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News Stories
KENANSVILLE — Last week, the Duplin County Board of Elections announced the names of the candidates filing for the Nov. 2 municipal elections. The candidate filing period for municipalities that do not have residency or electoral districts ended on July 16.
Ongoing
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing up to $200 million in relief to timber harvesting and timber hauling businesses that have experienced losses due to COVID-19 as part of USDA’s Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative. Loggers and truckers can apply for assistance th…
MOUNT OLIVE – The University of Mount Olive appointed Pam Hardison Braxton, Paula Coates, Sylvia Herring, Borden Franklin “Frankie” Howell, Jr, and Robert Wilkerson to the Board of Trustees.
KENANSVILLE - As you may have noticed a few roads in Duplin County are undergoing repairs and renovations, the following are currently in progress. Below you will find reopening information as well as detours.
MOUNT OLIVE- Thirteen high school students from across the state of North Carolina gathered at the University of Mount Olive (UMO) July 13-15 for the 2021 NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) Institute. Students from Duplin, Greene, Johnston, Lenoir, Linc…
NCDOL announced that North Carolina will adopt verbatim the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for Healthcare effective July 21.
KENANSVILLE — Duplin County Libraries recently won a $5,000 grant from ATMC that will be used to help the county create a digital inclusion plan that can be used to help expand broadband access, availability, and adoption throughout the county.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report highlighting how North Carolina’s focus on equity in administering vaccines increased COVID-19 vaccination rates in Black and Hispanic communities.
Thursday, July 22
Sports Stories
BEULAVILLE — Logan Brown may have had more individual success than any two-sport athlete in Duplin County during a strange season that shifted many sports from the fall of 2020 to the winter/spring of 2021.
WARSAW — Tim Grady worked and waited for his chance to be a varsity head football coach.
WARSAW —The Chinese calendar celebrated 2020 as the year of the metal rat and 2021 as year of the metal ox.
GREENSBORO — Recent graduates Tyreak Cromity and Jahon Owens left their mark on the track at NC A&T’s Sun Trust Stadium.
WARSAW — Two years ago the even distribution of basketball talent in Duplin County led to the elimination of the Mr. Basketball honor.
BEULAVILLE — East Duplin’s top starting pitchers head into the 2A state baseball playoffs rested.
BEULAVILLE — In a volleyball season that was anything but normal or familiar, Maddie Simpson was a constant.
BEULAVILLE — Heavy rain last Thursday and Friday wreaked havoc on the East Central 2A Conference’s plan for baseball.
WARSAW — Hayden McGee’s poise showed on the mound last Thursday.
CALYPSO — North Duplin took care of business last week by thumping two Carolina 1A Conference foes to run its winning streak to three games.
Opinion Stories
North Carolina may go a third straight year without a new state budget. We definitely will go an 11th straight year without a budget written by Democrats.
“There’s nothing good going on after midnight that you need to be part of,” my momma repeatedly told me. She was right. Our legislators would do well to heed that advice. No legislation passed after midnight is good for most of our state. Exhibit A is House Bill 951, passed by a 7-vote margi…
One of the best ways to save black lives and help poor North Carolinians would be to increase funding for North Carolina police departments and sheriffs.
Will North Carolina Republicans have smashing victories in the 2022 midterms? Many politicos are acting as if they will, and it isn’t hard to understand why.
We Americans have a contradictory history when it comes to tolerating, or not tolerating, dissent. The latest chapter is the Nikole Hannah-Jones controversy at UNC-Chapel Hill.
“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands,” the catchy children’s song goes. North Carolinians are joining our neighbors across the nation in smiling more, going to restaurants, shopping, attending church and other events, and interacting socially with others, according to new studies.
As an N.C. State alum and avid fan, I was dismayed and disappointed when the NCAA threw the Wolfpack baseball team out of the College World Series.
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 minoritie…
Wouldn’t it be nice if our state elected officials worked together amicably to craft a biennial budget? One with the primary purpose of meeting needs instead of furthering political agendas. One passed in time to begin the new fiscal budget year.
The owner of a popular bait and tackle sport shop was bagging ice in his store one day when a friend came in.
Features Stories
WALLACE — The old “River Snake” is living up to his reputation of being fast off the “tree.”
On my jogging route around the community college, there are trees planted as memorials. Each one has a plaque on a post bearing the name of the tree, the person who planted it and the one remembered.
CHINQUAPIN — While getting gas for his lawn mower on Tuesday, Samson Wooten of Rose Hill picked up a hot dog and lottery tickets and got a $200,000 lottery prize on the side.
MOUNT OLIVE — At this point in the growing season, if you are not familiar with weeds, you may soon be. As the motivational quote by an unknown author states, “Weeds don’t need any encouragement to grow.” Weeds do not need fertilizer, rain, or any help, they just grow, often in surprising ci…
Our friends, family members, and neighbors continue to die from an illness that is now preventable. We prayed for a vaccine or treatment that would end this costly pandemic. That prayer has been answered and now we have a safe and effective vaccine that is free and available at multiple sites.
This story has been updated as of July 28 to reflect the most current guidance released by Duplin County Schools.
Burney’s, not to be confused with the big purple dinosaur we all loved as kids, is the new buzz around town. I had a friend suggest I check it out. Unfortunately, I don’t live nearby and hardly ever travel in that direction, so I had to plan a special trip to check it out.
After reading a column from two or three weeks ago, a quote from the late Senator John McCain came to my mind.
KENANSVILLE — Law enforcement can be a dangerous and sometimes, thankless job, however, that was not the case for three courageous and assertive deputies with the Duplin County Sheriff’s Office who responded to a shooting, saving a man’s life.
FAISON — The Piggly Wiggly store located at 206 S.W. Center St., Faison, closed its doors on Saturday, July 24 after nearly half a century serving the Faison community.