North State Journal Vol. 7, Issue 49

Previewing the first Duke-UNC game this season, B1

Abortion, medical marijuana, substation protection among topics on first day of bill filing

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — Abortion rights, medical marijuana, substation protections, requiring sheriff’s offices to cooperate with ICE, and electing positions for the State Board of Education were among some bills the first day of filing for the 2023 long

session. In all, 20 bills were filed in the House and 18 in the Senate on Jan. 25. Many of the bills filed are on topics Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed in past sessions. The governor’s current veto total stands at 75; more than the total held by all former North Carolina governors who had veto power combined.

House Bill 10, filed by Rep. Destin Hall (R-Caldwell), revisits requiring sheriffs in the state to cooperate with ICE on administrative warrants and detainers placed on an illegal alien that may be in the custody of a sheriff’s office. Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus) Rep. Jason Saine (R-Lincoln), and Rep. Carson Smith (R-Pender) are also co-sponsors of the bill.

“It’s sad that this small number of woke Sheriffs are actively choosing to place politics above public safety. Cooperating with ICE about illegal aliens charged with serious crimes in our state should be common-sense,” Hall said in a press

See FILINGS, page A8

Raleigh groundhog

Sir Walter Wally retires

Raleigh

Sir Walter Wally will not make any weather predictions for Groundhog Day this year.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences announced on Monday that the illustrious groundhog has decided to retire, ABC 11 reported. Visitors will still be invited to the museum on Thursday, Feb. 2 from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. to learn about animals in the winter and enjoy other groundhog-related activities. However, there will be no official shadow ceremony.

NSJ STAFF

Florida GOP leaders want to get rid of gun permits Tallahassee, Fla.

Saying gun owners don’t need a government permission slip to protect their Godgiven rights, Florida’s House speaker proposed legislation to eliminate concealed weapons permits. Republican leaders, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, have expressed support for the idea.

“What we’re about here today is a universal right that applies to each and every man or woman regardless of race, gender, creed or background,” Florida’s House Speaker Paul Renner said at a news conference.

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said people who want to do harm to others won’t be stopped by the permit requirement.

“Criminals don’t get a permit. Not one of them. They don’t care about obeying the law. Our law-abiding citizens have that immediate right, guarantee and freedom to protect themselves,” Ivey said.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

New lawsuits target state restrictions on abortion pills

Durham

Supporters of abortion rights filed separate lawsuits challenging two states’ abortion pill restrictions, the opening salvo in what’s expected to be a protracted legal battle over access to the medications.

The lawsuit, filed by Durham physician Amy Bryant, argues that such requirements contradict FDAapproved labeling for the drug and interfere with her ability to treat patients.

Medication recently overtook in-clinic procedures as the most common form of abortion in the U.S.

The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000 to end pregnancy, when used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol. The combination is approved for use up to the 10th week of pregnancy.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

State Superintendent, lawmakers

for Raleigh School Choice Week event

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — North Carolina

lawmakers and State Superin-

tendent Catherine Truitt were some of the attendees of a Raleigh School Choice Week event hosted by the NC Association for Public Charter Schools and NC Coalition for Charter Schools.

The School Choice Week event held in Raleigh on Jan. 26 featured a luncheon for attendees who were treated to student testimonials on the impact school choice has made on their education as well as performances by students representing several charter schools from across the state.

Students from East Voyager Academy (EVA) in Charlotte performed a traditional Chinese dance as did their instructors in a separate performance. EVA serves children in grades K-8 and is the first Mandarin Chinese lan-

UNC Board of Governors committee offers policy change eliminating ‘compelled speech’

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — During its Jan. 18 meeting, the UNC Board of Governors (BOG) Committee on University Governance a policy revision was on the agenda that would restrict “compelled speech” in admissions, employment, and professional advancement.

The proposed revision of “prohibition of compelled speech” falls under Policy 300.5.1 “Political Activities of Employees.” The revision seeks to “restrict vague or ideologically motivated statement policies of any kind across UNC campuses.”

committee meeting. “There’s a long list of good and worthy ideas we could require people to hold. That’s not the role of the university.”

Hans continued, “If we require students and employees to conform to a prescribed set of beliefs,

See POLICY, page A2

guage immersion charter school in the state.

Attendees were also treated to a performance by students from RISE Southeast Charter School located in Raleigh. RISE stands for Reliance, Integrity, Scholarship, and Excellence. The RISE Steppers showed off their talent while illustrating the values of their school in percussive step-dancing routine that had the audience cheering.

Rep. John Torbett (R-Gaston), one of the chairs of the House K-12 Education Committee, was among some of the legislators who attended the event.

“It’s wonderful to see kids participating in events like this and they’re happy,” Torbett told North State Journal about the student performances. “It goes beyond the classroom – very impressive.”

In her remarks at the event, Truitt underscored her past state-

“University shall neither solicit nor require an employee or applicant for academic admission or employment to affirmatively ascribe to or opine about beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles regarding matters of contemporary political debate or social action as a condition to admission, employment, or professional advancement,” the revision states. “Nor shall any employee or applicant be solicited or required to describe his or her actions in support of, or in opposition to, such beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles.”

The policy revision also bars “solicitations or requirements for statements of commitment to particular views on matters of contemporary political debate or social action contained on applications or qualifications for admission or employment.”

“We cannot condition employment or enrollment on adherence to any set of beliefs, no matter how well intended,” UNC System President Peter Hans said during the

A.P.

| NORTH STATE JOURNAL State Superintendent Catherine Truitt addresses the crowd at a National School Choice Week event hosted by the NC Association for Public Charter Schools and NC Coalition for Charter Schools at The Fairview in Raleigh.

AP PHOTO

Reich returns to lead Panthers

Carolina Panthers head coach Frank Reich answers a question during a news conference introducing him as the NFL football team’s new head coach in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. Read more on page B1.

that simply isn’t true to our tradition of free minds, free speech, free thought. Legally, intellectually, morally — it’s our responsibility to protect students, faculty and staff from compelled speech.”

Nothing in the proposed policy revision prohibits a student or prospective employee to “voluntarily opine” on a given topic or a belief they may hold.

Without naming specific instances where compelled speech comes into play, the policy revision appears to be an attempt to ad-

There is a powerful, silent, personal influence, like a shadow, which emanates from everyone — and this influence is always leaving results wherever it touches another person. You cannot live a day — and not touch some other life with this influence. Wherever you go, your shadow falls on others — and they are either better or worse for your presence.

Our influence depends upon what we are — more than upon what we do. It is by living a beautiful life, that we bless the world. I do not underestimate good works. Good deeds must characterize every true life. But if your life itself is noble, beautiful, holy, Christlike, one that is itself a blessing and an inspiration — then the worth of your influence is multiplied many times.

There is not a Christian who cannot preach sermons every day, at home and among neighbors and friends most eloquently — by the beauty of holiness in his or her own everyday life. Wherever a Christian goes — his life ought to be an inspiration. Our silent influence ought to touch other lives with blessing. People ought to feel stronger, happier, and more uplifted — after meeting us. Our very faces ought to shed light, shining like holy lamps into sad, weary hearts. Our lives ought to be blessings to repair human sorrow and need all around us. J.R. Miller was a pastor and former editorial superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication from 1880 to 1911. His works are now in the public domain.

dress Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) statements which force a candidate for admission, employment or advancement to espouse an allegiance to specific political, social, and racial justice causes.

The background information for the policy revision cites issues with both the state and U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment tied to requiring an employee, a potential employee, or an applicant for academic admission to “demonstrate their commitment to certain ideals, missions, political issues, or principles.”

“Forms of compelled speech,

when required under University policies, rules, and regulations, could further function as litmus tests for adherence to prevailing socio-political views on various matters of contemporary political debate,” the background text for the revision says. “The University System seeks to prevent this form of compelled speech.”

While DEI statement requirements have not been seen yet in UNC undergraduate admissions policies, such statements are present at the UNC School of Medicine as documented in 2021 by the James G. Martin Center.

NCDOT to Hold Public Meeting Regarding Improvements to Clanton Road from Donald Ross Road to Wilkinson Boulevard in Mecklenburg County

STIP Project P-5730

Charlotte – The public is invited to a meeting with the N.C. Department of Transportation this month to discuss the proposed extension of Clanton Road from Donald Ross Road to Wilkinson Boulevard in Charlotte.

The proposed project, State Transportation Improvement Program Project No. P-5730, would construct a grade separation over the Norfolk Southern rail line, and close the existing at-grade crossing on Donald Ross Road. It’s intended to address traffic and safety concerns and improve road and multimodal connections throughout the area Project details, including maps of the proposal, can be found on the NCDOT project web page at https://publicinput.com/clantonrd-ext.

The meeting will be held 5-7 p.m. February 16th at the American Legion at 1940 Donald Ross Road, Charlotte, NC 28208. Interested residents can drop in any time to learn more about the proposal, have questions answered and talk with NCDOT representatives. There will not be a formal presentation.

People may also submit comments by phone, email or mail by March 3rd

For more information, contact NCDOT Rail Division Project Engineer Greg Blakeney at 919-707-4717; gmblakeney@ncdot.gov; or 1553 Mail Service Center in Raleigh

NCDOT will provide auxiliary aids and services under the Americans with Disabilities Act for disabled people who wish to participate in this workshop. Anyone requiring special services should contact Simone Robinson, Environmental Analysis Unit, at 1598 Mail Service Center in Raleigh; 919-707-6062; or strobinson1@ncdot.gov as early as possible so that arrangements can be made.

Those who do not speak English, or have a limited ability to read, speak or understand English, may receive interpretive services upon request prior by calling 1-800-4816494.

Aquellas personas no hablan inglés, o tienen limitaciones para leer, hablar o entender inglés, podrían recibir servicios de interpretación si los solicitan llamando al 1-800-481-6494.

“I’m excited to see the UNC System considering this policy. It is a welcome addition to its past commitments to free expression,”

James G. Martin Center President Jenna Robinson said in an email to North State Journal. “This policy will help to ensure that faculty and students are evaluated on their merits instead of their ideological commitments. I believe it will be a model for institutions around the country.”

Robinson also noted that the UNC System is the first state university system to consider a policy like this and that “UNC has posi-

tioned itself to be a leader on this issue.”

The committee’s agenda attributes the revision to UNCBOG General Counsel Andrew Tripp. During the committee’s meeting, Tripp said the draft was formed after soliciting feedback from “all over the country and North Carolina.”

The university governance committee voted in favor of the proposed revision to be sent to the full BOG for a possible vote at its upcoming meeting being held on Feb. 22-23. The public will have the chance to offer comments at that meeting.

ments that the best people to decide on educational choices for a child are parents and said that is why she “will always be a defender and supporter of school choice.”

Other legislators in attendance included Rep. Erin Paré (R-Wake), Sen. Lisa Barnes (R-Nash), and Sen. Steve Jarvis (R- Davidson).

“I want to thank you for supporting what is so often politically fragile, and that is our system of school choice – in particular, our public charter schools in North Carolina,” Truitt told attendees.

Truitt also added, “I do not believe that a child’s ZIP code should determine where they go to school and I also know that parents, regardless of their socioeconomic background, know when their child is trapped in a school which is not right for them.”

Truitt also referenced the impact of pandemic school closures on education and student achievement as well as project and research her department is doing to examine those effects.

Pandemic school closures prompted parents nationally and in North Carolina to find alternative education options – many of which appear to have continued to thrive in 2022.

Currently, there are 206 public charter schools operating across 63 counties in North Carolina that serve over 130,000 students; roughly 8 percent of the public school population.

The popularity of public charter schools has continued to grow in North Carolina with an estimated 73 percent of the state’s charter schools having a total enrollment waitlist of over 60,000 applicants.

Between the 2019-20 and 202122 school years, North Carolina saw 14,312 new students enroll in public charter schools. Homeschooling also surged, going from 90,688 students in 2018-19 to 179,900 in the 2020-21 school year.

There were 102,400 private school students in North Carolina during 2018-19 school year. In the 2021-22 year following the pandemic, private school enrollment jumped to 115,311 students; a 12.6% gain.

“The Magpie” (1868) is a painting by Claude Monet which is now in the collection of the Musee d’Orsay, Paris. The painting is one of the first examples of Monet’s use of colored shadows, a technique associated with the Impressionist movement. (Public Domain).

School Choice Week event hosted by the NC Association for Public Charter Schools and NC Coalition for Charter Schools at The Fairview in Raleigh.

Disaster recovery director moves to DPS following hearings on hurricane response failures

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — Following a series of legislative subcommittee hearings on hurricane response failures by offices housed under the Department of Public Safety, a new advisor will be joining the department’s recovery efforts.

The N.C. Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced Richard J. Trumper would be serving as its Senior Advisor for Disaster Recovery beginning Feb. 1. Trumper is currently the executive director of Disaster Recovery with the Office of State Budget and Management.

According to a DPS statement, Trumper will “support initiatives to build long-term and stable recovery for North Carolinians following natural disasters.” He will work with the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) and N.C. Emergency Management (NCEM) to get disaster victims “back in their homes faster.”

“Our state has made substantial progress recovering from hurricanes Matthew and Florence, but we still have a long way to go,” DPS Secretary Eddie M. Buffaloe, Jr. said. “Richard Trumper brings a wide range of experience and expertise that will support a core mission of rebuilding homes and communities as fast as possible after a disaster, while also making them more resilient in the future.”

“I look forward to joining the Department of Public Safety and establishing new partnerships that will speed up the recovery process and help families return home more quickly,” said Trumper in the statement. “My goal will be to build on the good things we’re already doing.”

“Trumper is a North Carolina licensed general contractor who joins the department with more than 22 years of experience, including program management, construction

management, disaster recovery, reconstruction and restoration, mitigation and disaster damage assessment,” according to DPS.

Trumper’s position is different from the heads of NCORR and NCEM and he will apparently report directly to Buffaloe.

NCORR and its slow activity in getting residents back in their homes following Hurricanes Matthew and Florence was scrutinized during multiple legislative hearings last fall.

Among the recovery programs is Rebuild NC, a program under NCORR that was established in October 2018 to aid families impacted by Hurricanes Matthew and Florence. Per Gov. Roy Cooper, the

purpose of NCORR was to “streamline recovery programming and assistance.” Legislators grilled Laura Hogshead, the current head of NCORR, on the slow progress of her department and that of Rebuild NC.

Hogshead was named director of NCORR on Jan. 1, 2019. Previously, she served as Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief of Staff for Budget and Policy at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

During the first hearing in September 2022, Hogshead took ownership of the failures, telling lawmakers that “This recovery is not going as you want it to go. It’s not going how I want it to go, and it’s

certainly not going how the families sitting behind me and out in eastern North Carolina want it to go. And that is on me.”

NCORR is responsible for managing the $778 million in federal disaster relief received from HUD for both hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018).

As of updates presented at the subcommittee hearing in December 2022, only around 60% of the federal funds have been encumbered and just $231 million have actually been spent by that time. The deadline for the funds to be spent or encumbered was a concern voiced by several lawmakers. Funds for Matthew must be spent by 2025 and funds for Florence by 2026.

Youth Risk Behavior survey shows continued student mental health concerns

Thoughts of suicide and feelings of isolation rose in 2021

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — Data presented to the State Board of Education shows mental health issues have increased in North Carolina school children following Gov. Roy Cooper’s pandemic school closures.

According to the results of the annual Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) administered in 2021 to students in middle school and high school, the percentage of students reporting thoughts of suicide and isolation are still high. The YRBS is optional and requires parental consent to administer.

Results of the 2021 YRBS showed 49% of high school students said they strongly agreed or agreed that they feel good about themselves. That’s an 11-point drop from 60% in 2019. In 2011, 80% said they felt good about themselves.

Feelings of isolation increased, with 33% of high school students saying they either agreed or strongly agreed that they feel alone. That’s an increase over 31% in 2019 and a big jump from a 19% reported in

2011.

Thoughts of considering suicide rose in high school students from 19% in 2019 to in 22% in 2021. Female students had higher rates than male students, rising seven points from 23% in 2019 to 30% in 2021. A decade ago, only 15 of female students said they considered suicide.

The male student rate remained at around 14%.

Per the YRBS results, 48% of gay, lesbian and bisexual students considered suicide in 2021. Other topics with decreasing trends noted in the YRBS include the percentage of students who were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property decreased from 7.2 in 2019 to 5.1 in 2021.

Reports of bullying also fell, likely due to school closures in 2020.

In 2019 18.9% reported being bullied during 2019 versus 14% in 2021. When it came to electronic harassment and bullying online, percentages remained around the same with percentages coming in at 14.8% in 2019 and 13% in 2021

Similarly, the percentage of students who were in a physical fight one or more times during the 12 months before the survey remained high, but the percentage also dropped between 2019 and 2021,

going from 23.7% in 2019 to 19.7% in 2021.

The YRBS is administered in odd years to middle and high school students in the state on a range of topics including mental health, nutrition, drug and tobacco use, bullying and some questions with sexual components aimed at high schoolers.

The details of the 2021 YRBS were previously reported to the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force, a legislative study commission, in mid-December 2022 by Ellen Essick, the Section Chief for Healthy Schools & Specialized Instructional Support at the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

In its annual report to the governor and to lawmakers, the task force noted suicide rates among teens had risen significantly since 2010. The data shows the percentage of suicide deaths per 100,000 in North Carolina children ages 10 to 17 in 2020 was higher than the national average.

In light of the YRBS data, the board will be taking steps to increase mental health supports for students across the state, including the ongoing “joint effort” between the N.C. Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) and the Department of Health and Human Ser-

vices (NCDHHS).

The joint effort involves the Unified School Behavioral Health Action Plan, which a state board press release describes as “strategies to help address the infrastructure, programs, and clinical services necessary to help students and their families recover stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling every child to be safe and healthy.”

According to the unified plan, a telehealth pilot program for student behavioral health called Project AWARE/ACTIVATE will be expanded. The current pilot is taking place in six school districts per the state board of education.

Additionally, the plan calls for NCDPI and NCDHHS to work together to secure the $15 million needed to fund those three efforts.

At the scheduled January meeting, state board members also voted to include asking for $100 million to fund 1,000 school nurses and social workers for the state’s schools as part of the board’s budget request to the General Assembly.

“We’re just barely at the tip of the iceberg of what the need is,” said Board Chair Eric Davis said in a statement. “That’s why it’s so important to get these requests in and get them filled and get professionals hired and working.”

In her presentation at the hearing, Hogshead stated 277 projects were successfully bid in 90 days since the first hearing and that 95 families had successfully been housed in the 83 days spanning the period of Sept. 9 through Dec. 7. Hogshead also told lawmakers her agency helped 100 families since the previous hearing in September. Lawmakers pressed for more details about those families. Hogshead said 76 had completed construction projects and 24 had opted for a check to reimburse them for their out-of-pocket home repairs.

During that hearing, Hogsheads said Rebuild NC had completed just 889 out of 4,313 homes on its list. In September, she had reported 789 homes out of a total 4,197 were completed.

Those numbers are different than reported by OSBM’s Disaster Recovery (OSBM DR) office which manages over $50 million in funds through the Disaster Recovery Acts instituted by the legislature for Matthew and Florence. In addition, OSBM DR is responsible for overseeing over $136 million in other disaster recovery relief.

In the September hearing, Trumper said his department so far had aided 903 of a total 927 families seeking hurricane recovery housing assistance. He also said a little over 100 applicants had been rejected. Based on Hogshead’s testimony, before COVID the Rebuild NC completion average was 31 homes a month. During 2020, the average fell to 23. In 2021, the impact of the pandemic dropped the average to just eight completions a month and the first six months of 2020 only saw an average of five homes completed.

The Hurricane Response subcommittee was formed under the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations in July 2022.

In early January, NCDPI announced it had been awarded $17 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Education for addressing mental health issues.

The award from the U.S. Department of Education draws from a total of $280 million in mental health support funding announced last October. The funds stem from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) and the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriation.

The grants include the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration (MHSP) Grant and the School-Based Mental Health (SBMH) Grant Program and run through 2027.

“The funding will enable NCDPI to leverage partnerships with institutions of higher education and 15 school districts to increase the number and diversity of mental health service providers in highneeds schools,” according to a related NCDPI press release.

The “Project Adding Direct Support (ADS),” NCDPI’s Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant will serve over 120,000 students in eight school districts: Pitt, Pender, Wayne, Harnett, Scotland, Alamance-Burlington, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and Catawba.

The other grant is “Project FAST,” NCDPI’s School-Based Mental Health Grant. Approximately 73,000 students in six school districts will be served in Cabarrus, Davidson, Guilford, Randolph, Scotland and Stanly school districts.

AP PHOTO

Homeowner Jennifer Baker walks through the front door of her home damaged by Hurricane Florence in 2018 while repairs continue in Spring Lake, Tuesday, July 2, 2019.

Murphy to Manteo Jones & Blount

Sites to visit during Black History Month

No matter which part of the state you’re in, there’s rich history to learn and celebrate this month.

Nonprofit group hosts two-day event for legislators

By Matt Mercer North State Journal

RALEIGH - A nonprofit group brought together state legislators and policy experts for a two-day policy symposium in downtown Raleigh on Jan. 26 and 27.

Greater Carolina organized and hosted the event featuring discussions on the state budget process and issues confronting legislators in the 2023-24 session. The group says its mission is to “ensure North Carolina embraces the policies necessary to maintain and support our status as one of the best states in the nation for business and free enterprise.”

A dozen panels in total featuring

topics such as tax policy, the role of big tech, broadband expansion, education and energy were the highlights of the event. Legislators such as Majority Leader John Bell (R-Wayne), House Senior Appropriations Chair Jason Saine (R-Lincoln) and Sen. Jim Perry (R-Lenoir) spoke about the state budget and gave a timeline of when to expect movement in each chamber’s appropriations committees. Some panels featured policy experts and industry leaders such as Charlotte City Councilman Tariq Bokhari and Patrick Gleason from Americans for Tax Reform. Jim Blaine of The Differentiators also made a comprehensive polling presentation at the event.

Challenges to contract rejected by State Health Plan

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — State Treasurer

WEST PIEDMONT EAST

Commissioners put COVID vaccine grant on hold after concerns

Haywood County

Haywood County commissioners voted to postpone implementing a grant to promote COVID vaccinations after community members raised health concerns. The county is expected to receive a $75,000 grant that would increase access to vaccines. Several residents spoke out a recent meeting, however, expressing concerns over whether the vaccine causes health problems, as well as speaking out against an intrusion against individual rights. The commission will collect information and discuss the grant again at its February meeting.

SPECTRUM

School reacts to social media threat

Swain County

Swain County schools were able to investigate a social media threat against the district last month and resolve the situation without an interruption to operating hours for area schools. The district was notified of a post threatening the safety of middle school students on Sunday, Jan. 8. Law enforcement officers from Swain and Cherokee counties were able to locate the origin of the threat and took action to ensure that students and staff would be safe. The school would not comment on any disciplinary actions that were taken.

Local man arrested for SC robbery

McDowell County

Walter Raleigh Williamson, 36, of Nebo, was arrested on charges that he robbed a gas station in South Carolina. He allegedly robbed a BP gas station in Spartanburg County last Thursday. The Marion Police Department and McDowell County Sheriff’s Office worked together to locate Williamson after his car was identified as being involved in the crime. He has been charged with armed robbery.

FOX CAROLINA

Missing woman found after two months

Mitchell County

The Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office announced that a missing woman was located after first being reported as missing two months ago. Summer Ray, 38, was last seen on Nov. 13, 2022 and was reported missing by family. Multiple agencies searched for her over the next two months before she was eventually located on Jan. 9 of this year. Police deputies reported that she was in “good shape.” No details on her whereabouts were released.

FOX CAROLINA

Police: 1 dies after several people found wounded at club

Guilford County

Police said one person has died after police found several people wounded at a nightclub.

Greensboro police say officers came to Southside Johnny’s about 3 a.m. Sunday and located several gunshot victims. They were taken to a local hospital and initially were in stable and life-threatening conditions.

Police said later that one of the victims had died. He was identified as 36-yearold Cedric Cantrell Monroe. Police are now investigating what happened at the adult entertainment establishment as a homicide.

The death is one of three shooting-related homicides in Greensboro disclosed this weekend by city police.

AP Church says it lost nearly $800K in email scam

Surry County Leaders of an Elkin church say cybercriminals stole nearly $800,000 it raised for years to build a new sanctuary that’s supposed to be completed soon. Elkin Valley Baptist Church says it happened when the church received an email that mimicked another message from the sanctuary builder with payment instructions. The FBI is now investigating and trying to recover funds.

Man who claimed he had bomb near Capitol pleads guilty

Cleveland County

A man who caused evacuations and an hourslong standoff with police on Capitol Hill when he claimed he had a bomb in his pickup truck outside the Library of Congress has pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening to use an explosive. Floyd Ray Roseberry, of Grover, pleaded guilty to the felony charge in Washington federal court. He faces up to 10 years behind bars and is scheduled to be sentenced in June. Roseberry drove a black pickup truck onto the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress in August 2021 and began shouting that he had a bomb.

State suspends Auditor Wood’s vehicle assignment after crash

Wake County Officials have temporarily suspended the state auditor’s vehicle assignment after she was cited for a misdemeanor hit-and-run for leaving the scene of a December accident where she drove her state-issued vehicle into a parked car. The state’s motor fleet management director notified State Auditor Beth Wood that her vehicle assignment for a 2021 Toyota Camry was temporarily on hold amid the ongoing investigation. There is no indication of how long the suspension will last.

Wilmington police add jiu-jitsu to officers’ training

New Hanover County

AP

School bus crash injures three

Perquimans County

In a profession with life-or-death decisions, where every second matters, the Wilmington Police Department is training officers to keep their cool under pressure through practicing martial arts. Since last year, each Wilmington police officer now receives at least four hours of law-enforcement-tailored jiu-jitsu instruction as part of their standard training. Every week dozens of officers put away their guns and badges to pack into a training dojo, where despite the intense hand-to-hand combat, the atmosphere is curated for learning and cooperation. The approach is crucial to instilling the control and composure that the discipline demands.

Lawsuits in plane crash that killed 8 settled for $15M

Carteret County

WLOS

The church is moving forward on the project by taking out a loan. The church had outgrown its previous sanctuary and now meets in its gymnasium.

AP

A late December crash involving a school bus sent three people to the hospital. A vehicle rear ended a Perquimans School District bus with 11 middle and high school students on board. A second bus came to retrieve the students. One person from the accident scene was taken to the hospital for treatment. A second person was taken to the hospital by ambulance after the students involved in the crash were taken to another location. A third person was taken to the hospital in a family vehicle.

WTKR

Dale Folwell announced on Jan. 20 the State Health Plan (SHP) had rejected protest appeals for the ThirdParty Administrative Services (TPA) contract submitted by the losing bidders; Blue Cross NC and UMR, Inc.

“It’s embarrassing to see entities trying to confuse our members by falsely advertising information regarding Plan benefits, which only leads to unnecessary member confusion,” Folwell said in the release.

AP

The families of five passengers killed in a plane crash off the coast have settled wrongful death lawsuits for $15 million. Their attorneys told the court the companies that owned the plane and employed the pilot paid the money. The suits claimed the pilot failed to properly fly the single-engine plane in weather conditions with limited visibility. All eight people aboard died off the Outer Banks. The passengers included four teenagers and two adults, returning from a hunting trip. The founder of the company that owned the plane was killed, and his family wasn’t involved in the lawsuits.

AP

31 arrested on sale of alcohol to minors

Johnston County NC Alcoholic Law Enforcement conducted an operation on Jan. 20 resulting in 31 arrests related to sale of alcohol to minors. The operation also seized two guns, meth, heroin, cocaine, marijuana and another illegal drug called Khat. Violations for illegal alcohol sales were recorded at three businesses—Brotherhood Market in Selma, Neighborhood Market in Selma and Tap It in Smithfield—and one residence.

AP

“I’m proud of what the staff accomplished in the RFP process and the decision of the board. It is disappointing and unfortunate that others have used this as an opportunity to attack our integrity and carry out malicious accusations against the Board of Trustees and the professional staff of the State Health Plan,” said Folwell. “The money and time would have been better spent improving their systems.”

The SHP’s Board of Trustees TPA contract for services was awarded to Aetna upon the completion of a Request for Proposal (RFP) competitive bid process. That contract is set to begin in 2025.

The rejection of the appeals by the SHP for the lucrative contract likely mean official legal challenges may be on the horizon.

and any bids being received.” That process began in June 2022 with the contract being awarded on Dec. 14 of that same year. Aetna, Blue Cross NC, and UMR, Inc. all participated in a debriefing event the following day; Dec. 15. Each response was evaluated and scored by SHP staff according to the criteria established with the SHP Board of Trustees later unanimously voted to award the TPA to Aetna. The release states explanation letters were sent to Blue Cross NC and UMR, Inc. on why their appeals were rejected, with the release stating both were found to be “without merit.”

“Responding to an RFP is completely voluntary,” Interim Executive Director Watts said in the release. “Arguing that if the questions were asked in a different way or graded differently the outcome would have been different is not how procurement works.”

WRAL

According to the press release and Folwell’s office, the RFP process was “thoroughly explained to all bidders prior to it being issued

In a call with reporters earlier in January, Folwell underscored that the TPA does not determine what benefits are covered, co-pays, or the price of premiums. The TPA Is only an administrative function and the transition to Aetna does not impact plans currently in place. The release states “Aetna has already begun a vigorous effort to recruit even more providers and will only continue to do so over the next two years.” The SHP covers upwards of 740,000 teachers, state employees, retirees, current and former lawmakers, state university and community college personnel, and their dependents.

Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum Gibsonville

north STATEment

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

EDITORIAL | FRANK HILL

One giant leap for free speech at UNC-Chapel Hill

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL

Board of Trustees struck a blow for free speech and thought at Carolina last week on Thursday, Jan. 25.

As first reported by the Wall Street Journal ― and, interestingly so, not announced by the Chancellor ― “UNC will establish the School of Civic Life and Leadership and plans to hire professors from across the ideological spectrum to teach in such academic departments as history, literature, philosophy, political science and religion. These disciplines have become enforcers of ideological uniformity at most schools. Board

If “the work they have done” was working, no student at UNC would ever say they were afraid to talk in class or participate in a political activity on campus.

Chair David Boliek and Vice Chair John Preyer tell us that the idea is to end “political constraints on what can be taught in university classes.”

No one could believe the news when it broke. “This has to be from The Babylon Bee (a spoof site)” one distinguished alum said.

The next response was more telling ― why does any major college or university in America have to be forced to teach — or allow — civil discourse, free inquiry and free speech in the first place? Isn’t the telos — the purpose — of a university supposed to be a safe place where all ideas can be openly discussed in a civil manner?

The ancient Greeks took great joy in being proven wrong after contentious debate about a hypothesis. To them, being proven wrong meant they were that much closer to uncovering the truth about life and the cosmos. They would celebrate with much wine and celebration.

Liberal professors and administration officials would never celebrate being proven wrong in public. They are afraid of rigorous and open debate or else they would welcome conservative thought on campus. They enjoy being surrounded by like-minded believers who will not challenge them. That is why they support suppression of free speech, cancellation of speeches by conservatives and not hiring conservative professors to join their august faculty.

Far from being comforting and affirming about the establishment of the Center, UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz issued the following statement a full day after the WSJ broke the news:

“I appreciate the encouragement of our Board to build on the work we have done and I share the ideal that our students are served by learning to listen, engage, and seek different perspectives that contribute to robust public discourse. Any proposed degree program or school will be developed and led by our faculty, deans, and provost. Our faculty are the marketplace of ideas and they will build the curriculum and determine who will teach it, just as they determined the capacities laid out in our new IDEAs in Action Curriculum”.

The “work we have done” at Carolina to insure free and unfettered

EDITORIAL | STACEY MATTHEWS

speech has been insufficient to change the culture. According to an article in UNC’s own Daily Tar Heel (DTH), a majority of conservative students at Carolina say they self-censor themselves in class. 80% of conservative students are afraid to speak out because of their fear of being ostracized on campus by liberal students who out-number them 4-to-1. What have the faculty and Chancellor Guskiewicz done that was so great if thousands of undergrads at Carolina are afraid to speak their mind freely in class or on campus? Guskiewicz was Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences prior to becoming Chancellor while leftist faculty took control of the college curriculum in a way that has led to mass political indoctrination of students whether they like it or not. If “the work they have done” was working, no student at UNC would ever say they were afraid to talk in class or participate in a political activity on campus.

Chancellor Guskiewicz says current faculty and deans will develop the curriculum for the new center. Isn’t that like letting the fox own the hen house? Current faculty and deans haven’t established a fair environment at Carolina for free speech on their own up to this point in time ― there is no assurance they will do so if they gain control of the new Center either. He cited the Program for Public Discourse (PPD) as one example of progress. The most recent panel on reparations featured three panelists who supported massive taxpayer-funded payments to descendants of slaves without a single dissenting voice.

If that is the UNC faculty’s definition of free and fair speech and debate, then “Houston, we really do have a problem”.

The role of any university president or chancellor, public or private, is to provide an academic environment where every student can flourish. Any president or chancellor who has not defended free speech 100% of the time for all parties deserves to be fired and relieved of their duties.

The Center for Civic Life and Leadership at Carolina is the final exam for UNC Chancellor Guskiewicz and his administration. Let’s hope they pass it.

The tragic death of Tyre Nichols gets compounded by ‘woke’ lunacy

TYRE NICHOLS, A 29-YEAR-OLD MEMPHIS RESIDENT and father

of a 4-year-old son, was pulled over in a traffic stop on Jan. 7, 2023, by Memphis police on grounds that he was allegedly driving recklessly. After he was pulled out of his car and officers attempted to subdue him on the pavement with a stun gun, Nichols fled but was severely beaten by the police officers after they caught up with him.

The beating resulted in Nichols being hospitalized, where he died three days later.

in officer-involved beatings and deaths.

“…at the end of the day, it is the race of the victim who is brutalized — not the race of the violent cop — that is most relevant in determining whether racial bias is a factor in police violence,” Jones wrote.

The reason for this, Jones suggested, is that black police officers allegedly can sometimes be influenced and conditioned by the behavior their white colleagues sometimes show towards black suspects and certain communities and then react in a similar fashion when they’re face to face with black citizens.

Doesn’t matter what color those police officers are. The murder of Tyre Nichols is anti-Black and the result of a system built on white supremacy.

Last Friday night, the city of Memphis released bodycam videos from the incident. While I couldn’t watch them, the consensus from those who did is that the beating was “horrific,” “senseless,” and “unprovoked.” Nichols could be heard at one point in the video calling out for his mother.

Oftentimes in these situations, the first thing you hear are cries of “racism” from the left in the event it turns out that the officers involved were white and the victim was Black.

We heard that in this case as well, but it was a rather odd accusation to make considering that not only was Nichols black but so were all five officers directly involved in the incident.

The officers were fired last week and a few days later were charged with second-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. And the Memphis PD “SCORPION” (Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods) unit they were a part of has now been “permanently deactivated.”

As noted above, the races of both the victim and the officers being the same haven’t stopped The Usual Suspects on the left from trying to inject “woke” dogma into the conversation, with several suggesting that even though the officers were black that they still could be guilty of racism.

For instance, CNN political commentator Van Jones, who was an environmental advisor to former President Barack Obama, proclaimed during a Friday night segment that “unfortunately, African-Americans can also be guilty of hatred and bias and bigotry against other AfricanAmericans. Sometimes you go into a store owned by an African-American, they’re nice to the white folks and suspicious of you.”

In a piece he wrote shortly before the videos were released, Jones introduced a new standard for determining potential racism components

Freshman Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) was on the same wavelength.

“Doesn’t matter what color those police officers are. The murder of Tyre Nichols is anti-black and the result of a system built on white supremacy,” Frost tweeted.

“The Atlantic” contributing writer Jemele Hill echoed the same talking point.

“Several of the police officers who murdered Freddie Gray were black. The entire system of policing is based on white supremacist violence,” Hill wrote. “We see people under the boot of oppression carry its water all the time.”

It can’t simply be that there are bad officers in a majority-black police force who beat people because they can. There always has to be a racial angle to it, according to the left, even in a city like Memphis where most of the people in power including the police chief and mayor are black.

If racism is to blame for what happened to Tyre Nichols, then the whole meaning of the word has officially been completely diluted.

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.

Black History Month

Putting greater emphasis on black successes in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds is far superior to focusing on grievances and victimhood.

CARTER G. WOODSON, noted scholar, historian and educator, created “Negro History Week” in 1926, which became Black History Month in 1976. Woodson chose February because it coincided with the birthdays of black abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln. Americans should be proud of the tremendous gains made since emancipation. Black Americans, as a group, have made the greatest gains, over some of the highest hurdles, in a shorter span of time than any other racial group in mankind’s history.

What’s the evidence? If one totaled black income and thought of us as a separate nation with our own gross domestic product, black Americans would rank among the world’s 20 richest nations.

It was a black American, Colin Powell, who, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, headed the world’s mightiest military. There are a few black Americans who are among the world’s richest and most famous personalities. The significance of these achievements is that in 1865, neither a former slave nor a former slave owner would have believed that such gains would be possible in a little over a century. As such, it speaks well of the intestinal fortitude of a people. Just as importantly, it speaks well of a nation in which such gains were possible. Those gains would have been impossible anywhere other than the U.S.

Putting greater emphasis on black successes in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds is far superior to focusing on grievances and victimhood. Doing so might teach us some things that could help us today. Black education today is a major problem. Let’s look at some islands of success from yesteryear, when there was far greater racial discrimination and blacks were much poorer.

From the late 1800s to 1950, some black schools were models of academic achievement. Black students at Washington’s racially segregated Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, as early as 1899, outscored white students in the District of Columbia schools on citywide tests. Dr. Thomas Sowell’s research in “Education: Assumptions Versus History” documents similar excellence at Baltimore’s Frederick Douglass High School, Atlanta’s Booker T. Washington High School, Brooklyn’s Albany Avenue School, New Orleans’ McDonogh 35 High School and others. These

excelling students weren’t solely members of the black elite; most had parents who were manual laborers, domestic servants, porters and maintenance men. Academic excellence was obtained with skimpy school budgets, run-down buildings, hand-me-down textbooks and often 40 or 50 students in a class.

