As of March 23, 2022, the NCDHHS COVID-19 Dashboard Summary Page will update weekly on Wednesdays and will include Wastewater Surveillance, COVID-Like Illness in Emergency Departments, Hospital Admissions, COVID-19 Cases, Booster Rates, Prevalence of Variants, and CDC COVID-19 Community Levels data.  No more Covid Updates and numbers in this newsletter.  

For Covid Testing Sites and Vaccine information, please visit https://www.wakegov.com/covid-19-information and https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/.  

NC Native Ariana Debose wins Oscar for best supporting actress!  Congrats to Will Smith (despite hitting Chris Rock) for winning Best Actor and Jessica Chastain for Best Actress, CODA, Encanto, and all the winners and nominees!

President Biden calls Putin war criminal and says he must be removed from power. 

Coach K will end his career in Final Four and faces Carolina this week!

My Interview with Renee Chou on Radio Nyra!

Get with the Program with Gary Jones!

Mar. 25th Black Issues Forum Discussion!

Thanks for submitting your comments to our Budget Portal. We will be reviewing all of the comments during this budget cycle!  Thanks for being engaged and sharing your community insight which will inform the development of Town Council’s priorities and goals for the next budget year.

Morrisville has been named a winner in IDC Government Insights’ fifth annual Smart Cities North America Awards (SCNAA). Morrisville was recognized for the Connected Parks Initiative in smart water. I am so very proud of how hard our IT staff has worked and for once again, bringing the Town of Morrisville into the national spotlight for their outstanding work in Smart City Innovation! 

The awards were designed to recognize the progress North American municipalities have made in executing Smart Cities projects, as well as providing a forum for sharing best practices to help accelerate Smart City development in the region. 

Winners will be honored at Smart Cities Connect being held April 4-7, 2022, in Columbus,OH. 

Winners in the SCNAA illustrate best practice examples of how forward-thinking municipalities are effectively leveraging technology and innovation to offer new services and economic opportunities to meet the needs and expectations of citizens and residents.  

These awards have become a benchmark for how Smart Cities can successfully catalyze the digital transformation of urban ecosystems to produce systemic environmental, financial, and social outcomes.  This is a game changing event for our Smart City Initiative as we are now considered as a nationally recognized, forward-thinking municipality, that has implemented emerging technologies in collaboration with the public and ecosystem partners to make cities more livable and offer new services and economic opportunities.  

Morrisville’s Connected Park Initiative also recently received the 2021 Cleantech Impact: Local Government Award and the Town was selected as a winner of the 2021 Smart Cities Council Global Readiness Challenge.

“The global and national recognition of our smart city program and initiatives has helped us realize the positive impacts of what we have accomplished in such a short period,” said Rick Ralph, Chief Information Officer, Town of Morrisville. “I could not be prouder of our team and important community partners that have helped bring our vision to life.”  

For additional information about the Town of Morrisville’s Smart City program and initiatives visit https://bit.ly/3IDOyDn or visit https://www.townofmorrisville.org/government/departments-services/information-technology/smart-morrisville. 

Remember to view my Smart City Playbook for Morrisville at www.steverao.com and I am working on a Smart City Playbook for North Carolina! 

National Take a Walk in the Park Day: Town Council recognized March 30th, 2022 as National Take A Walk In The Park Day and urges people to get outside for a walk in our local parks and encourages the community to support more public parks and green spaces. 

Advisory Committees: Town Council received the 2021 Advisory Committee Work Plan Year-End Reports and appointed the Chair and Vice-Chair for several committees. Work plans for 2022 are currently in development and will be reviewed by Town Council in April. 

Spring Advisory Committee recruitment is open, with appointments also slated for April. 

Triangle Bikeway Project Overview: Kenneth Withrow, CAMPO Senior Transportation Planner, provided a comprehensive overview of the Triangle Bikeway Project and discussed next step scenario options and potential funding strategies and needs. 

A resolution of support for the plan by the Town of Morrisville is slated for the April 12 Town Council meeting. 1624 and 0 Wilson Road Zoning Map Amendment: Town Council closed the public hearing and approved the zoning map amendment from Low Density Residential to Medium Density Residential to accommodate alternative lot standards. No more than seven, single-family detached units will be constructed. 

