Little more than a year ago, Rosanna Courtney was in a Chinese orphanage, waiting to come home to America with her adoptive parents.
On Thursday, the 10-year-old third-grader took to the front row of Hillandale Elementary School students, proudly belting out a roster of patriotic American songs, from “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Yankee Doodle” to “God Bless America” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”
“I’m very happy to be in the U.S.A.,” Rosanna said after the day’s second performance in the gymnasium. “I’m still learning English and still learning to read. I don’t miss China.”
Gov. Pat McCrory’s proposed revamp of statewide transportation spending appears likely to continue to shortchange urban areas and may make it difficult for Wake County to finance its portion of a regional transit system, local officials say.
Members of the joint panel that oversees road and transit planning for Durham and Orange counties have asked their state senators for help as the governor’s proposal moves to their chamber.
They argue now’s the time to get it right.
Durham County remains a healthy place for the creative economy, according to a report released Thursday. Durham scored above the national average on the Creative Vitality Index. Creative jobs in the county also increased 22 percent from 2006 to 2011.
The figures were announced during an introductory session of the Creative Entrepreneur Expo, held at the Durham Arts Council. The expo included booths by vendors, and workshops on marketing, business planning and other aspects of entrepreneurship and the arts.
The Creative Vitality Index is a measure of the health of the creative economy in a locality, and encompasses the number of people employed in arts-related jobs, and public participation in the arts through sales of tickets, books, artwork and other items.
Several tax reform proposals now being discussed in the N.C. Senate would have a “decimating” effect on their ability to provide services, leaders of local arts nonprofit organizations say.
Nothing has been set in stone yet, but a tax reform package that state Sen. Phil Berger, president pro tem, and other tax writers are discussing would cut individual and corporate tax rates, but extend sales taxes to more goods and services, according to news reports. Arts North Carolina, a nonprofit arts advocacy organization, stated in a recent newsletter that the proposals “would have negative consequences for nonprofit organizations.”
This week, Arts North Carolina issued a call to action, urging leaders of arts nonprofits to call their legislators to oppose the measures, said Karen Wells, the organization’s executive director.
Will newly rediscovered evidence in the trial of Raven Abaroa reveal the truth about what happened the night Janet Abaroa was stabbed to death on April 26, 2005?
On Thursday morning, after receiving information about the location of evidence in the Raven Abaroa trial, Detective Charles Sole of the Durham Police Department went to the department's forensic office, unlocked a cabinet and found evidence from the Abaroa case stored there, said Assistant District Attorney Charlene Coggins-Franks Thursday.
The evidence included some handwritten notes from the police department's computer analyst, the hard drive from Janet Abaroa's work computer and a Palm Pilot, which is believed to have belonged to Raven Abaroa. The Palm Pilot was recovered from the Dodge Durango that Abaroa drove on the night of the murder.
The items were apparently placed in the locked cabinet years ago and never analyzed.
Pitmaster Ed Mitchell is planning to open a barbecue restaurant this fall in Diamond View III, the building that’s under construction downtown between the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and the Durham Performing Arts Center.
The restaurant, called “’Que,” will be on the first floor of the new building, which is to be the third part of a series of office space-oriented buildings overlooking the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
The buildings were developed by Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting, which owns the nearby American Tobacco mixed-use development, the Durham Bulls baseball team and WRAL-TV.
Terminal 1, the terminal that’s being renovated at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, will have four new retail stores when it opens again in March 2014.
The Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority approved the addition of the four retail concepts at a meeting Thursday, according to a news release. Merchandise at the stores will include women’s clothing, accessories, high-tech gadgets and regional gifts.
Four of the stores will be managed by the Marshall Retail Group, a Las Vegas-based specialty retail firm.
Mike Krzyzewski’s total compensation grew in 2011, the year the Duke coach became the winningest NCAA Division I men’s basketball coach with his 903rd victory.
According to Duke University’s tax return for fiscal year 2011-12, Krzyzewski’s compensation for calendar year 2011 totaled about $9.682 million.
That total included about $1.98 million in base compensation as well as another approximately $5.642 million in bonus and incentive payments.
Marguerite Barankitse will tell you that she is an ordinary woman. She goes by an informal “Maggy.” She relies on her Catholic faith, drawing inspiration from another woman, the Virgin Mary, whom she says was merely obedient to God. And when asked to reflect on her accomplishments, she says in French, “Je m'émerveille,” or “I marvel.”
An email campaign instigated by Preservation Durham has produced dozens of messages to the City Council asking members to uphold a 2011 decision declaring the Liberty Warehouse a local historic landmark.
Wadley, a young Haitian girl, always loved school, but when the 2010 earthquake displaced her family, they could not afford to send her to school. Wadley saw a tent school near the camp where her family was living and decided to attend, with or without money.
Two key N.C. Department of Health and Human Services officials on Wednesday soft-pedaled the likelihood that out-of-state companies will secure the lion’s share of the work when the state reorganizes the management of its Medicaid program.
A detective who pointed out inconsistencies in Raven Abaroa’s story found his own investigation under fire during defense questioning on Wednesday.
Abaroa, 33, is standing trial for first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his wife, Janet Marie Christiansen Abaroa, 25, at their home on Ferrand Drive in Durham on April 26, 2005.
Prosecutors have been presenting evidence against Abaroa for more than two weeks starting with statements he made to the lead detective after he came home from a soccer game and found his wife dead in the upstairs office of their home.
Since then, the case has had a number of lead detectives, and for a day and half, the most recent lead detective, Charles Sole, was on the stand. On Wednesday, defense attorney, Amos Tyndall, continued his cross-examination of Sole.
Contact Keith Upchurch at kupchurch@heraldsun.com or 919-419-6612.
