North State Journal Vol. 9, Issue 12

what’s the about? BUZZ

the BRIEF this week

UNC Chapel Hill board slashes DEI funding

Chapel Hill

As the UNC System considers a vote on changing its diversity policy, UNC Chapel Hill voted Monday to cut funding for diversity programs in next year’s budget. At a special meeting to address the university’s budget, UNC’s Board of Trustees approved a change that would divert $2.3 million of diversity spending from state funds toward public safety and policing. The board’s vote would only impact UNC Chapel Hill’s diversity funding, which could result in the loss of its diversity o ce. UNC will join the ranks of other notable public universities that have stripped diversity spending, such as the University of Florida in Gainesville, which announced in a March memo it was reallocating funds to faculty recruitment. But unlike UF, which implemented its funding rollback after the state legislature passed a bill banning diversity program spending at state universities, UNC “set the tone” on funding cuts before North Carolina’s General Assembly intervened. The change would go into e ect at the start of the 2024-25 scal year on July 1. The budget, which includes the $2.3 million amendment, will next be submitted to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.

TVA pledges more transparency Nashville, Tenn. The nation’s largest public utility pledged to be more transparent after it took months to disclose that a general budget vote by its board last year also gave the CEO the nal decision over several proposed natural gas power plants. The Tennessee Valley Authority’s board announced the changes last week during its quarterly meeting. The decision followed an August meeting in which the board cast the budget vote that quietly gave President and CEO Je Lyash the nal say over the projects, including the replacement of the aging coal- red Kingston Fossil Plant with a natural gas plant. But advocates say those provisions wouldn’t be made known until several months later, when documents with speci c details were released.

TVA provides power for customers Avery, Burke, Cherokee, Clay, McDowell and Watauga counties in North Carolina.

Treasurer’s report alleges hospitals overcharged

serve and taxpayers like them.”

Sen. Budd gives hostages update after Israel visit

The N.C. Republican was part of a delegation that went to the Middle East

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

bined Joint Special Operations Task Force.

Budd said he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while in Israel and discussed hostage negotiations, military operations in Gaza and “combating anti-Semitism around the world.”

“It’s my view that the United States must fully support Israel as they increased military pressure on Hamas to release hostages, including eight Americans,” said Budd.

During the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the terror organization Hamas killed some 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages. Around 100 of those Markups on services were found to be as high as 1,120%

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — A recent report released by North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell highlighted a trend regarding alleged misuse of the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program by hospitals within the state.

“As I’ve said many times in the last few years, when it comes to health care costs and rising prescription drug cost, this is like an onion,” Folwell told reporters at the onset of the press conference. “The more we peel it, the more we cry. Unfortunately, the people who are crying are those that teach, protect and otherwise

The report, titled “North Carolina Hospitals: Extreme Price Markups, Failures in Transparency for Shoppable Hospital Services,” implies that rather than ful lling its intended purpose of aiding low-income and rural communities, the 340B Program has been manipulated by hospitals to pull in bigger pro ts.

The 340B Program, established to assist in serving disadvantaged populations, has grown to become one of the nation’s largest federal prescription drug programs. Under the program, hospitals receive signi cant discounts, averaging around 34.7%, on outpatient drugs from manufacturers.

During a May 8 press conference, Folwell said North Carolina hospitals are charging

RALEIGH — In a call with reporters on May 8, Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) recounted his recent trip to Israel as part of a congressional delegation to the Middle East. The trip included stops in Israel, Iraq, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. The congressional delegation also met with U.S. forces conducting operations in the region as well as receiving a brie ng from U.S. military special operations commanders of the Com-

Weatherman, Boliek win second

Hal Weatherman will face state Sen. Rachel Hunt in the race for lieutenant governor, while Dave Boliek will try to unseat State Auditor Jessica Holmes

North State Journal Sta

RALEIGH — Voters took to the polls for the May 14 second primary races to determine which candidates in certain statewide and local races would secure nominations heading into the November election.

Republican Hal Weatherman, the chief of sta for former Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, defeated Forsyth District Attorney Jim O’Neill in the lieutenant governor’s race.

Weatherman pulled in more than 74% of the vote, beating O’Neill by a nearly three-to-one margin. Weatherman will now face Democrat statehouse Sen. Rachel Hunt in November.

“Congratulations to Hal Weatherman on his win in tonight’s runo to become our nominee for Lieutenant Governor,” said NCGOP Chairman Ja-

son Simmons in a statement. “He is a strong candidate who will work seamlessly with our Council of State candidates to deliver for North Carolina families.”

During the March primary, Weatherman and O’Neill were the top vote-getters. Weatherman garnered 19.59% of the vote in the March primary and O’Neill brought in 15.84%.

Dave Boliek won his race to be the GOP’s nominee for state auditor. With more than 97% of precincts reporting, Boliek held a nearly 6-point lead over Jack Clark.

The March primary results were closer between Boliek — a member of the UNC Board of Trustees — and Clark, with vote percentages of 22.10% and 23.24% respectively.

In a post on his campaign’s Facebook page, Boliek thanked his wife and family and prepared for the general election.

“I’m honored and humbled that thousands of voters I’ve met as I campaigned across our great state trusted me to be the Republican nominee for State Auditor in 2024,” the post read. “For the next six months, we will continue to take our message of making North Carolina’s state

“I’m honored and humbled that thousands of voters I’ve met as I campaigned across our great state trusted me to be the Republican nominee for State Auditor in 2024.”

Dave Boliek’s campaign following his win Tuesday

government e ective, e cient, and accountable to taxpayers to every corner of our state.” Boliek will face Democrat Jessica Holmes, who was appointed to the position earlier this year by Gov. Roy Cooper following the resignation of State Auditor Beth Wood. Wood’s resignation followed her indictment related to a December 2022 hitand-run accident in downtown Raleigh while she was driving a state vehicle.

Republican Brad Knott nalized his nomination for the 13th Congressional District seat over Kelly Daughtry, who was still on the ballot but had bowed out of the race at the start of May.

Knott won nearly 91% of the vote and will face Democrat Frank Pierce in the November general election.

“Now that the primary is behind us, we can focus on winning in November so that we can get to work on addressing serious problems facing our country with smart, conservative solutions,” Knott said in a press release following his win.

In the South Point Township District for the Gaston County Board of Commissioners, Jim Bailey defeated Ronnie Worley with more than 62% of the vote. Both Bailey and Worley are Republicans.

The nonpartisan race for the third seat on the Orange County Public Schools Board of Education between Jennifer Moore and Bonnie Hauser went to Hauser with nearly 64% of the vote.

See BUDD, page A8

CHRIS CARLSON / AP PHOTO

Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), pictured in March, visited Israel last week and reiterated his support for the country in a meeting with reporters. See TREASURER, page A3

Brood XIX has loudly announced its arrival in North Carolina. But do countless cicadas, with their ear-ringing mating calls, pose any threat to humans? Find out on A3.

We stand corrected

To report an error or a suspected error, please email: corrections@ nsjonline.com with “Correction request” in the subject line.

In the May 8, 2024, issue of North State Journal, a quote by Rep. Destin Hall was incorrectly transcribed. It should have read, “Hall said he has ‘the re in the belly to do any of this stu .’”

“Fear not, little ock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32

In the parable of the rich fool, Jesus warned the rich against eagerness in accumulating wealth. He then warned the poor against anxiety about securing the necessaries of life. Covetousness is of the mind, not of the condition. The poor may be as eager for pence as the rich for pounds. There is anxiety of the cottage, as well as of the counting-house. Some worry not that the barn be full, but that it could become empty. So our Lord admonishes us not to be perplexed about earthly things.

Contrast the smallness of what makes us anxious with the greatness of what God has given. He bestows life without our labor. We breathe when asleep and blood circulates without our consciousness. Is not that life more than the food which supplies it, and that body more than the clothing that clothes it?

The rich are anxious in their abundance. For the feast, “what shall we eat?” Often the crowded wardrobe causes anxiety as to which dress should be selected for some occasion, “with what shall we be clothed?” But many more are anxious about the empty cupboard — how to obtain food for their day’s hunger or clothing to shield the body from the cold. But if God gives life, will He not sustain it — and if He sustains the body, will He not clothe it? “The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.”

God provides for birds and owers and much more for us. “Consider the ravens,” said Jesus. “They neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?” God endowed the ravens with keen vision to spy their food, agile wings to reach it and a sharp bill to seize it.

And will He not much more feed you whom He has more richly endowed — you who can, and therefore should, sow and reap and store, with all industry and prudence? But having done your duty in the exercise of such capacities, and having prayed to your Father who much more cares for you — should you be anxious, as if inferior to birds in trusting Him?

Consider also “the lilies how they grow.”

Who can understand all the mystery of the life even of a tiny ower? “They toil not, they spin not” and their life is brief; yet they are graceful in form, so beautiful

in color, “that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

And will God not much more clothe you, who can both toil and spin, and who have the same God who esteems you of far greater value, and has promised that you shall not lack anything that is good?

Who, by all his “worry, can add one inch to his stature?” We may add some years to our age by living a healthy life. But not by anxiety. This shortens life. Some are anxious to increase their apparent height, but who can increase his real height by an inch? How small a thing it would be to add a little to length, either of life or limb, compared with the constant supplies of God for the body’s life. “If you then, are not able to do even that which is least, why are you anxious concerning the rest?”

Anxiety is useless. It does nothing towards attaining its end. It hinders clear thinking, rm purpose, steady perseverance, nal success. An old author says — “Don’t fret about what you can’t help, or what you can help. If you can’t help it, fretting won’t mend it. If you can help it, help it, and there will be nothing to fret about.” Exercise caution, diligence, perseverance, prayer. “Work but don’t worry.” Then commit the result to God — “Casting all your care upon Him;

NC teachers satis ed with school environment, working conditions

The Annual Teacher Working Conditions Survey also highlighted student conduct issues

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s 2024 Teacher Working Conditions Survey found that more than 90% of teachers expressed satisfaction with their schools as positive environments for both work and learning.

Results revealed record-high satisfaction levels, with 92% agreeing that their school is a good place to work and learn, and 88% planning to continue teaching in North Carolina. The satisfaction percentage is roughly a 6-point increase from 2020 and a 6½-point increase over 2022.

The survey, conducted biennially since 2002, covers various aspects of educators’ perceptions, including retention, leadership, safety, resources, equity and development. More

than 102,000 educators participated in this year’s Teacher Working Conditions Survey (TWCS).

North Carolina State Superintendent Catherine Truitt emphasized the importance of educators’ voices in shaping support systems.

“To ensure that we provide the right support, it is vital that North Carolina’s educators have ample opportunity to have their voices heard,” said Truitt. “I’m grateful to the educators who took the time to complete this survey and share their experiences, and I am thrilled to hear that the majority of teachers feel so positively about their schools.”

This year, the TWCS underwent changes based on feedback, notably reducing the number of questions from 199 to 99.

Additionally, the survey introduced an open-ended question to solicit additional insights and optional demographic inquiries which schools and districts use to further improve conditions in the future. The North Carolina Department of

Public Instruction’s (NCDPI) press release said 33,000 educators answered the open-ended questions.

Out of approximately 119,000 teachers and student support sta who could have taken the TWCS, 102,082 did. The TWCS saw 96% of schools reaching the 50% participation mark needed to make the data useful to NCDPI, schools and districts for planning purposes.

Student conduct was a key issue in the survey this year, with 68.48% of respondents stating students follow the rules for student conduct. That percentage is an increase over the past two TWCS sets of results; 61.83% (2020) and 60.82% (2022).

“The widest range of agreement on survey questions was related to student conduct,” the NCDPI press release on the TWCS stated. “For example, citing student disrespect of teachers (63%), disorder in common areas such as hallways or cafeterias (60%) and tardiness or skipping class (57%), but citing low rates on issues such as student possession of weapons

for He cares for you.”

The Creator of the birds and owers is our loving Father. Christ does not say that we can do without these things, and should not wish for them. He was more human than some philosophers — He is more considerate of our present needs than some Christians. He said that we have need of these things, and that our Father knows it — knows that we require food and clothing, the comforts of home and the solace of a ection. “He who made the need, pledges the supply.” The very need is evidence that He who caused it considers it. So in the higher need of the soul. If He implants the desire for what is good, He will help us to attain it. The longing for Himself is evidence that He has already given Himself. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be lled.”

Christopher Newman Hall (1816-1902), was known as a “dissenter’s bishop” and was a nineteenth century English Nonconformist. In the U.S., he supported Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of slavery during the American Civil War. This article is an excerpt from his book “Gethsemane: Leaves of Healing from the Garden of Grief.” His work is in the public domain.

(10%) or gang activity (11%).”

Additional student conduct categories of concern included physical ghts between students (43.37%) and bullying (47.81%). Around 88% said school safety issues were addressed quickly. Other areas with high per-

centages of positive feedback included 73.25% reporting they were able to concentrate on student education without interruptions. Additionally, 65.35% said students arrive at school with basic needs — such as school supplies, clean clothes, food and sleep — met.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

“Wheat eld with Crows” by Vincent van Gogh (1890) is a painting in he Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

COURTESY OF NCDPI

NC State Superintendent Catherine Truitt gives remarks at the Public Schools Forum of North Carolina’s annual “Eggs & Issues” forum on May 7.

Cicadas have 16 NC counties buzzing

Though cicadas are loud, they’re no danger to humans or most plants

By Abby Cavanaugh North State Journal

North Carolina is currently experiencing a phenomenon 13 years in the making. Millions — and perhaps billions — of cicadas have emerged from underground for their mating season.

“When the ground reaches a certain temperature (around 64 degrees F, usually around May in N.C.), the nymphs that have been underground — slowly sucking sap from tree roots — dig their way up to the surface,” explained Matt Bertone, director of the Plant Disease and Insect Clinic at NC State, in an article on the N.C. State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences website.

Once the nymphs have emerged, the males begin calling to them — the sometimes deafening call that has been annoying folks from the northern part of the state down to the South Carolina line.

The website Cicada Mania explains how the cicadas make their loud mating calls: “Males sing by exing their tymbals, which are drum-like organs found in their abdomens. Small muscles rapidly pull the tymbals in and out of shape. The sound is intensi ed by the cicada’s mostly hollow abdomen.”

Bertone added: “These calls are deafening on their own, but when millions are ‘singing,’ it becomes a wall of sound.”

“It’s kind of crazy,” Debbie Roos, a Cooperative Extension

TREASURER from page A1

commercially insured patients signi cantly more than Medicare rates for common services. Markups on services are as high as 1,120%, per the report.

“The fact that the State Health Plan is on a scally insolvent pathway, we cannot afford to spend this kind of money anymore in order to maintain this bene t for those that teach, protect and serve,” Folwell’s Deputy Treasurer Frank Lester said.

Lester had said last fall that Forbes had ranked the state as the third worst for overall health care results such as cost and availability of care.

Folwell was also joined by Julie Havlak, a policy analyst representing the State Health Plan; Sayeh Nikpay, associate professor at the University of Minnesota’s Division of Health Policy and Management; and Christopher Whaley, economist and associate professor in the Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice at the Brown Uni-

agent in Chatham County, told North State Journal. “It’s been a topic of conversation for everybody around here. I was just giggling to myself when I came back from lunch because they were so loud.”

Two broods are currently emerging around the eastern part of the country, but only one — Brood XIX — can be found in North Carolina, Bertone told North State Journal. “They are a 13-year cicada, meaning they emerge every 13 years,” he explained. “This brood is huge; it stretches across the eastern United States.”

versity School of Public Health.

During the press event, examples were given from the report of patients paying hundreds or thousands of dollars more for procedures like urinalysis, cancer drugs and blood tests.

Uninsured patients also face in ated prices, sometimes over 1,000% more than Medicare rates, leading to concerns about nancial impact and hospital debt collection practices previously revealed by Folwell’s ofce.

In August 2023, a report by Folwell’s o ce showed N.C. hospitals had sued more than 7,500 patients for more than $57.3 million in judgments, sometimes involving liens on homes and patients ling for bankruptcy.

Havlak noted that 340B hospitals have “no legal obligation” to share discounts with vulnerable patients or disadvantaged communities.

“Instead, our research found that 340B hospitals bill state employees an average markup

Not all of North Carolina is experiencing the overwhelming cicada call, however. The counties that are seeing the brood boom include Buncombe, Cabarrus, Chatham, Davidson, Davie, Durham, Gaston, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Orange, Randolph, Rowan, Stanly, Union and Wake.

“They don’t travel far,” Roos explained. “Wherever they are, they drop to the ground and that’s where they stay for the next 13 or 17 years, depending on what kind of cicada they are.”

That’s why certain parts of the state are experiencing the ci-

of over ve times their discounted acquisition cost for oncology drugs,” said Havlak. “Those price markups on cancer drugs can be lucrative.”

Havlak gave an example of one treatment of a cancer drug used to treat melanoma that 340B Hospitals can get for roughly $8,000 but were billing the state health plan almost $22,000.

According to the report, hospitals in North Carolina have been charging state employees high prices for cancer drugs. An example given was that, on average, certain hospitals billed patients at 5.4 times the discounted acquisition costs, resulting in an 84.8% higher markup when compared to nonparticipating hospitals.

Additionally, individual 340B hospitals reaped large pro ts between 2013 to 2021, with some bringing in as much as $6,026 in average pro ts per claim by charging up to nearly 13 times their acquisition costs for oncology drugs, per the report.

The pro t gures are in the

cada emergence while others are just wondering what all the fuss is about. “It’s really hit or miss,” Roos said. “There are just pockets of them here and there.”

“Once they have mated,” Bertone said, “females use their drill-like ovipositor to cut into the branches of various trees and woody plants, laying hundreds of eggs inside. After a few weeks, the adults will die out and the young will hatch from the branches and drop to the ground below. There, they will burrow next to a root and tap in for the long haul, feeding on the juices of the plant for 13 years.”

millions. The report cites Atrium Health as having recorded $252 million in 340B cost savings in 2020, representing a 1,843% increase from its reported $13 million cost saving in 2008.

The report also gives examples showing a pattern of hospitals diverting these savings away from serving vulnerable communities and toward wealthier ones as the A ordable Care Act expanded.

After the A ordable Care Act passed, the number of 340B hospitals partnering with external pharmacies increased dramatically, from six in 2010 to 1,059 in 2022. As the program grew, many hospitals began contracting with pharmacies in wealthier neighborhoods with higher numbers of insured persons.

In 2013, 340B hospitals served neighborhoods where an average of 17.4% of the population was uninsured. By 2020, they were contracting with pharmacies located in neighborhoods where, on average,

All of this means that while the cicadas are mating and preparing to go underground for the next 13 years, we humans are experiencing their overwhelming calls and wondering what it means for us. Well, it turns out the cicadas are harmless to humans, but they can a ect smaller plants and agricultural plants with lots of wood, Bertone said.

“They don’t target old, healthy trees, so there’s no need to worry about that,” he explained. “They do like kind of small, susceptible plants.”

Roos pointed out that young plantings of blueberries, fruit trees, brambles, grape vines or other woody trees could be especially susceptible to cicada damage. “If only a few branches are damaged, they can be pruned out, but when the majority of branches are signi cantly damaged, the young tree or bush might need to be replaced,” she said.

In order to protect these young plants, Bertone suggested using netting around any susceptible bushes or small trees.

“People need to make sure the netting is closed pretty tightly around the trunk so the cicadas can’t burrow their way through,” he said.

As for how long the cicada “invasion” is expected to last, Bertone said there’s no way of knowing for sure, but it will probably continue through this month and possibly into June.

“It’s a phenomenon that’s pretty special on our planet,” Bertone said. “We’re lucky to be able to experience it.”

He added that there will be another brood emerging next year in the western part of the state, but after that, it may be a few years before there’s another.

“It’s an interesting little phenomenon,” Roos said, “so just enjoy them while they’re here.”

only 9.5% of the population was uninsured.

According to Folwell, the lack of transparency and oversight in hospital 340B revenues allows these practices to continue unchecked, and many of the hospitals fail to provide su cient charity care to justify their tax exemptions.

The report’s recommendations urge lawmakers to enact Certi cate of Need reforms to address the issue as well as passage of the Medical Debt De-Weaponization Act, which has been stuck in a committee following its ling.

Other proposals include requiring pro table 340B hospitals to share discounts with state employees and taxpayers, strengthening transparency requirements, and holding hospitals accountable for ful lling their charitable obligations.

When asked if the Treasurer’s O ce had any discussions with the hospitals in the report, Folwell said, “Everything’s always through a statement” from those entities.

SCOTT PELKEY / NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Young cicadas, called nymphs, emerge for the rst time since 2011 in North Carolina to grow into adults and mate.

THE CONVERSATION

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

VISUAL VOICES

EDITORIAL | FRANK HILL

In the beginning

In the annals of recorded human history, there has never been a fertilized human egg that became a goat or a kumquat.

WHEN LIBERAL POLITICIANS are asked when human life begins, they de ect by saying they aren’t scientists so they are not quali ed to answer the question.

On the other hand, scientists say they are 10,000% sure the universe exploded out of nothingness 13.8 billion years ago. They know exactly when the universe was conceived and birthed.

It stands to reason that cold-blooded, data-driven atheist scientists should be as de nitively certain about when human life begins.

Or maybe not. I went to a debate billed as a civil conversation between an atheist physicist and a Christian professor in a divinity school about the cosmos. It did not disappoint. It was very good and informative and should serve as the model for all debate in this divided country.

The physicist was 10,000% sure about the origins of the cosmos. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind. He could prove it by measuring the speed of light waves still emanating from the Big Bang long ago.

Near the end of the debate, he strayed just a tiny bit from the topic at hand and asked the Christian professor a nonreligious question: “Why do Christians deny the fact that global warming is occurring and our planet is heating up due to man’s use of carbon-based energy sources?”

Many global warming skeptics, Christian and nonbelievers, just have a lot more questions they would like to have answered before they are ready to let the climate change warriors shut down every carbon-based form

EDITORIAL | STACEY MATTHEWS

of energy production. No one wants to freeze to death in the winter while having green activists hector them for not having enough solar panels which wouldn’t work in a blizzard anyway.

His question brought up a recurring nagging question I have had for many years about how liberals lean on science when it suits them and abandon science when it doesn’t: “Why do scientists equivocate about when human life begins?”

Biology is science. Take out all consideration of religion, ethics and politics and consider the human act of reproduction solely on a provable, repeatable scienti c basis ― shouldn’t an atheist scientist be the rst one to admit that human life begins at the microsecond of conception?

Couples pay tens of thousands of dollars to bring a human sperm and a human egg together in in vitro fertilization clinics across the world. Why would they do such a thing unless they thought the frozen embryo could one day become their human child?

Since the physicist was so sure about the origin of the universe through provable science, I asked him: “Doesn’t the science of biology prove that when a human egg and human sperm join together, human DNA is combined from the chromosomes of the two cells and progresses through cellular division to become a human being?”

The atheist scientist answered very carefully: “Ummm . ..it depends on when a fertilized cell becomes “human.”

WHAAAAAT??????? Here was an esteemed and highly respected physicist, an atheist no less, who had just said he could prove in a laboratory that the universe began 13.8 billion years ago beyond a shadow of a doubt, but he could not say with any speci city

NC universities handling anti-Israel protests appropriately

“That ag will stay there as long as I am chancellor.”

UNC Chapel Hill

Chancellor Lee Roberts

WE’VE SEEN AND HEARD a lot in recent weeks about how the anti-Israel encampments on college campuses across the country have gone south after administrators essentially allowed the agitators to run the show.

Columbia University in New York City is one such place, where protesters went from camping on school grounds and harassing/ intimidating Jewish students to forcibly occupying a school building.

Even after the building was cleared by the NYPD, protesters scored another victory when it was announced that the main campus commencement ceremony would be canceled.

Further, professors were given the option of making nal exams optional or not having an exam at all. Those who were administering nal exams were encouraged to not let the grade on the exam negatively impact their nal grade for the course.

On some North Carolina campuses, things have been much di erent.

At UNC Chapel Hill, after an encampment was cleared and arrests were made, interim Chancellor Lee Roberts personally walked to the campus ag pole and reraised the American ag in front of demonstrators after the Palestinian one that had previously been raised by the protesters was taken down.

In an interview with WRAL shortly after, Roberts said, “That ag will stay there as long as I am chancellor.”

Faculty members carrying “Justice in

Palestine” signs held a press conference a few days later, alleging the free speech rights of the anti-Israel demonstrators had been violated when the encampment was cleared and later, when agitators continued to make trouble by the ag pole.

What those faculty members left out, of course, was exactly why the arrests were made and the protest camp was cleared in the rst place. Few people reading this will be surprised to learn that the “peaceful protesters” the media keeps telling us about were not, in fact, “peaceful.”

Here was the statement from UNC Chapel Hill administrators that went out on May 3, well before that faculty press conference was held:

“In recent days, members of this group and others have caused damage to Polk Place, broken into academic buildings after hours, propped doors open to locked buildings, torn down barricades, pounded on windows and attempted to push through o cers to forcibly enter South Building, hit police and other vehicles, thrown furniture in front of police vehicles injuring o cers, entered classrooms during nals to cause disruptions, taken down the American ag ying over Polk Place twice, and thrown water bottles and uids at University workers, police and administrators.

“Most troubling, we have learned of an arson threat against a Jewish fraternity building and seen multiple instances of

when a single human life begins?

In the annals of recorded human history, there has never been a fertilized human egg that became a goat or a kumquat. Fertilized human embryos with human DNA strands do not just jump o the tracks midway through a pregnancy and suddenly replace their human DNA strands with DNA from a legume plant. Without a human sperm entering a human egg, a human being doesn’t happen. There can’t be anything more clearly proven in science and biology labs than that.

Scientists are certain the universe started 13.8 billion years ago. Scientists were certain we were going to burn up due to global warming by the year 2000. However, at the same time, many scientists can’t say human life begins at conception, probably due to fear of being canceled or ostracized on college campuses.

Many also equivocate when asked if any human with a Y chromosome in every cell of their body is physiologically and biologically a male while everyone with two X chromosomes is physiologically female.

Such mental jujitsu turns science into make-believe and coarsens public debate. Scienti c equivocation of basic biological facts does not improve it. It also renders every high school biology textbook obsolete. Scientists should remain cold-blooded scientists and call balls and strikes like some sort of cosmic umpire. If they do, that will be the greatest contribution they can make to civil discourse in modern America.

clearly antisemitic messages and threats in buildings.”

A similar situation unfolded at UNC Charlotte, where administrators said that “various concerning items were discovered (at the cleared encampment), including knives, box cutters, a collection of baseball-sized rocks, and a mattress that was used to collect and store feces.”

Even after the encampment was removed by police, UNCC observed that protesters continued to create problems for other students on the campus.

They “chose to march across campus during nal exams, using megaphones near academic buildings and impeding tra c on public streets, without regard to any disruption they caused.”

At the end of their statement, UNCC wrote that they “will continue to take all necessary steps to preserve the rights of those not protesting to do their work and pursue their education.”

And that is exactly how these protests should be handled, not just here in N.C. but elsewhere. Students have a right to protest, but when they cross certain lines, administrators have an obligation to step in. It’s just as simple as that.

North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.

The sobering future of Social Security

THE 2024 EDITION of the annual report of the Social Security trustees was released on May 6, 2024, and its conclusions are sobering.

If corrective action is much further delayed, continued solvency will be for all practical purposes unachievable, meaning that the current design of Social Security will need to be abandoned. If that happens, it will not be because Americans signaled a desire to scrap Social Security’s current structure, but because lawmakers dithered past the point where repairs could x the problem.

This would be a scandalous abdication of public responsibility.

Currently, roughly 21% of all scheduled bene ts over the next 75 years are unfunded. But that number includes scheduled bene ts for current recipients, which lawmakers have never cut.

Measured as a percentage of future bene t claims, the shortfall is larger — approximately 25% — and growing. Saying that 25% of future bene t claims are unfunded also understates the problem because there is no plausible likelihood lawmakers would cut bene ts 25% across the board for everyone ling claims starting tomorrow.

In the real world, any changes would almost certainly be gradually phased in, meaning that the rst cohorts a ected might only have their bene ts changed by a percent or two, with later cohorts who are fully a ected experiencing changes far larger than 25%. These are far greater changes than Americans are currently being told about, and the requirements only grow larger with further delay.

Brokering a solution requires fundamental value judgments. First, a judgment must be made as to whether Social Security’s historical design as a self- nancing program is worth saving. If the answer is no, then lawmakers can simply avoid tough choices concerning bene t formulas and tax assessments, bail out the system with a massive infusion of general revenues

COLUMN | TOM DARDEN

A reasonable place to start the discussion is to examine solutions that consist of roughly one-third tax increases, one-third eligibility age changes and one-third bene t growth restraints.

and dispense with the historical design of Social Security as an earned bene t.

I would caution against such a move for several reasons.

First, it would be scally irresponsible, essentially adding Social Security’s large nancing shortfall to the mushrooming national debt. Second, it would undermine the security and reliability of Social Security bene t payments, as the program would need to compete for nancing each year from the general fund, and participants could no longer claim they paid for their bene ts. Third, it would be a betrayal of the public trust, as Americans have given no indication that they wish to toss Social Security’s historical design overboard.

Assuming lawmakers make the value judgment that Social Security’s historical design is worth saving, the next value judgment involves striking the balance between the three approaches of increasing revenues, adjusting eligibility ages and moderating bene t growth. No plausible solution can rely on one mechanism alone.

This isn’t solely because bipartisan compromise will be required for political reasons. Even if one party controlled every branch of government, that party still wouldn’t be willing to do the entire job with one mechanism; the changes required are too large.

For example, doing it all on the tax side would require the equivalent of

NCInnovation is good for North Carolina

I READ WITH INTEREST

Donald Bryson’s critique of NCInnovation, published by the John Locke Foundation, a think tank that Bryson leads. NCInnovation was funded by the state legislature last year to provide grants to researchers at UNC System universities working on applied research projects that have commercial promise.

Bryson argues that NCInnovation is “a corporate welfare program,” but he bases his criticism on a awed understanding of the role of American universities and research. At bottom, Bryson objects to government funding of university research, which is an untenable position. Allow me to explain.

I am sure Bryson’s beliefs are sincere. As I understand, he has spent years working at an established think tank that analyzes all manner of public policy proposals. He o ers a compelling defense of free market principles that resonates with me.

But Bryson does not, to my knowledge, have any particular awareness of university research or the relationship between universities and industry. I have spent my entire career in that space.

If Bryson understood that dynamic, he would see NCInnovation for what it is: A doubling down on the American model for innovation that is the basis for our country’s technological dominance. University research is a foundation of private sector growth, not a hindrance to it. Continued American success requires continuing what has worked for nearly a century: turning to American campuses to incubate discoveries that will have real-world applications.

Presidents from both parties have said as much. As just one example of many, the White House in August 2020 described the interplay between public research funding, universities and industry as “the uniquely American free-market approach to technological advancement,” noting that it advances discovery and “promote(s) job creation and workforce development.”

While foreign competitors entrench and subsidize state-controlled

an immediate increase in the current payroll tax from 12.4% to 15.73%, something even Congress’ most liberal members would not likely assemble a majority to enact. Nor could even the most conservative members of Congress engineer a majority in favor of cutting all bene t claims, starting tomorrow, 25% across the board.

The time is long past when the problem can be realistically solved by either tax increases or bene t growth restraints alone. A reasonable place to start the discussion is to examine solutions that consist of roughly onethird tax increases, one-third eligibility age changes and one-third bene t growth restraints.

This is one reason why the current positioning of so many politicians is so deeply irresponsible.

Many members of Congress have declared that not only will they refuse to countenance any moderation of bene t growth or changes to eligibility ages, but they demand that bene ts be increased above and beyond the automatic increases under current law.

This simply cannot work; not only because it is unreasonable to worsen the nancial shortfall before xing it, but because lawmakers are manifestly unwilling to raise taxes enough to close the current shortfall, let alone to fund a system where costs are ballooning even faster.

When both President Joe Biden and Donald Trump say they will not touch the growth of Social Security bene ts, they are indicating that whoever takes the oath of o ce next January must either break his campaign pledges almost immediately or preside over the nal throes of Social Security as we know it.

The 2024 Social Security trustees’ report depicts a system in mortal danger. There is still enough time to broker a bipartisan solution that saves Social Security, but it will require a fundamental reversal of direction by the political leadership of both major parties — and sooner rather than later.

Reprinted from May 9, 2024, edition of Discourse with permission.

Charles Blahous is a senior research strategist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a visiting fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Another assault on parental rights and the law

UNLESS THINGS CHANGE quickly, a Planned Parenthood-style sex education program will be forced into a public middle or high school near you, compliments of the left-leaning cabal of bureaucrats at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI).

Over the past year, NCDPI oversaw the revisions of the North Carolina Essential Standards, including those standards that govern sex education. Standards set the goals and directives of what is to be taught in North Carolina schools and are revised only every 10 years. The third and nal draft has been issued by NCDPI, and within the next month, the Standards will be up for nal approval by the Democrat-controlled State Board of Education for nal passage.

The big problem is the Draft of the Standards violates state law.

The long-standing N.C. law, enacted in 1995, requires that any instruction teach abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as an expected standard of behavior. The instruction must teach students how to remain or become abstinent, and the emotional and psychological adverse consequences of engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage.

Discussions about contraceptives must include honest information about failure rates among adolescents and that they merely reduce the risk, not eliminate it. Information about sexually transmitted diseases must include discussions about rates of infection of each STD among pre-teens and teens in North Carolina, the e ects of contracting each STD, including the e ects of contracting HPV, including sterility and cervical cancer. The program must include opportunities to involve parents in the curricula. The program must teach that a mutually faithful monogamous heterosexual relationship in the context of marriage is the best lifelong means of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/ AIDS.

Draft 3 of the Standards ignores these requirements and, ultimately, will harm our children.

The objections to the draft standards were loud and clear.

Applied research happens at American universities because it largely would not happen otherwise. Early- to mid-stage R&D is expensive, risky and likely to fail.

industries — usually outing norms for pollution and labor practices at the same time — we must not let up on the American innovation model, anchored by robust university R&D.

There is much to say about Bryson’s critiques, but I will focus on two arguments that are central to his case.

First, Bryson argues against government funding for applied research generally. He writes: “This type of funding may pick winners and losers in the innovation landscape, potentially directing resources towards projects that align with government priorities rather than those driven by genuine market demand or private sector investment.”

This argument is folly insofar as it applies to most critical new technologies, for without public research funding at universities, there will be no “winners” — only losers. This gets to the heart of Bryson’s misunderstanding: Applied research happens at American universities because it largely would not happen otherwise. Early- to mid-stage R&D is expensive, risky and likely to fail.

That is why existing companies invest in mature technologies, many of which emerged from the university R&D process. Alternatively, new companies emerge to disrupt the marketplace with mature technologies, often incubated at universities. This isn’t true of every discovery, of course, but it is true of most American innovations that have been critical to our economy since World War II.

Second, Bryson argues that relationships between universities and industry constitute corporate welfare.

He writes: “According to NCI’s Frequently Asked Questions, ‘Company formation isn’t the only important output — licensing new technologies to existing companies matters, too.’ In other words, existing corporations will also bene t from the taxpayerfunded applied research from public universities that bene ted from NCI. It does not take a mental leap to understand that this is taxpayers subsidizing businesses.”

This is a basic misunderstanding of the relationship between universities and industry. First, it is an intrinsic good for universities to study complex problems — society bene ts from increasing knowledge. Second, universities are not charities that somehow gift their discoveries to select companies. Universities earn substantial revenue from discoveries born on their campuses and commercialized by the private sector, and universities rightly seek to maximize that revenue. This university-industry dynamic has been so central to American innovation for so long that Congress formalized a framework for it in law 50 years ago.

Anyone visiting NC State’s Centennial Campus will see the extent and depth of bene cial university-to-industry relationships. We need to make these relationships even stronger, not weaken them by overturning decades of wellestablished practices that have led to America’s technological might.

Most university research leads to papers about esoteric topics that may never have value in our daily lives. Within reason, this is the nature of academia, and presumably it elevates society in an intangible way. But I believe that at least some university research should yield actual, tangible discoveries that impact the real world now. In their mission to educate students and elevate our collective knowledge base, why not motivate universities to work on problems that make the world a better place?

Tom Darden is founder and CEO of Cherokee, which has raised more than $2.2 billion and invested in acquisition, cleanup, development and sale of approximately 550 environmentally contaminated real estate assets in the U.S., Europe and Canada. Darden holds degrees from UNC Chapel Hill and Yale University, and he began his career at Bain & Company.

Leading experts in the eld have stated that the Standards violate state law. On Feb 6, 2024, Mary Anne Mosack, president and CEO of Ascend, a nationally recognized expert on sex education, sent a letter to State Superintendent Catherine Truitt objecting to the Standards. In her letter she wrote, “Of particular concern is the presentation of ‘risk avoidance’ and ‘risk reduction” approaches presented as equal options on a continuum of acceptable choices and outcomes. The mixed message of this con ation does more to normalize sexual activity among adolescents and teens than to normalize the delay of sexual activity until marriage, which accurately re ects the intent of North Carolina law.”

Dr. Stan Weed, a well-respected, nationally acclaimed expert and researcher on sex education and the director of the Institute for Research and Evaluation, wrote a similar letter to Truitt. He wrote, “Established North Carolina state law provides several important standards which are clearly undermined by the proposed revisions. For example, the proposed revisions omit the focus on parental consent and involvement, mentions abstinence as an option rather than a standard, soft pedal the failure rates of contraceptive methods … And introduces the concept of consent, with the implication that consent would thereby allow for underage, unmarried sexual activity. The draft language reveals a subtle but signi cant shift away from the original North Carolina law and guidelines and towards a so called “comprehensive sex education approach.”

According to Weed, putting ideology aside, comprehensive sex education programs for the past 20 years “were essentially ine ective.” In contrast, he states, “the evidence, though currently limited, appeared better for abstinence education programs.”

Lawmakers weighed in by letter and phone calls to Truitt expressing similar objections to the standards. Hundreds of N.C. citizens submitted public comments overwhelmingly supporting removal of the provisions that violate state law. Members of the sta at NC Values Coalition held two in-person meetings with Truitt and her sta , as well as several phone calls to discuss the de cits with the proposed standards. Truitt made assurances that the standards would be corrected to comply with the statute.

Yet here we sit nine months after the rst objections were lodged with the same old bad standards that fail to meet the requirements of the statute. Unfortunately, the experts, the legislators and the citizens of North Carolina were ignored.

We hear so much these days about “the children.” If we are truly interested in the children, we will follow the law and teach them what is the best way to lead wholesome, healthy lives and stop the implementation of these Standards. This travesty needs to be stopped for the sake of our young teenage daughters and sons sitting in public school classrooms all over North Carolina.

Mary Summa is general counsel at NC Values Coalition.

Murphy to Manteo Jones & Blount

‘silver wings upon their chest’

Counties involved in Robin Sage exercises Soldiers look to add

Robin Sage exercises are taking place in central North Carolina from May 10-23. This two-week event is the nal test for soldiers going through the Special Forces Quali cations Course at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School based at Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg). Candidates will have already successfully completed the Special Forces Quali cation Course as well as their MOS-speci c (duty station) skills training before putting everything they’ve learned into practical application during Robin Sage. If they successfully demonstrate that they have mastered the skills they need, then they earn the right to don the Green Beret and be assigned to one of the Army’s elite Special Forces units. During the course, military members act as opposing forces and guerilla ghters, and while area residents may hear blank gun re and ares, authorities have controls in place to ensure that there is no risk to people or property. These quali ers are usually run four times each year, and this year marks the 50th running of the Robin Sage program. The exercises will impact 24 counties in central N.C., the largest footprint to date.

Teen arrested at high school on multiple weapons charges

Forsyth County The Forsyth County Sheri ’s O ce charged a student after weapons were found during a random K-9 search at Glenn High School. On Monday, the FCSO K-9 Unit was conducting a random search when K-9 Hondo alerted deputies about a vehicle in the student parking lot, according to an FCSO news release. Deputies searched the vehicle and found one handgun, one airsoft gun, one extended loaded magazine, one standard loaded magazine and one box of ammunition. After a short foot pursuit, the student was detained and is currently being held on bond. NSJ

Businessman pledges $1M to local United Way

Guilford County

The United Way of Greater High Point announced it received a $1 million donation last week from High Point University alumnus Doug Witcher.

Witcher is the founder of insurance network Smart Choice based in the Triad. The donation was announced at the United Way’s spring gathering. The organization says $800,000 of the donation will be used to fund “vital operations over the next four years.”

Additionally, over the next four years, Witcher’s pledge includes $40,000 designated for United Way’s annual allocations.

By Gary D. Robertson

with no e ect on the state’s long-term growth.” It’s unclear if the lower overcollections will make legislators more cautious about additional spending or a potential income tax rebate as the General Assembly now meets to

Family sues school board after son suspended for comment

Davidson County A Davidson County teenager was suspended from school for what the board deemed a “racially motivated comment,” but his parents are pushing back with a lawsuit. Local outlets report the McGhee family wants the school to reverse their son’s suspension and take it o his record. The lawsuit claims the teen left class to go to the bathroom. He missed some of the lesson, and when he came back, the word “aliens” was used during class discussion. He asked if that referred to “space aliens or illegal aliens who need green cards” and the teacher said to “watch your mouth.” The family alleges a Hispanic male student in class then threatened to beat the teen up. The same day, the 16 -year- old was suspended for three days. The lawsuit says the words, “alien,” “illegal alien” and “green cards” are common terms used in both state and federal law. The 16 -year- old is no longer enrolled at the school because, according to the lawsuit, he received threats and was harassed about this situation.

WGHP

Cape Hatteras sees rst loggerhead turtle nest of season

Dare County The rst loggerhead sea turtle nest of the season was spotted near Frisco this past weekend. Cape Hatteras National Seashore biologists located the loggerhead nest last Saturday. Last year, there were a total of 380 nests, making 2023 the second-highest recorded nesting year. Cape Hatteras o cials said in 2023 it had a record high of 52 green sea turtle nests, including the rst leatherback nest hatch since 2007. WCTI

Pro-Palestine protesters deface South Building at UNC

Orange County Around 100 Pro -Palestine protesters gathered in the quad in front of UNC’s South Building last Saturday afternoon hours before graduation. As the crowd set up tents in the grassy areas nearby, some members of the group began vandalizing the outside of historic campus buildings, placing doctored photos of interim Chancellor Lee Roberts on doors and walls marked with their handprints in red paint. For two weeks, protesters have gathered on campus at Polk Place to protest the ongoing war in Gaza against Hamas. At least 36 people have been detained and 30 cited for trespassing. NSJ

Students participate in STEM Day before Cherry Point Air Show

Craven County Before the Cherry Point Air Show kicked o last weekend, local students had the opportunity to participate in the rstever STEM Day last Friday. There were 1,600 students from Craven County who immersed themselves in STEM, including robotics, aviation and military activities. Organizers said the event would not have been possible without area community groups coming together to educate the students. “Some folks from the Blue Angels came over and did some activities with the kids, so there’s a lot of really cool things that they’ve been able to do hands- on and even take some things home that they learned here while with us,” said Randall Lewis, Innovation

as a 2022 tax change that let certain corporations and partnerships pay state taxes, rather than owners or shareholders for their favored tax treatment, likely led to some duplicate payments.

“Fortunately, this adjustment is a one-time event,” a state budget o ce memo said, adding that “despite this downward revision, the economic outlook for North Carolina remains unchanged,

in doing it unless the amount we could send out would be an amount that would make a di erence,” he said.

NATION & WORLD

Teen and Miss USA quit their crowns

Noelia Voigt cited her mental health, while UmaSo a Srivastava said her values don’t align with the organization

By Alexa St. John The Associated Press

THE REIGNING winners of Miss USA, Noelia Voigt, and Miss Teen USA, UmaSo a Srivastava, resigned from their titles within days of each other this week in a shock to the Miss Universe Organization.

The resignations leave the longstanding pageant group without its top two titleholders for the rst time in 72 years, shining a spotlight on its practices. The resignations have drawn calls for more transparency into Miss USA and its parent organization, both of which have faced controversy and scrutiny in the past.

Voigt, crowned in September 2023, was the rst Venezuelan American to win her title.

The title was a “childhood dream” and stepping down was a “very tough decision,” the former Miss Utah and University of Alabama student said in an Ins-

tagram post on last Monday.

“My hope is that I continue to inspire others to remain steadfast, prioritize your mental health, advocate for yourself and others by using your voice,” the 24-year-old wrote.

Alongside the statement, Voigt added a caption that read, “I realize this may come as a large shock to many. Never compromise your physical and mental well-being.” She then thanked

taken were released last November amid a four-day pause in the war.

Budd said Israel — which has faced criticism, including from the Biden administration, for civilian deaths in the ongoing conict — has been precise in how they were moving civilians out of harm’s way while noting Hamas uses civilians as human shields.

“It’s absolutely horri c,” Budd said of Hamas’ tactics. “Israel is following the laws of armed conict and any loss of civilian life is absolutely terrible. But I’ve placed this squarely on Hamas.”

He also said he is “very concerned about our administration, which is eliminating sending (Israel) precision, guided munitions.” Budd added, “We need the administration to stop talking out of both sides of their mouths.”

Those concerns were expressed in a May 6 letter to President Joe Biden from Budd and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA). The letter also says Biden didn’t bother to tell Congress despite recent passage of funding and military aid.

“We are shocked that your administration has reportedly decided to withhold critical am-

munition to Israel,” the senators wrote. “You promised your commitment to Israel was ironclad. Pausing much-needed military support to our closest Middle Eastern ally signals otherwise.”

Budd told reporters he had not received a response from Biden, but on the same day he briefed reporters, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin con rmed the U.S. paused “one shipment of high payload munitions.”

“We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” said Austin during a hearing in front of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on defense.

“But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.”

According to The Associated Press, “Biden signed o on the pause in an order conveyed last week to the Pentagon.”

Also on May 8, in an interview with CNN, Biden went a step further, stating if Israel undertakes operations in Rafah, “We’re not gonna supply the weapons and the artillery shells used that have been used.”

The following day, The Wash-

fans for their “unwavering support.”

In its own statement, the Miss USA Organization thanked Voigt for her service and wished her “the best in this next chapter.”

“We respect and support Noelia’s decision to step down from her duties. The well-being of our titleholders is a top priority, and we understand her need to prioritize herself at this time,” the statement read. “We are cur-

ington Free Beacon reported that the Biden State Department “informed Congress that it intends to bypass laws that bar the United States from selling weapons to nations that boycott Israel.”

“The Biden administration, which has waived these sanctions in the past, said in the noti cation that it intends to extend the waiver through April 30, 2025, allowing weapons to be sent to a host of nations that work closely with the Hamas terror group and other Iran-backed terror proxies,” The Washington Free Beacon’s report states.

In his call with reporters, Budd also detailed a recent meeting with families of U.S. hostages, including Aviva Siegel, the wife of North Carolina native and Hamas hostage Keith Siegel.

“Our position remains that Hamas must release Siegel and the rest of the hostages immediately and unconditionally,” Budd said.

Keith Siegel turned 65 on May 8. His wife was also taken hostage but was released after 51 days in captivity. She has spent her time since her release traveling the world sharing their story.

“I have great con dence that bringing all of the hostages home

rently reviewing plans for the transition of responsibilities to a successor, and we will soon announce the crowning of the new Miss USA.”

Srivastava, who was also crowned last September, announced her resignation in A post on Instagram last Wednesday.

“I nd that my personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization,” the former Miss New Jersey Teen USA wrote.

The 17-year-old thanked her family and fans, said she was glad to represent her state as a rst-generation Mexican Indian American and noted she was eager to apply to colleges and work on her multilingual children’s book.

A caption accompanying the statement said “this was certainly not how I saw my reign coming to a close” but called the experience a privilege.

A Miss Teen USA spokesperson could not be reached for comment on Srivastava’s announcement. The Miss Universe Organization, which runs the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants, could not be reached for comment.

is part of the formula,” Budd said.

“It’s clear to me that Prime Minister Netanyahu is focused on securing the release of the hostages.” He added the priority is “bringing as many home as possible that are still alive,” as well as hostages that may have been killed by Hamas during captivity.

North State Journal asked if Netanyahu had indicated to Budd what the status of the hostages might be amid some reporting that many may not still be alive.

“We just don’t know how many right now,” said Budd. “Of course, you saw the Hamas release video that was placed on Twitter a few weeks ago, but we just don’t know how many are living. (Israel is) updating their intelligence moment by moment, and some of it they have to keep con dential just to protect the state of the negotiations. But you can’t trust anything that Hamas says.”

Siegel was one of the individuals depicted in the video Hamas released online on April 27.

Budd also called protests on American college campuses “absolutely horrifying to the world” and the protests were “un-American” and “when protesters say things like ‘From the river to the sea,’ that’s encouraging genocide.”

Blinken visits Ukraine to tout U.S. support

Kyiv, Ukraine

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday in an unannounced diplomatic mission to reassure Ukraine that it has American support as it struggles to defend against increasingly intense Russian attacks. The visit comes less than a month after Congress approved a long-delayed foreign assistance package that sets aside $60 billion in aid for Ukraine, much of which will go toward replenishing badly depleted artillery and air defense systems. It is Blinken’s fourth trip to Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Billboard collapse kills at least 14 in India

New Dehli

A large billboard collapsed onto people during heavy rain and thunderstorms in India’s western city of Mumbai, killing at least 14 and injuring 74 others. A rescue operation was ongoing Tuesday morning, and it was unclear how many people may still be trapped. The rains and high winds caused the 100-foottall billboard to fall over a gas station in the suburb of Ghatkopar on Monday evening. O cials said police believe the billboard was illegally installed.

Plans unveiled for memorial to Bu alo shooting victims Bu alo, N.Y.

Plans have been unveiled for a permanent memorial honoring the 10 black victims of a racist mass shooting at a Bu alo supermarket. The design released Monday features interconnected stone pillars and arches, connected to a windowed building where exhibitions and events will be held. The announcement came a day before the second anniversary of the May 14, 2022, attack at a Tops grocery store located in a Bu alo neighborhood. New York state has committed a total of $5 million to the $15 million project.

MOISES CASTILLO / AP PHOTO

Miss USA Noelia Voigt competes in the national costume competition at the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in San Salvador last year.

BUDD from page A1

catastrophe

questions about when normal

How China will pay for this COVID-19

we begin to get back to normal

The 3 big questions nobody

The comfort

shelter-in-place or stay-at-home

majority of Americans normal.” end of this month.

China lied about the origin of the tried to tell the world there were only worldwide panic, economic collapse and being thrown out of work.

taxpayer at least $2.4 trillion in added Reserve backup liquidity to the the U.S. dollar were not the reserve fund any of these emergency of rampant in ation and currency

Cooper stated during know yet” if the asked as to the vague ones like “we of this state who undetermined thousands of cases asked and then questions about

WITH MOST STATES under either shelter-in-place or stay-at-home orders thanks to local or state governments, a majority of Americans are having to adjust to what is being called the “new normal.”

ONE THING IS CERTAIN; after this COVID-19 virus dissipates around the globe and in the United States, China will pay for this catastrophe one way or another.

fallen into place. I understand the seriousness of the virus and the need to take precautions, but I’m uneasy with how people who simply ask questions about the data, and when things can start getting back to normal are treated in some circles with contempt.

WALTER E. WILLIAMS

They’re treated as though we as a society simply must accept without question what the government tells us about when it’s safe to begin the process of returning back to normalcy.

Fixing college corruption

asked, there is people to treat those start getting back are people who sick.

levels become a bad society were supposed

aberrant ways and decisions through Diplomacy has obviously not worked world of 21st century health, hygiene communist regimes never take the blame remorse, because that is not what take advantage of every weakness pushing until they win or the event happens such as the Chernobyl believe that event, not the Star Wars the dissolution of the Soviet Union Chernobyl. already talking about the possibility debt we owe them as one way to get they have caused the US. Don’t hold your “Jubilee” to happen but ask your elected accountable in tangible nancial ways for expected to operate as responsible citizens of nation.

Perhaps COVID-19 is China’s Chernobyl.

No. The government works for us, and we have the right to ask those questions. And the longer stay-at-home orders are in place all over the country, and the stricter some of them get in states, such as Michigan, the more people, sitting at home feeling isolated and/or anxious about when they can get back to providing for their families, will demand answers.

AMERICA’S COLLEGES are rife with corruption. The nancial squeeze resulting from COVID-19 o ers opportunities for a bit of remediation. Let’s rst examine what might be the root of academic corruption, suggested by the title of a recent study, “Academic Grievance Studies and the Corruption of Scholarship.” The study was done by Areo, an opinion and analysis digital magazine. By the way, Areo is short for Areopagitica, a speech delivered by John Milton in defense of free speech.

course, is my family. I’m worried I will. After 2009 pandemic, of this brings up prefer not to repeat. most everyone has

business & economy

In order to put the crisis caused by China in perspective, zero worldwide pandemics can trace their source to the United States over our 231-year history. At least four in the 20th century alone can be directly traced to China: 1957 “Asian u,” 1968 “Hong Kong u,” 1977 “Russian u” and the 2002 SARS outbreak. There is evidence that the massive 1918 “Spanish u” pandemic also had its origins in China.

