Local Features

The former East Carolina University and NFL standout is using his diagnosis to revive a viral fundraiser that changed ALS research and care. For families facing the disease, specialists say awareness must be matched by practical support and continued investment.

Congresswoman Deborah Ross said Republican leaders transformed what is usually a bipartisan defense measure by adding the SAVE America Act, which would impose stricter proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration. House Republican leaders also declined to allow a floor vote on a bipartisan amendment she co-sponsored to revise the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022; Ross said the proposal would help toxic-water claimants receive fairer and faster judicial review.

For more than thirty years, the federal government estimates that nearly one million military service personnel, their families, and civilian employees drank, cooked with, and bathed in water severely poisoned by industrial solvents at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Brian Amburgey formed the grassroots advocacy group Lejeune Veterans for Justice and is organizing a mass rally at the Lejeune Memorial Gardens in Jacksonville on August 19th.

Under normal weather conditions, eastern North Carolina’s rivers operate like a massive, invisible shield. Millions of gallons of freshwater rush downstream toward the Atlantic Ocean, creating a powerful, steady flow that acts as a natural hydrological barrier. This outward pressure successfully holds back the heavy, dense saltwater of the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds. But this summer, that shield has collapsed.

While the region’s peak fire activity typically falls during the dry spring months, an intense lack of rainfall has triggered an unprecedented surge in summer blazes that are proving incredibly difficult for crews to extinguish.

The proposal was removed from the agenda and not brought forth for a vote.

“The court pretty much laid it down. They told both sides, quit messing around, get this done. You have until October 30th."

“I would definitely say that the bad seems to be outweighing the good,” said Sound Rivers’ Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman. “Overall, we're decided that we're not in support of this bill because although it is taking some initial steps to address the impacts of data centers, steps are incomplete and there are some sections in the bill that were included seemingly in order to gain more bipartisan support. So, not exactly aligning with the goals that we would want to see for minimizing data center impacts.”

Disability advocate Steven Hardy-Braz of Farmville recently received the Safety Champion Award from the NC Vision Zero Safety Awards in recognition of his advocacy for accessibility and pedestrian/bicyclist safety.

On Monday, inmates seized control of the Bertie-Martin Regional Detention Center, holding two correctional officers captive. The incident triggered a massive deployment of local, state, and federal tactical units, culminating in a successful resolution by midday.