All in Columns
Air frying is the cool new way to enjoy your favorite fried foods without using any of the unhealthy oils or additional steaming up the kitchen. If you have not jumped on the “air fryer” bandwagon yet, an air fryer cooks with very hot circulating air. They don’t “really” fry, but rely instead on a fan to circulate hot air to cook food, like a countertop convection oven.
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered its final decision for this Court Term last week and it was a BOMBSHELL. It was a landmark 6-3 ruling that bolstered the right of States to combat election fraud with statewide voting restrictions.
The CSS Neuse Foundation took several salvos from COVID during 2020, but the iron plating did its job. During 2017, 2018, and 2019, the replica of the original CSS Ram Neuse drew more than 5,000 visitors each year. During 2020, the CSS Neuse II was closed on 14 Saturdays. Attendance for 2020 totaled only 1498, one-third of normal.
I am more concerned about the next four years for Kinston today than I was four years ago.
The impasses we face with the City of Kinston pose significant challenges for our community’s future, and we need leaders to step up at a time such as this. The mayor’s seat and two councilmembers’ seats are up for grabs, and the $10 filing fee period ends on Friday, July 16th at 12:00 pm.
Now is not the time to complain. Now is not the time to critique. Instead, if you feel led to run or compelled to serve your community greater than your role today, here is your opportunity to influence or shape the change you desire.
While we all may not agree on the mayonnaise of choice for a tomato sandwich, most of us cannot wait to enjoy one!! Top selling these days at local roadside stands and Farmers Markets are Heirloom tomatoes. Well, what is the difference between an heirloom tomato and just a regular tomato?
Here are three true statements, as best I can determine. First, Americans of all backgrounds have experienced gigantic declines in poverty over the past two generations. Second, most diversity training is worse than a waste of time. Third, police officers are no more likely to kill minorities than they are to kill whites during traffic stops or arrests.
Today I want to talk about LIFE and how fleeting it is here on Earth. We really have no guarantee of how long we will be here or what unknown circumstances might occur in our lives, or what unexpected challenges we might face.
John Adams had it wrong by two days. On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of declaring independence from Great Britain. John Adams, a delegate to the Continental Congress from Massachusetts, wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776:
Even the greatest cooks have a hard time using summer’s bounty of fruits and vegetables. Canning and freezing are always a great food preservation options, but quick pickling provides a short term quick and easy option.
For many years, a staple at our Lenoir County Farmers Market has been Kettle Style Snacks
(Pork skins cooked on site by Rodney Jarman). Regular customers never miss a chance to get their weekly fix of pork skins,
My latest book, Sprinkling Stardust: The Delights of Grandchildren, is now available on Amazon. This book is my first since I published My Wife Has All the Answers in 2002. In the nearly 20 years that have passed since the first book, I have written roughly 1,000 additional columns.
Let’s zero in on Social Security. Its “trust fund,” which consists entirely of debt the federal government has issued to itself, will be exhausted in a decade or so. As a practical matter, this isn’t as big a deal as it sounds. Social Security is already running a cash deficit — more payments going out than payroll taxes coming in. To cover the difference, the federal government draws from its trust fund of federal bonds.
I am sure that most of us would have preferred that the recent 2020 Election could have come and gone without controversy, but that just isn't the case. News continues to surface raising serious questions about what happened. The Election Audit is near completion in Arizona and the results are upsetting a lot of people, including some whom you would expect to be on board in the effort to bring the election results to an honest conclusion.
This coming Sunday, June 27, will be a day of celebration at the Friends of the Homeless shelter located at 112 N. Independence Street. The celebration will have a dual focus. First, this Open House/Dedication will celebrate a new wing for women and children.
For the past 11 years, Neuse Regional Libraries have held a Juneteenth program commemorating the end of slavery. Created by then Youth Services librarian Antuan Hawkins with the help of his community connections and know-how, the Juneteenth celebration began as an edutainment program to tell this important and widely unknown story. Various performers brought their talent to the Library, teaching and telling this important story in our nation’s history.
I think debates about the minimum wage represent a telling case. Over the decades, I have heard many advocates claim that businesses themselves will be better off if government raises the minimum wage. Why? Because if businesses paid much higher wages, that would reduce turnover and make their employees more productive.
Father's Day became a National Holiday when President Nixon signed it into law in June, 1972. Up until that time there had been calls for this recognition to occur, such as these words from an Arthur Godfrey song, "If it hadn't been for Father, would your Mother be your Mother, so remember Dad on Mothers Day."
Sadly for the second year in a row, the Kinston City Council has sought these personal increases, yet this year's discussion is distracting from the fact that they are also raising property taxes. The cost to the taxpayers if approved would be $670,000. Despite the fact the Kinston City Council has already voted on their increases, they could amend the budget tonight, by stripping the salaries and allowances back to the FY20 funding and passing a revised budget.
A little more than a year ago, LGM Enterprises, LLC, collaborated with the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. (EDPNC), and the North Carolina Global TransPark Authority to launch a company to paint and refurbish aircraft at the TransPark here in Kinston. This partnership enabled LGM Enterprises to obtain a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) to support the company’s investments in the project.