Alumni of these schools include Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice (Frederick Douglass), Gen. Benjamin Davis, Dr. Charles Drew, a blood plasma innovator, Robert C. Weaver, the first black Cabinet member, Sen. Edward Brooke, William Hastie, the first black federal judge (Dunbar), and Nobel laureate Martin Luther King Jr. (Booker T. Washington). These examples of pioneering success raise questions about today’s arguments about what’s needed for black academic success. Education experts and civil rights advocates argue that for black academic excellence to occur, there must be racial integration, small classes, big budgets and modern facilities. But earlier black academic successes put a lie to that argument.

In contrast with yesteryear, at today’s Frederick Douglass High School, only 9 percent of students test proficient in English, and only 3 percent do in math. At Paul Laurence Dunbar, 12 percent of pupils are proficient in reading, and 5 percent are proficient in math. At Booker T. Washington, the percentages are 20 in English and 18 in math. In addition to low academic achievement, there’s a level of violence and disrespect to teachers and staff that could not have been imagined, much less tolerated, at these schools during the late 1800s and the first half of the 20th century. Many black political leaders are around my age, 81, such as Rep. Maxine Waters, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Jesse Jackson. Their parents and other authorities would have never accepted the grossly disrespectful, violent behavior that has become the norm at many black schools. Their silence and support of the status quo makes a mockery of black history celebrations and represents a betrayal of epic proportions to the blood, sweat and tears of our ancestors in their struggle to make today’s educational opportunities available.

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

Are public employee unions unconstitutional?

Can a president take care that the laws be faithfully executed without the power to fire an incompetent employee?

IF YOU WANT to see a classic case of how President Joe Biden’s regulatory tendencies are strangling the U.S. economy and raising prices, look no further than the latest Justice Department efforts to kill an airline merger that is proconsumer. JetBlue has its sights on merging with a smaller and financially ailing airline, Spirit.

JetBlue’s management believes the synergies between the two airlines will save over $300 million in costs. Spirit’s shareholders (i.e., the airline’s owners) have voted to approve the merger.

Spirit is like a cancer patient in chemotherapy. Industry analysts say that there’s a 50-50 chance Spirit will go bankrupt without a suitor. A bankruptcy would crush Spirit shareholders, cause thousands of airline workers to lose their jobs, and enable other bigger airlines to swoop in and purchase its assets and its valuable airport landing rights at fire sale prices.

No one benefits from that scenario.

So, what’s the holdup here? The Biden Justice Department is holding up the marriage on questionable antitrust grounds.

A strong case could be made that a successful merger between the two smaller airlines will enhance competition and lower prices by creating a larger discount airline. Today, about 70% of domestic flights are on four carriers — American, Delta, Southwest and United. JetBlue controls just about 6% of the market (while Spirit’s has shrunk to about 4%).

A merger like this is hardly going to allow JetBlue to monopolize the market or drive up prices. Regulators are concerned that in certain markets like Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where the two airlines directly compete, ticket prices may rise. This ignores that without the merger, Spirit may simply close.

HOW

DID IT COME TO

PASS that public employee unions, which scarcely existed 60 years ago, have come to run public schools and myriad state and local government agencies?

Answers to this question, which few people think about these days, come from Philip K. Howard’s latest book, “Not Accountable,” accompanied as in his earlier books (“The Rule of Nobody,” “Try Common Sense”) by outspoken outrage and generous dollops of common sense.

The rise of public employee unions in the 1960s was not inevitable. President Franklin Roosevelt, who wanted his New Deal programs to deliver results, explained that “the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.” That was in 1937, when New Deal legislation sparked the drives that vastly increased private-sector unionization. In 1955, when private-sector unionization percentages peaked, AFL-CIO President George Meany opined confidently that it was “impossible to bargain collectively with the government.”

That didn’t stop New York City Mayor Robert Wagner, eager to develop a political base independent of patronage-hungry Democratic machines, from authorizing the unionization of city employees in 1958. Nor did it prevent Wisconsin Gov. Gaylord Nelson from doing so for a state government known for pioneering nonpartisan civil service, nor President John F. Kennedy from doing so in 1962 for federal employees.

What were they thinking? Evidently, they saw unionization as the default system for employee relations. They thought public employees should be treated the same as auto workers or carpenters.

But as Roosevelt and Meany saw, the two situations were not the same. Private-sector unionism is adversarial but with both sides understanding the need for profitability. Publicsector unionism, in contrast, is collusive. As longtime New York public union head Victor Gotbaum explained, “We have the ability, in a sense, to elect our own boss.”

And government doesn’t have to make profits. Taxes can be raised to fund current benefits, and distant-future pension promises don’t have to meet Employee Retirement Income Security Act standards.

As a result, Howard writes, “the interests of public unions and political leaders aligned to create a kind of bureaucratic kleptocracy.” Some $5 billion of taxpayer funds pour into public employee union coffers, outspending every other political group, especially in state and city elections.

Howard is less concerned about public unions’ monetary cost, however, than with the fact that they “have become a permanent faction exercising control over the operating machinery of state and local governments.” By establishing work rules and

contracts, and through decisions of nonelected arbitrators, public unions have made government unaccountable to voters.

The results are bad government. Howard begins by focusing on police unions, citing the Minneapolis officer convicted of killing George Floyd. He shows how teacher unions have produced decades of disappointing results and how they unnecessarily closed many schools for two years — with dire effects on underprivileged children.

These unions have fought hard to keep the public money flowing into their coffers and political committee. They resisted Scott Walker’s 2011 reforms in Wisconsin, flooding the state Capitol for days with thousands of protesters (which didn’t bother many who were appalled by the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot).

They have resisted the Supreme Court’s 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision, limiting members’ right to opt out of their political spending to just a few summer days when the required union cosigner just might happen to be on vacation.

All of which, Howard argues, is unconstitutional. Article II of the Constitution, he notes, says, “The executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States of America.” But can a president “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” without the power to fire an incompetent employee? “Preserving the management authority of officials is essential to our constitutional structure,” he writes.

As for the more numerous and powerful state and local government unions, “by severing the link between the ballot box and executive and legislative power, public unions have disabled the ‘Republican Form of Government’ guaranteed by” Article IV of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has been unwilling to specify what that guarantee means. But it’s possible that a hard-pressed mayor might have standing to challenge union-friendly state laws that force him to spend money in ways neither he nor the voters who elected him wish. A court might find that’s not a republican (or democratic) form of government.

Howard doesn’t expect immediate results but hopes “Not Accountable,” like Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” will spark demands for reform. It’s impossible to make the case that public employee unions over the last half-century have improved the performance of government and easy to make the case they’ve worsened it.

Thanks to Philip Howard for making it clear that Franklin Roosevelt and George Meany got it right.

Michael Barone is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and longtime coauthor of The Almanac of American Politics.

JetBlue is ranked as one of the best airlines for customer satisfaction. To compete more effectively with the big boys, it needs scale.

According to JetBlue’s merger plans, the airline will leverage the infrastructure, employees and management of Spirit to schedule 1,700 more flights to 125 cities in 30 countries. This benefits — it doesn’t hurt — consumers with more choices.

JetBlue’s market niche has always been to compete in crowded markets by offering discount prices.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study has found that when JetBlue enters a market, it reduces airline fares by $32 each way on average.

Federal regulators in the Biden administration don’t seem to understand that mergers and acquisitions are a routine and vital component of an innovative and entrepreneurial economy. Investors are willing to put millions of dollars at risk to launch startups in the hope that they will have an exit option at some point of being bought out by more sizable competitors.

How many people will invest in a startup airline in the future if the feds would prohibit the company from ever being sold? Or prohibit the company from growing by acquiring other assets as it grows?

The birth of the modern age in air travel began some 40 years ago when airline pricing and routing were almost entirely deregulated. Thanks to steadily falling airfares, airline travel, which was once the purview of the rich, has become affordable to middle- and even low-income travelers with fares as low as $100.

The irony of all of this is that if the JetBlue-Spirit marriage is prohibited or killed through interminable delays, the people who will be uncorking the champagne bottles will be the executives at American, Delta, Southwest and United.

In the name of helping consumers, the Biden administration may take the side of the biggest and most expensive airlines instead of the pro-competitive forces of a disruptive and lower-price carrier. How this would help consumers is anyone’s guess.

Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and an economist with FreedomWorks. His latest book is “Govzilla: How the Relentless Growth of Government is Devouring our Economy.”

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

Proposed airline merger would bring more competition and lower fares

NATION & WORLD

Classified docs probe pushes Biden think tank into spotlight

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Joe Biden contemplated his next move in 2017 after decades in government, he considered a familiar path — creating a Washington-based think tank to focus on international affairs and diplomacy. It proved an easy sell and a lucrative one, too.

Soft landings in the capital are common for officials with a resume like Biden’s, and the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement was born, with a grand view of the Capitol.

The former vice president brought with him trusted staff and boxes of files. Now, batches of those files are at the center of controversy because some were classified documents that Biden had no right to retain.

The gloss of Ivy League academia and high-minded ambitions has been dulled by this month’s disclosure that the sensitive documents were found last fall in a locked closet as Biden lawyers were packing up his former office at the center. That discovery is posing a test for Biden just as he is contemplating a 2024 reelection campaign.

It turns out politics have been part of the equation all along.

In an early meeting at the center in February 2018, Biden told longtime foreign policy aides — many of them from the ObamaBiden administration — that he was keeping his options open for a potential presidential campaign in 2020 and that he would welcome them joining his team if he decided to run.

Sure enough, after hosting a handful of forums at the center

and speaking a few times on the University of Pennsylvania’s main campus, Biden announced his candidacy in April 2019. And after that he was rarely at the Capitol Hill center, which has continued to function quietly since its namesake leader moved on. Its relatively low profile is now history.

Congressional Republicans are asking questions about the center’s budget and hiring practices and the FBI may want to search the premises for more documents, as it did Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.

Affiliated with the Philadelphia school, the Penn Biden Center says it was founded on the principle that “a democratic, open, secure, tolerant, and interconnected world benefits all Americans.”

According to Biden’s tax returns, the university paid him roughly $900,000 over about two years, starting just after he left office when Donald Trump and Mike Pence took over the White House. In addition to the center, Biden also held roles at the school where he would speak on campus.

While the center’s staff continued to conduct research, serve as experts for the media and write columns on foreign policy after Biden’s departure, there is no new work listed on the center’s website for the past 10 or so months.

Elliott Abrams, who has held foreign policy positions for presidents in the Reagan, George W. Bush and Trump administrations, said it has not developed as an influential think tank.

“It started as a parking space for Biden people until he ran for president, and never really outgrew that

start,” Abrams said. Plenty of current Biden allies at the White House cycled through the think tank, according to public records and the Penn Biden Center website.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was the center’s managing director from May 2017 through June 2019. Michael Carpenter had the managing director’s role before he was named U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Other employees included Steve Ricchetti, now a senior counselor to Biden. There are at least seven other Biden staffers who were at the center and are now involved in national security matters in the administration.

Even Amy Gutmann, the university’s president at the time who helped launch the center, now works for him. She’s the U.S. ambassador to Germany.

Biden himself has a long history with the Ivy League school; his late son Beau, daughter Ashley, and granddaughter Naomi are all graduates. Biden received an honorary degree from Penn in 2013 after he gave the commencement address.

Biden frequently worked out of the center on Constitution Avenue as he quietly planned his presidential run, according to his aides, but he did not spend time there after he announced his candidacy. His lawyers had finally gotten around to clearing out the office when they came across the classified documents last November.

Biden told reporters he was surprised to learn the documents were there. The records were immediately turned over to the Justice Department, but the discovery of

records there and at Biden’s home has led to an investigation by a special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Former officials from all levels of government discover they are in possession of classified material and turn them over to the authorities at least several times a year, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of classified documents.

Still, the existence of the documents at the Penn Biden Center has trained unwanted criticism on the think tank, particularly by House Republicans investigating the mishandling of classified materials. They have requested a list of all center employees, including dates of employment and salaries, visitor logs and documents and communications related to security. A conservative legal group led by former Trump advisers has complained to the IRS about the center’s hiring of Biden and his allies.

The chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has suggested that some of the tens of millions of dollars in foreign gifts to the university from patrons in China went to the Penn Biden Center.

Donors from Ireland, Hong Kong, Canada, India, Japan and Brazil also contributed to the university in recent years, though the House has focused on donations from China.

A statement from university said the school would address the committee’s questions in a timely way, but that it has never solicited gifts for the center. There were three unsolicited gifts from two donors that totaled $1,100.

The budget for the center comes solely from university funds. The total academic operating budget for the university is roughly $4 billion. Penn Biden Center officials did not say how much of that goes to center operations.

House Republicans push for info on Hunter

Biden’s art sales

Washington, D.C.

House Republicans renewed their investigation into the art dealings of Hunter Biden, pushing for details on who is purchasing his work as part of the party’s long-promised probe into President Joe Biden and his family.

Rep. James Comer, new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, asked for a transcribed interview with Georges Bergès, the art dealer who has been showcasing Hunter Biden’s work in New York and Los Angeles galleries since 2021. He requested communications between the gallery and the White House, citing Republican concerns the younger Biden is trading in on his father’s name.

“Despite being a novice artist, Hunter Biden received exorbitant amounts of money selling his artwork, the buyers’ identities remain unknown, and you appear to be the sole record keeper of these lucrative transactions,” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said in a letter to Bergès.

The Oversight request comes as Comer and Republicans ramp up their investigation into members of the Biden family and their business dealings. The Republicans have requested information from Bergès before, but those requests were ignored when the GOP was in the minority.

The prices for Hunter Biden’s art, according to Comer, range from $55,000 to $225,000 a piece at the SoHo gallery where his latest collection debuted earlier this month. His paintings often depict abstract flowers and trees with the use of a mixture of ink and acrylic on metal.

“It is concerning that President Biden’s son is the recipient of anonymous, high-dollar transactions — potentially from foreign buyers — with no accountability or oversight (other than you),” Comer wrote in the letter. “The American people deserve transparency regarding certain details about Hunter Biden’s expensive art transactions.”

Hunter Biden’s taxes and foreign business work are already under federal investigation by a federal grand jury in Delaware.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILINGS from page A1 release. “Their decision to cut off communication with immigration officials only puts more innocent people and officers in harm’s way.”

During his tenure, Cooper has vetoed two similar ICE cooperation bills; Senate Bill 101 in 2022 and House Bill 370 in 2019. The veto messages were similar, accusing the bills of trying to “score political points” and “using fear” to divide citizens.

A bill seeking to protect energy substations in the state following attacks on substations in Carteret, Moore, and Randolph Counties was also filed. Filed by Rep. Ben Moss (R-Richmond), House Bill 21 requires public utilities in the state to have security systems at substations running 24 hours a day to protect against vandalism and threats.

Democrats in both chambers filed bills pushing for the legal codification of abortion rights.

House Democratic Leader Rep. Robert Reives filed House Hill 19, titled “Codify Roe and Casey Protections.” The bill is a single page outlining the state shall not impose an “undue burden” on a woman to choose if she terminates a pregnancy “before fetal viability.” While the bill defines undue burden as any “substantial obstacle” in the way of women seeking abortions, it does not define the term woman.

Two bills seemingly identical to

House Bill 19 were filed in the Senate by Wake County Democrats Sydney Batch and Dan Blue.

House legislators are also revisiting changes for the Schools for the Deaf and Blind with House Bill 11.

The bill appears to be very close to the same as Senate Bill 593, which Cooper vetoed last session.

The governor objected to a single part of the bill; the creation of a dedicated board of trustees for the school. Legislators did not undertake a veto override attempt despite being urged to do so in a letter from State Superintendent Catherine Truitt.

“His [Cooper] rationale had nothing to do with the merits of the bill but was instead about the appointments process,” Truitt wrote in her letter to Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain).

Given the recent formation of a governance board by Cooper designed to challenge control over the UNC system appointments, the latest iteration of the Schools for the Deaf and Blind will likely result in another veto.

House Bill 14, titled Back the Blue Act of 2023, seeks to create a revenue laws study committee examining the cost and benefit of excluding retired law enforcement officer pay from state individual income taxes.

A related bill, Senate Bill 4, would exempt retirement income for government employees who

have at least 20 years of service from state income taxes.

Another bill, House Bill 20, would prevent retail stores from refusing to take cash as a form of payment. The bill is titled the Cash Commitment Act gives exception to a situation where there is a sale system failure making the processing of a cash payment impossible or there is an inability to provide proper change.

A final House bill of note filed on opening day would make the N.C. State Board of Education members elected positions and would make the state superintendent board’s chair as well as the board’s administrative officer. The filers of House Bill 18, titled Elect the SBE/SPI as SBE Chair, include the House K-12 Education committee chairs Rep. Hugh Blackwell (R-Burke) and Rep. John Torbett (R-Gaston).

The idea of electing state board of education members and placing the superintendent in the role of chair was part of the final report by the House Select Committee on An Education System for North Carolina’s Future. Torbett chaired the committee which held dozens of meetings and listening sessions across the state during 2022.

Medical marijuana use will also be returning this session in the form of Senate Bill 3, titled the NC Compassionate Care Act. A similar act was introduced last year that garnered bipartisan support in the senate but did not advance in the

house.

Democrats nationally, including President Joe Biden, have advocated for the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes.

In North Carolina, the governor’s North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice co-chaired by Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein and N.C. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anita Earls has repeatedly made recommendations for decriminalizing marijuana in general.

Another bill that made the rounds in previous sessions barring use of an electronic device while driving is also back.

Senate Bill 15, titled Hands Free NC, would prohibit a vehicle operator from using a wide range of devices, including a cell phone, personal digital assistant, electronic device with mobile data access, laptop computer, pager, smartwatch, broadband personal communication device, electronic game, and portable computing device.

Exceptions to the prohibitions would be made for first responders, police officers and firefighters. Hands Free NC includes escalating fines of $100, $150, and $200 for repeated incidents. The penalties also include insurance points “as authorized” under state insurance statutes.

A 2019 house bill with the same “Hands Free” name did not advance and died in a committee.

Wisconsin Assembly puts bail amendment on April ballot Madison, Wis.

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly gave a final, bipartisan push to a proposed constitutional amendment that would make it harder for violent criminals to get out of jail on bail.

The measure will now go before voters to be ratified in the statewide April 4 election. Its passage in the Assembly by a 74-23 vote marks the culmination of a push by Republican lawmakers to speed the amendment before voters.

“It is a huge step in the right direction for holding violent, career criminals accountable,” Republican Rep. William Penterman said.

The amendment would require a judge to consider a defendant’s potential risk to public safety, including his or her criminal history, when setting bail. Currently, cash bail is set only as a means to ensure the person appears in court. Democrats have argued the amendment could create further inequity in the criminal justice system by allowing wealthy defendants to more easily get out of jail.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The building that housed office space of President Joe Biden’s former institute, the Penn Biden Center, is seen at the corner of Constitution and Louisiana Avenue NW, in Washington, Jan. 10, 2023.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

UNC, NC State make jump in AP women’s poll

Indianapolis

UNC moved up four spots, NC State climbed five places and Duke held steady in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll released Monday. The Tar Heels (16 -5, 7-3 ACC) now rank 11th after extending their winning streak to seven games with road wins at Pitt and Clemson last week. The Wolfpack (16 -5, 6 - 4 ACC) beat then-No. 7 Notre Dame in their only game last week and jumped up to 15th in the country. The first-place Blue Devils (18-3, 8-2 ACC) split their two games, beating then-No. 12 Virginia Tech before losing to 24th-ranked Florida State on Sunday, but remained ranked No. 16 in this week’s poll. Unbeaten South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 team, followed by Stanford, LSU, Indiana and UConn.

SOCCER

U.S. Soccer announces program to ensure player safety

Chicago

U.S. Soccer has introduced a Safe Soccer program that will require comprehensive vetting of individuals involved in the sport as the federation continues to address the abuses uncovered in its investigation of coach misconduct in the National Women’s Soccer League.

The Safe Soccer program announced Monday aims to overhaul the criteria for participation in the sport from the youth level to the professional leagues. It includes safety training, background checks and annual reviews. Mana Shim and fellow former NWSL player Sinead Farrelly came forward in 2021 with allegations of harassment and sexual coercion against former North Carolina Courage coach Paul Riley. He was among five of the league’s 10 coaches who were fired or resigned that year amid claims of misconduct. He denied the allegations.

Stakes lower but still urgent for Duke-Carolina

The 2022 Final Four combatants are both unranked for the season’s first rivalry game

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

THE LAST TIME Duke and North Carolina played, it was the top story in sports for an entire week. The rivalry traveled to its largest stage ever, meeting in New Orleans on April 2 in the Final Four.

The last time the two rivals met at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the site for this Saturday’s battle of the blues, it was also the top story in sports as Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski coached his final home game in an epic celebration of the program, spoiled by an upset win by the Tar Heels that helped spark their run to the national title game.

The stakes will not be anywhere near as high as the rivalry resumes this weekend.

Frank Reich steps into top spot with Panthers

The team welcomes its first-ever coach with an offensive background

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

THE CAROLINA PANTHERS introduced Frank Reich as their head coach on Tuesday, putting the team under the control of a coach with an offensive background for the first time in franchise history.

Reich, a former quarterback himself who took the first snaps at the position in Panthers history, will take over a team that has been unsettled at the position in recent years. It’s a situation he’s very familiar with.

AP poll.

Carolina set a record, becoming the first preseason No. 1 to drop completely out of the poll, and they did it in just four weeks, suffering a four-game losing streak that earned the players criticism from their coach that they were soft, didn’t listen and were too focused on individual honors.

There have been a few false starts, but the Tar Heels appear to have righted the ship, winning four straight and 10 of 12 since the four-game skid.

3

Number of Duke-UNC games in 63 years in which both teams were unranked, all since 2021

For just the third time since 1960, but the third time in two years, both teams will be unranked for Saturday evening’s Duke-Carolina game at Cameron. The Tar Heels, who opened the season as the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, and Duke, who started at No. 7, both find themselves in the “others receiving votes” section of this week’s

Duke has had an opposite trajectory, opening with six wins in seven games and 10 in the first 12. Since then, the Blue Devils have been one game over .500, at 5-4, a stretch of mediocrity that dropped them from the poll.

After all that dust cleared, both teams are still having solid seasons, if not quite at their usual high levels. The Heels are 15-6, 7-3 in conference, which is good for fourth place. The Blue Devils, also 156, are a game behind at 6-4 in the ACC.

UNC’s run to the title game last year was led by an inside-outside attack featuring one of the league’s best big men in Armando Bacot as well as a pair of hot-shooting playmakers

Since the start of the 2018 season when Reich took over as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, the average NFL team has had 5.3 different quarterbacks start a game. Many only started one, filling in for an injured starter, but still, on average, teams in the league go through a little more than one new starter a year.

Obviously, some teams with well-entrenched starters have been more stable. The Packers, Vikings, Seahawks and Raiders have each had only two quarterbacks start games over that span. The Bucs, Chiefs and Chargers have had three.

10-6 with Luck and 11-5 with Rivers, the two years that Reich led the team to the playoffs.

Reich has also relied on Jacoby Brissett and Carson Wentz to start games for him, going 7-9 and 9-8 with the two, respectively.

Now the new coach, a quarterback who spent most of his career as a backup, will try to cobble together Carolina’s unsettled situation at the most important spot on offense.

“When you have a head coach that’s (got a background in) offense, that’s played the position, he knows what looking through that lens of quarterback looks like,” said Panthers GM Scott Fitterer.

Fitterer has previously brought in Teddy Bridgewater, Baker Mayfield and a returning Cam Newton, all since departed, as well as holdover Sam Darnold in unsuccessful bids to solve the team’s quarterback quandary.

“Every year, you see it. You see teams going from big-time losing to big-time winning in the space of one year. It’s possible. The difference is in the margins.”

Frank Reich, new Panthers coach

At the other extreme, four teams have had eight or more starting quarterbacks. That list includes both Reich’s new team and his old one. Ironically, the places where the Panthers’ last two coaches went after leaving Carolina are the other two teams — the Broncos (nine quarterbacks) and Ron Rivera’s Washington Commanders (12).

Reich had plenty of big names quarterback for him in Indy, including three likely Hall of Famers in Andrew Luck, Philip Rivers and Matt Ryan. Two were in the final years of their careers, however, with the jury still out on Ryan, who went 3-5-1 for Reich this past season before the coach was fired midyear. Reich went

“He knows how to call a game through that eye,” Fitterer continued. “There are a lot of advantages to having an offensive head coach. That’s not the sole reason he was hired, but he has a quarterback background — calling plays, understanding the position. We didn’t hire the guy based on just picking a quarterback. He was hired based on getting the organization to a championship level.”

In Reich’s introduction, however, he didn’t sound much like a quarterback as he discussed the keys to a successful team.

“Our defense has been a real strong suit,” he said of the Panthers team he inherits. “But we’re always looking to get better. A top-10 defense gives you a chance in every game, but a top-five defense can elevate you as a team. Not only are you in every game, but you can find a way to win every game. The league is offensively driven in many ways, but the secret sauce is on defense.”

While looking to improve the defense, Reich will also lean on

AJ MAST | AP PHOTO

Frank Reich, pictured this season with the Colts, is the first head coach in Panthers history with a foundation in offense.

DAVID J. PHILLIP | AP PHOTO

RJ Davis, left, and the Tar Heels will resume their rivalry with Jeremy Roach and Duke on Saturday night in Durham.

TRENDING

Vic Fangio:

The former Panthers defensive coordinator and UNC graduate assistant was hired by the Dolphins to be their new defensive coordinator. The 64‑year‑old Fangio, who spent one year in Chapel Hill in 1983 before embarking on his pro coaching career, was the Carolina franchise’s first defensive coordinator from 1995 to 1998 and had stops with eight other NFL teams, including leading the Broncos to a combined 19‑30 record from 2019 to 2021. He was a defensive consultant for the Eagles during the 2022 season.

Helio Castroneves:

The four‑time Indianapolis 500 winner has ruled out running next month’s Daytona 500. Castroneves has been chasing a seat since winning an SRX race last season, talking to both Trackhouse Racing — which decided against running a third car — and Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s team, but said he couldn’t get a deal done with The Money Team Racing in time for next month’s race.

Darren O’Day:

The right‑handed reliever said he is retiring after 15 seasons for six teams in the major leagues. The 40‑year‑old O’Day had a 4.15 ERA in 28 games with the Braves in 2022 and was 42‑21 with a 2.59 ERA in 644 career games, all in relief. He made his major league debut in 2008 with the Angels and pitched seven seasons, from 2012‑18, for the Orioles. He posted a 4.43 ERA in 30 postseason games, including the 2010 World Series with the Rangers.

Beyond the box score

POTENT QUOTABLES

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Billy Packer, an Emmy award‑winning college basketball broadcaster who covered 34 Final Fours for NBC and CBS, died last Thursday at 82. ACC Network host Mark Packer said his father had been hospitalized for the past three weeks and had several medical issues, and ultimately succumbed to kidney failure. Packer, who helped Wake Forest to the Final Four as a player in 1962, worked as analyst or color commentator on every Final Four from 1975 to 2008.

Former interim coach Steve Wilks after losing out to Frank Reich in the Panthers’ coaching search.

Greenville native Tommy Paul after he lost his semifinal match to eventual Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.

PRIME NUMBER

48

Points for UNC Asheville forward Drew Pember in the Bulldogs’ 88‑80 win over Presbyterian last Wednesday, a new school record and the most points scored by a Division I player this season.

World champion halfpipe skier Kyle Smaine died after getting buried in an avalanche in the mountains of central Japan over the weekend, the U.S. Freeski team posted on social media. The 31‑year‑old American recently posted that he was taking the trip to ski in the backcountry of the Nagano prefecture.

NHL

University of Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett, who led the Bulldogs to their second straight national championship, was arrested Sunday in Dallas after police said he was intoxicated and banging on doors. Dallas police said the 25‑year‑old charged with public intoxication and taken to the city detention center.

Hall of Fame forward

Bobby Hull, who won a 1961 Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks but had his on‑ice accomplishments tarnished by several allegations of spousal abuse, died Monday. Hull was 84. Nicknamed “The Golden Jet” for his speed and blond hair, the two‑time MVP ranks 18th all time with 610 goals, while his son Brett scored 741 and ranks fifth.

ISAAC BREKKEN | AP PHOTO

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

ALEX SLITZ | AP PHOTO

SKIING

DARKO BANDIC | AP PHOTO

“I want to have my name on some trophies.”

“I do wish Frank Reich the best.”

BUTCH DILL | AP PHOTO

ASANKA BRENDON RATNAYAKE | AP PHOTO

AP PHOTO

Senior, Shrine bowls cap busy college all-star season for local players

NFL Draft hopefuls from the state are looking to showcase their skills

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

TWO OF THE BIGGEST remaining games on the college football all-star circuit take place this weekend. The East-West Shrine Bowl kicks off on Friday in Las Vegas, with Bill Belichick coaching one team against a selection of Atlanta Falcons coaches on the other sideline.

The Senior Bowl then takes place in Mobile, Alabama, on Saturday with staffs from the Bears and Raiders coaching the teams.

The games bring to a close twoplus months of spotlight events where college players can try to make a name for themselves as the NFL Draft process shifts into high gear. It started in early December with the FCS Bowl, and nearly a dozen games were on the schedule, capped by the HBCU Legacy Bowl, which will take place in three weeks.

Nearly two dozen players from local colleges have already appeared in at least one college allstar game this offseason, and a large group of players is expected to participate in this week’s two games.

Appalachian State will be one of the schools in the spotlight this weekend. The Mountaineers have a pair of players on the Senior Bowl rosters, as well as one player in the Shrine Bowl.

Linebacker Nick Hampton and running back Camerun Peoples will be on the National roster in the Senior Bowl, while quarterback Chase Brice will be throwing passes in the Shrine Bowl.

Hampton was an All-Sun Belt

first-teamer after finishing second in the conference in sacks per game and leading FBS in forced fumbles per game. Peoples rushed for 2,830 yards in 36 games, topping 100 in nine of them. Brice, who began his career as a backup at Clemson and then transferred to Duke for a season, has started for App the past two seasons. He also played in the Hula Bowl last month. The Mountaineers will try to follow in the footsteps of other App State players who have improved their draft stock so far this offseason.

Cornerback Dexter Lawson Jr. raised eyebrows at the College Gridiron Showcase, and corner Steven Jones helped himself at the

NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.

Tackle Anderson Hardy (Hula) and offensive lineman Cooper Hodges (NFLPA Collegiate) also took part in games.

Two other in-state products round out the Senior Bowl National Team roster: UNC lineman Asim Richards and Charlotte receiver Grant DuBose. Richards started 38 of 48 games at UNC and was third-team ACC. Dubose had 126 catches, 1,684 yards and 15 touchdowns the last two years.

While Richards is the lone Tar Heel in the Senior Bowl, teammate Antoine Green will take part in the Shrine Bowl. He was third-team All-ACC this season with 43 catches, 798 yards and

of Shrine Bowl practice, including a pair of interceptions one day, which, combined with his on-field performance for the Wolfpack during his college career, could help him overcome the early draft process criticism that he’s undersized for NFL linebacker. There were also good reports on Moore during individual workouts.

Lineman Bryson Speas (College Gridiron Showcase), kicker Christopher Dunn (Hula), punter Shane McDonough (Hula) and defensive lineman Cory Durden (NFLPA Collegiate) all represented State at earlier games.

Edge rusher Brevin Allen will represent Campbell in the Shrine Bowl. He got the invitation after a Hula Bowl appearance, where he was joined by teammate Julian Hill, who played tight end for the Camels. Allen’s raw power rushing the passer makes him attractive as a development prospect for an NFL team.

Duke linebacker Shaka Heyward will take part in the Shrine Bowl. Heyward impressed during individual workouts and was considered by many to be one of the top linebackers on the roster, along with State’s Drake Thomas. Teammate Darius Joiner, a safety, and long snapper Evan Deckers took part in the Hula Bowl.

Punter Ethan Evans of Wingate rounds out the local contingent at the Shrine Bowl. He previously took part in the Hula Bowl.

seven touchdowns.

The Shrine Bowl also features a trio of Wake Forest players: Wide receiver AT Perry, tight end Blake Whiteheart and defensive lineman Kobie Turner. Perry and Whiteheart both earned recognition for their performance on the first day of Shrine Bowl practices to start this week.

Linebacker Ryan Smenda (Hula) was the only other Demon Deacon to play on the all-star circuit.

Three NC State players will be on Shrine Bowl rosters: offensive lineman Chandler Zavala and linebackers Isaiah Moore and Drake Thomas.

Thomas made some big plays on defense during the early days

Hurricanes comfortable with any of 3 goalies

Frederik Andersen, Antti Raanta and Pyotr Kochetkov have all provided stability in net at different points this season

By Cory Lavalette North State Journal

RALEIGH — On July 22, 2021, the day before that summer’s NHL Draft, the Carolina Hurricanes traded goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to the Red Wings for a third round pick and the rights to negotiate with pending free agent Jonathan Bernier.

The outrage over trading the drafted-and-developed Nedeljkovic, who helped lead Carolina’s AHL team to a championship two seasons before and had just finished third in Calder Trophy voting as the NHL’s top rookie, only grew when Bernier and the Hurricanes couldn’t come to an agreement.

With Petr Mrazek and James Reimer both headed toward free agency, the Hurricanes were suddenly a contender without a goalie — literally zero goalies.

Which makes where things stand now, just 18 months later, even more impressive.

With two games remaining before a nine-day stretch without a game for the All-Star break and five-day schedule break, the Hurricanes are 32-9-8 and coming off a dominant win over the Bruins — the only team ahead of them in the NHL standings.

Those 32 wins are broken up

in Caleb Love and RJ Davis. The trio all returned this season to try to make another run, but they’ve been emblematic of the team’s struggles. Bacot has missed time with injury and hasn’t been the force many thought he would be, although he has been more dominant lately, stringing together three double-doubles, including two 20-point, 15-rebound outings, in the last four games.

Love’s shooting has been off the mark much of the year, a big factor behind UNC’s 31.8% accuracy from 3-point range, which ranks No. 288 in the nation.

Davis has surprisingly emerged as UNC’s most reliable option on

as such among their goalies: Antti Raanta (12), Frederik Andersen (10) and Pyotr Kochetkov (10). No matter who has been in net for Carolina, one thing seems certain: The Hurricanes are going to win way more often than they lose.

“Koochie went on that run and Freddie coming back has been incredible and Raants’ just been kind of steady the whole year,” Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook said of the team’s three goalies. “I don’t know what else you can really say about them. They’ve been consistent and given us a chance every night, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Andersen started the season as

offense, with nine double-digit scoring nights in the last 10 games and the highest 3-point percentage on the squad. He’s taken some hits, however, at one point joking that he felt “like I’ve been in a boxing match” after a game. In his most recent outing, a comeback win at Syracuse, he took an elbow to the face. Davis also reinjured his finger during the game, a nagging problem that affected him at the start of the year.

“He was hit in the eye,” coach Hubert Davis said. “It was swollen after the game, and he couldn’t see out of the eye. We had to make sure nothing was broken. He’ll probably still have a black eye on Wednesday (UNC’s last pre-Duke game, against Pitt).”

“They’ve been consistent and given us a chance every night, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook on Carolina’s goalies

the team’s No. 1 goalie and — after a two-month absence due to an injury — has reestablished himself as Carolina’s top netminder. Heading into Tuesday’s home game against

Davis (the player) returned to practice at the start of the week and was expected to play on Wednesday, and Saturday against Duke, barring any setbacks. The prognosis wasn’t as good for Puff Johnson, who has battled injury all year. “He’s still limited in practice,” Davis (the coach) said.

Duke also has injury concerns heading into Rivalry Week. Dariq Whitehead, who has emerged as a potential scoring leader for the team heading into the stretch run, injured his lower leg and missed the Blue Devils’ last game. He was slowed by injury early in the season and missed most of the preseason as well, which put him behind schedule as he adjusts to the college game. He seemed to find

the Kings, Andersen was 5-0-0 with a 1.88 goals-against average and .934 save percentage in January.

Before Andersen’s current stretch, it was Kochetkov who had put together the most impressive string of games.

The 23-year-old goalie went on an 8-0-2 run while Andersen was out injured, earning a four-year contract extension and the label of “goalie of the future.” In all, Kochetkov — who was reassigned to AHL Chicago when Andersen was healthy enough to return — is 104-5 with a 2.33 goals-against average and .913 save percentage.

And then there’s Raanta, often

his groove in recent weeks, scoring in double figures in six of his last eight games before the injury.

“He had a really good day yesterday on the court, but he’s not quite there yet,” coach Jon Scheyer said. Whitehead was questionable for Duke’s early-week game against Pitt, as well as the Carolina game.

The Blue Devils also have another player who had his early career development slowed by a preseason injury seemingly starting to hit his stride. Dereck Lively, who battled foul trouble early in the season, has been more consistent lately and shown flashes of the skills that made him the top recruit in the freshman class. The big man has a knack for blocking shots and dunking, but he added an out-

While they won’t be represented in this weekend’s showcases, some other players from schools around the state who have been chosen for postseason all-star games include Elon quarterback Matthew McKay and corner Cole Coleman (College Gridiron Showcase), NC A&T receiver Zachary Leslie and lineman Dacquari Wilson (College Gridiron Showcase), and four ECU Pirates.

Quarterback Holton Ahlers appeared in the Hula Bowl and NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. He was joined by tackle Noah Henderson, who impressed at the Hula Bowl, and receiver CJ Johnson (NFLPA Collegiate). Receiver Isaiah Winstead also improved his stock at the College Gridiron Showcase.

the forgotten masked man, quietly assembling a solid season. While his numbers don’t jump off the page (2.55 goals-against average, .897 save percentage), the 33-year-old is 12-2-3, including 10-0-2 since his last regulation loss on Nov. 12.

