NSJ Vol. 8, Issue 21

VinFast unveils factory site plans

VinFast, the Vietnamese electric car manufacturer bringing the largest economic development project in state history to Chatham County, has posted initial site plans for its electric vehicle factory. In total, VinFast is planning to build a more than 2.8 million-square-foot facility. The site plan represents what the company calls the first phase of development. There are also adjacent plots of land marked as a “future phase,” with earlier company plans indicated it would be intended for battery production. The proposed plans mark the latest milestone for the company in establishment its first North American manufacturing plant after initial hiccups relating to their timeline and entry into the United States.

the BRIEF this week

An American soldier is detained by North Korea after crossing its heavily armed border Seoul, South Korea

An American soldier facing military disciplinary actions fled across the heavily armed border from South Korea into North Korea, U.S. officials said Tuesday, becoming the first American detained in the North in nearly five years. Two U.S. officials said the soldier detained was Private 2nd Class Travis King, who had just been released from a South Korean prison where he’d been held on assault charges and was facing additional military disciplinary actions in the United States.

The American-led U.N. Command said he is believed to be in North Korean custody and the command is working with its North Korean counterparts to resolve the incident.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Six Republicans say they’ve met GOP debate thresholds

Washington, D.C.

Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie and Tim Scott have met the Republican National Committee’s polling and fundraising thresholds to earn invitations to the first GOP presidential primary debate next month, according to POLITICO’s qualification tracking.

With under six weeks until the debate, some hopefuls are finding creative ways to boost their donor numbers and ensure they make it on stage.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is offering $20 Mastercard or Visa gift cards in return for campaign donations of as little as $1. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is putting up a chance to see Argentine soccer legend Lionel Messi’s Miami debut, the Associated Press reported earlier this week.

The unusual efforts are in response to a Republican National Committee requirement that participants in the Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee raise money from at least 40,000 donors across the country.

In addition to the donor threshold, Republican candidates must earn at least 1% in three high-quality polls between July 1 and Aug. 21. They must also sign a pledge backing the eventual 2024 Republican nominee.

Jefferson Griffin looks to join Republican majority on NC Supreme Court

By Matt Mercer North State Journal

RALEIGH — N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin is no stranger to running a statewide campaign for office. After mounting his first campaign for the Court of Appeals in 2018 in which he narrowly lost, he ran again two years later and prevailed in the first of two consecutive statewide judicial sweeps for Republicans.

With one seat on the N.C. Supreme Court on the ballot in 2024, Griffin is the first and, so far, only declared candidate.

“I’ve been traveling pretty hard. We hit it pretty hard the first six months, going hammer down since December last year. Now, we’re resting and resetting a bit after the finance report

House Majority Leader

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — North State Journal recently caught up with House Majority Leader John Bell (R-Wayne) to ask him about the current legislative session and his endorsement last month of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s campaign for president.

no receptions, people didn’t come visit and “everything was done by Zoom” so there was more free time in between bills to get things done.

“This year, everybody has come into the building, from constituents back home to advocacy groups to tour groups,” said Bell.

In terms of top priorities, Bell immediately said the budget.

deadline,” Griffin told North State Journal last week.

Griffin said his interest in joining the state Supreme Court comes after seeing and experiencing first-hand how impactful appellate courts can be.

“I’ve seen how impactful our appellate courts can be over the last four years, especially when we had a liberal Democrat majority and what they were willing to do with that majority from an activist standpoint,” said Griffin.

(Being) that close to it and watching from the Court of Appeals we have to be measured and determined to keep a conservative majority not only on our Court of Appeals, but especially the Supreme Court.”

Griffin said that his time

See GRIFFIN, page A3

With veto override votes set, Payton McNabb shares her story backing women’s sports bill

By Matt Mercer North State Journal

in faith, McNabb says she has relied on her foundation in Christ to stand up for what she believes is right.

“I know what I’m doing is right. I feel like other people may not have that, so that’s why

they’re afraid. When everyone stands up for what’s right hopefully this whole thing will just be over,” she told North State Journal in an interview about the upcoming week in the legislature. Her faith has helped her through a difficult season of life, when a high school volleyball match in September 2022 permanently altered her life and her health. McNabb was knocked uncon-

The line of citizens, various officials and legislative members coming in and out of Bell’s office while North State Journal waited to speak with him was not only impressive but underscored the heavy and fast-paced workload handled by the Wayne County lawmaker.

“Just one word. Busy, busy, busy,” Bell said when asked to encapsulate the current legislative session.

Bell, who is in his sixth term in the House, was elected as House Majority Whip during his second term and House Majority Leader in 2016.

“People say always busy and that it is but so you’ve got to think, the last the last session – the last biennium you had the pandemic; you’re dealing with all that going on,” Bell said. “The world shut down. People didn’t come up here and that was a short session, a long session, and another short session.” He added that now that now people have come back whereas in the previous sessions there were

scious and exhibited a fencing response, which indicates a traumatic brain injury, following a forceful blow to the head from a volleyball spike by a biological male playing on the opponent’s team. The sheer impact of left McNabb with significant longterm physical and mental effects, including impaired vision, partial paralysis on her right side, and anxiety and depression.

In the aftermath, McNabb, now a spokeswoman with Independent Women’s Forum, detailed what she knew at the time and why HB 574 should become law.

McNabb told North State Journal that her high school, Hiwassee Dam, had to be informed there was a transgender player on the team. She said that the players on the team and administration were aware of who the

“It’s always the budget,” Bell said. “The budget is the most important thing that we do. Everybody, especially in the long session…to get that created, to lay the foundation of how we’re going to operate – that’s what everybody expects us to do and that’s our priority.”

In terms of personal bills of interest, Bell said he always looks at the flood mitigation and the disaster relief areas, but that his job with regard to bills isn’t the same as other members of the House.

“My job is different than a lot of people because I don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow,” Bell said.

“When things kind of fall apart, it’s my job to help put them back together or get a direction on where we’re going and how it’s going to play out… listen to concerns, make sure the speaker understands the concerns from the caucus, make sure that we have the votes to move forward on policy and that could change day in and day out,” said Bell.

When asked about the early es-

See BELL , page A2

RALEIGH — Payton McNabb

calls growing up in the mountains of western North Carolina

a “blessing.” Rooted

John Bell discusses legislation, DeSantis endorsement

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest

“One of One”

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individual was and that the player was previously homeschooled.

“We did know because they’re the same age as me (and her teammates) and once they started high school, started playing sports, they had to tell every school ‘we have a transgender player on our team,’” said McNabb.

“And they were not happy about it… it was obvious (the physical changes),” she added.

McNabb said the transgender player was someone she competed against previously. The difference, she said, was when the player hit puberty.

“It wasn’t a big deal until like this year because he didn’t hit puberty until when boys usually hit puberty. Once that happened, however, McNabb said the player got a lot taller, stronger, and was hitting and injuring “everyone.”

At that point, it was a matter of time before someone would seriously get injured.

In one case, McNabb said county politics played a role when one player was hit, but on their arm,

BELL from page A1 timates that with supermajorities in both chambers most legislative business might be wrapped up in June, Bell smiled and shook his head.

“There’s a myth that having big majorities or supermajorities is easy. I would tell you it’s harder,” Bell said. “Just because you’ve got the votes to override a veto, it doesn’t mean you always have the votes to override a veto.”

He went on to say that things don’t always move as fast with “so many people from different backgrounds” and from “many different parts of the state,” as well as factoring in personalities and positions held by new members.

“Trying to put the pieces together and make them work and make them fit, we always have the, I would say, sometimes the unrealistic hope, that we will be out by mid-June and this budget process is taking longer,” Bell explained. “We’ve got significant differences and how we want to move forward between the House and the Senate and ironing those differences out.”

He added that wrapping things up is “going to take a little bit longer than we initially thought.”

A number of “big lift bills” passed like new abortion limits and protecting women’s sports have already seen veto overrides. Out of out of the bigger bills that have been moving through this session, Bell singled out parental rights.

“I think there’s been a big push in North Carolina, it was a major piece in the in the last election

and wanted to sweep the incident under the rug.

“Yeah, I mean there’s no doubt. There is someone who said that they got hit on the arm, but they were mad at me getting hurt because other schools missed games.”

As a result of the incident, Cherokee County’s School Board voted to forfeit all future games against Highland or any team with a transgender athlete on it. The board cited concerns for the safety of the female athletes, but it also meant McNabb’s team wouldn’t be able to compete at state conferences due to the forfeitures.

McNabb in April told the House Judiciary Committee members that she had to quit the rest of the season and is still enduring pain, and other neurological injuries and that she was now also having learning issues. She says even one person being injured doesn’t just affect them.

“I know it was just one person, but it didn’t just affect me. The whole issue did not just affect me. The administration should be ad-

vocating for me and fighting for me, it’s just telling me I’m unimportant because it was just one person,” McNabb said.

“That’s the main reason I’m doing what I’m doing is because this is extremely important; we need to fight for it now so it doesn’t keep becoming a bigger issue. My sister’s going into high school, I don’t want her to have to deal with this at all. It just makes me sick thinking of this happening to her, my younger cousins and all of my teammates,” she added.

McNabb also had strong words for Gov. Roy Cooper, who vetoed the HB 574 in early July.

“I can’t comprehend why we’re even having to have this debate. Allowing biological males to compete against biological females is dangerous. This is an incredibly important bill to me especially because I had to live it,” said McNabb.

“I may be the first to suffer an injury, but if this doesn’t pass, I won’t be the last,” she added.

The North Carolina Values Coalition has voiced its support for the bill as well.

I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

Matthew 13: 24-30; 36-40

and it just seems to get louder and louder and louder throughout our country, and that’s parents’ rights and some of the indoctrination pieces and pressure that’s been put on our children,” said Bell.

“And making sure that our parents have a right and not only in how their child is able to grow up, but also in their education, that those have been big, big pieces of legislation that have moved through and are continuously moving through the process.”

While mentioning parental rights and the bill blocking sex surgeries for minors, Bell noted, “All these different issues have

just kind of popped up at the same time and you can’t lump them all into one bill.” He added those issues needed to be addressed “strategically” and “done bill by bill, provision by provision.”

“And they are all issues that poll extremely well if you look at polling across our state and across our country,” said Bell. “I mean, you look at what Gov. DeSantis has done in Florida, a lot of these are actually campaign platforms for folks on a national level. It’s just when you get into the policy side of them, they’re very deep. They’re very detailed, big lift bills.”

A June Harvard/Harris Poll

Executive Director Tami Fitzgerald said, “The severe injuries to Payton McNabb caused by the strength of a trans athlete shows bodies play sports, not identities. I look forward to North Carolina joining the other 21 states

showed 78% of Americans believe puberty blockers and gender surgery should only be allowed for those over the age of 18. Similarly, 79% oppose laws in their state that allowing sex change surgery and puberty blockers for minors to happen without parental permission.

Bell, who hails from the Goldsboro area of Wayne County, spent well over a decade involved in business development efforts in banking and commercial insurance. He currently is a board member for RISE Capital, “a global investment firm that focuses on making expansion-stage investments in Internet businesses in the most prominent emerging markets.”

In late June, Bell and close to 20 legislators endorsed the presidential campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Bell led the effort, stating “Gov. DeSantis is a principled leader, a protector of individual liberties, and the Left’s biggest nightmare. He will beat Joe Biden and usher in a Great American Comeback in which parents are empowered, our streets are safe, and our economy is booming once again.”

“I’ve always been a fan of Gov. DeSantis,” Bell said. “I like what he has done leading the state of Florida,” but added “I’m going to support whoever the Republican nominee is for president.”

“I believe that we need the conservative voice in Washington now more than ever, but I think Governor DeSantis has a different approach,” said Bell.

“I’ve watched him go from barely winning an election in the state of Florida to being the envy of the

which have enacted this type of pro-woman legislation for female athletes.”

After initially appearing on the N.C. House calendar on July 12, a slate of veto override votes are scheduled for Wednesday, July 19.

country on what he was able to do,” Bell said. “Not just in the four years navigating through a pandemic, not just because economic growth, but he was able to go into places that Republicans have not been able to win before or haven’t won in a long time and turned those areas red. You’re talking about a guy that went into places like Dade County and won.”

He added, DeSantis is “a guy that went into the middle of a dispute with Disney and went into areas and was able to pull ahead and win.”

“He’s got a great conservative record when it comes to, you know, conservative principle dealing with pro-life stances and welfare of children,” Bell said, while pointing out the educational freedoms Florida has been able to achieve.

“Florida has now become an envy and, frankly, has a lot of model legislation that is now moving across the country that originated (in Florida),” Bell said. “AI find that very fascinating being in the world of state government. I think we need someone that not only has federal experience, but also has state government experience.”

The majority leader, who was first elected to the General Assembly in 2012, also said “it’s nice to have a veteran” as a candidate.

“And so, you put that together with his family style approach on how he’s campaigning and the message,” Bell said. “He’s not demonizing people - he’s trying to grow our party and grow our base and that’s what attracts me to him.”

PUBLIC DOMAIN | CC0 1.0

PUBLIC DOMAIN | CC0 1.0

MCNABB from page A1

“Parable of the Wheat and the Tares” by Abraham Bloemart (1624) is a Baroque period painting in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland

Payton McNabb, a former Cherokee County high school volleyball player, is a spokeswoman with Independent Women’s Forum.

FILE PHOTO

House Majority Leader John Bell (R-Wayne)

Summer fun: Try the Wilderness Run Alpine Coaster and Adventure Course

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — Families looking to get away to the mountains this summer may want to drop in on the Wilderness Run Alpine Coaster in Banner Elk to check out the site’s newest edition — an Adventure Course.

Army veteran Eric Bechard and his wife, Tara, opened the Wilderness Run Alpine Coaster near Sugar Mountain in 2020. Their daughter Ashely Brown, whose husband is serving in the military, also helps run the business.

Riders are pulled up 770 feet to the top of the coaster track in a way that is similar to a ski lift. Once at the top, riders speed down a 2,100-foot track through a series of straightaways, turns and loops.

The coaster is open seven days a week. Visitors planning a trip to ride the coaster are encouraged to schedule their rides ahead of time and can do that by visiting the attraction’s website at wildernessrunalpinecoaster.com/.

In an interview with North State Journal, Eric Bechard said the

spent on the appeals court will translate well to jumping to the Supreme Court.

“Around 90% of all appeals are resolved at the court of appeals level. Just the number of repetitions and the broad areas of law that we get to address have been very impactful for me, we’ve already written over 150 opinions since joining the court. The volume that we deal with is very high,” Griffin said his of his time on the court.

He added, “I’ve been able to show the people of North Carolina that I’m a constitutional conservative, that I believe in the rule of law. Probably 50% of our calendar at the court of appeals are criminal cases. So, areas of criminal justice where can clarify the law, make sure we are we’re doing our job as appellate judges, not retrying cases, making sure there no errors were made below.”

When asked about specific cases he’s been part of, Griffin cited election integrity issues and the Ace Speedway case that currently sits in front of the Supreme Court.

Court of Appeals judges sit in panels of three to hear cases. Griffin said he sat on a panel dealing with felon voter issues and wrote what he called a “lengthy dissent” in the case that ultimately was overturned by the Supreme Court earlier this year. He also wrote an opinion in the Ace Speedway

coaster had done well despite opening during the pandemic.

“We did better during COVID than we’re doing now,” Bechard said. “We did fantastic through COVID-19 because we are an outdoor activity. It was easy for us to keep people 6 feet apart. It was easy to keep all of the sleds clean.”

He added that the coaster did very well for the first 110 days of

case about race track’s owners challenging Gov. Roy Cooper and former N.C. Dept. Of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen’s orders during the coronavirus pandemic that closed the track.

“Issues like that, we deal with those at the Court of Appeals. I’ve seen how important they are and how impactful they can be at our court, at the Supreme Court and issues with individual liberty,” he said.

Griffin said his relationships with many of the current justices would help him hit the ground running if he wins election to the seat. He counts Chief Justice Paul Newby as a longtime supporter.

“The Chief Justice has been a good friend and mentor for a long time back from my days when I moved to Raleigh and was an assistant DA in Wake County,” he said.

He also shared two years on the Court of Appeals with Justice Richard Dietz and said he already had good relationships with Justices Trey Allen, Tamara Barringer and Phil Berger Jr., who he highlighted as sharing his background working previously as prosecutors.

In past election cycles Griffin has been taken off the campaign trail for his long-running military service. His wife, Kayte, has stepped in for him in candidate forums and appearances. At that time Griffin was in Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan with the Army Nation-

COVID until Health and Human Services Director Mandy Cohen decided to shut them down. The shutdown only lasted about five weeks until Gov. Roy Cooper changed social activities guidance.

Last year, Wilderness Run added its Adventure Course, which is an elevated rope course with multiple levels with “activities designed to safely test your balance

al Guard. Despite the challenge of campaigning and serving, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I love my military service. I think it’s an honor and a privilege to serve. It’s very rewarding,” he said, adding that he doesn’t expect he’ll have to leave if elected to the Supreme Court.

“I anticipate we’ll be able to continue service there and in the judiciary,” he said.

Focusing back on the campaign side, he said he had respect for outgoing Justice Mike Morgan, who is eyeing a run for governor. Morgan said earlier this year he would not run for a second term on the Supreme Court, making the 2024 race an open seat for both parties.

No matter who he ends up running against, Griffin said philosophy of judicial restraint and being consistent is what he’s sharing with voters. He cited two U.S. Supreme Justices: Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch as those he aligns with for his approach.

“I’ve always been a fan of Clarence Thomas’s judicial philosophy. He’s always consistent. More recently, (Neil) Gorsuch is starting to develop a body of work. I respect his view of originalism. He is faithful to that philosophy even if in certain cases, it doesn’t yield the outcome he may want, right? But I think he is consistent, and that’s what we should be as judges, consistent in how we interpret the law,” Griffin said.

NCDOT TO HOLD A PUBLIC MEETING REGARDING THE CORRIDOR STUDY COMPLETED FOR MORGANTON ROAD BETWEEN REILLY ROAD AND DOBBIN AVENUE

FAYETTEVILLE, CUMBERLAND COUNTY

FAYETTEVILLE - The N.C. Department of Transportation is hosting a public meeting to discuss the A corridor study completed in March 2023 for Morganton Rd between Reilly Road and Dobbin Avenue in Fayetteville. The study included traffic safety and operations analyses, with close coordination between NCDOT, City of Fayetteville, and representatives of Cumberland County. The results of the Corridor Study recommend a number of short-term and long-term improvements to address traffic safety and mobility along the corridor.

Project details and maps can be found on the NCDOT project web page: https:// Publicinput.com/Morganaton-Study-Fayetteville The information will be presented at the meeting allowing for one-on-one discussions with engineers but no formal presentation.

The meeting will be held July 18 at Highland Presbyterian Church, 111 Highland Avenue, Fayetteville. The public is invited to attend at any time between 5 and 7 p.m. People may also submit comments by phone at 984-205-6615 project code 2372, email Morganton-Study-Fayetteville@PublicInput.com, or mail at the address shown below by August 2, 2023

By Mail: Darius Sturdivant

Project Manager

NCDOT Highway Division 6

558 Gillespie Street Fayetteville, NC 28301

NCDOT will provide auxiliary aids and services under the Americans with Disabilities Act for disabled people who wish to participate in this meeting. Anyone requiring special services should contact Diane Wilson, Environmental Analysis Unit, at 1598 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1598, 919-707-6073 or pdwilson1@ncdot.gov as early as possible so 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.

and climbing skills plus increase self-reliance.” The course operates seven days a week and includes 28 obstacles for guests ages 8 and up but also has a mini course for small children. Bechard said the adventure course was “doing as well as expected,” and success often depends on the weather and the season.

He also said the retail area for the adventure course was under construction and that a food option is being added to the location which will run year-round to service day-trippers, hikers, skiers and those visiting Wilderness Run’s attractions. The new food option will have limited seating and mainly be a takeout restaurant offering pot pies of various varieties, soups, sandwiches and drinks. For more information on the Adventure Course, including directions, booking a time for the course, and ticket prices, visit wildernessrunadventurecourse.com/. The Banner Elk area also offers other summer activities such as white-water rafting and rock-climbing adventures offered by Edge of the World Outfitters.

For mountain bikers, Beech Mountain Resort offers a wide range of terrain for those new to mountain biking up to expert levels. Bikers will take a scenic lift ride up to the top of the mountain to access the courses. The resort offers bike rentals and lessons. The 2023 summer season runs from June 1 through Oct. 7 and will be open on Labor Day.

If you’re a rockhound, dropping into the Sugar Mountain Mining Company may be the attraction at the top of your list. The mine offers buckets of gemstone rough from a one- to seven-gallon bucket for visitors to sift through. Walk-in visitors are welcome, but making a reservation is suggested by calling 828-898-GEMS. The mining company is located at the base of Sugar Mountain in Banner Elk at 3045 Tynecastle Highway.

Banner Elk isn’t far from other attractions in the area and is just shy of a 40-minute drive from Blowing Rock. Other tourist attractions within a short drive include Linville Caverns, Tweetsie Railroad, Grandfather Mountain and the always scenic Blue Ridge Parkway.

GOP attorneys general shift the battle over affirmative action to the workplace

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Thirteen

Republican state attorneys general are cautioning CEOs of the 100 biggest U.S. companies on the legal consequences for using race as a factor in hiring and employment practices, demonstrating how the Supreme Court’s recent ruling dismantling affirmative action in higher education may trickle into the workplace.

The state attorneys general sent a letter to the CEOs arguing that the June ruling declaring that race cannot be a factor in college admissions — consequently striking down decades-old practices aimed at achieving diverse student bodies — could also apply to private entities, like employers.

“Treating people differently because of the color of their skin, even for benign purposes, is unlawful and wrong,” they wrote. The GOP officials also suggested that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs could be a form of discrimination.

of Law. “I think there’s a lot of quite deliberate attempts to muddy the waters here.”

Beyond DEI, affirmative action in the workplace is technically still upheld by Supreme Court precedent, Glasgow adds. But workplace affirmative action is rare, and he suspects today’s court would likely overrule those cases if challenged, mirroring the college admissions decision.

While the letter doesn’t mark legal action, experts expect future litigation down the road. The attorneys’ general letter also isn’t the first time officials have argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling applies to private employers.

“The court was very clear. The appropriate response to racial discrimination is not more racial discrimination.”

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti

Last week, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, sent a letter to Target CEO Brian Cornell stating that the company’s DEI program and “racial quota for hiring” was discriminatory while also pointing to the affirmative action ruling. Target did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment on Friday.

The letter and similar actions elsewhere have raised questions about the far-reaching consequences of the Supreme Court decision beyond higher education. But experts note the court’s ruling itself doesn’t directly change current employer obligations or commitments to DEI.

“The decision itself does not legally impact Title VII (of the Civil Rights Act), which is what governs employment discrimination or discrimination in the workplace,” Greg Hoff, associate counsel of the HR Policy Association, told The Associated Press.

Hoff and others say the court’s ruling only applies to higher education institutions and other entities that receive federal funding. They also note that affirmative action in college admissions is very different from DEI efforts in workplaces, which can include expanding outreach for new hires, creating employee resource groups for underrepresented workers, and reducing bias in hiring through such practices as “blind” applications. “What we’ve been seeing a lot of since the decision came down is political opponents of DEI ... conflating affirmative action with DEI more broadly — because it serves their political purposes,” said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University’s School

“They’re starting with letters, but I don’t think that they’re bluffs,” Temple University assistant professor of law Zamir Ben-Dan said. “It’s going to be a problem.”

The attorneys general said they would be paying attention to companies’ practices in hiring employees and contractors — and called out companies including Airbnb, Facebook, Google, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft and Netflix for programs intended to increase racial diversity with hires and suppliers.

In response, employers may take steps to avoid litigation, Hoff and HR Policy Association president and CEO Tim Bartl said.

“The increased risk for employers is this increased risk of litigation as a result of the decision — but again, not because of any changing obligations under Title VII,” Hoff said.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, one of the signatories, said that the letter isn’t a warning to companies as much as it is a heads-up that racial preferences could run afoul of the law. He added that the group decided to take action in part to respond to speculation about the Supreme Court ruling not applying to employment.

“The court was very clear,” he said in a Friday interview. “The appropriate response to racial discrimination is not more racial discrimination.”

FILE PHOTO

Families take on the Winderness Run Alpine Coaster.

GRIFFIN from page A1

north STATEment

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

W&L canceled…a horse?

A CENTURY FROM TODAY, future historians may look back at a single incident and wonder if it was not one of the most absurd acts in American history ― assuming, of course, the USA survives until 2123 and anyone cares about it any longer.

Washington and Lee University, better known as W&L, canceled the memory of a horse on its picturesque campus in Lexington, Virginia.

W&L President Dudley removed a plaque over Traveller’s burial site in Lee Chapel. What is next ― the exhumation of Traveller’s bones from the grave below? What then? Incineration of his bones so no future generation has any proof the great horse ever existed?

President Dudley apparently never got a Duckburger and a keg of beer at Ducks near campus.

W&L grads have been respected widely over its long, distinguished history for their intelligence; academic achievement and leadership ability. They are respected for their social graces and respect for duty, honor and responsibility and love of country. Numerous leaders in politics, business, law and medicine are W&L alums. Most were true Southern gentlemen in the mold and tradition of former Duke Athletic Director Eddie Cameron for whom Cameron Indoor Stadium is named ― we respected him so much we named our first-born son after him as well.

However, today, W&L is turning its back on its 274-year heritage and expunging much of its rich history ― including any remembrance of a horse named Traveller.

Traveller was the gray American Saddlebred steed upon whose back Confederate General Robert E. Lee traveled during combat for three years during the American Civil War.

Traveller didn’t have any say in the matter. He was a horse. He could have stayed on some farm far away from any war-related activity had not General Lee purchased him fair-and-square for $200. Lee thought Traveller had all of the equine characteristics he wanted in a war horse.

Traveller very easily could have been the horse of choice for Union General US Grant or William Tecumseh Sherman, in which case the far-left might be falling all over themselves to honor him with a cast bronze statue somewhere.

Traveller didn’t own any slaves. He had no political affiliation. To reiterate once again, Traveller was a horse.

He didn’t plan any attacks against Union troops to prolong the war. He was not a trusted advisor and counsel like Caligula’s horse. Traveller had nothing to do with the prosecution of the Civil War aside from being a mode of transportation for the Rebel general.

EDITORIAL | STACEY MATTHEWS

Why not cancel any historical reference to Bucephalus, the great warhorse Alexander the Great rode to subdue the entire Mediterranean in the third century B.C.? Alexander’s conquest allowed the spread of the Koine Greek language which fostered the spread of Christianity throughout Europe and became the underpinnings of western civilization as we know it today.

Blame it all on Bucephalus. Cancel Western Civilization!

President Dudley apparently never got a Duckburger and a keg of beer at Ducks near campus or participated in the PiKa mudslide on campus before becoming president of W&L. Did the Board of Trustees hire Dudley in 2017 specifically to destroy the heritage of W&L ― and if so, replace it with what exactly?

There is a rich history at W&L which can’t be simply “erased” because someone doesn’t like what happened at W&L since its inception.

Efforts to suppress history always fail, often miserably. The successor to King Tutankhamun sought to erase him from history by moving his mummified remains to an undisclosed location and destroying all documents and monuments relating to him. Since his remains were found in 1922, King Tut has become the most famous of all Eqyptian Pharaohs to modern audiences.

Cancelling the memory of Traveller at W&L has brought his story ― and the story of Robert E. Lee ― back to life for more people, not less in recent weeks.

It is far better to allow the full story of our collective history to be heard, warts and all, without prejudice or malice to any side, and let students and the public learn for themselves. Canceling the memory of a horse at an esteemed university such as W&L seems so small and petty.

After all, Traveller was just a horse.

The spotlight is shined on Joe Biden’s temper

DURING JOE BIDEN’S 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, we were treated to reports galore from news outlets and political insiders alike alerting us as to the “refreshing” change Biden would bring to the White House should he be elected president.

“The president’s admonitions include: ‘God dammit, how the f**k don’t you know this?!,’ ‘Don’t f**king bullsh*t me!’ and ‘Get the f**k out of here!,’ Axios said “current and former Biden aides who have witnessed and been on the receiving end of such outbursts” told them.

Then-Sen. Joe Biden was an egomaniacal autocrat … determined to manage his staff through fear.

Gone would be the antagonism between the Oval Office and the media that Biden claimed was a big problem under then-President Donald Trump’s administration. Respect would be restored between the two institutions we were also told by Biden’s staunchest defenders including Biden himself.

