🌱 Preserve Rural Durham + Road-Rage Shootings + DPD Overtime Totals

Christina Fullford
Updated ·3 min read

Happy Denim Day Durham!

First, today's weather:

Mostly sunny and cooler. High: 68 Low: 47.

Here are the top five stories today in Durham:

  1. Preserve Rural Durham is working to conserve land through outreach and restoration as the City and County of Durham are developing rapidly. A land use initiative map from the city and county called My Social Pinpoint lets people see current developments happening, and Preserve Rural Durham's founder Pam Andrews fears the sustainability. Durham is working to establish a new comprehensive plan for the first time since 2005, and the current proposal shows urban growth expanding further into rural areas. (Spectrum News 1)

  2. Police are searching for the gunmen involved in three recent road-rage shootings that they do not believe to be related. The most recent incident took place on Sunday on Highway 70 after the driver of a pickup truck reportedly side-swiped the driver of a white Nissan Maxima, causing the Nissan driver to fire at the truck. (WRAL, abc11)

  3. North Carolina Central University are celebrating the opening of four new buildings on campus. The buildings were open months ago, however the grand opening ceremony had to be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The four buildings include a $55 million student center and three new residence halls that will accommodate up to 1,200 students. (abc11)

  4. The Durham police department has been understaffed for some time. Since July 2021, officers have worked in hundreds of hours of overtime. The officers are voluntarily working extra hours to make up for the staffing shortage, as there are currently 101 sworn officer vacancies in the DPD. Durham police have spent $479,088.23 from July 1, 2021 through March 1, 2022 in overtime hours. (CBS17)

  5. North Carolina election officials have been working to combat disinformation ahead of early voting and the primary election. A few weeks ago county election officials across the state undertook logic and accuracy testing. State law requires a paper record of all ballots cast for audits and record keeping. (CBS17)

Today in Durham:

From my notebook:

  • It's Denim Day, and the Bull City is home to the very first cotton mill in the south to produce denim. Check out more on its history here.

  • Finalists for the NC IDEA grant have been chosen, including one from Durham. (WRAL)

  • Frank Dumas has been given a bicycle as a surprise from Durham school officials ahead of his trip to the national competition in June. (CBS17)

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Alrighty, you're all good for today. See you all tomorrow morning for another update!

— CJ Fullford

This article originally appeared on the Durham Patch