Local

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – Dance and photography classes for the girls upstairs, health care and hot meals for the elders downstairs. That's the future for the Adrian B. Rhodes Reserve Center, as seen by a committee of City Council members who judged proposals for the space.

Their plan for re-use splits the main compound behind Legion Stadium between programs run by Elder Haus and Girls Inc., with a few offices for the city's Department of Parks and Recreation added in.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – It takes Margaret Rogers 25 minutes to cross the street.

That's 16th and 17th streets to be precise. She lives on one side, her doctor's office is on the other, and in between are a score of busy lanes of traffic she's afraid to cross in her wheelchair.

So instead she heads to the bus stop. That journey takes her down 16th, along Shipyard, to Carolina Beach Road. Nearly a half an hour later, she's at her appointment. And the return trip is more of the same.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – New Hanover County has stopped issuing all new building permits in the eastern part of the county until the area's troubled sewer line is fixed.

The decision to halt all new connections to the NEI comes a day after the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources sent a letter requesting such a ban.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – Local dignitaries, and the media, got a rare glimpse behind the doors of PPD's new world headquarters, as the company celebrated its official grand opening in downtown Wilmington.

From the top floor of the new PPD building you can see the water tower in Carolina Beach, 15 miles south.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – Last November, carpenter Robert Ham started suffering from severe hernias. Uninsured and living paycheck to paycheck, the eight thousand dollar operation was out of the question, unless he became poor enough to qualify for indigent care.

Which is exactly what he did.

When the pain got too bad for him to buckle on his tool belt, Ham quit his job, moved his belongings into storage, and checked into a homeless shelter.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – More than a hundred people a day pass through Good Shepherd Ministries' lunch line. They range from teenagers in hip-hop gear to local ministers to ragged men and women.

The soup kitchen doesn't make any distinctions about whom it serves. But a new effort to help the homeless does. Local governments, non-profits, and businesses have teamed up to tackle what's called 'chronic homelessness.'

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – Bad drivers in unincorporated parts of New Hanover County need no longer fear the logo of the Wilmington Police Department.

A three-year-old mutual aid agreement giving the WPD the power to enforce traffic and other laws outside city limits is being terminated by Sheriff Sid Causey.

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – Wilmington developer Gene Merritt says he's willing to open his wallet to keep the H.G. Wright's paddlewheel in Wilmington.

Merritt says he felt like he had to do something to keep the 125-year-old wheel in Wilmington after reading a newspaper article about it being moved to the state's Transportation Museum.

I was kind of shocked and disappointed that no one had discussed this at all in the community, and I was hoping that they would have, you know, try work it out in some other way.

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – New Hanover County is urging residents to cut back on their water use.

The county's water system is a groundwater system and the county has exceeded its permitted pumping capacity of 80%. In fact, county spokesperson Mark Boyer says last week it hit more than 100%capacity.

He says what's needed now are many days of heavy rains and county residents cutting back on watering the lawn and washing the car.

By WHQR News & Star-News

Wilmington, NC – The Front Porch is a weekly WHQR Star-News podcast where journalists from both newsrooms pull up a chair and yarn about the week in news.

Join us on The Front Porch every Friday right here on whqr.org.