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LOUISBURG -- Faced with growing development pressures, the Louisburg Town Council revised its utility connection fees to more accurately reflect the actual cost of providing new services during a busy business meeting Monday night.
During that meeting, the town also created a more formal Economic Development Commission, hired a consultant to look at better pedestrian connections to Joyner Park and hired an engineering firm to redesign Bunn Road between South Main Street and Bickett Boulevard.

Police, sheriff's deputies, the first responder community and folks around Franklin County observed National Night Out last week, an opportunity for those in the community to meet and get to know those on the front lines. Above, Kherington Bryant applies her face-painting skills to Blakely Sharp during National Night Out events at Bunn Town Hall, Bunn's park and basketball and pickleball courts on Aug. 4

LOUISBURG -- A proposal designed to streamline what is being called the local "Bioeconomy Pipeline" to create jobs for Franklin County young people received the unanimous endorsement of the Franklin County Board of Education Monday night. The focus on the "pipeline" originated from Louisburg Mayor Christopher Neal and David Pyoas, the town's economic developer, who explained the concept to the school board.
Accompanied by Mayor Neal, Pyoas told the board that one of the goals is to help local young people tap into the estimated 42,000 jobs in the life sciences area that are within 35 miles of Louisburg.

LOUISBURG -- Prosecutors allege greed led a Youngsville man to kill his roommate.
Franklin County sheriff's deputies arrested Michael David Barnes in November 2021, about two weeks after investigators allege he shot and killed James McCleod.
Authorities arrived at 137 Elsie Marie Drive the morning of Oct. 28 to find the 40-year-old McLeod at the bottom of the front porch steps, near death.
He died a day later from his injuries, including a gunshot wound to the back of the head, prosecutors said.

FRANKLIN COUNTY -- It was about five years ago that Cooperative Extension Agent Martha Mobley estimated that Franklin County was home to more than 6,000 horses, valued at $37 million.
And, across the state, horse industry experts noted, the equine industry added about $2 billion in economic value to the state.
Those numbers have grown, said North Carolina Horse Council Executive Director Sue Gray, one of the keynote speakers for the 30th annual Franklin County Horse Farm Tour held last week.

Owen Moore at National Night Out