Not much news to note in today's Herald-Sun or N&O, but that doesn't mean there haven't been less slim pickings over the weekend:
- Chapel Hill's Harrington Bank -- started by a co-founder of Durham-based investment bank Smith Breeden -- has been ordered by the Office of Thrift Supervision to shore up its capital base by Dec. 31 and refrain from new construction and commercial real estate loans. Harrington has been a key capital source for some downtown projects, providing financing for both Mangum 506 and Trinity Lofts. (Triangle Business Journal)
- A City program that's provided funding to projects including the Joe Bushfan-helmed grocery at Angier and Driver and the Gilbert St. business center that houses a range of non-profit companies is now looking to provide $175k in business incentives to expand The Know bookstore building on Fayetteville St. to allow for an expanded jazz café and cultural center. Thursday's work session saw a divided council, with Eugene Brown and Diane Catotti expressing some skepticism over the plan, while Cora Cole-McFadden came out strongly in support and Mike Woodard signaled his support. The Know has been a key business on the Fayetteville St. corridor, though Brown and Catotti expressed concerns as to whether the business-support program the grant would come from should get a fresh look given the flagging economy. (H-S)
- Some City Council members and administrators are set for a strategy meeting this week to talk about how to accommodate demand for new rec centers -- especially in north and south Durham, areas targeted for centers in the last Parks & Rec master plan but which saw their penciled-in districts bypassed for a Walltown center (itself initially promised a rec center decades ago, to hear tell) and the Holton School center in East Durham. (H-S)
- The Watts St. home formerly occupied by Scientific Properties' Andy Rothschild has a new owner -- Christopher Gergen, a passionate advocate for entrepreneurship and son of Durham High grad and famed politico David Gergen. (H-S) It's the second high-six-figures home sale in western Trinity Park in recent weeks; a beautiful W. Markham Ave. brick home in a similar price range closed last week and will be the domicile of J. Lorand Matory, just-recruited to Duke from Harvard to chair the university's Af-Am department.
- Speaking of Watts: A Duke student was wounded around midnight Saturday/Sunday in the 500 block as he resisted an attempted stick-up; the student is expected to recover, and it's believed the assailant was shot in the leg in the attempt. (H-S, plus -- hey, who're we kidding? Shooting of a student in Trinity Park? Every media outlet was on this.)
- The BOCC will face a debate this evening on a planned middle school site on Snow Hill Rd. near Treyburn. Expect static from neighboring residents concerned about traffic, as the N&O noted this weekend -- and likely some complaints too from Durham Committee stalwart Dr. Lavonia Allison, who's complained about Durham-periphery sites like this one as contributing to a resegregation of Durham Public Schools.
- The Durham Rescue Mission has opened a new thrift shop on US 70 near the Durham-Raleigh line on the site of a former boat dealership; the site is open 8am-8pm six days, closed Sundays. (H-S)
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