Local

A new marker unveiled Friday in Wilmington refers to the events of November 1898 as a “coup” and not a “race riot” as other signs had in years past. The ceremony included reading the names of those known to have been killed on November 10, 1898.

Voters turned out in larger numbers for this year’s municipal elections.  Brunswick County saw a 2% increase compared to 2017.  In Pender County, turnout ticked up about a point and a half, and in New Hanover County, 19% of registered voters cast a ballot.   That’s the biggest jump – nearly four-and-a-half points compared to 2017. 

Rhonda sits down with Cucalorus executive director Dan Brawley, who will talk about the film festival's 25th anniversary from Nov. 13-17 at various venues in Wilmington.

If you traveled to London and someone asked you to tea, would you know what the invitation meant?  What about an invitation to supper, cream tea, high tea, or afternoon tea? 

Carolina Beach made history in yesterday’s election. It elected its first woman to serve as Mayor. Current town council member LeAnn Pierce is the new mayor-elect after receiving more than 1,000 votes. 

A newcomer to politics is the top vote-getter in the race for Leland Town Council. Veronica Carter is a retired Army Officer and former Civil Servant with almost 40 years of experience. 

Wilmington City Council has a new member. And the vote difference between staying on the Council or being voted off – was just six.

The City of Southport saw all its incumbents thrown out.  The same two mayoral candidates faced off for the third consecutive time – which turned out to be the charm for Challenger Joe Pat Hatem.  He unseated Mayor Jerry Dove by a very large margin – taking 63% of the vote. 

Brenda Bozeman has served as the Mayor of Leland for eight years – which means she’s served four terms.  Here's a look at what her fifth term could mean for Leland.

H2G0 could be back on track for its own reverse osmosis water treatment plant.  Brunswick Regional Water and Sewer H2G0, the utility that serves just over eleven-thousand people in Brunswick County, is embroiled in a legal battle over its assets and direction.  

This year’s election is the closest race Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo has seen in his 12 years at the helm of city government.  It's the first serious challenge since 2007 to a Mayor now embarking upon his seventh term. 

The Town of Burgaw had three open seats on its Board; all three incumbents won re-election:  Vernon Harrell, Red Robbins, and Bill George, will serve another four years. 

In the Town of Surf City, which stretches into Onslow County, the fiercely-fought battle between long-time incumbent Mayor Doug Medlin and current City Council Member Jeremy Shugarts ended with Mayor Medlin easily winning the seat again  with 67% of the vote.

Tuesday is Election Day for most municipalities in North Carolina.  And the prevailing sense among poll workers and voters is that more people are turning out to vote in municipal elections than in years past. 

This month's topic:  Donald Trump:  Impeach or Not?  It's a look at the qualities we seek in our leaders.

If you live in a city, town, or village in the Cape Fear Region, municipal elections are tomorrow. But voters who live in unincorporated parts of the county do not have an election.  WHQR   reports on what New Hanover County voters need to know.

Rhonda Bellamy sits down with David Gessner, chair of UNCW's Creative Writing Department, and our own George Scheibner to talk about the memorial and endowed fellowship for the late Phil Furia, writer and creator of WHQR's "The Great American Songbook".  

At first glance, it looks as though early voting in New Hanover County is up slightly in the first twelve days compared to the last municipal election.  As of October 29th,  2019, 18% more people voted compared to 2017.   This does not necessarily mean that voter turnout as a whole will be higher in 2019; that remains to be seen. 

Greg Buscemi is hoping to be the next Mayor of Wrightsville Beach.  He’s a practicing lawyer, loves the beach, and says the current Board of Aldermen is not doing enough to communicate with its citizens.  

Jeremy Shugarts is a member of Surf City’s Town Council with two years left in his term.  But he’s running for mayor this year, partly, he says, because the Mayor controls the agenda.

Shugarts agrees with Surf City’s current strategy of keeping zoning ordinances strict on the beach while letting commercial development blossom on the mainland. But, he says, local government isn’t listening as well as it should to constituents.  One way to solve that:  create more citizen advisory committees – in addition to the existing six. 

At a roundtable discussion last Thursday, State Attorney General Josh Stein and local leaders discussed the opioid crisis and how our region is dealing with it. The event, hosted by Stein and WECT, featured different viewpoints on the epidemic. But many of these local perspectives echoed a larger, national conversation.