WakeCounty Public Schools principals will converge on Cary Thursday to discuss the implications of two recent, high-profile episodes of racial disruption—incidents that have brought lost trust and even tears to some system parents. Board of Education Chair Monika Johnson-Hostler said Tuesday that the principals, Superintendent Jim Merrill and other leaders will look for answers in […]
Thomas Goldsmith
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Racially Charged Incident Videotaped in Wake School
Two incidents ofracial violence that have unfolded in a single week in Wake County Public Schools—both videotaped and widely circulated on social media and one including a chant of “KKK!”—have administrators seeking ways to stop such incidents from occurring in the system. But whatever next steps Wake County officials undertake will come in addition to […]
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Wake County Residents: Make Schools Safe Zones for Undocumented Children
Several people spoke out Tuesday to urge members of the Wake County Board of Education to make every county school a safe zone for undocumented children. But Martha Hernandez’s remarks seemed to hit the hardest. Hernandez, whose daughter, Alejandra, attends Centennial Middle School, spoke in Spanish, her words repeated in English by Angela Mills, an […]
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With a Second Wave of Growth Coming to Downtown Raleigh, Orage Quarles III Takes the Helm of the DRA
Orage Quarles III recalls hitting the rubber-chicken circuit of dinners at community and business groups in 2000, when he came to Raleigh from California to become publisher of The News & Observer. Publishers of dailies often attend meet-and-greets of this sort, but Quarles arrived with something of an unusual message for the community’s leading lights. […]
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Activists Urge Wake Schools to Become Safe Zones for Undocumented Students
A far-reaching coalition of activists will urge Wake County school board members at a Tuesday meeting to make each of its schools a “safe zone” for undocumented students. Board members received notification in a Friday email from than two-dozen social justice and immigration rights groups including El Pueblo, Great Schools in Wake, and the Coalition […]
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A Conversation With Former News and Observer Publisher Orage Quarles III On His First Day as Interim Head of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance
Orage Quarles III is back downtown—and on the move. The president and publisher of The News & Observer from 2000 until 2016, Quarles recently accepted the post of interim director of the nonprofit Downtown Raleigh Alliance. Wednesday was Quarles’s first day in his downtown office on Wilmington Street. In September, he and the DRA’s eleven […]
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Born in the Shadow of N.C. State, Steeped in Parties and Punk Rock, Raleigh’s Historic Maiden Lane Will Soon Perish in the Name of Progress
To the casual observer, Maiden Lane doesn’t look like anything special. It’s a single block that turns off Hillsborough Street, tucked behind the boutique Aloft hotel, across from N.C. State’s Memorial Bell Tower. There’s history here, but it’s the sort that takes extra attention to recognize. Maiden Lane’s value resides in the stories of its […]
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Raleigh Raises Fees on Developers
Representatives of developers maintained at a Tuesday Raleigh City Council meeting that they are already paying plenty in fees to Raleigh, just before council members agreed to proceed with a planned $6 million hike in development services charges that will go into effect in July. Developer Michael Kaney, who served on a committee that advised […]
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Wake is North Carolina’s Healthiest County, But There’s Room for Improvement
Knowing that living in one zip code instead of another a few miles away can result in years of shorter life expectancy, Wake County is putting together a task force to deal with health disparities that could be touched by many segments of county government. The Wake Board of Commissioners agreed to set up the […]
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Raleigh Wants Developers to Pay More. Developers Say This Might Hurt the City’s Affordable Housing Goals.
It costs money to pull permits and carry out inspections for new building, whether it’s a $150,000 house or a $20 million apartment complex. Proposed changes to what Raleigh charges for these tasks would hike fees for developers by $6 million annually to meet what the city considers its cost of doing the work. With […]