North State Journal — Vol. 3., Issue 8

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 8

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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2018

the good life The N.C. Azalea Festival welcomes spring

PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTH CAROLINA AZALEA FESTIVAL.

2018 Azalea Festival Queen Beth Troutman is escorted before a presentation of Citadel cadets, while first lady Kristin Cooper follows, during the Airlie Luncheon Garden Party on April 13.

the Wednesday

NEWS BRIEFING

U.S. IRS hit with computer glitch as midnight tax deadline looms Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s computers suffered a technical problem that prevented some taxpayers from filing or paying their 2017 returns ahead of a midnight deadline. The IRS said in a statement that several of its systems were hit with the computer glitch, including one that handles returns filed electronically and another that accepts online tax payments using a bank account. It was not clear how many taxpayers might have been affected, but the agency said it received 5 million tax returns on the final day of filing season last year.

One dead after engine failure forces Southwest emergency landing Philadelphia A Dallas-bound Southwest Airlines flight with 149 people on board suffered engine failure on Tuesday, forcing an emergency landing at Philadelphia’s airport and killing a passenger, officials said. After an engine on the plane’s left side blew, it threw off shrapnel, shattering a window and causing cabin depressurization that nearly pulled out a female passenger.

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt told a news briefing that one passenger had been killed, but declined to elaborate.

U.S. recalls more than 200 million eggs over salmonella fears Hyde County, N.C. Nearly 207 million from a farm in North Carolina are being recalled from nine U.S. states after 22 people fell ill, the federal Food and Drug Administration has said. It is the largest recall of eggs in the United States since 2010, the Food Safety News website reported. The eggs were recalled by producer Rose Acre Farms of Seymour, Ind., “through an abundance of caution,” the FDA’s statement said. The eggs were distributed from a farm in Hyde County which reportedly produces 2.3 million eggs per day from 3 million laying hens.

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JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION

SPOTLIGHT: COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Lawmakers study how to add seats to technical training programs North Carolina community colleges depend on funding from the state legislature for the majority of their revenue. For several programs crucial to employers — in fields such as health care, construction, manufacturing and public safety — training programs are funded at a lower rate than traditional curriculum programs, simply because they award a certificate or credential, instead of a diploma.

In a three-part series, North State Journal will look at the impact of this funding imbalance, and what is currently being done to solve it.

Part 1, April 4: What the funding imbalance means to community colleges in the state, and the results of a one-year pilot program that is increasing the funding for selected workforce training programs.

Part 2, April 11: How employers around the state, who are desperately seeking qualified candidates for many specialized jobs, would benefit from a change in the funding model.

Part 3, April 18: Will the state legislature provide parity in funding for noncredit and curriculum courses?

Community colleges want more funding for shortterm certificate programs, arguing that the money will put more people on the job

By Donna King North State Journal RALEIGH — As lawmakers from across the state prepare to return for May’s short legislative session, the question on many minds is how to bring jobs and income to their districts. Lately though, employers have been telling them that the pipeline for skilled, certified technical workers is too narrow and good-paying jobs are going unfilled across the state.

“We don’t have a highly skilled workforce — people that build,

make things, that repair things — and now we are scurrying,” said Rep. Craig Horn (R-Union), chair of the House Education Committee. “But our system has not yet caught up to the scurry. … We seem to have a plethora of people who can wear suits and sit behind a desk, and a dearth of people who can actually do those things.”

The state’s 57-campus North Carolina Community College System has long been known as the way to fill the void. N.C. is one of 22 states that partly fund community college classes, keeping costs down for students. Currently noncredit classes — many of which are short-term certificate job training classes like public safety, manufacturing, MRI techs and others — are See COLLEGES, page A2

NC pastor goes on trial in Turkey, faces 35 years in prison Pastor Andrew Brunson of Montreat was sent back to prison in Turkey on Monday and his trial continued until May 7. He was arrested in 2016 accused of helping a coup, a charge he denies.

Sen Thom Tillis is in Turkey to attend the trial.

By Donna King North State Journal ALIAGA, Turkey — A North Carolina pastor denied allegations of links to a group accused of orchestrating a failed military coup in Turkey as he went on trial on Monday in a case that has compounded strains in U.S.-Turkish relations.

Andrew Brunson, a Christian pastor from Christ Community Church in Montreat, N.C., who has lived in Turkey for more than two

decades, was indicted on charges of helping the group that the Turkish government holds responsible for the failed 2016 coup against President Tayyip Erdogan. He faces up to 35 years in prison.

“I’ve never done something against Turkey. I love Turkey. I’ve been praying for Turkey for 25 years. I want truth to come out,” Brunson told the court in the western Turkish town of Aliaga, north of the Aegean city of Izmir.

Brunson, 48, has been the pastor of Izmir Resurrection Church, serving a small Protestant congregation in Turkey’s third largest city. He was arrested on Oct. 7, 2016, but not formally charged until nearly a year after his incarceration. Last year, a 62-page indictment was filed against Brunson, and it reportedly reads more like a diatribe against Christianity — including an attack on Israel. The See TRIAL, page A2

Walter Jones takes complaint over Dacey ad to district attorney

By Donna King North State Journal RALEIGH — With the Republican primary just three weeks away Congressman Walter Jones (R03) is taking legal action against his primary opponent, Scott Dacey, for an ad that his campaign says is “misleading” at a minimum. The ad, and the controversy, has made national headlines.

Dacey was served with a ceaseand-desist order on Wednesday last week from Jones’ lawyers saying that the ad wrongly accused Jones of taking $80,000 from liberal billionaire benefactor George Soros. The Dacey ad says that “Trump’s enemies paid for” Jones’ campaign ads, pointing to money coming from the payment processing company, Democratic Engine.

The company processes online political donations made with a credit card, and many of their clients are democrat campaigns and liberal advocacy groups, including some connected to Soros, but it is not owned by Soros, according to its CEO, Jonathan Zucker.

The cease-and-desist gave the Dacey campaign three days to take down the ad, or Jones’ would take it a step further. The campaign has not taken it down, so Jones filed a complaint with District Attorney Scott Thomas in New Bern.

“Scott Dacey is running a Washington style smear campaign paid for with Washington money. It might be OK to lie to voters in his world but not in Eastern North Carolina. I won’t stand for it” ConSee JONES, page A8

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

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4.18.18 #124

U.S. Supreme Court takes on e-commerce fight over state and local taxes

By Donna King North State Journal

“The whole state.

The whole story.”

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North State Journal (USPS 20451) (ISSN 2471-1365) Neal Robbins Publisher Donna King Editor Cory Lavalette Managing/Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — A high-stakes showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday could determine whether out-of-state online retailers should collect sales taxes.

In a fight between South Dakota and e-commerce businesses, the state is asking the nine justices to overturn a 1992 Supreme Court precedent that states cannot require retailers to collect state sales taxes on purchases unless the businesses have a “physical presence” in the state. According to Andy Ellen of the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association, that it’s time to close the tax loophole that gives a financial advantage to online-only retailers over brick-and-mortar stores.

“This is the most important case affecting the retail industry in a quarter of a century,” said Ellen. “When that rule was made, internet retail was relatively new. … Hopefully the SCOTUS will modernize the rule, thereby leveling the playfield.”

North Carolina and states across the nation are watching the case closely as South Dakota appeals a lower court decision that favored Wayfair, Overstock. com and Newegg. A ruling favoring South Dakota could help small brick-and-mortar retailers compete with online rivals while funneling up to $18 billion into the coffers of the affected states, according to a 2017 federal report.

“The sales tax that brick-andmortar retailers pay go to roads,

JONATHAN ERNST | REUTERS | FILE

A view of the Supreme Court building is seen in Washington, D.C.

“This is the most important case affecting the retail industry in a quarter of a century.”

— Andy Ellen, president of the N.C. Retail Merchants Association infrastructure, they employ people in the community — with online retailers, their trucks use the roads, their boxes go in the landfill that we all pay for,” said Ellen.

“We aren’t afraid to compete, but they shouldn’t have, in this state, 7.25 percent advantage over those

businesses doing good things in their communities.”

The justices will hear arguments in the case on Tuesday against a backdrop of Trump’s harsh criticism of Amazon.com, the dominant player in online retail, on the issue of taxes and other matters. Trump has assailed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, a newspaper that the Republican president also has disparaged.

Amazon, which is not involved in the Supreme Court case, collects sales taxes on direct purchases on its site but does not collect taxes for items sold on its platform by third-party venders, constituting around half of total sales.

South Dakota depends more than most states on sales taxes

because it is one of nine that do not have a state income tax. South Dakota projects its revenue losses because of online sales that do not collect state taxes at around $50 million annually, while its opponents in the case estimate it as less than half that figure.

The National Retail Federation, which supports South Dakota, has a membership list that includes Walmart and Target, as well as Amazon. They say that state and local governments stand to lose about $260 billion by 2025 if the rule doesn’t change.

“Things have changed a lot since 1992. The entire nature of interstate commerce has changed,” said Stephanie Martz, the federation’s general counsel.

E-commerce companies supporting Wayfair, Overstock and Newegg include two that provide online platforms for individuals to sell online: eBay and Etsy.

“Win or lose at the Supreme Court, we will continue to advocate for a legislative solution and a level playing field where all retailers collect and remit sales tax on the same basis,” Wayfair spokeswoman Jane Carpenter said in a statement.

Brian Bieron, eBay’s senior director of government relations, said in an interview the 1992 precedent “provides the many small businesses that use the internet with a very clear and simple and stable legal environment in which to grow their business.”

The case comes from a 2016 South Dakota law requires outof-state online retailers to collect sales tax if they clear $100,000 in sales or 200 separate transactions. State legislators knew the measure was unlawful under the 1992 precedent. The state sued a group of online retailers after the law was enacted to force them to collect the state sale taxes, with the aim of overturning the precedent.

Reuters News Service contributed to this report.

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TRIAL from page A1 prosecution cited allegations from “secret witnesses” as evidence.

“I do not accept the charges mentioned in the indictment. I was never involved in any illegal activities,” said Brunson, wearing a white shirt and black suit and making his defense in Turkish.

Brunson’s wife was in the courtroom, as were North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and the U.S. envoy for religious freedom, Sam Brownback. Tillis has visited Brunson in prison previously, reporting back that the pastor has lost 50 pounds while in prison and has limited human contact.

“There should be no mistake that Pastor Brunson is the victim of false accusations,” Tillis said.

“Pastor Brunson is being used as a political pawn by some elements of the Turkish government.

These elements seek to undercut the longstanding partnership between the United States and Turkey, in which our two nations have enjoyed close diplomatic, economic and military ties.”

Brunson’s trial is one of several legal cases roiling U.S.-Turkish relations. The two countries are also at odds over U.S. support for a Kurdish militia in northern Syr-

“Pastor Andrew is innocent.

He is no terrorist. He is a father, a husband, and a peaceful man of God. He is facing what could amount to the rest of his life in prison. We are working tirelessly to keep that from happening.”

— American Center for Law and Justice

Sen. Thom Tillis told reporters that a strong relationship with Turkey is “difficult as long as pastor Brunson is incarcerated,” before the first day of N.C. Pastor Andrew Brunson’s trial in Izmir, Turkey on April 16.

ia that Turkey considers a terrorist organization.

Washington, including Tillis, fellow N.C. Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Richard Hudson, has called for Brunson’s release while Erdogan suggested last year a swap for U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who currently lives in Pennsylvania and whose extradition Ankara has repeatedly sought to face charges over the coup attempt.

Gulen denies any association with the coup bid. Tens of thou-

sands of Turks have been arrested or lost their jobs over alleged connections with the coup bid.

Brunson’s daughter, Jacqueline Brunson, spoke to Congress and the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2017, urging U.N. action against Turkey for her father’s imprisonment.

“Having grown up in Turkey, it has been hard for me to understand the situation,” she said.

“My family loves and respects the Turkish people, and my father has been dedicated to serving them

COLLEGES from page A1 funded 34 percent less per student by the state than curriculum classes like economics and grammar.

The original intent of the model was to incentivize institutions toward promoting a general education, and two or four-year degrees.

But economic times have changed.

“We want a better life for our kids, that’s the nature of humanity,” said Horn. “But we get this picture in our mind that better life means college degree, suit and tie, office and driving a fancy car and living in a fancy house. ... Then we turn around and realize, ‘I need a plumber.’”

When the legislature convenes, they will hear from the State Board of Community Colleges, the North Carolina Association of Community College Presidents and the North Carolina Association of Community College Trustees, all who are lobbying for equal funding for job training and certificate programs. They will present updates on the legislature’s $2 million pilot program that allowed 36 community colleges to fund the courses at a higher level. Schools competed for the money, taking it to invest in new equipment and more seats in programs like welding, HVAC, nurse’s aides and truck driving.

“We anticipate that as a result

N.C. COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM

Students training to be electrical linemen. of those funds we are going to be able to train 800 more people to be employed in high-demand areas,” said Jennifer Haygood, president of the N.C. Community College System.

For example, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute received for $124,000 in the pilot program and used it to expand truck driver training. The training program takes just eight weeks during the day or 16 for night classes. The average hiring salary right out of the training program is $40,000 to $50,000.

ERDEM AYDIM VIA TWITTER

If the legislature gives the greenlight for parity in funding, Caldwell’s administrators plans 54 more seats to the nine-week electrical lineman training program as well. N.C. is estimated to need 1,500 new lineman a year over the next five years at a $40,000 starting salary. New seats could also be added to home health aide and nursing aide certificate programs, both of which require 177 hours of training, and graduates earn double the state minimum wage. Additional students for medical tech certificates could be funded, earn-

ing graduates $25 to $30 dollars an hour. Wake Tech plans to add a short-term cybersecurity certification program.

