By VICTORIA JOHNSON PITTSBORO — Justo al lado de Jones Ferry Road en las afueras de Pittsboro, un camión de comida mexicana sirvió la cena frente la Iglesia Metodista Unida de Cedar Grove el jueves pasado mientras el sol poniente se filtraba a través de los árboles. Un pequeño grupo de personas — cada uno […]
By D. LARS DOLDER Chatham se sitúa mejor que la mayoría de los 100 condados de Carolina del Norte en sofocar la propagación del coronavirus. Pero los datos pueden ser engañosos, dicen los líderes del departamento de salud del condado, y la dispensación de la vacuna contra el COVID-19 no redirigirá inmediatamente la trayectoria cada […]
By VICTORIA JOHNSON SILER CITY — If she’s honest, Jordan-Matthews senior Jacquelinne Marroquin Tobar isn’t the biggest fan of remote learning. Without it, however, she probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to take several Harvard courses for free. “It’s just so amazing …” she told the News & Record. “No, (remote learning’s) not my thing, […]
By D. LARS DOLDER SILER CITY — Cuando el Centro de Maternidad en el Chatham Hospital se inauguró oficialmente en septiembre con un valor de 2.6 millones, fue un hito para Siler City y el condado — marcando la primera vez en casi 30 años que Chatham tenía su propia sala de maternidad. Y puso […]
By VICTORIA JOHNSON SILER CITY — A crate of boxes sits under the mid-morning sun on the edge of First Missionary Baptist Church’s parking lot. Each box weighs about 33 pounds and contains $50 worth of food, including vegetables, milk and chicken. This particular week, there’s even a half gallon of strawberry yogurt. “It’s mostly […]
By VICTORIA JOHNSON By most accounts, looking at 2020 through COVID-tinted glasses bears out a pretty miserable year — one of missed opportunities, economic hardship and isolation. As the year drew to a close, a News & Record subheading on another pandemic-related story in November captured it perfectly: “As usual, blame COVID-19.” The coronavirus, after […]
By VICTORIA JOHNSON SILER CITY — A white Christmas tree stands inside Vielka Gonzalez’s house in Siler City, right next to a window. It’s not just any Christmas tree, either. It’s a snowman. White branches fan out, decorated with ornaments and multicolored ribbons, and instead of a Christmas star at the top, a snowman’s head […]
By VICTORIA JOHNSON Last year, ESL teacher Diana Ciro watched with pride as her shy students presented a Day of the Dead altar to their entire school. But now, after several months of remote and hybrid learning, she worries about just how far behind they’ve fallen. Ciro is the only English as a Second Language […]
By VICTORIA JOHNSON Editor’s note: All interviews for this story were conducted in Spanish. Few would dare to risk a career change during a pandemic that has suffocated America’s economy and left millions without work — yet, that’s exactly what Pittsboro resident Jimmy García decided to do. Up until September, García, a native of San […]
By VICTORIA JOHNSON SILER CITY — Franklin Gomez Flores has been climbing over obstacles and breaking barriers since he was 5 years old. Now 26, he’s just broken through a major one: he’s set to become Chatham County’s first Latino commissioner after defeating incumbent Andy Wilkie by just 322 votes in last Tuesday’s election — […]