The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education passed a new recommended budget for last fiscal year to correct overspending. The board spent $1.38 million over projected costs in the fund balance for the 2022-23 school year budget.
Jenn Weaver, who has served as mayor of Hillsborough since 2019, announced in April that she will not be seeking re-election this November. Weaver sat down with The Daily Tar Heel's Caroline Horne to talk about her time in office.
The N.C. General Assembly overrode the governor's veto of the Parents' Bill of Rights, which places restrictions on public schools in order to promote parental control over children. Some of these requirements include school's notifying parents of changes in children's names or pronouns and banning content relating to gender and sexual identities in curriculums for younger students.
CHCCS and OCS presented their budget requests and information about public school funding needs. Both school systems are looking for teacher retention funding and OCS additionally needs student support funding for specialized services and free and reduced-price meal plans. The Board also made various appointments to Orange County positions and committees.
On Monday, the General Assembly passed the first reading of a bill that may permanently put a right-to-work law into the North Carolina Constitution. A right-to-work law makes it illegal for employers to require workers to join or maintain membership in a union when they are hired. It guarantees a person’s right to work, even if the individual doesn't want to join a union and pay dues.
Starting on May 11, the Chapel Hill Police Department will host its weekly GEMS program for young women in the community. In the program, which the department has not held since 2019, the participants explore community-oriented careers, including those in police departments.
On March 28, the N.C. House passed House Bill 10, which would require all sheriffs in the state to comply with U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement. The purpose of the bill is to encourage communication with ICE in identifying illegal immigrants, uphold retainer requests from ICE and to report annual criminal ICE involvement data to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety.
After a "frustrating" year, Chapel Hill Transit users in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area can once again track buses. The GPS routing information for transit users returned on March 13 while UNC students were on Spring Break, according to the Town of Chapel Hill. Tracking on apps like TransLoc, which gets real-time information from NextBus, will now work for customers.
During Developmental Disability Awareness Month, the Triangle Disability Awareness Council and local businesses are facilitating conversations about intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
The 203 Project is set to be completed and open in June 2024, according to Susan Romaine, Carrboro mayor pro tem. The project is on schedule if the weather permits construction to continue.