We were also informed that Biden would bring an even temperament to the office after four years of Trump putting his emotions out there on full display — the good, the bad, and everything in between.

People who had studied Biden’s five-plus decades of public service closely, however, predicted that none of that would actually happen, and once Biden took office it didn’t take long for them to be proven right.

Not only did Biden studiously avoid formal solo press conferences for months after being sworn in, but when he has interacted with the press, sometimes his true colors have shown, such as the instance in 2022 when Biden referred to Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy as a “stupid son of a b*tch” in a revealing moment caught on hot mic.

More recently, Biden lashed out at another reporter for asking what he believed was a “dumb question” about reports surrounding allegations made by a Ukraine FBI informant about Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. The Biden administration has also been known to freeze out reporters they don’t like from his public appearances, hardly the actions of a presidential team who promised to respect the freedom of the press.

Beyond Biden breaking his campaign pledge to the mainstream media have been the scattered reports over the years of Biden’s explosive temper, something which was detailed extensively in a recent article from Axios, which talked to current and former staffers for Biden who described a pins and needles atmosphere behind closed doors, and also a fear of having to be in the office alone with him.

A former Biden Senate aide who wrote a book about him in 2012 also alleged a darker side.

Then-Sen. Joe Biden was an “egomaniacal autocrat … determined to manage his staff through fear,” Jeff Connaughton wrote at the time according to Axios.

The author also told the news outlet that Biden “hides his sharper edge to promote his folksy Uncle Joe image — which is why, when flashes of anger break through, it seems so out of public character.”

But one doesn’t need to be an insider to go back in time to see the despicable way then-Sen. Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden treated future Justice Clarence Thomas during his 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, and before that, Judge Robert Bork, whose nomination to our nation’s highest court Biden helped derail in 1987.

It was a sign of things to come, as we saw throughout his 2020 presidential campaign when he called one voter critic of his “fat” and another “full of sh*t,” and then after he became president, where aides view being yelled at by Biden as a sign that he respects them.

This is who Joe Biden is, and while it’s nice to see such a prominent media outlet like Axios taking the lead on such a blockbuster story as Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign kicks into high gear, one has to wonder what took the media so long and why wait until this point in his lengthy political career to pull back the curtain?

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.

EDITORIAL | FRANK HILL

Democrats are throwing kids off the school bus

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency because the legislature wanted to fund vouchers for kids to go to the best schools possible. Egads!

HAVE YOU HEARD the outrageous story of what happened recently in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s capital? Gov. Josh Shapiro (DPa.), elected in 2022, had campaigned on school choice for tens of thousands of children, mostly minorities, who are forced to attend failing public schools in places like Philadelphia.

“It’s what I believe,” Shapiro, then state attorney general, assured voters as he ran for governor. Last month on a national Fox News broadcast, Shapiro was unequivocal in his support for school choice because “every child of God” deserves “a quality education.”

But there’s a force far more powerful in politics than Shapiro’s convictions, such as they are. And that force is the teachers unions. They put on a full-court press to stop the roughly 10,000 vouchers for the poorest kids in Pennsylvania’s worst school districts even though the state budget bill gave billions more for the public schools. It didn’t matter that this voucher program comprised less than 0.5% of state spending. The union brass commanded Democrats to vote no on even a single penny going to schools that work.

In the end, Shapiro did a full flip-flop. He vetoed his own promise. He might as well have declared that black lives don’t matter.

Shapiro has presidential ambitions ― so he figures he needs the teachers unions behind him.

But if he can’t face down Randi Weingarten, how is he ever going to stand up to bullies like China’s President Xi Jinping or Russia’s President Vladimir Putin?

This story isn’t just about Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania. In North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency in the Tar Heel State because the legislature wanted to fund vouchers for kids to go to the best schools possible. Egads!

In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs wants to defund a school choice program that is already serving tens of thousands of kids, most of whom are Hispanic, with proven results of better performance and higher test scores. Why would she kill a program that is working? The teachers unions want the money and the kids under their control.

In New York City’s Harlem neighborhood, charter schools are flourishing. They are alternatives to public schools but are still regulated by the state. They are oversubscribed because parents want to choose the best school for their kids. Now, the Democrats want to put a cap on the charter schools because the teachers unions want to warehouse the kids in public schools where a

majority of the kids can’t read or do math at gradelevel proficiency. In other words, many of the public schools are worse than mediocre. And it’s not for lack of money. New York spends more than $20,000 per child in public schools.

Did I mention that in nearly every one of these cases across the country, the Democrats blocking private and Catholic school options went to private schools themselves? Or they send their kids to private schools. But poor black kids aren’t allowed that same opportunity? These are hypocrites with a capital H.

There’s a cruel historic irony here. Sixty years ago this summer, Alabama Gov. George Wallace stood before the doors of schools to prevent black children from attending the schools with white children. He was trying to preserve the stain of segregation.

Today, Democrats are employing the same tactic to keep minority kids from attending excellent schools. Why? They say that school choice will hurt public schools or cause more segregation.

Wrong on both counts. Monopolies are always bad for consumers and competition improves service. Education choice requires public schools to compete. Would you get good and friendly service if there were only one restaurant in town?

Instead of draining public schools of money, studies show that per-pupil funding rises when some kids take advantage of vouchers to attend alternative schools. Charter and Catholic schools tend to be, in most cases, more racially diverse than inner-city public schools.

I’m a parent of five boys, so I know that each of my kids has different skills, interests, behavior issues and attention spans. To warehouse them all in the same schoolroom is madness. Schools should be tailored toward the kids and serve their interests — not those of the $1 trillion a year public-school-industrial complex.

More importantly, as an economist, my biggest worry about America’s future is what happens when kids are graduating without being able to read their diplomas and with no useful skills. There are hundreds of schools around the country where not a single child can pass a basic math or reading test.

That’s an economic, civil rights and national security tragedy. Shame on Democratic leaders, and some Republicans, too, for putting their own political ambitions ahead of our nation’s children.

Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.

THE LEFT likes to treat skeptics of electrical cars as if they were Luddites. Truth is, making an existing product less efficient but more expensive doesn’t really meet the definition of innovation.

Even the purported amenities and technological advances EV makers like to brag about in their ads have been a regular feature of gas-powered vehicles going back generations. At best, EVs, if they fulfill their promise, are a lateral technology.

Which is why there is no real “emerging market” for EVs in the United States as much as there’s an industrial policy in place that props up EVs with government purchases, propaganda, state subsidies, cronyism, taxpayer-backed loans, and edicts. The green “revolution” is an elite-driven, top-down technocratic project.

And it’s increasingly clear that the only reason giant rent-seeking carmakers are so heavily invested in EV development is that government is promising to artificially limit the production of gas-powered cars.

In August 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to set a target for half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 to be zero-emission. California claims it is banning combustion engines in all new cars in about 10 years. So, carmakers adopt business models to deal with these distorted incentives and contrived theoretical markets of the future.

In today’s real-world economy, Ford projects it’s going to lose $3 billion on electric vehicles in 2023, bringing its EV losses to $5.1 billion over two years. In 2021, Ford reportedly lost $34,000 on every EV it made. This year, it was losing more than $58,000 on every EV. In a normal world, Ford would be dramatically scaling back EV production, not expanding it. Remember that next time we need to bail out Detroit.

Then again, we’re already bailing them out, I suppose. Last week, the U.S. Energy Department lent Ford — again, a company that loses tens of thousands of dollars on every EV it sells — another $9.2 billion in taxpayer dollars for a South Korean battery project. One imagines no sane bank would do it. The cost of EV batteries has gone up, not down, over the past few years.

Ford says these upfront losses are part of a “start-up mentality.” We’re still pretending EVs are a new idea rather than an inferior one. But scaremongering about climate and a misplaced romanticizing of “manufacturing” jobs have softened up the public for this kind of waste.

COLUMN

Who deserves reparations?

The primary instrument that ended slavery in the United States was the Union Army and Navy, with President Abraham Lincoln as commanderin-chief.

SINCE THE LEFT has begun a push for racebased reparations — sometimes involving as much as $5 million per person — it occurred to me that there ought to be a healthy debate about the case for reparations for those whose ancestors and relatives died to free the slaves and end slavery as an institution.

Let me be clear: the whole concept of reparations is insane. It is virtually impossible to figure out who should be eligible. Who decides who gets paid and who doesn’t? And who is going to fund these high dollar payments?

However, if the Left wants to discuss reparations for victims of slavery, why are we not also talking about the millions of black, white, Native American, and other Union soldiers who put their lives on the line to bring slavery to an end?

2Many on the Left hate to admit it, but the primary instrument that ended slavery in the United States was the Union Army and Navy, with President Abraham Lincoln as commander-in-chief.

As historian Allen Guelzo wrote in The Wall Street Journal, “In the long catalog of books and articles by activists demanding reparations for slavery, I have yet to see any mention of the blood-costs of the war that ended it or even a hint that slavery required anything more for its abolition than some mysterious process of evaporation.”

The Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, proclaimed the end of slavery and the beginning of freedom for more than 3,500,000 slaves in the rebelling Confederate states. It was the decisive turning point in ensuring that slavery would disappear in the United States.

However, the instruments that turned the Emancipation Proclamation’s promise into a reality were the Union Army and Navy. If they had not endured terrible casualties and continued to fight, slavery would have survived, and the South would have successfully seceded.

The reality of both the moral nature of the Union cause — and Americans’ willingness to die for it — can be found in the original “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which was a popular marching song used by the Union Army and sung by its supporters. Its key verse is as follows:

“In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on.”

After the war, a peacetime version changed the line from “let us die to make men free” to “let us

live to make men free.” But the edited line misses the central moral point of the verse; Union soldiers willingly marched toward the possibility of their death to win the war, preserve the Union, and free the slaves.

At Gettysburg in November 1863, President Lincoln made the case that the Civil War was a moral cause. Yet he made clear that the preservation of the Union and its commitment to freedom for all people required enormous sacrifice.

“[T]hose who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

In fact, the war would go on for another grueling year and a half.

The Civil War was America’s bloodiest war. The number of Americans killed in the Civil War nearly matches the death toll of all our other wars combined.

There were 2,128,948 Union soldiers fighting to end slavery, approximately 179,000 of whom were black. Moreover, 364,511 Union soldiers were killed and an estimated 40,000 of them were black.

It is impossible to talk seriously about the victims of slavery without recognizing the Union soldiers. The sacrifices and challenges that these soldiers faced cannot be overlooked.

Every time the Left discusses righting America’s past wrongs for the evil institution of slavery, people should propose including the descendants of the Union Army and Navy. This line of reasoning exposes how absurd the entire concept of reparations for slavery really is. Watch the Left drop the topic and shift to a new excuse to transfer wealth.

In the real world, there is Lordstown. In 2019, after General Motors — which also loses money on every EV sold — shut down a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, then-President Donald Trump made a big deal of publicly pressuring the auto giant to rectify the situation. CEO Mary Barra lent Lordstown Motors, a new EV outfit, $40 million to retrofit the plant. Ohio also gave GM another $60 million.

You may remember the widespread glowing coverage of Lordstown. After Biden signed his “Buy American” executive order, promising to replace the entire U.S. federal fleet with EVs, Lordstown’s stock shot up.

By the start of this year, Lordstown had manufactured 31 vehicles total. Six had been sold to actual consumers. (Most of them would be recalled.) The stock was trading at barely a dollar. Tech-funding giant Foxconn was pulling its $170 million. And this week, the company filed for bankruptcy.

Without massive state help, EVs are a niche market for rich virtue signalers. And, come to think of it, that’s sort of what they are now, even with the help. A recent University of California at Berkeley study found that 90% of tax credits for EVs go to people in the top income strata. Most EVs are bought by high earners who like the look and feel of a Tesla. And that’s fine. I don’t want to stop anyone from owning the car they prefer. I just don’t want to help pay for it.

Really, why would a middle-class family shun a perfectly good gas-powered car that can be fueled (most of the time) cheaply and driven virtually any distance, in any environment, and any time of the year? We don’t need lithium. We have the most efficient, affordable, portable and useful form of energy. We have centuries’ worth of it waiting in the ground.

Climate alarmists might believe EVs are necessary to save the planet. That’s fine. Using their standard, however, a bike is an innovation. Because even on their terms, the usefulness of EVs is highly debatable. Most of the energy that powers them is derived from fossil fuels. The manufacturing of an EV has a negligible positive benefit for the environment, if any.

And the fact is that if EVs were more efficient and saved us money, as enviros and politicians claim, consumers wouldn’t have to be compelled into using them and companies wouldn’t have to be bribed into producing them.

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.”

Letters addressed to the editor may be sent to letters@nsjonline.com or 1201 Edwards Mill Rd., Suite 300, Raleigh, NC 27607. Letters must be signed; include the writer’s phone number, city and state; and be no longer than

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Electric cars are a scam

NATION & WORLD

Biden administration suspends satellite monitoring of Colombian coca crops as cocaine surges

The Associated Press MIAMI — The Biden administration has quietly ditched a key gauge used for decades to measure success in the war on drugs, suspending satellite monitoring of coca crops in Colombia as cocaine production surges in South America.

A State Department spokesperson said the move was “temporary” but gave no timeframe for data collection to resume or explain why it was suspended in the first place. It was also unclear whether satellite surveys would continue in Peru and Bolivia, which together account for about half of coca production in the Andean region.

The move, first reported by Colombia’s El Tiempo newspaper, has drawn outrage from Republicans in Congress from Florida, who have been calling for the president to decertify Colombia’s government for failing to cooperate in U.S. anti-narcotics efforts. But it tracks with leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s efforts to refocus law enforcement efforts away from the rural backwaters where coca is grown to instead chase large-scale smugglers and money launderers who reap the bulk of the drug trade’s profits.

“We are constantly assessing the effectiveness of various counternarcotics efforts and make changes to our efforts as needed,” the State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The spokesperson gave the comment on condition of anonymity, citing agency policy. “We continue to work with the Government of Colombia on the monitoring of illicit coca crops.”

Since at least 1987, the U.S. government has published annual estimates of coca cultivation in Colombia. The numbers soared to an all-time high in 2020, when the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy estimated that 245,00 hectares of land — an area three times the size of New York City — was planted with the illicit crop used to make cocaine. Last year’s

report showed production was almost unchanged in 2021 from the same high level. In the first five months of 2023, Petro’s government has manually eradicated just 4,511 hectares of coca — down almost 90% from the 33,454 hectares yanked during the same period a year ago, when the law and order conservative Ivan Duque was still in power. While the U.S. hasn’t commented on what prompted the policy shift, Republicans have seized on it to attack Petro, a former leftist guerrilla, as he seeks better ties with Venezuela’s socialist government and tries to cut a deal with the nation’s last remaining rebel group.

“This is a gift to the Petro Administration,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a senior member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, said in a statement to The Associated Press. “It’s another example of the Biden Administration giving concessions to far-left governments in the region.”

Petro has pushed back, arguing

that the U.S. would be wise to refocus its attention on the fentanyl crisis, which is blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths.

“Things change,” he wrote in a Tweet this week in response to attacks from Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Miami Republican who chairs a subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee dealing with Latin America. Without directly addressing questions about the future of the U.S. coca monitoring effort he said “the structure of drug consumption is changing for the worse, reducing demand for cocaine, which is starting to flow to other parts of the planet.”

Adam Isacson, the director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, said that satellite monitoring of coca crops offers valuable insights into Colombia’s ability to assert state control in remote, economically depressed areas that have long been dominated by illegal armed groups.

But as a tool for estimating cocaine flows it’s less reliable than other measures that have remained mostly stable in recent years like

data on cocaine purity, street prices and overdose deaths. Additionally, the United Nations in conjunction with Colombian authorities annually conducts its own survey of coca cultivation that combines satellite data with on-the-ground verification.

Still, he suspects politics also may have played a role in the U.S. decision to pull the plug.

“If you put a lot of weight on hectares you’re on a collision course with the Petro government, which doesn’t want to make eradication the center of its narcotics strategy,” he said. “The U.S. may be calculating it doesn’t need a major irritant with its closest military ally in the hemisphere.”

The Biden administration has tried to delicately downplay policy differences with Colombia’s first-ever leftist government on narcotics, trade, negotiations with armed rebel groups and sanctions on Venezuela’s socialist government, emphasizing instead the more than two decades of close bilateral cooperation.

The diplomatic dance has yielded some positive results. Petro visited the White House in April and spoke alongside Biden about a “common agenda” to fight climate change and address migration.

A few days later, the U.S. said it would launch a processing center in Colombia to handle growing numbers of migrants from Venezuela and elsewhere in South America seeking entry into the U.S.

“We are going down the same river, a river that leads us to ever-greater democracy and ever-greater freedom,” Petro said at the White House.

The State Department spokesperson said that disrupting cocaine trafficking remains a “high priority” because it foments violence, crime and death throughout the hemisphere.

The White House’s drug policy coordination office, which every July releases the coca monitoring report, did not respond to a request for comment.

at war

The Associated Press VILNIUS, Lithuania — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may have gotten support and vague assurances from NATO leaders in Vilnius last week, but he ultimately returned home without a clear commitment that his country will be joining the club any time soon.

Instead, the alliance leaders said they were removing obstacles on Ukraine’s membership path so that it can join more quickly once the war with Russia is over.

For many, that argument gives Russia’s president a pretext to prolong the war, which President Vladimir Putin ostensibly launched to keep Ukraine from joining NATO.

But if Ukraine joins NATO in the middle of the war, then Russia is at war with the entire NATO alliance.

At the core of this conundrum is Article 5 - NATO’s common defense guarantee under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on them all.

What does article 5 say?

Article 5 is at the heart of the 31-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It states that an armed attack against one or more of the members shall be considered an attack against all members.

It also states that if such an armed attack occurs, each of the members would take, individually and in concert with other members, ‘’such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.’’

That security guarantee is the reason previously neutral Finland and Sweden sought to join NATO and why Ukraine and other coun-

tries in Europe also want in.

When has it been invoked?

Only once, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States, paving the way for NATO’s biggest ever operation in Afghanistan. But NATO allies have also taken collective defense measures including joining the U.S. to fight the Islamic State group in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan as well as help keep the peace in the Balkans.

How does this impact

Ukraine?

NATO’s credibility hinges on Article 5 and its commitment to

offer membership to any European country that can contribute to security in Europe and North America.

But Ukraine, currently in the middle of war with Russia, would oblige all 31 member countries to spring to its defense militarily, potentially igniting a wider war with a nuclear-armed country.

US climate envoy John Kerry spars in heated exchanges with House Republicans ahead of Beijing trip

Washington, D.C.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry defended his negotiations with China — and angrily rebuffed what he called a “stupid” lie that he routinely travels by private jet — during a grilling by House Republicans before he set out on his next climate mission to Beijing.

Kerry left Sunday for meetings with his counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, the first extensive face-toface climate discussions after a nearly yearlong hiatus.

Much of the criticism from GOP committee members zeroed in on the appropriateness of the U.S. engaging in climate negotiations with China. They cited China’s record of human rights abuses and what lawmakers described as China’s evasiveness in refusing to make bigger cuts in climate-damaging fossil fuel emissions.

“They’re not an honest broker when it comes to addressing emissions. They fire a coal plant up pretty much every day, if not week,” said Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Kerry will be the third senior Biden administration official in recent weeks to travel to China for meetings, after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Fireworks broke out after Rep. Cory Mills, a Florida Republican, made a reference to claims that Kerry conducts his climate work by private jet, saying he hoped “it wasn’t too problematic for your operational team and your private jet to get here.”

Kerry singled that out as “one of the most outrageously persistent lies that I hear, which is this private jet.”

He said a family jet belonging to his wife had been sold, he said, but did not say when.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mexico files border boundaries complaint over Texas’ floating barrier plan on Rio Grande

Mexico City

Mexico’s top diplomat said Friday her country has sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. government expressing concern that Texas’ deployment of floating barriers on the Rio Grande may violate 1944 and 1970 treaties on boundaries and water.

Foreign Relations Secretary Alicia Bárcena said Mexico will send an inspection team to the Rio Grande to see whether any of the barrier extends into Mexico’s side of the border river.

She also complained about U.S. efforts to put up barbed wire on a low-lying island in the river near Eagle Pass, Texas.

Article 5 also becomes problematic when the territory of a member is unclear. For instance, Russian forces entered Georgia in August 2008, a few months after NATO leaders first promised the country it would join, along with Ukraine. That country’s NATO application is still pending. Russia continues to occupy large swaths of Ukraine in the east and south, further muddying the picture.

President Joe Biden summed up why he didn’t think Ukraine is ready for NATO membership.

‘’If the war is going on, then we’re all in the war... we’re at war with Russia, if that were the case,’’ he said in an interview with CNN ahead of the summit.

Bárcena said that if the buoys impede the flow of water, it would violate the treaties, which requires the river remain unobstructed. Mexico has already asked that the barriers be removed.

Texas began rolling out the new floating barrier on the Rio Grande in early July. It is part of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar effort to secure the U.S. border with Mexico.

Once installed, the aboveriver parts of the system and the webbing they’re connected with will cover 1,000 feet of the middle of the Rio Grande, with anchors in the riverbed.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP PHOTO

In this Aug. 15, 2012 file photo, police patrol a coca field as hired farmers uproot coca shrubs as part of a manual eradication campaign of illegal crops in San Miguel on Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador.

AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden listens as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Wednesday, July 12, 2023.

Article 5: NATO’s common defense pledge that stands in the way of Ukraine’s admission while

SOCCER

Charlotte FC blanked in Montreal

Montreal

Kwadwo Opoku and Chinonso Offor scored two minutes apart in the first half to spark CF Montreal to a 2-0 victory over Charlotte FC. Opoku, found the net unassisted in the 29th minute to give Montreal (9-12-2) the lead. Offor made it 2-0, using an assist from Joel Waterman to score his fourth of the campaign. Jonathan Sirois did not have to make a save to earn his ninth clean sheet of the season for Montreal.

Kristijan Kahlina saved four shots for Charlotte (6-9-8). Charlotte saw a streak of five straight draws come to an end. It was the club’s longest unbeaten run. The last team to play six straight draws was the Chicago Fire in 2014. Charlotte falls to 0-3-1 in matches played in Canada. When league play resumes on Aug. 20, Charlotte will travel to play Inter Miami.

WNBA

Chelsea Gray wins

WNBA All-Star Skills Competition

Las Vegas

Former Duke star Chelsea Gray and her Las Vegas

Aces teammate Kelsey Plum

teamed up to win the skills competition at the WNBA All-Star Game, finishing an obstacle course of passing, dribbling and shooting tasks with a time of 44.3 seconds in the final round, easily beating the 58.0 put up by the second-place team. Gray, who played for Duke from 2010 to 2014, also played in her fifth WNBA All-Star Game, scoring 6 points with 6 rebounds and 7 assists.

Cheyenne Parker, who played for Southwest Guilford High and three seasons at High Point University, had 14 points and 6 rebounds in her first WNBA All-Star Game. Parker was also on the fourth-place team in the skills competition. Gray and Parker were both on Team Wilson, which lost to Team Stewart, 143-127, in the All-Star Game.

Who made the NASCAR Hall of Fame ballot? B3

Duke looks forward to stability, experience on basketball roster

Blue Devils throw back to great teams of yesteryear with returning production

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

AS JON SCHEYER heads into his second year as Duke’s head coach, he has the most experienced Blue Devils roster since he was a sophomore in college.

A year after he returned all of two players from Coach K’s last team—guard Jeremy Roach and little-used Jaylen Blakes—Scheyer is seemingly bringing everyone back to Durham.

“It’s been very different for me when you go from last year having two players returning to now we have eight,” Scheyer said. “It’s exciting. There’s some familiarity.”

Familiarity is a term that hasn’t been used much at Duke in recent years. In fact, this year’s team is a throwback to some historic Blue Devil squads.

Duke returns a group of play-

ers that scored 2,018 points last season, the most scoring power to return to the Blue Devils since 2008—as Scheyer embarked on year two in Duke Blue. That was also the last Duke team to return four 300-point scorers, five 200-point scorers and five players who hit at least 10 three-pointers. This year’s team is repeating all of those accomplishments.

Duke also returns four players who logged 100 rebounds last season—the first time the Blue Devils have done that since Scheyer’s senior year, when Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Miles and Mason Plumlee returned after hitting the century mark on the boards.

Then there are the really old milestones.

Duke returns four players who started 30 games last season— Roach, Kyle Filipowski, Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell. The last quartet of 30-gamers to return? Shane Battier, Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer and Nate James in 2001.

Overall, the Blue Devils return

“There’s credibility you get from things you’ve done. That doesn’t earn you minutes, that doesn’t earn you wins.”

Jon Scheyer

146 starts from last year. The last Duke team to return more? The 1992 Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill team that repeated as natio””nal champions.

The first since 2010 Duke, since 2001 Duke, since 1992 Duke. Those teams all have something in common, hanging from the rafters at Cameron Indo…

That sound you just heard is the head coach blowing the whistle to stop the action.

“Well, I think the biggest thing is you can’t assume, right?” Scheyer said. “You can’t assume something is going to happen just because you

have a certain number of players returning or because of whether you have us higher or not in preseason rankings. That doesn’t mean anything, and I’ll continue to remind our group.”

Still, compared to last year, when Duke went through its first coaching change in four decades and had just two guys who knew how to get from the locker room to the practice floor, the returning experience must give the Blue Devils a head start.

“That’s one of the things I’m most excited about this upcoming year,” said Ryan Young, a grad transfer from Northwestern last season who returned for his extra COVID year. “Not taking the summer and honestly, like the first 10 games of the year last year, I felt like were kind of still us trying to figure it out. Understand everybody’s roles, learn how Coach Scheyer wanted things run. So, it’s awesome to have this summer where we can kind of hit the ground running instead of teaching everything.”

As a counterpoint, Scheyer seems to think he has plenty left to teach this group.

“When you think about last year, there’s games along the way, and you have to fight in every game to win,” he said. “It’s not like we were this juggernaut last year.”

See DUKE, page B4

International soccer match brings new twist to Kenan Stadium

By Bob Sutton North State Journal

CHAPEL HILL

ence

AFC

—

The pres -

of Chelsea FC and Wrexham

meant a major international soccer event this week in the Triangle.

It came with an overhaul of Kenan Stadium on the University of North Carolina campus.

In order to play Wednesday night’s match, the stadium’s field was covered with natural turf over the artificial version that was put in place a few years ago at what’s normally an American football venue.

Chelsea is an English Premier League team and Wrexham is a Welsh team. That match serves as the lead-off to the 2023 FC Series. This marks the first international soccer event at Kenan Stadium. Chelsea and Wrexham came together for their first meeting since 1984.

“I’m learning about how popular they are,” North Carolina football coach Mack Brown said of endorsing the event to be played on campus. “I thought it was a no-brainer. It was a winwin-win from all angles.”

The stadium transformation began a week before the match. More than 1.5 million pounds of sod arrived from a farm outside of Charlotte. More than two dozen workers assisted with the installation of nearly 100,000 square feet of sod.

After the game, some of the sod might be used for other spots on campus.

Installing sod over artificial turf has become a regular occurrence as more international soccer events are coming to American stadiums made for football with helmets and shoulder pads.

In advance of last July’s Florida Cup matchup between Arsenal FC and Chelsea FC, Orlando’s Camping World Stadium brought in 103,000 square feet of Ber -

“I’m learning about how popular they are.”

UNC football coach Mack Brown

muda grass sod. Closer to home, last month, Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium hosted a pair of Gold Cup matches, between the U.S. and Trinidad & Tobago and between Honduras and Haiti. It’s the second time in two years that the home of the Panthers has undergone a field transformation for international soccer. Sod was brought in for last July’s game between Charlotte FC and Chelsea, as well.

Despite complaints from Panthers players about the quality of the turf at Bank of America Stadium, there were no plans to leave the grass field installed on a more permanent basis either time it was brought in. Chelsea will once again be playing on an imported temporary grass field in North Carolina when it faces Wrexham on

AP PHOTO

Duke’s Tyrese Proctor (5), Mark Mitchell (25), Jeremy Roach (3), and Ryan Young (15) huddle prior to the start of an NCAA college basketball game in Durham, Friday, Nov. 11, 2022.

PHOTO COURTESY FC SERIES

Workers install sod over an artificial turf field prior to an international soccer match in Orlando’s Camping World Stadium last July. A similar process is preparing the Kenan Stadium field for Wednesday’s match.

TRENDING

Stephen Curry: The Golden State Warriors star and Davidson alum made a hole-in-one Saturday in the American Century Championship celebrity tournament. Curry hit the shot on the 152yard par-3 seventh hole at Edgewood Tahoe, ripped off his hat, held a finger in the air and sprinted to the hole. The helped Curry maintain the lead in the event, three points ahead of Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski and former tennis player Mardy Fish. It’s Curry’s second career hole-in-one and the fifth in the history of the tournament.

