Sara Wood

Most people do not dream of moving into a nursing home. But it’s a reality for half of the population, and the costs can be enormous. In this edition of Business Brief, WHQR’s Sara Wood talks to Susan Silver, the director of Aging in Place Downtown. She’s in the process of gathering resources and momentum for the non-profit. It aims to help Wilmington’s elderly population age in place, in their homes. To begin, Silver is focusing on downtown.

For more information on Aging in Place Downtown, you can send an email to: aginginplacedowntown@hotmail.com.

When author Ben Miller was nine years old he became fascinated with a new invention made by a classmate’s father: a mail-order ice rink. In The Reinvention of Ice, Miller writes about living vicariously through the rink as an escape from the fragmentation of his home life in Davenport, Iowa.  Miller first published the story in the UNCW-based literary journal Ecotone. Miller spoke to WHQR’s Sara Wood about how this story became the impetus for his memoir, River Bend Chronicle, recently published by UNCW’s imprint Lookout Books.      

A new affiliation between UNCW and the Fayetteville VA Medical Center opens the door for students, researchers and VA staff to work collaboratively. The agreement, signed Monday, is a collaboration that aims to improve health care for veterans.

A hearing for a marine charged with desecrating human casualties in Afghanistan was held yesterday at Camp Lejeune. Sgt. Richard Roberts is accused of filming footage of four marines urinating on deceased Taliban fighters in 2011. WHQR’s Sara Wood reports while the video shocked viewers when it appeared on YouTube in 2012, Roberts’ attorney says the marine’s act was a coping mechanism.

A proposed amendment putting more regulations on abortion providers in North Carolina passed a first reading in the state senate yesterday. WHQR’s Sara Wood reports sponsors of the bill say it’s an important step in protecting women’s health, but opponents call it another tactic to decrease women’s access to abortions.

The most significant part of the proposed amendment requires physicians performing abortions to gain hospital admitting privileges to a facility within 30 miles of the clinic.

As the federal government continues debating gun control, several local agencies gathered for a school safety summit in Wilmington on Tuesday at Cape Fear Community College. Attendees represented various organizations, from school administration and law enforcement, to mental health and the court system and  it marks the beginning of a community dialogue to assess school safety, focusing on prevention rather than a cure.