North Carolina Placebook

I’m leaving on a jet plane…to go to Milwaukee. There’s also a train, Seattle, Chicago and all the places we can see outside our windows involved in the next few days. With that being said. I’m going to suspend this blog/letter until I return on next Wednesday.

Want to help me keep this up as I travel around and get adjust to KC? Let me know in the comments, or on whatever channel you encounter this (email reply, Facebook comment, tweet). Let’s make this thing a community effort. Because as we go into another campaign season, as we continue to see people lose rights, lives, livelihoods and the like and because we all need to take care of each other, this should be a community thing.

In the meantime, today’s collection of news:

Greensboro’s civil rights museum is still having financial issues. The latest.

Today in resignations: The Guilford County DHHS director and state Secretary of Transportation Tony Tata.

Today in the Greensboro council race: A first-time candidate in the at-large race.

What the state’s elections director has to say about preventing voter fraud.

Asheville’s River Arts District is experiencing growing pains as infrastructure is improved in the area.

Changes are coming to how executions are handled at the state prison.

More scrutiny for the former president of Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington.

And finally, private investigators could be banned from using GPS trackers in their work.

Stay informed about North Carolina! Get this and other great facts and news about North Carolina in your inbox every weekday by clicking here.

Burger King is not Biscuitville. That is all. It is sufficient to feed me on the mornings I’m in a rush and cereal just can’t do it. I shouldn’t write these in the morning. All I can think about is breakfast. And the news. Let’s all think about the news for today:

The director of the NC Zoo is retiring. Also retiring, the head of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce.

Filling for city council elections has started in Greensboro.

The plaintiffs have rested their case in the federal voting rights trial happening in Winston-Salem.

UNC-Greensboro has installed a cistern to collect rainwater. While this is low-tech, the water is being used to water plants that aren’t on an irrigation system and it keeps the school from purchasing water from the city.

Commissioners in Stokes County, just northwest of Winston-Salem, have voiced their support for regulations against fracking in their county.

Thunder Road, the iconic coaster at the Carowinds Amusement Park on the NC/SC border, has closed.

Today in libraries: The Forsyth County Central Library will be demolished soon, so construction can start on the new one; meanwhile this library in Asheville is too small and needs more money.

The Charlotte City Council has committed funds to support the 2017 NBA All-Star Game.

This is why your eggs are expensive right now.

The State Department of Cultural Resources is being sued by a Florida company that actually found the Queen Anne’s Revenge, what is believed to be the ship of the pirate Blackbeard.

And finally, questions answered as Raleigh moves forward with changing its zoning maps.

Stay informed about North Carolina! Get this and other great facts and news about North Carolina in your inbox every weekday by clicking here.

Happy Monday folks! Today marks exactly one month since I moved to Kansas City. In this month, I watched and gasped along with everyone back home in Greensboro as we almost lost the ability to choose how we wanted to vote for our city council. Now that this is no longer a concern(for now), I feel a bit better being away. I do miss it. But it has been fun and I have adopted a style of barbecue. I’m still trying to get folks to put slaw on hot dogs here. And of course, no Biscuitville and all the old IHOP’s might be gone when I get back.

Yes, I do realize how hungry I sound. But I am getting fed. Anyway, feed your mind with some news:

Again, Greensboro may have its old council structure back, but it could still be tampered with in other ways.

The oldest building at Old Salem has been discovered.

The Asheville area is officially in a drought.

As of right now in the state budget, state employees hired this year and thereafter would have reduced opportunities for health insurance and retirement pensions.

Fayetteville’s City Council may issue a $45 million parks bond.

And finally, the City of Raleigh is seeking new leadership for its business incubator.

Stay informed about North Carolina! Get this and other great facts and news about North Carolina in your inbox every weekday by clicking here.

Happy Friday! Go forth into the weekend with some news:

An injunction has been granted for the law changing the Greensboro City Council’s structure. The council procedures will remain as is for this election year, although a full trial on the issue will occur before 2017 and other laws still pending in the General Assembly could still change this ruling.

A bill protecting Confederate Monuments statewide has become law.

A state court has upheld the school vouchers law.

Republican presidential candidates are outraging Democratic ones statewide.

Two adjacent neighborhoods in Charlotte, one story of economic inequality.

Wilmington’s bus drivers could go on strike.

Judge Howard Manning, the state supreme court judge most well known for his governance of education law in the state, among other major issues, will retire. He will still monitor the education case in his retirement.

And finally, with this being the weekend, don’t you wish you had this treehouse to retreat to?

Stay informed about North Carolina! Get this and other great facts and news about North Carolina in your inbox every weekday by clicking here.

Happy Thursday! Just the news today:

Think Progress takes a stab at explaining our federal voting rights court case and why it’s significant.

Speaking of elections, what the Raleigh city council field looks like at the end of their filing deadline.

Meanwhile, the first hearing in the Greensboro City Council federal lawsuit is today.

The small Triad-area community of Gibsonville (straddling the borders of Guilford and Alamance County and viewable by via the Carolinian and Piedmont Amtrak trains) wants visitors.

The changes the state wants to make to I-26 in and around Asheville.

Asheville folks will get some answers at a commission hearing on their recent 23% water rate jump.

Meanwhile, a new bill with a new charter for Fayetteville’s public utility company is coming from the General Assembly.

A Democrat from Tryon will run in the currently Republican-held 10th Congressional District.

Driving without a license could mean instant jail time soon.

