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1 week ago | 
thepilot.com | John Nagy
When your news staff here at The Pilot began talking at the end of last year about goals for 2025, more in-depth reporting was on everyone’s list. The results of that have been borne out over the last several months. You have no doubt noticed that Sunday editions of The Pilot frequently have been anchored by one prominent story on the front page. Those stories have continued inside to one or two full pages and include additional photography and design.
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3 weeks ago | 
thepilot.com | John Nagy
My wife and I were fortunate enough last month to catch the performance of former Prairie Home Companion creator Garrison Keillor at Sandhills Community College. From the stage of the Bradshaw Performing Arts Center, Keillor spent much of his 90-minute act reflecting about the relative freedom of getting old. It’s a subject the writer, humorist and keen observer of life turns to frequently these days as he approaches 83.
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1 month ago | 
thepilot.com | John Nagy
If you think you’re seeing more traffic these days or finding it harder to avoid a crowd, demographers have a warning: Get used to it. According to new data, those who study population trends project North Carolina will become the seventh most populous state within the next 10 years, if not sooner. We’re already ninth largest, and Georgia and Ohio are within a makeable reach. kAm|@@C6 r@F?EJ A=2JD 2 3:8 A2CE :?
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1 month ago | 
thepilot.com | John Nagy
Aah, spring — a season when a young man’s fancy turns to love and an old man’s turns to opening the windows. I’ve always been a big fan of fresh air in the house. Mom would crank open the windows at the first cracks of a warm early spring day to “air out the house.” Since she was the only woman in a house with four boys and a husband, I suspect there was a lot to air out. kAm%96C6’D 2 E9:? =:?6 @7 E:>6 — 2?5 3J E96 E:>6 E9:D 4@=F>? CF?D H6 H:== 92G6 4C@DD65 :E — 36EH66?
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2 months ago | 
thepilot.com | John Nagy
Fever dreams and sleepless nights have a lot in common. There’s the tossing and turning, the nonsensical images that flash before your mind’s eye, the hallucinatory fog that makes perfect sense of nonsense. Either way, all you want to do is get to dawn’s reality. kAmx DA6?E 2 =@E @7 E:>6 2H2<6 :? E96 A2DE >@?E9 H96? x D9@F=5 92G6 366? D=66A:?8] p?J@?6 H9@ 92D <?@H?
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2 months ago | 
thepilot.com | John Nagy
State AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWashington D.C.West VirginiaWisconsinWyomingPuerto RicoUS Virgin IslandsArmed Forces AmericasArmed...
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Jan 25, 2025 | 
thepilot.com | John Nagy
A little over two years ago in this space, I shared my experience in receiving a hip transplant. It went over so well — both the column and the surgery — that I’ve decided to reprise the whole affair. Father Time and his black-sheep brother, Osteoarthritis, have a way of having their way with the human body, turning many of us into partial cyborgs at some point in our lives.
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Jan 18, 2025 | 
thepilot.com | John Nagy
I was about at the midway point of the Pinehurst Tajma-Teeter, between the pasta sauce and spaghetti, when I came to a cold stop and realized why I was finding the shelves so diminished. To some extent, that’s the state of retail and the labor market these days; stores can’t hire enough people to put out the freight, leaving some places looking like a Moscow market. But that wasn’t what was inflicting this particular problem. kAmu@C DE2CE6CD[ E9:D H2D 2 %9FCD52J[ @C E96 E@C?25:4 A96?@>6?@?
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Jan 10, 2025 | 
thepilot.com | John Nagy
We’re less than two weeks into 2025 and already a couple of significant milestones have crossed my timeline. On Jan. 1, I turned 59. As a kid, I thought a birthday on New Year’s Day to be an oddity, solely because I was the only one I knew with it. That’s long since been proven false, and in fact a fellow Pilot staff member and one of our occasional opinion columnists share this day of honor. kAm*6D[ H6 92G6 2== 366? C:3365 23@FE @FC 72E96CD >:DD:?8 E96 E2I 6I6>AE:@?
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Dec 7, 2024 | 
thepilot.com | John Nagy
I may never be a Hall of Famer, but I’ve “toyed” with more than a few in my day. You have, too. This is prime time for toys. Lists are being scribbled — and checked twice — as the Countdown to Christmas nears the two-week mark. kAm(6 C67=64E E9:D E:>6 @7 J62C @? E96 E@J @C:8:? DE@CJ @7 $2?E2’D (@C<D9@A 2E E96 }@CE9 !@=6[ D@ :E :D =@8:42= E92E :E 92D :ED A@=2C @AA@D:E6i 2 A=246 H96C6 =686?52CJ E@JD 42? 32D< :? 2 8@=56?