“What we are seeing is that, as we move forward, people are going to have to have a variety of skills and be willing to reskill as needed,” said Haygood. “That’s why this proposal, while yes, it is intended to address a short-term skills gap issue, it’s also part of a long-term strategy as the economy is evolving where people may have to, throughout their lives, come back and retrain. This would provide our colleges the resources they need to offer that continual opportunity.”

Community college administrators hope the promising numbers will convince lawmakers that equal funding yields a bigger workforce pipeline, more people participating in the job market and a broader tax base.

“I think lawmakers are generally positive — they are always working under constrained resources, but what we are hearing from lawmakers is that they are hearing the exact same thing that we are hearing, that employers have jobs that they cannot find skilled workforce to fill those jobs,” said Haygood. “What we are proposing is a way to increase our capacity and our ability to deliver that shortterm workforce training so we can

for over two decades,” she said. “I know the allegations against my father are absurd.”

Brunson’s lawyer said the pastor, detained 18 months ago, was in custody because of his religious beliefs. Turkey is a majority Muslim country though constitutionally secular.

“There is evidence that shows Brunson was arrested due to his faith,” Ismail Cem Halavurt told Reuters on the eve of the trial. “We want Brunson to be freed immediately.”

get people trained in a matter of weeks so that they can take these jobs.”

Horn says that budget numbers will probably come to lawmakers in the next two weeks, as the ask from community colleges starts to circulate through the legislative building. The system estimates that it would cost the state $16 million to fund the certificate programs at the rate equivalent to curriculum classes.

“That’s a lot of money, but in terms of the $14 billion we spend on education … it’s a rounding error,” said Horn. “But a couple million bucks can make a difference in how many electricians we turn out from our community college system.”

To Sen. Tom McGinnis (R-Scotland), the changing workforce demands of the economy mean its time to change they way they do business.

“They need short-term, vocational training practical application so they can get on the job,” he said. “They don’t need basket weaving and PE and the other things you would take in an academic platform — they don’t need extra math or sociology or English or the other things you would take.

They need what is required to do the job, so they can go to work.”

The short legislative session will convene May 16.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

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Starbucks to close 8,000 U.S. stores for racial-bias training Starbucks Corp announced late Tuesday that it will close 8,000 company-owned U.S. cafes for the afternoon on May 29 to train nearly 175,000 on how to prevent racial discrimination in its stores. The announcement from world’s biggest coffee company comes as it tries to cool tensions after the arrest of two black men at one of its Philadelphia cafes last week sparked accusations of racial profiling at the chain.

MARK MAKELA | REUTERS

n.c.

FAST FACTS Sponsored by

LabCorp Will Create 422 New Jobs in Durham County

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UNC student launches campus safety app with common-sense appeal

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT Sponsored by

Celebrate Earth Day on the Kings Mountain Gateway Trail

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LabCorp® (NYSE: LH), the global life sciences company known for its world-class clinical laboratory and drug development services, will locate a new operations center in Durham County, creating 422 jobs, Governor Roy Cooper announced last week. The company will invest $30 million in a Durham facility on the Parmer RTP campus. In addition to the new positions that will be added over time, the facility will house existing information technology staff, along with personnel from its drug development business, who currently occupy several locations in Durham and Wake counties.

“North Carolina’s leadership in life sciences pays off in many ways,” said Governor Cooper.

“Thanks to the concentration of biotech companies doing business here, North Carolina can attract and train workers who specialize in this industry, from running lab tests to writing software.”

LabCorp, headquartered in Burlington, North Carolina, provides comprehensive clinical laboratory and end-to-end drug development services. With a mission to improve health and improve lives, LabCorp delivers world-class diagnostic solutions, brings innovative medicines to patients faster and uses technology to improve the delivery of care.

The company employs more than 60,000 people worldwide, including more than 8,900 people in North Carolina.

Raleigh-native Nina Barnett created “Grooop” to offer a way for friends to connect safely with status updates throughout daily lives on campus

By Emily Roberson North State Journal SAN DIEGO — Catching up with Nina Barnett might prove difficult on most days. The UNCCH junior drama and physics major (with a mathematics minor) is spending this semester at Kings College in London, while also participating in Google web entrepreneur workshops there in her free time. Luckily, Barnett was travelling back to the U.S. this week to present at a San Diego education technology summit that happens to overlap with another obligation at a UNC apprenticeship program in San Francisco.

She admits that a big reason for her hectic schedule is the major undertaking of developing and growing her own app, a primary focus in the midst of the myriad involvements above.

From its start less than two years ago, campus safety app “Grooop” has continued to catch fire along with her schedule because, as Barnett says, she “loves staying busy, I guess.”

Grooop was officially launched in August 2017 and has users in around 10 campuses across the U.S., and now in Europe. The free app combines safety and so-

cial media by letting users create groups of friends and family that can be easily updated with their status and location in a non-invasive way.

Barnett says that she first had the idea in high school at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh where she was the self-described “mom” of her friend group, and that she continued to seek the balance between safety and fun once she got on campus in Chapel Hill. She says, “You know in college, you feel invincible, but you’re not. And after a few of my friends – both girls and guys – found themselves in some tough situations that year, I just felt that safety was something that needed to be easily incorporated into our daily lives, not only after something [tragic] happens.”

The app, designed by Durhambased software company Smashing Boxes, was developed with that daily utility and students’ ease-of-use in mind. Barnett says she knew that her friends were hesitant to download many of the most popular safety apps available because of the significant amount of data used to operate them. Her idea was to create a way for users to avoid the constant, and often unnecessary, tracking those apps offered, and instead, allow for status updates and requests on demand. Users can create a lock-screen widget and do not have to have the app actively open to use.

New users first create friend groups and establish “safe zones” – familiar places, their dorm, friends’ apartments, their jog-

PHOTO COURTESY OF GROOOP

ging route, etc. While not listing their exact location, if a user updates their status in one of these zones, they are listed as “Good.”

If they are elsewhere and update their status, users are listed as “Out and About,” and if they are ready to leave a location and would like to find a friend to accompany them, they can update their status to “Ready to Go.” Friends within the group can also receive an “Alert” status update, which indicates a more urgent situation, and are offered the option to immediately call, text or email the sender. A friend may request a user’s location at any time, and the user can accept the request to be located on a map.

Barnett says that her primary goal is to turn safety from a “scary” topic into something that is simply a part of moving through daily life, using this technology toward a meaningful purpose. She points to its use not only on college campuses, but for any age student or family member with a phone, noting that Grooop could virtually “eliminate the stigma of the helicopter parent.” The app is currently free, which is something Barnett says is a priority right now. “I just want to see the stats [on campus incidents] go down, and not just have created a trendy app. It is for the users, and we hope to continue to build that base.”

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What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to hit the Gateway Trail in the public power community of Kings Mountain this Saturday, April 21? We’re not talking about simply walking the trail, though let’s agree that is a fine way to celebrate the day.

Earth Day at the Gateway Trail includes much, much more than trail walking.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., you and your family—including fur kids!—can enjoy all sorts of fun activities like: • Making crafts and jewelry courtesy of The Scrap Exchange.

• Visiting special guests from the SonRidge Farm Petting Zoo. • Entertaining and educational demonstrations by survival expert Spencer Bolejack, operator of Land of the Sky Wilderness School and cohost of Discovery’s “Hillbilly Blood.”

• More than 50 exhibitors, including community organizations, local artisans and concessions vendors.

• A drum circle and some great string bands.

• The release of 100 Painted Lady butterflies to support the efforts of the Kings Mountain Gateway Trail to save our pollinators.

That’s a lot packed into four hours!

For more information on this free event, visit www.cityofkm.com or @cityofkingsmountain on Facebook.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

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North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

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Jones & Blount

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Hurricane Matthew checks to go out in May

By NSJ Staff RALEIGH — N.C. Emergency Management officials say they will start sending the first homeowner reimbursement checks to victims of 2016’s Hurricane Matthew next month.

In a briefing to lawmakers at the N.C. General Assembly on Monday, Mike Sprayberry, state emergency management director, told the House Committee on Emergency Management that $237 million provided through the ReBuild NC, made possible by North Carolina’s allocation of Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery, will be supplemented by $168 million in CDBG-DR funds announced earlier this week by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“We’re continuing to push to get assistance to the families, businesses and communities working to recover while making sure taxpayer dollars are being used effectively,” said Sprayberry.

“North Carolina is currently on target to begin sending the first homeowner reimbursement checks in May, and we’re glad to learn just this week that HUD has awarded North Carolina more of these funds.”

The money is available to help qualified low- and moderate-income

National Boys and Girls Club Week For more than 75 years, National Boys & Girls Club Week has recognized the invaluable service Clubs bring to communities across the state. National Boys & Girls Club Week shines a spotlight on the 61,000 caring, trained youth development professionals who mentor kids and teens every day in 4,300 Clubs across the nation and on U.S. military installations worldwide. In North Carolina, there are 122 Boys & Girls Clubs that serve as a safe place to learn and grow for over 62,000 youth who need them most. To find out more, or volunteer your time at a Club near you, visit www.ncclubs.org

WEST

Man killed after attacking police station with machete

Founder of Appalachian Ski Mountain remembered Watauga County Grady Moretz was memorialized over the weekend after his death at age 88. Moretz didn’t ski, but he was one of the driving forces in the state’s ski industry. Moretz founded and operated Appalachian Ski Mountain in 1968.

His family said he didn’t take a pay check for the first seven years as he worked to build the state’s ski tourism industry.

Allegheny County Police shot and killed a man who entered the sheriff’s office in Sparta, drew a machete and charged at a deputy. The man, 39-year-old Chad Eric Montgomery, asked to speak with an officer, then waited in the lobby until the deputy entered before attacking. The deputy told Montgomery to drop the weapon.

When he didn’t, he opened fire.

WRAL

Traditional BGC Corporations Salvation Army BGC Organizations Military Club Organizations Club Site (managed by an existing organizations)

PIEDMONT Protesters interrupt Duke University president’s speech Durham County During a ceremony at Page Auditorium over the weekend, 25 undergraduates rushed the stage and shouted down the university’s president making a wide range of demands. The audience of alumni, there for a reunion of the class of 1968, booed loudly, drowning out the students, with many turning their back to the stage. The disruption lasted about 15 minutes before the students left to protest in front of Duke Chapel.

SPECTRUM NEWS THE DUKE CHRONICLE

More than 1,400 acres cleared with controlled burns Swain County Authorities conducted a controlled burn of 570 acres on Wolf Knob in Alarka last Thursday. The burn was the second largest of five simultaneous burns that took place in the region, making skies hazy near Asheville.

There was a 722-acre burn near Highlands and smaller burns in Little Cataloochee, Leicester and near the Blue Ridge Parkway.

WLOS

Man confesses to Rutherford murder at Chick-fil-A

EAST

Hamlet board votes down anti-gang measure

4 arrested at ECU fraternity

Richmond County The Hamlet city council rejected a request from the police department for a dedicated officer to help battle gang and drug violence. The new position, with a salary of less than $35,000, would have helped to control gang activity, which has been tied to 500 crimes in the last three years and 20 shootings in the last year.

Hamlet cancelled last year’s July Fourth celebration due to concerns about gang violence. The council also voted down requests to purchase 10 assault weapons and four surveillance cameras.

Pitt County Four East Carolina University students have been arrested at the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house when police arrived with a search warrant raided the premises. A three-week investigation by the Greenville Regional Drug Task Force joined authorities from five area agencies to seize 2,500 bars of Xanax, two shotguns, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. The fraternity’s national organization has suspended operations at ECU. Earlier this year, ECU’s Alpha Epsilon, Tau Kappa Epsilon and Delta Chi were shut down amid accusations of hazing and alcohol violations.

Rutherford County Last week, Jason Butler entered a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, held a gun to his head and confessed to killing a man in Rutherford County. Police later found the victim, Michael Splawn, dead in his home. Butler was extradited and is being held without bond on murder charges in Rutherford County.

WSPA

East Surry naming football stadium after longtime coach Surry County David Diamont retired last month, after winning 291 games over 36 years with Mount Airy and East Surry High School. In recognition of his accomplishments, the Surry County Board of Education decided to name the football stadium at East Surry David H. Diamont Stadium. Diamont will be recognized at a re-dedication ceremony prior to a home game this fall.

MT. AIRY NEWS

Defense attorney arrested on drug charges in Danbury

Suicide attempt leads to two murders

Stokes County Hayley Sherman, a 29-year-old criminal defense attorney, was arrested last week and charged with 16 felony and misdemeanor drug charges, including possession with intent to sell marijuana. Sherman and her fiancée, Brandon Farmer, were using the house they share to store and sell illegal drugs, authorities claim.

Police executed a search warrant and made the arrest after a two-month investigation.

Greene County Myles Duggins confessed to shooting and killing his grandfather and cousin near Snow Hill last week. The The police report that family members were trying to prevent the 20-year-old Duggins from killing himself, which led to the two shootings. Duggins is charged with murdering 68-year-old Johnny Boy Jefferson and six-year-old Isaiah Hill. He fled in a stolen car and was later arrested in Raleigh.

FOX 8

Reshaping the legal profession for the millennial generation

Prison has three dozen arrests in less than a year

WITN

WSOC

residents impacted by the storm. The state partnered with local communities to open application centers where Matthew survivors can apply for these funds starting last November. Centers are still open in Cumberland, Edgecombe, Robeson and Wayne counties.

According to the N.C. Department of Emergency Management, applications for the funds go through a detailed process requiring multiple checks for eligibility, duplication of benefit, environmental reviews, and more.

“Our goal is rebuilding stronger and better so North Carolina will be more resilient in the face of future disasters,” Sprayberry said. “We’re working with federal, state and local leaders to cut through red tape and get help to those who need it most.”

