Local

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – State officials say beware of tax refund loans that come with interest rates as high as 300%.

IRS statistics show more than a 500,000 taxpayers in North Carolina signed up for the short-term loans in 2004.

The selling point is getting an on-the-spot refund instead of waiting two weeks for the IRS, says Mark Pierce, North Carolina Deputy Commissioner for Banks.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – Oak Island mayor Johnnie Vereen says he isn't trying to start a tax rebellion.

But Vereen is making sure his counterparts around Brunswick County know exactly what Oak Island is doing to protest its tax revaluation.

Vereen and the town council meet tonight to vote on a resolution asking Brunswick's tax office to review the entire community's property tax revaluation and urging similar scrutiny for the rest of the county.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – The hollow rubber tubes currently stretched across Wilmington roadways cause only the slightest bump-bump when your tires cross them, but those lowly ropes are part of planning for Wilmington's future.

Traffic counts using the meters already reveal that opening of alternative routes has done little to relieve congestion on Market Street.

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – The mother of the little girl who died after getting hit by a car while crossing the street in Wilmington has also died.

24-year-old Rachel Lynet Matthews died Thursday night at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. Her 3-year-old daughter Asani McEachin died on Tuesday.

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – Public hearings start this week on the proposed Outlying Land Field in Washington and Beaufort counties.

The Navy has trimmed the number of acres it wants to buy from 30,000 to 13,000.

Executive Director for Audubon North Carolina Chris Canfield says opponents should come out during this week's round of public hearings and let the Navy know about the value of eastern North Carolina.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – When Sneads Ferry fisherman Johnny Wayne Midgett was banned from storing his catch in a residential neighborhood, his story became a watershed moment for a generation of Onslow county watermen watching their livelihood disappearing into high end real estate.

Someday, fishermen like Midgett may be protected by special maritime zoning districts. Or their memory may be reduced to quaint street names in waterfront subdivisions. Which happens rests in part in the hands of the Onslow Board of Commissioners.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – John Woelkers buzzes through the empty parking lot of a Burgaw butcher shop on a bright March afternoon, burning up the asphalt with his lightening-blue X7. It sounds like a chainsaw on wheels, but what this 34-year-old heavy equipment operator is really riding is a 120-pound pocket bike.

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – Joe Sinsheimer, the man who filed the initial complaint against state Representative Thomas Wright, says more complaints against other lawmakers are on the way.

Sinsheimer says he has spent months looking into whether members of the payday lending industry were trying to hide their campaign contributions. He says ten months ago he filed a complaint focused on 38 legislators.

From that investigation he expects to file a complaint in the next couple of weeks against another lawmaker.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – An old New Hanover County farm may be the region's next field of dreams.

Local officials want to purchase the 63-acre Olsen family farm to create a major new sports park between Interstate 40 and North College Road.

When combined with a neighboring 25-acre tract of county land, the planned park would have room for five baseball/softball fields in a 'wagon-wheel' design, as well as multipurpose sports fields, tennis and volleyball courts, walking trails, and a playground.

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – The Executive Director of the State Board of Elections says his office is required by law to look into all sworn complaints filed about a candidate's campaign finance report.

Executive Director Gary Bartlett says his office receives between 50 and 70 complaints a year. He says many of those are frivolous, but the ones that aren't get checked out by his staff.