Recent News
SHALLOTTE, N.C. – Charley Axsom, Director of Operations for the Brunswick County Association of REALTORS®, recently earned the Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional (CNAP) designation from NonprofitCPAs, a nationwide network of CPAs who are committed to growing their practice, providing impactful advisory services to clients, and improving the depth and expertise in the matters that are most…
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The University of North Carolina Wilmington is working on public artwork to highlight the core belief that Black lives matter. Award-winning sculptor, artist and illustrator Dare Coulter has been commissioned to create the piece. “The goal of the project is to use art as a tool for social change; to emphasize awareness about race, identity and the…
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Wilmington, NC— The Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College is pleased to announce that it has been awarded national support by the National Endowment for the Arts for $10,000. This project will support a production and community dance residency of the Invertigo Dance Theatre during the 2022-2023 season. The Wilson Center project is among…
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by Dallas Woodhouse, Carolina Journal News Service RALEIGH — North Carolina has collected more than $6 billion in state taxes than was originally forecast in May 2020 by state economists. That’s the finding of a report presented to members of the Joint Full Chairs Appropriations Finance Committee by the nonpartisan Fiscal Research Division at the General Assembly…
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SOUTHERN PINES, N.C., The Board of Directors of First Bancorp (NASDAQ – FBNC), the parent company of First Bank, has declared a cash dividend on its common stock of $0.20 per share payable on July 25, 2021 to shareholders of record as of June 30, 2021. The $0.20 dividend rate represents an 11.1% increase over the dividend rate of $0.18 paid in the comparable period…
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Governor Roy Cooper issued Executive Order No. 218 on June 9, highlighting North Carolina’s commitment to offshore wind power as the state transitions to a clean energy economy. The Executive Order directs actions to help North Carolina secure the jobs and economic development expected from this industry’s estimated $140 billion investment over the next 15 years to develop…
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., June 15, 2021 Nearly 16 months after the first COVID-19 cases hit North Carolina and six months into vaccine distribution, Novant Health announced today that it has administered over 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, which represents more than 253,000 fully vaccinated individuals. To mark this milestone, Novant Health has provided additional data…
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CHARLOTTE, N.C., Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE: TFC) will report second-quarter 2021 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, July 15, 2021. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kelly S. King, President and Chief Operating Officer William H. Rogers, Jr., and Chief Financial Officer Daryl N. Bible will host a conference call to review the company’s financial results at 8 a.m. ET. Investors…
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Wilmington, NC — CFCC’s Information Technology students spent the past year building a robust online management system to support the efforts of the CFCC Food Pantry, Ray’s Tray. In search of a simplified system that would streamline food-pantry order processing and inventory management, the CFCC Food Pantry team approached CFCC’s Information Technology Program Director, Sohail Sukhera.…
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by John Hood RALEIGH — As a fiscal conservative who thinks government is generally too large and taxes too high, I am grateful for the gas tax. You should be, too. When Oregon instituted the first state tax on motor fuels in 1919, and North Carolina followed suit two years later, their leaders were solving…
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By Mitch Kokai Carolina Journal News Service RALEIGH — The N.C. Supreme Court has thrown out a lawsuit against owners of an Orange County quarry. Chief Justice Paul Newby’s opinion in the case focuses attention on the fundamental importance of the right to petition government. The quarry owners had been sued because of comments their representatives made…
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By John Trump Carolina Journal News Service RALEIGH — Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper issued his first executive order of the pandemic in March 2020, at the time implementing a interminable state of emergency, a move that’s typically reserved for hurricanes and other natural disasters. On Friday, June 11, Cooper issued yet another order in the long series.…
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The startup ecosystem is a living and growing organism that most cities are trying to add to their modern economic development strategy for job creation. The startup ecosystem is typically a very positive kumbaya environment. There are lots of smiles around town while people with rose colored glasses are selling more commercial and residential real…
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Yesterday I was a last-minute speaker for a business group, filling in for a planned speaker who was under the weather. I had to put on my thinking cap and come up with an interesting topic with little time to spare. Given that we are now at the one-year anniversary of COVID-19’s initial impacts on…
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When I first entered the public relations profession shortly after college, we typically heard about two types of media: earned media and paid media. Thanks to technology-driven changes, social media and owned media have become increasingly prevalent communication tools in recent years. Paid media refers to tools such as traditional advertising and direct mail. While…
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by John Hood RALEIGH — The latest estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show about 251,000 North Carolinians unemployed as of April, down about 58,000 since the beginning of 2021. Alas, the news about our labor market isn’t as good as you might think. Of those 58,000 fewer unemployed North Carolinians, some 31,000 actually…
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by John Hood RALEIGH — When it comes to our business climate and economic prospects, North Carolinians are used to receiving accolades. Let’s add another to the list. The Cato Institute just released a study of regulatory barriers facing entrepreneurs. North Carolina fared well in the analysis, ranking 12th-best in the nation. No, we weren’t…
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by John Hood RALEIGH — President Joe Biden wants you to believe that there is no relationship between the extra $300 a week many are receiving in enhanced unemployment-insurance benefits and the shortage of workers now manifest in stores, restaurants, hotels, and other businesses here in North Carolina and across the country. But doesn’t…
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