All in Columns
What a difference a year can make. The 2020 BBQ Fest on the Neuse was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the festival will be back this year. Vendors will begin arriving at 8 a.m. on Friday, May 7. Cook teams will begin setting up at noon at the corner of Caswell and Herritage streets. The festival opens to the public at 5 p.m.
Asparagus is popping up, and I do mean popping up, this interesting vegetable grows straight up, and can pop up to almost a foot.
The magic day in much of Eastern North Carolina is the day our strawberry producers let us know that strawberries are ready!
All of us are influenced by the actions of others, and that influence can be positive or negative. It was sad this week to see the tragic end of the life of a 13-year-old boy slain on the streets of Chicago at three o'clock in the morning while in the company of a 21-year-old criminal.
When Dennis Harper was 11 years old, he became fascinated with the Wyse Fork Battlefield. In the decades since, Harper has collected more than 12,000 artifacts from that battle.
As many teachers are intimately familiar with, in 2013, the North Carolina General Assembly froze teacher pay due to budgetary constraints and shortfalls. During this process, Session Law 2013-360 Senate Bill 402 Section 8.22 stated that
From school boards to city councils, we depend on local news for information. But do we truly appreciate it? As my first official job, the late Joe Sink hired me, a green 16-year-old, to answer phones in the circulation department of The Lexington Dispatch. I was drawn to the buzz in the newsroom.
For my Column this coming week, I want to recognize the guests on my television show this week to highlight the fact that we have multitudes of very talented people who regularly give of their time and talent to make things better for all of us.
The magic day in much of Eastern North Carolina is the day our strawberry producers let us know that strawberries are ready! It means to us in Lenoir County that it’s time to fully open the Lenoir County Farmers Market!
North Carolina state government is headed into the 2021-22 fiscal year with nearly $5 billion in unanticipated revenue and unencumbered savings. Even after making critical deposits into the state’s rainy-day fund, reserve for repairing and renovating state buildings, and other accounts, there’ll be enough money left on the table to start a fight.
The year 2020 was rough on attendance aboard the CSS Neuse II, a full-scale replica of the original Confederate Ram once housed on the Neuse River at Kinston. In 2017, 2018, and 2019 the replica gunboat drew more than 5,000 visitors each year. In 2020, roughly one-third of that number visited the gunboat.
Politicians who assert the magic of multiplier effects to justify their pet programs may be dissembling. But it is my experience that most of the time, they don’t know enough about the matter to be lying. They are just repeating what they’ve heard, or spotting spurious connections on the basis of limited experience.
Let's get right to the essence of what I want to talk about today. We are all faced with ups and downs in our lives and sometimes we might forget that it isn't the situation we face that really matters, it is how we handle it.
When I was training to be a teacher, I first heard the “IALAC” story. The story of a child who goes through each day with people ripping little pieces from his sign emblazoned with “IALAC” made a profound impact on me. Each day, the sign returns, but a little more of it is torn away. “IALAC” stands for “I Am Lovable and Capable.”
Spring is here and these dinner recipes are perfect for the new season. Use fresh seasonal produce for dinners are also low in calories and high in fiber, which is a key combination if you’re looking to maintain a healthy weight. Sheet pan recipes, pastas and veggies, and fruit and chicken salads, are always a favorite. Hope you will find these recipes bright and delicious!!