In addition to recovery efforts, NCEM is working with communities in Lumberton, Fair Bluff, Windsor, Seven Springs, Princeville and Kinston to set strategies to prepare for future disasters.

The agency also told lawmakers that they are working with experts at NC State University, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local governments to conduct flood mitigation studies of the Neuse, Tar, Lumber and Cashie river basins. Study results are expected later this spring.

Tyrrell County Jared Caulder, a 27-year-old prisoner at Tyrrell Prison Work Farm, was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance on prison premises. Caulder, who was originally imprisoned on larceny charges, was found with suboxone. He is the 36th inmate at that prison to be charged with a drug crime in less than a year. He had been scheduled to be released in September.

WITN

Onslow ambulances get 23 new heart monitors Onslow County The ambulance fleet for Onslow County Emergency Services is getting an equipment upgrade. The new devices can monitor a patient’s breathing, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels and track several other vital signs. They replace the current monitors, which are more than nine years old. Crews will spend the week training on the new equipment, which cost the county $600,000, and the devices will be installed the following week.

WITN

By Chris Salemme For the North State Journal WINSTON-SALEM — The North Carolina Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism is taking note of how a new generation of lawyers are reworking the legal field. At its quarterly meeting on Friday, the Commission, charged with “enhance[ing] professionalism among North Carolina’s lawyers,” heard from Wake Forest University Provost Rogan Kersh on how millennials — those born from the early 1980s to 2001 — work and are redefining professionalism.

Kersh laid out several key findings on how millennials differ from previous generations. First, millennials are hyperorganized and routinized. While this may seem to be beneficial in the workplace, he noted that it comes with widespread levels of anxiety and stress never before seen.

Millennials’ relationship with authority also significantly differs from past generations, also according to Kersh. A “flattening of authority” begins at home with casual parental relationships. He said that today, young people frequently refer to their parents as their best friends — an idea previously unheard

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of. This flattened authority continues into college and does not stop when they enter the workplace.

Additionally, millennials seek leadership roles more frequently but are not nearly as trusting of others as in the past. In the 1960s, 10 percent of professional students expected to be leaders in their field, compared to 81 percent between 2010 and 2015. Such ambition seems positive, but, according to Kersh, “being a successful leader requires … that you trust other people.”

Most millennials believe people look out for only themselves and that most would take advantage of others.

Other traits of millennials noted by Kersh include their propensity to “job hop,” with two-thirds expecting to leave their job within five years, their abhorrence of traditional performance reviews and workspaces, and their deep civic-mindedness.

In advising leaders how to prepare their workplaces for millennials, Kersh proposed swapping out long hallways for open spaces. He suggested offering action reviews and peer mentoring programs to the commission as ways for the profession to adapt because “insisting on our traditional way of doing business … primarily results in [millennials] departing.”

A6

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

north STATEment Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor | Troy Kickler, deputy opinion editor

EDITORIAL | FRANK HILL Wallace Wade, seen here on the sideline of the stadium that would later be named after him, won 110 games at Duke.

COURTESY DUKE SPORTS INFORMATION

What to do about college athletics

Going to college to get a free education plus room and board for four years is a good deal for almost every college athlete.

BIG-TIME COLLEGE athletics is out of control. But should universities lose their historical mission to educate young people as a result?

College athletics, primarily football, has been a lucrative way to make money for the school and get publicity for the university.

Wallace Wade was head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 1920s and led them to three national titles in three Rose Bowls. He started the Alabama dominance of college football.

Duke University Chancellor Preston Few was looking to bring muchneeded publicity to the new campus that opened its doors in Durham in 1924. The Alabama program under Coach Wade was doing pretty well, so Few contacted Wade for his suggestions for a new head coach.

Coach Wade surprised everyone, including Chancellor Few, by saying he was interested in the job under the following conditions: he wanted to be head football coach, athletic director and intramural program director since he believed in using athletics to build men out of boys.

He got all three plus a generous salary during the Depression and a cut of the gate receipts. When he filled up Duke Stadium with 50,000 spectators to watch the Blue Devils play national powers such as Pittsburgh and go to two Rose Bowls, Duke University got the nationwide publicity Chancellor Few wanted, and Coach Wade went to the Hall of Fame.

Coach Wade and universities offered athletes a free education with room and board which they could use to become doctors, lawyers or businessmen if they went to class, did their homework and did well on exams.

Which is the original purpose of higher education in the first place, right?

Back then, the allure of pro sports was not what it is today. College football players drafted in 1939 got paid $100 per game to play against older men who had other jobs to make ends meet during the year.

Today, an elite athlete could make tens of millions of dollars if they

leave school after one year of college basketball or three years of college football.

However, such lucrative contracts are only given to approximately 1.5 percent of all college football or basketball players. One out of every 1,860, or 0.054 percent, high school basketball players ever make it to the pros.

Going to college to get a free education plus room and board for four years is a good deal for almost every college athlete who plays football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse or soccer.

Especially benchwarmers.

The NCAA should consider the following proposal which is based one thing on which all Americans can agree: Freedom to choose.

Any player has four years of playing eligibility at any college from high school graduation. If they get cut from the pros after one year, they have three years of eligibility remaining; after two years, two years of eligibility remaining and so on. They can be recruited by any college at any time from the NBA to the G League to the Turkish league overseas.

If the goal of higher education is to give young players a great education in return for entertaining the rest of us who wished we could play basketball at their superior level, there should be no barriers to entry to any college if they flame out in the pros.

Coach Wade used to tell every prospect he recruited: “Duke University is going to do more for you over the course of your lifetime than you will ever do for Duke on the football field, young man. Take advantage of this marvelous gift of an education.”

Why not heed that same advice in the 21st century?

EDITORIAL | TROY KICKLER

Meaningful arguments must go beyond persuasive emotional responses

Argumentation, though, is more than creating a persuasive emotional response.

EVER KNOWN an uncooperative grump?

Ever made the mistake of engaging a cantankerous person on Aisle 5 in a department store with a simple friendly “hello”? Ever worked with an ornery and cynical colleague, who always objected to whatever suggestions were made? It seems some people are always looking for an argument.

Sometimes, however, we should look for an argument. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting we be pessimistic or contentious or behave curmudgeonly. I’m making a case for listening to how people argue.

Logic has been considered the sole key to making a good argument. If a student can make sound syllogisms and recognize logical fallacies, then he or she will argue soundly and persuasively. These syllogisms, however, are often separate from content — in essence, they can be formulaic. The rhetorician must know the material or the topic at hand.

An argument — at least a persuasive argument — “must say something intelligible about the actual world.”* Readers, listeners or viewers must be able to relate to the argument. Another common advice, especially nowadays, is to tell stories that tug at the heartstrings. Argumentation, though, is more than creating a persuasive emotional response.

In the early 1950s, four English professors

at the University of Chicago believed college education was incomplete regarding the art of argumentation. They offered a more comprehensive solution. (One of the authors was native North Carolinian Richard Weaver, one of the founders of post-World War II and modern-day conservatism.)

The professors offered four “sources of arguments”: genus, consequence, similarity and authority. Let’s examine these four sources more carefully with the following example offered by the authors.

If you are out for a walk one night and a thief approaches you and demands your money, there are some arguments — if he is willing to listen — that can be made. These go beyond a syllogism.

Genus: You can remind him that his action will be a crime. Genus often implies a universal understanding that needs no explanation. Labeling a behavior a “crime” should be a sufficient “proof.” In other circumstances, the public needs a definition. For instance, terms of “liberty” and “democracy” need to be defined before being used in an argument at least before it is considered a commonly accepted definition.

Consequence: The robbery will cost the thief years in prison. (You may remember the crime prevention phrase: “Don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time!”)

Similarity: If the roles were reversed, if you were demanding his money, he would dislike

being a victim.

Authority: You could argue that his behavior is morally wrong. The Bible forbids it. The authority is always something external from the immediate matter. For political matters, people often claim something is not “truly American.”

After being able to identify these four sources of arguments, one can engage in a systematic approach to argumentation.

The hope was that topic knowledge and familiarity combined with the sound logic and rhetoric of argumentation would produce better arguments. Skilled students, the authors believed, are “not so likely to either to freeze or to foam.” They will be skilled enough to actually “have something to say about controversial subjects.” And, they would do so in an informed and well-thought-out fashion.

In today’s political climate, I’m looking for good arguments. And I am not happy until I find one.

Yeah, that’s right! You heard me. *Much of this column is based on Manuel Bilsky, McCrea Hazlett, Robert E. Streeter, and Richard M. Weaver, “Looking for an Argument,” College English (Jan. 1953), 210-53.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

VISUAL VOICES

A7 COLUMN HANS VON SPAKOVSKY

Will the FBI treat McCabe as it treats the rest of us?

COLUMN | L. BRENT BOZELL III AND TIM GRAHAM

Zeroing in on Facebook’s anti-conservative tilt We can suspect that Facebook’s content police have an itchy trigger finger in identifying where conservatives ‘hurt people or spread misinformation.’

TWO DAYS of congressional hearings with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg underlined how American perceptions of media power are changing.

After 2012, Democrats and their media allies oozed over the way former President Barack Obama’s brilliant strategists changed the face of campaigning through Facebook. But in 2016, Donald Trump was elected, and Facebook became a malignant ghetto of “fake news” and inappropriate election manipulation.

Congress is justified in asking how Facebook’s massive popularity could also lead to massive violations of privacy and, potentially, international manipulation in our political process. But there is more to discuss, questions of bias and censorship that the left doesn’t want to cover, and for good reason. It’s guilty of that.

Several Republican senators underlined conservatives’ fears about what Facebook is becoming now that it’s under pressure from leftist elites to ban free speech. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) asked Zuckerberg how he defines “hate speech,” noting that many young people find the First Amendment allows too much hurtful speech.

He couldn’t really answer it. But in his opening statement, he insisted Facebook has to “make sure people aren’t using it to hurt people or spread misinformation.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) zeroed in on the hard evidence of Facebook demonstrating a “pervasive pattern of political bias.” Gizmodo reported in 2016 that Facebook insiders revealed the social media giant kept major conservative stories like ones on Conservative Political Action Conference off its “trending” topics for readers. Facebook shut down the “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day page,” blocked a post by Fox News reporter Todd Starnes, has blocked more than two dozen Catholic pages, and recently declared the videos of pro-Trump black ladies known as Diamond and Silk “unsafe for the community.”

To his credit, Zuckerberg replied, “I understand

where that concern is coming from because Facebook and the tech industry are located in Silicon Valley, which is an extremely left-leaning place.” Just acknowledging that reality caused the liberals to tear their hair out.

But then Cruz asked whether Zuckerberg had ever heard of a Planned Parenthood page being taken down. No. How about a MoveOn.org page?

No. Any Democratic candidate pages? No. Nobody’s aware of that happening. But we can suspect that Facebook’s content police have an itchy trigger finger in identifying where conservatives “hurt people or spread misinformation.”

Conservatives are used to the national media excluding our viewpoint or loading up a pundit panel with eight liberals and one marginal Republican.

We’re not going to be happy if the social media start hindering us from communicating with one another on what Zuckerberg claims is a “platform for all ideas.”

Zuckerberg recently told the leftist blog Vox that Facebook plans to boost “broadly trusted news sources” like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (national media elites) as opposed to looking “down to blogs that may be on more of the fringe.” Would it be wrong to see ourselves in that “fringe”? We are certainly not placing our trust in The New York Times. But the Facebook founder explained they would like to “help these news organizations, drive subscriptions.”

For all of Zuckerberg’s willingness to acknowledge the bias in Big Tech, he needs to acknowledge that conservatives have news outlets, too, like our CNSNews.com. Showing favoritism toward building the profits and influence of liberal media elites is taking sides, not offering a neutral forum for all.

L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center. Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org.

COLUMN | WALTER E. WILLIAMS

A mayor’s most important job

Regardless of any other goal, mayors must recognize that their first order of business is to retain what economists call net positive fiscal residue.

WHEN WORLD WAR II ended, Washington, D.C.’s population was about 900,000; today it’s about 700,000. In 1950, Baltimore’s population was almost 950,000; today it’s around 614,000. Detroit’s 1950 population was close to 1.85 million; today it’s down to 673,000. In New Jersey, Camden’s 1950 population was nearly 125,000; today it has fallen to 77,000. St. Louis’ 1950 population was more than 856,000; today it’s less than 309,000. A similar story of population decline can be found in most of our formerly large and prosperous cities. In some cities, population declines since 1950 are well over 50 percent. In addition to Detroit and St. Louis, those would include Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

During the 1960s and ’70s, academic liberals, civil rights advocates and others blamed the exodus on racism — “white flight” to the suburbs. However, since the ’70s, blacks have been fleeing some cities at higher rates than whites. It turns out that blacks, like whites, want better and safer schools for their kids and don’t like to be mugged or have their property vandalized. Just like white people, if they have the means, black people can’t wait for moving companies to move them out.

At the heart of big-city exoduses is a process that I call accumulative decay. When schools are rotten and unsafe, neighborhoods become run-down and unsafe, and city services

decline, the first people to leave are those who care the most about good schools and neighborhood amenities and have the resources to move. As a result, cities lose their best and ablest people first. Those who leave the city for greener pastures tend to be replaced by people who don’t care so much about schools and neighborhood amenities or people who do care but don’t have the means to move anywhere else.

Because the “best” people — those who put more into the city’s coffer than they take out in services — leave, politicians must raise taxes and/or permit city services to deteriorate. This sets up the conditions for the next round of people who can do better to leave. Businesses — which depend on these people, either as employees or as customers — also begin to leave. The typical political response to a declining tax base is to raise taxes even more and hence create incentives for more businesses and residents to leave. Of course, there’s also mayoral begging for federal and state bailouts. Once started, there is little to stop the city’s downward spiral.

