FISHEL LAUNCHES WEATHER SERVICE: Greg Fishel, the popular chief meteorologist at WRAL for 30 years, has launched his own weather service.
Fishel announced the news on his LinkedIn feed, offering two tiers of service.
Fishel plans to send out one weathercast Monday through Friday late in the afternoon, at a cost of $3 per month. Subscribers can also get that service plus two weather education videos per week for $5 per month.
"I would be eternally grateful for your support in my new venture!" Fishel wrote.
Fishel's long run at WRAL ended Feb. 13, 2019, with the station saying on the air that Fishel was no longer at Capitol Broadcasting Company due to a "personnel matter." He'd been at the station since 1981 and became chief meteorologist in 1989.
In January, he announced he would serve as a .
WRAL
IT'S GOTTA BE THE SHOES: A pair of Converse tennis shoes that Michael Jordan wore as a freshman at the University of North Carolina is up for auction — and the price has crossed he $40,000 mark.
Years ago, Jordan gave the shoes to one of the team managers, Chuck Duckett. Duckett had the shoes signed by Jordan and plans to give half the proceeds to the UNC basketball program.
Jordan hit the winning shot for Carolina in the 1982 national title game over the Georgetown University. In the NBA, he signed with Nike (NYSE: NKE) and launched the Air Jordan brand. After years as a Converse school, UNC eventually signed with Nike as well.
The auction closes in eight days.
Heritage Auctions
TBJ POLL: North Carolina lawmakers are closer than ever to expanding Medicaid access in the state, but a major hurdle remains in the way.
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THEATER CHAIN FACES BANKRUPTCY: A movie theater chain with multiple Triangle locations and more than 15 across North Carolina is said to be headed for bankruptcy as it continues to struggle with low attendance in the wake of the pandemic.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Cineworld Group, which owns the Regal Cinemas chain, is preparing to file for bankruptcy in the coming weeks. Shares of the British cinema chain (LON: CINE) tanked Friday on the news, with the stock down around 60 percent in mid-afternoon trading in London, according to CNBC.
Regal has five theaters in the greater Raleigh area –including in North Hills and Brier Creek – as well as one in Greenville.
The WSJ report says the company is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and is considering moving forward with an insolvency proceeding in the U.K. Cineworld is the second-largest theater company in the world, trailing only AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC).
Cineworld said this week that while attendance has recovered somewhat since theaters reopened last year, it continues to be limited by a lack of film options, according to the WSJ. Plus, more people are instead choosing to stream movies at home, CNBC notes.
There are 31 Regal theaters in North Carolina and South Carolina, according to the company's website. Cineworld has around 9,000 theaters in 10 countries.
BUMMER FOR CHARLOTTE: Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham didn't mince words when asked about losing the East Coast headquarters of Centene Corp (NYSE: CNC).
“What a bad break,” Graham told the Charlotte Business Journal.“That’s how the ball bounces. You win some, and you lose some."
Graham, chair of the city's Economic Development committee, sees nothing that city government could have done differently to salvage the project.The Charlotte paper broke the news Thursday that Centene was canceling plans for what was the largest economic development project in Charlotte’s history when announced in July 2020.
The company had planned to hire 3,200 employees in the city and possibly far more than that.
patcampbell
DUKE ENERGY BOUNCES CHECK? You don't expect companies with billions of dollars in revenue to bounce a check for $814, but that's apparently what happened.
A Rocky Mount woman reached out to ABC11 for help after she got a deposit from the company — but the check didn't clear.
"They told me that it would take about 30 days for me to get my deposit in the mail. I got this deposit check 40 days later,"DomanickBullock told ABC11's Diane Wilson.
"I ended up with a $12 return fee plus I ended up with a $35 insufficient funds fee," Bullock said.
She said she called Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) right away, who said they'd resolve it in 30 days. Irked by the delay, Bullock called the station, and Duke Energy responded after an inquiry from Wilson.
On Aug. 4, Duke Energy reported $6.69 billion in revenue for the second quarter.
BEACH TOWN WEIGHS FILM OPTIONS: The town of Kure Beach, to the south of Wilmington, is weighing a new process for approving filming in the town — and one that filmmakers might not like.
The Port City Daily reports that Kure Beach granted 10 permits in fiscal 2021-22, but the problem is many of the requests are made shortly before shooting. The town is looking at formalizing the process and asking for 30 days notice.
But Wilmington Film Commission Director Johnny Griffin said that might hurt Kure Beach's chances of landing shooting locations.
“This will frustrate the process,” he said, noting that scripts might come out 10 days before filming.
Dane Huffman
MOORE COUNTY INCREASE: The rise of golf — and the rising interest in towns such as Southern Pines and Pinehurst – is having a dramatic impact on Moore County.
Moore County had $673 million in economic impact from visitor spending last year, according to The Pilot newspaper of Southern Pines. That was a 70 percent increase from the year before, and the county ranked 10th in the state for its tourism economy.
“We knew a rebound in visitor spending numbers would happen given the impacts of the pandemic in 2020, but to see such a massive increase and to crack the top 10 in the state as a tourism economy for the first time is a great accomplishment,” Phil Werz, president and CEO of the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the newspaper.
TBJ File Photo
