🌱 Largest Ever Budget Approved + Southern School Offers OSHA Cert.

Hi there, Durham! I'm here in your inbox today to tell you everything you need to know about what's going on in town.

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Now, your local weather:

• Thursday: A shower and t-storm; humid. High: 78 Low: 68.
• Friday: Cloudy, a thunderstorm; humid. High: 82 Low: 66.

From our sponsor:

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Here are the top three stories today in and around Durham:

1. On the evening of Tuesday, Jun. 20, the Durham City Council resolved to pass a $610 million budget proposal - the city's largest ever. Some of the initiatives that will be funded by the budget include the HEART program, which will expand a team of unarmed conflict resolution specialists who will be selected to respond to low-risk 911 calls across the city; an across-the-board two-percent pay bump for city employees with an extra two-percent promised to the Durham Fire Department, although that is less than what FD employees asked for. The budget also includes $10 million worth of upgrades to Durham's Fayetteville Street; fare-free buses through June of next year; and a Vision Zero coordinator to work to eliminate traffic fatalities in the wake of the late budget director's death while bike riding in Orange County in March. The Council's vote was split 4-3 in favor of the budget. (Subscription: Herald Sun)
2. Durham's Southern School of Energy and Sustainability is now helping trades-enrolled students to get OSHA certified, setting them up for a head start in the trades, a measure that's gaining traction with students locally and policymakers nationally as college enrollments have been trending down. Work in the trades can be highly lucrative in the Research Triangle area in large part thanks to the area's growing population and relatively abundant construction, HVAC, plumbing, and electrician jobs. (CBS 17)
3. Twenty minutes away on I-40, a corpse flower is blooming at NC State University's JC Raulston Arboretum. Conservatory Curator Diane Mays was gifted a dormant Amorphophallus titanum corm (scientific name! say it five times fast) in 2017 by the Biological Science Department of Ohio State University - and named it Wolfgang, in NC State Wolfpack style. The corpse flower, ensconced at the Ruby C. McSwain Education Center, can be seen on live-stream or in person at the JC Raulston Arboretum, which is offering extended public viewing hours from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Called a corpse flower because as it blooms, it stinks, the full experience including the smell will only last another (roughly) 24 hours. (ABC 11)

Today and tomorrow in Durham:

Thursday, June 22

• Daytime Yoga At The I.R. Holmes Sr. Recreation Center (12:00 PM)

Friday, June 23

• Durham Summer Wine & Food At Durham Central Park (3:00 PM)
• I Wake Up Screaming At The Carolina Theatre (5:10 PM)

From my notebook:

• Beginning with the upcoming 2023 fall semester, Duke University will be offering full tuition grants to prospective and rising undergraduates from North and South Carolina with family incomes of $150,000 or less. More info at the link! (Discover Durham via Instagram)
• For the Durham FD's 150th anniversary, photos of old Durham Fire Department classes and crews have been digitized, including one from 2006 at the link! (Durham Fire Department via Instagram)
• This Saturday, Jun. 24, is the second annual Durham Bee Day! Locals and visitors are invited to celebrate everything bee-related at the Durham Farmers' Market. (Durham Farmers' Market via Facebook)

Now you're in the loop and ready to start this Thursday. I'll see you around!

— Amy Mayo

About me: Amy Mayo is a writer, visual artist, and political scientist, living in the NC Research Triangle. She graduated from the University of North Carolina Asheville with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and has worked in a variety of fields outside of copywriting including policy advocacy, the healthcare industry and pharmaceuticals, and education. She hopes one day to live up to the stringent expectations of her cat, Morty.