Local

Around Town’s Rhonda Bellamy takes at look at Wilmington’s Fourth Friday Gallery Nights with award-winning artist Peggy Vineyard, Steve Fox of Century 21, and Amy Grant of Art in Bloom Gallery. 

Young athletes in the area will soon have more fields to play on. Wilmington city council members unanimously approved a 65-acre donation from the Hammerheads Youth Football Club organization. The ten-million-dollar project will expand the Cape Fear Soccerplex.

A dozen or so people, diverse in age, ethnicity, and political leanings, are participating in a year-long experiment in civil discourse.  Each month, we bring you a conversation with members of the group. We’re observing how the tone and quality of the conversation changes over the course of the year, and whether the time participants spend together can forge real connections across political boundaries.

Stand-up comedy is blossoming around southeastern North Carolina.  Comedy enthusiasts can now catch comics in the act at local breweries, arts events, and theatrical venues.  But while the arts scene flourished in the Cape Fear region,  it was only 2014 that the first full-time comedy club opened in Wilmington.  Before that, Timmy Sherrill and Cole Craven worked together in the basement of The Soapbox Laundro-Lounge as Nutt Street Comedy Room. 

Design for the Brunswick County Northwest Water Treatment Plant upgrade and new pipeline are on schedule, according to County officials. That’s important, because water is a key to growth and development. Brunswick County in recent years has seen the largest population growth of all the state’s counties, according to the U.S. Census. It also ranked fourth in the nation for percentage growth for counties. WHQR continues its series on economic development, with a visit to Brunswick County.

Wilmington officials are working on a new noise ordinance, and they’re looking for public input. While the city has had a noise ordinance since 1989, a confusing permit process, no appeal process, unclear language, and concerns of subjectivity have led to the new proposal.

North Carolina has a D grade in women’s health. That’s according to a state-commissioned report, titled, the 2019 Status of Women in North Carolina: Health and Wellness. County-by-county data in the report shows that while New Hanover County fares slightly better than the overall state, more work still needs to be done.

Around Town’s Rhonda Bellamy chats with Nancy King, Artist Director of Opera Wilmington about their upcoming performance of La Bohème. 

The candidate filing period opened Friday for the November municipal elections.  It was a quiet kick-off during the long July 4th weekend.

New Hanover County Commissioners approved expanding an upcoming substance use treatment center to include 100 beds for women. The women’s facility will accompany the already-approved 100-bed facility for men, both of which have yet to enter the design-phase.

A dozen or so people, diverse in age, ethnicity, and political leanings, are engaged in a year-long experiment in civil discourse.  Each month, we bring you a conversation with members of the group.  We’re observing how the tone and quality of the conversation changes over the course of the year and whether people with different views will grow to value time with one another. 

The Cape Fear Region is the fastest growing section in North Carolina. Census figures show Brunswick and Pender Counties at the top of the list. Pender County is 933 square miles stretching from the Atlantic coast inland towards Wallace, Atkinson and Ivanhoe. In Part One of our series on growth in the region, WHQR goes to Pender County.

New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David has cleared two Wilmington police officers of any charges in last month’s fatal shooting of Gerard Tremblay. David announced the decision today following a nearly month-long use of force investigation.

June's Bottega Live features two Wilmington singer-songwriters: Kersten Capra and Johanna Winkel.

WHQR's Bottega Live airs each month in conjunction with downtown Wilmington’s Fourth Friday Gallery Walk.

Coral reefs are among the clearest harbingers of climate change.  That’s because they live at the upper end of their thermal spectrum – which means they’re sensitive to slight changes.  

Tuesday evening at the Navassa Community Center, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality will be discussing plans for the clean-up of the town’s Superfund Site.  The site is laced with creosote-related chemicals in the soil, sediment and groundwater.

Commuters who regularly rely on the Isabel Holmes bridge are facing some delays and detours. An 18 million dollar bridge preservation project is creating nightly lane and road closures that will last for nearly two years.

Today the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority released water quality results showing an increase in PFAS compounds in the Cape Fear River.  It's the highest concentration of total PFAS measured since last September.

Whales are the largest mammals on earth.  They’ve also been around a long time.  According to UC Berkeley’s Evolutionary Biology website,  the first whales evolved over 50 million years ago from a terrestrial ancestor. 

There are no tax hikes in Wilmington’s new budget. Tuesday night the city council unanimously approved the 2019 – 2020 budget, for the fiscal year that begins July 1st.  Members of the council wish they could do more.

Wilmington is still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, and the latest city budget reflects that. The 200 million dollar 2019-2020 budget has been unanimously approved by the city council, and much of its focus centers around severe weather relief and planning.

Paula Poundstone is the first female to win a Cable ACE Award.  She’s also picked up an American Comedy Award for best Female Standup Comic.  

Residents in the Cape Fear region have been exposed to a lot of science in the past two years – as officials and citizens try to understand more about PFAS, GenX, Chemours and what else is in the water. In part 2 of this week’s series, WHQR’s Vince Winkel takes a look … at science.

GenX, PFAS and Chemours are part of the lexicon in the Cape Fear region. It’s been that way for two years, since the general public first heard about chemicals in the area’s drinking water supply. In part one of our series, WHQR takes a look at how it started, and where we are today. 

The Magnificent Ramshorn Snail and the Greenfield Ramshorn Snail haven’t been found in the wild for more than a decade.  

The East Coast of the United States – specifically North Carolina – is known for its beautiful beaches, but it’s not really on the map for world-class, surf-able waves.  Nonetheless, the Cape Fear region is growing a surprisingly robust surf culture.  

A dozen or so people, diverse in age, ethnicity, and political leanings, have agreed to be part of a year-long experiment in civil discourse.  

The timeline for the Cape Fear Crossing project is getting longer.  The proposed 9.5 mile bridge and road planned between Brunswick and New Hanover Counties is raising concerns for stakeholders along the route.