Bubba Cunningham: North Carolina’s Director of Athletics and a member of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee for the past three seasons, was named vice-chair of the committee for next season and the chair of the committee for the 2024-25 season. Southwestern Athletic Conference Commissioner Charles McClelland will chair the committee for 2023-24. Cunningham joins former Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman (2014) and former Duke athletic director Kevin White (2020) as recent chairs of the committee, which is tasked with selecting and seeding the field for March Madness.

Mark Adams: The former Texas Tech head coach is returning to the sideline as an assistant at East Carolina on Michael Schwartz’s staff, less than a year after resigning for making racially insensitive comments toward a player. Adams is known as a defensive mastermind who helped Tech reach the 2019 national championship game as Chris Beard’s assistant. He was elevated to head coach when Beard left for Texas in 2021 and led the Red Raiders to the Sweet 16.

Beyond the box score

POTENT QUOTABLES

Ryan Young

Tennessee’s football program must vacate all 11 of its wins from the 2019 and 2020 seasons under coach Jeremy Pruitt as part of penalties handed down by the NCAA for multiple violations. A school spokesman confirmed the Vols’ eight wins in 2019 and three in 2020 will be vacated and will be reflected in the program’s record book. Pruitt’s final record is now 5-19 and the school’s all-time record is 856-410-53. The vacated wins are part of the penalties from the NCAA from a report that outlined more than 200 violations during Pruitt’s three-year tenure in Knoxville.

NHL player Alex Galchenyuk to officers who stopped him in Arizona last week. Galchenyuk was released by the Arizona Coyotes a short time later.

PRIME NUMBER

175

Number of infractions the NCAA has found of its sports-betting policy since 2018, including 17 active investigations. That’s according to a letter from NCAA President Charlie Baker obtained by The Associated Press. Less than 0.25% of approximately 13,000 NCAA sporting events are flagged for suspicious betting patterns.

The Philadelphia Flyers placed defenseman Tony DeAngelo on unconditional waivers after one season with the club. DeAngelo was traded from Carolina to Philadelphia last July and signed a two-year, $10 million contract. He scored 42 points with 31 assists in 70 contests to rank sixth on the Flyers. He was a healthy scratch for the final five games, with Philadelphia playing one defenseman short rather than dressing him. The Flyers earlier tried to send DeAngelo back to Carolina, but the NHL wouldn’t allow it.

The Women’s World Cup opens play on Thursday, with games being held in Australia and New Zealand. Team USA will play its first game, against Vietnam, on Friday. Team USA features two members of the NWSL’s North Carolina Courage: Casey Murphy and Emily Fox (pictured). Fox also played in college for UNC. The team also features another former Tar Heel in Crystal Dunn, and a Wake Forest Demon Deacon alum in Aubrey Kingsbury.

NCAA FOOTBALL

MORRY GASH | AP PHOTO

SOCCER

PAUL SANCYA | AP PHOTO

NHL

GODOFREDO A. VÁSQUEZ | AP PHOTO

“One phone call and you’re all dead, your whole family, your blood line is dead.”

KYLE ROBERTSON | AP PHOTO

“He just looks more the look of a head coach, I guess. Not that he didn’t last year but you could tell that he was kind of feeling it out.”

Duke big man

on second-year head coach Jon Scheyer

AURELIEN MORISSARD | AP PHOTO

More than 50 NC players selected in MLB Draft

Three-day event saw 39 players from in-state colleges get the call

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

A TOTAL of 51 players from the state of North Carolina were selected in the three-day MLB Draft last week. Thirty nine players for colleges in the state were selected, along with 12 players who played high school ball in North Carolina.

Wake Forest, who lost in the championship round of the College World Series, was most represented, with a program-record 10 players selected, the second most of any NCAA school.

Three Deacs, Rhett Lowder, Brock Wilken and Sean Sullivan, were taken on Day One, which we recapped last week. A half dozen more were taken on Day Two:

Round 3, pick 84 – Seth Keener,

RHP, Chicago White Sox

3/92 – Teddy McGraw

RHP, Seattle Mariners

6/170 – Bennett Lee

C, Detroit Tigers

6/174 – Camden Minacci

RHP, Los Angeles Angels

6/188 – Tommy Hawke

OF, Cleveland Guardians

10/289 – Justin Johnson

INF, Kansas City Royals

Lowder signed with the Reds for a $5.7 million bonus. McGraw ($600,000), Lee (undisclosed) and Minacci ($328,500) have also signed. One final Deac was selected on day three: 20/613 – Pierce Bennett, OF/INF, Philadelphia Phillies. NC State and Charlotte, the two schools that first-day pick Gino Groover played for in college, each produced another four draft picks on the final two days. State’s contingent were all taken on day three:

12/356 – Carter Trice

INF/OF, Chicago Cubs

15/446 – Rio Britton

LHP, Arizona Diamondbacks

15/456 – Justin Lawson

RHP, New York Mets

18/527 – Kalae Harrison INF, Pittsburgh Pirates

Charlotte’s draftees included

4/123 Wyatt Hudepohl

RHP, New York Mets

4/131 Cameron Fisher OF, Houston Astros

5/154 Jake Cunningham OF, Baltimore Orioles

16/470 Donye Evans RHP, Detroit Tigers

It’s the third time in school history that at least four 49ers have been drafted. The others were in 2017 and 2008. Duke saw four former Blue Devils get their names called during the draft. It’s the fewest Duke draftees since two were selected in the COVID abbreviated 2020 draft, and the fewest in a full draft since three were taken in 2017.

6/191 – Jay Beshears INF, San Diego Padres

7/218 – Alex Mooney

SS, Cleveland Guardians

10/303 – Adam Boucher

RHP, Tampa Bay Rays

17/520 – Luke Fox LHP/OF, Los Angeles Dodgers

Campbell also had four players drafted.

The Camels saw Cade Kuehler taken on the first day, followed by:

7/217 Ty Cummings RHP, Seattle Mariners

14/427 Ernie Day RHP, Seattle Mariners

16/476 Daniel Brown LHP, Chicago Cubs

Cummings signed with the Mariners for an undisclosed bonus amount.

UNC had three players selected. It’s the third time in four years UNC has had three or fewer players taken in a draft after seeing 59 Tar Heels get drafted in the nine years between 2011 and 2019. Mac Horvath was taken on day one, followed by:

12/358 – Max Carlson

RHP, Boston Red Sox

15/462 – Tomas Frick

C, New York Yankees

For the first time since 2011, Davidson had two players drafted.

5/149 Michael Carico

C, Chicago Cubs

9/281 Ryan Wilson OF, San Diego Padres

Carico became the highest drafted Wildcat since Robert Eenhoorn in 1990. He signed for an undisclosed bonus.

ECU, Wingate and UNC-Wilmington each had two players drafted.

For UNC-W:

11/336 Brett Banks

RHP, New York Mets

18/553 Ethan Chenault

RHP, Philadelphia Phillies

Banks was the highest drafted UNC-W player since Greg Jones was taken in the first round in 2019.

For Wingate, who had multiple players taken for the first time since 2005:

9/256 Corey Avant RHP, Oakland A’s

14/429 Mitch Farris, LHP/1B, Atlanta Braves

Avant was the highest drafted player from Wingate since 1984 and signed for $185,100.

The following Pirates got the call:

11/342 Josh Grosz RHP, New York Yankees

16/485 Tyler Bradt RHP, St. Louis Cardinals

Three schools each had one player drafted: Xavier Meachem is the highest drafted NC A&T player since Al Holland in 1975, when he was taken in the 10th round at No. 293 by the Miami Marlins. The RHP signed for an undisclosed bonus.

Appalachian State had its first player drafted since 2020:

14/417 Xander Hamilton RHP, Minnesota Twins. Hamilton signed for $100,000. Western Carolina had a player taken for the third straight draft:

20/614 Pascanel Ferreras, SS, Houston Astros

High school player Walter Jenkins was taken on day one. The following North Carolina residents who played college out of state were taken in the last two days:

3/77 Jack Mahoney, RHP, Weddington (U of South Carolina) Colorado Rockies

3/91 Nolan McLean RHP/OF, Willow Spring (Oklahoma State) New York Mets 747,600

3/99 Jake Bloss, RHP, Greensboro (Georgetown) Houston Astros

4/125 Cooper Ingle, C, Asheville (Clemson) Cleveland Guardians

6/175 Philip Abner, LHP, Charlotte (Florida) Arizona Diamondbacks

10/299 Zach Franklin

RHP, Marion (Missouri) Chicago White Sox

12/352 Bryson Hammer

LHP, Stony Point (Dallas Baptist) Colorado Rockies

13/403 Martin Gair

RHP, Concord (Florida Southwestern State) Philadelphia Phillies

14/421 Michael Forret

RHP, Indian Trail (State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota) Baltimore Orioles

17/514 Sam Kulasingam

1B, Holly Springs (Air Force Academy) Toronto Blue Jays

19/578 Josh Harlow, RHP, Garner (Mercer) Cleveland Guardians

McLean signed for $747,600. Bloss and Franklin signed for undisclosed bonuses.

Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus nominated for NASCAR Hall of Fame

The Associated Press SEVEN-TIME CUP SERIES champion Jimmie Johnson and his former crew chief of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Chad Knaus headline a list of 15 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

There are 10 nominees on the modern era ballot and five on the pioneer ballot, which is designed to honor those whose careers began more than 60 years ago. Two modern era candidates and one pioneer candidate will be selected for the Hall of Fame when the 61-person committee meets on Aug. 2.

Together, Johnson and Knaus won Cup titles in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2016. Johnson’s seven titles as a driver tie him with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for the most in NASCAR history.

Joining Johnson and Knaus on the modern era ballot are former drivers Carl Edwards, Neil Bonnett, Jeff Burton, Ricky Rudd, Harry Gant, Tim Brewer, Harry Hyde and Larry Phillips.

Donnie Allison, an original member of the fan-favorite Alabama Gang, will be on the pioneer ballot for the first time, along with fellow drivers AJ Foyt and Sam Ard, car builder Banjo Matthews and car owner Ralph Moody.

Longtime NASCAR executive Les Richter joins the Landmark Award ballot for the first time after being on the Hall of Fame ballot three times before the award was created. The Landmark Award honors those who made significant contributions to the growth and esteem of NASCAR. Also up for the Landmark award are Alvin Hawkins, Janet Guthrie, Dr. Joseph Mattioli and Lesa France Kennedy.

Three North Carolina racing

KENAN from page B1

Wednesday. Chelsea won the IFA Club World Cup in 2022, adding to its credentials that include five Premier League championships.

Wrexham has gained a cultlike following in recent years after the team was bought in 2020

DARRON CUMMINGS | AP PHOTO

Harry Gant spins out during a 1982 race. The Taylorsville racing legend is one of the finalists for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

legends are on the ballot: Alvin Hawkins is on the ballot for the Landmark Award. With Bill France Sr., Hawkins established NASCAR racing at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem. The Hawkins family continues to operate the quarter-mile track, one that is an institution in the sport and a crown jewel for short track racers throughout the country. The modern era ballot includes Tim Brewer, who won Cup Series Championships in 1978 and 1981 working for Hall of Famer Junior Johnson. The Winston-Salem native joined Richard Childress Racing as one of the youngest crew chiefs in the sport’s history and immedi-

and Rob

by actors Ryan Reynolds

ately guided Childress to his first career top-10 finish. But it was Brewer’s subsequent partnership with NASCAR Hall of Famer Junior Johnson that thrust him into the spotlight.

Upon joining Johnson’s team, Brewer led Hall of Famers Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip to 32 wins during a magical four-year stretch, bookended by two championships (1978 with Yarborough, ’81 with Waltrip). He was painfully close to two other Cup championships, losing by 16 points in ’80 and 10 points with Bill Elliott in the famous ’92 finale.

Over his 30-year career, Brewer racked up 53 victories – including two Southern 500s – and 55 poles.

Following his crew chief career, Brewer spent time as a technical analyst for ESPN race broadcasts.

Also on the modern era ballot is Taylorsville’s Harry Gant, known as “Handsome Harry” for his good looks, the “Bandit” due to his longtime sponsor Skoal Bandit, “Mr. September” after his four consecutive Cup Series and two Xfinity Series wins in September of 1991 and “High Groove Harry” because of his proficiency in taking the high line through the corner.

A humble man, he could wheel a race car darn well, too. Gant won 18 Cup Series races, including the Southern 500 in 1984 and 1991. The North Carolinian also registered 21 wins in the Xfinity Series.

ing the stadium for the match.

In the five seasons from 1981 through 1985, Gant finished in the top five in points four times, including a runner-up championship finish to Terry Labonte in 1984.

Gant maintained his racing prowess into his 50s and holds the premier series records for oldest driver to win a race (52 years old) and pole (54).

He drove the first race car with a telemetry system installed in it at Talladega in 1985 and relayed the data to CBS during its coverage of the event.

Gant was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest drivers. NSJ staff contributed to this report

McElhenney.

The team will play games against Chelsea, Manchester United, LA Galaxy II and Philadelphia Union II at venues in North Carolina, Los Angeles, San Diego and Pennsylvania as its celebrity owners try to stir up American interest in the team.

Wrexham has also signed a num-

ber of high-profile deals with commercial partners, most notably United Airlines. With a crowd of about 50,000 expected to be on hand and with many of the spectators not normally visiting Kenan Stadium, traffic alerts went up for the Chapel Hill area in advance of the game. The university is rent-

Brown said his permission wasn’t needed in order to have the contest conducted in the stadium. But he sees many benefits coming from it.

“With me being all in, it really helps me feel great that I’m helping other programs,” Brown said. “It’s a great revenue producer for

the university. I thought it was an unbelievable opportunity.”

North Carolina women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance said this spring that having a match of this magnitude on campus should be a significant boost to the soccer programs at the university.

“We’re absolutely going to use this in recruiting,” he said.

REBECCA S. GRATZ | AP PHOTO Wake Forest starting pitcher Seth Keener throws a pitch during the College World Series. Keener was drafted by the White Sox in the third round.

Local products get their chance to shine in NBA Summer League

Over 20 players from NC schools participated in the summer series

By Jesse Deal

North State Journal

WITH THE 2023 NBA Summer League in the books, it’s worth reflecting on the nearly two dozen players from North Carolina colleges and universities who looked to make the most of their opportunities in Las Vegas as they tried to help their chances of landing a roster spot.

Duke led all local schools with 11 former players on Summer League rosters, including Dallas Mavericks center and recent 12th overall pick Dereck Lively II, who averaged 8.4 points and eight rebounds in five games but looked particularly strong on the defensive side of the court.

“You have to be able to adapt on the court and learn on the fly, be able to pick up screens and defensive coverages and be able to learn the plays,” Lively told reporters on his adjustment to the league. “You have to learn the pace of the game and pace of your teammates.”

Former Blue Devil and current Philadelphia 76ers guard DJ Steward also had a strong summer showing with 16.2 points averaged throughout five games. The 21-year-old saved his best performance for last, exploding for 36 points (on 13-for-20 shooting) along with six assists on July 16.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Wendell Moore Jr. (14.3 points, 2.3 rebounds in three games), Atlanta Hawks forward AJ Griffin (nine points, six rebounds in three games), Sacramento Kings guard Alex O’Connell (9.7 points,

2.7 rebounds in three games), and New York Knicks guard Trevor Keels (10.8 points, 2.8 assists in five games) also had moments of success during Summer League action.

Fove other former Dukies — Denver Nuggets guard Cassius Stanley (6.5 points, 2.8 rebounds in four games), Memphis Grizzlies forward Matthew Hurt (1.5 points, 2.3 rebounds in four games), Minnesota Timberwolves forward Theo John (.3 points, .3 rebounds in three games), Jordan Tucker (4.6 ppg for Philadelphia) and Utah Jazz center Vernon Carey Jr. (waived) — each had less successful showings this summer. Brooklyn Nets guard Dariq Whitehead, another first-round pick (No. 22) from Duke, had to sit out summer action due to his ongoing rehab from a foot injury and subsequent surgeries. However, the 6-foot-7 wing is expected to be fully recovered and ready for the start of the 2023 season.

With four rostered players, North Carolina had the second-most Summer League participants of any local school.

Former Tar Heel and now Atlanta Hawks forward Brady Manek had the most notable impact for his team with 12.8 points and 4.5 rebounds in four games; his shooting splits were impressive as well, averaging 50% from the field and 38.1% from three.

Meanwhile, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Pete Nance (8.2 points, 3.2 rebounds in five games), Charlotte Hornets forward Leaky Black (four points, six rebounds in two games), and New Orleans Pelicans forward Garrison Brooks (6.6 points, 5.4 rebounds in five games) each looked to impress their team’s front office but with

varied results.

Representing NC State, Philadelphia 76ers guard Terquavion Smith (14.4 points, five assists) and New Orleans Pelicans guard Dereon Seabron (.8 points, .2 rebounds) each had five performances on the court. Jarkel Joiner averaged 4.3 ppg in four games. Manny Bates averaged 2.0 ppg in two games for Memphis.

If Smith makes the Sixers’ roster, he would be the first Farmville Central graduate to ever play in the NBA, NFL, or MLB. Wake Forest was also represented by three players: Memphis Grizzlies forward Jake LaRavia, San Antonio guard Chaundee Brown and Chicago Bulls guard Tyree Appleby.

LaRavia (18.3 points, 4.3 rebounds in four games) averaged

just three points per game in his rookie season last year after being drafted at No. 19 overall but looked much more comfortable in his recent outings. Brown and Appleby each averaged 1.0 ppg.

Rounding out the list of local Summer League participants was Minnesota Timberwolves guard Javonte Cooke (6.4 points, 2.2 rebounds in five games) out of Winston-Salem State, Washington Wizards guard Xavier Cooks (13.5 points, 8.5 rebounds in two games) out of Winthrop, Charlotte Hornets guard Jaylen Sims (nine points, one rebound in one game) out of UNC Wilmington, and Charlotte Hornets guard Tajion Jones (waived) out of UNC Asheville.

Additionally, two Wofford-based players — Memphis

Grizzlies guard Nathan Hoover (4.5 points, .8 rebounds in four games) and Houston Rockets guard Fletcher Magee (11.3 points, 2.7 rebounds in three games) — each received a dosage of summer action. Coming off the bench, Magee scored 21 points on only seven shots for the Rockets in a win over Utah on July 16.

Monroe’s Hunter Tyson led Denver with 20.8 ppg. Durham’s Jay Huff averaged 1.0 ppg for Houston. Sacha Killeya-Jones, who attended NC State, sitting out a year under transfer rules but never played for the Pack, averaged 6.7 ppg and 4.0 rebounds for the Lakers. G.G. Jackson, who committed to UNC but never played for the Heels, averaged 8.8 ppg and 4.2 rebounds for Memphis.

2023 All Star Game adds to legacy of ‘greatest minor league team ever’

1993 Greensboro Hornets continue to add to legacy

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

WHEN PHILLIES MANAG -

ER Rob Thomson needed to pick coaches for his first time managing the National League All Star Team, he decided to rely on a connection 30 years in the making.

Thomson, who led Philadelphia to the World Series last season, decided to add Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton to his All Star staff.

The Pirates were one of the surprise teams of the first two months of 2023, leading the National League Central Division for much of the early going before falling back to the pack. Shelton has his young team overperforming this season and had earned a spot in the Midsummer Classic.

That’s no surprise to Thomson, his former coach on perhaps the greatest minor league team ever.

“Yeah, so I added Derek because of the fact -- Derek and I go back a long time, back to our Yankee days,” Thomson said. “Derek was actually a player for me. I was coaching a team in Greensboro, North Carolina, our A-ball club, and Derek was kind of a backup catcher.”

That was 1993, the second year of a two-season run in Greensboro not seen very often in the deep minors. Then known as the Hornets, Greensboro went 74-67 in 1992, then stormed to a 85-56 mark the following season, winning the South Atlantic League North Division by eight and a half games.

Many of the players who would go on to form the core of the New York Yankees teams that won four World Series in five seasons to end the decade were in Greensboro during that time. Pitcher Andy Pettitte went 10-4 in 27 starts for the 1992 team. Many of those starts were caught by Jorge Posada, who hit 11 home runs and stole 12 bases in 101 games while hitting .277.

DUKE from page B1

Plus, the Blue Devils have been slowed by injuries during the summer. Filipowski had surgery and is just getting back onto the court after three months of rehab. Mitchell is recovering from a knee problem, and Roach has also missed time.

That paved the way for the really big names in 1993.

“On that team also was Derek Jeter and Mariano Riviera,” said Thomson.

“What I remember is there were two Hall of Famers on that team,” Shelton said.

The pair would combine for 10 world championships and 27 All Star appearances, as well as two first-ballot elections to the Hall of Fame, where a total of one voter out of 823 ballots cast left either of them off of their Hall of Fame vote.

The ’93 Hornets also included Shane Spencer and Ramiro Mendoza, giving the team a total of 17 World Series rings and 30 All Star

Of course, that gives the team a chance to get acquainted with the newcomers—a freshman class that ranked in the top two or three by most recruiting services.

It includes five-star guard Jared McCain and five-star forward TJ Power, as well as McDonald’s All-American forward Sean Stew-

selections, including Thomson’s two—one as a Yankees coach and one as Phillies manager. Shelton gives the team its 31st All-Star, despite hitting just one home run in 23 games for the Hornets that season, his last as a professional player.

“So Shelty moved on, went to spring training, the next year I think he got hurt,” Thomson recalled. “A couple years later we hired him as a coach and he and I have been very good friends, and Derek was just a student of the game. Asked so many questions, went on to be hitting coordinator for Cleveland, and a hitting coach in the Big Leagues for Cleveland, and then he got a chance to manage in the Big Leagues. He’s

art and four-star guard Caleb Foster. The team also added forward Neal Begovich as a grad transfer from Stanford.

That means that, even with an accomplished group returning, the competition for time on the floor will be fierce.

“We had a great end to the sea-

really an intelligent guy and a great leader in my mind, and they were playing so well at the start that I thought that he earned that right to come here to the All Star Game.”

Despite the lopsided won-loss record, the two future Hall of Famers didn’t exactly dominate the South Atlantic League that season. Jeter hit a respectable .295 with five home runs and 18 stolen bases, but the number that jumps off his stat sheet is the 56 errors he had at shortstop as he struggled to learn the position—one teammate said he looked like a right fielder playing short.

Rivera was still trying to make it as a starting pitcher at the time,

son,” Scheyer said. “We had a really good year—ACC Champs. All that’s great. But that’s behind us. So everything that you do, naturally as a player returning, there’s credibility you get from things you’ve done. That doesn’t earn you a certain role. That doesn’t earn you minutes, that doesn’t earn you

going 1-0 with a 2.06 ERA in 10 starts.

“I think we knew Derrick was special,” Shelton recalled, “and you know, Moe was coming off of a surgery. So the cutter wasn’t the cutter that he ended up with. But we had a good team. We had a lot of good young players. I think we knew there were going to be some guys who played int the big leagues, and I think there ended up being six or seven guys that played in the big leagues off that team.” And?

“And two guys that ended up being managers in the big leagues,” he added. Both of them All-Stars.

wins. I feel like the chip on our shoulder has been even higher this year from our returning guys, from our incoming freshman. It’s been as competitive as I’ve seen the last few years.”

Perhaps as competitive as he’s seen since he was one of the ones on the floor competing.

SHAWN KREST | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton, a former Greensboro Hornet, speaks to the media at the media day for the 2023 All Star Game.

JEFF SWINGER | AP PHOTO

Memphis Grizzlies forward Jake LaRavia (3), a former Wake Forest Demon Deacon, dribbles around Philadelphia 76ers guard Jaden Springer (11) during the second half of an NBA summer league basketball game Tuesday, July 5, 2022, in Salt Lake City.

$87,479,541 Less Disbursements

$126,883,159 Reserved Cash $125,000,000 Unreserved Cash Balance Total $6,535,378,293

Loan Balance $0

EXPORT from page B5 shipped and number of vessels departing Ukraine have plunged, with Russia accused of preventing additional ships from participating.

The war in Ukraine sent food commodity prices to record highs last year and contributed to a global food crisis, which was also tied to other conflicts, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate factors.

High grain prices in countries like Egypt, Lebanon and Nigeria exacerbated economic challenges and helped push millions more people into poverty or food insecurity.

Rising food prices affect people in developing countries disproportionately, because they spend more of their money on meals. Poorer nations that depend on imported food priced in dollars also are spending more as their currencies weaken and they are forced to import more because of climate change.

Under the deal, prices for global food commodities like wheat and vegetable oil have fallen, but food was already expensive before the war in Ukraine, and the relief hasn’t trickled down to kitchen tables.

“Countries such as Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia are dependent on food imports from Ukraine, so it does hamper availability and accessibility to food,” said Shashwat Saraf, the International Rescue Committee’s regional emergency director for East Africa.

Now it’s key to watch whether Russia “weaponizes” its wheat exports, said Simon Evenett, professor of international trade and economic development at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

As the world’s current largest wheat supplier, Russia could hike its export taxes, which “would raise world grain prices as well as allow Russia to finance more of its military campaign in Ukraine,” Evenett said. He noted that Moscow already raised them slightly this month.

The grain deal has faced setbacks since it was brokered by the U.N. and Turkey. Russia pulled out briefly in November before rejoining and extending the deal.

In March and May, Russia would only renew for 60 days, instead of the usual 120. The amount of grain shipped per month fell from a peak of 4.2 million metric tons in October to over 2 million metric tons in June.

Ukraine has accused Russia of preventing new ships from joining the work since the end of June. Joint inspections meant to ensure vessels carry only grain and not weapons have slowed considerably.

Asked Monday whether an attack on a bridge connecting the Crimean Peninsula to Russia was a factor in the decision on the grain deal, the Kremlin spokesman said it was not.

Meanwhile, Russia’s wheat shipments hit all-time highs following a large harvest. It exported 45.5 million metric tons in the 2022-2023 trade year, with another record of 47.5 million metric tons expected in 2023-2024, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.

IRS says it collected $38 million from more than 175 high-income tax delinquents

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C — The IRS is showcasing its new capability to aggressively audit high-income tax dodgers as it makes the case for sustained funding and tries to avert budget cuts sought by Republicans who want to gut the agency.

IRS leaders said they collected $38 million in delinquent taxes from more than 175 high-income taxpayers in the past few months.

In one case, an individual had used money owed to the government to buy a Maserati and a Bentley, and roughly 100 high-income people tried to get favorable tax treatment through Puerto Rico without meeting certain tax requirements. Many of those cases are expected to face criminal investigation.

“It just shows you how much money is out there in delinquent taxes, and there are so many more cases for us to tackle,” said new IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, just four months into the job.

“There’s just a significant opportunity there.”

No comparable figures exist for how those high-dollar tax collections compared with previous years, said Jodie Reynolds, speaking for the agency. Rather, the new data reflect an initiative that started after the agency received a new funding stream through the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August by Democrats.

The new data collection “is an example of work we expect to continue to focus on with IRA funding,” she said.

Werfel, in a call with reporters on Thursday, also cited the federal tax collector’s enhanced ability to identify tax delinquents from resources provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.

The agency was in line for an $80 billion infusion under the law but that money is vulnerable to potential cutbacks.

House Republicans built a $1.4 billion reduction to the IRS

into the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress this summer. The White House said the debt deal also has a separate agreement to take $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years and divert that money to other non-defense programs.

Now, the agency is trying to show the value of the Inflation Reduction Act funding for taxpayers as appropriations season closes in, and to show the impact of its efforts to do more to audit high-income taxpayers. Last summer Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gave the IRS leadership instructions not to increase audit rates on people making less than $400,000 a year annually, and to focus on high-income taxpayers.

A team of academic economists and IRS researchers in 2021 found that the top 1% of U.S. income

earners fail to report more than 20% of their earnings to the IRS.

The IRS said its workers answered 3 million more phone calls than in the last filing season, cut wait times to 3 minutes from 28 and cleared the backlog of unprocessed 2022 tax returns that had no errors. It is opening new taxpayer assistance centers and holding events to help people who live far from the agency’s in-person offices.

“The mixed results here of some taxpayers, still frustrated, and some taxpayers seeing dramatic improvements tells us we have more work to do,” Werfel said.

The IRS’s enforcement staff has shrunk by about one-third since 2010 and has been operating with outdated technology that the agency said it is gradually automating.

In April, the agency released a report outlining how it would spend the money allotted through the Inflation Reduction Act, such as bringing more paper-based systems online and answering taxpayers’ phone calls promptly.

