CoastLine

Warmer weather has moved into the southeast in fits and starts this year. Reports of damaged crops in Georgia and both Carolinas came after multiple late-season frosts. Whether those recent cold snaps will impact the price and availability of peaches, blueberries, and apples remains to be seen. But what does this mean for home gardeners who just hope to see their shrubs, trees, and perennials bloom? And what might this mean for the showing of blooms during Azalea Festival?

Jon David and Ben David are brothers. They also happen to be identical twins. And they’re both district attorneys for adjacent jurisdictions in North Carolina.

New Hanover County recently approved revisions to its special use permit. Duke Energy is working to close its coal ash pits at the Sutton Steam Plant site and held a public meeting last week to update stakeholders on the progress. Also last week, and officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality, and others held a public meeting in Navassa – about the testing and clean-up project on the former Kerr-McGee chemical site across the river in

The revised Presidential Executive Order banning travel from six mostly-Muslim countries, called a “watered-down version” of the first by President Donald Trump, is now blocked from going into effect by two federal judges -- in Hawaii and Maryland – as of Thursday morning. But in light of the movement to crack down on who is coming in to the country, we’re also seeing a crackdown on people who are already here who may not be here legally. The efforts to find those people are called Targeted

Susi Hamilton held the House seat in North Carolina’s 18 th District for three terms and was recently elected to a fourth. She resigned near the end of January – after new Democratic Governor Roy Cooper tapped her to lead the state’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Deb Butler easily won the appointment by the Democratic Party and took her oath of office on February 6 th to represent the District -- which covers parts of Brunswick and New Hanover Counties. While this is her first

One community in Virginia is looking closely at its animal ordinances. A Wicomico County council member observes that the governing body did a good job of putting ordinances in place to protect people from dangerous dogs several years ago, but they hadn’t done much to protect dogs from people who are irresponsible or cruel. That’s according to the Delmarva Review . So the county is reconvening a Dog Review Committee – this time -- to look at regulations through the dogs’ eyes. In the Cape Fear

When is the last time you picked up a book? I mean a real, honest to goodness book with a spine and a cover and maybe a few dog-eared pages inside. If it’s been too long, today’s CoastLine is for you. We’re going to go back to the days before smart phones and tablets, and talk about humankind’s greatest invention after fire and country ham, books.

Thursday morning, North Carolina state legislators, including Representative Ted Davis, Junior (R-New Hanover County) and Senator Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick County), held a press conference to announce the introduction of the STOP Act . It’s legislation intended to address the opioid epidemic in North Carolina by "ensuring smarter prescribing and dispensing of highly-addictive prescription drugs", according to bill sponsors. The bill would also provide funding for treatment and recovery. According

How important are trees to a city’s landscape? When you see the glorious oak trees in Carolina Heights in Wilmington, do you wonder how long it took them to grow? Do you worry about the safety of those old trees and heavy limbs falling on roadways? Do you think tree preservation gets in the way of development and economic growth in what is an urban area? As Wilmington enjoys a development boom – with hundreds of new apartment units, single-family homes, and commercial properties going up – what

The Red Barn Theater on Third Street in downtown Wilmington, launched by Linda Lavin and Steve Bakunas, is now on the market. It’s widely expected to cease operation as a theater. Thalian Association , the theater company that has rented the space for the last several years, is moving out in a matter of months. Another small Wilmington venue, the Brown Coat Theater and Pub, closed its doors in October. And City Stage, an iconic venue in the Masonic building on Front Street in downtown Wilmington

Have you seen headlines in your Facebook feed or at the bottom of an article that reads, “Hillary Clinton meets Osama Bin Laden” – with a picture of the two shaking hands? Or “President Obama’s daughter, Malia, is pregnant”? Or “The process to impeach Donald Trump has begun”? Just to be clear, all of those stories are false. Hillary Clinton’s picture was photoshopped; Malia’s teen pregnancy and Donald Trump’s impeachment are both patently false. It’s fake news. But the term “fake news” is also

New Jersey recently passed one of the nation’s most comprehensive laws to combat the growing opioid and heroin crisis. Tennessee is battling its own opioid epidemic as is Nebraska, Virginia, Connecticut, Washington State, New York, Wisconsin, Montana – the list goes on. And as we’ve reported on this program before – Wilmington, North Carolina and the larger Cape Fear region is near the top of a national list for its abuse of opioids and heroin. ABC News reports that carfentanil , a recent

President Donald Trump declared at a recent National Prayer Breakfast that he would totally destroy the Johnson Amendment in order to allow representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution. Until that declaration, Americans might not have thought much about the Johnson Amendment and what it means. On this edition of CoastLine, we explore the potential implications with two local clergy members. But before we meet our guests, a quick explanation: The Johnson Amendment, so

It’s almost impossible to turn on the TV or radio, read the paper, or look at your news feed on your smart phone and not see a story about the recent Executive Order on Immigration. Signed by President Donald Trump last month, it temporarily halts the admittance of refugees into the U.S. and prevents immigrants from seven predominantly-Muslim countries from coming to the U.S. However, enforcement of the Order is on hold. Just days after its signing, a judge ruled the ban unconstitutional and

In the Brunswick County School System, there are 19 schools. Two academic years ago, in 2014-15, 158 kids dropped out of school. The following year, 21 fewer kids – 137 -- dropped out. That lowers the dropout rate less than a half a percentage point, but on a practical level, it means there are twenty-one more students that have a shot at getting their high school diploma. The positive trend is attributable to a pretty broad range of factors, say officials. And on this edition of CoastLine, we