Roads and canals crisscross a marsh with homesites in Down East Carteret County, where connections to the water that surrounds are engrained in the culture. Photo: Mark Hibbs/SouthWings Last year, a Coastal Review series for the Pulitzer Center’s Connected Coastlines initiative looked at how hurricanes, floods, nor’easters and other major…
Search Results for: Kirk Ross
Cooper Nominates Delli-Gatti for DEQ Post
Gov. Roy Cooper Tuesday named Dionne Delli-Gatti, director of regulatory and legislative affairs for Environmental Defense Fund’s Southeast Climate & Energy, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Quality. Dionne Delli-Gatti Delli-Gatti, whose nomination must be confirmed by the Senate, replaces Michael Regan whom President Joe Biden appointed administrator of…
Bills Would Clear Way for Terminal Groins
A survey of Oregon Inlet September 2020. Image: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers RALEIGH — Legislation filed last week in the North Carolina General Assembly could help clear the way for federal assistance with the extension of jetties at Oregon Inlet and possibly secure funding for a proposed terminal groin…
Gaps In Data Delay Chowan River Basin Plan
Cypress trees on the Chowan River. Photo: Charles Braswell Jr./NCDEQ The state’s Environmental Management Commission will wait another two months before taking a vote on an updated water resources plan for the Chowan River Basin, which has seen a steady increase in toxic algae blooms over the past decade. The…
New Year, New Session, Same Hurdles Ahead
…listening sessions on EPA issues during the transition. Confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate have yet to be scheduled. Cooper’s press secretary, Dory MacMillan said the selection process for the departments’ leadership continues. “Governor Cooper is committed to seeking out the most qualified people to serve across his cabinet, and…
NCDEQ’s Regan Top Contender to Lead EPA
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan is the top contender to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, according to multiple news reports citing insiders with the Biden-Harris transition team. Michael Regan With the Electoral College vote completed and a little more than a month until the changeover in…
NC’s Election Results Won’t Budge This Week
A masked voter makes his mark Tuesday at the South River Merrimon Fire & EMS in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray If you’re anxiously looking for further vote totals in in North Carolina’s tight national, state and local races, let it go. They’re frozen. In a press conference Wednesday, state elections…
Good Night for GOP in Close NC Races
…Ballot Count: 14,461; Percent: 39.19% N.C. House of Representatives 4th District (Duplin, Onslow) Jimmy Dixon (R) Ballot Count: 21,066; Percent: 65.85% Christopher Schulte (D) Ballot Count: 10,924; Percent: 34.15% N.C. House of Representatives 5th District (Gates, Hertford, Pasquotank) Howard J. Hunter III (D) Ballot Count: 19,862; Percent: 56.72% Donald Kirkland…
NC’s Early, Mail-In Voting Totals 4.5 Million
Early voting in North Carolina, which ended Saturday, for the 2020 election surpassed previous totals. Photo: Jennifer Allen North Carolina voters smashed turnout records across the state, including coastal areas with high growth, contested races or both, during the early voting period that ended Saturday. Ahead of Election Day, more…
Coastal Districts Key Going Into Election Day
…after a successful legal challenge over partisan gerrymandering. In all, 56 districts in the 120-seat House and 21 districts in the 50-seat Senate were altered in the redraw. Many remain essentially unchanged, but more than a dozen districts across the state shifted enough to substantially alter the odds. The new…
Coastal Voter Turnout Trends Mirror State
Ocracoke Islanders line up at 8 a.m. Oct. 22, the first day of Hyde County’s two-day early voting period on Ocracoke. Photo by Connie Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer For the first part of this year’s highly energized election, if you looked at turnout percentages along North Carolina’s coast, Hyde County was a…
Boosting Local Efforts Key In Resiliency Plan
An aerial view flooding in Jacksonville. Photo: City of Jacksonville Access to grants for local governments, tools for better planning and more local participation and training are among the strategies in a multiagency push that’s the next step toward incorporating climate science and resiliency planning throughout North Carolina. Thursday, the…