Two-Thirds Bonds for Public Safety Improvements: Town Council held a public hearing and adopted the two-thirds bond order second reading. The third and final step for the two-thirds bonds will be conducted on April 12. Non-Discrimination Ordinance: 

Town Council adopted the Wake County Non-Discrimination ordinance to be in effect and enforceable in The Town of Morrisville. Town Council also agreed to enter into an interlocal agreement with Wake County to manage complaint reporting, management and conciliation for complainants. 

Town Council moved the scheduled Tuesday, April 26 Town Council meeting to Monday, April 25 to allow for Town Council and staff attendance at the North Carolina League of Municipalities CityVision Conference on April 26-28. Hybrid Meetings for April: 

Town Council authorized hybrid meeting options for April Town Council and Advisory Committee meetings. Town Council also reinstated attendance requirements for Advisory Committees beginning April 1. 

We have completed the recruitment for the new Assistant Town Manager position that will oversee Planning, Engineering/Stormwater, Inspections and Public Works. Please join me in congratulating her and (re) welcoming her to our team in this new role.

The field of candidates was very strong. Giselle was the frontrunner candidate through the comprehensive and challenging phone interview, short-answer questions and the assessment center itself. She exhibited not only her presentation skills and technical knowledge, but also her ability to lead and manage meetings and to effectively work with employees at all levels. These talents, along with her established relationships and understanding of the Town of Morrisville will help us all as we transition into this new organizational management structure. Giselle will fully assume her new responsibilities effective April 18. In the interim, she will continue to lead the Public Works Department and start getting acclimated to some of her new duties and talking with her direct report departments. It will be a busy month.

Additionally, Steve Spruill has been named Interim Public Works Director – he will also assume that role on April 18. We will begin the recruitment for the Public Works Director position soon, which will also be an assessment center process. A recruitment for this type of position takes about 90 or so days – we anticipate having someone in place in July 2022.

We met with Public Works staff early this morning to inform them about both changes; we also met directly with the affected department heads prior to this announcement.

Thank you for your continued support and please extend your congratulations to Giselle when you see or talk to her.

During the Connected Communities Conference in December 2021, North Carolina Secretary of Technology Jim Weaver inspired the attendees when he stated that broadband deployment in the state would be one of his top priorities.  The pandemic has made it very evident that access to higher speed internet can make the difference in whether our children can get a world class education, or whether we can continue to work remotely, for the near and immediate future.  I am very excited to hear Secretary Weaver’s plans for expanding broadband access in our State for these reasons, but we cannot ignore the other benefit of high speed broadband across our state, the Internet of Things (IOT) and the Smart City.

Yes, the time has come for us to become a Smart State!

Our recent Smart City Journey in Morrisville proves that any town or city, can get started and move quickly, as all of us try to keep up with the unprecedented pace of digital transformation.

“Broadband and higher internet speeds continue to accelerate the adoption of the Internet of Things, the network of physical objects—“things”—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet.” (https://www.oracle.com/internet-of-things/)

The IOT revolution can enable cities and towns to become smart cities by leveraging data to enhance the quality of services for our citizens, provide for more transparent government/better planning and drive local innovation, which in turn can create more jobs in our community.   Smart Cities promote economic development, sustainability, innovation, citizen engagement, and can fundamentally change and improve the quality of life for residents.

As the pace of innovation continues to accelerate at unprecedented pace, now is the time, for cities around Wake County, and North Carolina can develop their own Smart City Playbook.

The launch and success of the Morrisville Smart City Journey clearly demonstrates how the Internet of Things, Connected Devices and Sensors can enhance the quality of life of residents.  For many years, I attended Conferences, where I was mesmerized by how the larger Towns, like Cary and Raleigh, were starting very successful Smart City Initiatives.

Over the years, my colleagues on the Council got very used to me saying that we needed to have our own initiative.  In fact, I brought the smart city issue up at almost every retreat from 2011- 2019.

Well, thanks to our world class IT team, led by our Chief Innovation Officer Rick Ralph and the willingness of my colleagues to fund our Smart City Initiatives, the Town of Morrisville has come such a long way in the two years since we began our smart city journey.  In fact, in December, our Town was awarded the Clean Tech Innovation Award by the Research Triangle CleanTech Cluster for our Connected Parks Initiative.

The Morrisville Smart City journey can serve as a guide to how other cities, counties and our state can launch and accelerate their Smart City Journeys.

Like any successful team, the first step is develop a Playbook, a set of plays you can turn to move the ball down the field, and see progress.

In late 2019 Morrisville partnered with IDC to develop Morrisville’s Smart City strategy. We garnered insights on strengths, challenges and opportunities from the Town’s key stakeholders and partners.