Intelligent mayors could prevent, halt and perhaps reverse their city decline by paying more attention to efficiency than equity.

That might be politically difficult.

Regardless of any other goal, mayors must recognize that their first order of business is to retain what economists call net positive fiscal residue. That’s a fancy term for keeping those people in the

city who put more into the city’s coffers, in the form of taxes, than they take out in services. To do that might require discrimination in the provision of city services — e.g., providing better street lighting, greater safety, nicer libraries, better schools and other amenities in more affluent neighborhoods.

As one example, many middleclass families leave cities because of poor school quality. Mayors and others who care about the viability of a city should support school vouchers. That way, parents who stay — and put a high premium on the education of their children — wouldn’t be faced with paying twice in order for their kids to get a good education, through property taxes and private school tuition. Some might protest that city service discrimination is unfair. I might agree, but it’s even more unfair for cities, once the magnets of opportunities for low-income people, to become economic wastelands.

Big cities can be revitalized, but it’s going to take mayors with guts to do what’s necessary to reverse accumulative decay. They must ensure safe streets and safe schools. They must crack down on not only violent crimes but also petty crimes and misdemeanors, such as public urination, graffiti, vandalism, loitering and panhandling.

Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University.

IT’S OFFICIAL: Andrew McCabe lied.

The new report from the Justice Department inspector general concludes that McCabe, the former FBI deputy director, lied to then-FBI Director James Comey, to other FBI agents, and to officials of the Office of the Inspector General.

Some of those lies came when McCabe was under oath.

What did he lie about? Unauthorized disclosures about the FBI’s investigation into the Clinton Foundation. The information was leaked to a reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

The inspector general has completed his work.

The question now is, will the Justice Department prosecute McCabe? Or, put another way: Will the FBI and the Justice Department follow the same rules they apply to members of the public who lie to a federal agent?

Remember, the only charge brought against Gen. Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, was lying to the FBI, a felony. And Flynn wasn’t even under oath when he supposedly lied to the FBI. Given that recent history, failure to prosecute McCabe would tell the American people that officers of the Justice Department and the FBI think they are above the law.

According to the inspector general’s report, “law enforcement sensitive information” appeared in an Oct. 30, 2016, Wall Street Journal article titled “FBI in Internal Feud Over Hillary Clinton Probe.” Until that time, the FBI had publicly refused to confirm that an investigation into the Clinton Foundation was underway.

Despite that official stance, the inspector general determined, McCabe told his special counsel and an assistant director in the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs that they could give information about the probe to Wall Street Journal reporter Devlin Barrett.

In particular, McCabe told them to disclose a phone call he had received in August from the Justice Department’s principal associate deputy attorney general. The report does not identify the person by name, but the principal associate deputy attorney general at the time was apparently Matthew Axelrod.

McCabe claims that the official called him and “expressed concerns about the FBI agents taking overt steps in the [Clinton Foundation] Investigation during the presidential campaign.”

According to McCabe, he pushed back, asking, “Are you telling me to shut down a validly predicated investigation?”

McCabe told the inspector general the conversation was “very dramatic” and that he had never had a similar confrontation with a highlevel Justice Department official “in his entire FBI career.”

The way The Wall Street Journal reported this was that a “senior Justice Department official” called McCabe “to voice his displeasure” that the FBI was “still openly pursuing the Clinton Foundation probe during the election season.”

The “Justice Department official was ‘very pissed off,’ according to one person close to McCabe, and pressed him to explain why the FBI was still chasing a matter the department considered dormant.”

What spurred McCabe’s disclosure, according to the inspector general, was a prior Wall Street Journal story “that questioned McCabe’s impartiality in overseeing FBI investigations involving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”

This was due, according to that Oct. 23 story, to the fact that a PAC run by longtime Clinton friend and associate Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-Va.) had donated nearly $675,000 to the unsuccessful 2015 state Senate campaign of McCabe’s wife.

Friday’s report from the inspector general presents a series of findings. It concludes that McCabe lied when he told Comey that he had not authorized the disclosures to The Wall Street Journal and did not know who did. He repeated that lie when questioned by agents from the FBI’s Inspection Division and again when questioned by the Office of the Inspector General.

Only in a second round of questioning by the inspector general did McCabe finally acknowledge that “he had authorized the disclosure to [The Wall Street Journal].”

The inspector general notes that McCabe could have authorized the disclosure of the existence of the Clinton Foundation investigation if it were in the “public interest.” However, the report concludes, that was not his motivation.

Instead, it finds, McCabe violated FBI policy because the disclosure was “designed to advance his personal interest at the expense of department leadership.” Therefore, what he did “constituted misconduct.”

The inspector general cannot prosecute. All he can do is provide his office’s report to the FBI “for such action as it deems appropriate.” And so we wait to see what, if anything, is next.

Flynn was charged with lying to FBI agents about conversations with the Russian ambassador.

Lying to a federal agent is a felony, even if — like Flynn — you are not under oath at the time. It is clear from the inspector general’s report that McCabe lied to federal agents multiple times, including while under oath.

Will he be prosecuted as Flynn was? It seems as if the FBI and the Justice Department have no choice — unless they believe that their colleagues are somehow above the law.

And if the Department of Justice no longer believes in the rule of law, the whole notion of America is turned on its head.

Hans von Spakovsky is a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and manager of the think tank’s Election Law Reform Initiative. This article was originally published

by The Daily Signal.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

A8

U.S. accuses Russia, Syria of tampering with Douma evidence Chemical weapons experts’ access to site blocked

By Laila Bassam and Anthony Deutsch Reuters DAMASCUS, Syria/THE HAUGE, Netherlands — The United States is accusing Russia of blocking international inspectors from reaching the site of a suspected poison gas attack in Syria and said Russians or Syrians may have tampered with evidence on the ground.

Moscow immediately denied the charge and blamed delays on retaliatory U.S.-led missile strikes on Syria at the weekend.

In the fraught aftermath of the suspected attack in Douma and the West’s response, Washington also prepared to increase pressure on Russia, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s main ally, with new economic sanctions. European Union foreign ministers threatened similar measures.

And in London and Paris, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron faced criticism from political opponents over their decisions to take part in the air strikes against Syria.

Syria and Russia deny unleashing poison gas during their offensive on Douma this month, which ended with the recapture of the town that had been the last rebel stronghold

JONES from page A1 gressman Jones said after signing the letter on Monday. “This isn’t just about Mr. Dacey. It’s about honest and ethical campaigning as a whole. The people of our area and our great Republic expect and deserve better.”

“The D.A., Scott Thomas’s time is better spent fighting crime from our opioid crisis, not getting involved a civil matter,” said Dacey in a phone interview. “Scott knows that and the Congressman should be spending his time better too.”

“This is just political trickery and a rouse to cover what he’s been doing and we caught him.”

He added.

The Dacey argues that Jones’ campaign is connected to Soros through Friends of Democracy, a former political action committee started by Jonathan Soros, George’s son, that focused campaign finance reform. When Jones endorsed campaign finance reform in 2014, Friends of Democracy put on their website a kudos to him along with a link to donate to Jones’ campaign. Jones reportedly said he met with the younger Soros to on how to recruit more Republicans to the issue.

“To suggest that there is not a connection here is laughable,” Dacey said Tuesday.

near the capital Damascus.

Relief organizations say dozens of men, women and children were killed. Footage of young victims foaming at the mouth and weeping in agony helped to thrust Syria’s civil war — in which half a million people have been killed in the past seven years — to the forefront of world concern again.

Inspectors from the Haguebased Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) traveled to Syria last week to inspect the site, but have yet to gain access to Douma, which is now under government control after the rebels withdrew.

“It is our understanding the Russians may have visited the attack site,” U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Ward said at an OPCW meeting in The Hague on Monday.

“It is our concern that they may have tampered with it with the intent of thwarting the efforts of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission to conduct an effective investigation,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied that Moscow had interfered with any evidence. “I can guarantee that Russia has not tampered with the site,” he told the BBC. Britain’s delegation to the OPCW accused Russia and the Assad government of stopping inspectors from reaching Douma.

“Unfettered access is essential,” the British delegation said in a statement. “Russia and Syria must

“But it shouldn’t be a great surprise,” he added. “They had him as their ‘House Champion.’ There were 78 Democrats on that site, and one Republican… Walter Jones.”

Doug Raymond, Jones’ campaign spokesman, says that in all the years the Friends of Democracy link page was up, they hadn’t gotten a donation until this past Sunday. That donation of $1 was made by Ryan Kane, Scott Dacey’s media & digital director, who told a local paper that he was testing the link.

“I know enough about politics to know that things don’t just come out of thin air, they are stretched,” said Raymond. “I had to figure out what they were stretching, and I found that it’s not just a stretch, it’s a Grand Canyon leap.”

Currently, Dacey, a Craven County Commissioner and lobbyist for the Indian Gaming Commission, is running about nine points behind incumbent Jones, according to polling released by the Civitas Institute last week.

Dacey has set his strategy on unseating the twelve term Republican by focusing on Jones’ votes outside of the Republican majority in Congress.

Jones voted against the healthcare reform bill in 2017 and was the only Republican against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act saying he

OMAR SANADIKI | REUTERS

The United Nation vehicle carrying the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspectors is seen in Damascus, Syria April 17. cooperate.”

The team aims to collect samples, interview witnesses and document evidence to determine whether banned toxic munitions were used, although it is not permitted to assign blame for the attack.

Britain’s Ambassador Peter Wilson said in The Hague that the United Nations had cleared the inspectors to go but they had been unable to reach Douma because Syria and Russia had been unable to guarantee their safety.

Moscow blamed the delay on the air strikes, in which the United States, France and Britain targeted what the Pentagon said were three chemical weapons facilities.

“We called for an objective investigation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “This was at the very beginning after this information [of the attack] appeared.

was concerned about its impact on the deficit. Dacey says it indicates that Jones’ is not in step with President Trump or Republican leadership, and N.C.’s District 3 overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2016. His ads say that Jones has voted with Nancy Pelosi more often than his own party. Jones countered with his endorsement

by Congressman Mark Meadows (R-11) leader of the Freedom Caucus and staunch conservative.

“We are going to send a message that you just can’t sit there and say ‘the polling shows I’m down, what’s the meanest, evilest thing I can do?’ “ said Raymond.

The complaint accuses Dacey of committing a Class 2 Misdemeanor by “knowing such a report to be false or in reckless disregard of its truth.”

“If you compare the way they are operating – ads coming out of D.C., slick ads with the deep voices - we are doing it all here in town and an intern at the radio station is doing our voiceover,” said Raymond. “That’s Walter, and he will win or lose over it. He isn’t going to change who he is because he’s in a tough primary.”

Jones has already announced that this will be his last run for the Congressional District 3 seat.

The primary election will be held on May 8.

Therefore, allegations of this towards Russia are groundless.”

U.S. envoy Ward also condemned the Syrian government for what he called its “reign of chemical terror.”

The inspectors met Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in the presence of Russian officers and a senior Syrian security official in Damascus for about three hours on Sunday.

OPCW inspectors have been attacked on two previous missions to the sites of chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

Syrian flags flew in Douma on Monday, security forces stood on street corners and Russian military police patrolled the streets. State aid trucks handed out bread, rice and pasta to people who had lived under siege for years.

A government-organized media tour did not include the building

where, according to rescue workers and medics who were in town at the time, dozens of people were killed by poison gas.

Doctors at the hospital where suspected victims were treated told reporters on the tour that none of the patients that night had suffered chemical weapons injuries — they were asphyxiated by dust and smoke in a bombardment.

Medical aid groups and the White Helmets rescue organization have said such statements — already aired on state television in recent days — were made under duress.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said on Sunday the United States would announce new economic sanctions aimed at companies dealing with equipment related to Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons.

Experts fail to find origin of nuclear pollution cloud over Europe

By Lefteris Karagiannopoulos Reuters OSLO, Norway — International experts have not been able to find what caused a cloud of radioactive pollution that spread over Europe last year and prompted fears of a nuclear leak, Swedish authorities said on Monday.

Monitoring stations recorded high levels of a radioactive isotope in the air over most European cities at the beginning of October.

Scientists from France said soon afterward they thought the source was an accident at a nuclear facility in Russia or Kazakhstan — a suggestion dismissed by both countries.

A group of experts formed to investigate the incident have now decided there was not enough information to pinpoint the origin, Sweden’s radiation safety authority, one of the group’s members, said on Monday.

“Available data does not provide sufficient information to ver-

ify that the Ru-106 emissions originate from any of the activities that have been assumed to cause the event,” the Swedish authority said.

The authority was referring to ruthenium 106, the radioactive isotope identified by the monitoring stations that does not occur naturally and is the product of splitting atoms in a nuclear reaction.

The commission of experts met last week and decided that its member groups — from Russia, Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, Finland and Norway — could return to their countries and carry on their research independently, said Sweden.

France’s nuclear safety institute IRSN said in November that the likely source was an accident at a nuclear fuel treatment site or center for radioactive medicine. It said its findings ruled out a nuclear reactor.

It added there had been no impact on human health or the environment in Europe.

Donald Trump’s Sizzling Sister Act The Union County Republican Party is proud to host the stupendous sisters Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway and Rochelle “Silk” Richardson for the 2018 Lincoln Reagan Day Dinner!