More federal medical research funds could be on their way to the state from Congress.

And finally, what custom license plates are currently banned in North Carolina.

Stay informed about North Carolina! Get this and other great facts and news about North Carolina in your inbox every weekday by clicking here.

Good morning folks! It’s the middle of the week and if things aren’t going so well so far, that could change. Also, just a reminder, Get Around North Carolina, the first travel guide for North Carolina Placebook, won’t be coming out tomorrow. There’s so much I want to put into it, it’s taking even longer to write. But it’s coming. What I do have for today (and tomorrow) is the news:

So drones won’t be coming to the Greensboro Fire and Police Departments, for now.

As of now, Forsyth County, where Winston-Salem is, will only have one early voting office, the actual Board of Elections, this fall.

The Wilmington City Council has voted to oppose offshore drilling.

New Hanover County has a new Board of Elections and in their first meeting, they’ve made a number of regulation changes.

Several Raleigh residents expressed displeasure at the city’s latest re-zoning plan last night.

How the state’s ports will benefit in the proposed budget.

The Durham VA office is moving into the Durham VA hospital, but not closing as previously reported.

Neither Governor McCrory or Attorney General Roy Cooper seem to have released enough public records according to two different groups.

And finally, according to this report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, child well-being in the state is not good and has fallen over past few years.

Stay informed about North Carolina! Get this and other great facts and news about North Carolina in your inbox every weekday by clicking here.

Good morning fine people! I’m back on The Black Urbanist and  it’s serious. But there’s hope and people doing new, positive things. Some of that is below in the news. Some of what’s below is just news:

The DMV’s machine that sends new license tag stickers is broken. They know why some of you are driving around with expired stickers and they say they are sorry.

How Guilford County’s Family Justice Center, a multi-agency collaboration that seeks to make the process of dealing with domestic violence situations easier, is already making a huge community impact.

The Bookmobile is back at that Raleigh apartment complex I mentioned yesterday.

The Senate Finance committee is examining the terms of a bill that will allow disabled folks and their families entry into a federal savings program that will allow them to offset living costs, but not lose federal benefits.

Today’s update on the federal voting rights trial happening in Winston-Salem.

Asheville’s new police chief is on the job.

The Yadkin County Community Hospital is working to open again and is still in working shape.

The chair of the Senate Rules committee has flat out stripped blame from Governor McCrory on issues related to the state budget.

The Charlotte streetcar has already had an accident, but thankfully with no fatalities.

Brunswick County has merged their separate economic development groups into one entity.

And finally, we will still be one of the major states in play when it comes time to vote for the US president, but our regular primary date will stay the same.

Stay informed about North Carolina! Get this and other great facts and news about North Carolina in your inbox every weekday by clicking here.

Happy Monday! Here’s your news to start the week!

A Virginia-based artist is building a public art sculpture with ladders in Downtown Greensboro. Ladders donated to the project by community members and ladders that will either be returned to the owners or donated to Habitat for Humanity after the few weeks the  sculpture stands.

A long vacant and troubled downtown Greensboro building is getting a complete renovation and will serve as a new corporate headquarters.

Also in Greensboro, one of the area’s longest bridges will bring the expansion of the area’s urban freeway loop over a major wetland site.

A bookmobile, but not an ice cream truck, was banned from a Raleigh apartment complex over a policy dictating that the management company must sponsor all outside vendors, non-profit or for-profit.

With school vouchers still on the drawing board, many parents statewide are approaching another school year with anticipation of the funding coming through.

The City of Charlotte is cracking down on hookah bars and their lack of regulations.

Although the streetcar was the major focus for transportation in Charlotte last week, the Blue Line light rail extension is also attracting a lot of development.

In this Eastern North Carolina county, registered Republicans now outnumber registered Democrats.

Two Eastern North Carolina towns, that at one point had decided to merge, are now at odds with each other over a variety of issues.

And finally, two Raleigh homeless men have started a t-shirt company.

Stay informed about North Carolina! Get this and other great facts and news about North Carolina in your inbox every weekday by clicking here.

Woo Friday! Whatever this week has brought, I hope today either adds to its greatness or makes it better. And that the weekend is good. I’m still working on Get Around North Carolina. And relaxing. But before that happens, your news (and a picture of the Greensboro Science Center’s baby gibbon):

Remember Heritage House, the condo complex that had become a slum in Greensboro and the city decided to condemn it and take it over? Well, it may be sitting there empty for a while and it may cost more than planned to re-develop. Also, current plans don’t dictate it becoming a residence again for anyone.

Also on a re-opening delay, the downtown Winston-Salem branch of the Forsyth County library. Right now it MAY reopen in two years.

The member of the State Board of Elections who was found to have multiple conflicts-of-interest on matters before the board, that he didn’t excuse himself from, has resigned.

Several more counties could become exempt from requiring residents to have annual car emissions inspections.

Buncombe County, home of the Asheville metro region, is second in the state in paying companies to do business in the county.

Crowdfunding for major business concerns such as real estate could be coming to North Carolina soon.

And finally, Fayetteville State University has accepted sanctions brought on it due to failure to comply with provisions of the federal Title IX law, a 1972 law that dictates equal treatment of men and women in programs that receive federal funding. In this school’s case, they will be required to provide the same support and amenities to the softball program as they do the baseball program.

Stay informed about North Carolina! Get this and other great facts and news about North Carolina in your inbox every weekday by clicking here.