-10 N.C. General Assembly’s opening session–and shortly after being defeated, along party lines, by Joe Hackney, D-Chatham, for the position of House Speaker–Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake, invoked the Defense of Marriage Act. He did so while arguing, fruitlessly, against temporarily approving the legislature’s house rules, a […]
