Khadejeh Nikouyeh

1 week ago | heraldsun.com | Khadejeh Nikouyeh

A real estate for sale sign. [email protected] The Orange County Tax Assessor’s Office recently sent out property revaluation notices, sparking the usual debate over methodology and accuracy. But this year’s average increase of 49.5%, with many homeowners seeing spikes over 100%, underscores a bigger issue: we still have no real plan for housing affordability, or as I like to describe it, housing attainability.

2 weeks ago | heraldonline.com | Khadejeh Nikouyeh

Glowing fireflies are about to emerge on Grandfather Mountain to mate, and watching them has become so popular you have to enter a lottery for tickets. Researchers have confirmed 10 species of fireflies, also called “illumining” insects, including synchronous fireflies, blue ghost fireflies and glowworms, according to Grandfather Mountain, the not-for-profit nature park and preserve in Linville. At 5,946 feet, the mountain is the highest point on the eastern escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

1 month ago | heraldonline.com | Khadejeh Nikouyeh

Emma Staggs’ mother couldn’t hold her for 28 days after she was born. Her skin was too delicate to touch. “I could actually see her heart beating through her chest,” her mother, Stacy Staggs, said. Emma weighed just 1 pound, 5 ounces when she came into the world in September 2013. Her twin sister, Sara, weighed 2 pounds. The twins were born at just 27 weeks and 4 days gestation when their mother experienced atypical preeclampsia – Staggs’ liver and brain were dangerously swollen.

1 month ago | heraldsun.com | Khadejeh Nikouyeh

In the landmark Leandro school funding case, the state Supreme Court found that every public school classroom in North Carolina should have a competent, certified, well-trained teacher. It’s well known that the state falls short of that standard. What is not so well known is how far short it’s falling.

1 month ago | heraldonline.com | Khadejeh Nikouyeh

Six months after Helene ravaged Western North Carolina, where do things stand? The Charlotte Observer’s Nora O’Neill and The News & Observer’s Richard Stradling posed this question and more to experts from the region related to issues of housing and transportation.