Category: News

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Hoke and Moore County District Attorney Mike Hardin made it clear in a Superior Court hearing Monday that he is looking into the Board of Education members receiving “staff retention” bonuses as a criminal matter, not a civil matter. “I am considering whether to charge the school board members...

A registered sex offender was found guilty last week of sexual crimes against a child, and sentenced to 75-105 years in prison. Investigators with the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office arrested Raheem Davis in August 2022 on three counts of statutory rape of a child by an adult, and three counts of indecent liberties with a...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • A recount Tuesday night of all the ballots cast in the recent Raeford City Council election confirmed the unofficial results announced last week. Ricky Sandy, Johnny Boyles and Jackie McLean remained as the top three candidates that voters chose to take seats on the city council in December, with...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • According to information from Hoke County Schools, Hoke County Board of Education members have either made arrangements to not accept their stipend in order to pay back the bonus money, or have outright paid it back. Documents showed at least four out of the five members specifically made arrangements:...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • After the county Planning Board unanimously recommended denial, and after hearing concerns about the process and the proposal from residents, the Hoke County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday night to deny a rezoning request for property on Rockfish Road. The rezoning request, application for general use rezoning RZ-23-14...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • The North Carolina General Assembly’s budget, which passed last Friday, contains about $15.7 million for infrastructure projects and other improvements in Raeford and Hoke County. Hoke’s elected state leaders, Rep. Garland Pierce and Sen. Danny Britt, announced the funds once the budget passed the General Assembly in the early...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Two Hoke County High School staff members went to the hospital Monday, one with a laceration to the forehead and the other for back issues, after breaking up fights on the high school campus. Two teachers were also checked out for “cuts and abrasions,” and two safety monitors had...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • No Hoke County schools flunked, and Hoke High improved to earn a B letter grade in the most recent round of statewide school performance grades. Hoke High and SandHoke Early College High School earned the only B and A grades out of the county’s 13 graded public schools this...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • The Hoke County Board of Education is facing a possible embezzlement probe, according to documents from the Hoke County District Attorney’s office and statements school board Chair Angela Southerland made last week. Southerland said “we’re facing embezzlement charges, which is a felony,” and later said the situation is in...

The News-Journal and the EKOH Magazine won five awards last week in the North Carolina Press Association’s annual contests. The EKOH Magazine won first and second place in Magazine or Niche Publication Division A in the 2022-2023 News, Editorial and Photojournalism Contest. Newspaper Publisher Jessica Hendrix Brown won first and third place in Entertainment Ad...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • After failed motions in two separate meetings, the Hoke County Board of Education voted 3-2 last Thursday to hire the Poyner Spruill law firm to be the board’s new legal counsel. At the board’s regularly scheduled workshop meeting last Tuesday evening, the school board came close to hiring a...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Arabia residents who overflowed the county commissioners’ room Monday night burst into cheers and applause as a majority of board members pledged to vote against a rezoning request that would have cleared the way for a developer to build 352 homes on the former Upland Trace golf course. Instead...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • The Hoke County Open Door Soup Kitchen, which is seeing an increase in need in the community, will use a $12,500 grant from Duke Energy to help feed more people. The soup kitchen takes action to help people in need in the community by giving away boxes of groceries,...

According to the National Weather Service, the majority of the U.S. will experience above-normal temperatures for as long as the next week. This summer is being recorded as the hottest ever and currently, nearly 80 million people are experiencing dangerously hot temperatures as a heatwave moves across the country. HEAT SAFETY TIPS The Red Cross offers...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • With a few days still to go in the open filing period, nine candidates have so far filed to run for election to three seats on the Raeford City Council.  Cathy Brown, Jackie McLean, Ricky Sandy and Shelley Wilburn had added their names to the ballot by Monday, according...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Interim Superintendent Dr. Rodney Shotwell will stay with Hoke County Schools until September 30, 2023, according to his contract with the school system. By that time, the district will likely have hired a permanent new superintendent to fill the vacant position, based on a projected timeline of the hiring...

By Catharin Shepard • Editor • Hoke County Board of Education members earlier this month got checks for $4,000 each as a “staff retention bonus,” according to financial documents provided last week to the News-Journal in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The board members additionally received checks for $600 or $1,200...