Our process incorporated the feedback from all of Morrisville’s departments, including: Planning, Inspections, Engineering, Administration, Human Resources, Finance, Communications, Police, Fire, Public Works and Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources. Each group brought a unique perspective on how Smart City technologies could benefit their specific service delivery goals and challenges, and each delivered insights on innovation opportunities.

Well-attended community listening sessions revealed valuable inputs from residents regarding what to embed in the Morrisville’s Smart City Strategy.

The Focus was on Morrisville’s growing population, specifically in the areas of: communication and transparency, traffic congestion, public safety, and sustainability.

My analogy of the day, is that once you have the plan, you need to find ways to deploy Smart Technology to find some quick wins.  Like the First downs of a football team, a quick win strategy shows your fans that you are making progress.  In our game, we wanted to demonstrate to the residents, the quality of life and other benefits of a Smart City.

Smart city execution Began with This quick win/first down approach. Staff identified areas, where the Town could launch pilots, deploying sensors in areas, where we could demonstrate visible results to our residents.

Some of these wins came from partnerships with local companies, who worked with our staff to implement sensors in the parks and some of our facilities.  SAM IT is a Morrisville based company, that has worked with us already on some sensor projects in our Parks.

The results have been impressive and have now given us momentum to do even more. A few examples of quick wins are as follows:

An on demand transit service, powered by an App, connects residents to 15 nodes in Morrisville.  More efforts are underway for a Connected Corridor Initiative, where transportation sensors can help provide real time visibility on roads. Visibility into real time transportation data can help us better plan for residential development, and can help us do more to help reduce traffic congestion on our roads.

Sensors at our Solar Array at Fire Station 1 provide real time visibility into energy usage at our Fire Station and we can expand this capability to other buildings. Smart Building Automation Systems can also lead to more successful sustainability efforts

Installing occupancy sensors at Town parks to let the community know if they are available for use, enhancing the use of green spaces and helping residents avoid unnecessary trips to courts and fields when they are occupied.

This project also included installing autonomous flood and ground moisture sensors in partnership with Green Stream, an environmental technology firm, so that the parks management team can be alerted of flooding, which has historically been an issue for Morrisville.

Based on my experience, a successful Smart City Plan must involve departments and stakeholders in your community.  Base your plan on your own strategic goals and what you are hearing from your residents.

Kudos to my team in Morrisville for making this happen!  I know that Morrisville CIO Rick Ralph and our team will share our successes at more events, so other cities can address similar challenges and experience the same successes.

Public Private partnerships are key, reaching out to market leading technology companies and local start ups, who can partner with your Towns and Cities and help address community challenges. Tom Snyder and his team at RIOT have done a remarkable job in driving these types of partnerships regionally, even starting an incubator, to grow IOT companies, who are focused on civic innovation. Greenstream, for example, is a Triangle based company and RIOT company, offering real time flood monitoring to local governments. In addition to leveraging the experience of market leading companies like IBM, SAS, AT&T and Cisco, we can provide start up companies a chance to pilot their products and services for Towns. If these companies are successful, they can grow jobs in our communities. .

We established a Smart City Advisory Committee of tech savvy residents to advise and guide the Council and staff in Morrisville. Many innovative ideas for our plans are coming from this group of technology engaged citizens.  For example, one recent idea from the Committee which is already in the works is to develop a Morrisville App for all residents. All residents will receive updates on Town events and announcements on their Mobile Devices.  There is nothing better than true, results based citizen engagement!

Finally, while we talk a great deal about Regional Collaboration, smart city innovation can be accelerated by more local governments working together to solve problems. A few years ago, RIOT organized local governments to work on open data projects for stormwater and flooding.

We are now seeing this type of collaboration taking place with Smart Cities.

A great example is RIOT sponsoring The Smart City Challenge, an initiative which is helping Research Triangle develop a data sharing roadmap.

The goal for the Challenge is to accelerate mobility data sharing; Data capture and visibility into carbon emissions, traffic travel times, congestion, energy efficiency, resiliency, health and safety) can help us all have a higher quality of life, and a cleaner more sustainable environment.

I am very proud of the Town of Morrisville for taking a lead role in the Readiness Challenge and most recently hosting a Smart City Forum on Transportation Data at SAS. Cary, Raleigh, Wake County, Apex, the Triangle J Council Of Governments and the Raleigh Durham are now included in these regional innovation programs.

