The Orange County Department of Social Services is updating its Disaster Special Needs Registry in time for hurricane season. The confidential registry is used to contact individuals with special needs who, in the event of a disaster, may require assistance beyond what is provided in a standard Red Cross shelter. Individuals will only be included…
Category: News
News briefs: 8/16/07
Back to school day The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools PTA Council will sponsor its annual “Back to School Day†on Saturday, August 25 at University Mall. Students and parents are invited to the gathering, which will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the mall on Estes Drive. Representatives from each of the district’s…
Land & Table Briefs: 8/16/07
Tree pruning workshop The International Society of Arboriculture Southern Chapter, in partnership with Elon University Botanical Garden, Duke Energy, Alamance County Cooperative Extension and the Bartlett Tree Expert Company is presenting a basic tree climbing and pruning workshop. A registration fee of $35 per person includes lunch. The workshop will be held at Yeager Hall…
Orange County farmers facing crop losses, hay shortages
Orange County farmers have had a tough year already and without significant rain may face an unusually heavy loss of crops, county agriculture officials say. Karen McAdams, an Orange County-based extension agent for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, said some parts of the county have only had a half-inch of rain since the first…
Contaminated soil moving out
State plans to examine groundwater contamination at former Fidelity Street cleaners Roll-offs with contaminated soil are due to depart Carrboro before the weekend. Photo by Kirk Ross By Kirk Ross Staff Writer State officials say that soil removed from a former dry cleaners building on Fidelity Street will be on it’s way out of the…
County election board settles on post office for early-voting site
After searching for an alternative site to the Morehead Planetarium that’s near campus and downtown Chapel Hill, the Orange County Board of Elections decided on Tuesday night to set up an early-voting center in the lobby of the Franklin Street Post Office. Barry Garner, the county’s elections director, said the board reviewed several sites, including…
Planning board to review Alberta
It’s named after the giant mill that used to occupy the site, but the only knitting and yarn-spinning likely to be done will be in the living rooms and kitchens of its occupants. Alberta, a four-story condominium and retail project planned for the lot at the corner of Roberson Street and Sweet Bay Place, goes…
News briefs: 8/09/07
IFC hires new development director The Inter-Faith Council for Social Service has hired Kimberly Shaw as the agency’s new development director. Shaw started work on Monday. She has nearly 20 years of experience in development and marketing in the nonprofit sector and also has worked for the Carolina Theatre, the North Carolina Museum of Life…
Land & Table Briefs: 8/09/07
Fourth Potluck in a Pasture summer supper The fourth “Potluck in a Pasture†summer supper will be held Sunday, August 19 from 6-8 p.m. at Harland’s Creek Farm west of Pittsboro. ChathamArts sponsors the series of suppers, which take place every third Sunday of each month this summer. Participants can tour the hosting farm and…
OWASA says conservation efforts paying off
By Kirk Ross Staff Writer The steady pleas for water conservation seem to be having an effect, according to officials with the Orange Water and Sewer Authority. So much so that the areas served by the utility may not see the same kind of mandatory conservation requirements as other locales. As of Wednesday, OWASA’s daily…
Candidates object to campaign bill
New rules for Carrboro campaigns sent back to House committee, measure will not pass this session By Kirk Ross Staff Writer A campaign finance bill that would limit the amount of contributions and lower the threshold for reporting contributors was pulled from the North Carolina House of Representatives calendar last week, making it unlikely the…
County officials leaning toward transfer tax
Options being studied in wake of state budget bill passed this week By Kirk Ross Staff Writer Orange County commissioners say they’ll take a good, long look at how the recently passed state budget will affect the county’s bottom line before proposing any new taxes, but a majority of the board is at least philosophically…
Trustees weigh in on Carolina North
By Kirk Ross Staff Writer The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees got their first look at the latest plans for Carolina North last Thursday and approved a new site for a proposed Innovations Center, which would become the first project at the school’s new campus. Trustees also voted in Roger…
Carey to run for Senate
By Kirk Ross Staff Writer Saying he’s ready to move to the next level of public service, Orange County Commissioner Moses Carey announced last week that he’ll seek the Democratic nomination to the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Ellie Kinnaird. Though she has not made it official, Kinnaird has spoken openly about retiring after…
IFC fires employee over alleged theft
The Inter-Faith Council for Social Service has fired an employee for allegedly stealing money from the agency’s crisis intervention fund. The IFC, which runs the county’s homeless shelter, deposits about $150,000 into the crisis intervention fund each year. The fund helps people in crisis pay their rent and utility bills.