By Ben Rappaport benrappaport@borderbelt.org A school board member in rural North Carolina who was convicted of assaulting a Black town employee during an encounter in which she was also accused of using a racial slur said Monday she will remain on the board but step down as chairperson.   Kandle Rogers, who has served on the Whiteville City Schools Board of Education for years, was found …Read more Continue reading NC county still reeling from sheriff’s racist comments is dealt another blow 

Ten farmers across North Carolina planted sesame this year as part of a statewide agricultural initiative. Read more Continue reading North Carolina farmers look to sesame as a profitable crop. ‘So much promise here’

Hal Lowder, Whiteville’s emergency management director whose house was damaged by storms, is tangled in Rebuild NC’s bureaucracy.Read more Continue reading Hurricane survivor to ReBuild NC: ‘Are we just a number? Is anybody out there a human being?’

ReBuild NC “believes it has enough funding to cover its obligations to homeowners that have applied for assistance.”Read more Continue reading While 3,100 hurricane survivors lack permanent homes, ReBuild NC employees earn big salaries

Elizabethtown used to be home to six United Methodist churches. Today, there is one. Many UMC congregations have voted to disaffiliate. Read more Continue reading In rural Bladen County, schism in United Methodist Church hits close to home 

An email from a prisoner to NC Newsline describes disturbing, inhumane conditions at Scotland Correctional Institution in Laurinburg.Read more Continue reading NC prison staffer sounds alarm on overcrowding, neglect at Scotland Correctional

Tropical Storm Idalia left thousands of people without power Thursday morning as flooding and downed trees closed roads across the region. Read more Continue reading Idalia causes power outages, flooding, road closures in southeastern North Carolina