Other plans are more ambitious, including exploring ways to create a government-operated electronic free-file tax return system, which is currently being piloted.

The idea of providing additional money for the agency has been politically controversial since 2013, when the IRS under the Obama administration was found to scrutinize political groups that applied for tax-exempt status.

A Treasury Department inspector general report found that both conservative and liberal groups were chosen for scrutiny.

The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three large tax preparation firms sent “extraordinarily sensitive” information on tens of millions of taxpayers to Facebook parent company Meta over the course of at least two years, a group of congressional Democrats reported on Wednesday.

They say some of that data was then used by Meta to create targeted advertising to its own users, other companies, and to train Meta’s algorithms.

The Democrats’ report urges federal agencies to investigate and potentially go to court over the wealth of information that H&R Block, TaxAct and TaxSlayer shared with the social media giant.

In a letter to the heads of the IRS, the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the IRS watchdog, seven lawmakers say their findings “reveal a shocking breach of taxpayer privacy by tax prep companies and by Big Tech firms.”

Their report said highly personal and financial information about sources of taxpayers’ income, tax deductions and exemptions was made accessible to Meta as taxpayers used the tax software to prepare their taxes.

That data came to Meta through its Pixel code, which the tax firms installed on their websites to gather information on how to improve their own marketing campaigns.

In exchange, Meta was able to access the data to write targeted algorithms for its own users.

The program collected information on taxpayers’ filing status, income, refund amounts, names of dependents, approximate federal tax owed, which buttons were clicked on the tax preparers’ websites and the names of text entry forms that the taxpayer navigated, the report states. Taxpayer data was also shared with Google, through its own tracking tools — though the firm told lawmakers that it never used the information to track users on the internet, according to the report.

The letter to federal agencies was signed by Sens. Elizabeth

Warren, Ron Wyden, Richard Blumenthal, Tammy Duckworth, Bernie Sanders, Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Katie Porter. The lawmakers called for the agencies to “immediately open an investigation into this incident.”

They ask the agencies to investigate “and prosecute any company or individuals who violated the law,” saying it could result in billions of dollars in criminal liability to the firms.

The Markup, a nonprofit journalism outlet focusing on technology, initially reported on the data-sharing between tax firms and Meta in November. A TaxAct representative said the firm has engaged with Warren’s office to explain its usage of the analytical tools and that protecting customers is its top priority.

A TaxSlayer representative said Wednesday that the report “contains numerous false or misleading statements” regarding the

taxpayers’ personal and filing information sent to Meta and Google and it will request a retraction or correction from Warren’s office.

H&R Block said that it takes protecting client privacy very seriously and has taken steps to prevent the sharing of information through the Pixel coding. And Meta said that it has been clear in its policies that advertisers “should not send sensitive information about people through our Business Tools.”

“Doing so is against our policies and we educate advertisers on properly setting up Business tools to prevent this from occurring,” the company said in an emailed statement. “Our system is designed to filter out potentially sensitive data it is able to detect.”

This May, the FTC proposed sweeping new changes to its standing privacy order for Meta that would bar the company from using any data collected from chil-

dren under 18, including via its virtual reality technologies. The new rules would also force Meta to pause new products and services until an independent assessor confirms that they comply with the FTC order. The under-18 concerns stem largely from Facebook’s Messenger for Kids app, which has long drawn fire for insufficient privacy protections for its younger users.

Also in 2018, the company disclosed that almost 50 million accounts had been vulnerable to the theft of digital “user tokens” that attackers could use to log into personal accounts. Facebook admitted the same year that most of its then 2.2 billion users had likely had their public data “scraped” by malicious actors.

Representatives from the IRS and FTC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. DOJ and the IRS watchdog declined to comment.

The exterior of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington, D.C.

3 tax prep firms shared ‘extraordinarily sensitive’ data about taxpayers with Meta, lawmakers say

AP PHOTO

A Meta sign is displayed at the company’s booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco, March 22, 2023.

Living the Ford Bronco Life at the Raptor Off-Roadeo

Ford blends adrenaline, adventure, and community to offer a lifestyle, not just an SUV

By Jordan Golson North State Journal

LAS VEGAS

— It all starts with a jump. I’m sitting on a bluff overlooking the high-speed, Ultra4-inspired training course at Ford’s Bronco Raptor Off-Roadeo school outside Las Vegas, and I’m looking down at the first obstacle: a highspeed tabletop jump that is deceptively tricky to get right.

I start down a loose gravel trail, picking up some speed before a sharp banked turn in soft silt. The trick is to get the car straightened out as quickly as possible, then slowly rolling on the power without letting the rear-end kick loose and building speed towards the jump. Done properly and you gain speed and get a better jump. Do it wrong and the rear end slides around and you lose all your speed, or worse, head off the ramp in the wrong direction.

We have time for only a single run, so I have to make it count — somehow, I nail the corner perfectly and plant my foot on the gas, building speed towards the blind jump. As instructed, I let off the gas just before we leave the ground and take flight, kind of. Jumping the Bronco Raptor is more akin to a belly flop than a swan dive, but we have a blissful few seconds in the air — enough time for my brain to think “wow, we’re in the air!

Holy smokes, I hope we land okay, wow, we’ve been up here a while, I hope someone got this on video.”

The off-road-spec FOX shocks absorb the landing with ease, and we dash off to the next obstacle.

I have a modest amount of highspeed desert driving experience, but even I know that my jump was pretty epic, something confirmed by my enthusiastic instructor who was very pleased with my performance. No one got it on video.

What’s this all about? The Bronco Raptor Off-Roadeo is a one-ofa-kind off-road school offered free to every buyer of Ford’s best Bronco. This professionally-instructed driving experience kicks off at a sprawling basecamp at the foot of Mt. Potosi, a stone’s throw away

from the Las Vegas strip. After an orientation, safety briefing, and helmet fitting, attendees hit the trail for Raptor Valley, a privately owned and custom-designed facility some 15 miles away. With multiple courses designed in collaboration with professional off-road drivers, attendees are guaranteed an authentic and thrilling off-road experience. Following the thrill of the jump, the Off-Roadeo served up a series of challenging terrains. There was a technical, slow-speed course

inspired by the Baja 1000 desert race — think frequent twists, turns, and changing terrains. But it’s the Ultra4 experience that is the star of the show, with fast sections, even more jumps, a brief rock crawl, and lots of deceptively tricky corners. Our brief media day was an accelerated visit, but the full 10-hour experience allows even a novice to build their skills. It was, in every sense, an adrenaline-fueled, dirt-in-your-teeth offroad masterclass.

What’s unique about this, be-

yond the sand-spitting, spine-tingling driving, is that it’s part of Ford’s larger effort to create a lifestyle brand around everything Bronco. The sizable gift shop, filled to the brim with Bronco-branded merch, is a testament to their success. The Off-Roadeo isn’t just about teaching Bronco Raptor owners how to handle their vehicles off-road (and how to leave as little of a footprint behind when doing so); it’s about immersing them in a lifestyle, a community, and a brand. There are four Bronco Off-Roadeo locations around the country, one each in Nevada, Utah, Texas, and New Hampshire, but there’s only one Bronco Raptor school. And, though it shares the same entrance with the regular Nevada facility, the Bronco Raptor Off-Roadeo has its own welcome center, gift shop, and its own trails down at “Raptor Valley.” Included in the purchase of the Bronco Raptor, the Off-Roadeo adds considerable value and a compelling reason to buy this beast. It’s not just about owning an incredible vehicle; it’s about being a part of the Bronco Raptor story.

As I return my Bronco Raptor to the staging area after my day at the Off-Roadeo, I realize just how successful Ford has been in blending product, experience, and branding. Even if attendees might not take on the King of the Hammers anytime soon, for a day they get to live the Bronco lifestyle, feeling like part of the off-road elite as they navigate challenges they never imagined. It’s an experience that adds a whole new dimension to ownership, and that sense of adventure and community is at the core of what makes the Bronco Raptor the most compelling offroad SUV on the market.

PHOTO COURTESY FORD MOTOR COMPANY

JORDAN

COUNTY NEWS

Albemarle Dollar

General fined for price

scanning errors

Last week, the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Standards Division collected fines from ten stores across nine North Carolina counties due to excessive price-scanner errors. Included amongst those ten stores was the Dollar General in Albemarle, located at 1920 B. US-52 North. Dollar General was forced to pay $1,385 in penalties. An initial inspection in January found an error rate of 24% based on 12 overcharges in a 50-item lot. A second inspection the following month found an error rate of 6% based on 18 overcharges in a 300-item lot. A final inspection in April found an error rate of 3.33% based on ten overcharges in a 300-item lot. The store did, however, pass its inspection this past month. “Our Standards Division is vigilant in inspecting stores across the state for scanner errors that cost consumers money,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “This work focuses on ensuring that North Carolinians are charged the prices they see on the shelves and not more.

I’m happy to see this report is shorter than previous quarters, as compliance has improved statewide. Our team will continue to inspect stores, but it is also important for consumers to check their receipts often and notify store managers if they see an issue.” Consumers who would like to file a complaint to the Standards Division regarding scanner errors can do so by calling (984) 236-4750.

Cincinnati Reds agree to terms with 1st round pick Rhett Lowder

Former North Stanly Comet signs $5.7 million contract

By Jesse Deal North State

Journal

JUST FIVE DAYS after getting drafted by the Cincinnati Reds with the seventh overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, Albemarle native Rhett Lowder became the first top-10 selection this year to sign a contract to his new organization. In a team-friendly deal made on July 14, the former North Stanly Comet right-handed pitcher and Wake Forest star agreed to terms with a $5.7 million signing bonus that comes in below the $6.28 mil-

lion slot value of the seventh selection. By signing Lowder, 21, to an under-slot value deal, Cincinnati will now have an extra $575,200 to potentially spend on overslot deals for second-rounder Sammy Stafura and fourth-round pick Cole Shoenwetter.

Lowder, a two-time ACC Pitcher of the Year (2022 and 2023), led the NCAA in wins (15) during his junior season in 19 appearances while ranking fourth in ERA (1.87).

He is currently stationed at the Reds’ training facility in Goodyear, AZ, where he will likely await his first minor-league assignment with the Daytona Tortugas (Single-A), Daytona Dragons (High-A)

or Chattanooga Lookouts (Double-A).

“I feel like what I’m most proud of is the command I have for all my pitches,” Lowder said after being drafted on July 9. “I know that’s why most people think that I’m polished and not much can get better, but I think shapes and everything can obviously always improve. There’s a million ways you can get better in this game. I know I have a lot of work cut out for me but I’m pretty proud of the command I have with the baseball and what I can do with it.”

Lowder’s draft stock was bolstered by his recent performances in the College World Series.

With the postseason fate of

Wake Forest’s baseball team hanging on a must-win game against LSU in the semifinal round on June 22, Demon Deacons coach Tom Walter called on his ace to take the mound in a winner-takeall situation with the hopes of advancing to the College World Series finals.

Lowder was up to the challenge, tossing 63 strikes in 88 pitches while allowing no runs and just three hits in seven efficient innings. While the top-seeded Demon Deacons eventually lost in the 11th inning, they still came away from the season with program records in regular season wins, ACC wins, ACC series wins, postseason wins and overall wins.

Stanly County Public Library unveils recent updates, future plans

By Jesse Deal North State Journal

ALBEMARLE — The Stan-

ly County Board of Commission-

ers recently received a slideshow presentation from Stanly County Public Library director Sara Hahn, where new changes to the county’s library system and upcoming plans were revealed to the general public.

Hahn, who took on a directorial role nine months ago, used the July 10 meeting to showcase the SCPL’s new logo, branding updates, and new patron brochures with updated graphics for its locations in Albemarle (main branch), Badin, Locust, Norwood and Oakboro.

“I have been with our county for quite some time, and I’ve seen a lot of changes that I would have loved to have had the opportunity to make,” Hahn told the board.

our community — become a reality.”

The library’s new mission statement is “to deliver a high rate of return on public and private investment by providing a wide array of knowledge resources, promoting the joy of reading, encouraging lifelong learning, serving as a center for community interaction, thereby measurably contributing to the economy of Stanly County and the lives of its people.”

While the SCPL has always held an emphasis on programming opportunities, it has continued to ramp up the magnitude of its monthly events.

tem and daycare groups, increasing with more staffing as well as additional grant funding for the Rinse & Read: Laundromat Literacy program.

One of the Kids’ Summer Reading Programs was Big Truck Day at the History Center in Albemarle on June 24, where families were able to learn about and explore 17 vehicles. Attendance-wide, 850 visitors came to downtown, which is a sizable increase from 650 visitors last year.

The event subsequently has increased participation in History Center programming, which is now averaging around 50 participants weekly.

Recently, the summer reading program partnered with Cooperative Extension to hatch quail and butterflies and discuss life cycles with kids.

$1.00

“I was so excited to have gotten the opportunity now, and I appreciate all of your support in making those dreams that we’ve had as a staff — and as we’ve heard feedback from

Children and young adult programs include Story Time on Wednesdays at 10 a.m., Baby Bookworms on Thursdays at 10 a.m., Art & Animation Club on one Saturday a month, a Summer Reading Program between June 1 and July 31, and YA Book Talk on the first Monday of each month at 6 p.m.

The SCPL also hosts Read To Me Too Story Time on Mondays at 10 a.m., where presenters read 8 5 2017752016

Additionally, there has been continued outreach in the school sys-

See LIBRARY, page 2

Wake Forest pitcher and Stanly County native Rhett Lowder (4) looks on after winning an NCAA college baseball tournament super regional game against Alabama on Sunday, June 11, 2023, in Winston-Salem.

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

Movies and TV shows affected by actor and writer strike

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — It’s a “Strike Girl Summer.”

So read a picket sign as the sidewalks of Hollywood and midtown Manhattan teemed with actors on Day 1 of their strike, protesting alongside the writers who have been at it since May.

Together, the two guilds have ground the entertainment industry to a halt. On both coasts, though, there was a buoyant mood in the air as picket lines were reinvigorated by the support of some of the 65,000 actors who comprise SAG-AFTRA (98% of members voted to approve a strike back in June). This is Hollywood’s biggest labor fight in six decades, and the first dual strike since 1960, reigniting the fervor against the Al-

liance of Motion Picture and Television Producers just as a historic heat wave hits Southern California.

Outside the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, throngs of protesters chanted: “Fists up, curtains down, LA is a union town.” Food trucks flanking organizers’ tents served churros, boba tea and cold lemonade to protesters baking in the midday heat that reached 98 degrees Fahrenheit (36.7 Celsius).

But the oppressive sun didn’t dampen the mood. Demonstrators spritzed each other with water and danced to reggaeton music as passersby in cars honked in support of signs like: “Honk if your boss is overpaid.”

Parents on the picket line hoisted their children over their shoul-

ders and pushed toddlers in strollers, high-fiving one another with signs that reflected defiant lyrics from Olivia Rodrigo’s new single, “Vampire,” and were packing “Big Strike Energy.”

“The jig is up,” said Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA and once the titular star of “The Nanny” at SAG’s press conference Thursday. “The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, A.I. If we don’t stand tall right now, we’re all going to be in trouble.”

The infusion of SAG members’ support was noted by comedian and writer Adam Conover, a member of SAG and WGA who serves on the latter’s negotiating committee.

“If you are gaining momentum like we are 70-odd days into a strike, you are going to win,” Conover said. “You know, the companies’ strategy with the writers guild when we go on strike is to starve us out and wait, not even talk to us for months because they expect us to bleed support. Yet, look at this — our picket lines are more full than ever and now have another union on strike with us.”

SAG and WGA last went on si-

multaneous strikes more than six decades ago.

“What we won in 1960 was our health and pension plans, and the existence of residuals,” Conover said. Now, executives “are facing the fact that not only are they getting no new scripts, they cannot shoot anything until they come back and make a fair deal, not with one union but with both unions.”

Zora Bikangaga, also a member of both guilds, called Friday’s picket “invigorating,” and a testament to how the issues writers are facing are “pervasive across the entire industry.”

While the industry’s business model has undergone major changes in the decades since the last strike, actors say their rates and contracts haven’t evolved to match inflation and other changes.

“They use the gig economy as a way to say, ‘This is how you can be more independent,’ when in fact what it does is diminish the value and strength of organized labor,” said actor Ron Song, who appeared on Amazon Freevee’s “Jury Duty,” which was nominated this week for four Emmys.

EPA sets stricter limits on hydrofluorocarbons used in refrigerators, air conditioners

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Environmental Protection Agency is enforcing stricter limits on hydrofluorocarbons, highly potent greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners that contribute to global warming.

a 2016 global agreement to greatly reduce use and production of HFCs by 2036.

The Senate ratified the so-called Kigali Amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on ozone pollution last year in a rare bipartisan vote. The measure requires participating nations to phase down production and use of HFCs by 85% over the next 13 years, as part of a global phaseout intended to slow climate change.

“Our industry appreciates the work of the EPA and the timely issuance of this rule as we prepare for the next HFC reduction step-down next January.”

represents air conditioning, heating and commercial refrigeration manufacturers, called the rule a crucial step to implement the AIM Act.

“Our industry appreciates the work of the EPA and the timely issuance of this rule as we prepare for the next HFC reduction step-down next January,” said AHRI president & CEO Stephen Yurek.

CRIME LOG

♦ BIRMINGHAM, HUNTER

LEE (W /M/20), ASSAULT ON FEMALE, 07/16/2023, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office

♦ HARTSELL, DEBORAH

ANNE (W /F/49), SIMPLE ASSAULT, 07/16/2023, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office

♦ HEMPHILL, JASON RANDALL (W /M/44), OBTAIN PROPERTY FALSE PRETENSE, 07/16/2023, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office

♦ HOFFMAN, JUSTIN BLAKE (W /M/32), BREAKING AND OR ENTERING (F), 07/16/2023, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office

♦ SPRINGER, JEFFREY CHAD (W /M/52), ASSAULT ON FEMALE, 07/16/2023, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office

♦ WRIGHT, WILLIAM EMANULE (B /M/32), ASSAULT ON FEMALE, 07/16/2023, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office

♦ STEGALL, MATTHEW LANE (W /M/31), ASSAULT ON FEMALE, 07/15/2023, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office

♦ HIDALGO ROMERO, ERNIS SALAVADOR (W /M/32), ASSAULT WITH DEADLY WEAPON (M), 07/14/2023, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office

♦ LESTER, KASEY MEGAN (W /F/32), POSSESS

HEROIN, 07/14/2023, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office

A rule announced last week will impose a 40% overall reduction in HFCs starting next year, part of a global phaseout designed to slow climate change. The rule aligns with a 2020 law that calls for an 85% reduction in production and use of the climate-damaging chemicals by 2036.

Stephen Yurek stanlyjournal.com

Officials said refrigeration and air conditioning systems sold in the United States will emit far fewer HFCs as a result of the rule, the second step in a 15-year phasedown of the chemicals that once dominated refrigeration and cooing equipment.

Hydrofluorocarbons are highly potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners. HFCs produce greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. They often leak through pipes or appliances that use compressed refrigerants and are considered a major driver of global warming.

More than 130 countries, including the United States, have signed

LIBRARY from page 1

through picture books to adults with developmental disabilities. Another program is the Talking Titles monthly book club on the last Tuesday of the month at 12 p.m., allowing anyone to discuss any book they are currently reading.

There is a Sensory Lab collaboration available through grant funding and Pfeiffer student staffing to serve neurodiverse individuals and groups in the county.

The library has made a series of physical changes to its locations, primarily at its Albemarle branch. Two spaces downstairs outside of

Scientists said the agreement, reached in Kigali, Rwanda, could help the world avoid a half-degree Celsius of global warming.

Ratification of the amendment, signed last year by President Joe Biden, follows bipartisan action Congress took in 2020 to approve the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, which phased out domestic HFC manufacturing. The AIM Act has accelerated an industry shift from HFCs to alternative refrigerants that use less harmful chemicals and are widely available throughout the country. The law also averts a previous patchwork of state laws and regulations that govern HFCs.

The new rule builds on a 10% reduction required by the end of this year. It requires a 40% overall reduction from 2024 through 2028.

Companies that produce, import, export, destroy, use, process or

its meeting room (that were previously coat closets) have been transformed into private study rooms called Think Tanks that are designed for quiet work or study.

These are small, private spaces available on a first-come basis with wireless internet and basic office supplies included. The spaces also include acoustic panels for helping to absorb neighboring sounds, new LED lights, and remote-controlled fans to provide air circulation at a minimal cost.

Since opening the spaces in May, the SCPL is averaging 20 to 30 users weekly, with the majority of them being for studying, tutors,

Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in SCJ at obits@stanlyjournal.com

recycle HFCs are subject to the rule.

EPA officials said the rule would help ensure the U.S. leads the way as countries around the world implement the Kigali Amendment.

The HFC phasedown, “bolstered by domestic innovation to develop alternative chemicals and equipment, is paving the way for the United States to tackle climate change and strengthen global competitiveness,” said Joe Goffman, principal deputy assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation.

White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said the rule will help develop next-generation technologies for refrigeration, “ensuring that American workers reap the benefits of a growing global market for HFC alternatives.”

The Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, which

meetings and interviews.

“We’ve got tutors coming in constantly,” Hahn said. “They’re asking about reserving the spaces, and we’ve said that we hope for now we don’t have to do that. We want them to be popular enough that they are used but not so popular that we need another Google Calendar. So far, that has worked well.”

Starting on July 26, the NC Cardinal program will allow an SCPL library card that can be used in 63 counties throughout the state, totaling 223 branches and 51 library systems with 7.9 million items in the combined catalog.

In the final part of Hahn’s pre-

The American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical manufacturers and users, welcomed the EPA rule.

“ACC has long supported the HFCs phasedown, which can reduce a sizable source of greenhouse gas emissions while creating manufacturing jobs and growing our nation’s share of the global market for air-conditioning and refrigeration products,’’ the group said in a statement. U.S. companies have developed effective alternatives to HFCs, the group added.

The EPA rule includes a range of administrative penalties, including license revocation and retirement of allowances for companies that don’t comply. Fines and criminal penalties also can be imposed. EPA said it has finalized administrative consequences retiring more than 6.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent for 2022 and 2023 for companies that misreported data or imported HFCs without required allowances.

sentation, she presented some brief future goals to overhaul the main library’s meeting room with new doors, AV, flooring, tables and chairs, and to update its vehicle and add exterior cameras for heightened security purposes.

Some future requests are to install a new elevator, integrate new flooring throughout the downstairs, and design an art gallery wall with art from local schools and library programs.

The Stanly County Board of Commissioners is set to hold its next regular meeting on Aug. 7 at Stanly County Commons in Albemarle.

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

A pandemic of cruelty

There are probably hundreds of thousands of parents who voted for Donald Trump who have a child who will not speak to them because of that vote.

THERE IS A PANDEMIC in the Western world — especially, but not only, in America — that few are talking about, let alone addressing.

This pandemic doesn’t actually kill people. But it does destroy people, ruin lives, crush families and cause permanent, debilitating pain — far more than have the vast majority of cases of COVID-19.

This pandemic consists of adult children who have decided never again to speak to one or both of their parents. The vast majority of these people were never sexually or physically abused. In fact, nearly all were loved by their parents.

So, then, why have these people decided to hurt their mother, their father or both in one of the worst ways possible?

There are three primary reasons.

The first is the ascent of the therapeutic mentality. Prior to the explosion of psychotherapy, people were governed by “shoulds.” Beginning in the 1960s, however, the therapeutic model replaced the moral model as the guide to one’s behavior. People who lived at that time will recall the phrase, “there are no shoulds.”

I will use a family story to illustrate this point. Despite the fact that his mother was a very difficult woman, my father called her every night, and every night she would yell at him. I heard the yelling because instead of holding it to his ear, my father would place the phone on the kitchen table while she ranted.

Had my father been born a generation later and gone to a therapist where he discussed his mother, if he said how much he dreaded calling his mother, the therapist would likely have led my father to believe there was no reason he should talk to her. And a culture that

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

declared, “there are no shoulds,” would have concurred. The therapist would have declared my grandmother “toxic” and thereby given my father the green light to avoid calling her.

But my father lived in the age of shoulds, and he was a religious Jew who had been taught the Ten Commandments since childhood — the Fifth of which commands us, “Honor your father and mother.” Moreover, he believed, as did most Americans, that the Ten Commandments were given by God.

In our post-biblical age, there are no Ten Commandments. In fact, there are no commandments, period. That’s what “no shoulds” was all about — no Commandments. Instead, you do what you feel is right. If you don’t feel like talking to your mother or father, you don’t. My father, governed by the Ten Commandments and many other shoulds, called his mother every night despite the fact that he rarely felt like doing so.

Though the Bible commands us to love our neighbor, love the stranger and love God, there is no commandment to love our parents. On the other hand, there is no commandment to honor anyone except our parents.

A second reason for the Ignore-Parents (IP) pandemic is parental alienation. This is usually caused by one parent against the other during and/or after a divorce — frequently, though certainly not always, by the mother against the father. She is so angry at her husband or soon-to-be ex-husband that she has decided to hurt him in one of the worst possible ways — by convincing one or more of their children that their father is a terrible human being, unworthy of their love, respect and time. The children should therefore not only cease to love him but have nothing to do with him.

A third reason for the IP pandemic is ideological. In these instances, a spouse may be involved, but often it is the decision of the child. This is the newest reason for ignoring parents. I suspect few of us ever encountered parents whose children did not speak to them because of how the parent voted. As much as Democrats and other liberals hated Richard Nixon, it is hard to imagine a grown man or woman in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s refusing to speak to a parent because the parent voted for Nixon. But there are probably hundreds of thousands of parents who voted for Donald Trump who have a child who will not speak to them because of that vote — or because the parent holds some conservative value such as that marriage should be defined as the union of a man and a woman.

For the record, I am not speaking about myself. My two sons and two stepsons and I speak regularly, love one another and share values. But I know how lucky I am. I have written this column because I have spoken with an inordinate number of wonderful people who have a child or even children who do not speak with them.

Yes, there are times when a parent is so pathological or evil — or when it is the parent who has chosen to ignore a child — that communication is essentially impossible. But in general, the infliction of such pain on a parent is about as great an act of cruelty as most people will ever inflict on another human being. If there is a God who gave the Ten Commandments, these people will be judged accordingly.

Different groups that ‘don’t look like America’ together produce success in America

The subgroup of Americans with very high levels of cognitive ability doesn’t actually “look like America.”

NEWS STORIES have reported that despite the Supreme Court’s decision in cases brought against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, those and other selective schools still want to employ racial quotas and preferences in admissions.

They’ve been abolishing requirements that applicants take objective tests like the SAT and are inviting applicants to write essays on the travails of their minority status. Such surreptitious defiance of the law is not surprising in admissions officials, a guild whose practices are undergirded and interlaced with lies and evasions of truth — the opposite of what higher education is supposed to foster.

They apparently think their moral worth depends on achieving a higher percentage of black people in a student body than in the U.S. Army or the New York Police Department.

One problem, as Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor established a decade ago in their book “Mismatch,” is that this results in black students tending to be less prepared than their schoolmates in selective schools from Harvard on down.

This tends to reinforce negative racial stereotypes and to cause the intended beneficiaries to hunker down in all-black dormitories and orientation sessions, which minimize or eliminate any benefit of the “diversity” that the single deciding vote of Justice Lewis Powell in 1978 thought justified racially discriminatory admissions.

Selective schools say they want student bodies that “look like America.” But, whether you like it or not, the subgroup of Americans with very high levels of cognitive ability doesn’t actually “look like America.”

Evidence comes from the results of an experiment in which high school students of the class of 2022 throughout Michigan were invited to take the SAT, and for which the results were disaggregated by, among other factors, self-declared race.

Overall, 69% of the test takers were classified as white, 5% Asian, 11% African American and 8% Hispanic. These percentages are not far off the averages for the state of Michigan and for the United States as a whole.

But when we look at those high schoolers who scored the highest, from 1400 to 1600, which include the top 95th percentile of the population, the picture is different: 69% white once again, but 29% Asian, 2% Hispanic, and 0% black.

That last number may reflect that some black students simply didn’t work very hard on the test, just as the Columbia linguist John McWhorter confessed in The New York Times last week that in high school he didn’t bother “seeking the academic mountaintop” because, with racial quotas and preferences in place, his grades and test scores “wouldn’t affect my future.” So eliminating quotas may marginally increase black students’ test scores.

Even if you look at the larger tranche of students scoring from 1200 to 1600, scores achieved by just about all non-quota students in selective schools, that group still doesn’t “look like America”: 77% white, 13% Asian, 4% Hispanic, 2% black. These numbers closely resemble those compiled from IQ tests.

