Since a visit to the North Carolina Zoo isn’t currently possible, the Zoo is bringing its programs to you!

In an effort to help meet the educational and learning needs of children and parents during this challenging time, the Zoo is offering an all-new Virtual Visit program. This program features a wide range of different online education events, art projects, at-home activities, and stories from the Zoo and the wild that will allow children, teachers, parents and others to experience the Zoo and its animals in a completely new way.

“A trip to the North Carolina Zoo is always more than just seeing the animals — it’s a chance to learn in a fun environment,” said the Zoo’s Curator of Education Beth Folta. “We’ve now adapted many of our learning experiences to an online format easily accessible to everyone from home.”

The Virtual Visit web page  — nczoo.org/virtual-visit — is the hub for all these experiences. It will be updated daily with new animal videos, wildlife-themed activities and other ideas for at-home learning and play, even as the Zoo’s staff continue to be busy caring for more than 1,800 animals and more than 2,000 acres of land.

Highlights of the Zoo’s Virtual Visit program include: 

• Zoo EDventure Online Series:  every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., join us Live on Facebook to get an up-close look at our amazing animals. This is a chance to learn and interact directly with Zoo staff about the theme of the day. All our Zoo EDventures can also be viewed through the Virtual Visit webpage and YouTube.
• Zoo Classroom is the Zoo’s free distance learning series appropriate for K-12 audiences streamed live every Thursday from 1 to 2 p.m. Each program features a different and fun topic on wildlife and nature. Join us live to ask our educators questions in real time or enjoy our whole series of classes on the website on your own time. Required pre-registration is easy through the Zoo’s Virtual Visit Zoo Classroom page
• Living with Nature is the Zoo’s distance learning event series currently available to everyone. All of the 2019-2020 events are now available online and have a variety of activities to do before, after, and during the viewing of the recorded program. These are accessible through the Zoo’s website at any time. 
• Untamed Science: Every Tuesday and Thursday watch an episode of the Zoo’s science education show. Learn about how use science to care for the Zoo’s animals and help protect endangered species in the wild.
• Ask an Expert: An all new offering only on Instagram. Every Tuesday meet a new Zoo expert. On Wednesday ask them your zoo and wildlife questions. Then on Thursday hear the answers live. Experts from across the Zoo will be featured, including veterinarians, conservation scientists, animal care staff and more.
• All-new Zoo Blogs: Get in-depth stories and firsthand accounts of what it takes to run a modern zoo. New stories will be coming out every week on how we care for our animals, insights into zoo operations, and what the North Carolina Zoo is doing to save species from extinction.
• Adventures in EdZOOcation Facebook Group:  Join the Zoo’s EdZOOcation Facebook group and get extra weekly content available only to group members. Every week we will be posting new activities, lessons, videos and more on a variety of topics. Adventures in EdZOOcation programs will include:
  • Zoo Science: Every Tuesday learn a new nature-based science experiment that you can do at home
  • Nature Arts and Crafts: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday get instructions for how to make a different animal-related craft or art project.
  • Wild about Nature: Learn about easy outdoor activities you can do locally & in your own backyard.
  • Just go to the Zoo’s Facebook page and click on “Adventure in EdZOOcation Groups” to join.

For a full list of offerings, visit the Zoo’s Virtual Visit and follow the Zoo on all social media channels Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

A growing disturbance in the Bermuda Triangle will likely become the first named storm of 2020 by the end of this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

Since first reporting on the storm this past Tuesday, the system has developed a much tighter rotation patter and a more westerly trajectory, with almost half of the forecast models showing a direct impact with the Carolinas.

The NHC has now upgraded the probability of the system becoming a subtropical or tropical storm to 80% (HIGH) within the next 48 hours. If it does develop, they NWS will give the new storm the name ‘Arthur’.

This morning, the National Weather Service issued the following alert:

810 AM EDT Sat May 16 2020

An area of low pressure located just offshore of the southeast 
coast of Florida continues to produce shower activity and gusty 
winds from portions of southeast and east-central Florida 
eastward across the northwestern Bahamas and the adjacent Atlantic 
waters.  Satellite images and surface observations indicate that the 
low is gradually becoming better defined, but the associated showers 
and thunderstorms remain disorganized.  Continued gradual 
development is expected, and the system is likely to become a  
tropical or subtropical depression or storm later today or tonight 
while it moves north-northeastward over the Atlantic waters east of 
Florida.  Later in the weekend and early next week, the system is 
expected to move generally northeastward over the western Atlantic 
near or east of the Carolinas.

The official Atlantic Coast hurricane season for 2020 runs from June 1st through November 30th, so if Arthur does develop into a full blown storm, it would be nearly a month early.

NWS officials are reminding all residents in Atlantic Coast states to start preparing for the upcoming hurricane season.

In case of a power outage, make sure to have the following emergency items stocked in your home;

• Car charger for cell phones and other devices
• Clean drinking water (recommended 1 gallon per person per day, minimum three days)
• Flashlights 
• Batteries: Extra batteries for all of your devices
• Weather radio/clock
• Non-perishable food
• First aid kit

We will continue to update this article as this storm develops. 

A new report by Piedmont Rising reveals that North Carolina’s small and minority-owned businesses may not have received loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) at the same rate as large businesses.

The report highlights that while PPP funding was intended to keep small businesses afloat amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the program has failed to assist the vast majority of small businesses, including in North Carolina, with a large share of minority-owned businesses left behind. Meanwhile, communities of color are already feeling an overwhelmingly disproportionate impact of the coronavirus pandemic due to inequities in health care access.

Piedmont Rising Executive Director Casey Wilkinson released the following statement in response to these findings:

“For North Carolina’s small businesses, every day without access to this PPP funding means more lost jobs on Main Street. North Carolina is facing a health and economic crisis that is not of their making. These small businesses did their due diligence and were ready to respond, but lawmakers like Senator Thom Tillis and Richard Burr failed them.

“Many of these small business owners and their employees are losing their health insurance and access to care during a global pandemic. As we know, the coronavirus pandemic is impacting communities of color at a disproportionate rate. Minority-owned small businesses and the families that rely on them are no exception to this trend within the outcomes of the pandemic, which makes it that much more vital to ensure they get the help they need.

“We urge Senators Tillis and Burr to support new legislation in Congress that would help to solve this problem so  that every small business owner and their employees gets equal access to critical federal assistance.”

Key Findings:

• There are 890,000 small businesses in North Carolina with fewer than 500 employees. Meanwhile, North Carolina has received just 66,677 loans from the Paycheck Protection Program.
• During the first round of PPP funding, 80 percent of small businesses that applied for relief money received none, with North Carolina receiving only 2.5 percent of the nearly $189 billion lent through the Paycheck Protection Program.
• And, while businesses of color account for 30 percent of all U.S. businesses, roughly 95% of Black-owned businesses, 91% of Latino-owned businesses, 91% of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander-owned businesses, and 75% of Asian-owned businesses failed to secure loans from the Paycheck Protection Program.
• Due to existing inequities in health care in North Carolina, Black and Hispanic communities are experiencing a disproportionate number of coronavirus confirmed cases and, as a result, serious complications from the coronavirus pandemic.
• Banks that offered PPP loans, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, prioritized larger loan applications and charged higher fees in order to maximize loan-origination fees and their own profits.