The Dare County Waterways Commission met on Monday night in Buxton to get updates on issues related to channel and harbor access, and particularly the emergency ferry channel in Rodanthe. According to an expedited July 29 survey done by the Army Corps of Engineers on the emergency ferry channel, which runs from Rodanthe to Stumpy [...] Local News |  Full Article

A new report finds that the state of North Carolina—as well as Dare and Currituck counties—rank near the top of U.S. locations when it comes to building new homes in areas potentially threatened by flooding. Produced by the research group Climate Central and the real estate company Zillow, the report, titled “Ocean at the Door: [...] Local News |  Full Article

Data compiler Niche.com has ranked North Carolina’s best school districts for the upcoming school year, and Dare County’s school system came in rated the sixth best. Niche also rated Dare County as the fourth best place to teach, and sixth safest district in the state. Recently released data from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction [...] Local News |  Full Article

NOAA forecasters monitoring oceanic and atmospheric patterns say conditions are now more favorable for above-normal hurricane activity since El Nino has now ended, per an update on Thursday, August 8. Two named storms have formed so far this year, and the peak months of the hurricane season, August through October, are now underway. Seasonal forecasters [...] Local News |  Full Article

Crews at both the Bonner Bridge and Rodanthe – or Jug Handle – Bridge projects have been hard at work throughout the summer, per an August 8 video update from Dare County and NCDOT. All work-related road closures have been temporarily halted on the newly opened bridge across Oregon Inlet until September 15, but crews [...] Local News |  Full Article

In many parts of Dare County, all forms of fireworks are banned, and in the remaining communities, any fireworks that propel off the ground are illegal. But several recent incidents indicate they are being ignited on the beach, with potentially harmful results. Abby Madson of Virginia was walking on the beach in Southern Shores with [...] Local News |  Full Article

The Dare County Commissioners’ decision this week to renew the agreement to pay the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce $35,000 for economic development and diversification work became an occasion to raise alarm bells and a call to action about the county’s daunting “housing crisis.” The lack of sufficient workforce housing has been one of the [...] Local News |  Full Article

Disaster mitigation funds will be released to areas affected by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, including North Carolina, once the Federal Register notice is published, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Friday. The state will receive $168 million in hurricane recovery mitigation funds, according to Gov. Roy Cooper’s office. Gov. Roy Cooper Congress passed [...] Local News |  Full Article

North Carolina can expect to have paid a minimum of $34.8 billion for building seawalls to protect coastal communities from rising seas by 2040, according to a recent report from the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development’s Center For Climate Integrity. The center, which launched in 2017 to advance the transition from fossil fuels to [...] Local News |  Full Article

After only a few days running, the North Carolina Ferry Division’s newest car ferry, the M/V Rodanthe is offline. Jed Dixon, Ferry Division deputy director, confirmed on Saturday that the Rodanthe is resting dockside while a Caterpiller representative checks out the engine. The first day, Tuesday (July 30), it made a few runs, Dixon said. [...] Local News |  Full Article

  Coast Guard members assisted a man reportedly having a seizure aboard a recreational vessel near Oregon Inlet on Sunday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector North Carolina received the initial report from the captain of a recreational vessel at approximately 12:30 p.m., that a man aboard the vessel had become dehydrated and had a seizure. [...] Local News |  Full Article

A fiber optic cable was cut north of Elizabeth City late Wednesday morning, leading to a Spectrum internet, television and phone service outage across the Outer Banks. The company said the problem is with the “Manteo hub” and crews have been dispatched. As of 12:35 p.m., there was no estimated restoration time.

In an attempt to re-establish the district’s two teacher housing complexes as a recruitment tool for prospective new teachers, the Dare County Board of Education this spring approved a revised lease for tenants that now strictly enforces a four-year occupancy limit. Teachers and faculty members currently living at Run Hill Ridge in Kill Devil Hills [...] Local News |  Full Article

The newest addition to the Hatteras-Ocracoke vehicular ferry route, the M/V Rodanthe, embarked on her maiden voyage on Tuesday morning, July 30, with a full deck of passengers headed to Ocracoke, per an online announcement from the North Carolina Ferry System. The M/V Rodanthe arrived at the NCDOT Shipyard in Manns Harbor, N.C. in June, [...] Local News |  Full Article

Beach-goers in Buxton were likely surprised to notice the return of several large vessels just offshore, roughly a year and a half after the completion of the Buxton Beach Nourishment project in February of 2018. The revived offshore activity is due to the return of the project’s contractor Weeks Marine, which is in the area [...] Local News |  Full Article