Bella's Cuisine Opens at Corner of Guess and Carver

A new restaurant, Bella’s Cuisine, has opened at 3218 Guess Road on the corner of Guess Road and Carver Street. The restaurant blends American cuisine with modern, traditional and Hispanic influences.

Spring Valley Elementary Leader Named DPS Principal of the Year

Spring Valley Elementary School Principal Barbara Parker has been named Durham Public Schools Principal of the Year. Under Parker's leadership, R.N. Harris Elementary and Spring Valley Elementary have seen dramatic increases in test scores. Spring Valley received the district’s first-place Leadership Excellence Award for achieving the highest percentage of scorecard growth goals and the Leadership Excellence Award for the most improvement in meeting goals from 2009-10 to 2010-11.

King Named New Durham Postmaster

Michael King, has been named Durham's new postmaster. A postal employee of 23 years, King replaces Dominic Camasso, who retired last year.

McKinney Wins Ruby Tuesday Creative Account

Durham advertising agency McKinney has won a new client, Ruby Tuesday. The Maryville, Tenn.-based chain restaurant joins McKinney's roster of clients which include Nationwide Insurance, Sherwin Williams and Lenovo.

Duke Graduate School Dean to Step Down

Duke University Graduate School dean and vice provost, Jo Rae Wright, will step down from her position on Friday due to an ongoing battle with breast cancer. David Bell, senior associate dean of the Graduate School, will serve as interim dean until a successor is secured.

Increased Ridership for the Bull City Connecter

The Bull City Connector's average weekday ridership is regularly in the over-1,600 range, an increase over the 1,400 to 1,500 range that marked the end of the 2010-2011 school year.

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano Visits Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is in Durham today to speak to Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy. Napolitano will speak of the challenges of preventing terrorism, securing borders, enforcing immigration laws, safeguarding cyberspace and preparing for disasters while protecting the privacy and civil rights of Americans.

Museum of Life and Science's 20-Year-Old Black Bear Dies

The Museum of Life and Science is mourning the loss of Ursula, the museum's oldest black bear. The 20-year-old bear came to the museum on October 30, 1991 as a 9-month-old cub.

Seventh Season of 'Basketball and Beyond with Coach K' Debuts Tonight

The seventh season of Coach Krzyzewski's weekly SiriusXM show, Basketball and Beyond with Coach K, will debut tonight at 7pm ET on Mad Dog Radio, channel 86.

Kueber's Open Durham Goes Live

Gary Kueber, author of the Endangered Durham blog and chief operating officer at Scientific Properties, has launched 'Open Durham' an original, highly interlinked online resource about the people, places and history of Durham.

Durhamite Wins Best of Newcomers at NC State Fair Pie Championship

Britt Brostrom of Durham won the best of the newcomers category at the N.C. State Fair's pie-baking championship with her grandmother's Concord grape pie. The pie took third place overall.

Durham Foodie and Avett Brothers Cellist a Guest on The Splendid Table

Avett Brothers cellist and Durham foodie, Joe Kwon will be a guest on the October 14th edition of NPR's The Splendid Table to discuss the restaurants that have made an impression on him over the years one of which is Durham's Watt's Grocery.

Rubenstein Library Produces Guide to Civil War Resources

To commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, Duke University's Rubenstein Library has produced a guide to Civil War resources that highlights the library's rich collections. Special sections describe manuscript and print material related to military history, medicine, women, African Americans, literature, and music in the Rubenstein Library, as well as other library guides and relevant databases and websites.

New Durham Walmart to Open October 26

Walmart will open its new store at 1010 Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway on October 26. The Durham store Walmart's 140th to open in North Carolina.

The Special Event Company Wins Two ESPRIT Awards

The Special Event Company, a strategic event and meeting management company based in Durham, received two ESPRIT awards from the International Special Event Society (ISES) for the production of the Duke Children’s Health Center 10th Anniversary Donor Dinner and the Mint Museum Charlotte wine pairing dinner.

Sequenom to Open Office In RTP, Create 242 Jobs

California-based life sciences company Sequenom Inc. plans to open a new laboratory in the Research Triangle Park which will create 242 jobs in North Carolina.

Films by Three Duke Profs Premiere at New York Film Festival

Works by three Duke faculty members premiered at the New York Film Festival's “Views From the Avant-Garde,” a series which showcases experimental and innovative films: David Gatten's The Matter Propounded, of Its Possibility or Impossibility, Treated in Four Parts, Erin Espelie's Silent Springs and Josh Gibson's Kudzu Vine.

Shodor Honored with 2011 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence

Shodor has been honored with the 2011 Alfred P.Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility for its use of flexibility as an effective workplace strategy to increase business and employee success. Shodor is a national resource for computational science education based in downtown Durham.

Hillside New Tech High School Honored for 100% Graduation Rate

Hillside New Tech High School was one of 23 North Carolina schools honored for achieving a perfect graduation rate for 2010 with an induction into the “100% Graduation Club" by State Superintendent June Atkinson, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and state school board Chairman Bill Harrison.

