Commercial Roof Repair in Wilmington, NC

The 2023 1st-round draft pick from Notre Dame also scored in a friendly in Mexico last week. The NWSL season begins this weekend.

CARY, NC — Wilmington native Olivia Wingate continues to make headlines in her fledgling professional soccer career.

In January, Wingate, who was a standout forward at Notre Dame, was drafted in the first round (No. 6 overall) in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Draft by the North Carolina Courage.

On Monday, the Courage announced that it had signed signed Wingate and the team's three other first-round picks — midfielder Sydney Collins from Cal, midfielder Clara Robbins from Florida State and forward Haley Hopkins from Virginia — to contracts through the 2025 season.

At the time of the draft, Courage head coach Sean Nahas said he was pleased with the quartet that the team had added.

"I think that was our main thing, how do we add depth," Nahas said. "If we can go through all the lines (defense, midfield, forward) and add pieces of the puzzle and get to where we want to be in those areas, that adds a little bit of a competitive nature to what we're doing. A lot of the players (we drafted) have won championships, so have a winning pedigree. I think we did a great job."

Find out what's happening in Wilmingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On Saturday, the Courage are scheduled to open up their season — the NWSL's 11th — with a home game against the Kansas City Current. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

The Courage prepped for the campaign by holding a training camp in Mexico, where the NWSL team also played a friendly against Rayadas de Monterrey from Liga Mx Femenil.

Rayadas won 2-1 in the March 9 game played in front of 7,000 fans at Monterrey's stunning Estadio BBVA. But the contest included a goal from Wingate.

Trailing 2-0 in the second half, Courage forward Kerolin Nicoli forced a loose ball in the box. Wingate beat the Rayadas goalkeeper to the ball, sending it into the back of the net.

Wingate just might be picking up where she left off in college, where she erupted for 14 goals during her season in South Bend. The effort earned her first team All-ACC honors and United Soccer Coaches third team All-America recognition.

Wingate finished her collegiate career with 26 goals and 11 assists. She played in 95 games, making 74 starts.

In high school, Wingate played two seasons at Wilmington High School, scoring 17 goals as a junior and being named NSCAA All-New England and NSCAA All-State. She also played for the U.S. U18 Women's National Team and U.S. U16 Girls National Team.

Victor Agbafe has since graduated from Harvard, and he now studies at the University of Michigan’s medical school and Yale’s law school.

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - When WECT first introduced its viewers to Victor Agbafe in 2015, he was already an academic anomaly. The Cape Fear Academy senior was accepted to all eight Ivy League schools. Fast forward eight years and Agbafe continues to prove he’s an intellectual wizard.

Agbafe graduated from Harvard in 2019. He’s now enrolled at the University of Michigan’s medical school and Yale’s law school—at the same time!

“Merging the language of medicine and law is key to sort of the broader impact I want to make,” Agbafe said.

The Wilmington native is back home for a few weeks studying for his USMLE-Step 2-CK board exams, which focus on how well students can diagnose illnesses and complete other tasks. Over the summer, he’ll head to Yale in New Haven, Connecticut to begin law school. He’ll return to the University of Michigan in the summer of 2026 to finish his last year in medical school.

Agbafe says he’s really looking forward to spending the next three years at Yale.

“I chose Yale over acceptances from Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown, Duke and other law schools,” he said.

Juggling medical school and law school has not been easy. He says it has been a tough few years but credits his success to his passion for the subjects and mentors who have helped him along the way. Agbafe isn’t the first to study medicine in the family; his mother is a doctor, and his brother recently took his MCAT exam. He believes his younger sister will also go to medical school.

Agbafe says he fully intends to use both degrees.

“I want to blend a mix of surgery, sort of in the daily flow, I’m really interested in like cancer care, and you know, how you can like resect tumors, but then also the reconstruction aspect of things,” he said. “I want to also be involved in health care policy, you know, and making sure that people have affordable health care and access to care and making sure that prescription drugs are affordable.”

