Durham's Six Plates is changing things up this year with its annual TxakoliFest -- a celebration of a slightly sparkling dry white Spanish wine.

As usual, there will be two tasting sessions on June 1. However, this year the first tasting session will be a benefit for Housing for New Hope, a Durham nonprofit that works to prevent and end homelessness.

Tickets to the charity tasting from 1-4 p.m. cost $75. The tickets will be limited to 125 people. If weather permits and outdoor patio is available for the event, another 50 tickets will be made available. Tickets are now on sale at Six Plates or Wine Authorities.

For the charity tasting, attendees will receive a souvenir glass to take home, a chance to try seven different txakolis and food prepared by these Durham chefs: John Eisensmith of Six Plates, Billy Cotter of Toast, Charlie Deal of Dos Perros, Tim Lyons of Blu Seafood, Matt Kelly of Mateo Tapas, Chris Stinnett of Pop's, Amy Tournquist of Watts Grocery and Todd Whitney of Vin Rouge.

The general admission ticket costs $15 for the 4 p.m.-midnight session. The ticket entitles each person to a souvenir glass and the opportunity to purchase tastes of seven different txakolis. There is no wine or food included with the price of the general admission ticket.

Here's a look at today's local headlines:

First in today's N&O read how Housing for New Hope is offering to matc $5,000 in private donations to help relocate people being forced out of Lincoln Apartments. Jeanne Smialek has the story.

EYES ON THE PRIZE: In Today's DN, Jim Wise has more on that $5 million prize Bloomberg Philnathropies is offering th ecity with the best innovative idea for solving some of today's thorniest urban challenges. Read the story here. 

THE $20 FIX: Read how a new program is helping save cats and dogs in Durham County. Jamie Kennedy Jones reports the county has joined a state remibursement program that provides low cost sterilization for the pets of low-income county residents. Read the story here.

WOODARD'S SEAT: Read who's already lining up for consideration to finish City Councilman Mike Woodard's term now that he's been elected to the state Senate. Jim Wise has the story.  

Bob Wilson says hopes in East Duham are riding high on hot dogs. Tracie Fellers says she is Durham grit, at least on her good days. And lots more. Tell us what's on your mind at editor@newsobserver.com

And thanks for reading,

Mark

BY BOB WILSON

No one not in the shoes of the 26-year-old Durham mother of four whose struggle to keep family and soul together in these desperate times can fully understand her anxiety. In search of an increasingly rare Section 8 housing subsidy, she and her children could be on the streets by late spring.

Reporter Katelyn Ferral's Dec. 25 story in The Durham News on the demand for Section 8 housing in the Triangle focused on  of one family, but the story of that family can be multiplied to the nth degree in contemporary America. It is a story famously foretold almost 50 years ago by the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

In 1965, Moynihan, then a Harvard scholar (and later a U.S. senator) published a seminal report on the coming destruction of the black family by good intentions gone bad. His policy conclusions now apply just as forcefully to whites and Hispanics.

Before you accuse me of a hate crime by using the Durham mother as an example of how government has such a sorry record of making things worse for the black underclass, consider the choices she and others have made.