BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for April 21, 2010

Water Bills Mess: You know, I thought something funny was going on with my water bill last month. Turns out, I might have been right. A City meter-reader was fired for not properly recording meter levels, with City officials thinking he just made 'em up through guesstimation a couple of times. The result: low bills followed by a really high one when the numbers came in. Department officials will be sending out a letter today to possibly affected customers. (Herald-Sun)

Manning Hearings on DPS: DPS officials will be asked to testify before Superior Court Judge Howard Manning in Wake Co. next month over the progress of school improvement efforts. Manning, whose decision in Leandro has led to his significant oversight of school progress and academic challenges in poorer rural and in urban districts, in the past threatened to shutter Southern and Hillside High if they didn't see big improvements. (Herald-Sun)

Alston Church Moving: NCCU had previously announced the relocation of an historic African-American Catholic church on Alston Ave. to the Fayetteville St. corridor to make way for the university's new nursing school. The church's move has now been announced to start Friday and wrap up on Saturday. (N&O)

Cree Profit Soars: Durham-based LED lighting firm Cree saw its quarterly profits quadruple year over year, to $51m vs. $12m last year. The firm employs 1,800 persons at its Durham plant and offices. (N&O)

Singler Returns: Kyle Singler, one of the sparkplugs in Duke's national championship basketball run, announced yesterday's he'd be continuing at Duke through his senior year rather than making the leap to the NBA. (Herald-Sun)

DATA Bus Fire: Speaking of sparkplugs, lots of folks' minds -- including here at BCR -- turned to the notoriously troubled turbocharged engines in our early-2000s bus fleet when a transit bus caught on fire earlier this week on Morehead Ave. But while officials are still investigating, at this point it appears that an electrical short in a wiring harness caused the fire, not an engine issue. (Herald-Sun)

State Budget: More school cuts are possible in the governor's just-released budget proposal, with districts statewide needing to replace more than $215m in discretionary spending. On the flip side, a hike in vehicle registration and insurer fees would create a new transportation fund for "urgent projects," starting with the replacement of the troubled Yadkin River Bridge over I-85 between Charlotte and the Triad. (Herald-Sun, N&O)

Wicked Feach: The N&O had it Tuesday, and now today it's the H-S' turn to look at Wicked, this time with a look at the load-in and stage set-up for the production underway before its opening tonight. (Herald-Sun)

Comments

[eah919]

New York's fishwrapper of record has an interesting article about Durham food:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/dining/21carolina.html?hpw

(only one historically inaccurate fact about "Bull Durham cigarettes, but that's a quibble...)

[Todd Patton]

- Our water bill doubled this month to more than $200. We suspected a leak, but maybe it was just a bad read after all.

- Suppose Judge Manning decided to close Southern or Hillside or Eastway. What does that mean? Firing the staff? Where exactly are those kids going to go to school? It really seems like an empty threat.

[GreenLantern]

I knew it couldn't have been an isolated incident with the water bills. I had the same experience in late 2008, where my bill went to over $200 bimonthly, from an average of about $50. I called and had someone else come out from the city to check for leaks, but none was found. They corrected my bill and didn't charge me for the inspection. They said they would have charged for inspection if it did turn out to be a leak in my supply.

[Phil]

Everyone on Durham City Water should look at the tier system for water consumption. Rates changed dramatically from 2009 to 2010. A lot of us who had our bills artificially low for four months (due to a meter reader not doing his job) are going to be shocked when we get an accurate bill reflecting the new tier rates. I don't understand why we don't get an itemized bill reflecting our individual tier rates.

[supra skytop]

I'm interested in such offer,The sound quality in these podcasts is really poor. I feel bad about complaining about something that is free, but I think it is important.