Some people will find these numbers disturbing, and demand that government do something, somehow, to make every group identical. Others, including many familiar with the long run of American history, will recognize that differently defined groups will, because of some combination of nature and nurture, perform differently.

The nation has benefited from excellence of various kinds, some more often found in one group, others in others. The National Basketball Association doesn’t much “look like America,” either, and neither have the creators and performers of great popular music going back far into the American past. The SAT tests were adopted and used by selective colleges and universities after the Second World War — a war whose American casualties were hugely reduced by the development of the atomic bomb, by the Manhattan Project, whose physicists, many Jewish and from Central Europe, didn’t much “look like America.”

Postwar American colleges and universities used the SAT to identify high-cognitive-ability applicants from unusual backgrounds. The paradox, after three generations of an increasingly fair society, is that there are fewer such people and less social mobility because people tend to start off where they should end up. As Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker writes, “No society can be simultaneously fair, free, and equal.”

Perhaps the best response is to focus less on the small numbers who reach the top of hierarchies and cultivate more respect for those with more modest talents whose everyday conscientiousness and occasional heroism help make the country and the world better.

Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist.

COLUMN | DENNIS PRAGER

SIDELINE REPORT

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Wake Football adds director of recruiting

Wake Forest football

coach Dave Clawson hired Katie Bason as the director of football recruiting operations. She will run on-campus visits for prospective studentathletes and their families. She comes to WinstonSalem after spending the last year as an Assistant AD / Chief of Staff at FIU. She managed all day-to-day operational and logistical components for the Panthers football program. Prior to spending the 2022 season at FIU, Bason served as the director of player development and operations at Ole Miss in 2020 and 2021 after spending six seasons at the University of Colorado, Boulder as the Buffaloes’ Director of Football Academics.

HORSE RACING

Funny Cide, 2003 Kentucky Derby winner, dies

Funny Cide, the “Gutsy Gelding” who became a fan favorite after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2003, has died from complications of colic. He was 23. Kentucky Horse Park, the Lexington farm where Funny Cide lived for his final 15 years, confirmed the thoroughbred died Sunday, as did Sackatoga Stable, the group that owned him. Funny Cide won 11 of 38 starts and earned more than $3.5 million in his career. He was undefeated in three starts as a 2-yearold. Funny Cide lost his first three starts the following year but won the Derby and Preakness before finishing third in the Belmont Stakes.

SOCCER

Messi introduced by Inter Miami

Lionel Messi has met his new fans at Inter Miami.

An event billed as “The Unveil” was Sunday night at the team’s stadium in Fort Lauderdale. It came one day after Messi, Major League Soccer and Inter Miami finalized his signing through the 2025 season. It’s the start of a busy week of events for Messi with his new club. His first official training session is Tuesday and he is expected to play Friday in a Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul. Inter Miami plays Charlotte FC on Aug. 20 in South Florida. Inter Miami comes to Charlotte on Oct. 7.

GOLF Rory McIlroy wins Scottish Open

Rory McIlroy finally is a winner in Scotland.

McIlroy birdied the last two holes in whipping wind for a 68 to beat Robert MacIntyre by one shot in the Scottish Open. They delivered a great finish at The Renaissance Club.

MacIntyre hit 3-wood from the rough on the 18th to 4 feet for birdie and a 64.

McIlroy birdied the par-3 17th to catch him. And on the final hole, McIlroy hit 2-iron to 10 feet for birdie. The win gives McIlroy a boost going to the British Open next week at Royal Liverpool.

Martin Truex Jr. wins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for 1st time in 30 races

The Associated Press LOUDON, N.H. — Martin Truex Jr. mastered another Monday matinee to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the first time in 30 career Cup tries at the same track where as a kid he watched from the grandstands while his father raced.

Thanks to rain postponements, Truex won his second Monday race of the season — he also won at Dover — and fourth of his career.

Truex dominated in the No. 19 Toyota en route to his third win of the season. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver secured one of the few wins he desperately wanted in a career that could be winding down. The 43-year-old Truex, the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion, said over the weekend he was close to

a decision on his future: either retire or return for another season at JGR.

At the Magic Mile, it was simply time for an overdue celebration.

“This one’s been eluding me for a long, long time,” Truex said.

Truex led with 15 laps left when JGR teammate Christopher Bell, last year’s New Hampshire winner, smacked the wall to bring out the eighth caution.

“We should have a company policy that says when one of your teammates is leading, don’t crash by yourself,” Truex said over the radio.

It really didn’t matter for Truex. He pulled away off the restart with nine laps left and could taste victory — and soon enough, the 20-pound lobster that traditionally goes to the winner.

It’s a perfect reward for Truex, who also grew up helping his dad on his family’s clam boat.

This win was special. Truex tagged along as a kid to New Hampshire when his dad raced here in the 1990s and got his first taste of the sights, smells and sounds of a NASCAR garage.

One memory stood out among the others: Watching Dale Earnhardt tinker with his carburetor under the hood of his car.

“I just kind of stood there in awe and watched,” Truex said over the weekend.

And as soon as Truex could race at New Hampshire, he won. Truex had just turned 20 years old when he won a regional stock car series race at the track. Pretty cool. Even better? His father finished fifth in the same race.

“This place is a big reason why I got to where I am,” the younger Truex said.

Truex found early success in Loudon once he transitioned to Cup in 2006, rattling off a thirdplace finish and a fifth in 2007 when the series still raced here twice a season and a fourth and seventh in 2008. He had six straight top 10s from 2016 to 2020 and led 172 laps from the pole last season before he faded to fourth. Truex said his JGR team “panicked” with a late call for two tires that backfired and cost them the checkered flag.

“It’s one that I wanted really bad for a long time,” Truex said. “Maybe too much, I don’t know.”

Much like last year, Truex won the first two stages of the 301-lap race.

Stephen Curry closes with eagle, wins American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament

The Associated Press STATELINE, Nev. — Stephen Curry made an 18-foot putt for eagle on the final hole to win the American Century Championship on Sunday, his first title in the celebrity tournament.

Curry, the Golden State Warriors star who made a hole-inone on Saturday, topped it with his closing eagle on the par-5 18th hole at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on the shores of Lake Tahoe. After the putt dropped, he tossed his hat into the air and ran into the arms of his wife, Ayesha.

“I don’t do this for a living, so it’s something you dream about,” Curry said. “I’ve been playing in this tournament for almost a decade and now I’ve got some hardware to show for it. It’s pretty special.”

The eagle was good for six points under a version of the modified Stableford scoring system. Players receive three points for a birdie, one point for a par and minus-2 points for a double bogey or worse.

Curry finished with 75 points, two ahead of runner-up Mardy Fish, a former pro tennis player who won this event in 2020. Fish was three points ahead of Curry entering the 18th but made par.

Curry went viral for the second time this weekend following his ace on the 152-yard, par-3 seventh hole.

“I was hitting the ball pretty solid, so felt I would have a chance,” Curry said. “On the putt, I was surprisingly calm. The last five feet felt like slow motion.”

Fish pulled even with Curry with birdies on three of the first six holes. He moved into the lead when Curry bogeyed the 11th, 12th and 14th. Under conventional scoring,

Curry shot 72 on Sunday. Fish had the best round of the day, a 3-under 69. Joe Pavelski of the Dallas Stars was third with 66 points, former major league pitcher Mark Mulder was fourth and New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was fifth, one spot ahead of LPGA Tour great Annika Sorenstam.

Former pitcher Derek Lowe was seventh and defending champion Tony Romo finished eighth. Curry is the first Black winner of

the tournament in its 34-year history. He becomes the fifth active athlete to win and the first since then-Tennessee Titans kicker Al del Greco in 2000. His first-place prize of $125,000 will be donated to charity because Curry is an amateur golfer. Charles Barkley finished 81st in the 93-player field.

Other notable finishers in the tournament included Hall of Fame Braves pitcher John Smoltz, who placed twelfth, three points ahead

of Curry’s father Dell, a former Charlotte Hornet. The third member of the Curry family, former Duke shooter Seth Curry, Steph’s brother, finished in a tie for 46th. New Carolina Panthers receiver Adam Thielen finished in a tie for 14th. Former Duke Blue Devil basketball player and assistant and current basketball analyst Jay Bilis finished in 55th. Former Tar Heel Vince Carter finished in a tie for 76th. Former Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield was 79th.

AP PHOTO

Martin Truex Jr., steers his car into Turn 1 during the Crayon 301 NASCAR Cup Series race, Monday, July 17, 2023, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H.

SCOTT STRAZZANTE | SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE VIA AP

Stephen Curry directs Canelo Álvarez to his ball on the 16th hole during a practice round at the American Century Championship golf tournament at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course

AP PHOTO

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins walks on the field before an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Aug. 12, 2022, in Cincinnati. The Tennessee Titans hope they have filled their major need at wide receiver with threetime All-Pro wide receiver Hopkins by agreeing to terms on a two-year deal worth $26 million with incentives that could push that to $32 million, a person familiar with the agreement said Sunday, July 16, 2023.

Titans landing 3-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins, AP source says

The Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)

— The Tennessee Titans hope they›ve filled their major need at wide receiver with three-time AllPro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, agreeing to terms on a twoyear deal worth $26 million with incentives that could push that to $32 million, a person familiar with the agreement said Sunday.

The Titans had the advantage of being the first NFL team Hopkins visited after being released by Arizona in May. Hopkins arrived in Nashville in June and documented on social media his visit to CMA Fest›s final night at Nissan Stadium, where the Titans play. Hopkins also visited the New England Patriots later

that week.

The Carolina Panthers were also in the mix to add Hopkins to their wide receiver depth chart and, according to national football analysts, were “lurking” as a potential dark horse landing spot.

The deal was first reported by AtoZSports. The person confirmed the agreement to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Hopkins has not signed the contract.

Hopkins, who turned 31 on June 6, would bring much-needed experience to Tennessee’s young wide receiving group. Head coach Mike Vrabel had more career touchdown catches with 12 in his own NFL career as a linebacker than anyone currently on the Titans’ roster.

Hopkins ranks 36th in NFL his-tory with 11,298 yards receiving in his 10 seasons over 145 games.

The three-time All-Pro would have led Tennessee last season with his 64 catches for 717 yards for Arizona despite a six-game suspension after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. He also missed the final two games with a knee injury. Arizona released the five-time Pro Bowl receiver in a salary cap move May 26 after failing to find a trade partner in the offseason.

The Cardinals cut Hopkins three seasons after acquiring him in a blockbuster trade with Houston in 2020, and they had signed him to a $54.5 million extension through 2024. Hopkins would have counted close to $31 million against the cap for Arizona, which still took on a dead cap hit of $22.6 million. Hopkins ranks 36th in NFL history with 11,298 yards receiving in his 10 seasons over 145 games. He immediately became a popular free agent, with his former Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson making a pitch for the receiver to join him in Cleveland. He would join a receivers’ room currently led by Treylon Burks, the 18th pick overall in the 2022

draft. Burks was the player taken with the selection acquired when Tennessee traded A.J. Brown to Philadelphia. The general manager that made that move was fired Dec. 6.

New general manager Ran Carthon used one draft pick in April on a receiver, taking Colton Dowell in the seventh round. He also signed veteran Chris Moore, whose 548 yards receiving would have led the Titans last season. Their returning receivers combined for 69 catches for 962 yards and four touchdowns.

The Titans also have veteran quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who turns 35 in July, and three-time Pro Bowl running back Henry — both going into the final seasons on their current contracts.

World

The Associated Press

At the request of a group of players from across the globe, FIFA raised the prize pool for the women’s World Cup.

The players wanted a prize pool equal with the men’s World Cup. That request wasn’t met, but players in the event, which starts this week, will see their prize money increase by more than three times that of the 2019 event in France.

But more than that, soccer’s governing body agreed in June that a chunk of those funds should be paid straight to the players —

all 732 of them. Every player will earn at least $30,000, with the amount increasing the further along that teams progress in the tournament. The 23 players in the title-winning squad will each get $270,000.

That’s significant for many of the players, who in some cases don’t have club teams that pay salaries, are semi-pros or even amateurs. FIFA released a report last year that said the average salary for female players was $14,000 a year.

And not only that, the conditions the players will experience

on the ground in Australia and New Zealand — such as travel and accommodations — are now equitable to those provided the men.

“We still have a ways to go, but having them direct the payments to players is huge — it’s a life-changing thing for many of these players entering the tournament. Coming away with each player making $30,000 is huge because usually that money goes to federations and those players don’t see any, or much of that money,” U.S. forward Alex Morgan said. A $152 million fund was set for

the first 32-team Women’s World Cup. The total covers prize money, team preparation and payments to players’ clubs. That’s a big boost from the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, which had a $40 million fund, with $30 million in prize money.

In contrast, the prize money pool for the men’s World Cup last year in Qatar was $440 million. The nations that got knocked out after the group stage made $9 million apiece.

FIFPRO, the global players union, backed the effort by 150 players from 25 nations — in-

cluding the United States, Japan and Germany — to push FIFA for more equitable terms.

In addition to helping pay the players, the teams and federations that haven’t often seen the big stage will benefit, too. Each team is receiving nearly $1 million in preparation funds.

“It means a lot to every player stepping into that tournament because it really means that the women’s game has finally taken the steps that we’ve been fighting for,” U.S. defender Crystal Dunn said. “We’re playing for federations to do better by their players. And I think this prize money is a testament to all of our fights — the collective fight.

“When we step on to the field, yes, we are opponents, but at the end of the day we’re all fighting for this game to grow, and for everybody.”

For first time, every player at the Women’s

Cup will be paid at least $30K

AP PHOTO

The United States players hold the trophy as they celebrate winning the Women’s World Cup final soccer match against The Netherlands at the Stade de Lyon in Decines, outside Lyon, France on July 17, 2019. More prize money than ever will be awarded at this year’s Women’s World Cup, and the players stand to get direct payments from FIFA this time.

No fingerprints, DNA sample or leads from cocaine found at the White House, the Secret Service says

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — No fingerprints or DNA turned up on the baggie of cocaine found in a lobby at the White House last week despite a sophisticated FBI crime lab analysis, and surveillance footage of the area didn’t identify a suspect, according to a summary of the Secret Service investigation obtained by The Associated Press. There are no leads on who brought the drugs into the building.

U.S. Secret Service agents found the white powder during a routine White House sweep on July 2, in a heavily trafficked West Wing lobby where staff go in and out, and tour groups gather to drop their phones and other belongings.

“Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered,” Secret Service officials said in the summary.

It’s most likely the bag was left behind by one of the hundreds of visitors who traveled in and out of the building over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to talk about an ongoing probe and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The presence of cocaine at the White House prompted a flurry of criticism and questions from Republicans, who received a closed briefing Thursday on the results of the investigation.

“There is no equal justice,”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Thursday. “Anything revolving around ‘Biden, Inc.’ gets treated different than any other American and that’s got to stop.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden believed it was “incredibly important” for the Secret Service to get to the bottom of how the drugs ended up in the White House. The Secret Service is responsible for securing the White House and led the investigation.

Biden wasn’t there at the time of the discovery. He was at Camp David with members of his family for the holiday weekend.

The complex was briefly evacuated as a precaution when the white powder was found. The fire department was called in to test the substance on the spot to determine whether it was hazardous, and the initial test came back negative for a biohazard but positive for cocaine.

The bag was sent for a secondary, more sensitive lab analysis.

Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center analyzed the item for any biothreats. Tests conducted at the facility came back negative.

The cocaine and packaging underwent further forensics testing, including advanced fingerprint and DNA work at the FBI’s crime laboratory, according to the summary. The FBI also did chemical testing.

Meanwhile, Secret Service investigators put together a list of

several hundred individuals who may have accessed the area where the drugs were found. Anyone who comes through the White House must give identifying information and pass through security before entering. But the lab results didn’t turn up latent fingerprints or DNA, so agents can’t compare anything to the possible suspect pool. White House staff are fingerprinted; participants in tour groups are not.

Video of the West Executive street lobby entrance did not identify the person or provide any solid investigative leads, the Secret Service said.

The lobby is open to staff-led tours of the West Wing, which are scheduled for nonworking hours on the weekends and evenings. Those tours are invitation-only and led by White House staff for friends, family and other guests. Most staffers who work in the complex can re-

like

The Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Federal judges that ordered Alabama to draw new congressional lines said the state should have a second district where black voters are the majority “or something quite close to it” and have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.

What exactly that map should look like is in dispute as lawmakers rush to draw new lines.

Alabama lawmakers convened in special session Monday tasked by the court with adopting a new map by the end of the week. The directive comes after a surprise U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the lower court’s ruling that Alabama’s existing congressional map — with a single black district — likely violated the Voting Rights Act.

The group of voters who sued the state and won before the Supreme Court have proposed the creation of a second district where black residents are 50.5% of the population.

But Alabama Republicans, who hold a lopsided majority in the Alabama Legislature and will control the redistricting process, have not ceded they must create a second majority-black district and have pointed to proposals with lower percentages of black voters.

“Even among the plaintiffs suing the state, the meaning of an equal opportunity to elect candidates of choice is in dispute,” House Speaker Pro Tempore Chris Pringle, who serves as co-chairman of the state redistricting committee, said

during a public hearing Thursday.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month affirmed a lower-court ruling finding Alabama likely violated the Voting Rights Act with a congressional map that had only one majority Black district out of seven in a state where more than one in four residents is black. The threejudge panel gave Alabama until Friday to adopt a new map and submit it for review.

“The appropriate remedy is a

congressional redistricting plan that includes either an additional majority-Black congressional district, or an additional district in which black voters otherwise have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice,” the threejudge panel wrote in its 2022 ruling, adding that it will need to include two districts in which “black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.”

The Supreme Court decision was

cheered by voting rights groups who said it would give black voters a greater voice in the Deep South state.

“The eyes of the nation are looking at you. I know it’s hard. I know you have people that you answer to,” Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, told lawmakers.

“But if you can cut out the noise, look within, you can look to history. You can make a mark in history

quest an evening or weekend tour slot, but there is often a long wait list. There were tours on the day, a Sunday, the drugs were found, as well as on the two preceding days.

The Situation Room, located in the West Wing, where staffers would also drop their phones before entering, has been undergoing construction work and was not in use at the time the baggie was found, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week.

that will that will set a standard for this country.”

The Supreme Court decision sets up Alabama’s first significant revamp of its congressional districts since 1992, when Alabama was ordered by the courts to create its first majority-black district. That led to the state electing its first black member of Congress since Reconstruction. The district has been represented by a black Democrat ever since.

Partisan politics underlies the looming redistricting fight. Republicans who dominate elective office in Alabama have been resistant to creating a second district with a Democratic-leaning black majority, or close to one, that could send another Democrat to Congress. Democrats cheered the possibility of gaining a seat or at least a swing district in the GOP-dominated state.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who represents the state in the redistricting lawsuit, wrote in a letter to the committee that plaintiffs had initially argued for a “fair chance” to compete but now want more.

“Now they demand a plan that provides not just a ‘fair chance’ to compete, but instead a guarantee of Democratic victories in at least two districts,” Marshall wrote. Marshall said the plaintiffs’ proposed map divides voters based on “stereotypes about how voters of certain races will vote.”

Joe Reed, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference — the state’s oldest black political organization — urged lawmakers to compromise with plaintiffs on a plan. He said state lawmakers can either draw a plan that the court will approve or the court will draw it for them.

“We know there will be two majority black districts,” Reed said.

The White House is seen, July 30, 2022, in Washington, D.C. AP

Evan Milligan, center, plaintiff in Merrill v. Milligan, speaks with reporters following oral arguments at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., Oct. 4, 2022.

Alabama rushes to adopt new congressional map amid disagreement on what district should look

STATE & NATION

Trump and DeSantis begin eyeing Super Tuesday states as they prepare for 2024 long game

The Associated Press

AS THE REPUBLICAN presidential primary intensifies this summer, most White House hopefuls are devoting their time to events in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states that kick off the nomination process early next year. Not Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump.

The Florida governor addressed more than 1,500 faithful Republicans on Saturday at Nashville’s Music City Center. A few weeks later, the former president will swing through Alabama to headline the state GOP’s biggest event of the summer. Trump, the early GOP frontrunner, and DeSantis, who is trailing him for second place, are hardly ignoring voters in the states that jumpstart the Republican contest. Over the past month, they’ve both held rallies and other major events in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, sometimes even appearing in the same state on the same day.

But they are doing more than the other GOP candidates to strengthen their position in states like Tennessee and Alabama that will hold elections on so-called Super Tuesday. That’s when the largest number of delegates, which candidates win state-by-state, are up for grabs of any single day in the primary cycle.

Only Trump and DeSantis, who have raised tens of millions of dollars to support their campaigns, have the resources to work in any meaningful way beyond the early states. And GOP leaders beyond Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina say it’s a smart strategy.

“I know everybody’s focused on Iowa and New Hampshire,” said Scott Golden, chairman of the Tennessee GOP, who noted that ear-

ly voting in his state begins in mid-February, before South Carolina is scheduled to hold its contest.

“But it is worth taking a little time out to come to Tennessee.”

For presidential candidates, Super Tuesday is a circled-in-red date — next year, it’s March 5 — that can make or break a campaign.

Coming quickly after contests in early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, the set of roughly 14 primaries are held across a broad geographic area, from California and Texas to Massachusetts and Maine. The day also is a test of a campaign’s ability to organize supporters, its financial strength and a chance for those candidates who are still standing to run up their delegate total.

In 2016, for example, Trump’s Super Tuesday dominance sig-

naled, against conventional political wisdom, that the businessman and reality TV star was likely to be the party’s nominee. President Joe Biden similarly romped through Super Tuesday in 2020, quickly forcing most of his remaining rivals to drop out.

This cycle, Trump and DeSantis have been nailing down key endorsements in Super Tuesday states, starting to hire staff and readying supporters to knock on doors.

Of course, targeting Super Tuesday states is no guarantee for winning the nomination. After a late entry in the 2020 Democratic presidential race, billionaire Mike Bloomberg’s strategy was to bypass early contests and win in Super Tuesday states. The former New York mayor spent over $500 mil-

lion but finished well behind Biden in the delegate haul.

Trump formally entered the race with the huge advantage of having run and won races in these states before, and his campaigning in many of them hasn’t stopped since he lost the 2020 election. In 2021, for example, Trump held a “Save America” rally in Alabama that the state GOP said drew some 50,000 people.

“People of Alabama have a special relationship with Donald Trump,” said Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl, noting Trump handily won the GOP primary in 2016, when he was battling Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida for the nomination. Trump also won the general election in Alabama easily in 2016 and 2020.

Chinese hackers breached State Dept., other government email on eve of Blinken visit, officials say

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Statebacked Chinese hackers foiled Microsoft’s cloud-based security in hacking the email accounts of officials at multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing last month, officials said last week.

The surgical, targeted espionage accessed the email of a small number of individuals at an unspecified number of U.S. agencies and was discovered in mid-June by the State Department, U.S. officials said. They said none of the breached systems were classified, nor was any of the stolen data.

The hacked officials included Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials. Export controls imposed by her agency have stung multiple Chinese companies.

One person familiar with the investigation said U.S. military and intelligence agencies were not among the agencies impacted in

the monthlong spying campaign, which also affected unnamed foreign governments.

The officials spoke on condition they not be further identified.

In a technical advisory and a call with reporters, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI said Microsoft determined the hackers gained access by impersonating authorized users.

Officials did not specify the nature of the stolen data. But one U.S. official said the intrusion was “directly targeted” at diplomats and others who deal with the China portfolio at the State Department and other agencies. The official added that it was not yet clear if there had been any significant compromise of information.

The Blinken trip went ahead as planned, although with customary information security procedures in place, which required his delegation to use “burner” phones and computers in China.

The hack was disclosed by Microsoft in a blog post. It said it was alerted to the breach, which

it blamed on a state-backed, espionage-focused Chinese hacking group “known to target government agencies in Western Europe,” on June 16. Microsoft said the group, which it calls Storm-0558, had gained access to email accounts affecting about 25 organizations, including government agencies, since mid-May as well as to consumer accounts of individuals likely associated with those agencies. Neither Microsoft nor U.S. officials would identify the agencies or governments impacted. A senior CISA official told reporters in a press call that the number of affected organizations in the United States is in the single digits. While the official declined to say whether U.S. officials are displeased with Microsoft over the breach, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge noted that it was “government safeguards” that detected the intrusion and added, “We continue to hold the procurement providers of the U.S. Government to a high security threshold.”

But of greater concern to cybersecurity experts is that The Storm-0558 hackers broke in using forged authentication tokens — which are used to verify the identity of a user. Microsoft’s executive vice president for security, Charlie Bell, said on the company’s website that the hackers had done that by acquiring a “consumer signing key.”

Cybersecurity researcher Jake Williams, a former National Security Agency offensive hacker, said it remains unclear how the hackers accomplished that. Microsoft did not immediately respond to emailed questions, including whether it was breached by the hackers to obtain the signing key.

Williams was concerned the hackers could have forged tokens for wide use to hack any number of non-enterprise Microsoft users. “I can’t imagine China didn’t also use this access to target dissidents on personal subscriptions, too.”

The head of intelligence for the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, Adam Meyers, said in a statement that the incident highlights the

“It’s states like Alabama that are going to be where (Trump) hopes to make a lot of ground,” he said. “And if other candidates are going to beat him, they have to compete with him in those states.”

DeSantis and Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting him, are trying. The PAC plans to invest $100 million on ground operations targeting the first 18 states — four early states plus Super Tuesday states — including paid staff such as state campaign directors. Door knocking is well underway in the first states and will start in Super Tuesday states this summer, with a goal of having 2,600 people out supporting the Florida governor by Labor Day.

“Nobody else is doing what we’re doing as of this point,” spokeswoman Erin Perrine said.

systemic risk of relying on a single technology provider in Microsoft. He said “having one monolithic vendor that is responsible for all of your technology, products, services and security - can end in disaster.”

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, called the U.S. accusation of hacking “disinformation” aimed at diverting attention from U.S. cyberespionage against China.

“No matter which agency issued this information, it will never change the fact that the United States is the world’s largest hacker empire conducting the most cyber theft,” Wang said in a routine briefing.

U.S. intelligence agencies also use hacking as a critical espionage tool and it is not a violation of international law.

Last month, Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant said suspected state-backed Chinese hackers broke into the networks of hundreds of public and private sector organizations globally exploiting a vulnerability in a popular email security tool.

Earlier this year, Microsoft said state-backed Chinese hackers were targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork to disrupt critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises.

AP PHOTO

In this Aug. 21, 2015 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign pep rally in Mobile, Ala.

On the move

Brecken Snotherly of Eastern Randolph heads up the court with the ball during Monday night’s North Carolina East-West All-Star Game for girls’ basketball at the Greensboro Coliseum. Snotherly played for the West team, but the East won 74-68.

Asheboro paves way for increased development

Council establishes local historic landmark

Sheriff’s Office and library team up to help protect elderly from scams

Because the elderly, with their lifetime of savings, are especially vulnerable to fraud, scams, and exploitation, they are often the prime targets of criminals. This August, the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office and the Asheboro Public Library will be presenting programs to citizens about how to identify scams and frauds, as well as how to prevent them and protect yourself when using the internet. This event, which is part of the sheriff’s office and library’s Helping Elders Learn to Prevent Scams (HELPS) community outreach program, is free and open to the public. It will be taking place in the Asheboro Public Library’s Conference Room, located at 201 Worth Street. Two sessions will be offered on August 16: one at 9 p.m. and the other at 2 p.m. For more information about this program, please contact (336) 628-2443.

Ramseur Dollar General forced to close early due to bomb threat

Last Monday, a bomb threat forced the Dollar General in Ramseur to close its doors early. First responders and offices from the Ramseur Police Department were immediately dispatched to the store, which is located at 6493 Jordan Road.

According to police, an unknown suspect called into the store requesting to speak with the manager, who they told there was a bomb located in a specific area in the store. Employees were immediately told to evacuate, and the manager called 911. Multiple searches of the store were conducted by officers, but nothing suspicious was located. At this time, authorities are investigating this bomb threat. If you or anyone you know has any information regarding this incident, please contact Sgt. Cox and Det. Zogopoulos at (336) 824-6624.

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

ASHEBORO — The City of Asheboro Council met Thursday, July 13, with several property matters on the agenda.

The council started out by continuing two legislative hearings from the prior month.

The first was for a rezoning request for property located at the intersection of Old Cox Road and Old Humble Mill Road from Randolph County zoning to R15 (CZ) in order to allow a residential and commercial planned unit development.

