Five stars, wouldn’t change a thing
the evening wrap,
Oct. 4.2023
I was elbow-deep in copy about Kevin McCarthy when the National Wireless Emergency Alert System turned my phone into a shrieking banshee, and let me tell you, that is not the situation in which you want to be startled by an ear-splitting alarm. I may never be OK. But at least I still have a job, and that is more than we can say for Kevin McCarthy.
my body.
no choice.
the evening wrap,
feb. 10, 2022
In 2017, I had an abortion — at least I think I did, technically. I miscarried very early in a pregnancy, and two months later, my hormone levels were still elevated. My body couldn’t complete the miscarriage on its own, and I couldn’t try to get pregnant again until it was over, so my OBGYN prescribed the abortion drug misoprostol. I used it at home. Three months later, I became pregnant with twins.
There are several things I hope you take away from this story: That abortion is complicated and includes procedures you wouldn’t necessarily consider abortions. That you probably know more than one person who’s had one. That there is no one reason people have abortions. But mostly, I hope you realize that abortion — for any reason — doesn’t require a single one of these justifications. It’s a deeply personal medical decision that isn’t your business. I share mine willingly and without hesitation, but I shouldn’t have to share it at all.
one year of
the big lie
news from
the states,
jan. 2022
Trump encouraged his supporters to take action. They took him literally, storming the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of that free and fair election. They did it at his behest, and they carried it out with the support of multiple lawmakers and high-ranking administration officials.
They failed, and that matters, but maybe not as much as the fact that they got close. It seems inevitable that they will try again. It seems that way because they’ve never really stopped. Welcome to the first anniversary of the Big Lie.
After being pulled over by police in Clay Township, Ohio, a man poked his head out of the car window and locked eyes on the police dog circling his vehicle.
“Hey, that’s Leonard!” he exclaimed.
Clay Township Police Chief Terry Mitchell chuckled. “Yes it is, sir,” he said. “And he just found narcotics in your car.”
Police dogs often command attention, but even among his peers, Leonard stands out: he came from a shelter, not a breeder, and he’s a pit bull, not a German Shepherd.
“Want a good
police K9? TRY
THE ANIMAL
SHELTER.”
Route Fifty,
Oct. 2019
Should the problem arise, here’s one way to remove an armadillo from your yard: grab the tail and pick it up.
“But you have to do it carefully,” cautioned Whit Gibbons, a professor emeritus of ecology at the University of Georgia. “I had to take my grandson to emergency care because he picked an armadillo up the wrong way. They can scratch you with their back feet. I don’t think it’s intentional—the armadillo is just trying to get away. Also, I want to make it clear I am not advocating this.”
“KEeping tabs on
armadillos”
Route Fifty,
Sept. 2019
The best place to hunt lionfish, according to John McCain, is on virgin shipwrecks.
Those spots—places where no one has dived before—are teeming with stripey, spiny swimmers who haven’t yet learned to be scared of humans. It is, quite literally, like shooting fish in a barrel.
“When the densities were the highest, you’d drop down and get a couple hundred fish, or a couple hundred pounds of fish, in one spot on one dive, in 30 to 40 minutes,” said McCain, a diver and spearfisher. “Literally, you shoot a fish and there’s another one 2 inches from it, and the second one doesn’t even move.”
“BECOMING THE
LIONFISH KING”
Route Fifty,
July 2019
"the improbable rise of the elevator queen"
News & Record, Sept. 2017
North Carolina Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry isn't sure if she will pen a memoir about her 25 years in state politics, but she already has settled on an epitaph.
“It should read, ‘Here lies Cherie Berry,’” she says. “‘She’s going up.’”
"one reporter's epic quest for free burritos"
News & record, Aug. 2016
On Wednesday, I heard that a new Moe’s Southwestern Grill was opening in Friendly Center. The restaurant would celebrate by offering free burritos for one year to the first 100 people in line.
As soon as I heard, I knew. I felt it. It was similar to the way I felt when I realized I would marry my husband; when I pictured our future together and realized we would have a shared life.
This. These free burritos. This quest.
This was the story I was born to write.
"State Revokes guilford shelter's license for 'severity of violations'"
NEWS & Record, Aug. 2015
I broke this story - the first in an ongoing series about longstanding problems at the Guilford County Animal Shelter - after roughly six months of investigative reporting.
After months of complaints, rumors and allegations of animal cruelty and abuse, the N.C. Department of Agriculture revoked the United Animal Coalition’s license to operate animal shelters in Davidson and Guilford counties.
“In the course of the investigation and in reviewing records, it was found that the UAC demonstrated serious deficiencies in the care of the animals in its custody,” according to the letter of revocation, delivered by hand to United Animal Coalition President Carolyn Cudd.
Cudd did not respond to requests for comment.
The report details 65 incidences of animal cruelty documented at the Guilford shelter by state officials along with abnormally large numbers of animals found dead in kennels at the Davidson facility.
"I am conducting a very serious and important survey of local officials (county and city, elected and not). If you could, please answer the following questions:
1. Do you like Beyoncé?
2. If so, what is your favorite Beyoncé song?
3. If not, why?
Technically — TECHNICALLY! — a newspaper in Ireland beat me to this story but in the interest of transparency, journalism and, really, democracy, I must persist.
Deadline = urgent, obviously."
"How your local, state and federal officials feel
about beyoncé"
News & Record, March 2017
D.A. Lewis has never served on a town board and never occupied a seat on the Carolina Beach Town Council. But he’s been a fixture in the council chambers for more than five decades, trudging to the podium at nearly every meeting to read printed statements lambasting council members for their actions – or inactions – on a variety of issues.
“I’ve been going ever since I was 22 years old, off and on,” said Lewis, 74, a lifelong Carolina Beach resident. “I’m all over the place with issues. I’ve got an opinion on everything, but I’ve got a strong enough opinion on some things that I’ll get into it.”