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The first phase of a North Carolina State University water study on GenX is complete. Nearly every home whose tap water researchers tested last fall showed levels of GenX, and they found other perfluorinated chemicals as well. Meanwhile an environmental group in Washington has released a new map to learn more about bad drinking water across the country. 

Julia Olson-Boseman served as a New Hanover County Commissioner from 2000 until 2004 -- then won three terms as a North Carolina State Senator.  As she tells WHQR’s Rachel Lewis Hilburn, she’s proud of her work on film incentives for the state and bringing Verizon Wireless to Wilmington.  

North Carolina House District 17 makes up much of Brunswick County. Current Republican Representative Frank Iler is facing challenger Patricia Sykes in the May Primary.  Here is more on the incumbent’s competition.

The first results from North Carolina State University’s testing of tap water in the region have been released. The purpose of the study:  to assess current exposure to GenX and related chemicals in people living in the Lower Cape Fear River Basin. Tuesday night researchers explained what was found in samples from 198 homes of New Hanover County residents.

Three Democrats are on the primary ballot for the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners. Incumbent Rob Zapple, James Middleton and Julia Olson-Boseman.  Rob Zapple was first elected to the board in 2014.

North Carolina added more than 10,000 jobs in the tech sector last year alone.  That makes it seventh in the nation for job growth, according to a study by Computing Technology Industry Association, a nonprofit advocacy group.

There are three Democrats hoping to win the nomination for North Carolina House District 20 and face incumbent Republican Holly Grange in November: Leslie Cohen, John Bauer and Gary Shipman. This is Leslie Cohen’s first go at public office. 

Imagine growing up in a world during a time in which it’s prudent to hide the fact that you’re Jewish because you might be barred from common public spaces or forced to attend schools that keep you apart from non-Jewish Germans. 

North Carolina’s primary election takes place on May 8th – when voters decide on candidates for the general election. Janice Cavenaugh and Christopher Morgan are running for the New Hanover County Board of Education.  Morgan is a newcomer, while Cavenaugh has served on the board for 25 years.

Two Democrats – Kyle Horton and Grayson Parker - are battling for the chance to challenge Republican incumbent David Rouzer in the general election for the U.S. House of Representatives District 7 seat.  Healthcare is of particular importance to Kyle Horton.

North Carolina’s primary election takes place on May 8th – when voters decide on their November candidates for the general election. Frank Meares and incumbent Don Hayes are Republicans running for the New Hanover County Board of Education. 

When kids get into trouble, when they fail in school, and turn to destructive paths seeking power, money, and a sense of belonging, it’s easy to dismiss the child as a “bad kid”, write him off, cope with his presence in school, keep him out of the way of the students who are succeeding, wait it out until he’s no longer there.

If Ed Higgins wins a seventh term on New Hanover County’s Board of Education, he will have served nearly three decades.  Bruce Shell, also an incumbent, is seeking his second term.  In a Republican primary field of seven candidates, both men are competing for one of the four open seats.

 April 4th, 2018 marks the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior.  The news of King's murder reverberated around the world, but the loss for students, parents, and staff at Williston Senior High School in Wilmington was particularly wrenching.  Dr.

North Carolina’s primary election takes place on May 8th – when voters decide on their November candidates for school boards, county commissions, sheriffs, congressional representatives, and the state legislature.  Bill Rivenbark, who currently works at a New Hanover County ABC store, is running for a seat on New Hanover County’s Board of Education. 

North Carolina and Wilmington’s film industry got some good news this week. The North Carolina Film and Entertainment Grants program has chosen to support productions in Wilmington and the High Point area.   

UPDATE: Since we first aired this story, TIMA Capital has pulled its permit application, which would have allowed the company to emit 90 tons of Methyl Bromide into the air each year.  Sunnyvale Drive in Wilmington, between River and Carolina Beach Roads, has become a sort of Ground Zero for air emissions. 

The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority has submitted its final report to the Environmental Review Commission, per the requirements of House Bill 56. That legislation appropriated funds to CFPUA and the University of North Carolina Wilmington to study which treatment techniques would remove GenX and other contaminants from the public water supply. 

The debate on firearms continues at the local, state, and national levels. As informed citizens, we look for debates based on logic and reason; but with more polarizing issues, it’s worth taking a look at the personal experiences that influence perceptions and resulting policy positions.   

Research shows that minority students are more likely to face disciplinary action in school than white students.  When students face more detentions, suspensions, and expulsions from school than their white counterparts, we also see more children of color in juvenile and criminal courts.  That phenomenon is often called the school-to-prison pipeline. 

March For Our Lives, an event to push for gun law reform, is Saturday in Wilmington. Across the country, hundreds of thousands of students are expected to march to demand that their lives and safety become a priority, and that there is an end to gun violence in the nation’s schools and communities. 

A letter full of racist invectives addressed to the Minister / Head Pastor arrived at Speaks Temple AME Zion Church late last month.  Postmarked February 14th from Charlotte, North Carolina, the same day as the Parkland, Florida school shooting and Valentine’s Day, no one seems to know who wrote the letter or why they sent it to a small church in Wilmington. 

A Royal Pest Solutions facility, that’s a fumigation plant near the Wilmington Port, is changing ownership. TIMA Capital is taking the location over, and wants a Title V Air Permit from the state’s Department of Air Quality. Such a permit would allow TIMA to release 90 tons of Methyl Bromide into the air.  Currently, the permit is for 9 tons per year.

There are now 173 charter schools in North Carolina.  After the General Assembly lifted the cap of 100 in 2010, the number of public charter schools soared.  In the past four years, four new charter schools opened in Wilmington alone putting the total at six.  If approved, a seventh, the Wilmington School of the Arts, will open in the fall of 2019.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has added two more weeks for public feedback on coal ash disposal and recycling.  DEQ held a meeting on that topic in Wilmington last month. The agency decided to extend the comment period after citizens said they wanted more time to provide feedback on the rules.

A 19-year-old gunman killed 17 people with an AR-15 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida about three weeks ago. 

The kind of energy that human beings use to power their lives is shifting around the globe.  Renewable sources of energy are on the rise; the International Energy Agency expects renewable electricity generation to increase by more than a third over the next four years.  That’s according to CNBC. 

In the last 12 years, Charlotte-based Duke Energy has invested about six billion dollars in wind and solar energy, said company spokesman Randy Wheeless.  He identified North Carolina as second in the nation for solar energy. 

The Wilmington City Council is throwing its support behind Cape Fear Public Utility Authority’s request to stop production at Chemours’ Fayetteville Works plant.  The resolution, directed to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, asks regulators to require the company to stop all operations that produce perfluorinated compounds like GenX.  The resolution is not binding, but does send a message.