“The request is for a planned use unit development that consists of single-family detached, single-family attached, and initially there was a commercial element proposed with the initial application, but that particular feature has been withdrawn,” said Community Development Director Trevor Nut-

tall. “That particular area where that had originally been proposed is still a part of this annexation and would still come into the city limits and be part of the rezoning.”

“There are several changes that we think are meaningful with this proposal,” Nuttall continued. “The first relates to parking for the development. There was significant discussion and questions asked about the adequacy of parking for the project. In response, the application and the site plan has been amended to add 34 new off-street parking spaces to the project, and those will be dispersed throughout the project.

“The second change relates to the number of units being proposed. That has been reduced from 413 to 399. There are 398 new lots proposed, the 399th would contain the existing structure if it can be preserved and repurposed.

“There is also a new condition pertaining to a six-foot fence that is now provided along the perimeter of the property boundary clos-

est to Old Humble Mill Road where the floodplain of Richmond’s Creek does not provide an element of a natural buffering. So, there is now a good deal of fencing being proposed, and lastly, we received some additional details from the applicant related particularly to the townhomes in Phase 1. What that means is that in addition to the extra off-street parking that the plans now show, each unit will also have the commitment of a dedicated driveway and garage just as other homes in the development.”

The second hearing was for an annexation petition requesting the satellite annexation of three parcels related to the previous hearing.

Following the hearings, the council approved both requests.

The council then approved a request by Ross Holt of the Randolph County Historic Preservation Commission to designate real property identified as Acme-McCrary Hosiery Mills, 1909, and located at 159 North Street as a local historic landmark.

“There are three components to the site,” Holt said. “The McCrary Mill Number 2 Parks Hosiery Mill Building, now the Church Street Loft Apartments, the Acme-McCrary Recreation Center, now the Asheboro Recreation Center, and the main Acme-McCrary Hosiery Mill on North Street.”

The council also approved a request for the city to take over the maintenance of the streets in the Sherwood Oaks Townhomes development.

The council then held three new public hearings, all of which dealt with rezoning requests.

The first hearing was to rezone a property located at 207 East Pritchard Street from B2 General Commercial to OA6 Office-Apartment.

“The bottom line is that for this application, in our eyes, it provides what we typically seek to provide between residential and commercial uses, and that’s a transition-

Spirits up as Franklinville church comes down

By Scott Pelkey North State Journal

FRANKLINVILLE — Mem-

bers of the Franklinville United Methodist Church are saving what they can as the church is demolished following a wall collapse on July 6.

Emergency crews responded to the Franklinville United Methodist Church on South Main Street after a report of a commercial fire. The arriving units didn’t find a fire but did find that one of the walls of the church had collapsed.

Initial reports from fire crews suggested that an explosion from a gas leak may have caused the collapse, but this theory was quickly ruled out. The gas leak is now believed to have been triggered by an air-conditioning unit falling onto a gas line during the wall collapse.

The next day, two additional sections of the wall also collapsed.

“This was expected to happen,” said Rev. Michele Hill in an email.

“Those falls opened the gaping hole more and took two very old and beautiful stained-glass windows with them.”

The congregation isn’t letting not having an available building keep them from their usual worship services.

“[On July 9] we worshiped in the local park with members from several other United Methodist Churches joining us for support, as well as people from the community,” Hill said. “We shared Holy Communion, and it was a lovely

experience.”

In the upcoming weeks, the church will be meeting at the Franklinville Diner, just a short walking distance from the church.

Many early records for the church have been lost to time, but according to the Town of Franklinville website, the church’s history dates to 1839, when Elisha Coffin deeded 1.64 acres to “Trustees for the Methodist Episcopal Church ... who shall erect thereon a house or place of worship.”

That’s old enough to pre-date the town itself, which was incorporated from a village to a town by the state legislature in 1847. The organs and chimes were add-

ed in 1953.

With that much history in one building, the entire town is affected by the church’s demolition.

“This church held memories for all: baptisms, recitals, confirmations, weddings, graduations, funerals and so much more. The church was used by the townspeople in many ways through the years,” Hill said.

Crews have been able to demolish the entire sanctuary, but not before Franklinville firefighters were able to save the baptismal font, the Bible, the church bell (which they rang one last time before taking it down), the cross from the steeple, and sever-

al stained-glass windows.

A time capsule exists under the steeple that dates to the late 1800s, but church officials aren’t sure if they will ever be able to retrieve it.

Hill continues to express her gratitude to the first responders as well as the community.

“We are so grateful for all the first responders who were there that night, specifically the Franklinville Fire Department, who has gone way beyond the call of duty,” she said.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Demolition crews were working at the site of Franklinville United Methodist Church last week.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

“Join the conversation”

The Taco Loco reopens after 3.5 months

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record ASHEBORO —

The Taco Loco is back serving customers after the popular Mexican restaurant in downtown Asheboro was closed in various fashions for more than three months following a busted pipe.

The Taco Logo was operating with a complete menu Monday.

“We’re excited to be opened back up,” restaurant manager Jackie Munoz said.

The re-opening began late

afternoon on Friday, with the sale of tacos only. “We were slammed,” Munoz said.

For the weekend, a limited menu was in place. The restaurant at 138 Sunset Ave. announced on April 4 that the dining area would be closed until further notice. The adjacent bar that is part of the business, Cantina, remained open for a time for drinks only, beginning at 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

But Munoz said with work in the restaurant taking place, the

bar area was needed for storage and temporary placement of equipment. “There was a pipe that busted under the building, and the water was coming up, damaging the floor,” Munoz said. “We thought it would be 10 weeks (of inconvenience).”

Instead, it turned into about 3.5 months. The restaurant and bar lease the space.

“People working on the building are working on a million other things,” Munoz said. “Ours was super unexpected.”

The soft re-opening came in part because only two cooks were on duty for the weekend. By Monday, Munoz said the restaurant intended to be back with its usual staffing of four cooks. There’s also outdoor seating.

NC Zoo’s new chimp needs name

Randolph Record

ASHEBORO – Earlier this month the North Carolina Zoo welcomed a newborn chimp. The baby girl still needs a name.

NC Zoo’s troop now consists of 17 chimpanzees – females

Gigi, Amy, Ebi, Gari, Genie (the mother of the new chimp), Gerre, Ruby, Tammy, Asha and the new infant; males – Jonathan, Lance, Sokoto, Kendall, Gus and Obi and the new infant.

The North Carolina Zoo Society members will vote on the baby chimpanzee’s name in the upcoming weeks.

The newest baby has been active and nursing, according to Zoo officials.

“Genie is doing so well being a first-time mom,” North Carolina Zoo animal keeper Sarah Himmelspach said. “Genie’s childcare practice with her little brother Obi is definitely coming in handy.

The baby girl is so strong and holding on tight whenever mom

CRIME LOG

This is the seventh chimp birth at the North Carolina Zoo since 2010.

moves. Little girl’s uncle Obi has been very curious but respectful as mom and baby get more comfortable with the rest of the troop.”

Genie, who is 11 years old, is a first-time mother and was born at the Dallas Zoo in 2011. She arrived at the NC Zoo in 2012 with three other family members –mom Gerre, grandmother Gari and aunt Gigi.

Chimps are very protective of their young, and mothers hold the infants exclusively to their chest until about four months of age; only then are they allowed on the ground to begin exploring.

The most recent chimp births were a male born to Gigi in May

♦ Wease, Devin (M, 33), Arrested on charge of Assault on a Female, on 7/11, at 5118 Jordan Valley Rd.

and male Obi and female Asha in 2019, who are now rambunctious toddlers. This is the seventh chimp birth at the North Carolina Zoo since 2010, making the NC Zoo the most successful Association of Zoos and Aquariums for breeding chimps. The Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan, managed by the AZA, recommended this planned birth. The gestation period for chimpanzees is 230 days. Chimps have an average lifespan of 35-40 years in zoos.

Chimps are one of the five types of great apes, along with gorillas, orangutans, bonobos and humans. They are wellknown for their intelligence and tool use. Chimps communicate in a variety of ways, including vocalizations, gestures and body posture, and facial expressions, allowing them to maintain complex relationships within communities that can number over 100 individuals in the wild.

The Randolph Guide is a quick look at what’s going on in Randolph County.

July 21

Friday Night

Bluegrass –The Hatley Family 6pm

Come out to Sunset Theatre, located at 234 Sunset Avenue in Downtown Asheboro, for live bluegrass by the Hatley Family Band! Tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the door and can be purchased at the City of Asheboro Cultural & Recreation Services Office.

July 22

Asheboro

Farmers Market 7am – 1pm

Come out to the Asheboro Downtown Farmers Market, located at 134 S. Church Street. This event is free and open to the public!

ZooKeepers

Baseball Game

6pm

WEEKLY FORECAST SPONSORED BY 336-629-7588 CALL OR TEXT

WEDNESDAY JULY 19 THURSDAY JULY 20

Phone Call, on 7/13, at 1236 Hedgecock Rd.

♦ Pylant, Brandie (F, 42), Arrested on charge of Simple Assault, Resisting Public Officer, on 7/10, at 5713 Ronniedale Rd.

♦ Soriano, Antwain (M, 30), Arrested on charge of Possess Drug Paraphernalia, Resisting Public Officer, Assault on a Female, on 7/9, at 1838 US Hwy 64 W.

al zone such as the OA6,” Nuttall said. “For those reasons, we believe this is a reasonable request.”

The second hearing was to rezone the property at 3114 Zoo Parkway from R40 Low-Density Residential to R10 Medium-Density Residential.

“This doesn’t quite fit what the plan envisioned at this time for the property, but it is more consistent with what is happening in the area,” Nuttall said.

The third hearing was to rezone property located at 615 and 617 South Church Street, 2333 West Kivett Street, and 616 and 622 Hammer Avenue with an amended Conditional Zoning Office-Apartment designation

♦ Enciso, Marco (M, 36), Arrested on charge of two counts Assault and Battery, on 7/11, at 727 McDowell Rd.

♦ Painter, Cory (M, 50), Arrested on charge of Second Degree Trespass, Resisting Public Officer, on 7/12, at 1459 Branchwood Dr.

♦ Baker, Evan (M, 35), Arrested on charge of Trafficking in Methamphetamine, on 7/10, at 811 New Century Dr.

for the purpose of developing a multi-family development for the elderly that is a whole block redevelopment project.

“The purpose of this coming back to you is because the applicant has determined that a layout significantly different than what had previously been proposed is warranted due to environmental and site constraints,” Nuttall said.

The prior plan had a four-story building with 60 units; now, it is down to 48 units. Plan deviations include: not having the required additional 10% overflow parking spaces, being slightly taller than the 45-foot cap (47.5foot), and having an indoor recreational area to meet the required standard.

Following each hearing, the

♦ Briles, Reitzel Jr. (M, 40), Arrested on charge of Cyberstalking Threats by Email, on 7/11, at 3766 Buffalo Ford Rd.

♦ Keaton, Ricky (M, 43), Arrested on charge of Possession of Stolen Goods, Simple Possess Schedule III CS, on 7/11, at 112 Branson Mill Rd.

♦ Andrich, Brandon (M, 32), Arrested on charge of Assault and Battery, on 7/7, at 811 New Century Dr.

♦ Boone, Jesse (F, 22), Arrested on charge of Simple Assault, on 7/7, at 2060 Whites Memorial Rd.

council approved the requests.

The council also approved two ordinances extending the corporate limits of the City of Asheboro. One was a petition by Duke Energy Progress, LLC for property located across from the intersection of New Century Drive and Veterans Loop Road in order for them to relocate their engineering office and storage yard, and the other was a petition for property located near the intersection of NC Highway 42 and Patton Avenue.

The council also established a public hearing in August for another annexation petition for property located at the intersection of Crestview Church Road and Zoo Parkway. The Asheboro City Council will next meet August 10.

Come out to McCrary Park for a baseball game between the hometown ZooKeepers and the Boone Bigfoots! To purchase tickets, please visit https://zkbaseball. square.site/shop/7.

July 23

Sunday Concert –Mason Lovette Band 7pm – 8:30pm

Come out to Bicentennial Park, located at 135 Sunset Ave. in Asheboro, for live music by the Mason Lovette Band! This event is free and open to the public; all you need to do is bring a lawn chair! Food trucks will also be on site.

July 24

Liberty Town Council Meeting

5:30pm

The Liberty Town Council will hold its next meeting at the Liberty Town Hall, located at t239 S. Fayetteville Street.

July 26

World Tavern Poker at Carolina Tap House

7pm

Join America’s #1 Bar Poker League right in Asheboro at the Carolina Tap House! Entry is 100% free to the public and games take place every Wednesday night!

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

Building a safer nation

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN once said, “A truly successful army is one that, because of its strength and ability and dedication, will not be called upon to fight, for no one will dare to provoke it.”

In North Carolina, Veterans Day is not just one day a year—it is a year-long call to action.

As your Congressman and representative of the largest Army base in the world, I take this commitment seriously to supporting our troops and their families. Building a nation that’s safe is also a key pillar of House Republicans “Commitment to America.” That’s why last week, the House passed the bipartisan FY24 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This is the key piece of legislation that authorizes funding for our military and national defense for the year—including over $260 million in funding for critical infrastructure projects that will aid our region’s military personnel.

I am especially proud this year’s NDAA contains provisions I fought to include. Among these projects are the construction of a Child Development Center to address the existing deficit of childcare spaces available to improve the quality of life of military families stationed in our community, and a permanent Aircraft Maintenance Hangar facility to accommodate aircrafts serving the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

This year’s NDAA also includes the biggest pay raise for our troops in decades, pushes back against the woke ideology being forced on our military members, equips our military with the tools and resources to counter the rapidly growing threats from foreign adversaries, and improves military readiness. This bill also provides assistance to the over 8,000 service members who were discharged for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine and provides them with a path back to service.

While we can never thank our active duty military, their families, and our veterans enough for their service, we must continue to do everything we can to improve the quality of health care we provide them. For example, Master Sergeant Rich Stayskal, a resident of Moore County, served our country honorably and was wounded in combat. While stationed in our region, a missed cancer diagnosis

changed his life. In response, I helped change federal law in 2020 so Rich and other military families could receive support when they are victims of medical malpractice while on active-duty. However, the Department of Defense has failed to implement the law properly, stealing hope from Rich Stayskal and hundreds of military families who have been harmed by medical negligence.

Last week, I was proud to introduce the HERO Act to correct this wrong so our nation’s heroes who are victims of malpractice from a DoD medical treatment facility. They should have the right and opportunity to take their claim to District Court in order to receive the compensation they deserve. Service members such as Rich kept their promise to us—they served honorably, and they deserve the best we have to offer them. I will not stop fighting until they get it.

In North Carolina, Veterans Day is not just one day a year—it is a year-long call to action. That’s why I was also proud to join my House colleagues recently to reintroduce the bipartisan resolution to designate November 12, 2023 as “National Warrior Call Day.” This meaningful day will encourage folks in our community and across the country to check in on someone they know, active-duty, or veteran. The suicide rate among our nation’s veterans is 2.5 times that of all civilians. It is important to address the challenges veterans face head-on and address the stigma around seeking help.

Ensuring our military families and veterans have the resources they deserve are some of the most important duties we have in Congress. I’ll never stop fighting to support our troops, their families, and our veterans.

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.

Different groups that ‘don’t look like America’ together produce success in America

The subgroup of Americans with very high levels of cognitive ability doesn’t actually “look like America.”

NEWS STORIES have reported that despite the Supreme Court’s decision in cases brought against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, those and other selective schools still want to employ racial quotas and preferences in admissions.

They’ve been abolishing requirements that applicants take objective tests like the SAT and are inviting applicants to write essays on the travails of their minority status. Such surreptitious defiance of the law is not surprising in admissions officials, a guild whose practices are undergirded and interlaced with lies and evasions of truth — the opposite of what higher education is supposed to foster.

They apparently think their moral worth depends on achieving a higher percentage of black people in a student body than in the U.S. Army or the New York Police Department.

One problem, as Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor established a decade ago in their book “Mismatch,” is that this results in black students tending to be less prepared than their schoolmates in selective schools from Harvard on down.

This tends to reinforce negative racial stereotypes and to cause the intended beneficiaries to hunker down in all-black dormitories and orientation sessions, which minimize or eliminate any benefit of the “diversity” that the single deciding vote of Justice Lewis Powell in 1978 thought justified racially discriminatory admissions. Selective schools say they want student bodies that “look like America.” But, whether you like it or not, the subgroup of Americans with very high levels of cognitive ability doesn’t actually “look like America.”

Evidence comes from the results of an experiment in which high school students of the class of 2022 throughout Michigan were invited to take the SAT, and for which the results were disaggregated by, among other factors, self-declared race.

Overall, 69% of the test takers were classified as white, 5% Asian, 11% African American and 8% Hispanic. These percentages are not far off the averages for the state of Michigan and for the United States as a whole.

But when we look at those high schoolers who scored the highest, from 1400 to 1600, which include the top 95th percentile of the population, the picture is different: 69% white once again, but 29% Asian, 2% Hispanic, and 0% black.

That last number may reflect that some black students simply didn’t work very hard on the test, just as the Columbia linguist John McWhorter confessed in The New York Times last week that in high school he didn’t bother “seeking the academic mountaintop” because, with racial quotas and preferences in place, his grades and test scores “wouldn’t affect my future.” So eliminating quotas may marginally increase black students’ test scores.

Even if you look at the larger tranche of students scoring from 1200 to 1600, scores achieved by just about all non-quota students in selective schools, that group still doesn’t “look like America”: 77% white, 13% Asian, 4% Hispanic, 2% black. These numbers closely resemble those compiled from IQ tests.

Some people will find these numbers disturbing, and demand that government do something, somehow, to make every group identical. Others, including many familiar with the long run of American history, will recognize that differently defined groups will, because of some combination of nature and nurture, perform differently.

The nation has benefited from excellence of various kinds, some more often found in one group, others in others. The National Basketball Association doesn’t much “look like America,” either, and neither have the creators and performers of great popular music going back far into the American past.

The SAT tests were adopted and used by selective colleges and universities after the Second World War — a war whose American casualties were hugely reduced by the development of the atomic bomb, by the Manhattan Project, whose physicists, many Jewish and from Central Europe, didn’t much “look like America.”

Postwar American colleges and universities used the SAT to identify high-cognitive-ability applicants from unusual backgrounds. The paradox, after three generations of an increasingly fair society, is that there are fewer such people and less social mobility because people tend to start off where they should end up. As Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker writes, “No society can be simultaneously fair, free, and equal.”

Perhaps the best response is to focus less on the small numbers who reach the top of hierarchies and cultivate more respect for those with more modest talents whose everyday conscientiousness and occasional heroism help make the country and the world better.

COLUMN | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

SIDELINE REPORT

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Wake Football adds director of recruiting

Wake Forest football

coach Dave Clawson hired Katie Bason as the director of football recruiting operations. She will run on-campus visits for prospective studentathletes and their families. She comes to WinstonSalem after spending the last year as an Assistant AD / Chief of Staff at FIU. She managed all day-to-day operational and logistical components for the Panthers football program. Prior to spending the 2022 season at FIU, Bason served as the director of player development and operations at Ole Miss in 2020 and 2021 after spending six seasons at the University of Colorado, Boulder as the Buffaloes’ Director of Football Academics.

HORSE RACING

Funny Cide, 2003 Kentucky Derby winner, dies

Funny Cide, the “Gutsy Gelding” who became a fan favorite after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2003, has died from complications of colic. He was 23. Kentucky Horse Park, the Lexington farm where Funny Cide lived for his final 15 years, confirmed the thoroughbred died Sunday, as did Sackatoga Stable, the group that owned him. Funny Cide won 11 of 38 starts and earned more than $3.5 million in his career. He was undefeated in three starts as a 2-yearold. Funny Cide lost his first three starts the following year but won the Derby and Preakness before finishing third in the Belmont Stakes.

SOCCER

Messi introduced by Inter Miami

Lionel Messi has met his new fans at Inter Miami. An event billed as “The Unveil” was Sunday night at the team’s stadium in Fort Lauderdale. It came one day after Messi, Major League Soccer and Inter Miami finalized his signing through the 2025 season. It’s the start of a busy week of events for Messi with his new club. His first official training session is Tuesday and he is expected to play Friday in a Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul. Inter Miami plays Charlotte FC on Aug. 20 in South Florida. Inter Miami comes to Charlotte on Oct. 7.

GOLF Rory McIlroy wins Scottish Open

Rory McIlroy finally is a winner in Scotland.

McIlroy birdied the last two holes in whipping wind for a 68 to beat Robert MacIntyre by one shot in the Scottish Open. They delivered a great finish at The Renaissance Club.

MacIntyre hit 3-wood from the rough on the 18th to 4 feet for birdie and a 64.

McIlroy birdied the par-3 17th to catch him. And on the final hole, McIlroy hit 2-iron to 10 feet for birdie. The win gives McIlroy a boost going to the British Open next week at Royal Liverpool.

Martin Truex Jr. wins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for 1st time in 30 races

The Associated Press LOUDON, N.H. — Martin

Truex Jr. mastered another Monday matinee to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the first time in 30 career Cup tries at the same track where as a kid he watched from the grandstands while his father raced.

Thanks to rain postponements, Truex won his second Monday race of the season — he also won at Dover — and fourth of his career.

Truex dominated in the No. 19 Toyota en route to his third win of the season. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver secured one of the few wins he desperately wanted in a career that could be winding down. The 43-year-old Truex, the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion, said over the weekend he was close to

a decision on his future: either retire or return for another season at JGR.

At the Magic Mile, it was simply time for an overdue celebration.

“This one’s been eluding me for a long, long time,” Truex said.

Truex led with 15 laps left when JGR teammate Christopher Bell, last year’s New Hampshire winner, smacked the wall to bring out the eighth caution.

“We should have a company policy that says when one of your teammates is leading, don’t crash by yourself,” Truex said over the radio.

It really didn’t matter for Truex. He pulled away off the restart with nine laps left and could taste victory — and soon enough, the 20-pound lobster that traditionally goes to the winner.

It’s a perfect reward for Truex, who also grew up helping his dad on his family’s clam boat.

This win was special. Truex tagged along as a kid to New Hampshire when his dad raced here in the 1990s and got his first taste of the sights, smells and sounds of a NASCAR garage.

One memory stood out among the others: Watching Dale Earnhardt tinker with his carburetor under the hood of his car.

“I just kind of stood there in awe and watched,” Truex said over the weekend.

And as soon as Truex could race at New Hampshire, he won. Truex had just turned 20 years old when he won a regional stock car series race at the track. Pretty cool. Even better? His father finished fifth in the same race.

“This place is a big reason why I got to where I am,” the younger Truex said.

Truex found early success in Loudon once he transitioned to Cup in 2006, rattling off a thirdplace finish and a fifth in 2007 when the series still raced here twice a season and a fourth and seventh in 2008. He had six straight top 10s from 2016 to 2020 and led 172 laps from the pole last season before he faded to fourth. Truex said his JGR team “panicked” with a late call for two tires that backfired and cost them the checkered flag.

“It’s one that I wanted really bad for a long time,” Truex said. “Maybe too much, I don’t know.”

Much like last year, Truex won the first two stages of the 301-lap race.

Stephen Curry closes with eagle, wins American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament

The Associated Press STATELINE, Nev. — Stephen Curry made an 18-foot putt for eagle on the final hole to win the American Century Championship on Sunday, his first title in the celebrity tournament.

Curry, the Golden State Warriors star who made a hole-inone on Saturday, topped it with his closing eagle on the par-5 18th hole at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on the shores of Lake Tahoe. After the putt dropped, he tossed his hat into the air and ran into the arms of his wife, Ayesha.

“I don’t do this for a living, so it’s something you dream about,” Curry said. “I’ve been playing in this tournament for almost a decade and now I’ve got some hardware to show for it. It’s pretty special.”

The eagle was good for six points under a version of the modified Stableford scoring system. Players receive three points for a birdie, one point for a par and minus-2 points for a double bogey or worse.

Curry finished with 75 points, two ahead of runner-up Mardy Fish, a former pro tennis player who won this event in 2020. Fish was three points ahead of Curry entering the 18th but made par.

Curry went viral for the second time this weekend following his ace on the 152-yard, par-3 seventh hole.

“I was hitting the ball pretty solid, so felt I would have a chance,” Curry said. “On the putt, I was surprisingly calm. The last five feet felt like slow motion.”

Fish pulled even with Curry with birdies on three of the first six holes. He moved into the lead when Curry bogeyed the 11th, 12th and 14th. Under conventional scoring,

Curry shot 72 on Sunday. Fish had the best round of the day, a 3-under 69. Joe Pavelski of the Dallas Stars was third with 66 points, former major league pitcher Mark Mulder was fourth and New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was fifth, one spot ahead of LPGA Tour great Annika Sorenstam.

Former pitcher Derek Lowe was seventh and defending champion Tony Romo finished eighth. Curry is the first Black winner of

the tournament in its 34-year history. He becomes the fifth active athlete to win and the first since then-Tennessee Titans kicker Al del Greco in 2000. His first-place prize of $125,000 will be donated to charity because Curry is an amateur golfer.

Charles Barkley finished 81st in the 93-player field.

Other notable finishers in the tournament included Hall of Fame Braves pitcher John Smoltz, who placed twelfth, three points ahead

of Curry’s father Dell, a former Charlotte Hornet. The third member of the Curry family, former Duke shooter Seth Curry, Steph’s brother, finished in a tie for 46th. New Carolina Panthers receiver Adam Thielen finished in a tie for 14th. Former Duke Blue Devil basketball player and assistant and current basketball analyst Jay Bilis finished in 55th. Former Tar Heel Vince Carter finished in a tie for 76th. Former Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield was 79th.

AP PHOTO

Martin Truex Jr., steers his car into Turn 1 during the Crayon 301 NASCAR Cup Series race, Monday, July 17, 2023, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H.

SCOTT STRAZZANTE | SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE VIA AP

Stephen Curry directs Canelo Álvarez to his ball on the 16th hole during a practice round at the American Century Championship golf tournament at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course

Post 45 falls in series vs. Rowan County

Randolph Record

SALISBURY — Randolph County Post 45 will have a gap in its schedule before resuming play next month in American Legion baseball.

Post 45 wasn’t able to reach the Area 3 championship series based on Monday night’s 5-0 loss to Rowan County Post 342 in Game 5 of the best-of-5 semifinal series.

Rowan County won Games 1 and 3, so it won each of its home games at Newman Park on the Catawba College campus.

Randolph County (23-6) will have more games this season after a layoff of more than two weeks. Post 45, as the host team, has an automatic spot in the Southeast Regional that runs from Aug. 2-6 at McCrary Park in Asheboro.

Rowan County (35-5) plays

High Point-Thomasville Post 87 (17-3) in Thursday night’s winnertake-all Area 3 final. Both teams advance to next week’s state tournament in Buies Creek. Post 87 swept Kannapolis Post 115 in the other semifinal series.

Rowan County goes for a repeat because last year it topped Randolph County in the Area 3 title game.

Randolph County was limited to two hits in Monday night’s game. Those were by Grat Dalton and Hunter Atkins.

Samuel Asbill was the losing pitcher in the decisive game. Rowan County, aided by a pair of errors, plated five runs in the first

inning. Atkins and Tanner Marsh combined for five shutout innings in relief for Post 45.

The first four games of the Area 3 semifinal series were defined by lopsided scores.

The series began last Thursday in Salisbury, where the game was suspended with Rowan County leading 6-1, and completed the next day in Asheboro with Post 342 winning 8-2.

Later Friday, Post 45 got even with an 11-0 result that included two home runs and six runs batted in by Atkins in a 10-run six-inning. His grand slam ended the game via the mercy rule. Meanwhile, pitcher Drake Purvis threw a no-hitter with six strikeouts and

Alley Lowe

two walks. The game’s first run didn’t come until Carter Brown’s solo homer with two outs in the fifth.

Rowan County responded Saturday night in Salisbury, scoring five first-inning runs off Austin Lemons on the way to a 10-0, five-inning rout.

Randolph County had answers Sunday afternoon at McCrary Park by overcoming a two-run deficit. Post 45 pulled within 2-1 in the third inning before another 10-run sixth.

Marsh’s grand slam, followed by Atkins’ homer, put Post 45 in control. Brown drove in two runs. Robert Garner pitched a complete game with five strikeouts.

Southwestern Randolph, softball

Lowe was an all-conference selection in the Piedmont Athletic Conference for her senior season of softball. She was a three-year regular in the Southwestern Randolph lineup. She batted .349 with five doubles and two triples for the Cougars (22-2) this year.

