Economics
The state notified the nonprofit Ocean Cure that it must remove its wheelchair beach access mat because it threatened sea turtles and shorebirds. (Port City Daily photo/Courtesy Kevin Murphy)
CAROLINA BEACH — For the past three summers, a nonprofit called Ocean Cure has laid down a 3,000-square-foot plastic mat right above the high tide line near the Carolina Beach Boardwalk to provide what few coastal towns in the region can provide: easy beach access for those in wheelchairs.
Read More![Greg Casaletto inside one of the freezers at the Food Bank’s distribution facility in Wilmington. “Before [the Covid-19 pandemic], we’d get 800 pounds of meat from grocery stores [per day]. After this started, we get maybe 250 to 300 pounds, some da…](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a72319251a5843d6a1d9a9b/1602129174073-5UJP8C51I86VFJXT99T3/MFD_7468.jpg)
Greg Casaletto inside one of the freezers at the Food Bank’s distribution facility in Wilmington. “Before [the Covid-19 pandemic], we’d get 800 pounds of meat from grocery stores [per day]. After this started, we get maybe 250 to 300 pounds, some days 40 to 50 pounds,” Casaletto said. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
WILMINGTON — Since the pandemic forced massive economic shutdowns in March, leaders of more than 40 food assistance agencies have held weekly internet conference meetings to address the rising demand among the groups they serve, and others who are seeking food assistance for the first time in their lives.
Tugboats push the bow of the 357-meter MV Hyundai Hope cargo ship back downriver before it docked at the Port of Wilmington Wednesday evening. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
WILMINGTON — The 1,200-foot MV Hyundai Hope crept up the Cape Fear River on Wednesday evening through thick sheets of rain before tugboats pushed the container ship back downriver, guiding it to dock beneath four lit-up cranes at the Port of Wilmington.
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Chris Vinopal was let go after working his fourth day on the set of Lost Boys in Wilmington. After struggling through the state’s online unemployment filing process, he is now awaiting word on additional federal benefits. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
NORTH CAROLINA — Throughout last week a red banner at the top of the NC Department of Commerce website said the state was still “awaiting guidance for issuing [unemployment] payments” as hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians began filing claims in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, jamming internet servers and telephone help lines.
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This week New Hanover County ABC Board opened its liquor-by-the-drink (LBD) distribution facility off Market Street, behind the Auto Wholesale dealership, to accommodate senior customers who wish to avoid the risk of more crowded ABC stores. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
NEW HANOVER COUNTY — In a month when local bars and restaurants took a massive hit from the Covid-19 pandemic, people flocked to their local ABC liquor stores — most to stock up, but at least a few to make their own sanitizer solution.
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Half of the land owned by William McLean and his sister, Melanie Bradshaw, lies in Saint Helena (left of the fence), while the other half lies in Burgaw. Saint Helena approved the construction of a solar farm, behind the one pictured, while Burgaw did not. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
BURGAW — A solar farm and its landowners are suing the town of Burgaw over a rezoning dispute, pitting the rights of property owners against the jurisdictional authority of local government.
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A home on Herrings Chapel Road, roughly six miles west of Burgaw. A new federally funded project looks to bring fiber-optic internet to roughly two-thirds of the county. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
PENDER COUNTY — Two decades into the 21st century, more than 8 percent of Pender County’s population still has no access to DSL, cable, or fiber-optic internet.
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A home on Herrings Chapel Road, roughly six miles west of Burgaw. Many homes in the rural areas that make up the majority of the county do not have access to high-speed broadband internet. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
PENDER COUNTY — Last week Governor Roy Cooper announced an $8 million federal grant to build out fiber optic cables to 4,000 homes in rural areas of Columbus County.
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WILMINGTON — The University of North Carolina-Wilmington has agreed to deals with large beer distributors over local craft breweries in its inaugural season of alcohol sales at basketball games and other sporting events.
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Boundaries of the Juniper Swamp tract, one of two sites that Surf City uses for wastewater collection. (Port City Daily/Courtesy Onslow County GIS)
SURF CITY — A council candidate has brought to public attention a sewer system that has reached capacity and recent findings that most of the town’s 2,220-acre Juniper Swamp property cannot be used for its intended purpose as wastewater spray fields.
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The DEQ found that North Carolina oysters, pictured here, were not consumed by the Cary man who died from the bacteria. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
After a man died after eating raw oysters and clams in a Wilmington restaurant, state agencies could not determine the exact source of the contamination due to a market that has diversified over the past two decades.
Impermeable surfaces at low sea levels cause flooding and stormwater problems all around the Cape Fear Region. (Port City Daily photo/Michael Praats)
The second in a two-part series examines a disconnect between developers and “green infrastructure” approaches that reduce stormwater runoff while bringing economic benefits to the table.
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An oyster lease near Permuda Island in Stump Sound. With no nearby inlets to flush out stormwater runoff, Stump Sound is less resilient to the impacts of rainfall than Topsail Sound to the south, causing an increase in state shellfish closures. (Port City Daily photo/Mark Darrough)
The first in a two-part series examines the impact stormwater runoff has on the waterways near Hampstead and Holly Ridge as development pushes north from Wilmington.
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More than 100 acres of open land on Topsail Island, which has slowly built up sand coming from the north end over the years, has been listed for sale at $7.9 million. This aerial image was taken by photographer Betsy Knapp in 2016. (Port City Daily photo/Courtesy Betsy C. Knapp)
After the land on Topsail Island's southern tip was listed for sale last week, conservation groups say there are no current efforts to protect it.
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