Raleigh-born attorney and banker Charles Francis came out swinging against Mayor Nancy McFarlane on Friday, the day he filed to seek her job in the October 10 municipal elections. Francis, fifty-four, a Democrat, officially announced his candidacy this week to oppose McFarlane, sixty, an unaffiliated politician who has announced that she will seek a fourth […]
Thomas Goldsmith
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Exclusive: Wake Missed a Chance to Conduct a Detailed Audit of the Register of Deeds Office, Which Is Now Missing $600K
Annual county financial audits since 2008 failed to uncover at least $600,000 in losses involving loose handling of cash and other accounting failures at the Wake County Register of Deeds office, county officials say. The county apparently chose not to perform a more specific audit of the Register of Deeds office, even though officials could […]
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After Raleigh Approves Its Own Brunch Bill, You Can Now Booze at Ten on Sunday Morning
Raleigh’s brunch people will be able order up a Bloody Mary, a full-bodied Malbec, or even (woah!) a Miller Lite two hours earlier with the city council’s approval Wednesday of its own Brunch Bill, made possible by a change in state law. Senate Bill 155, signed by Governor Cooper June 30, made a host of […]
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Wake County Found an Extra $3 Million. Who Decides How to Spend It—Commissioners or Bureaucrats?
Three million bucks equals less than 1 percent of what Wake County gives its schools every year. Still, when county coffers took in that much more in property taxes this spring than expected, it started a row over county governance. At the heart of the dispute: financial staffers decided to incorporate that money into the […]
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Water Levels Are Declining in North Carolina’s Rivers and Streams, and Scientists Are Concerned
Scientists and environmental activists are increasingly alarmed by the waning amount of water running through North Carolina’s streams and rivers. The deficits aren’t smalland depending on climate, growth, and water use, they could affect the general public. In fact, according to a recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey, water measured in low-flow periods dropped […]
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The $3 Million Question: Why Didn’t Wake Divert a Property Tax Surplus to Its School System?
Three million dollars equals only about 0.0023 percent of the annual allotment that Wake County schools receive from the Board of Commissioners. But when county coffers took in that much more in property taxes this spring than expected, it started a row about county governance that appears far from over. At the heart of the […]
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Zillow Backs Off Threat to Sue McMansion Hell
Zillow will stop its legal dogging of N.C.-bred Kate Morgan, founder of the viral architecture blog McMansion Hell, and Morgan is back online. Artist/sound designer Morgan, of Southern Pines and UNC-Greensboro, received a cease-and-desist letter early this week from the $8 billion Seattle corporation for using pictures derived from Zillow. She shut down her shoestring, […]
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Zillow Threatens N.C.’s Kate Wagner over McMansion Hell Blog
A threatened lawsuit from the giant Zillow corporation over her McMansion Hell blog has landed North Carolina-raised musician-designer-composer Kate Wagner in the midst of a legal wrangle between homegrown cyber-lore and corporate America. Wagner, a UNC-Greensboro grad from Southern Pines, started McMansion Hell less than a year ago as a vehicle for her mordant, satirical, […]
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Wake Officials Had an Extra $3 Million in Property Taxes But Didn’t Give It to the Schools
Do you remember that $1.5 million that Wake officials found to ease the county commission’s rejection of the school district’s full budget request? It was part of a package that allocated $430 million to the schools, about $15 million shy of the school board’s ask. It turns out that the $1.5 million in sales taxes […]
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GOP’s Delay on Health Care Coincides with Raleigh Die-In Outside Tillis’s Office
It was the biggest one yet. That was the word from organizers of Tuesday’s protest at the downtown Raleigh office of U.S. Senator Thom Tillis. About 150 people gathered in front of the federal building on New Bern Avenue for speeches, chants, and songs. The event also offered spins of a “Wheel of Misfortune” and […]