Straw Valley Cafe & Wine Shop Now Open

Straw Valley Café & Wine Shop is now open at 5420 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd, Suite D near the New Hope Commons shopping center. The cafe sells fair trade coffee, chocolates, baked goods, wine and beer.

NC Central Recognizes Battle of the Bands Director as Honorary Eagle

Adrian Carroll, director of the 9th Annual Official High School Battle of the Bands, has been chosen by the North Carolina Central University Athletic Department to become an Honorary Eagle for his work in promoting academics as well as musicianship. Carroll will serve as the Honorary Captain for the coin toss at the October 15th football game against Morgan State.

Duke Doctors Honored for Contributions in Mental Health Field

Duke University psychiatry faculty, Jeffrey Swanson and Marvin Swartz, have been selected to receive the 2011 Carl Taube Award from the Mental Health Section of the American Public Health Association. The award is presented to scholars who have made significant career contributions in the field of mental health research and treatment.

Duke Engineer Named 2011 Senior Fellow in the Energy & Climate Parnership of Americas

Ana Barros, an engineer at Duke University, has been named a 2011 Senior Fellow in the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas program, which is organized by the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

Chief Deputy Mike Andrews to Succeed Hill as Sheriff

Chief Deputy Mike Andrews has been named the successor to Sheriff Worth Hill who will retire at the start of 2012. Andrews is a three-decade veteran of the Durham Country Sheriff's Office; he was unanimously voted into the Sheriff role by the Durham County Commissioners.

Blog Advertising Agency Blogads To Relocate to Downtown Durham

Blogads, a Carrboro-based blog advertising company will move its offices to 201 W. Main St. in downtown Durham effective early January, 2012.

Rep. David Price to Receive Caldwell Award for Long-Time Support of Humanities

U.S. Rep. David Price, the former Duke professor of political science and public policy who has represented the university’s district in Congress for all but two of the past 25 years, will be honored with the 2010 John Tyler Caldwell Award for his long-time support of the humanities. The North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, presents the Caldwell Award annually. The honor pays tribute to “individuals whose life and work illuminate one or more of the multiple dimensions of human life where the humanities come into play: civic, personal, intellectual, and moral.”

Riverside Gifted $75,000 in Equipment from Carolina Panthers

Riverside High School received $75,000 in weight room equipment from the Carolina Panthers. The gift was one of four grants worth a total of $250,000 that the NFL team is giving to teams across North and South Carolina.

BayerCrop Science Consolidates R&D Efforts to RTP

BayerCrop Science is consolidating its R&D operations at its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park. The producer of crop protection, nonagricultural pest control and other products, is remodeling its location at 2 T.W. Alexander Drive in Durham County to accomodate the consolidation.

Wireless Generation to Open Office in Durham

The New York-based company Wireless Generation is opening a Durham office in a 12,600-square-foot space in the American Tobacco campus. The educational software provider plans to hire 60 workers locally for the new office.

National Campus Ministry Awards Top Honors to Duke Wesley Fellowship, Rev. Dr. Copeland

The National Campus Ministry Association recently recognized The Duke Wesley Fellowship with its 2010 Campus Ministry of the Year award. The Rev. Dr. Jennifer E. Copeland, United Methodist Chaplain for Duke University and executive director of the Duke Wesley Fellowship, was recognized for Outstanding Ministry in Education. 

McKinney Promotes Russell to Chief Innovation Officer

McKinney has named Jim Russell to the new position of partner/chief innovation officer. Russell joined McKinney in 2003 as the agency's director of digital strategy and has since created the structures that helped reinvent McKinney as the first major agency to integrate digital into existing disciplines.

Bull City Burger & Brewery Launches “Grade A Burger for Good Grades”

Downtown Durham's Bull City Burger and Brewery will reward smart and hardworking kids who earn all A’s and B’s on their report cards with a free burger, fries and a drink as part of their “Grade A Burger for Good Grades” program. Eligible elementary, middle and high school students must show an original copy of their report card to a BCBB manager before ordering. A combination of A’s and B’s or equivalent is required, and burgers must be claimed within 30 days of the issuance of the report card.

Durham Tech Names New Board Members

MaryAnn Black, a former member of the Durham Board of County Commissioners, has been elected the new chair of the Board of Trustees of Durham Technical Community College. John Burness, a former administrator at Duke University, will serve as vice chair of the Durham Tech board.

Duke Anesthesiologist Places in Bronze Level of US Dance Championships

Duke anesthesiologist Jennifer Fortney has returned to Durham from the United States Dance Championships with a second-place finish in the bronze level of the nine-dance championship.

Metaphysical Shop Thamaturgy 777 is Now Open

The metaphysical shop Thaumaturgy 777 is now open at 711 Iredell St. off Ninth Street. The shop sells candles, incense, herbs, oils, and other items used by people who are Pagan, Wiccan, or who practice magical arts. It also offers tarot readings, spiritual services, and guitar lessons.

Reliable Cheese Doubles Southern Offerings for American Cheese Month

Reliable Cheese, downtown Durham's artisanal cheese shop, is recognizing American Cheese Month by doubling their selection of Southern Cheese from the 10 they typically have on-hand to 20 cheeses.