Lowe also played as a point guard for the Southwestern Randolph girls’ basketball team.

** During the summer, we recognize seniors from the past school year.

ZooKeepers send three to CPL showcase

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

ASHEBORO — The Asheboro ZooKeepers had three players selected for this week’s Coastal Plain League All-Star Game.

First baseman Tyler McPeak and pitchers Jacob Dienes and Win Scott were set to participate in two days of activities at Lexington, S.C. The Lexington County Blowfish were the host team for the All-Star events.

McPeak, a graduate student at Lenoir-Rhyne, has been one of the league’s top power hitters. Dienes and Scott are both rising juniors at North Carolina State.

The Asheboro trio will be on the West Division team.

The East Division team had Morehead City’s Trent Youngblood tagged as one of its starting outfielders. The player for Transylvania represented the ZooKeepers as an infielder in last year’s AllStar event. This year, he has been among the CPL leaders in doubles and runs scored.

The ZooKeepers are back in ac-

The ZooKeepers hit another rough stretch, losing 12-2 on Monday night at Martinsville.

tion later this week. They have home games Friday night (vs. High Point-Thomasville HiToms) and Saturday night (vs. Wilson Tobs).

Ups and downs

Something got into the ZooKeepers’ bats last week. They won a non-league game against the Wake Forest Fungo by 8-3 and then kept it going.

Asheboro had two CPL games end early in seven innings because of the mercy rule.

The first of those came last Wednesday night against the Forest City Owls, who were first-half West Division champions. The 14-3 romp included home runs by Alex Lodise and Todd Hudson.

Owen Blackledge had three hits,

including a two-run single.

The ZooKeepers smashed the host Boone Bigfoots 11-0 on Friday night, aided by a seven-run second inning. Ethan Snyder threw six shutout innings.

In between the routs, Asheboro won 10-8 against the host Martinsville Mustangs, propelled by a six-run eighth inning. That frame began with the ZooKeepers facing a 7-3 hole. Yet there was trouble by the weekend in games at McCrary Park, where the team’s five-game winning streak (four in CPL play) ended.

The High Point-Thomasville HiToms topped the ZooKeepers 12-6 on Saturday night despite three hits and two runs batted in from Lodise.

On Sunday, Martinsville prevailed 13-11 despite Lodise tripling and homering on his way to four RBI.

Asheboro was unable to protect a 9-5 lead through six innings. McPeak, Jarrett Pokrovsky and Mayson Dear all drove in two runs.

Trinity forms Athletics Hall of Fame

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

TRINITY – Details are coming together for the first Trinity High School Athletics Hall of Fame, with the first induction class likely coming later this year.

“Trinity has an extremely rich heritage,” athletics director Robert Mitchell said. “We’ve got years and years of great athletes and championships. We’ve got decades and decades of special accomplishments.”

Mitchell said the goal is to recognize the achievements of coaches, student-athletes and contribu-

tors. The school has been around in some form for more than 125 years.

“We have a wide variety (of potential Hall of Famers) from different generations,” Michell said. “It won’t be a problem finding them. This first class, the toughest part is going to be just narrowing it down.”

Criteria has been established for inductees, and there will be a nomination process. If an individual or team is nominated, that nomination will stand for five years (unless the person or team is selected for induction).

To make a Hall of Fame nomination, forms are located on the school’s athletics and alumni Facebook pages.

An immediate matter is putting together a full Hall of Fame committee. The school principal, athletics director and Booster Club representative will have spots on the committee, while up to four

more board members are sought, Mitchell said.

The committee will have the assistance of longtime school observer and historian Dan Warren, who has chronicled and preserved much of the history associated with Trinity athletics. Mitchell said he has been a caretaker of trophies and uniforms through the years.

Potential board members should contact Mitchell (rmitchell@randolph.k12.nc.us). Committee members will be involved in the selection process, fundraising and banquet organization.

Mitchell, a 2006 Trinity graduate and 18-year staff member, has served as athletics director for 10 years. He said the concept of an athletics Hall of Fame for the school was initiated shortly be-

fore the pandemic and then put on hold.

“I’ve always kind of wanted it,” he said. “Right now is the perfect time to move forward.”

While honoring the history of Bulldogs athletics will be at the forefront of the Hall of Fame’s mission, Mitchell said there are other benefits. He said this is a way to show current and upcoming high school students the wide scope of Trinity athletics in hopes that they, too, can appreciate the history.

To make a Hall of Fame nomination, forms are located on the school’s athletics and alumni Facebook pages. Mitchell said the goal is to have the committee at work by next month, with the first induction in late autumn. The intention is for it to be an annual event.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL Alley Lowe takes a swing during her senior season with the Southwestern Randolph softball team.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Members of Randolph County Post 45 gather after a loss in the Area 3 semifinal series in Salisbury.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL Win Scott delivers a pitch for the Asheboro ZooKeepers.

Randolph County Post 45 catcher Grat Dalton makes a tag on Rowan County’s Lucas Graham during Game 3 of the Area 3 semifinal series.

Randolph Record

Here’s a list of the Piedmont Athletic Conference’s major award winners and all-conference selections for spring sports:

BASEBALL

Player of the Year: Hunter Atkins (Randleman)

Co-Pitchers of the Year: Austin Lemons (Randleman), Cade Hill (Trinity)

Coach of the Year: Ryan Spencer (Trinity)

All-conference

Randleman: Hunter Atkins, Austin

Lemons, Shawn Miller, Seth Way

Trinity: Jaxon Coble, Cade Hill, Jake Little, Landon Mowery

Southwestern Randolph: Easton

Clapp, Adam Cole, Tyler Park.

Wheatmore: Payton Mooney, Mason Rich.

Providence Grove: Joe Coltrane, Logan Fox, Andrew Thomas

Eastern Randolph: Samuel Asbill, Stratton Barwick, Ethan Frye

Uwharrie Charter Academy: Carter Brown, Jake Hunter, Walker Wilkins

BOYS’ GOLF

Player of the Year:

Connor Carter (Eastern Randolph)

Coach of the Year: Pete Kilcullen (Wheatmore)

All-conference

Wheatmore: Hunter Marshall, Ryan Marshall, Jayden Martin

Providence Grove: Brandon Davis, Seth Turner, Cooper Wright

Randleman: Justin Jackson, Mason Millikan

Trinity: Bo Earnhardt, Ethan Earnhardt

Eastern Randolph: Connor Carter

SOFTBALL

Co-Players of the Year:

Addie Flinchum

(Eastern Randolph), Emma Mazzarone

(Providence Grove)

Pitcher of the Year: Macie Crutchfield (Southwestern Randolph)

Coach of the Year: Chad Whitson (Southwestern Randolph)

All-conference

Providence Grove: Maddie

Flinchum, Devon Kelly, Callie Lambert, Emma Mazzarone

Southwestern Randolph: Macie

Crutchfield, Alley Lowe, Ky

Perdue, Madelyn Smith, Maddie

Strider, Madison Varner, Carleigh

Whitson

Eastern Randolph: Logan Beaver, Addie Flinchum, Lanie McDaniel,

Ayanna Mears, Skylar Pugh, Ziera Watson

Uwharrie Charter Academy: Kynley Brewer, Molly Bulla

Randleman: Jordan Booker, Kadie Greene

Wheatmore: Carmen Turgeon

GIRLS’ SOCCER

Offensive Player of the Year: Ellie Garrison (Wheatmore)

Defensive of the Year: Natalie Bowman (Wheatmore)

Coach of the Year: Jimmy Walker (Southwestern Randolph)

All-conference

Wheatmore: Natalie Bowman, Summer Bowman, Shea Driggers, Ellie Garrison, Maggie Messner, Izabella Ringley, Mikalah Walls

Southwestern Randolph: Macy

Allred, Madison Blankenship, Sadie Mabe, Macy Walker

Uwharrie Charter Academy: Ava Cugino, Alexis Marion, Jazmin Palma

Providence Grove: Jenny Banuelos, Brooke Ingram, Aaliyah Loveday, Alisa Shaw, Taryn Waugh

Trinity: Deanna Cobb, Autumn Gentry Randleman: Emily Jaramillo Avila,

Kendall Fortson, Estefania Jaimes

Eastern Randolph: Cora Sparrow

BOYS’ TENNIS

Player of the Year: Conner Kelly (Southwestern Randolph)

Coach of the Year: Cassie Wodecki (Providence Grove)

All-conference

Uwharrie Charter Academy: Cadence Butler, Evan Morin

Wheatmore: Sam Greene, Jacob

Younts

Providence Grove: James Ellis, Hunter Sexton, Chase Whitaker

Randleman: Ashton Dillon

Trinity: Bradin Oldham, Dominic

Payne

Southwestern Randolph: Conner Kelly, Asher Perkins, Kearns Trotter.

BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Most Valuable Track Athlete: Tristan Chriscoe (Randleman)

Most Outstanding Runner: Zach Hazelwood (Wheatmore)

Most Outstanding Field Event

Participant: Chase Farlow (Randleman)

Coach of the Year: Marty Collinson (Randleman)

All-conference

Trinity: Jose Castillo, Memphis Chap, Zach Cox, Riley Foster, Dylan Hodges, Jacob Hodges, Giovanni Jaimes, Mitchell Marin-Pulido,

Dominic Payne, AJ Poe, Robert Ratliff.

Providence Grove: Robert Burton, Malachi Combo, Jackson Rhyne.

Randleman: Tristan Chriscoe, Chase Farlow, Amari Ferdna, Tyshawn Goldston, Landon McGee, Amarion Moton, Ty Moton, Jonathan Sampson.

Wheatmore: Zach Hazelwood, Peyton McDevitt

GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Most Valuable Track Athlete: Brecken Snotherly (Eastern Randolph)

Outstanding Runner: Jensen Auman (Providence Grove)

Outstanding Field Event

Participant:

Gracie Beane (Randleman)

Coach of the Year: Ken Wilson (Wheatmore)

All-conference

Providence Grove: Jensen Auman, Maya Barber, Jazmin Cruz, Kaylan Currin, Carolina Duvall, Allie Frazier, Alyssa Kinley, Makayla Leonard. Randleman: Gracie Beane, Iniyah Mitchell.

Wheatmore: Emma Davidson, Rinnah Edwards, Emerie Everhart, Abigail Lewis, Ariel Martin, Kahmarii McNeil, Kaitlyn Miller, Rylee Reidling, Peyton Wilson. Southwestern Randolph: Gracie Hodgin, Sadie Mabe, Elizabeth Pierce.

Eastern Randolph: Brecken Snotherly.

Trinity: Kinsley Fox, Sarabeth Johnson.

WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Hunter Atkins of Randleman takes a swing during a Piedmont Athletic Conference Tournament game against Trinity.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Wheatmore’s Summer Bowman heads a ball during the Class 2-A state playoffs in a girls’ soccer game vs. Wilkes Central.

Betty Sue Shelton Barker

April 19, 1939 — July 13, 2023

Betty Sue Barker, 84, passed away July 13, 2023 at Carolina Caring Catawba Valley Hospice House in Newton, NC. She was born April 19, 1939 to Walter J. Shelton and Elsie Mae (Duncan) Shelton.

Mrs. Barker spent 40+ years as a Shipping Clerk at Salem Neckware in Randleman. She loved being a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and sister. Spending time in the kitchen baking cookies and spoiling her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren was one of her greatest loves. Betty was known for her chicken salad by her daughter-in-law and sending cards to her family and friends.

She is survived by her son, James Barker (Amada) of Kyle, TX: daughter, Tammy Barker Wright (Tommy) of Lincolnton, NC: grandchildren, Matt Wright (Sara), Nate Wright (Janey), Jordan Wright (Madison), Omar Barker, Salome Barker: greatgrandchildren, Jeremiah Moore, Anira Wright, Molly Wright, Jonah Wright, Elias Wright, Adeline Wright, Lucy Wright, Elliana Wright: her sisters Clara Hughes, Mabel Ling, Mary Smith, Jean Elberson. In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Andrew Barker.

Ruth Carol Cartrette Milan

December 15, 1950 — July 8, 2023

Ruth Carol Cartrette Milan, age 72, of Sophia passed away on Saturday, July 8, 2023 at her home.

Mrs. Milan was born in Loris, SC on December 15, 1950 to Lacy and Edna Nobles Cartrette. She retired from Warvel Products in Linwood, NC. Ruth loved her church, Tabernacle of the Lord in Townville, SC. In addition to her parents, Ruth was preceded in death by her brothers, Tommy and Dale Cartrette. Ruth enjoyed traveling to the beach every year for vacation and spending time with her family. She is survived by her husband of 55 years, Billy Wayne Milan; sons, Jimmy Milan (Angela) of Monroe, GA and Marty Milan (Aimee) of Trinity; grandchildren, Joshua Milan, James Milan, Alexis Baker, Matthew Johnson, Lorella Milan, and Adam Milan; 4 great-grandchildren; sisters, Bonnie Bennett of Monroe, GA and Joyce Hill of Jamestown; Lacy Cartrette of Altus, OK, Carter Cartrette of Thomasville, Bill Cartrette of Monroe, GA, and Mickey Cartrette of Monroe, GA.

Bernice James Chriscoe

August 7, 1931 — July 6, 2023

Bernice James "B.J." Chriscoe, age 91, of Asheboro passed away on Thursday, July 6, 2023 at Moses Cone Hospital.

Mr. Chriscoe was born in Seagrove on August 7, 1931 to Clyde Chriscoe, Sr. and Ometa Cagle Chriscoe. B.J. served in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict. He then moved to the Tidewater Area of Newport News, VA where he and his wife Elaine lived for 20 years before returning to Asheboro in 1983. B.J. became a different person when he studied with the Jehovah's Witness, where he was an Elder, did relief work, volunteer ministry, and construction. B.J. was a funny and outgoing man who was loved by all. He enjoyed gardening and farming. In addition to his parents, B.J. was preceded in death by 6 brothers and 2 sisters. He is survived by his wife, Elaine Chriscoe; sisters, Edna Tillman of Hampton, VA, Marie Chriscoe of Asheboro, and Judy Rice of High Point; and brother, Bradley Chriscoe of Seagrove.

Nancy Dixon Phillips

July 8, 1941 — July 14, 2023

Nancy Dixon Phillips, 82, of Asheboro, formerly of Siler City, passed away July 14, 2023 at Randolph Health.

Ms. Phillips was born in Chatham County on July 8, 1941, daughter of the late Joseph S. Dixon, Sr. and Louise Clapp Dixon. Nancy worked for many years as a clerk at Belk Clothing Store. She was a member of Loves Creek Baptist Church of Siler City and loved spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren. In addition to her parents, Nancy was preceded in death by her husband, Lynville Phillips; son, Lynn Phillips; and brothers, Joseph S. Dixon, Jr., Richard Dixon, and Jim Dixon.

Ms. Phillips is survived by her son, Jarrett Phillips and wife Lorelei of Asheboro; 5 grandchildren, Kristy Phillips Christie (Steve), Eric Phillips (Heather), Alex Phillips (John), Tres Phillips (Justin), and Trever Phillips (Aubrey); six greatgrandchildren; sister, Ann D. Moore and husband Danny of Bear Creek; and brother, Bill Dixon and wife Janice of Siler City.

Zachary Davis

August 17, 2005 - July 10, 2023

Zachary Lee Davis, 17, of Asheboro, passed away Monday, July 10, 2023, at his home.

Zachary was born on August 17, 2005 in Randolph County. He loved playing his Xbox and loved his dogs, "Duke" and "August". He loved fishing and going to the beach. He also enjoyed riding 4-wheelers and skateboarding.

He is preceded in death by his grandfathers, David Staples, Terry Davis; great grandfather Robert Anderson; and great great grandmother, Kathleen Kepley.

Surviving are his father, Terry Davis; mother, Crystal Staples; sisters, Brianna Davis, Emma Davis; brother, Evan Davis; stepsisters, Juliana, Willow, and Luna; grandmothers, Linda Davis, Sharon Staples; great grandmother, Edith Anderson; step parents, Trevor and Rachel Stout; aunts, Kathy GaylaGoehrig (Lou), Teresa Slussar (Danny), Carol Cook (Gary), Candy Allen (Ronnie), and Brenda Johnson (E.J.); and many cousins.

Jack Webster

May 4, 1940 - July 12, 2023

Jack Alton Webster, 83, of Asheboro, died peacefully Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at the home of his son and daughter in law, Brian and Danielle Webster.

Born May 4, 1940, in Alamance Co., NC, Mr. Webster was the son of the late Dwight Webster and Annie Armstrong. He was an avid golfer who enjoyed playing at the Asheboro Municipal Golf Course. He was a NY Yankees, the Tar Heels, and Carolina Panthers fan. He enjoyed hauling and delivering cars with his son, Brian.

Mr. Webster attended Good Samaritan Baptist Church and was of the Christian faith. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend.

In addition to his parents, Mr. Webster was preceded in death by his step father, Ray Armstrong.

Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Faye Webster; children, Lynne Wilson and husband Matthew, Ray Webster, Brian Webster and wife Danielle, Craig Webster; grandchildren, Keena Heaton and wife Marlene, Ashley Wilson and husband Adam, Loren Webster, Brett Webster and wife Brooke, Dakota Wilson, Bryan Webster, Shane Webster; great grandchildren, Devin Wilson, Caylee Wilson, Gracie Green, Gabriel Heaton ; brother, Barry Webster; friends, Larry Gun, Alton Nance, and Pete Mae.

Charlotte Myers

December 15, 1960 - July 10, 2023

Charlotte Jean Myers, 62, of Seagrove, died Monday, July 10, 2023, at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in WinstonSalem.

Charlotte was born on December 15, 1960, in Washington, DC, to the late Alonzo Biggs and Edna Neal Biggs. She was a hard worker for Klaussner Furniture and later retired from Techimark after several years of service. She enjoyed spending time at the Franklinville Business Center playing "Sweeps" with her children. Charlotte also liked picking up and delivering cars with her husband. She was always great at joking around. Charlotte was loved by family and friends. She is survived by her husband, Billy Myers, Sr. of the home; daughter, Cindy Anderson and husband Michael of Seagrove; son, Billy Myers, Jr. and wife Christina of Seagrove; grandchildren, Lona Anderson, Donald (Ashley) Anderson, Lee Anderson, Elizabeth Myers, Matthew Myers, and Ella Myers.

Kris Hyatt

October 20, 1966 - July 10, 2023

On July 10, 2023, Kristle "Kris" Dawn Hyatt, 56, gained her wings. She passed peacefully from this life with her beloved Brent by her side as her pastor led her to peace in prayer.

Kris was an exceptional partner, mother, and a lifelong friend to many. Her career with the United States Postal Service was fitting in many ways, as she leaves behind a legacy of delivering light to all who knew her.

Kris is survived by beloved, Brent Bentley; her two sons, J.T. and Zach; granddaughter, Chesney; brother, Kyle and wife Tammy; and parents, Hazel and John Lamb. She was preceded by her son, Morgan.

STATE & NATION

Trump and DeSantis begin eyeing Super Tuesday states as they prepare for 2024 long game

The Associated Press

AS THE REPUBLICAN presidential primary intensifies this summer, most White House hopefuls are devoting their time to events in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states that kick off the nomination process early next year. Not Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump.

The Florida governor addressed more than 1,500 faithful Republicans on Saturday at Nashville’s Music City Center. A few weeks later, the former president will swing through Alabama to headline the state GOP’s biggest event of the summer. Trump, the early GOP frontrunner, and DeSantis, who is trailing him for second place, are hardly ignoring voters in the states that jumpstart the Republican contest. Over the past month, they’ve both held rallies and other major events in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, sometimes even appearing in the same state on the same day.

But they are doing more than the other GOP candidates to strengthen their position in states like Tennessee and Alabama that will hold elections on so-called Super Tuesday. That’s when the largest number of delegates, which candidates win state-by-state, are up for grabs of any single day in the primary cycle.

Only Trump and DeSantis, who have raised tens of millions of dollars to support their campaigns, have the resources to work in any meaningful way beyond the early states. And GOP leaders beyond Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina say it’s a smart strategy.

“I know everybody’s focused on Iowa and New Hampshire,” said Scott Golden, chairman of the Tennessee GOP, who noted that ear-

ly voting in his state begins in mid-February, before South Carolina is scheduled to hold its contest.

“But it is worth taking a little time out to come to Tennessee.”

For presidential candidates, Super Tuesday is a circled-in-red date — next year, it’s March 5 — that can make or break a campaign.

Coming quickly after contests in early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, the set of roughly 14 primaries are held across a broad geographic area, from California and Texas to Massachusetts and Maine. The day also is a test of a campaign’s ability to organize supporters, its financial strength and a chance for those candidates who are still standing to run up their delegate total.

In 2016, for example, Trump’s Super Tuesday dominance sig-

naled, against conventional political wisdom, that the businessman and reality TV star was likely to be the party’s nominee. President Joe Biden similarly romped through Super Tuesday in 2020, quickly forcing most of his remaining rivals to drop out.

This cycle, Trump and DeSantis have been nailing down key endorsements in Super Tuesday states, starting to hire staff and readying supporters to knock on doors.

Of course, targeting Super Tuesday states is no guarantee for winning the nomination. After a late entry in the 2020 Democratic presidential race, billionaire Mike Bloomberg’s strategy was to bypass early contests and win in Super Tuesday states. The former New York mayor spent over $500 mil-

lion but finished well behind Biden in the delegate haul.

Trump formally entered the race with the huge advantage of having run and won races in these states before, and his campaigning in many of them hasn’t stopped since he lost the 2020 election. In 2021, for example, Trump held a “Save America” rally in Alabama that the state GOP said drew some 50,000 people.

“People of Alabama have a special relationship with Donald Trump,” said Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl, noting Trump handily won the GOP primary in 2016, when he was battling Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida for the nomination. Trump also won the general election in Alabama easily in 2016 and 2020.

Chinese hackers breached State Dept., other government email on eve of Blinken visit, officials say

The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — Statebacked Chinese hackers foiled Microsoft’s cloud-based security in hacking the email accounts of officials at multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing last month, officials said last week.

The surgical, targeted espionage accessed the email of a small number of individuals at an unspecified number of U.S. agencies and was discovered in mid-June by the State Department, U.S. officials said. They said none of the breached systems were classified, nor was any of the stolen data.

The hacked officials included Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials. Export controls imposed by her agency have stung multiple Chinese companies.

One person familiar with the investigation said U.S. military and intelligence agencies were not among the agencies impacted in

the monthlong spying campaign, which also affected unnamed foreign governments.

The officials spoke on condition they not be further identified.

In a technical advisory and a call with reporters, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI said Microsoft determined the hackers gained access by impersonating authorized users.

Officials did not specify the nature of the stolen data. But one U.S. official said the intrusion was “directly targeted” at diplomats and others who deal with the China portfolio at the State Department and other agencies. The official added that it was not yet clear if there had been any significant compromise of information.

The Blinken trip went ahead as planned, although with customary information security procedures in place, which required his delegation to use “burner” phones and computers in China.

The hack was disclosed by Microsoft in a blog post. It said it was alerted to the breach, which

it blamed on a state-backed, espionage-focused Chinese hacking group “known to target government agencies in Western Europe,” on June 16. Microsoft said the group, which it calls Storm-0558, had gained access to email accounts affecting about 25 organizations, including government agencies, since mid-May as well as to consumer accounts of individuals likely associated with those agencies. Neither Microsoft nor U.S. officials would identify the agencies or governments impacted. A senior CISA official told reporters in a press call that the number of affected organizations in the United States is in the single digits. While the official declined to say whether U.S. officials are displeased with Microsoft over the breach, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge noted that it was “government safeguards” that detected the intrusion and added, “We continue to hold the procurement providers of the U.S. Government to a high security threshold.”

But of greater concern to cybersecurity experts is that The Storm-0558 hackers broke in using forged authentication tokens — which are used to verify the identity of a user. Microsoft’s executive vice president for security, Charlie Bell, said on the company’s website that the hackers had done that by acquiring a “consumer signing key.”

Cybersecurity researcher Jake Williams, a former National Security Agency offensive hacker, said it remains unclear how the hackers accomplished that. Microsoft did not immediately respond to emailed questions, including whether it was breached by the hackers to obtain the signing key.

Williams was concerned the hackers could have forged tokens for wide use to hack any number of non-enterprise Microsoft users. “I can’t imagine China didn’t also use this access to target dissidents on personal subscriptions, too.”

The head of intelligence for the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, Adam Meyers, said in a statement that the incident highlights the

“It’s states like Alabama that are going to be where (Trump) hopes to make a lot of ground,” he said. “And if other candidates are going to beat him, they have to compete with him in those states.”

DeSantis and Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting him, are trying. The PAC plans to invest $100 million on ground operations targeting the first 18 states — four early states plus Super Tuesday states — including paid staff such as state campaign directors. Door knocking is well underway in the first states and will start in Super Tuesday states this summer, with a goal of having 2,600 people out supporting the Florida governor by Labor Day.

“Nobody else is doing what we’re doing as of this point,” spokeswoman Erin Perrine said.

systemic risk of relying on a single technology provider in Microsoft. He said “having one monolithic vendor that is responsible for all of your technology, products, services and security - can end in disaster.”

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, called the U.S. accusation of hacking “disinformation” aimed at diverting attention from U.S. cyberespionage against China.

“No matter which agency issued this information, it will never change the fact that the United States is the world’s largest hacker empire conducting the most cyber theft,” Wang said in a routine briefing.

U.S. intelligence agencies also use hacking as a critical espionage tool and it is not a violation of international law.

Last month, Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant said suspected state-backed Chinese hackers broke into the networks of hundreds of public and private sector organizations globally exploiting a vulnerability in a popular email security tool.

Earlier this year, Microsoft said state-backed Chinese hackers were targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork to disrupt critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises.

AP PHOTO

In this Aug. 21, 2015 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign pep rally in Mobile, Ala.

Rep. Hudson votes to renew NDAA, secures funding for NC military families and infrastructure

Last Friday, U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (NC-09) released a statement on the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives with bipartisan support: “Bolstering our nation’s defense capabilities and improving the quality of life for our military servicemembers and their families is a top priority of mine,” said Hudson. “I am thrilled I was able to deliver over $260 million in funding for critical infrastructure projects in our community. As the representative of the largest army base in the world, I’ll never stop fighting to support our men and women in uniform and their families.” The House’s FY 2024 NDAA and the FY 2024 House

Military Construction Appropriations package contain Hudson’s following priorities to benefit activeduty military personnel and their families at Fort Liberty, formerly known as Fort Bragg: barracks, facility prototyping, automated record fire range (ARF+), aircraft maintenance hangar, child development center, camp Mackall Microgrid, and provisions to improve Fort Liberty Roadway Infrastructure. In addition, both of Hudson’s funding requests – the construction of permanent aircraft maintenance hangar facilities to accommodate aircraft serving the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and a child development center to serve military families stationed in the region – were fully supported.

HOKE COUNTY

Preparing for AI threats

On Tuesday, Senators Ted Budd (R-NC) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) introduced a pair of bills to direct federal officials to prepare for and respond to potential catastrophic threats related to the possible misuse of artificial intelligence. “As AI grows in power and influence, we may face the real prospect of AIgenerated threats like biological and chemical weapons,” Budd said. “The federal government must not be caught flat-footed on these threats and should begin to prepare now. I’m glad to join with Senator Markey to lead the Senate to face potential AI threats head-on.” COURTESY PHOTO

Health Department to have after-hours triage services following approved contract

Hoke County awarded grant to increase capacity of emergency management office

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

RAEFORD – The Hoke County Board of Commissioners met Monday, July 17, with a handful of contractual and grant matters on the agenda.

The board first approved an after-hours clinical coverage contract for triage services with PRN INC, PC.

“The contract is for a triage after-hour service to prevent people from just going to the emergency room,” said Health Director Helene Edwards. “We’ve researched different companies, and PRN INC is a North Carolina-based company that has a staff of RN nurs-

es that can take the calls for us. We would use our monthly premium payments to pay for this service so that we are in compliance with the insurance plans that we are contracted with.”

The agreement will allow the Hoke County Health Department to comply with Medicaid Health Plan and health insurance company standards that require after-hours coverage.

“This will prevent us from being penalized,” Edwards said.

The board also approved the Health Department’s declaration of 64 black waiting room chairs, six green waiting room chairs, four task chairs, and two executive chairs as surplus and to be sold through the proper channels.

The board then approved the acceptance of an Emergency Management Capacity Building Competitive grant.

