On this edition of the CoastLine Candidate Interviews, we meet the two people in the race for North Carolina Senate District 9.  This district covers most of New Hanover County, with the exception of a small patch in downtown Wilmington, which is part of Brunswick County Senator Bill Rabon’s District 8. 

New Hanover County's 7-acre Arboretum opened 27 years ago and it continues to improve, increasing educational and creative programming for all ages and abilities. One reason the Arboretum thrives is because of a group of volunteers called Friends of the Arboretum (FOA), dedicated to supporting the gardens with money, time, and muscle. John Ranalli is the President of FOA, and listen to the enthusiasm he brings to this year's main FOA fundraiser: Art in the Arboretum. The event is this weekend, Friday-Sunday, rain or shine.

On this edition of CoastLine, it's a Political Reporter Round Table.  We’re tackling the issues that will shape your decisions this November – as well as the unorthodox election season and how that’s playing out in local and state races.

Guests:

Tim Buckland, Senior Political Reporter, Local Government Editor, StarNews

Artist Heather Divoky has an exhibition up at the Leland Cultural Arts Center called A Relative Geography: Painted Perspectives of Where We Live. It's actually a work in progress that started with short stories about places that extend out from Leland, North Carolina all the way to Jupiter.  Divoky continues to add small paintings to each story. The closing reception for the exhibit is Thursday, 9/29, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm. Listen to Divoky talk about the exhibit and describe some of the over 300 stories above.

Gwenyfar Rohler, the owner/operator of Old Books on Front Street, has held a vision to remodel the upper floor of the shop since the bookstore took residence there 6 years ago. She figured it would take about 10 years to get it done-but the project is ahead of schedule, complete with a huge Scrabble board on the floor. The renovated space, called Top Shelf: A Literary Loft, is having a grand opening on Wednesday, 9/28, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm . Rohler assures us-there will be cake. 

Listen to our interview with Gwenyfar above, and see pictures from Top Shelf here. 

Derrick Hickey, a Republican seeking one of three seats on New Hanover County’s Board of Commissioners, is taking his third run at the office.  This former Board of Education member wants to focus on child development and providing quality after-school programs – which, he says, starts with the County Commission.

One of the three Republican candidates for New Hanover County Commissioner, Patricia Kusek, served as Chair of the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority for two of her five years on that Board.  This independent financial advisor says the lessons she teaches her clients would also benefit county government.  

A delicate balance exists between plants, bugs, and birds. Obviously, the bugs eat the plants and the birds eat the bugs, but one element we might not think about is the effect non-native plants have on this food chain. Dr. Doug Tallamy has thought about it and written about. Tallamy is the Chair of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. He'll speak about ideas from his recent book Bringing Nature Home tomorrow at 1:00 at St. James Community Center on Southport-Supply Road. Native plant vendors will be at the event, and Dr. Tallamy will sign copies of his book. Find more information and online tickets here. 

Sara Jarvis wrote:

I’ve been happily listening to WHQR via my SONOS system for several months. I access the station via Radio by TuneIn — a program that came loaded on my system. During that time, I’ve had several experiences in which the WHQR signal simply disappeared. . . For the past week, WHQR is totally inaccessible via the Radio by Tunein program.