Families living with autism

The purple bruise clearly came from a nasty knock. But Athena O’Connor can only guess how her 5-year-old son hit his back.

Asking is not an option. Daniel is the most reticent of three brothers with autism, staying in his own world even at times when his body would seem to demand he reach out. Last year, his eardrum burst after an infection his parents knew nothing about.

“I don’t think you can ever understand this if you haven’t been through it,” Mrs. O’Connor said.

Raising three kids with autism may make the O’Connors an extraordinary case, but more people in the region are in similar circumstances. From 1994 to 2004, the number of autistic children in New Hanover County Schools jumped 12-fold from 18 to 209, outpacing even the much-publicized growth at the national level, put at 500 percent for the past decade by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. (continue)

Redesigning Iraq's currency a massive job for UNCW's Simpson

The small, windowless office on the second story of UNCW's Cameron Hall says "newbie professor" more than it does "global financial warrior."

But then Thomas Simpson is nothing if not unassuming.The soft-spoken, second-year instructor brings to the University of North Carolina Wilmington a career that overshadows textbooks: three decades helping shape the nation's monetary policy as a senior staff member at the Federal Reserve, the organization whose every word is watched by world markets.

But it's the 64-year-old's international experience that should make him interesting even to people who yawn at the mere mention of economics.For the past four years, Simpson has been working to revive and sustain the Central Bank of Iraq and an economy shattered by neglect before the war and chaos after it. (continue)

Sam Scott

My name is Sam Scott. I'm a reporter working in Wilmington, N.C. for the Star-News, a 50,000-edition daily owned by the New York Times Co.

I've covered just about every beat at the paper since joining in 2002 and recently took over the main metro beat. My reputation is for strong, concise writing backed up with thorough reporting.

I've won numerous in-house awards for writing. In early 2007, I took first place in the annual N.C. Press Association's awards for news-feature writing for an article on Bibles in the schools.