🗞️ Good news: Abington's water is safe again

🗞️ Shop class is alive and well, and 2,000 teachers proved it

🗞️ Know the difference: heat exhaustion or heat stroke

🗞️ Drugs disguised as candy, sold near schools

🌞 Mostly sunny, storms possible | High: 90°F | Low: 70°F

The heat backs off a little. Mostly sunny with a high near 90 and scattered afternoon and evening thunderstorms, some possibly strong. Chance of rain around 40 to 50 percent, so keep an eye on the sky if you are out.

If you live in the Abington subdivision here in Kernersville, you can exhale. Carolina Water Service confirmed this week that the water is safe again, closing out a rough stretch that had families worried about their tap.

Here is the short version of what happened. Earlier this month, routine sampling turned up nitrite at 2.1 milligrams per liter, more than double the state limit of 1.0, which prompted a warning that infants under six months should not drink the water or have it used to mix formula. Then a water main break led to a separate boil water advisory. For a few days Abington's roughly 600 customers were juggling both.

Both are now resolved. The company says extensive retesting has confirmed a non-detect result for nitrite, meaning the levels that triggered the infant warning are no longer showing up. The wells that tested high had been pulled from service while the retesting was done. The boil water advisory tied to the main break has also been rescinded after bacteriological testing came back clean.

The takeaway for Abington residents: the tap is back to normal for everyone, infants included. As always, if you ever get a fresh notice from Carolina Water Service, follow it, but for now the all-clear is in.

Read the alerts

Anyone who thinks shop class went the way of the chalkboard has not been to downtown Winston-Salem this week. More than 2,000 educators from across North Carolina gathered at the Benton Convention Center July 13 through 17 for the state's Career and Technical Education Summer Conference, and the message from the floor was that hands-on learning is having a moment.

Career and Technical Education, or CTE, is the modern descendant of old shop and home-ec classes, and it now covers a lot more ground: welding, construction and automotive, but also health sciences, coding, agriculture, culinary arts and business. The conference is where the teachers who run those programs come to sharpen up, compare notes and pick up new curriculum for the fall.

The reason it matters locally is simple. These are the classes that hand a high schooler a certification or a first real skill before graduation, and they feed directly into the trades and technical jobs the Triad keeps saying it needs to fill. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools runs CTE programs across its high schools, so the teachers swapping ideas at the Benton this week are the same ones your kids will have in the fall.

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With one hot, humid week behind us and more heat still in the forecast, this is worth keeping in your back pocket. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are not the same thing, and telling them apart quickly can matter to someone you love.

Heat exhaustion is the body waving a warning flag. Watch for heavy sweating, skin that is cool, pale or clammy, a fast weak pulse, muscle cramps, tiredness or weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea or fainting. If you see it, move the person to a cool place, loosen their clothing, put cool wet cloths on the skin, and have them sip water slowly. Get medical help if they are throwing up, if the symptoms get worse, or if they last longer than an hour.

Heat stroke is the emergency, and the tell is that the body has stopped cooling itself. Look for skin that is hot and red and either dry or damp, a body temperature of 103 degrees or higher, a pounding pulse, a bad headache, dizziness, nausea, and most importantly confusion or passing out. If someone is confused or unconscious in the heat, call 911 right away, move them somewhere cooler, and cool them with wet cloths or a cool bath. Do not give a person with heat stroke anything to drink.

The short version to remember: cool, clammy and sweating leans toward heat exhaustion, which you can treat at home; hot, red and confused leans toward heat stroke, which is a 911 call. When you are not sure in this kind of heat, make the call.

See the CDC's heat guide

State and local investigators say some Winston-Salem stores were selling drugs to kids, and dressing them up to look like candy.

On July 7, North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement, the Winston-Salem Police Department, Triad ABC, the Forsyth County Drug Task Force and the N.C. Secretary of State's office served search warrants at five businesses. Officials said the investigation started after complaints that the stores were selling controlled substances, including marijuana and vaping products, along with alcohol, to middle and high school students. Each of the five businesses, they noted, sits within walking distance of schools, parks, churches or daycares.

The detail that should get every parent's attention is the packaging. Investigators said some of the products were made to resemble popular candy, including Gummy Bears, Nerds and Skittles, and were displayed right next to the real thing, making them hard to tell apart at a glance.

Among those charged is a Kernersville resident, Juedy Rafael Lopez Reyes, 25, who Winston-Salem police charged with maintaining a dwelling for a controlled substance, possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana, two counts of trafficking marijuana, misdemeanor possession of marijuana paraphernalia, misdemeanor defrauding a drug or alcohol test, and selling alcoholic beverages without an ABC permit. The charges are allegations, and the case has not been decided in court.

The practical reminder for families: if candy shows up that your kids cannot fully explain, look twice, especially the gummies.

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