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By Jheri Hardaway Staff Writer In the world of commercial construction, "solid foundations" usually refers to the PSI of a concrete slab. But for Greg Rice, founder of BCG Concrete Construction, the foundation of his firm is built on something far more enduring: a commitment to Christian values, family legacy, and a standard of customer service that he feels the industry has long missed. I recently sat down with Greg

By: Jordan Meadows Staff Writer North Carolina's public schools are facing renewed scrutiny after the Education Law Center released its annual Making the Grade report, which gave the state an overall F for school funding. The report evaluates states based on funding level, funding distribution, and funding effort, and North Carolina failed two of the three categories. The most damaging mark for North Carolina was its ranking in funding effort,

AP NEWS - The new year is a time when many try to start new good habits and commit to improving health and wellness. But resolutions, lofty as they may be, can turn daunting quickly with all the advice and sometimes contradicting information coming at you from news reports, advertisers, influencers, friends and even politicians. But they don't have to be. This year, The Associated Press got the downlow on

  By Judaea Ingram Staff Writer The line stretched out the door as cars filled the parking lot and spilled onto Tarboro Road outside the Tarboro Road Community Center, where hundreds of families gathered Saturday morning for the 44th annual Breakfast With Santa, a holiday tradition rooted in the Tarboro Road community and led for decades by Octavia Rainey. Held from 10 a.m. to noon on the Saturday before Christmas,

By Dr. Nora Volkow NIH Saturday, August 31, was International Overdose Awareness Day, when we collectively remember those who have lost their lives to drug overdose, support those who grieve those losses, and offer encouragement to those who seek recovery from addiction. It is also an opportunity to share new knowledge about the overdose crisis and strategies for confronting it. There is some very good news this year: Provisional data

RALEIGH, N.C. - Boxed lunches eased appetites during North Carolina Black Alliance's (NCBA) midyear retreat at a Southeast Raleigh church in August. There Marcus Bass was after lunch breaking down the boxes for easier disposal, going about the task with a certain vigor, like he was the clean-up man for the church. Bass is NCBA's deputy director. He's a big deal. Yet he cared about the person whose job at

By Jheri Hardaway Staff Writer In the world of North Carolina politics, Senator Natalie Murdock is proving that authenticity is the ultimate political currency.  As the first Black woman under 40 to serve in our state Senate, Murdock isn't just filing bills; she's building a brand rooted in the culture and the real-life struggles of her constituents. During a recent conversation, Murdock drew a thoughtful parallel between the halls of

By Jordan Meadows Staff Writer Frank S. Greene Jr. stands as one of Silicon Valley's quiet architects, an engineer whose work on early semiconductor memory chips helped accelerate modern computing. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in St. Louis during an era of racial segregation, Greene showed an early talent for math and science. Encouraged by his parents to pursue education despite systemic barriers, he became one of the first

[caption id="attachment_15363" align="alignnone" width="900"] Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.People visit the site of a U.S. airstrike in Northwest, Jabo, Nigeria, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/ Tunde Omolehin)[/caption] JABO, Nigeria (AP) - Sanusi Madabo, a 40-year-old farmer in the Nigerian village of Jabo, was preparing for bed on Thursday night when he heard a loud noise that sounded like a plane crashing. He rushed outside his mud

By: Jordan Meadows, Staff Writer Annie Wealthy Holland's life story is inseparable from the story of Black education in the early twentieth-century South. Born in 1871 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, Holland entered the world on land adjacent to the Wealthy plantation, where her grandmother had been enslaved. She was named after Annie Wealthy, the plantation owner who had freed her grandfather. From an early age, Holland understood education