Leaders at the local and state levels should be as forthcoming as they can be with those answers — and again, not vague answers, but answer with details that give their statements believability.

Billy Graham statue will head to U.S. Capitol

Not one little bit.

CHARLOTTE — A statue of the late Rev. Billy Graham set to stand inside the U.S. Capitol to represent North Carolina will be unveiled next week in a ceremony.

Virginia’s stay-at-home orders go into June.

We should all continue to do what we can to keep our families, ourselves, and our communities safe. But we should also still continue to ask questions about the data, because while reasonable stay-at-home measures are understandable, they should also have an expiration date.

Authors Helen Pluckrose, James A. Lindsay and Peter Boghossian say that something has gone drastically wrong in academia, especially within certain elds within the humanities. They call these elds “grievance studies,” where scholarship is not so much based upon nding truth but upon attending to social grievances. Grievance scholars bully students, administrators and other departments into adhering to their worldview. The worldview they promote is neither scienti c nor rigorous. Grievance studies consist of disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, gender studies, queer studies, sexuality and critical race studies.

Since when did questioning government at all levels become a bad thing? That is what free citizens living in a free society were supposed to do, last I checked.

This is all new to Americans, and it is not normal. Not in any way, shape, or form. So while we should remain vigilant and stay safe, at the same time we shouldn’t get comfortable with this so-called “new normal.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, other congressional members and the family of the Charlotte-born evangelist are expected to attend the unveiling of the 7-foot-tall bronze statue on Thursday in the National Statuary Hall, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said in a news release.

The North Carolina General Assembly approved legislation in 2015 asking a congressional committee to eventually approve a likeness of Graham for display in the hall. Rules say a person’s statue can only be installed posthumously. Graham, who lived most of his adult life in Montreat, died in 2018 at age 99.

In 2017 and 2018, authors Pluckrose, Lindsay and Boghossian started submitting bogus academic papers to academic journals in cultural, queer, race, gender, fat and sexuality studies to determine if they would pass peer review and be accepted for publication. Acceptance of dubious research that journal editors found sympathetic to their intersectional or postmodern leftist vision of the world would prove the problem of low academic standards.

Each state gets two statues. Graham’s statue will replace one of early 20th-century Gov. Charles Aycock, who was known as an education advocate but has fallen from favor because of his ties to the white supremacy movement.

The cavalier manner in virus, covered up its spread 3,341 related deaths has millions of Americans needlessly

seriousness of the virus and the need uneasy with how people who simply ask when things can start getting back to with contempt. a society simply must accept without tells us about when it’s safe to begin the normalcy. us, and we have the right to ask those stay-at-home orders are in place all over the them get in states, such as Michigan, feeling isolated and/or anxious about providing for their families, will demand levels should be as forthcoming as they again, not vague answers, but answer statements believability. what we can to keep our families, safe. But we should also still continue because while reasonable stay-at-home they should also have an expiration date. and it is not normal. Not in any way, should remain vigilant and stay safe, at comfortable with this so-called “new

The Graham sculpture, created by Charlotte-based artist Chas Fagan, depicts Graham gesturing toward an open Bible in his hand, the association said. The statue was bronzed in Seagrove. The base, created from Rowan County granite, is inscribed with two Bible verses highlighting Graham’s evangelistic ministry.

under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah RedState and Legal Insurrection.

The other North Carolina statue commissioned for the National Statuary Hall is a likeness of Civil War-era Gov. Zebulon Vance, who was also a Confederate military o cer and U.S. senator.

Graham was the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, preaching in person to more than 210 million people worldwide.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Some of these orders extend at least through the end of this month.

THIS WEEK, according to members of and state and local governments, Americans the curve in the novel coronavirus outbreak. muted — after all, trends can easily reverse have abided by recommendations and orders. to stay at home; they’ve practiced social distancing; they’ve donned masks.

Here in North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper stated during a recent coronavirus press brie ng that “we just don’t know yet” if state’s stay-at-home orders will extend into May.

There is 100% agreement, outside of China, that COVID-19 originated in Wuhan Province probably from the completely unregulated and unsanitary wet markets. Some believe it came out of a biowarfare lab run by the communist Chinese army.

Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.

Several of the fake research papers were accepted for publication. The Fat Studies journal published a hoax paper that argued the term bodybuilding was exclusionary and should be replaced with “fat bodybuilding, as a fat-inclusive politicized performance.” One reviewer said, “I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article and believe it has an important contribution to make to the eld and this journal.”

Apple’s new iPad ad has struck a nerve online

Until China adopts rigorous veri able policing and regulation of their food safety and health protocols, American business has no other choice than to build redundant manufacturing plants elsewhere purely for national security and safety reasons as well as supply and delivery reliability concerns.

We need transparency and honesty from our scienti c experts — we need to know what they know, what they don’t and when they hope to know what they don’t.

The crisis has cost the debt plus trillions more in markets and nancial outlets. currency, we would not be measures without immediate depreciation.

Since when did questioning government at all levels become a bad thing?

By Wyatte Grantham-Philips The Associated Press

NEW YORK — A newly released ad promoting Apple’s new iPad Pro has struck quite a nerve online.

“Our Struggle Is My Struggle: Solidarity Feminism as an Intersectional Reply to Neoliberal and Choice Feminism,” was accepted for publication by A lia, a feminist journal for social workers. The paper consisted in part of a rewritten passage from Mein Kampf. Two other hoax papers were published, including “Rape Culture and Queer Performativity at Urban Dog Parks.” This paper’s subject was dog-on-dog rape. But the dog rape paper eventually forced Boghossian, Pluckrose and Lindsay to prematurely out themselves. A Wall Street Journal writer had gured out what they were doing.

That is what free citizens living in a free society were supposed to do, last I checked.

The ad, which was released by the tech giant Tuesday, shows a hydraulic press crushing just about every creative instrument artists and consumers have used over the years — from a piano and record player to piles of paint, books, cameras and relics of arcade games. Resulting from the destruction? A pristine new iPad Pro.

Some papers accepted for publication in academic journals advocated training men like dogs and punishing white male college students for historical slavery by asking them to sit in silence on the oor in chains during class and to be expected to learn from the discomfort. Other papers celebrated morbid obesity as a healthy life choice and advocated treating privately conducted masturbation as a form of sexual violence against women. Typically, academic journal editors send submitted papers out to referees for review. In recommending acceptance for publication, many reviewers gave these papers glowing praise.

“The most powerful iPad ever is also the thinnest,” a narrator says at the end of the commercial.

Apple’s intention seems straightforward: Look at all the things this new product can do. But critics have called it tonedeaf — with several marketing experts noting the campaign’s

Political scientist Zach Goldberg ran certain grievance studies concepts through the Lexis/Nexis database, to see how often they appeared in our press over the years. He found huge increases in the usages of “white privilege,” “unconscious bias,” “critical race theory” and “whiteness.” All of this is being taught to college students, many of whom become primary and secondary school teachers who then indoctrinate our young people.

I doubt whether the coronaviruscaused nancial crunch will give college and university administrators, who are a crossbreed between a parrot and jelly sh, the guts and backbone to restore academic respectability. Far too often, they get much of their political support from campus grievance people who are members of the faculty and diversity and multicultural administrative o ces.

The best hope lies with boards of trustees, though many serve as yes-men for the university president. I think that a good start would be to nd 1950s or 1960s catalogs. Look at the course o erings at a time when college graduates knew how to read, write and compute, and make them today’s curricula. Another helpful tool would be to give careful consideration to eliminating all classes/majors/minors containing the word “studies,” such as women, Asian, black or queer studies. I’d bet that by restoring the traditional academic mission to colleges, they would put a serious dent into the COVID-19 budget shortfall.

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

Daniel Forest Senior Advisor

If he does decide to extend it, questions should be asked as to the justi cation for it. And the answers should not be vague ones like “we must do this out of an abundance of caution.”

The result: a reduction in expected hospitalization

According to the University of Washington Metrics and Evaluation model most oft cited Trump administration, the expected need peak outbreak was revised down by over 120,000, ventilators by nearly 13,000 and the number August by nearly 12,000.

The most direct way to make China “pay” for this disaster is to o er U.S. tax credits to companies who will source at least half of their production back in the United States. There is approximately $120 billion worth of American direct investment in plants and equipment in China. Chinese direct investment in the U.S. is about $65 billion by comparison.

It will need to be explained in detail to the people of this state who are being told to remain jobless and at home for an undetermined amount of time why models predicting hundreds of thousands of cases are reliable.

To date, I’ve gone along with what the state has asked and then mandated that we do, but along the way I’ve also had questions about the data. State Republican leaders have, too.

State

Here’s the problem: We still don’t know questions that will allow the economy to reopen.

An investment tax credit of 30% on half of U.S. investment in China today, or $60 billion, applied to repatriated American manufacturing investment to the U.S. would cost the U.S. Treasury $18 billion in tax revenue spread over a few years. $18 billion in lost revenue is decimal dust compared to the $6 trillion+ Marshall Plan we are now undertaking to save our own economy, not of defeated enemies as in the past.

Lenten and Easter seasons provide a message of hope that we will once again enjoy sporting events, concerts, family gatherings, church services and many more after our own temporary sacri ces are over.

China has to pay for their economic and nancial means. to bring China into the civilized and fair trade. Totalitarian or express sincere regret totalitarian governments they nd in adversaries and adversaries push back. That is, unless an exogenous meltdown in 1986. Some program of Reagan, led directly in 1989.

Unfortunately, when certain types of questions get asked, there sometimes a disturbing tendency among some people to treat those simply questioning the data and asking when we can start getting to normal as though they are conspiracy theorists or are people who otherwise don’t care if they get themselves or others sick.

First, what is the true coronavirus fatality important because it determines whether be open or closed, whether we ought to pursue more liberalized society that presumes wide ought to lock down further.

“THIS IS in it” (Psalm I know that working from be glad” as the and dad, the have to be thankful pandemic. For me, my making. As Corinthians a iction, so a iction, with God.” If you are re ect on this God’s example this di cult con dent we In this same neighbors helping In Concord, money to buy health care workers

north STA

l for Wednesday, Apr il 15, 2

Since when did questioning government at all levels become a bad thing? That is what free citizens living in a free society were supposed to do, last I checked.

My rst concern as we go along in all this, of course, is my family. worried about them catching the virus, and I’m worried I will. After su ering from the H1N1 virus (swine u) during the 2009 pandemic, I’ve been trying to take extra precautions, because all of this brings way too many memories of a painful experience I’d prefer not to repeat.

Perhaps COVID-19 is China’s Senators in Washington of China forgiving $1.2 trillion China to “pay” for the damage breath waiting for a Chinese representatives to hold China this disaster. It is about time they are the world like any other modern

We’ve seen case fatality rates — the number the number of identi ed COVID-19 cases and the denominator are likely wrong. We people have actually died of coronavirus. number has been overestimated, given that of death, particularly among elderly patients, sources suggest the number is dramatically many people are dying at home.

But what also makes me lose sleep is how easily most everyone has

China has been cheating, stealing, pirating and pillaging American business now for the past 30 years. They have made no secret that they intend to replace the U.S. as the premier superpower in the world and replace the dollar as the reserve currency with their renminbi.

Even more importantly, we have no clue actually have coronavirus. Some scientists of identi ed cases could be an order of magnitude number of people who have had coronavirus

VISUAL VOICE S

The comfort and hope

WITH MOST STATES under either shelter-in-place or stay-at-home orders thanks to local or state governments, a majority of Americans are having to adjust to what is being called the “new normal.”

“THIS IS THE DAY the lord has made, in it” (Psalm 118:24).

Technology crushing human creativity?

Some of these orders extend at least through the end of this month. Virginia’s stay-at-home orders go into June.

execution didn’t land.

Here in North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper stated during a recent coronavirus press brie ng that “we just don’t know yet” if the state’s stay-at-home orders will extend into May.

fallen into place. I understand to take precautions, but I’m questions about the data, normal are treated in some

They’re treated as though question what the government process of returning back

“I had a really disturbing reaction to the ad,” said Americus Reed II, professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania. “I understood conceptually what they were trying to do, but ... I think the way it came across is, here is technology crushing the life of that nostalgic sort of joy (from former times).”

I know that during this challenging time working from home or losing a job, it may be glad” as the Bible tells us to do. However, and dad, the Easter holiday has reminded have to be thankful and hopeful for, even pandemic.

down into one device that everyone uses.’”

If he does decide to extend it, questions should be asked as to the justi cation for it. And the answers should not be vague ones like “we must do this out of an abundance of caution.”

It will need to be explained in detail to the people of this state who are being told to remain jobless and at home for an undetermined amount of time why models predicting hundreds of thousands of cases are reliable.

In a statement shared with Ad Age on Thursday, Apple apologized for the ad. The outlet also reported that Apple no longer plans to run the spot on TV.

No. The government works questions. And the longer country, and the stricter the more people, sitting at when they can get back to answers.

For me, my faith is an important part of making. As I celebrated Easter with my family, Corinthians 1:4, which reminds us our Lord a iction, so that we may be able to comfort a iction, with the comfort which we ourselves God.”

To date, I’ve gone along with what the state has asked and then mandated that we do, but along the way I’ve also had questions about the data. State Republican leaders have, too.

ing seen from Apple in the past — which has often taken more positive or uplifting approaches.

Leaders at the local and can be with those answers with details that give their

The ad also arrives during a time many feel uncertain or fearful about seeing their work or everyday routines “replaced” by technological advances — particularly amid the rapid commercialization of generative arti cial intelligence. And watching beloved items get smashed into oblivion doesn’t help curb those fears, Reed and others note.

Lenten and Easter seasons provide a message of hope that we will once again enjoy sporting events, concerts, family gatherings, church services and many more after our own temporary sacri ces are over.

If you are celebrating the Easter season, re ect on this message and be comforted, God’s example and comfort all those in need this di cult time. Through faith and by helping con dent we will emerge out of this pandemic

Unfortunately, when certain types of questions get asked, there is sometimes a disturbing tendency among some people to treat those simply questioning the data and asking when we can start getting back to normal as though they are conspiracy theorists or are people who otherwise don’t care if they get themselves or others sick.

“My initial thought was that Apple has become exactly what it never wanted to be,” Vann Graves, executive director of the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brandcenter, said.

We should all continue ourselves, and our communities to ask questions about the measures are understandable,

In this same spirit, I continue to be inspired neighbors helping neighbors.

Since when did questioning government at all levels become a bad thing? That is what free citizens living in a free society were supposed to do, last I checked.

“The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley,” actor Hugh Grant wrote on the social media platform X, in a repost of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s sharing of the ad. The commercial marked a notable di erence to market-

“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Tor Myhren, the company’s vice president of marketing communications, told Ad Age. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”

This is all new to Americans, shape, or form. So while the same time we shouldn’t normal.”

In Concord, a high school senior named money to buy a 3-D printer and plastic to health care workers out of his own home.

Not one little bit.

My rst concern as we go along in all this, of course, is my family. I’m worried about them catching the virus, and I’m worried I will. After su ering from the H1N1 virus (swine u) during the 2009 pandemic, I’ve been trying to take extra precautions, because all of this brings up way too many memories of a painful experience I’d prefer not to repeat.

But what also makes me lose sleep is how easily most everyone has

Graves pointed to Apple’s famous 1984 ad introducing the Macintosh computer, which he said focused more on uplifting creativity and thinking outside of the box as a unique individual. In contrast, Graves added, “This (new iPad) commercial says, ‘No, we’re going to take all the creativity in the world and use a hydraulic press to push it

Cupertino, California-based Apple unveiled its latest generation of iPad Pros and Airs earlier this week in a showcase that lauded new features for both lines. The Pro sports a new thinner design, a new M4 processor for added processing power, slightly upgraded storage and incorporates dual OLED panels for a brighter, crisper display.

Stacey Matthews has also and is a regular contributor

COLUMN | REP. RICHARD HUDSON

Sponsored by

Sponsored by

Jason

Nor th

Journa

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior

APPLE VIA AP

A hydraulic press crushes an array of creative instruments in a newly released ad promoting Apple’s new iPad Pro.

“The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley.” Actor Hugh Grant

Low-cost Chinese electric cars threaten US manufacturers

Tari s on imported Chinese vehicles will keep the Seagull out of America for now

By Tom Krisher and Ken Moritsugu

The Associated Press

LIVONIA, Mich. — A tiny, low-priced electric car called the Seagull has American automakers and politicians trembling.

The car, launched last year by Chinese automaker BYD, sells for around $12,000 in China but drives well and is put together with craftsmanship that rivals U.S. electric vehicles that cost three times as much.

Tari s on imported Chinese vehicles will keep the Seagull out of America for now, and it likely would sell for more than 12 grand if imported.

But the rapid emergence of low-priced EVs from China could shake up the global auto industry in ways not seen since Japanese makers arrived during the oil crises of the 1970s. BYD, which stands for “Build Your Dreams,” could be a nightmare for the U.S. auto industry.

“Any car company that’s not paying attention to them as a competitor is going to be lost when they hit their market,” said Sam Fiorani, a vice president at AutoForecast Solutions near Philadelphia. “BYD’s entry into the U.S. market isn’t an if. It’s a when.”

U.S. politicians and manufacturers already see Chinese EVs as a serious threat. The Biden administration on Tuesday is expected to announce 100% tari s on electric vehicles imported from China, saying they pose a threat to U.S. jobs and nation-

al security.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing says in a paper that government-subsidized Chinese EVs “could end up being an extinction-level event for the U.S. auto sector.”

Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Chinese EVs are so good that without trade barriers, “they will pretty much demolish most other car compa-

nies in the world.”

Chinese brands o er a ordable options for the masses — just as many governments are forcing a shift away from gasoline vehicles.

Higher U.S. labor costs make domestic vehicles more expensive, but BYD also keeps costs down with its battery-making expertise with batteries that cost less but have lower range

US aims to stay ahead of China in ghter jets

Arti cial intelligence and ying without GPS are strategic advantages

By Tara Copp The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two Air Force ghter jets recently squared o in a dog ght in California. One was own by a pilot. The other wasn’t.

That second jet was piloted by arti cial intelligence, with the Air Force’s highest-ranking civilian riding along in the front seat. It was the ultimate display of how far the Air Force has come in developing a technology with its roots in the 1950s. But it’s only a hint of the technology yet to come.

The United States is competing to stay ahead of China on AI and its use in weapon systems. The focus on AI has generated public concern that future wars will be fought by machines that select and strike targets without direct human intervention. Ocials say this will never happen, at least not on the U.S. side. But there are questions about what a potential adversary would allow, and the military sees no alternative but to get U.S. capabilities elded fast.

“Whether you want to call it a race or not, it certainly is,” said Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Sta . “Both of us have recognized that this will be a very critical element of the future battle eld. China’s working on it as hard as we are.”

AI’s roots in the military are actually a hybrid of machine learning and autonomy. Machine learning occurs when a computer analyzes data and rule sets to reach conclusions. Autonomy occurs when those conclusions are applied to take action without further human input.

This took an early form in the 1960s and 1970s with the development of the Navy’s Aegis missile defense system. Aegis was trained through a series of human-programmed if/then rule sets to be able to detect and intercept incoming missiles autonomously and more rapidly than a human could. Howev-

er the Aegis system was not designed to learn from its decisions and its reactions were limited to the rule set it had.

“If a system uses ‘if/then’ it is probably not machine learning, which is a eld of AI that involves creating systems that learn from data,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Christopher Berardi, who is assigned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to assist with the Air Force’s AI development.

AI took a major step forward in 2012 when the combination of big data and advanced computing power enabled computers to begin analyzing the information and writing the rule sets

themselves. It is what AI experts have called AI’s “big bang.”

The new data created by a computer writing the rules is arti cial intelligence. Systems can be programmed to act autonomously from the conclusions reached from machine-written rules, which is a form of AI-enabled autonomy.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall got a taste of that advanced war ghting this month when he ew on Vista, the rst F-16 ghter jet to be controlled by AI, in a dog ghting exercise over California’s Edwards Air Force Base.

While that jet is the most visible sign of the AI work under-

“They will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world.”

Elon Musk

than most current lithium-ion batteries.

BYD also makes many of its own parts, including electric motors, dashboards and bodies, using its huge scale — 3 million vehicles sold worldwide last year — for cost savings.

The vehicles are designed with e ciency as the driving factor. The Seagull has only one windshield wiper, eliminating one motor and one arm, saving on weight, cost and labor to install.

While acceleration isn’t head-snapping like other EVs, the Seagull is peppy and would have no problems entering a freeway. BYD would have to modify its cars to meet U.S. safety standards, which are more stringent than in China.

BYD sells the Seagull, also called the Dolphin Mini, in four Latin American countries for about $21,000.

way, there are hundreds of ongoing AI projects across the Pentagon.

In another signi cant project, the military is working on an AI alternative to GPS satellite-dependent navigation.

In a future war, high-value GPS satellites would likely be hit or interfered with. The loss of GPS could blind U.S. communication, navigation and banking systems and make the U.S. military’s eet of aircraft and warships less able to coordinate a response.

So last year the Air Force ew an AI program — loaded onto a laptop that was strapped to the oor of a C-17 military cargo plane — to work on an alternative solution using the Earth’s magnetic elds. It has been known that aircraft could navigate by following the Earth’s magnetic elds, but so far that hasn’t been practical because each aircraft generates so much of its own electromagnetic noise that there has been no way good to lter for just the Earth’s emissions.

“Magnetometers are very sensitive,” said Col. Garry Floyd, director of the Department of Air Force-MIT Arti cial Intelligence Accelerator program. “If you turn on the strobe lights on a C-17 we would see it.”

The AI learned through the ights and reams of data which signals to ignore and which to follow and the results “were very, very impressive,” Floyd said. “We’re talking tactical airdrop quality.”

“We think we may have added an arrow to the quiver in the things we can do, should we end up operating in a GPS-denied environment. Which we will,” Floyd said.

NG HAN GUAN / AP PHOTO

DAMIAN DOVARGANES / AP PHOTO

An AI-enabled Air Force F-16 ghter jet, left, ies next to an adversary F-16 as both aircraft race within 1,000 feet of each other on May 2.

Emirates airline takes ight after pandemic

The long-haul carrier posted a $4.7 billion pro t in 2023

By Jon Gambrell

The Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The long-haul carrier Emirates announced Monday it saw record pro ts of $4.7 billion in 2023 as the airline fully took ight after the turbulent years of the coronavirus pandemic disrupted its operations.

Emirates, owned by Dubai’s government, announced revenues of $33 billion, compared to $29.3 billion the year before. Pro t the year prior had been $2.9 billion.

The airline carried 51.9 million passengers in its 2023nancial year, as compared to 43.6 million the year prior.

“Throughout the year, we saw high demand for air transport and travel related services around the world, and because we were able to move quickly to deliver what customers want, we achieved tremendous results,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the chairman and CEO of Emirates, said in a statement.

“We are reaping the benet of years of non-stop investments in our products and services, in building strong

partnerships, and in the capabilities of our talented people.”

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, praised the airline, noting it “took o 39 years ago and the world of aviation is no longer what it was before.” The Emirates’ results track with those for its base, Dubai International Airport. The world’s busiest airport for international travelers had 86.9 million passengers last year,

The investment will support France’s arti cial intelligence sector

The Associated Press

PARIS — Microsoft announced its most substantial commitment yet to France, pledging on Monday to invest $4.3 billion this year to bolster the country’s burgeoning articial intelligence sector.

The move is part of a broader e ort unveiled during President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-business event, Choose France, which aims to attract foreign investment and stimulate economic growth.

Microsoft’s vice chair and president, Brad Smith, visited the company’s French headquarters with Macron.

“We will build out the computing capacity here in France,” Smith said. “We will put this infrastructure to work for everyone in France.”

The plan includes expanding next-generation Cloud and AI infrastructure and delivering up to 25,000 of the most advanced GPUs, or graphics processing units, to France by the end of 2025.

Additionally, Microsoft will launch an AI skilling initiative to train 1 million French people by the end of 2027, emphasizing the importance of equipping citizens with future-ready skills.

The announcement was made as part of the annual Choose France summit, creat-

surpassing numbers for 2019 just before the coronavirus pandemic grounded global aviation. The airport had 89.1 million passengers in 2018 — its busiest-ever year before the pandemic.

The airport now plans to move to the city-state’s second, sprawling air eld in its southern desert reaches in the next 10 years in a project worth nearly $35 billion.

The overall Emirates Group,

which includes travel company dnata, as well as food, beverage and leisure holdings, reported pro ts of $5.1 billion o revenues of $37.4 billion.

The group declared a dividend to its owner, the sheikhdom’s sovereign wealth fund known as the Investment Corporation of Dubai, of $1 billion. It also gave its more than 112,000 employees 20 weeks of bonus pay, according to an internal email sent to sta seen by The Associated Press.

The city-state, one of seven hereditarily ruled, autocratic sheikhdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, provided Emirates some $4 billion in a bailout at the height of the pandemic. The annual report said Emirates repaid $2.6 billion of that loan last year.

In November, Emirates announced a $52 billion deal to purchase 90 Boeing 777 aircraft, 55 of them 777-9 variants and 35 of them 777-8s. Emirates will also add ve 787 Dreamliners to its previous order of 30 aircraft.

For years, Emirates has relied on the Boeing 777 and the double-decker Airbus A380 to ferry passengers around the world. That will change in September, when Emirates says it will begin ying the Airbus A350 on routes.

The airline has also embarked on a $2 billion retro t program for its aircraft.

But challenges remain for the carrier. Saudi Arabia plans to push into the market with Riyadh Air, a new carrier that made a jet deal valued around $37 billion with Boeing just last year with the agship carrier Saudia.

‘Choose France’

ed by Macron in 2018. The summit, held this year at the Palace of Versailles, was attended by 180 international CEOs and senior business executives. It highlighted foreign investments totaling a reported 15 billion euros, surpassing last year’s 13 billion euros raised through 28 projects.

Macron addressed the necessity of advancing AI technology in Europe and told Microsoft sta , “We are entering a totally di erent world where the competition will be ferocious, and we can only win this competition if we have trusted partners, and you are among them.”

This signi cant investment

underscores Microsoft’s commitment to supporting French growth in the AI economy and marks a milestone in the ongoing e orts to enhance France’s position as a global leader in technology and innovation.

France hauled in more than $16 billion in total investment pledges during the “Choose France” summit at Versailles Palace. According to President Emmanuel Macron, over 50 business projects were funded in di erent sectors, including arti cial intelligence, pharmaceuticals and energy.

Amazon announced a plan that would create more than 3,000 jobs in France as part

of a 6 billion euro, 15-year investment plan to develop cloud infrastructure in France. Amazon currently operates more than 35 logistics facilities in France.

“Amazon has been choosing France for more than 20 years and we are proud to announce today the continuation of our investments in the country,” said Frederic Duval, Amazon’s country manager for France in a statement. “This new investment of more than €1.2 billion will create more than 3,000 jobs and increase our footprint in France, where we have been the largest net creator of jobs since 2010.”

Are U.S. interest rates high enough to beat in ation?

The sharp interest rate hikes of the past two years will likely take longer than previously expected to bring down in ation, several Federal Reserve o cials have said in recent comments, suggesting there may be few, if any, rate cuts this year. A major concern expressed by both Fed policymakers and some economists is that higher borrowing costs aren’t having as much of an impact as economics textbooks would suggest. Americans, for example, aren’t spending much more of their incomes on interest than they were a few years ago despite the Fed’s rate increases. That means higher rates may not be doing much to limit Americans’ spending or cool in ation.

Union authorizes strike at Maryland Apple Store

Workers at the rst Apple Store to unionize have authorized the rst strike against the tech giant’s retail operations. A statement from the union representing the workers at a store in Towson, Maryland, says it voted late Saturday to authorize a strike. No date was set for the strike. The vote follows what the union called “over a year of negotiations with Apple management that yielded unsatisfactory outcomes.” The workers are seeking changes in what they call unpredictable scheduling practices and want wages that align with the local cost of living. Apple in a statement that it will engage with the union “respectfully and in good faith.”

Amazon’s self-driving taxi under investigation after pair of crashes

Amazon’s self-driving robotaxi unit is being investigated by the U.S. government after two of its vehicles braked suddenly and were rear- ended by motorcyclists. The National Highway Tra c Safety Administration said in documents posted on its website Monday that it will evaluate the automated driving system developed by Zoox. Both crashes happened during daytime hours, and the motorcyclists su ered minor injuries. The agency con rmed each vehicle was operating in autonomous mode before the crashes.

Cash $2,623,687,938

$100,731,514

JON GAMBREL / AP PHOTO

An Emirates Airbus A380 jet lands at Dubai International Airport in 2022.

THIBAULT CAMUS / AP PHOTO

Lexi Bogan, whose speech was impaired following surgery for a brain tumor, uses an AI-powered smartphone app to create an audible drink order at a Starbucks drive-thru last month in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

AI gives woman replica voice accessible by phone

Surgery last year for a brain tumor cost

Lexi Bogan her voice

By Matt O’Brien The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The voice Alexis “Lexi” Bogan had before last summer was exuberant.

She loved to belt out Taylor Swift and Zach Bryan ballads in the car. She laughed all the time — even while corralling misbehaving preschoolers or debating politics with friends over a backyard re pit. In high school, she was a soprano in the chorus.

Then that voice was gone.

Doctors in August removed a life-threatening tumor lodged near the back of her brain. When the breathing tube came out a month later, Bogan had trouble swallowing and strained to say “hi” to her parents. Months of rehabilitation aided her recovery, but her speech is still impaired. Friends, strangers and her family members struggle to understand what she is trying to tell them.

In April, the 21-year-old got her old voice back. Not the real one, but a voice clone generated by arti cial intelligence that she can summon from a phone app. Trained on a 15-second time capsule of her teenage voice — sourced from a cooking demonstration video she recorded for a high school project — her synthetic but remarkably real-sounding AI voice can now say almost anything she wants.

She types a few words or sentences into her phone and the app instantly reads it aloud.

“Hi, can I please get a grande iced brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso,” said Bogan’s AI voice as she held the phone out her car’s window at a Starbucks drive-thru.

Experts have warned that rapidly improving AI voice-cloning technology can amplify phone scams, disrupt democratic elections and violate the dignity of people — living or dead — who never consented to having their voice recreated to say things they never spoke.

It’s been used to produce deepfake robocalls to New Hampshire voters mimicking President Joe Biden. In Maryland, author-

STEVEN

Doctors treating Bogan are recreating her original voice using a voice-cloning tool from OpenAI, allowing her to talk to friends and families in her familiar voice and also do tasks like ordering from a drive-thru.

ities recently charged a high school athletic director with using AI to generate a fake audio clip of the school’s principal making racist remarks.

But Bogan and a team of doctors at Rhode Island’s Lifespan hospital group believe they’ve found a use that justi es the risks. Bogan is one of the rst people — the only one with her condition — who have been able to recreate a lost voice with OpenAI’s new Voice Engine. Some other AI providers, such as the startup ElevenLabs, have tested similar technology for people with speech impediments and loss — including a lawyer who now uses her voice clone in the courtroom.

“We’re hoping Lexi’s a trailblazer as the technology develops,” said Dr. Rohaid Ali, a neurosurgery resident at Brown University’s medical school and Rhode Island Hospital. Millions of people with debilitating strokes, throat cancer or neurogenerative diseases could benet, he said.

“We should be conscious of the risks, but we can’t forget about the patient and the social good,” said Dr. Fatima Mirza, another resident working on the pilot.

“We’re able to help give Lexi back her true voice, and she’s able to speak in terms that are the most true to herself.”

Mirza and Ali, who are mar-

ried, caught the attention of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI because of their previous research

project at Lifespan using the AI chatbot to simplify medical consent forms for patients. The San Francisco company reached out while on the hunt earlier this year for promising medical applications for its new AI voice generator.

Bogan was still slowly recovering from surgery. The illness started last summer with headaches, blurry vision and a droopy face, alarming doctors at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence. They discovered a vascular tumor the size of a golf ball pressing on her brain stem and entangled in blood vessels and cranial nerves.

“It was a battle to get control of the bleeding and get the tumor out,” said pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Konstantina Svokos.

The tumor’s location and severity coupled with the complexity of the 10-hour surgery damaged Bogan’s control of her tongue muscles and vocal cords, impeding her ability to eat and talk, Svokos said.

“It’s almost like a part of my identity was taken when I lost my voice,” Bogan said.

The feeding tube came out this year. Speech therapy continues, enabling her to speak intelligibly in a quiet room but with no sign she will recover the full lucidity of her natural voice.

“At some point, I was starting to forget what I sounded like,” Bogan said. “I’ve been getting so used to how I sound now.”

Whenever the phone rang at the family’s home in the Providence suburb of North Smitheld, she would push it over to her mother to take her calls. She felt she was burdening her friends whenever they went to a noisy restaurant. Her dad, who has hearing loss, struggled to understand her.

Back at the hospital, doctors were looking for a pilot patient to experiment with OpenAI’s technology.

“The rst person that came to Dr. Svokos’ mind was Lexi,” Ali said. “We reached out to Lexi to see if she would be interested, not knowing what her response would be. She was game to try it out and see how it would work.”

Bogan had to go back a few years to nd a suitable recording of her voice to “train” the AI system on how she spoke. It was a video in which she explained how to make a pasta salad.

Her doctors intentionally fed the AI system just a 15-second clip. Cooking sounds make other parts of the video imperfect. It was also all that OpenAI needed — an improvement over previous technology requiring much lengthier samples.

They also knew that getting something useful out of 15 seconds could be vital for any future patients who have no trace of their voice on the internet. A brief voicemail left for a relative might have to su ce.

When they tested it for the rst time, everyone was stunned by the quality of the voice clone. Occasional glitches — a mispronounced word, a missing intonation — were mostly imperceptible. In April, doctors equipped Bogan with a custom-built phone app that only she can use.

“I get so emotional every time I hear her voice,” said her mother, Pamela Bogan, with tears in her eyes.

“I think it’s awesome that I can have that sound again,” added Lexi Bogan, saying it helped “boost my con dence to somewhat where it was before all this happened.”

She now uses the app about 40 times a day and sends feedback she hopes will help future patients. One of her rst experiments was to speak to the kids at the preschool where she works as a teaching assistant. She typed in “ha ha ha ha” expecting a robotic response. To her surprise, it sounded like her old laugh.

She’s used it at Target and Marshall’s to ask where to nd items. It’s helped her reconnect with her dad. And it’s made it easier for her to order fast food.

Bogan’s doctors have started cloning the voices of other willing Rhode Island patients and hope to bring the technology to hospitals around the world. OpenAI said it is treading cautiously in expanding the use of Voice Engine, which is not yet publicly available.

Several smaller AI startups already sell voice-cloning services to entertainment studios or make them more widely available. Most voice-generation vendors say they prohibit impersonation or abuse, but they vary in how they enforce their terms of use.

“We want to make sure that everyone whose voice is used in the service is consenting on an ongoing basis,” said Je Harris, OpenAI’s lead on the product. “We want to make sure that it’s not used in political contexts. So we’ve taken an approach of being very limited in who we’re giving the technology to.”

Harris said OpenAI’s next step involves developing a secure “voice authentication” tool so that users can replicate only their own voice. That might be “limiting for a patient like Lexi, who had sudden loss of her speech capabilities,” he said. “So we do think that we’ll need to have high-trust relationships, especially with medical providers, to give a little bit more unfettered access to the technology.”

Bogan has impressed her doctors with her focus on thinking about how the technology could help others with similar or more severe speech impediments.

“Part of what she has done throughout this entire process is think about ways to tweak and change this,” Mirza said. “She’s been a great inspiration for us.”

While for now she must ddle with her phone to get the voice engine to talk, Bogan imagines an AI voice engine that improves upon older remedies for speech recovery — such as the robotic-sounding electrolarynx or a voice prosthesis — in melding with the human body or translating words in real-time.

She’s less sure about what will happen as she grows older and her AI voice continues to sound like she did as a teenager. Maybe the technology could “age” her AI voice, she said.

For now, “even though I don’t have my voice fully back, I have something that helps me nd my voice again,” she said.

The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.

SENNE / AP PHOTO

STEVEN SENNE / AP PHOTO

All-Star Race returns to North Wilkesboro,

Hurricanes ‘live to ght another day’

COLLEGE SPORTS

Judge halts ACC’s lawsuit against Florida State

The Atlantic Coast Conference’s lawsuit against member school Florida State has come to a temporary halt. Judge Louis Bledsoe III handed down a ruling that puts a stay on all discovery and further court-related work on the case while FSU appeals to the state Supreme Court. The school is appealing Bledsoe’s earlier ruling that denying a motion to dismiss the case.

GOLF

Carolina has won back-to-back games after falling in a 3-0 series hole against the Rangers

By Cory Lavalette North State Journal

NEW YORK — Outside “The World’s Most Famous Arena” is a poster of Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder with the quote, “You ain’t nothin’ until you play Madison Square Garden.”

After the Carolina Hurricanes, on their sixth try, nal-

ly won the franchise’s rst playo game at MSG, beating the New York Rangers 4-1 Monday, the motto for the teams’ second round matchup may as well be, “It ain’t a series until you win at Madison Square Garden.”

The Hurricanes turned a one-goal de cit and a seemingly looming shutout for Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin into a two-goal lead in just 6:22 of game time in the third period, getting goals from Jordan Staal, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jordan Martinook to shock the Rangers and send the series back to Raleigh for a Game 6 on Thursday.

Charlotte Hornets introduce Charles Lee as new head coach

NBC to stick with dual announcers, analysts for upcoming U.S. Open NBC Sports has been without a permanent analyst in the 18th tower all year. That’s won’t change for the U.S. Open. Dan Hicks will call the even-numbered holes with Brandel Chamblee. Mike Tirico will do the odd-numbered holes with Brad Faxon. Also returning to work at Pinehurst is Roger Maltbie and Jim “Bones” Mackay as on- course reporters. See HORNETS, page B4

The 10-year NBA assistant is now the franchise’s 12th head coach

By Jesse Deal North State Journal

CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte Hornets’ search for their 12th head coach in team history has concluded — Boston Celtics lead assistant coach Charles Lee has agreed to a four-year contract with the franchise. The team made the o cial

announcement last Thursday that the 10-year NBA assistant will join the Hornets after concluding the NBA playo s with the Celtics, who recently nished the regular season with the league’s top record (64-18).

“We are excited to welcome Charles Lee as the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets,” Charlotte Hornets Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Je Peterson said in a team statement.

“It’s two beautiful teams that (are) competing against each other,” Kuznetsov said, “and it’s a dog ght now.”

After losing the series’ rst three games, the Hurricanes followed up their thrilling win Sunday at PNC Arena with a feverish comeback on the Rangers’ home ice.

Now the Presidents’ Trophy winners, who won their rst seven games of the postseason, will have to trudge back to Raleigh with the series back on its logical track — a 3-2 New York series lead with the Rang-

See HURRICANES, page B3

“It’s two beautiful teams that (are) competing against each other, and it’s a dog ght now.”

Evgeny Kuznetsov,

MORRY GASH / AP PHOTO

a Milwaukee Bucks associate head coach, Charles Lee

in for head coach Mike Budenholzer during the rst half of an NBA preseason game in October 2022. The Charlotte Hornets have named Charles Lee as their next head coach. The 39-year-old joins the Hornets after serving as the Boston Celtics top assistant.

ADAM HUNGER / AP PHOTO

Hurricanes center Evgeny Kuznetsov celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal in the third period of Game 5 against the Rangers in Carolina’s 4-1 win Monday in New York. The Rangers leads the series 3-2, and Game 6 will be Thursday at PNC Arena.

Hurricanes center

TRENDING

A.J. Smith:

The longtime NFL executive who was the winningest general manager in Chargers history died at 75. Smith was the GM when San Diego drafted quarterback Philip Rivers out of NC State in 2004. His son, Atlanta assistant general manager Kyle Smith, said his father had been battling prostate cancer for seven years. The Chargers won ve division titles during Smith’s 10 seasons as GM.

Jaden Schutt:

The former Duke shooting guard became the third Blue Devil this week to transfer within the ACC. Schutt, a freshman in 2022-23, redshirted this past season. He will play for Virginia Tech next season. TJ Power, a Duke freshman last season, announced earlier in the week that he would transfer to Virginia, and Christian Reeves, whose sophomore season was cut short by injury, in headed to Clemson.

Kerry Martin:

The former West Virginia and Akron safety is headed to NC State. Martin had 50 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss in 2019 for West Virginia and has totaled 98 stops and 4.5 tackles for loss for Akron over the last two seasons. He is one of two transfer portal players to commit to the Pack last week, joining former Colorado defensive tackle Chazz Wallace.

Beyond the box score

POTENT QUOTABLES

“I hope when girls wear this shoe, they believe in themselves.”

A’ja Wilson after Nike announced the two-time WNBA MVP was getting a signature shoe.

“We don’t come to Cleveland for the weather, so let’s go.”

Jaylen Brown after his Boston Celtics took a 2-1 series lead with a road win at the Cavaliers.

PRIME NUMBER

4

Number of games won by Rafael Nadal in a 6-1, 6-3 loss in the Italian Open, his most lopsided loss in 21 years. Nadal is now unsure if he’ll play in the French Open later this month.

NASCAR

Brad Keselowski moved to the front when Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick hit each other with nine laps left and held on to win the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday. It was Keselowski’s rst victory since 2021 and his rst triumph since rejoining magnate Jack Roush as a co-owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. It was his 36th career win and his second at Darlington.

The Arizona Cardinals agreed to terms on a one-year deal with receiver Zay Jones. The 29-year-old played the last two seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The 2017 second-round pick out of East Carolina had his best season in 2022, catching 82 passes for 823 yards and ve touchdowns.

Igor Milicic Jr., right, will play his nal year at Tennessee. Volunteers coach Rick Barnes announced the addition of the 6-foot-10, 225-pound Croatian who spent his rst season at Virginia and the last two at Charlotte. He averaged 12.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 blocks per game with the 49ers in 2023-24.

Former major leaguer Monte Harrison, 28, plans to walk on with the Razorbacks’ football program. Harrison was an out elder with the Carolina Mudcats in 2017. He batted .177 with two homers and six RBIs between the Marlins and Angels from 2020-22 and hit .240 with 90 homers, 336 RBIs and 210 stolen bases in the minors.

NFL

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

GARY MCCULLOUGH / AP PHOTO

MATT KELLEY / AP PHOTO

FRANK FRANKLIN II / AP PHOTO

CHARLES KRUPA / AP PHOTO

MATT KELLEY / AP PHOTO

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

LYNNE SLADKY / AP PHOTO

Golf House Pinehurst celebrates grand opening

The seven-acre campus houses the World Golf Hall of Fame and several other attractions

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

A MONTH BEFORE it became the center of the golf world’s attention, Pinehurst became golf’s home.

With Pinehurst No. 2 getting nishing touches in advance of hosting next month’s U.S. Open, the USGA opened Golf House Pinehurst.

Located near the golf resort’s main clubhouse, Golf House is a sprawling seven”-acre campus that will serve as home to the World Golf Hall of Fame, the USGA Experience and several other attractions. It will also serve as the home o ce for more than ve dozen USGA sta ers.

Plans for Golf House were rst announced in 2020, when Pinehurst was awarded ve future U.S. Opens — this year’s event being the rst.

“It’s a great t, for the USGA to be located in the home of American golf,” then USGA CEO Mike Davis said at the time.

“When I joined the USGA, I shared with our internal teammates that while the USGA will always celebrate history, we’re not going to be afraid to make some. Today is proof positive that we’re just getting started,” Mike Whan, current CEO of the USGA, said at last week’s Grand Opening Celebration. “In four years, we’ve gone from vision to reality, and achieving this important milestone is the action of more than a visitor, but a neighbor. Together, we’re going to do great things for the good of the game that will live on for another 20,

50 years and beyond.”

Two years after the initial announcement, the World Golf Hall of Fame announced that it was relocating to Golf House as well, returning to its roots. The Hall began as a privately operated hall of fame, run by Pinehurst management, in 1974. The PGA took over operation of the hall in 1983, and it relocated to St. Augustine Florida in 1998.

“There’s no better connection to golf’s past, present and future than Pinehurst, and no organization that works harder than the USGA to preserve the history of this great game,” Whan said in a statement at the time. “We look forward to celebrating the greatest moments and golf’s greatest athletes by including the World Golf Hall of Fame as an important part of our new Pinehurst home. Simply put, it just makes sense.”

Among the pieces of golf history earmarked for the Pinehurst hall are:

• Johnny Miller’s clubs, ball and champion’s gold medal from the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont, where he shot a record 63 in the nal round

• Shirt worn by Annika Sorenstam in the rst round of the 2003 Colonial, becoming the rst woman to play in a PGA Tour event since 1945

• Compass, slide rule and bifocals used by Donald Ross

• Jack Nicklaus’ MacGregor golf bag from the 1965 Masters

• Golf bag and clubs used by Lorena Ochoa to win the 2008 British Women’s Open, her rst major victory

• Spalding 2-wood used by Bob Jones

• Wedge used by Seve Ballesteros to win the 1979 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, his rst of ve major titles

• 1922 PGA Championship trophy and 1935 Masters champion plaque from Gene Sarazen, the rst player to complete the professional career Grand Slam

To mark the 50th anniversary of the World Golf Hall of Fame, the induction ceremony will be held at Pinehurst on June 10. Hosted by Darius Rucker, the induction class includes Padraig Harrington, Sandra Palmer, Johnny Farrell, Beverly Hanson, Tom Weiskopf and the 13 LPGA Founders

The World Golf Hall of Fame is located on the second oor of Golf House Pinehurst. On the ground oor, visitors will nd the USGA Experience, an immersive and interactive view of golf and the USGA’s work to unify, showcase, govern and advance the game.

It includes museum galleries, lms on past USGA championships and an area devoted to The Science of Golf, exploring the physics of the game and the data involved.

The nod to science is signi cant, since Golf House is also home to the USGA’s research and test center, where ball and club design technology will be conducted. The campus also has a restored longleaf pine forest, as well as a gift shop where fans can purchase USGA merchandise.

According to the USGA, “Independent studies estimate that the total economic impact of the USGA’s long-term presence in Pinehurst, combined with the USGA championships it will bring as a designated anchor site, will exceed $2 billion to the state of North Carolina.” That includes the revenue generated by tourism at Golf House, as well as the impact of future tournaments hosted by Pinehurst as a result of the partnership.

ers having had three games at home. Carolina is only halfway toward becoming the fth team in NHL history to erase a 3-0 series de cit and win a best-of-seven matchup, but the pressure has shifted squarely onto the shoulders of Peter Laviolette’s team.

“Any time you don’t play up to your capabilities, you get concerned about that,” the former Hurricanes-turned-Rangers coach said. “But I also know that this group has had games like that before, and they responded. There’s accountability that goes with that from themselves.”

When New York defenseman Jacob Trouba scored a shorthanded goal at 6:23 of the second period, it felt like Carolina’s power play — and Shesterkin — would be the death of the Hurricanes.

Instead, after mostly relying on their top line in the rst four games of the series, the Hurricanes got one goal after another from their complementary players to keep their season alive.

First it was the captain, Staal, who took advantage of a weary Braden Schneider — and a brilliant pass from Dmitry Orlov — to power his way to the goal mouth and backhand a shot past Shesterkin’s left pad to tie the game at 3:33 of the third period.

“I just love people get to see, in that game, what he can do

and what he means to this team,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Because that was vintage Jordan Staal there.”

It was Staal’s second point of the postseason and his rst goal, but it came at the biggest moment of the season.

“There’s been a lot of guys telling me I’m gonna score,” Staal said. “I told them after the game, ‘It’s better late than never.”

Martinook, Staal’s frequent linemate over the past six seasons, said it wasn’t just Staal’s goal that inspired him and his teammates.

“The whole game he was leading us,” Martinook said, “and when you got a guy that does it the same way every night, just plays the same style, in your face, hard — everyone wants to jump on, and that’s what your captain does.”

The mood of the game quickly changed, and it wasn’t long before Carolina took the lead.

Just over three minutes after Staal’s equalizer, Frederik Andersen (20 saves) made a pad save that defenseman Tony DeAngelo quickly cleared, and the Hurricanes headed up ice. Stefan Noesen passed left to Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who dropped the puck back to Brady Skjei for a one-timer. Kuznetsov fought o Artemi Panarin and red in the rebound to silence the MSG crowd at 6:39. “He’s got that ability, right?”

SHAWN KREST / NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Goodyear’s new option tires—recognizable because of their red lettering—is displayed, on a stack of yellow-lettered standard tires, at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

New surface, grand tire experiment highlight North Wilkesboro’s All-Star repeat

The NASCAR All-Star Race returns to the classic track for a second straight year

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

NORTH WILKESBORO —

So, it looks like this is going to be a thing.

Last year, the top story of NASCAR’s All-Star Race was the circuit’s return to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the rst time since 1996.

This year, with the All-Star Race returning to North Wilkesboro for the second straight year, nostalgia is on the back burner. There are plenty of other new storylines to track in Sunday’s million-dollar race.

The basics

This is the 40th running of NASCAR’s AllStar Race and the 36th time it’s been held in North Carolina. The inaugural race, and 34 of the rst 35 runnings, took place at Charlotte Motor Speedway. North Wilkesboro will become just the third track to host more than one All-Star Race.

Brind’Amour said. “Just silky smooth and has a great o ensive feel, there’s no doubt about it.”

Then Martinook, who had to basically ght o teammate Jack Drury to get o a shot from Martin Necas’ centering feed, also scored to put a dagger in the Rangers with 10:04 left in the game.

“Don’t touch it! Don’t touch it!” Martinook said he yelled to Drury as Necas’ centering pass came from behind the net and into the slot. Drury — whose gutsy pair of blocks helped kill o New York’s nal power play opportunity of the game — did get a piece of the puck, but Martinook was still able to snap home his shot.

“He got a little piece of it and calmed it down,” Martinook said.

Carolina didn’t even need Necas’ empty-net goal with 3:31 left to calm the home crowd, which was streaming toward the exits as Necas’ long-range bid found the center of the empty New York net, surely wondering if they’d be back inside Madison Square Garden on Saturday for a Game 7.

The Hurricanes aren’t quite there yet — there will be two o days before Thursday’s Game 6 at PNC Arena — but what four days ago seemed like “nothin’” is now something.

“We trusted our game and ended up paying o ,” Staal said. “And we live to ght another day.”

ing twist courtesy of Goodyear. In March, William Byron, Joey Logano and Ty Gibbs tried out the new surface at North Wilkesboro in a tire test. Based on the results of those test runs, Goodyear developed a tire that should be optimal for the course. Drivers will also have access to wet weather tires, in case rains come over the weekend.

Then there’s the option tire. As NASCAR spokesperson Scott Cooper explains, “It’s a softer tire. This tire is actually the same compound as the wet weather tire, but it is designed to have more grip and be faster. But it’s also going to fall o a lot quicker.”

“Last year, you saw a lot of slipping and sliding. There’s gonna be less of that. So, it’s probably gonna take more aggression this year.”

Michael Waltrip

The winner gets a million-dollar purse, and 18 drivers have already quali ed for the race: A.J. Allmendinger; Ross Chastain; Kyle Larson; Brad Keselowski; Kyle Busch; Chase Elliott; Denny Hamlin; Ryan Blaney; Chris Buescher; Martin Truex Jr.; Christopher Bell; Joey Logano; Michael McDowell; William Byron; Tyler Reddick; Daniel Suarez; Ricky Stenhouse Jr.; Shane Van Gisbergen. Three more racers will be added to the eld—the top two nishers from Sunday’s All-Star Open, which runs two and a half hours before the start of the AllStar Race, and the winner of the Fan Vote.

Going beneath the surface

The one sour note on the track’s return to major racing last year was that several drivers complained about the rough racing surface. That problem has been solved, as the track has been repaved for the rst time since 1981. According to Fox racing analyst, and former All-Star Race winner Michael Waltrip, that means two things: speed and contact.

“Just the speed of these cars I think that’s going to be the big story,” he said. “Also, just the grip level, and the way you’re gonna have to probably push and shove a little bit to make those moves. Last year, you saw a lot of slipping and sliding. There’s gonna be less of that. So, it’s probably gonna take more aggression this year than you saw here a year ago.”

Tire testing

The race will get an interest-

Ironically, drivers won’t have an option on how they start the race. They’ll all be using the option tire at the starting line. “But they’re going to have another set (of option tires),” Cooper explained. “And then it’ll be up to the teams and the drivers to decide when they want to try to use the other set, if at all, throughout the All-Star Race.”