Diamond and Silk

April 27, 2018 Union County AG Center

showclix.com/event/uniongop-lrdd

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2018

ROB KINNAN | USA TODAY SPORTS

NC State defensive end Kentavius Street was expected to be taken in next weekend’s NFL Draft, but a knee injury suffered during a workout with the Giants has clouded his future.

the Wednesday SIDELINE REPORT

SPORTS

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Former Duke coach Bubas dead at 91 Durham Vic Bubas, who led Duke to its first Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball championship in 1960, died Monday. He was 91. Bubas played at NC State and then coached under Everett Case with the Wolfpack before leading the Blue Devils from 1959-69, producing a 21367 record in that span and leading the team to the NCAA Tournament Final Four three times. Duke won the ACC championship four times under his guidance. Bubas retired from coaching in 1969 and became an administrator at Duke, eventually serving as the university’s vice president.

He moved on to be the first commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference in 1976, holding the position for 14 years. He was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

NFL

Former Panthers CB Worley arrested, released by Eagles Philadelphia Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Daryl Worley, who was traded by the Carolina Panthers in March in exchange for veteran receiver Torrey Smith, was arrested early Sunday morning near team facilities after police found him passed out in a vehicle blocking a highway, according to multiple media reports. The Eagles announced hours later that they had released Worley.

Worley allegedly became combative with police when roused around 6 a.m. and was tased before being taken into custody. A gun reportedly was recovered at the scene.

NASCAR

Ford to bring Mustang to 2019 Cup Series Detroit Ford announced Tuesday that it plans to switch body styles from the Fusion to the Mustang for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2019. The Mustang will be Ford’s fourth different Cup Series model since 1972, following the Thunderbird, Taurus and Fusion. Ford has used the Mustang in the NASCAR Xfinity Series since 2011.

Street’s NFL dream not over despite knee injury NC State defensive lineman recovering from ACL tear

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal

DERICK E. HINGLE | USA TODAY SPORTS

Ettore Messina, right, has been on Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s staff since 2014 and is a candidate to be the next Hornets coach.

Hornets coaching candidates have varied experience GM Mitch Kupchak cleaned house in his first week on the job

By Shawn Krest North State Journal Mitch Kupchak didn’t take long to begin cleaning house. The veteran NBA executive was hired last week as Charlotte Hornets’ general manager. By the end of the weekend, he’d already fired head coach Steve Clifford, most of the team’s analytics department and a large chunk of the training staff.

It’s clear that Kupchak wants to start with a clean slate, at least off the court. While the 2018-19 roster will likely also look very different, the next move Kupchak will need to make is identifying a new head coach.

The team has already been linked with at least three candidates. Here’s a look at who the team is targeting, as well as who else is out there.

Jerry Stackhouse He’s the biggest name on the list of candidates but not because of his coaching accomplishments. The former Tar Heel All -American played 18 years in

the NBA and was a two-time All Star.

Stackhouse has become a hot coaching candidate, however. In addition to the Hornets, the Magic and Knicks have also reached out to him about their coaching vacancies, according to the New York Daily News.

He spent a season as an assistant coach on the Toronto Raptors staff and the last two years as head coach of the Raptors’ G-League team. During that time, he’s led the Raptors 905 to the G-League finals both years, winning one league title and the G-League Coach of the Year honors.

The Kinston-born UNC product would obviously have huge pull in Charlotte, and with former Tar Heels Michael Jordan, Kupchak and Buzz Peterson in the front office, he might be considered a favorite. The team still has to outbid the Knicks, however.

Ettore Messina The anti-Stackhouse. If the Hornets hire Messina, it will likely be met with a collective “Who?” from the fanbase. The 58-year-old coaching veteran, See HORNETS, page B3

KENTAVIUS Street was a fivestar recruit considered at the time to be the crown jewel of coach Dave Doeren’s 2014 recruiting class at NC State.

That’s easy to forget now that his classmate and fellow defensive end Bradley Chubb has risen to the top five of everyone’s NFL draft board.

It wasn’t until Street finished his career with the Wolfpack and emerged from Chubb’s considerable shadow that he finally began to remind the football world how talented he is.

The 6-foot-2, 282-pound Greenville native stood out at the East-West Shrine Game in January, impressing the NFL scouts in attendance with his quickness, strength and ability to disrupt plays in the backfield. His stock continued to rise a month later after recording a time of 4.87 in the 40-yard dash and bench pressing 28 reps at 225 pounds.

But Street’s rapidly building momentum came to a screeching halt and his draft prospects were thrown into doubt on April 4 when he suffered a torn ACL during a private workout with the New York Giants. The injury will almost certainly force him to miss the entire 2018 season.

“It crushes my heart for that kid,” Doeren said following State’s Kay Yow Spring Game, a few days after Street’s setback. “We feel for him and we’re praying for him.”

Playing on the opposite side of the line from the more heralded Chubb, Street quietly posted 38 tackles, including 6.5 for losses, 3.5 sacks, three pass breakups and two fumble recoveries for the Wolfpack in 2017.

Thanks to his strong postseason performances, he was being projected as an almost certain second-day selection in next week’s draft.

Perhaps as high as the late second round.

Now that he’s damaged goods, at least temporarily, it’s anybody’s guess where and when he might go.

STREET from page B4

INSIDE

ECU ATHLETICS PHOTO | ROB GOLDBERG JR.

The East Carolina baseball team had a disappointing 2017 season, but the Pirates are back and better than ever in 2018. Coach Cliff Godwin has guided his team to a 26-9 record and a spot in the polls. The Pirates’ pitching staff has been nearly unhittable — led by junior Chris Holba and his 8-0 record and 1.52 ERA — and ECU’s offense relies on a balanced attack up and down the lineup. B3

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

B2 WEDNESDAY

4.18.18

TRENDING

Wendell Carter Jr.: The Duke big man announced Monday that he will become the fourth Blue Devils freshman to declare for the 2018 NBA Draft.

With senior Grayson Allen also headed for the NBA, Duke will lose its entire starting lineup from last season. Carter joins fellow freshmen Marvin Bagley III, Gary Trent Jr. and Trevon Duval, who each stated their intention to hire an agent, meaning they cannot withdraw from the draft and return to school. Carter averaged 13.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game in his lone season in Durham.

C.J. Anderson: The Broncos starting running back was informed he will be released by the team on Monday. NFL Network reported the transaction as business hours began in Colorado. Devontae Booker is expected to become the starter for the Broncos unless the team drafts a running back early in the 2018 NFL Draft on April 26.

Anderson spent five seasons with the Broncos. Releasing him saves $4.5 million against the 2018 salary cap.

Hugh Freeze: SEC commissioner Greg Sankey reportedly discouraged Alabama coach Nick Saban from adding the former Ole Miss to the Crimson Tide coaching staff.

Saban wanted to bring on Freeze as cooffensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. But Sankey reportedly informed multiple schools, including Alabama, LSU and Missouri, that Freeze should not prosper while Ole Miss was dealing with probation and NCAA penalties incurred under his watch.

beyond the box score POTENT QUOTABLES

NBA

The NBA Playoffs are underway, and the earliest surprise was Indiana’s Game 1 win over Cleveland. Oklahoma City and Houston both have 1-0 leads over Utah and Minnesota, respectively, while the Raptors, Celtics and Pelicans all won Game 1 heading into Tuesday night’s Game 2s. The Heat evened their series with Philadelphia on Monday, and the Warriors — still without injured Stephen Curry — went up 2-0 on the Spurs thanks to 32 points from Kevin Durant and 31 from Klay Thompson.

ROB KINNAN | USA TODAY SPORTS

“I needed a big-man coach and don’t think anybody is better than Patrick Ewing when it comes to the experience he has as a player.”

Omer Yurtseven on his decision to transfer from NC State to Georgetown.

KELLEY L. COX | USA TODAY SPORTS

NHL

FOOTBALL

GREGORY J. FISHER | USA TODAY SPORTS MICHAEL SHROYER | USA TODAY SPORTS

“I guess that is big-time auto racing, but it was a good day.”

Darrell “Bubba” Wallace on leading his first Cup race, at Bristol, but fading to 16th place.

KIRBY LEE | USA TODAY SPORTS

Former college coach Steve Spurrier said fellow former Gators quarterback, and current Mets’ minor leaguer, Tim Tebow would be welcome to join him on the Orlandobased team he will coach in the new Alliance of American Football league.

The AAF is set to launch in February 2019. Tebow is currently playing with Double-A Binghamton.

The Golden Knights are still the darlings of the NHL, winning the first three playoff games in team history to jump out to a 3-0 lead against the Los Angeles Kings in their first-round playoff matchup. Vegas won the Pacific Division with a 51-24-7 record in its first season as an expansion team. The Golden Knights had the chance to close out the series Tuesday night in L.A.

MLB

MLB

406 Feet, the distance of a broken-bat home run by Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper on Monday, his MLBleading eighth of the season. Harper also led the majors in RBI (17), runs (17), OPS (1.265) and walks (21) through Monday’s games.

NICK TURCHIARO | USA TODAY SPORTS

The Toronto Blue Jays postponed Monday’s game against the Kansas City Royals after falling ice from the CN Tower damaged the roof of Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays said they were working to repair damage to the roof. Images on Twitter showed a hole in the roof over right field, along with tarps set up on the field to catch dripping water.

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North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

B3

NCAA rules certification test a daunting challenge Coaches must pass a test before being allowed to recruit

ECU ATHLETICS PHOTO | ROB GOLDBERG JR.

ECU junior Chris Holba throws a pitch during a game earlier this season.

Pirates baseball back on top After a disastrous 2017, ECU has returned to form

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal GREENVILLE — Baseball has a way of evening things out.

For every blistering line drive scorched right at a fielder, there’s a ground ball with eyes that finds a way to sneak through for a base hit. For every perfectly placed fastball on the outside corner that gets sent into the seats for a home run, there’s a hanging curve that fools the hitter into swinging and missing.

And for each season in which everything that can possibly go wrong does go wrong, there will eventually be another in which all the breaks seem to fall the right way.

East Carolina had one of those nightmare experiences in 2017. It was a comedy of errors marred by injuries to several key players and a 10-game losing streak to start the American Athletic Conference schedule that ultimately cost the preseason league favorites a trip to the NCAA tournament.

But instead of waiting for the baseball gods to bring things full circle and reward them with good fortune, the Pirates have gone out and made their own luck by using last season’s disappointment as the fuel for a quick rise back into the national polls.

“It’s been motivation for everybody that was a part of it,” coach Cliff Godwin said. “Last year was a fluke, and we knew it. But it made us better. When you go through what we went through last year, it makes you tougher.”

ECU gave an early glimpse of that newfound grit by winning two of three from in-state rival North Carolina, including a 12-0 whitewash of the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill in the decisive third

game.

The Pirates then bounced back from opening game losses to win each of its first two AAC series against conference heavyweights Central Florida and Wichita State, before winning four games in a five-day stretch — with a cross-country trip to Washington sandwiched in between.

Although ECU lost its first weekend series of the season to South Florida this week, dropping from No. 8 to No. 11 in the Baseball America national rankings, it headed into Tuesday’s showdown at the new No. 8, Duke, with a formidable 26-9 record.

“This team is just special,” said junior outfielder Dwanya Williams-Sutton, who is back in the lineup after missing 15 games with a wrist injury. “We just love the game and try to have fun. We have a bunch of confidence.”

As much confidence and motivation as the Pirates have going for them, there’s also plenty of talent to go around.

It’s anchored by a pitching staff featuring four strong arms all capable of being a featured Friday night starter.

Junior Chris Holba, who had his own nightmare in 2017 when he was hit in the face with a line drive, has been the best of the bunch at 8-0 with a 1.52 earned run average. But sophomores Tyler Smith, Trey Benton and Jake Agnos have been nearly as good while helping ECU rank among the nation’s ERA leaders.

“No matter who’s throwing, on any day of the week,” Holba said after going six strong innings in Friday’s 15-2 win against USF, “they’re going to give us a good chance to win.”

It doesn’t hurt that Godwin has put together a lineup so balanced and so strong that 11 different players contributed at least one hit to Friday’s 15-run, 17-hit outburst.

Leadoff man Bryant Packard

HORNETS from page B1 however, is a strong candidate with a winning pedigree.

Messina has coached on Gregg Popovich’s San Antonio staff since 2014, and Kupchak has already received permission from San Antonio to talk to him, according to ESPN. Messina also worked for a year with the Lakers, as a consultant. So he has ties to Kupchak.

He was one of the finalists for the Lakers job in 2016, when Kupchak hired Luke Walton.

Prior to his Lakers’ experience, Messina spent more than 20 years as a coach in Europe, winning the EuroLeague four times and winning coach of the year twice. He’s also won multiple titles in Italy and Russia.

At the moment, Messina hasn’t been mentioned as a candidate in any of the other ongoing coaching searches, so the Hornets may have the inside track. Of course, there’s also the possibility that Messina has his eye on the post-Popovich Spurs job.

David Fizdale Originally reported to be the “leading candidate” by Sirius/ XM’s NBA Radio, Fizdale is the

0 Playoff series wins since Charlotte returned as an NBA team in 2004

“Last year was a fluke, and we knew it. But it made us better.”

Cliff Godwin, ECU baseball coach has been the hottest of those hitters lately, leading the team with a .402 batting average bolstered by a 13-game hitting streak in which he’s hit seven homers and driven in 17 runs.

Packard is one of several sophomores that have taken over increased roles from this season and are carrying the Pirates to heights that their older teammates couldn’t a year ago. The group also includes catcher Jake Washer (.343, five homers, 20 RBI) and first baseman Spencer Brickhouse (.280, four homers, 23 RBI).

Juniors Brady Lloyd (.386), Williams-Sutton when he’s healthy (.325) and junior college transfer Connor Litton (.299, seven home runs) have also made major contributions to an offense that averages better than six runs per game.

“Last year we had captains,” Packard said. “But this year I think all 35 guys are captains because everybody is up in that leadership role and everybody has bought in.”

In doing so, the Pirates have created a loose but productive chemistry in which the players both encourage and challenge each other to produce a much more satisfying result than the disappointment of a year ago.

