NEWS A few days ago, with my wife and family, I drove along I-77 up into Virginia and turned west on I-81 driving alongside large, luscious, spring green pastures towards historic Abingdon, home of the Barter Theater. From there we made our way to the Washington...

  NEWS The news last week came as a surprise to me: “Gov. Cooper's office announced on Thursday that Walter Gaskin, a retired three-star Marine Corps general who became secretary of the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs in 2021, is retiring...

  NEWS “Tell It True” is a book that takes you back in time to 1964 during the election season in Georgia. Think Lester Maddox. The story opens as Jarvis Pendry, a Black World War II veteran and Army reserve lieutenant colonel is returning to his home in Baltimore...

  NEWS “I can’t find Poole’s in the revised edition of ‘North Carolina’s Roadside Eateries: A Traveler’s Guide to Local Restaurants, Diners, and Barbecue Joints,’ What happened?” It is the first complaint I have gotten about the new version of “Roadside Eateries...

NEWS “Why do you Mecklenburgers always act so high and mighty?” I still get this question every now and then even though I moved away years ago. Last week I remembered the best answer to that question. On March 4, in downtown Charlotte, members of the Mecklenburg...

  NEWS When I lived in Charlotte during the final days of the last century, two of the most important people there had the last name of Claiborne. Jack Claiborne wrote charming and provocative columns and important news stories for The Charlotte Observer. His younger...