“I think that’s really cool,” Waltrip said. “I like how they formatted it. You know, you start on one set, but you only have two of those. When do you put them on? There’s a break with 50 laps ago, they probably won’t be fast for 50 laps. They might only be fast for 15 or 20. So, understanding when is the best lap to get those tires and think about this? What if you don’t get them with 50 to go and there’s not another caution and somebody did get them there. They might wear their tires out or they might get a check for a million dollars. A lot of questions right now. And I’m sure there’s engineers and crew chiefs back home on their computers trying to science out exactly what the best way to attack this format is.”

Busy Kyle

Last year’s All-Star Race winner, Kyle Larson, will be arriving in North Wilkesboro on Saturday, as he prepares for the rare Indy 500/Charlotte Coca Cola 600 double on Memorial Day Weekend. He’ll be running Indy quali cation heats all week, then head south for at most one All-Star heat before the big race. Of course, after last year’s dominant All-Star performance, he might not need much prep time.

“I was here last year as a fan,” Waltrip said. “I had my camper parked over in the back straightaway and me and my buddy sat over there and had a couple beers and watched Kyle Larson just methodically drive that car right on the edge. I just watched him so close to that inside wall coming o turn four and then clipping the wall. Just awesome racing, great, great, great memories of watching Kyle get that victory.”

HURRICANES from page B1

Golf House

Pinehurst, home to the World Golf Hall of Fame, a research and test center and several immersive displays in the USGA Experience, opened last week, a month before the club hosts the U.S. Open.

PHOTO COURTESY USGA

Local bovine athletes compete in PBR World Finals elimination rounds

Davis Rodeo Ranch sends bulls to compete alongside the world’s best

By Asheebo Rojas North State Journal

A FEW BULLS from Archdale found themselves in the land of the longhorn last week.

Working Man, Mercy Rule and La Grande, three bucking bulls from the Davis Rodeo Ranch, competed in the 2024 Professional Bull Riders World Finals: Unleash the Beast Eliminations held at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, from Thursday to Sunday. In a group of more than 160 bovine athletes, the three bulls competed to position themselves for the championship round and a chance to win a money prize.

On the rst day of the Eliminations, Working Man and Mercy Rule competed in the American Bucking Bull, Inc. Open Classic, a bucking competition featuring the top 3- and 4-yearold bulls against some of the nation’s top riders.

Working Man tied for 10th place with Fast Flow, representative of Outlaw Livestock, Lone Star Bucking Bull and AFCO, and earned a $1,459.25 prize. Mercy Rule nished the bucking competition in 40th place and failed to win money.

In the rst round of the Eliminations, Working Man threw rider Grayson Cole, the 2024 PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour champion, o his back in 3.85 seconds for a bull score

McIlroy turns in big round for sizable win in Charlotte

The No. 2-ranked golfer won his fourth tournament at

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

LIFE IS FULL of iconic duos. Bacon and eggs, peanut butter and jelly, Tom and Jerry, and Rory McIlroy and Quail Hollow.

For the fourth time in his career, McIlroy came away with the trophy at Quail Hollow, shooting 17 under through the tournament.

The Northern Ireland native is the only golfer to have won multiple times at the south Charlotte club, and the victory was also McIlroy’s 26th PGA Tour win and second in a row, having won the Zurich Classic two weeks earlier.

“I don’t know what’s more unbelievable, winning a PGA Tour event for the fourth time or getting my 26th,” McIlroy said. “Whenever I sort of hit some

HORNETS from page B1

“His high character and his ability to connect with players while also instilling a culture of accountability will serve us well as we construct a competitive team built for long-term success,” added Peterson, who already has experience working with Lee during their shared time with the Hawks.

Lee, 39, has been viewed as one the league’s top assistant coaches and prime candidates to take the leap forward into a head-coaching position.

Prior to his inaugural season in Boston this season as the top assistant under Joe Mazzulla, the Washington, D.C., native began his NBA career as an assistant for the Atlanta Hawks (2014-2018), before joining the Milwaukee Bucks (2018-2023) as an assistant and rising to an associate head coach role as the team won the 2020-21 NBA championship.

of these milestones or do these things, I always think back to 20-year-old me playing in the tournament for the rst time. If I had known back then that this was the way everything would pan out, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. Anytime things like this happen, I just feel incredibly lucky and grateful that I have the opportunity to do what I do and I was able to play good enough golf today to take advantage of that opportunity.”

The world’s No. 2 golfer has had a long history in Charlotte, having earned his rst professional win on the same course as his most recent.

“I love coming back here,” McIlroy said. “I love spending time here. It’s a place that I’m very comfortable at with Quail Hollow, the city of Charlotte in general and the people. For whatever reason, I get so much great support here. All these people have sort of watched me grow up. I won here for the rst

“The opportunity to be the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets is a dream come true,” Lee said in the Hornets’ announcement. “The Hornets have a talented young core of players and I’m excited about our future and what we can build here. There are few places as passionate about basketball as the Carolinas, and I look forward to coming to Charlotte and getting to work.”

In 10 seasons, Lee’s teams have a combined 510-291 (.637) regular-season record, nine playo appearances, seven division titles, and ve Eastern Conference No. 1 seeds. Additionally, his teams have nished the regular season with the league’s best record in four of the last six seasons.

“Charles possesses a championship pedigree with a wide range of basketball knowledge and NBA experience, has a tremendous work ethic and is a great communicator,” Peterson

of 43. He even struck Cole while he laid on the ground, causing some bleeding on Cole’s face after the ride.

“(Working Man) looked really good,” Jerome Davis, former championship-winning bull rider, PBR Ring of Honor member and owner of Davis Rodeo Ranch, said. “He’s a young bull. … We were pretty excited to have Grayson. That bull’s thing is we really need somebody to try him, and the farther they ride him, the better it gets.”

Mercy Rule, who was competing in his rst PBR nals, also took a turn in the rst round with Brady Fielder as his rider. Fielder, a 24-year-old from Australia, lasted the full eight seconds, earning Mercy Rule a bull score of 35.

La Grande, one of the more experienced of Davis’ group, competed in the third round of the Eliminations with Kaique Pacheco, a 29-year-old from Brazil, as his rider. Pacheco also lasted eight seconds, but La Grande still pulled out a decent score of 40.25.

“(La Grande) has done this a few times, so it’s been pretty good for him so far,” Davis said.

Davis said he won’t know which one of his bulls will qualify for Saturday and Sunday’s championship rounds at AT&T Stadium in Dallas until after the nal elimination stage, the Ride for Redemption.

The Ride for Redemption will be held Wednesday and Thursday also at Cowtown Coliseum, and it will give 40 riders (25 riders that didn’t advance

out of Eliminations and 15 invites) a last chance at the nal ve berths for the championship.

Davis will have three bulls, Working Man, Bomb Diggity and Fat Randy, bucking in that event. His competing bulls are a long way from the 2024 YETI PBR World Champion Bull honor and $100,000 bonus, which is awarded to the animal with the highest average bull score from their highest-scored eight outs during the 2023 Camping World Team Series, 2024 UTB regular season and two outs at the 2024 PBR Worldnals. However, they have a slight chance at being named the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Finals and earning a $25,000 bonus for posting the top combined score based on their three outs in the PBR World Finals.

Davis feels that Bomb Diggity and Fat Randy will have good outs Wednesday and Thursday, considering they haven’t had as many outs as other bulls leading up to the world nals.

For Davis and his bulls, the biggest thing for their preparation prior to the world nals is rest and diet.

“Just like a marathon, you don’t want to run on your feet with a full belly, so you don’t want to buck on a full stomach neither,” Davis said. “We make sure we get them the right feed as far as how much we feed them and that type of thing. (It’s) just to have them feeling good at the end of the day, so they can buck their best.”

Whether they win the big prize or not, Davis’ bulls have come a long way already.

“We’ve been raising these bulls for a long time,” Davis said. “It always makes you feel good when you get some bulls here at the world nals. It’s the best of the best.”

time as a 20-year-old and now at 35. So they’ve sort of seen my progression throughout the years, and I’ve sort of grown up in front of their eyes. And I think that’s one of the reasons why I get a lot of support here too.”

Despite entering the nal day trailing by a shot to Xander Schau ele, McIlroy turned it on midway through the nal round, putting home two eagles en route to a ve-stroke victory, the biggest margin of victory at Quail Hollow since McIlroy’s second victory there (2015, seven strokes).

“The rst few holes, I just didn’t have great yardages,”

said of Lee. “He shares our vision for this organization, and I look forward to partnering with him in building something special here in the Carolinas.”

As the Hornets’ new head coach, Lee replaces Steve Clifford, who chose to step down at the end of the season to transition into a front o ce role.

With the presumed healthy return of All-Star point guard LaMelo Ball, potential re-signing of free agent forward Miles Bridges, and the upcoming sophomore season of No. 2 overall pick Brandon Miller, the Hornets will aim to build upon a new foundation and improve upon the 21-61 record they stumbled into this past season. Charlotte ranked near the bottom of the league in nearly every o ensive and defensive category during the 2023-24 campaign.

While this year’s NBA draft is viewed by draft experts as one of the weaker classes in re-

McIlroy said. “I had a good yardage on one, it was just a perfect gap wedge, but on four and on six, it was like three-quarter shots. I just didn’t have great numbers the rst few holes, but then that three-quarter 8-iron into nine was a huge con dence booster to make a swing like that and make birdie.”

McIlroy put his foot on the gas from there, shooting 8 under par through the nal eight holes of the tournament for a decisive win.

“Just getting the honor back on the ninth tee was a big moment just mentally and to hit the drive in the second shot

cent memory, it’s possible that the team will have another burgeoning talent on the roster soon.

As announced over the weekend, the Hornets will receive the No. 6 overall pick in the draft, despite having the third-best odds (13%) to get the top pick; UConn freshman star guard Stephon Castle is a common name that has been mocked to Charlotte by predictive draft outlets.

Lee’s new coaching sta in Charlotte is also beginning to take shape.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported last Friday that the Hornets are hiring Utah Jazz assistant Lamar Skeeter as the top assistant for Lee’s sta . Skeeter spent a decade with the Jazz under Will Hardy and Quin Snyder, moving up the ranks as a development coach into a lead assistant.

Three days later, Wojnarowski reported that Chicago Bulls

Rory McIlroy holds the trophy after winning the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte. It’s his fourth time winning at Quail Hollow.

that I did,” McIlroy said. “It was a big moment to draw level with him heading into the back nine, but I think I was able to do that because of the putt I made on eight, the hole before.”

Next up on the itinerary? Valhalla.

“I’m a way better player now than I was back then,” McIlroy said. “I haven’t had the major record to back that up, but I’ve had the wins, I’ve done everything else there is to do in the game since 2014. The only thing I need to do is get another major. A win like this going into the PGA Championship next week is a good way to prep for that.”

assistant Josh Longsta is also joining the Hornets’ coaching sta . Longsta , who spent four years with Billy Donovan, also worked in Milwaukee and as a Hawks G League head coach.

The Hornets’ updated coaching sta isn’t the only recent change in the building.

On the same day as Longsta ’s hiring, Hornets Sports and Entertainment Co-Chairmen Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin announced Shelly Cayette-Weston as the organization’s president of business operations, e ective July 1.

After spending 12 years with the Cleveland Cavaliers — including the last two years as the team’s executive vice president and chief commercial ocer, Cayette-Weston will oversee the day-to-day business operations for all of HSE’s properties, including the Charlotte Hornets, Greensboro Swarm, Hornets Venom GT and Spectrum Center.

Quail Hollow Club

JACK DEMPSEY / AP PHOTO

Bull rider Jerome Davis, of Archdale, puts in an 88-point ride to win the fourth round at the 1995 National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. After injury cut short his bull-riding career in 1998, he began producing championship-level bulls at his ranch in Archdale.

CHRIS CARLSON / AP PHOTO

mid-May total.

The new ‘Apes’ lm is built on the rebooted trilogy from the 2010s

By Andrew Dalton The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” reigned over the weekend box o ce with a $56.5 million North American opening, according to studio estimates Sunday, giving a needed surge to an uncertain season in theaters.

The lm from 20th Century Studios and Disney that built on the rebooted “Apes” trilogy of the 2010s had the third highest opening of the year, after the $81.5 million debut of “Dune: Part Two” in early March and the $58.3 million domestic opening of “Kung Fu Panda 4” a week later.

been allowed to lose its momentum,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “There are very few franchises that have this kind of longevity.”

And it really is the property itself. The new lm shares no central actors or characters with its predecessors.

“There’s just this love for the way it melds sci- with social commentary and straight-up popcorn entertainment,” Dergarabedian said.

While there are potential blockbusters that feel like safe bets, including “Despicable Me 4” and “Deadpool & Wolverine” in July, others like “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” later this month and “Twisters” later in the summer feel like they could break either way.

Pixar once brought almost guaranteed hits, but June’s “Inside Out 2” may not thrive like the 2015 original.

“There used to be sure bets we cannot necessarily bank on anymore,” Dergarabedian said. “It is going to be a bit of a hit-or-miss slate.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore.

1. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” $56.5 million

2. “The Fall Guy,” $13.7 million

3. “Challengers,” $4.7 million

4. “Tarot,” $3.45 million

The series is based on unreleased paintings from Ross’ ‘The Joy of Painting’

By Alicia Rancilio

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — A new generation can learn how to paint happy trees and to make happy accidents with a TV series teaching the Bob Ross method of painting using some of the proli c artist’s work that has never been seen before.

Before Ross died in 1995 from cancer, he had completed seven paintings to use in season 32 of “The Joy of Painting.”

“He was so sick, but he was still working on his next series because he wanted to be able to keep going,” said Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc. Her parents, Annette and Walt Kowalski, co-founded the company with Ross. Those works were stored away for almost three decades. Certied Bob Ross instructor Nicholas Hankins has studied those seven paintings and paints them from scratch on camera in “The

“The Fall Guy” fell to No. 2 with a $13.7 million weekend and a two-week total of $49.7 million for Universal Pictures.

Zendaya’s “Challengers” was third with $4.7 million and has earned $38 million in three weeks for Amazon MGM studios.

The strong performance for “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” — it played even better internationally with a global total of $129 million — comes a week after a tepid start for Ryan Gosling’s “The Fall Guy” signaled that the summer of 2024 is likely to see a major drop-o after the “Barbenheimer” magic of 2023. “Planet of the Apes” easily made more than the rest of the top 10 combined.

The opening for “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” helmed by “Maze Runner” director Wes Ball, was the second best in the series, after the $72 million opening weekend of 2014’s “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.”

It’s the 10th movie in the “Planet of the Apes” franchise that began in 1968 with the Charlton Heston original with a twist ending.

“This franchise has never

Joy of Painting with Nicholas Hankins: Bob Ross’ Un nished Season,” which started airing this spring in some markets on American Public Television.

Some episodes are available on PBS’ website.

The opportunity to “take these paintings and do what Bob ultimately wanted done with

them, (to) have them out in the world making people happy is gratifying” said Hankins recently over Zoom. He teaches at the Bob Ross Art Workshop and Gallery about 15 miles from Daytona Beach, Florida, and oversees instructor certi cation. Hankins also uses six of his own paintings in this new “Joy of

“Kingdom” came with strong reviews and positive buzz (80% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and a “B” CinemaScore). It was especially praised for its visual e ects and the way its CGI has caught up with its primates-on-horseback aesthetic even since the last lm, 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes.”

Mark Kennedy of The Associated Press called it “thrilling” and “visually stunning.”

The shot in the arm is welcome for the movie business, but there is little certainty in the forthcoming summer.

The year so far, lacking an early Marvel movie like 2023’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” is running 21% of last year’s

Painting,” which was lmed and produced at WDSC-TV Daytona State College.

“I think that Bob would be incredibly proud of how we’re doing this,” said Kowalski. “There aren’t really many things that come our way where we have to wonder, what should we do? Bob was very speci c in how he wanted this whole thing to go into the future.”

Hankins is a familiar face to Ross devotees. His own teaching videos posted to the Bob Ross YouTube channel drew upward of 300,000 views before the idea of TV was ever mentioned.

Kowalski is fascinated by the online response to Hankin’s videos. “People notice that Nick is not at all trying to be Bob, and he’s delivering naturally as himself. And yet there’s still that same sort of feeling you get watching Bob.”

A surge of interest in all things Bob Ross came out of the pandemic, when people were staying home and looking for ways to pass time. Now, with so many distractions, it can seem like there aren’t enough hours in a day to unwind and rest. If viewers don’t tune in for a painting lesson, Hankins hopes his 30-minute “Joy of Painting” episodes helps people to relax in the

5. “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” $2.5 million

6. “Unsung Hero,” $ 2.25 million

7. “Kung Fu Panda 4,” $2 million

8. “Civil War,” $1.8 million

9. “Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace,” $1.5 million

10. “Abigail,” $1.1 million

“I want to genuinely create an environment where people are going to come in, take half an hour and just turn o the world.”

Nicholas Hankins

same spirit as the originals.

“I hope I can carry that part of the legacy on,” he said. “I want to genuinely create an environment where people are going to come in, take half an hour and just turn o the world. Right now is a time we need it.”

Kowalski says people used to sheepishly tell Ross “all the time” that they would fall asleep to his episodes, but he didn’t mind. “He said, ‘I love hearing that you’ve never watched a full episode of me.’”

If you want to paint along, Hankins said you need basic materials like oil colors, an easel, canvas and brushes. But if they’re just watching, all they need is a tall glass of iced tea. “That was Bob’s thing,” he said, “get some iced tea and kick back and watch.”

DEREK SANFORD / WDSC-TV VIA AP

Nicholas Hankins stands in for the iconic Bob Ross on “The Joy of Painting with Nicholas Hankins: Bob Ross’ Un nished Season,” which is airing on public television.

Owen Teague plays Noa in “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”

VIANNEY LE CAER / INVISION / AP

Ryan Gosling, left, and Emily Blunt arrive at the special screening for ‘The Fall Guy’ on April 22 in London.

summer movie guide

Summer will feature steady releases on big and small screens

Re-releases, sequels and remakes will dominate from Memorial Day to Labor Day

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Are you ready for some movies this summer? There are action-adventure, romance, horror, franchises and anniversary re-releases of some of your favorites populating theaters and streaming services from May through Labor Day. You just have to know where to look.

Things kicked o in theaters at the start of May with Universal’s Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt action romantic comedy “The Fall Guy” (May 3) and was followed by a new installment in the Apes series, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (May 10). Jane Shoenbrun’s buzzy thriller “I Saw the TV Glow” (May 17) was next, and the Mad Max prequel “Furiosa” closes out the month. June brings “Hit Man” to Net ix and “Bad Boys 4” to theaters, as well as “Inside Out 2,” “The Bikeriders” and the rst part of Kevin Costner’s Civil War-era Western epic “Horizon: An American Saga.”

And while July might not have another “Barbenheimer” showdown, there’s plenty to be excited for, including the space race rom-com “Fly Me To the Moon,” “Twisters” and, of course, “Deadpool & Wolverine.” August has some gems too, including chapter two of “Horizon,” a new Alien movie (“Alien: Romulus”) and some thrillers like “Cuckoo” and “Trap.” Here’s your guide to what’s coming to theaters and streaming services this summer.

MAY MOVIE RELEASES

May 3

“The Fall Guy” (Universal, theaters): A love letter to stunt performers (and a funny, slick send-up of the movie industry), Ryan Gosling plays a veteran stunt guy who’s enlisted to nd a missing movie star (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) so that his crush (Emily Blunt) can nish her directorial debut.

“The Idea of You” (Amazon, streaming): Anne Hathaway plays a single mother in Los Angeles who begins a relationship with a younger pop star, played by Nicholas Galitzine, in this smart and charming romantic comedy.

“Unfrosted” (Net ix, streaming): Jerry Seinfeld makes his directorial debut with this lm about the race between cereal rivals Kellogg’s and Post to create a new pastry. Seinfeld stars alongside Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gafgan, Amy Schumer, Hugh Grant, Max Green eld and many more.

“I Saw the TV Glow” (A24, theaters, wide on May 17): In Jane Schoenbrun’s second feature, a Sundance breakout, realities blur for two teenagers (Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine) watching a mysterious late-night television show.

“Wildcat” (Oscilloscope, theaters): Ethan Hawke directs his daughter Maya Hawke in this unconventional, artful portrait of American author Flannery O’Connor.

“Evil Does Not Exist” (Sideshow and Janus Films, theaters): Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s follow-up to “Drive My Car” is an unnerving slow burn about a father and daughter and their quiet town in the woods outside of Tokyo, and how their tranquil way of life is threatened when a company decides to build a glamping retreat nearby.

“Jeanne du Barry” (Vertical, theaters on May 2): Maïwenn co-wrote, directs and stars in this period drama about a working-class woman who wins over King Louis XV (Johnny Depp).

“Tarot” (Sony, theaters): A horror about what happens when a group of friends use someone else’s deck (apparently a sacred rule of Tarot).

“Mars Express” (GKIDS, theaters): A future-set animated noir about a private detective and her android partner on the hunt for a hacker, from lmmaker Jérémie Perin. It will be presented in both its original French and an English dub.

“Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg” (Magnolia, theaters and video on demand (VOD)): A documentary that goes beyond the headlines about the actress and muse forever associated with the Rolling Stones.

“Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” re-release (Disney, theaters).

May 5

“Steel Magnolias” 35th-anniversary re-release (Fathom Events, theaters).

May 9

“Mother of the Bride” (Net ix, streaming): Brooke Shields plays mother to Miranda Cosgrove in this romantic comedy about her daughter’s engagement to the son of the man who broke her heart.

May 10

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (20th Century Studios, theaters): Generations after Caesar, apes have become the dominant species in this new installment directed by “Maze Runner” alum Wes Ball. Owen Teague stars as the young ape Noa whose world is upended when an intelligent human (“The Witcher’s Freya Allan) arrives.

“Lazareth” (Vertical, theaters and VOD): Ashley Judd stars in this thriller about a woman who adopts her nieces and raises them isolated in the woods.

“Poolman” (Vertical, theaters): Chris Pine’s directorial debut, in which he plays a normal Los Angeles guy who’s asked to do some sleuthing around a shady business deal, got some scathing reviews out of the Toronto International Film Festival but now’s your chance to judge for yourself. Annette Bening, Danny DeVito and Jennifer Jason Leigh also star.

“Force of Nature: The Dry 2” (IFC Films, theaters and VOD): Eric Bana is a federal agent investigating a missing corporate whistleblower.

“The Image of You” (Republic Pictures, theaters and VOD): Based on a bestselling thriller about identical twins pulled apart by a new love, with Sasha Pieterse and

Mira Sorvino. “Power” (Net ix, theaters; Streaming May 17): Yance Ford (“Strong Island”) studies the evolution of policing in America in this riveting documentary. May 17

“IF” (Paramount, theaters): This family lm about a girl (Cailey Fleming) and her upstairs neighbor (Ryan Reynolds) who can see all the imaginary friends (aka IFs) who have been left behind was written and directed by John Krasinski. IF voices include Steve Carell, Emily Blunt, Maya Rudolph, Matt Damon and the late Louis Gossett Jr. “The Blue Angels” (Amazon/MGM, limited theatrical): If you’re looking for some “Top Gun” spectacle at the movies this summer, there’s a new documentary shot with IMAX cameras about the Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron that was lmed over a year. It’s getting a weeklong IMAX run before hitting Prime Video on May 23. It was directed by Paul Crowder and produced by J.J. Abrams and Glen Powell.

“Back to Black” (Focus Features, theaters): Marisa Abela plays Amy Winehouse in this biographical drama about the “Rehab” singer who died at 27 in 2011. Sam Taylor-Johnson (“Fifty Shades of Grey”) directs.

“Babes” (Neon, theaters): “Broad City’s” Ilana Glazer co-wrote and stars in this raucous comedy about an accidental pregnancy (and friendship and growing up and body stu ) that got rave reviews out of SXSW.

“The Strangers: Chapter 1” (Lionsgate, theaters): Masked strangers terrorize a young couple, Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez, who have to spend a night in a remote cabin after their car breaks down in this horror.

May 19-22

“North By Northwest” 65th-anniversary re-release (Fathom Events, theaters).

“Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” 40th-anniversary re-release (Fathom Events, theaters).

“Castle in the Sky” re-release (Fathom Events, theaters).

“Darkness of Man” (Saban Films, VOD): Jean Claude Van Damme plays a former Interpol operative.

May 24

“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (Warner Bros., theaters): Buckle up, George Miller is back with another high-octane Mad Max tale focusing this time on a young Furiosa, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, and a warlord named Dementus (Chris Hemsworth).

“The Gar eld Movie” (Sony, theaters): Chris Pratt voices another classic character in this animated lm about the feline lasagna enthusiast.

“Atlas” (Net ix, streaming): Jennifer Lopez is a skeptical data analyst who must learn to trust arti cial intelligence to save humanity in this Brad Peyton-directed ick.

“The Keeper” (Lama Entertainment, theaters): Based on the true story of Army vet George Eshleman, who endeavors to raise awareness about military suicides by hiking the Appalachian Trail.

May 29

“The Commandant’s Shadow” (Warner Bros./Fathom, theaters): The son of Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss

“Tuesday” (A24, theaters): Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays a mother to a teenage daughter who meets death in the form of a talking bird in this fairy tale-esque debut from Daina O. Pusić.

“The Grab” (Magnolia, theaters): A documentary investigation into the run on natural resources by governments, nancial investors and private security forces.

“Summer Solstice” (Cartilage Films, theaters): Friends go away for a weekend for the rst time after one has transitioned.

June 21

“The Bikeriders” (Focus Features, theaters): Je Nichols captures the spirit of a Midwestern motorcycle club in the 1960s in this exciting drama starring Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy and Mike Faist. It’s inspired by Danny Lyon’s 1967 photo-book about the Outlaws Motorcycle Club.

“Thelma” (Magnolia, theaters): June Squibb goes on a “Mission: Impossible” style adventure across Los Angeles with Richard Roundtree to try to reclaim her money from a phone scammer in this delightful comedy.

“Janet Planet” (A24, theaters, wide on June 28): Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker makes her lm debut with this dreamy tale of an 11-year-old girl and her mother in western Massachusetts one summer.

“Kinds of Kindness” (Searchlight Pictures, theaters): Emma Stone’s “Poor Things” Oscar is barely in the rearview mirror and she’s already back with another Yorgos Lanthimos lm, described as a triptych fable. It also stars Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie and Hunter Schafer.

“What Remains” (VMI, theaters and VOD): Andrea Riseborough and Stellan Skarsgård star in this movie about an alleged serial killer, his therapist and a detective attempting to solve a cold case.

June 23

“South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut” 25th-anniversary sing-a-long (Fathom Events, theaters).

June 25

“Diane von Furstenberg: Woman In Charge” (Hulu, streaming): The story of the mogul behind the iconic wrap dress, including interviews with the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Marc Jacobs and Hillary Clinton.

July 19

“Twisters” (Universal, theaters): Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos lead a new band of storm chasers in this standalone sequel to the 1996 blockbuster directed by Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari,” “The Mandalorian”) and produced by Steven Spielberg.

July 21

“The NeverEnding Story” 40th-anniversary re-release (Fathom Events, theaters).

July 23 and 25

“The Good Half” (Utopia/Fathom, theaters): Nick Jonas stars in this tragicomedy about a writer going home after the death of his mother in this lm from Robert Schwartzman.

July 26

“Deadpool & Wolverine” (Disney, theaters): The Merc with a Mouth (Ryan Reynolds) and the previously dead X-Man (Hugh Jackman) nd their way to one another at last, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in this Shawn Levy-directed lm. There are more rumors than con rmations about what it’s even about and who will be making a cameo, but two things are certain: It’s rated R and it’s going to be one of the summer’s biggest hits.

“The Fabulous Four” (Bleecker Street, theaters): Lifelong friends (Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally and Sheryl Lee Ralph) go to Key West for a wedding (college pal, played by Bette Midler).

AUGUST MOVIE RELEASES

Aug. 2

“The Instigators” (Apple TV+, theaters; Streaming on Aug. 9): Doug Liman directs this comedic heist movie starring Matt Damon, Casey A eck and Hong Chau. “Harold and the Purple Crayon” (Sony, theaters): Many years after Spike Jonze was supposed to adapt the classic 1955 children’s book, and several delays with this iteration, the family fantasy lm is nally making it to theaters. Starring Zachary Levi as Harold and Lil Rel Howery, it blends animation and live action.

“Cuckoo” (Neon, theaters): Hunter Schaefer stars in this unnerving, blood-soaked thriller set in the German Alps. Dan Stevens plays her father’s creepy boss. Aug. 9

(also the subject of the Oscar-winning “The Zone of Interest”) reckons with his family’s past in this documentary.

May 31

“Robot Dreams” (Neon, NY theaters; LA on June 7):

This Oscar-nominated animated charmer, about a dog who builds himself a robot companion, is nally getting a proper theatrical release in the U.S.

“Young Woman and the Sea” (Disney, theaters): Daisy Ridley plays the rst woman to swim across the English Channel, Trudy Ederle, who won gold at the Olympics in 1924 and who nished the 21-mile trek in 1926.

The inspirational drama arrives just in time for the Summer Olympics.

“Jim Henson: Idea Man” (Disney+, streaming): Ron Howard takes us inside the mind of the man behind “The Muppet Show” and countless other entertainments, in a new documentary.

“Ezra” (Bleecker Street, theaters): A story about a down-on-his-luck father (Bobby Cannavale) ghting to protect his young autistic son (William A. Fitzgerald). Robert De Niro and Whoopi Goldberg co-star in this drama from Tony Goldwyn.

“The Dead Don’t Hurt” (Shout! Studios, theaters): Vicky Krieps and Viggo Mortensen play star-crossed lovers in the 1860s American West, divided and fractured when he enlists to ght for the Union and she is left behind to defend herself in a corrupt frontier town.

“Summer Camp” (Roadside Attractions, theaters): Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard are childhood friends who meet again at a camp reunion.

“Backspot” (XYZ Films, theaters): Devery Jacobs is an ambitious cheerleader and Evan Rachel Woods is her demanding head coach.

“In a Violent Nature” (IFC, theaters): An undead golem pursues teens on vacation in this horror.

JUNE MOVIE RELEASES

June 2

“The Muppet Movie” 45th-anniversary re-release (Fathom Events, theaters)

June 7

“Hit Man” (Net ix, streaming): Armed with glowing reviews from the fall festivals, Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man” starring Glen Powell is nally coming to Net ix.

“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” (Sony, theaters): Will Smith, in the rst major movie he’s made since slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars (“Emancipation had already been lmed by then), reunites with Martin Lawrence for the fourth installment in the “Bad Boys” franchise, which started in 1995.

“The Watchers” (Warner Bros., theaters): Dakota Fanning plays an artist who gets stranded in a forest in western Ireland where mysterious creatures lurk in the night in this lm from Ishana Night Shyamalan.

June 14

“Inside Out 2” (Disney, theaters): Riley is a teenager now and some new emotions are coming onto the scene to join Joy (Amy Poehler) and the gang, including Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser).

“Treasure” (Bleecker Street, theaters): Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry play father and daughter in this 1990s road-trip movie about a Holocaust survivor on a journey back to his homeland, Poland.

June 28

“A Quiet Place: Day One” (Paramount, theaters): “Pig” helmer Michael Sarnoski takes over directing duties for Krasinski in this prequel about the invasion, set in New York City. It stars Lupita Nyong’o and “Stranger Things’” Joseph Quinn.

“Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter I” (Warner Bros., theaters): Kevin Costner’s two-part Western epic focuses on the westward expansion during the American Civil War. He co-wrote, directed and stars alongside the likes of Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington and Jena Malone.

“A Family A air” (Net ix, streaming): Nicole Kidman, Joey King and Zac Efron star in this lm about a mother and daughter, a movie star boss and an unexpected romance with comic consequences.

“Daddio” (Sony Pictures Classics, theaters): Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn star in this two-hander about a woman and her taxi driver one night in New York.

JULY MOVIE RELEASES

July 3-5

“Despicable Me 4” (Universal, theaters): Gru and the minions are back, with a new baby in the mix.

“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” (Net ix, streaming): Forty years after Axel Foley crossed jurisdictions to investigate a crime, Eddie Murphy is back for a fourth lm, alongside Judge Reinhold and Paul Reiser.

“Touch” (Focus, theaters): Baltasar Kormákur directs a thrilling romance about a widower’s search for his rst love 50 years after she disappeared.

“Kill” (Roadside Attractions, theaters): Set on the Rajdhani Express to New Delhi, this bloody action thriller stars Lakshya as an army commando who takes on a gang of violent thieves terrorizing passengers while on his way to derail his true love’s (Tanya Maniktala) arranged marriage.

“Possum Trot” (Angel Studios, theaters): Based on a true story about 22 families in a small East Texas town who adopt 77 di cult-to-place children out of the foster system.

“Space Cadet” (Prime Video, streaming): Emma Roberts plays a woman who embellishes an application and lands in NASA’s astronaut training program.

July 11

“Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black” (Prime Video, streaming): Meagan Good stars in this new Tyler Perry joint about a woman realizing the ugly truth about her husband.

July 12

“Fly Me to the Moon” (Sony/Apple TV+, theaters): Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum star in this romantic comedy from Greg Berlanti about a marketing executive hired by NASA to fake the moon landing … just in case.

“Sing Sing” (A24, theaters): Colman Domingo stars in this movie about a few incarcerated men who begin acting in a theater group. This fall festival breakout is based on “The Sing Sing Follies” by John H. Richardson and “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code” by Brent Buell and co-stars Paul Raci as well as several former prisoners. “Longlegs” (Neon, theaters): Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe lead this thriller about an FBI agent assigned to an unsolved case involving a serial killer.

“Trap” (Warner Bros., theaters): Josh Hartnett stars in an original thriller from M. Night Shyamalan about a murderer at large inside a massive arena concert.

“It Ends With Us” (Sony, theaters): Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni star in this adaptation of the Colleen Hoover novel about romantic love and childhood trauma.

“Borderlands” (Lionsgate, theaters): After a few years of delays, Eli Roth’s colorful action-adventure “Borderlands,” based on the video game, is barreling to theaters starring Cate Blanchett, Ariana Greenblatt and Kevin Hart.

“My Penguin Friend” (Roadside Attractions, theaters): Based on a true story, a sherman (Jean Reno) nds hope in a penguin rescued from an oil spill.

“Good One” (Metrograph Pictures, theaters): A 17-year-old (Lily Collias) goes on a backpacking trip in the Catskills with her dad (James Le Gros) and his oldest friend in this poignant coming-of-age drama. India Donaldson’s debut was a Sundance breakout. Aug. 16

“Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2” (Warner Bros., theaters): Costner continues the story of the American West with this second chapter, exclusively in movie theaters.

“Alien: Romulus” (20th Century Studios, theaters): The director of “Don’t Breathe” helms this terrifying new installment in the Alien series, starring Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced and David Jonsson.

“The Union” (Net ix, streaming): Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg are former high school sweethearts turned spies in this action-comedy-romance.

“Close to You” (Greenwich Entertainment, theaters): Elliot Page plays Sam, who goes to his hometown for the rst time since his transition for his father’s birthday. Aug. 23

“Blink Twice” (Amazon/MGM, theaters): Zoë Kravitz makes her directorial debut, with Channing Tatum starring as a tech billionaire who invites a waitress (Naomi Ackie) to his private island where odd things start happening.

“The Crow” (Lionsgate, theaters): Bill Skarsgård, FKA twigs and Danny Huston star in director Rupert Sanders’ reboot of the comic-based series about a dead musician resurrected to avenge his and his ance’s deaths.

“Between the Temples” (Sony Pictures Classics, theaters): Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane develop an unlikely friendship while she studies to get a late-in-life bat mitzvah.

“Slingshot” (Bleecker Street, theaters): Casey A eck and Laurence Fishburne star in this sci- thriller about an astronaut whose grasp on reality starts to dwindle on a dangerous mission.

“Place of Bones” (The Avenue, theaters and VOD): Heather Graham plays a mother who is unexpectedly visited at her isolated ranch by a bloodied bank robber.

Aug. 25-28

“Rear Window” 70th-anniversary re-release (Fathom Events, theaters).

Aug. 30

“They Listen” (Sony, theaters): A mysterious Blumhouse horror from writer-director Chris Weitz, starring John Cho and Katherine Waterston. “Reagan” (ShowBiz Direct, theaters): Dennis Quaid plays Ronald Reagan in this childhood to White House biopic, the rst full-length lm about the 40th U.S. president.

FRANK MASI/COLUMBIA-SONY PICTURES VIA AP

Will Smith, left, and Martin Lawrence return to their familiar roles in “Bad Boys: Ride or Die.”

20TH CENTURY STUDIOS VIA AP

“Alien: Romulus” is the ninth installment in the sprawling universe.

be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, rms, and corporations indebted to the said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. Dated this 1st day of May, 2024.

Royce W. Chitty, Jr., Executor of the Estate of Gloria Hutson NICOLE A. CORLEY MURRAY, CRAVEN & CORLEY, L.L.P. N.C. BAR NO. 56459 2517 RAEFORD ROAD FAYETTEVILLE, NC 28305 – 3007 (910) 483 – 4990 COUNSEL FOR EXECUTOR

ADMINISTRATOR’S NOTICE

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE 24E0720 State of North Carolina Cumberland County NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed as the Administrator of the Estate of Mary Jane Bryant, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms or corporations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned at PO Box 53555, Fayetteville, North Carolina 28305, on or before August 16, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This the 16th day of May, 2024.

J. Duane Gilliam, Jr. Administrator of the Estate of Mary Jane Bryant, Deceased c/o Gilliam Law Firm, PLLC J. Duane Gilliam, Jr., Attorney PO Box 53555 Fayetteville, NC 28305 05/16/24, 05/23/24, 05/30/24 and 06/06/24

ADMINISTRATOR’S NOTICE

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE

SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE 24E0681

State of North Carolina Cumberland County NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed as the Administrator of the Estate of Michael Douglas Hicks, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms or corporations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned at 2015 Rock Avenue, North Carolina 28303, on or before August 16, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery.

All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This the 16th day of May, 2024. Christina Petrucelli Harper Administrator of the Estate of Michael Douglas Hicks, Deceased c/o Gilliam Law Firm, PLLC J. Duane Gilliam, Jr., Attorney PO Box 53555 Fayetteville, NC 28305 05/16/24, 05/23/24, 05/30/24 and 06/06/24

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND DEBTORS

Of Tavoy Rashied Morgan of Cumberland County, North Carolina File number 2024 E 000800 All persons, rms, and corporation having claims against Tavoy Rashied Morgan, now deceased, are noti ed to bring such claims to Cheryl N. Fisher, administrator of the decedent’s estate on, or before August 16th, 2024. At 1920 Lioncoward Drive, Fayetteville, North Carolina 28314, or be barred from their recovery.

Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payments to the above-named administrator by August 16th, 2024.

This the 16th day of May, 2024

The Estate of Tavoy Rashied Morgan File #2024 E 000800 C/O Cheryl N. Fisher 1920 Lioncoward Drive, Fayetteville, North Carolina 28314

ADMINISTRATOR CTA NOTICE

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE 23E2052

State of North Carolina Cumberland County NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed as the Administrator CTA of the Estate of Doris Pearce, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms or corporations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned at 1862 Middle Road, Eastover, North Carolina 28312, on or before August 16, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This the 16th day of May, 2024.

Christopher Brian Pearce Administrator CTA of the Estate of Doris Pearce, Deceased c/o Gilliam Law Firm, PLLC J. Duane Gilliam, Jr., Attorney PO Box 53555 Fayetteville, NC 28305 05/16/24, 05/23/24, 05/30/24 and 06/06/24

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE NO. 24-E-707 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF CUMBERLAND Having quali ed as Administrator of the Estate of Robert Allen Morris, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, the undersigned does hereby notify all persons, rms, and corporations having claims against the estate of said decedent to exhibit them to the undersigned at 2517 Raeford Road, Fayetteville, NC 28305, on or before August 8, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, rms, and corporations indebted to the said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. Dated this 8th day of May, 2024.

Christopher Morris, Administrator of the Estate of Robert Allen Morris NICOLE A. CORLEY MURRAY, CRAVEN & CORLEY, L.L.P. N.C. BAR NO. 56459 2517 RAEFORD ROAD FAYETTEVILLE, NC 28305 – 3007 (910) 483 – 4990 COUNSEL FOR EXECUTOR

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

ESTATE OF Robert David Reeser Cumberland County Estate File No. 24 E 708

All persons, rms and corporations having claims against Robert David Reeser, deceased, of Cumberland County, North Carolina, are noti ed to present their claims to Alfreda Chason-Reeser, Executor, at 2131 Burnett Ave., Fayetteville, NC 28306, on or before the 9th day of August, 2024 (which date is three months after the day of the rst publication of this notice), or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. Debtors of the Decedent are requested to make immediate payment to the Executor/Administrator named above.

This the 2nd day of May, 2024.

Alfreda Chason-Reeser Executor of the Estate of Robert David Reeser Davis W. Puryear Hutchens Law Firm Attorneys for the Estate 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, NC 28311 Run dates: May 8, May 16, May 23 and May 30, 2024

NOTICE

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE

SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE NO. 24E759

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF CUMBERLAND

Administrator’s/Executor’s Notice

The undersigned, having quali ed as Executor of the Estate of Freda Lois Deal Thomas, deceased, late of Cumberland County, hereby noti es all person, rms, and corporations having claims against said estate to present their claim to the undersigned on or before the August 16, 2024 (which is three months after the day of the rst publication of this notice) or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All Debtors of the decedent are requested to make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This is 16th of May, 2024

Donna Deal Carter, Executor 2093 Bainbridge Road Stedman, NC 28391

Of the Estate of Freda Lois Deal Thomas, Deceased

(For Publication: 05/16/24,05/23/24,05/30/24, 06/06/24)

ADMINISTRATOR’S NOTICE IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE 24E0696

State of North Carolina Cumberland County NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed as the Administrator of the Estate of Richard Mack Wilder, Jr. aka Richard McAdoo Wilder, Jr., late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms or corporations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned at 2591 Dockside Drive SW, Supply, North Carolina 28462, on or before August 16, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This the 16th day of May, 2024.

Richard M. Wilder, III Administrator of the Estate of Richard Mack Wilder, Jr. aka Richard McAdoo Wilder, Jr., Deceased c/o Gilliam Law Firm, PLLC J. Duane Gilliam, Jr., Attorney PO Box 53555 Fayetteville, NC 28305 05/16/24, 05/23/24, 05/30/24 and 06/06/24

ADMINISTRATOR’S NOTICE

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION

ESTATE FILE 24E0582

State of North Carolina Cumberland County

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed as the Administrator of the Estate of Alice Calhoun Wilder, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms or corporations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned at 2591 Dockside Drive SW, Supply, North Carolina 28462, on or before July 24, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This the 24th day of April, 2024.

Richard M. Wilder, III Administrator of the Estate of Alice Calhoun Wilder, Deceased c/o Gilliam Law Firm, PLLC J. Duane Gilliam, Jr., Attorney PO Box 53555 Fayetteville, NC 28305

EXECUTOR’S NOTICE

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION ESTATE FILE 24E0700

State of North Carolina Cumberland County

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The undersigned, having quali ed as the Executor of the Estate of Gary David Wilson, late of Cumberland County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, rms or corporations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned at 116 Village Mill Place, Raleigh, North Carolina 27608, on or before August 16, 2024, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned.

This the 16th day of May, 2024.

Heather Wilson Tuttle Executor of the Estate of Gary David Wilson, Deceased c/o Gilliam Law Firm, PLLC J. Duane Gilliam, Jr., Attorney PO Box 53555 Fayetteville, NC 28305 05/16/24, 05/23/24, 05/30/24 and 06/06/24

NOTICE TO CREDITORS NORTH CAROLINA NEW HANOVER COUNTY

NOTICE TO CREDITORS THE UNDERSIGNED, Neena Kellie Beasley, having quali ed on the 26th day of March 2024, as Administrator of the Estate of Elizabeth P. Williams (2024-E-494), deceased, does hereby notify all persons,

23SP001665-500 NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE

NORTH CAROLINA, JOHNSTON COUNTY

Under and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Perry G Cooley Jr, And LaTrice Corinne Cooley to William R. Echols, Trustee(s), which was dated December 10, 2010 and recorded on December 13, 2010 in Book 3928 at Page 784, Johnston County Registry, North Carolina. Default having been made of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidencing said default having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute

Trustee will o er for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthouse where the property is located, or the usual and customary location at the county courthouse for conducting the sale on May 21, 2024 at 11:00 AM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following described property situated in Johnston County, North Carolina, to wit: BEING all of Lot 77, The Meadows at Tuscany Subdivision, Phase 2B, as shown on plat thereof recorded in Plat Book 75, Page 11, Johnston County Registry. Save and except any releases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of record. Said property is commonly known as 67 Sun ower Way, Clayton, NC 27527-9258. A Certi ed Check ONLY (no personal checks) of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, will be required at the time of the sale. Following the expiration of the statutory upset bid period, all the remaining amounts are immediately due and owing. THIRD PARTY PURCHASERS MUST PAY

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE OF NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION MOORE COUNTY 23sp258 IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY PATRICIA KELLY DATED JULY 25, 2003 AND RECORDED IN BOOK 2346 AT PAGE 163 AND MODIFIED BY AGREEMENT RECORDED SEPTEMBER 5, 2014 IN BOOK 4395, PAGE 583 IN THE MOORE COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE OF SALE Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the abovereferenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Moore County courthouse at 12:00PM on May 23, 2024, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Moore County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed Patricia Kelly, dated July 25, 2003 to secure the original principal amount of $60,200.00, and recorded in Book 2346 at Page 163 of the Moore County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modi ed by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended. Address of property: 520 Rothney Ave, Southern Pines, NC 28387 Tax Parcel ID: 00051298 Present Record Owners: Garett Thompson and Erin Thompson The record owner(s) of the property,

the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the New Hanover County courthouse at 11:00AM on May 21, 2024, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in New Hanover County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed George J. Hobbs and Ginger L. Hobbs, dated July 15, 2010 to secure the original principal amount of $236,250.00, and recorded in Book 5498 at Page 1215 of the New Hanover County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modi ed by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended. Address of property: 5721 Oak Blu Ln, Wilmington, NC 28409 Tax Parcel ID: R06214-006-016-000 Present Record Owners: George J. Hobbs and Ginger L. Hobbs The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of

THE EXCISE TAX AND THE RECORDING COSTS FOR THEIR DEED. Said property to be o ered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS WHERE IS.” There are no representations of warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being o ered for sale. Substitute Trustee does not have possession of the property and cannot grant access, prior to or after the sale, for purposes of inspection and/or appraisal. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, unpaid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special assessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of release, and any other encumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s) of the property is/are PERRY G. COOLEY, JR. AND WIFE, LATRICE

CORINNE COOLEY. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29

according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are Garett Thompson and Erin Thompson. The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the o cers, 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 o ered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and

Deeds, is/are George J. Hobbs and Ginger L. Hobbs. The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the o cers, 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 o ered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted.

Save and except any releases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of record.

Said property is commonly known as 3415 Concord Hwy, Unionville, NC 28110.

Highway 601 to a point in the center line of said highway; thence with the center line of said highway North 7 degrees East 321 feet to the point and place of BEGINNING and containing 1.90 acres, more or less as surveyed by Ralph W. Elliott on May 27, 1975, and being a portion of the property conveyed to John Henry Tucker et ux by James Mack Tucker et als by deed dated March 10, 1975, and recorded in Book 273, Page 469, Union County Registry. Also hereby conveyed is that certain right of way more particularly described in a right of way agreement between Johnny H. Tucker and wife and Hubert Ray Little and wife recorded in Book 280, Page 134, Union County.

11:00AM on

situated thereon, in

in

and being

and

certain Deed of Trust executed Marshall Wayne Carroll and Michelle Kibler, dated June 29, 2016 to secure the original principal amount of $199,735.00, and recorded in Book 16438 at Page 2414 of the Wake County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modi ed by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended. Address of property: 813 Ellynn Dr, Cary, NC 27511 Tax Parcel ID: 0763843271 / 0035992 Present Record Owners: Michelle L. Murphy and Gregory P. Murphy

situated in Zebulon in the County of Wake, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 14, Taryn Meadows Subdivision, Phase 1, as shown on map recorded in Book of Maps 2005, Pages 1559-1560, Wake County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 4005 Freesia Court, Zebulon, North Carolina. FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY: Property commonly known As: 4005 Freesia Court, Zebulon, NC 27597

PIN: 1796936109 / Parcel ID: 0335281 The property hereinabove described was acquired by Grantor by instrument recorded on 05/28/10 in Book 13956, Page 2223, Wake County Registry.

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 sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be e ective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days, but no more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in the notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination [NCGS § 45-21.16A(b)(2)].

A Certi ed Check ONLY (no personal checks) of ve percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, will be required at the time of the sale. Following the expiration of the statutory upset bid period, all the remaining amounts are immediately due and owing. THIRD PARTY PURCHASERS MUST PAY THE EXCISE TAX AND THE RECORDING COSTS FOR THEIR DEED.

Said property to be o ered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS WHERE IS.” There are no representations of warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being o ered for sale. Substitute Trustee does not have possession of the property and cannot grant access, prior to or after the sale, for purposes of inspection and/or appraisal. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, unpaid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special assessments, easements,

The record owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are Michelle L. Murphy and Gregory P. Murphy. The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS, WHERE IS. Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust being foreclosed, nor the o cers, 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 o ered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in N.C.G.S. §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 N.C.G.S. §7A-308(a)(1). The property to be o ered pursuant to this notice of sale is being o ered 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 o cers, 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 o ered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly 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

must be tendered in the

This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing.

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS residing at the property: be advised that an Order for Possession of the property may be issued in favor of the purchaser. Also, if your lease began or was renewed on or after October 1, 2007, be advised that you may terminate the rental agreement upon 10 days written notice to the landlord. You may be liable for rent due under the agreement prorated to the e ective date of the termination. The date of this Notice is May 1, 2024.

rights of way, deeds of release, and any other encumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s) of the property is/are Roberto C Ponce.

An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to 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 sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be e ective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days, but no more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in the notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination [NCGS § 45-21.16A(b)(2)].

By: 22-112623

from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of

NEW HANOVER UNION

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Nearly two dozen law enforcement,

WHAT’S HAPPENING

UNC, Duke commencements see minor protest disruptions

At UNC Chapel Hill, proPalestinian demonstrators splattered red paint on the steps of a building hours ahead of the school’s commencement ceremony and chanted on campus while students wearing light blue graduation gowns posed for photos.

At Duke’s commencement, a small number of students walked out when the commencement speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who is Jewish, began speaking.

Around the country, a number of other graduation ceremonies were disturbed by small protests, though most went o without a hitch.

NC o cials dropped from ‘eCourts’ lawsuit alleging unlawful arrests

Several state and local court o cials have been removed from a federal lawsuit led by people who allege the operation of North Carolina’s new electronic courts records system contributed to their unlawful arrest or extended jail detainment.

Individual plainti s voluntarily ended civil claims against them this week. The Wake and Mecklenburg sheri s and the company hired to develop the “eCourts” system remain defendants.

The Administrative O ce of the Courts began rolling out eCourts in February 2023, and it now covers 27 counties. The plainti s allege software errors and human errors have led to multiple arrests on the same warrants and extra time in jail.

Police locate Albemarle teen’s remains after search

The search extended from Friday morning to Tuesday afternoon

By Jesse Deal Stanly County Journal

ALBEMARLE — A ve-day search for the remains of Albemarle teen Baylee Carver ended Tuesday afternoon when her body was found in Cabarrus County. The 17-year-old’s boyfriend, Joshua Biles, 20, is charged with felony obstruction and concealment of death and is currently in custody at the Stanly County Jail under a $250,000 bond. Carver’s body was located in Cabarrus County just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, north of Highway 49 and Route 601, concluding a search that extended from Friday morning to

Tuesday afternoon. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the circumstances of her death.

“We o er our deepest condolences to the loved ones of Baylee Carver,” Albemarle Po -

Commissioners, school board discuss SCS consolidation

The two boards sparred at the May 8 joint meeting

By Jesse Deal Stanly County Journal

ALBEMARLE — Three weeks after moving forward with a two-phase consolidation plan for the local school district, the Stanly County Board of Education hosted a special joint session with the Board of Commissioners to discuss facility plans. The proposed changes, approved by the school board in a 6-1 April vote, would combine Albemarle, North Stanly and South Stanly High Schools into a combined 1,400-student high school in the eastern part of the county, with a new 600-student

elementary school coming to Oakboro.

The North Stanly and South Stanly properties would be sold, while the Albemarle High School building would become Albemarle Middle School, while East Albemarle Elementary students move to the now-vacant middle school.

