North Carolina
Coretta Scott King Award given to N.C. illustrator for work on children's book
RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina artist is getting some national recognition.
Dare Coulter is the 2024 Illustrator Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for her work in the book “An American Story” by Kwame Alexander.
This award acknowledges books by Black authors and illustrators who reflect on the Black experience.
“People’s lives are changing on these live streams, and it just so happens that this year I was like one of those lives that got changed,” Coulter said.
Coulter is an artist, muralist, illustrator and sculptor. She said winning this award goes to show that her work is paying off.
“I just think it’s really special that people care about my work like this, that people care about the book that we created, that they look at Kwame’s words and they look at my pictures together and they say this is important,” Coulter said.
In “An American Story,” the book addresses the realities of slavery in a way that is accessible to kids.
“This is an important manuscript. It’s wild that it was Kwame Alexander’s as well because it’s just like that doesn’t happen, Beyonce doesn’t just call you and say, ‘hey, like first album,’ but you know, that’s the metaphor I make for people because if you know of him and of his work you know that it is valid,” Coulter said.
Coulter said through her work it’s important to uplift Black people, to tell the past tragedies but also, the resilience.
“The set of knowledge that you receive when people talk about American history starting with slavery, in a lot of curriculums the beginning of Black history is Black people as enslaved and not Black people in Africa, Black people in kingdoms where you have excellence in technology and science,” Coulter said.
Although Coulter won the 2024 Illustrator Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, she has many more projects ahead that she’s working on.
Coulter attended N.C. State University, as well as Meredith College. She said her sculptures are her favorite kind of art to create, and she hopes to make some large ones in the future.
RALEIGH, NC — For years, WRAL Investigates tracked problems with North Carolina’s unemployment benefits system.
Now, two new follow-up audits show the same problems still persist inside the Division of Employment Security (DES) when it comes to paying the correct amount of unemployment and paying those first-time benefits on time.
The first audit deals with improper payments. The category includes fraud, overpayments and underpayments.
From 2021-2025, the auditor found the improper payment rate for unemployment benefits in North Carolina was 22%, most of which were overpayments. That’s more than double the national standard of 10% error rate.
According to the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor (OSA), those payment errors cost taxpayers more than $90 million over the expected 10% error rate.
In fact, the improper payment rate got worse compared to an initial audit’s findings back in 2022, when OSA found errors in 18% of payments.
The second follow-up audit out today dealt with timeliness of benefits, meaning when people finally got paid after filing and qualifying for unemployment.
In 2024- 2025, 28% of first-time unemployment checks were not cut within the 14-day federal standard. While not great, it’s an improvement compared to previous audit findings of 40% late checks in 2022 and 43% of late checks in 2024.
In fact, the auditor’s office noted on-time payments in below the national standard in just 3 of the past 20 years.
The Division of Unemployment Security agreed with the findings and recommendations to improve North Carolina’s unemployment system.
As visitors enjoy North Carolina’s outdoors this summer, members of the North Carolina State Parks and Recreation fire team are helping fight a wildfire in the eastern part of the state.
The agency said its Natural Resource Section’s Fire Management Team is assisting the N.C. Forest Service and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission with the Rose Bay Canal Wildfire.
Officials said the agencies work closely together during fire season to help contain wildfires and protect communities, natural resources and public lands.
According to North Carolina State Parks and Recreation, nearly 5,000 wildfires have started across the state since the beginning of 2026.
Fire danger is expected to remain high as summer continues.
State parks officials are reminding people to be fire-wise when heading outdoors.
People should follow local burn restrictions and never leave a fire unattended.
Officials said all fires should be completely extinguished before people leave the area.
Fires are only allowed in designated areas, such as grills and fire rings, at state parks.
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