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

SOUTHSIDE VOTE: $29 million; that's the new up-front cost of revitalizing the Southside and Rolling Hills neighborhoods just south of downtown (Total cost $48 million). But don't call it Rolling Hills anymore. Jim Wise reports the city has renamed that portion Southside East, an attempt to escape the project's troublesome past. Read his story before the City's Council's vote tomorrow night.

FOSTER'S CHANCES: He finished second in the Democratic primary and was the front runner to fill Joe Bowser's unexpired term on the county board. Then the Durham County GOP sent out a release noting that 21 years ago Fred Foster was asked to resign his county job after findings that he conducted personal business on taxpayer time. Virginia Bridges reports that's given the county commissioners pause.

FATHER'S DAY HIKE: You know that Harry Chapin song "Cat's in the Cradle," (Man, I loved Harry Chapin; heard him play in Central Park, the New York one)  about a father who never has time for his son until it's too late? Jim Wise has a story today about a family that wasn't going to make that mistake this Father's Day.

Bill Anderson says illegal parking makes the city look bad, Jesse James DeConto says Durham is a great place for families, and former City Councilman Frank Hyman says crime, not cost savings, is the best reason to merge Durham city and county governments. Tell us what you think at editor@newsobserver.com, and ... thanks for reading,

Mark

From correspondent Virginia Bridges

Durham Public Schools Superintendent Eric Becoats says he will advise the Board of Education to re-evaluate a controversial proposal to revamp magnet and other schools of choice.  

Dogged work by reporters Virginia Bridges and Katelyn Ferral has given us more information about the fatal shootings of four people on a deserted road through RTP last weekend. (Read the story here.)

The story broke too late for today's Durham News, which went to press Monday night. By Tuesday we were able to confirm that shooter Brinton Millsap believed he had contracted herpes from a sexual encounter with one of the women. The rumor was not true, according to her mother, Anita Baker, who spoke with Bridges yesterday.

The story, in todays' News & Observer, paints a picture of a troubled young man who dreamed of a basketball career but suffered from a debilitating case of lupus, at times  so painful he could not play. His brother and a good friend told Ferral Millsap's life changed after the diagnosis; he started making bad judgments. Posts on his Facebook page glorified guns and violence.

We will continue to report this story. Officially, the Durham County Sheriff's Office has declined to comment on the herpes rumor, though multiple sources told us that investigators had the information.