Rachel Keith

In mid-March, University of North Carolina Wilmington researchers held a health equity simulation with students, staff, and community members. They’re evaluating whether participants show increased empathy for a population struggling with basic needs like housing, employment, and healthcare.

At Tuesday’s New Hanover County School Board agenda review meeting, the board praised the superintendent’s proposed budget submission for county commissioners. They also continued to remove words like “diversity” from policies and voted to disband the Title IX Committee.

The Alliance for Cape Fear Trees was set to hire a community engagement coordinator to increase the tree canopy in disadvantaged communities, mainly in downtown Wilmington. This employee would have identified optimal locations for tree planting and worked with neighborhoods to ensure the trees’ survival. However, the Trump administration recently canceled $350,000 in funding to support the position.

On Monday, New Hanover County commissioners heard a presentation from Dr. Roger Shew, a UNCW Department of Geography and Geology and Environmental Sciences professor, about the future preservation of the Flossie Bryan Tract off Independence Boulevard.

On today’s show, Rachel Keith celebrates Sunshine Week, an annual event focused on open government and transparency. In honor of this year’s sunshine week, we’re taking a look at government speech policies — we’ll dig into how much public employees, including college professors, can say when they talk to journalists or speak out on political issues. And, later on today’s show, Aaleah McConnell takes a personal look a being a Blerd — that’s a black nerd – and the art, music, and film that exists at the intersection of those two cultures.

The last two independent financial auditors have praised the district’s $3.7 million net surplus in Child Nutrition, which oversees cafeteria services. WHQR looked at where that funding comes from and whether those funds will wane with broad cuts to federal government programs. One concrete example is the most recent cut to the Local Food for Schools program, which provided funds for the district to purchase fruits and vegetables from local farmers.

The General Assembly has recently changed who gets appointment powers to the Cape Fear Community College Board of Trustees — so who is on the board, and how have they managed their only employee, college president Jim Morton? Since being appointed president in 2018, the trustees have been staunchly behind Morton’s leadership, and it doesn’t look like that’s changing any time soon.

Some Cape Fear Community College students in the CDL truck driver and electrical line worker 10-week programs have a leg up because of financial support from the Forward Fund. They’re giving out zero-interest loans anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 — and those students can defer repayment every three months up to five years until they earn an annual income of at least $45,000.

The Trump White House is pushing sweeping cuts to the federal government, including grants for academic research. A significant cut to National Institutes of Health grants ordered by the administration, and currently stalled by the courts, could cost UNCW over half a million dollars — but more cuts could well be on the way.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the New Hanover County school board’s five Republican members voted to change the district’s sex ed curriculum; Democratic members Tim Merrick and Judy Justice dissented. The members also heard a presentation from an independent auditor on the district’s financial health, and Dr. Christopher Barnes was officially sworn in as the district’s newest superintendent.