All posts by Joe Schwartz
Joe Schwartz ·
8 Feb 2010, 11:55 AM ·
Comment
Carlo Robustelli, former aide to Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, has been named director of Orange County operations for Durham Technical Community College.
We profiled a Robustelli in December, when he concluded two and a half years in the Chapel Hill mayor’s office as Foy opted against running for re-election.
Robustelli, who took classes at Durham Tech and transferred the credits to UNC, now is charged with running student services, recruitment and overseeing daily operations for the Orange County campus.
“I am delighted that Carlo Robustelli has joined us,” Durham Tech President Bill Ingram said in a press release. “He is uniquely qualified to help us strengthen and sustain Durham Tech’s programs and services in Orange County.”
Chapel Hill, Durham, Orange County, education Bill Ingram, Carlo Robustelli, Durham Technical Community College, Kevin Foy
Joe Schwartz ·
4 Feb 2010, 1:06 PM ·
1 Comment
Gov. Bev Perdue was beaming when she signed the state’s ban on smoking in bars and restaurants into law in March, saying they’d tackled the “big enchilada” after restricting smoking on college campuses and in the legislature.
“This is really in no exaggeration of the word an absolutely historic day for this great state that was built initially on the backbone of tobacco,” Perdue said among a group of health advocates and lawmakers.
“My hat is off to the General Assembly. I have never been as proud of a body in my entire life.”
Her tone also was congratulatory today as she celebrated a $6.7 million expansion of a tobacco manufacturing company in Rockingham County that will create 35 jobs.
“North Carolina is a great location for international companies looking to expand,” she said in a press release. “Our top business climate and our tremendous workforce continues to be very attractive to growing companies.”
That’s the message. Welcome, thanks for your tax money and your jobs. Don’t even think about bringing your products to lunch with you, though.
Kentucky-based Commonwealth Brands Inc. already owns a tobacco plant in Reidsville where 224 people work, and this addition will allow them to manufacture a new line of cigarette tubes.
North Carolina, business, economy, politics Bev Perdue, Commonwealth Brands, job creation, Reidsville, Rockingham County, smoking ban, tobacco
Joe Schwartz ·
3 Feb 2010, 6:26 PM ·
Comment
Durham’s El Centro Hispano announced plans today to open an Orange County branch, which would fill the gap left when El Centro Latino shut its doors in November.
Leadership from both nonprofits will host a public meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Seymour Center auditorium in Chapel Hill to garner input on the collaborative effort.
Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, executive director of El Centro Hispano, said her organization is ready and willing to provide much-needed translating, English lessons and job finding services for Orange County’s Spanish-speaking community.
“We are confident that the structure we have here will allow us to give good service to the community,” she said.
El Centro Latino closed after a 10-year run as a nonprofit due to a lack of funding and constant turnover of its leadership.
Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Durham, Orange County El Centro Hispano, El Centro Latino, Orange County, Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, Seymour Center
Joe Schwartz ·
2 Feb 2010, 4:47 PM ·
Comment
James Hansen, one of the nation’s leading experts on global warming, joined a group of UNC students today in calling for the university to become coal-free.
Standing in front of UNC’s Cogeneration Facility, which powers the campus, about 20 students held signs encouraging Chancellor Holden Thorp to “be a climate champ.”
They were joined by Professor Jose Rial, a UNC glaciologist, Patricia Leighten, a Westwood neighborhood resident who lives about a quarter-mile from the plant, a handful of Sierra Club members and Carrboro Alderman Sammy Slade.
The speakers praised Thorp’s creation of an Energy Task Force and said it provides an opportunity for UNC to become a national leader in renewable and clean energy.
“The best way for the Energy Task Force to address energy use on campus is to get UNC off of coal as quickly as possible,” said Stewart Boss, a freshman and media outreach coordinator for the Sierra Club’s Coal-Free UNC Campaign. “Coal is the dirtiest possible energy source we could be using today.”
Continue reading »
Chapel Hill, Orange County, environment Coal-Free UNC Campaign, Cogeneration Facility, Holden Thorp, James Hansen, Jose Rial, Sammy Slade, Sierra Club, UNC
Joe Schwartz ·
26 Jan 2010, 11:28 AM ·
Comment
Four victims of the Haitian earthquake are scheduled to arrive in the Triangle this morning to receive medical attention, according to a press release sent by the N.C. Division of Emergency Management.
The four, one of whom is accompanied by an uninjured child, are being transfered to North Carolina to receive treatment for burns as Florida hospitals cannot handle the massive overflow of Haitians in need of help.