Raanta also has just one blemish at home, an overtime loss to Colorado on Nov. 17, and is 7-0-1 this season in Raleigh. Including the playoffs, Raanta is 23-4-2 with a 2.10 goals-against average, .922 save percentage and five shutouts at PNC Arena in his 10-year NHL career.

The Hurricanes have proven they can have success with any of the three in net, even if Andersen is carrying the load right now. Through 49 games, Carolina has allowed 129 goals (2.63 per game), the third fewest behind Boston (106 in 50 games, 2.12) and the Rangers (127 (2.59).

“When Kooch was here he played really well,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Tuesday. “He got a little injury and kind of tailed off a tad, then these guys got healthy. Freddie’s been good when he’s been in the net, and Rants, you look at his body of work, he’s been pretty good too.”

Most importantly, the Hurricanes are confident regardless of who gets the call in net on any given night.

“I think if you ask anybody in this room, if you put any one of those three guys in the net, we’re gonna be comfortable with whoever’s in there,” Martinook added. “It’s definitely a nice thing to have when you’ve got three you can pick from. Obviously Koochie’s down in Chicago right now, but if something ever happens to one of these two, he’s right there.

“Just hopefully they’ll stay healthy and keep this thing rolling.”

side shot, as well as prowess on the offensive boards, which could help the Blue Devils matchup with Bacot in the paint.

“He’s a game-changer for us,” Scheyer said.

This will be the first Duke-Carolina game for Scheyer in his role as Duke’s head coach. Davis, who went through the same experience on the other bench last year, lost his first rivalry game then made his coaching bones by sweeping both of the end-of-year games when the stakes were highest.

So while this game may not have as much on the line as Duke and Carolina fans are used to, there’s always the chance that bigger and better things are on the horizon for both.

KARL B. DEBLAKER | AP PHOTO

Pyotr Kochetkov, left, and Antti Raanta have been two-thirds of the Hurricanes’ trio of goaltenders who have at least 10 wins this season.

CHRIS CARLSON | AP PHOTO

Charlotte wide receiver Grant DuBose will compete in Saturday’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.

DUKE/UNC from page B1

NC Sports Hall of Fame announces 2023 inductees

The 15-member class will be inducted April 21

By Jesse Deal North State Journal

RALEIGH — The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame announced last week that 15 people will be enshrined in its Class of 2023.

The headliners for the new class include Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes, former NBA star Jerry Stackhouse and former PGA Tour golfer Curtis Strange. The 59th annual Induction Celebration will be held April 21 at the Raleigh Convention Center.

“This year’s class joining the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame once again reflects the great variety and rich sports heritage that the hall highlights for our state,” Jerry McGee, president of the hall’s board of directors, said in a press release. “This group and their collective accomplishments in specific areas, from great athletes to highly successful coaches to special contributors, create another exciting chapter for the hall. We are extremely excited about honoring these outstanding individuals in our induction celebration.”

Jason Brown, Jeff Davis, Donald Evans, Tom Fazio, Ellen Griffin, Tom Higgins, Clarkston Hines, Bob “Stonewall” Jackson, Trudi Lacey, Ronald Rogers, John Sadri and Rosie Thompson will also be joining the hall in April.

The 15-member group will bring the total number of inductees to 400.

Barnes, a Hickory native and Lenoir-Rhyne graduate, is currently at Tennessee and has also had coaching stints at George Mason, Providence, Clemson and Texas. With an overall record of 772-398 through his 36-year career, Barnes is one of the most successful coaches to ever come out of North Carolina and was named the Naismith College Coach of the Year in 2019.

Stackhouse, a Kinston native and consensus first-team All-American at UNC, was the third overall selection in the 1995 NBA Draft and had an 18-year career. The two-time NBA AllStar is currently the head coach at Vanderbilt following stints as an assistant with NBA’s Grizzlies and Raptors.

With the inclusion of Strange, the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame will

be welcoming a golfer who won 17 PGA Tour championships after a renowned collegiate career at Wake Forest. The native of Norfolk, Virginia, was the 1974 NCAA individual champion as he led the Demon Deacons to a national championship. Strange was then one of the PGA Tour’s leading players, topping the PGA Tour earnings list in 1985, 1987 and 1988. Hines, a star wide receiver at Duke, was a three-time first-team all-ACC selection as well as the ACC Player of the Year in 1989. As one of the most prolific wide receivers in conference history, he es-

“This year’s class joining the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame once again reflects the great variety and rich sports heritage that the hall highlights for our state.”

Jerry McGee, NCSHOF board of directors president

tablished school, ACC and NCAA records during his career with the

Blue Devils. Hines was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010. The class also includes Jackson, a World War II veteran who returned to play four years at what is now North Carolina A&T and then became the first black player from an HBCU to be drafted by an NFL team. After playing for both the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, Jackson coached football at Johnson C. Smith University and then spent more than 30 years working for North Carolina Central University. The N.C. Sports Hall of Fame

Chiefs, Eagles will meet in Super Bowl 57

The game will be played

Feb. 12 in Arizona

By David Brandt

The Associated Press

PATRICK MAHOMES finally got the best of Joe Burrow.

All he needed was a little shove.

Harrison Butker made a 45yard field goal with 3 seconds left — after Cincinnati’s Joseph Ossai was flagged for a 15-yard penalty for shoving Mahomes after he was out of bounds — and the Chiefs beat the Bengals 23-20 in the AFC championship game to make it back to the Super Bowl. Kansas City will face the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl on Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona.

The Eagles opened as a 1½-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

There is no shortage of storylines: Kansas City coach Andy Reid goes against his old team — which he led to Super Bowl 39 — in a game that’s also the first matchup of black starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl with Mahomes and Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts.

On top of that, there’s a brother-against-brother showdown between Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Philadelphia center Jason Kelce.

“Officially done being a Chiefs

PANTHERS from page B1 the Panthers’ running game. Back D’Onta Foreman, who starred for the team following the midseason trade of Christian McCaffrey, was one of the only current Panthers players Reich mentioned by name in his first press conference.

“We want our offense to get downhill vertically,” he said. “It’s a passing league, but you have to run the ball to be a championship team. We want to be effective running the ball and efficient

fan this season!!” Jason Kelce tweeted immediately after the Chiefs won.

The Chiefs have been making deep postseason runs on a regular basis ever since Mahomes came to town as the franchise quarterback.

This was their fifth straight trip to the AFC title game and will be their third Super Bowl appearance in that span. They beat the 49ers for the NFL title in the 2019 season but lost to the Bucs the following season.

“Officially done being a Chiefs fan this season!!”

Eagles center Jason Kelce after brother Travis, a tight end for Kansas City, also reached Super Bowl 57

The Eagles clobbered the Niners 31-7 in the NFC title game earlier Sunday. They’ve looked dominant in the playoffs so far, also beating the New York Giants 38-7 in the

running the ball.

“I’m excited about the roster because I know we can do that. We’ll get the passing game right, but we’re going to run the football. Offense is about trying to create conflict in the defense, to plant a seed of doubt in the defender’s mind, and you do that with play action, RPOs and that all relies on the run game.”

Reich’s stated philosophy seems to track with his approach in Indianapolis. The Colts had a top-10 defense in points allowed

in three of his five seasons but was never higher than No. 9. With Luck at quarterback in his first year, the Colts were in the top 10 in passing yards (sixth), touchdowns (second) and yards per pass (ninth) but finished in the top 10 in any of the three categories just once over the next four years. The run game, meanwhile, improved from No. 20 in yards to No. 2 by his fourth year and No. 16 in touchdowns to sixth and fifth in years three and four, respectively, as the team added star

divisional round.

Philadelphia is back in the Super Bowl five years after beating the New England Patriots 41-33 on Feb. 4, 2018.

Now a mostly new generation of Eagles — led by coach Nick Sirianni and Hurts — will come to Arizona to try and win another title.

The Chiefs-Bengals game looked as if it was going to overtime before Ossai’s ill-advised play. Mahomes — who was playing on a badly sprained ankle — was running to get a first down in the final seconds as Ossai desperately tried to track him down.

Mahomes was out of bounds when Ossai gave him a shove, sending both players tumbling to the turf. The ensuing 15-yard penalty was enough to push Butker into field-goal range and the kick split the uprights.

A distraught Ossai sat on the bench with his head in his hands, well after the game was over.

The Bengals and Chiefs were playing for the fourth time in less than 400 days and Cincinnati had won the previous three meetings — all by three points. This one was decided by a field goal, too, and all Burrow could do was watch.

The Bengals lost to the Rams in last year’s Super Bowl and they just missed another chance at returning to the title game.

Rihanna will take center stage

running back Jonathan Taylor.

Taylor battled injury this past season, which Reich indicated led to his downfall.

“In four years, we established that we were running the ball, like we’re going to do here,” Reich said. “This year, the run game disappeared. We didn’t get the ball vertically down the field because of that.”

The difference between the playoffs and being fired can be an injury at a key position, which also fits with Reich’s outlook as he

was established in 1963 and exists as a permanent exhibit on the third floor of the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. Featuring more than 200 significant objects and memorabilia donated by inductees, the museum is open with free admission Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Banquet ticket information is available online at NCSHOF.org or by phone at 919-845-3455. A news conference will be held at 2 p.m. at the convention center on the day of the inductions.

as the headline act for this year’s Super Bowl halftime show. With sales of more than 250 million records worldwide, Rihanna ranks as one of the best-selling female artists ever. Her most recent album was 2016’s “Anti.” Rihanna last performed publicly at the Grammy Awards in 2018.

The singer said she turned down a similar opportunity for the 2019 Super Bowl that was ultimately headlined by Maroon 5. At the time, many artists voiced support for Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who protested police brutality against black people and minorities by kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.

Country music star Chris Stapleton will sing the national anthem, while R&B legend Babyface will perform “America the Beautiful.”

This coming weekend’s Pro Bowl is getting a major makeover after the NFL eliminated its full-contact all-star game and replaced it with weeklong skills competitions and a flag football game.

The flag football contest is Feb. 5 in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium, one week before the Super Bowl.

The Pro Bowl debuted in January 1951 in Los Angeles and stayed there for 21 seasons before the game moved to different cities from 1972-80. Hawaii hosted from 1980-2009, and the game has had several homes in the years since, including Miami, Phoenix, Orlando and Las Vegas.

takes over the Panthers.

“This is the NFL,” he said. “The difference between winning and losing is really small. Every year, you see it. You see teams going from big-time losing to big-time winning in the space of one year. It’s possible. The difference is in the margins. In the details. One player, one play, one detail at a time.”

An unsettled quarterback picture, combined with a solid defense and run game, gives Reich plenty of details to focus on.

TOM GANNAM | AP PHOTO

Former UNC offensive lineman Jason Brown, pictured with the NFL’s Rams in 2011, will be part of a 15-person class inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame on April 21.

MATT SLOCUM | AP PHOTO Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is pushed out of bounds by 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga during Sunday’s NFC championship game in Philadelphia. The Eagles will face the Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Feb. 12.

Total Cash & Bond Proceeds

$2,585,057,605

Add Receipts $267,116,079

Less Disbursements

$127,207,677

Reserved Cash $125,000,000

Unreserved Cash Balance Total

$6,699,571,755

Disaster reimbursements: $0

year began. Higher asset prices tend to encourage spending and accelerate growth — just the opposite of what the Fed wants.

To forestall that brighter outlook, most analysts expect Powell to talk tough at a news conference Wednesday about the need for further rate hikes. He may underscore a projection that Fed officials collectively issued last month that their benchmark rate would surpass 5% in the coming months.

“The communication gets very tricky at this point,” said William English, a former Fed staffer and finance professor at Yale School of Management.

Further complicating matters, English and some other economists say, the Fed could change the statement it issues after each meeting to hint that it may be close to suspending its rate hikes.

Since March, the statement has included the phrase, “ongoing increases in the (Fed’s rate) will be appropriate.” English said that phrase could change to something like, “some future increases.” That would indicate that the Fed is no longer engaged in an open-ended series of hikes.

Other Fed watchers, like Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, say they don’t foresee any such changes, because the Fed won’t want to excite investors.

“They don’t want the financial markets to presume a pause is around the corner,” Bostjancic said. “They can’t change that language until they want to signal a pause is imminent.”

Powell has stressed his concern — which most other Fed officials have echoed — that robust pay raises will keep inflation high among restaurants, hotels, health care, financial services and other areas of the nation’s service sector. As a result, Powell has said that some “pain” will be necessary to fully quash inflation — including a potentially sharp increase in the unemployment rate.

On Tuesday, the government will issue its most comprehensive measure of wages, known as the Employment Cost Index. If the index shows a clear weakening of wage gains in the final three months of 2022, it could assuage some of Powell’s concerns that large pay increases are fueling inflation.

Even so, in recent speeches and interviews, several Fed officials have said they want their key rate to exceed 5%, a level that would require two more quarter-point hikes in addition to a quarter-point increase on Wednesday.

“We’re not at 5% yet, we’re not above 5%, which I think is going to be needed given where my projections are for the economy,” Loretta Mester, president of the Cleveland Fed, said in a Jan. 17 interview with the Associated Press. “I just think we need to keep going.”

As the Fed faces a more uncertain environment, some disagreements among officials are emerging. While Powell has stressed the need to slow the job market to combat inflation, for example, Vice Chair Lael Brainard has suggested that other factors, including a decline in corporate profits, could further reduce inflation without requiring widespread layoffs.

IMF upgrades outlook for the global economy in 2023

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The outlook for the global economy is growing slightly brighter as China eases its zero-COVID policies and the world shows surprising resilience in the face of high inflation, elevated interest rates and Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.

That’s the view of the International Monetary Fund, which now expects the world economy to grow 2.9% this year. That forecast is better than the 2.7% expansion for 2023 that the IMF predicted in October, though down from the estimated 3.4% growth in 2022.

The IMF, a 190-country lending organization, foresees inflation easing this year, a result of aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks. Those rate hikes are expected to slow the consumer demand that has driven prices higher. Globally, the IMF expects consumer inflation to fall from 8.8% last year to 6.6% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024.

“Global conditions have improved as inflation pressures started to abate,” the IMF chief economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, said at a news conference in Sin-

gapore. “The road back to a full recovery with sustainable growth, stable prices and progress for all has only started.”

A big factor in the upgrade to global growth was China’s decision late last year to lift anti-virus controls that had kept millions of people at home. The IMF said China’s “recent reopening has paved the way for a faster-than-expected recovery.’’

The IMF now expects China’s economy — the world’s second-biggest, after the United States — to grow 5.2% this year, up from its October forecast of 4.4%. Beijing’s economy eked out growth of just 3% in 2022 — the first year in more than 40, the IMF noted, that China has expanded more slowly than the world as a whole. But the end of virus restrictions is expected to revive activity in 2023.

Together, China and India should account for half of this year’s global growth, while the United States and Europe contribute 10%, according to Gourinchas.

“China’s reopening is certainly a favorable factor that’s going to lead to more activity,” Gourinchas said. “But this is in the context in which the global economy itself is

slowing down.”

The IMF’s 2023 growth outlook improved for the United States (forecast to grow 1.4%) as well as for the 19 countries that share the euro currency (0.7%). Europe, though suffering from energy shortages and higher prices resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, proved “more resilient than expected,’’ the IMF said. The European economy benefited from a warmer-than-expected winter, which held down demand for natural gas,

Russia’s economy, hit by sanctions after its invasion of Ukraine, has proved sturdier than expected, too: The IMF’s forecast foresees Russia registering 0.3% growth this year. That would mark an improvement from a contraction of 2.2% in 2022. And it’s well above the 2.3% contraction for 2023 that the IMF had forecast for Russia in October.

The United Kingdom is a striking exception to the IMF’s brighter outlook for 2023. It has forecast its economy will shrink 0.6% in 2023; in October, the IMF had expected growth of 0.3%. Higher interest rates and tighter government budgets are squeezing the British economy.

“These figures confirm we are not immune to the pressures hitting nearly all advanced economies,’’ Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said in response to the IMF forecast. “Short-term challenges should not obscure our long-term prospects — the U.K. outperformed many forecasts last year, and if we stick to our plan to halve inflation, the U.K. is still predicted to grow faster than Germany and Japan over the coming years.”

The IMF noted that the world economy still faces serous risks. They include the possibility that Russia’s war against Ukraine war will escalate, that China will suffer a sharp increase in COVID cases and that high interest rates will cause a financial crisis in debt-laden countries.

The global outlook has been shrouded in uncertainty since the coronavirus pandemic struck in early 2020. Forecasters have been repeatedly confounded by events: A severe if brief recession in early 2020; an expectedly strong recovery triggered by vast government stimulus aid; then a surge in inflation, worsened when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago disrupted world trade in energy and food.

Three weeks ago, the IMF’s sister agency, the World Bank, issued a more downbeat outlook for the global economy. The World Bank slashed its forecast for international growth this year by nearly half — to 1.7% — and warned that the global economy would come “perilously close’’ to recession.

Source: Dutch, Japanese join US limits on chip tech to China

The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C.— Japan and the Netherlands have agreed to a deal with the U.S. to restrict China’s access to materials used to make advanced computer chips, a person familiar with the agreement told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The person declined to be identified because the deal hasn’t yet been formally announced. It’s unclear when all three sides will unveil the agreement. The White House declined to comment.

The Biden administration in October imposed export controls to limit China’s ability to access advanced chips, which it says can be used to make weapons, commit human rights abuses and improve the speed and accuracy of its military logistics. It urged allies like Japan and the Netherlands to follow suit.

China has responded angrily, saying trade curbs will disrupt supply chains and the global economic recovery.

“We hope the relevant countries will do the right thing and work together to uphold the multilateral trade regime and safeguard the stability of the global industrial and supply chains,” China’s For-

eign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said earlier this month. “This will also serve to protect their own long-term interests.”

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday that Dutch and Japanese officials were in Washington for talks led by President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, that covered the “safety and security of emerging technologies,” efforts to aid

Ukraine and other issues.

“We’re grateful that they were able to come to D.C. and to have these talks,” Kirby said. Kirby declined to say whether there was a deal on tighter export controls on semiconductor technology. This month, Biden met separately with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to push for tighter export controls.

In a press conference last week, Rutte was asked about the talks but said they involve “such sensitive material … high-quality technology that the Dutch government chooses to communicate about it very carefully and that means in a very limited way.”

Veldhoven, Netherlands-based ASML, a leading maker of semiconductor production equipment, said Sunday that it didn’t know any details about the agreement or how it would affect ASML’s business.

ASML is the world’s only producer of machines that use extreme ultraviolet lithography to make advanced semiconductor chips. The Dutch government has prohibited ASML from exporting that equipment to China since 2019, but the company had still been shipping lower-quality lithography systems to China.

ASML has research and manufacturing centers in Beijing and Shenzhen, China, as well as a regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

U.S. officials say China is spending heavily to develop its fledgling semiconductor producers but so far cannot make the high-end chips used in the most advanced smartphones and other devices.

INFLATION from page B5

A trishaw driver wades through a crowded street at the frozen Houhai Lake in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 30, 2023.

AP PHOTO,

Netherland's Prime Minister Mark Rutte, left, speaks with U.S. President Joe Biden during a round table meeting at a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, June 29, 2022.

2022 Lexus LX 600

The largest Lexus gets a big revamp

By Jordan Golson North State Journal

BOSTON — I love the Lexus LX.

For years, it was the more luxurious version of the Toyota Land Cruiser which, for years, was the most expensive Toyota-badged vehicle by far. And, if I’m honest, it wasn’t entirely clear why Toyota and Lexus sold both the Land Cruiser and the LX.

They were nearly identical, differing primarily in name only. That’s probably why the company decided not to bring it to the US for the new generation. Instead, we only get the new Lexus LX 600 while the rest of the world gets the Toyota Land Cruiser version. I’m slightly disappointed that the venerable Land Cruiser nameplate is gone from our shores. Still, the LX is assembled on the same production line and is essentially the same vehicle, so it may not matter.

The old flagship Lexus SUV was the LX 570, so named because it had a 5.7-liter V8 under the hood. Many automakers used to name their cars with reference to engine size, but that got tossed by the wayside as smaller-displacement, turbo- and supercharged engines became the norm. The new one is the LX 600, an inexplicable increase in digits only explainable by the fact that it’s larger and nicely round. Under the hood is a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 making 409 horsepower, the same engine you can find in the new Sequoia and Toyota Tundra. It’s a terrific engine, providing plentiful oomph at all speeds. It’s a pleasure to drive.

And, since it’s a rebadged Land Cruiser, it’s appropriately equipped for nearly any offroad expedition. There’s 4WD, of course, with both high- and low-range gearboxes, plus lockable differentials and adjustable air suspension. But I’m boggled by where the designers put these offroad controls. I’d be shocked if these vehicles ever see anything approaching proper fourwheelin’ in their lives. Yet, the drive mode and high/low range get prime control placement with big chunky knobs right where the temperature controls or radio volume should be. Aside from the steering wheel, these are the most prominent controls in the car, and you’ll barely touch them.

The placement is inexplicable, other than perhaps to show people how much of a Real Off-Roader it is. Instead, we get silly up/ down toggles to change the cabin temperature, and both driver and passenger are forever reaching for the wrong knobs.

At least the infernal Lexus trackpad control scheme is replaced by an enormous touchscreen positioned high atop the center stack, supporting the new Toyota/Lexus UI and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. CarPlay looks and works great, and the new Toyota UI is far better than it used to be, although I still prefer the Apple interface.

There are only two cupholders in the center console, although there’s theoretically room for a half-dozen more. Instead, you get a wireless charging mat in the middle of everything just behind the gear shift, plus more storage below the climate controls and the second of two screens. I like this setup, however, with CarPlay on the top screen and all the climate and vehicle controls on a smaller, lower screen. It means I don’t have to toggle away from navigation to change the temperature.

Of course, it’s incredibly comfortable and rides well, with four-corner air suspension and clever Lexus engineering belying the truck’s massive girth. The hourglass Lexus front grille is almost shockingly large, but it suits the vehicle, framed by tri-beam LED headlights and an all-around pleasingly gigantic front end.

The rear is similarly situated, with a new interpretation of the Lexus design language showcasing an edge-to-edge LED taillight situation that looks terrific and helps showcase the sheer bulk of the LX.

I’m running out of words to describe how large this thing feels, which is a little unfair because it’s not any larger than any of the other full-size luxury SUVs like the Jeep Grand Wagoneer or the Cadillac Escalade. But somehow, the LX does feel even bigger than those other trucks, though I can’t put my finger on why.

When I reviewed the old Lexus LX 570 a few years ago, I called it “an impress-mobile,” designed to go anywhere, do anything, and conquer any obstacle, complete with a cooling box in the center console. This new LX does all that with a (slightly) more fuel-efficient engine under the hood and absolutely no pretense about what it is and who it’s for.

This is a giant, three-row fullsize luxury SUV for more than $100,000, ready to explore the world in style and comfort. And there’s even an F-Sport version with a wild bright-red leather interior that’ll catch anyone’s eye. Perhaps that’s what the Lexus LX does best: garnering attention and then cruising away, ready to conquer whatever obstacle comes next.

‘Laverne & Shirley’ actor Cindy Williams dies at 75

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Cindy Williams, who was among the most recognizable stars in America in the 1970s and 1980s for her role as Shirley opposite Penny Marshall’s Laverne on the beloved sitcom “Laverne & Shirley,” has died. She was 75. Williams died in Los Angeles on Wednesday after a brief illness, her children, Zak and Emily Hudson, said in a statement released on Monday through family spokeswoman Liza Cranis.

Williams worked with some of Hollywood’s most elite directors in a film career that preceded her fulltime move to television, appearing in George Cukor’s 1972 “Travels With My Aunt,” George Lucas’ 1973 “American Graffiti” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation” from 1974.

But she was by far best known for “Laverne & Shirley,” the “Happy Days” spinoff that ran on ABC from 1976 to 1983 that in its prime was among the most popular

shows on TV. Williams played the straitlaced Shirley Feeney to Marshall’s more libertine Laverne DeFazio on the show about a pair of blue-collar roommates who toiled on the assembly line of a Milwaukee brew-

ery in the 1950s and 1960s. “They were beloved characters,” Williams told The Associated Press in 2002. DeFazio was quick-tempered and defensive; Feeney was naive and trusting. The actors drew upon

their own lives for plot inspiration.

“We’d make up a list at the start of each season of what talents we had,” Marshall told the AP in 2002. “Cindy could touch her tongue to her nose and we used it in the show. I did tap dance.”

Marshall, whose brother, Garry Marshall, co-created the series, died in 2018.

Actor Rosario Dawson shared a video of the show’s beloved opening theme on Twitter on Tuesday.

“Singing this song with so much gratitude for both of you ladies,” Dawson tweeted. “Absolute gems. United again… Rest in Paradise Cindy Williams.”

The show also starred Michael McKean and David Lander as Laverne and Shirley’s oddball hangers-on Lenny and Squiggy. Lander died in 2020.

McKean paid tribute to Williams on Twitter with a memory from the production.

“Backstage, Season 1: I’m offstage waiting for a cue. The script’s been a tough one, so we’re giving it 110% and the audience is having a great time,” McKean tweeted. “Cindy scoots by me to make her entrance and with a glorious grin, says: ‘Show’s cookin’!’ Amen. Thank you, Cindy.”

Her acting career began with small roles in television starting in 1969, with appearances on “Room 222,” “Nanny and the Professor” and “Love, American Style.”

Her part in Lucas’ “American Graffiti” would become a defining role. The film was a forerunner to a nostalgia boom for the 1950s and early 1960s that would follow. “Happy Days,” starring her “American Graffiti” co-star Ron Howard, would premiere the following year. The characters of Laverne and Shirley made their first TV appearance as dates of Henry Winkler’s Fonzie before they got their own show.

Lucas also considered her for the role of Princess Leia in “Star Wars,” a role that went to Carrie Fisher.

In the past three decades, Williams made guest appearances on dozens of TV series including “7th Heaven,” “8 Simple Rules” and “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” In 2013, she and Marshall appeared in a “Laverne & Shirley” tribute episode of the Nickelodeon series “Sam and Cat.”

Last year, Williams appeared in a one-woman stage show full of stories from her career, “ Me, Myself and Shirley,” at a theater in Palm Springs, California, near her home in Desert Hot Springs.

Williams was married to singer Bill Hudson of musical group the Hudson Brothers from 1982 until 2000. Hudson was father to her two children. He was previously married to Goldie Hawn and is also the father of actor Kate Hudson.

New this week: Shania, ‘Princess Power’ and Pamela Anderson

The Associated Press HERE’S A COLLECTION curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.

MOVIES

— If you haven’t managed to catch “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” yet, the Marvel sequel arrives on Disney+ on Wednesday with a batch of five Oscar nominations to its name, including best supporting actress for Angela Bassett and original song (“Lift Me Up,” music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson; lyrics by Tems and Ryan Coogler). In his review, AP Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote that, “’Wakanda Forever’ is overlong, a little unwieldy and somewhat mystifyingly steers toward a climax on a barge in the middle of the Atlantic. But Coogler’s fluid command of mixing intimacy with spectacle remains gripping.”

— Pamela Anderson has been making headlines again for revelations in the documentary “Pamela, A Love Story,” coming to Netflix on Tuesday. After many people trying tell her story for her — including in the recent Hulu series “Pam & Tommy” which Anderson chose not to contribute to and called “salt on the wound” and “not necessary” — she tells her story herself through archival footage and personal journals. Ryan White (“The Keepers,”

“Ask Dr. Ruth” and “Goodnight

IMAGE VIA AP

This combination of photos shows promotional at for "Princess Power," a series premiering Jan 30, "Pamela: A Love Story," premiering Jan. 31, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," premiering Feb. 1, and "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile" premiering on Feb. 4.

Oppy”) directs.

— For the kids, “Lyle, Lyle Crocodile” also comes to Netflix on Saturday. The movie based on the popular Bernard Waber series is hybrid live action/ CGI and a musical as well, featuring Shawn Mendes as the titular Crocodile Lyle. Constance Wu, Javier Bardem and Scoot McNairy also star. The story focuses on a family who has recently relocated to New York City and their son (Winslow Fegley) is struggling to adapt until the caviar-loving crocodile enters his life.

MUSIC

— Shania Twain kicks off her new album with a strut — the infectious line-dance-inducing “Giddy Up!” “I

want people to feel good when they hear the new album. I want to set a celebratory tone,” she explains. The five-time Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter’s sixth album “Queen of Me” arrives on Friday. Songs among the 12-track set include the glistening pop of “Waking Up Dreaming” and “Inhale/Exhale Air,” which she wrote after her battle with COVID-19.

— Take a trip back in time to 2012 for a front-row seat to what The Rolling Stones call “one of the most memorable shows in the band’s history.” That was the night in New Jersey that featured guest appearances by The Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr., John Mayer, Lady Gaga and Bruce Springsteen. The set is being released as “GRRR

Live!” and a video on demand from the band’s website will stream for $9.99. Tune in Thursday at 8 p.m. GMT, 8 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. PT and 8 p.m. AWST on Friday. It has not been available to fans since it originally aired on pay-per-view in 2012.

TELEVISION

— Drew Barrymore and Savannah Guthrie have teamed up to executive produce a new animated children’s series on Netflix called “Princess Power.” The show centers around Penny Pineapple, Kira Kiwi, Bea Blueberry, and Rita Raspberry, all princesses who are devoted to help others while teaching young viewers about inclusivity, diversity, teamwork and friendship.

It’s based on Guthrie’s bestselling children’s book “Princesses Wear Pants.” Guest stars on “Princess Power” are voiced by Rita Moreno, Andrew Rannells, Tan France, Jenna Ushkowitz and Guthrie as well. All 14 episodes drop Monday.

— The relationship between the U.S. and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin may be strained now due to the war in Ukraine, but his clashes with American presidents goes back further than with President Biden. A new PBS “Frontline” documentary called “Putin and the Presidents,” delves into Putin’s interaction with the last five U.S. presidents as rebuilding the Russian empire seems to be his priority. It debuts Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on PBS but check station listings to confirm local broadcast info.

— The fishing industry in Iceland is a major export commodity but a controversial quota where individuals and companies are allowed to catch and sell a predetermined number of fish per year is a politically-charged issue. A new series called “Blackport,” is based on a true story and follows a couple who take advantage of that quota in the 1980s to control a large part of the market. The success goes to their heads leading to greed, corruption, jealousy and deception.

The eight-episode series has been picked up by the streaming service Topic where you can subscribe directly or add its channel on Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV or Roku. The first three episodes drop Thursday with the remaining five doled out weekly.

AP PHOTO,

Actors Cindy Williams, left, and Penny Marshall, stars of the ABC-TV comedy series "Laverne and Shirley," make an impression in cement after the taping of their show in Los Angeles, on Nov. 14, 1979.

confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy. Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott,

Girls basketball

West Stanly’s Grayson Howell lays the ball up for 2 points against Forest Hills during a Rocky River conference game at West Stanly High School in Oakboro, on Jan. 27, 2023. The Colts beat the Yellow Jackets with a final score of 63–57. Read more varsity basketball news on page 6.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Stanly County Schools to consider expanding Endy Elementary

Stanly County Schools recently submitted a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to architectural firms in order to expand Endy Elementary School by an additional 10 classrooms. It is hoped that the expansion plans will help the school increase its capacity and adapt to the continual growth of the local community. The suggestion to expand the capacity of Endy Elementary has come, in part, due to the passing of House Bill 90, which requires schools to gradually reduce the average class size for grades K-3 over the course of the next several years. As of the last calendar school year, K-3 classrooms were required to have a district average of about 18 students, with no single classroom hosting over 21 students. While the Stanly Board of Education has yet to officially approve the expansion plans, the school system is looking to get a head start on the project should the county continue to grow as projected. The enrollment numbers at Endy Elementary have increased by about 50 students per year since the 2019-20 school year.

Large school district backs off

early-start calendar

Union County

The Union County Board of Education voted 6-3 to rescind a 2023-24 school calendar that would have brought back students on Aug. 9. That calendar had been approved unanimously last month. But the school calendar law tells districts that in nearly all cases students can’t return each year until later in August. Some parents had sued the board and its members earlier this month, saying the district was breaking the law when it adopted the earlier calendar.

The mandated calendar parameters were designed in part to ensure vacation-related industries would have enough employees during the summer. But critics say the requirements make it impossible to complete the fall semester before winter break and make it harder on dual-enrollment students — those who also take classes at community colleges.

The new calendar for the Union County schools, ranked sixth in the state by enrollment, says classes will begin on Aug. 28 and end June 7, 2024. AP

Albemarle City Council discusses issues with Waste Management services

By Jesse Deal Stanly County Journal

ALBEMARLE — At the Albemarle City Council’s January 23 meeting, multiple council members expressed their discontent with the current quality of contractual work provided by Waste Management.

With the company providing trash, garbage, recycling, and landfill services to over 70 municipalities across the state, WM representatives have cited the COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of commercially-licensed drivers available as reasons for service delays for leaf, limb, garbage, and recycling pickups throughout Albemarle.

“We continue to see — and I’ll just put it bluntly — terrible service,” Mayor Ronnie Michael told Marilyn Wells, WM regional manager for municipal and community relations. “Our phones are not slowing down. They are getting worse.” Michael continued: “Our customers and residents expect and want more. They expect that as

a city, and we expect that of you. We agreed to contract with you for this service. Just being honest with you, we’re not getting what we’re paying for. It isn’t about the money — it’s that we need the service to provide to our residents.”

The council has discussed both internally and publicly if WM breached its contract with the city because of the numerous delays.

“We need to figure this out, and we need to figure it out quickly,” Councilman Bill Aldridge said.

“We’ve used COVID-19, and we’ve used sickness, and we’ve used excuse after excuse after excuse,” Mayor Pro Tem Martha Sue Hall added.

Councilman Dexter Townsend noted that he was glad to see that WM representatives have been attending Albemarle City Council meetings regularly to build a better correspondence with the city: “It’s good to see some consistency from your leadership positions, but at the end of the day any way you want to look at it, the service has not improved.” Wells responded to the coun-

Mayor Pro Tem Martha Sue Hall

cil with her own take on the issue, reaffirming that the CDL shortage is compounded in North Carolina, where there have been 41,000 more retirees than those entering the market.

“On any given week, we have 22,000 service points and 22,000 stops that we will make. We are essentially a trucking company if you think about what we do,” Wells said. “Success can be found when you have the staffing that you need. In our case, the pandemic did teach us that if you have the right amount of drivers, it’s not enough — you need more than what you need because of all the what-if scenarios. When you have leadership working side by

side with drivers, you also hold them more accountable, and you have the benefit of that joint comradery.”

WM Senior District Manager Travis McClung provided his input on the situation, adding that his company — during the fourth quarter of 2022 — had hired five more drivers for the area that services Albemarle. While two more drivers for the Albemarle routes have been hired this month, “we are obviously not completely where we want to be yet, but we are getting much closer,” he said.

The conversation between the council and WM wrapped up with Councilman Benton Dry requesting the company to provide written action steps for how it will remedy the services it provides to Albemarle; Wells responded by saying that she would create and send a report to City Manager Michael Ferris soon. Additionally, WM officials will give another update to the council in March to follow up on the status.

The Albemarle City Council will hold its next meeting on February 6 at 6:30 p.m.

The Associated Press RALEIGH — An advocacy group that sued over redistricting lines in North Carolina told state Supreme Court justices Monday that previous rulings that blocked legislative and congressional district maps as illegal partisan gerrymanders should be left intact.

Common Cause filed a response to Republican General Assembly leaders’ request in late January that the state’s highest court rehear redistricting lawsuits.

In December, when a majority of the seven justices were registered Democrats, the court struck down a state Senate map the legislature drew and upheld congressional boundaries

drawn by trial judges but opposed by Republicans. The rulings stemmed from a similar 4-3 decision in February 2022 that declared GOP legislators violated the state constitution by approving lines that deprived Democrats of voting power substantially equal to their support in the state.

Republican legislators argue no such contingency is found in the constitution. With the GOP winning November judicial elections and achieving a majority on the court, Republican legislators asked the court to reconsider those decisions.

Hilary Klein, an attorney for Common Cause, wrote that the rehearing petition is “frivolous.” She referred specifically to House Speaker Tim Moore’s

public statement that another look at the cases was needed because the “people of North Carolina sent a message election day” to reject the ruling of the “outgoing (judicial) majority.”

The petition “is therefore motivated by improper purpose and grossly lacking in the requirements of propriety,” Klein wrote.

Common Cause was one of many plaintiffs in the redistricting lawsuits. Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger also have separately asked for a rehearing of another Supreme Court decision last month that invalidated a 2018 law requiring photo identification to vote. The GOP leaders contend the proper legal standard was not applied.

“We’ve used COVID-19, and we’ve used sickness, and we’ve used excuse after excuse after excuse.”

Plaintiffs: N. Carolina request for redistricting rehearing ‘frivolous’

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

WEEKLY CRIME LOG

♦ GARRIS, CARLA JO (W /F/46), SIMPLE ASSAULT, 1/29/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ KOST, CODY-ALAN MICHAELMEAHEA (I /M/32), POSSESS METHAMPHETAMINE, 01/29/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ PORTER, JUSTIN LEE (W /M/30), ASSAULT ON FEMALE, 01/29/2023, Stanly County

Sheriff’s Office

♦ RICHARDSON, ERNEST KEITH (B /M/41), ASSAULT INFLICT

SERIOUS INJ (M), 01/29/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ EUDY, FELICIA GAIL (W /F/31), NONSUPPORT CHILD, 01/27/2023, Stanly County

Sheriff’s Office

♦ CAGLE, JOHN PATRICK (B /M/61), ASSAULT ON FEMALE, 01/26/2023, Stanly County

Sheriff’s Office

♦ DYE, JAMES CHASE (W /M/22), SIMPLE ASSAULT, 01/26/2023, Stanly County Sheriff’s Office

♦ HALSTEAD, ASHLEY NICOLE (W /F/38), CIVIL ORDER FOR ARREST - CHILD SUPPORT, 01/26/2023, Stanly County

Sheriff’s Office

♦ LAMBERT, JERRY WAYNE (W /M/49), CHILD SUPPORT,

By Emmie Brooks For North State Journal

PINEHURST — Golf course

architect Tom Doak has embarked on a new project to design and develop Pinehurst’s 10th golf course, the first in almost three decades. Doak has long had a passion for golf and, specifically, the design of courses themselves.