“We go out there every day and just compete at the plate,” Williams-Sutton said. “Our pitchers aren’t scared to dominate, and our defense has been phenomenal. We’ve become very resilient.

Hopefully that will take us a long way this year.”

“I need some answers. Feels like my man was a fall guy,” James tweeted after the firing.

Fizdale will also have some high-profile teams in major cities flirting with him. He’s believed to be high on the Knicks’ list, and there were rumors as far back as January that the Lakers might part ways with Walton to bring him in.

Other candidates

only one of the top three candidates with NBA head coaching experience.

That experience could be a red flag for future jobs, however, including the one in Charlotte.

Fizdale led the Memphis Grizzlies to the playoffs in 2016-17, his first year on the job, but he was fired 19 games into this season, following a controversial benching of Marc Gasol. The conflict quickly devolved into a “him or me” situation, and the team went with the star player.

Fizdale showed little trouble dealing with elite NBA players during his career as an assistant coach, which included two NBA titles in Miami with LeBron James, who came to his defense after the November firing.

Stephen Silas is a familiar name. He’s been an assistant with the team since 2010, and his father Paul coached the team for parts of two seasons. The younger Silas stepped in as interim coach when Clifford took a health-related leave in December, going 9-12 in a little over a month.

That familiarity may be a drawback, however, as Kupchak’s sweeping changes imply he wouldn’t want to move up an assistant and continue in a similar direction.

Former NBA coaches Jason Kidd, Monty Williams, Frank Vogel, David Blatt and Mike Woodson are all available. Thus far, none have surfaced as being high on the Hornets’ list at this point.

covered college sports for years, including high-profile NCAA investigations. I’m familiar with the major regulations regarding recruiting — phone call limits, official and unofficial visits, you name

By Shawn Krest it. I knew that team media guides North State Journal were all exactly 208 pages, beLET’S SAY a five-star high cause, for some reason, the NCAA school point guard grew up hear- put a limit on the page count.

There was a one-hour time liming stories about Dean Smith. So, when he takes his unofficial visit it to complete 30 multiple choice to UNC, and his host, Luke Maye, questions, and a passing score was asks him what he’d like for lunch, 80 percent. How hard could it be?

The short answer: Absolute he answers without hesitation: “I want a grilled cheese from Mer- carnage. I took the all-sports test first, and I scored a 63. In addition ritt’s!”

The mom-and-pop restau- to the one-mile grilled cheese rule rant, located just off campus, was and the Fayetteville airport violaSmith’s favorite, and he frequently tion, I mistakenly thought that regave staff members his car keys to cruits couldn’t make an unofficial visit to a campus during a dead pepick him up a grilled cheese.

Maye and the recruit can’t go riod. It seemed to be one of the prithere, however — not on an official mary definitions of a dead period. visit. It would be an NCAA viola- A recruit can visit, however, if he tion — but not for any of the rea- or she is already committed to the sons that might come immediately school — a designation I thought to mind. The recruit is allowed to was meaningless, except to rego to lunch while on a visit, as long cruiting websites.

I also didn’t know that limits on as he pays. He’s even allowed to be accompanied by a current player the number of times coaches could call recruits went away after the on the team. recruit committed.

No, the problem with I remembered Coach this scenario is the locaK committing a minor tion. Merritt’s is located about 1.6 miles from It’s painfully violation when he talked to Alex Poythress at the UNC campus, and easy to the wrong time during NCAA bylaws 13.1.2.5 a summer tournament, and 13.7.4 clearly spell commit a but it turned out I had no out the requirements — violation idea when the right time prospects can go off camsimply by to talk to him would have pus on an unofficial visit, been. but only within a one- overlooking So I decided to fomile radius. On an offi- an obscure cus on just one sport, cial visit, they can stray rule, or by instead of trying to get as much as 30 miles off relying on certified in all of them. campus.

Surely, I’d do better Try another one: An common on the football-specifincoming wide receiver sense. ic exam, or the basketfrom Las Vegas calls the ball-specific one.

NC State football office I scored a 56 percent on footshortly before freshman orientation with a change in plans. Plane ball. After reviewing my right and flights into Fayetteville’s airport wrong answers to the first two are about $200 cheaper than if he tests (a practice that the directions flies into RDU. So, can the car the specifically forbid), I did much school was going to send to pick better on the basketball one — a him up please come to that air- still-failing 76 percent.

I didn’t know that the spring port, instead?

It can’t. That would be a viola- evaluation period was 168 days, tion of bylaw 13.5.4, which limits which is more than five months — schools to picking up student-ath- far longer than any spring I’ve ever letes from the nearest major air- seen.

“Can a school arrange employport, train or bus station.

How about this one: A foot- ment for a recruited prospective ball recruit on an unofficial visit to student within the athletic deDuke requests three tickets to an partment ticket office?” Well, that early-season basketball game be- one’s a layup. Athletes can’t have jobs anywhere, period. And clearing played that same day.

Not a problem. Players on unof- ly, working FOR the athletic deficial visits can request up to three partment would be outlawed.

Well, actually, according to bycomplimentary tickets to any home athletics contest, according law 13.2.4.3, they can do that.

I didn’t know that recruits on to bylaw 13.7.2.2.

Confusing? Very. That’s why ev- visits could get extra tickets for ery coach and assistant is required stepdads and stepmoms if their to pass a certification test on parents were divorced, a fair, athNCAA regulations before they’re lete-centered rule that makes allowed to recruit off campus. The sense. Also, coaches are prohibittimed, multiple-choice test is ad- ed from attending all-star games, ministered by the school’s compli- a rule that doesn’t.

This doesn’t mean a premature ance staff and overseen by the conference. There are separate tests end to my coaching career, howevfor prospective coaches in football, er. I can still make phone calls to recruits. I just am not allowed to basketball and all other sports.

There’s a lot to learn. The test recruit off campus.

The tests show that the NCAA outline provided as part of the prep materials is nine pages long rulebook is confusing and contraand includes 150 separate bullet dictory, with rules covering the points, referring to various bylaws, type of paper used for handwritcovering everything from when a ten letters, parking spots for parcoach allowed to speak to a re- ents and when coaches can atcruit at a summer tournament — tend funerals for a recruit’s family not until his final game is complet- member.

It’s painfully easy to commit a ed — to whether the team can set aside a parking spot for a recruit violation simply by overlooking an obscure rule, or by relying on comon an unofficial visit — nope.

To help prospective recruiters mon sense.

It’s also painfully difficult to prepare, the NCAA provides practice exams online, and, for some pass the certification test, unless reason, they allow just anyone to you’re very familiar with the dos and don’ts of your prospective job, take them.

It’s always good to have a fall- meaning a more skeptical view of back career, so I decided to take the intentions behind violations, the tests — all three of them. I’ve even minor ones.

STEVEN BRANSCOMBE | USA TODAY SPORTS

In 38 years at Duke, coach Mike Krzyzewski has had to navigate complex — and often contradictory — NCAA regulations.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

B4

Aho’s future key to Hurricanes’ offseason Whether the third-year pro is ready to be the team’s top center will determine Carolina’s decisions this summer

By Cory Lavalette North State Journal RALEIGH — There are plenty of changes coming to the Carolina Hurricanes this offseason: the team needs to hire a new general manager, perhaps a new coach, and has promised to make changes to its roster.

The first two items will likely affect the third, but it’s still worth assessing where the Hurricanes stand with their roster and how the offseason could unfold based on those needs.

Center Carolina’s No. 1 need — really ever since Eric Staal’s production tailed off in his final couple years in Raleigh — is a top-flight center. The biggest question is if that player is already on the roster.

Sebastian Aho played most of the season at left wing and led the team in goals (29) and points (65), but coach Bill Peters and his teammates believe Aho can transition to the middle and be successful. The biggest concern is Aho’s size — he’s listed at 5-foot11, 172 pounds — but he makes up for that with his competitiveness and on-ice intelligence.

Making Aho the top center does cause a logjam in the middle. Jordan Staal is an ideal shutdown pivot, leaving one other spot in the top nine for a center.

Victor Rask has four years and $16 million left on his contract and could be a candidate to be moved, but just had his second shoulder surgery in three years and is coming off a down season — meaning the return would be

minimal or even detrimental.

Elias Lindholm played much of the end of the season at center, but if Rask stays he seems destined to be a right wing. Lucas Wallmark is a candidate as fourth-line center, as is promising 2017 first-rounder Martin Necas, who could creep into the top nine. It’s hard to see a place in the middle for UFA Derek Ryan or Marcus Kruger (one year left on his deal, but currently buried in Charlotte) without a major shakeup in this group.

Right wing Teuvo Teravainen will likely be tethered to Aho, and Justin Williams seemed to fit on Staal’s right wing with Brock McGinn in a shutdown role at the end of the season. As previously mentioned, Lindholm — a restricted free agent — fits in here as the roster is currently constructed, but a deal involving him or Rask could make right wing or center a priority on the trade market.

Certainly there is an opportunity to add some fourth-line snarl here, perhaps a center/right wing to play 10-12 minutes and kill penalties. Don’t rule out Ryan returning, but Lee Stempniak is unlikely to be back.

EVAN HABEEB | USA TODAY SPORTS

Whether or not Sebastian Aho is deemed ready to be the team’s top center will determine many of the moves the Hurricanes try to make this offseason.

3

Left wing Where Aho fits is certainly important here. If he plays in the middle, that opens up space for a young player or new face. Valentin Zykov has the inside track on a spot, and Warren Foegele isn’t far behind. Both Janne Kuokkanen and Aleksi Saarela will battle for a spot in camp, too. McGinn is really the only lock to start the season at left wing.

Most interesting is the future of Jeff Skinner, who enters the final year of his contract and could be among those due for a “change of scenery,” as owner Tom Dun-

Unrestricted free agents on Carolina’s roster: Goalie Cam Ward, and forwards Derek Ryan and Lee Stempniak. don put it. If he’s back, he’s in the top nine. If he’s traded, the team will surely be looking for a big return.

Joakim Nordstrom is one of

Peters’ favorites, so his future (he’s an RFA) could hinge on the coach’s status. Phil Di Giuseppe, also an RFA, had a good end to the season but is a fringe NHLer that could stay or go.

Defense Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce are sure things. Everything else is up for discussion. Justin Faulk had a down season and could be offered up as trade bait — Toronto? — and Noah Hanifin is due a new contract that could lead to friction on what kind of deal he wants and deserves.

Trevor van Riemsdyk was a suitable sixth defender, but is also an RFA like Hanifin and, when paired with Haydn Fleury, doesn’t

NC State chancellor Woodson responds to FBI allegations

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal

School confirms Dennis Smith Jr. is the basketball player in question mentioned in the FBI indictment.

NC State chancellor Randy Woodson has issued a statement in response to allegations against his school’s men’s basketball program as part of a federal indictment handed down by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York last week.

The indictment against sports agent Christian Dawkins and Adidas executives James Gatto and Merl Code charged that the shoe company provided a payment of “approximately $40,000” through an unnamed Wolfpack coach to the father of an unnamed player to convince that player to honor his commitment to attend State.

Woodson’s statement identifies that player as Dennis Smith Jr., who was drafted in the first round by the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks after just one college season.

The chancellor also provided a detailed timeline of State’s involvement in the FBI investigation into college basketball recruiting corruption while maintaining that the payment to Smith “was designed to be concealed from both the NCAA and officials at NC State.”

Woodson added that State is “fully cooperating” with both federal officials and the NCAA. But while the U.S. Attorney’s Office has “adamantly requested” that State keep details of the investigation confidential, Woodson has decided to reveal certain information about the case in the interest of transparency and to show that the university has worked “responsibility and proactively” in search of the truth.

“Given the details released by the Southern District of New York last week, and the information previously made public,” Woodson wrote, “we feel we can now provide our community more specifics about NC State’s involvement without jeopardizing the investigation.”

According to the timeline provided by Woodson, State officials first made contact with federal authorities last September, after a series of arrests were made against people represent-

CHRISTINE T. NGUYEN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL | FILE

Guard Dennis Smith Jr., at the center of NC State’s involvement in the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball, was recruited by former coach Mark Gottfried. ing Adidas, several college basketball programs and top recruiting prospects.

Although the Wolfpack was not mentioned in the original indictments, State’s sponsorship agreement with Adidas led the school’s general counsel and office of athletic compliance “to err on the side of caution” by proactively contacting former coach Mark Gottfried and members of his staff about the case.

All denied having any knowledge of or involvement in the FBI investigation.

About a month later, though, State’s general counsel spoke with a registered sports agent from Wilmington who indicated that Smith may have been influenced to play for the Wolfpack

by Adidas through a payment to the player’s father.

State subsequently informed the FBI of the allegation, which led to the university receiving a subpoena to provide records pertaining to the case. The subpoe-

na was issued on Jan. 16. State publicly acknowledged it on March 16 under the North Carolina Public Records Act. The superseding indictment against Dawkins, Gatto and Code was issued last Tuesday.

While Woodson has stated and the indictment has confirmed that no one in State’s athletic administration had knowledge of the payment to Smith, that might not be enough to protect the Wolfpack from potential NCAA sanctions, since a former coach is directly involved.

Woodson praised athletic director Debbie Yow for her emphasis on following NCAA rules and State’s compliance office for acting “proactively, ethically and responsible” in reporting the information it received to the FBI, adding that the school would “have no tolerance for those who would choose to damage the reputation of this great university.”

offer much offense. One of them could be replaced with an offensive-minded blueliner — perhaps even former first-round pick Jake Bean — or a more physical defenseman. Klas Dahlbeck, also an RFA, is a suitable No. 7 guy.

