Category: News
Chapel Hill looks at budget cuts
Kirk Ross Staff Writer The Chapel Hill Town Council received a report from Town Manager Roger Stancil outlining how he plans to achieve $2,482,000 in budget cuts for the remainder of this fiscal year. The plan, reviewed at the council’s meeting Monday night at Town Hall, includes $1.8 million in reductions achieved mainly by not…
Housing starts not exactly starting
Margot Carmichael Lester Staff Writer It’s all doom, gloom and pestilence if the latest housing data from the National Association of Homebuilders is to be believed. Overall housing starts for October declined 4.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 791,000 units – and 38 percent less than October 2007’s 1,182,000 units. That’s the…
News brief: Kinnaird and Pollitt to marry
Ellie Kinnaird, the seven-term District 23 state senator and a Carrboro resident, and Daniel Pollitt, Kenan professor of law emeritus at the UNC School of Law and lifelong civil rights and civil liberties advocate, have announced their engagement to be married.
News brief: Aldermen to meet
The Citizen published a day early this week. As the newspaper went to press the Carrboro Board of Aldermen were meeting in Town Hall.
News brief: Whooping cough cases reported
Public health officials are on alert after five cases of whooping cough were reported at Estes Hills Elementary School. Parents have received notification letters encouraging them to monitor their children for symptoms of whooping cough and to report illness to their medical providers. Individuals in close contact with the children with confirmed cases of whooping…
Local unemployment on the rise
By Margot Carmichael Lester Staff Writer The U.S. Department of Labor released staggering unemployment figures for October (240,000 jobs lost nationally). But buried in the data was even more stunning news: September job loss data was revised up to 284,000 – making September 2008 one of the worst month’s for job losses in history. And,…
Burn a few calories for a cause
By Susan Dickson Staff Writer Carrboro —This Thanksgiving Day, those of us hoping to justify indulging in that extra piece of pie can do so with several hundred runners by our side for the 12th annual Gallop and Gorge 8K. The Gallop and Gorge – the final leg of the Cardinal Track Club’s Le Tour…
Tragedy hits Chapel Hill High again
By Susan Dickson Staff Writer CHAPEL HILL —The Chapel Hill High School community is mourning the loss of yet another student after the tragic death of senior Rodney Torain early Sunday morning. Torain, 18, was killed in an automobile crash on Old Greensboro Highway just before 4 a.m. Sunday. Ashley Bynum, 18, was driving Torain…
County wants answers on airport authority
Orange County Board of Commissioners chair Barry Jacobs got the OK to send a letter on behalf of the board to UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp asking for more information about a proposed airport authority that would be charged with siting and building a new airport to replace Horace Williams. The board approved sending the letter…
Tense times in Bingham Township
Airport, transfer station draw intense interest, ire by Kirk Ross Staff Writer CHAPEL HILL —For those living in the roughly 73 square miles that make up southwestern Orange County’s Bingham Township, the next few years seem to promise large and unwelcome changes. Though sparsely populated compared to central and southeastern Orange, residents of the township,…
News brief: Merritt sworn in, hotel hearing delayed
The Chapel Hill Town Council started its Nov. 17 public hearing with the swearing in of new council member James Merritt. Merritt will serve the remaining 13 months of Bill Thorpe’s term. Thorpe passed away in September. Merritt acknowledged Thorpe’s service and said that he wanted to continue Thorpe’s commitment to the town. “I give…
Board tightens fire-safety requirements
By Susan Dickson Staff Writer The Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve an ordinance amending the town fire code that would create additional requirements for fire extinguishers, sprinkler heads and stovetop fire stops and prohibit pine straw and similar materials within 10 feet of any structure. The changes come on the…
News Brief: County awarded housing grant
The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency recently awarded Orange County with $400,000 under the 2008 cycle of the Single-Family Housing Rehabilitation Program. The program provides funds to assist with the rehabilitation of moderately deteriorated homes that are owned and occupied by lower-income households. Typical repairs include roof replacements, door and window replacements and electrical and…
News Brief: Property Revaluations
The next Orange County property revaluation will become effective Jan. 1. Property revaluation is the process of recognizing monetary trends between buyers and sellers and reflecting that on similar properties. The last countywide revaluation was effective as of Jan. 1, 2005, and the market value of Orange County properties has since increased. The Orange County…