Copyright 2023 WECT. All rights reserved.

Town commissioners are meeting on Tuesday, March 14, to go over a new ordinance that defines what a mural is.

BURGAW, N.C. (WECT) - Southeastern North Carolina is full of history, and some towns are also supporting efforts to bring new beauty and art to historic buildings.

The Town of Burgaw has seen murals within the downtown area in the past, but mainly from movie sets.

Town commissioners met on Tuesday, March 14, to go over a new ordinance that defines what a mural is. The board left the public hearing “open to continue more conversation, consideration and further public input to revise the proposed amendment.” Despite getting the green light from the planning committee already, tonight’s decision doesn’t come without some past controversy, and the council decided to continue the public hearing to a later date.

The town once had a mural in place in 2017 called “Pender Panorama,” but it was taken down last year for a building remodel. Not everyone was happy with that decision, especially after finding out that it might not be able to be put back up.

Pender Panorama existed on planks of wood, not the building’s wall, which is why the town wants to define what a mural is while putting some guidelines in place.

The town looked into 11 communities that have murals and compared ordinances to see what they allow and how Burgaw can still protect its historic character while allowing mural installations.

“There’s currently not any standards for murals and we the town had one mural that was placed on a building here, which was on the building that we’re renovating across the parking lot. That mural has had to be taken down for renovations. So, we are looking for other opportunities for businesses and partners to join in and to offer murals, but we want to have standards to make sure that they’re properly kept up and properly maintained.” said James Gantt, Burgaw town manager.

Gantt then went on to explain what their definition of a mural is, based on research and findings from other areas.

“The definition of a mural that our planning department has developed was based off of a number of other definitions that were researched, there were 20 definitions that were researched. The vast majority of those definitions require it to be painted directly onto the wall and not something that is mounted to the wall after the fact.”

When it comes to what is allowed, business owners will have the liberty to exercise their first amendment rights on their walls. The town would make sure that the mural is maintained so that it doesn’t become faded or in disrepair. Additionally, it also needs to be placed on the side or the back of the building, not on the front.

“One of my goals on the council and I think the rest of the board would agree, that we want to promote as much cultural diversity as we possibly can. I think having a mural that is so different than what we would normally see on an everyday basis does that. We want to make sure that that we are promoting, creating and fostering a culture and environment that tells everyone that they’re welcome,” said Austin-Shane Gaskins, Pender Arts Council president.

Copyright 2023 WECT. All rights reserved.

Food and Travel Writer, Heidi Billotto shares some great tips for your trip

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Before the spring and summer crowds hit the coast, take a three day getaway to Wilmington NC!

Our good friend, Food and Travel Writer, Heidi Billotto recently took a trip to Wilmington and said her home base was the Veranda's - a historic 8 room Bed & Breakfast. You can find more and book at verandasbedandbreakfast.com.

Two of Wilmington's long time chefs have also been nominated for 2023 James Beard award semi finalists; Dean Neff at Seabird and Keith Rhodes at Catch.

The city is spotted with lots of chef driven, locally owned restaurants as well. Heidi tells us, she enjoyed eating her way through the city with meals at stops like Indochine manna, Origins, tru blue butcher and a cute little pretzel place called Croftons. Here are some of Heidi's other recommendations:

End of Days Distillery - daily distillery tours, tastings cocktail bar, food truck events - plus you can shop on Sundays. www.eoddistillery.com

Sea Love Sea Salt - 100% solar evaporated sea salt. Made by hand in Wilmington NC. it comes in a variety of grinds and flavors to help us all Keep it Salty! www.sealoveseasalt.com

Shellem Seafood - fisherwoman Anna Shellem only harvests wild oysters, clams and other area shellfish. www.shellemseafood.com/

Don't miss the Carnivorous Plant Garden. Fun Fact...The Venus Flytrap only grows naturally within a 75 mile radius of Wilmington.