“When I was twelve-thirteen years old, I got to see Harbour Town, Pinehurst, and Pebble Beach, and they were so different from the public course I grew up playing in Connecticut that I became fascinated with golf course design,” Doak said.

D oak has since designed six courses that have been ranked among the top 100 golf courses in the world, according to Golf Magazine. He has also written multiple books about the sport and architecture of the courses.

“Having a Doak course at Pinehurst allows guests to play a course designed by one of the most creative golf minds of this generation. Some equate playing at Pinehurst to visiting a golf architecture museum. You get to experience some of the best work

from different design eras when you come here,” says club officials.

In the 1890s, James Walker Tufts, a Bostonian Philanthropist, purchased 5,800 acres of land to build a New England Vil-

lage on what now has become Pinehurst Resort. The Holly Inn began housing guests in 1895 and The Carolina Hotel in 1901, both of which are still housing guests and golfers today.

In 1898, Pinehurst’s first golf course was built, consisting of nine holes and one clubhouse. In 1989, golf professional John Dunn Tucker was hired and continued the course by adding nine other holes, completing Pinehurst’s No. 1 course. The Pinehurst Golf Club was later established in 1903.

P inehurst Resort now features 2,000 acres of historically dense North Carolina land, three hotels, eleven dining venues, and a multitude of recreational activities for all to enjoy.

E xpected to open in 2024, Doak’s new course is envisioned to complement other courses at the resort by contrasting them all superbly. The land consists of natural features that create the character of what differentiates Pinehurst from other golf resorts, such as native sand and wiregrass.

“I’ve wanted to do this since I was a kid, and I have to pinch myself that people pay me to do it,” Doak said. “What keeps it interesting is that every site is different, and the best design solution is the one that makes the most of those differences.”

Sneaky ways inflation affects your money in 2023

By Liz Weston NerdWallet

BY NOW, you’re probably familiar with the more obvious ways inflation affects your finances. Your money doesn’t go as far at the grocery store, for example. Credit card and other variable-rate debt is getting more expensive as the Federal Reserve raises short-term interest rates to combat inflation.

Rates are also rising, albeit more slowly, on savings accounts.

But other ways inflation helps or hurts have gotten less attention. Here are some of the major changes to watch for in 2023.

Big tax changes benefit most taxpayers

The IRS raised the standard deduction, which is taken by more than 90% of taxpayers, by $1,800 for married couples filing jointly and by $900 for single filers. The standard deduction amounts in 2023 will be $27,700 for married couples and $13,850 for singles.

In addition, the IRS adjusted federal tax brackets upward by about 7%. The larger deduction, higher brackets and other changes mean most taxpayers will pay less in 2023, especially if their in-

comes haven’t kept pace with inflation.

“It’s putting more money back into people’s pockets,” says Edward Karl, vice president of tax policy and advocacy for the American Institute of CPAs.

The IRS adjusted dozens of other tax provisions, raising the maximum earned income tax credits by $495 to $7,430 for a qualifying family with at least three children and boosting the maximum adoption credit by $1,060 to $15,950.

The annual exclusion for gifts — the amount you can give away to an individual before you’re required to file a gift tax return — goes up by $1,000 to $17,000. You won’t owe gift taxes until the amount you give away above that annual limit exceeds the lifetime estate and gift exemption limit, which is now $12,920,000, up a whopping $860,000 from 2022.

Higher earners, however, may pay more FICA taxes in 2023. The maximum salary taxed by Social Security will rise by $13,200 to $160,200.

Consider using a tax refund calculator or consulting a tax pro to see how these changes are likely to affect you. Midyear is often a good time to run these numbers and make adjustments so you’re with-

New USDA rule boosts “organic” food oversight, targets fraud

The Associated Press THE AGRICULTURE Department issued new requirements for foods labeled organic, a move aimed at cracking down on fraud and boosting oversight.

The rule strengthens enforcement of the USDA’s strict definitions of organic, which must rely on “natural substances and physical, mechanical or biologically based farming methods to the fullest extent possible.”

The rule requires USDA’s National Organic Program certification for all imported organic food, increases certifications of more businesses in the supply chain and boosts authority for inspections,

record-keeping, traceability and fraud prevention practices.

The Organic Trade Association, which lobbied for rule, said it represents the biggest change to organic regulations since the creation of the USDA organic food program.

OTA officials said in a statement the regulation “will do much to deter and detect organic fraud and protect organic integrity throughout the supply chain.”

Sales of organic foods in the U.S. topped $63 billion in 2021, according to OTA, with consumers willing to pay top dollar for products free of pesticides and other contaminants. Fresh produce, grains and other

holding the appropriate amounts. Retirement contributions can rise

The amount people can contribute to 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans and other workplace retirement plans will rise by $2,000 to $22,500 for those younger than 50. Catch-up contributions for people 50 and older rose by $1,000 to $7,500, which means older people can contribute $30,000 in 2023.

The income limits also rose for contributing to Roth IRAs. The phaseout range for 2023 is $138,000 to $153,000 for singles and heads of household, compared with 2022’s range of $129,000 to $144,000. For married couples filing jointly, the phaseout range is $218,000 to $228,000, up from $204,000 to $214,000. In addition, income limits increased for claiming the saver’s credit and deducting a traditional IRA contribution if you have access to a workplace plan. If you can, boost your retirement contributions to take advantage of these changes. In addition to the potential tax benefits, you’ll be helping to make your future more comfortable.

Premiums rising, but you may need more coverage

Consider shopping for cheaper auto insurance. Auto insurance premiums rose as repairing and replacing cars got more expensive, but you may be able to find a better deal, especially if you’ve been with your current insurer for a while. Far from rewarding loyalty, insurers may count on your inertia to charge you more.

Premiums for homeowners insurance are rising as well, but a bigger concern may be inadequate coverage, says Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, an insurance-focused consumer advocacy group. The cost of building materials has risen more than 35% since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Unfortunately, the software that insurers use often underestimates rebuilding costs which means many homeowners are underinsured, Bach says. She suggests talking to a local builder for a realistic, current estimate of what you could pay to replace your house. Compare that with your insurer’s figure, and consider increasing your coverage.

Short of letting cops smash down the doors of peaceful gun owners, California has a law for it. And all it’s done is leave its citizens defenseless.

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

THE FIRST QUESTION any reasonable person asks after a horrible crime is, “What could have been done to stop it?” Yet after every mass shooting, gun controllers suggest unworkable, unconstitutional, completely ineffectual ideas that target people who will never commit a crime.

After the twin mass shootings in California last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom (flanked by armed guards) told CBS News more federal gun-control laws were needed because the Second Amendment is “becoming a suicide pact.” What he didn’t mention was that California has passed not only every law Senate Democrats are proposing in Washington but a slew of others. Anti-gun group Giffords gives California an “A” rating for having the “strongest gun safety laws in the nation and has been a trailblazer for gun safety reform for the past 30 years.”

California already has “universal” background checks. It has a 10-day waiting period limit for handgun purchases, a microstamping system, a personal safety test, the ability to sue gun manufacturers even if they haven’t broken any law, an age hike on the purchase of certain firearms including rifles from 18 to 21, “red flag” laws that allow police to confiscate guns without due process, a ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, among many other restrictions.

Short of letting cops smash down the doors of peaceful gun owners, California has a law for it. And all it’s done is leave its citizens defenseless.

The day of the Monterey Park shooting, President Joe Biden again called on Congress to pass a federal “assault weapons” ban. So-called assault weapons have been banned in California since 1989. Last year, the state passed another bill making them super-duper illegal: SB 1327. From 1989 until today, gun trends in California mirror those of the nation at large, which is unsurprising. The Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, despite Biden constantly claiming otherwise, did nothing to alter gun violence trends. Homicide rates began to ebb nationally before the ban was instituted. When the ban expired in 2004, and the AR15 became the most popular rifle in the country, gun violence continued to precipitously fall — by 2014, gun homicides were the same as they were in 1963 — until the appearance of COVID.

Then again, the shooter at Monterey Park didn’t use an assault weapon. He used a Cobray M11 9mm semi-automatic gun — “one of the most useless handguns in existence” — which some reporters referred to as an “assault pistol.” It’s a scary looking, if antiquated gun (out of production since 1990) that,

in this iteration, fires one cartridge with a single trigger squeeze like almost every other gun owned by civilians — including AR-15s. The gun was already illegal in California. As is carrying any gun into a no-gun zone. As is murder. After the killers of Monterey Park (72 years old) and Half Moon Bay (66) struck, Biden, naturally, called on Congress to pass legislation to raise the minimum purchase age for “assault weapons” to 21. Many mass shooters are young men, but the average age of mass shooters is 32. The number of ARs used in the commission of murder in the hands of a person under 21 is a fraction of 1%. All mass shooters obtain guns illegally or legally before having any criminal record (or because of a mistake by the police, as was the case in Charleston and elsewhere). Most incidents are perpetrated by young men who have exhibited serious antisocial behavior. In many, if not most, cases, the shooter is already on the cops’ radar because he has threatened others, as was the case from the Parkland shooter to the Highland Park shooter to the Half Moon Bay shooter and many, many others. In a study of mass shootings from 2008 to 2017, the Secret Service found that “100 percent of perpetrators showed concerning behaviors, and in 77 percent of shootings, at least one person — most often a peer — knew about their plan.” The best thing we can do is uphold laws that already exist.

None of this is to argue that simply because some people ignore laws, they are unnecessary or useless. It’s to argue that laws that almost exclusively target innocent people from practicing a constitutional right, and do nothing to stop criminals, are unnecessary and useless. The central problem in this debate is that Democrats believe civilian gun ownership itself is a plague on the nation, so it doesn’t really matter to them what gun is being banned or what law is being passed, as long as something is being “done.”

The other side believes that being able to protect themselves, their families, their property and their community from criminality — and, should it descend into tyranny, the government — is a societal good. They see gun bans as autocratic and unconstitutional, and also largely unfeasible. And they’re right. David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist. Harsanyi is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of five books - the most recent, “Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent.”

How House Republicans should react to the media

I RECENTLY DID AN INTERVIEW with a smart, experienced Washington journalist.

We covered a lot of ground, including the debt ceiling, balancing the budget, Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s first two weeks, and Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Then we got around to a moment of hardcore politics. As a good liberal, he tried to put me on the defensive about a Republican House freshman who is clearly a liar — and will have no influence in Congress. He will almost certainly be defeated in the next election.

temporary, the border is secure, that there are no supply chain issues, and his outof-control spending plan would strengthen the dollar.

And Biden isn’t the only one.

Recall the entire scandal of Hillary Clinton’s deleting 33,000 emails and having a staffer literally take a hammer to destroy computer hard drives. Had she been a Republican, the media would have declared her disqualified from public service.

It was all baloney.

I knew from the tone of the question and the look on the journalist’s face that he wanted me to fall back into a defensive mode and ask more questions about how House Republicans should handle someone who is dishonest.

I remembered a rule I had learned from President Ronald Reagan. When faced with a reporter asking a question you don’t like, simply ignore it and answer the question you wish he or she had asked.

Timid Republicans have often accepted the left’s moral authority to define which lies matter and which ones don’t. It is an appalling trait I have fought throughout my activities as a citizen going back to 1958.

If the news media wants to have a conversation about politicians who lie, House Republicans should be eager to accommodate them — and immediately turn to the amazing examples of Democrat public figures who can’t or won’t tell the truth.

House Republicans should start any discussion of lying with the example of the current occupant of the White House.

As a candidate and president, Biden has survived a lifetime of lying. In 1987, in a Democrat Presidential debate, he claimed to be a descendant of coal miners in northeast Pennsylvania. It turned out not only to be a lie but to have been plagiarized from a brilliant emotional speech by Neil Kinnock about his childhood in Wales.

Mark Thiessen captured the depths of Biden’s mendacity in a column in the Jan. 4, 2023, Washington Post titled: “Santos Must Have Learned from Biden How to Make Up Details About His Past.”

Thiessen points out that Biden lied about being nobly arrested while trying to visit an imprisoned Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Biden claimed he thanked Mandela when the anti-apartheid leader later visited Washington, D.C.

It was all baloney.

Thiessen went on to note that Biden had received a “bottomless Pinocchio” from the Post for absurd lies about meeting with former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (ten years after Deng died) and traveling with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Both stories were false. On a more practical level, Biden has said the current inflation mess was

Even in the U.S. House, the record for repetitive lying is held by the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff repeatedly used the prestige of his committee assignment — and the presumption that as chairman he had inside information — to lie repeatedly about President Donald Trump. Schiff’s attacks on Trump over the “Russian Hoax” is a case study in partisanship and dishonesty overcoming patriotism.

We now know beyond any reasonable doubt that the entire effort to tie the Trump candidacy to the Russians was a lie. It was a lie helped by corrupt elements of the FBI. It was a lie compounded by corrupt elements of the intelligence community. When 51 Intelligence community leaders signed a joint letter just before the 2020 election claiming the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was a hoax, they were also lying to the American people for partisan purposes and dishonoring their careers in intelligence. Shouldn’t they all be reprimanded for undermining the faith of the American people in their intelligence institutions?

More important than the lies: What is hidden behind them?

At a minimum, $51 million have been funneled into the University of Pennsylvania Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement by Chinese Communists to benefit the President and his allies (consider our current Secretary of State used to run the place). Further, we know nothing about the money which has funded the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware (which received 1,850-plus boxes of documents from Biden).

President Biden has lied consistently about his knowledge of his son’s business dealings — when he’s been demonstrably involved. In fact, the family in the White House has made tons of money off Ukrainian, Russian, and Chinese Communist connections. This is a real problem.

Republicans should take a simple position: Lying is bad. There will be no effectiveness in the House for a freshman who is clearly lacking in honesty. On the other hand, there should be real efforts to discover the truth about President Biden and his family’s various financial activities with foreign dictatorships.

The freshman is a side distraction and will be allowed to do no harm.

The President is an active threat to the security of the United States and a stain on the honor of the highest government office in America.

That is the difference between the two parties.

COLUMN | DAVID HARSANYI

COLUMN | NEWT GINGRICH

Get ready for another cynical, useless, gun-control push by Democrats

SIDELINE REPORT

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Louisville, L&N reach $41M stadium naming agreement

Louisville, Ky. Louisville has reached a 20year, $41 million agreement with L&N Federal Credit Union through 2042 for naming rights to its Cardinal Stadium home football field. The 25-year-old, 60,800-seat stadium had been without a title sponsor since 2018, when the school dropped the name and logo of Louisville-based pizza chain Papa John’s amid fallout from a report that founder John Schnatter used a racial slur during a company conference call. The University of Louisville Athletic Association agreed in October 2019 to pay Schnatter $9.5 million over five-plus years in a settlement to terminate naming rights. A final $2 million payment is due this summer.

SOCCER

Mewis unlikely to play for U.S. at World Cup

Chicago U.S. national soccer team midfielder Sam Mewis has undergone a second knee surgery and likely won’t be available to play in the Women’s World Cup this summer. Mewis first had surgery on her right knee in August 2021, but the injury required another surgery last week. Mewis is also expected to miss the upcoming National Women’s Soccer League season. She plays for the Kansas City Current and previously played for the North Carolina Courage, winning the NWSL Championship twice and two NWSL Shields.

SPORTS

Jermaine O’Neal

heads newest group in SC Athletic Hall

Columbia, S.C.

Six-time NBA all-star

Jermaine O’Neal and Super Bowl champion receiver Robert Brooks are among the newest members of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. O’Neal was drafted out of a Columbia-area high school into the NBA at 17. He played for seven teams over the next 18 years. Brooks played at South Carolina before getting drafted by Green Bay, where he played for seven seasons and popularized the “Lambeau Leap.” Others named to the hall were former Georgia Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton, ex-Clemson quarterback Woody Dantzler, Olympic hammer thrower Dawn Ellerbe, past Clemson men’s golf coach Larry Penley and longtime South Carolina men’s soccer coach Mark Berson.

MLB

Royals agree with Greinke on deal for 2023

Kansas City, Mo.

The Royals and Zach Greinke have agreed to a contract for the coming season, according to reports. That makes it nine seasons over two stints in Kansas City for the sixtime All-Star pitcher. The 39-year-old Greinke was paid $13 million last season by the Royals. He spent the first seven seasons with them before returning last year and going 3-9 with a 3.68 ERA. The 2009 Cy Young winner is first among active pitchers with 514 career starts and 3,247 innings pitched.

Wilks ‘disappointed, not defeated’ over Panthers snub

Carolina chose Frank Reich as its next head coach

The Associated Press CHARLOTTE — Former Carolina Panthers interim coach Steve Wilks is “disappointed, but not defeated” that he didn’t land the team’s full-time head coaching position.

The Panthers announced last Thursday they’ve agreed to hire Frank Reich as their coach.

“The sun rose this morning and by the grace of God so did I,” Wilks tweeted Friday. “Many people aren’t built for this but I know what it means to persevere and see it through.”

Wilks thanked players, coaches and staff for their dedication, saying he took pride in representing his hometown of Charlotte.

Wilks added, “I do wish Frank Reich the best.”

Wilks’ tweet came less than 24 hours after his attorney Douglas Wigdor blasted the Panthers for their decision not to hire Wilks, who went 6-6 as Carolina’s interim coach in 2022 after replacing the fired Matt Rhule in Week 6.

The Panthers interviewed Wilks, who is black, twice for the position before settling on Reich, who is white.

“We are shocked and disturbed that after the incredible job Coach Wilks did as the interim coach, including bringing the team back into playoff contention and garnering the support of the players and fans, that he was passed over for the head coach position by (Panthers owner) David Tepper,” Wigdor said in an email. “There is a legitimate race problem in the NFL, and we can assure you that

we will have more to say in the coming days.”

The Associated Press reached out to Wigdor’s office Friday to ask if it planned more legal action.

“We do not have another comment at this time other than what we posted,” spokeswoman Courtney Cormican said.

Wilks made no mention of

Greenville-raised Paul says Djokovic thwarted his Australian Open gameplan

His mother, Jill MacMillan, played collegiatel at ECU

The Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia — Tommy Paul went into his first career Grand Slam semifinal with a specific game plan to confront Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. Makes sense, right?

One has to approach that sort of match with a way you think will help you win.

And then, Paul explained, it all fell apart rather quickly in what became a 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 loss to Djokovic, who has won nine of his 21 Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park.

“I mean, he didn’t let me do all those things,” said the 25-year-old American, who was born in New Jersey, grew up in North Carolina and is now based in Florida, “because of things that he did so well.”

“I mean, walking on the court was cool,” Paul, the first U.S. man in the semifinals at Melbourne Park since Andy Roddick in 2009, said of playing at Rod Laver Arena. “Playing the match and getting beaten like that kind of sucked. But, I mean, it’s great I got to see the level of where I want

to be and know how good I have to play if I want to beat people like that. It was I think a good experience.” Let’s let the unseeded Paul explain what his strategy was and what happened: — “I wanted to serve and volley some. I didn’t serve and volley once. ... When I did make my first serve, I felt like he was returning it to the baseline. I was automatically on defense. Like, you get down love-30 in your service games, it’s hard to be like, ‘All

right, I’m going to serve and volley now.’”

— “Wanted to throw in drop shots. Didn’t get an opportunity to do any of that because he was hitting so deep.”

— “Wanted to change up pace with my slice. Missed my first three slices of the match. I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to start hitting my backhand; I’m not slicing well today.’”

— “Attack on the second serve. He definitely surprised me. On big points, he was going big sec-

whether the Panthers will be added to an ongoing lawsuit alleging racial hiring practices by the NFL and some teams. Nearly a year ago, Wilks joined Brian Flores’ lawsuit in an effort to bring attention to the lack of black head coaches in the NFL.

“When Coach Flores filed this action, I knew I owed it to myself, and to all Black NFL coaches and aspiring coaches, to stand with him,” Wilks said in a statement through his attorney last February.

“This lawsuit has shed further important light on a problem that we all know exists, but that too few are willing to confront. Black coaches and candidates should have exactly the same ability to become employed, and remain employed, as white coaches and candidates.”

Several Panthers players said after the regular season ended they wanted Wilks to return in 2023, including longtime linebacker Shaq Thompson. Thompson suggested players wanted to have a meeting with Tepper to give player input on the coaching situation and throw their support behind Wilks.

It’s unclear if that meeting happened.

onds. Pretty much every point, the average second-serve speed was a little higher than I thought it was going to be.”

All of that said, Paul did make some inroads against Djokovic. He did, after all, win more of the 23 points that lasted at least nine strokes, 14-9.

There were the two break points in the match’s opening game — although Djokovic ended up holding there.

“It felt like things were getting away from me really fast,” Paul said. “Felt like points were moving really fast. In-between-points time was going really quick.”

There was the four-game run that turned Paul’s 5-1 deficit into 5-all in the opening set — although Djokovic then proceeded to collect seven games in a row and 14 of the remaining 17.

“I was really fortunate to kind of hold my nerves toward the end of the first set. That was a key,” Djokovic said. “After that, I started swinging through the ball more.”

Paul, who had never been past the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament before, moved up to No. 19 in the world rankings on Monday, his first time in the top 20.

“I want to keep moving up the rankings, you know? It would be nice to end the year top-10. I feel like the way I started the year is the right path to do it,” he said. “Obviously I have a lot of matches to win this year. Hopefully get some titles, too. I don’t want to just lose in semifinals. I want to have my name on some trophies.”

AP PHOTO

The Panthers decided not to permanently hire interim coach Steve Wilks, instead choosing former Carolina quarterback Frank Reich to be the team’s next head coach.

AP PHOTO

Tommy Paul attempts a forehand return during his semifinal loss to to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open last Friday.

“There is a legitimate race problem in the NFL, and we can assure you that we will have more to say in the coming days.”

Douglas Wigdor, attorney for Steve Wilks

Albemarle girls cruise to 72-36 win in North Stanly rematch

The Bulldogs have defeated the Comets in two of three games this season

By Jesse Deal Stanly County Journal

MISENHEIMER — Racing to a 21-point lead through one quarter and a 33-point lead by halftime, Albemarle cruised past North Stanly for a 72-36 win in a battle of two of the top girls’ basketball teams in both Stanly County and the Yadkin Valley Conference at Pfeiffer’s Merner Gym on Jan. 30.

It was the third meeting of the season between the two teams; the Bulldogs (15-4, 6-1 YVC) won 7645 on Dec. 27 and the Comets (173, 6-2 YVC) won 45-44 on Jan. 6.

With the victory, the Bulldogs moved into sixth place in MaxPreps’ Division 1A West rankings. The Comets fell to No. 13 in 2A West.

“I thought our defense was good and we played good team ball,” Al-

bemarle coach Eric Davis said.

“We let off in the second half a little bit and got sloppy, but overall it was a pretty good game. I’m happy with our defense, but we just have to stay focused for 32 minutes. We’re trying to make a run for the playoffs and trying to get better.”

Sophomore point guard Amari Baldwin led the Bulldogs with 18 points, while fellow sophomore guard Jordyn Crump provided 14 points off the bench. Senior guard Nyleiah White and sophomore forward Bianca Robinson each added 11 points for Albemarle.

Held to just eight first-half points before improving slightly in the second half, the Comets struggled from the floor, an issue made more difficult because sophomore forward Shayln Bell did not play in the game.

Freshman point guard Alexandria Brown led North Stanly with 11 points, and junior forward Karlye Stamper and senior center Paris Bennett had eight and seven points, respectively.

“We let off in the second half a little bit and got sloppy, but overall it was a pretty good game.”

Eric Davis, Albemarle girls’ basketball coach

A lbemarle is now riding a sixgame winning streak with just four games left on the schedule and hoping to stay in first place in the YVC standings. The Bulldogs are set to host second-place Union Academy (12-6, 5-1 YVC) on Feb. 3 before traveling to Robinson (5-10, 2-4 YVC) on Feb. 7. Now with back-to-back losses — the Comets were defeated at Union Academy on Jan. 26 — third-place North Stanly will try to correct the course with home games against Mount Pleasant (613, 2-5 YVC) on Feb. 2 and Union Academy on Feb. 10.

Hamlin thankful, speaks publicly for 1st time in video

The Bills safety was resuscitated on the field on Jan. 2

The Associated Press

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. —

Damar Hamlin released a video Saturday in which he says he’s thankful for the outpouring of support and vows to pay it back, marking the first time the Buffalo Bills safety has spoken publicly since he went into cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the field in Cincinnati on Jan. 2.

Noting he continues to make “much progress” in his recovery, Hamlin said now was “the right time” to speak since the Bills’ season ended and because he needed time to recover and gather his

thoughts.

“It was just a lot to process within my own self — mentally, physically, even spiritually. It’s just been a lot to process,” he said.

“But I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of all the love, all the support and everything that’s just been coming in my way.”

Hamlin then said he has come to peace with what happened on the field when he collapsed after making what appeared to be a routine tackle of Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, who struck Hamlin squarely in the chest.

“What happened to me on ‘Monday Night Football,’ I feel is a direct example of God using me as a vessel to share my passion and my love directly from my heart with the entire world,” he said.

“And now I’m able to give to kids

Damar

and communities all across the world who need it the most. And that’s always been my dream,” he added. “That’s always been what I stood for and what I will continue to stand for.”

Hamlin did not appear to have any trouble speaking during the 5½-minute video titled: “Thank You: A message from Damar Hamlin” posted on his Instagram account. Hamlin is wearing a white

T-shirt in the video with the name of his charitable foundation, Chasing Millions, printed on the front and with a gold chain with the initials “DM” hanging around his neck.

On Jan. 20, Hamlin’s marketing representative Jordon Rooney said the 24-year-old player faces a long recovery while at the time still requiring oxygen and having his heart monitored regularly to ensure there are no setbacks.

Hamlin has been recovering at home since being released from the hospital on Jan. 11 to continue his rehabilitation with the Bills. He then began making regular visits to the team’s facility and was healthy enough to attend the Bills’ season-ending 27-10 loss to the Bengals in a divisional playoff game last weekend.

Hamlin spent a majority of the video providing thanks while listing his family, teammates, training staff, and the medical staff at both the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and Buffalo General Medical Center, where he split his recovery.

He thanked the Bengals and players from around the league for their support by “putting team allegiance aside.”

He also thanked those who donated more than $9 million to his charity over the past four weeks.

“While I’m so thankful to everybody, I know that it isn’t enough just to be thankful. This is just the beginning of the impact that I wanted to have on the world,” Hamlin said in closing the video by making a heart sign with his hands.

“I couldn’t do this without any of this support and the love,” he continued. “And I can’t wait to continue to take y’all on this journey with me.”

“I couldn’t do this without any of this support and the love.”

Hamlin

A mural by artist Adam Zyglis of Bills player Damar Hamlin, who is recovering after going into cardiac arrest during a game Jan. 2, covers the outside of a building in Buffalo.

AP PHOTO

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Top left, North Stanly’s Karlye Stamper shoots the ball against Albemarle’s Bianca Robinson during a conference game at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, on January 30. Bottom left, North Stanly’s Giavonna Dunlap dribbles into Albemarle Jamaica Everhardt. Above, Albemarle’s Nyleiah White lays the ball up against North Stanly’s Allie Morgan during a conference game.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL Albemarle’s Jasmine Brown lets out a scream after making the basket and drawling a foul against North StanlyStanly’s Giavonna Dunlap dribbles into Albemarle Jamaica Everhardt.

Ex-Twitter execs to testify on block of Hunter Biden story

The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former Twitter employees are expected to testify next week before the House Oversight Committee about the social media platform’s handling of reporting on President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. The scheduled testimony, confirmed by the committee Monday, will be the first time the three former executives will appear before Congress to discuss the company’s decision to initially block from Twitter a New York Post article on Hunter Biden’s laptop in the weeks before the 2020 election. Republicans have said the story was suppressed for political reasons, though no evidence has been released to support that claim. The witnesses for the Feb. 8 hearing are expected to be Vijaya Gadde, former chief legal officer; James Baker, former deputy general counsel; and Yoel Roth, former head of safety and integrity.

The hearing is among the first of many in a GOP-controlled

House to be focused on Biden and his family, as Republicans wield the power of their new, albeit slim, majority. The New York Post first re -

ported in October 2020 that it had received from former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, a copy of a hard drive of a laptop that Hunter

Biden had dropped off 18 months earlier at a Delaware computer repair shop and never retrieved. Twitter initially blocked people from sharing links to the story for several days.

Months later, Twitter’s thenCEO Jack Dorsey called the company’s communications around the Post article “not great.” He added that blocking the article’s URL with “zero context” around why it was blocked was “unacceptable.”

The Post article at the time was greeted with skepticism due to questions about the laptop’s origins, including Giuliani’s involvement, and because top officials in the Trump administration had already warned that Russia was working to denigrate Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election. The Kremlin had interfered in the 2016 race by hacking Democratic emails that were subsequently leaked, and fears that Russia would meddle again in the 2020 race were widespread across Washington.

“This is why we’re investigating the Biden family for influence

Trump opens 2024 run in small NH, SC events

The Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump kicked off his 2024 White House bid with stops Saturday in New Hampshire and South Carolina, events in early-voting states marking the first campaign appearances since announcing his latest run more than two months ago.

“Together we will complete the unfinished business of making America great again,” Trump said at an evening event in Columbia to introduce his South Carolina leadership team.

Trump and his allies hope the events in states with enormous power in selecting the nominee will offer a show of force behind the former president after a sluggish start to his campaign that left many questioning his commitment to running again.

“They said, ‘He’s not doing rallies, he’s not campaigning. Maybe he’s lost that step,’” Trump said at the New Hampshire GOP’s annual meeting in Salem, his first event. But, he told the audience of party leaders, “I’m more angry now and I’m more committed now than I ever was.” In South Carolina, he further dismissed the speculation by saying that “we have huge rallies planned, bigger than ever before.”

While Trump has spent the months since he announced largely ensconced in his Florida club and at his nearby golf course, his aides insist they have been busy behind the scenes. His campaign opened a headquarters in Palm Beach, Florida, and has been hiring staff. In New Hampshire, Trump promoted his campaign agenda, including immigration and crime, and said his policies would be the opposite of President Joe Biden’s. He cited the Democrats’ move to change the election calendar, costing New Hampshire its leadoff primary spot, and accused Biden, a fifth-place finisher in New Hampshire in 2020, of “disgracefully trashing this beloved political tradition.”

“I hope you’re going to remember that during the general election,” Trump told party members. Trump himself twice won the primary, but lost the state each time to Democrats.

Later in South Carolina, Trump said he planned to keep the state’s presidential primary as the “first in the South” and called it “a very important state.”

In his speech, he hurtled from criticism of Biden and Democrats to mockery of people promoting the use of electric stoves and electric cars, and reminiscing about

efforts while serving as president to increase oil production, strike trade deals and crack down on migration at the U.S-Mexico border.

While Trump remains the only declared 2024 presidential candidate, potential challengers, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, are expected to get their campaigns underway in the coming months. After his South Carolina

peddling,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the Oversight committee, said at a press event Monday morning. “We want to make sure that our national security is not compromised.”

The White House has sought to discredit the Republican probes into Hunter Biden, calling them “divorced-from-reality political stunts.”

Nonetheless, Republicans now hold subpoena power in the House, giving them the authority to compel testimony and conduct an aggressive investigation. GOP staff has spent the past year analyzing messages and financial transactions found on the laptop that belonged to the president’s younger son. Comer has previously said the evidence they have compiled is “overwhelming,” but did not offer specifics.

Comer has pledged there won’t be hearings regarding the Biden family until the committee has the evidence to back up any claims of alleged wrongdoing. He also acknowledged that the stakes are high whenever an investigation centers on the leader of a political party.

On Monday, the Kentucky Republican, speaking at a National Press Club event, said that he could not guarantee a subpoena of Hunter Biden during his term. “We’re going to go where the investigation leads us. Maybe there’s nothing there.”

He added, “We’ll see.”

Gov. Henry McMaster, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and several members of the state’s congressional delegation attended Trump’s event at the Statehouse.

Trump’s team has struggled to line up support from South Carolina lawmakers, even some who eagerly backed him before. Some have said that more than a year out from primary balloting is too early to make endorsements or that they are waiting to see who else enters the race. Others have said it is time for the party to move past Trump to a new generation of leadership.

South Carolina House Speaker Murrell Smith was among the legislative leaders awaiting Trump’s arrival, although he said he was there not to make a formal endorsement but to welcome the former president to the state in his role as speaker.

Otherwise, dozens of supporters crammed into the ceremonial lobby between the state House and Senate.

The South Carolina event was in some ways off-brand for a onetime reality television star who typically favors big rallies and has tried to cultivate an outsider image. Rallies are expensive, and Trump added new financial challenges when he decided to begin his campaign in November — far earlier than many had urged. That leaves him subject to strict fundraising regulations and bars him from using his well-funded leadership political action committee to pay for such events, which can cost several million dollars.

speech, Trump told The Associated Press that it would be “a great act of disloyalty” if DeSantis opposed him in the primary and took credit for the governor’s initial election.

“If he runs, that’s fine. I’m way up in the polls,” Trump said. “He’s going to have to do what he wants to do, but he may run. I do think it would be a great act of disloyalty because, you know, I got him in. He had no chance. His political life was over.”

He said he hasn’t spoken to DeSantis in a long time.

Trump’s campaign, in its early stages, has already drawn controversy, most particularly when he had dinner with Holocaust-denying white nationalist Nick Fuentes and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who had made a series of antisemitic comments. Trump also was widely mocked for selling a series of digital trading cards that pictured him as a superhero, a cowboy and an astronaut, among others.

“The gun is fired, and the campaign season has started,” said Stephen Stepanek, outgoing chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party. Trump announced that Stepanek will serve as senior adviser for his campaign in the state.

AP PHOTO, FILE

A sign at Twitter headquarters is shown in San Francisco.

AP PHOTO, FILE

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the South Carolina Statehouse, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023, in Columbia, S.C.

STATE & NATION

US population center trending toward South this decade

The Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. population center is on track this decade to take a southern swerve for the first time in history, and it’s because of people like Owen Glick, who moved from California to Florida more than a year ago.

Last year, the South outgrew other U.S. regions by well over 1 million people through births outpacing deaths and domestic and international migration, according to population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Northeast and Midwest lost residents, and the West grew by an anemic 153,000 people, primarily because a large number of residents left for a different U.S. region. The West would have lost population if not for immigrants and births outpacing deaths.

In contrast, the South grew by 1.3 million new residents, and six of the 10 U.S. states with the biggest growth last year were in the South, led in order by Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.

Experts aren’t sure at this point if the dramatic pull of the South is a short-term change spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic or a longterm trend, or even what impact it will have on the reallocation of political power through redistricting after the 2030 census. Because of delays caused by the pandem-

ic, changes were made in how the Census Bureau has calculated the estimates this decade, and that, too, may have had an impact.

But experts say the Southern allure has to do with a mix of housing affordability, lower taxes, the popularity of remote work during the pandemic era and baby boomers retiring.

Glick, 56, moved to the Orlando area from metro San Diego in December 2021 after he retired

from his job in corporate sales. He had been making regular trips to central Florida before the move, to check on rental properties purchased because they were more affordable in the Sunshine State than in Southern California. While the cost of housing and food is lower than in California, there are hidden home upkeep costs in Florida, such as the need to paint more often because of the unrelenting sun and higher utili-

ty bills from year-round air conditioning, he said.

“You’re in better financial shape in terms of prices here, but there are more expenditures to maintain properties,” Glick said.

Glick was among the 233,000 people who left a Western state and planted roots in a different region from mid-2021 to mid-2022. He joined the ranks of the almost 868,000 people who moved to a Southern state from another region.

If the trend continues through the rest of this decade, by 2030 the mean center of the U.S. population will head due south from a rural county in the Missouri Ozarks, without a westward extension for the first time in history, according to urban planner Alex Zakrewsky, who models the population center.

Since the population center was first calculated to be in Chestertown, Maryland, in 1790, it has moved continuously westward, though it started taking a more southwestern tilt in the 20th century as the spread of air conditioning made the South more livable.

North Carolina state demographer Michael Cline said the growth in the South has been “above and beyond” trends the region experienced before the pandemic, which he thinks may have accelerated many movers’ decisions to relocate from cold-climate

states or allowed people to work remotely for the first time.

The departures from the West started in 2021, during the first full year of the pandemic, when 145,000 residents moved to another U.S. region. Up until then, domestic migration to the West had increased each year since 2010.

A substantial portion of the departures was due to people leaving California, but Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington also had year-toyear losses in domestic migration from 2021 to 2022. Additionally, in several Western states that had year-to-year increases in domestic migration — Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah — those increases were smaller than in the previous year.

In Oregon, the jury is still out on whether the phenomenon of more than 17,000 departures to other U.S. states was a temporary, pandemic-related trend due to remote-working freedoms and housing affordability, or whether it’s a longer-term movement due to quality of life issues such as crime, weather or wildfires, said Josh Lehner, an economist for the state.

William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Metro think tank, also wants to see if the trend is only related to the pandemic or has legs through the rest of the decade. A big wild card is immigration, which was responsible for most of the growth in 2022, he said.

“Some of that has to do with getting away from the big dense coastal metros to somewhere else,” Frey said. “One thing that needs to be questioned is if the patterns of the past two years will continue for the rest of the decade.”

Concerns over prayer breakfast lead Congress to take it over

By Gary Fields

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Prayer Breakfast, one of the most visible and long-standing events that brings religion and politics together in Washington, is splitting from the private religious group that had overseen it for decades, due to concerns the gathering had become too divisive.