I would encourage Secretary Weaver to not only lead efforts to deploy more broadband but encourage counties and cities across the state to develop their Smart City Playbooks Now.  One way to achieve this goal is to have a Local Government Chief Innovation Officer on board at the NC Department of IT (NCDIT) focused on championing Smart Cities in the state as we embark on our broadband expansion efforts.  Smart City Grants should be on our radar screen now more than ever as The American Rescue Plan and Biden Infrastructure Plan are investing billions in Broadband infrastructure.  The State needs to help make all of our cities and towns aware of these opportunities.

Our Regional Economic Development Partnerships and Triangle J Council of Governments could develop a regional smart city strategy and provide ways for cities and towns to share best practices with their colleagues.  I would like to see the NC League of Muncipalities assist in these efforts as well.   Perhaps, at next years’ Connected Communities Conference, we can hear from more other Wake County municipalities that have jumped on the Smart City Bandwagon.  Rolesville, Garner, Apex, Wake Forest, and others can get in the game!  The time is now!

Effective smart city strategies can enable every city and town in North Carolina to strive for more Sustainable and resilient communities and reduced carbon footprint, Reduced Traffic Congestion, More efficient urban planning, More Innovation and Jobs, and a more resilient and streamlined governments. If the cities and counties in the state do not leverage IOT and smart city innovation, they will be left behind.

Mr. Secretary, as you lead our efforts for Broadband expansion, let us strive to make North Carolina the Smartest State in the Union.

Then, just as we say in our Morrisville Brand Statement, we can all “Live Connected and Live Well.”

Congrats to Simone Biles for her selection as Woman of the Year for her dedication to mental health and other health care issues! 

We are grateful for the Women Trailblazers in our Nation and Around the World.  Women have had such a remarkable impact on the political, economic, and social/cultural fabric of society.   I also commend them for balancing career, and family, to successfully launch their careers.

My mom, my wife, and mother in law have all inspired me as some of the smartest women I have ever known!

Although this is the end of Women’s History Month, let's continue to remember and thank Women Trailblazers!

It has come to my attention that Parkside Elementary could be capped this upcoming school year, and the closest school would be Adams Elementary in Cary, which is located on Cary Town Boulevard.  I am working with my colleagues on the Council, and the Wake County School Board on what other options could be and I am going to make this a high priority for this year, along with our Council.

We do plan to discuss this topic at the next during our brainstorming work session tomorrow and next week as well.

Please visit https://www.wcpss.net/student-assignment for more information on School Assignment.

Steverao app can be downloaded at Apple App store by searching for "Steverao" app in Apple store and Google Play store.

Other Way to download the app is by below scan for Apple store scan code and Google Play store link.

Below are two links to download app from Apple App store and Google Playstore.

March 30 – 6:00 p.m. Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory Committee 

Apr 4 - 5: 00 p.m. Wake County Commissioners Meeting at Wake County Justice Center. 

Morrisville Town Manager Martha Paige has selected Giselle Rodriguez-Villanueva as the Town’s new assistant town manager. Rodriguez-Villanueva has served as the Town’s public works director since July 2019. In her new role she will oversee the Planning, Engineering/Stormwater, Inspections and Public Works departments.

Giselle, a North Carolina-licensed professional engineer, has more than 14 years of local government experience in the areas of public works, engineering, stormwater, project and construction management, regulatory compliance and development reviews.

While serving as Morrisville’s public works director, Rodriguez-Villanueva’s key accomplishments include a reorganization of the Public Works Department, establishment of a collaborative process for the development and management of the department’s $9M operational budget and the creation of a sustainability program for the Town.

A native of Puerto Rico, Giselle earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico. She is married to Juan D. Varela, a firefighter with the Fuquay-Varina Fire Department. They have two children, Gianny Varela (15) and Caleb Varela (12).

Assistant Town Manager Rodriguez-Villanueva will officially begin her new role on April 18

Starting Monday, March 21:

For Morrisville Carpenter Road Project updates Visit https://bit.ly/mcrcp1

Did you miss the MCP Phase 3 Q&A session? View all questions and answers at EngageMorrisville.com.

Construction update: The contractor is continuing to clear and grub onsite at the tennis court/pickleball court areas through the week of March 28. They will also be erecting a chain link fence and a silt fence around the perimeter to better secure the tennis court and pickleball court location. They are anticipating starting grading work onsite the last week of March which will continue to early May. Additionally, the contractor will be preparing to start work on the walking trails behind the ballfields in early April.

