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Hurricane Florence hit the Cape Fear region September 14, 2018.   She made landfall with significantly lower wind speeds than originally predicted -- as a Category 1 – but she had expanded in size and slowed down, which meant torrential rainfall over the Carolinas along with hurricane and tropical storm force winds.  

Keeping trees in your yard could actually protect your home rather than threaten it during tropical storms and hurricanes.  That goes against much of the conventional wisdom in the region about trees on one’s property during hurricane season.  On this edition of CoastLine, we find out why.

Six months ago, Hurricane Florence pounded the Cape Fear Region, with a mix of strong winds and record-setting rain. Today, Wilmington and the rest of Southeastern North Carolina are still in recovery mode.

The honey bee population declined slightly in the United States from 2016 to 2017.    That’s according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  The most-often reported colony stressor:  varroa mites. 

As the best chefs around the world recognize the importance of cooking with diverse ingredients and sustainably grown food, one local chef is unpacking why, and he's teaching simple but solid cooking techniques.  

Isaac Bear is not an ordinary high school in the New Hanover County school system. It’s on UNCW property, its juniors and seniors take university classes, and earn university credit. Almost all will then go on to college. But Isaac Bear has a problem.

It's the second edition of our year-long civil discourse experiment.  

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and contributes to the second most cancer-related deaths in men in the United States – and in North Carolina.  That’s according to the Centers for Disease Control.  But in 2015, the cancer that killed the most North Carolinians:  lung cancer.

The downtown redevelopment proposal known as “Project Grace” has taken a step closer to reality. Last week, New Hanover County held two informational meetings on its plans to overhaul a county-owned block in downtown Wilmington.  The plan comes with mixed reviews.

Coastal communities on barrier islands will not exist as they are in 30 to 150 years from now.  

There are positive signs in the Cape Fear region that initiatives to combat the opioid epidemic are making headway. 

The New Hanover County Board of Education recently reviewed and declined to investigate claims made by the local group, The Southern Coalition for Equal Protections Under the Law.  Back in December, they submitted a report to the Board detailing six cases – involving racial discrimination and sexual misconduct. WHQR explores how school officials say they process public concerns.

On Thursday the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality filed a Revised Consent Order in Bladen County Superior Court. DEQ has asked the court to enter the order, initially filed in November, to hold the Chemours Company accountable for PFAS contamination, including GenX, in the Cape Fear Region. 

The New Hanover County Board of Education will meet next week to discuss the future of Williston Middle School. At issue is whether it will become an arts school, a high school, or perhaps stay as it is. That’s just one of several items the new Board is working on this year. And those items come with some history.

This week New Hanover County officials will host two public meetings to discuss Project Grace. That’s the redevelopment of a block circled by North Second and Third – and Chestnut and Grace Streets in downtown Wilmington.  The current proposal would demolish the existing library to build a new one.

New Hanover County’s NAACP celebrates its 100th anniversay this year.  Founded nationally in 1909, the local chapter of the National Association For The Advancement of Colored People launched ten years later. 

New Hanover County redistricting of its high schools is complete; as for middle schools, the process continues.  The Board of Education plans to assign middle school and elementary school students in 2021.

The Environmental Protection Agency Thursday announced plans to regulate a set of chemicals including GenX found in the drinking water system of the Cape Fear Region, and across much of the country. 

Cape Fear Crossing, the proposed new bridge across the Cape Fear River, is inching closer to reality. Last week, regional planners held informational meetings in Brunswick County. Residents in attendance wanted to learn more about a project that will likely go through Leland and Brunswick Forest. The exact route is still up in the air.

Donald Antrim is a MacArthur Genius.  He’s written three novels, Elect Mr. Robinson For A Better World, The Hundred Brothers, and The Verificationist.  

Wilmington’s music scene is “on fire.”  That’s according to one of our guests on this edition of CoastLine.  

The Wilmington City Council unanimously approved a special use permit for The Healing Place of New Hanover County.  Last night’s meeting was the seventh time the decision on this abstinence-only facility has come before Council. 

The Cape Fear Opioid Overdose Quick Response Team is a pilot program funded for two years by the North Carolina General Assembly. Local officials say that six months in – it appears to be working.  WHQR has more on the team’s progress report – which came out today.

It was February 28th, 2013, nearly six years ago, that WHQR broadcast the pilot episode of CoastLine.  It was an hour on what was then the hottest topic in town:  the debate about opening a cement plant in Castle Hayne.  

While the opioid crisis continues to plague the Cape Fear region and the state, there are signs that recent initiatives are helping.  

The Fayetteville Works plant has been importing GenX waste from a Chemours plant in the Netherlands for at least five years. We learned that last Friday. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality found out about it 13 months ago. That’s because it’s the Environmental Protection Agency that regulates the import and export of hazardous waste.  

“On a late summer day in 1870, those who gathered to mourn Abraham Galloway cherished him for the unquenchable fire of freedom that burned so brightly within him...  

Chemours in Fayetteville is importing GenX compounds from its facility near Rotterdam in the Netherlands for recycling. And apparently, it’s been going on for several years. In an email to WHQR Friday, the company stated that “Chemours has historically recycled GenX materials from our Dordrecht facility at our Fayetteville Works plant, as well as at a contractor site in Europe, in order to reduce the quantity that is emitted or becomes waste.”