In April 2019, Suggs represented his community and state when he testified before Congress in a hearing on the global climate crisis. Kinston and surrounding areas in Eastern North Carolina have been devastated by several floods and hurricanes in recent years, and Suggs has been on the frontlines helping his community respond to these disasters and advocating for funding and legislation to address climate change and flood mitigation, according to the release.
Suggs earned degrees in Political Science & Religious Studies from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he served as President of the Black Student Movement and Senior Class President for his graduating class.
Keith Byers
The Free Press
Vernon Park Mall in Kinston which has been for sale several times over the past few years will be available for bids on the online commercial real estate marketplace CREXi.com at noon on July 12.
The bidding will start at $750,000.
The mall located at the intersection of Hardee Road and Vernon Avenue was built in 1969 and covers 623,967 square feet. Currently, Belk is the only retail store open at the location. The outparcel of land that Firestone Complete Auto Care is on is leased and included in the auction.
In February of 2017, a redevelopment plan was announced that boasted converting JC Penney into a 135,000-foot recreation center, a hotel behind the adjacent Firestone building, a sports complex, go-carts, mini-golf and other attractions.
Keith Byers
The Lenoir County Board of Elections has released several candidate filings for the Nov. 2 Municipal Elections. The deadline for all candidates is July 16 by noon.
The candidates that have already filed, as of July 6, for Lenoir County according to the candidate detail list released by the LCBE are as follows:
Dontario “Don” Hardy, mayor
Gwendolyn Woods, Kinston city council
Roger Miles, La Grange board of commissioners
The three municipalities in Lenoir County are Kinston, La Grange and Pink Hill; the remaining seats available are two in both Pink Hill and La Grange, according to a release from the LCBE.
Keith Byers
The Free Press
As of 10 a.m. according to the National Weather Service in Newport, N.C., Tropical Storm Elsa is wavering near minimal hurricane status with winds at 65 m.p.h. southwest of Gainesville, Fla. and will bring varying amounts of rain and wind to the Kinston area over the next 24 hours.
Tropical storm watches are in effect for Lenoir County according to NWS meteorologist John Elardo, meaning winds near 40 m.p.h. will be possible in the Kinston area with the storm weakening fairly quickly to a tropical depression.
“Right now, the official forecast is a tropical depression moving inland across North Carolina during the day tomorrow west of Kinston. If it remains as a tropical depression wind speeds will most likely not reach tropical storm force. We may have some heavier showers that come through that could maybe have a stronger wind gust with them, but we feel fairly confident that there will be some local heavy rains in the Kinston area tomorrow,” Elardo
Keith Byers
The Free Press
The investigation into why a crop duster crashed at the Kinston Drag Strip in the early stages according to the National Transportation Safety Board and the preliminary report is expected to be released in the next 24 hours.
The crash occurred on June 17 off of Highway 11 and killed pilot William James Brinkley, 52, of Dover. The aircraft an Air Tractor model AT402B went down around 8:30 p.m. while racing was still going on. He was described as an experienced pilot who owned several aircraft.
Jennifer Gabris, of the NTSB media relations, described the sequence of events that NTSB investigators have been engaged in since the crash.