#LiveConnectedLiveWell

Due to overwhelming popularity and to reduce wait times, MAFC will implement a sign-up policy for weekend Open Rec Swim starting Saturday, March 26. Reserve your spot one week in advance here.

Easter weekend hours:

National Take a Walk in the Park Day is Wednesday, March 30. Here are some ways to celebrate around Town.

The Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department invites you to participate in “Peeps in the Park” at Northwest Park, 2114-2180 Louis Stephens Drive.

Join the Morrisville Senior Center for a group walk at Church Street Park, 5817 Cricket Pitch Way. The walk begins at 10 a.m. and water will be included.

We are lucky to have more than 10 parks in our Town with playground equipment, greenways, tennis courts, a cricket field, picnic areas, and more. Take a walk in one of our parks to celebrate the day! Parks are open sunrise to sunset. Read more about our parks at https://bit.ly/MSVParks

The Seniors’ Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) will be at the Senior Center on Wednesday, March 30, from 2-3 p.m., conducting “Medicare Benefits: Are You A Good Steward?”.

The Morrisville Senior Center and Senior Advisory Committee is hosting a Spring Open House on Saturday, April 9, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. The day will include live music, prize giveaways, refreshments, program information, and hourly raffle drawings.

Learn more about the Senior Center here.

The Town is growing, and your opinion matters! Spring Advisory Committee Recruitment will begin on Monday, March 14. Advisory Committees offer citizens a chance to be involved in the Town’s decision-making processes by providing input on important matters to Town Council.

The following committees have vacancies or expiring terms that may be filled during this process:

• Environment and Stormwater Committee

• Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Advisory Committee

• Performance Measures Advisory Committee

• Planning and Zoning Board

• Smart City Steering Committee

• Public Safety Advisory Committee

The deadline to apply is Wednesday, April 6, at 5 p.m. Apply now on the Town website. Contact Eric Smith, Town Clerk, with any questions at (919) 463-6168 or esmith@townofmorrisville.org.

Morrisville residents - get CERTified! The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations.

The CERT program will be held April 23-24, from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., at Fire Station No. 1, 200 Town Hall Drive. All levels of abilities are welcome to attend. Limited spots available. Visit this page for more information and to register.

The Town of Morrisville has launched the Sustainability Dashboard on Morrisville's Open Data Portal. The dashboard provides residents with tracking data showing the Town's progress in implementing sustainability practices. Data for the solar panel array on Morrisville Fire Station No. 1 and recycling participation rates for each of Morrisville's five GFL Environmental service routes are currently available. For details, click here.

The Morrisville Smart Shuttle, the Town’s newest public transit service, allows riders to request a pick-up or drop-off from one of 15 nodes, or stops, located around the Town using the Smart Shuttle application on their smartphone.

Watch this short video on how to use the Morrisville Smart Shuttle App by clicking here!

The service runs seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Additional details on the Morrisville Smart Shuttle visit TownofMorrisville.org/SmartShuttle

Starting Dec. 4, the WWFM is shifting to winter market hours, 9:30 a.m. to noon. Visit http://wwfm.ag/ to see a complete list of local vendors and shop local!

Last week, I was honored to address the NC General Assembly at the Press Conference on Medicaid Expansion with Senator Nickel and other leaders.  I look forward to working with Senator Nickel to make sure that North Carolina will join the other 33 states, like Virginia, to expand Medicaid access to over 621,000 of our citizens.

Medicaid expansion can not only provide health care to the backbone of our economy, but can add over $5.9 billion of federal dollars to our budget, help rural hospitals and provide for more preventive health care spending which can reduce chronic diseases and chronic disease spending.  Even a simple Testosterone test for men between the ages of 40 and 60 can significantly reduce chronic disease spending!

I was honored to attend the Ribbon Cutting at Wake Tech RTP Building 2, a state of the art facility which will train the next generation of our workforce in North Carolina in life sciences and bio tech companies.  I loves Sig Hutchison’s gumbo speech!

For me the highlights of the event was to hear from both Wake Tech President, Scott Ralls, and Durham Tech President, JB Buxton, on the partnership between Wake Tech and Durham tech on workforce training and from top Executives at Eli Lilly, whom the building will be named for.  We were also inspired by remarks from former Wake Tech Student, and Operations Director at Eli Lily, Bushar Desai!

Finally, thanks to Wake Tech for naming one of the rooms after the late Sam Taylor, who served as the President of NC BIO!