The organizer and host for this year’s breakfast, scheduled for Thursday, will be the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation, headed by former Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

Sen. Chris Coons, a regular participant and chairman of the Senate ethics committee, said the move was prompted in part by concerns in recent years that members of Congress did not know important details about the larger multiday gathering.

Coons, D-Del., said that in the past, he and Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the committee’s vice chairman, had questions about who was invited and how money was being raised.

The annual event “went on several days, had thousands of people attending, and a very large and somewhat complex organization,” Coons said in an interview. “Some questions had been raised about our ability as members of Congress to say that we knew exactly how it was being organized, who was being invited, how it was being funded. Many of us who’d been in leadership roles really couldn’t answer those questions.”

That led to lawmakers deciding to take over organizing for the prayer breakfast itself.

Pryor, president of the new foundation, said the COVID-19 shutdown gave members a chance to “reset” the breakfast and return it to its origins — a change he said had been discussed for years.

“The whole reason the House and Senate wanted to do this was

to return it to its roots, when House members and Senate members can come together and pray for the president, pray for his family and administration, pray for our government, the world,” Pryor said.

Pryor said members of Congress, the president, vice president and other administration officials and their guests are invited to Thursday’s prayer breakfast, which will

be held at the visitors’ center at the Capitol. He anticipated between 200 and 300 people would attend.

Pryor said he hoped the smaller event will regain the intimacy that is similar to the weekly nondenominational prayer gatherings on Capitol Hill. Groups of senators and representatives have long held unofficial meetings for fellowship and to temporarily set aside political

differences.

The prayer breakfast addressed by the president has been the highlight of a multiday event for 70 years. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to attend, in February 1953, and every president since has spoken at the gathering.

The larger event, put on by a private religious group called the International Foundation, has always been centered around “the person and principles of Jesus, with a focus on praying for leaders of our nation and from around the world,” the group’s spokesman, A. Larry Ross, said in an email.

More than 1,400 people are registered for the two-day event, with one-third of those from outside the United States.

President Joe Biden, who has spoken at the breakfast the past two years, is set to do so again. At last year’s address from the Capitol, Biden talked about the need for members of Congress to know one another more personally.

“It’s hard to really dislike someone when you know what they’re going through is the same thing you’re going through,” he said.

In recent years, questions about the International Foundation, its funding and attendees had led some to reconsider the involvement of Congress.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., stopped coming in 2016 because the event “had become an entertainment and lobbying extravaganza rather than an opportunity for spiritual reflection,” a Kaine spokeswoman wrote in an emailed response to questions. Kaine will attend Thursday.

AP PHOTO

In this Wednesday, March 25, 2015, file photo, apartment buildings under construction are seen, in Maitland, Fla., a suburb of Orlando.

AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast, Feb. 3, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Randolph record

Electric bus

Left to right: Phillip Lanier, Randolph County Board of Education member; Michael Trent, Director of Innovative Energy Solutions, Randolph Electric Membership Corp.; Roy Parks, Western Regional Sales Manager, Carolina Thomas; Dr. Stephen Gainey, Superintendent, Randolph County School System; Elizabeth Biser, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality; Shannon Whitaker, Randolph County Board of Education member; Kevin Harrison, Section Chief, Office of District Operations, NC Department of Public Instruction. RCSS is the first public school system in the state to receive an electric school bus as part of a pilot program funded by the North Carolina Volkswagen Settlement program.

COUNTY NEWS

Randolph Health announces new Wound Care Center Randolph Health recently announced its plan to expand services with the addition of its new Wound Care Center, located in the Outpatient Center of Randolph Health. Randolph Health Wound Care Center will specialize in acute and chronic wounds of adult patients. They offer advanced wound care technology and treatments by experienced and highly trained providers to promote the healing of various types of wounds in an outpatient setting.

Wounds treated at Randolph Health Wound Care Center include diabetic ulcers, surgical wounds, venous ulcers, pressure ulcers, burns, blisters, perineal dermatitis, lacerations, and arterial ulcers. “We are excited to bring quality wound care back to Randolph County,” said Patty Cox, Director of Randolph Health Wound Care Center.

“Our qualified professionals will establish a proper treatment plan which includes ongoing assessments in order to achieve the best possible outcome for patients seeking wound care,” Cox states. For additional information, please contact Randolph Health Wound Care Center at 336-328-HEAL (4325).

Randolph portion of US 421 to be resurfaced

The North Carolina Department of Transportation recently announced a $6.2 million contract had been awarded to bring improvements to nearly 15 miles of U.S. 421 in Chatham and Randolph Counties. Under this new contract, companies will be performing milling, resurfacing, and shoulder reconstruction along both directions of the highway between the Chatham County line and U.S. 64.

Northbound and southbound ramps at exit 180 (Piney Grove Church Road), 181 (N.C. 49), and 183 (Old Liberty Road) will also be improved under this new project. According to the NCDOT, work can begin as early as March 1. The project is expected to wrap up by the fall of 2024.

At Trinity, they can call it ‘Tim’s Gym’

School names gym after longtime, championship coach

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

TRINITY — When Tim Kelly took the job as Trinity’s boys’ basketball coach, he didn’t intend for it to be a career-long passion.

Now he’ll be connected to the Bulldogs forever. The school’s gym was named in his honor this week – Tim Kelly Gym.

Kelly is in his 33rd season leading the team. This stint began as a means to appease his wife.

“I came to this area because she wanted to move over here closer to her parents,” Kelly said. “I’m not going to lie to you; Trinity basketball was not a hot commodity. I planned to stay three years because all my contacts were Down East.

“Three years became six. Six became 12. Before you knew it, I was locked, which I’m glad. I’ve had opportunities to leave and go other places.”

But this is the place that Kelly nurtured. He said it turned out just right.

“Overall, in all those years, it has just been a positive experience,” he said. “(Each season) they don’t want to be the team that doesn’t carry on the tradition.”

Tuesday night’s pregame ceremony in the naming of the gym came prior to the Bulldogs blowing out rival Wheatmore 66-37. A plaque has been installed at the gym entrance.

Kelly, 65, said he is glad he wasn’t asked to speak in front of the overflow crowd.

“It was much more emotional than I anticipated,” he said. “I’m honored. But the game is the main thing – the kids. If I hadn’t had good kids, this wouldn’t be happening.”

The Bulldogs delivered on this night.

Closed Asheboro daycare fell under scrutiny

Randolph Record

ASHEBORO — More details have emerged about the closing of an Asheboro daycare.

A string of violations led to Harmony Place shutting its doors in late December.

About a month later, documents regarding the situation at Harmony Place, which has been identified as one of the largest daycares in Randolph County, have provided more information about the situation.

In late August and early September, cases of children being bitten by other children seem to be at the forefront of the case, according to documents released last week.

Much of this stemmed from a Sept. 7 visit from an investigation consultant for the Division of Child Development and Early Education regarding alleged violations of childcare requirements.

According to documents, based on the investigation, the division confirmed sufficient information to determine child maltreatment.

Among the issues was an Aug. 30 incident, based on the investigation, with a 2-year-old child having been bitten by anoth-

According to documents, based on the investigation, the division confirmed sufficient information to determine child maltreatment.

er child. Staff members weren’t aware of the biting incident until they were notified the next day by the bitten child’s parent.

Under the Division’s “Basis for Action,” it was determined that staff members’ “failure to provide adequate supervision created an unsafe environment for the children and harm occurred.

On Sept. 1, there were four staff members and 55 children (ages 2-5) on the playground at the same time.

Also, the daycare failed to follow proper procedures to document departure times of children leaving the facility. Based on the investigation, another incident of alleged biting also took place in early September.

The daycare was required to revise the facility’s outdoor su-

pervision plan to ensure adequate supervision of children and reduce the risk of harm to children.

The daycare, which was located at 312 West Ward St., failed to adhere to its daily activity schedule. That resulted in another violation.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter dated Dec. 8, 2022, to Shepherd’s Way Properties (the former name of the facility) to point out that the Division of Child Development and Early Education was preparing to take administrative action.

Shepherd’s Way had 15 days to respond.

A special provisional license had been issued. It was part of a Corrective Action Plan.

The notice to Shepherd’s Way noted that “further noncompliance may result in an assessment of a civil penalty or an additional administrative action.”

The daycare took in children ranging from infants to school age. At one time, its capacity was listed at 137.

The unexpected closing of the daycare left parents in binds as they tried to arrange for care for their children.

Junior guard Dominic Payne racked up 32 points as Trinity (155, 5-3 Piedmont Athletic Conference) still hasn’t lost consecutive games this season. Gavin Strickland scored 13 for Wheatmore (513, 0-8).

“I think it was a big test for us and a bigger environment for us,” Payne said of the atmosphere amid the attention the game drew because of the gym naming. “I think we did really good with the pressure that we had with Tim Kelly’s gym.”

Senior forward Dylan Hodges said, “I’m glad it’s going to be his gym.”

Kelly had never been a head coach when he arrived. Bonds were built and it became a long-term match.

“Over the years, they’ve all bought in,” he said. “Our culture has been able to maintain. The main things we’ve tried to get kids to buy into, they’ve done. I’ve had great parents (of players) for the most part.”

Kelly directed the Bulldogs to the Class 3-A state championship in 2004 and a runner-up finish in 2008. He has been in charge for

See KELLY, page 6

PHOTO COURTESY RANDOLPH COUNTY SCHOOLS

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

Addressing challenges from fuel to fentanyl

HAVE YOU FILLED UP YOUR TANK LATELY? Like my family, I’m sure you have noticed that prices are only going one way. In fact, in North Carolina, average gas prices have increased more than 45 cents per gallon in the past month.

The good news is the new House Republican majority has a concrete plan to protect our energy reserves and your hardearned money.

President Joe Biden first started skyrocketing fuel prices by ending pipelines and leases that reduced supply and sent the wrong message to domestic energy producers. International chaos has only worsened the problem, yet President Biden’s only solution has been to drain our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its lowest level since 1984. In total, the administration has sold off 250 million barrels of oil, much of which ended up in communist China. Major reserve sites are now dangerously low on oil – leaving us more vulnerable to an energy supply disruption, such as in times of inclement weather or a national security emergency.

The Washington Democrat’s lack of action to fix our growing energy problem directly threatens our country’s economic and national security. The good news is the new House Republican majority has a concrete plan to protect our energy reserves and your hard-earned money. Families like yours have suffered for too long and paid too high a price.

House Republicans have solutions to address this crisis. Last week, I voted for the Strategic Production Response Act. This legislation would release America’s abundant fossil fuel reserves located under federal lands and waters, and require the Biden administration to both replenish and maintain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In addition, this bill would ensure the United States is prepared for true energy supply emergencies.

COLUMN | NEWT GINGRICH

The Left continues to deny that the reserve is being depleted and claims they have been working to lower record-breaking gas prices. The truth is gas prices are up over 30% since President Biden took office. Only through increased oil production and more pipeline capacity can we truly meet America’s energy demand and bring relief to your wallet. Passing the Strategic Production Response Act last week is a good start. In addition to addressing rising fuel prices last week, I was also proud to address another top priority – the fentanyl poisoning epidemic. On Tuesday, I cosponsored the HALT Fentanyl Act, legislation to curb the presence of fentanyl in our communities and save lives. Fentanyl poisoning is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 1845. In North Carolina, 3,000 primarily young people lost their lives to fentanyl poisoning in 2021. Biden’s open border policies are only making this tragic epidemic worse, and we must address it now. As your Congressman and a member of House Republican leadership, I am determined to remain focused on solving problems that impact you and all Americans. From inflation to fentanyl and every other challenge, I’ll never stop working for you.

Richard Hudson is serving his sixth term in the U.S. House and represents North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. He currently serves as the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and is a member of the House Republican Steering Committee.

How House Republicans should react to the media

I RECENTLY DID AN INTERVIEW with a smart, experienced Washington journalist.

We covered a lot of ground, including the debt ceiling, balancing the budget, Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s first two weeks, and Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

issues, and his out-of-control spending plan would strengthen the dollar.

And Biden isn’t the only one.

It was all baloney.

Then we got around to a moment of hardcore politics. As a good liberal, he tried to put me on the defensive about a Republican House freshman who is clearly a liar — and will have no influence in Congress. He will almost certainly be defeated in the next election.

I knew from the tone of the question and the look on the journalist’s face that he wanted me to fall back into a defensive mode and ask more questions about how House Republicans should handle someone who is dishonest.

I remembered a rule I had learned from President Ronald Reagan. When faced with a reporter asking a question you don’t like, simply ignore it and answer the question you wish he or she had asked.

Timid Republicans have often accepted the left’s moral authority to define which lies matter and which ones don’t. It is an appalling trait I have fought throughout my activities as a citizen going back to 1958.

If the news media wants to have a conversation about politicians who lie, House Republicans should be eager to accommodate them — and immediately turn to the amazing examples of Democrat public figures who can’t or won’t tell the truth.

House Republicans should start any discussion of lying with the example of the current occupant of the White House.

As a candidate and president, Biden has survived a lifetime of lying. In 1987, in a Democrat Presidential debate, he claimed to be a descendant of coal miners in northeast Pennsylvania. It turned out not only to be a lie but to have been plagiarized from a brilliant emotional speech by Neil Kinnock about his childhood in Wales.

Mark Thiessen captured the depths of Biden’s mendacity in a column in the Jan. 4, 2023, Washington Post titled: “Santos Must Have Learned from Biden How to Make Up Details About His Past.”

Thiessen points out that Biden lied about being nobly arrested while trying to visit an imprisoned Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Biden claimed he thanked Mandela when the anti-apartheid leader later visited Washington, D.C.

It was all baloney.

Thiessen went on to note that Biden had received a “bottomless Pinocchio” from the Post for absurd lies about meeting with former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (ten years after Deng died) and traveling with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Both stories were false.

On a more practical level, Biden has said the current inflation mess was temporary, the border is secure, that there are no supply chain

Recall the entire scandal of Hillary Clinton’s deleting 33,000 emails and having a staffer literally take a hammer to destroy computer hard drives. Had she been a Republican, the media would have declared her disqualified from public service.

Even in the U.S. House, the record for repetitive lying is held by the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff repeatedly used the prestige of his committee assignment — and the presumption that as chairman he had inside information — to lie repeatedly about President Donald Trump. Schiff’s attacks on Trump over the “Russian Hoax” is a case study in partisanship and dishonesty overcoming patriotism.

We now know beyond any reasonable doubt that the entire effort to tie the Trump candidacy to the Russians was a lie. It was a lie helped by corrupt elements of the FBI. It was a lie compounded by corrupt elements of the intelligence community. When 51 Intelligence community leaders signed a joint letter just before the 2020 election claiming the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was a hoax, they were also lying to the American people for partisan purposes and dishonoring their careers in intelligence. Shouldn’t they all be reprimanded for undermining the faith of the American people in their intelligence institutions?

More important than the lies: What is hidden behind them?

At a minimum, $51 million have been funneled into the University of Pennsylvania Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement by Chinese Communists to benefit the President and his allies (consider our current Secretary of State used to run the place). Further, we know nothing about the money which has funded the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware (which received 1,850-plus boxes of documents from Biden).

President Biden has lied consistently about his knowledge of his son’s business dealings — when he’s been demonstrably involved. In fact, the family in the White House has made tons of money off Ukrainian, Russian, and Chinese Communist connections. This is a real problem.

Republicans should take a simple position: Lying is bad. There will be no effectiveness in the House for a freshman who is clearly lacking in honesty. On the other hand, there should be real efforts to discover the truth about President Biden and his family’s various financial activities with foreign dictatorships.

The freshman is a side distraction and will be allowed to do no harm.

The President is an active threat to the security of the United States and a stain on the honor of the highest government office in America. That is the difference between the two parties.

COLUMN | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

SIDELINE REPORT

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Louisville, L&N reach $41M stadium naming agreement

Louisville, Ky. Louisville has reached a 20year, $41 million agreement with L&N Federal Credit Union through 2042 for naming rights to its Cardinal Stadium home football field. The 25-year-old, 60,800-seat stadium had been without a title sponsor since 2018, when the school dropped the name and logo of Louisville-based pizza chain Papa John’s amid fallout from a report that founder John Schnatter used a racial slur during a company conference call. The University of Louisville Athletic Association agreed in October 2019 to pay Schnatter $9.5 million over five-plus years in a settlement to terminate naming rights. A final $2 million payment is due this summer.

SOCCER

Mewis unlikely to play for U.S. at World Cup

Chicago U.S. national soccer team midfielder Sam Mewis has undergone a second knee surgery and likely won’t be available to play in the Women’s World Cup this summer. Mewis first had surgery on her right knee in August 2021, but the injury required another surgery last week. Mewis is also expected to miss the upcoming National Women’s Soccer League season. She plays for the Kansas City Current and previously played for the North Carolina Courage, winning the NWSL Championship twice and two NWSL Shields.

SPORTS

Jermaine O’Neal

heads newest group in SC Athletic Hall

Columbia, S.C.

Six-time NBA all-star

Jermaine O’Neal and Super Bowl champion receiver Robert Brooks are among the newest members of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. O’Neal was drafted out of a Columbia-area high school into the NBA at 17. He played for seven teams over the next 18 years. Brooks played at South Carolina before getting drafted by Green Bay, where he played for seven seasons and popularized the “Lambeau Leap.” Others named to the hall were former Georgia Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton, ex-Clemson quarterback Woody Dantzler, Olympic hammer thrower Dawn Ellerbe, past Clemson men’s golf coach Larry Penley and longtime South Carolina men’s soccer coach Mark Berson.

MLB

Royals agree with Greinke on deal for 2023

Kansas City, Mo.

The Royals and Zach Greinke have agreed to a contract for the coming season, according to reports. That makes it nine seasons over two stints in Kansas City for the sixtime All-Star pitcher. The 39-year-old Greinke was paid $13 million last season by the Royals. He spent the first seven seasons with them before returning last year and going 3-9 with a 3.68 ERA.

The 2009 Cy Young winner is first among active pitchers with 514 career starts and 3,247 innings pitched.

Wilks ‘disappointed, not defeated’ over Panthers snub

Carolina chose Frank Reich as its next head coach

The Associated Press CHARLOTTE — Former Carolina Panthers interim coach Steve Wilks is “disappointed, but not defeated” that he didn’t land the team’s full-time head coaching position.

The Panthers announced last Thursday they’ve agreed to hire Frank Reich as their coach.

“The sun rose this morning and by the grace of God so did I,” Wilks tweeted Friday. “Many people aren’t built for this but I know what it means to persevere and see it through.”

Wilks thanked players, coaches and staff for their dedication, saying he took pride in representing his hometown of Charlotte.

Wilks added, “I do wish Frank Reich the best.”

Wilks’ tweet came less than 24 hours after his attorney Douglas Wigdor blasted the Panthers for their decision not to hire Wilks, who went 6-6 as Carolina’s interim coach in 2022 after replacing the fired Matt Rhule in Week 6.

The Panthers interviewed Wilks, who is black, twice for the position before settling on Reich, who is white.

“We are shocked and disturbed that after the incredible job Coach Wilks did as the interim coach, including bringing the team back into playoff contention and garnering the support of the players and fans, that he was passed over for the head coach position by (Panthers owner) David Tepper,” Wigdor said in an email. “There is a legitimate race problem in the NFL, and we can assure you that

“There is a legitimate race problem in the NFL, and we can assure you that we will have more to say in the coming days.”

we will have more to say in the coming days.”

The Associated Press reached out to Wigdor’s office Friday to ask if it planned more legal action.

“We do not have another comment at this time other than what we posted,” spokeswoman Courtney Cormican said.

Wilks made no mention of

Greenville-raised Paul says Djokovic thwarted his Australian Open gameplan

His mother, Jill MacMillan, played collegiatel at ECU

The Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia — Tommy Paul went into his first career Grand Slam semifinal with a specific game plan to confront Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. Makes sense, right?

One has to approach that sort of match with a way you think will help you win.

And then, Paul explained, it all fell apart rather quickly in what became a 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 loss to Djokovic, who has won nine of his 21 Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park.

“I mean, he didn’t let me do all those things,” said the 25-year-old American, who was born in New Jersey, grew up in North Carolina and is now based in Florida, “because of things that he did so well.”

“I mean, walking on the court was cool,” Paul, the first U.S. man in the semifinals at Melbourne Park since Andy Roddick in 2009, said of playing at Rod Laver Arena. “Playing the match and getting beaten like that kind of sucked. But, I mean, it’s great I got to see the level of where I want

to be and know how good I have to play if I want to beat people like that. It was I think a good experience.” Let’s let the unseeded Paul explain what his strategy was and what happened:

— “I wanted to serve and volley some. I didn’t serve and volley once. ... When I did make my first serve, I felt like he was returning it to the baseline. I was automatically on defense. Like, you get down love-30 in your service games, it’s hard to be like, ‘All

right, I’m going to serve and volley now.’”

— “Wanted to throw in drop shots. Didn’t get an opportunity to do any of that because he was hitting so deep.”

— “Wanted to change up pace with my slice. Missed my first three slices of the match. I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to start hitting my backhand; I’m not slicing well today.’”

— “Attack on the second serve. He definitely surprised me. On big points, he was going big sec-

whether the Panthers will be added to an ongoing lawsuit alleging racial hiring practices by the NFL and some teams. Nearly a year ago, Wilks joined Brian Flores’ lawsuit in an effort to bring attention to the lack of black head coaches in the NFL.

“When Coach Flores filed this action, I knew I owed it to myself, and to all Black NFL coaches and aspiring coaches, to stand with him,” Wilks said in a statement through his attorney last February.

“This lawsuit has shed further important light on a problem that we all know exists, but that too few are willing to confront. Black coaches and candidates should have exactly the same ability to become employed, and remain employed, as white coaches and candidates.”

Several Panthers players said after the regular season ended they wanted Wilks to return in 2023, including longtime linebacker Shaq Thompson. Thompson suggested players wanted to have a meeting with Tepper to give player input on the coaching situation and throw their support behind Wilks.

It’s unclear if that meeting happened.

onds. Pretty much every point, the average second-serve speed was a little higher than I thought it was going to be.”

All of that said, Paul did make some inroads against Djokovic.

He did, after all, win more of the 23 points that lasted at least nine strokes, 14-9.

There were the two break points in the match’s opening game — although Djokovic ended up holding there.

“It felt like things were getting away from me really fast,” Paul said. “Felt like points were moving really fast. In-between-points time was going really quick.”

There was the four-game run that turned Paul’s 5-1 deficit into 5-all in the opening set — although Djokovic then proceeded to collect seven games in a row and 14 of the remaining 17.

“I was really fortunate to kind of hold my nerves toward the end of the first set. That was a key,” Djokovic said. “After that, I started swinging through the ball more.”

Paul, who had never been past the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament before, moved up to No. 19 in the world rankings on Monday, his first time in the top 20.

“I want to keep moving up the rankings, you know? It would be nice to end the year top-10. I feel like the way I started the year is the right path to do it,” he said. “Obviously I have a lot of matches to win this year. Hopefully get some titles, too. I don’t want to just lose in semifinals. I want to have my name on some trophies.”

AP PHOTO

The Panthers decided not to permanently hire interim coach Steve Wilks, instead choosing former Carolina quarterback Frank Reich to be the team’s next head coach.

AP PHOTO

Tommy Paul attempts a forehand return during his semifinal loss to to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open last Friday.

Douglas Wigdor, attorney for Steve Wilks

Randleman girls set high bar in Piedmont Athletic Conference

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

RANDLEMAN — Staying atop the Piedmont Athletic Conference has been a challenge for the Randleman girls’ basketball team.

The Tigers have passed the test, and that’s just one of the rewarding aspects of another stellar season.

“Right now, everybody is bringing their ‘A’ game against us, but that’s OK,” coach Brandon Varner said.

Randleman withstood threats from Eastern Randolph and Southwestern Randolph during the past week. But it has turned out to be another title season for the Tigers, who are 9-0 in PAC play and 19-1 overall.

So if the Tigers might have looked vulnerable at times, they found the gumption to withstand those situations.

“We’re like their championship (game),” senior Gracyn Hall said of opponents. “Everybody is wanting to beat Randleman because we have that target on our back.”

Randleman’s only regular-season loss in a two-season span came in late December in the final of the Davidson-Randolph Christmas Classic. The Tigers were knocked off by Southwestern Randolph.

But with Friday night’s 55-40 home victory against the Cougars, Randleman made it a sweep of Southwestern Randolph in conference competition and clinched another league championship with three games remaining.

“We’re definitely getting everybody’s best shot,” senior Elizabeth York said. “You learn from it. We didn’t like losing. We had (that defeat) midyear, and we don’t want that again.”

Earlier in the week, a 59-54 decision against Eastern Randolph came despite Brecken Snotherly’s 38 points for the Wildcats. York and Jordan Booker each drained a pair of free throws in the last 40 seconds to help the Tigers, who scored the last four points, claim the victory.

Hall ended up with 18 points and 16 rebounds, Audra Petty scored 14 points, and York provided 13 points and five assists.

A few tight games might be advantageous for the Tigers in the big picture.

“You get the playoff atmosphere,” Varner said. “You don’t want games when you’re blowing everybody out. You get more out of (closer games).

We’re like everybody’s Super Bowl right now. You’ve got to battle through that.”

Hall said, “Closer games will end

up helping us in the long run.”

Yet a chaotic late-game stretch with Eastern Randolph wasn’t totally ideal.

“I like things to be exciting, but not this close,” York said.

In Friday’s game, York had 18 points, and Hall posted 16 points.

Hall and York provide a nice foundation as four-year contributors for the Tigers. Petty, Booker, and Gracie Beane are clutch players as well.

“It’s just fun,” Hall said. “We don’t want to let each other down.”

Because some of the Tigers have had key roles for several seasons, opponents are familiar with what Randleman is all about, York said.

“We’ve got experience, and everybody is coming for us right now,” Varner said. “Since Christmas, we’ve learned some things about ourselves. It’s character building.”

Randleman is heading for a third 20-win season in four years, the exception coming with a 12-4 record in the pandemic-shortened 2021 season.

And the Tigers are hoping there are more good times to come.

“We don’t always make the best decisions,” York said. “Our effort is what wins the games for us.”

Thomas Leal

PREP BASKETBALL

Asheboro, Eastern Randolph boys remain on rolls

Randolph Record

ASHEBORO WON TWO more

Mid-Piedmont Conference games last week in boys’ basketball to go with a non-conference victory against Uwharrie Charter Academy.

The Blue Comets enter this week undefeated in league play.

It began when Jerquarius Stanback had 19 points in a 66-54 triumph against visiting UCA.

The next night, Asheboro won its first showdown with Ledford in the Mid-Piedmont Conference, prevailing 66-54 for a road triumph behind DJ Headen’s 20 points and Tanner Marsh’s 14 points.

The Blue Comets followed that by defeating Oak Grove 81-63, with Stanback putting up 22 points.

Eastern Randolph capped a 3-0 week to move to 19-1 overall by defeating host Wheatmore 97-52 as

Timothy Brower led the way with 21 points. The Wildcats scored 70 first-half points, including 41 in the second quarter.

Riley Strickland’s 23 points were tops for Wheatmore.

When Eastern Randolph withstood host Chatham Central for a 96-93 non-league victory, Davonte Brooks poured in 41 points on 17for-24 shooting from the field to go with 15 rebounds. Brower had 18 points, and Pierce Leonard added 14 points.

A night earlier at Randleman, Brooks racked up 24 points in a 65-56 victory. Tyshaun Goldston of the Tigers had 21 points.

Southwestern Randolph returned to the venue where it pulled off an upset in the Class 2-A state playoffs last year and beat host Providence Grove again, winning 63-58 as Sean Adkins posted 18 points and Thomas Leal had 15 points.

Southwestern Randolph, boys’ basketball

The Cougars might have hit their stride, and they’ve been receiving key contributions from a variety of players. Leal is one of them.

This has come as Southwestern Randolph cranked up a late-season surge for the second season in a row.

Leal, a senior guard, scored 15 points in last week’s 63-58 victory at Providence. He was one of four Cougars in double figures, led by Sean Adkins with 18.

The Cougars entered this week with a sixgame winning streak, helping them move into second place in the Piedmont Athletic Conference. Leal has been a double-figure scorer in five of those victories.

PREP ROUNDUP

The Cougars won again by stopping host Randleman 63-54 despite Goldston’s 21 points.

Trinity defeated visiting UCA 64-55, with Dylan Hodges notching 23 points and Dominic Payne supplying 19 points.

Girls’ basketball

Autumn Gentry scored half of her team’s points in Trinity’s 52-48 overtime victory against visiting Wheatmore. The game was played in front of a capacity crowd in advance of the ceremony naming the school’s gym after longtime boys’ coach Tim Kelly.

Brecken Snotherly of Eastern Randolph had another huge week, scoring 38 points in a 59-54 loss at Randleman and then compiling 43 points and 18 rebounds in a 71-44 whipping of host Wheatmore. Kynnedi Routh had more than half of Wheatmore’s points with 25.

Providence Grove pulled a surprise by registering its first PAC victory this season by topping visiting Southwestern Randolph 41-39 on Allie Frazier’s winning layup. She finished with 18 points.

UCA wrestlers keep rolling in state duals

Randolph Record

ASHEBORO — Uwharrie

Charter Academy’s wrestling team won two duals Saturday to advance in the Class 1-A state playoffs.

The Eagles were at home as the East Region’s top seed, defeating Pender 66-18 and North East Carolina Prep 49-28.

That sent UCA to Wednesday’s action against Pamlico, with Thomasville and host Rosewood also meeting in the third round at that site. The third-round winners meet later Wednesday with a spot in the state final at stake.

The title matchup takes place Saturday at the Greensboro Coliseum complex. UCA reached the state final last year before losing.

Also in Class 1-A at Thomasville, No. 11 seed Eastern Randolph upset sixth-seeded North Moore 52-27 before falling to third-seeded Thomasville by 4833.

In Class 2-A at Trinity, fourth-seeded Trinity eliminated No. 13 seed West Wilkes 4530 before falling to fifth-seeded

Lincolnton by 43-32.

At Rutherfordton, second-seeded Rutherfordton-Spindale Central topped No. 14 seed Southwestern Randolph 46-20.

In Class 3-A at Newton, eighth-seeded Ashe County stopped ninth-seeded Asheboro 36-30.

Swimming

At Kernersville, Asheboro’s girls were third, and the school’s boys were fifth in the Mid-Piedmont Conference championships last week at the Kernersville Family YMCA.

Megan Becker of Asheboro won the girls’ 200-yard freestyle in 2 minutes, 1.61 seconds, and the 100 butterfly in 1:02.35. Teammate Maci Columbia was the winner in the 200 individual medley in 2:29.72 and 500 freestyle in 5:56.20.

The Blue Comets also won the 400 freestyle relay in 4:11.65 with Columbia, Fiona Wolfe-Roberts, Madison Burnette, and Becker.

On the boys’ side, Asheboro’s Tyler Smith was the champion in the 100 freestyle in 56.10.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL Southwestern Randolph’s Thomas Leal goes up for a shot against Thomasville’s Jalen Thomas earlier this season.

SCOTT PELKEY | RANDOLPH RECORD

Left, Audra Petty of Randleman looks for a teammate as Eastern Randolph’s Brecken Snotherly defends. Right, Randleman’s Elizabeth York looks to go up for a shot against Eastern Randolph’s Logan Beaver.

SCOTT PELKEY | RANDOLPH RECORD

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Uwharrie Charter Academy’s Brandon Jordan controls North East Carolina Prep’s Christian Test during a 126-pound match.

Asheboro’s Tanner Marsh leads a fastbreak during a game against North Davidson earlier this month.

Titles decided in middle school finals

The Randolph County Middle School basketball championships were held Saturday at Eastern Randolph. The winners were the girls’ team from Randleman Middle School, which defeated Trinity Middle School, and the boys’ team from Southwestern Randolph, which topped regular-season champion Southeastern Middle School. Randleman’s girls ended up with an undefeated record.

KELLY from page 1 nearly 650 victories.

Yet there have been style changes along the way.

“I’m not as verbal. I used to be a really hard, old-school coach, in your face,” he said. “I don’t do that as much. Part of that is because my age.”

The building of relationships became as important as the game results.

“We want the kids to know we love them,” Kelly said. “In fact, I tell them I love them.”

Kelly said the support this week was indicative of the backing he has received for years in his coaching role. The gym naming was just another example.

“I think that will hit more when I’m done,” he said. “Right now, I’m still planning on coaching.”

In a light-hearted conversation with wrestling coach Brandon Coggins, Kelly offered a reminder.

“If you stay here 20 more years, you’re going to be in my house,” he said.

Then Kelly jokingly added: “Tim’s Gym.”

“It was much more emotional than I anticipated. I’m honored. But the game is the main thing — the kids. If I hadn’t had good kids, this wouldn’t be happening.”

Tim Kelly

York nabs Late Models win in Caraway winter event

Randolph Record

SOPHIA – Jason York pulled into the front spot when two other drivers couldn’t stay clear of trouble, and he won the Late Models feature in Caraway Speedway’s Winter Heat on Saturday.

Coy Beard and Gary Causey were the front runners, but with two laps to go in the 75-lap race, they bumped into each other, and York emerged in the lead. York

had the fastest qualifying time. Chase Murphy was second, followed by Mason Ludwig, Lanie Bruce, and Daniel Roberts.

The race event was postponed from late November because of weather concerns, turning it from a season-ending card to a kickoff for the 2023 competition. Then it had been slated for Sunday but was moved up a day because of rain in the forecast at the back end of the weekend.

In Challengers, Cory Rose was the winner in the 40-lap race, with Enoch McNeill in second and Tyler Johnson claiming third.

In Mini Stocks, A.J. Sanders was the winner in the 10-car field. Jonathan Brown was the runner-up as a fill-in for Adam Thomas. Chuck Wall had the best qualifying time, but engine troubles doomed him in the race.

There were 13 entrants in UCARs, with 2022 track cham-

pion Daniel Hughes capturing the victory in the 20-lap race. Fast-qualifying Justin Smith placed second, with Ron Mock, Steven Collins, and Jeremy Kidd rounding out the top five. In Street Stocks, Brewster Baker was the winner. Kyle Lynch was next, followed by Mike Cooper, Larry Isenhour, and Steven Sharp. The official start of the track’s 2023 season comes March 12 with the Dogwood 250.

Cory Rose was pumped up after winning Saturday’s Challengers race at Caraway Speedway.

•

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Left, Jacquline McDaniel of Randleman Middle School launches a shot in the title game against Trinity Middle School’s Madison Hill, right, and over Brennan Thomas. Right, Southwestern Randolph Middle School’s Caleb Abernathy takes a shot against Southeastern Randolph in the boys’ championship game.

COURTESY PHOTO

Morris Edwin Willitts

December 13, 1956 — January 27, 2023

Morris Edwin Willitts, age 66 of Asheboro, passed away on Friday, January 27, 2023, at his home. Morris was born in Burlington, New Jersey on December 13, 1956 to Morris and Dorothy Smith Willitts. Morris enjoyed fishing and doing woodworking projects. He loved to watch football and NASCAR and cheer on the Carolina Panthers and his favorite driver Ryan Blaney. Morris is preceded in death by his father, Morris Willitts; sister, Dorothy Rose Willitts Hinkle; and brother, Ernie Willitts.

Morris is survived by his wife of 33 years, Betty Willitts; daughter, Eugina Willitts; mother, Dorothy Smith Willitts; siblings, Stella Willitts, John Willitts, Jimmy Willitts, and Judy Willitts Crotts; and his fur babies, Simon, Lucy, Baby, and Angel.

Rev Curtis Lee Mitchell

November 30, 1951 — January 27, 2023

Rev. Curtis Lee Mitchell, age 71 of Pleasant Garden went home to be with his Lord and Savior Friday night, January 27, 2023 at his home. Curtis was born in Big Four, West Virginia and was a long-time resident of Pleasant Garden, NC.

He married the love of his life and best friend on December 5, 1969. He was a Drywall SubContractor for 35 + years. He followed the Lord and started Not Ashamed Independent Baptist Church in March 1999. He pastored there for 8 years.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Deborah Spencer Mitchell, father William Edward Mitchell, mother Effie Crowder Mitchell and brother Walter Henry Mitchell. He is survived by 2 daughters, Angela Mitchell and Cheri Mitchell Rhoton (David) of Pleasant Garden. Grandson Michael Rhoton (Bethany), Great Grandchildren Addilyn, Levi and Nolan Rhoton, all of Seagrove.

One brother William Mitchell (Betty) of Wentworth, NC. Several nieces and nephews.

Margaret Hunt Smith

August 26, 1929 — January 26, 2023

Margaret Hunt Smith, 93 of Sophia passed away Thursday January 26, 2023 at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in High Point (formerly High Point Regional Hospital).

Margaret was born August 26, 1929 in Randolph County to the late Thomas D. and Martha Jane Crotts Hunt. Margaret was preceded in death by her 2 sisters and 7 brothers. Margaret loved the Lord and was a member of South Plainfield Friends Meeting. She was employed at Asheboro Hosiery prior to becoming a homemaker. She was an avid golfer for many years and loved to cook. She loved her family dearly. She is survived by her husband of 71 years, Herbert Smith and children Denise Chriscoe and husband Glenn, Tim Smith and wife JoAnn, and Greg Smith and wife Pam. She also leaves behind 7 grandchildren, Jamie Chriscoe and wife Charity, Andy Chriscoe and wife Regina, Phillip Smith, Misty Hurley, Shelly Harris and husband Josh, Andrew Smith and wife Anna, and Erin Smith. Margaret leaves behind 7 great grandchildren, Madison Chriscoe, Gatlin Hurley, Kaymen Hurley, Emerson Harris, Charleigh Harris, Cash Harris, and Janson Beau Smith.

David Thomas Jeanes

February 3, 1945 — January 25, 2023

David Thomas Jeanes, age 77, of Asheboro passed away on Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at Moses Cone Hospital.

