Month: July 2024

(This story originally appeared in The News-Journal’s July 24, 2024 issue) By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Hoke County Board of Education members will not face any criminal charges for accepting $4,000 “staff retention” bonuses in June 2023, according to District Attorney Mike Hardin, though the prosecutor noted the bonuses weren’t lawful and “should have...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Four more people have filed to run for election to two seats on the Hoke County Board of Education, including incumbents Keisha Gill and Rosa McAllister-McRae, and candidates Ashley Brock and News-Journal owner Jessica Hendrix Brown. The new additions to the race brought the total number of candidates to...

(Contributed Article)By Jennifer Hatcher • Sandhill Regional Director of Libraries • The Sandhill Regional Library System, comprised of Anson, Hoke, Moore, Montgomery, and Richmond counties, aims to use funds received from the Digital Champions Grant to help close the digital divide. SRLS hopes to equip its patrons with essential digital literacy skills and resources. Firstly,...

When students attending Hoke County Schools return to class next month for the start of the new school year, they’ll need to have a clear backpack. The school district announced the change in a press release last week. The backpacks or bookbags must be made of clear plastic, vinyl or similar transparent material, according to...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • The News-Journal last week received a response to the public records requests that sparked a lawsuit against Hoke County. The newspaper received three large binders containing 1,872 pages, delivered by courier Wednesday, July 10 from the Charleston Group, the Fayetteville-based attorney firm that commissioners hired to represent the county...

OPINION • By Rahnàwakęw Donnie McDowell • Recent media reports highlight that candidates running for NC Governor, such as Attorney General Josh Stein and Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, expressed their support for the Lumbee Tribe. Like President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden in 2020, Mr. Stein and Mr. Robinson publicly attested to Lumbee’s plight...

The Hoke County Community Foundation, a North Carolina Community Foundation affiliate, has awarded $19,700 in grants to organizations supporting the local community. The board of advisors granted: •$2,000 to American Red Cross Sandhills Region for disaster services – Prepare, Respond and Recover •$2,000 to Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas for Hoke County Childhood Cancer...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • One more candidate has filed to run for a seat on the Hoke County Board of Education during the open filing period for the race, which is to be decided in the general election in November. Christopher Leach filed to seek the office. He previously ran in 2022 for...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • The Hoke County Board of Commissioners voted last week in a resumed meeting to approve the 2024-2025 fiscal year budget, which did not include a tax increase. The total budget came in at $75.2 million in spending, balanced against the same amount in estimated revenues from July 1, 2024...