In the Now – Tuesday, April 13, 2021

A screenshot of the March 23, 2021 New Bern Board of Aldermen meeting at Craven Community College. Via Facebook

Good Tuesday morning, New Bern Now readers. Here’s your morning briefing.

Pay particular attention to the Today in History section; April 12 and 13 were important days in North Carolina history.

Weather

(via NWS)

Mostly cloudy today, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 73. North wind 7 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 15 mph. Tonight, mostly clear, with a low around 52. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.

On Wednesday, a slight chance of showers between noon and 2 p.m., then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 p.m. Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 15 mph. The chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Wednesday night showers and thunderstorms are likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 58. South wind around 8 mph. The chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Calendar

(via New Bern Now)

Today:

Coming Up:

In the News

 

City staff members check the audio system at Craven Community College on Monday. Via Facebook

The New Bern Board of Aldermen is meeting today, once again not at the usual place.

The Courtroom at New Bern City Hall (which was once a federal courthouse) is getting a refreshing makeover, so aldermen and the mayor have been holding court at Craven Community College’s Orringer Auditorium.

The meeting on March 23 had some sound problems, so city staff was busy taking extra precautions on Monday to ensure smooth operations today.

There are simpler forms of today’s Board agenda, but this one is what city leaders use to prep for the meeting and it is what journalists use for background info.

Today in History

Historic marker in North Carolina.

Day late edition:

  • April 12, 1776, 83 delegates to North Carolina’s Fourth Provincial Congress, meeting in Halifax, passed a unanimous resolution now known as the Halifax Resolves. The resolves advocated severing North Carolina’s ties with England and indicated support for independence for all American colonies.

Now for today:

  • 1775, British Prime Minister Frederick Lord North extends the New England Restraining Act to South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. The act forbids trade with any country other than Britain and Ireland. See how long that lasts.
  • 1861, after 34 hours of bombardment, Union-held Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederates near Charleston, S.C. See next entry.
  • 1864, Union forces under Gen. Sherman begin their devastating march through Georgia. See next entry.
  • 1865, Raleigh, the North Carolina state capital, fell to Union forces under the command of Lt. Gen. William T. Sherman. The day before, seeing that Raleigh’s capture was imminent, N.C. Gov. Zebulon B. Vance (yes Vanceboro, that Vance) crafted plans to surrender the city, with the hope of sparing it from the destruction suffered by other Confederate state capitals and cities captured by Sherman’s troops. Sherman had just paid a visit to Fayetteville. People there still talk about the damage.
  • 1899, Alfred Butts, inventor of the board game Scrabble, is born. His last name is not an option in Scrabble game play, but “buts” and “but” are.
  • 1902, J.C. Penny opens his first store in Kemmerer, Wyo. For younger readers, J.C. Penney used to be a thing.
  • 1960, the first navigational satellite is launched into Earth’s orbit. Later versions of this technology enabled you to send people selfies.
  • 1961, the U.N. General Assembly condemns South Africa because of apartheid.
  • 1964, Sidney Poitier becomes the first black individual to win an Oscar for best actor.
  • 1970, an oxygen tank explodes on Apollo 13, preventing a planned moon landing, jeopardizing the lives of the three-man crew, and enabling Tom Hanks to make a really good movie.

Last Thing

In the Now is a daily briefing for New Bern Now readers but is only about a week old. We are still developing it, playing around with it, getting a feel for it. There have been changes every day, some subtle, some not so subtle, but there is one coming up we wanted to tell you about. In the Now will come out Monday through Friday, with the Friday edition including the whole weekend. We like to call it the Friday Weekend Edition … so we will.

Let us know what you think about In the Now, what works, what doesn’t work, what you’d like to see in it, and of course, send us your news tips. You can do it all via email, here.