Editor’s note: This is the first in a seven-part series that looks at what has changed since The (Whiteville) News Reporter’s series in 2017 that reported on the opioid crisis and associated mental health issues. Today, Reporter Ivey Schofield looks at how opioid misuse became prevalent, how prescription policies have changed, and how heroin has begun to replace harder-to-get opiates like oxycodone.  By Ivey Schofield …Read more Continue reading ‘We need to have a reformation:’ Opioid use continues to wreck lives across Columbus

The staff of Bladen County EMS are exhausted after 18 months of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Read more Continue reading Surge in COVID cases is taking toll on Bladen EMS workers

UNC Health Southeastern has set up a mobile morgue to handle the increasing number of patients dying from COVID-19, the medical center’s top leader said Saturday. Read more Continue reading Hospital gets mobile morgue as COVID deaths surge in southeastern North Carolina

The death toll from COVID-19 in southeastern North Carolina is higher than it has been in months as hospitals fill up with people sick from the delta variant. Read more Continue reading COVID-19 death toll is spiking in southeastern North Carolina. Here’s the data

By Sarah Nagem sarahnagem@borderbelt.org Taylor Locklear has a message for her fellow members of the Lumbee Native American tribe: Consider getting vaccinated against COVID-19.  Locklear, the reigning Miss Lumbee and a paramedic for Robeson County EMS, made her plea as part of the tribe’s video campaign called “This Shot Is Your Shield.”  “Our children are our future generation, and it’s important that we protect them,” …Read more Continue reading Native Americans have lowest COVID vaccination rate in Robeson County, despite efforts