The conversation grew testy Monday during a typically clubby work session of the Wake County Board of Commissioners. Commissioner James West, a former commission chairman, was asking seemingly routine questions about funding for community projects when Sig Hutchinson, the current chairman, asked West to be recognized by the chair before continuing to ask questions. West […]
Thomas Goldsmith
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Team USA Trans Athlete Chris Mosier: Laws Like HB 2, HB 142 Create an Atmosphere of Fear in North Carolina
The recently passed HB 142, along with its predecessor, the notorious HB 2, has created an atmosphere of fear among transgender athletes that even affects their ability to compete, according to Chris Mosier, the first transgender athlete to qualify for Team USA. Speaking on a conference call with journalists Friday, along with state and local […]
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The Student-Run Project Unity Aims to Smooth Racial Tensions in Wake Schools
If plans to cool racial and ethnic tensions in Wake County schools are to succeed, people like Alfredo Pinon Monroy will have to be part of the change. Monroy, a senior at Garner Magnet High School, is one of the organizers of Project Unity, an effort to connect people from different backgrounds and introduce them […]
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Powerful People Have Pledged to Help Residents of Forest Hills Apartments, But Low-Income People Struggle in Wake’s Pricey Housing Market
Residents of Forest Hills Apartments in Garner appeared March 20 with little fanfare to tell Wake County commissioners their story: they’d received short notice that they’d have to pay much higher rents and/or move. Ten days later, dozens of residents drew a larger crowd to a meeting in a Garner church, and action at the […]
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Wake County Commissioner Matt Calabria Wants to Restart Jail GED Programs
Wake County jail inmates could receive life skills training, GED prep, and other classes from Wake Tech instructors under a proposal from Wake County Commissioner Matt Calabria. The idea, Calabria told commissioners at Monday’s meeting, is to help inmates return to a productive role in society instead of showing up again in the criminal justice […]
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Wake County Eyes New Schools, Increased Spending Plan
Wake County Public Schools Superintendent Jim Merrill on Tuesday asked county commissioners for a hefty funding hike for the budget year that starts July 1, citing the need to build schools and to support teachers, staff, magnet school programs, and equity efforts. Information on the additional $56 million, as well as this year’s budget, is […]
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Wake County Register of Deeds Office Under SBI Investigation
The State Bureau of Investigation has started a criminal investigation into possible financial irregularities in the Wake County Register of Deeds office, after Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman and county manager Jim Hartmann put the agency on notice of problems there. Meanwhile, Register of Deeds Laura Riddick, who’s held the elected office since 1996, […]
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Forest Hills Apartments Residents Speak, People in Power Respond.
Residents of Forest Hills Apartments in Garner appeared March 20 with little fanfare to tell Wake County commissioners their story: they’d received short notice that they’d have to pay much higher rents and/or move out of the place that had long been home to many of them. By Wednesday night, ten days later, dozens of […]
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The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber’s 2015 Young Professional of the Year Moves Low-Income Residents Out of Subsidized Housing in Garner
It’s easy to see why a developer would be attracted to the Forest Hills Apartments complex in Garner. Not far from the heavily trafficked intersection of U.S. 70 and Vandora Springs Road, the apartments are within walking distance of a Food Lion, several restaurants, a church, a dentist, and Garner’s first bottle shop, the Beerded […]
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RIP Al Adams, a Progressive Champion Who Fought to Merge the Raleigh and Wake School Systems
Five-time Wake County legislator Joseph Allen Adams, eighty-five, received tributes from the likes of Governor Cooper and former governor Jim Hunt after his death Saturday. Adams was hailedaccuratelyas a lifetime progressive and as a lawyer who helped integrate the Wake County Bar Association, as well as for his work, along with five other Wake County […]