All in Local News

Memorial Day Click It or Ticket It Campaign Kicks Off

As the busy summer traveling season nears, state transportation officials are reminding people to wear their seat belts to reduce the risk of being seriously injured or killed. More than 500 people who were not wearing seat belts or buckled into child safety seats died in vehicle crashes on North Carolina roadways last year.

New application period opens for NC HOPE emergency rent and utility assistance

In addition to first time applicants, people who received rent and/or utility assistance funding from the first phase of the HOPE Program are eligible to reapply for additional help. Eligible applicants may receive up to 12 months of rent assistance, which may include up to nine months of past due rent. Rent assistance provided during the first phase of the HOPE Program counts towards the 12 months of total rent assistance that an applicant can receive.

Pink Hill Man Sentenced to 6 ½ Years After Causing More Than $600 Million in Losses From Tobacco Smuggling and Tax Scheme

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Pink Hill man was sentenced Thursday to 78 months in prison for conspiring to commit money laundering and filing a false 2014 tax return, after he pled guilty to the charges on October 7, 2020.

According to court documents and other information presented in court, Phil Caprice Howard, age 55, arranged on at least 221 different occasions for cut-rag tobacco to be transported by trucks from Wilson, North Carolina to an area on or near the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation Reservation (“Akwesasne Reservation”) as part of a conspiracy to smuggle the tobacco into Canada without paying Canadian federal excise duties and provincial taxes.

Remaining LCPS graduation exercises moving outside

The longtime practice of holding graduation ceremonies outdoors, an eventual casualty to the threat of inclement weather, will be restored at four LCPS high schools at month’s end as they respond to public health recommendations and the desire of families to see their students awarded diplomas.

Kinston, North Lenoir and South Lenoir high schools will hold commencements on their football fields and Lenoir County Learning Academy will host graduation on the grounds of the chapel at Kennedy Home, where the alternative school is located.