Photos from a day of school board actions

A photo essay from Tuesday’s downtown protest over the Wake County School Board’s plans to end the socio-economic diversity policy and the board meeting later in the day where 16 people were arrested.

Hunger strike ends after threats, illness

Three women, all of whom freely admit that they came to this country illegally as children, ended a two-week hunger strike yesterday. The trio had hoped to pressure Sen. Kay Hagan into signing onto the DREAM Act, an immigration reform bill. Photo: Hunger strikers Rosario Lopez, Viridiana Martinez and Loida Silva’s father at the ceremony ending the two-week hunger strike. Silva fell ill and had to go to the hospital Sunday, but her father sang a song he had written for his daughter to mark the end of the strike.

The tobacco buyout brings more local food to Raleigh tables

Fresh fruits and vegetables are in season and Raleigh is awash in diverse, local offerings, but it wasn’t always this way. The recent locavore and slow food movements have stimulated demand, but our local climate, terrain and the 2004 tobacco buyout allowed many former Wake County tobacco farmers to transition to other crops.

Pastor talks about school board arrest

Nancy Petty is the senior pastor at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. She was arrested earlier this week for disrupting a Wake County School Board meeting. Petty sat down with Raleigh Public Record to talk about why she decided to participate in civil disobedience. Photo courtesy Pullen Memorial Baptist Church.