Goalie Scott Darling will stay in Raleigh this offseason to work with strength coach Bill Burniston, a good indication the Hurricanes will give the high-priced goalie a shot at redemption. Cam Ward also wants to be back, but it’s hard to imagine the team returning with the same two goalies after another year of struggles in net.

Would someone like UFA Carter Hutton be an upgrade?

STREET from page B1 “He now falls somewhere on Day 3, maybe you’re looking at the fifth round,” NFL Network analyst Bucky Brooks said. “He may lose two rounds of compensation just because he worked out privately and got hurt. Tough break.”

Tough, but not insurmountable.

Doeren reminded Street of his still unlimited potential by telling him the story of another former player who suffered a serious knee injury in the lead-up to the 2010 draft.

O’Brien Schofield, who played for Wisconsin while Doeren was there as an assistant, tore his ACL while practicing for the Senior Bowl. He was eventually taken in the fourth round by the Arizona Cardinals and played seven NFL seasons with three teams, winning a Super Bowl ring as a member of the Seattle Seahawks in 2013.

“This isn’t going to be the way you want to enter the league, but you’re going to enter the league,” Doeren said he told Street. “You can stay as long as you can stay, as long you take care of business.”

Street’s former NC State teammate Darian Roseboro has no doubt that Street will do just that.

“I talked to him and told him that it’s just adversity and he’s going to come back better than ever,” said Roseboro, who decided to return for his senior season with the Wolfpack rather than joining fellow defensive linemen Street, Chubb, Justin Jones and B.J. Hill in the draft. “You’ve just got to trust the process.”

It’s a process that took a major step forward on Tuesday, when Street underwent surgery to repair the damage to his knee. Noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews performed the procedure at his Sports Medicine Institute in Pensacola, Fla. “It looks like everything is going to be good to go,” Street’s agent, Tony Paige, said. “He’s going to be fine. He’s a really sharp, smart, good-hearted young man who understands that this is out of his control.”

Although disappointed about having his NFL dream deferred, Roseboro said that his former Wolfpack teammate has remained positive about his situation and the rehab work he has ahead of him during the coming months.

“He’s handling it really well,” Roseboro said of Street. “He’s always been a high-spirited guy.

He’s looking forward to getting back to where he was.”

“It crushes my heart for that kid. We feel for him and we’re praying for him.”

Dave Doeren, NC State coach

the good life

WEDNESDAY

4.18.18

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IN A NORTH STATE OF MIND

N.C. Azalea Festival | Wilmington

April 18-22 Carolina Cup Paddle Racea Blockade Runner Resort, Wrightsville Beach

NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Take part in the opening weekend of SUP season at one of the largest paddleboard races in the world.

See more than 800 athletes compete in races like the Harbor Island Recreational Fun Race, the Money Island Open Race and the Elite Graveyard Race. Visit the Wrightsville Beach Paddle Club online for registration and info.

April 19-22 48th Annual Grifton Shad Festival Queen Street, Grifton

NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Discover Pitt County’s oldest community festival in the official Shad Capital of North Carolina.

The Grifton Shad Festival features carnival rides, clogging, magic shows, live entertainment, dancing, food and much more.

Visit the Grifton Shad Festival online for a full schedule of events.

April 20-22 Cider, Wine and Dine Weekend Hendersonville

Left, Beth Troutmanm 2018 Azalea Festival Queen, receives the crown. Top right, Secretary of Cultural and Natural Resources Susi Hamilton and N.C. First Lady Kristin Cooper attend the Airlie Garden Party. Middle right, Brandy Foreman, of Manteo and Beth Robbins, of Asheboro, attend the Garden Party. Bottom right, Summerall Guards of The Citadel stand in formation at Airlie Gardens.

Taste a unique variety of ciders, wines and foods from across seven scenic venues in Hendersonville.

The weekend features educational programs, tours and music. Go to VisitHendersonvilleNC.org for event times and locations.

A salute to spring

Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe 53rd Pow-Wow Haliwa Saponi Trail, Hollister

PHOTOS BY N.C. AZALEA FESTIVAL | BLUEBERRY CREATIVE

By NSJ Staff WILMINGTON — The 2018 N.C. Azalea Festival came to a close on Sunday, and visitors to Wilmington likely traveled home with tired feet and the beginnings of their summer tan. The annual event, which celebrated its 71st year, kicked of on Wednesday and attendees walked, dance, and paraded their way through the Port City for five days of street festivals, garden parties, concerts, home tours and food.

While the official numbers for the festival are always an estimate due to the open environment and numerous nonticketed events, festival Executive Director Alison English said the festival was well attended.

“The street fair has never been that busy in the last 25 years,” said English.

“The weather helped with that, it was gorgeous.”

The festival, which has a mission of promoting tourism and economic growth for Wilmington, features signature events each day and top-notch concerts. This year, English said that concerts — featuring country singer Billy Currington, rock band 38 Special and rapper Ludacris — drew almost 6,000 to each show.

The Airlie Garden Party — considered by many to be the signature event of the entire festival — was brimming with around 2,900 guests. The event is a spectacle of Southern hospitality, food and spring style, and features Old North State VIPs and eastern N.C. barbecue from Bill’s Barbecue in Wilson. This year, special guests included the Azalea Queen, Cabarrus County native and TV personality Beth Troutman, N.C. first lady Kristin Cooper, Miss North Carolina 2018 Victoria Huggins, blogger and eastern N.C. native Adrian H. Wood, and Secretary of Cultural and Natural Resources Susi Hamilton.

The Garden Party opened with the arrival of Troutman, who was saluted by the Summerall Guards, the premier drill unit of The Citadel. The guards, dressed in their formal “salt and pepper” dress uniforms, performed their “Citadel Series” close-order drill to a silent cadence.

Troutman, who began her official duties on Wednesday, was the star of the party.

“She was amazing. So humble and excited and proud,” said English of Troutman. “We look to somebody who is a role model and who has a history that can be shared with the community.”

Following the opening, cadets from the Virginia Military Institute escorted the eight members of the Queen’s Court – young ladies selected by the Azalea Festival to represent the entire state — into Airlie Gardens.

According to English, the business aspects of the festival were as good as the weather.

“Sponsorships were up this year,” she said. “We had a lot of great support from corporate and community partners.”

According to a 2011 study conducted

by UNCW, the Azalea Festival has a $50 million impact on the Wilmington economy. However, English says that number now sits an estimated $70 million due to the growth of the festival’s offerings, including the concerts which have doubled in size since the 2011 study.

The festival is known for long-running events like the Garden Party and street fair, but also has lesser-known events that have been a part of the festival for decades.

That includes a boxing competition, organized by Port City Boxing and supported by the festival, that draws from seven states and awards youth and adult contestants with belts and medals for their feats.

This year’s festival also had several news additions.

“We added an event before the coronation called the Queen’s Tea,” said English.

“This gave people an opportunity to have a more intimate setting with the queen. The queen’s court and Miss North Carolina attended, and it provided a smaller, more low-key setting.”

Eyecare provider Wilmington Eye sponsored a new children’s area focused on engagement with attendees. UNCW’s Marine Quest was there to demonstrate underwater robotics. Mike from Monsters Inc. was on hand to interact with kids. Colgate offered dental screenings, Wilmington Eye provided free eye exams, and N.C.-based grocer Lowe’s Food handed out free healthy snacks.

“Kids had fun and the health screenings for the community at large,” said English.

English, who started working for the festival 13 years ago as office manager and took over the director duties three years ago, said she and the festival staff took a day off on Monday to recover from the marathon week and were back at work Tuesday wrapping up loose ends and beginning the planning for next year’s festival.

NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Join members of the HaliwaSaponi Indian tribe as they celebrate 53 years of recognition by the North Carolina General Assembly with a ceremonial Pow-Wow. The Pow-Wow includes dance, drum and art contests, and traditional American-Indian food and crafts. Tickets are $8.

Rural Hill Scottish Festival & Loch Norman Highland Games Historic Rural Hill, Huntersville

NORTH STATEJOURNAL

Shy’heim “Shy Money” Ashford, of Goldsboro, celebrates with his belt after winning his 65 pound bout at the N.C. Azlea Festival.

Celebrate Scottish heritage at the Scottish Festival and Loch Norman Highland Games in Rural Hill. The festival features bagpipe bands, Scottish dancing, battle axe throwing, genealogy searches and more. Visit the Rural Hill Scottish Festivals online for a schedule.

April 21 Blue & Brews: A Festival at The Farm Malcolm Blue Farm, Aberdeen Spend a day at the farm and enjoy live bluegrass performances

by Tommy Edwards Bluegrass Experience, Unspoken Tradition, Time Sawyer and Songs From The Road Band. A variety of beer, cider and food will be available for purchase. Admission is $5.

RockyFest 2018 Rocky Face Park, Hiddenite

N.C. AZALEA FESTIVAL | BLUEBERRY CREATIVE

The Azalea Festival Queen Beth Troutman cuts the ribbon to offically start the festival.

Enjoy the sixth annual RockyFest featuring activities like free rock climbing and rappelling sessions, trail races, food, and children’s arts and crafts. Hear live musical performances by Gap Civil, Spencer Branch, Cane Mill Road and Crooked Road Ramblers.

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North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

NeCessities! history marked April 18, 1927

Asheville launching pad for the “Singing Brakeman,” Jimmie Rodgers Jimmie Rodgers — one of country music’s first superstars — got his big break on Asheville radio station WWNC. Born in 1897 near Meridian, Miss., James Charles Rodgers liked to yodel and won an amateur talent contest at age 13. That same year he became a railroad water boy. In March 1927, Rodgers moved to Asheville, working as a railway brakeman and doing other jobs until he and friend Otis Kuykendall began performing live weekly on WWNC. The duo soon added other musicians and billed themselves as the Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers. In August 1927, Victor Records recorded Rodgers doing two songs. One, “The Soldier’s Sweetheart,” became an instant hit. Another hit, “Blue Yodel,” quickly followed. By 1929, Rodgers was a star. He appeared in a short film, “The Singing Brakeman”; toured the Midwest with humorist Will Rogers; and recorded with a young trumpeter, Louis Armstrong.

By the time he returned to Asheville in December 1929, the “Father of Country Music” had been living with tuberculosis for five years. He died in 1933. In 1961, Rodgers became the first performer inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. A state highway historical marker in downtown Asheville also honors him.

April 20, 1898

Hydroelectric power introduced The Fries Manufacturing and Power Company transmitted electrical power 13 miles from the generating plant to the Fries-owned Arista textile mill. The transmission, which originated near the Yadkin River bridge west of Clemmons in Forsyth County, was North Carolina’s first long-distance transmission of electricity.

Long interested in the use of electricity to power industrial machinery, Henry Fries of Salem founded the company to harness the hydroelectric capability of the river.

Construction on the power plant began in 1897, and it soon became known as Idol’s Hydroelectric Station, after a ferry that was once located on the same site. The dam built for the station was 482-feet long and the reservoir covered about 35 acres. The flow of the dam generated about 2,500 horsepower. The station later provided power for other textile and grain mills, fertilizer plants, the Winston-Salem electric railway, electric street lights, and wood and metal working shops in Winston-Salem.

Fries sold his power company in 1913 to Southern Public Utility Company, which was purchased by Duke Power in 1914. Duke Power, now Duke Energy, operated the Idols station until 1996. The station burned two years later.

April 20, 1971

The beginnings of busing The Supreme Court issued its opinion in the Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education case, allowing for school desegregation by busing. In 1965, attorney Julius L. Chambers filed suit on behalf of 10 pairs of African-American parents who contended that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education’s assignment plan did not sufficiently eliminate the inequalities of the formerly segregated system.

The board tried to redo the assignment plan, but the plaintiffs argued decades of discrimination could only be undone through extensive busing. Federal District Court Judge James B. McMillan agreed.

Disagreements between the board and McMillan on the specifics of the plan landed the case in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which reaffirmed McMillian’s decision with qualifications. The school board and plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which unanimously reaffirmed the ruling in April 1971. Though initially quite divisive in the community, many Mecklenburg residents eventually began to take pride in their new schools, and some observers have linked the city’s growth and prosperity in the 1980s to the school board’s continued commitment to full integration.

LAUREN ROSE | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Former Chief Justice Sarah Parker, Associate Justice Robin E. Hudson and former Associate Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson are honored at the Women Justices of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, on April 10.

Celebrating legal pioneers

By NSJ Staff RALEIGH — The Supreme Court of North Carolina held a ceremony last week in honor of the women justices who have served on the state’s highest court.

This commemorative session was the second official event to be held as a part of the Supreme Court’s 200th anniversary celebration.

The event featured a portrait sitting of the justices and a short program honoring former Chief Justice Susie Sharp, former Chief Justice Rhoda Billings, former Chief Justice Sarah

Parker, former Associate Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson, Associate Justice Robin E. Hudson, Associate Justice Barbara Jackson and Associate Justice Cheri Beasley.

“Every member who has served on this court is important and highly valued,” said Chief Justice Mark Martin.

“Today, we recognize the superb contributions that this court’s women justices have made and continue to make to our state’s jurisprudence and to the rule of law. Their wisdom and insight have benefitted this court and all North Carolinians.”

Speakers included Martin, Court of Appeals Chief Judge Linda M. McGee, former Associate Justice Franklin Freeman, Raleigh attorneys Renee Crawford, Catharine Arrowood and Denaa Griffin, Greensboro attorney Janet Ward Black, Judge Donna Stroud, eastern N.C. attorney Jenny Leisten and Hudson.

The Supreme Court will continue celebrating its 200th Anniversary as it begins traveling court sessions in May in Morganton, Hendersonville and Asheville. Later in the year, the court will hold sessions in Halifax, Greenville and New Bern.

