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LOUISBURG -- The threat of inclement weather prompted Franklin County commissioners to postpone their meeting until next week.
It's the third time officials moved their March meeting date. Moving Monday's meeting to March 23 is the only one that came with a public explanation.
"Due to anticipated weather expected to arrive in Franklin County this afternoon and evening and out of an abundance of caution, the Franklin County Board of Commissioners meeting scheduled for ... March 16 ... has been canceled and is rescheduled for ... March 23 ...," a Monday morning notice from County Clerk Kristen King stated.

THE SEASON BEGINS. Baseball in all its variations is synonymous with spring -- and recently the Miracle League marked the beginning of the season -- and it looked like fun. In the photo above Kamal Mane prepares to swing at a pitch from Merrill Pettis while Tassie McGannon serves as catcher.

LOUISBURG -- A superior court judge dismissed a $1 million lawsuit filed by a woman who claims the town of Bunn took advantage of her disabled mother.
But, if Karen Meekins can find an attorney to take up her mother's case, a lawsuit on the merits could still be filed.
Meekins, who lives in New York and serves as power of attorney for her mother, Brenda Elaine Jones, filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Superior Court in October, alleging the town regularly overbilled Jones for water and sewer and repeatedly disconnected her service without adequate or lawful notice.

YOUNGSVILLLE -- Town commissioners got their first look at nearly $700,000 in requests, as department heads outlined their staffing and equipment needs for the upcoming fiscal year.
Town Manager Will Doerfer presented the board with $30 million in potential capital needs over the next five fiscal years.
On March 13, the board and its staff met in a work session, kicking off their budget preparation season.

YOUNGSVILLLE -- Town officials agreed to pull nearly $900,000 from its savings account to take its next steps into turning the Youngsville bypass into reality.
Last month, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization agreed to award the town $9.3 million in Locally Administered Program Project funds to build one of four segments of the proposed bypass.
That award was based on 30 percent of design work detailing a new straightening of Cedar Creek Road -- roughly from north of where Cedar Creek intersects with Conifer Lane going south to a new intersection with Tarboro Road.

American Legion Post 105 celebrated the birthday of veteran Joe Balogh, who turns 105 today

Spring is scheduled to arrive this Friday -- and let's hope that Mother Nature got that memo.
What the calendar indicates and what nature brings are not always in agreement -- especially where the arrival of spring is concerned.
This week when many of us were hoping for spring showers what were got were a late winter deluge that dumped a lot of water quickly -- although we Franklin Countians still don't have a way to capture nature's blessing -- and it was accompanied by winds that caused some problems.

Perhaps, Franklin County Schools Superintendent Dr. Nakia Hardy jinxed herself.
Youngsville commissioners yielded some time to Hardy during their March 12 board meeting as she continued her tour of the community -- part of her pledge to get to know the people in the community, what matters to them and how they can partner to make Franklin County Schools better.
At the time, it was Day 47 for her as the system's superintendent and she joked that for her first official day, she closed schools for eight days because of the weather -- a problem she figured she'd moved beyond because of spring-like weather.

Dear editor: According to numerous sources, the war in Iran is costing about $900 million each day. We never have enough money or resources to improve the lives of our own American people. But there is always enough money for another war, or to give more tax cuts to the top 1%.
One out of every three American families is skipping meals or going into debt in order to keep up with rising health care costs. Why? Because Republicans refuse to do for our citizens what every other country does for its people.

Dear editor: In my 25 year career in law enforcement I thought I had seen it all in the hundreds of crimes against the person I investigated and later reviewed as a supervisor. There was the evil, depravity, brutality, corruption, fear and forever scars. That was until I read a report last year that shocked me to my core.
This story reported a cartel trafficking network had lured pregnant women, conducted illegal C-sections, harvested organs and sold newborn babies.
Take a moment to think of this depraved image of real immense evil, terror, horror, and fear that generates.

LOUISBURG, NC -- Russell Moore "R.M." Fuller, Jr., 93, of Louisburg, passed away on Sunday evening, March 15, 2026, at his home.

LOUISBURG, NC -- John Waszkowski, 66, passed away surrounded by family at home on February 24, 2026 following a battle with cancer.

Castalia, NC -- Funeral services for Yvonne S. Jefferson, age 71, who died on Sunday, March 15, 2026, will be held Saturday, March 21, at 1 p.m from the Richardson Funeral Home Chapel, Louisburg, NC. Burial will follow in the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, Hollister, NC.

LOUISBURG -- A Franklin County man is slated to appear in court next month on a shooting charge.
Authorities allege Marquel Jermaine Rush shot a man inside a home in the 300 block of M.C. Wilder Road the evening of March 13.
Court records identified the victim as Michael Rush. The court records did not indicate Michael Rush's age or relationship to the suspect.
According to published reports, authorities allege a fight led to the shooting at about 8:30 p.m.

LOUISBURG -- Police arrested a Roxboro man they allege tried to run over his wife.
Louisburg police charged Frankie Gorham Cash with assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence -- both misdemeanors -- after arresting him on March 15.
According to court documents, authorities allege Cash tried to hit the woman while driving a sport utility vehicle at J&S Auto Sales along Bickett Boulevard, south of town.

LOUISBURG -- Attempts by the estate of a Louisburg woman to claim $40 million in a drunk driving verdict remains bumpy.
Susan Renee Chappell, 51, was killed in a Sept. 18, 2020 head-on collision on U.S. 401 -- three miles south of Louisburg, not far from the county's airport.
According to the State Highway Patrol and court documents, Chappell was heading north on the two-lane highway that evening when Bunn's Shemaro Deann Webb was heading south.

FRANKLINTON -- In a swift meeting, town commissioners rezoned a small property, set public hearings to grow their town by two houses and allowed some citizens to perform civic duty.
The board agreed to rezone 307 Bullock Street -- a 15,411-square-foot property -- from Residential Single-family Medium density zoning to Residential Single-family High density.

LOUISBURG -- Three people were transported to the hospital and a section of U.S. 401 was shut down after a police chase led to a rear-end crash.
According to Trooper I.H. Alwadei a vehicle was traveling south on U.S. 401 after 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, when it came across a license plate recognition camera that alerted authorities that it was a stolen vehicle, believed to be from Durham.
Louisburg police gave chase, authorities said, and the suspect vehicle was alleged to have reached speeds of 100 mph when it ran into the back of a pickup truck just before the intersection of E.F. Cottrell Road.

Three Franklin County farmers have received a NC AgVentures Grant, a grant program aimed at supporting family farms.
April Lloyd, Mamata Wachhe, and Kaleb Ervin are among 68 recipients earning grants between $2,000 and $10,000 from the NC AgVentures Farm Grant Program.
The funding for the competitive grant is provided through the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission and is administered by NC Cooperative Extension.
The grants are awarded for agricultural project ideas aimed at helping family farms increase their capacity.

LOUISBURG -- Police arrested a Warrenton man on a litany of drug charges.
Anthony Lamont Lynch, 19, was arrested March 15 and placed in the Franklin County jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond.
According to court documents, Lynch was in possession of more than 10 grams of marijuana and about 36 grams of cocaine when he was arrested inside a Nissan Altima.

Members of the Centerville and Gold Sand fire departments joined forces to help Helene-devastated communities in the mountains of North Carolina. Many fire departments in the western part of the state lost virtually everything -- from trucks to buildings to equipment and even contact with those outside their communities. But eventually local firefighters and their supporters were able to deliver a check for $47,304.50 to help the Egypt-Ramseytown Volunteer Fire Department in Yancey County.