Local

By Stephen Meador

Wrightsville Beach, NC – With the federal deficit looming at more than 400 billion dollars this year, you might not have noticed the 130 million recently set aside to repair Florida's tourist beaches. The beaches were battered by four powerful hurricanes that swept away millions of tons of sand, and with it, millions of potential tourist dollars.

By Stephen Meador

Navassa, NC – Just a few miles west of Wilmington along the Brunswick River lies the town of Navassa. Named after a Caribbean island mined for its bird guano, Navassa began importing and processing it into fertilizer in the late 19th Century. By the 1950s, Navassa employed nearly 4000 workers in five fertilizer factories. But by the early 1980s, the factories and the jobs were gone. All that's left now are hundreds of acres of contaminated land. With high unemployment and a poorly-educated population, the town is struggling.

By Stephen Meador

Wilmington, NC – Tucked away behind the Oakdale Cemetery is the little neighborhood of Love Grove. Once home to slaves of the Love Family, the area is now home to more than 60 families, many of them elderly. Willie Davis lives at the end of King Street with his wife of 54 years. He's spent his entire life in Love Grove, and says it's the best neighborhood in Wilmington.

By Stephen Meador

By Stephen Meador

Ocean Isle, NC – [ambient sound of elevator] It's a slow ride to the 15th floor of a high-rise condominium on Ocean Isle.

[Cleary] See that down there? That's all artificial. That's artificial, that's been pumped from Shallotte Inlet.

By Stephen Meador

Wrightsville Beach, NC – When Chris Brewster spoke to the audience, not all of his words came easily.

[Brewster] Lifeguards consider it a personal failure whenever there's a drowning in an area anywhere near them. But, um, we take any drowning that happens anywhere personally because we know what we would be able to do if we were there.

By Stephen Meador

Wrightsville Beach, NC – When Sandee LaMotte left Atlanta last summer for a family vacation in the Florida panhandle, she never dreamed she would return home a widow. On the afternoon of June 8, Sandee's family was enjoying the beach while she caught up on housework. Suddenly, her two children burst through the door and told her that their father was in trouble.

50 years after this landmark case, UNCW asks "How Has It Changed Us?"

By WHQR

Wilmington NC – In Spring 2004, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (May 17, 1954), the Supreme Court decision that ended the doctrine of ?separate but equal? as a constitutional principle.

Dr. Rosemary DePaolo takes the helm at UNCW.

By WHQR public radio

Wilmington NC – The Fall 2003 semester has begun at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and among the new faces is Dr. Rosemary DePaolo. The new Chancellor took time out of a busy August day to speak with WHQR's Susan Dankel about the path that brought her here, and about her vision for UNCW in the days ahead.

Click the LISTEN button above to hear their conversation.