Mr. Jeanes was born in Chester, SC on February 3, 1945 to John and Norris Dennis Jeanes. He loved Science, and retired, as a Quality Control Research Technician, from Sun Chemical/Omnova Solutions, after 35 years of service. In addition to his parents, David was preceded in death by his sister, Rebecca "Missy" Jeanes. He loved his wife, daughter, his son-in-law, his granddaughters, brother and sisters. David had been a volunteer at Randolph Hospital since 2008. He enjoyed teaching folks to read and obtain their GED. David loved listening to Elvis, watching Gunsmoke, and being a member of the Ramseur Area Civitan Club.

He is survived by his wife of 24 years, Sarah Cooper Jeanes; daughter, Jennifer Jeanes Kanipe (Joe) of Asheboro; granddaughters, Taylor, Paige, and Lindsay Kanipe; brother, Dennis "Dink" Jeanes (Anita); and sisters, Frances Berrios (Candido), Diane Dillinger (Marion), and Kathy Johnson.

Jean Goble Morgan

August 18, 1944 — January 23, 2023

Nancy Jean Goble Morgan, age 78, of Asheboro passed away Monday, January 23, 2023 at Baptist Hospital in WinstonSalem.

Mrs. Morgan was born August 18, 1944 in Stanly County to John and Evelyn Goble. She grew up in Kannapolis and lived there until 1985 when her and her family moved to Asheboro. Mrs. Morgan was a retired bookkeeper from NH Med Services and was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She was a very giving person, always taking care of others. In addition to her parents, Mrs. Morgan was preceded in death by her husband, Terry Lee Morgan. Mrs. Morgan is survived by her son Russell Todd Morgan and wife Lorie of Anacortes, WA; daughter, Tammy Brinkley and husband Dale of Asheboro, Jodi Chisholm and husband Chris of Landrum, SC; grandchildren, Logan Brinkley of Raleigh, Jenna Brinkley of Asheboro, Molly Chisholm, Emi Chisholm of Landrum, SC; sister, Brenda Goble of Kannapolis; special family, Janie Morris and husband Benson.

Doris Edwards Dillon

January 21, 1933 — January 22, 2023

Doris "Dot" Ann Edwards Dillon was born January 21st 1933, at home in Guilford County. She was one of six children and helped in raising her younger siblings. She graduated from Sumner High School as salutatorian of her class. She graduated from Baptist School of Nursing in 1955 as an RN and began working at Moses Cone Hospital. She left nursing temporarily to raise her children. She was an active member of Centre Friends Meeting during these years. She was a loving mother to her three children. She was especially proud of her grandson, Steven.

Doris loved life and meeting people everywhere she went. She had life-long friends and made new friends through the years. Doris loved to send cards to everyone, especially birthdays. She visited shut-ins and the elderly. She loved all animals, especially cats. Her furry feline friends were a big part of her life. She returned to nursing after her children were grown, working at Clapp's Nursing Home, then Charter Hills and Fellowship Hall.

Doris is survived by daughter, Lyla Dillon White; son, Josh Dillon(Tammy); grandson, Steven Dillon (Kelsey). She leaves behind her siblings Dan Edwards, Laura Jane Winters and extended family. Doris is preceded in death by daughter, Julie Dillon; brothers, Colin Edwards and Boyd Edwards; sister, Sue Stafford; and son-in-law. Sonny White.

Arthur George Fisher

February 4, 1938 — January 26, 2023

Arthur George Fisher, age 84, of Sophia passed away on Thursday, January 26, 2023 at the Randolph Hospice House.

Mr. Fisher was born in Richmond County, NC on February 4, 1938, but was a lifetime resident of Randolph County. Arthur served his country in the U.S. Army and retired from Klaussner Furniture after 40 years of service. Arthur was preceded in death by his wife, Nancy Fisher, son, Glenn Fisher, and siblings, Madison, Addison, Mattie, Frances, Tommy, and Glenn. He was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. Arthur loved watching Westerns, traveling to the mountains, and talking to everyone he met.

He is survived by his sons, Travis Fisher (Cindy) of Sophia and Scott Fisher of Sophia; grandchildren, Candace, Katlyn, Adam, Cole, Myray, Colton, and Lillie; great grandchildren, Kylie and Kayden; brother, Melvin Caulder (Elta) of Randleman; and sister-in-law, Donna Caulder of Randleman.

Billy Ray Pugh

October 30, 1931 — January 25, 2023

Billy Ray Pugh, age 91 of Randleman passed away Wednesday, January 25th at Moses Cone hospital. Billy was born on October 30, 1931 in Randolph County. He was preceded in death by brothers, Frank and Tony Pugh; and his mother and father, Ruth and Jake Pugh. He retired from Pugh Seamless Guttering, but never really retired as he ran a local small business in Randleman. There is too many hobbies to count. He always had time to spend with his friends passing the time or playing cards. He was known as a Paw Paw to the grand kids and "OP" to the great grands. He liked nothing better than to make them laugh. He will be greatly missed by his beloved Mavis, son Chris Pugh, and daughter Sharon Butler (Russ), grandson Mark Breedlove (Andrea), granddaughter Erin Hohn (Christian), and four great grandchildren, sister Audrey Wood (Ralph), brothers Norman Pugh (Francis), and Colon Pugh (Linda),and too many others to count.

Juan Plata-Cardona

January 7, 1949 — January 23, 2023

Juan Plata Cardona, 74, of Siler City, passed away surrounded by his loved ones at his home.

Mr. Plata Cardona was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico on January 7, 1949, the son of Ernesto Plata and Antonia Cardona.

He spent his working years as a dairy farmer. Juan loved spending time outside gardening, and watching old western movies. He cherished his animals, cows and horses.

Juan is survived by his loving wife of 53 years, Maria Plata; sons, Carlos Plata, Antonio Plata, Noemi Plata, Christopher Hayes, and Alejandro Plata; grandchildren, Juan Plata, Eric Plata, Flor Plata, Carlos Plata, Elizabeth Nava-Plata, Jonathan Nava Plata, Sebastian Nava Plata, Abraham Plata, Marco Antonio Plata, Zamara Plata Fuentes, and Edgar Fuentes; siblings; Rosario Plata, Maria Plata, Beningna Plata, Arturo Plata, Raudel Plata, Endeina Plata, Maria Del Rosario Plata, Guadalupe Plata, Olga Plata; and great grandchildren, Evanny Plata and Gabriella Nava Kast.

Ashley "Possum" Thomas Binkley

Ashley "Possum" Thomas Binkley, 92, of Siler City, went to his heavenly home on Sunday, January 22, 2023.

Mr. Binkley was born in Chatham County on May 9, 1930, the son of Robert Binkley, Sr. and Loney McDaniel. Possum was a member of Oakley Baptist Church. He retired after working for many years at Glendale and Kellwood. Possum enjoyed gardening and hanging out with the locals. He loved to cook especially pigs and made his own BBQ sauce. He cherished his family and grandchildren, which he frequently visited. In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his sisters, Thelma Estes, Camilla Gilliland, Elsie Brigham, Agnes Gilliland, and brothers, Bobby Binkley, Jr., Odell, Arvey, Earl, and Larry Binkley.

He is survived by his daughter, Joy Barker of Siler City; granddaughter, Stacy Coble and husband Phillip of Archdale; grandson, Michael Barker and wife Sarah of Troutman, NC; 5 great grandchildren; sister, Betty Jean Lindley of Raleigh; and brothers, Wesley Binkley (Brenda) of Bear Creek, Steve Binkley (Becky) of Graham, and Joe Binkley (Alice) of Asheboro; and numerous nieces and nephews.

US population center trending toward South this decade

The Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. population center is on track this decade to take a southern swerve for the first time in history, and it’s because of people like Owen Glick, who moved from California to Florida more than a year ago.

Last year, the South outgrew other U.S. regions by well over 1 million people through births outpacing deaths and domestic and international migration, according to population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Northeast and Midwest lost residents, and the West grew by an anemic 153,000 people, primarily because a large number of residents left for a different U.S. region. The West would have lost population if not for immigrants and births outpacing deaths.

In contrast, the South grew by 1.3 million new residents, and six of the 10 U.S. states with the biggest growth last year were in the South, led in order by Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.

Experts aren’t sure at this point if the dramatic pull of the South is a short-term change spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic or a longterm trend, or even what impact it will have on the reallocation of political power through redistricting after the 2030 census. Because of delays caused by the pandem-

ic, changes were made in how the Census Bureau has calculated the estimates this decade, and that, too, may have had an impact.

But experts say the Southern allure has to do with a mix of housing affordability, lower taxes, the popularity of remote work during the pandemic era and baby boomers retiring.

Glick, 56, moved to the Orlando area from metro San Diego in December 2021 after he retired

from his job in corporate sales. He had been making regular trips to central Florida before the move, to check on rental properties purchased because they were more affordable in the Sunshine State than in Southern California. While the cost of housing and food is lower than in California, there are hidden home upkeep costs in Florida, such as the need to paint more often because of the unrelenting sun and higher utili-

ty bills from year-round air conditioning, he said.

“You’re in better financial shape in terms of prices here, but there are more expenditures to maintain properties,” Glick said.

Glick was among the 233,000 people who left a Western state and planted roots in a different region from mid-2021 to mid-2022. He joined the ranks of the almost 868,000 people who moved to a Southern state from another region.

If the trend continues through the rest of this decade, by 2030 the mean center of the U.S. population will head due south from a rural county in the Missouri Ozarks, without a westward extension for the first time in history, according to urban planner Alex Zakrewsky, who models the population center.

Since the population center was first calculated to be in Chestertown, Maryland, in 1790, it has moved continuously westward, though it started taking a more southwestern tilt in the 20th century as the spread of air conditioning made the South more livable.

North Carolina state demographer Michael Cline said the growth in the South has been “above and beyond” trends the region experienced before the pandemic, which he thinks may have accelerated many movers’ decisions to relocate from cold-climate

states or allowed people to work remotely for the first time.

The departures from the West started in 2021, during the first full year of the pandemic, when 145,000 residents moved to another U.S. region. Up until then, domestic migration to the West had increased each year since 2010.

A substantial portion of the departures was due to people leaving California, but Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington also had year-toyear losses in domestic migration from 2021 to 2022. Additionally, in several Western states that had year-to-year increases in domestic migration — Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah — those increases were smaller than in the previous year.

In Oregon, the jury is still out on whether the phenomenon of more than 17,000 departures to other U.S. states was a temporary, pandemic-related trend due to remote-working freedoms and housing affordability, or whether it’s a longer-term movement due to quality of life issues such as crime, weather or wildfires, said Josh Lehner, an economist for the state.

William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Metro think tank, also wants to see if the trend is only related to the pandemic or has legs through the rest of the decade. A big wild card is immigration, which was responsible for most of the growth in 2022, he said.

“Some of that has to do with getting away from the big dense coastal metros to somewhere else,” Frey said. “One thing that needs to be questioned is if the patterns of the past two years will continue for the rest of the decade.”

Concerns over prayer breakfast lead Congress to take it over

By Gary Fields

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Prayer Breakfast, one of the most visible and long-standing events that brings religion and politics together in Washington, is splitting from the private religious group that had overseen it for decades, due to concerns the gathering had become too divisive.

The organizer and host for this year’s breakfast, scheduled for Thursday, will be the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation, headed by former Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

Sen. Chris Coons, a regular participant and chairman of the Senate ethics committee, said the move was prompted in part by concerns in recent years that members of Congress did not know important details about the larger multiday gathering.

Coons, D-Del., said that in the past, he and Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the committee’s vice chairman, had questions about who was invited and how money was being raised.

The annual event “went on several days, had thousands of people attending, and a very large and somewhat complex organization,” Coons said in an interview. “Some questions had been raised about our ability as members of Congress to say that we knew exactly how it was being organized, who was being invited, how it was being funded. Many of us who’d been in leadership roles really couldn’t answer those questions.”

That led to lawmakers deciding to take over organizing for the prayer breakfast itself.

Pryor, president of the new foundation, said the COVID-19 shutdown gave members a chance to “reset” the breakfast and return it to its origins — a change he said had been discussed for years.

“The whole reason the House and Senate wanted to do this was

to return it to its roots, when House members and Senate members can come together and pray for the president, pray for his family and administration, pray for our government, the world,” Pryor said.

Pryor said members of Congress, the president, vice president and other administration officials and their guests are invited to Thursday’s prayer breakfast, which will

be held at the visitors’ center at the Capitol. He anticipated between 200 and 300 people would attend.

Pryor said he hoped the smaller event will regain the intimacy that is similar to the weekly nondenominational prayer gatherings on Capitol Hill. Groups of senators and representatives have long held unofficial meetings for fellowship and to temporarily set aside political

differences.

The prayer breakfast addressed by the president has been the highlight of a multiday event for 70 years. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to attend, in February 1953, and every president since has spoken at the gathering.

The larger event, put on by a private religious group called the International Foundation, has always been centered around “the person and principles of Jesus, with a focus on praying for leaders of our nation and from around the world,” the group’s spokesman, A. Larry Ross, said in an email.

More than 1,400 people are registered for the two-day event, with one-third of those from outside the United States.

President Joe Biden, who has spoken at the breakfast the past two years, is set to do so again. At last year’s address from the Capitol, Biden talked about the need for members of Congress to know one another more personally.

“It’s hard to really dislike someone when you know what they’re going through is the same thing you’re going through,” he said.

In recent years, questions about the International Foundation, its funding and attendees had led some to reconsider the involvement of Congress.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., stopped coming in 2016 because the event “had become an entertainment and lobbying extravaganza rather than an opportunity for spiritual reflection,” a Kaine spokeswoman wrote in an emailed response to questions. Kaine will attend Thursday.

AP PHOTO

In this Wednesday, March 25, 2015, file photo, apartment buildings under construction are seen, in Maitland, Fla., a suburb of Orlando.

AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast, Feb. 3, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Drug raid outside of Red Springs leads to 2 arrests

The Special Operations Unit of the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at a home in the 1400 block of Shankle Road in Shannon this past Friday. According to the sheriff’s office, the unit had been investigating the potential selling of narcotics at the residency by 75-year-old Johnny Lee Scott. When the raid was carried out, deputies found Scott at home with two additional women. During the search, Scott was found to be in possession of 118 dosage units of suspected crack cocaine, in addition to several undisclosed amounts of Adderall and Suboxone. A glass pipe and digital scales were also found in the home. Scott was arrested and transported to the Hoke County Detention Center, where he was held on a $100,000 secured bond. He has been charged with possession with the intent to manufacture, sell, and deliver cocaine, possession with the intent to sell/deliver a scheduled II controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and maintaining a dwelling for the sale/delivery of controlled substances. Amy Peterson, 34, of Red Springs, was also arrested and faces two possession charges, including possession of a schedule III substance and the possession of drug paraphernalia. She received a $2,000 secured bond.

Homicide investigation launched following death of Raeford woman

Last week, the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office announced that they are investigating the death of 29-year-old Keila Sosa Gomez. According to the sheriff’s office, deputies, medical personnel, and agents of the State Bureau of Investigation arrived at the home at 203 Village Lane after receiving a report of a possible cardiac arrest incident. Gomez was found lying on the ground unresponsive, but no life-saving efforts were performed due to her condition at the time of arrival. Anyone with information about the death of Gomez is encouraged to contact Lt. Sullivan at (910) 875-5111.

HOKE COUNTY

Locklear impacting lives and making a difference

By Hal Nunn North State Journal

RAEFORD — Brandon Lock-

lear is the head wrestling coach at Hoke County High School and is currently making a significant impact on young students through wrestling, education, and life. Recently the 30-year-old coach suffered a heart attack with 100% blockage in an artery, which very nearly cost him his young life. Now, Locklear feels and knows his path forward is for a much greater cause than just wrestling. His story began in high school at Hoke High in 2006, when Vernon Walworth, the influential head coach of the wrestling team at the time, sat down with the young Locklear after he managed to get himself in some trouble at school. Walworth talked to him about wrestling and life, steering the young student towards a more

structured school life. Locklear’s father had also been a wrestler in his youth, so the sport immediately appealed to him.

Through coach Walworth leadership, Locklear became devoted to the sport of wrestling and competed at Hoke High School until he graduated. Following high school, Locklear dreamed of continuing his wrestling career at the collegiate level while studying at UNC Pembroke. Unfortunately, the demands of college and life interfered with his goals, and wrestling was forced to take a backseat in his life.

During his time in college, Locklear still managed to maintain a presence around the Buck’s wrestling team, often traveling with them and helping out where he could. Though he was never officially a paid assistant coach because he wasn’t a school system

“It was talked about quite a bit that if Coach Walworth ever left Hoke County, Brandon would be a good fit. With his training, experience, and how he related to the kids, it would be well above trying to bring in someone from the outside.”

Athletic Director Gary Brigman

employee, Locklear was essentially an assistant coach.

However, everything changed in 2013 when Locklear became the school’s Drop Out Prevention Coordinator, and Walworth

New course seeks to honor Pinehurst’s natural beauty, rich history

By Emmie Brooks For North State Journal

PINEHURST — Golf course

architect Tom Doak has embarked on a new project to design and develop Pinehurst’s 10th golf course, the first in almost three decades. Doak has long had a passion for golf and, specifically, the design of courses themselves.

“When I was twelve-thirteen years old, I got to see Harbour Town, Pinehurst, and Pebble Beach, and they were so different from the public course I grew up playing in Connecticut that I became fascinated with golf course design,” Doak said.

Doak has since designed six courses that have been ranked among the top 100 golf courses in the world, according to Golf Magazine. He has also written multiple books about the sport and architecture of the courses.

“Having a Doak course at Pinehurst allows guests to play a course designed by one of the most creative golf minds of this generation. Some equate playing at Pinehurst to visiting a golf architecture museum. You get to

experience some of the best work from different design eras when you come here,” says club officials.

In the 1890s, James Walker Tufts, a Bostonian Philanthropist, purchased 5,800 acres of land to build a New England Village on what now has become Pinehurst Resort. The Holly Inn began housing guests in 1895 and The Carolina Hotel in 1901, both of which are still housing guests and golfers today.

In 1898, Pinehurst’s first golf course was built, consisting of nine holes and one clubhouse. In 1989, golf professional John Dunn Tucker was hired and continued the course by adding nine other holes, completing Pinehurst’s No. 1 course. The Pinehurst Golf Club was later established in 1903. Pinehurst Resort now features 2,000 acres of historically dense North Carolina land, three hotels, eleven dining venues, and a multitude of recreational activities for all to enjoy.

Expected to open in 2024, Doak’s new course is envisioned to complement other courses at the resort by contrasting them all superbly. The land consists of nat-

“When I was twelvethirteen years old, I got to see Harbour Town, Pinehurst, and Pebble Beach, and they were so different from the public course I grew up playing in Connecticut that I became fascinated with golf course design.”

Golf course architect Tom Doak

ural features that create the character of what differentiates Pinehurst from other golf resorts, such as native sand and wiregrass. I’ve wanted to do this since I was a kid, and I have to pinch myself that people pay me to do it,” Doak said. “What keeps it interesting is that every site is different, and the best design solution is the one that makes the most of those differences.”

immediately brought him on as an official assistant coach. Locklear worked alongside his former mentor before Walworth made him the Head Assistant Coach in 2015.

Following the untimely death of Locklear’s former coach and mentor in 2021, the school was forced to name a replacement for the head wrestling coach, though Athletic Director Gary Brigman and Principal Dr. Thomas Benson already had the perfect candidate.

“It was talked about quite a bit that if Coach Walworth ever left Hoke County, Brandon would be a good fit. With his training, experience, and how he related to the kids, it would be well above trying to bring in someone from the outside,” said Brigman.

In August 2021, Locklear began his career as the head coach, immediately carrying on Walworth’s legacy. During his first year as the Bucks’ head coach, the team finished 3rd in the Sandhills Athletic Conference.

This season, the Bucks started out 8-0, defeating two top 10 powerhouses in state wrestling: Cary High School and Emsley A

See LOCKLEAR, page 2

HAL NUNN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Hoke High Wrestling Coach Brandon Locklear (center) coaches his team during the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament. Locklear is recovering from a recent heart attack, which took the 30-year-old by surprise. The shocking event resulted in the young coach having an epiphany about the essential things in life.

in enrollment in charter schools.

Laney (the defending state champions). The Bucks have won the Boneyard Bash at Jack Britt for the first time ever, defeated the Wakefield boys’ and girls’ duals, and placed in the top five at the Mark Adams Invitation Wrestling Tournament, despite missing three of their top starters.

the actual number of students enrolled in school in Month 1 and Month 2 and whichever is greater is the number they used to determine if there will be a budget revision. Our actual ADM for month 1 was 8,498, and for Month Two, it was 8,665. Therefore the ADM for Month Two - 8,665 was used for our budget revision which is a difference of 423 students less than what was projected in our initial budget allotment.”

Locklear feels that with all the pieces in place this year, the Bucks could win a State Championship. However, he now knows now that

The difference accounts for about $804,520.52 in funding that will return to the state’s budget. According to Chavis, some of the differences in actual enrollment numbers can be attributed to an uptick

there is much more to life than winning, losing, and wrestling, a realization that became clear to him following his recent heart attack.

Finally, the board approved a new partnership and contract with Global Teaching Partners for the acquisition of international teachers.

“This is a new organization that will be an international partnership that will sponsor our J-1 Visa teachers and international faculty, which was previously referred to as our visiting international faculty or VIF,” said Assistant Superintendent Shawn O’Connor.

“I kind of felt like I was spinning my wheels, losing my passion and pouring myself into a lot of different things, but after my health scare, it sort of put things into perspective for me that what you give to others, that’s what really matters and makes you happy,” said Locklear. “And when I started getting calls and texts from

According to O’Connor, Hoke County Schools currently has established partnerships with Participate (8 teachers in the district) and Education Partners Internationals (22 teachers), which are officially recognized cultural exchange programs by the US Department of

Ever

•

State and provide J-1 Visas, meaning these teachers go through federal screening. These visas cover three years and can be extended for an additional two.

people that I had not heard from or coached in years, that told me everything I needed to know. I was skeptical about continuing to coach, and I had a lot going on at work. Losing Coach Walworth was a lot, but hearing from those people and taking a few days off, it was reassuring that I am where I suppose to be.”

North Carolina and South Carolina.

•

•

“You don’t have to do everything yourself or try to conquer all tasks,” Locklear explained further. “You can bring in others to help you, you can give other people opportu-

Some of the other services these partners cover are teaching experience reviews, educational program audits, instructional and behavioral interviews and observations, english language proficiency assessments, cultural adaptiveness assessments, state licensure reviews, international background checks, and specifically Global Teaching Partners helps provide specific NC teacher training.

Global Teaching Partners, however, is located in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, and they do all of their business only in

“We’re not just filling vacancies with these individuals,” O’Connor said. “The people that we have gotten, their attrition rate, which means they come back every year and don’t quit their job, is so much lower than all of our other teachers. They typically stay their five years, and a lot of them are very effective teachers. These are quality individuals who want to be here to teach our kids, and with the J-1 Visa, they’re here for five years.”

nities to help you and others, and giving back is what it’s all about.”

The Bucks have an excellent opportunity to compete at the regional tournament coming up, and Locklear is hopeful that the team will make it into the state playoffs. With the current success this season, including three Bucks wrestlers collecting their 100th wins in school history (Landen Nelson, David Coptsias, and Cedric Griffin Jr.), it looks like Locklear is creating his own legacy here at Hoke County High School.

Hoke County Schools currently has 30 international employees from eight different countries across nine different schools. The Hoke County Board of Education will next meet February 14.

A weekly podcast getting to the facts

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

Addressing challenges from fuel to fentanyl

HAVE YOU FILLED UP YOUR TANK LATELY? Like my family, I’m sure you have noticed that prices are only going one way. In fact, in North Carolina, average gas prices have increased more than 45 cents per gallon in the past month.

The good news is the new House Republican majority has a concrete plan to protect our energy reserves and your hardearned money.

President Joe Biden first started skyrocketing fuel prices by ending pipelines and leases that reduced supply and sent the wrong message to domestic energy producers. International chaos has only worsened the problem, yet President Biden’s only solution has been to drain our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its lowest level since 1984. In total, the administration has sold off 250 million barrels of oil, much of which ended up in communist China. Major reserve sites are now dangerously low on oil – leaving us more vulnerable to an energy supply disruption, such as in times of inclement weather or a national security emergency.

The Washington Democrat’s lack of action to fix our growing energy problem directly threatens our country’s economic and national security. The good news is the new House Republican majority has a concrete plan to protect our energy reserves and your hard-earned money. Families like yours have suffered for too long and paid too high a price.

House Republicans have solutions to address this crisis. Last week, I voted for the Strategic Production Response Act. This legislation would release America’s abundant fossil fuel reserves located under federal lands and waters, and require the Biden administration to both replenish and maintain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In addition, this bill would ensure the United States is prepared for true energy supply emergencies.

COLUMN | NEWT GINGRICH

The Left continues to deny that the reserve is being depleted and claims they have been working to lower record-breaking gas prices. The truth is gas prices are up over 30% since President Biden took office. Only through increased oil production and more pipeline capacity can we truly meet America’s energy demand and bring relief to your wallet. Passing the Strategic Production Response Act last week is a good start. In addition to addressing rising fuel prices last week, I was also proud to address another top priority – the fentanyl poisoning epidemic. On Tuesday, I cosponsored the HALT Fentanyl Act, legislation to curb the presence of fentanyl in our communities and save lives. Fentanyl poisoning is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 1845. In North Carolina, 3,000 primarily young people lost their lives to fentanyl poisoning in 2021. Biden’s open border policies are only making this tragic epidemic worse, and we must address it now. As your Congressman and a member of House Republican leadership, I am determined to remain focused on solving problems that impact you and all Americans. From inflation to fentanyl and every other challenge, I’ll never stop working for you.

Richard Hudson is serving his sixth term in the U.S. House and represents North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. He currently serves as the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and is a member of the House Republican Steering Committee.

How House Republicans should react to the media

I RECENTLY DID AN INTERVIEW with a smart, experienced Washington journalist.

We covered a lot of ground, including the debt ceiling, balancing the budget, Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s first two weeks, and Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

issues, and his out-of-control spending plan would strengthen the dollar.

And Biden isn’t the only one.

It was all baloney.

Then we got around to a moment of hardcore politics. As a good liberal, he tried to put me on the defensive about a Republican House freshman who is clearly a liar — and will have no influence in Congress. He will almost certainly be defeated in the next election.

I knew from the tone of the question and the look on the journalist’s face that he wanted me to fall back into a defensive mode and ask more questions about how House Republicans should handle someone who is dishonest.

I remembered a rule I had learned from President Ronald Reagan. When faced with a reporter asking a question you don’t like, simply ignore it and answer the question you wish he or she had asked.

Timid Republicans have often accepted the left’s moral authority to define which lies matter and which ones don’t. It is an appalling trait I have fought throughout my activities as a citizen going back to 1958.

If the news media wants to have a conversation about politicians who lie, House Republicans should be eager to accommodate them — and immediately turn to the amazing examples of Democrat public figures who can’t or won’t tell the truth.

House Republicans should start any discussion of lying with the example of the current occupant of the White House.

As a candidate and president, Biden has survived a lifetime of lying. In 1987, in a Democrat Presidential debate, he claimed to be a descendant of coal miners in northeast Pennsylvania. It turned out not only to be a lie but to have been plagiarized from a brilliant emotional speech by Neil Kinnock about his childhood in Wales.

Mark Thiessen captured the depths of Biden’s mendacity in a column in the Jan. 4, 2023, Washington Post titled: “Santos Must Have Learned from Biden How to Make Up Details About His Past.”

Thiessen points out that Biden lied about being nobly arrested while trying to visit an imprisoned Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Biden claimed he thanked Mandela when the anti-apartheid leader later visited Washington, D.C.

It was all baloney.

Thiessen went on to note that Biden had received a “bottomless Pinocchio” from the Post for absurd lies about meeting with former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (ten years after Deng died) and traveling with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Both stories were false.

On a more practical level, Biden has said the current inflation mess was temporary, the border is secure, that there are no supply chain

Recall the entire scandal of Hillary Clinton’s deleting 33,000 emails and having a staffer literally take a hammer to destroy computer hard drives. Had she been a Republican, the media would have declared her disqualified from public service.

Even in the U.S. House, the record for repetitive lying is held by the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff repeatedly used the prestige of his committee assignment — and the presumption that as chairman he had inside information — to lie repeatedly about President Donald Trump. Schiff’s attacks on Trump over the “Russian Hoax” is a case study in partisanship and dishonesty overcoming patriotism.

We now know beyond any reasonable doubt that the entire effort to tie the Trump candidacy to the Russians was a lie. It was a lie helped by corrupt elements of the FBI. It was a lie compounded by corrupt elements of the intelligence community. When 51 Intelligence community leaders signed a joint letter just before the 2020 election claiming the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was a hoax, they were also lying to the American people for partisan purposes and dishonoring their careers in intelligence. Shouldn’t they all be reprimanded for undermining the faith of the American people in their intelligence institutions?

More important than the lies: What is hidden behind them?

At a minimum, $51 million have been funneled into the University of Pennsylvania Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement by Chinese Communists to benefit the President and his allies (consider our current Secretary of State used to run the place). Further, we know nothing about the money which has funded the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware (which received 1,850-plus boxes of documents from Biden).

President Biden has lied consistently about his knowledge of his son’s business dealings — when he’s been demonstrably involved. In fact, the family in the White House has made tons of money off Ukrainian, Russian, and Chinese Communist connections. This is a real problem.

Republicans should take a simple position: Lying is bad. There will be no effectiveness in the House for a freshman who is clearly lacking in honesty. On the other hand, there should be real efforts to discover the truth about President Biden and his family’s various financial activities with foreign dictatorships.

The freshman is a side distraction and will be allowed to do no harm.

The President is an active threat to the security of the United States and a stain on the honor of the highest government office in America. That is the difference between the two parties.

COLUMN | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

SIDELINE REPORT

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Louisville, L&N reach $41M stadium naming agreement

Louisville, Ky. Louisville has reached a 20year, $41 million agreement with L&N Federal Credit Union through 2042 for naming rights to its Cardinal Stadium home football field. The 25-year-old, 60,800-seat stadium had been without a title sponsor since 2018, when the school dropped the name and logo of Louisville-based pizza chain Papa John’s amid fallout from a report that founder John Schnatter used a racial slur during a company conference call. The University of Louisville Athletic Association agreed in October 2019 to pay Schnatter $9.5 million over five-plus years in a settlement to terminate naming rights. A final $2 million payment is due this summer.

SOCCER

Mewis unlikely to play for U.S. at World Cup

Chicago U.S. national soccer team midfielder Sam Mewis has undergone a second knee surgery and likely won’t be available to play in the Women’s World Cup this summer. Mewis first had surgery on her right knee in August 2021, but the injury required another surgery last week. Mewis is also expected to miss the upcoming National Women’s Soccer League season. She plays for the Kansas City Current and previously played for the North Carolina Courage, winning the NWSL Championship twice and two NWSL Shields.

SPORTS

Jermaine O’Neal heads newest group in SC Athletic Hall

Columbia, S.C.

Six-time NBA all-star

Jermaine O’Neal and Super Bowl champion receiver Robert Brooks are among the newest members of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. O’Neal was drafted out of a Columbia-area high school into the NBA at 17. He played for seven teams over the next 18 years. Brooks played at South Carolina before getting drafted by Green Bay, where he played for seven seasons and popularized the “Lambeau Leap.” Others named to the hall were former Georgia Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton, ex-Clemson quarterback Woody Dantzler, Olympic hammer thrower Dawn Ellerbe, past Clemson men’s golf coach Larry Penley and longtime South Carolina

Wilks ‘disappointed, not defeated’ over Panthers snub

Carolina chose Frank Reich as its next head coach

The Associated Press

CHARLOTTE — Former Carolina Panthers interim coach

Steve Wilks is “disappointed, but not defeated” that he didn’t land the team’s full-time head coaching position.

The Panthers announced last Thursday they’ve agreed to hire Frank Reich as their coach.

“The sun rose this morning and by the grace of God so did I,” Wilks tweeted Friday. “Many people aren’t built for this but I know what it means to persevere and see it through.”

Wilks thanked players, coaches and staff for their dedication, saying he took pride in representing his hometown of Charlotte.

Wilks added, “I do wish Frank Reich the best.”

Wilks’ tweet came less than 24 hours after his attorney Douglas Wigdor blasted the Panthers for their decision not to hire Wilks, who went 6-6 as Carolina’s interim coach in 2022 after replacing the fired Matt Rhule in Week 6.

The Panthers interviewed Wilks, who is black, twice for the position before settling on Reich, who is white.

“We are shocked and disturbed that after the incredible job Coach Wilks did as the interim coach, including bringing the team back

“There is a legitimate race problem in the NFL, and we can assure you that we will have more to say in the coming days.”

Douglas Wigdor, attorney for Steve Wilks

ney Cormican said.

Wilks made no mention of whether the Panthers will be added to an ongoing lawsuit alleging racial hiring practices by the NFL and some teams. Nearly a year ago, Wilks joined Brian Flores’ lawsuit in an effort to bring attention to the lack of black head coaches in the NFL.

AP PHOTO

The Panthers decided not to permanently hire interim coach Steve Wilks, instead choosing former Carolina quarterback Frank Reich to be the team’s next head coach.

into playoff contention and garnering the support of the players and fans, that he was passed over for the head coach position by (Panthers owner) David Tepper,” Wigdor said in an email. “There is a legitimate race problem in the NFL, and we can assure you that

we will have more to say in the coming days.”

The Associated Press reached out to Wigdor’s office Friday to ask if it planned more legal action.

“We do not have another comment at this time other than what we posted,” spokeswoman Court-

Greenville-raised Paul says Djokovic thwarted his Australian Open gameplan

His mother, Jill MacMillan, played collegiatel at ECU

The Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia

— Tommy Paul went into his first career Grand Slam semifinal with a specific game plan to confront Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. Makes sense, right? One has to approach that sort of match with a way you think will help you win.

And then, Paul explained, it all fell apart rather quickly in what became a 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 loss to Djokovic, who has won nine of his 21 Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park.

“I mean, he didn’t let me do all those things,” said the 25-yearold American, who was born in New Jersey, grew up in North Carolina and is now based in Florida, “because of things that he did so well.”

“I mean, walking on the court was cool,” Paul, the first U.S. man in the semifinals at Melbourne Park since Andy Roddick in 2009, said of playing at Rod Laver Arena. “Playing the match and getting beaten like that kind of sucked. But, I mean, it’s great I got to see the level of where I

want to be and know how good I have to play if I want to beat people like that. It was I think a good experience.” Let’s let the unseeded Paul explain what his strategy was and what happened: — “I wanted to serve and volley some. I didn’t serve and volley once. ... When I did make my first serve, I felt like he was returning it to the baseline. I was automatically on defense. Like, you get down love-30 in your service games, it’s hard to be like, ‘All right, I’m going to serve

and volley now.’”

— “Wanted to throw in drop shots. Didn’t get an opportunity to do any of that because he was hitting so deep.”

— “Wanted to change up pace with my slice. Missed my first three slices of the match. I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to start hitting my backhand; I’m not slicing well today.’”

— “Attack on the second serve. He definitely surprised me. On big points, he was going big seconds. Pretty much every point, the average second-serve speed

“When Coach Flores filed this action, I knew I owed it to myself, and to all Black NFL coaches and aspiring coaches, to stand with him,” Wilks said in a statement through his attorney last February. “This lawsuit has shed further important light on a problem that we all know exists, but that too few are willing to confront. Black coaches and candidates should have exactly the same ability to become employed, and remain employed, as white coaches and candidates.”

Several Panthers players said after the regular season ended they wanted Wilks to return in 2023, including longtime linebacker Shaq Thompson. Thompson suggested players wanted to have a meeting with Tepper to give player input on the coaching situation and throw their support behind Wilks.

It’s unclear if that meeting happened.

was a little higher than I thought it was going to be.”

All of that said, Paul did make some inroads against Djokovic. He did, after all, win more of the 23 points that lasted at least nine strokes, 14-9.

There were the two break points in the match’s opening game — although Djokovic ended up holding there.

“It felt like things were getting away from me really fast,” Paul said. “Felt like points were moving really fast. In-betweenpoints time was going really quick.”

There was the four-game run that turned Paul’s 5-1 deficit into 5-all in the opening set — although Djokovic then proceeded to collect seven games in a row and 14 of the remaining 17.

“I was really fortunate to kind of hold my nerves toward the end of the first set. That was a key,” Djokovic said. “After that, I started swinging through the ball more.”

Paul, who had never been past the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament before, moved up to No. 19 in the world rankings on Monday, his first time in the top 20.

“I want to keep moving up the rankings, you know? It would be nice to end the year top-10. I feel like the way I started the year is the right path to do it,” he said. “Obviously I have a lot of matches to win this year. Hopefully get some titles, too. I don’t want to just lose in semifinals. I want to have my name on some trophies.”

Tommy Paul attempts a forehand return during his semifinal loss to to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open last Friday.

Plan outlined for new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark, redevelopment

The MLB team still needs to work out the financing plans with the city and county

The Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A new ballpark for the Tampa Bay Rays will be built near the current one under plans unveiled Monday as part of a massive redevelopment project that also includes affordable housing, office space and retail in what was once a thriving black neighborhood.

Mayor Ken Welch, of St. Petersburg, Florida, chose a partnership between the Rays and the Houston-based Hines development company from among four proposals to transform an 86-acre downtown site where Tropicana Field now sits. Welch said the plan should keep the Rays in St. Petersburg for the long term.

“This team is the best partner for this generational endeavor, and now the next phase of work

begins to bring this dream to reality for everyone in St. Petersburg,” Welch said in a speech on the steps of City Hall.

The Rays have played at the domed Tropicana Field since their inaugural 1998 season but have considered moving elsewhere, such as neighboring Tampa, amid consistently low attendance. There was also a proposal to split their home games between St. Petersburg and Montreal that was rejected by Major League Baseball.