Airlie Garden - always worth taking time to explore local botanical gardens. This is home to a 400 year old oak tree and lots of wildlife. On a pretty day expect turtles taking sun bathes and in season hundreds of camellias in bloom.

Historic sites to visit include the USS North Carolina Battleship - open for guided and self guided tours. if you don't want to go on the battleship, you can take it all in with a stroll on the walkway around the ship.www.battleshipnc.com

All the specifics in Heidi's Three Day Getaway to Wilmington are in her blog post at HeidiBillottoFood.com.

Charlotte Today is a local lifestyle and entertainment show where you'll learn everything about the Queen City with hosts Mia Atkins and Eugene Robinson on WCNC Charlotte live weekdays at 11 a.m.

From what’s trending to local restaurants, events and entertainment, you’ll find it all on this show.

Charlotte Today also features sponsored content by local and national businesses. Are you a business interested in advertising with us? Go to WCNC.com/advertise or call now (214) 977-6001

If you have a question for the Charlotte Today team, feel free to email them at charlottetoday@wcnc.com

Make sure to follow Charlotte Today on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Get to know hosts Mia and Eugene by reading their bio pages and following them on social media.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Emmes, a global, full-service Clinical Research Organization (CRO) dedicated to supporting the advancement of public health and biopharmaceutical innovation, today announced the opening of a new office in Wilmington, North Carolina.

According to Emmes Chief Executive Officer Dr. Christine Dingivan, "Wilmington is a center for clinical research innovation, and creating this new office will encourage even more collaboration and idea-sharing among our employees in the area. We are thrilled to expand our presence in a community viewed as an incubator for the CRO industry."

Rhonda Henry, president of Emmes BioPharma and long-time Wilmington resident, added, "My roots are deep here, and that makes me even more excited about this expansion. The new base in Wilmington will allow us to draw from the deep clinical research talent pool in the area, which includes seasoned professionals as well as new graduates from UNC Wilmington's undergraduate and graduate clinical research programs."

She continued, "With our focus on collaboration, flexibility and innovation, Emmes is a different kind of CRO. Our continued growth offers opportunities for others to join us and see their careers flourish."

Emmes is hosting a ribbon-cutting event on February 22 to officially launch the collaboration hub. Company executives and Wilmington area employees will host a number of local government officials and civic leaders at the event, including members of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce.

Natalie English, president and chief executive officer of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, said, "We welcome the Emmes team to Wilmington and look forward to supporting their continued growth. Emmes will be a wonderful addition to the strong bioscience and pharmaceutical presence in our region. Its entrepreneurial, innovative culture is a perfect fit."

According to Wendy Buckland, chief operating officer and the newest member of the Emmes executive team, "We've extended our view of innovation to the workspace itself," she added, "calling it a collaboration hub instead of a typical office. It is modern, open and informal – a collegial gathering place versus a traditional office where employees are required to come in daily."

Emmes now has about a dozen employees in the greater Wilmington area and expects the number to grow as recruiting efforts continue.

The company's acquisition of five companies since December 2020 has expanded its reach from the U.S., Canada and India to countries throughout Europe and the United Kingdom. With the Wilmington hub, Emmes now has 19 offices in strategic locations throughout the world.

Dr. Dingivan noted, "Our employees began working remotely at the onset of the pandemic, and we continue to offer a flexible approach. Employees have the option to work from home, office or a combination. Although we have opportunities for in-person meetings and events, we don't mandate that employees come to the office a certain number of days a week.

"We celebrated our 45^th anniversary last year," she continued, "and we believe our emphasis on collaboration – among employees and with our clients – will ensure many more years of progress."

About Emmes

Founded more than 45 years ago, Emmes is a global, full-service Clinical Research Organization dedicated to excellence in supporting the advancement of public health and biopharmaceutical innovation. The company's clients include numerous agencies and institutes of the U.S. federal government and a wide range of biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies throughout the world. To learn more about how our research is making a positive impact on human health, go to the Emmes website at www.emmes.com.

SOURCE Emmes