Highlight for me was to hear the opening keynote and personal story from Netflix Accessibility Director, Heather Dowdy from Netflix talk about addressing individuals with Developmental Disabilities!

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The city that never sleeps!

Attended the Triangle Interfaith Alliance Prayer for Peace. at the Interfaith Food Shuttle!   It was wonderful to pray for peace with leaders from the Hindu, Christian, Bahai, and Jewish faiths.  

President Biden denounced Russia’s invasion and declared that Putin “cannot remain in power.” But a White House official downplayed the possibility that Biden had called for the Russian president to step down.

While Biden was traveling in Poland, two rocket strikes hit Lviv in western Ukraine, not far from the Polish border. The strikes undercut earlier signals that Russia had narrowed its ambitions.

Western officials, however, have picked up chatter among senior Russian commanders about giving up on capturing Kyiv and other key areas in Ukraine, according to two people with access to intelligence.

Ukrainian forces have mounted a counteroffensive in the Kyiv suburbs to block Russia’s route to the capital, destroying tanks and killing Russian troops.

The 22-year arc of Putin’s time in power tracks his slide from statesman to dictator.

The chaos of war could undo decades of progress against infectious diseases in Ukraine, experts warn.

What kind of weapons is Russia using? We have a guide

Texts from the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas show how deeply she was embedded in the conspiratorial fringe of right-wing politics.

An ice shelf collapsed in eastern Antarctica for the first time since satellites began observing the continent nearly half a century ago.

The Chinese authorities confirmed that no one survived the crash of a flight with 132 people on board.

The Biden administration plans to give Americans age 50 or older the option of a second Covid booster without recommending the shot outright.

Biden is expected to release his budget proposal tomorrow for the fiscal year that begins in October.

Israel hosts a historic summit starting today. It will be the first meeting with top officials from three Arab countries to take place on Israeli soil.

College basketball’s Final Four games are this week. The women’s teams play on Friday, and the men’s on Saturday. Follow The Times’s coverage.

The Oscars are at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight. Here is Melissa Kirsch’s guide for watching.

North Carolina is entering a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic with an emphasis on personal responsibility and a new way for the state to measure the presence of COVID-19, Gov. Roy Cooper said last week. approach to the pandemic.  Starting on March 23, the state will adjust how it reports COVID-19 data and will reallocate resources as the disease becomes an “endemic” part of everyday life. After reporting COVID-19 data on a mostly daily basis for much of the past two years, the state will now present metrics for COVID-19 on a weekly basis.

Drug Overdose killed more than 3300 people in North Carolina in 2020, a 40% increase from the previous year according to the Department of Health and Human Services.  A total of 2,352 people dies from an overdose in 2019.  This number increased by almost 1000 deaths over the following year, to a total of 3,304 deaths recorded in 2020.  Nine North Carolinians died from an overdose every day in 2020.  DHHS Secretary Kinsley attributes the increase in part to the Covid Pandemic.

Wake County School Board plans to address a return to normal commencement ceremonies this week.  Stay tuned for an update on this!  

Watch Sunday at 4pm for a new Forum.

Please watch for the Black Issues Forum on UNC-TV!  Fridays at 7 pm and Sundays at 4 pm!

Join us this Sunday, March 20 for our Womens History Month Interview with WRAL Anchor, Renee Chou!

Website: https://video.pbsnc.org/search/?q=black+issues+forum

Program Airdates:

PBS NC

NC Channel

Apr. 14th Town of Morrisville Easter Egg Hunt 5:30 pm! 

Apr. 20th Morrisville Chamber Day of Service 9am- 12 pm

May 5 Morrisville Chamber Annual Meeting at Prestonwood Country Club from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.

Award Applications are open!

May 12th NC Tech Association Outlook for Tech!    9 am- 3 pm. 

https://business.morrisvillechamber.org/events/details/chamber-day-of-service-april-2022-2464

Join us at 4 pm on Sunday for our Women’s History Interview with WRAL Anchor Renee Chou.  99.9FMHD4, 101.9 FM and 1490 AM!  Listen at www.radionyrausa.com!

Join us every Friday on World Edition at 10 am for the Great America Project Panel where we discuss how we rebuild Americas' image with leaders from around the country and world.

Public Open Dialogue TV is a worldwide multilingual, multi-demographic network focused on inspiring, educating and entertaining the global community. We provide unique programming in areas not covered by traditional media, and provide a platform for the audience to engage with those shows. Formerly IBMTV.