The second phase would see a new West Stanly High built on the school’s current property, alongside new athletic facilities.

The consolidation e orts for the Stanly County Schools district would likely need to be voted on by county residents in a $190 million bond referendum set for 2026.

During the Stanly School and Commissioners’ joint session, the two boards expressed differing opinions regarding the

nancial, logistical and educational implications of the proposed plans.

Commissioner Peter Asciutto said the plans were “thrown together,” with School Board Chair Carla Poplin responding: “That’s insulting … This has been long discussed and talked about.”

Throughout the joint meeting that ranged nearly four hours, the topic at hand often alternated between the methods of funding for the project to the overall strategy and e ectiveness of the project.

“In the last year and a half, we’ve been talking about a facilities plan and a possible bond, so you guys haven’t done any homework on your side?” Poplin asked the county commissioners. “You’re sitting there telling me you have to talk to a consul-

lice Chief Jason Bollhorst said in a statement. “As they mourn their loss, our hearts are with them during this di cult time. The Albemarle Police Department is grateful for all of the assistance and resources provided throughout the course of this search. The investigation is still ongoing.”

On May 10 at 4:30 a.m., Albemarle PD received a 911 call from a residence on Floral Drive stating they needed immediate police assistance. When police arrived, Biles told o cers that his girlfriend was deceased and that he had disposed of her body using his vehicle, after which he had returned back to the residence.

The 20-year-old provided law enforcement no information regarding the body’s whereabouts and has not admitted to an crime, police conrmed Tuesday.

APD secured the scene and requested North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to assist in processing all parts of the crime scene including the vehicle.

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tant and you have to see what your bond rating is. Have y’all not had any discussion at all? We’ve been talking about this for over a year with your joint committee.”

County Manager Andy Lucas responded that the commissioners had only been recently notied of the project’s proposednal price tag, as much as $200 to 300 million and that the county needed more time to discuss what the cost would do to the county’s tax rate — if ultimately approved by voters in two years.

“To say that we’re dragging our feet is inaccurate,” Lucas

See SCHOOLS, page 2

THE STANLY COUNTY EDITION OF NORTH STATE JOURNAL

COURTESY ALBEMARLE POLICE DEPARTMENT

re, and search and rescue organizations searched for the body of Albemarle teen Baylee Carver this week. The 17-year-old’s body was found late Tuesday. Above, a search dog and handler from the National Center for Exploited/Missing Children works in Stanly County.

COURTESY ALBEMARLE POLICE DEPARTMENT

A photo of a Honda Civic similar to that owned by Joshua Biles, provided by APD for example purposes only to assist the public in providing information about the vehicle and its whereabouts.

Stanly County Journal

ISSN: 2575-2278

Neal Robbins, Publisher

Jim Sills, VP of Local Newspapers

Cory Lavalette, Senior Editor

Jordan Golson, Local News Editor

Shawn Krest, Sports Editor Jesse Deal, Reporter Ryan Henkel, Reporter BUSINESS

FRIDAY

THURSDAY MAY 16

We stand corrected

To report an error or a suspected error, please email: corrections@nsjonline. com with “Correction request” in the subject line.

School board recognizes South Stanly’s Holocaust literature class

Members of the class met with state leaders in Raleigh

By Jesse Deal Stanly County Journal

ALBEMARLE — South Stanly High English teacher

Meredith Howell and her Holocaust literature class were honored by the Stanly County Board of Education at its May 7 meeting. The class attended the State of North Carolina Holocaust Commemoration in Raleigh on April 28. In a presentation coinciding with Holocaust Remembrance Week, Howell, plus ve of her students, re ected on their recent trip to the state capital where they spoke with State Superintendent Catherine Truitt and NC Council on the Holocaust Chairman Mike Abramson.

Along with faith leaders, community members and state o cials, more than 300 people gathered for the annual Holocaust remembrance service at Temple Beth in Raleigh.

The event included a candlelight vigil, a prayer service led by children of Holocaust survivors, and a public reading of the names of the Holocaust victims.

“We have really expanded what we’re doing in our Holo -

caust literature elective,” Howell said of her students in her elective last year and this year.

“We were asked to bring our students to the North Carolina Holocaust Commemoration held with DPI [NC Department of Public Instruction] to come show our shoe projects that we did last year.”

The high school’s commemorative shoe project is designed to represent and serve as a tribute to the lives of individuals who were a ected by the Holocaust.

May 7

• Jeremy Lee Schweizer, 43 years-old, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

• Jeffrey Dan Goodman, 40 yearsold, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office with third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

• Justin Wayne Waldroup, 39 years-old, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for failure to appear on release orders (two counts).

• John Travis Pollard, 48 years-old, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for possession of methamphetamine, felony possession of schedule-

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As the investigation proceeded, APD and the NCSBI said Carver was presumed dead and the search for her remains began. The APD, NCSBI and the National Center for Exploited/ Missing Children were among the agencies represented by some 70-plus law enforcement, re, and search and rescue of-

SCHOOLS from page 1

said, adding that he wanted the advice of a nancial consultant to factor into the situation.

II controlled substances, maintaining a vehicle/dwelling/ place for controlled substances, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

May 8

• John Christopher Yarbrough, 38 years-old, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for a parole violation.

May 9

• Isidro Delgadocru, 35 years-old, was cited by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for speeding.

• Stephaine Nicole Preslar, 38 years-old, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office with simple assault.

• Nathan Adryll Harris, 46 yearsold, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office with assault causing physical injury

cials for a search e ort across signi cant portions of Cabarrus, Rowan and Stanly Counties.

Searchers spent more than 50 hours across 1,000 miles since Friday with the help of specially trained K-9s, aerial support, and GPS mapping technologies to ensure all areas were covered.

In a Tuesday afternoon press conference just two hours be -

According to SCS Chief Technology O cer Shawn Britt, the facilities plans in question would be a move to address school overcrowding, referencing recent demographer ndings that predicted an increase of 1,000 students over the next eight years. Britt added that the modernization and consolidation of the four high schools in question would be a long-term solution to replace the buildings, each built between 1960 and 1962. Across the course of the meet-

“Our students who did that last year are here and our students this year are getting ready to begin that process. We’re going to work to highlight even more North Carolina survivors or survivors who called North Carolina their home,” Howell continued. She’s been asked by the editor of the NC Council on the Holocaust newsletter to have her students write several articles for the newsletter; two are already committed to the June publication and then two more

to a law enforcement officer, probation officer, or parole officer, and communicating threats.

• Jeffrey Dan Goodman, 40 yearsold, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office with four counts of failing to register as a sex offender.

May 10

• Mary Ellen Sanders, 40 yearsold, was cited for driving while license revoked.

• Daylan Ray Love, 20 yearsold, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office with a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

will be writing for the following issue in the fall.

South Stanly students Lindi Deese, Gabriel Neal, Samantha Hinchcli e, Eli Thompson and Katherine Cupples accompanied their teacher at the podium and provided their own insight into how their Holocaust literature class had made an impact on their learning and empathy skills.

The students also referenced their four-day trip to Washington D.C, where they visited the Holocaust Museum and traveled to di erent monuments and other educational locations.

“I’d explain this class as an interactive discussion, where we would look beyond the surface with each assignment,” Cupples said. “We as a class became closer to each other and felt more comfortable sharing our opinions. We had opportunities to speak with experts about certain topics and to listen to survivors’ testimonies.”

In 2022, Howell was one of just ve teachers in the state awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching for the NCCAT Development Foundation’s Holocaust Endowment Fund, an monetary outreach of ongoing support for statewide Holocaust education.

The Gizella Abramson Act, which passed in 2021 and effective this school year, mandates Holocaust education in the state’s public middle and high schools and requires that local districts implement a Holocaust Studies elective.

• Madison Layne Russell, 19 yearsold, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office with a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

fore Carver’s remains were found, the APD responded to questions about why the department waited until Monday to tow away Biles’ vehicle, which had remained in plain sight at the residence.

Community members who saw blood in Biles’ car reportedly called law enforcement, who subsequently returned to the home and towed the vehicle away.

ing, it was mentioned multiple times that a project of the magnitude currently favored by the school district would span years and eventually be overseen by future commissioners and school board members who were not yet involved in the plans. Meghan Almond, who will begin her four-year school board

• Aaron Vincent Crump, 41 yearsold, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for two counts of civil order for arrest related to child support.

May 11

• Eddie Travis Mills, 46 yearsold, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office with a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, assault on a female, and communicating threats.

• Willie Earl Jones, 55 years-old, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for failing to appear on a release order.

• Marcus Tavaris Kirkpatrick, 45 years-old, was charged by the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for assault causing serious bodily injury.

“The SBI processed both home and vehicle on Friday. As standard procedures, the home and vehicle were turned back over to the owners of the property with the conclusion of that processing,” Bollhorst said on Tuesday. “To avoid any confusion about whether the vehicle needed to be located, the Albemarle Police Department impounded the vehicle Monday evening.”

term for the county’s At-Large seat in December, signaled her opposition to the new two-phase plan in a social media post following the joint meeting, relaying her view that the county’s residents preferred their smaller community schools and would vote against consolidation.

The police department is asking for the public’s assistance in the case by checking surveillance cameras for footage on May 10 between the hours of 3 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. for any activity involving a 1999 two-door red Honda Civic with black wheels and tag number RHC-1776. Anyone with information is asked to call the APD at 704984-9500.

“My personal opinion is to not waste time on something that wouldn’t be approved,” Almond said. “Our elected o cials need to understand what the people want.”

The Stanly County Board of Commissioners and Board of Education are scheduled to hold their next regular meetings on June 3 and June 4, respectively.

COURTESY STANLY COUNTY SCHOOLS

From left to right, South Stanly students Lindi Deese, Gabriel Neal, Samantha Hinchcli e, Eli Thompson and Katherine Cupples with teacher Meredith Howell.

THE CONVERSATION

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

VISUAL VOICES

That ’70s show — is Biden taking America back to the age of Jimmy Carter?

It is Carterism on steroids.

EVERYTHING THAT is happening in our fractured nation today seems so worrisomely reminiscent of America’s last lost decade — the 1970s.

For those who don’t remember, the late 1970s under part-time President Gerald Ford and then much worse under President Jimmy Carter was one economic and national security setback after another.

The witches’ brew of high in ation of 7% to 10% by 1979 and ever-increasing tax rates — which rose as high as 70% — drove the economy into a ditch. Real family incomes cratered under Carter because in ation rose so much faster than family take-home pay. Homes became una ordable, with interest rates on mortgages skyrocketing up to 17%. Gas prices tripled. Carter blamed “Big Oil” and “invested” in pipe-dream green energy alternatives that all went bankrupt. Every time in ation rose, the economic whiz kids in Washington assured us the high prices were just temporary. (They didn’t use the term “transitory.”) When prices kept rising, Carter blamed corporate greed and installed price controls and windfall pro ts taxes — which only made problems worse.

On college campuses, we saw student protesters occupying the o ces of the college presidents. Race riots turned our inner cities into powder kegs.

Because America was so weak at home,

No good answers

THERE ARE NO GOOD answers to the current situation in the Gaza War.

our enemies abroad capitalized as Soviet tanks rolled into Afghanistan and troops into Nicaragua, while Iran held Americans hostage.

Federal spending and debt soared, and the private sector started shrinking.

Carter’s response to the bad news was to point at the American people and lecture us to turn down the thermostat, put on a sweater, and learn to live with less. But even he didn’t threaten to abolish air conditioning and gas heat.

The new term that slid into the American lexicon was “stag ation.” This was the combination of high prices and sluggish economic growth.

Does any of this sound familiar?

President Joe Biden’s prescription for the U.S. economy isn’t to reverse course. It is Carterism on steroids. More price controls, higher taxes on the rich and businesses, and another $2 trillion in spending on programs like student loan “forgiveness,” green energy subsidies and mortgage relief programs.

The tax rate on investment would soar well above 50%. As former Trump economist Larry Kudlow has put it, “Biden thinks he can tax America into prosperity.”

On energy policy, he’s doubling down on his commitment to “net zero” fossil fuel production and will command people to buy $70,000 electric vehicles made in China.

When the vast majority of Americans say they are nancially worse o , he doesn’t feel their pain. He shames them for not appreciating the wonderful things he’s done and the virtues of Bidenomics. That message is a little tone-deaf given that Americans are worried about ’70s-style stag ation making a comeback. In ation is trending back up at the same time GDP growth has slowed to a 1.6% trickle.

The Biden response is Americans are unappreciative, and we are all sel sh for not wanting to live with less and give up our gas stoves and SUVs in order to save the planet.

In his infamous “malaise speech” in the summer of 1979, Carter spoke of a national “crisis of con dence” and lectured Americans about too much “selfindulgence” and learning to consume less and conserve more. He even talked about “threats to democracy.” Instead of inspiring the nation, he put the country in a funk.

Just like Jimmy Carter then, Joe Biden is o ering four more years of austerity and sacri ce and bigger, more intrusive government. That platform won the incumbent Carter 41% of the vote in 1980.

Stephen Moore is a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a senior economic adviser to Donald Trump.

The balance Biden has attempted to forge is collapsing.

President Joe Biden is trying to use a pause in weapons shipments to force Israel to do more to protect civilians against “collateral damage” that a bombing campaign in Rafah would no doubt entail. But United States military o cials admit that that is easier said than done.

How do you move a million people to safety? How do you protect the hostages who are being used as human shields? And how does Israel complete its mission, which is to dismantle a terrorist organization that has threatened to repeat the massacre of Oct. 7 10,000 times?

There are no good answers.

Rafah is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas. Israelis understand that it cannot be ignored. The war is not over. But a massive bombing campaign will kill thousands of innocent civilians.

Israel is increasingly isolated in the international community. But so long as Rafah remains in Hamas control, it is also in immediate jeopardy. Sloganeering is what you hear on college campuses, but it is not an answer to anything.

Biden is in a bind. Conditioning U.S.

aid, which is what he appears to be doing (even though Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin rea rmed that our support for Israel is “ironclad”) will not quiet the protestors. It will not quiet Donald Trump, who told talk radio station WPHT in Philadelphia that “If anybody that’s Jewish votes for him or Democrats, they have to have their head examined. They are being treated so badly and have been for years.”

In fact, Biden has been a good friend to Israel and has stood by Israel at some signi cant political cost to him since Oct. 7, while Trump snipes from the sidelines. But the balance Biden has attempted to forge is collapsing.

Hamas is hiding in the tunnels in Rafah, using hostages as human shields. Big bombs are e ective against the reinforced tunnels but cause unacceptable civilian casualties. More precise methods may not be workable at all. What is Israel supposed to do? It cannot coexist with Hamas. It tried that, and Oct. 7 was the result. Hamas doesn’t care about its own people. The world expects Israel to care more about the Gazan people than Hamas does.

In his Senate testimony this week, Austin, while rea rming the administration’s commitment to support Israel, said, “Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians

that are in that battle space.” But U.S. military o cials don’t say how that can be done. Israelis have issued warnings to leave Rafah, but no one doubts that could be di cult and dangerous, with Hamas threatening the safety of those who try to leave. Israel has made clear that its battle is with Hamas and not the people of Gaza. The New York Times, based on interviews with senior administration o cials and military leaders, is reporting that “Mr. Biden initially took the position that Israel should not attack Rafah without a plan to e ectively minimize civilian casualties, but in recent weeks the White House has increasingly indicated that it did not believe such a plan was possible.”

So is the administration conditioning aid on Israel doing the impossible?

And how does that square with the commitment to “ironclad” support?

This is a di cult time to stand by Israel. It is di cult in the world community, di cult on college campuses — where a noisy minority of students is intimidating and frightening others, di cult in the media. But it bears remembering how this war started, and why, and that those who protest the loudest with simplistic sloganeering are not in fact o ering any answers for how Israel can defend itself against those who would deny its very right to exist.

COLUMN | SUSAN ESTRICH

COLUMN | STEPHEN MOORE

STANLY SPORTS

Playo s continue for combined trio of Stanly baseball, softball teams

West Stanly’s baseball team joins both North Stanly teams as the remaining seeds

By Jesse Deal Stanly County Journal

WHILE SEVEN Combined baseball and softball high school teams from Stanly County received a bid to play in their respective N.C. High School Athletic Association state playo s, just a few of those seven remain in contention at this point.

West Stanly’s baseball team joins North Stanly’s baseball and softball teams as the three remaining squads representing the county.

After a fourth round set for Friday, the best-of-three “ nal four” regional series are scheduled for May 21-25 and the best-of-three state championships series are set for May 31-June 1.

Baseball

Three baseball teams — the West Stanly Colts (2A West region), North Stanly Comets (2A West region) and South Stanly Bulls (1A West region) — each

received a bid for last week’s rst-round action in the NCHSAA playo s. No. 7 West (20-5) and No. 5 North (23-4) advanced to the third round, while No. 15 South (12-10) made an early exit in a rst-round 7-4 home loss to No. 18 Polk County (11-14) on May 7. The Colts defeated the No. 26 Mount Pleasant Tigers (15-10) 6-2 at home in the rst round on May 7. West then bested No. 10 East Davidson (19-6) in a 5-2 home nish and was set to travel to No. 2 East Rutherford (24-1) on Tuesday on a ve-game winning streak.

In the rst round, the Comets knocked o No. 28 Chase (10-12) in a 2-1 home nish. North then got past No. 21 Community School of Davidson (12-9) with a 4-1 score at home and was set to travel to No. 4 Forbush (25-2) on Tuesday.

Softball

Four Stanly County softball teams had their rst-round state playo action last week: the West Stanly Colts (2A West region), South Stanly Bulls (1A West region), North Stanly Comets (2A

Hawks win NBA lottery in year where there’s no clear choice for No. 1 pick

The Hornets will pick sixth

By Andrew Seligman

The Associated Press

CHICAGO — The Atlanta Hawks won the NBA draft lottery on Sunday, landing the No. 1 pick and a potential cornerstone player in a year where there’s no clear-cut choice.

The Hawks hit the jackpot despite just 3% odds after nishing 10th in the Eastern Conference at 36-46. They dropped their nal six regular-season games and lost to the Chicago Bulls in the rst round of the play-in tournament.

The Hawks haven’t won a postseason series since a surprising run to the Eastern Conference nals in 2021. They got knocked out in the rst round in 2022 and 2023.

Atlanta has some big decisions to make this o season, including whether to break up its backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. GM Landry Fields can build with the No. 1 pick, though it’s not clear who will be taken rst after Victor Wembanyama was the obvious choice for San Antonio last year. Washington, Houston, San

Antonio and Detroit rounded out the top ve. The Charlotte Hornets will pick sixth. The draft is June 26-27 in Brooklyn.

Washington and Detroit had the best chances to land the top pick at 14%. Only four teams have won the lottery with slimmer odds than Atlanta, with the biggest longshot being Orlando at 1.52% in 1993. The Magic orchestrated a blockbuster draft night trade with Golden State, sending the rights to Chris Webber to the Warriors for the rights to Penny Hardaway along with three future rst-round picks. San Antonio landed a generational player last year in Wembanyama. The franchise that previously took David Robinson and Tim Duncan with the No. 1 overall pick got its next great big man, and all the Frenchman did was turn in one of the best rookie seasons in NBA history.

The No. 1 pick could once again come from France, whether it’s center Alex Sarr or sharp-shooting forward Zaccharie Risacher, but that’s far from a certainty. UConn guard Stephon Castle and Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham are both expected to be o the board within the rst few selections.

The 7-foot-1, 224-pound Sarr

West region) and Gray Stone Knights (1A West region).

No. 8 West (19-10) and No. 3 South (14-6) were both defeated in the third round, while No. 2 North (18-3-1) was set for its third-round matchup against No. 23 Madison (13-7) on Tuesday.

No. 20 Gray Stone (5-12) lost 2-0 to No. 13 Murphy (13-6) in the rst round.

The Comets defeated No. 31 East Burke (10-14) at home 11-1 and followed that up with a 7-0 home victory over No. 15 Bandys, leading North to its third-round opponent in the Patriots.

The Colts eclipsed No. 25 East Davidson (14-8) and No. 24 West Caldwell (14-11) in back-to-back 12-0 home victories in the rst two rounds, but fell victim to undefeated top-seed West Wilkes (21-0) in a 2-1 third-round road loss.

In three consecutive home matchups, the Bulls topped the 30th-seeded Hayesville (1-16) in the rst round, defeated No. 14 Elkin (17-8) 5-3 in the second round, and then was blanked 14-0 by No. 11 Union Academy (17-7) in a third-round upset on Monday.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Rhett Lowder

North Stanly, baseball

Rhett Lowder is a graduate of North Stanly and was our Athlete of the Week ve weeks ago after making a successful minor league debut. The former Comets star and Wake Forest standout was a rst-round pick, No. 7 overall, by the Cincinnati Reds in last year’s draft.

Why is he already repeating as our top athlete? Because he’s already earned a promotion. After going 2-0 with a 2.49 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 25 innings for the Class A Dayton Dragons, Lowder is moving up to Double-A. He made his debut for the Chattanooga Lookouts, striking out ve in ve innings but taking the loss.

Lowder is the No. 2 prospect in the Reds organization, and MLB.com has speculated that he may make his big-league debut later on this season.

has the size and mobility that teams crave and can defend the perimeter when he’s not blocking shots down low. The 19-year-old from Toulouse is known for his explosiveness around the rim, though he could use some more muscle. It would help, too, if he developed into a more reliable 3-point shooter.

Sarr, whose brother Olivier plays for the Oklahoma City and played three years at Wake Forest, spent this past season in Australia’s National Basketball League.

Risacher, who was born in Spain and grew up in France, is known as a dynamic, albeit streaky shooter for JL Bourg, whether he’s popping o screens or pulling up for 3-pointers. He

often guards the other team’s best player.

Castle joined Andre Drummond in 2012 as UConn’s only one-and-done players when he declared for the draft in April after the Huskies’ latest NCAA championship run. The 6-foot-6 guard averaged 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists while often drawing the defensive assignment to shut down the opposition’s top perimeter player. He scored 21 in UConn’s Final Four win over Alabama and had 15 points in the championship game against Purdue.

Sheppard and Dillingham both came o the bench in their lone college seasons.

Sheppard, who was voted the Southeastern Conference’s top

freshman by coaches after leading the league in steals, was one of the league’s best playmakers and perimeter shooters. He was Kentucky’s No. 3 scorer at 12.5 points per contest and averaged an SEC-best 2.5 steals that ranked eighth nationally, despite starting just ve of 33 games. He also averaged 4.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds and made 52% of his 3-point attempts.

Dillingham was voted the SEC’s top sixth man after averaging 15.2 and 3.9 assists. Kentucky tied for second in the conference and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, only to get knocked out by Oakland in the round of 64. Coach John Calipari then left after 15 years for Arkansas.

NAM Y. HUH / AP PHOTO

NBA basketball draft prospect Kyle Filipowski takes video of himself in front of the draft lottery order before the draft lottery in Chicago.

SIDELINE REPORT

MLB

Pirates’ Skenes makes big league debut vs. Cubs

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes made an impressive big league debut, striking out seven in four-plus innings against the Chicago Cubs. The 21-year-old Skenes allowed three runs while throwing 84 pitches, 17 of which reached at least 100 mph. A near-sellout crowd made its way into PNC Park to watch Skenes, who was the top overall pick in the 2023 draft and the top-ranked pitching prospect in baseball. Skenes’ more-famous girlfriend, LSU gymnast and social media in uencer Livvy Dunne, was there, too. Skenes is in the majors to stay after needing just seven starts to dominate opponents in Triple-A.

NASCAR

Larson not hardcore Swiftie despite trip to Paris concert

Darlington, S.C. Kyle Larson says he is not a Swiftie, despite he and his wife taking their daughter to Paris this week to see Taylor Swift in concert. Larson said Saturday at Darlington Raceway that it was a surprise birthday trip for 6-year-old Aubrey. Larson enjoyed the show and admitted he wore a Swift-themed T-shirt and a couple of friendship bracelets. He made it clear, however, that he was not part of the ride-or-die fan base that has made Swift one of the world’s most popular entertainers. Larson won the Southern 500 at Darlington last September but had a 34th-place nish in Sunday’s race.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

6 players on cover of EA Sports’ College Football 25 video game

Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter are among six players displayed on the cover of EA Sports College Football 25. The popular video game is returning after being discontinued 11 years ago. The cover for the deluxe edition of EA College Football 25 was posted online. The game is scheduled to be released in July. It stopped being made amid lawsuits accusing it of using players’ likeness without paying them. Other players on the cover are Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Illinois basketball’s Shannon Jr. headed to trial on rape charges Lawrence, Kan.

A Kansas judge has ordered University of Illinois basketball standout Terrence Shannon Jr. to stand trial on a rape charge following testimony from a woman who said she was “terri ed” as she was being assaulted. Shannon is accused of committing sexual assault last September at a bar in Lawrence, Kansas. A woman told police she was at a bar when a man she later identi ed as Shannon grabbed and touched her sexually. The woman said the bar was crowded, so she couldn’t move. Shannon testi ed on Friday that he never touched the woman.

LPGA

Keselowski claims victory at Darlington Raceway

we just laid it all on the line.”

By Pete Iacobelli The Associated Press

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Brad Keselowski moved to the front when leaders Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick hit battling for rst with nine laps left and held on to win the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday for his rst NASCAR win in three years.

It was Keselowski’s 36th career victory, his second at Darlington and his rst since reconnecting with magnate Jack Roush and becoming a co-owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

“Hell of an e ort by everyone,” Keselowski said after crossing the nish line.

It appeared Keselowski’s employee at RFK, Buescher, would get the win after he passed his boss and Reddick with 29 laps to go. But Buescher and Reddick then hit and fell back, opening the door for Keselowski’s satisfying victory.

“What a heck of a day,” he said. “That battle out there with my teammate and Tyler Reddick,

Ty Gibbs was second, Josh Berry third and Denny Hamlin fourth. Chase Briscoe was fth followed by William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley and Michael McDowell.

It was another near miss for Buescher, who lost by 0.001 seconds to Kyle Larson at Kansas in the closest nish in NASCAR history.

Buescher slid to 30th and Reddick 32nd.

Buescher confronted Reddick when both got out of their cars, after the close call cost him a NASCAR victory for a second straight week.

Buescher had lost out by 0.001 of a second at Kansas to Kyle Larson a week ago in what was the closest ending in NASCAR history. This time, Buescher lost his chance at the Goodyear 400 when Tyler Reddick tried to pass for the lead.

Reddick’s car slid up into Buescher, knocking him against the wall and ruining both their chances for a Darlington victory.

Buescher shoved Reddick and shouted that he should not have tried that move.

“I tried to back out,” Reddick said. “The last thing I wanted to do was wreck your car. I’m sorry.”

Patriots QB Maye wraps up rst taste of NFL workouts at rookie minicamp

The No. 3 overall pick out of UNC gets rst taste of pro football

The Associated Press

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England quarterback Drake Maye’s day at rookie minicamp wasn’t done, not by a long shot.

The No. 3 overall pick in the NFL Draft was just getting started after wrapping up practice on Saturday. After all, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said Maye had been at the team facility “all night” on Friday.

“We’ll be here till 7, 8, 9 o’clock. Go in for a lift, then we have some meetings,” Maye said after practice behind Gillette Stadium.

“The best thing about minicamp is being around the guys for the rst time. We’re at the hotel together. We’re right across the hallway from each other, so we’ll watch the lm and look at the scripts for the next day together.

“We’ve got nothing else to do up here. Why not focus on football?”

The laser focus already has rubbed o on fellow rookies, including wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk, who was drafted one

round after Maye.

“Guy can sling it. Very condent and vocal. He’s a leader,” Polk said. “He’s setting the tone in practice, trying to get guys moving around and operating at a high level. This is new to all of us. We’re still learning and trying to get to know each other so everybody can get on the same page.”

At one point Saturday, Maye was under center with Polk lined up to his left and two more rookie receivers — one drafted (Javon Baker) and one undrafted (David Wallis) — lined up to his right. There wasn’t live contact or a pass rush to anticipate. But for Maye, it’s about soaking up as much knowledge as possible.

At times during practice, Maye talked with Patriots o ensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. He also chatted with quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney and o ensive assistant coach Ben McAdoo, who has been around his share of topight quarterbacks — namely Eli Manning with the New York Giants and Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers.

“T.C. is talking to us during the meetings. Coach Van Pelt will chime in when he needs to. Coach (McAdoo) is awesome,” Maye said. “All three of them know a lot of football.”

Buescher pointed to the NASCAR playo decal on his car for those, like Reddick, who’ve quali ed for the postseason. “That doesn’t work for me,” Buescher said. “We don’t have that sticker on my door right now. I need you to be better. We’ve raced each other for so long just ne.”

Buescher had said how agonizing his loss to Kyle Larson at Kansas last week was, replaying it and coming up with several things he might have done differently given another chance. At Darlington, Buescher knew who to blame.

“That’s two weeks in a row we had a shot to win races,” Buescher said. “One, I’m going to relive in my head forever at what I would’ve done di erent (at Kansas). The other, I need someone else to be more mature about it.”

Reddick continued apologizing in his post-race comments.

He said his attempted pass was aggressive and he tried to check up so he would not slide into Buescher.

“It’s tough to walk away knowing that I used someone up, took their chance away from winning the race that’s racing me really cleanly,” Reddick said. “I have to work on that and try and make

Driver Brad Keselowski holds up the trophy in Victory Lane after winning at Darlington Raceway on Sunday.

some better decisions.”

Bad day

One slip up ended the chances of two NASCAR champions. Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr. and Byron were three-wide on lap 128 when Byron tagged Truex who pushed into Blaney and sent him against the wall in turn two.

The crew for Blaney, the defending Cup Series champion, could not repair the damage and his day was done. He rode up alongside Byron to signal his displeasure with Byron’s move.

“He used a little bit more race track than I thought, so I have every right to be mad and he gets away scot-free,” said Blaney, who wound up last in 36th place.

Truex, the 2017 series champion, dropped from the top 10 and nished 25th.

Odds and ends

Berry’s third-place nish was his best since replacing retired Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 car.

... Erik Jones, twice a winner at Darlington, nished 19th in his rst race since su ering a compression fracture in a lower vertebra during a crash at Talladega last month. ... Larson’s No. 5 paint scheme homage to Hall of Famer Terry Labonte’s 1996 title-winning car was voted the best throwback by the fans. ... The series takes a week o of points racing for the All-Star Race at historic North Wilkesboro.

Focusing on fundamentals, namely footwork, is a priority for Maye since arriving in New England.

“I’m trying out two new stances that I’m getting used to. Just getting more reps at it,” Maye said. “Footwork is huge. It’s something that’s not easy.”

The learning curve after playing in college at North Carolina will include becoming familiar with the region’s weather patterns. Practice featured a gusty breeze, a possible preview of coming attractions when November and December roll around.

“He has a lot to work on, but I have no doubt that he will put the time in,” Mayo said.

Belichick’s replacement

The Patriots are going with

Eliot Wolf to stock their roster after two decades with Bill Belichick in charge.

The team on Saturday named Wolf, 42, the executive vice president of player personnel, giving him the formal title of the job he had mostly been handling since Belichick was red. Wolf will control the 53-man roster and manage the salary cap.

Owner Robert Kraft said he wanted to observe the relationship between Wolf and coach Mayo before making it formal.

Wolf is the son of Hall of Famer Ron Wolf, the former Packers general manager. Eliot Wolf has worked 20 seasons with Green Bay, Cleveland and the Patriots. He spent the last two seasons as New England’s director of scouting.

MARK STOCKWELL / AP PHOTO

New England Patriots rst-round draft pick quarterback

Drake Maye walks onto the eld during the team’s rookie minicamp.

The victory ends his 3-year NASCAR Cup win drought

MATT KELLEY / AP PHOTO

Dozens injured in train crash in Buenos Aires

The passenger train struck a box car on the track

By Isabel Debre The Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argenti-

na

— At least 90 people were injured in Argentina’s capital when a passenger train struck an empty boxcar on the tracks and derailed Friday, authorities said, a rare collision that fueled questions about basic safety.

The train was on its way from Buenos Aires to the northern suburbs when it derailed around 10:30 a.m. on a bridge in the trendy neighborhood of Palermo, safety o cials said.

While it was not immediately clear why the idled boxcar had been on the bridge, Argentina’s railway union said several yards of copper cable used to carry power along the tracks had been stolen from the railway, disabling the signaling system intended to prevent such accidents.

Union leaders ercely opposed to libertarian President Javier Milei’s economic austerity blamed the government for its failure to invest in public infrastructure.

“We have been demanding for 10 days that the stolen signaling cables be repaired,” rail union leader Omar Maturano told the country’s independent Radio Con Vos station. “The government said there was no money for spare parts.”

Prosecutors said they were investigating.

“There is not enough information about the mechanics

of this accident,” Buenos Aires Mayor Jorge Macri said from the crash site where he praised the swift evacuation of victims.

Dozens of injured were treated at the scene and 30 people were taken to hospitals in moderate to serious condition, at least two by helicopter with chest trauma and broken bones.

Alberto Crescenti, director of the city’s emergency service, said rescuers with police dogs had helped 90 people trapped

in the derailed train, lowering some by rope from the highway overpass scattered with twisted metal and shattered glass.

Dazed passengers staggering out of the derailed boxcars told local media the train had stopped on the bridge for several minutes before starting up again and slamming violently into the other train, jolting passengers and veering o the rails in a jumble of sparks and smoke.

O cials at the Argentine rail authority, Trenes Argentinos, said service on the popular rail line had been suspended, complicating travel for many commuters. The collision brought increased scrutiny to rail safety in Argentina, where a string of train crashes from 2012-14 left more than 50 people dead and hundreds injured. It emerged at the time that outdated infrastructure, delays and human er-

Rise in UK knife attacks leads to crackdown

An anxious public has called for the government to do more

By Laurie Kellman

The Associated Press

LONDON — A familiar horror reached Pooja Kanda rst on social media: There had been a sword attack in London. And then Kanda, who was home alone at the time, saw a detail she dreaded and knew all too well.

A man with a sword had killed a 14-year-old boy who was walking to school. Two years ago, her 16-year-old son, Ronan, was killed by two sword-wielding schoolmates while walking to a neighbor’s to borrow a PlayStation controller.

“It took me back,” Kanda, who lives near Birmingham, said about Daniel Anjorin’s April

30 killing in an attack in London’s Hainault district that also wounded four people. “It’s painful to see that this has happened all over again.”

In parts of the world that ban or strictly regulate gun ownership, including Britain and much of the rest of Europe, knives and other types of blades are often the weapons of choice used in crimes. Many end up in the hands of children, as they can be cheap and easy to get.

Although the number of fatal stabbings has mostly held steady in England and Wales over the past 10 years, headline-grabbing attacks and an overall rise in knife crime have stoked anxieties and led to calls for the government to do more.

“Knife-enabled” crime — in which knives were used to commit crimes or someone was caught illegally possessing one

— rose 7% in England and Wales last year,” the government said last month, noting some localities were not included. In London, such crimes jumped 20%. The other two U.K. countries, Scotland and Northern Ireland, keep their own statistics.

With knives so readily available, there’s only so much that can be done. Of the 244 fatal stabbings in England and Wales in the 12 months ending with March 2023 — the most recent gures available — 101 were committed with kitchen knives, far surpassing any other type of blade, according to the O ce of National Statistics.

But the uptick in knife crime and a steady drumbeat of shocking attacks, including those that killed Ronan Kanda, Daniel Anjorin and three people in Nottingham last year, has pushed the issue to the forefront.

“It seems like every day something like this is reported in the press,” Sanjoy O’Malley-Kumar, whose 19-year-old daughter Grace O’Malley-Kumar was among the Nottingham victims, said on “Good Morning Britain” after the recent attack in London.

In last week’s local elections, candidates debated policies such as stop-and-search.

Even movie star Idris Elba has weighed in.

“I can pick up a phone right now, type in knives and I’ll get inundated with adverts for them,” the London-born star of “The Wire” and “Luther” said during a protest in January.

Guns are heavily restricted in the U.K. and there’s not much debate about it. That’s partly because the 1996 massacre of 16 elementary students in Dunblane, Scotland, led to a ban on own-

“The rail company has been totally degraded because there’s no budget.”

Omar Maturano, rail union leader

ror had left the railway system vulnerable to crashes, prompting the government to invest in new safety and braking systems.

With Argentina’s economy spiraling and anti-government protests gripping the streets, the crash quickly spawned contradictory narratives, with both government o cials and leftist union leaders using the incident to further their agendas.

“The rail company has been totally degraded because there’s no budget,” said Maturano, from the rail union.

President Milei reposted comments on social media blaming his left-leaning predecessors for neglecting public infrastructure and running up a massive budget de cit.

In the midst of Argentina’s worst economic crisis in two decades, police have repeatedly reported would-be cable thieves being electrocuted in the act. Those who succeed wreak havoc on the rail system in stealing metal to sell to scrapyards, where local media says the going rate is about $3.18 a pound.

The Argentine website Infobae in February called copper cable theft “a trendy crime for the crisis.”

ing handguns. Firearms used for hunting are tightly regulated. Restricting knives is trickier, but the government is trying. It’s already illegal to sell a knife to someone younger than 18 or to carry one in public without a good reason, such as for work or religious purposes. And certain types of blades are already illegal, including switchblades and so-called zombie knives, which come in various sizes, have cutting and serrated edges, and feature text or images suggesting they should be used to commit violence, according to the 2016 law banning them. A new law will take e ect in September banning the sale of machetes and closing a loophole that companies have exploited to get around the zombie knife ban. It remains to be seen whether the new law will have much e ect, though, as machetes accounted for only 14 of of the 244 stabbing deaths in the 12 months that ended in March 2023 and zombie-style knives accounted for seven.

RODRIGO ABD / AP PHOTO

A train wagon that collided with another stands on the rails in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last Friday.

Barbara Jean (Taylor) Drye

Matthew Arnold Hatley

April 17, 1936 ~ January 14, 2023

January 16, 1988 –May 4, 2024

Barbara Jean Taylor Drye, 86, of Oakboro, passed away Saturday, January 14, 2023 at her home.

Barbara was born April 17, 1936 in North Carolina to the late Robert Lee Taylor and the late Eva Belle Watts Taylor. She was also preceded in death by husband of 61 years, Keith Furr Drye, and brothers, Robert Lee Taylor, Jr. and George Kenneth Taylor.

Survivors include children, Debbie (Mike) Williams of Albemarle, Teresa (Tom) Curry of Oakboro, Douglas (Tammy) Drye of Oakboro; grandchildren, Melissa (Don) Parrish of Albemarle, Samantha (Destiny) Smith of Oakboro, Bradley Smith of Oakboro, Jonathan Stover of Peachland, and Jessie Stover of Lylesville; sisterin-law, Beatrice Goodman; many nieces and nephews; and her beloved cats, Bo and Gar eld.

Barbara was a member of Oakboro Baptist Church for over 60 years. She worked over 30 years at Stanly Knitting Mills. After just two years of retirement, she began managing the Oakboro Senior Center and did that for 18 years until this past week. Barbara was known for her good cooking and always taking care of others. She also loved going on day long shopping trips - she could out walk and out shop people half her age. She kept her mind and body active through gardening, word searches, and various other hobbies.

Matthew Arnold Hatley, 36, of Concord, passed away May 4, 2024, in Hickory, NC. Matthew was born January 16, 1988 in Concord, North Carolina to John Hampton Hatley and Alisa Helms Hatley. He was also preceded in death by his grandparents Arnold and Willie Hatley, Olin “Mutt” Helms, Betty Stallings and Leola Smith. Matthew had a personality that would light up the darkest room. His smile was as bright and vibrant as the morning sunrise, only to be over shadowed by the mysterious twinkle in his blue eyes. He was devoted to the recovery of himself and of others. Matthew excelled at sharing his testimony, using it to help inspire others to invest in their own recovery. His untimely passing will be felt not only by his family but also in the recovery communities of Concord, Kannapolis, Hickory, and the surrounding areas.

Wilma Ann Wood

September 14, 1940 –May 7, 2024

Wilma Ann Wood, 83, of Locust, NC passed away on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at Trinity Place in Albemarle. Wilma was born on September 14, 1940, in Andrews, NC to the late Edgar James Gregory and Hester Magaline Gu ey Gregory.

She enjoyed playing bingo, loved painting pictures, and adored her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Wilma Ann wood is preceded in death by her husband, Michael Wood. Her survivors include her son Richard Gregory (Amanda) of Locust, NC, daughter C.J. Williams (Ketih) of Clover, SC, daughter Melinda Schweizer of Albemarle, NC, daughter Julie Rich (Tony Hartman) of Shakopee, MN, and son Brian Rich (Jeanette) of WA. Wilma is also survived by her sisters, Mabel Tucker of Cleveland, TX, Betty Sur Gregory Cooper (Dufae) of Columbia, SC and ten grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Dwight Farmer

James Roseboro

Joseph Ray Dixon

June 23, 1967 ~ January 10, 2023

January 24, 1939 ~ January 15, 2023

Benjamin Mark Johnston

September 25, 1936 –May 7, 2024

Dwight Britten Farmer Sr., 83, of Norwood died Sunday morning, January 15, 2023 at Forrest Oakes.

Dwight was born January 24, 1939 in Stanly County to the late Walter Virgil and Martha Adkins Farmer. He was a 1957 graduate of Norwood High School and was a United States Army Veteran.

May 31, 1957 – May 8, 2024

James Arthur Roseboro, 55, of Albemarle, passed away Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at Anson Health and Rehab.

He was a member of Cedar Grove United Methodist Church where he had served as church treasurer and choir member. He began his career with the Stanly County Sheri ’s Department moving to the Norwood Police Department and retiring as Chief of Police with the Town of Norwood after many years of service.

Dwight was an avid gardener, bird watcher and Carolina fan.

Benjamin Mark Johnston of Harrisburg, North Carolina, went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at the age of 87. Ben was born on September 25,1936 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina to Benjamin Sloop Johnston and Melrose Harrison Johnston. He grew up in Newell, North Carolina. He married his wife, Carolyn, on October 26th, 1956. Ben and Carolyn welcomed their two children, Mark and Wendi. They were happily married for 64 years. They had an unbreakable bond and loved their long life together.

He is survived by his wife Hilda Whitley Farmer; one son D. Britten Farmer Jr. (Mary) of McLeansville, NC; one daughter Sharon Farmer Lowe (David) of Norwood; one sister Geraldine Dennis of Troy; two grandchildren, Dwight Britten “Dee” Farmer III and Whitley Rose Hui Lowe.

He was preceded in death by his son Alex, brothers, Tommy and Jimmy, sisters, Nancy, Cornelia Annabell, Glennie Mae, and Betty. Memorials may be made to Cedar Grove United Methodist Church, Cemetery or Choir Fund c/o Pam Smith 36071 Rocky River Springs Road, Norwood, NC 28128.

Ben was preceded in death by his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin and Melrose Johnston, his sisters, Rosemary (Bootsie) Martin and Katherine Harris, and his beloved wife, Carolyn Rebecca Johnston. Ben is survived by his son, Mark Johnston and wife, Connie Johnston; his daughter, Wendi Kempf and husband Jim Kempf; his grandchildren, Dusti Sha er and husband Mike Sha er, Brooke Gibbs and husband Jonathan Gibbs, and Ian Kempf; and his greatgrandchildren, Judah Gibbs, Carrlyn Sha er, Asher Gibbs, and Eden Gibbs.

Everett Lentz Huneycutt

October 12, 1943 – May 7, 2024

Everett Lentz Huneycutt, 80, of Norwood passed away on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, surrounded by his family. Born October 12, 1943, in Stanly County, NC, he was the son of the late Henry Huneycutt and Pearl Hinson Huneycutt.

Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in SCJ at obits@stanlyjournal.com

Mr. Huneycutt was the owner, operator, and founder of Lentz's Auto Sales in Albemarle. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Dian Mabe Huneycutt. Other survivors include son Brian Huneycutt of Norwood brother Mitchell Wayne Huneycutt of Norwood, and numerous nephews and great-nephews. He was preceded in death by a brother Donald Eugene (Donahue) Huneycutt.

Mr. Roseboro was born on June 23, 1967 to the late Robert and Delena Shipp Roseboro. He graduated from South Stanly High School and was employed by Triangle Brick. He enjoyed watching football and basketball, especially the Carolina TarHeels and Miami.

In addition to his parents he is preceded in death by his brothers and sisters: Barbara Lee Roseboro, Dorothy Brown, Verna Roseboro, Henrietta Ingram, and Harold Roseboro.

Joseph Ray Dixon, 66, of Concord, passed away peacefully at home with family by his side on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.Joe was born May 31, 1957, in Roberta, NC, to the late Joseph Crockett Dixon and the late Hazel Elizabeth Lambert Dixon. He was also preceded in death by sister, Debbie Dixon Nifong. Survivors include beloved wife of 44 years, Sherry M. Dixon of Concord; son, Steven Ray Dixon and wife, Genna, of Mount Pleasant; granddaughter, Kate Elizabeth Dixon; sister, Sherry D. Allman and husband, Chip, of Concord; sister, Dicie D. Morris and husband, Junior, of Concord; brother, Howard Dixon, of Mount Pleasant; brother-in-law, Roger Nifong, of Concord; and numerous nieces, nephews and friends. He was always involved in Steven's sports activities while growing up, coaching football and baseball. Kate, his grandbaby, was Paw Paw's girl, and was the light of his life. Most of all, Joe cherished spending time with his family.

He is survived by his sisters: Helen (James) Roseboro Edwards of Albemarle, Mary Roseboro of Washington DC, and Marion Morrison of Albemarle; brothers: Thomas D. Roseboro of Charlotte, Robert Roseboro (Patricia) of Norwood, and Van Horne; a special friend of over 40 years, Michelle McLendon of the home; special nieces: Nybrea Montague, Knya Little, and Laquanza Crump; special nephews: Robert Jr., Desmond Roseboro, and Marcus Lilly; and God daughter, Daphne Johnson; and special friends, Vetrella Johnson and Ben McLendon.

Edward Lee Pennington

Darrick Baldwin

January 7, 1973 ~ January 8, 2023

January 3, 1958 – May 4, 2024

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Edward Lee "Bubba" Pennington, who departed from this world on May 4th, 2024.

Darrick Vashon Baldwin, age 50, entered eternal rest, Sunday, January 8, 2023, Albemarle, North Carolina. Born January 7, 1973, in Stanly County, North Carolina, Darrick was the son of Eddie James Baldwin Sr. and the late Phyllis Blue Baldwin. Darrick enjoyed life, always kept things lively and enjoyed making others smile. His presence is no longer in our midst, but his memory will forever live in our hearts.

He was educated in the Stanly County public schools and attended Albemarle Senior High School, Albemarle.

He was a great conversationalist and loved meeting people. Darrick never met a stranger and always showed love and compassion for his fellowman. He also loved his dog, Rocky.

Born on January 3rd, 1958, Lee lived a life lled with love, kindness, and unwavering dedication to his family and friends. Most importantly, Lee, or better known as Bubba, will forever be remembered for his unconditional love of his family, friends and commitment as a loving son, husband, father, and grandfather.

Lee is survived by his wife, Beverly Ewing Pennington, sister Kathy Osteen (Robert), mother Myrna Pennington, son Edward Ross Pennington (Morgan), son William Trey Pennington (Lauren), and daughter Allie Pennington Tester (Jake). He had three grandchildren Evelynn Tester, Charlotte Tester, and Ayda Pennington. Lee is preceded in death by his father Edward Dwayne Pennington and rst wife, Kelly Rogers Pennington.

He is survived by his father, Eddie J. Baldwin Sr.; sisters: Crystal (Eric) Jackson, LaFondra (Stoney) Medley, and Morgan Baldwin; brothers: Eddie Baldwin Jr., Anton Baldwin, and Lamont Baldwin; a host of other relatives and friends. A limb has fallen from our family tree. We will not grieve Darrick’s death; we will celebrate his life. We give thanksgiving for the many shared memories.

John B. Kluttz

March 23, 1935 - January 9, 2023

Richard Lee Costantino

June 12, 1943 – May 11, 2024

John grew up in the Millingport community where he drove a school bus and worked at the local gas station during his High School years. He graduated from Millingport High in 1954 and entered into service with the US Airforce immediately afterward. Upon return from the service, he and his high school sweetheart Julie were married in 1956. He graduated from Nashville Auto Diesel College later in 1959 and began his career as a diesel mechanic at Mitchell Distributing Company, moving his growing family to Charlotte where they lived until their retirement.

When John purchased his rst Model A Ford at the age of 17, he said that he took the car to the community mechanic when he had a small problem.The mechanic told him that if he was going to keep the car, he needed to learn to work on it. This is when John’s passion for Model A Fords began and how he spent his happiest days with his best friends from around the globe for the rest of his life!

At age 50, after years as a Detroit Diesel Mechanic he and Julie decided to take the plunge and open a full Model A Restoration Shop. They thrived at their shop in Cornelius, NC until their retirement in 1998 when they moved back to Cabarrus County. John once again set up shop in his back yard garage where he attracted a loyal group of friends who visited almost daily. While on the farm in Gold Hill, John also began a lifelong love with Alis Chalmers tractors after he restored his Dad’s tractor and began amassing his collection of tractors as well.

Richard Lee Costantino, 80, of Concord, North Carolina, passed away Saturday, May 11, 2024.Rick was born June 12, 1943 in Freeport, Pennsylvania, to the late John and Mary Costantino. He was also preceded in death by 7 siblings, Joseph Costantino, Catherine Buzzard, Emma Powers, John Costantino, Mary Steele, Arthur Costantino and Alfred Costantino. He was an avid sports fan, having played baseball and softball. He also enjoyed coaching his son's baseball and basketball teams and refereeing WPIAL basketball. Most of all, Rick was a loving husband and was lovingly referred to as "Bop" by his children and grandchildren. Rick is survived by his beloved wife of 58 years, Donna Costantino of Concord, NC; daughter, Renee (Chris) Nauyokas of Apollo, PA; daughter, Michele (Todd) Coccaro of Concord, NC; son, Tony (Allison) Costantino of Simpsonville, SC; brothers, Robert Costantino and Charles Costantino; sisters, Betty Basham and Margaret Costantino; grandchildren, Carly, Kylee and Brady Coccaro, Janet and Ryan Nauyokas, Caitlyn, Chloe and Caleb Costantino; and numerous nieces, nephews and extended family.

John restored many cars of his own and had the crowning achievement of winning the most prestigious award from MARC, The Henry for a restoration that garnered top points. He was also presented with the Ken Brady Service Awardthe highest award given to members at the national level.

Community had to say upon learning of his death:

Wesley Chapel Methodist Church where he loved serving as greeter on Sunday mornings. He also belonged to the United Methodist Men. John is survived by his wife Julie Ussery Kluttz, for 66 years of the home. He is also survived by a son John David Kluttz (Kim) of Oakboro, NC; two daughters, Sally Simerson of Denver, CO and Betsy Tusa (John) of Lafayette, CO; three grandchildren, Bonnie Kluttz Sammons (Ben) of Rich eld, NC John Alexander McKinnon (Sarah) of Asheville, NC and Seth William McKinnon (Amanda) of Germany; ve great-grandchildren, Charlotte, Meredith, Grant, Victoria and Ronan. John is also preceded in death by his parents, J.S. Kluttz and Mary Wyatt Clayton Kluttz; a large and loving group of brothers and sisters, Jack Methias Kluttz, Annie Lou Kluttz Honeycutt, Jake Nelson Kluttz, Julius Kluttz, Mary Patricia Phillips and a grandson, Kevin Fowler Kluttz.

Myrtle Ruth Curlee Drye

June 2, 1932 – May 4, 2024

Myrtle Ruth Curlee Drye, 91, of Oakboro passed away on May 4, 2024, at Atrium Health Union in Monroe. Born June 2, 1932, in Stanly County, NC, she was the daughter of the late Dee Curlee and Lectie Whitley Curlee. She was a retired textile employee. She was preceded in death by her husband Benton C. Drye. Survivors include son Rocky Drye and wife Kathy of Oakboro, two grandchildren Chad Drye and wife Tammy of Albemarle and Cameron Drye and wife Megan of Lancaster, and three great-grandchildren Connor Drye, Riley Drye, and Brenlee Drye.

Lynn Amanda Freund

Doris Jones Coleman

October 11, 1944 - January 10, 2023

November 17, 1946 –May 12, 2024

Lynn Amanda Freund, 77, of Concord, passed away Sunday, May 12, 2024 at Atrium Health Cabarrus Hospital in Concord. Lynn was born November 17, 1946 in Wisconsin to the late Louis Raymond Freund and the late Dorothy Freund. She was also preceded in death by brother-in-law Gary Allen West.Lynn graduated from Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton, WI in 1964, she then went on to receive her masters from UW- Madison. She loved to travel, especially art history tours in Europe. She also loved a daily beer or good gin martini and never turned down a Sheboygan brat. Survivors include sister, Katherine West of Charlotte, NC, Sister, Mary JoAnn, Freund of TX, Sister, Marcia Marie Freund of AZ, and numerous cousins across the country.

