Tomorrow we will be turning our clocks forward yet again for the start of 2020’s Daylight Savings Time.

This annual tradition started in 1918 to help out farmers, but in today’s globally-connected world, the time change now costs businesses millions each year and has become little more than an annoyance to most citizens.

Last year, North Carolina came painfully close to passing a bill that would have removed the time change and made DST permanent all year.

House Bill 350, moved through the North Carolina House quickly last March, and it passed the full House in April. The full NC Senate then approved a first reading and referred it to the Senate Rules Committee on April 17. That is where it was stalled and has remained to this date.

There is currently talk of restarting the bill in the Senate, or writing a new bill entirely to make DST permanent in North Carolina.

Lawmakers from several neighboring states have also filed similar bills, including Tennessee, South Carolina, and Florida, and a separate time permanence measure was introduced last year to the US Congress by Senator Marco Rubio.

President Trump has even stated that he would support making DST permanent nationwide.

Now it’s only a matter of time.

North Carolina has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the movie industry, with a succession of box office hits being filmed within its borders. Dirty Dancing, The Last of the Mohicans, and The Hunger Games are just three of the several movies that used North Carolina locations to set the scene, while racing movies Days of Thunder and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby utilized the state’s NASCAR heritage to frame the action.

While Hollywood has frequently come to North Carolina to make movies, there are also North Carolinian actors that have gone to Hollywood to star in some of the biggest cinematic franchises of all time. Here is a celebration of three North Carolinians that have played their part in captivating cinemagoing audiences across the world.

Julianne Moore

Moore was born in Fort Bragg in 1960 and has been near the top of the Hollywood A-list for almost three decades. She rose to prominence thanks to her involvement in a string of 1990s hits, including Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and The Big Lebowski. Moore also stole the show with a brief appearance in The Fugitive, another one in the long list of movies that used North Carolina as a filming location.

While those roles may be among her most acclaimed, one of Moore’s most profitable outings came in 1997 when she joined a massive movie franchise via Jurassic Park: The Lost World. The star-studded cast for The Lost World, with Jeff Goldblum and Pete Postlethwaite featuring alongside Moore, helped to solidify Jurassic Park’s popularity, something that still endures today.

You can see that in the decision by Universal Pictures to create a new Jurassic World trilogy some two decades after Jurassic Park hit cinemas. You can further see it in the world of online casino, where the Jurassic Park slot pays homage to Spielberg’s movie by letting dinosaurs loose on the reels, and in Jurassic World Live, an arena tour that uses animatronics and stunts to tell new tales as part of Jurassic Park canon. Without the performances of the likes of Moore, perhaps the Jurassic Park series would have stagnated in the 1990s, instead of becoming the multimedia behemoth that it is today.

Zach Galifianakis

Galifianakis was born in Wilkesboro in 1969 and went on to major in communications at the North Carolina State University. He has never forgotten his North Carolinian heritage, using the state as the setting for some of 2019’s Netflix release Between Two Ferns: The Movie. The talk show that inspired the movie has won Emmy Awards and is one of Galifianakis’ most prominent successes, given the string of celebrity names that he has coaxed to appear on the show.

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However, Galifianakis is most recognizable across the world for his unforgettable part in The Hangover trilogy. The first installment in the trilogy took the world by storm in 2009, with Galifianakis’ immature but loveable character stealing the show. That is no mean feat in a film that starred much more established names in the shape of Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms.

The other breakout star in The Hangover was Ken Jeong, another actor of international renown who grew up in North Carolina (Greensboro). The Hangover grossed almost $470 million worldwide from a budget of $35 million, which no doubt played a part in securing the production of the two sequels. While Part II and Part III lacked the inspiration of their predecessor, the talent of Galifianakis helped to provide us with a rare breed in the 21st century: a comedy movie franchise.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Winstead was born in Rocky Mount in 1984 and made her name with impressive performances in a string of horror movies in the early 2000s, including Death Proof, Monster Island, and Final Destination 3. However, in 2007 Winstead was given the chance to demonstrate her acting chops in front of a more mainstream movie theater audience.

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There’s only one actor whose name is synonymous with the Die Hard film franchise: Bruce Willis. Willis is the one constant throughout the series that spans decades, with a revolving cast of famous actors joining him at various points along the way. It was Winstead’s turn in 2007’s Live Free or Die Hard, where she played John McClane’s daughter Lucy. Winstead’s performance was so winning that she was asked to reprise her role in 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard.

Insight Comics sought to extend the story of McClane, releasing the graphic comic A Million Ways to Die Hard in 2018 to give the series’ hero an intriguing foe. The Die Hard movie series has also spawned a multitude of video games, including A Good Day to Die Hard, which was released on mobile devices to accompany the film’s release. This shows the enduring appeal of the Die Hard series, but Winstead’s role as the Huntress in DC’s Birds of Prey could become her most memorable franchise appearance.

