Halifax County is celebrating the date memorialized on North Carolina's state flag today. On April 12, 1776, the state's Fourth Provincial Congress met in Halifax to declare sovereignty from the British crown. Carl Burke with the Halifax State Historic Site says the move became known as the Halifax Resolves.
Congressional leaders and the White House have yet to reach an agreement to keep the federal government running. The current spending plan runs out at midnight tomorrow. Congressional leaders met at the White House Thursday afternoon and planned to meet later in the day. They need to strike a deal that can be agreed to by the President, the Republican-controlled House, and the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Teenagers who binge drink may do long-term damage to their brains, according to a study from UNC Chapel Hill. Scientists administered alcohol to adolescent mice and measured changes in brain matter. They found adolescent mice exposed to alcohol lost brain matter in the frontal cortex and were less proficient at memory tests. Dr. Fulton Crews is a professor of pharmacology at UNC. He says the human adolescent brain functions in much the same way:
The 9-1-1 center for Guilford County and Greensboro will test its disaster readiness beginning today. Guilford Metro will relocate to a backup facility across town until Friday morning.
Veterinarians are meeting in Asheville today to learn a quicker, more cost-effective way to neuter and spay pets. The Humane Alliance of Western North Carolina is hosting the conference. It operates a spay and neuter service in Buncombe County that sterilizes an average of 24,000 cats and dogs a year. The group can offer the procedure at a lower cost than full service clinics because it performs many at a time in an assembly line.
Civil rights and labor leader Margaret Turner has died. She was involved in numerous struggles for civil rights in Durham. Turner played an important role in turning people out to events and speaking up at work and in the community.
State Senator Floyd McKissick knew Turner and says she was one of the “unsung heroes” of the movement:
Research on chimpanzees started by Jane Goodall fifty years ago is now being digitally archived at Duke University. The collection includes Goodall's original hand written notes, maps, videos and thousands of photographs. Goodall began studying chimpanzees at Gombe National Park in Tanzania in 1960. She visited Duke yesterday to meet with members of the archiving team:
Chatham County first responders will be displaying a piece of the World Trade Center tomorrow. The piece will become the focal point of a planned memorial in the county. Chatham County Spokeswoman Debra Henzey says the artifact will be on display in Pittsboro, Goldston, and Siler City:
"We are offering a way for residents and people outside the county who want to welcome this piece to our area in it's first part of the journey to becoming a memorial to the 9/11 event."
Several adult harp seals have been spotted along the North Carolina coast. Harp seals normally live in icy regions in the Arctic and Canada. Small populations have been moving down the East Coast in recent years, but this is the furthest south the seals have been spotted.
Researchers at Duke University say testosterone affects people’s willingness to take economic risks. Associate professor of psychology and neuroscience Scott Huettel says men and women with high or low levels of testosterone are more likely to take risks in economic situations:
"Testosterone is important, but it’s equally important for men and women it turns out. Your level of testosterone matters quite a lot to how risk-seeking you are, but it matters in much the same for women as it does for men."