Doris Elaine Jones Coleman, 78, went home into God’s presence on January 10 after a sudden illness and a valiant week-long ght in ICU. Doris was born on October 11, 1944, in the mountains of Marion, NC while her father was away ghting in the US Navy during World War II. Raymond Jones was so proud to return after the war and meet his little girl! Doris grew up in Durham, NC and graduated from Durham High School. She furthered her studies at Watts Hospital School of Nursing in Durham and graduated as a Registered Nurse in 1966.

Doris married Rev. Dr. Ted Coleman in 1966 and had two daughters Amy and Laura. Doris raised Amy and Laura in North Augusta, SC.

Doris was an incredible neonatal intensive care nurse for most of her career, and this was her passion. The Augusta Chronicle did a feature on her in 1985. She was a clinical nurse manager in Augusta, Georgia at University Hospital NICU and worked there for 20 years. During this time, Doris mentored young worked for Pediatrician Dr. William years prior to her NICU career. Doris retired from the mother/baby area at Atrium Stanly in 2007 after over 40

George Thomas Wineco II

June 17, 1954 – May 4, 2024

spirit and loved her Lord. She never met a stranger, and she always left with her. She would often claim that she had “adopted” friends into her immediate family, and honestly, she never made a distinction between the two. Positivity radiated from her like sunlight. She was sel ess, funny, smart, and sentimental. During her lifetime she was an active member of First Baptist Church of Durham, First Baptist Church of Augusta, Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Augusta, and Palestine United Methodist Church in Albemarle. She especially loved helping at church with older adults, youth, and children.

George “Tommy” Thomas Wineco II, 69 of Albemarle, passed away Saturday, May 4, 2024, at Novant Forsyth Medical Center. George was born June 17, 1954, in Cumberland County, NC. He is survived by his parents, George Thomas Wineco (Patricia) of Locust and Dorothy “Dot” Wineco of Austin, TX, sister Nancy Corcoran also of Austin, TX, and brother Doug Wineco of Albemarle. He also leaves behind his pride and joy, daughter “Sugar Puddin’,” Catherine Deese (Justin) of Albemarle, and granddaughter “Little Big Girl” Huntley Deese, along with many dear friends and extended family members. George will be remembered for his love of the outdoors and passion for forestry and conservation. He had a way of nding beauty and value in every aspect of the world around him; and was most at peace while walking through the woods where there was always a possibility of acquiring a new curly-cue. A story-teller and poet, he leaves behind many smiles and happy memories.

She was especially talented at sewing from a young age and made gifts for friends, Christmas ornaments, Halloween Costumes, doll clothes, pageant dresses, prom dresses, coats, tote bags, scarves, out ts for Amy and Laura, and Christening gowns for each of her grandchildren.

Doris was preceded in death by her father Arthur Raymond Jones, her mother Mary Ellen Cameron Jones, and her sister Maryanne Jones Brantley. Survivors include her two precious daughters: Amy Cameron Coleman (partner Dr. Edward Neal Chernault) of Albemarle, NC, and Laura Lindahl Coleman Oliverio (husband David) of Cincinnati, Ohio; seven grandchildren: Cameron David Oliverio, Stephanie Jae Dejak, Luca Beatty Oliverio, Coleman John Dejak, Carson Joseph Oliverio, Ryan Nicholas Dejak, and Jadon Richard Oliverio; and numerous in-laws, nieces, nephews, cousins, and loved ones.

STATE & NATION

US special ops leaders learning to do more with less

Fort Liberty is facing budget cuts

By Lolita C. Baldor The Associated Press

FORT LIBERTY — Forced to do more with less and learning from the war in Ukraine, U.S. special operations commanders are juggling how to add more high-tech experts to their teams while still cutting their overall forces by about 5,000 troops over the next ve years.

The con icting pressures are forcing a broader restructuring of the commando teams, which are often deployed for highrisk counterterrorism missions and other sensitive operations around the world. The changes under consideration are being in uenced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including lessons learned by British special operations forces there.

U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which bears the brunt of the personnel cuts, is eyeing plans to increase the size of its Green Beret teams — usu-

ally about 12 members — to bring in people with more specialized and technical abilities. One possibility would be the addition of computer software experts who could reprogram drones or other technical equipment on the y.

But similar changes could ripple across all the military services.

“A 12-person detachment might be upgunned,” said Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander of

A U.S. Army soldier checks a compass while completing a land navigation course during Special Forces Assessment and Selection near Ho man in 2019.

U.S. Special Operations Command. He said an Air Force pilot, Navy ship driver, cryptologist or cyber expert may be needed as battle elds become more challenging and high tech.

The United States is “taking a lot of lessons learned out of the experience in Ukraine, mostly through the eyes of our U.K. special operations partners, who not only have done that in their formations, but they’ve also

learned very quickly that they needed other elements of their joint force,” he told The Associated Press in an interview.

The bulk of the cuts stem from the Army’s decision to reduce the size of its force by about 24,000 and restructure its troops as the U.S. shifts from counterterrorism and counterinsurgency to focus more on large-scale combat operations. The Army also has struggled to meet recruitment goals and had to reduce the overall size of its force.

Army Special Operations Command, which Fenton said is absorbing about 4,000 cuts ordered over the past year and a half, is looking at bringing in people with high-tech skills.

“I think one of the questions is how much can you teach a Green Beret versus some of these specialties are extremely technical,” said Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, deputy commander of the command at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. “You can teach a person about how to use a drone. But then to say, I want to have a software engineer program that drone, that’s something di erent.”

The cuts to Army special operations forces have triggered some congressional opposition, including during recent Capitol Hill hearings where lawmakers noted the impact at Fort Liberty. Fenton also spoke bluntly at the hearings about the growing demand

for special operations forces.

He said U.S. regional commanders around the world consistently want more and that cutting the forces means “we’ll be able to meet less of what they demand. And I think we owe the secretary of defense our assessment as we go forward.”

For years, during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the number of special operations forces and support sta grew, particularly since they were often spread out in small, remote bases where they needed additional security and other logistical help. Now, Pentagon leaders say the numbers can shrink a bit.

Fenton said a cut of about 2,000 personnel in special operations was ordered by the department about a year and a half ago, including about 750 in the Army. That was followed this year by a cut of 3,000 in Army special operations. The cuts are to be spread out across ve years.

“So the real Army reduction in totality is almost 4,000, and the remaining 1,000 will come from the joint force, SEALs, Marine raiders, other Army units,” said Fenton.

For Roberson, the question is where to cut his Army troops.

“Cuts have a way of crystallizing your focus and your view of, OK, what’s important to me? What’s the future? What do I really need to have,” he said in an interview in his Fort Liberty o ce.

Court rules Charlotte Catholic High could re gay teacher

The substitute wasn’t allowed to return to the school after he announced his plans to get married

By Gary D. Robertson

The Associated Press

RALEIGH — A Catholic school in Charlotte had the right to re a gay teacher who announced his marriage on social media a decade ago, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, reversing a judge’s earlier decision.

A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, reversed a 2021 ruling that Charlotte Catholic High School and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte had violated Lonnie Billard’s federal employment protections against sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The school said Billard wasn’t invited back as a substitute teacher because of his “advocacy in favor of a position that is opposed to what the church teaches about marriage,” a court document said.

U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn determined Billard — a full-time teacher for a decade until 2012 — was a lay employee for the limited purpose of teaching secular classes. Cogburn said a trial would still have to be held to determine appropriate relief for him. A 2020 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court declared Title VII also protected workers who were red for being gay or transgender.

But Circuit Judge Pamela Harris, writing Wednesday’s prevailing opinion, said that Billard fell under a “ministerial exception” to Title VII that courts have derived from the First Amendment that protects religious institutions in how they treat employees “who per-

form tasks so central to their religious missions — even if the tasks themselves do not advertise their religious nature.”

That included Billard — who primarily taught English as a substitute and who previously taught drama when working full-time — because Charlotte

Catholic expected instructors to integrate faith throughout the curriculum, Harris wrote. And the school’s apparent expectation that Billard be ready to instruct religion as needed speaks to his role in the school’s religious mission, she added.

“The record makes clear that

(Charlotte Catholic) considered it ‘vital’ to its religious mission that its teachers bring a Catholic perspective to bear on Shakespeare as well as on the Bible,” wrote Harris, who was nominated to the bench by then-President Barack Obama. “Our court has recognized before that seemingly secular tasks like the teaching of English and drama may be so imbued with religious signi cance that they implicate the ministerial exception.”

Billard, who sued in 2017, began working at the school in 2001. He met his now-husband in 2000, and they announced their decision to get married shortly after same-sex marriage was made legal in North Carolina in 2014.

In a news release, the American Civil Liberties Union and a Charlotte law rm that helped Billard le his lawsuit lamented Wednesday’s reversal as “a heartbreaking decision for our client who wanted nothing more than the freedom to perform his duties as an educator without hiding who he is or who he loves.”

The decision threatens to encroach on the rights of LGBTQ+ workers “by widening the loopholes employers may use to re people like Mr. Billard for openly discriminatory reasons,” the joint statement read.

An attorney for a group that defended the Charlotte diocese praised the decision as “a victory for people of all faiths who cherish the freedom to pass on their faith to the next generation.” The diocese operates 20 schools across North Carolina.

KEN KASSENS / U.S. ARMY VIA AP

DAVID T. FOSTER III / THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER VIA AP

St. Patrick Cathedral is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.

Randolph record

A-plus!

Teachers from Asheboro City Schools and Asheboro PD o cers went head to head in high-pressure kickball match last Wednesday, with bragging rights (and lunch) on the line. The teachers won 7-4, with APD Captain Byron Hill promising to “teach them a lesson” next year — but rst, o cers made good on their bet, showing up the next day at Asheboro High School with a portable grill to make hamburgers and hot dogs for school sta . Above, John Lopienski, an advanced manufacturing teacher at Asheboro High School, makes an acrobatic catch.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Early voting totals shown for special second primary

There were just 666 ballots cast in early voting in Randolph County for this week’s special second Republican primary.

The 13 days of early voting at the county’s Board of Election headquarters had as few as 26 voters on the rst day and as many as 87 last Friday. There were 79 voters Saturday on the last day of early voting.

On Tuesday, voters were required to cast ballots at their designated precincts.

The second primary was needed when the secondplace candidate in the rst primary requested a runo when no candidate received more than 30% of votes cast.

UNC, Duke commencements see minor protest disruptions

At UNC Chapel Hill, pro-Palestinian demonstrators splattered red paint on the steps of a building hours ahead of the school’s commencement ceremony and chanted on campus while students wearing light blue graduation gowns posed for photos.

At Duke’s commencement, a small number of students walked out when the commencement speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who is Jewish, began speaking.

Around the country, a number of other graduation ceremonies were disturbed by small protests, though most went o without a hitch.

Zeb Holden sworn in as Randolph county manager

Holden has been Archdale city manager for eight years

By Ryan Henkel Randolph Record

ZEB HOLDEN was appointed county manager by the Randolph County Board of Commissioners at its May 6 meeting.

“We have always promoted a county manager from within,” said chairman Darrell Frye. “This time, we did a search. This was the rst time we’ve ever posted a job and did a search for a county manager.”

The county received some 37 applications from more than a half-dozen di erent states, including from as far away as Colorado, then those were whittled down to three or so.

“We … came to the realization that the person we needed was right here among us all along,” Frye said.

Holden had been city manager in Archdale for more than eight years. He was announced as the new county manager earlier this year, but now, with a vote from

the Board of Commissioners, it’s o cial.

“Over the years, we’ve worked on a number of economic development projects with Zeb, and some are underway right now,” Frye told the board. “He has been a part of the county working with managers and councils within the other municipalities within the county and he just has a lot of experience and is on a rst-name basis with a lot of folks.”

The previous county manager, Hal Johnson, retired earlier this year following 48 years of public service to the county and nance o cer Will Massie had been serving as the interim since the start of 2024.

“We did have an exhaustive search,” said vice chair David Allen. “But, we’re looking forward to working with [Holden].”

In other business, the board approved a county match to Asheboro City Schools for the South Asheboro Middle School renovation project, amounting to a bit over $5.2 million.

ACS was approved for a Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund Grant and was awarded about $30 million through NC-

DPI, with a 15 percent match required from the county.

“South Asheboro Middle School was built in 1962, had an additional upgrade in 2001 and it’s almost 100,000 square feet,” said ACS Superintendent Aaron Woody. “We’re always renewing and reviewing the needs and the priorities of our facilities all across Asheboro City Schools and, with the exception of our high school now, our buildings are, on average, more than 60 years old and have original infrastructure throughout most of the facilities. At the top of our priorities list has been South Asheboro Middle School.”

According to Woody, the areas they hope to address are ADA accessibility and an elevator, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, cafeteria seating capacity and security upgrades at the main entrance.

Construction could begin by May of next year, to be nished around July 2027.

The board punted the approval of a yearly waiver of American Healthcare Debt Services for the Rural Healthcare Stabilization Loan at Randolph Health, over

Asheboro schools shu e principals

Reassignments impact nearly every school in Asheboro

Randolph Record sta

A HOST of schools will have new principals for the 2024-25 school year, after the Asheboro City Board of Education approved the personnel changes at last week’s meeting.

Balfour Elementary’s new principal will be Nikia Domally, the current principal at Lindley Park Elementary. She has been with the district since 2004, when she taught Spanish at the

high school. She has been principal at Lindley Park since 2016. With that position open, Lindley Park Elementary’s new principal will be Keisha Dawalt, North Asheboro Middle School’s principal since 2021. She’s a former assistant principal at Balfour Elementary School.

Teachey Elementary will be have Jordan Seagraves, assistant principal at Lo in Elementary, as its new principal. He began his current role in 2021 after receiving a Teacher of the Year honor two years earlier.

Chris Burian leaves McCrary Elementary School to be principal at South Asheboro Mid-

dle School. He has been with Asheboro schools since 2006 and was a school-level Teacher of the Year in 2011 and district-level Teacher of the Year in 2015. Burian has been an administrator at Balfour Elementary, Lindley Park Elementary, Loftin Elementary and North Asheboro Middle School. McCrary Elementary sees Kelly Patton as its next principal, promoted from assistant principal. She joined the district in 2016.

Julie Brady will move from principal at South Asheboro Middle School to oversee the district’s new Global Innovation

concerns with the ownership of the hospital.

“The good news is, we have a hospital and that the citizens get good service when they go there. That is a testament to the dedicated people that work at that hospital,” Frye said.

“That’s what’s good about our hospital … but the people who own and run that hospital are not here. We had a board meeting in January and now it’s May and we have not had another one,” Frye told a representative for the hospital. “This note that you gave us says we will have routine meetings. We have not had routine meetings. We don’t have any meetings. I want you to understand that it’s not what’s going on at that hospital, it’s what is happening with the ownership that is taking advantage of funds from the taxpayers of this county.”

Frye continued, noting that it wasn’t so much the hospital itself that the board has concerns with, but the owners:

“We have a hospital and it’s delivering services. Our beef is with the people that actually own that hospital and taking money out of our hospital,” Frye said. “Whether it’s for pro t or not for pro t, that’s what is being done and I don’t think that’s keeping with the agreement and I think that’s also the opinion of the” Local Government Commission.

The Randolph County Board of Commissioners will next meet June 3.

Center. She’s a past principal at McCrary Elementary School. Ann Evans goes from principal at Teachey Elementary to overseeing secondary math instruction in the district. She has been with the city schools since 2009, when she was a math teacher at the high school. Her past includes time in administrative roles at McCrary Elementary and Teachey Elementary School.

SCOTT PELKEY / RANDOLPH RECORD

Siler City woman injured in crash

A driver was airlifted to the hospital after the wreck near Eastern Randolph High School

Randolph Record sta

A Siler City woman was airlifted to UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill from a crash near Eastern Randolph High School the afternoon of May 8.

Asjiah Salome Rivera, 21, su ered serious injuries, according to the North Carolina

State Highway Patrol. The in-

cident occurred on U.S. 64 at Lee Layne Road in Randolph County.

Rivera was traveling west on U.S. 64 in a 2010 Honda and failed to stop for the red light, according to a Highway Patrol incident report. Her car collided with a 2007 Kenworth tractor trailer driven by Corey Lewis of Kernersville. Lewis was traveling north on Lee Lyne Road, crossing U.S. 64.

Lewis, 38, was uninjured in

the crash, the report said. The truck he was operating was from Gas Town, Inc., of Oak Ridge. After the wreck, the truck blocked the westbound lanes on U.S. 64, which remained closed for about two hours.

The helicopter for the airlift landed on the high school’s grounds.

The Randolph County Sheri ’s Department, Franklinville Fire Department and other agencies responded to the crash.

May 11

We stand corrected

To report an error or a suspected error, please email: corrections@nsjonline. com with “Correction request” in the subject line.

THURSDAY MAY 16

FRIDAY MAY 17

SATURDAY MAY 18

SUNDAY MAY 19

MONDAY MAY 20

TUESDAY MAY 21

WEDNESDAY MAY 22

May 7

• Derrick Hilton Locklear, 29, of Rockingham, was arrested by the Asheboro Police and booked into the Randolph County Jail on a charge of violating a domestic violence protection order.

• Anthony Sheldon Meeks, 62, of Siler City, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on a charge of possessing a firearm as a felon.

May 8

• Erica Nicole Harmon, 36, of Randleman, was arrested by the Randleman Police Department and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of larceny and possessing stolen goods and/or property.

• Rhonda Ashley Henderson, 56, of Sophia, was arrested by the Asheboro Police and booked into the Randolph County Jail on a charge of failing to appear on a felony.

• Jonathan Gage Laprad, 23, of Asheboro, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on a charge of failing to appear on a felony.

• Mauricio Lopez Ramos, 34, of Trinity, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of felony probation violations, possessing methamphetamine, and possessing drug paraphernalia.

May 9

• Travis Jerome Clapp, 36, of Asheboro, was arrested by NC Probation & Parole and booked into the Randolph County Jail on two charges of a felony probation violation.

• Jordan Lamar Coble, 30, of Randleman, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of failure to appear on a felony, possessing methamphetamine, and possessing drug paraphernalia.

• Krista Marilee-Elizabeth Fleming, 29, of Sophia, was arrested by the Asheboro Police and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of failure to appear on misdemeanor, failure to appear on felony, and second-degree trespassing.

• Justin Michael Godfrey, 38, of Asheboro, was arrested by the Asheboro Police and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of injury to personal property and shoplifting by concealment of goods.

• Casandra Rose Gray, 35, of Randleman, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of assault with a deadly weapon with a minor present, injury to real property, injury to personal property, simple assault, second degree trespassing, and failure to appear on misdemeanor.

• Lemmuel Artemus Hill, 43, of Randleman, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on a charge of violating a domestic violence protection order.

• Ginger Delorice Hudson, 41, of Denton, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on two charges of shoplifting by concealment of goods.

• Grayson Thor Miller, 36, of Asheboro, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of possessing a stolen motor vehicle, larceny of motor vehicle, a misdemeanor probation violation, and two counts of habitual larceny.

• Robert Lee Nunley, 55, of Trinity, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on four charges of failure to appear on misdemeanor and nonsupport of child.

May 10

• Kyndrah Raye Byrd, 33, of Thomasville, was arrested by the Asheboro Police and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of resisting a public office and out of county probation violation.

• Gary Wayne Eldridge, 61, of Trinity, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of discharging a weapon into an occupied dwelling from a moving vehicle, possessing a controlled substance on prison or jail premises, felony possession of cocaine, and possessing drug paraphernalia.

• Joshua Daniel Stallings, 30, of Asheboro, was arrested by the Asheboro Police and booked into the Randolph County Jail on a charge of assault on a female.

• Richard Duane Adams, 38, of Climax, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on a charge of violating a domestic violence protection order.

• Christopher Kenneth Anderson, 42, of Tega Cay, was arrested by the NC Highway Patrol and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of driving while impaired, two counts of misdemeanor child abuse, reckless driving. speeding, and a designated lane violation.

• Aaron Reed Archer, 31, of Franklinville, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on a charge of simple assault and assault on a female.

• Debra Elizabeth Mason Myrick, 36, of Randleman, was arrested by the Randolph Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Randolph County Jail on two charges of failure to appear on felony.

• Terrance Earl Street, 33, of Ramseur, was arrested by the Asheboro Police and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of breaking and entering to terrorize/injure and simple assault.

• Roberto De Jesus Varilla Baldaras, 28, of Randleman, was arrested by the Asheboro Police and booked into the Randolph County Jail on a charge of injury to personal property.

• Ricky Darren Wilson, 37, of Sophia, was arrested by the Randleman Police Department and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of failure to appear on misdemeanor, possessing methamphetamine, possessing drug paraphernalia, driving on a revoked license, and allowing a plate not to be displayed.

May 12

• William Clyde Clontz, 51, of Liberty, was arrested by the Liberty Police Department and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of larceny of motor vehicle, possessing a stolen motor vehicle, and two counts of resisting public officer.

• Dalton Tyler Erickson, 24, of Randleman, was arrested by the Randleman Police Department and booked into the Randolph County Jail on charges of possession of LSD, possessing drug paraphernalia, and failure to appear on misdemeanor.

Randolph Guide

The Randolph Guide is a quick look at what’s going on in Randolph County.

May 17

Asheboro Downtown Farmers’ Market

7 a.m. – 1 p.m.

The Asheboro Downtown Farmers’ Market is a growers only market where you will nd local, homegrown and home processed products.

The market is open on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the months of May – October. For more information on the market, call 336-626-1240 x1

May 18

Community Day at the Y!

8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

The Randolph AsheboroYMCA will be hosting a free Community Day. The event is open to the public who are invited to come out and check for fun and activities! See a full schedule and nd out more at randolphasheboroymca. com/community-day

Comic-Con at the Asheboro Library

9 a.m. – noon

Fans of comic books, pop culture, anime and superheroes are invited to the second annual RCPL Comic-Con at the Asheboro Public Library. This all-ages, family-friendly event will feature 15 comic book authors, illustrators and other creators who will demonstrate their techniques and display their work, which will be available for purchase.

The event will include an origami demo at 10 a.m. and an anime character drawing demo at 11 a.m. Dress as a favorite character or superhero for a costume contest; judging by age categories will take place at 11:30 a.m. For further information, call 336-318-6804.

May 19

Asheboro Summer Sunday Concerts: BlackWater Band 6 – 8:30 p.m.

The City of Asheboro kicks o the Summer Sunday Concerts with the ‘BlackWater Band.’ The concert starts at 6 p.m. at Bicentennial Park in Downtown Asheboro. The concert is free and open to the public, Bring a lawn chair!

NC Zoo – Quiet Day 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Quiet Days at the Zoo o er a more sensory-friendly experience and invite everyone looking to visit the Zoo on a less crowded day. Sensory bags are free for check out from the Guest Services O ce or at Kidzone, and designated quiet areas are available and marked throughout the Zoo. Quiet sensory play experiences will also be open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the

area.

PJ WARD-BROWN / RANDOLPH RECORD

The crash between the tanker and Honda blocked tra c on U.S. 64 for several hours.

THE CONVERSATION

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

VISUAL VOICES

Protecting freedom and democracy

These overreaching mandates are an attempt to shut down the use of natural gas and force electric appliances on families.

AS A LIMITED GOVERNMENT

conservative, I’ve always been a big believer in you having the freedom to choose what’s best for you and your family.

Sadly, the Biden Administration does not share this view. The latest example — Biden’s Department of Energy is now trying to take control of your home appliances in the name of an anti-energy agenda, imposing new burdensome regulations on appliances that you rely on every single day like dishwashers and air conditioners. These overreaching mandates are an attempt to shut down the use of natural gas and force electric appliances on families — even if they are more expensive and less reliable. This comes at a time when folks are already being crushed by rising costs thanks to in ation. I will always prioritize the needs of hardworking families like yours. That’s why last week, I joined my House Republican colleagues in taking action against the Biden Administration’s e orts to erode

COLUMN | SUSAN ESTRICH

No good answers

THERE ARE NO GOOD answers to the current situation in the Gaza War.

The balance Biden has attempted to forge is collapsing.

President Joe Biden is trying to use a pause in weapons shipments to force Israel to do more to protect civilians against “collateral damage” that a bombing campaign in Rafah would no doubt entail. But United States military o cials admit that that is easier said than done.

How do you move a million people to safety? How do you protect the hostages who are being used as human shields? And how does Israel complete its mission, which is to dismantle a terrorist organization that has threatened to repeat the massacre of Oct. 7 10,000 times?

There are no good answers.

Rafah is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas. Israelis understand that it cannot be ignored. The war is not over. But a massive bombing campaign will kill thousands of innocent civilians.

Israel is increasingly isolated in the international community. But so long as Rafah remains in Hamas control, it is also in immediate jeopardy. Sloganeering is what you hear on college campuses, but it is not an answer to anything.

Biden is in a bind. Conditioning

your freedoms by passing the Hands o our Home Appliances Act. I was successful in getting an amendment included that would prevent the Department of Energy’s ill-advised or misguided energy e ciency standards for distribution transformers from taking e ect.

One of the many lessons we learned from the Moore County 2022 grid attack is that we cannot a ord disruptions to our grid. This amendment to the Hands o our Home Appliances Act helps protect our nation’s grid security and strengthen our domestic supply chains.

In addition to protecting our energy grid, last week the House also took action to protect our democracy. The census informs how our government divides up congressional districts and Electoral College votes for each state. An accurate count ensures American voters have equal representation. Yet, under the current process, the census counts people who are

U.S. aid, which is what he appears to be doing (even though Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin rea rmed that our support for Israel is “ironclad”) will not quiet the protestors. It will not quiet Donald Trump, who told talk radio station WPHT in Philadelphia that “If anybody that’s Jewish votes for him or Democrats, they have to have their head examined. They are being treated so badly and have been for years.” In fact, Biden has been a good friend to Israel and has stood by Israel at some signi cant political cost to him since Oct. 7, while Trump snipes from the sidelines.

But the balance Biden has attempted to forge is collapsing. Hamas is hiding in the tunnels in Rafah, using hostages as human shields. Big bombs are e ective against the reinforced tunnels but cause unacceptable civilian casualties. More precise methods may not be workable at all. What is Israel supposed to do? It cannot coexist with Hamas. It tried that, and Oct. 7 was the result. Hamas doesn’t care about its own people. The world expects Israel to care more about the Gazan people than Hamas does.

In his Senate testimony this week, Austin, while rea rming the administration’s commitment to support Israel, said, “Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting

noncitizens, like illegal migrants, in a state’s population — skewing the representation of American citizens. American democracy depends on accurate representation and electoral integrity. The Equal Representation Act, which House Republicans passed last week, would protect our democracy by making sure that American citizens — and American citizens only — are counted when determining our voting districts.

I’m committed to preserving the integrity of our elections and to upholding the trust of the American people in their government. This common-sense legislation reinforces the foundation upon which our nation’s democracy stands, helping to foster a system that truly re ects the will of the people.

Safeguarding freedom and ensuring the integrity of our electoral processes are fundamental principles that I will always defend.

Richard Hudson represents the 9th Congressional District in Congress.

the civilians that are in that battle space.” But U.S. military o cials don’t say how that can be done. Israelis have issued warnings to leave Rafah, but no one doubts that could be di cult and dangerous, with Hamas threatening the safety of those who try to leave.

Israel has made clear that its battle is with Hamas and not the people of Gaza. The New York Times, based on interviews with senior administration o cials and military leaders, is reporting that “Mr. Biden initially took the position that Israel should not attack Rafah without a plan to e ectively minimize civilian casualties, but in recent weeks the White House has increasingly indicated that it did not believe such a plan was possible.”

So is the administration conditioning aid on Israel doing the impossible?

And how does that square with the commitment to “ironclad” support?

This is a di cult time to stand by Israel. It is di cult in the world community, di cult on college campuses — where a noisy minority of students is intimidating and frightening others, di cult in the media. But it bears remembering how this war started, and why, and that those who protest the loudest with simplistic sloganeering are not in fact o ering any answers for how Israel can defend itself against those who would deny its very right to exist.

COLUMN | RICHARD HUDSON

RandolpH SPORTS

Cougars, Eagles start playo s in normal mode

The teams let pitching dictate their early postseason success

Randolph Record sta

ASHEBORO — Softball teams from Southwestern Randolph and Uwharrie Charter Academy have been strong all season and that has carried into the state playo s.

They’re rivals during the Piedmont Athletic Conference portion of the schedules, but they’re in di erent classes for the postseason.

Class 2-A

Southwestern Randolph’s Macie Crutch eld struck out nine in a two-hitter as the fourth-seeded Cougars topped No. 13 seed McMichael 4-0.

Kami Dunn knocked in two runs and Alyssa Harris and Micah Wilson provided the other runs batted in.

That set up a scheduled thirdround clash with Black Mountain Owen on Tuesday night.

In the opening round, Crutch-

Southwestern Randolph’s Alyssa Harris slides into the plate as Walkertown catcher Sadie Smith tries to make a play in a rst-round game of the Class 2-A state softball playo s last week.

eld struck out 17 batters and allowed one hit when Southwestern Randolph defeated No. 29 seed Walkertown 5-0. Dunn had three hits and drove in two runs.

• No. 19 seed Randleman (14-9) was out after a 6-5 loss at No. 14 seed Mount Pleasant.

• No. 27 seed Providence Grove (8-12) lost 10-0 to sixth-seeded West Stokes in a game that was suspended and completed the following day.

• No. 30 seed Wheatmore (7-13) fell 12-1 at third-seeded Maiden.

Class 1-A

Top-seeded UCA (20-3-1) has been stingy through three rounds of the playo s and they’ve set a school record for number of victories in a season.

Most recently came Monday night’s 11-2 victory against eighth-seeded Mountain Island Charter in the third round of the West Region in a game moved up a day because of weather-related concerns. Mollie Bulla struck out 14 batters in the two-hitter.

Emory Johnson and Kenzie Hill were both credited with three runs batted in as the Eagles scored in every inning.

This followed Friday night’s game when the Eagles defeated No. 16 seed Swain County 7-1 with Bulla throwing a ve-hitter with 11 strikeouts.

Johnson racked up three hits, Hill tripled and scored twice and Jayla Hurley had a double and scored twice.

UCA began with a 13-3 whipping of No. 32 seed Mitchell.

Next for UCA will be Friday’s fourth-round home game against fourth-seeded Robbinsville (23-2), which topped fths-seeded Cherryville 5-1.

• No. 12 seed Eastern Randolph’s season ended with a 3-2 road loss to fth-seeded Cherryville. The Wildcats nished with a 12-8 record.

Eastern Randolph opened the playo s by stumping No. 21 seed Hiwassee Dam 10-0 on Addie Flinchum’s 10-strikeout no-hitter in a game that lasted ve innings. Hailey Ritter and Ayanna Mears both knocked in two runs and Logann Beaver scored three runs.

TRACK AND FIELD

Asheboro and Randleman lead area teams to states

Randolph Record sta

CONCORD — Lance Everhart of Asheboro will be entered in three events in the Class 3-A state meet after winning two events and placing second in another in the Class 3-A Midwest Regional on Saturday at Robinson High School.

Everhart’s rst-place leap of 21 feet, 11 inches in the long jump gave him a 2½-inch margin on Greensboro Dudley’s Keyaun Dow. In the pole vault, Everhart cleared 13-7. The runner-up was Greensboro Dudley’s Miles Foxx at 12-6. Aaron Tyson of Asheboro also quali ed for the state meet in the pole vault, claiming fourth place at 11-0. Everhart shared the best mark in the high jump at 6-6, but placed second based on number of attempts. Northeast Guilford’s Nassim Booker was the regional winner.

Asheboro’s Valentino Mark was third in the 100 meters in 10.88 seconds. He placed seventh in the 200 in 22.36.

Asheboro’s 400 relay, which is anchored by Mark, placed fourth in 43.57. Kai Matthews of Ashe-

boro was sixth in the long jump (21-½).

For the girls, Asheboro high jumper Rebecca Wilson secured a fourth-place nish at 5-1.

Teammate Jalaya Showers placed fth in the 100 in 12.24, while she was on the team’s fourth-place 400 relay (50.64). Showers was seventh in the 200 (25.61).

Athletes with top-four regional nishes quali ed for state meets to be held this week at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro. Class 2-A and Class 4-A are Friday, while Class 1-A and Class 3-A are Saturday.

Class 2-A

Friday in the Midwest Regional at Mount Pleasant, Gracie Beane won two girls’ events. She claimed the high jump by 4 inches with a leap of 5-2 and was tops in the triple jump at 36-7½. Trinity’s Kensley Fox goes to the state meet based on a fourth-place spot in the shot put (31-1½). She missed scoring team p87-2.oints in the discus by one positiong, taking ninth at 87-2. Kayla Franklin of Trinity was sixth in the 400 (1:03.46).

Providence Grove scored in the 3,200 relay by placing sixth in 11:47.66. For the boys, Chase Farlow of

BEST OVERALL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Mollie Bulla

Uwharrie Charter Academy, softball

Bulla has been a standout at the plate and from the pitching circle during her senior season for the Eagles.

Bulla entered this week with a .391 batting average. Her six home runs and 10 doubles were team-high marks after also leading UCA in those categories last year.

As a pitcher, Bulla has averaged nearly two strikeouts per inning this season.

Randleman won the high jump at 6-8 for a 6-inch victory. Third place went to Southwestern Randolph’s Caleb Shelton, who was one of three jumpers at 6-2. Randleman’s Tyshawn Goldston was sixth at 6-0.

Farlow, a junior, also quali ed in the long jump (fourth, 20-8¾), while he was 12th in the triple jump (39-4). Amari Ferdna of Randleman was sixth in the triple jump (41-6¾) Ty Moton of the Tigers was fourth in the discus (137-7) and claimed seventh in the shot put (40-10). Teammate Jay Richards was fourth in the pole vault (10-6).

Zach Hazelwood of Wheatmore nished third in the 3,200 in 10:18.38. In the 110 hurdles, Providence Grove’s Jackson Rhyne (15.66) was fourth and Randleman’s Triston Chriscoe was fth (15.83).

Trinity’s Giovanni Jaimes was eighth in the 400 (53.32).

Class 1-A

Saturday in the Midwest Regional at Mocksville, Eastern Randolph’s Mirianna Corea had a heave of 108-10 in the girls’ discus for third place and a toss of 31-8 in the shot put for fourth place. She was the school’s only state quali er.

Callie Craven’s triple jump of 30-10¾ was good for seventh place for the Wildcats. Craven tied for eighth in the high jump at 4-6. For the boys, Eastern Randolph’s Ian Moore was seventh in the discus at 119-10. Teammate James Jones was fourth in pole vault at 10-0.

Last week, UCA won rst- and second-round games — against Mitchell and Swain County — in the Class 1-A state playo s, giving them 19 victories this season. That tied the program record for wins, a mark that had been set in 2018.

Bulla has signed to play college softball at Appalachian State.

PJ WARD-BROWN / RANDOLPH RECORD Mollie Bulla of UCA res a pitch last month.

SCOTT PELKEY / RANDOLPH RECORD

Perfect game marks history for Faith Christian baseball team

Freshman Mason Taylor pulled it o in the state playo s

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

RAMSEUR — Mason Taylor made history for Faith Christian’s baseball team by throwing a perfect game.

It marked the rst such accomplishment in the 60 -year history of the school, headmaster Todd Daniel said.

For Taylor, a freshman right-hander, it came in the quarter nals of the North Carolina Christian School Association state playo s last week.

“I feel I’ve de nitely improved,” Taylor said.

He struck out 12 of 15 Southside Christian batters in the

10 - 0 home victory. The game ended when the Eagles scored four runs in the bottom of the fth inning, creating an early end to the game via the mercy rule. Otherwise, Taylor wouldn’t have had a solo perfect game.

“They said they were going to take me out,” Taylor said of a potential sixth inning. “I was pretty mad.”

That didn’t end up happening. The idea, Faith Christian assistant coach Jordan Cassell said, was to lessen the workload so Taylor would be available to pitch later in the playo s. Cassell, a former player for the Eagles and son of coach Robert Cassell, said Taylor’s gem was as smooth as anything he had ever witnessed.

“He was hitting his spots,”

Jordan Cassell said. “The perfect game aspect of it was pret-

Hoogkamp leaves baseball post following Asheboro’s playo loss

After eight seasons in charge of the Blue Comets, the coach steps down

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

ASHEBORO — Asheboro baseball coach Brett Hoogkamp has stepped down, but he’s bound to be involved in area athletics again.

Hoogkamp announced his intentions to resign shortly after the Blue Comets lost in the rst round of the Class 3-A state playo s May 7. He nished his eighth season in the position.

“It has been a good eight years,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it. Once I got into coaching, it was kind of a dream of mine (to be a head coach) and I got to live it out. It was a win-win for me.”

With a wife, a 4-year-old son and 6-month-old daughter, he said it’s time for more family time as a husband and father.

Hoogkamp, 37, said he’ll likely have a future role in area athletics, perhaps when his children are older.

“I do love it,” he said, though noting schedule con icts this spring with the Blue Comets and his son’s youth league activities.

“I do love it. But I don’t want to miss my kids growing up.”

Brett Hoogkamp, Asheboro baseball coach

“But I don’t want to miss my kids growing up.”

Asheboro had three winning seasons under Hoogkamp, who compiled an 87-88 overall record. A 21-8 record in his rst season in 2017 and a 13-3 mark and share of a conference championship in the pandemic-adjusted 2021 season were among the highlights.

Asheboro nished this year with a 9-17 record. The Blue Comets tied for fourth place with a 4-6 mark in the Mid-Piedmont Conference.

Second-seeded West Henderson defeated No. 31 seed Asheboro 3-0 in the West Region game in the state playo s.

“Looking forward to seeing this group I nished with continue to grow and become great young men on and o the eld,” Hoogkamp said.

Mason Taylor used fastballs, sliders and curveballs in his 71-pitch performance.

ty amazing that he didn’t walk anybody. He took a huge step forward.”

Taylor had issued at least one walk in every previous outing this year. He had been the Eagles’ No. 2 starter until moving to the No. 1 slot a few weeks ago when junior Austin Smith was dealing with an arm ailment.

Taylor maintained domination despite at least two situations when batters for Clayton-based Southside Christian worked three-ball counts.

He used fastballs, sliders and

curveballs in his 71-pitch performance. He’s not xated on blowing away batters with fastballs.

“I have no clue,” he said of his top velocity.

Also a basketball player at Faith Christian, Taylor is a middle in elder when he’s not pitching.

Taylor, a 15-year- old who lives in Liberty, was in his second season with Faith Christian. He had attended Level Cross Christian, which doesn’t have baseball. He plays travel ball with Southeast Elite out of Guilford County.

Faith Christian (16 -3) fell in the state semi nals in a 9 -8 loss to Bethel Christian, the eventual runner-up, on Friday in Wilson.

“Over the season, we’ve had a very good experience,” Taylor said.

SOCCER

Faith Christian captures NCCSA title in soccer

Wilson

Faith Christian won the North Carolina Christian School Association’s Class 2-A state championship for girls’ soccer. The Eagles topped host Wilson Christian 4 -1 in Saturday’s championship game.

Faith Christian (17-1) won three games in the state playo s by a combined score of 17-3. There was a 4 -2 victory against Southside Christian in Friday’s semi nal before the title game after defeating Greenville Christian Academy 9 - 0 earlier in the week.

BASEBALL

Wingate sweeps series for baseball title in Asheboro

Asheboro

Wingate’s baseball team swept the South Atlantic Conference Tournament championship series at McCrary Park.

The Bulldogs secured the automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament with the title.

Third-seeded Wingate won the best- of-3 opener by 11- 4 against Lincoln Memorial with Sean Barnett homering twice Friday. That was followed by Saturday’s 9 -1 romp, Sean Barnett and Brett Adams both driving in three runs.

Wingate (33-23), owner of a six-game winning streak, heads to North Greenville (S.C.) for Southeast Region play. The Bulldogs open against Mount Olive, with Georgia College and North Greenville in the other matchup to start the double - elimination event.

SAC member Catawba (40 -14) will be a regional host in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the Southeast Region. Tournament play begins this week. UNC Pembroke and Young Harris are also at that three -team site.

Asheboro churned out several college baseball players under Hoogkamp. That’s an aspect of the job he enjoyed. He recalled a situation several years ago when the Blue Comets were on a road trip. Austin Curry, a catcher, rushed from the back of the bus to share news

that he had received a call from a college coach. That turned out leading to a spot in the Lenoir-Rhyne program.

“The biggest thing was the relationships with the kids and seeing them grow on and o the eld,” Hoogkamp said. A 2005 Southwestern Ran-

dolph graduate, he spent four years as a Randleman assistant coach before taking the Asheboro job. Hoogkamp will remain a physical education teacher at South Asheboro Middle School. He said he might nd a role in athletics there.

PHOTO COURTESY FAITH CHRISTIAN

Faith Christian pitcher Mason Taylor cranked out a perfect game during the state playo s.

PJ WARD-BROWN / RANDOLPH RECORD

Asheboro baseball coach Brett Hoogkamp makes a mound visit during a game this season.

Home teams excel in rst round

Wheatmore, UCA, Providence Grove and Asheboro move on in the state playo s

Randolph Record sta

TRINITY — Wheatmore has a challenging path to try to reach the Class 2-A statenal for the third year in a row in girls’ soccer.

But the rst assignment was cleared with ease as the sixth-seeded Warriors whipped No. 27 seed Lincoln Charter in Monday night’s rst round in the West Region.

Randleman’s Carolina Candelero, left, and Providence Grove’s Taryn Waugh contend for possession of the ball during a game last month.

Pairings and seeds came out on Friday. Four teams from Randolph County began postseason play on their home elds and they all won Monday night.

Wheatmore will be home again Thursday against No. 11 seed Mount Pleasant (10-9-1), which squeaked past No. 22 seed East Surry 1-0. In the Lincoln Charter game, Ellie Garrison recorded seven goals for Wheatmore, while Natalie Bowman had one goal and two assists. Wheatmore lost a Piedmont Athletic Conference game for the rst time since 2019 to end the regular season. Providence

Grove defeated the visiting Warriors 5-3 in double overtime last week, snapping their nine-game winning streak.

• Providence Grove (13-42) holds the No. 13 seed and the Patriots rolled in a 9-0 victory against No. 20 seed Forest Hills (13-6-1), with Taryn Waugh scoring four goals and Rylee Stover supplying one goal and four assists.

The Patriots improved to 144-2 going into Thursday night’s second round at fourth-seeded West Davidson (20-0-1).

• Three other PAC teams began on the road in Class 2-A. No. 28 seed Randleman (4-

11-1) su ered a 3-00 loss to fth-seeded Madison (16-1-2). No. 29 seed Trinity (7-11-3) fell 3-0 to fourth-seeded East Davidson (15-6). No. 30 seed Southwestern Randolph (8-13-1) dropped a 6-2 decision at third-seeded Wilkes Central (17-3).

Class 3-A

Asheboro, which tied for second place in the Mid-Piedmont Conference, opened the state playo s by pulling out a 1-0 victory vs. No. 21 seed Kings Mountain (11-7-1). A rst-half goal held up.

No. 12 seed Asheboro (164-1) next goes to fth-seeded Hickory (20-3-1), which topped Mid-Piedmont Conference member Ledford 8-0 in the rst round.

Class 1-A

Uwharrie Charter Academy (14-5) checked in as the No. 3 seed, notching a 6-3 victory against No. 30 seed Corvian Community (1-14) with two goals apiece from Lily Charlesworth, Kendal Jarrell and Jazmin Palma.

The Eagles next meet No. 14 seed Cornerstone Charter out of Greensboro. Cornerstone Charter topped No. 19 seed Piedmont Community 6-0. Eastern Randolph (1-12-1) didn’t make the eld.

Randleman, UCA start playo s strong

The Tigers eliminated Wheatmore an intra-conference matchup

Randolph Record sta

RANDLEMAN and Uwharrie Charter Academy baseball teams made it to the second week of the state playo s.

There was one team from Randolph County guaranteed to advance to the third round when Randleman and visiting Wheatmore met in Friday night’s second-round game in Class 2-A.

Sixth-seeded Randleman scored the last seven runs to secure a 13-3 six-inning West Region victory against the fellow Piedmont Athletic Conference team, defeating the War -

riors for the third time this season.

“We adjusted to their pitcher,” Randleman coach Jake Smith said. “Second time through (the batting order), gured it out a little bit. Guys got more con dent.”

Tate Andrews scored three runs and John Kirkpatrick supplied a pair of runs batted in. Jake Riddle pitched ve innings for the Tigers (22-5).

Randleman had a thirdround assignment scheduled for Tuesday night at third-seeded Eden Morehead, which eliminated the Tigers in last year’s fourth round to end the team’s two-year reign as state champion.

Though the season ended for No. 22 seed Wheatmore, it was a notable postseason be -

cause the Warriors registered the rst state-playo baseball victory in school history. Caleb Coggins belted a grand slam in a 9-4 rst-round victory at No. 11 seed Madison.

Wheatmore (13-11) nished with its rst winning season in six years. “Truly not giving up throughout the season,” Warriors coach Trey Byrd said of the key. “Just work on handling adversity as a team. We preached all year, don’t be satis ed.”

Also in the rst round, Randleman edged No. 27 seed Lincoln Charter 3-2 on the strength of Seth Way’s three-hitter and home runs from Way and Tate Andrews. No. 30 seed Southwestern Randolph’s rst-round game at Eden Morehead was post-

poned one day before the Cougars (9-15) su ered an 11-1 loss.

Class 1-A

UCA didn’t stop after two wins last week. The thirdround game for the second-seeded Eagles was moved up to Monday night and they blasted No. 23 seed Mountain Heritage 15-5.

That moved the winning streak to 17 games for UCA (23-5). Caleb Stickle scored three runs, Jose Ramirez drove in three runs and Grat Dalton had two runs batted in. Jake Hunter was the winning pitcher.

UCA topped No. 18 Polk County 8-1 in the second round Friday night.

The Eagles led 2-0 until a

six-run fourth inning. Polk County fell to 11-14.

UCA opened the playo s by drubbing No. 31 seed Bradford Prep 15-0 in 4½ innings.

There won’t be a UCA/Eastern Randolph rematch in the West Region nals this year because the Wildcats lost Friday night.

Third-seeded Christ the King posted an 8-1 victory against 19th-seeded Eastern Randolph (10-17). The Wildcats were coming o a 4-1 rst-round victory against No. 14 seed Corvian Community behind Samuel Asbill’s three-hitter.

Class 3-A No. 31 seed Asheboro fell 3-0 at second-seeded West Henderson in what became coach Brett Hoogkamp’s nal game as he announced his resignation afterward. Connor Adams pitched a complete game for the Blue Comets (9-17).

PJ WARD-BROWN / RANDOLPH RECORD

Jerry Dowd

January 12, 1931 –May 11, 2024

Fred Jerome "Jerry" Dowd, Jr., 93, of Asheboro, passed away Saturday, May 11, 2024, at McLeod Hospice in Florence, SC. Mr. Dowd was born in Guilford County, NC, on January 12, 1931, and was the son of the late Fred Dowd, Sr., and Edith Frazier Dowd. He had retired from Brady Dodge as parts manager after 25 years. Mr. Dowd proudly served in the US Army during the Korean War. In addition to his parents, Mr. Dowd was preceded in death by his wife, Doris Miller Dowd, and sister, Jane McDowell. He is survived by his sons, Bryan Dowd (Libby) of Florence, SC, Ben Dowd (Wendy) of North Myrtle Beach, SC; sister, Carolyn Greene (Pervis) of Asheboro, NC; three grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Annette McIntyre

October 3, 1962 – May 8, 2024

Annette McIntyre, age 61 of Charlotte, NC, passed away on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston Salem, NC. Annette was born in Lancaster SC to the late William Fred McIntyre, Jr. and the late Louise Walters McIntyre. She was a graduate of West Montgomery High School where she was a cheerleader. She worked in HR for over 20 years. Annette loved being outdoors, doing yard work. She enjoyed sports and watching her son play football. She also enjoyed traveling to the mountains and to the beach. She had a huge heart, was a very giving person, and was very active in her life. She loved watching movies, especially with Sean Connery in them, loved music especially Fleetwood Mac, and Stevie Nix, and loved going to concerts. She was very independent, had a great sense of humor and a very sunny disposition. Annette is survived by her son: Christopher Dennis (Kennedy) of Mocksville; brother: Fred McIntyre (Dawn) of VA; niece Taylor Dunn (Nathan) of FL and nephew Kyle McIntyre of VA; brother-in-law Ronnie McIntyre (Melissa); and faithful canine companion, Luxi.

Patsy Reeder

May 13, 1948 – May 10, 2024

Patsy Ann Craven Reeder, 75, of Asheboro, passed away Friday, May 10, 2024, at Randolph Health in Asheboro. Native of Randolph County, Patsy was born on May 13, 1948. She was the daughter of the late Leon and Lucille Needham Craven. She was a charter member of West Asheboro Church of God and was a church pianist for over 50 years. Patsy was an owner and operator of Central Chair and later worked for Keyes Management. She was an avid sports fan and enjoyed watching college basketball and Clemson football. Patsy was a loving wife, mother, sister, grandmother, and great grandmother. She is survived by her husband, Charles T. Reeder of the home; sons, Jason Reeder of Florence, SC, Joseph Reeder of Washington, D.C.; brother, Johnny Craven and wife Celia of Asheboro; grandchildren, Korbin Reeder, Kinston Reeder; and great grandchild, CJ Reeder.

Lois Holder Wright Tesh

April 21, 1947 – May 7, 2024

Lois Hazel Holder Wright Tesh, age 77, of Asheboro passed away on May 7, 2024, at the Randolph Hospice House. Mrs. Tesh was born in Salisbury on April 21, 1947, to John and Flora Williams Holder. She was a caregiver, was formerly employed as a CNA, and was a member of Landmark Baptist Church. In addition to her parents, Lois was preceded in death by her rst husband, Bobby L. Wright, Sr., son, Jerry Wade Culler, brother, Junior Holder, and sister, Annie Bell Smith. Lois loved to travel to the beach, and to the mountains to see the snow and get fruit. She loved to work in her ower and vegetable gardens, listen to southern gospel music, and try new restaurants. She is survived by her husband, Kenneth Tesh, Jr.; sons, AJay Wright and Dakota Wright; stepchildren, Paula Varner (Greg) of Asheboro, Billie Merritt (Daniel) of King, and Duane Tesh of Tobaccoville; several grandchildren; brother, Bobby Wayne Holder of Thomasville; and sister, Juanita Smith of Albemarle.

Curtis Eugene "Gene" Tutterow

March 23, 1941 –May 12, 2024

Curtis Eugene “Gene” Tutterow, age 83, of Asheboro passed away on May 12, 2024, at his home. Mr. Tutterow was born in Kannapolis on March 23, 1941 to Charles and Ida Mae Whitten Tutterow. Gene served his country in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam Era. Gene was employed with Acme-McCrary Corporation for over 20 years. He was formerly employed as a Ranger at the NC Zoo and retired from the Randolph County Sheri ’s Department. Gene was very involved in his church, Cross Road Baptist Church. In addition to his parents, Gene was preceded in death by his wife of 48 years, Karleen Tutterow and his brother, Gary Tutterow. He enjoyed reading, traveling with his family, hiking, and studying history. He is survived by his sons, Kelly Tutterow and wife Cindy of Bradenton, FL and Kris Tutterow and wife Dina of Asheboro; grandchildren, Zack, Nicholas, and Cali Tutterow.

Emma Plummer Currie

September 1, 1953 –May 8, 2024

Emma Lou Plummer Currie, age 70, of Asheboro passed away Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at Randolph Hospice House. Mrs. Currie was born September 1, 1953, in New Jersey to Thad and Christine Plummer. She was a member of Fellowship Baptist Church. Mrs. Currie enjoyed working in her owers, reading, crocheting and making blankets for her family. She loved her cats, Sissy and Skittles. In addition to her parents, Mrs. Currie was preceded in death by her husband of 20+ years, Michael Currie, brothers, Teddy and Lewis Plummer and nephew, Joshua Plummer. Mrs. Currie is survived by her sons, Je rey Valetutto of the home, Anthony (Ti any) Platz of Randleman; grandson, William Platz; niece, Amber Plummer; nephew, Matthew Plummer; sister, Ann Plummer Greene of Asheboro.

