Wilmington, NC News

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<b>BRUNSWICK COUNTY</b><br><b>NEW HANOVER COUNTY</b><br>* All New Hanover County parks will close at 11 a.m. Friday in anticipation of Hurricane Hanna. Facilities will reopen once the storm has passed and officials have determined the parks are safe. For information, call the county parks office: 798-7620.<br><b>PENDER COUNTY</b>

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<b>BRUNSWICK COUNTY</b><br>Brunswick County officials are meeting and holding conference calls today to determine how they will handle the approaching the storm.<br>Holden Beach has already asked residents to evacuate.<br><b>NEW HANOVER COUNTY</b>

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The father of a woman who was attacked in Wilmington last month is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of his daughter’s assailant.<br>On Aug. 16, RoxAnne, 20, was beaten by a man who jumped in her car at a gas station at the intersection of South College Road and Long Leaf Hills Drive.

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Brunswick County emergency officials issued a Tropical Storm Hanna advisory at 8:30 tonight, urging residents to begin preparations for the storm now.<br>”There is no need to delay your preparations any further as it appears that the storm will be here late Friday-early Saturday. This means you need to be prepared now,” the advisory says.

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A hurricane watch was issued at 5 a.m. Thursday for an area stretching from Surf<br>City southwestward to just north of Edisto Beach, S.C., with a forecasted landfall early Saturday near the North Carolina-South Carolina line.

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As Tropical Storm Hanna menaces the Southeast, federal funding cuts mean fewer buoys and other instrument platforms are in place to track the storm’s strength and local impacts.

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The Wilmington Planning Commission may have closed the door to the Gateway, a controversial proposal to build a high-rise near the foot of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.<br>On Wednesday, the commission voted to recommend rezoning the 10-acre riverfront site from industrial to mixed use, a key step in pushing the project forward.

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Staff critic Ben Steelman picks the five films he’s most excited about this fall, including one that was filmed in Wilmington.

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