Moore, Galifianakis, and Winstead are just three of the North Carolinians bringing their talents to the big screen. While film studios may frequently look to the Old North State because of its magnificent scenery, it is fitting that North Carolina natives have gone in the other direction to feature in some of the biggest movie franchises of recent decades.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human services has just announced that the second case of novel coronavirus COVID-19 in North Carolina has been confirmed.

The second person to test positive is a man living in Chatham County and is thought to have contracted the virus while on a recent trip to an area of Italy currently experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak.

The Chatham County man is now in self quarantine at home and is in stable condition, according to Chatham County Public Health Department officials.

NC health department officials are now identifying close contacts of the infected patient to attempt to contain the community spread.

According to the CDC, patients with confirmed CoVID-19 infection have reportedly had mild to severe respiratory illness with symptoms of:

• fever
• cough
• shortness of breath

CDC believes at this time that symptoms of CoVID-19 may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 after exposure. This is based on what has been seen previously as the incubation period of MERS viruses.

Some of the best ways to protect against the coronavirus include;

• Wash your hands often with antiviral soap, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are are coughing or sneezing.
• Using NAC (N-acetyl L-cysteine)
• Using probiotics (especially those containing Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium)
• Immunity boosting vitamins, including; zinc, vitamin C, and vitamin D3

If you have any questions about CoVID-19 you can call 866-462-3821 or submit questions online at ncpoisoncontrol.org.

The North Carolina Zoo is excited to announce the name of the female southern white rhino calf born at the Zoo earlier this year. She was born to mother Kit and father Stormy.

“Mguu” was the name chosen by Zach Neal, a Zoo employee, from a list of names created by the rhino keepers. The Zoo invited employees to enter a free drawing to choose the name and Zach was the lucky winner. Zach and his family also won a behind the scenes tour with Mguu and the rest of the rhino herd.

Mguu, pronounced (mm-goo), means “feet” in Swahili. This is a fitting name for the calf since she has really big feet, according to her keepers! She is Kit’s second baby, her first being Bonnie, born in 2018.

The Zoo’s herd now boasts a total of nine rhinos, with typically seven roaming the 40-acre Watani Grasslands habitat. Mguu and Kit will be joining the herd on the Watani Grasslands as the temperatures warm up this spring. Mguu marks the third Southern white rhino born at the Zoo in under two years.

At the beginning of the 20th century, southern white rhinos were hunted to near extinction for their horns, which some erroneously believe provide medicinal benefits. Rhino horn is constructed from keratin, which is the same material that makes up human fingernails and hair.  There are currently around 20,000 southern white rhinos left in the wild, mostly in the southern Africa region.

Today, populations in the wild still face significant threats from poaching and habitat loss. In addition to their work with the rhinos at the North Carolina Zoo, staff work on projects in several countries in Southern Africa to protect wild rhinos from poaching and save the species from extinction.

After a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation, SBHLP Inc. is required to pay $224,249 in wages to 194 employees for violating requirements of the H-2A visa program. The department also assessed the employer a $239,430 civil penalty and debarred the labor contractor for 3 years.

WHD investigators determined SBHLP Inc. and owner Salvador Barajas failed to provide workers at least three meals per day, as per the work order. The employer also failed to reimburse the H-2A workers for their 2018 outbound travel expenses and did not pay for their 2019 inbound travel expenses after they completed 50 percent of their contract, as the law requires.

Investigators also found that the employer collected money from the workers to cover charter bus inbound transportation and required each worker to pay their own visa and border fees while traveling from Mexico to the U.S., all violations under the federal visa program.

“Agricultural labor contractors must ensure they comply with all the requirements of the H-2A visa program,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Richard Blaylock, in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Employers that violate the H-2A visa program’s provisions create unfair advantages over other H-2A employers. The Wage and Hour Division remains committed to protecting workers and maintaining a level playing field for other employers.”

SBHLP Inc. provided H-2A employees to work on the following North Carolina farms:

–      OJ Smith Farms Farm in Whitakers;

–      Kent Smith in Rocky Mount;

–      Greenleaf Nursery in Tarboro;

–      Bailey Brothers in Bailey;

–      Bass Farm in Nashville.

The department offers numerous resources to ensure employers have the tools they need to understand their responsibilities to comply with federal law and employees are aware of their rights under the law, such as online videos, confidential calls, or in-person trainings.

For more information about the H-2A visa program and other laws enforced by the division, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd, including a search tool for workers who may be owed back wages collected by WHD.