Michael Anthony Johnson

June 22, 1971 – May 10, 2024

Michael Anthony Johnson, age 52 of Asheboro passed away on Friday May 10th at Baptist Hospital. Mr. Johnson was born in Welch, West Virginia on June 22, 1971, to Bill Ray and Anna Phillips Johnson. Mr. Johnson was preceded in death by his parents and grandparents; his brother Roger and sisters Gay and Teresa. He is survived by his wife Tina; children Chantal Johnson (John Jordan) and Jayden Johnson; brothers Estil, Billy, Brian, and Kenny; sisters Sharon, Carol, Mary and Paula as well as several nieces and nephews. Mr. Johnson had a coin collection and was a hard worker. He enjoyed hunting and shing and cooking on the grill. He was excited to be a grandfather for which he was grateful.

November 27, 1938 –May 6, 2024

Charlene Parrish Harding, age 85, of Asheboro passed away on May 6, 2024, at Randolph Hospital. Mrs. Harding was born in High Point on November 27, 1938, to Norman and Minnie Freeman Parrish and was a 1957 graduate of High Point Central High School. She was formerly employed with BelkYates. Charlene was active in church her entire life and was a member of Neighbors Grove Wesleyan Church. In addition to her parents, Charlene was preceded in death by her husband, Benjamin Harding, and son, Stephen Charles Harding. She loved spending time with her family and friends and teaching and nurturing children. She loved to travel with her husband, Ben and spend time at the beach with her friends. She enjoyed sewing and made her daughter April’s wedding dress. She enjoyed making crafts and bird watching. She is survived by her daughter, April Childers and husband Berl Childers, Jr. of Yadkinville; grandchildren, Trey Childers and wife Ashley of Maiden; great grandchildren, Lawton, Emelyn, and Warner Childers; and her special niece, Connie Garceau.

Carolyn Ann Dixon

July 22, 1946 – May 10, 2024

On May 10, 2024, Mrs. Carolyn Ann Comer Dixon age 77 went home to be with her Lord and Savior. Mrs. Dixon was surrounded by her loving family as she made her way to her permanent home. Mrs. Dixon worked many years for General Electric in Asheboro which eventually became Black and Decker before closing. She was married to the love of her life Charles for 61 years and together had 2 sons. Mrs. Dixon loved God and her family very much. She loved all the family times with both her two sons as well as the grandchildren and great grandchildren. She enjoyed gardening and cooking for her family. Mrs. Dixon is survived by her husband Charles of the home, two sons Tim (Melanie) Dixon of Randleman and Mark (Trever) Dixon of Salisbury. One brother James Clement (Margaret) Comer and one sister Wilma Wright of Seagrove. Five grandchildren Alicia (Caleb) Carpenter, Lynsay (Ryan) Saunders, Matthew Dixon, Reagan Dixon, and Bryce Wood. Six great-grandchildren Jeremiah Carpenter, Lillian Carpenter, Dawson Saunders, Eli Saunders and Fynlee Saunders.

David Troy Culler

October 20, 1994 – May 6, 2024

David Troy Culler, 29, of Randleman passed away at home Monday, May 6, 2024. He was born October 20, 1994, in Asheboro, NC to David Lewis Culler and Brenda Little Culler. Troy was beloved by family and friends and all who knew him. He will be remembered as being a great brother. He loved hunting and shing, spending time with friends and family, and belting out his favorite song at karaoke. Troy is survived by his mother, Brenda Little Culler; sister, Patricia Mireles; aunts, Betty Sue Walker, Debbie Hackney (Garlon); Kathy Tune (Bill), Lisa Hill, Gail Brewer (David); four nephews, one niece. He is preceded in death by his father, David Lewis Culler and both sets of grandparents.

Charlene Parrish Harding

STATE & NATION

US special ops leaders learning to do more with less

Fort Liberty is facing budget cuts

By Lolita C. Baldor The Associated Press

FORT LIBERTY — Forced to do more with less and learning from the war in Ukraine, U.S. special operations commanders are juggling how to add more high-tech experts to their teams while still cutting their overall forces by about 5,000 troops over the next ve years.

The con icting pressures are forcing a broader restructuring of the commando teams, which are often deployed for highrisk counterterrorism missions and other sensitive operations around the world. The changes under consideration are being in uenced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including lessons learned by British special operations forces there.

U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which bears the brunt of the personnel cuts, is eyeing plans to increase the size of its Green Beret teams — usu-

ally about 12 members — to bring in people with more specialized and technical abilities. One possibility would be the addition of computer software experts who could reprogram drones or other technical equipment on the y.

But similar changes could ripple across all the military services.

“A 12-person detachment might be upgunned,” said Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander of

A U.S. Army soldier checks a compass while completing a land navigation course during Special Forces Assessment and Selection near Ho man in 2019.

U.S. Special Operations Command. He said an Air Force pilot, Navy ship driver, cryptologist or cyber expert may be needed as battle elds become more challenging and high tech.

The United States is “taking a lot of lessons learned out of the experience in Ukraine, mostly through the eyes of our U.K. special operations partners, who not only have done that in their formations, but they’ve also

learned very quickly that they needed other elements of their joint force,” he told The Associated Press in an interview.

The bulk of the cuts stem from the Army’s decision to reduce the size of its force by about 24,000 and restructure its troops as the U.S. shifts from counterterrorism and counterinsurgency to focus more on large-scale combat operations. The Army also has struggled to meet recruitment goals and had to reduce the overall size of its force.

Army Special Operations Command, which Fenton said is absorbing about 4,000 cuts ordered over the past year and a half, is looking at bringing in people with high-tech skills.

“I think one of the questions is how much can you teach a Green Beret versus some of these specialties are extremely technical,” said Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, deputy commander of the command at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. “You can teach a person about how to use a drone. But then to say, I want to have a software engineer program that drone, that’s something di erent.”

The cuts to Army special operations forces have triggered some congressional opposition, including during recent Capitol Hill hearings where lawmakers noted the impact at Fort Liberty. Fenton also spoke bluntly at the hearings about the growing demand

for special operations forces.

He said U.S. regional commanders around the world consistently want more and that cutting the forces means “we’ll be able to meet less of what they demand. And I think we owe the secretary of defense our assessment as we go forward.”

For years, during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the number of special operations forces and support sta grew, particularly since they were often spread out in small, remote bases where they needed additional security and other logistical help. Now, Pentagon leaders say the numbers can shrink a bit.

Fenton said a cut of about 2,000 personnel in special operations was ordered by the department about a year and a half ago, including about 750 in the Army. That was followed this year by a cut of 3,000 in Army special operations. The cuts are to be spread out across ve years.

“So the real Army reduction in totality is almost 4,000, and the remaining 1,000 will come from the joint force, SEALs, Marine raiders, other Army units,” said Fenton.

For Roberson, the question is where to cut his Army troops.

“Cuts have a way of crystallizing your focus and your view of, OK, what’s important to me? What’s the future? What do I really need to have,” he said in an interview in his Fort Liberty o ce.

Court rules Charlotte Catholic High could re gay teacher

The substitute wasn’t allowed to return to the school after he announced his plans to get married

By Gary D. Robertson

The Associated Press

RALEIGH — A Catho -

lic school in Charlotte had the right to re a gay teacher who announced his marriage on social media a decade ago, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, reversing a judge’s earlier decision.

A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, reversed a 2021 ruling that Charlotte Catholic High School and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte had violated Lonnie Billard’s federal employment protections against sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The school said Billard wasn’t invited back as a substitute teacher because of his “advocacy in favor of a position that is opposed to what the church teaches about marriage,” a court document said.

U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn determined Billard — a full-time teacher for a decade until 2012 — was a lay employee for the limited purpose of teaching secular classes. Cogburn said a trial would still have to be held to determine appropriate relief for him. A 2020 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court declared Title VII also protected workers who were red for being gay or transgender.

But Circuit Judge Pamela Harris, writing Wednesday’s prevailing opinion, said that Billard fell under a “ministerial exception” to Title VII that courts have derived from the First Amendment that protects religious institutions in how they treat employees “who per-

form tasks so central to their religious missions — even if the tasks themselves do not advertise their religious nature.”

That included Billard — who primarily taught English as a substitute and who previously taught drama when working full-time — because Charlotte

Catholic expected instructors to integrate faith throughout the curriculum, Harris wrote. And the school’s apparent expectation that Billard be ready to instruct religion as needed speaks to his role in the school’s religious mission, she added.

“The record makes clear that

(Charlotte Catholic) considered it ‘vital’ to its religious mission that its teachers bring a Catholic perspective to bear on Shakespeare as well as on the Bible,” wrote Harris, who was nominated to the bench by then-President Barack Obama. “Our court has recognized before that seemingly secular tasks like the teaching of English and drama may be so imbued with religious signi cance that they implicate the ministerial exception.”

Billard, who sued in 2017, began working at the school in 2001. He met his now-husband in 2000, and they announced their decision to get married shortly after same-sex marriage was made legal in North Carolina in 2014.

In a news release, the American Civil Liberties Union and a Charlotte law rm that helped Billard le his lawsuit lamented Wednesday’s reversal as “a heartbreaking decision for our client who wanted nothing more than the freedom to perform his duties as an educator without hiding who he is or who he loves.”

The decision threatens to encroach on the rights of LGBTQ+ workers “by widening the loopholes employers may use to re people like Mr. Billard for openly discriminatory reasons,” the joint statement read.

An attorney for a group that defended the Charlotte diocese praised the decision as “a victory for people of all faiths who cherish the freedom to pass on their faith to the next generation.” The diocese operates 20 schools across North Carolina.

KEN KASSENS / U.S. ARMY VIA AP

DAVID T. FOSTER III / THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER VIA AP

St. Patrick Cathedral is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.

pen & paper pursuits

this week in history

Churchill forms new government; Allen, Green Mountain Boys capture

MAY 10

Fort Ticonderoga

1775: Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, along with Col. Benedict Arnold, captured the British-held fortress at Ticonderoga, New York.

1869: A golden spike was driven in Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the rst transcontinental railroad in the United States.

1933: The Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany.

1940: During World War II, German forces began invading the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and France. The same day, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, and Winston Churchill formed a new government.

MAY 11

1858: Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union.

1960: Israeli agents captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1981: Legendary reggae artist Bob Marley died in a Miami hospital at age 36 of acral lentiginous melanoma, a skin cancer that is rare but the most common type found among people of color.

MAY 12

1780: During the Revolutionary War, the besieged city of Charleston, South Carolina, surrendered to British forces.

1958: The United States and Canada signed an agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (later the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD).

1986: The military action-drama lm “Top Gun,” starring Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis and released by Paramount Pictures, had its world premiere in New York.

MAY 13

1607: English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia (the colonists went ashore the next day).

1981: Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter’s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.

MAY 14

1643: Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.

1796: English physician Edward Jenner inoculated 8-year-old James Phipps against smallpox by using cowpox matter.

1942: The Battle of the Coral Sea, the rst naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircraft, began in the Paci c during World War II. (The outcome was considered a tactical victory for Japan but ultimately a strategic one for the Allies.)

MAY 15

1770: Marie Antoinette, age

14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.

1866: Congress authorized minting of the rst ve-cent piece, also known as the “Shield nickel.”

1929: The rst Academy Awards were presented. “Wings” won “best production,” while Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor were named best actor and best actress.

1939: The federal government began its rst food stamp program in Rochester, New York.

1960: The rst working laser was demonstrated at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, by physicist Theodore Maiman.

1966: China launched the Cultural Revolution, a radical as well as deadly reform movement aimed at purging the country of “counter-revolutionaries.”

MAY 16

1862: President Abraham Lincoln signed an act establishing the Department of Agriculture.

1928: The Walt Disney cartoon character Mickey Mouse appeared for the rst time in front of a public audience in a test screening of the short “Plane Crazy.” (Mickey made his formal screen debut with the release of “Steamboat Willie” six months later.)

The Associated Press

JACQUES LANGEVIN / AP PHOTO

Jamaican Reggae singer Bob Marley performs on stage during a concert in Paris in 1980.

AP PHOTO

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leaves The Admiralty in London in 1940 to go to Buckingham Palace to meet the king.

Coming-of-age

tale meets quarter-life crisis in ‘The Skunks’

Fiona Warnick makes her debut look e ortless

By Donna Edwards

The Associated Press

USUALLY WHEN I see a book described as an “ambitious debut” I read it as a copout. Isn’t a debut inherently ambitious? What does that even mean?

“The Skunks” is what that means. And Fiona Warnick makes it look e ortless.

A coming-of-age novel with a quarter-life-crisis thrown in, “The Skunks” is told in a stream of consciousness with a cynical sort of oddball humor that’s completely Warnick’s own. Reading “The Skunks” is like drinking a cool glass of water on a hot summer day — it’s nothing particularly earth-shattering, but it’s wholly necessary, gratifying and gone before you know it.

The story is largely told from Isabel’s point of view. She’s a recent college grad who has returned to her hometown with no real plans for the future. And one day, while house-sitting, she sees three baby skunks in the yard. The perfect antidote to her obsession with boys: an obsession with skunks.

Isabel’s just trying to do better in a world buzzing with

diametrically opposing views of what that means. Her days are interspersed with fairytale-like skunk chapters. You can take the secondary story of the skunks as something that’s happening alongside Isabel’s story, or as something Isabel is writing to better make sense of her own life. It’s also possible that it’s just a really lovely story from the point of view of a skunk, which so happens to intersect occasionally with a human named Isabel.

The result is an unabashedly honest character study in

which skunks are just as much a part of the story as people. And by the end of it, you can’t help but have a new appreciation for both species.

It’s weird. It’s fresh. It’s a big bet that people will go along for this ride. In a word, it’s ambitious. And it pays o .

Warnick peppers the story with fresh imagery, similes and metaphors: Isabel describes her friend as having an internal rain gauge that’s always full, whereas everyone else’s leaks, leaving them craving a thunderstorm. The author also has a knack for contrasting literary beauty with the everyday, like when she describes the skunks’ tails swishing in unison “like a ballet, or a windshield wiper.”

The novel is lled with moments that are profound despite their mundanity — or could be profound if you look at it metaphorically — or just random thoughts and moments, a gentle ribbing of the reader for trying to nd meaning in every detail.

But, if you can just sit back and enjoy it, the pages breeze by almost without notice. Warnick’s smooth style and the lack of formal structure make the free- ow story y by like you’ve been swept up in a jet ow.

This book passed like a dream, and was over before I knew it.

Supreme Court sides with producer over sample in 2008 Flo Rida hit

The decision will allow Sherman Nealy to seek a decade’s worth of damages over “In the Ayer”

By Lindsay Whitehurst

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. —

The Supreme Court sided with a music producer in a copyright case Thursday, allowing him to seek more than a decade’s worth of damages over a sample used in a hit Flo Rida song. The 6-3 decision came in a case led by Sherman Nealy, who was suing over music used in the 2008 song “In the Ayer,” by the rapper Flo Rida. It also was featured on TV shows like “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Nealy’s suit says he didn’t know his former collaborator had inked a deal with a record company while he was in prison that allowed the sampling of the song “Jam the Box.” He sued in 2018 for damages going back to the song’s release. Copyright law says suits

must be led within three years of the violation, or the point when it’s discovered.

The record company, Warner Chappell, argued that means Nealy would only be entitled to three years’ worth of royalties at most.

The question of how far back damages can go has split appeals courts, and it’s one that industry groups like the Recording Industry Association

of America called on the Supreme Court to decide.

The opinion handed down Thursday was written by Justice Elena Kagan, and joined by her liberal colleagues Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson as well as conservative justices John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

“There is no time limit on monetary recovery. So a copyright owner possessing a timely claim is entitled to damages for infringement, no matter when the infringement occurred,” Kagan wrote.

An attorney for Nealy, Wes Earnhardt, said the opinion gives clarity on an important issue.

Three conservative justices dissented. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the majority sidestepped the important question: Whether Nealy’s claim was valid to begin with, or whether copyright holders should have to show some kind of fraud in order to sue over older violations. The dissenters said the suit should have been dismissed.

TIN HOUSE VIA AP

The cover image of “The Skunks” by Fiona Warnick.

JASON DECROW / AP PHOTO

Rapper Flo Rida performs during MTV’s “Total Request Live” in 2008 in New York.

famous birthdays this week

The Associated Press

May 12

Singer Steve Winwood is 76. Country singer Kix Brooks of Brooks and Dunn is 69. Actor Ving Rhames (“Pulp Fiction”) is 65. Actor Emilio Estevez is 62.

Actress Malin Akerman (“Trophy Wife”) is 46.

May 13: Actor Harvey Keitel (“Pulp Fiction”) is 85. Musician Stevie Wonder is 74. Singer Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blow sh) is 58.

May 14

Movie director-producer George Lucas is 80. Director Robert Zemeckis (″Back to the Future”) is 73. Actor Tim Roth (“Reservoir Dogs”) is 63. Actress Cate Blanchett is 55. Singer Danny Wood of New Kids On the Block is 55. Actress Miranda Cosgrove (“iCarly”) is 31.

May 15

Actor Nicholas Hammond (“The Sound of Music”) is 74. Musician Mike Old eld is 71. Actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler (“The Sopranos”) is 43.

May 16: Actor Danny Trejo is 80. Actor Pierce Brosnan is 71. Violinist Boyd Tinsley of The Dave Matthews Band is 60. Singer Janet Jackson is 58. Actress Tori Spelling is 51. Actress Megan Fox (“Transformers”) is 38.

May 17

Actor Craig Ferguson (“The Late Late Show,” ″The Drew Carey Show”) is 61. Musician Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is 59. Singer Jordan Knight of New Kids on the Block is 54.

May 18

Country singer Joe Bonsall of the Oak Ridge Boys is 76. Country singer George Strait is 72.

Comedian Tina Fey (“30 Rock,” ″Saturday Night Live”) is 54. Musician Jack Johnson is 49.

LOUIS LANZANO / AP PHOTO Singer Jordan Knight turns 54 on Friday.

JORDAN STRAUSS / INVISION VIA AP

George Lucas, pictured in 2018, turned 80 on Tuesday.

the stream

Oscar-winning ‘American Fiction’ landed Tuesday on Prime Video

The third season of “Bridgerton” will focus on the courtship of Colin and Penelope

The Associated Press

ZAC EFRON and Jeremy Allen White starring in the family wrestling dynasty in “The Iron Claw” and Brooke Shields playing the unwitting title role in the romantic comedy “Mother of the Bride” on Net ix are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.

Billie Eilish’s third studio album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft” and the return of “Bridgerton” are also on tap.

MOVIES TO STREAM

Cord Je erson’s Oscar-winning “American Fiction,” one of the most celebrated directorial debuts in recent years, landed on Prime Video on Tuesday. Jeffrey Wright stars as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a frustrated novelist who, in a drunken t of rage, pens a satirical book parodying what’s popular, only it becomes a sensation. “American Fiction” is immensely watchable, staged without ash or pretension, and relies on its sharp script and talented and charismatic actors to carry the audience through.

“Madame Web,” the muchmaligned Marvel entry in Sony’s Spider-Man universe of lms, landed Tuesday on Net ix. Dakota Johnson stars in what Bahr wrote in her review “feels like the stitched-together product of a bunch of people who weren’t actually collaborating.”

The odds are more in the favor of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” which began streaming Tuesday on Starz after a successful theatrical run last November. It’s a prequel to the Hunger Games, themselves. The games are in their 10th year and ratings are agging, but a few twists and turns will catapult them to Panem’s center stage. The origin story is also for the man who will become President Coriolanus Snow, played by Donald Sutherland in the rst four lms. Here, the young, ambitious Snow is played by Tom Blythe, whose performance lifts the movie.

MUSIC TO STREAM

What can listeners expect from Billie Eilish’s third stu-

dio album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft”? It’s a mystery, and the pop star is keeping it that way for a reason. Last month, Eilish announced the album by sharing the artwork on Insta-

gram. It depicts Eilish oating in a body of water after being ejected from a door. In the caption, she wrote that she will not drop singles in advance of the release. “I wanna give it to

you all at once,” she captioned the image. “I truly could not be more proud of this album.” Here’s what we do know: Eilish once again worked with her brother and longtime collaborator Finneas on “Hit Me Hard and Soft.”

Once known as a heartthrob with the best pipes in the British boy band One Direction, Zayn Malik was the rst to courageously individuate and leave the group that kickstarted his career and launch an R&B pop career. That was a lifetime ago — now, on Friday, he will release his fourth solo studio album, “Room Under the Stairs,” dreamt up and written at his home in rural Pennsylvania. This time around he worked with the legendary country producer Dave Cobb (known for his work with Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlile, among others) for Malik’s folkiest release to date. It’s partR&B, part-soul, part-acoustic Americana — a new, matured Malik for a new era.

Alternative rock fans, there’s a new docu-reality series for you. “Billy Corgan’s Adventures in Carnyland” is an eightpart unscripted series from The CW that follows the Smashing Pumpkins’ frontman as he navigates fatherhood, being in a band, and his other idiosyncratic pursuits as a wrestling promoter and owner of the National Wrestling Alliance. it started streaming Tuesday on the CW App and cwtv.com.

SHOWS TO STREAM Seasons one and two of “Bridgerton” followed the rst

two novels in the series by Julia Quinn. Taking place in Regency-era London, each book is about the love story of one Bridgerton family member. Season three, however, skips to book No. 4 with the friends-to-lovers courtship of Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan). Net ix has broken the season into two parts with the rst batch of new episodes premiering Thursday. Josh Brolin leads “Outer Range” on Prime Video, a Western about neighboring ranchers battling for land that quickly turns trippy with time travel. Lili Taylor, Tom Pelphrey, Imogen Poots and Shaun Sipos also star. All seven episodes of season two drop on Thursday. The popular food competition series “Ciao House” returns for its second season on Sunday on Food Network. On the show, 12 chefs live together in a Tuscan village and compete in various culinary challenges. The contestants form alliances and rivalries. In the end, the winner gets to train under master Italian chefs. “Iron Chef” champion Alex Guarnaschelli and Gabe Bertaccini return as hosts.

VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

Twenty-one years isn’t that much time on a cosmic scale, but for fans of the science ction epic Homeworld — who have waited since 2003 since the last full-blown installment — it has been an eternity. As Gearbox Publishing’s Homeworld 3 begins, the galaxy has enjoyed an age of prosperity thanks to the discovery of a network of hyperspace gates. The good times may be running out, though, as some of the gates are mysteriously collapsing. Developer Blackbird Interactive, which includes some veterans of the original game, promises plenty of the 3D outer space combat that made it a hit, whether you want to y solo or engage in free-for-alls against your friends. The game had lifto Monday on PC.

If you prefer your mysteries a little more earthbound, Annapurna Interactive’s Lorelei and the Laser Eyes has you covered. You have been invited to explore an old hotel somewhere in Europe, where you’ll soon nd yourself “embroiled in a game of illusions.” The aesthetic is classic lm noir, with eerie black-and-white settings accented with splashes of red. Swedish studio Simogo, known for mind-benders like Year Walk and Device 6, promises “an immense amount of handcrafted puzzles,” so if you’ve been craving a really

big escape room, check in Thursday on Nintendo Switch and PC.

DARKROOM-INTERSCOPE / MERCURY VIA AP

“Hit Me Hard and Soft” by Billie Eilish, left, “Room Under the Stairs” by Zayn, right.

NETFLIX VIA AP Part 1 of the latest season of “Bridgerton” premieres Thursday on Net ix.

LIONSGATE VIA AP

Rachel Zegler, center, stars in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”

HOKE COUNTY

Kudos!

Aiden Derieux, now a graduate of SandHoke Early College High School in Raeford, shakes the hand of Hoke County Schools Superintendent Kenneth Spells on Friday night at McDonald Gymnasium at Hoke High School. Aiden was one of 119 graduates in the class of ’24. For the full list of SandHoke graduates, turn to Page 8.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

UNC, Duke commencements see minor protest disruptions

At UNC Chapel Hill, proPalestinian demonstrators splattered red paint on the steps of a building hours ahead of the school’s commencement ceremony and chanted on campus while students wearing light blue graduation gowns posed for photos.

At Duke’s commencement, a small number of students walked out when the commencement speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who is Jewish, began speaking.

Around the country, a number of other graduation ceremonies were disturbed by small protests, though most went o without a hitch.

NC o cials dropped from ‘eCourts’ lawsuit alleging unlawful arrests

Several state and local court o cials have been removed from a federal lawsuit led by people who allege the operation of North Carolina’s new electronic courts records system contributed to their unlawful arrest or extended jail detainment. Individual plainti s voluntarily ended civil claims against them this week. The Wake and Mecklenburg sheri s and the company hired to develop the “eCourts” system remain defendants. The Administrative O ce of the Courts began rolling out eCourts in February 2023, and it now covers 27 counties. The plainti s allege software errors and human errors have led to multiple arrests on the same warrants and extra time in jail.

US special ops leaders learning to do more with less

Fort Liberty is facing budget cuts

By Lolita C. Baldor The Associated Press

FORT LIBERTY — Forced to do more with less and learning from the war in Ukraine, U.S. special operations commanders are juggling how to add more high-tech experts to their teams while still cutting their overall forces by about 5,000 troops over the next ve years.

The con icting pressures are forcing a broader restructuring of the commando teams, which are often deployed for highrisk counterterrorism missions and other sensitive operations around the world. The changes

under consideration are being in uenced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including lessons learned by British special operations forces there.

U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which bears the brunt of the personnel cuts, is eyeing plans to increase the size of its Green Beret teams — usually about 12 members — to bring in people with more specialized and technical abilities. One possibility would be the addition of computer software experts who could reprogram drones or other technical equipment on the y.

But similar changes could ripple across all the military services.

“A 12-person detachment might be upgunned,” said Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander of

U.S. Special Operations Command. He said an Air Force pilot, Navy ship driver, cryptologist or cyber expert may be needed as battle elds become more challenging and high tech.

The United States is “taking a lot of lessons learned out of the experience in Ukraine, mostly through the eyes of our U.K. special operations partners, who not only have done that in their formations, but they’ve also learned very quickly that they needed other elements of their joint force,” he told The Associated Press in an interview.

The bulk of the cuts stem from the Army’s decision to reduce the size of its force by about 24,000 and restructure its troops as the U.S. shifts from counterterrorism and counter-

Music meets magic in Shakori Hills

Welcoming vibes, diverse music and sustainable practices abound at Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival

By Dan Reeves For North State Journal

PITTSBORO — Walking into Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, held this past weekend, the typical parking and entry headaches of events like these quickly disappear. The kind, welcoming sta and volunteers embodying the festival’s peaceful vibe invite each visitor to become part of a larger community. Stepping into Shakori Hills, a mystical and warming communal spirit is palpable. Children’s laughter, tribal drumming and the calming aroma of burning camp res ll the air. Artisans line the paths throughout the grounds, selling homespun clothing, jewelry and visually stunning art. Enjoying

a burrito from one of the many food vendors with his wife and two kids, rst-timer Brian Mayor told me, “I’m here for all of it.”

Anchored by a stellar lineup of artists spanning various genres, the festival had something for everyone. From folk and bluegrass

to world music, jazz and Americana, the musical o erings were as diverse as the attendees. Headliners included Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange), the Sam Grisman Project (led by the son of bluegrass legend David Grisman), Jupiter &

insurgency to focus more on large-scale combat operations. The Army also has struggled to meet recruitment goals and had to reduce the overall size of its force.

Army Special Operations Command, which Fenton said is absorbing about 4,000 cuts ordered over the past year and a half, is looking at bringing in people with high-tech skills.

“I think one of the questions is how much can you teach a Green Beret versus some of these specialties are extremely technical,” said Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, deputy commander of the command at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. “You can teach a person about how to use a drone. But then to say, I want to have a software engineer program that drone, that’s something di erent.”

The cuts to Army special operations forces have triggered some congressional opposition, including during recent Capitol Hill hearings where lawmakers

See SPECIAL OPS, page 2

Okwess, and Donna the Bu alo, promising a varied and unforgettable musical experience, with many of the nearly 7,000 attendees camping on the spacious, wooded grounds. While music is the main attraction, patrons also enjoy healing, centering and relaxation opportunities. Skilled practitioners o er massage, shiatsu, Reiki and other bodywork therapies to attendees, while workshops on sound healing, guided meditation and yoga for relaxation. These activities help attendees unwind, rejuvenate and nd inner peace amidst the festival’s vibrant energy. Sustainability is more than a trendy term at this festival — it’s a fundamental practice. The grounds are immaculately maintained, and all waste is careful-

See SHAKORI HILLS , page 2

PHOTO COURTESY ALISON JONES / HOKE COUNTY SCHOOLS

PHOTO COURTESY RICH LEVINE

Washington, D.C.-based Scythian performs at the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival last weekend.

HILLS from page 1

ly sorted for recycling or composting.

Musicians enjoy meals made from locally sourced produce, served on compostable dinnerware. Guests re ll their water bottles from deep wells on the property, minimizing plastic waste. This commitment to sustainability is not just a feature but a promise for future generations.

Family-friendly activities abound at Shakori Hills, each designed to spark joy, curiosity and personal growth: storytelling sessions, yoga classes for kids, and holistic workshops on chakras and meditation. Additionally, there are creative workshops on tie-dye and screen-printing T-shirts, interactive science displays at the See-

ing Sounds Station, mask-making and puppet shows.

Drumming for Wellness NC provides a rhythmic experience, while the Kids Bazaar allows young artists to sell their handmade crafts. These events aim to entertain, educate and inspire children and parents alike, fostering a sense of community and creativity. With such a wide range of activities, there’s always a bright moment for families at Shakori Hills.

The festival, imagined in 1990 by Americana band Donna the Bu alo to raise awareness for the AIDS crisis, was founded as the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance. Held the secondto-last weekend of July in Trumansburg, New York, a small town 10 miles north of Ithaca, it draws around 20,000 at-

tendees each summer.

In the early 2000s, the band frequently toured through North Carolina and saw the potential for the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival to grow and expand. They found the perfect location in Shakori Hills, an almost 80-acre plot outside Pittsboro, known for its scenic beauty and vibrant atmosphere. The Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, rst held in 2003, carries on the original vision of the Finger Lakes festival.

The music and serene natural beauty of Shakori Hills draw thousands to the four-day festival every spring and fall, but the main attraction is still the irreplicable experience and welcoming environment full of art, love and purpose — and it all happens right here in Chatham County.

May 7

• Aisha Patrice Ingram, 33, was booked into the Hoke County Jail for a probation violation.

May 10

• Jameel Davon Smith, 18, was booked into the Hoke County Jail on a charge of conspiracy to commit a felony and possession of stolen vehicles.

• Malikiah Timothy Johnson, 18, was booked into the Hoke County Jail on a charge of conspiracy to commit a felony.

May 11

• Justin Samuel Lowery, 30, was booked into the Hoke County Jail for two counts of failure to appear.

May 12

• Kevin Dewayne Locklear, 57, was booked into the Hoke County Jail for a probation violation.

May 13

• Kentrice Myiacole Parker, 23, was booked into the Hoke County Jail for two counts of probation violations.

• Julius Bernard Dock Blue, 67, was booked into the Hoke County Jail for failure to appear.

SPECIAL OPS from page 1

noted the impact at Fort Liberty. Fenton also spoke bluntly at the hearings about the growing demand for special operations forces.

He said U.S. regional commanders around the world consistently want more and that cutting the forces means “we’ll be able to meet less of what they demand. And I think we owe the secretary of defense our assessment as we go forward.”

For years, during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the number of special operations forces and support sta grew, particularly since they were often spread out in small, remote bases where they needed additional security and other logistical help. Now, Pentagon leaders say the numbers can shrink a bit.

Fenton said a cut of about 2,000 personnel in special operations was ordered by the department about a year and a half ago, including about 750 in the Army. That was followed this year by a cut of 3,000 in Army special operations. The cuts are to be spread out across ve years.

“So the real Army reduction in totality is almost 4,000, and the remaining 1,000 will come from the joint force, SEALs, Marine raiders, other Army units,” said Fenton.

For Roberson, the question is where to cut his Army troops. “Cuts have a way of crystallizing your focus and your view of, OK, what’s important to me? What’s the future? What do I really need to have,” he said in an interview in his Fort Liberty o ce.

SHAKORI

THE CONVERSATION

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

VISUAL VOICES

Protecting freedom and democracy

These overreaching mandates are an attempt to shut down the use of natural gas and force electric appliances on families.

AS A LIMITED GOVERNMENT

conservative, I’ve always been a big believer in you having the freedom to choose what’s best for you and your family.

Sadly, the Biden Administration does not share this view. The latest example — Biden’s Department of Energy is now trying to take control of your home appliances in the name of an anti-energy agenda, imposing new burdensome regulations on appliances that you rely on every single day like dishwashers and air conditioners. These overreaching mandates are an attempt to shut down the use of natural gas and force electric appliances on families — even if they are more expensive and less reliable. This comes at a time when folks are already being crushed by rising costs thanks to in ation. I will always prioritize the needs of hardworking families like yours. That’s why last week, I joined my House Republican colleagues in taking action against the Biden Administration’s e orts to erode

COLUMN | SUSAN ESTRICH

No good answers

THERE ARE NO GOOD answers to the current situation in the Gaza War.

The balance Biden has attempted to forge is collapsing.

President Joe Biden is trying to use a pause in weapons shipments to force Israel to do more to protect civilians against “collateral damage” that a bombing campaign in Rafah would no doubt entail. But United States military o cials admit that that is easier said than done.

How do you move a million people to safety? How do you protect the hostages who are being used as human shields? And how does Israel complete its mission, which is to dismantle a terrorist organization that has threatened to repeat the massacre of Oct. 7 10,000 times?

There are no good answers.

Rafah is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas. Israelis understand that it cannot be ignored. The war is not over. But a massive bombing campaign will kill thousands of innocent civilians.

Israel is increasingly isolated in the international community. But so long as Rafah remains in Hamas control, it is also in immediate jeopardy. Sloganeering is what you hear on college campuses, but it is not an answer to anything.

Biden is in a bind. Conditioning

your freedoms by passing the Hands o our Home Appliances Act. I was successful in getting an amendment included that would prevent the Department of Energy’s ill-advised or misguided energy e ciency standards for distribution transformers from taking e ect.

One of the many lessons we learned from the Moore County 2022 grid attack is that we cannot a ord disruptions to our grid. This amendment to the Hands o our Home Appliances Act helps protect our nation’s grid security and strengthen our domestic supply chains.

In addition to protecting our energy grid, last week the House also took action to protect our democracy. The census informs how our government divides up congressional districts and Electoral College votes for each state. An accurate count ensures American voters have equal representation. Yet, under the current process, the census counts people who are

U.S. aid, which is what he appears to be doing (even though Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin rea rmed that our support for Israel is “ironclad”) will not quiet the protestors. It will not quiet Donald Trump, who told talk radio station WPHT in Philadelphia that “If anybody that’s Jewish votes for him or Democrats, they have to have their head examined. They are being treated so badly and have been for years.” In fact, Biden has been a good friend to Israel and has stood by Israel at some signi cant political cost to him since Oct. 7, while Trump snipes from the sidelines.

But the balance Biden has attempted to forge is collapsing. Hamas is hiding in the tunnels in Rafah, using hostages as human shields. Big bombs are e ective against the reinforced tunnels but cause unacceptable civilian casualties. More precise methods may not be workable at all. What is Israel supposed to do? It cannot coexist with Hamas. It tried that, and Oct. 7 was the result. Hamas doesn’t care about its own people. The world expects Israel to care more about the Gazan people than Hamas does.

In his Senate testimony this week, Austin, while rea rming the administration’s commitment to support Israel, said, “Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting

noncitizens, like illegal migrants, in a state’s population — skewing the representation of American citizens. American democracy depends on accurate representation and electoral integrity. The Equal Representation Act, which House Republicans passed last week, would protect our democracy by making sure that American citizens — and American citizens only — are counted when determining our voting districts.

I’m committed to preserving the integrity of our elections and to upholding the trust of the American people in their government. This common-sense legislation reinforces the foundation upon which our nation’s democracy stands, helping to foster a system that truly re ects the will of the people.

Safeguarding freedom and ensuring the integrity of our electoral processes are fundamental principles that I will always defend.

Richard Hudson represents the 9th Congressional District in Congress.

the civilians that are in that battle space.” But U.S. military o cials don’t say how that can be done. Israelis have issued warnings to leave Rafah, but no one doubts that could be di cult and dangerous, with Hamas threatening the safety of those who try to leave.

Israel has made clear that its battle is with Hamas and not the people of Gaza. The New York Times, based on interviews with senior administration o cials and military leaders, is reporting that “Mr. Biden initially took the position that Israel should not attack Rafah without a plan to e ectively minimize civilian casualties, but in recent weeks the White House has increasingly indicated that it did not believe such a plan was possible.”

So is the administration conditioning aid on Israel doing the impossible?

And how does that square with the commitment to “ironclad” support?

This is a di cult time to stand by Israel. It is di cult in the world community, di cult on college campuses — where a noisy minority of students is intimidating and frightening others, di cult in the media. But it bears remembering how this war started, and why, and that those who protest the loudest with simplistic sloganeering are not in fact o ering any answers for how Israel can defend itself against those who would deny its very right to exist.

COLUMN | RICHARD HUDSON

HOKE SPORTS

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

William Leak

Hoke County, track and eld

William Leak is a sophomore on the Hoke County track and eld team.

Leak has achieved an incredible feat by qualifying for the state championship in long jump, triple jump, and high jump. Not only that, but he set a new school record in the triple jump with a jump of 47-2½, and tied the high jump record with a jump of 6-6.

Hoke track and eld, boys’ golf compete in state meets

North State Journal

SOFTBALL and girls’ soccer saw their seasons come to an end, while boys’ golf and track & eld have begun competing for state titles.

Softball

Hoke County’s softball season came to an end in the rst round of the 4A state playo s. The No. 29 seeded Bucks opened with No. 4 Laney and su ered an 11-0 loss. The Bucks nished the year on a two-game losing streak that brought their record to 11-11. Hoke was held to three hits in the shutout loss—by freshman Niya Jones, junior Bailey Moss and junior Alyssa Cascavilla.

Hoke will part with lone senior Adriana Miller, who led the team in ERA, wins and

strikeouts on the mound.

Girls’ soccer

Hoke girls’ soccer nished the season with a 5-133 record, after a 2-0 loss to Pinecrest in the conference tournament. That was not enough to earn the Bucks a bid to the NCHSAA playo s, and their season came to an end. With that, the high school careers of senior captains Vallerie Nunez, Sachi Mathews, Desi McDonough and Mimi Mathews also came to an end.

Track and eld

Hoke had several athletes compete in the state track and eld regionals, with William Leak tying for the top triple jump at 46-4½, top long jump

at 23-0 and top high jump at 6-4. Jaydon Smith had a 20-9 and DeQuavious Mosley a 22-2 in the long jump. Arielle Owens turned in a time of 16.08 in the girls’ 100m hurdles and 50.68 in the girls’ 300 hurdles. Jaida Hines had 12.50 in the girls’ 100m. Harley Hardin had a 5:47.28 in the girls’ 1600.

Ja’Von Morrisey ran a 15.34 and Nasir Wells a 15.41 in the 110m boy’s hurdles. Wells also turned in a 41.15 in the 300m hurdles. Tyriek Davis had a 10.81 and Orza Salone a 10.91 in the boys’ 100m. Salone also had a 51.13 in the 400. Darrien Frazier had a 50.59 in the boys’ 400. Joey Castaneda threw the shot put 45-7½.

Boys’ golf

The golf team headed to Pinehurst earlier this week to compete in the 4A state individual championships. We will have results in next week’s issue. Hoke County competed in the NCHSAA 4A State individual championships at Pinehurst No. 9 earlier this week. The Bucks were led by captains senior Robert Reedy and junior Jordan Palmer.

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Hoke County competed in the NCHSAA 4A State individual championships at Pinehurst No. 9 earlier this week. The Bucks were led by its captains, senior Robert Reedy and junior Jordan Palmer (pictured above earlier this month).

SIDELINE REPORT

MLB Pirates’ Skenes makes big league debut vs. Cubs

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes made an impressive big league debut, striking out seven in four-plus innings against the Chicago Cubs. The 21-year-old Skenes allowed three runs while throwing 84 pitches, 17 of which reached at least 100 mph. A near-sellout crowd made its way into PNC Park to watch Skenes, who was the top overall pick in the 2023 draft and the top-ranked pitching prospect in baseball. Skenes’ more-famous girlfriend, LSU gymnast and social media in uencer Livvy Dunne, was there, too. Skenes is in the majors to stay after needing just seven starts to dominate opponents in Triple-A.

NASCAR

Larson not hardcore Swiftie despite trip to Paris concert

Darlington, S.C.

Kyle Larson says he is not a Swiftie, despite he and his wife taking their daughter to Paris this week to see Taylor Swift in concert. Larson said Saturday at Darlington Raceway that it was a surprise birthday trip for 6-year-old Aubrey. Larson enjoyed the show and admitted he wore a Swift-themed T-shirt and a couple of friendship bracelets. He made it clear, however, that he was not part of the ride-or-die fan base that has made Swift one of the world’s most popular entertainers. Larson won the Southern 500 at Darlington last September but had a 34th-place nish in Sunday’s race.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

6 players on cover of EA Sports’ College Football 25 video game

Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter are among six players displayed on the cover of EA Sports College Football 25. The popular video game is returning after being discontinued 11 years ago. The cover for the deluxe edition of EA College Football 25 was posted online. The game is scheduled to be released in July. It stopped being made amid lawsuits accusing it of using players’ likeness without paying them. Other players on the cover are Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Illinois basketball’s Shannon Jr. headed to trial on rape charges Lawrence, Kan.

A Kansas judge has ordered University of Illinois basketball standout Terrence Shannon Jr. to stand trial on a rape charge following testimony from a woman who said she was “terri ed” as she was being assaulted. Shannon is accused of committing sexual assault last September at a bar in Lawrence, Kansas. A woman told police she was at a bar when a man she later identi ed as Shannon grabbed and touched her sexually. The woman said the bar was crowded, so she couldn’t move. Shannon testi ed on Friday that he never touched the woman. LPGA

Keselowski claims victory at Darlington Raceway

The victory ends his 3-year NASCAR Cup win drought

By Pete Iacobelli

The Associated Press

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Brad Keselowski moved to the front when leaders Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick hit battling for rst with nine laps left and held on to win the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday for his rst NASCAR win in three years.

It was Keselowski’s 36th career victory, his second at Darlington and his rst since reconnecting with magnate Jack Roush and becoming a co-owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

“Hell of an e ort by everyone,” Keselowski said after crossing the nish line.

It appeared Keselowski’s employee at RFK, Buescher, would get the win after he passed his boss and Reddick with 29 laps to go. But Buescher and Reddick then hit and fell back, opening the door for Keselowski’s satisfying victory.

“What a heck of a day,” he said. “That battle out there with my teammate and Tyler Reddick,

we just laid it all on the line.”

Ty Gibbs was second, Josh Berry third and Denny Hamlin fourth. Chase Briscoe was fth followed by William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley and Michael McDowell.

It was another near miss for Buescher, who lost by 0.001 seconds to Kyle Larson at Kansas in the closest nish in NASCAR history.

Buescher slid to 30th and Reddick 32nd.

Buescher confronted Reddick when both got out of their cars, after the close call cost him a NASCAR victory for a second straight week.

Buescher had lost out by 0.001 of a second at Kansas to Kyle Larson a week ago in what was the closest ending in NASCAR history. This time, Buescher lost his chance at the Goodyear 400 when Tyler Reddick tried to pass for the lead.

Reddick’s car slid up into Buescher, knocking him against the wall and ruining both their chances for a Darlington victory.

Buescher shoved Reddick and shouted that he should not have tried that move.

“I tried to back out,” Reddick said. “The last thing I wanted to do was wreck your car. I’m sorry.”

Patriots QB Maye wraps up rst taste of NFL workouts at rookie minicamp

The No. 3 overall pick out of UNC gets rst taste of pro football

The Associated Press

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England quarterback Drake Maye’s day at rookie minicamp wasn’t done, not by a long shot.

The No. 3 overall pick in the NFL Draft was just getting started after wrapping up practice on Saturday. After all, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said Maye had been at the team facility “all night” on Friday.

“We’ll be here till 7, 8, 9 o’clock. Go in for a lift, then we have some meetings,” Maye said after practice behind Gillette Stadium. “The best thing about minicamp is being around the guys for the rst time. We’re at the hotel together. We’re right across the hallway from each other, so we’ll watch the lm and look at the scripts for the next day together.

“We’ve got nothing else to do up here. Why not focus on football?”

The laser focus already has rubbed o on fellow rookies, including wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk, who was drafted one

round after Maye.

“Guy can sling it. Very condent and vocal. He’s a leader,” Polk said. “He’s setting the tone in practice, trying to get guys moving around and operating at a high level. This is new to all of us. We’re still learning and trying to get to know each other so everybody can get on the same page.”

At one point Saturday, Maye was under center with Polk lined up to his left and two more rookie receivers — one drafted (Javon Baker) and one undrafted (David Wallis) — lined up to his right. There wasn’t live contact or a pass rush to anticipate. But for Maye, it’s about soaking up as much knowledge as possible.

At times during practice, Maye talked with Patriots o ensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. He also chatted with quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney and o ensive assistant coach Ben McAdoo, who has been around his share of topight quarterbacks — namely Eli Manning with the New York Giants and Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers.

“T.C. is talking to us during the meetings. Coach Van Pelt will chime in when he needs to. Coach (McAdoo) is awesome,” Maye said. “All three of them know a lot of football.”

Buescher pointed to the NASCAR playo decal on his car for those, like Reddick, who’ve quali ed for the postseason. “That doesn’t work for me,” Buescher said. “We don’t have that sticker on my door right now. I need you to be better. We’ve raced each other for so long just ne.”

Buescher had said how agonizing his loss to Kyle Larson at Kansas last week was, replaying it and coming up with several things he might have done differently given another chance. At Darlington, Buescher knew who to blame.

“That’s two weeks in a row we had a shot to win races,” Buescher said. “One, I’m going to relive in my head forever at what I would’ve done di erent (at Kansas). The other, I need someone else to be more mature about it.”

Reddick continued apologizing in his post-race comments.

He said his attempted pass was aggressive and he tried to check up so he would not slide into Buescher.

“It’s tough to walk away knowing that I used someone up, took their chance away from winning the race that’s racing me really cleanly,” Reddick said. “I have to work on that and try and make

Driver Brad Keselowski holds up the trophy in Victory Lane after winning at Darlington Raceway on Sunday.

some better decisions.”

Bad day

One slip up ended the chances of two NASCAR champions. Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr. and Byron were three-wide on lap 128 when Byron tagged Truex who pushed into Blaney and sent him against the wall in turn two.

The crew for Blaney, the defending Cup Series champion, could not repair the damage and his day was done. He rode up alongside Byron to signal his displeasure with Byron’s move.

“He used a little bit more race track than I thought, so I have every right to be mad and he gets away scot-free,” said Blaney, who wound up last in 36th place.

Truex, the 2017 series champion, dropped from the top 10 and nished 25th.

Odds and ends Berry’s third-place nish was his best since replacing retired Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 car. ... Erik Jones, twice a winner at Darlington, nished 19th in his rst race since su ering a compression fracture in a lower vertebra during a crash at Talladega last month. ... Larson’s No. 5 paint scheme homage to Hall of Famer Terry Labonte’s 1996 title-winning car was voted the best throwback by the fans. ... The series takes a week o of points racing for the All-Star Race at historic North Wilkesboro.

Focusing on fundamentals, namely footwork, is a priority for Maye since arriving in New England.

“I’m trying out two new stances that I’m getting used to. Just getting more reps at it,” Maye said. “Footwork is huge. It’s something that’s not easy.”

The learning curve after playing in college at North Carolina will include becoming familiar with the region’s weather patterns. Practice featured a gusty breeze, a possible preview of coming attractions when November and December roll around.

“He has a lot to work on, but I have no doubt that he will put the time in,” Mayo said.

Belichick’s replacement

The Patriots are going with

Eliot Wolf to stock their roster after two decades with Bill Belichick in charge.

The team on Saturday named Wolf, 42, the executive vice president of player personnel, giving him the formal title of the job he had mostly been handling since Belichick was red. Wolf will control the 53-man roster and manage the salary cap.

Owner Robert Kraft said he wanted to observe the relationship between Wolf and coach Mayo before making it formal. Wolf is the son of Hall of Famer Ron Wolf, the former Packers general manager. Eliot Wolf has worked 20 seasons with Green Bay, Cleveland and the Patriots. He spent the last two seasons as New England’s director of scouting.

MARK STOCKWELL / AP PHOTO

New England Patriots rst-round draft pick quarterback Drake Maye walks onto the eld during the team’s rookie minicamp.

MATT KELLEY / AP PHOTO

Dozens injured in train crash in Buenos Aires

The passenger train struck a box car on

the track

By Isabel Debre The Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argenti-

na

— At least 90 people were injured in Argentina’s capital when a passenger train struck an empty boxcar on the tracks and derailed Friday, authorities said, a rare collision that fueled questions about basic safety.

The train was on its way from Buenos Aires to the northern suburbs when it derailed around 10:30 a.m. on a bridge in the trendy neighborhood of Palermo, safety o cials said.

While it was not immediately clear why the idled boxcar had been on the bridge, Argentina’s railway union said several yards of copper cable used to carry power along the tracks had been stolen from the railway, disabling the signaling system intended to prevent such accidents.

Union leaders ercely opposed to libertarian President Javier Milei’s economic austerity blamed the government for its failure to invest in public infrastructure.

“We have been demanding for 10 days that the stolen signaling cables be repaired,” rail union leader Omar Maturano told the country’s independent Radio Con Vos station. “The government said there was no money for spare parts.”

Prosecutors said they were investigating.

“There is not enough information about the mechanics of this accident,” Buenos Aires Mayor Jorge Macri said from the crash site where he praised the swift evacuation of victims.

Dozens of injured were treated at the scene and 30 people were taken to hospitals in moderate to serious condition, at least two by helicopter with

chest trauma and broken bones.

Alberto Crescenti, director of the city’s emergency service, said rescuers with police dogs had helped 90 people trapped in the derailed train, lowering some by rope from the highway overpass scattered with twisted metal and shattered glass.

Dazed passengers staggering out of the derailed boxcars told local media the train had stopped on the bridge for several minutes before starting up again and slamming violently into the other train, jolting passengers and veering o the rails in a jumble of sparks and smoke.

O cials at the Argentine rail authority, Trenes Argentinos, said service on the popular rail line had been suspended, complicating travel for many commuters.

The collision brought increased scrutiny to rail safety in Argentina, where a string of train crashes from 2012-14 left more than 50 people dead and hundreds injured. It emerged at the time that outdated infrastructure, delays and human error had left the railway system vulnerable to crashes, prompting the government to invest in new safety and braking systems.

With Argentina’s economy spiraling and anti-government protests gripping the streets, the crash quickly spawned contradictory narratives, with both government o cials and leftist union leaders using the incident to further their agendas.

“The rail company has been totally degraded because there’s no budget,” said Maturano, from the rail union.

President Milei reposted comments on social media blaming his left-leaning predecessors for neglecting public infrastructure and running up a massive budget de cit.

In the midst of Argentina’s worst economic crisis in two decades, police have repeatedly reported would-be cable thieves being electrocuted in the act. Those who succeed wreak havoc on the rail system in stealing metal to sell to scrapyards, where local media says the going rate is about $3.18 a pound.

The Argentine website Infobae in February called copper cable theft “a trendy crime for the crisis.”

Rise in UK knife attacks leads to crackdown

An anxious public has called for the government to do more

By Laurie Kellman

The Associated Press

LONDON — A familiar horror reached Pooja Kanda rst on social media: There had been a sword attack in London. And then Kanda, who was home alone at the time, saw a detail she dreaded and knew all too well.

A man with a sword had killed a 14-year-old boy who was walking to school. Two years ago, her 16-year-old son, Ronan, was killed by two sword-wielding schoolmates while walking to a neighbor’s to borrow a PlayStation controller.

“It took me back,” Kanda, who lives near Birmingham, said about Daniel Anjorin’s April 30 killing in an attack in London’s Hainault district that also wounded four people. “It’s painful to see that this has happened all over again.”

A screengrab from a doorbell camera shows police o cers

tasering a sword-wielding man in London after a 14-year-old boy died after being stabbed following an attack on members of the public and two police o cers on April 30.

own statistics. With knives so readily available, there’s only so much that can be done. Of the 244 fatal stabbings in England and Wales in the 12 months ending with March 2023 — the most recent gures available — 101 were committed with kitchen knives, far surpassing any other type of blade, according to the O ce of National Statistics.

But the uptick in knife crime and a steady drumbeat of shocking attacks, including those that killed Ronan Kanda, Daniel Anjorin and three people in Nottingham last year, has pushed the issue to the forefront.

them,” the London-born star of “The Wire” and “Luther” said during a protest in January.

Guns are heavily restricted in the U.K. and there’s not much debate about it. That’s partly because the 1996 massacre of 16 elementary students in Dunblane, Scotland, led to a ban on owning handguns. Firearms used for hunting are tightly regulated.

Restricting knives is trickier, but the government is trying. It’s already illegal to sell a knife to someone younger than 18 or to carry one in public without a good reason, such as for work or religious purposes.

