The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission postponed action on proposals for southern Flounder management that had been scheduled for last week’s meeting. During last week’s meeting, the board received a letter from N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Donald van der Vaart. Van der Vaart’s letter referenced and enclosed a letter he received […]
Fishing | Full Article
Ocracoke’s Street names: Who are Nubbin, Ikey D, and the Poker Players?
Who is “Mark,” and why does he have a path on Ocracoke? Where’s the poker game on Poker Players Lane? Streets in Ocracoke have sometimes quirky, sometimes obvious (Creek Road), even ho-hum names, such as North Street or Middle Road. While Ocracoke has had European settlers since the 1700s, the island got official street names […]
Island Features | Full Article
Danny dissipates, but Ericka may not be far behind
Hurricane Danny, a powerful Category 3 storm just last Friday, was downgraded to a tropical storm over the weekend and then to a low pressure area just west-southwest of Guadeloupe Monday morning, defeated by wind shear and dry air. The National Hurricane Center stopped issuing advisories on Danny at 11 a.m. today, and forecasters turned […]
Local News | Full Article
More thoughts on Hatteras Inlet, sales tax, gas prices, etc.
It’s time to catch up with some of the issues that we in the news business have been covering for much of this year, beginning with the dire state of Hatteras Inlet. HATTERAS INLET The county’s southernmost inlet took a back seat for much of this year as officials scrambled to find short- and long-term […]
Editor’s Blog | Full Article
Legislative Update: House rejects bill with Senate sales tax plan
That’s not the ocean breeze you hear. It’s the collective tentative sigh of relief from local governments because the House has refused to accept the Senate changes made to House Bill 117, N.C. Competes. While in the Senate, the original bill, an incentives package requested by Gov. Pat McCrory, was amended twice to add the […]
Local News | Full Article
UPDATE: Danny is upgraded to a major hurricane with winds at 115 mph
The National Hurricane Center today upgraded Hurricane Danny to a Category 3 storm, with winds of 115 miles an hour — a major hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. At 5 p.m., the center of Danny was located about 860 miles east of the Windward Islands and the storm was moving to the west-northwest at 10 […]
Local News | Full Article
Outer Banks Angling: Fishing is solid as summer winds down
Summer continues to race by with the end of August already approaching and children preparing for yet another school year. The forecast of late has hopefully been a prelude of weather to come. Mother Nature threw us several very nice days, with much welcomed cool temps and low humidity. It’s been common to hear people […]
Fishing | Full Article
Danny becomes the first hurricane of the season
The National Hurricane Center late this morning upgraded Tropical Storm Danny in the eastern Atlantic to hurricane status — a Category 1 with winds calculated at 80 miles per hour. At 5 p.m. this afternoon, the storm was about 1,030 miles east of the Windward Islands and was moving west-northwest at 10 mph. The Hurricane […]
Local News | Full Article
The Snakes of North Carolina: Respect but don’t fear them
With all the attention that sharks are getting this summer, snakes have been able to slither under the radar as the most sensationalized animal threatening human existence. Usually this time of year, we hear all about the “copper-mouthed, water-headed rattlers” aggressively chasing after people. During my years as a park ranger, I once received a […]
Island Features | Full Article
Coast Guard warns mariners away from Hatteras Inlet as officials seek solutions
Just hours after the Coast Guard urged mariners not to use the South Ferry Channel at Hatteras Inlet, a county waterways panel convened again in Hatteras village to seek solutions to stubborn shoaling in the channel that is being called “catastrophic.” “Recent hydrographic surveys indicate shoaling in South Ferry Channel has resulted in an average […]
Local News | Full Article
