The rumor mill was overactive during the hurricane, sheriff’s office says BY CATHERINE KOZAK BY CATHERINE KOZAK BY CATHERINE KOZAK As Hurricane Irene tore through Hatteras Island, leaving power and phone outages, impassable roads and flooded homes in its wake, some unsavory people took advantage of the darkness and chaos. For the most part, however, […]

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By CATHERINE KOZAK By CATHERINE KOZAK In its 25-page answer to a lawsuit by two environmental groups trying to stop the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge replacement project, attorneys for the state Department of Transportation defended its choice of a short bridge and later road maintenance as the only practical alternative that will be constructed with […]

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UPDATE:   Hurricane Irene Cuts Inlets on Northern Hatteras Island By Catherine Kozak By Catherine Kozak Hurricane Irene piled up historic levels of sound tide and left Hatteras Islanders with little communication and no electricity. But worse, eight years after Hurricane Isabel slashed an inlet between Frisco and Hatteras, the storm left the island severed. […]

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They had maps, ground-penetrating radar images, and historical accounts all pointing to two buried cannons where the Civil War battle at Fort Clark raged 150 years ago at Hatteras Inlet.   Early Thursday, under the direction of Cape Hatteras National Seashore historian Doug Stover and assisted by Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum executive director Joseph […]

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They had maps, ground-penetrating radar images, and historical accounts all pointing to two buried cannons where the Civil War battle at Fort Clark raged 150 years ago at Hatteras Inlet.   Early Thursday, under the direction of Cape Hatteras National Seashore historian Doug Stover and assisted by Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum executive director Joseph […]

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Ocracoke teaching center loses jobs and seminars Ocracoke teaching center loses jobs and seminars BY CATHERINE KOZAK BY CATHERINE KOZAK With two positions eliminated from the Ocracoke campus of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teachers, administrators are still unclear what the long-term impact will be of operating with 50 percent less funding.   […]

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By CATHERINE KOZAK By CATHERINE KOZAK Bids on a contract to build a new bridge over Oregon Inlet were officially opened  on Tuesday, July 19, as the long-overdue project continues unrestrained so far by a recently-filed lawsuit by environmental groups that want to stop it. Three design-build teams submitted proposals to the state Department of […]

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NCCAT’s Ocracoke campus looking at cuts in staff, seminars NCCAT’s Ocracoke campus looking at cuts in staff, seminars BY CATHERINE KOZAK BY CATHERINE KOZAK Decreases in staff at the Ocracoke campus of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching are unavoidable, but the full pain of a 50 percent budget cut by the […]

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By CATHERINE KOZAK By CATHERINE KOZAK Despite a last minute lawsuit seeking to stop the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge replacement project, work will continue as planned unless a federal judge says otherwise, a spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation said on Wednesday. “We’re going to stay on our timeline,” said Greer Beaty, DOT’s director […]

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Now there’s smoke from two fires choking the Outer Banks, and between them, hazy air could be plaguing the barrier islands for months. In addition to the Pains Bay fire that has been burning in mainland Dare County since a May 4 lightning strike, a wildfire in Pender County, just southwest of Jacksonville in the […]

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