Rays President Brian Auld, who attended the mayor’s event, said in a brief interview it is “a thrill” to see the project take a major step forward. The plan calls for a new domed stadium to be ready for the 2028 season opener; the Rays’ current stadium lease is up in 2027. Renderings indicate the old stadium would be demolished.

“This selection validates all the hard work,” Auld said.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said last

year that there is a “sense of urgency” for the Rays to resolve their stadium issue and that MLB wants the team to remain in the Tampa Bay area.

“We think Tampa is a major league market and we want to find a solution that makes the club economically viable in that market,” Manfred said then.

Details remain to be worked out over the next several years, including how to finance the project among the Rays, the city, Pinellas County and other entities. Welch, who is St. Petersburg’s first black mayor, emphasized that a key goal is to restore a majority black neighborhood known as the Gas Plant District that was ousted by the stadium and a highway.

The broader plan includes about 5,700 housing units — a large chunk of them to be deemed affordable — office and retail space, 700 hotel rooms, a 2,500seat entertainment venue and a new Woodson African American Museum of Florida.

A new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark has been proposed as part of a massive redevelopment project in St. Petersburg, Florida, next to the team’s current stadium, Tropicana Field.

Overall, Welch said, the idea is to create a destination for people who come to Rays games, as well as build a new community.

“Folks want to be here. They want to be next to a vibrant downtown,” Welch said. “It’s not just for a ballgame but an entire experience.”

Two proposals shepherded by the previous mayor were scrapped

last year by Welch, who sought to focus more on affordable housing and job opportunities at the Gas Plant District. The mayor’s grandfather ran a wood yard business there before the neighborhood was essentially obliterated by Tropicana Field.

“I am a child of the Gas Plant,” Welch said. “It will no longer be a dream denied.”

Hamlin thankful, speaks publicly for 1st time in video

The Bills safety was resuscitated on the field on Jan. 2

The Associated Press

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. —

Damar Hamlin released a video Saturday in which he says he’s thankful for the outpouring of support and vows to pay it back, marking the first time the Buffalo Bills safety has spoken publicly since he went into cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the field in Cincinnati on Jan. 2.

Noting he continues to make “much progress” in his recovery, Hamlin said now was “the right time” to speak since the Bills’ season ended and because he needed time to recover and gather his

thoughts.

“It was just a lot to process within my own self — mentally, physically, even spiritually. It’s just been a lot to process,” he said.

“But I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of all the love, all the support and everything that’s just been coming in my way.”

Hamlin then said he has come to peace with what happened on the field when he collapsed after making what appeared to be a routine tackle of Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, who struck Hamlin squarely in the chest.

“What happened to me on ‘Monday Night Football,’ I feel is a direct example of God using me as a vessel to share my passion and my love directly from my heart with the entire world,” he said.

“And now I’m able to give to kids

and communities all across the world who need it the most. And that’s always been my dream,” he added. “That’s always been what I stood for and what I will continue to stand for.”

Hamlin did not appear to have any trouble speaking during the 5½-minute video titled: “Thank You: A message from Damar Hamlin” posted on his Instagram account.

Hamlin is wearing a white

T-shirt in the video with the name of his charitable foundation, Chasing Millions, printed on the front and with a gold chain with the initials “DM” hanging around his neck.

On Jan. 20, Hamlin’s marketing representative Jordon Rooney said the 24-year-old player faces a long recovery while at the time still requiring oxygen and having his heart monitored regularly to ensure there are no setbacks.

Hamlin has been recovering at home since being released from the hospital on Jan. 11 to continue his rehabilitation with the Bills. He then began making regular visits to the team’s facility and was healthy enough to attend the Bills’ season-ending 27-10 loss to the Bengals in a divisional playoff game last weekend.

Hamlin spent a majority of the video providing thanks while listing his family, teammates, training staff, and the medical staff at both the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and Buffalo General Medical Center, where he split his recovery.

He thanked the Bengals and players from around the league for their support by “putting team allegiance aside.”

He also thanked those who donated more than $9 million to his charity over the past four weeks.

“While I’m so thankful to everybody, I know that it isn’t enough just to be thankful. This is just the beginning of the impact that I wanted to have on the world,” Hamlin said in closing the video by making a heart sign with his hands.

“I couldn’t do this without any of this support and the love,” he continued. “And I can’t wait to continue to take y’all on this journey with me.”

AP PHOTO

“I couldn’t do this without any of this support and the love.”

Damar Hamlin

A mural by artist Adam Zyglis of Bills player Damar Hamlin, who is recovering after going into cardiac arrest during a game Jan. 2, covers the outside of a building in Buffalo. AP

Ex-Twitter execs to testify on block of Hunter Biden story

The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former Twitter employees are expected to testify next week before the House Oversight Committee about the social media platform’s handling of reporting on President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

The scheduled testimony, confirmed by the committee Monday, will be the first time the three former executives will appear before Congress to discuss the company’s decision to initially block from Twitter a New York Post article on Hunter Biden’s laptop in the weeks before the 2020 election.

Republicans have said the story was suppressed for political reasons, though no evidence has been released to support that claim. The witnesses for the Feb. 8 hearing are expected to be Vijaya Gadde, former chief legal officer; James Baker, former deputy general counsel; and Yoel Roth, former head of safety and integrity.

The hearing is among the first of many in a GOP-controlled

House to be focused on Biden and his family, as Republicans wield the power of their new, albeit slim, majority.

The New York Post first re -

Biden had dropped off 18 months earlier at a Delaware computer repair shop and never retrieved. Twitter initially blocked people from sharing links to the story for several days.

Months later, Twitter’s thenCEO Jack Dorsey called the company’s communications around the Post article “not great.” He added that blocking the article’s URL with “zero context” around why it was blocked was “unacceptable.”

peddling,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the Oversight committee, said at a press event Monday morning. “We want to make sure that our national security is not compromised.”

The White House has sought to discredit the Republican probes into Hunter Biden, calling them “divorced-from-reality political stunts.”

Nonetheless, Republicans now hold subpoena power in the House, giving them the authority to compel testimony and conduct an aggressive investigation. GOP staff has spent the past year analyzing messages and financial transactions found on the laptop that belonged to the president’s younger son. Comer has previously said the evidence they have compiled is “overwhelming,” but did not offer specifics.

ported in October 2020 that it had received from former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, a copy of a hard drive of a laptop that Hunter

The Post article at the time was greeted with skepticism due to questions about the laptop’s origins, including Giuliani’s involvement, and because top officials in the Trump administration had already warned that Russia was working to denigrate Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election. The Kremlin had interfered in the 2016 race by hacking Democratic emails that were subsequently leaked, and fears that Russia would meddle again in the 2020 race were widespread across Washington.

“This is why we’re investigating the Biden family for influence

Trump opens 2024 run in small NH, SC events

The Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump kicked off his 2024 White House bid with stops Saturday in New Hampshire and South Carolina, events in early-voting states marking the first campaign appearances since announcing his latest run more than two months ago.

“Together we will complete the unfinished business of making America great again,” Trump said at an evening event in Columbia to introduce his South Carolina leadership team.

Trump and his allies hope the events in states with enormous power in selecting the nominee will offer a show of force behind the former president after a sluggish start to his campaign that left many questioning his commitment to running again.

“They said, ‘He’s not doing rallies, he’s not campaigning. Maybe he’s lost that step,’” Trump said at the New Hampshire GOP’s annual meeting in Salem, his first event.

But, he told the audience of party leaders, “I’m more angry now and I’m more committed now than I ever was.” In South Carolina, he further dismissed the speculation by saying that “we have huge rallies planned, bigger than ever before.”

While Trump has spent the months since he announced largely ensconced in his Florida club and at his nearby golf course, his aides insist they have been busy behind the scenes. His campaign opened a headquarters in Palm Beach, Florida, and has been hiring staff.

In New Hampshire, Trump promoted his campaign agenda, including immigration and crime, and said his policies would be the opposite of President Joe Biden’s.

He cited the Democrats’ move to change the election calendar, costing New Hampshire its leadoff primary spot, and accused Biden, a fifth-place finisher in New Hampshire in 2020, of “disgracefully trashing this beloved political tradition.”

“I hope you’re going to remember that during the general election,” Trump told party members. Trump himself twice won the primary, but lost the state each time to Democrats.

Later in South Carolina, Trump said he planned to keep the state’s presidential primary as the “first in the South” and called it “a very important state.”

In his speech, he hurtled from criticism of Biden and Democrats

to mockery of people promoting the use of electric stoves and electric cars, and reminiscing about efforts while serving as president to increase oil production, strike trade deals and crack down on migration at the U.S-Mexico border.

While Trump remains the only declared 2024 presidential candidate, potential challengers, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, are expected to get their campaigns underway in the coming months.

After his South Carolina speech, Trump told The Associated Press that it would be “a great act of dis-

loyalty” if DeSantis opposed him in the primary and took credit for the governor’s initial election.

“If he runs, that’s fine. I’m way up in the polls,” Trump said. “He’s going to have to do what he wants to do, but he may run. I do think it would be a great act of disloyalty because, you know, I got him in. He had no chance. His political life was over.” He said he hasn’t spoken to DeSantis in a long time.

Gov. Henry McMaster, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and several members of the state’s congressional delegation attended Trump’s event at the Statehouse.

Trump’s team has struggled to line up support from South Carolina lawmakers, even some who

Comer has pledged there won’t be hearings regarding the Biden family until the committee has the evidence to back up any claims of alleged wrongdoing. He also acknowledged that the stakes are high whenever an investigation centers on the leader of a political party.

On Monday, the Kentucky Republican, speaking at a National Press Club event, said that he could not guarantee a subpoena of Hunter Biden during his term. “We’re going to go where the investigation leads us. Maybe there’s nothing there.”

He added, “We’ll see.”

eagerly backed him before. Some have said that more than a year out from primary balloting is too early to make endorsements or that they are waiting to see who else enters the race. Others have said it is time for the party to move past Trump to a new generation of leadership.

South Carolina House Speaker Murrell Smith was among the legislative leaders awaiting Trump’s arrival, although he said he was there not to make a formal endorsement but to welcome the former president to the state in his role as speaker.

Otherwise, dozens of supporters crammed into the ceremonial lobby between the state House and Senate.

The South Carolina event was in some ways off-brand for a onetime reality television star who typically favors big rallies and has tried to cultivate an outsider image. Rallies are expensive, and Trump added new financial challenges when he decided to begin his campaign in November — far earlier than many had urged. That leaves him subject to strict fundraising regulations and bars him from using his well-funded leadership political action committee to pay for such events, which can cost several million dollars.

Trump’s campaign, in its early stages, has already drawn controversy, most particularly when he had dinner with Holocaust-denying white nationalist Nick Fuentes and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who had made a series of antisemitic comments. Trump also was widely mocked for selling a series of digital trading cards that pictured him as a superhero, a cowboy and an astronaut, among others.

“The gun is fired, and the campaign season has started,” said Stephen Stepanek, outgoing chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party. Trump announced that Stepanek will serve as senior adviser for his campaign in the state.

AP PHOTO, FILE

A sign at Twitter headquarters is shown in San Francisco.

AP PHOTO, FILE

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the South Carolina Statehouse, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023, in Columbia, S.C.

‘Runaways’ actor Annie Wersching has died at 45

The Associated Press

ACTOR ANNIE WERSCHING, best known for playing FBI agent Renee Walker in the series “24” and providing the voice for Tess in the video game “The Last of Us,” has died. She was 45. Wersching passed away Sunday morning in Los Angeles following a battle with cancer, her

publicist told The Associated Press. The type of cancer was not specified.

Neil Druckmann, who created

“The Last of Us,” wrote on Twitter that “We just lost a beautiful artist and human being. My heart is shattered. Thoughts are with her loved ones.”

Actor Abigail Spencer, who appeared with Wersching on the sci-fi series “Timeless,” tweeted,

“We love you Annie Wersching. You will be deeply missed.” Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Wersching appeared

on dozens of television shows over the course of her two-decade career.

Her first credit was in “Star Trek: Enterprise,” and she would go on to have recurring roles in the seventh and eighth seasons of “24,” “Bosch,” “The Vampire Diaries,” Marvel’s “Runaways,” “The Rookie” and, most recently, the second season of “Star Trek: Picard” as the Borg Queen. She also provided the voice and motion capture performance for Tess for the popular video game “The Last of Us.”

Wershing was diagnosed with cancer in 2020, according to Deadline, and continued working. She’s survived by her husband, actor Stephen Full, and three sons. A GoFundMe page was set up Sunday to support the family.

current machines, which are still based on Bob Born’s design, now pump out 5.5 million Peeps per day.

Keila Sosa Gomez

April 29, 1993 ~ January 19, 2023

Keila Sosa Gómez passed away on Thursday, January 19, 2023.

She was born in Mexico on April 29, 1993.

Keila was very dedicated to her children. She dedicated her full time to them. She was very cheerful, kind and loving. She will be unforgettable and will always be in our hearts. Keila rests in the hands of our Lord. We hope to meet again one day. She flies high and rests in peace.

The Associated Press

IRA “BOB” BORN, a candy company executive known as the “Father of Peeps” for mechanizing the process to make marshmallow chicks, has died. He was 98.

Just Born Quality Confections, the 100-year-old family-owned company Born led for much of his life, said Monday that he had died peacefully on Sunday.

Born began his life in New York City on Sept. 29, 1924. His father, Sam Born, was a Russian immigrant who started Just Born shortly before his son’s birth. The family later moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where Just Born is still based.

Bob Born graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in engineering physics. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served as a radar specialist and a lieutenant on a destroyer in the Pacific. Later, the Navy sent him to the University of Arizona and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for graduate work in math and physics.

Born applied to medical school and was accepted, but while he was waiting for his classes to begin, he went to work at Just Born. He fell in love with the candy business and decided to stay. “The candy business was kind

of catchy … it was interesting to him,” Ross Born, Bob Born’s son, told the Lehigh Valley News. “He enjoyed the science, the technology, the processing. He was very much into the equipment.”

In 1953, Just Born acquired Rodda Candy Co., a jelly bean maker that had a side business

producing shaped marshmallow candies by hand. At the time, it took about 27 hours to make the marshmallows.

Bob Born saw the candies’ potential, so he and an engineer at the company designed and built a machine to make them in less than six minutes. The company’s

Seventy years later, Peeps remain Just Born’s most recognizable candy brand, the company says. Just Born makes around 2 billion Peeps each year, or enough to circle the globe twoand-a-half times. It sells the most at Easter, but also has versions sold for Halloween, Valentine’s Day and other holidays.

Bob Born also came up with the recipe for another popular Just Born candy, Hot Tamales. Just Born also makes Mike and Ike fruit chews and Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews. Bob Born became Just Born’s president in 1959 and held the role for more than 30 years. He last visited the Just Born factory on Feb. 15, 2019, when the city of Bethlehem proclaimed the first day of the Easter season as “Bob Born Day.” He spent most of his retirement in Florida, where he led a literacy program and enjoyed hobbies including photography. He was active until a few months before he died, when he had a difficult recovery after a hard fall.

“Bob will be remembered as a tireless and passionate advocate for the candy industry and a wonderful supporter of our community,” said David Shaffer, coCEO and chairman of Just Born, in a statement released by the company. He is survived by his widow, Patricia; children Sara and Ross; five grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. His funeral will be private.

Doreen (Sessoms)

Thomas

February 3, 1954 ~ January 20, 2023

Mrs. Doreen Sessoms Thomas of Raeford went home to be with her Lord and Savior on Friday, January 20, 2023, at Cape Fear Valley Hoke Hospital.

She was preceded in death by her husband Charles T. Thomas, a sister Susie Turlington and a brother Steve Sessoms.

She is survived by a daughter, Tammy T. Myers of Raeford, NC., a son Charles W. Thomas ands his wife Christy of Raeford, NC., one grandson Joshua T. Thomas of Raeford, NC., two sisters Brenda Messing of Parkton, NC and Kay Wray of Thomasville, NC, a sisterin-law, Debra Thomas of Raeford, NC., several nieces and nephews.

‘24,’

PHOTO VIA AP

This photo provided by Just Born shows Ira “Bob” Born. Born, a candy company executive known as the “Father of Peeps” for mechanizing the process to make marshmallow chicks, died peacefully on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023.

AP PHOTO, FILE Annie Wersching arrives at the FOX Winter All-Star Party in Pasadena, Calif., in 2010.

‘Father of Peeps’ marshmallow candies Bob Born dies at 98

STATE & NATION

US population center trending toward South this decade

The Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. population center is on track this decade to take a southern swerve for the first time in history, and it’s because of people like Owen Glick, who moved from California to Florida more than a year ago.

Last year, the South outgrew other U.S. regions by well over 1 million people through births outpacing deaths and domestic and international migration, according to population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Northeast and Midwest lost residents, and the West grew by an anemic 153,000 people, primarily because a large number of residents left for a different U.S. region. The West would have lost population if not for immigrants and births outpacing deaths.

In contrast, the South grew by 1.3 million new residents, and six of the 10 U.S. states with the biggest growth last year were in the South, led in order by Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.

Experts aren’t sure at this point if the dramatic pull of the South is a short-term change spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic or a longterm trend, or even what impact it will have on the reallocation of political power through redistricting after the 2030 census. Because of delays caused by the pandem-

ic, changes were made in how the Census Bureau has calculated the estimates this decade, and that, too, may have had an impact.

But experts say the Southern allure has to do with a mix of housing affordability, lower taxes, the popularity of remote work during the pandemic era and baby boomers retiring.

Glick, 56, moved to the Orlando area from metro San Diego in December 2021 after he retired

from his job in corporate sales. He had been making regular trips to central Florida before the move, to check on rental properties purchased because they were more affordable in the Sunshine State than in Southern California. While the cost of housing and food is lower than in California, there are hidden home upkeep costs in Florida, such as the need to paint more often because of the unrelenting sun and higher utili-

ty bills from year-round air conditioning, he said.

“You’re in better financial shape in terms of prices here, but there are more expenditures to maintain properties,” Glick said.

Glick was among the 233,000 people who left a Western state and planted roots in a different region from mid-2021 to mid-2022. He joined the ranks of the almost 868,000 people who moved to a Southern state from another region.

If the trend continues through the rest of this decade, by 2030 the mean center of the U.S. population will head due south from a rural county in the Missouri Ozarks, without a westward extension for the first time in history, according to urban planner Alex Zakrewsky, who models the population center.

Since the population center was first calculated to be in Chestertown, Maryland, in 1790, it has moved continuously westward, though it started taking a more southwestern tilt in the 20th century as the spread of air conditioning made the South more livable.

North Carolina state demographer Michael Cline said the growth in the South has been “above and beyond” trends the region experienced before the pandemic, which he thinks may have accelerated many movers’ decisions to relocate from cold-climate

states or allowed people to work remotely for the first time.

The departures from the West started in 2021, during the first full year of the pandemic, when 145,000 residents moved to another U.S. region. Up until then, domestic migration to the West had increased each year since 2010.

A substantial portion of the departures was due to people leaving California, but Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington also had year-toyear losses in domestic migration from 2021 to 2022. Additionally, in several Western states that had year-to-year increases in domestic migration — Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah — those increases were smaller than in the previous year.

In Oregon, the jury is still out on whether the phenomenon of more than 17,000 departures to other U.S. states was a temporary, pandemic-related trend due to remote-working freedoms and housing affordability, or whether it’s a longer-term movement due to quality of life issues such as crime, weather or wildfires, said Josh Lehner, an economist for the state.

William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Metro think tank, also wants to see if the trend is only related to the pandemic or has legs through the rest of the decade. A big wild card is immigration, which was responsible for most of the growth in 2022, he said.

“Some of that has to do with getting away from the big dense coastal metros to somewhere else,” Frey said. “One thing that needs to be questioned is if the patterns of the past two years will continue for the rest of the decade.”

Concerns over prayer breakfast lead Congress to take it over

By Gary Fields

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Prayer Breakfast, one of the most visible and long-standing events that brings religion and politics together in Washington, is splitting from the private religious group that had overseen it for decades, due to concerns the gathering had become too divisive.

The organizer and host for this year’s breakfast, scheduled for Thursday, will be the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation, headed by former Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

Sen. Chris Coons, a regular participant and chairman of the Senate ethics committee, said the move was prompted in part by concerns in recent years that members of Congress did not know important details about the larger multiday gathering.

Coons, D-Del., said that in the past, he and Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the committee’s vice chairman, had questions about who was invited and how money was being raised.

The annual event “went on several days, had thousands of people attending, and a very large and somewhat complex organization,” Coons said in an interview. “Some questions had been raised about our ability as members of Congress to say that we knew exactly how it was being organized, who was being invited, how it was being funded. Many of us who’d been in leadership roles really couldn’t answer those questions.”

That led to lawmakers deciding to take over organizing for the prayer breakfast itself.

Pryor, president of the new foundation, said the COVID-19 shutdown gave members a chance to “reset” the breakfast and return it to its origins — a change he said had been discussed for years.

“The whole reason the House and Senate wanted to do this was

to return it to its roots, when House members and Senate members can come together and pray for the president, pray for his family and administration, pray for our government, the world,” Pryor said.

Pryor said members of Congress, the president, vice president and other administration officials and their guests are invited to Thursday’s prayer breakfast, which will

be held at the visitors’ center at the Capitol. He anticipated between 200 and 300 people would attend.

Pryor said he hoped the smaller event will regain the intimacy that is similar to the weekly nondenominational prayer gatherings on Capitol Hill. Groups of senators and representatives have long held unofficial meetings for fellowship and to temporarily set aside political

differences.

The prayer breakfast addressed by the president has been the highlight of a multiday event for 70 years. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to attend, in February 1953, and every president since has spoken at the gathering.

The larger event, put on by a private religious group called the International Foundation, has always been centered around “the person and principles of Jesus, with a focus on praying for leaders of our nation and from around the world,” the group’s spokesman, A. Larry Ross, said in an email.

More than 1,400 people are registered for the two-day event, with one-third of those from outside the United States.

President Joe Biden, who has spoken at the breakfast the past two years, is set to do so again. At last year’s address from the Capitol, Biden talked about the need for members of Congress to know one another more personally.

“It’s hard to really dislike someone when you know what they’re going through is the same thing you’re going through,” he said.

In recent years, questions about the International Foundation, its funding and attendees had led some to reconsider the involvement of Congress.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., stopped coming in 2016 because the event “had become an entertainment and lobbying extravaganza rather than an opportunity for spiritual reflection,” a Kaine spokeswoman wrote in an emailed response to questions. Kaine will attend Thursday.

AP PHOTO

In this Wednesday, March 25, 2015, file photo, apartment buildings under construction are seen, in Maitland, Fla., a suburb of Orlando.

AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast, Feb. 3, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

A legend lost

CBS announcers Billy Packer, left, and Jim Nantz laugh during a break in the championship game in the Big Ten basketball tournament in Indianapolis, March 12, 2006. Packer, a legendary Wake Forest Demon Deacon player and Emmy award-winning college basketball broadcaster who covered 34 Final Fours for NBC and CBS, died Thursday night, Jan. 26, 2023. He was 82. Packer’s son, Mark, told The Associated Press that his father had been hospitalized in Charlotte for the past three weeks and had several medical issues, and ultimately succumbed to kidney failure.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

RiverRun to Offer Free

Screening of “Just Mercy” on February 2

Forsyth County

RiverRun International

Film Festival will screen “Just Mercy,” based on the book by Bryan Stevenson, on Thursday, February 2 at 7 p.m. at Hanes Auditorium, located in the Elberson Fine Arts Center on the campus of Salem Academy and College. The screening is being presented in partnership with Wake Forest University’s Face to Face Speaker Forum, which is presenting Bryan Stevenson in person on Thursday, February 23 at Wait Chapel.

The “Just Mercy” screening is free and open to the public.

R iverRun and Face to Face are collaborating with Forsyth Tech, Salem Academy and College, UNCSA, Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem State University to encourage students, faculty and staff from local colleges and universities to attend the screening.

Released in 2019 by Warner Bros. Pictures, “Just Mercy” is an American biographical legal drama film co-written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Michael B. Jordan as Bryan Stevenson and Jamie Foxx as Walter McMillian. It explores the work of young defense attorney Bryan Stevenson who represents poor people on death row in the South. Featured is his work with Walter McMillian, who had been wrongfully convicted of the murder of a young woman. The film is based on Stevenson’s 2014 eponymous memoir, in which he explored his journey to making his life’s work the defense of African American prisoners.

William Penn Jr. introduced as new Winston-Salem police chief

Assistant chief selected from four finalists to replace Catrina Thompson

Twin City Herald

THE WINSTON-SALEM Police Department announced its new police chief on Monday morning. Assistant Police Chief William Penn Jr. was introduced by city manager Lee Garrity after he was chosen out of four finalists to replace Catrina Thompson. Thompson’s last day was on Dec. 31 of last year, following nearly three decades with the force, the last five as Winston-Salem’s chief. The process to select her replacement narrowed the field to four finalists—including three of Thompson’s assistant chiefs. In addition to Penn, assistant chiefs Jose “Manny” Gomez and Wilson S. Weaver II were in the final four, joined by Scott C.

Booth, currently police chief of the Danville Police Department.

Penn, 48, has been with the Winston-Salem police for 25 years. Most recently, he was in charge of the Investigative Services Bureau. He’s also served as District 1 commander, support services commander and on the foot patrol, vice and narcotics and crime prevention divisions.

Penn impressed the city with his leadership skills. Garrity listed the priorities for selecting a chief, saying that the police needed a strong leader with knowledge of the community and someone who can address vacancies in the police department, as well as other important community issues.

“It’s vital that our next police chief is able to inspire confidence within the department, to improve morale and to make the Winston-Salem Police Department a place where dedicat-

ed officers come to build careers,” Garrity said.

Penn mentioned the recent killing of a black driver in Memphis while discussing his new role as chief.

“Although I’m honored and ex-

Board of Commissioners approve additional ARPA funding expenditures

Real property purchased with intent of open-air parking for county’s heavy equipment

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal WINSTON-SALEM—

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners met Thursday, January 19.

The board first held a public hearing for the closing of Roller Ridge Road, a small offshoot off of Roller Mill Drive.

“The county was approached for the closing of Roller Ridge Road,” said GIS Project Man-

ager Matthew Hamby. “Roller Ridge Road was recorded on January 5, 2002 as part of the Lewisville Trails Subdivision. The road does not serve as anyone’s access and no one is addressed off of this road. It falls in the unincorporated region of Forsyth County. The Town of Lewisville has waived the connectivity requirement that we typically have for subdivisions.”

Following the hearing, the board approved the closure of the road after no complaints were presented.

The board then approved two expenditures of ARPA funding, the first being with Cancer Services, Inc., for $55,000 to provide financial assistance to can-

cer patients, to help with unmet treatment costs, and the second was for a general services request for $1,515,000 to upgrade the air handling systems and air conditioning systems for DSS, Public Health and the Annex building, essentially campus-wide improvements. There was also an application to apply for and accept, if awarded, the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency 2023 Urgent Repair Program funding for $132,000. “This is the annual, regular-routine funding that comes through that was not available

cited about the opportunity to lead this department, the gravity of this position is not lost on me,” Penn said. “As we all are reeling over the despicable video of the Tyre Nichols’ killing, I want to assure the community that the actions depicted in the video do not represent the Winston-Salem Police Department and our values.”

Penn also emphasized his priority of reducing violent crime as the new chief.

“The violence in our community must stop and we must all work together to provide healthy alternatives to violence to resolve conflict,” he said.

Penn is a Winston-Salem native and graduate of Carver High School. He graduated from UNC Greensboro with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and earned his Master of Business Administration Degree from Winston-Salem State University.

COURTESY PHOTO

New Winston Salem chief of police William Penn Jr.

MICHAEL CONROY | AP PHOTO, FILE

Get

DEATH NOTICES

♦ Donald Gene Anders, 70, of Forsyth County, died January 25, 2023.

♦ Ruth Evangeline Bingham, 94, of Clemmons, died January 26, 2023.

♦ James Edward Boothe, 85, of Pfafftown, died January 26, 2023.

♦ Melvin Monroe Clarke, 91, of Forsyth County, died January 28, 2023.

♦ Mary Faye McKinney Collins, 88, of King, died January 29, 2023.

♦ William Poindexter Hanes, Sr., 92, of Walkertown, died January 25, 2023.

♦ Virginia Ruth Koford, 88, of Winston-Salem, died January 27, 2023.

♦ Roxie B. Tesh Lanier, 87, of Lexington, died January 26, 2023.

♦ Michael William Lenz, 69, died January 29, 2023.

♦ Betty Adams Moore, 70, of Winston-Salem, died January 26, 2023.

♦ Glenda Fern Hooper Norris 82, of Winston-Salem, died January 25, 2023.

♦ Evelyn Cook Peoples, 84, of Oak Ridge, died January 29, 2023.

♦ Wendell “Winky” Holten Spainhour Jr., 78, of Forsyth County, died January 26, 2023.

♦ Richard Gray Terrell, 83, of Kernersville, died January 26, 2023.

♦ Clarence Nyles “Bun” Weavil, 91, of Forsyth County, died January 26, 2023.

♦ Dolly Mae Esther Long Westmoreland, 91, of Colfax, died January 25, 2023.

♦ Opal Garris White, 95, of Winston-Salem, died January 25, 2023.

♦ Helen Marie (Kastner) Whited, 83, of Forsyth County, died January 27, 2023.

| DAVID HARSANYI

Get ready for another cynical, useless, gun-control push by Democrats

THE FIRST QUESTION any reasonable person asks after a horrible crime is, “What could have been done to stop it?” Yet after every mass shooting, gun controllers suggest unworkable, unconstitutional, completely ineffectual ideas that target people who will never commit a crime.

After the twin mass shootings in California last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom (flanked by armed guards) told CBS News more federal guncontrol laws were needed because the Second Amendment is “becoming a suicide pact.” What he didn’t mention was that California has passed not only every law Senate Democrats are proposing in Washington but a slew of others. Anti-gun group Giffords gives California an “A” rating for having the “strongest gun safety laws in the nation and has been a trailblazer for gun safety reform for the past 30 years.”

California already has “universal” background checks. It has a 10-day waiting period limit for handgun purchases, a microstamping system, a personal safety test, the ability to sue gun manufacturers even if they haven’t broken any law, an age hike on the purchase of certain firearms including rifles from 18 to 21, “red flag” laws that allow police to confiscate guns without due process, a ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, among many other restrictions. Short of letting cops smash down the doors of peaceful gun owners, California has a law for it. And all it’s done is leave its citizens defenseless.

The day of the Monterey Park shooting, President Joe Biden again called on Congress to pass a federal “assault weapons” ban. Socalled assault weapons have been banned in California since 1989. Last year, the state passed another bill making them super-duper illegal:

COMMISSIONERS from page 1

to us last year, but was backfilled with ARPA dollars,” said County Manager Dudley Watts, Jr. “This will impact at least 10 low and very low income households and there’s about $12,000 for administration costs.”

The board was then presented with a handful of contracting matters.

They approved contracts with Sanofi Pasteur, Inc., for the purchase of vaccines using the State of North Carolina Contract Pricing, for an amount not to exceed $117,133.94, a contract with Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. for $170,000 to provide move man-

WEEKLY CRIME LOG

♦ Adkins, Shannon Annette (F/50) Arrest on chrg of Assault-simple, M (M), at 201 N Church St, Winstonsalem, NC, on 1/25/2023 12:00.

♦ ALSTONPULLEY, NASIR GREGORY was arrested on a charge of B&EVEHICLE at 201 N CHURCH ST on 1/26/2023

♦ ARMENTA, JUAN JOSE was arrested on a charge of ASSLT ON OFF/ST EMP at 6855 UNIVERSITY PW on 1/28/2023

♦ BELL, SADARIUS KENARD was arrested on a charge of PROBATION VIOLATION at 201 N CHURCH ST on

1/28/2023

♦ BELL, SADARIUS KENARD was arrested on a charge of RAPE-2ND DEGREE at 612 ANSON ST on 1/27/2023

♦ BERRIOS, LUIS ANGEL was arrested on a charge of PROBATION VIOLATION at 201 N CHURCH ST on 1/26/2023

♦ Brower, Dennis Ernest (M/31) Arrest on chrg of Vio. Protective Order By Courts Another State/ Indian Tribe (M), at 201 N Church St, Winstonsalem, NC, on 1/29/2023 14:49.

♦ Brower, Dennis Ernest (M/31) Arrest on chrg of Assault On Female (M), at 2300 Mckinnon Ct, Clemmons, NC, on 1/26/2023 01:14.

♦ Brown, Brandon Michael (M/32) Arrest on chrg of Vio. Protective Order By Courts Another State/ Indian Tribe (M), at 201 N Church St, Winstonsalem, NC, on 1/27/2023 09:24.

♦ BROWN, JERRY JUAN was arrested on a charge of 2ND DEGREE TRESPASS at 625 W SIXTH

SB 1327. From 1989 until today, gun trends in California mirror those of the nation at large, which is unsurprising. The Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, despite Biden constantly claiming otherwise, did nothing to alter gun violence trends. Homicide rates began to ebb nationally before the ban was instituted. When the ban expired in 2004, and the AR-15 became the most popular rifle in the country, gun violence continued to precipitously fall — by 2014, gun homicides were the same as they were in 1963 — until the appearance of COVID. Then again, the shooter at Monterey Park didn’t use an assault weapon. He used a Cobray M11 9mm semi-automatic gun — “one of the most useless handguns in existence” — which some reporters referred to as an “assault pistol.” It’s a scary looking, if antiquated gun (out of production since 1990) that, in this iteration, fires one cartridge with a single trigger squeeze like almost every other gun owned by civilians — including AR-15s. The gun was already illegal in California. As is carrying any gun into a nogun zone. As is murder.

After the killers of Monterey Park (72 years old) and Half Moon Bay (66) struck, Biden, naturally, called on Congress to pass legislation to raise the minimum purchase age for “assault weapons” to 21. Many mass shooters are young men, but the average age of mass shooters is 32. The number of ARs used in the commission of murder in the hands of a person under 21 is a fraction of 1%.

All mass shooters obtain guns illegally or legally before having any criminal record (or because of a mistake by the police, as was the case in Charleston and elsewhere). Most incidents are perpetrated by young men who

agement services for the new courthouse project, which according to Watts, is an extensive and complex move, and with McKissick Associates PC for an amount not to exceed $77,920 to provide professional architectural services for the Horizons Park administration building renovation. The last approved contract was for a six-month contract with Rasix Computer Center, Inc., for the purchase of printing consumables and toner for Forsyth County general services. “We had a vendor who was not able to fulfill our requirements, so this is the second most responsible vendor that submitted a bid last summer,” Watts said. “It’s a six-

arrested on a charge of REC/POSS STOLE MV at 3421 OLD VINEYARD RD on 1/29/2023

♦ Crocker, Brandon Tyler (M/32) Arrest on chrg of Probation Violation (M), at 1200 Calvert Dr/argonne Bv, Winstonsalem, NC, on 1/27/2023 22:28.

♦ DELAROSAMOLINA, ROXANNA MOLINA was arrested on a charge of COMMUNICATE THREATS at 4999 GROVE GARDEN DR/INDIANA AV on 1/28/2023

♦ DONALDSON, MICHAEL TRAMELL was arrested on a charge of ASSAULT ON FEMALE at 5702 SHATTALON DR on 1/26/2023

♦ GAINEY, DAPHNE CELESTE was arrested on a charge of ASSAULTSIMPLE at 5702 SHATTALON DR on 1/26/2023

♦ HALL, NARCISSIS MONIQUE was arrested on a charge of ASSAULTSIMPLE at 4196 EDGEWARE RD on 1/27/2023

♦ HUSSEIN, YOUSEF YAGOUBMUHAGER was arrested on a charge of 2ND DEGREE TRESPASS at 301 MEDICAL CENTER BV on 1/30/2023

♦ KEETER, CHRISTOPHER ROB was arrested on a charge of REC/POSS STOLE MV at 5901 UNIVERSITY PW on 1/29/2023

♦ Kilby, Tristan Scott (M/32) Arrest on chrg of Fail To Register - Sex Offender Registration (F), at 2202 Willard Rd, Winston-salem, NC, on 1/25/2023 11:38.

♦ LEONARD, FELICYA CHARMAINE was arrested on a charge of RESISTING ARREST at 3599 S MAIN ST/W CLEMMONSVILLE RD on 1/29/2023

♦ Lopez, Evan Carson (M/31) Arrest

have exhibited serious antisocial behavior. In many, if not most, cases, the shooter is already on the cops’ radar because he has threatened others, as was the case from the Parkland shooter to the Highland Park shooter to the Half Moon Bay shooter and many, many others. In a study of mass shootings from 2008 to 2017, the Secret Service found that “100 percent of perpetrators showed concerning behaviors, and in 77 percent of shootings, at least one person — most often a peer — knew about their plan.” The best thing we can do is uphold laws that already exist.

None of this is to argue that simply because some people ignore laws, they are unnecessary or useless. It’s to argue that laws that almost exclusively target innocent people from practicing a constitutional right, and do nothing to stop criminals, are unnecessary and useless. The central problem in this debate is that Democrats believe civilian gun ownership itself is a plague on the nation, so it doesn’t really matter to them what gun is being banned or what law is being passed, as long as something is being “done.”

The other side believes that being able to protect themselves, their families, their property and their community from criminality — and, should it descend into tyranny, the government — is a societal good. They see gun bans as autocratic and unconstitutional, and also largely unfeasible. And they’re right.

David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist. Harsanyi is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of five books - the most recent, “Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent.”

month contract with Rasix Computer Center and we will rebid this at the end of the contract.”

The board also amended an existing contract with Capital Marketing Solutions, LLC, for elections printing services to increase the contract by $20,000 in order to allow the county to pay off bills in relation to the last election.

