PUBLIC SAFETY

11/19/2017 9:23pm

Officer Pete McEwen works night shifts at the Chapel Hill Police Department. 

Midnight lunches and Chapel Hill's third shift

By Molly Horak

When Jessica Toney texts her boyfriend during her "lunch break," he's often going to sleep.  Toney, a UNC senior who works midnight shifts in a lab at the UNC Medical Center every other weekend, has her routine down to a science. After a full day of classes, she eats a large bowl of pasta and takes a nap for five hours before heading into work.   “I'm suddenly left alone in the world,” she said. “Everyone's asleep or getting back from their parties and I'm still going strong at work — sometimes I just post to my Snapchat story just to feel like I'm not alone, even though I know none of them will see it until the morning.”

Editors Picks

10/17/2017 9:22pm

Chapel Hill Police officers are on the scene of a death at Deming Rd.

UPDATED: Mother and son found dead in home on Deming Road

By Maria Elena Vizcaino

When Dirk Cotton and his family moved to their home on Deming Road in 2005, one of Margaret Gibson’s sons knocked on their door with an apple pie at hand.  “I thought it was a really sweet thing to do. I hadn’t seen anyone do that in decades," he said. "The incident was surprisingly depressing."  Thursday Oct. 12, the Cottons found out their neighbors, Margaret Gibson, 86, and her son, Eric Gibson, 53, had died in their Chapel Hill home in 442 Deming Road.