Durham Public Schools will receive $1.25 million over five years to further close the achievement gap between African-American male students and their peers.

The grant money, given by the NEA Foundation, will be used for the Redefining Futures for African-American Males Initiative, aimed to enhance black male student achievement within the district's most challenging schools. The effort will help students transition between grade levels, support teaching endeavors that increase African-American learning and increase parental and community involvement.

The effort will also include counselors working with families in their homes, something that Gov. Beverly Perdue said is needed for academic achievement.

The initiative will be instituted in two sets of schools that feed into one other: Eno Valley Elementary, Chewning Middle and Norhtern High schools and Fayetteville Street, Lowe's Grove Middle and Hillside High schools.

For more on this story, see www.newsobserver.com and tomorrow's News & Observer. 

Good news this morning for the Triangle Veterinary Emergency Clinic and the folks of Morreene Road: NCDOT has changed its mind.

According to City Councilman Mike Woodard, highway department engineers met this morning and decided the clinic will not have to add a turn lane in front of its planned new clinic at Morreene Road and Linden Terrace -- thus removing the need to move a city sewer line and saving the clinic around  $250,000.

As reported in last Saturday's Durham News, residents near the clinic site -- former Mariner's Cove restaurant location -- want the clinic to move in and renovate the warehouse eyesore in their midst. After learning that DOT's requirements for the turn lane and sewer move jeopardized the clinic's plan, they mounted a campaign to convince DOT to reconsider and enlist city and state officials on their side.

Durham and Person County commissioners have agreed to explore an economic-development partnership for northern Durham and southern Person counties.

"I think this is a viable thing for us to look at. I'm sure you're almost out of land in the RTP," said Person commissioner Jimmy Clayton.

“I like the idea of long-range planning, 30 years out,” said Durham commissioner Joe Bowser.

The N.C. Dental Society is holding a free clinic for needy adults, March 12 and 13 at the National Guard Armory.

"We have an awesome opportunity," said public-health Director Gayle Harris.

The clinic provides teeth cleaning, fillings and pullings on a first-come, first-served basis for patients whose family income is less than 200 percent of the federal poverty index: $44,100 per year for a family of four, for example. (For a chart, see http://liheap.ncat.org/profiles/pov.)

A deal between Durham County and Durham Public Schools that would save the school system more than $200,000 a year in sales tax passed through the county commissioners' work session this afternoon and on to tonight's regular-meeting agenda.

But not until after a lengthy conversation about the school system's compliance with the county's "Minority/Women Business Enterprise" policy on awarding contracts.

The City Council's unanimous approval for a new, improved downtown
zoning system opens the way for another step along the way of Rolling
Hills/Southside's redevelopment.

But City Councilman Eugene Brown says it's time to reconsider.

This particular step would be developer McCormack Baron Salazar's
request to bring eight acres of the 20-acre Rolling Hills tract under
the downtown umbrella, thus allowing the company to put buildings along
Lakewood Avenue that can serve as either residential or commercial
units.

Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez issued this statement after the arrest of a Durham police officer.

Stephen Patrick Commander Jr., 31, of Oxford, was charged Friday in connection with a November home break-in in Wake Forest. (Read Thomasi McDonald's story here.) He is also accused of threatening the homeowners.

The arrest comes on the heels of the arrest of a former Durham cop. Sherrod Peace was indicted on charges of selling cocaine while in the possession of a firearm. He left the force in December.

Both arrests follow the overtime scandal that cost Deputy Chief B.J. Council her job after an officer she supervised was accused of claiming more than $60,000 in overtime. Council took early retirement at the end of last year. An investigation in that case continues.

Here is Lopez's statement:   

As chief of police for the City of Durham, I am deeply disappointed in the recent arrests of Officer Stephen Commander and former officer Sherrod Peace. These arrests are in no way reflective of our officers who work hard and serve our community every day.

I understand that alleged misconduct on the part of law enforcement officers can damage public trust. That is why the Durham Police Department takes allegations such as these so seriously.

Our officers undergo ethics training as rookies and duringy early in-service training classes. Officers are held to a higher standard and I expect them to live up to their oaths of office and serve and protect th ecommunity. Our officers are expected to know the department’s general orders and abide by them on and off duty. The general orders include sections on ethics, legal issues and professional behavior.

All allegations of police misconduct are investigated thoroughly by our Professional Standards Division. Any allegations of criminal misconduct are also investigated by our Criminal Investigations Division.

In these recent cases, please keep in mind the officers are entitled to due process and the cases are still under investigation and nothing has yet been adjudicated.

I want the community to rest assured that the Durham Police Department is committed to providing the best service possible with professionalism, integrity, pride and dedication to the community. These are the attributes that define our department, our officers and our profession.

Thirty women and people of color start learning to develop and sell real estate Friday, and build some social capital on the side.

"This is going to be really positive," said Farad Ali, project director with the N.C. Institute of Minority Economic Development and a member of Durham's City Council.

"Executive Minority Program in Real Estate" ("EMPIRE") is a three-month course in appraising, finance, law, design, sales and public incentives. The Institute of Minority Economic Development is a sponsor along with the Self-Help Credit Union and Durham Chamber of Commerce.

Durham Public Schools students will have one more day to enjoy what's left of the snow as schools will be closed tomorrow.

The district has not announced the make up day for tomorrow's closing.

For Monday and Tuesday's closings, make up days for traditional calendar schools will be on Friday, February 19 and Friday, March 19.

Those on a year-round calendar will have make up days on Monday, March 22 and Wednesday, June 9.

Durham police investigators have arrested Raven Abaroa and charged him with murdering his pregnant wife, Janet Abaroa, in April 2005.

Abaroa, 30, of South 8th St. in Montpelier, Idaho was arrested Monday at his home without incident, police reported in a news release a few minutes ago. He was placed in the Caribou County (Idaho) Jail without bond. He is being held for extradition to North Carolina.

Janet Abaroa, 25, was stabbed to death inside her home at 2606 Ferrand
Drive on April 26, 2005. The Abaroas’ 6-month-old son, Kaiden,
was uninjured. There were no obvious signs of a break-in, but a laptop
computer was missing from the house.

In the hours before her death, Janet Abaroa, who was in the early
stages of pregnancy, picked up her child at day care and went with her
husband to drop her car off for repairs. The Abaroas met with a church
member at their home that evening before Raven Abaroa left the house
around 8:30 p.m. in a gray Dodge Durango to play in an indoor soccer
game in Morrisville. Raven Abaroa told officers he found his wife when
he returned home from the game around 11 p.m.

“This arrest is the result of hard and tenacious work by our investigators and a strong partnership with the FBI and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). Investigators continued to follow leads and never gave up,” said Durham Police Chief Jose L. Lopez Sr.

“Although an arrest has been made, the case is still ongoing and investigators continue to gather information and conduct interviews,” Lopez said. The chief said he can’t comment further on the case because the investigation is still ongoing and has not yet been adjudicated.  

Anyone with further information on this case is asked to contact Investigator Sole at (919) 560-4440, ext. 29350 or by email at Charles.Sole@durhamnc.gov or Sgt. Perkins at (919) 560-4440, ext. 29326 or by email at Sheldon.Perkins@durhamnc.gov