Editor’s note: Comments were closed on this story because of the level of vitriol and orchestrated ad hominem attacks. An accomplished charter school in Greensboro is eyeing the former Exploris Middle School in Raleigh for a new campus that could open this fall. But parents have raised questions about the quality of some of its […]
Samiha Khanna
Email: [email protected]
Posted inNews
751 South opponents begin appeals process
An attorney for plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit over the controversial 751 South development filed a notice in court Friday that they’ll appeal a judge’s ruling in favor of Durham County and the developers. Property owners near the land to be developed, including the Chancellor’s Ridge Homeowners Association, sued the county in 2010 over the […]
Posted inNews
$142K in property taxes past due for 751 South
Durham County property taxes were due Jan. 5, but more than a few property owners haven’t gotten around to paying them, including Southern Durham Development. SDD owns at least 170 acres of land in South Durham where the company is looking to build its controversial 751 South development. According to tax records on the Durham […]
Posted inGuides
Past Winner: Eddie Davis, Class of ’85
Eddie Davis spent 30 years in North Carolina classrooms, guiding students through To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth and other classics as a high school English teacher. But it’s history that seems to draw Davis’ intrigue these days: There’s so much in Durham that remains widely unknown or uncelebrated, he says. So, just as a teacher […]
Posted inGuides
Charmaine Fuller Cooper
When Charmaine Fuller Cooper opens the files on her desk, the words she finds inside sear like a slap across the face. Promiscuous. Unattractive. Imbecile. She imagines how the people whose names are printed on these medical records would feel if they read what others thought of them. For decades, doctors, teachers and social workers […]
Posted inNews
Judge: Controversial rezoning for 751 South was legal
file illustration by V.C. Rogers Editor’s note: This story has been modified since its original post. A judge in Durham dismissed a lawsuit Friday (PDF) that opponents of the controversial 751 South development near Jordan Lake filed in 2010. The ruling means the judge agreed with the defendants, that the actions Durham County Commissioners took […]
Posted inUncategorized
County investigation hints at impropriety at DSS in Durham
An investigation that Durham County commissioners hoped would restore public trust in county government might have also raised concerns. The report, released last week, points to possible impropriety by Joe Bowser, himself a county commissioner, and paints an unflattering picture of the management of the Durham County Department of Social Services (DSS). Bowser, who is […]
Posted inNews
Task force meets Tuesday on compensation for N.C. sterilization victims
file photo by Adam David KissickElaine Riddick, a victim of forced sterilization, speaks before a state task force that could recommend compensation for the nearly 3,000 living victims sterilized through the N.C. Eugenics Board. A state task force will meet Tuesday to decide what compensation the state government should offer victims of North Carolina’s eugenics […]
Posted inNews
UPDATE: DSS investigation: legal missteps, unfair salaries and benefits, and possible cronyism
Tupungato via Dreamstime UPDATE, 1/9To update our previous report, Durham County Internal Auditor Richard Edwards confirmed today that the unnamed commissioner he mentions in his report as asking department heads to consider hiring specific people is Commissioner Joe Bowser. According to Edwards, Bowser approached the director of The Durham Center, which provides mental health services […]
Posted inNews
Lawmakers to make final decision on Racial Justice Act today
File photo by Jenny WarburgDeath chamber at Central Prison, Raleigh State lawmakers will meet Wednesday at 2 p.m. to decide whether to uphold the historic Racial Justice Act, a law passed in 2009 to spare the lives of death-row inmates who could prove that their trials, convictions or sentences were influenced by racial prejudice. Under […]