By Sophia Lyons
In campus news, Dogwood and Elkstone residence halls finally have official name plates on the buildings. The Appalachian reports that the buildings formerly known as Hoey and Lovill were changed to Dogwood and Elkstone because of the old namesakes’ connection to racist ideals. Chancellor Sheri Everts announced the buildings’ names would be changed on June 28 of last year, but the new names weren’t announced until January 11 of this year.
In state news, the coastal town Avon is tackling an ambitious way to fund its beach nourishment project, which could cost from eleven to fourteen million dollars. The Island Free Press reports that Dare County will pay half the costs from its beach nourishment fund and some Avon property owners in a newly-drawn oceanfront tax district will pay the other half from a property tax hike. While some properties will continue paying Dare County’s property tax rate of 5 cents per hundred dollars in tax value, properties in the new tax district, which includes the beach needing more sand, would have a rate five times higher, paying 25 cents per hundred dollars in value.
In national news, public transportation systems across the United States are receiving the largest single amount of federal money public transportation has ever received. The New York Times reports public transportation agencies are set to receive 30.5 billion dollars from President Biden’s nearly 2 trillion dollar stimulus package. The money goes to keeping public transportation routes open and preventing other hourly cuts.
Your afternoon weather comes from booneweather.com. Thursday calls for clouds and intermittent rain becoming showers late with afternoon thunder possible for a high in the lower 60s. Thursday night will be cloudy and rainy for a low around 40.