And certain types of blades are already illegal, including switchblades and so-called zombie knives, which come in various sizes, have cutting and serrated edges, and feature text or images suggesting they should be used to commit violence, according to the 2016 law banning them.

In parts of the world that ban or strictly regulate gun ownership, including Britain and much of the rest of Europe, knives and other types of blades are often the weapons of choice used in crimes. Many end up in the hands of children, as they can be cheap and easy to get.

for the government to do more.

Although the number of fatal stabbings has mostly held steady in England and Wales over the past 10 years, headline-grabbing attacks and an overall rise in knife crime have stoked anxieties and led to calls

“Knife-enabled” crime — in which knives were used to commit crimes or someone was caught illegally possessing one — rose 7% in England and Wales last year,” the government said last month, noting some localities were not included. In London, such crimes jumped 20%. The other two U.K. countries, Scotland and Northern Ireland, keep their

“It seems like every day something like this is reported in the press,” Sanjoy O’Malley-Kumar, whose 19-year-old daughter Grace O’Malley-Kumar was among the Nottingham victims, said on “Good Morning Britain” after the recent attack in London.

In last week’s local elections, candidates debated policies such as stop-and-search.

Even movie star Idris Elba has weighed in.

“I can pick up a phone right now, type in knives and I’ll get inundated with adverts for

A new law will take e ect in September banning the sale of machetes and closing a loophole that companies have exploited to get around the zombie knife ban. It remains to be seen whether the new law will have much e ect, though, as machetes accounted for only 14 of of the 244 stabbing deaths in the 12 months that ended in March 2023 and zombie-style knives accounted for seven.

RODRIGO ABD / AP PHOTO

A train wagon that collided with another stands on the rails in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last Friday.

PA VIA AP

David Jackson Holland

December 13, 1959 –May 9, 2024

David Jackson Holland, of Raeford, NC passed away on Thursday, May 09, 2024, at the age of 64. David was born on December 13, 1959, to Fred and Jean Holland and was a lifelong resident of Hoke County. He was preceded in death by his mother, Jean Holland. David was the owner and operator of Holland Pools and Construction for many years. He graduated from East Carolina University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and was a lifelong ECU Pirate. He enjoyed saltwater shing, where he and his friends won the U.S Open in 2011. Other than working, he enjoyed traveling, and spending time with his family and friends. He is survived by his wife of 22 years, Melissa Harris Holland; stepson, Clay McQuage; one special grandson, Chase Harris McQuage; grandson, Wyatt McQuage; his father, Fred Holland; sisters, Robin McDu e (Mike), Donna Lewis (Mack); brother, Neill Holland (Jennifer); and many nieces and nephews.

Ruben Dario Westin

September 9, 1957 –April 30, 2024

Ruben (Ruby) Westin, 66, passed away peacefully on April 30, 2024 surrounded by his family. Ruben was born September 9, 1957 in New Jersey to his late parents, Ruben and Virginia. Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife Aggie, brother David, and is survived by his four children, Dawn, Judy Marie, Brittany and Jonathan; his four grandchildren Aubree, Zayn, Oakley, Chayce; his sisters Blanca and Linda, and his nieces, nephews and cousins who he loved dearly. He made his homes in New Jersey, Georgia, and North Carolina. Professionally, Ruben worked as a director in Regulatory A airs for product safety in New Jersey and Georgia, travelled domestically and internationally, and actively participated in conferences world-wide on environmental safety. He enjoyed his jobs and giving back to the community in positive ways. He is widely known for putting others before himself, and fully enjoyed making others smile with his quirky jokes. All who crossed his path only have good memories of him. Ruben loved the Jersey shore, Florida, the theater, and traveling with his family to Disney and any amusements park he would nd along the way. His family was always his #1 priority. He loved spending every minute with his family, friends and dogs.

Lejiun Warren Jones

April 11, 1972 – May 9, 2024

Mr. Lejiun Jones age, 52 went home to be with his Heavenly Father on May 9, 2024. He leaves to cherish his loving memories his mother, Shirley McLaughlin; sister, Tammie Jones; aunts: Shelia Dockery, Annie Hawkins; along with a host of other family and friends. Lejiun will be greatly missed.

John Frank Hobson Jr.

February 27, 1952 –May 6, 2024

Mr. John Hobson Jr. age, 72 departed this Earthly life to rest in Heaven on May 6, 2024. He leaves to cherish his loving memories his children: Sharon McRae, Holly McMillan, Charline McGhee, John Hobson Jr., Christopher Hobson, Jamie McBryde, Tomisha McBryde, Markeis Hobson, Jerrell Hobson, Tushetta Hobson; siblings: Lillie Luckie, Timothy Hobson. John will be greatly missed.

Jimmy Ray Elledge

July 15, 1949 – May 5, 2024

Mr. Jimmy Ray Elledge, of Raeford, NC went to be with his Lord and Savior on Sunday, May 05, 2024, at the age of 74. Jimmy was born in Abbeville, South Carolina on July 15, 1949, to the late Benjamin and Hazel Elledge. Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, David Elledge. Jimmy was a faithful member of Hillcrest Baptist Church of Raeford. He was dedicated to his job as a sewing machine technician at Burlington Mills Industry. He had a passion for cars and animals, and had an admirable lust for life. Jimmy is survived by his niece, Brittany Elledge; his lifelong best friend, Ronnie Floyd; and his neighbors, Heath and Linda Pittman.

Carroll Scarboro, Jr.

July 10, 1937 – May 1, 2024

Mr. Carroll Scarboro, Jr., of Raeford, NC went to be with his Lord and Savior on Wednesday, May 01, 2024, at the age of 86. Carroll was born on July 10, 1937, in Hoke County, NC to the late Lacy and Lois Scarboro. Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Kenneth Scarboro. He was a member of New Hope Baptist Church in Laurinburg. He enjoyed shing, gardening, and tinkering in his shop. One of his biggest passions was aviation. Carroll had a real love for, and tremendous knowledge about aviation in all forms. He got his private pilot’s license and loved to y for any reason, and that later led to a profession for him. Carroll was a man of many endeavors. After high school, he served his country in the Army National Guard. Between the Guard and Reserves, he served for ve years. He then worked at Burlington mills for a period of time and worked HVAC and other various jobs in Scotland County. He owned a Western Auto Store and Sears Catalog Store in Hoke County for several years. The job he held the longest was spraying crops for farmers in Scotland County. Carroll is survived by his wife of 65 years, Joan McLeod Scarboro; children, Debra Scarboro Fox (Randall) and Brian Douglas Scarboro (Andrea); grandchildren, Clint, Spencer, Alexander, and Emily; great grandchildren, Joshua, Sarah, and Logan; and one sister, Betty Skipper.

Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in NSJ at obits@ northstatejournal.com

accolades

SandHoke Early College High School Class of 2024

Emmanuel Angeles Mendez

Jesus Emmanuel Arroyo*

Serenity Yvonne Boley

Aaron Brockington

Clinton Bullock

Bryan Anibal Cabezudo Torres

Mackenzie Nicole Caldwell**

Joshua Calhoun

Grecia Yazmin CastrejonResendiz

April Camilla Chaquea*

Nahareem Hazel Colon

DeShaun Fabien Colston

Sydney Ann-Marie Cooper***

Kristin Corner

Ayannah Covington

Gary Crowder

Brisa Cruz-Laureano

Jarvis Daniels

Aiden Kai DeRieux

Caitlin DeRieux

Diego Diaz-Garcia

Raley Matthew Edwards**

Riley Lynn Ellinger

Leslie Cassandra Ellis

Jordy Imanol Espinal Caceres

Chastity S Estrada-Garcia

Jayla Tishae Figgs

Carmen Alyssa Yvette Fisher

Carmen K Flower

Jonathan E Frady

Jasmine Islean Generette

Daniel Antonio Gillis*

Briana Annelise Graham

Shehib Gulaimid

Isabel Alliyah Guzman

Samantha Love Hale

Aniya Marzha Henson

Roberto Hernandez-Galvan

Iris Hernandez-Hernandez*

Alexis Hernandez-Ramirez

Benjamin Hilario Sevilla

Giovani Hilario-Sevilla

Jake David Hoover

James Hughes

Araceli Esmeralda Hurtado***

Catherine Jazmine Jacobs**

Emily Jiminez-Basurto*

Catherine Nicole Johnson*

Diana Alicja Johnson

Makiya Canese King

Michael Alexander Kuchin***

Edwin J Larrarte Angel

Lizzy Dayanthe Larrarte

Angel***

Zyian Robert Long*

Luciano Lopez

Jodus Lathan Lower*

Joseph Marcelino Rojas

Mitsuko Mathews

Sachiko Shamirah Mathews

Kadyn Kianni Matthews**

Kiersten Haleigh McIntyre***

Alyvia Devine McKenzie

Davian Lee’Mario McLeanKershaw

Daniela Morales-Soriano

DeQuavious Rontese Mosley

David Murray

Jayden Nicholas Murray

Tamaya Myers

Jazmin Genesis Negron

Andrew David Nelson*

Lainey Rose Nelson

Nathan Paul Oakes

Jason Olivarez

Jairo J’Mir Ortiz

Jezelle Nakaya Oxendine

Dylyn Nekole Parker

Addison Pierce

Evalisse Rosario Polanco

Yarlin Ramirez-Helguera*

Ana Paola Ramirez-Miron

Araceli Ramos-Sanchez

Tamecia Sakai Randolph

Benjamin Z Reece

Ian Rivera

Ulani Unique Robinson

Vernon

Camron Darrell Robinson

Elizabeth Rodriguez-Baez

Jorge Luis Roman

Barrionuevo*

Jakob Paul Roth***

Keegan Robert Russell

Marcus DeShawn

Sanderson

Lilia Santiaguillo-Garcia

Lilia Santos-Mondragon*

Gunnar Ron Schlosser

Macy Schutz

Esther Severiano-Saavedra

JuNoria A’maryan Shipman

Mikayla Olumayowa Shuler

Caleb Isaiah Slocumb

Daisy Sosa-Cantor

ElijahJalen Stokes

Salah Cash Eugene Sutton*

Isaiah LaTrell SwintonConway

Caleb Thompson

Madison Grace Thompson

Whitney Camille Thompson

Jesus Tolentino-Nill

Ayana Keshet Townsend***

Maggie Rose-Lynn Trapp

Maiyha Chanelle Tucker

Collin Christopher Turner**

Grant Idara Udom

Elizabeth Lynn Vilaro

Angelica Villanueva Cautivo

Kiana Walker

Asiah Watts***

Anaiyah Leilani Wike**

Zane Tyler Woods

Kai Ye***

Top Ten (by GPA)

Kiersten Haleigh McIntyre (4.0)

Araceli Esmeralda Hurtado (3.97)

Lizzy Dayanthe Larrarte

Angel (3.97)

Michael Alexander Kuchin (3.97)

Jakob Paul Roth (3.96)

Kai Ye (3.87)

Sydney Ann-Marie Cooper (3.87)

Ayana Keshet Townsend (3.85)

Asiah Watts (3.79)

Anaiyah Leilani Wike (3.74)

Cum Laude (3.25-3.49 GPA) ** Magna Cum Laude (3.5-3.749)

Summa Cum Laude (3.75+)

Winston-Salem Council approves demolition of delinquent properties

UNC, Duke commencements see minor protest disruptions

At UNC Chapel Hill, proPalestinian demonstrators splattered red paint on the steps of a building hours ahead of the school’s commencement ceremony and chanted on campus while students wearing light blue graduation gowns posed for photos.

At Duke’s commencement, a small number of students walked out when the commencement speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who is Jewish, began speaking.

Around the country, a number of other graduation ceremonies were disturbed by small protests, though most went o without a hitch.

NC o cials dropped from ‘eCourts’ lawsuit alleging unlawful arrests

Several state and local court o cials have been removed from a federal lawsuit led by people who allege the operation of North Carolina’s new electronic courts records system contributed to their unlawful arrest or extended jail detainment.

Individual plainti s voluntarily ended civil claims against them this week. The Wake and Mecklenburg sheri s and the company hired to develop the “eCourts” system remain defendants.

The Administrative O ce of the Courts began rolling out eCourts in February 2023, and it now covers 27 counties. The plainti s allege software errors and human errors have led to multiple arrests on the same warrants and extra time in jail.

Six vacant properties in Lakeside in the East Ward will be demolished

By Ryan Henkel Twin City Herald

THE WINSTON-SALEM

City Council approved the demolition of several vacant, abandoned properties with tax deliquencies at its May 6 meeting.

The structures considered for demolition included at 261, 263, 265 and 267 Harrington Circle and 111, 113, 211 and 213 Lakeview Blvd.

“All these properties are located in Lakeside in the East Ward,” said Assistant Neighborhood Services Director Samuel Hunter.

According to Hunter, each

property was issued a complaint, notice of hearing, service order and repair order and none of the property owners ever responded or appeared for the hearings. Each has also sat vacant for at least six months, which makes them eligible for demolition.

However, the property manager for a few of the buildings, Erica Hernandez, appeared before the council and reported that 211 and 213 Lakeview Blvd. had been brought into compliance since the city’s inspections of the properties and others were being worked on as well.

“This has got to be corrected,” said Councilmember Annette Scippio. “I have no empathy at this point for continuing to allow this to go on. It’s deplor-

able and people have been living in these conditions and in some of these buildings and it’s continuing. This is just the rst set of buildings. This is not one set. There are about two other sets of buildings to come, we just decided it was too much to bring forth at one time.”

Following the hearings, the council approved the demolition and removal of 261, 263, 265 and 267 Harrington Circle as well as 111 and 113 Lakeview Blvd. The other two buildings, 211 and 213 Lakeview Blvd., will be reinspected and will come before council again on May 20.

“I’ve been on this council since 2009 and I’ve been on the Community Development, Housing and General Government Committee for that entire time,” said Mayor Pro Tem De -

Music meets magic in Shakori Hills

Welcoming vibes, diverse music and sustainable practices abound at Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival

By Dan Reeves For Twin City Herald

PITTSBORO — Walking into Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, held this past weekend, the typical parking and entry headaches of events like these quickly disappear. The kind, welcoming sta and volunteers embodying the festival’s peaceful vibe invite each visitor to become part of a larger community. Stepping into Shakori Hills, a mystical and warming communal spirit is palpable.

Children’s laughter, tribal drumming and the calming aroma of burning camp res ll the air. Artisans line the paths throughout the grounds, selling

various genres, the festival had something for everyone. From folk and bluegrass to world music, jazz and Americana, the musical o erings were

nise Adams. “I have seen these units come through all the time and I have never, even driving through there and going to review myself, seen these units up to any level of approval in my book. I understand that people have to live somewhere, but it is not fair in my mind and my belief that I’m going to allow people to live in the conditions that this development shows.”

“We’re not being taken seriously,” said council member Barbara Hanes Burke. “We care about how our citizens are living. These living conditions at these locations are deplorable. We cannot allow this to go on. If we demolish these properties, that will send a message especially with more being in the same

as diverse as the attendees. Headliners included Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange), the Sam Grisman Project (led by the son of bluegrass legend David Grisman), Jupiter & Okwess, and Donna the Bu alo, promising a varied and unforgettable musical experience, with many of the nearly 7,000 attendees camping on the spacious, wooded grounds. While music is the main attraction, patrons also enjoy healing, centering and relaxation opportunities. Skilled practitioners o er massage, shiatsu, Reiki and other bodywork therapies to attendees, while workshops on sound

homespun clothing, jewelry and visually stunning art. Enjoying a burrito from one of the many food vendors with his wife and two kids, rst-timer Brian Mayor told me, “I’m here for all of it.”

Anchored by a stellar lineup of artists spanning

See SHAKORI HILLS , page 2

PHOTO COURTESY RICH LEVINE Washington, D.C.-based Scythian performs at the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival last weekend.

COURTESY CITY OF WINSTON-SALEM YOUTUBE

The Winston-Salem City Council discusses the demolition of abandoned properties with tax delinquencies at its May 6 regular meeting.

To

These activities help attendees unwind, rejuvenate and nd inner peace amidst the festival’s vibrant energy.

Sustainability is more than a trendy term at this festival — it’s a fundamental practice. The grounds are immaculately maintained, and all waste is carefully sorted for recycling or composting.

Musicians enjoy meals made from locally sourced produce, served on compostable dinnerware. Guests re ll their water bottles from deep wells on the property, minimizing plastic waste. This commitment to sustainability is not just a feature

but a promise for future generations.

Family-friendly activities abound at Shakori Hills, each designed to spark joy, curiosity and personal growth: storytelling sessions, yoga classes for kids, and holistic workshops on chakras and meditation. Additionally, there are creative workshops on tie-dye and screen-printing T-shirts, interactive science displays at the Seeing Sounds Station, mask-making and puppet shows.

Drumming for Wellness NC provides a rhythmic experience, while the Kids Bazaar allows young artists to sell their handmade crafts. These events aim to entertain, educate and in-

spire children and parents alike, fostering a sense of community and creativity. With such a wide range of activities, there’s always a bright moment for families at Shakori Hills. The festival, imagined in 1990 by Americana band Donna the Bu alo to raise awareness for the AIDS crisis, was founded as the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance. Held the secondto-last weekend of July in Trumansburg, New York, a small town 10 miles north of Ithaca, it draws around 20,000 attendees each summer.

In the early 2000s, the band frequently toured through North Carolina and saw the

potential for the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival to grow and expand. They found the perfect location in Shakori Hills, an almost 80-acre plot outside Pittsboro, known for its scenic beauty and vibrant atmosphere. The Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, rst held in 2003, carries on the original vision of the Finger Lakes festival. The music and serene natural beauty of Shakori Hills draw thousands to the four-day festival every spring and fall, but the main attraction is still the irreplicable experience and welcoming environment full of art, love and purpose — and it all happens right here in Chatham County.

COUNCIL from page 1 SHAKORI HILLS from page 1 or similar conditions. This will send a message that if there are any repairs to be made, maybe they will be made.” The demolition and removal of a structure at 1825 Mans eld St. was also on the agenda, but it was tabled until June 3. In other business, the council considered a petition to close and abandon a portion of two roadways: Jay Avenue and Winston Street. “This has been kind of a unique situation,” said Councilmember John Larson on the

Jay Avenue closing. “A couple of meetings ago, we approved a development project in this area that needed to have access to the site and so we looked at a variety of ways to solve and one of the solutions is what you’re looking at.”

Finally, the council approved a ve-year contract, with a two-year option, at a total cost of $218.6 million with RATP Dev USA for transit operations and maintenance services for the Winston-Salem Transit Authority.

“In the current contract style that we have, the management style of contract, the

COURTESY RICH

Music was the main attraction at Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival in Pittsboro over the weekend, with food, fun and everything from parades to yoga classes available. Elsewhere, patrons could partake in reiki, massage and other bodywork therapies from skilled practitioners.

incumbent responsibility really provides the city of Winston-Salem with a general manager, the management of operations and some training,” said director of transportation Je Fansler. “That’s, at a high-level, what we’re paying for today with our contract with TransDev. A lot of those nance responsibilities still refers to the city. The city assumes a lot of risk and sta time in the fact that we operationally have to be involved with so many of those facets of transit operations.”

According to Fansler, the WSTA has 45 buses on 31 xed

routes with a ridership of over 1.5 million and the new contract will be a sort of turnkey switch that will remove a lot of the burden and risk o of the city.

“What this will allow sta to do is to refocus on transit planning,” Fansler said. “To revitalize and repurpose our sta for e ciencies we can gain in our system, to make sure we’re FTA compliant, to focus on ridership, where maybe e ciencies can be gained and really to dive into our service amenity standards.”

The Winston-Salem City Council will next meet May 20.

PHOTOS

LEVINE

THE CONVERSATION

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

VISUAL VOICES

That ’70s show — is Biden taking America back to the age of Jimmy Carter?

It is Carterism on steroids.

EVERYTHING THAT is happening in our fractured nation today seems so worrisomely reminiscent of America’s last lost decade — the 1970s.

For those who don’t remember, the late 1970s under part-time President Gerald Ford and then much worse under President Jimmy Carter was one economic and national security setback after another.

The witches’ brew of high in ation of 7% to 10% by 1979 and ever-increasing tax rates — which rose as high as 70% — drove the economy into a ditch. Real family incomes cratered under Carter because in ation rose so much faster than family take-home pay. Homes became una ordable, with interest rates on mortgages skyrocketing up to 17%. Gas prices tripled. Carter blamed “Big Oil” and “invested” in pipe-dream green energy alternatives that all went bankrupt.

Every time in ation rose, the economic whiz kids in Washington assured us the high prices were just temporary. (They didn’t use the term “transitory.”) When prices kept rising, Carter blamed corporate greed and installed price controls and windfall pro ts taxes — which only made problems worse.

On college campuses, we saw student protesters occupying the o ces of the college presidents. Race riots turned our inner cities into powder kegs.

Because America was so weak at home,

No good answers

THERE ARE NO GOOD answers to the current situation in the Gaza War.

our enemies abroad capitalized as Soviet tanks rolled into Afghanistan and troops into Nicaragua, while Iran held Americans hostage.

Federal spending and debt soared, and the private sector started shrinking.

Carter’s response to the bad news was to point at the American people and lecture us to turn down the thermostat, put on a sweater, and learn to live with less. But even he didn’t threaten to abolish air conditioning and gas heat.

The new term that slid into the American lexicon was “stag ation.” This was the combination of high prices and sluggish economic growth.

Does any of this sound familiar?

President Joe Biden’s prescription for the U.S. economy isn’t to reverse course. It is Carterism on steroids. More price controls, higher taxes on the rich and businesses, and another $2 trillion in spending on programs like student loan “forgiveness,” green energy subsidies and mortgage relief programs.

The tax rate on investment would soar well above 50%. As former Trump economist Larry Kudlow has put it, “Biden thinks he can tax America into prosperity.”

On energy policy, he’s doubling down on his commitment to “net zero” fossil fuel production and will command people to buy $70,000 electric vehicles made in China.

When the vast majority of Americans say they are nancially worse o , he doesn’t feel their pain. He shames them for not appreciating the wonderful things he’s done and the virtues of Bidenomics. That message is a little tone-deaf given that Americans are worried about ’70s-style stag ation making a comeback. In ation is trending back up at the same time GDP growth has slowed to a 1.6% trickle.

The Biden response is Americans are unappreciative, and we are all sel sh for not wanting to live with less and give up our gas stoves and SUVs in order to save the planet.

In his infamous “malaise speech” in the summer of 1979, Carter spoke of a national “crisis of con dence” and lectured Americans about too much “selfindulgence” and learning to consume less and conserve more. He even talked about “threats to democracy.” Instead of inspiring the nation, he put the country in a funk.

Just like Jimmy Carter then, Joe Biden is o ering four more years of austerity and sacri ce and bigger, more intrusive government. That platform won the incumbent Carter 41% of the vote in 1980.

Stephen Moore is a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a senior economic adviser to Donald Trump.

The balance Biden has attempted to forge is collapsing.

President Joe Biden is trying to use a pause in weapons shipments to force Israel to do more to protect civilians against “collateral damage” that a bombing campaign in Rafah would no doubt entail. But United States military o cials admit that that is easier said than done.

How do you move a million people to safety? How do you protect the hostages who are being used as human shields? And how does Israel complete its mission, which is to dismantle a terrorist organization that has threatened to repeat the massacre of Oct. 7 10,000 times?

There are no good answers.

Rafah is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas. Israelis understand that it cannot be ignored. The war is not over. But a massive bombing campaign will kill thousands of innocent civilians.

Israel is increasingly isolated in the international community. But so long as Rafah remains in Hamas control, it is also in immediate jeopardy. Sloganeering is what you hear on college campuses, but it is not an answer to anything.

Biden is in a bind. Conditioning U.S.

aid, which is what he appears to be doing (even though Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin rea rmed that our support for Israel is “ironclad”) will not quiet the protestors. It will not quiet Donald Trump, who told talk radio station WPHT in Philadelphia that “If anybody that’s Jewish votes for him or Democrats, they have to have their head examined. They are being treated so badly and have been for years.”

In fact, Biden has been a good friend to Israel and has stood by Israel at some signi cant political cost to him since Oct. 7, while Trump snipes from the sidelines. But the balance Biden has attempted to forge is collapsing.

Hamas is hiding in the tunnels in Rafah, using hostages as human shields. Big bombs are e ective against the reinforced tunnels but cause unacceptable civilian casualties. More precise methods may not be workable at all. What is Israel supposed to do? It cannot coexist with Hamas. It tried that, and Oct. 7 was the result. Hamas doesn’t care about its own people. The world expects Israel to care more about the Gazan people than Hamas does.

In his Senate testimony this week, Austin, while rea rming the administration’s commitment to support Israel, said, “Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians

that are in that battle space.” But U.S. military o cials don’t say how that can be done. Israelis have issued warnings to leave Rafah, but no one doubts that could be di cult and dangerous, with Hamas threatening the safety of those who try to leave.

Israel has made clear that its battle is with Hamas and not the people of Gaza. The New York Times, based on interviews with senior administration o cials and military leaders, is reporting that “Mr. Biden initially took the position that Israel should not attack Rafah without a plan to e ectively minimize civilian casualties, but in recent weeks the White House has increasingly indicated that it did not believe such a plan was possible.”

So is the administration conditioning aid on Israel doing the impossible?

And how does that square with the commitment to “ironclad” support?

This is a di cult time to stand by Israel. It is di cult in the world community, di cult on college campuses — where a noisy minority of students is intimidating and frightening others, di cult in the media. But it bears remembering how this war started, and why, and that those who protest the loudest with simplistic sloganeering are not in fact o ering any answers for how Israel can defend itself against those who would deny its very right to exist.

COLUMN | SUSAN ESTRICH

COLUMN | STEPHEN MOORE

Forsyth SPORTS

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Rhett Lowder

Wake Forest, baseball

Rhett Lowder is a Wake Forest alum who helped lead the Demon Deacons to the College World Series last year. The North Stanly High graduate made a successful minor league debut last month. Lowder was a rst-round pick, no. 7 overall, by the Cincinnati Reds in last year’s draft.

After just over a month in the minors, Loweer has already earned a promotion. He went 2-0 with a 2.49 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 25 innings for the Class A Dayton Dragons, and now Lowder is moving up to Double-A. He made his debut for the Chattanooga Lookouts, striking out ve in ve innings but taking the loss.

Lowder is the No. 2 prospect in the Reds organization, and MLB.com has speculated that he may make his big league debut later on this season.

No hate crime charges led against man who yelled racist slurs at Utah women’s basketball team

“It’s shocking. There’s so much diversity on a college campus and so you’re just not exposed to that very often.”

Utah coach Lynne Roberts

The 18-year-old told the court he thought the o ensive comment “would be funny”

By Rebecca Boone The Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho — A northern Idaho prosecutor won’t bring hate crime charges against an 18-year-old accused of shouting a racist slur at members of the Utah women’s basketball team during the NCAA Tournament.

The deputy attorney for the city of Coeur d’Alene made the announcement on Monday, writing in a charging decision document that though the use of the slur was “detestable” and “incredibly o ensive,” there wasn’t evidence suggesting that the man was threatening physical harm to the women or to their property. That means the conduct is protected by the First Amendment and can’t be charged under Idaho’s malicious harassment law, Ryan Hunter wrote.

The members of the University of Utah basketball team were staying at a Coeur d’Alene hotel in March as they competed at the NCAA Tournament in nearby Spokane, Washington. Team members were walking from a hotel to a restaurant when they said a truck drove up and the driver yelled a racist slur at the group. After the team left the restaurant, the same driver returned and was “reinforced by others,” revving their engines and yelling again at the players, said Tony Stewart, an o cial with the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, during a news conference shortly after the event.

The encounters were so disturbing that they left the group concerned about their safety, Utah coach Lynne Roberts said a few days later.

Far-right extremists have maintained a presence in the region for years. In 2018, at least nine hate groups operated in the region of Spokane and northern Idaho, according to the South-

ern Poverty Law Center.

“We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes toward our program and (it was) incredibly upsetting for all of us,” Roberts said. “In our world, in athletics and in university settings, it’s shocking. There’s so much diversity on a college campus and so you’re just not exposed to that very often.”

University of Utah o cials declined to comment about the prosecutor’s decision on Wednesday.

In the document detailing the decision, Hunter said police interviewed nearly two dozen witnesses and pored over hours of surveillance video. Several credible witnesses described a racist slur being hurled at the group as they walked to dinner, but their descriptions of the vehicle and the person who shouted the slur varied, and police weren’t able to hear any audio of the yelling on the surveillance tapes.

There also wasn’t any evidence to connect the encounter before the team arrived at the restaurant with what happened as they left, Hunter, wrote. Still, police were able to identify the occupants of a silver passenger vehicle involved in the second encounter, and one of them — an 18-year-old high school student — reportedly confessed to shouting a slur and an obscene statement at the group, Hunter said.

Prosecutors considered whether to bring three possible charges against the man — malicious harassment, disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace — but decided they didn’t have enough evidence to support any of the three charges.

That’s because Idaho’s hate crime law only makes racial harassment a crime if it is done with the intent to either threaten or cause physical harm to a person or to their property. The man who shouted the slur told police he did it because he thought it would be funny, Hunter wrote.

“Setting aside the rank absurdity of that claim and the abjectly disgusting thought

process required to believe it would be humorous to say something that abhorrent,” it undermines the premise that the man had the speci c intent to intimidate and harass, Hunter wrote.

The hateful speech also didn’t meet the requirements of Idaho’s disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace laws, which are mainly about when and where noise or unruly behavior occurs. The slurs were shouted on a busy thoroughfare during the early evening hours, and so the noise level wasn’t unusual for that time and place. Hunter wrote that his o ce shares in the outrage sparked by the man’s “abhorrently racist and misogynistic statement, and we join in unequivocally condemning that statement and the use of a racial slur in this case, or in any circumstance. However that cannot, under current law, form the basis for criminal prosecution in this case.”

The First Amendment protects even hateful or o ensive speech, said Aaron Terr, the public advocacy director of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which advocates for freedom of speech and thought.

“While that means we sometimes have to hear speech we loathe, it’s an important principle because the only alternative is for the government to decide when speech is too o ensive. That’s a subjective judgment, and it would open the door to the government arbitrarily suppressing views it doesn’t like,” Terr said.

There are a few exceptions to the First Amendment, Terr said, but they are narrow and well de ned.

“For example the First Amendment doesn’t protect true threats, which are statements expressing a serious intent to cause physical harm to an individual or to place them in fear of physical harm,” Terr said. “Incitement is also unprotected, but to qualify as incitement, the speech must be intended to and likely to cause immediate unlawful action.”

Hawks win NBA lottery in year where there’s no clear choice for No. 1 pick

Hornets will pick sixth. The draft is June 26 -27 in Brooklyn.

By Andrew Seligman

Associated Press

CHICAGO — The Atlanta Hawks won the NBA draft lottery on Sunday, landing the No. 1 pick and a potential cornerstone player in a year where there’s no clear- cut choice.

The Hawks hit the jackpot despite just 3% odds after nishing 10th in the Eastern Conference at 36 - 46. They dropped their nal six regular-season games and lost to the Chicago Bulls in the rst round of the play-in tournament.

The Hawks haven’t won a postseason series since a surprising run to the Eastern Conference nals in 2021. They got knocked out in the rst round in 2022 and 2023.

Atlanta has some big decisions to make this o season, including whether to break up its backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. GM Landry Fields can build with the No. 1 pick, though it’s not clear who will be taken rst after Victor Wembanyama was the obvious choice for San Antonio last year.

Washington, Houston, San Antonio and Detroit rounded out the top ve. The Charlotte

Washington and Detroit had the best chances to land the top pick at 14%. Only four teams have won the lottery with slimmer odds than Atlanta, with the biggest longshot being Orlando at 1.52% in 1993. The Magic orchestrated a blockbuster draft night trade with Golden State, sending the rights to Chris Webber to the Warriors for the rights to Penny Hardaway along with three future rst-round picks.

San Antonio landed a generational player last year in Wembanyama. The franchise that previously took David Robinson and Tim Duncan with the No. 1 overall pick got its next great big man, and all the Frenchman did was turn in one of the best rookie seasons in NBA history.

The No. 1 pick could once again come from France, whether it’s center Alex Sarr or sharp -shooting forward Zaccharie Risacher, but that’s far from a certainty. UConn guard Stephon Castle and Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham are both expected to be o the board within the rst few selections.

The 7-foot-1, 224 -pound

Sarr has the size and mobility that teams crave and can defend the perimeter when he’s

not blocking shots down low. The 19 -year- old from Toulouse is known for his explosiveness around the rim, though he could use some more muscle. It would help, too, if he developed into a more reliable 3-point shooter.

Sarr, whose brother Olivier plays for the Oklahoma City and played three years at Wake Forest, spent this past season in Australia’s National Basketball League.

Risacher, who was born in Spain and grew up in France, is known as a dynamic, albeit streaky shooter for JL Bourg, whether he’s popping o screens or pulling up for 3-pointers. He often guards the other team’s best player.

Castle joined Andre Drummond in 2012 as UConn’s only one-and- done players when he declared for the draft in April after the Huskies’ latest NCAA championship run. The 6 -foot- 6 guard averaged 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists while often drawing the defensive assignment to shut down the opposition’s top perimeter player. He scored 21 in UConn’s Final Four win over Alabama and had 15 points in the championship game against Purdue. Sheppard and Dillingham both came o the bench in their lone college seasons.

Sheppard, who was voted the Southeastern Conference’s top freshman by coaches after lead-

NBA basketball draft prospect Kyle Filipowski takes video of himself in front of the draft lottery order before the draft lottery in Chicago.

ing the league in steals, was one of the league’s best playmakers and perimeter shooters. He was Kentucky’s No. 3 scorer at 12.5 points per contest and averaged an SEC -best 2.5 steals that ranked eighth nationally, despite starting just ve of 33 games. He also averaged 4.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds and made 52% of his 3-point attempts. Dillingham was voted the SEC’s top sixth man after averaging 15.2 and 3.9 assists. Kentucky tied for second in the conference and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, only to get knocked out by Oakland in the round of 64. Coach John Calipari then left after 15 years for Arkansas.

The Hornets will pick sixth

The

NAM Y. HUH / AP PHOTO

SIDELINE REPORT

Pirates’ Skenes makes big league debut vs. Cubs

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes made an impressive big league debut, striking out seven in four-plus innings against the Chicago Cubs. The 21-year-old Skenes allowed three runs while throwing 84 pitches, 17 of which reached at least 100 mph. A near-sellout crowd made its way into PNC Park to watch Skenes, who was the top overall pick in the 2023 draft and the top-ranked pitching prospect in baseball. Skenes’ more-famous girlfriend, LSU gymnast and social media in uencer Livvy Dunne, was there, too. Skenes is in the majors to stay after needing just seven starts to dominate opponents in Triple-A.

NASCAR

Larson not hardcore Swiftie despite trip to Paris concert

Darlington, S.C. Kyle Larson says he is not a Swiftie, despite he and his wife taking their daughter to Paris this week to see Taylor Swift in concert. Larson said Saturday at Darlington Raceway that it was a surprise birthday trip for 6-year-old Aubrey. Larson enjoyed the show and admitted he wore a Swift-themed T-shirt and a couple of friendship bracelets. He made it clear, however, that he was not part of the ride-or-die fan base that has made Swift one of the world’s most popular entertainers. Larson won the Southern 500 at Darlington last September but had a 34th-place nish in Sunday’s race.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

6 players on cover of EA Sports’ College Football 25 video game

Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter are among six players displayed on the cover of EA Sports College Football 25. The popular video game is returning after being discontinued 11 years ago. The cover for the deluxe edition of EA College Football 25 was posted online. The game is scheduled to be released in July. It stopped being made amid lawsuits accusing it of using players’ likeness without paying them. Other players on the cover are Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Illinois basketball’s Shannon Jr. headed to trial on rape charges Lawrence, Kan.

A Kansas judge has ordered University of Illinois basketball standout Terrence Shannon Jr. to stand trial on a rape charge following testimony from a woman who said she was “terri ed” as she was being assaulted. Shannon is accused of committing sexual assault last September at a bar in Lawrence, Kansas. A woman told police she was at a bar when a man she later identi ed as Shannon grabbed and touched her sexually. The woman said the bar was crowded, so she couldn’t move. Shannon testi ed on Friday that he never touched the woman.

LPGA

Keselowski claims victory at Darlington Raceway

we just laid it all on the line.”

By Pete Iacobelli The Associated Press

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Brad Keselowski moved to the front when leaders Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick hit battling for rst with nine laps left and held on to win the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday for his rst NASCAR win in three years.

It was Keselowski’s 36th career victory, his second at Darlington and his rst since reconnecting with magnate Jack Roush and becoming a co-owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

“Hell of an e ort by everyone,” Keselowski said after crossing the nish line.

It appeared Keselowski’s employee at RFK, Buescher, would get the win after he passed his boss and Reddick with 29 laps to go. But Buescher and Reddick then hit and fell back, opening the door for Keselowski’s satisfying victory.

“What a heck of a day,” he said. “That battle out there with my teammate and Tyler Reddick,

Ty Gibbs was second, Josh Berry third and Denny Hamlin fourth. Chase Briscoe was fth followed by William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley and Michael McDowell.

It was another near miss for Buescher, who lost by 0.001 seconds to Kyle Larson at Kansas in the closest nish in NASCAR history.

Buescher slid to 30th and Reddick 32nd.

Buescher confronted Reddick when both got out of their cars, after the close call cost him a NASCAR victory for a second straight week.

Buescher had lost out by 0.001 of a second at Kansas to Kyle Larson a week ago in what was the closest ending in NASCAR history. This time, Buescher lost his chance at the Goodyear 400 when Tyler Reddick tried to pass for the lead.

Reddick’s car slid up into Buescher, knocking him against the wall and ruining both their chances for a Darlington victory.

Buescher shoved Reddick and shouted that he should not have tried that move.

“I tried to back out,” Reddick said. “The last thing I wanted to do was wreck your car. I’m sorry.”

Patriots QB Maye wraps up rst taste of NFL workouts at rookie minicamp

The No. 3 overall pick outof UNC gets rst taste of pro football

The Associated Press

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England quarterback Drake Maye’s day at rookie minicamp wasn’t done, not by a long shot.

The No. 3 overall pick in the NFL Draft was just getting started after wrapping up practice on Saturday. After all, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said Maye had been at the team facility “all night” on Friday.

“We’ll be here till 7, 8, 9 o’clock. Go in for a lift, then we have some meetings,” Maye said after practice behind Gillette Stadium.

“The best thing about minicamp is being around the guys for the rst time. We’re at the hotel together. We’re right across the hallway from each other, so we’ll watch the lm and look at the scripts for the next day together.

“We’ve got nothing else to do up here. Why not focus on football?”

The laser focus already has rubbed o on fellow rookies, including wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk, who was drafted one

round after Maye.

“Guy can sling it. Very condent and vocal. He’s a leader,” Polk said. “He’s setting the tone in practice, trying to get guys moving around and operating at a high level. This is new to all of us. We’re still learning and trying to get to know each other so everybody can get on the same page.”

At one point Saturday, Maye was under center with Polk lined up to his left and two more rookie receivers — one drafted (Javon Baker) and one undrafted (David Wallis) — lined up to his right. There wasn’t live contact or a pass rush to anticipate. But for Maye, it’s about soaking up as much knowledge as possible.

At times during practice, Maye talked with Patriots o ensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. He also chatted with quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney and o ensive assistant coach Ben McAdoo, who has been around his share of topight quarterbacks — namely Eli Manning with the New York Giants and Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers.

“T.C. is talking to us during the meetings. Coach Van Pelt will chime in when he needs to. Coach (McAdoo) is awesome,” Maye said. “All three of them know a lot of football.”

Buescher pointed to the NASCAR playo decal on his car for those, like Reddick, who’ve quali ed for the postseason. “That doesn’t work for me,” Buescher said. “We don’t have that sticker on my door right now. I need you to be better. We’ve raced each other for so long just ne.”

Buescher had said how agonizing his loss to Kyle Larson at Kansas last week was, replaying it and coming up with several things he might have done differently given another chance. At Darlington, Buescher knew who to blame.

“That’s two weeks in a row we had a shot to win races,” Buescher said. “One, I’m going to relive in my head forever at what I would’ve done di erent (at Kansas). The other, I need someone else to be more mature about it.”

Reddick continued apologizing in his post-race comments.

He said his attempted pass was aggressive and he tried to check up so he would not slide into Buescher.

“It’s tough to walk away knowing that I used someone up, took their chance away from winning the race that’s racing me really cleanly,” Reddick said. “I have to work on that and try and make

Driver Brad Keselowski holds up the trophy in Victory Lane after winning at Darlington Raceway on Sunday.

some better decisions.”

Bad day

One slip up ended the chances of two NASCAR champions. Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr. and Byron were three-wide on lap 128 when Byron tagged Truex who pushed into Blaney and sent him against the wall in turn two.

The crew for Blaney, the defending Cup Series champion, could not repair the damage and his day was done. He rode up alongside Byron to signal his displeasure with Byron’s move.

“He used a little bit more race track than I thought, so I have every right to be mad and he gets away scot-free,” said Blaney, who wound up last in 36th place. Truex, the 2017 series champion, dropped from the top 10 and nished 25th.

Odds and ends Berry’s third-place nish was his best since replacing retired Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 car.

... Erik Jones, twice a winner at Darlington, nished 19th in his rst race since su ering a compression fracture in a lower vertebra during a crash at Talladega last month. ... Larson’s No. 5 paint scheme homage to Hall of Famer Terry Labonte’s 1996 title-winning car was voted the best throwback by the fans. ... The series takes a week o of points racing for the All-Star Race at historic North Wilkesboro.

Focusing on fundamentals, namely footwork, is a priority for Maye since arriving in New England.

“I’m trying out two new stances that I’m getting used to. Just getting more reps at it,” Maye said. “Footwork is huge. It’s something that’s not easy.”

The learning curve after playing in college at North Carolina will include becoming familiar with the region’s weather patterns. Practice featured a gusty breeze, a possible preview of coming attractions when November and December roll around.

“He has a lot to work on, but I have no doubt that he will put the time in,” Mayo said.

Belichick’s replacement

The Patriots are going with

Eliot Wolf to stock their roster after two decades with Bill Belichick in charge.

The team on Saturday named Wolf, 42, the executive vice president of player personnel, giving him the formal title of the job he had mostly been handling since Belichick was red. Wolf will control the 53-man roster and manage the salary cap.

Owner Robert Kraft said he wanted to observe the relationship between Wolf and coach Mayo before making it formal. Wolf is the son of Hall of Famer Ron Wolf, the former Packers general manager. Eliot Wolf has worked 20 seasons with Green Bay, Cleveland and the Patriots. He spent the last two seasons as New England’s director of scouting.

MARK STOCKWELL / AP PHOTO

New England Patriots rst-round draft pick quarterback Drake Maye walks onto the eld during the team’s rookie minicamp.

The victory ends his 3-year NASCAR Cup win drought

MATT KELLEY / AP PHOTO

Dozens injured in train crash in Buenos Aires

The passenger train struck a box car on the track

By Isabel Debre The Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argenti-

na

— At least 90 people were injured in Argentina’s capital when a passenger train struck an empty boxcar on the tracks and derailed Friday, authorities said, a rare collision that fueled questions about basic safety.

The train was on its way from Buenos Aires to the northern suburbs when it derailed around 10:30 a.m. on a bridge in the trendy neighborhood of Palermo, safety o cials said.

While it was not immediately clear why the idled boxcar had been on the bridge, Argentina’s railway union said several yards of copper cable used to carry power along the tracks had been stolen from the railway, disabling the signaling system intended to prevent such accidents.

Union leaders ercely opposed to libertarian President Javier Milei’s economic austerity blamed the government for its failure to invest in public infrastructure.

“We have been demanding for 10 days that the stolen signaling cables be repaired,” rail union leader Omar Maturano told the country’s independent Radio Con Vos station. “The government said there was no money for spare parts.”

Prosecutors said they were investigating.

“There is not enough information about the mechanics

of this accident,” Buenos Aires Mayor Jorge Macri said from the crash site where he praised the swift evacuation of victims.

Dozens of injured were treated at the scene and 30 people were taken to hospitals in moderate to serious condition, at least two by helicopter with chest trauma and broken bones.

Alberto Crescenti, director of the city’s emergency service, said rescuers with police dogs had helped 90 people trapped

in the derailed train, lowering some by rope from the highway overpass scattered with twisted metal and shattered glass.

Dazed passengers staggering out of the derailed boxcars told local media the train had stopped on the bridge for several minutes before starting up again and slamming violently into the other train, jolting passengers and veering o the rails in a jumble of sparks and smoke.

O cials at the Argentine rail authority, Trenes Argentinos, said service on the popular rail line had been suspended, complicating travel for many commuters. The collision brought increased scrutiny to rail safety in Argentina, where a string of train crashes from 2012-14 left more than 50 people dead and hundreds injured. It emerged at the time that outdated infrastructure, delays and human er-

Rise in UK knife attacks leads to crackdown

An anxious public has called for the government to do more

By Laurie Kellman

The Associated Press

LONDON — A familiar horror reached Pooja Kanda rst on social media: There had been a sword attack in London. And then Kanda, who was home alone at the time, saw a detail she dreaded and knew all too well.

A man with a sword had killed a 14-year-old boy who was walking to school. Two years ago, her 16-year-old son, Ronan, was killed by two sword-wielding schoolmates while walking to a neighbor’s to borrow a PlayStation controller.

“It took me back,” Kanda, who lives near Birmingham, said about Daniel Anjorin’s April

30 killing in an attack in London’s Hainault district that also wounded four people. “It’s painful to see that this has happened all over again.”

In parts of the world that ban or strictly regulate gun ownership, including Britain and much of the rest of Europe, knives and other types of blades are often the weapons of choice used in crimes. Many end up in the hands of children, as they can be cheap and easy to get.

Although the number of fatal stabbings has mostly held steady in England and Wales over the past 10 years, headline-grabbing attacks and an overall rise in knife crime have stoked anxieties and led to calls for the government to do more.

“Knife-enabled” crime — in which knives were used to commit crimes or someone was caught illegally possessing one

— rose 7% in England and Wales last year,” the government said last month, noting some localities were not included. In London, such crimes jumped 20%. The other two U.K. countries, Scotland and Northern Ireland, keep their own statistics.

With knives so readily available, there’s only so much that can be done. Of the 244 fatal stabbings in England and Wales in the 12 months ending with March 2023 — the most recent gures available — 101 were committed with kitchen knives, far surpassing any other type of blade, according to the O ce of National Statistics.

But the uptick in knife crime and a steady drumbeat of shocking attacks, including those that killed Ronan Kanda, Daniel Anjorin and three people in Nottingham last year, has pushed the issue to the forefront.

“It seems like every day something like this is reported in the press,” Sanjoy O’Malley-Kumar, whose 19-year-old daughter Grace O’Malley-Kumar was among the Nottingham victims, said on “Good Morning Britain” after the recent attack in London.

In last week’s local elections, candidates debated policies such as stop-and-search.

Even movie star Idris Elba has weighed in.

“I can pick up a phone right now, type in knives and I’ll get inundated with adverts for them,” the London-born star of “The Wire” and “Luther” said during a protest in January.

Guns are heavily restricted in the U.K. and there’s not much debate about it. That’s partly because the 1996 massacre of 16 elementary students in Dunblane, Scotland, led to a ban on own-

“The rail company has been totally degraded because there’s no budget.”

Omar Maturano, rail union leader

ror had left the railway system vulnerable to crashes, prompting the government to invest in new safety and braking systems.

With Argentina’s economy spiraling and anti-government protests gripping the streets, the crash quickly spawned contradictory narratives, with both government o cials and leftist union leaders using the incident to further their agendas.

“The rail company has been totally degraded because there’s no budget,” said Maturano, from the rail union.

President Milei reposted comments on social media blaming his left-leaning predecessors for neglecting public infrastructure and running up a massive budget de cit.

In the midst of Argentina’s worst economic crisis in two decades, police have repeatedly reported would-be cable thieves being electrocuted in the act. Those who succeed wreak havoc on the rail system in stealing metal to sell to scrapyards, where local media says the going rate is about $3.18 a pound.

The Argentine website Infobae in February called copper cable theft “a trendy crime for the crisis.”

ing handguns. Firearms used for hunting are tightly regulated. Restricting knives is trickier, but the government is trying. It’s already illegal to sell a knife to someone younger than 18 or to carry one in public without a good reason, such as for work or religious purposes. And certain types of blades are already illegal, including switchblades and so-called zombie knives, which come in various sizes, have cutting and serrated edges, and feature text or images suggesting they should be used to commit violence, according to the 2016 law banning them. A new law will take e ect in September banning the sale of machetes and closing a loophole that companies have exploited to get around the zombie knife ban. It remains to be seen whether the new law will have much e ect, though, as machetes accounted for only 14 of of the 244 stabbing deaths in the 12 months that ended in March 2023 and zombie-style knives accounted for seven.

RODRIGO ABD / AP PHOTO

A train wagon that collided with another stands on the rails in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last Friday.

STATE & NATION

US special ops leaders learning to do more with less

Fort Liberty is facing budget cuts

By Lolita C. Baldor The Associated Press

FORT LIBERTY — Forced to do more with less and learning from the war in Ukraine, U.S. special operations commanders are juggling how to add more high-tech experts to their teams while still cutting their overall forces by about 5,000 troops over the next ve years.

The con icting pressures are forcing a broader restructuring of the commando teams, which are often deployed for highrisk counterterrorism missions and other sensitive operations around the world. The changes under consideration are being in uenced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including lessons learned by British special operations forces there.

U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which bears the brunt of the personnel cuts, is eyeing plans to increase the size of its Green Beret teams — usu-

ally about 12 members — to bring in people with more specialized and technical abilities. One possibility would be the addition of computer software experts who could reprogram drones or other technical equipment on the y.

But similar changes could ripple across all the military services.

“A 12-person detachment might be upgunned,” said Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander of

A U.S. Army soldier checks a compass while completing a land navigation course during Special Forces Assessment and Selection near Ho man in 2019.

U.S. Special Operations Command. He said an Air Force pilot, Navy ship driver, cryptologist or cyber expert may be needed as battle elds become more challenging and high tech.

The United States is “taking a lot of lessons learned out of the experience in Ukraine, mostly through the eyes of our U.K. special operations partners, who not only have done that in their formations, but they’ve also

learned very quickly that they needed other elements of their joint force,” he told The Associated Press in an interview.

The bulk of the cuts stem from the Army’s decision to reduce the size of its force by about 24,000 and restructure its troops as the U.S. shifts from counterterrorism and counterinsurgency to focus more on large-scale combat operations. The Army also has struggled to meet recruitment goals and had to reduce the overall size of its force.

Army Special Operations Command, which Fenton said is absorbing about 4,000 cuts ordered over the past year and a half, is looking at bringing in people with high-tech skills.

“I think one of the questions is how much can you teach a Green Beret versus some of these specialties are extremely technical,” said Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, deputy commander of the command at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. “You can teach a person about how to use a drone. But then to say, I want to have a software engineer program that drone, that’s something di erent.”

The cuts to Army special operations forces have triggered some congressional opposition, including during recent Capitol Hill hearings where lawmakers noted the impact at Fort Liberty. Fenton also spoke bluntly at the hearings about the growing demand

for special operations forces.

He said U.S. regional commanders around the world consistently want more and that cutting the forces means “we’ll be able to meet less of what they demand. And I think we owe the secretary of defense our assessment as we go forward.”

For years, during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the number of special operations forces and support sta grew, particularly since they were often spread out in small, remote bases where they needed additional security and other logistical help. Now, Pentagon leaders say the numbers can shrink a bit.

Fenton said a cut of about 2,000 personnel in special operations was ordered by the department about a year and a half ago, including about 750 in the Army. That was followed this year by a cut of 3,000 in Army special operations. The cuts are to be spread out across ve years.

“So the real Army reduction in totality is almost 4,000, and the remaining 1,000 will come from the joint force, SEALs, Marine raiders, other Army units,” said Fenton.

For Roberson, the question is where to cut his Army troops.

“Cuts have a way of crystallizing your focus and your view of, OK, what’s important to me? What’s the future? What do I really need to have,” he said in an interview in his Fort Liberty o ce.

Court rules Charlotte Catholic High could re gay teacher

The substitute wasn’t allowed to return to the school after he announced his plans to get married

By Gary D. Robertson

The Associated Press

RALEIGH — A Catholic school in Charlotte had the right to re a gay teacher who announced his marriage on social media a decade ago, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, reversing a judge’s earlier decision.

A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, reversed a 2021 ruling that Charlotte Catholic High School and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte had violated Lonnie Billard’s federal employment protections against sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The school said Billard wasn’t invited back as a substitute teacher because of his “advocacy in favor of a position that is opposed to what the church teaches about marriage,” a court document said.