Three will be sent to the UNC Hospitals’s Jaycee Burn Center. The other will be treated at the Wake Forest Baptist Burn Center. The patients, three men aged 24, 29 and 61 and a 54-year-old woman, were set to land at Raleigh-Durham International Airport this morning.
Cary, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Orange County, Wake County, national earthquake, Haiti, North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center, UNC Hospitals, Wake Forest Baptist Burn Center
Joe Schwartz ·
22 Jan 2010, 3:02 PM ·
2 Comments
Clarification (10:12 p.m. Friday): As UNC School of Law student Jonathan Jones commented below, Larry Flynt’s speech is free and open to the public, but a ticket is required. The Great Hall of the UNC Student Union only holds 500 people, so you’ll need a free ticket to reserve a space. The prices noted below apply to the second day of the symposium, which includes three panel discussions and runs from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. February 19.
Larry Flynt will come to UNC next month to deliver a speech on sexually explicit language and material.
The controversial pornography maven and founder of Hustler is the keynote speaker for the UNC’s First Amendment Law Review Symposium, the eighth annual event put on by the student organization and journal.
“When you talk about the First Amendment, and you talk about controversy, one person comes to mind, and it’s Larry Flynt,” said Symposium Editor David Wicclair, a third-year law student from Pittsburgh.
Flynt will speak at 8 p.m. Feb. 18 in the Great Hall of the UNC Student Union. Tickets are $20 for the general public, $10 for senior citizens and students from other institutions. UNC students, faculty and staff can get in for free. They go on sale Feb. 1 at the Student Union Box Office.
Continue reading »
Chapel Hill, Orange County, education, media First Amendment Law Review Symposium, Hustler, Jerry Falwell, Larry Flynt, pornography, UNC
Joe Schwartz ·
14 Jan 2010, 6:24 PM ·
1 Comment
Almost half of the Chapel Hill’s standing committees and advisory boards served taxpayer-funded food at events from November 2008 to November 2009, receipts show.
We wrote about the Town Council’s meeting munchies expenditures in this week’s Indy. Unlike the council, most of the town’s other food-eating groups only order grub a few times a year.
The Library Board of Trustees spent the most with $345.67 purchased.
Continue reading »
Chapel Hill, business, food, politics Bicyle and Pedestrian Advisory Board, Board of Adjustment, Cemeteries Advisory Board, Chapel Hill, Community Design Commission, food expense, Greenways Commission, Historic District Commission, Housing Advisory Board, Human Services Advisory Board, Library Board of Trustees, Mayor's Youth for a Sustainable Future, Parks and Recreation Commission, Planning Board, Public Arts Commission, Stormwater Advisory Board, Sustainability Committee, town council
Joe Schwartz ·
13 Jan 2010, 2:35 PM ·
Comment
HILLSBOROUGH - Orange County Superior court Judge Allen Baddour expects to rule next week on whether the information provided by tipsters in Eve Carson’s murder will be provided to the defense, he said at a hearing today.
Judge Allen Baddour
Demario Atwater and Laurence Lovette are accused of slaying the former UNC student body president in March 2008. Only Lovette appeared in the courtroom today. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffed in front of his waist, he walked calmly to his seat, looked back and then sat quietly through the hour-long proceeding during which Orange-Chatham District Attorney Jim Woodall and four defense attorneys argued their positions to Baddour.
Continue reading »
Chapel Hill, Orange County, national Allen Baddour, Crimestoppers, Demario Atwater, Eve Carson, Jim Woodall, Kevin Bradley, Laurence Lovette
Joe Schwartz ·
12 Jan 2010, 4:11 PM ·
2 Comments
All future homeless shelters in Chapel Hill will have to go through the town’s infamously rigorous special-use permit process, and there won’t be a cap on the number of beds, the Town Council decided Monday.
The unanimous vote came after an extensive and emotional two-hour discussion during which residents continued to staunchly oppose a new shelter in their neighborhood. In addition, Council learned that the current shelter could have been operating with more beds than the ordinance allowed.
Continue reading »
Chapel Hill, politics Chapel Hill Town Council, Chris Moran, homeless shelter, Inter-Faith Council, land use management ordinance, North Forest Hills, Parkside, special use permit
Joe Schwartz ·
11 Jan 2010, 4:26 PM ·
Comment
The News & Observer announced plans to cut 21 jobs today, citing declines in advertising revenue.
“These reductions affect a number of areas of our operation. Some positions will be eliminated through layoffs, and some departments will have opportunities for employees in certain work groups of two or more to accept a voluntary severance package,” Publisher Orage Quarles III wrote in a company memo, a full copy of which can be found on Poynter.
You can find the N&O’s coverage here, and our previous coverage here.
Raleigh, business, economy, media layoffs, News and Observer, Orage Quarles III
