Clik here to view.
Targeting the opioid crisis, NC lawmakers give $10M to new church ministry
By Taylor Knopf One of the largest allocations for substance use disorder treatment in the recently enacted state budget — $10 million — is going to a new nonprofit set up by a church in Robeson...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chemours’ pilot program could aide homeowners with PFAS-contaminated wells
By Greg Barnes Representatives of the Chemours chemical company are expected to show up at Laura Adams’ Cumberland County home next week to walk her through the policies, procedures and potential cost...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Native Americans look for ways to stop soaring overdose deaths
By Melba Newsome In September 2018, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) made it onto a list they probably would have preferred to avoid. The Office of National Drug Control Policy identified...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tension builds around best ways to spend NC’s opioid settlement money
By Taylor Knopf The first payments from a $26 billion, multi-state opioid lawsuit settlement are set to arrive in the states later this spring, and in North Carolina, there are already disagreements...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gaps in NC addiction treatment disproportionately hit rural residents of color
By Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven In recent years, illicitly manufactured fentanyl has tainted the supply of street drugs, leading to skyrocketing rates of overdoses and deaths. Of late, though, there’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More pregnant women need prenatal care in North Carolina’s Border Belt. But how?
By Ivey Schofield Troaria Sampson wanted to be a mom. But Sampson, who weighed 360 pounds and had diabetes, said her doctors in Robeson County discouraged her from pregnancy, warning that her baby...
View ArticleClik here to view.
States greatly underestimate extreme heat hazards: Study
By Trista Talton Coastal Review Online State-by-state emergency plans aimed at minimizing the impacts of natural disasters overwhelmingly understate extreme heat as a hazard to human health, according...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stories by older NC residents illuminate needs unmet by state government
By Thomas Goldsmith During a recent congregate lunch with Hertford County peers, Laura Sessoms, 71, reflected on her early years on a tenant farm, her 14 years in military service and her life these...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Old North Carolina policies, patterns keep hold on some seniors’ lives
By Thomas Goldsmith Enduring threads of North Carolina’s past — such as bygone industries and separate public schools for whites, Blacks and Native Americans — still affect older state residents, as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Crisis in children’s mental health takes a heavy toll in rural southeastern NC
By Ben Rappaport This is the first in a two-part project about the children’s mental health crisis in Bladen, Columbus, Robeson and Scotland counties. Read the second story, which focuses on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kids in foster care often need mental health care. But options are limited in...
By Rachel Baldauf Amanda Price and her husband were finally in the process of adopting their three daughters in 2022. The couple had fostered the girls for four years and had planned to adopt them in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
North Carolina gears up for challenges ahead of Medicaid expansion on Dec. 1
By Jaymie Baxley If not for Medicaid, the majority of residents of Robeson County wouldn’t have health insurance. Fifty-four percent of people in this rural community — home to 116,530 at the 2020...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Medicaid expansion is off to a strong start in NC
By Jaymie Baxley Nearly 273,000 people were enrolled in Medicaid on Day One of the long-awaited expansion that started Dec. 1, according to data released last week by the N.C. Department of Health and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Living under the shadow of PFAS: One family’s battle for clean water
By Will Atwater Vickie Mullins recalls a traumatic moment in her 8-year-old grandson’s life. She said the family, who live in Cumberland County’s Cedar Creek Township, near the Bladen County line,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pedestrian and bicyclist deaths are up in North Carolina, and public health...
By Vibhav Nandagiri Steven Hardy-Braz rode more than 11,000 miles in the first 11 months of 2021. An avid road cyclist from Farmville, he took every precaution — reflective clothing, bright lights,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
DHHS audit of mental health agency finds millions in payments to executives,...
By Rose Hoban Weeks before one of North Carolina’s state-supported behavioral health management agencies merged with another one in eastern North Carolina, there was a flurry of questionable financial...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rural North Carolina hospitals say recruiting surgeons is key to long-term...
By Rachel Baldauf Border Belt Independent Rural hospitals across the country often struggle to recruit doctors. Recruiting surgeons is even tougher. In southeastern North Carolina, the hospitals in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
HIV and syphilis are on the rise in Robeson County
By Rachel Baldauf Border Belt Independent When Brenda Hunt helped start the Borderbelt AIDS Resources Team in 1996, the small nonprofit was the only place in Robeson County for people living with HIV...
View ArticleClik here to view.
North Carolina’s poultry industry surges, but at what cost to health and...
By Will Atwater The Northern Red Cardinal has worn the crown as North Carolina’s official bird for eight decades, but judging by the numbers in a new report, another bird is king. In 2022 state...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Robeson County parents say schools are failing their children with special needs
By Rachel Baldauf Border Belt Independent Eric Cromartie III thrived at Lumberton High School, where he maintained a grade point average above 4.0 and received academic awards. Cromartie, who has...
View Article