The board then approved the purchasing of real property located at 3290 and 3230 North Liberty Street for $350,000.

“Right now the thought is, and we’re going through some planning with the property, but the thought is to use it for an open-air parking,” said Deputy Director of General Services Kirby Robinson. “That’s

on chrg of Assault On Female (M), at 200 N Main St, Winston-salem, NC, on 1/25/2023 14:57.

♦ Lynch, Ashley Jordan (F/29) Arrest on chrg of 1) Possession Control Substance Jail (F) and 2) Drug Paraphernalia (M), at 201 North Church Street, Winston Salem, on 1/27/2023 10:15.

♦ Mcdonald, Christopher Lemont (M/37) Arrest on chrg of Drug Trafficking (F), at 998 E Third St/ woodland Av, Winston-salem, NC, on 1/26/2023 18:58.

♦ Mcgill, Zachary Logan (M/32) Arrest on chrg of 1) Drugs-poss Sched Ii (F) and 2) Drug Paraphernalia (M), at 5919 Puritan Ln, Winston-salem, NC, on 1/26/2023 14:28.

♦ MENDOZA GUTIERREZ, HIMER IVAN was arrested on a charge of ASSAULT ON FEMALE at 1399 N CLEVELAND AV on 1/28/2023

♦ MITCHELL, JAMARI NASHID was arrested on a charge of CCW at 2999 WAUGHTOWN ST/REYNOLDS PARK RD on 1/26/2023

♦ Pharr, Albert Lamont (M/44) Arrest on chrg of 1) Communicate Threats (M) and 2) Resisting Arrest (M), at 2755 Nc 66 South, Kernersville, NC, on 1/27/2023 15:10.

Pope, Cameron Noelle (F/22) Arrest

♦ on chrg of 1) Drugs-poss Sched Ii (F), 2) Drug Paraphernalia (M), 3) Fail To Appear/compl (M), 4) Fail To Appear/compl (M), and 5) Fail To Appear/compl (M), at 5919 Puritan Ln, Winston-salem, NC, on 1/26/2023

14:28.

♦ Priddy, Joshua Steven (M/33) Arrest on chrg of Communicate Threats (M), at 2100 Shiloh Church Rd, Rural Hall, NC, on 1/29/2023 22:06.

for heavy equipment, fleet vehicles, grounds maintenance and storing construction supplies. It will be shared between the county, the school system and the sheriff’s office. It will be a multi-use property that has a lot of utility for those groups.”

Finally, the board authorized a $120,000 increase to the project contingency for the corporate hangars project at Smith Reynolds Airport in order to switch to concrete pavement which has a significantly longer service life than asphalt and is the cheaper option in the life-cycle cost analysis.

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will next meet February 2.

♦ Roache, Errolette Chantell (F/28) Arrest on chrg of Assault-simple (M), at 1520 Chimney Rock Dr, Kernersville, NC, on 1/28/2023 23:29.

♦ ROSS, JOSHUA ISIAH was arrested on a charge of CCW at 799 N MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DR/N CLEVELAND AV on 1/27/2023

♦ SHEPPARD, ALONZO ARNOLD was arrested on a charge of DEFRAUD INNKEEPER at 100 W FIFTH ST on 1/26/2023

♦ SHREWSBURY, TREVOR PAUL was arrested on a charge of FUGITIVE at 4290 N PATTERSON AV on 1/30/2023

♦ SMITH, DEQUANTE was arrested on a charge of ASSAULT ON FEMALE at 2008 S HAWTHORNE RD on 1/29/2023

♦ Stevenson, Travis Bernard (M/47) Arrest on chrg of 1) Forgery-uttering (F), 2) Forgery-uttering (F), 3) Fraudobt Property (F), 4) Financial Identity Fraud (F), 5) Fraud-obt Property (F), 6) Ofa/fta-misd Larceny (M), and 7) Fail To Appear/compl (M), at 301 N Church St, Winston-salem, NC, on 1/27/2023 14:56.

♦ Tuttle, Joshua Anthony (M/33) Arrest on chrg of 1) Fail To Appear/compl (F), 2) Fail To Appear/compl (F), 3) Fail To Appear/compl (F), and 4) Probation Violation (F), at 801 Ziglar Rd/ university Pw, Winston-salem, NC, on

COLUMN

“Join the conversation”

SIDELINE REPORT

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Louisville, L&N reach $41M stadium naming agreement

Louisville, Ky. Louisville has reached a 20year, $41 million agreement with L&N Federal Credit Union through 2042 for naming rights to its Cardinal Stadium home football field. The 25-year-old, 60,800-seat stadium had been without a title sponsor since 2018, when the school dropped the name and logo of Louisville-based pizza chain Papa John’s amid fallout from a report that founder John Schnatter used a racial slur during a company conference call. The University of Louisville Athletic Association agreed in October 2019 to pay Schnatter $9.5 million over five-plus years in a settlement to terminate naming rights. A final $2 million payment is due this summer.

SOCCER

Mewis unlikely to play for U.S. at World Cup

Chicago U.S. national soccer team

midfielder Sam Mewis has undergone a second knee surgery and likely won’t be available to play in the Women’s World Cup this summer. Mewis first had surgery on her right knee in August 2021, but the injury required another surgery last week. Mewis is also expected to miss the upcoming National Women’s Soccer League season. She plays for the Kansas City Current and previously played for the North Carolina Courage, winning the NWSL Championship twice and two NWSL Shields.

SPORTS

Jermaine O’Neal

heads newest group in SC Athletic Hall

Columbia, S.C.

Six-time NBA all-star

Jermaine O’Neal and Super Bowl champion receiver Robert Brooks are among the newest members of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. O’Neal was drafted out of a Columbia-area high school into the NBA at 17. He played for seven teams over the next 18 years. Brooks played at South Carolina before getting drafted by Green Bay, where he played for seven seasons and popularized the “Lambeau Leap.” Others named to the hall were former Georgia Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton, ex-Clemson quarterback Woody Dantzler, Olympic hammer thrower Dawn Ellerbe, past Clemson men’s golf coach Larry Penley and longtime South Carolina men’s soccer coach Mark Berson.

MLB

Royals agree with Greinke on deal for 2023

Kansas City, Mo.

The Royals and Zach Greinke have agreed to a contract for the coming season, according to reports. That makes it nine seasons over two stints in Kansas City for the sixtime All-Star pitcher. The 39-year-old Greinke was paid $13 million last season by the Royals. He spent the first seven seasons with them before returning last year and going 3-9 with a 3.68 ERA.

The 2009 Cy Young winner is first among active pitchers with 514 career starts and 3,247 innings pitched.

Wilks ‘disappointed, not defeated’ over Panthers snub

Carolina chose Frank Reich as its next head coach

The Associated Press CHARLOTTE — Former Carolina Panthers interim coach Steve Wilks is “disappointed, but not defeated” that he didn’t land the team’s full-time head coaching position.

The Panthers announced last Thursday they’ve agreed to hire Frank Reich as their coach.

“The sun rose this morning and by the grace of God so did I,” Wilks tweeted Friday. “Many people aren’t built for this but I know what it means to persevere and see it through.”

Wilks thanked players, coaches and staff for their dedication, saying he took pride in representing his hometown of Charlotte.

Wilks added, “I do wish Frank Reich the best.”

Wilks’ tweet came less than 24 hours after his attorney Douglas Wigdor blasted the Panthers for their decision not to hire Wilks, who went 6-6 as Carolina’s interim coach in 2022 after replacing the fired Matt Rhule in Week 6.

The Panthers interviewed Wilks, who is black, twice for the position before settling on Reich, who is white.

“We are shocked and disturbed that after the incredible job Coach Wilks did as the interim coach, including bringing the team back into playoff contention and garnering the support of the players and fans, that he was passed over for the head coach position by (Panthers owner) David Tepper,” Wigdor said in an email. “There is a legitimate race problem in the NFL, and we can assure you that

we will have more to say in the coming days.”

The Associated Press reached out to Wigdor’s office Friday to ask if it planned more legal action.

“We do not have another comment at this time other than what we posted,” spokeswoman Courtney Cormican said.

Wilks made no mention of

Greenville-raised Paul says Djokovic thwarted his Australian Open gameplan

His mother, Jill MacMillan, played collegiatel at ECU

The Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia — Tommy Paul went into his first career Grand Slam semifinal with a specific game plan to confront Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. Makes sense, right?

One has to approach that sort of match with a way you think will help you win.

And then, Paul explained, it all fell apart rather quickly in what became a 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 loss to Djokovic, who has won nine of his 21 Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park.

“I mean, he didn’t let me do all those things,” said the 25-year-old American, who was born in New Jersey, grew up in North Carolina and is now based in Florida, “because of things that he did so well.”

“I mean, walking on the court was cool,” Paul, the first U.S. man in the semifinals at Melbourne Park since Andy Roddick in 2009, said of playing at Rod Laver Arena. “Playing the match and getting beaten like that kind of sucked. But, I mean, it’s great I got to see the level of where I want

to be and know how good I have to play if I want to beat people like that. It was I think a good experience.” Let’s let the unseeded Paul explain what his strategy was and what happened:

— “I wanted to serve and volley some. I didn’t serve and volley once. ... When I did make my first serve, I felt like he was returning it to the baseline. I was automatically on defense. Like, you get down love-30 in your service games, it’s hard to be like, ‘All

right, I’m going to serve and volley now.’”

— “Wanted to throw in drop shots. Didn’t get an opportunity to do any of that because he was hitting so deep.”

— “Wanted to change up pace with my slice. Missed my first three slices of the match. I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to start hitting my backhand; I’m not slicing well today.’”

— “Attack on the second serve. He definitely surprised me. On big points, he was going big sec-

whether the Panthers will be added to an ongoing lawsuit alleging racial hiring practices by the NFL and some teams. Nearly a year ago, Wilks joined Brian Flores’ lawsuit in an effort to bring attention to the lack of black head coaches in the NFL.

“When Coach Flores filed this action, I knew I owed it to myself, and to all Black NFL coaches and aspiring coaches, to stand with him,” Wilks said in a statement through his attorney last February.

“This lawsuit has shed further important light on a problem that we all know exists, but that too few are willing to confront. Black coaches and candidates should have exactly the same ability to become employed, and remain employed, as white coaches and candidates.”

Several Panthers players said after the regular season ended they wanted Wilks to return in 2023, including longtime linebacker Shaq Thompson. Thompson suggested players wanted to have a meeting with Tepper to give player input on the coaching situation and throw their support behind Wilks.

It’s unclear if that meeting happened.

onds. Pretty much every point, the average second-serve speed was a little higher than I thought it was going to be.”

All of that said, Paul did make some inroads against Djokovic.

He did, after all, win more of the 23 points that lasted at least nine strokes, 14-9.

There were the two break points in the match’s opening game — although Djokovic ended up holding there.

“It felt like things were getting away from me really fast,” Paul said. “Felt like points were moving really fast. In-between-points time was going really quick.”

There was the four-game run that turned Paul’s 5-1 deficit into 5-all in the opening set — although Djokovic then proceeded to collect seven games in a row and 14 of the remaining 17.

“I was really fortunate to kind of hold my nerves toward the end of the first set. That was a key,” Djokovic said. “After that, I started swinging through the ball more.”

Paul, who had never been past the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament before, moved up to No. 19 in the world rankings on Monday, his first time in the top 20.

“I want to keep moving up the rankings, you know? It would be nice to end the year top-10. I feel like the way I started the year is the right path to do it,” he said. “Obviously I have a lot of matches to win this year. Hopefully get some titles, too. I don’t want to just lose in semifinals. I want to have my name on some trophies.”

AP PHOTO

The Panthers decided not to permanently hire interim coach Steve Wilks, instead choosing former Carolina quarterback Frank Reich to be the team’s next head coach.

AP PHOTO

Tommy Paul attempts a forehand return during his semifinal loss to to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open last Friday.

“There is a legitimate race problem in the NFL, and we can assure you that we will have more to say in the coming days.”

Douglas Wigdor, attorney for Steve Wilks

STATE & NATION

US population center trending toward South this decade

The Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. population center is on track this decade to take a southern swerve for the first time in history, and it’s because of people like Owen Glick, who moved from California to Florida more than a year ago.

Last year, the South outgrew other U.S. regions by well over 1 million people through births outpacing deaths and domestic and international migration, according to population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Northeast and Midwest lost residents, and the West grew by an anemic 153,000 people, primarily because a large number of residents left for a different U.S. region. The West would have lost population if not for immigrants and births outpacing deaths.

In contrast, the South grew by 1.3 million new residents, and six of the 10 U.S. states with the biggest growth last year were in the South, led in order by Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.

Experts aren’t sure at this point if the dramatic pull of the South is a short-term change spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic or a longterm trend, or even what impact it will have on the reallocation of political power through redistricting after the 2030 census. Because of delays caused by the pandem-

ic, changes were made in how the Census Bureau has calculated the estimates this decade, and that, too, may have had an impact.

But experts say the Southern allure has to do with a mix of housing affordability, lower taxes, the popularity of remote work during the pandemic era and baby boomers retiring.

Glick, 56, moved to the Orlando area from metro San Diego in December 2021 after he retired

from his job in corporate sales. He had been making regular trips to central Florida before the move, to check on rental properties purchased because they were more affordable in the Sunshine State than in Southern California. While the cost of housing and food is lower than in California, there are hidden home upkeep costs in Florida, such as the need to paint more often because of the unrelenting sun and higher utili-

ty bills from year-round air conditioning, he said.

“You’re in better financial shape in terms of prices here, but there are more expenditures to maintain properties,” Glick said.

Glick was among the 233,000 people who left a Western state and planted roots in a different region from mid-2021 to mid-2022. He joined the ranks of the almost 868,000 people who moved to a Southern state from another region.

If the trend continues through the rest of this decade, by 2030 the mean center of the U.S. population will head due south from a rural county in the Missouri Ozarks, without a westward extension for the first time in history, according to urban planner Alex Zakrewsky, who models the population center.

Since the population center was first calculated to be in Chestertown, Maryland, in 1790, it has moved continuously westward, though it started taking a more southwestern tilt in the 20th century as the spread of air conditioning made the South more livable.

North Carolina state demographer Michael Cline said the growth in the South has been “above and beyond” trends the region experienced before the pandemic, which he thinks may have accelerated many movers’ decisions to relocate from cold-climate

states or allowed people to work remotely for the first time.

The departures from the West started in 2021, during the first full year of the pandemic, when 145,000 residents moved to another U.S. region. Up until then, domestic migration to the West had increased each year since 2010.

A substantial portion of the departures was due to people leaving California, but Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington also had year-toyear losses in domestic migration from 2021 to 2022. Additionally, in several Western states that had year-to-year increases in domestic migration — Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah — those increases were smaller than in the previous year.

In Oregon, the jury is still out on whether the phenomenon of more than 17,000 departures to other U.S. states was a temporary, pandemic-related trend due to remote-working freedoms and housing affordability, or whether it’s a longer-term movement due to quality of life issues such as crime, weather or wildfires, said Josh Lehner, an economist for the state.

William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Metro think tank, also wants to see if the trend is only related to the pandemic or has legs through the rest of the decade. A big wild card is immigration, which was responsible for most of the growth in 2022, he said.

“Some of that has to do with getting away from the big dense coastal metros to somewhere else,” Frey said. “One thing that needs to be questioned is if the patterns of the past two years will continue for the rest of the decade.”

Concerns over prayer breakfast lead Congress to take it over

By Gary Fields

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Prayer Breakfast, one of the most visible and long-standing events that brings religion and politics together in Washington, is splitting from the private religious group that had overseen it for decades, due to concerns the gathering had become too divisive.

The organizer and host for this year’s breakfast, scheduled for Thursday, will be the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation, headed by former Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

Sen. Chris Coons, a regular participant and chairman of the Senate ethics committee, said the move was prompted in part by concerns in recent years that members of Congress did not know important details about the larger multiday gathering.

Coons, D-Del., said that in the past, he and Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the committee’s vice chairman, had questions about who was invited and how money was being raised.

The annual event “went on several days, had thousands of people attending, and a very large and somewhat complex organization,” Coons said in an interview. “Some questions had been raised about our ability as members of Congress to say that we knew exactly how it was being organized, who was being invited, how it was being funded. Many of us who’d been in leadership roles really couldn’t answer those questions.”

That led to lawmakers deciding to take over organizing for the prayer breakfast itself.

Pryor, president of the new foundation, said the COVID-19 shutdown gave members a chance to “reset” the breakfast and return it to its origins — a change he said had been discussed for years.

“The whole reason the House and Senate wanted to do this was

to return it to its roots, when House members and Senate members can come together and pray for the president, pray for his family and administration, pray for our government, the world,” Pryor said.

Pryor said members of Congress, the president, vice president and other administration officials and their guests are invited to Thursday’s prayer breakfast, which will

be held at the visitors’ center at the Capitol. He anticipated between 200 and 300 people would attend.

Pryor said he hoped the smaller event will regain the intimacy that is similar to the weekly nondenominational prayer gatherings on Capitol Hill. Groups of senators and representatives have long held unofficial meetings for fellowship and to temporarily set aside political

differences.

The prayer breakfast addressed by the president has been the highlight of a multiday event for 70 years. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to attend, in February 1953, and every president since has spoken at the gathering.

The larger event, put on by a private religious group called the International Foundation, has always been centered around “the person and principles of Jesus, with a focus on praying for leaders of our nation and from around the world,” the group’s spokesman, A. Larry Ross, said in an email.

More than 1,400 people are registered for the two-day event, with one-third of those from outside the United States.

President Joe Biden, who has spoken at the breakfast the past two years, is set to do so again. At last year’s address from the Capitol, Biden talked about the need for members of Congress to know one another more personally.

“It’s hard to really dislike someone when you know what they’re going through is the same thing you’re going through,” he said.

In recent years, questions about the International Foundation, its funding and attendees had led some to reconsider the involvement of Congress.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., stopped coming in 2016 because the event “had become an entertainment and lobbying extravaganza rather than an opportunity for spiritual reflection,” a Kaine spokeswoman wrote in an emailed response to questions. Kaine will attend Thursday.

AP PHOTO

In this Wednesday, March 25, 2015, file photo, apartment buildings under construction are seen, in Maitland, Fla., a suburb of Orlando.

AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast, Feb. 3, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Moore County Sheriff’s Office investigates Pinebluff shooting

The Moore County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting that occurred on Monday afternoon outside Pinebluff. According to the sheriff’s office, deputies were called to a home at 280 Whippoorwill Lane, which is just north of Thunder Road, after receiving word from a boyfriend that he had shot his girlfriend. When deputies arrived on the scene, they found that the boyfriend had killed himself. The girlfriend, however, was still alive and immediately airlifted to the local hospital with critical injuries. Her condition and the extent of her injuries are still unknown. Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Moore County Sheriff’s Office at (910) 947-2931. To leave an anonymous tip, please contact the anonymous tip line at (910) 947-4444.

Robbins man charged following High Falls fire investigation

The Moore County Sheriff’s Office made arrests this past Wednesday following an investigation regarding a fire in the High Falls area. According to a press release from the Sheriff’s Office, deputies received word of a “suspicious structure fire in the High Falls area of Moore County, which resulted in the destruction of a camper” on February 18, 2022.

Billy Kiser, a 55-year-old man from Robbins, was arrested in connection to the fire from last year. He has been placed at the Moore County Detention Center under a $10,000 secured bond. Kiser is currently facing charges of one county of setting fire to woodlands and one count of injury to property. Kiser’s first court appearance is set for Thursday, February 2, 2023. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

MOORE COUNTY

New golf course seeks to honor Pinehurst’s natural beauty, rich history

By Emmie Brooks For North State Journal

PINEHURST — Golf course architect Tom Doak has embarked on a new project to design and develop Pinehurst’s 10th golf course, the first in almost three decades. Doak has long had a passion for golf and, specifically, the design of courses themselves.

“When I was twelve-thirteen years old, I got to see Harbour Town, Pinehurst, and Pebble Beach, and they were so different from the public course I grew up playing in Connecticut that I became fascinated with golf course design,” Doak said.

Doak has since designed six courses that have been ranked among the top 100 golf courses in the world, according to Golf Magazine. He has also written multiple books about the sport and architecture of the courses.

“Having a Doak course at Pinehurst allows guests to play a course designed by one of the most creative golf minds of this generation. Some equate playing at Pinehurst to visiting a golf ar-

chitecture museum. You get to experience some of the best work from different design eras when you come here,” says club officials.

In the 1890s, James Walker Tufts, a Bostonian Philanthropist, purchased 5,800 acres of land to build a New England Vil-

lage on what now has become Pinehurst Resort. The Holly Inn began housing guests in 1895 and The Carolina Hotel in 1901, both of which are still housing guests and golfers today.

In 1898, Pinehurst’s first golf course was built, consisting of

Pinehurst Council approves fifth moratorium extension for Small Area Plan areas

Village hires new financial services director

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

PINEHURST — The Village of Pinehurst Council met Tuesday, January 24, with the only action item on the agenda being just a single public hearing.

The council held a public hearing for the proposed moratorium extension for the Small Area Plan areas – Village Place/Rattlesnake Trail Corridor and Pinehurst South/NC Highway 5 Commercial Area.

“The current 120-day moratorium ordinance is set to expire on February 3, 2023,” said Director of Planning and Inspections Darryn Burich. “The original ninemonth moratorium was adopt-

ed on February 10, 2021, and it has been extended four additional times. A 90-day extension is requested for Village Place, and a 120-day extension is proposed for Pinehurst South.”

However, members of the council expressed concerns over how long the moratorium has already been in place.

“My concern is what this record says,” said council member Lydia Boesch. “When we passed the first moratorium in 2021, that ordinance said it was an initial period of nine months, which was ‘the estimated time necessary for the Village of Pinehurst to complete and adopt the small area plans and their related zoning and development standards.’

That was said two years ago…

Another thing that really concerns me is in the staff memo, which says about the 90-day and

120-day extensions, ‘While that likely will not be sufficient time to complete all actions related to adopting the zoning amendments, it will allow staff to continue working the P&Z Board and builds in a formal check back with the council as the deadlines approach.’ So we’re saying in the memo this might not be sufficient time, and I don’t know what development interests are out there that this might be a problem for them, but I just felt like it was my responsibility to point out what our records say because that could be problematic.”

While the other members were also concerned over the length of time the moratorium has gone, three members – Mayor John Strickland, Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Pizzella, and council mem-

nine holes and one clubhouse. In 1989, golf professional John Dunn Tucker was hired and continued the course by adding nine other holes, completing Pinehurst’s No. 1 course. The Pinehurst Golf Club was later established in 1903. Pinehurst Resort now features 2,000 acres of historically dense North Carolina land, three hotels, eleven dining venues, and a multitude of recreational activities for all to enjoy.

E xpected to open in 2024, Doak’s new course is envisioned to complement other courses at the resort by contrasting them all superbly. The land consists of natural features that create the character of what differentiates Pinehurst from other golf resorts, such as native sand and wiregrass. I’ve wanted to do this since I was a kid, and I have to pinch myself that people pay me to do it,” Doak said. “What keeps it interesting is that every site is different, and the best design solution is the one that makes the most of those differences.”

PHOTO VIA PINEHURST.COM

Woods shown will be the site of the new 10th course at Pinehurst Resort.

PHOTO COURTESY PINEHURST RESORT

The Putter Boy statue is shown in this file photo.

PINEHURST, from page 1 ber Jane Hogeman – saw it as still necessary to fully flesh out the council’s plans for that area and stated that progress was still being made.

“I certainly understand the concern that it has taken a little bit longer than we had originally anticipated,” Burich said.

“There were a lot of things that happened in that time period that kind of slowed us up. I think now, though, we’ve started to really be able to dedicate some staff time to actually working through some of these.”

However, council member Jeff Morgan adamantly opposed any further extension of the moratorium.

“As we move forward and as the council passes this moratorium, I recognize it has the power to do that, but it also restricts the freedom of individuals of developing their property and their property rights,” Morgan said.

“This has already had four extensions, and I think it’s overboard. There are already restrictions on there from zoning, and we have protections. I do not support a continued moratorium.”

The final vote to extend the moratorium passed 3-2, with Morgan and Boesch voting against it.

With the new extension, the Pinehurst South Moratorium will expire on June 4, 2023, and the Village Place Moratorium will expire on May 5, 2023.

Finally, it was announced that Pinehurst had found a replacement for outgoing financial services director Brooke Hunter, hiring new resident Dana Van Nostrand as the new financial services director for the Village.

“Dana comes to us from the northeast where she had several years of experience in the public sector, both doing accounting and financial services work for the College of New Jersey,” said Village Manager Jeff Sanborn. “Before that, she worked as an auditor for a major auditing and accounting firm and also did work in the public sector in that role.”

The Village of Pinehurst Council will next meet February 14.

moore

Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in Moore County:

February 2

Trivia Thursday at the Brewery

6pm

Come out for Trivia at the Southern Pines Brewery! Enjoy fun and prizes each Thursday. Southern Pines Brewing Company is located at 565 Air Tool Dr., Southern Pines, NC.

February 3

Good Finds Grand Opening

1pm

Come checkout Pinebluff’s newest boutique and thrift store: Good Finds in the Pines! Connect with quality goods as you shop from brands from Lululemon, Free People, ModCloth, Patagonia, North Face, and more!

Civil War Series 1pm – 2:30pm

The Moore County Senior Enrichment Center is welcoming Dr. Matt Farina, who will be hosting a six-part series on the American Civil War. The series will take place each Friday in January and February.

February 4

Chili Open Golf Tournament 2023

10am

Join in for the Seven Lakes Golf Club’s 2023 Chili Open Golf Tournament! This is the first annual 18-hole challenge and championship. The cost is $53 per player and includes the green fees, cart, prizes, and time at the driving range. Enjoy chili, beer, and cornbread!

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

Addressing challenges from fuel to fentanyl

HAVE YOU FILLED UP YOUR TANK LATELY? Like my family, I’m sure you have noticed that prices are only going one way. In fact, in North Carolina, average gas prices have increased more than 45 cents per gallon in the past month.

The good news is the new House Republican majority has a concrete plan to protect our energy reserves and your hardearned money.

President Joe Biden first started skyrocketing fuel prices by ending pipelines and leases that reduced supply and sent the wrong message to domestic energy producers. International chaos has only worsened the problem, yet President Biden’s only solution has been to drain our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its lowest level since 1984. In total, the administration has sold off 250 million barrels of oil, much of which ended up in communist China. Major reserve sites are now dangerously low on oil – leaving us more vulnerable to an energy supply disruption, such as in times of inclement weather or a national security emergency.

The Washington Democrat’s lack of action to fix our growing energy problem directly threatens our country’s economic and national security. The good news is the new House Republican majority has a concrete plan to protect our energy reserves and your hard-earned money. Families like yours have suffered for too long and paid too high a price.

House Republicans have solutions to address this crisis. Last week, I voted for the Strategic Production Response Act. This legislation would release America’s abundant fossil fuel reserves located under federal lands and waters, and require the Biden administration to both replenish and maintain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In addition, this bill would ensure the United States is prepared for true energy supply emergencies.

COLUMN | NEWT GINGRICH

The Left continues to deny that the reserve is being depleted and claims they have been working to lower record-breaking gas prices. The truth is gas prices are up over 30% since President Biden took office. Only through increased oil production and more pipeline capacity can we truly meet America’s energy demand and bring relief to your wallet. Passing the Strategic Production Response Act last week is a good start. In addition to addressing rising fuel prices last week, I was also proud to address another top priority – the fentanyl poisoning epidemic. On Tuesday, I cosponsored the HALT Fentanyl Act, legislation to curb the presence of fentanyl in our communities and save lives. Fentanyl poisoning is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 1845. In North Carolina, 3,000 primarily young people lost their lives to fentanyl poisoning in 2021. Biden’s open border policies are only making this tragic epidemic worse, and we must address it now. As your Congressman and a member of House Republican leadership, I am determined to remain focused on solving problems that impact you and all Americans. From inflation to fentanyl and every other challenge, I’ll never stop working for you.

Richard Hudson is serving his sixth term in the U.S. House and represents North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. He currently serves as the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and is a member of the House Republican Steering Committee.

How House Republicans should react to the media

I RECENTLY DID AN INTERVIEW with a smart, experienced Washington journalist.

We covered a lot of ground, including the debt ceiling, balancing the budget, Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s first two weeks, and Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

issues, and his out-of-control spending plan would strengthen the dollar.

And Biden isn’t the only one.

It was all baloney.

Then we got around to a moment of hardcore politics. As a good liberal, he tried to put me on the defensive about a Republican House freshman who is clearly a liar — and will have no influence in Congress. He will almost certainly be defeated in the next election.

I knew from the tone of the question and the look on the journalist’s face that he wanted me to fall back into a defensive mode and ask more questions about how House Republicans should handle someone who is dishonest.

I remembered a rule I had learned from President Ronald Reagan. When faced with a reporter asking a question you don’t like, simply ignore it and answer the question you wish he or she had asked.

Timid Republicans have often accepted the left’s moral authority to define which lies matter and which ones don’t. It is an appalling trait I have fought throughout my activities as a citizen going back to 1958.

If the news media wants to have a conversation about politicians who lie, House Republicans should be eager to accommodate them — and immediately turn to the amazing examples of Democrat public figures who can’t or won’t tell the truth.

House Republicans should start any discussion of lying with the example of the current occupant of the White House.

As a candidate and president, Biden has survived a lifetime of lying. In 1987, in a Democrat Presidential debate, he claimed to be a descendant of coal miners in northeast Pennsylvania. It turned out not only to be a lie but to have been plagiarized from a brilliant emotional speech by Neil Kinnock about his childhood in Wales.

Mark Thiessen captured the depths of Biden’s mendacity in a column in the Jan. 4, 2023, Washington Post titled: “Santos Must Have Learned from Biden How to Make Up Details About His Past.”

Thiessen points out that Biden lied about being nobly arrested while trying to visit an imprisoned Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Biden claimed he thanked Mandela when the anti-apartheid leader later visited Washington, D.C.

It was all baloney.

Thiessen went on to note that Biden had received a “bottomless Pinocchio” from the Post for absurd lies about meeting with former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (ten years after Deng died) and traveling with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Both stories were false.

On a more practical level, Biden has said the current inflation mess was temporary, the border is secure, that there are no supply chain

Recall the entire scandal of Hillary Clinton’s deleting 33,000 emails and having a staffer literally take a hammer to destroy computer hard drives. Had she been a Republican, the media would have declared her disqualified from public service.

Even in the U.S. House, the record for repetitive lying is held by the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff repeatedly used the prestige of his committee assignment — and the presumption that as chairman he had inside information — to lie repeatedly about President Donald Trump. Schiff’s attacks on Trump over the “Russian Hoax” is a case study in partisanship and dishonesty overcoming patriotism.

We now know beyond any reasonable doubt that the entire effort to tie the Trump candidacy to the Russians was a lie. It was a lie helped by corrupt elements of the FBI. It was a lie compounded by corrupt elements of the intelligence community. When 51 Intelligence community leaders signed a joint letter just before the 2020 election claiming the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was a hoax, they were also lying to the American people for partisan purposes and dishonoring their careers in intelligence. Shouldn’t they all be reprimanded for undermining the faith of the American people in their intelligence institutions?

More important than the lies: What is hidden behind them?

At a minimum, $51 million have been funneled into the University of Pennsylvania Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement by Chinese Communists to benefit the President and his allies (consider our current Secretary of State used to run the place). Further, we know nothing about the money which has funded the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware (which received 1,850-plus boxes of documents from Biden).

President Biden has lied consistently about his knowledge of his son’s business dealings — when he’s been demonstrably involved. In fact, the family in the White House has made tons of money off Ukrainian, Russian, and Chinese Communist connections. This is a real problem.

Republicans should take a simple position: Lying is bad. There will be no effectiveness in the House for a freshman who is clearly lacking in honesty. On the other hand, there should be real efforts to discover the truth about President Biden and his family’s various financial activities with foreign dictatorships.

The freshman is a side distraction and will be allowed to do no harm.

The President is an active threat to the security of the United States and a stain on the honor of the highest government office in America. That is the difference between the two parties.

COLUMN | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

Larry Russell Groff

January 4, 1940 - January 26, 2023

Larry passed after a short illness on January 26, 2023 with Terry, his wife of nearly 55 years, by his side. Groffy, as he was affectionately known, was born on January 4, 1940 in Piqua, Ohio. He graduated from TrotwoodMadison High School and then proudly served in the US Navy including time aboard the Shangri-La. He married Terry O'Harrow on February 29, 1968. He retired from Chrysler corporation in Dayton, Ohio in 1993 and moved to Pinehurst and had a second career at the Pinehurst Resort for 17 years. He was nearly a scratch golfer and loved watching his Ohio State Buckeyes football.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, Gregory (Karen) of Aberdeen, NC; granddaughter, Courtney and great-grandson Levi of Newport, NC; his beloved dog Buckeye of the home, as well as many close friends. He was predeceased by his parents.

Joseph Lee Barber

July 31, 1947 - January 28, 2023

Joseph Lee Barber, 75, of West End, NC passed away on Saturday, January 28, 2023 at his residence.

Joe was born July 31, 1947 in Pinehurst, NC to the late William Tilman Barber and the late Eula Mae Layton Barber, he was one of thirteen children.

He is survived by his wife of 18 years, Carol Barber; his son, Joseph Lee Barber, Jr.; his daughter, Elizabeth Yvonne “Vonnie” Barber Thomas (Ron); five grandchildren, Elizabeth Dawn Keyser (Ray Aull), Carrie Lee Rogers-Buchanan (David), Martha Faith Rogers (Tomie), Jacob Isaac Rogers, and Corey Gray Childress; stepgrandchildren Dillon Burton, Justice Childress, and Tyler Burton. He is also survived by his siblings Earnest Ray Barber (Connie), Elizabeth Jean Whitt (Ronnie Anderson), Brenda Gale Baker, Frederick Allen Barber (Mary Lou) and a host of nieces, nephews and other extended family.

In addition to his parents, Joe was preceded in death by his siblings, Eula Mae Hammond, Robert Layton Barber, William Claude Barber, John Washington Barber, Charles David Barber, Raymond Mitchell Barber, Peggy Ann Tedder, and Alvin Floyd Barber.

Judith Ann Byington

September 4, 1945 - January 25, 2023

Judith Ann Byington, age 77 of Vass, NC passed away at First Health Hospice House on January 25, 2023. Judith was born in Harrisonburg, VA on September 4, 1945.

Judi spent most of her life in Fairfax County, VA before relocating to Vass, NC. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 1968 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Judi loved all animals but her passion was for her Arabian horses and rescue cats. She enjoyed riding her horses in dressage and driving her Corvette.

Judi is survived by her husband, C. Marshall Byington Jr. of Vass, NC; daughter, Dawn (Corey) Mellick of Flower Mound, TX; son, Marc Byington of Crescent City, CA and six grandchildren. Judi was preceded in death by her parents, Randolph A. Lane and Mary Smith Lane; daughter, Maria Byington.

Joe was devoted to serving his country and community. He demonstrated this through his service in the U.S. Army as a combat veteran during the Vietnam War and by working as both a Pinehurst Police Officer and Fire-Fighter. He grew up on a tobacco farm and continued throughout his life to enjoy growing vegetables in his garden. He like to sit on the front porch and watch traffic go by while enjoying an endless cup of black coffee, and watching all the birds and squirrels he fed play about on his property. His primary focus in life was always loving his family.

Catherine M. Houlihan

May 29, 1928 - January 27, 2023

Catherine M. Houlihan, known to her friends and family as Kay, died January 27,2023 at the age of 94. Kay was born May 29, 1928 in Woodhaven, New York, the daughter of Harry M. and Dorothy (Mulkin) Wessling.

Kay grew up in Floral Park, NY. After graduating from high school Kay attended the NYS University of New Paltz where she earned a degree in Elementary Education. Upon graduation Kay returned to the Floral Park area to teach where she met her husband of 51 years John (Jack) Houlihan.

After retiring from a long career in teaching Kay & Jack moved to Seven Lakes, NC in 1982. With the many friends they made at Seven Lakes Kay & Jack enjoyed golf, square dancing, and traveling. Kay enjoyed sewing and crafts. She made many beautiful quilts, along with wall hangings and other items for the home.

In addition to her parents and brother, Harry, Jr., Kay was predeceased by her husband Jack, her son John Jr., and her son-in-law Ronald Luettger. Kay is survived by her daughter Dorothy (Doree) Luettger, her daughter-in-law Carol Houlihan, her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Kay is also survived by her nieces and nephews In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made in memory of Catherine Houlihan to FirstHealth Hospice and Palliative Care at 150 Applecross Road, Pinehurst, NC 28374.

Ronald Neil McCracken

May 15, 1946 - January 24, 2023

Ronald “Ron” Neil McCracken, 76, of Hamlet, NC, passed away on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, NC.

Ron was born May 15, 1946 in New London, CT to the late Lawrence Neil McCracken and the late Clara Agnes Church McCracken. He is survived by his loving wife of almost 57 years, Patricia Costello McCracken; son Ramon McCracken; daughter Rhonda O’Brien (Tim); and granddaughters Samantha Lauer (Nathan) and Macie O’Brien; his older brother Larry McCracken, and his sweet dog Molly. Ron met Patricia in Groton, CT at the age of seventeen, and they married three years later. His career took them to California, Virginia, and finally to Florida where he retired and then relocated to North Carolina. Known by his close friends as “Captain Ron”, he loved saltwater fishing and being out on the water. Not one to remain idle for long, he also loved working with his hands and would rebuild motors and restore cars, trucks, and tractors in his free time. While he wasn’t a big talker, he was one of the most hilarious people you would ever meet. From calling his wife “Boss” to making silly faces any time you tried to take a photo, he was always making the people around him smile. He was always a kind and a loving husband, father, and grandfather. He brought joy to their lives that they will cherish forever. He will be deeply missed by his family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations to Reid Heart Center c/o FirstHealth Foundation, 150 Applecross Road, Pinehurst, NC 28374.