U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn determined Billard — a full-time teacher for a decade until 2012 — was a lay employee for the limited purpose of teaching secular classes. Cogburn said a trial would still have to be held to determine appropriate relief for him. A 2020 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court declared Title VII also protected workers who were red for being gay or transgender.

But Circuit Judge Pamela Harris, writing Wednesday’s prevailing opinion, said that Billard fell under a “ministerial exception” to Title VII that courts have derived from the First Amendment that protects religious institutions in how they treat employees “who per-

form tasks so central to their religious missions — even if the tasks themselves do not advertise their religious nature.”

That included Billard — who primarily taught English as a substitute and who previously taught drama when working full-time — because Charlotte

Catholic expected instructors to integrate faith throughout the curriculum, Harris wrote. And the school’s apparent expectation that Billard be ready to instruct religion as needed speaks to his role in the school’s religious mission, she added.

“The record makes clear that

(Charlotte Catholic) considered it ‘vital’ to its religious mission that its teachers bring a Catholic perspective to bear on Shakespeare as well as on the Bible,” wrote Harris, who was nominated to the bench by then-President Barack Obama. “Our court has recognized before that seemingly secular tasks like the teaching of English and drama may be so imbued with religious signi cance that they implicate the ministerial exception.”

Billard, who sued in 2017, began working at the school in 2001. He met his now-husband in 2000, and they announced their decision to get married shortly after same-sex marriage was made legal in North Carolina in 2014.

In a news release, the American Civil Liberties Union and a Charlotte law rm that helped Billard le his lawsuit lamented Wednesday’s reversal as “a heartbreaking decision for our client who wanted nothing more than the freedom to perform his duties as an educator without hiding who he is or who he loves.”

The decision threatens to encroach on the rights of LGBTQ+ workers “by widening the loopholes employers may use to re people like Mr. Billard for openly discriminatory reasons,” the joint statement read.

An attorney for a group that defended the Charlotte diocese praised the decision as “a victory for people of all faiths who cherish the freedom to pass on their faith to the next generation.” The diocese operates 20 schools across North Carolina.

KEN KASSENS / U.S. ARMY VIA AP

DAVID T. FOSTER III / THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER VIA AP

St. Patrick Cathedral is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.

the stream

Oscar-winning ‘American Fiction’ landed Tuesday on Prime Video

The third season of “Bridgerton” will focus on the courtship of Colin and Penelope

The Associated Press

ZAC EFRON and Jeremy Allen White starring in the family wrestling dynasty in “The Iron Claw” and Brooke Shields playing the unwitting title role in the romantic comedy “Mother of the Bride” on Net ix are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.

Billie Eilish’s third studio album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft” and the return of “Bridgerton” are also on tap.

MOVIES TO STREAM

Cord Je erson’s Oscar-winning “American Fiction,” one of the most celebrated directorial debuts in recent years, landed on Prime Video on Tuesday. Jeffrey Wright stars as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a frustrated novelist who, in a drunken t of rage, pens a satirical book parodying what’s popular, only it becomes a sensation. “American Fiction” is immensely watchable, staged without ash or pretension, and relies on its sharp script and talented and charismatic actors to carry the audience through.

“Madame Web,” the much-maligned Marvel entry in Sony’s Spider-Man universe of lms, landed Tuesday on Net ix. Dakota Johnson stars in what Bahr wrote in her review “feels like the stitched-together product of a bunch of people who weren’t actually collaborating.”

The odds are more in the favor of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” which began streaming Tuesday on Starz after a successful theatrical run last November. It’s a prequel to the Hunger Games, themselves. The games are in their 10th year and ratings are agging, but a few twists and turns will catapult them to Panem’s center stage. The origin story is also for the man who will become President Coriolanus Snow, played by Donald Sutherland in the rst four lms. Here, the young, ambitious Snow is played by Tom Blythe, whose performance lifts the movie.

MUSIC TO STREAM

What can listeners expect from Billie Eilish’s third studio

album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft”? It’s a mystery, and the pop star is keeping it that way for a reason. Last month, Eilish announced the album by sharing the artwork on Instagram. It depicts Ei-

lish oating in a body of water after being ejected from a door. In the caption, she wrote that she will not drop singles in advance of the release. “I wanna give it to you all at once,” she captioned

the image. “I truly could not be more proud of this album.” Here’s what we do know: Eilish once again worked with her brother and longtime collaborator Finneas on “Hit Me Hard and Soft.” Once known as a heartthrob with the best pipes in the British boy band One Direction, Zayn Malik was the rst to courageously individuate and leave the group that kickstarted his career and launch an R&B pop career. That was a lifetime ago — now, on Friday, he will release his fourth solo studio album, “Room Under the Stairs,” dreamt up and written at his home in rural Pennsylvania. This time around he worked with the legendary country producer Dave Cobb (known for his work with Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlile, among others) for Malik’s folkiest release to date. It’s partR&B, part-soul, part-acoustic Americana — a new, matured Malik for a new era. Alternative rock fans, there’s a new docu-reality series for you. “Billy Corgan’s Adventures in Carnyland” is an eightpart unscripted series from The CW that follows the Smashing Pumpkins’ frontman as he navigates fatherhood, being in a band, and his other idiosyncratic pursuits as a wrestling promoter and owner of the National Wrestling Alliance. it started streaming Tuesday on the CW App and cwtv.com.

SHOWS TO STREAM

Seasons one and two of “Bridgerton” followed the rst two novels in the series by Ju-

lia Quinn. Taking place in Regency-era London, each book is about the love story of one Bridgerton family member. Season three, however, skips to book No. 4 with the friends-tolovers courtship of Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan). Net ix has broken the season into two parts with the rst batch of new episodes premiering Thursday. Josh Brolin leads “Outer Range” on Prime Video, a Western about neighboring ranchers battling for land that quickly turns trippy with time travel. Lili Taylor, Tom Pelphrey, Imogen Poots and Shaun Sipos also star. All seven episodes of season two drop on Thursday. The popular food competition series “Ciao House” returns for its second season on Sunday on Food Network. On the show, 12 chefs live together in a Tuscan village and compete in various culinary challenges. The contestants form alliances and rivalries. In the end, the winner gets to train under master Italian chefs. “Iron Chef” champion Alex Guarnaschelli and Gabe Bertaccini return as hosts.

VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

Twenty-one years isn’t that much time on a cosmic scale, but for fans of the science ction epic Homeworld — who have waited since 2003 since the last full-blown installment — it has been an eternity. As Gearbox Publishing’s Homeworld 3 begins, the galaxy has enjoyed an age of prosperity thanks to the discovery of a network of hyperspace gates. The good times may be running out, though, as some of the gates are mysteriously collapsing. Developer Blackbird Interactive, which includes some veterans of the original game, promises plenty of the 3D outer space combat that made it a hit, whether you want to y solo or engage in free-for-alls against your friends. The game had lifto Monday on PC.

If you prefer your mysteries a little more earthbound, Annapurna Interactive’s Lorelei and the Laser Eyes has you covered. You have been invited to explore an old hotel somewhere in Europe, where you’ll soon nd yourself “embroiled in a game of illusions.” The aesthetic is classic lm noir, with eerie black-and-white settings accented with splashes of red. Swedish studio Simogo, known for mind-benders like Year Walk and Device 6, promises “an immense amount of handcrafted puzzles,” so if you’ve been craving a really big escape room, check in Thursday on Nintendo

and

Switch

PC.

DARKROOM-INTERSCOPE / MERCURY VIA AP

“Hit Me Hard and Soft” by Billie Eilish, left, “Room Under the Stairs” by Zayn, right.

NETFLIX VIA AP

Part 1 of the latest season of “Bridgerton” premieres Thursday on Net ix.

LIONSGATE VIA AP

Rachel Zegler, center, stars in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”

MOORE COUNTY

Shenanigans

Pinecrest baseball players lighten the mood with a Gatorade-powered “radar gun” during a rst-round state playo game against Green Hope on May 7. Pinecrest won 5-0 to open the tournament. For more sports, turn to page 4.

WHAT’S

HAPPENING

UNC, Duke commencements see minor protest disruptions

At UNC Chapel Hill, proPalestinian demonstrators splattered red paint on the steps of a building hours ahead of the school’s commencement ceremony and chanted on campus while students wearing light blue graduation gowns posed for photos.

At Duke’s commencement, a small number of students walked out when the commencement speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who is Jewish, began speaking.

Around the country, a number of other graduation ceremonies were disturbed by small protests, though most went o without a hitch.

NC o cials dropped from ‘eCourts’ lawsuit alleging unlawful arrests

Several state and local court o cials have been removed from a federal lawsuit led by people who allege the operation of North Carolina’s new electronic courts records system contributed to their unlawful arrest or extended jail detainment.

Individual plainti s voluntarily ended civil claims against them this week. The Wake and Mecklenburg sheri s and the company hired to develop the “eCourts” system remain defendants.

The Administrative O ce of the Courts began rolling out eCourts in February 2023, and it now covers 27 counties. The plainti s allege software errors and human errors have led to multiple arrests on the same warrants and extra time in jail.

Commissioners approve land for new re station

The site on J. Dowdy Road will serve both re and EMS

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

THE MOORE COUNTY Board of Commissioners approved a $235,000 land purchase for a new re and EMS station on J. Dowdy Road, during its meeting last week.

“This is a project we’ve been working on for a couple of years to increase the EMS coverage by putting a [quick response vehicle] out on J. Dowdy Road and

also in partnership with the local re department to have a re station out there to help reduce the insurance rating out there,” said Public Safety Director Bryan Phillips.

The board also approved a pair of change orders on the courthouse project, amounting to $235,000 in construction costs that will come out of contingency funding, plus another pair of change orders worth $155,000 on the Moore County Convenience Center in order lower the site by six inches and remove underground water that was discovered.

“It’s going to be a great site,”

said commissioner Jim Von Canon on the Convenience Center.

“It’s going to help out the Moore County citizens. It’s another indicator of how much it costs to move dirt and excavate and when you run into fresh water that you didn’t anticipate.”

The commissioners also saw the Moore County Schools 2025 Budget.

“On behalf of our board, we want to thank you for your generosity and your funding formula because it’s made it a lot easier for us to do what we need to do,” said Board of Education Chair Robert Levy. “It may not be all the money we want. Clearly there are many,

Music meets magic in Shakori Hills

Welcoming vibes, diverse music and sustainable practices abound at Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival

By Dan Reeves For North State Journal

PITTSBORO — Walking into Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, held this past weekend, the typical parking and entry headaches of events like these quickly disappear. The kind, welcoming sta and volunteers embodying the festival’s peaceful vibe invite each visitor to become part of a larger community. Stepping into Shakori Hills, a mystical and warming communal spirit is palpable.

many things we would like to do that, if we had more money, we would do it, but we do recognize that your board has made a deep commitment to public education and our budget does re ect that.”

The operating budget for scal 2025 totals $166.6 million with $38.8 million coming from Moore County.

“Being on the budget, I woke up with threes and ves and Excel spreadsheets in my head for a week, but you’re going to get the $38.5 [million] because that’s what we agreed upon and that’s the working budget,” said Vice Chair Kurt Cook. “That’s what it takes for our children to get educated. That’s our future and we have to invest into our future.”

Finally, the commissioners also approved the allocation of $25,000 in opioid settlement funds to Bridge to Recovery for recovery support services.

The Moore County Board of Commissioners will next meet May 21.

While music is the main attraction, patrons also enjoy healing, centering and relaxation opportunities. Skilled practitioners o er massage, shiatsu, Reiki and other bodywork therapies to attendees, while workshops on sound healing, guided meditation and yoga for relaxation. These activities help attendees unwind, rejuvenate and nd inner peace amidst the festival’s vibrant energy.

Sustainability is more than a trendy term at this festival — it’s a fundamental practice. The grounds are immaculately maintained, and all waste is carefully sorted for recycling or composting. Musicians enjoy meals made from locally sourced produce, served on compostable dinnerware. Guests re ll their water bottles from deep wells on the

See SHAKORI HILLS , page 2

Anchored by a stellar lineup of artists spanning various genres, the festival had something for everyone. From folk and bluegrass to world music, jazz and Americana, the musical o erings were as diverse as the attendees. Headliners included Watch-

Children’s laughter, tribal drumming and the calming aroma of burning camp res ll the air. Artisans line the paths throughout the grounds, selling homespun clothing, jewelry and visually stunning art. Enjoying a burrito from one of the many food vendors with his wife and two kids, rst-timer Brian Mayor told me, “I’m here for all of it.”

house (formerly Mandolin Orange), the Sam Grisman Project (led by the son of bluegrass legend David Grisman), Jupiter & Okwess, and Donna the Buffalo, promising a varied and unforgettable musical experience, with many of the nearly 7,000 attendees camping on the spacious, wooded grounds.

PHOTO COURTESY RICH LEVINE

Washington, D.C.-based Scythian performs at the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival last weekend.

DAVID SINCLAIR FOR NORTH STATE JOURNAL

We stand corrected To report an error or a suspected error, please email: corrections@nsjonline.com with “Correction request” in the subject line.

Union Pines student killed in crash

The district did not share any additional information

North State Journal sta

A student from Union Pines High School was killed in a car crash, Moore County Schools

property, minimizing plastic waste. This commitment to sustainability is not just a feature but a promise for future generations.

Family-friendly activities abound at Shakori Hills, each designed to spark joy, curiosity and personal growth: storytelling sessions, yoga classes for kids, and holistic workshops on chakras and meditation. Additionally, there are creative workshops on tie-dye and screen-printing T-shirts, interactive science displays at the Seeing Sounds Station, mask-making and puppet shows.

Drumming for Wellness NC provides a rhythmic experience, while the Kids Bazaar allows

announced in a press release Tuesday afternoon.

“During this extremely difcult time, our thoughts and prayers are with the student’s family, friends and the Union Pines High School community,” the release read.

moore happening

May 7

• Christopher Lewis Shaw, 37 years old, was arrested by the Moore County Sheriff’s Office on a charge of identity theft.

• Onorio Martinez Valdez, 48 years old, was arrested by the Moore County Sheriff’s Office on a charge of driving while impaired.

May 8

• William Clyde Britt, 33 years old, was arrested by the Southern Pines Police Department on a charge of larceny by changing a price tag.

• Jared Austin Haywood, 41 years old, was arrested by the Moore County Sheriff’s Office for a probation violation.

• Zarnell Orlando Wilson, 62 years old, was arrested by the Southern Pines Police Department on a charge of not having liability insurance.

• Ryan Andrew Britt, 32 years old, was arrested by the Moore County Sheriff’s Office on a charge of uttering a forged instrument.

May 10

• Lacy Kyser Jackson, 53 years old, was arrested by the Moore County Sheriff’s Office on a charge of identity theft.

• Teyanna Ratliff Kearns Ingram, 39 years old, was arrested by the Robbins Police Department on a charge of felony possession of cocaine.

“Understanding the impact of this tragedy on our students and sta , we are actively providing necessary resources and support. Counselors and other support personnel are available to all students and sta , o ering a safe space for those who may need assistance.”

young artists to sell their handmade crafts. These events aim to entertain, educate and inspire children and parents alike, fostering a sense of community and creativity. With such a wide range of activities, there’s always a bright moment for families at Shakori Hills.

The festival, imagined in 1990 by Americana band Donna the Bu alo to raise awareness for the AIDS crisis, was founded as the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance. Held the secondto-last weekend of July in Trumansburg, New York, a small town 10 miles north of Ithaca, it draws around 20,000 attendees each summer.

In the early 2000s, the band frequently toured through

The school district did not share any additional information on the incident.

North Carolina and saw the potential for the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival to grow and expand. They found the perfect location in Shakori Hills, an almost 80-acre plot outside Pittsboro, known for its scenic beauty and vibrant atmosphere. The Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, rst held in 2003, carries on the original vision of the Finger Lakes festival. The music and serene natural beauty of Shakori Hills draw thousands to the four-day festival every spring and fall, but the main attraction is still the irreplicable experience and welcoming environment full of art, love and purpose — and it all happens right here in Chatham County.

Music was the main attraction at Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival in Pittsboro over the weekend, with food, fun and everything from parades to yoga classes available. Elsewhere, patrons could partake in reiki, massage and other bodywork therapies from skilled practitioners.

MOORE COUNTY

Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in and around Moore County:

May 17

Going Out of Business:

Black

Food Drive Noon Dahlia Gardens in Aberdeen is hosting a food drive at 915 Pee Dee Rd. in Aberdeen. All donations will go to the local food bank.

Family Campout Under the Stars

7 p.m.

Enjoy games, snacks and a story by the re. The fun takes place at Downtown Southern Pines Park. You must bring your own tent. Space is limited to 20 families. (Registration required – Costs $10-$14) For more information call 910- 692-7376.

May 18

Law Enforcement Torch Run

8:30 a.m.

Join the Aberdeen Police Department for the Law Enforcement Torch Run, a 5K run/walk in support of the Special Olympics of North Carolina. Registration is $20 to participate (includes a Torch Run T-shirt worn by all participants). The 2024 Torch Run is held at Legacy Lakes in Aberdeen. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The event is open to anyone who wants to run or walk, and it will start at 9 a.m. For additional information and registration, contact the Aberdeen Police Department at 910-944-9721.

Go Topless for Teri Ride

10 a.m.

Join Just Moore Jeeps and Sandhills Moore Coalition for the 2nd annual Go Topless for Teri Ride. The group will make stops at many places in Moore County to gather clues for the last stop where all will gather for camaraderie, food and fun. There will be ra e tickets and T-shirts available for sale. It is a $10 donation to join the ride. All proceeds collected will go to the Sandhills Moore Coalition to bene t Teri’s medical expenses while she waits for her kidney transplant.

Moore County Edition of North State Journal

PHOTOS COURTESY RICH LEVINE

THE CONVERSATION

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

VISUAL VOICES

Protecting freedom and democracy

These overreaching mandates are an attempt to shut down the use of natural gas and force electric appliances on families.

AS A LIMITED GOVERNMENT

conservative, I’ve always been a big believer in you having the freedom to choose what’s best for you and your family.

Sadly, the Biden Administration does not share this view. The latest example — Biden’s Department of Energy is now trying to take control of your home appliances in the name of an anti-energy agenda, imposing new burdensome regulations on appliances that you rely on every single day like dishwashers and air conditioners. These overreaching mandates are an attempt to shut down the use of natural gas and force electric appliances on families — even if they are more expensive and less reliable. This comes at a time when folks are already being crushed by rising costs thanks to in ation.

I will always prioritize the needs of hardworking families like yours. That’s why last week, I joined my House Republican colleagues in taking action against the Biden Administration’s e orts to erode

COLUMN | SUSAN ESTRICH

No good answers

THERE ARE NO GOOD answers to the current situation in the Gaza War.

The balance Biden has attempted to forge is collapsing.

President Joe Biden is trying to use a pause in weapons shipments to force Israel to do more to protect civilians against “collateral damage” that a bombing campaign in Rafah would no doubt entail. But United States military o cials admit that that is easier said than done.

How do you move a million people to safety? How do you protect the hostages who are being used as human shields? And how does Israel complete its mission, which is to dismantle a terrorist organization that has threatened to repeat the massacre of Oct. 7 10,000 times?

There are no good answers.

Rafah is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas. Israelis understand that it cannot be ignored. The war is not over. But a massive bombing campaign will kill thousands of innocent civilians.

Israel is increasingly isolated in the international community. But so long as Rafah remains in Hamas control, it is also in immediate jeopardy. Sloganeering is what you hear on college campuses, but it is not an answer to anything.

Biden is in a bind. Conditioning

your freedoms by passing the Hands o our Home Appliances Act. I was successful in getting an amendment included that would prevent the Department of Energy’s ill-advised or misguided energy e ciency standards for distribution transformers from taking e ect.

One of the many lessons we learned from the Moore County 2022 grid attack is that we cannot a ord disruptions to our grid. This amendment to the Hands o our Home Appliances Act helps protect our nation’s grid security and strengthen our domestic supply chains.

In addition to protecting our energy grid, last week the House also took action to protect our democracy. The census informs how our government divides up congressional districts and Electoral College votes for each state. An accurate count ensures American voters have equal representation. Yet, under the current process, the census counts people who are

U.S. aid, which is what he appears to be doing (even though Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin rea rmed that our support for Israel is “ironclad”) will not quiet the protestors. It will not quiet Donald Trump, who told talk radio station WPHT in Philadelphia that “If anybody that’s Jewish votes for him or Democrats, they have to have their head examined. They are being treated so badly and have been for years.” In fact, Biden has been a good friend to Israel and has stood by Israel at some signi cant political cost to him since Oct. 7, while Trump snipes from the sidelines.

But the balance Biden has attempted to forge is collapsing. Hamas is hiding in the tunnels in Rafah, using hostages as human shields. Big bombs are e ective against the reinforced tunnels but cause unacceptable civilian casualties. More precise methods may not be workable at all. What is Israel supposed to do? It cannot coexist with Hamas. It tried that, and Oct. 7 was the result. Hamas doesn’t care about its own people. The world expects Israel to care more about the Gazan people than Hamas does.

In his Senate testimony this week, Austin, while rea rming the administration’s commitment to support Israel, said, “Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting

noncitizens, like illegal migrants, in a state’s population — skewing the representation of American citizens. American democracy depends on accurate representation and electoral integrity. The Equal Representation Act, which House Republicans passed last week, would protect our democracy by making sure that American citizens — and American citizens only — are counted when determining our voting districts.

I’m committed to preserving the integrity of our elections and to upholding the trust of the American people in their government. This common-sense legislation reinforces the foundation upon which our nation’s democracy stands, helping to foster a system that truly re ects the will of the people.

Safeguarding freedom and ensuring the integrity of our electoral processes are fundamental principles that I will always defend.

Richard Hudson represents the 9th Congressional District in Congress.

the civilians that are in that battle space.” But U.S. military o cials don’t say how that can be done. Israelis have issued warnings to leave Rafah, but no one doubts that could be di cult and dangerous, with Hamas threatening the safety of those who try to leave.

Israel has made clear that its battle is with Hamas and not the people of Gaza. The New York Times, based on interviews with senior administration o cials and military leaders, is reporting that “Mr. Biden initially took the position that Israel should not attack Rafah without a plan to e ectively minimize civilian casualties, but in recent weeks the White House has increasingly indicated that it did not believe such a plan was possible.”

So is the administration conditioning aid on Israel doing the impossible?

And how does that square with the commitment to “ironclad” support?

This is a di cult time to stand by Israel. It is di cult in the world community, di cult on college campuses — where a noisy minority of students is intimidating and frightening others, di cult in the media. But it bears remembering how this war started, and why, and that those who protest the loudest with simplistic sloganeering are not in fact o ering any answers for how Israel can defend itself against those who would deny its very right to exist.

COLUMN | RICHARD HUDSON

Girls’ soccer brackets released, while Union Pines reaches girls’ lax nal four

North State Journal Sta

UNION PINES softball and girls’ lacrosse join Pinecrest baseball in the later rounds of their respective state tournaments, while girls’ soccer gets ready to kick o the postseason.

Boys’ tennis

All three local teams saw their playo runs come to an end last week.

No. 10 seed North Moore fell to No. 7 Chatham Charter, 5-2 in the second round, nishing their season with a 3-9 record.

In 4A, No. 5 Pinecrest was upset by No. 12 Broughton in the second round, ending the season with a 13-2 mark.

In the 3A bracket, No. 10 Union Pines got a second-round win over No. 7 Cape Fear, 8-1. The Vikings then fell to unbeaten No. 2 seed Terry Sanford, 5-1, in the third round. They nished with a 10-5 record.

None of the Moore County teams had any individual players or doubles teams chosen for the state individual championships.

Boys’ lacrosse

Union Pines made it to the round of 16, but the No. 4 Vikings lost to No. 5 Carrboro, 13-8, ending their season in the 3A third round. Union Pines nished its season at 11-7 and bid farewell to seniors Aidyn Rombalski, Mason Berge, Will Carver, Alex Pat-

Pinecrest’s Connor Tepatti celebrates at rst base after setting the school’s single-season hits record in the Patriots’ playo opener, a win over Green Hope.

terson, Jackson Violand, Denton Orr, Gavin Renegar, Nick Conway, Cory Habick, Dustin Schroder, Kyle Yarter, Erik Kosior, Tim White, Andrew Hill and Owen Brown.

Girls’ lacrosse

The Pinecrest girls saw their season end in the 4A Sweet 16. The No. 6 Patriots lost to No. 3 Chapel Hill, 206, ending their season with a 14-4-1 record. That brings the high school careers of seniors Allie Hirst, Audrey Kilgore, Kayla Johnson and Lily Wellener to a close. Hirst had two goals and an assist in the nal game, while sophomore Peyton Page had three scores and an assist.

Union Pines advanced to the Final Four of the 1A/2A/3A bracket. The unbeaten No. 1 Vikings topped No. 8 Seaforth in the round of 16 by a 17-2 score, then beat No. 5 Swansboro, 21-7. Union Pines now faces No. 3 Croatan for a berth in the state title game.

Baseball

North Moore won its playo opener as the No. 9 seed Mustangs took out No. 24 East Columbus, 3-2. No. 25 Pamlico County had North Moore’ s number in the second round, however, winning by a 9-4 score to end the Mustangs’ season at 14-8. North Moore says goodbye to seniors Austin Patterson, Will Kennedy, Nate Dyer and Elliot Furr. Pinecrest is still kicking in the 4A

bracket. The No. 4 seed beat No. 29 Green Hope, 5-0, to open things, then got past No. 20 Fuquay-Varina, 2-1. The round of 16 will bring No. 21 Laney. Connor Tepatti set a school record for hits in a season in the win over Green Hope and went 3-for-7 in the two games.

Softball

North Moore dropped its playo opener as the No. 20 seed fell to No. 13 Northside – Pinetown, 12-2. That ended the Mustangs’ season at 11-10 and ended the high school careers of seniors Hannah Hunt and Logan Maness.

Union Pines moves on to the third round of the state playo s. The No. 14 seed Vikings opened with a 11-4 win over No. 19 Cedar Ridge, then took a second-round win over No. 3 Southern Alamance, 8-7. Next is the winner of No. 6 South Central and No. 22 Western Harnett.

Girls’ soccer

Despite a 4-10-2 record, North Moore earned a bid to the NCHSAA playo s and will open as a No. 18 seed against No. 15 Clover Garden School (10-8) in the 1A bracket.

At 12-7-1, Pinecrest is a No. 10 seed at 4A. The Patriots open with No. 23 Pine Forest (14-5-1).

Union Pines takes its 15-4-2 mark into the playo s as the 3A no. 5 seed. The Vikings open with No. 28 South Brunswick (8-9-1).

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Bohdi Robertson

Pinecrest baseball

Bohdi Robertson is a sophomore for the Pinecrest baseball team. Robertson got the ball for the Patriots’ playo opener, against Green Hope, and threw a complete game shutout for the 5-0 win. Robertson struck out eight in the 92-pitch gem and allowed just two hits and a walk.

For the year, Robertson is 9-1 in 12 games and has 67 strikeouts in 46 innings while allowing less than a baserunner an inning and sporting an 0.90 ERA.

DAVID SINCLAIR FOR NORTH STATE JOURNAL

DAVID SINCLAIR FOR NORTH STATE JOURNAL

MLB

Pirates’ Skenes makes big league debut vs. Cubs

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes made an impressive big league debut, striking out seven in four-plus innings against the Chicago Cubs. The 21-year-old Skenes allowed three runs while throwing 84 pitches, 17 of which reached at least 100 mph. A near-sellout crowd made its way into PNC Park to watch Skenes, who was the top overall pick in the 2023 draft and the top-ranked pitching prospect in baseball. Skenes’ more-famous girlfriend, LSU gymnast and social media in uencer Livvy Dunne, was there, too. Skenes is in the majors to stay after needing just seven starts to dominate opponents in Triple-A.

NASCAR

Larson not hardcore Swiftie despite trip to Paris concert

Darlington, S.C.

Kyle Larson says he is not a Swiftie, despite he and his wife taking their daughter to Paris this week to see Taylor Swift in concert. Larson said Saturday at Darlington Raceway that it was a surprise birthday trip for 6-year-old Aubrey. Larson enjoyed the show and admitted he wore a Swift-themed T-shirt and a couple of friendship bracelets. He made it clear, however, that he was not part of the ride-or-die fan base that has made Swift one of the world’s most popular entertainers. Larson won the Southern 500 at Darlington last September but had a 34th-place nish in Sunday’s race.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

6 players on cover of EA Sports’ College Football 25 video game

Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter are among six players displayed on the cover of EA Sports College Football 25. The popular video game is returning after being discontinued 11 years ago. The cover for the deluxe edition of EA College Football 25 was posted online. The game is scheduled to be released in July. It stopped being made amid lawsuits accusing it of using players’ likeness without paying them. Other players on the cover are Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Illinois basketball’s Shannon Jr. headed to trial on rape charges Lawrence, Kan.

A Kansas judge has ordered University of Illinois basketball standout Terrence Shannon Jr. to stand trial on a rape charge following testimony from a woman who said she was “terri ed” as she was being assaulted. Shannon is accused of committing sexual assault last September at a bar in Lawrence, Kansas. A woman told police she was at a bar when a man she later identi ed as Shannon grabbed and touched her sexually. The woman said the bar was crowded, so she couldn’t move. Shannon testi ed on Friday that he never touched the woman.

LPGA

Keselowski claims victory at Darlington Raceway

The victory ends his 3-year NASCAR Cup win drought

By Pete Iacobelli

The Associated Press

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Brad Keselowski moved to the front when leaders Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick hit battling for rst with nine laps left and held on to win the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday for his rst NASCAR win in three years.

It was Keselowski’s 36th career victory, his second at Darlington and his rst since reconnecting with magnate Jack Roush and becoming a co-owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

“Hell of an e ort by everyone,” Keselowski said after crossing the nish line.

It appeared Keselowski’s employee at RFK, Buescher, would get the win after he passed his boss and Reddick with 29 laps to go. But Buescher and Reddick then hit and fell back, opening the door for Keselowski’s satisfying victory.

“What a heck of a day,” he said. “That battle out there with my teammate and Tyler Reddick,

we just laid it all on the line.”

Ty Gibbs was second, Josh Berry third and Denny Hamlin fourth. Chase Briscoe was fth followed by William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley and Michael McDowell.

It was another near miss for Buescher, who lost by 0.001 seconds to Kyle Larson at Kansas in the closest nish in NASCAR history.

Buescher slid to 30th and Reddick 32nd.

Buescher confronted Reddick when both got out of their cars, after the close call cost him a NASCAR victory for a second straight week.

Buescher had lost out by 0.001 of a second at Kansas to Kyle Larson a week ago in what was the closest ending in NASCAR history. This time, Buescher lost his chance at the Goodyear 400 when Tyler Reddick tried to pass for the lead.

Reddick’s car slid up into Buescher, knocking him against the wall and ruining both their chances for a Darlington victory.

Buescher shoved Reddick and shouted that he should not have tried that move.

“I tried to back out,” Reddick said. “The last thing I wanted to do was wreck your car. I’m sorry.”

Patriots QB Maye wraps up rst taste of NFL workouts at rookie minicamp

The No. 3 overall pick out of UNC gets rst taste of pro football

The Associated Press

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England quarterback Drake Maye’s day at rookie minicamp wasn’t done, not by a long shot.

The No. 3 overall pick in the NFL Draft was just getting started after wrapping up practice on Saturday. After all, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said Maye had been at the team facility “all night” on Friday.

“We’ll be here till 7, 8, 9 o’clock. Go in for a lift, then we have some meetings,” Maye said after practice behind Gillette Stadium. “The best thing about minicamp is being around the guys for the rst time. We’re at the hotel together. We’re right across the hallway from each other, so we’ll watch the lm and look at the scripts for the next day together.

“We’ve got nothing else to do up here. Why not focus on football?”

The laser focus already has rubbed o on fellow rookies, including wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk, who was drafted one

round after Maye.

“Guy can sling it. Very condent and vocal. He’s a leader,” Polk said. “He’s setting the tone in practice, trying to get guys moving around and operating at a high level. This is new to all of us. We’re still learning and trying to get to know each other so everybody can get on the same page.”

At one point Saturday, Maye was under center with Polk lined up to his left and two more rookie receivers — one drafted (Javon Baker) and one undrafted (David Wallis) — lined up to his right. There wasn’t live contact or a pass rush to anticipate. But for Maye, it’s about soaking up as much knowledge as possible.

At times during practice, Maye talked with Patriots o ensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. He also chatted with quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney and o ensive assistant coach Ben McAdoo, who has been around his share of topight quarterbacks — namely Eli Manning with the New York Giants and Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers.

“T.C. is talking to us during the meetings. Coach Van Pelt will chime in when he needs to. Coach (McAdoo) is awesome,” Maye said. “All three of them know a lot of football.”

Buescher pointed to the NASCAR playo decal on his car for those, like Reddick, who’ve quali ed for the postseason. “That doesn’t work for me,” Buescher said. “We don’t have that sticker on my door right now. I need you to be better. We’ve raced each other for so long just ne.”

Buescher had said how agonizing his loss to Kyle Larson at Kansas last week was, replaying it and coming up with several things he might have done differently given another chance. At Darlington, Buescher knew who to blame.

“That’s two weeks in a row we had a shot to win races,” Buescher said. “One, I’m going to relive in my head forever at what I would’ve done di erent (at Kansas). The other, I need someone else to be more mature about it.”

Reddick continued apologizing in his post-race comments.

He said his attempted pass was aggressive and he tried to check up so he would not slide into Buescher.

“It’s tough to walk away knowing that I used someone up, took their chance away from winning the race that’s racing me really cleanly,” Reddick said. “I have to work on that and try and make

Driver Brad Keselowski holds up the trophy in Victory Lane after winning at Darlington Raceway on Sunday.

some better decisions.”

Bad day

One slip up ended the chances of two NASCAR champions. Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr. and Byron were three-wide on lap 128 when Byron tagged Truex who pushed into Blaney and sent him against the wall in turn two.

The crew for Blaney, the defending Cup Series champion, could not repair the damage and his day was done. He rode up alongside Byron to signal his displeasure with Byron’s move.

“He used a little bit more race track than I thought, so I have every right to be mad and he gets away scot-free,” said Blaney, who wound up last in 36th place. Truex, the 2017 series champion, dropped from the top 10 and nished 25th.

Odds and ends Berry’s third-place nish was his best since replacing retired Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 car. ... Erik Jones, twice a winner at Darlington, nished 19th in his rst race since su ering a compression fracture in a lower vertebra during a crash at Talladega last month. ... Larson’s No. 5 paint scheme homage to Hall of Famer Terry Labonte’s 1996 title-winning car was voted the best throwback by the fans. ... The series takes a week o of points racing for the All-Star Race at historic North Wilkesboro.

Focusing on fundamentals, namely footwork, is a priority for Maye since arriving in New England.

“I’m trying out two new stances that I’m getting used to. Just getting more reps at it,” Maye said. “Footwork is huge. It’s something that’s not easy.”

The learning curve after playing in college at North Carolina will include becoming familiar with the region’s weather patterns. Practice featured a gusty breeze, a possible preview of coming attractions when November and December roll around.

“He has a lot to work on, but I have no doubt that he will put the time in,” Mayo said.

Belichick’s replacement

The Patriots are going with

Eliot Wolf to stock their roster after two decades with Bill Belichick in charge.

The team on Saturday named Wolf, 42, the executive vice president of player personnel, giving him the formal title of the job he had mostly been handling since Belichick was red. Wolf will control the 53-man roster and manage the salary cap.

Owner Robert Kraft said he wanted to observe the relationship between Wolf and coach Mayo before making it formal. Wolf is the son of Hall of Famer Ron Wolf, the former Packers general manager. Eliot Wolf has worked 20 seasons with Green Bay, Cleveland and the Patriots. He spent the last two seasons as New England’s director of scouting.

MARK STOCKWELL / AP PHOTO

New England Patriots rst-round draft pick quarterback Drake Maye walks onto the eld during the team’s rookie minicamp.

MATT KELLEY / AP PHOTO

Dozens injured in train crash in Buenos Aires

The passenger train struck a box car on the track

By Isabel Debre The Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argenti-

na

— At least 90 people were injured in Argentina’s capital when a passenger train struck an empty boxcar on the tracks and derailed Friday, authorities said, a rare collision that fueled questions about basic safety.

The train was on its way from Buenos Aires to the northern suburbs when it derailed around 10:30 a.m. on a bridge in the trendy neighborhood of Palermo, safety o cials said.

While it was not immediately clear why the idled boxcar had been on the bridge, Argentina’s railway union said several yards of copper cable used to carry power along the tracks had been stolen from the railway, disabling the signaling system intended to prevent such accidents.

Union leaders ercely opposed to libertarian President Javier Milei’s economic austerity blamed the government for its failure to invest in public infrastructure.

“We have been demanding for 10 days that the stolen signaling cables be repaired,” rail union leader Omar Maturano told the country’s independent Radio Con Vos station. “The government said there was no money for spare parts.”

Prosecutors said they were investigating.

“There is not enough information about the mechanics

of this accident,” Buenos Aires Mayor Jorge Macri said from the crash site where he praised the swift evacuation of victims.

Dozens of injured were treated at the scene and 30 people were taken to hospitals in moderate to serious condition, at least two by helicopter with chest trauma and broken bones.

Alberto Crescenti, director of the city’s emergency service, said rescuers with police dogs had helped 90 people trapped

in the derailed train, lowering some by rope from the highway overpass scattered with twisted metal and shattered glass.

Dazed passengers staggering out of the derailed boxcars told local media the train had stopped on the bridge for several minutes before starting up again and slamming violently into the other train, jolting passengers and veering o the rails in a jumble of sparks and smoke.

O cials at the Argentine rail authority, Trenes Argentinos, said service on the popular rail line had been suspended, complicating travel for many commuters.

The collision brought increased scrutiny to rail safety in Argentina, where a string of train crashes from 2012-14 left more than 50 people dead and hundreds injured. It emerged at the time that outdated infrastructure, delays and human er-

Rise in UK knife attacks leads to crackdown

An anxious public has called for the government to do more

By Laurie Kellman

The Associated Press

LONDON — A familiar horror reached Pooja Kanda rst on social media: There had been a sword attack in London. And then Kanda, who was home alone at the time, saw a detail she dreaded and knew all too well.

A man with a sword had killed a 14-year-old boy who was walking to school. Two years ago, her 16-year-old son, Ronan, was killed by two sword-wielding schoolmates while walking to a neighbor’s to borrow a PlayStation controller.

“It took me back,” Kanda, who lives near Birmingham, said about Daniel Anjorin’s April

30 killing in an attack in London’s Hainault district that also wounded four people. “It’s painful to see that this has happened all over again.”

In parts of the world that ban or strictly regulate gun ownership, including Britain and much of the rest of Europe, knives and other types of blades are often the weapons of choice used in crimes. Many end up in the hands of children, as they can be cheap and easy to get.

Although the number of fatal stabbings has mostly held steady in England and Wales over the past 10 years, headline-grabbing attacks and an overall rise in knife crime have stoked anxieties and led to calls for the government to do more.

“Knife-enabled” crime — in which knives were used to commit crimes or someone was caught illegally possessing one

— rose 7% in England and Wales last year,” the government said last month, noting some localities were not included. In London, such crimes jumped 20%. The other two U.K. countries, Scotland and Northern Ireland, keep their own statistics.

With knives so readily available, there’s only so much that can be done. Of the 244 fatal stabbings in England and Wales in the 12 months ending with March 2023 — the most recent gures available — 101 were committed with kitchen knives, far surpassing any other type of blade, according to the O ce of National Statistics.

But the uptick in knife crime and a steady drumbeat of shocking attacks, including those that killed Ronan Kanda, Daniel Anjorin and three people in Nottingham last year, has pushed the issue to the forefront.

“It seems like every day something like this is reported in the press,” Sanjoy O’Malley-Kumar, whose 19-year-old daughter Grace O’Malley-Kumar was among the Nottingham victims, said on “Good Morning Britain” after the recent attack in London.

In last week’s local elections, candidates debated policies such as stop-and-search.

Even movie star Idris Elba has weighed in.

“I can pick up a phone right now, type in knives and I’ll get inundated with adverts for them,” the London-born star of “The Wire” and “Luther” said during a protest in January.

Guns are heavily restricted in the U.K. and there’s not much debate about it. That’s partly because the 1996 massacre of 16 elementary students in Dunblane, Scotland, led to a ban on own-

“The rail company has been totally degraded because there’s no budget.”

Omar Maturano, rail union leader

ror had left the railway system vulnerable to crashes, prompting the government to invest in new safety and braking systems.

With Argentina’s economy spiraling and anti-government protests gripping the streets, the crash quickly spawned contradictory narratives, with both government o cials and leftist union leaders using the incident to further their agendas.

“The rail company has been totally degraded because there’s no budget,” said Maturano, from the rail union.

President Milei reposted comments on social media blaming his left-leaning predecessors for neglecting public infrastructure and running up a massive budget de cit.

In the midst of Argentina’s worst economic crisis in two decades, police have repeatedly reported would-be cable thieves being electrocuted in the act. Those who succeed wreak havoc on the rail system in stealing metal to sell to scrapyards, where local media says the going rate is about $3.18 a pound.

The Argentine website Infobae in February called copper cable theft “a trendy crime for the crisis.”

ing handguns. Firearms used for hunting are tightly regulated. Restricting knives is trickier, but the government is trying. It’s already illegal to sell a knife to someone younger than 18 or to carry one in public without a good reason, such as for work or religious purposes. And certain types of blades are already illegal, including switchblades and so-called zombie knives, which come in various sizes, have cutting and serrated edges, and feature text or images suggesting they should be used to commit violence, according to the 2016 law banning them. A new law will take e ect in September banning the sale of machetes and closing a loophole that companies have exploited to get around the zombie knife ban. It remains to be seen whether the new law will have much e ect, though, as machetes accounted for only 14 of of the 244 stabbing deaths in the 12 months that ended in March 2023 and zombie-style knives accounted for seven.

RODRIGO ABD / AP PHOTO

A train wagon that collided with another stands on the rails in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last Friday.

obituaries

James Rudy Austin

May 5, 2024

James Rudy Austin departed this life on May 5, 2024. He was born in Blue eld, West Virginia, sharing a birthday with his mother and his great aunt. He is survived by his beloved wife and life partner, Betty; his children, James Andrew Austin, Edward Scott Austin, and Bethany Campbell Austin Murphy; his grandchildren, Campbell, Austin, James, and Holden; his daughters-in-law, Rebecca and Eunice; son-inlaw, Jason; his brother, Lane (and his wife, Peggy, and their children, Brandon (Krystin), Clay, and Chase); and his sister, Vera Lee. Also surviving are his nieces, Amanda (Andy), Anna (Nathan), and Julie-Lynn (Mike) (daughters of his brother, William Elliott Austin). Also surviving are his sister-in-law, Shirley Smoot, and her children, Todd (Tami) and Beth, and his brother-in-law, Alfred Whitt (Dottie). He was predeceased by his parents, James Olin Austin and Vera Elizabeth Cox Austin, and his brother, William Elliott Austin (Julie). Rudy attended the University of Virginia for his Bachelor of Arts (with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa) and his law degree. Upon graduation from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1967, he joined the Roanoke law rm of Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore (now Gentry Locke) where he practiced from that time until his retirement in 2017. He helped the rm grow from the seven lawyers when he joined to the rm’s status now as one of the largest and most prestigious law rms in the Commonwealth. He was mentored at the rm by his senior partners, John H. Locke, Richard C. Rakes, S.D. Roberts Moore, and William R. Rakes. During his years of practice, Rudy served on the Boards and as presiding o cer of several statewide and civic organizations, including the Virginia Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board, the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, and the Virginia Student Aid Foundation. In addition to the statewide organizations, Rudy served as President of the Roanoke Bar Association in 1986-87. He also served locally on the Boards of Mental Health Services of the Roanoke Valley, the Council of Community Services, and the United Way of the Roanoke Valley.

Debra (Debbie) Bass

January 21, 1953 –May 4, 2024

Debra (Debbie) Bass, a life - long resident of Southern Pines, passed peacefully at the FirstHealth Hospice House on Saturday, May 4th. Debbie was born on January 21, 1953, in Southern Pines, N.C. and was the daughter of the late Roland Chester Bass and Rebecca Kimball Carrington. Debbie was a loving, generous and gracious lady who always put others before herself. She not only lived to care for others, but she took pleasure in making others laugh or bring a smile to their faces. Debbie was preceded in death by her mother- Rebecca Carrington, father - Roland Bass, daughter -Tonya McMillan, and brothers - Ricky Bass and Gary Bass. She leaves behind many cherished family and friends that loved her very much and will miss her contagious laugh and sense of humor. She loved you all dearly.

Maureen Ann Murphy

March 16, 1950 – May 10, 2024

Maureen Ann Murphy passed away on May 10, 2024, at the age of 74. She passed peacefully at FirstHealth Hospice House in Pinehurst North Carolina after a long battle with cancer. Maureen was born in West eld Massachusetts to William Dennis Murphy and Betty May Otis on March 16, 1950. She obtained her degrees from American International College, Southern Connecticut and obtained her law degree from Santa Clara University. She Married Hardy Howard Golston Jr. and lived an exciting life with family and friends. Maureen ended her legal career as the Oakland California Corporate Counsel Lawyer for Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Health Plan. Maureen enjoyed traveling, sailing, Napa wine tasting, Big Sir, Ogunquit Maine, Saratoga Springs, Las Vegas, March Madness, The Triple Crown, golf majors, Film Noir and Hardy playing his music. She was an avid reader never without a book in her hand. Maureen was most certainly a very old soul; whose spirit need not return to this earthly plane. Pinehurst was a special place for Maureen. She will be missed my many. Maureen was predeceased by her parents and her brother Steven. She is survived by her husband Hardy, her sister Sharon and brother-in -law Charlie, her nieces Shannon and Chelsea, her Aunts and Uncle and many extended family members in the West eld, Massachusetts area, California and the East Coast.

Betty Alice (Lewis) Herbert

April 23, 1939 – May 6, 2024

Betty Alice Herbert (Lewis), of Hamilton, Ohio, passed away on May 6, 2024, in Pineblu , North Carolina, at the age of 85. Betty was born on April 23, 1939, in Hamilton, Ohio. Betty's devotion to her faith was unwavering, having accepted Jesus at a young age, and she carried that light throughout her life. At the age of 16, she married the love of her life, Johnny Carl Herbert, and together they nurtured a life lled with love and dedication. She is survived by her loving daughters, Debra Herbert, Marty Walker (Dennis Walker), Pamela Davis (John Davis), and her devoted son, Johnny Herbert, II (Alicia Herbert). Betty's legacy includes her cherished grandchildren, greatgrandchildren, and many close family members who brought immense joy to her life. Her boundless love, generous spirit, and kindness touched the lives of many friends.

STATE & NATION

US special ops leaders learning to do more with less

Fort Liberty is facing budget cuts

By Lolita C. Baldor The Associated Press

FORT LIBERTY — Forced to do more with less and learning from the war in Ukraine, U.S. special operations commanders are juggling how to add more high-tech experts to their teams while still cutting their overall forces by about 5,000 troops over the next ve years.

The con icting pressures are forcing a broader restructuring of the commando teams, which are often deployed for highrisk counterterrorism missions and other sensitive operations around the world. The changes under consideration are being in uenced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including lessons learned by British special operations forces there.

U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which bears the brunt of the personnel cuts, is eyeing plans to increase the size of its Green Beret teams — usu-

ally about 12 members — to bring in people with more specialized and technical abilities. One possibility would be the addition of computer software experts who could reprogram drones or other technical equipment on the y.

But similar changes could ripple across all the military services.

“A 12-person detachment might be upgunned,” said Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander of

A U.S. Army soldier checks a compass while completing a land navigation course during Special Forces Assessment and Selection near Ho man in 2019.

U.S. Special Operations Command. He said an Air Force pilot, Navy ship driver, cryptologist or cyber expert may be needed as battle elds become more challenging and high tech.

The United States is “taking a lot of lessons learned out of the experience in Ukraine, mostly through the eyes of our U.K. special operations partners, who not only have done that in their formations, but they’ve also

learned very quickly that they needed other elements of their joint force,” he told The Associated Press in an interview.

The bulk of the cuts stem from the Army’s decision to reduce the size of its force by about 24,000 and restructure its troops as the U.S. shifts from counterterrorism and counterinsurgency to focus more on large-scale combat operations. The Army also has struggled to meet recruitment goals and had to reduce the overall size of its force.

Army Special Operations Command, which Fenton said is absorbing about 4,000 cuts ordered over the past year and a half, is looking at bringing in people with high-tech skills.

“I think one of the questions is how much can you teach a Green Beret versus some of these specialties are extremely technical,” said Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, deputy commander of the command at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. “You can teach a person about how to use a drone. But then to say, I want to have a software engineer program that drone, that’s something di erent.”

The cuts to Army special operations forces have triggered some congressional opposition, including during recent Capitol Hill hearings where lawmakers noted the impact at Fort Liberty. Fenton also spoke bluntly at the hearings about the growing demand

for special operations forces.

He said U.S. regional commanders around the world consistently want more and that cutting the forces means “we’ll be able to meet less of what they demand. And I think we owe the secretary of defense our assessment as we go forward.”

For years, during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the number of special operations forces and support sta grew, particularly since they were often spread out in small, remote bases where they needed additional security and other logistical help. Now, Pentagon leaders say the numbers can shrink a bit.

Fenton said a cut of about 2,000 personnel in special operations was ordered by the department about a year and a half ago, including about 750 in the Army. That was followed this year by a cut of 3,000 in Army special operations. The cuts are to be spread out across ve years.

“So the real Army reduction in totality is almost 4,000, and the remaining 1,000 will come from the joint force, SEALs, Marine raiders, other Army units,” said Fenton.

For Roberson, the question is where to cut his Army troops.

“Cuts have a way of crystallizing your focus and your view of, OK, what’s important to me? What’s the future? What do I really need to have,” he said in an interview in his Fort Liberty o ce.

Court rules Charlotte Catholic High could re gay teacher

The substitute wasn’t allowed to return to the school after he announced his plans to get married

By Gary D. Robertson

The Associated Press

RALEIGH — A Catholic school in Charlotte had the right to re a gay teacher who announced his marriage on social media a decade ago, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, reversing a judge’s earlier decision.

A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, reversed a 2021 ruling that Charlotte Catholic High School and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte had violated Lonnie Billard’s federal employment protections against sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The school said Billard wasn’t invited back as a substitute teacher because of his “advocacy in favor of a position that is opposed to what the church teaches about marriage,” a court document said.

U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn determined Billard — a full-time teacher for a decade until 2012 — was a lay employee for the limited purpose of teaching secular classes. Cogburn said a trial would still have to be held to determine appropriate relief for him. A 2020 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court declared Title VII also protected workers who were red for being gay or transgender.

But Circuit Judge Pamela Harris, writing Wednesday’s prevailing opinion, said that Billard fell under a “ministerial exception” to Title VII that courts have derived from the First Amendment that protects religious institutions in how they treat employees “who per-

form tasks so central to their religious missions — even if the tasks themselves do not advertise their religious nature.”

That included Billard — who primarily taught English as a substitute and who previously taught drama when working full-time — because Charlotte

Catholic expected instructors to integrate faith throughout the curriculum, Harris wrote. And the school’s apparent expectation that Billard be ready to instruct religion as needed speaks to his role in the school’s religious mission, she added.

“The record makes clear that

(Charlotte Catholic) considered it ‘vital’ to its religious mission that its teachers bring a Catholic perspective to bear on Shakespeare as well as on the Bible,” wrote Harris, who was nominated to the bench by then-President Barack Obama. “Our court has recognized before that seemingly secular tasks like the teaching of English and drama may be so imbued with religious signi cance that they implicate the ministerial exception.”

Billard, who sued in 2017, began working at the school in 2001. He met his now-husband in 2000, and they announced their decision to get married shortly after same-sex marriage was made legal in North Carolina in 2014.

In a news release, the American Civil Liberties Union and a Charlotte law rm that helped Billard le his lawsuit lamented Wednesday’s reversal as “a heartbreaking decision for our client who wanted nothing more than the freedom to perform his duties as an educator without hiding who he is or who he loves.”

The decision threatens to encroach on the rights of LGBTQ+ workers “by widening the loopholes employers may use to re people like Mr. Billard for openly discriminatory reasons,” the joint statement read.

An attorney for a group that defended the Charlotte diocese praised the decision as “a victory for people of all faiths who cherish the freedom to pass on their faith to the next generation.” The diocese operates 20 schools across North Carolina.

KEN KASSENS / U.S. ARMY VIA AP

DAVID T. FOSTER III / THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER VIA AP

St. Patrick Cathedral is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.