Changes to travel loyalty programs at Marriott, Starwood and Ritz-Carlton

By NSJ Staff RALEIGH — Marriott International unveiled the next step in the gradual merger of three major hotel and travel rewards programs on Monday. In late 2016, Marriott and Starwood announced a reciprocity agreement where travelers could transfer hotel loyalty points between to the two hotel chains.

On Monday, the two major chains combined with luxe brand Ritz-Carlton to announce a full merger of Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) and Ritz-Carlton Rewards.

Starting in August, there will be a single points and priority system for the three brands. This new combined program will allow members to book stays and earn points among 29 hotel brands comprised of 6,500 properties in 127 countries and territories.

Marriott made the announcement at a flashy presentation in the same style as Apple’s customary product launch events. Michele Tafoya of NBC Sunday Night Football opened the event and discussed her own experiences with the Marriott brand. She said she enjoys properties “from Manhattan to Manhattan Beach,” but has also enjoyed the hotelier’s accessibility internationally.

She spoke of a trip to Colombia where she adopted a child saying, “there are Marriotts all over Bogata.”

Tafoya gave way to David Flueck, senior vice president of global loyalty for Marriott, who played the rest of the event in the style of Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“We listened to the travel aspirations of our members,” said Flueck, “and set our sights on unlocking the full potential of our loyalty programs.”

Another significant change in the programs is the calculation of elite status —

COURTESY PHOTO

A Marriott hotel in Glasgow is pictures. an important element that is tracked by frequent business travelers who are rewarded with special perks for their loyalty. Under the combine program, 25 nights will qualify members for “Gold” status, down from the current 50-night threshold. Platinum status will be attained at 50 nights, and a new Platinum Premier level is unlocked at 75 nights.

Previously Platinum status was awarded at 75 nights.

Members will also be able to book at all 6,500 properties regardless of whether they use Marriott, SPG or Ritz-Carlton websites and apps. Flueck indicated that the complete merger of the programs into a single named enti-

ty was yet to be completed, but the benefits were ready now. The 6,500 hotels and more than 1 million rooms of the combined Marriott-Starwood bloc represents the largest number of hotel properties worldwide followed by InterContinental Hotels at more than 5,000 hotels and Hilton with around 4,500 properties.

North Carolina is home to a full portfolio of hotels from Marriott and Starwood, including some of the top brands for both chains such as Renaissance, Aloft, Westin, AC Hotels, and the full-service flagships Marriott and Sheraton. The state is home to just one Ritz-Carlton, in Charlotte.

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

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entertainment

Netflix programming binge pays off with subscriber surge Netflix’s blitz of original programs attracted a surprisingly high 7.4 million new customers from January to March, reassuring investors who are betting the video-streaming pioneer’s massive spending will fuel growth around the world.

New shows like “Altered Carbon” and “O Mecanismo” helped Netflix smash analysts’ subscriber estimates, and its betterthan-expected second-quarter outlook soothed concerns about competition from Apple and Amazon.com.

‘Westworld’ Season 2 on HBO

By Maureen Ryan Variety LOS ANGELES — Like any self-respecting piece of tech, “Westworld” is always trying to upgrade itself. The good news is, several glitches and structural issues have been corrected and modestly improved in “Westworld 2.0.”

The operating system is smoother, but the drama’s most insistent claim — or aspiration — is that it has achieved full sentience, or at least a modicum of arresting originality.

That remains to be seen; like an AI that hasn’t quite mastered the messy, glorious, contradictory qualities necessary to being human, this drama’s reach has consistently exceeded its grasp on a thematic and emotional level. “Westworld” is actually at its best when it is less intent on importance and attempts to simply entertain. It’s essentially an action-adventure serial, and few shows on TV look as spectacular: A ragtag band of rebels galloping across a Western plain is a glorious sight, and other set pieces are elegantly and efficiently rendered as well.

On a story level, however, it has a tendency to take on too much and hint too broadly at solutions to puzzles that don’t seem worth the effort it takes to solve them.

Jimmi Simpson and Ed Harris are both spellbinding performers, but the transformation of William into the Man in Black, which is clearly meant to be a key foundational journey, has derivative elements and is only intermittently interesting (though a subplot involving guest star Peter Mullan is often sensational).

All that said, TV fans who enjoy excellent performances woven into sci-fi pastiches executed on a visually ambitious scale are likely to continue to find “Westworld” quite watchable. It’s not the cutting-edge hybrid it clearly wants to be, at least not yet, in part because it still wanders between stolid romanticism and cynical (and very familiar) observations about memory, power and technology. If some of the characters and story elements serve perfunctory purposes, “Westworld’s” attempts to build and explore a lushly dystopian mythology improve on the convoluted efforts of the first season.

If not a cutting-edge hybrid, it is still a mix, of course: If you

Broadway’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ may be scrapped in legal flap

PHOTOS COURTESY OF HBO

Ed Harris and N.C. native Evan Rachel Wood star in HBO’s Westworld. squint at certain moments, you can almost see the gates of Mordor or pennants waving over Winterfell. Even more than it was in its first season, “Westworld” is a fairly credible (and expensive) approximation of “Game of Thrones,” with a bits and pieces of “Lord of the Rings,” “Terminator” and “Star Wars” thrown (throne?) in for good measure.

The upgrades a few robotic hosts have received have more or less turned them into mystically powerful Jedi warriors, and in one case, a host has evolved into a “witch” (one episode depicts what amounts to Galadriel in Edo period Japan, which is actually a pretty cool idea for an hour of TV).

Scattered throughout Season 2’s arcs — which at times play as if a curious robot with pretty good taste was taking a random-access spin through genre history — are a number of good and great performances. Jeffrey Wright gives real pathos and poetry to the predicament of Bernard, whose memory has been fractured in ways that make his quest to survive difficult. In Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton, “Westworld” has two mesmerizing female leads who can find multiple levels and psychological resonance in every line and gesture. (That said,

Carl Icahn sells Tropicana casinos in $1.85B deal

By Ankit Ajmera Reuters NEW YORK — Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is cashing out of casino business Tropicana Entertainment in a $1.85 billion deal that will see Eldorado Resorts picking up Tropicana’s casino operations including its crown jewel in Atlantic City, N.J. Under the deal announced on Monday, six of the eight casino

properties run by Tropicana will be sold by Icahn Enterprises to real estate investment trust Gaming and Leisure Properties for $1.21 billion.

The casino operations will be taken over by Eldorado, which will pay the remaining $640 million and lease the properties from GLPI for an initial 15-year period.

Eldorado’s shares jumped as much as 21 percent to an all-time high of $43.15, while those of

both have been saddled with fairly boring significant others; “Westworld” has not yet found a central romance that works.)

Everywhere the humans and hosts go, they must step over dead bodies that belong to customers of the “Westworld” park (which will presumably be issuing refunds, if not facing many lawsuits). Hosts who were programmed to keep the vacationers happy are also dying by the score. As the second season begins in lumbering fashion — if you can get up to speed without repeatedly referring to the show’s Wikipedia page, you are probably a robot — the hosts have gone on a killing spree and wrought massive destruction on various “Westworld” locales. But this is a feature, not a bug: “Westworld” has taken its overall bombast level down a couple notches, but it’s still good at depicting bloody clashes.

How ironic, then, that one of the drama’s most winning conflicts is verbal and takes place between a showrunner and a performer. On screen, that is. Newton’s character, former sex worker Maeve, is often paired up in Season 2 with Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman), the story architect of various “Westworld” adventures. In a show full of earnest but conflict-

ing meta-narratives, the dialog between Maeve and Lee provides opportunities for “Westworld” to engage with the tropes of TV — which it by no means fully avoids — but also with the show’s critics.

Maeve dismisses the creator as a hack who can’t write women. He fires back that she doesn’t know how hard it is to create so many wide-ranging stories for tough corporate taskmasters.

Sizemore, a huge irritant in Season 1, is now reckoning with his own mistakes, and is willing to take notes from Maeve, who, at one point, makes him strip down until he’s fully nude. (If this isn’t conscious payback for the male gaze aspects of Season 1, I’ll eat my Stetson.) “Westworld” still has representation issues — the writers’ affection for Colonial fantasies designed for white people is highly questionable, and the show could do much more to deepen its portrayals of indigenous people and South Asian characters.

But the first half of this season — the Man in Black’s repetitive quest aside — largely tells the story of a black man, a black woman and a white woman seizing power from their oppressors. Whatever else may still need an upgrade, that take on the future certainly has its appeal.

Gaming and Leisure Properties were up 4.7 percent at $34.85. “(Tropicana Entertainment’s) assets are in very good shape.

Tropicana Atlantic City, Lumiere and Evansville all stand out as top-notch assets,” Union Gaming Research analyst John DeCree said.

The deal is the latest in a series of mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. gambling sector in recent years as companies expand their reach, diversify their businesses and take advantage of recent legalization of gaming in some states.

“We did not foresee any need for near-term capital investments of any scale across the properties,” Eldorado CEO Gary Carano said.

The addition of Tropicana’s “high quality” assets will allow Eldorado to save about $40 million in the first year following the

close of the deal later in 2018.

This is Icahn’s second major sale in as many weeks. Last week, he agreed to sell auto parts maker Federal-Mogul to Tenneco in a $5.4 billion deal, unloading an investment he has held for nearly two decades.

Icahn Enterprises said in its statement that the deal did not include Tropicana’s Aruba casino and resort in the Caribbean, which would be sold separately as a condition of closing the deal.

Reno-based Eldorado owns and operates 20 properties in 10 U.S. states, including Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The company, which bought Isle of Capri Casinos in a $1.7 billion deal in 2017, on Monday also agreed to acquire Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, Ill., for $327.5 million in cash.

The producers of a Broadway adaptation of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Monday sued the author’s estate saying the premiere cannot go ahead as scheduled and the production may have to be scrapped entirely unless a legal dispute is settled soon. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is set to officially open on Dec. 13 with previews beginning on Nov. 1 in New York. But a representative of Lee’s estate sued last month claiming Oscarwinning writer Aaron Sorkin’s script deviates too much from the beloved 1960 novel about race relations in the Depression-era South.

Country stars return to Vegas for ACM awards after 2017 mass shooting Singer Carrie Underwood returned to the stage on Sunday after a serious face injury as country stars went back to Las Vegas for the first time since a mass shooting there last October.

Opening the three-hour Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards show at a hotel less than a mile from the scene of the Oct. 1 shooting that killed 58 people and wounded more than 850, singer Jason Aldean paid tribute to the victims and invoked the healing power of music.

Kendrick Lamar becomes first rapper to win Pulitzer California rapper Kendrick Lamar on Monday became the first rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize for music, one of the most prestigious arts awards in the United States. Lamar, 30, won the Pulitzer for his 2017 album “DAMN.” and was also the first music winner in the 100-year history of the Pulitzers to come from outside of the world of classical or jazz.

2018 Rock Hall inductions It was a night of nostalgia, with an emphasis on “better late than never,” as rockers from Bon Jovi, the Cars, Dire Straits and the Moody Blues braved the wet cold of Cleveland on Saturday in the 33rd class inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Guitarist Richie Sambora reunited with front man Jon Bon Jovi on stage as the group that got its start in New Jersey in the early 1980s played stadium hits “You Give Love A Bad Name,” “It’s My Life” and “Livin’ on a Prayer” to cheering fans.

TAKE NOTICE RANDOLPH NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 18 SP 41 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Donald E. Craig and Jennifer J. Craig, (Donald E. Craig, deceased) to PRLAP, Inc., Trustee(s), dated the 11th day of March, 2009, and recorded in Book RE 2121, Page 385, in Randolph County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Randolph County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on April 24, 2018 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County

of Randolph, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Tract 9A of STEEPLECHASE SUBDIVISION, a map or plat of which is duly recorded in Plat Book 67, page 94 in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Randolph County, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 540 Chase Road, Thomasville, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by NCGS §7A-308(a) (1).

The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/ security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are

disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases.

Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale.

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy.

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including SingleFamily Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in

which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1232943 (FC.FAY) PUBLICATION DATES: April 11, 2018 and April 18, 2018

WAKE NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY PUBLICATION STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA WAKE COUNTY IN THE SUPERIOR COURT FILE NO. 17CVS13769 222 GLENWOOD, LLC V. INDIO RALEIGH, LLC, KETAN M. SHAH, DAVID CHANDRAKANT PANDORIA, CHELLAPPA MOHAMMED YASIN, SITA’S BLUE MANGO INDIAN CUISINE, LLC, RAJENDRAKUMAR R. PATEL, SEETA KHOSLA, and JAYESH C. PATEL: TAKE NOTICE that a Complaint seeking relief against INDIO RALEIGH, LLC and KETAN M. SHAH has been filed in the above-entitled action. The nature of the relief being sought is: Breach of Contract. You are required by law to make defense to such pleading within forty (40) days from the date of the first publication of this Notice. If you fail to do so, the party seeking service against you will apply to the Court for the relief sought therein. This is 18th day of April, 2018 by /s/ R. Daniel Boyce, Attorney, Nexsen Pruet, PLLC, 4141 Parklake Avenue, Suite 200, Raleigh, NC 27612.

PUBLICATION DATES: April 18, 2018; April 25, 2018; and May 2, 2018

North State Journal for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

B8

pen & paper pursuits comic relief

sudoku

SOLUTIONS FROM 04.18.18

Experience It All. All In One Place. #AllinOnePlace 50 Years of NC Arts Council in All 100 Counties State Parks and Recreation Areas North Carolina Aquariums Historic Sites North Carolina ZOO Museums of History, Art and Science Libraries and Archives North Carolina Symphony

dncr.nc.gov/AllinOnePlace

Happy New Year!

I wish you all the best in 2018 as you experience everything North Carolina has to offer.

Secretary Susi H. Hamilton

NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

NC DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES