Recap: Phoenix vs. Golden State

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DPS, truancy center close in on deal

It seems the Truancy Triage Center is one step closer to reaching its full potential thanks to a verbal agreement made on Monday between the center and Durham Public Schools.

This represents a change of tune for DPS, which initially did not support the center because the program wanted to operate through the school system but not in a school building. Such an arrangement would have increased student liability concerns.

The agreement, which center director Irene Dwinnell hopes will be finalized before the end of this year, allows the center to operate out of a school, through a location that has not yet been determined. School officials will be able to review the center's operational plan and budget. Students at the center will be able to take a school bus home.

Truancy effort gathers steam

Students who like to ditch school to roam the streets and frequent the malls, your days are numbered.

Few in the Bull City were aware of the truancy hot line launched in November by the county and the schools to encourage neighbors to drop a dime on kids who hang out when they should be in class. But within the next few weeks, billboards will pop up in school zones advertising two seven-digit numbers that will earn truants a chauffeured ride to school in a sheriff's car -- 697-9024 or 697-9025.

In 2003-04, as many as one in 10 Durham Public Schools students did not show up for class on a given day. With the number of kids who skip school each day putting the district among the worst for truancy rates in the state, community leaders have gotten serious.

Researchers offer tips on Durham gang woes

Hiring someone to coordinate county anti-gang initiatives and paying close attention to those most vulnerable to gangs were among 12 suggestions two researchers, tasked with examining Durham's gang situation, made to a group of city and county criminal justice officials Friday.

Gang experts Buddy Howell and Deborah Lamm Weisel presented their recommendations before the Durham Crime Cabinet, which meets every other month to discuss county criminal justice issues. The suggestions will be part of their final report, which Weisel said should be completed in a few weeks.

Here are some recommendations from Howell and Weisel:

Relative was also the low bidder for contract

The N.C. State Board of Cosmetic Art Examiners gave business to an insurance company co-owned by a former board member.

Earl Johnson left the board after two terms in late 2008. In January, the board began looking for a new health insurance plan for its employees as part of an effort to meet state-mandated spending cuts required of all agencies.

The eventual contract went to a plan put together by Johnson's company. Johnson is a third cousin to Ray Mitchell Jr., chairman of the cosmetic board.

Dropout plan is in motion

Students used to playing hooky, brace yourselves.

Durham school officials have a 23-page plan to curb dropout rates, an outline they presented in a meeting with school board members Tuesday.

The priority is making sure students are in school in the first place. That means giving students incentives to come to school, rewarding their positive behavior and, if students misbehave, finding alternatives to suspension, which costs valuable class time.