VOLUME 148 ISSUE 4 | THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2025
CHATHAMNEWSRECORD.COM
DAVID SINCLAIR FOR CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD
Dark side of the moon A total lunar eclipse rewarded those who stayed up — or were up early — last Friday morning. Photographed from Pinehurst between 1:50 and 4 a.m., a lunar eclipse occurs when the moon moves into the Earth’s shadow, causing the moon to be darkened.
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Pittsboro approves affordable BRIEF this week housing element for Chatham Park NASA astronauts return to Earth after 9 months in space Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have returned to Earth after being stuck in space for more than nine months. Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico early Tuesday evening, just hours after departing the International Space Station. The splashdown brought their space saga to an end. It all began with a bungled Boeing test flight last year. The two expected to be gone a week or so after launching on Boeing’s new Starliner capsule. So many problems cropped up that NASA ordered Starliner back empty and reassigned Williams and Wilmore to SpaceX for the ride home.
AG, N.C. Turnpike warn of toll payment scam text messages Raleigh Attorney General Jeff Jackson and the N.C. Turnpike Authority are warning residents about a surge in fraudulent text messages falsely claiming to be from NC Quick Pass. The random texts demand payment for supposed unpaid tolls. “These scam texts are targeting a massive number of people — including me,” said Jackson in a press release. “Don’t fall for them.” Clicking links can expose victims to financial fraud. The Department of Justice is working with federal and international partners to track the source, which officials believe originated in Canada before moving operations to the U.S.
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The move sets guidelines for affordable housing within the planned development By Ryan Henkel Chatham News & Record PITTSBORO — The Town of Pittsboro approved another step in the process for the continued
development of Chatham Park. At its March 10 meeting, the board OK’d the updated Chatham Park Affordable Housing Element, which addresses affordable housing and workforce housing that will be provided within the development. The element — which is one of 12 included with the Chatham Park Master Plan and which provides greater details and guidelines on various as-
pects of development — was brought back before the board last month for approval. However, it was tabled due to questions about how “project” was defined and how it was then utilized within the document to potentially impact density credit allotments. The updated element removed language which expanded the definition of “project” to include land within all proposed
NC State names new chancellor Kevin Howell will succeed Randy Woodson By Makiya Seminera The Associated Press RALEIGH — The University of North Carolina Board of Governors has chosen the next per-
son to lead the state’s largest public university by enrollment after its longtime chancellor is set to retire soon. Kevin Howell was named the next chancellor of NC State — and the first black person to lead the institution in its 138-year history — at the public university governing board’s Tuesday
meeting. He will succeed Randy Woodson, who has served in the role since 2010 and is one of the university system’s longest-serving chancellors. Howell is the chief external affairs officer for the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health, See CHANCELLOR, page A2
GOP town hall gets rowdy as attendees hurl scathing questions on Trump Constituents sparred with Rep. Chuck Edwards during last week’s meeting in Asheville By Makiya Seminera The Associated Press ASHEVILLE — Before answering an attendee’s question about President Donald Trump’s “destructive and disastrous trade war,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards made a plea to the rowdy crowd at his town hall last Thursday in Asheville. “Let me answer, and then if you don’t like it, you can boo or hiss or whatever you’d like to do,” Edwards said, visibly exhausted. As he expanded on Trump’s use of tariffs as a negotiating tactic, it took less than a minute for the crowd to
break out in outrage. He continued to plow ahead in his response and eventually punctuated it by telling attendees he would “stop there and you can yell.” The crowd gladly took him up on the offer. For about an hour and half, Edwards endured a constant barrage of jeers, expletives and searing questions on Trump administration policies. About 300 people crammed inside a college auditorium for the town hall, while the boos from more than a thousand people outside the building rumbled throughout the event. House Speaker Mike Johnson told GOP representatives last week to skip out on town halls, saying demonstrations outside of them were the work of “professional protesters.” See TOWN HALL, page A3
phases of a subdivision or site plan and now simply defines it as, “the land included in a subdivision plan or site plan approved by the Town.” Commissioner John Bonitz, who initially led the charge against the document last month, was still not in support of the updated element however. “I again commend our staff See HOUSING, page A2
Howell is the chief external affairs officer for the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health. He also previously served in various leadership roles at NC State.