“Of the 92 eligible counties in

the state, 70 submitted applications this past March, and Hoke County was one of 20 recipients in the State of North Carolina,” said Climate Adaptation Change Specialist Charles Douglas. “Our total award was $142,460. That will purchase and procure an all-hazards unified response command vehicle for the county, increasing the capacity of the emergency operations center and emergency management office.”

“The vehicle will be titled and owned entirely and maintained by the County of Hoke,” said Grants Manager Andrew Jacobs.

The board also approved a grant program proposal for a heat-injury prevention pilot program.

“This is a heat injury prevention pilot program aimed at children ages 13 and younger,” Douglas said.

“We’re currently executing this program utilizing the parks and rec staff, volunteer coaches, and other

members that encompass all of our summer programs. It will also be a keynote speech this September at the North Carolina Public Health Conference in Concord.”

Finally, the board approved Change Order 3 for the new courthouse project.

“Change Order 3, in summary, is just for GMP 1, which is the early site package,” said Metcon Project Executive Ryan Parker. “The steel, the concrete, the site work, and it doesn’t increase the overall project budget. It’s just approval of those early packages. GMP 1 totals $6.4 million and is specifically for those packages.

“Currently, GMP 2, which is the remainder of the building, is ready to go out for a bid period, and overall, we’re tracking very close to the last budget approval that we got in March.”

The Hoke County Board of Commissioners will next meet August 7.

individual decision as to whether they were under such threats, and to take up arms in defense.

“His words,” Kocher said. “The individual gets to decide who the innocent are … including the federal government and local law enforcement.”

The Associated Press

RALEIGH — A federal jury on Wednesday convicted a man charged with teaching someone how to make bombs meant to kill federal law enforcement officers.

Christopher Arthur, 39, faces a maximum 20 years in prison, according to federal prosecutors. He was also charged with illegal possession of weapons, including improvised explosives found on his farm in Mount Olive, North Carolina.

Arthur, an Army veteran who served two tours of duty in Iraq, is the owner of Tackleberry Solutions, a company with the goal of “teaching war time tactics to the everyday citizen.”

Arthur was arrested in January 2022 after he provided instructions on how to construct bombs to a confidential human source, referred to as “Buckshot” by federal prosecutors.

Buckshot initially contacted Arthur in May 2021 for help, claiming that agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had confiscated some of his weapons. He told Arthur he wanted help preparing for the agents’ expected re -

turn to his house. Prosecutors played snippets of recordings made by Buckshot in which Arthur instructs him on a home defense strategy he called the “spider web,” which included putting improvised explosives around the home to maim or kill.

“I’m going to show you something called the spider web,” Arthur is heard saying in the recordings, which were played in court. “It’s a freaking death box.”

Arthur’s attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Ed Gray, urged the jury to consider the context under which Arthur was giving this information to Buckshot. He said Arthur believed a war was coming and that the collapse of the federal government was imminent.

Gray said that all of Arthur’s wartime tactics and bomb-making manuals and videos were merely meant to empower individuals to better defend themselves and their homes.

“What you have is someone dealing with fear,” Gray said. “He’s talking about preparing for the future war … he’s not talking about today.”

Indeed, Arthur took the stand in his own defense to try and con-

vince the jury that he had no issue with the current government. But in his videos he commonly referred to the tyrannical government, spoke openly of law enforcement and government as enemies and that things had only worsened with recent events.

After the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol “it was not uncommon in our area for FBI agents to show up asking about Jan. 6. I know one or two people who were questioned,” Arthur said. Still, Arthur claimed to have no beef with the federal government.

But the jury didn’t buy it, and took only about an hour to deliberate.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Kocher argued that Arthur knew exactly what he was doing, and that by teaching someone to make bombs to “defend” his home against federal agents’, all law enforcement are put in danger.

Kocher played videos where Arthur instructed citizens to create militias, and railed against a tyrannical government. Kocher argued the warnings were not meant for some future apocalypse, but were against the current federal government. Arthur urged his viewers and trainees to make an

Arthur had been on the FBI’s radar since at least May 2020 when police found multiple tactical instruction manuals by Arthur in the home of a man who had just been killed in a shootout with offi-

See BOMB, page 2

Man found guilty of teaching bomb making to person targeting authorities

WEEKLY FORECAST WEDNESDAY JULY 19 HI 8 8° LO 7 1° PRECIP 34% THURSDAY JULY 20 HI 91° LO 7 3° PRECIP 24% FRIDAY JULY 21 HI 89° LO 70° PRECIP 1 4% SATURDAY JULY 22 HI 82° LO 66° PRECIP 56% SUNDAY JULY 23 HI 86° LO 67 ° PRECIP 9% MONDAY JULY 24 HI 86° LO 6 8° PRECIP 3 4% TUESDAY JULY 25 HI 89° LO 6 8° PRECIP 24%

BOMB from page 1 cers in New York, federal authorities said. Court documents identified the man killed as Joshua Blessed, a truck driver from Harrisonburg, Virginia.

The FBI found three bombs in Blessed’s vehicle in Virginia

and more at his home. Blessed’s cell phone records indicated that he trained with Arthur at his North Carolina home in March 2020. Text messages printed out in court documents showed that Blessed and Arthur considered themselves friends, “even brothers,” Arthur texted.

♦ Sorto Flores, Yunnior Alejandro (W/M/29), Buring of Personal Property, 07/16/2023, Hoke County Sheriff’s Office

Machuca Vergara, Antonio (W/M/28), DWI, 07/15/2023, Hoke County Sheriff’s Office

Frazier, Alan Deline (B/M/39), Public Health Violation, 07/15/2023, Hoke County Sheriff’s Office

Williams, Shaun Kevin (B/M/35), Assault on a Female, 07/15/2023, Hoke County Sheriff’s Office

Billinger, Daronlo Lamont (B/M/46), Firearm by a Felon, 07/15/2023, Hoke County Sheriff’s Office

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — It’s a “Strike Girl Summer.”

So read a picket sign as the sidewalks of Hollywood and midtown Manhattan teemed with actors on Day 1 of their strike, protesting alongside the writers who have been at it since May.

Together, the two guilds have ground the entertainment industry to a halt. On both coasts, though, there was a buoyant mood in the air as picket lines were reinvigorated by the support of some of the 65,000 actors who comprise SAG-AFTRA (98% of members voted to approve a strike back in June). This is Hollywood’s biggest labor fight in six decades, and the first dual strike since 1960, reigniting the fervor against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers just as a historic heat wave hits Southern California. Outside the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, throngs of protesters chanted: “Fists up, curtains down, LA is a union town.” Food trucks flanking organizers’ tents served churros, boba tea and cold lemonade to protesters baking in the midday heat that reached 98 degrees Fahrenheit (36.7 Celsius).

But the oppressive sun didn’t dampen the mood. Demonstrators spritzed each other with water and danced to reggaeton music as passersby in cars honked in support of signs like: “Honk if your boss is overpaid.”

Parents on the picket line hoisted their children over their shoulders and pushed toddlers in strollers, high-fiving one another with signs that reflected defiant lyrics from Olivia Rodrigo’s new single, “Vampire,” and were packing “Big Strike Energy.”

“The jig is up,” said Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA and once the titular star of “The Nanny” at SAG’s press conference Thursday. “The entire busi-

Moss, Creighton Lewis (B/M/34), Assault on Emergecny Personnel , 07/14/2023, Hoke County Sheriff’s Office McNeill, Dante Darius (B/M/19), Break or Enter with Intent to Terrorize, 07/14/2023, Hoke County Sheriff’s Office Crane, Cherrisse Kendra (B/F/48), Cyberstalking, 07/14/2023, Hoke County Sheriff’s Office

Davis, Kayla Shay (W/F/29), Larceny, 07/12/2023, Hoke County Sheriff’s Office Wilson,

ness model has been changed by streaming, digital, A.I. If we don’t stand tall right now, we’re all going to be in trouble.”

The infusion of SAG members’ support was noted by comedian and writer Adam Conover, a member of SAG and WGA who serves on the latter’s negotiating committee.

“If you are gaining momentum like we are 70-odd days into a strike, you are going to win,” Conover said. “You know, the companies’ strategy with the writers guild when we go on strike is to starve us out and wait, not even talk to us for months because they expect us to bleed support. Yet, look at this — our picket lines are more full than ever and now have another union on strike with us.”

SAG and WGA last went on simultaneous strikes more than six decades ago.

“What we won in 1960 was our health and pension plans, and the existence of residuals,” Conover said. Now, executives “are facing the fact that not only are they getting no new scripts, they cannot shoot anything until they come back and make a fair deal, not with one union but with both unions.”

Zora Bikangaga, also a member of both guilds, called Friday’s picket “invigorating,” and a testament to how the issues writers are facing are “pervasive across the entire industry.”

While the industry’s business model has undergone major changes in the decades since the last strike, actors say their rates and contracts haven’t evolved to match inflation and other changes.

“They use the gig economy as a way to say, ‘This is how you can be more independent,’ when in fact what it does is diminish the value and strength of organized labor,” said actor Ron Song, who appeared on Amazon Freevee’s “Jury Duty,” which was nominated this week for four Emmys.

H H H H H H

VOTE BOYLES JOHNNY

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Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

Building a safer nation

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN once said, “A truly successful army is one that, because of its strength and ability and dedication, will not be called upon to fight, for no one will dare to provoke it.”

In North Carolina, Veterans Day is not just one day a year—it is a year-long call to action.

As your Congressman and representative of the largest Army base in the world, I take this commitment seriously to supporting our troops and their families. Building a nation that’s safe is also a key pillar of House Republicans “Commitment to America.” That’s why last week, the House passed the bipartisan FY24 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This is the key piece of legislation that authorizes funding for our military and national defense for the year—including over $260 million in funding for critical infrastructure projects that will aid our region’s military personnel.

I am especially proud this year’s NDAA contains provisions I fought to include. Among these projects are the construction of a Child Development Center to address the existing deficit of childcare spaces available to improve the quality of life of military families stationed in our community, and a permanent Aircraft Maintenance Hangar facility to accommodate aircrafts serving the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

This year’s NDAA also includes the biggest pay raise for our troops in decades, pushes back against the woke ideology being forced on our military members, equips our military with the tools and resources to counter the rapidly growing threats from foreign adversaries, and improves military readiness. This bill also provides assistance to the over 8,000 service members who were discharged for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine and provides them with a path back to service.

While we can never thank our active duty military, their families, and our veterans enough for their service, we must continue to do everything we can to improve the quality of health care we provide them. For example, Master Sergeant Rich Stayskal, a resident of Moore County, served our country honorably and was wounded in combat. While stationed in our region, a missed cancer diagnosis

changed his life. In response, I helped change federal law in 2020 so Rich and other military families could receive support when they are victims of medical malpractice while on active-duty. However, the Department of Defense has failed to implement the law properly, stealing hope from Rich Stayskal and hundreds of military families who have been harmed by medical negligence.

Last week, I was proud to introduce the HERO Act to correct this wrong so our nation’s heroes who are victims of malpractice from a DoD medical treatment facility. They should have the right and opportunity to take their claim to District Court in order to receive the compensation they deserve. Service members such as Rich kept their promise to us—they served honorably, and they deserve the best we have to offer them. I will not stop fighting until they get it.

In North Carolina, Veterans Day is not just one day a year—it is a year-long call to action. That’s why I was also proud to join my House colleagues recently to reintroduce the bipartisan resolution to designate November 12, 2023 as “National Warrior Call Day.” This meaningful day will encourage folks in our community and across the country to check in on someone they know, active-duty, or veteran.

The suicide rate among our nation’s veterans is 2.5 times that of all civilians. It is important to address the challenges veterans face head-on and address the stigma around seeking help.

Ensuring our military families and veterans have the resources they deserve are some of the most important duties we have in Congress. I’ll never stop fighting to support our troops, their families, and our veterans.

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.

Different groups that ‘don’t look like America’ together produce success in America

The subgroup of Americans with very high levels of cognitive ability doesn’t actually “look like America.”

NEWS STORIES have reported that despite the Supreme Court’s decision in cases brought against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, those and other selective schools still want to employ racial quotas and preferences in admissions.

They’ve been abolishing requirements that applicants take objective tests like the SAT and are inviting applicants to write essays on the travails of their minority status. Such surreptitious defiance of the law is not surprising in admissions officials, a guild whose practices are undergirded and interlaced with lies and evasions of truth — the opposite of what higher education is supposed to foster.

They apparently think their moral worth depends on achieving a higher percentage of black people in a student body than in the U.S. Army or the New York Police Department.

One problem, as Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor established a decade ago in their book “Mismatch,” is that this results in black students tending to be less prepared than their schoolmates in selective schools from Harvard on down.

This tends to reinforce negative racial stereotypes and to cause the intended beneficiaries to hunker down in all-black dormitories and orientation sessions, which minimize or eliminate any benefit of the “diversity” that the single deciding vote of Justice Lewis Powell in 1978 thought justified racially discriminatory admissions. Selective schools say they want student bodies that “look like America.” But, whether you like it or not, the subgroup of Americans with very high levels of cognitive ability doesn’t actually “look like America.”

Evidence comes from the results of an experiment in which high school students of the class of 2022 throughout Michigan were invited to take the SAT, and for which the results were disaggregated by, among other factors, self-declared race.

Overall, 69% of the test takers were classified as white, 5% Asian, 11% African American and 8% Hispanic. These percentages are not far off the averages for the state of Michigan and for the United States as a whole.

But when we look at those high schoolers who scored the highest, from 1400 to 1600, which include the top 95th percentile of the population, the picture is different: 69% white once again, but 29% Asian, 2% Hispanic, and 0% black.

That last number may reflect that some black students simply didn’t work very hard on the test, just as the Columbia linguist John McWhorter confessed in The New York Times last week that in high school he didn’t bother “seeking the academic mountaintop” because, with racial quotas and preferences in place, his grades and test scores “wouldn’t affect my future.” So eliminating quotas may marginally increase black students’ test scores.

Even if you look at the larger tranche of students scoring from 1200 to 1600, scores achieved by just about all non-quota students in selective schools, that group still doesn’t “look like America”: 77% white, 13% Asian, 4% Hispanic, 2% black. These numbers closely resemble those compiled from IQ tests.

Some people will find these numbers disturbing, and demand that government do something, somehow, to make every group identical. Others, including many familiar with the long run of American history, will recognize that differently defined groups will, because of some combination of nature and nurture, perform differently.

The nation has benefited from excellence of various kinds, some more often found in one group, others in others. The National Basketball Association doesn’t much “look like America,” either, and neither have the creators and performers of great popular music going back far into the American past.

The SAT tests were adopted and used by selective colleges and universities after the Second World War — a war whose American casualties were hugely reduced by the development of the atomic bomb, by the Manhattan Project, whose physicists, many Jewish and from Central Europe, didn’t much “look like America.”

Postwar American colleges and universities used the SAT to identify high-cognitive-ability applicants from unusual backgrounds. The paradox, after three generations of an increasingly fair society, is that there are fewer such people and less social mobility because people tend to start off where they should end up. As Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker writes, “No society can be simultaneously fair, free, and equal.”

Perhaps the best response is to focus less on the small numbers who reach the top of hierarchies and cultivate more respect for those with more modest talents whose everyday conscientiousness and occasional heroism help make the country and the world better.

COLUMN | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Wake Football adds director of recruiting

Wake Forest football coach

Dave Clawson hired Katie Bason as the director of football recruiting operations. She will run on-campus visits for prospective studentathletes and their families. She comes to Winston-Salem after spending the last year as an Assistant AD / Chief of Staff at FIU. She managed all day-today operational and logistical components for the Panthers football program. Prior to spending the 2022 season at FIU, Bason served as the director of player development and operations at Ole Miss in 2020 and 2021 after spending six seasons at the University of Colorado, Boulder as the Buffaloes’ Director of Football Academics.

HORSE RACING

Funny Cide, 2003 Kentucky Derby winner, dies

Funny Cide, the “Gutsy Gelding” who became a fan favorite after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2003, has died from complications of colic. He was 23. Kentucky Horse Park, the Lexington farm where Funny Cide lived for his final 15 years, confirmed the thoroughbred died Sunday, as did Sackatoga Stable, the group that owned him. Funny Cide won 11 of 38 starts and earned more than $3.5 million in his career. He was undefeated in three starts as a 2-year-old. Funny Cide lost his first three starts the following year but won the Derby and Preakness before finishing third in the Belmont Stakes.

SOCCER

Messi introduced by Inter Miami

Lionel Messi has met his new fans at Inter Miami. An event billed as “The Unveil” was Sunday night at the team’s stadium in Fort Lauderdale. It came one day after Messi, Major League Soccer and Inter Miami finalized his signing through the 2025 season. It’s the start of a busy week of events for Messi with his new club. His first official training session is Tuesday and he is expected to play Friday in a Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul. Inter Miami plays Charlotte FC on Aug. 20 in South Florida. Inter Miami comes to Charlotte on Oct. 7.

Martin Truex Jr. wins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for 1st time in 30 races

The Associated Press LOUDON, N.H. — Martin Truex Jr. mastered another Monday matinee to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the first time in 30 career Cup tries at the same track where as a kid he watched from the grandstands while his father raced.

Thanks to rain postponements, Truex won his second Monday race of the season — he also won at Dover — and fourth of his career.

Truex dominated in the No. 19 Toyota en route to his third win of the season. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver secured one of the few wins he desperately wanted in a career that could be winding down. The 43-year-old Truex, the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion, said over the weekend he was close to

a decision on his future: either retire or return for another season at JGR. At the Magic Mile, it was simply time for an overdue celebration.

“This one’s been eluding me for a long, long time,” Truex said. Truex led with 15 laps left when JGR teammate Christopher Bell, last year’s New Hampshire winner, smacked the wall to bring out the eighth caution.

“We should have a company policy that says when one of your teammates is leading, don’t crash by yourself,” Truex said over the radio.

It really didn’t matter for Truex. He pulled away off the restart with nine laps left and could taste victory — and soon enough, the 20-pound lobster that traditionally goes to the winner.

It’s a perfect reward for Truex, who also grew up helping his dad on his family’s clam boat.

This win was special. Truex tagged along as a kid to New Hampshire when his dad raced here in the 1990s and got his first taste of the sights, smells and sounds of a NASCAR garage.

One memory stood out among the others: Watching Dale Earnhardt tinker with his carburetor under the hood of his car.

“I just kind of stood there in awe and watched,” Truex said over the weekend.

And as soon as Truex could race at New Hampshire, he won. Truex had just turned 20 years old when he won a regional stock car series race at the track. Pretty cool. Even better? His father finished fifth in the same race.

“This place is a big reason why I got to where I am,” the younger Truex said.

Truex found early success in Loudon once he transitioned to Cup in 2006, rattling off a thirdplace finish and a fifth in 2007 when the series still raced here twice a season and a fourth and seventh in 2008. He had six straight top 10s from 2016 to 2020 and led 172 laps from the pole last season before he faded to fourth. Truex said his JGR team “panicked” with a late call for two tires that backfired and cost them the checkered flag.

“It’s one that I wanted really bad for a long time,” Truex said. “Maybe too much, I don’t know.”

Much like last year, Truex won the first two stages of the 301-lap race.

Martin Truex Jr., steers his car into Turn 1 during the Crayon 301 NASCAR Cup Series race, Monday, July 17, 2023, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H.

Titans landing 3-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins, AP source says

The Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) —

The Tennessee Titans hope they›ve filled their major need at wide receiver with three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, agreeing to terms on a two-year deal worth $26 million with incentives that could push that to $32 million, a person familiar with the agreement said Sunday.

The Titans had the advantage of being the first NFL team Hopkins visited after being released by Arizona in May. Hopkins arrived in Nashville in June and documented on social media his visit to CMA Fest›s final night at Nissan Stadium, where the Titans play. Hopkins also visited the New England Patriots later that week.

The Carolina Panthers were also in the mix to add Hopkins to their

wide receiver depth chart and, according to national football analysts, were “lurking” as a potential dark horse landing spot.

The deal was first reported by AtoZSports. The person confirmed the agreement to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Hopkins has not signed the contract.

Hopkins, who turned 31 on June 6, would bring much-needed experience to Tennessee’s young wide receiving group. Head coach Mike Vrabel had more career touchdown catches with 12 in his own NFL career as a linebacker than anyone currently on the Titans’ roster.

The three-time All-Pro would have led Tennessee last season with his 64 catches for 717 yards for Arizona despite a six-game suspension after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. He

also missed the final two games with a knee injury.

Arizona released the five-time Pro Bowl receiver in a salary cap move May 26 after failing to find a trade partner in the offseason.

The Cardinals cut Hopkins three seasons after acquiring him in a blockbuster trade with Houston in 2020, and they had signed him to a $54.5 million extension through 2024. Hopkins would have counted close to $31 million against the cap for Arizona, which still took on a dead cap hit of $22.6 million.

Hopkins ranks 36th in NFL history with 11,298 yards receiving in his 10 seasons over 145 games. He immediately became a popular free agent, with his former Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson making a pitch for the receiver to join him in Cleveland.

He would join a receivers’ room currently led by Treylon Burks, the 18th pick overall in the 2022 draft. Burks was the player taken with the selection acquired when Tennessee traded A.J. Brown to Philadelphia. The general manager that made that move was fired Dec. 6.

New general manager Ran Carthon used one draft pick in April on a receiver, taking Colton Dowell in the seventh round. He also

For first time, every player at the Women’s World Cup will be paid at least $30K

The Associated Press

At the request of a group of players from across the globe, FIFA raised the prize pool for the women’s World Cup.

The players wanted a prize pool equal with the men’s World Cup. That request wasn’t met, but players in the event, which starts this week, will see their prize money increase by more than three times that of the 2019 event in France.

But more than that, soccer’s governing body agreed in June that a chunk of those funds should be paid straight to the players —

all 732 of them. Every player will earn at least $30,000, with the amount increasing the further along that teams progress in the tournament. The 23 players in the title-winning squad will each get $270,000.

That’s significant for many of the players, who in some cases don’t have club teams that pay salaries, are semi-pros or even amateurs. FIFA released a report last year that said the average salary for female players was $14,000 a year.

And not only that, the conditions the players will experience

on the ground in Australia and New Zealand — such as travel and accommodations — are now equitable to those provided the men.

“We still have a ways to go, but having them direct the payments to players is huge — it’s a life-changing thing for many of these players entering the tournament. Coming away with each player making $30,000 is huge because usually that money goes to federations and those players don’t see any, or much of that money,” U.S. forward Alex Morgan said. A $152 million fund was set for

signed veteran Chris Moore, whose 548 yards receiving would have led the Titans last season. Their returning receivers combined for 69 catches for 962 yards and four touchdowns.

The Titans also have veteran quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who turns 35 in July, and three-time Pro Bowl running back Henry — both going into the final seasons on their current contracts.

the first 32-team Women’s World Cup. The total covers prize money, team preparation and payments to players’ clubs. That’s a big boost from the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, which had a $40 million fund, with $30 million in prize money.

In contrast, the prize money pool for the men’s World Cup last year in Qatar was $440 million. The nations that got knocked out after the group stage made $9 million apiece.

FIFPRO, the global players union, backed the effort by 150 players from 25 nations — in-

cluding the United States, Japan and Germany — to push FIFA for more equitable terms.

In addition to helping pay the players, the teams and federations that haven’t often seen the big stage will benefit, too. Each team is receiving nearly $1 million in preparation funds.

“It means a lot to every player stepping into that tournament because it really means that the women’s game has finally taken the steps that we’ve been fighting for,” U.S. defender Crystal Dunn said. “We’re playing for federations to do better by their players. And I think this prize money is a testament to all of our fights — the collective fight.

“When we step on to the field, yes, we are opponents, but at the end of the day we’re all fighting for this game to grow, and for everybody.”

AP PHOTO

The United States players hold the trophy as they celebrate winning the Women’s World Cup final soccer match against The Netherlands at the Stade de Lyon in Decines, outside Lyon, France on July 17, 2019. More prize money than ever will be awarded at this year’s Women’s World Cup, and the players stand to get direct payments from FIFA this time.

AP PHOTO

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins walks on the field before an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Aug. 12, 2022, in Cincinnati.

No fingerprints, DNA sample or leads from cocaine found at the White House, the Secret Service says

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — No fingerprints or DNA turned up on the baggie of cocaine found in a lobby at the White House last week despite a sophisticated FBI crime lab analysis, and surveillance footage of the area didn’t identify a suspect, according to a summary of the Secret Service investigation obtained by The Associated Press. There are no leads on who brought the drugs into the building.

U.S. Secret Service agents found the white powder during a routine White House sweep on July 2, in a heavily trafficked West Wing lobby where staff go in and out, and tour groups gather to drop their phones and other belongings.

“Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered,” Secret Service officials said in the summary.

It’s most likely the bag was left behind by one of the hundreds of visitors who traveled in and out of the building over the weekend, according to a person familiar with

Alabama

The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Federal judges that ordered Alabama to draw new congressional lines said the state should have a second district where black voters are the majority “or something quite close to it” and have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.

What exactly that map should look like is in dispute as lawmakers rush to draw new lines.

Alabama lawmakers convened in special session Monday tasked by the court with adopting a new map by the end of the week. The directive comes after a surprise U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the lower court’s ruling that Alabama’s existing congressional map — with a single black district — likely violated the Voting Rights Act.

The group of voters who sued the state and won before the Supreme Court have proposed the creation of a second district where black residents are 50.5% of the population. But Alabama Republicans, who hold a lopsided majority in the Alabama Legislature and will control the redistricting process, have not ceded they must create a second majority-black district and have pointed to proposals with lower percentages of black voters.

“Even among the plaintiffs suing the state, the meaning of an equal opportunity to elect candidates of choice is in dispute,” House Speaker Pro Tempore Chris Pringle, who serves as co-chairman of the state redis-

the investigation who was not authorized to talk about an ongoing probe and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The presence of cocaine at the White House prompted a flurry of criticism and questions from Republicans, who received a closed briefing Thursday on the results of the investigation.

“There is no equal justice,”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Thursday. “Anything revolving around ‘Biden, Inc.’ gets treated different than any other American and that’s got to stop.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden believed it was “incredibly important” for the Secret Service to get to the bottom of how the drugs ended up in the White House. The Secret Service is responsible for securing the White House and led the investigation. Biden wasn’t there at the time of the discovery. He was at Camp David with members of his family for the holiday weekend.

The complex was briefly evacuated as a precaution when the white powder was found. The fire department was called in to test the substance on the spot to deter-

mine whether it was hazardous, and the initial test came back negative for a biohazard but positive for cocaine.

The bag was sent for a secondary, more sensitive lab analysis. Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center analyzed the item for any biothreats. Tests conducted at the facility came back negative.

The cocaine and packaging un-

derwent further forensics testing, including advanced fingerprint and DNA work at the FBI’s crime laboratory, according to the summary. The FBI also did chemical testing.

Meanwhile, Secret Service investigators put together a list of several hundred individuals who may have accessed the area where the drugs were found. Anyone who comes through the White House must give identifying infor-

mation and pass through security before entering.

But the lab results didn’t turn up latent fingerprints or DNA, so agents can’t compare anything to the possible suspect pool. White House staff are fingerprinted; participants in tour groups are not.

Video of the West Executive street lobby entrance did not identify the person or provide any solid investigative leads, the Secret Service said.

The lobby is open to staff-led tours of the West Wing, which are scheduled for nonworking hours on the weekends and evenings.

Those tours are invitation-only and led by White House staff for friends, family and other guests.

Most staffers who work in the complex can request an evening or weekend tour slot, but there is often a long wait list. There were tours on the day, a Sunday, the drugs were found, as well as on the two preceding days.

The Situation Room, located in the West Wing, where staffers would also drop their phones before entering, has been undergoing construction work and was not in use at the time the baggie was found, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week.

noise, look within, you can look to history. You can make a mark in history that will that will set a standard for this country.”

The Supreme Court decision sets up Alabama’s first significant revamp of its congressional districts since 1992, when Alabama was ordered by the courts to create its first majority-black district. That led to the state electing its first black member of Congress since Reconstruction. The district has been represented by a black Democrat ever since.

Partisan politics underlies the looming redistricting fight. Republicans who dominate elective office in Alabama have been resistant to creating a second district with a Democratic-leaning black majority, or close to one, that could send another Democrat to Congress. Democrats cheered the possibility of gaining a seat or at least a swing district in the GOP-dominated state.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who represents the state in the redistricting lawsuit, wrote in a letter to the committee that plaintiffs had initially argued for a “fair chance” to compete but now want more.

tricting committee, said during a public hearing Thursday.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month affirmed a lower-court ruling finding Alabama likely violated the Voting Rights Act with a congressional map that had only one majority Black district out of seven in a state where more than one in four residents is black. The three-judge panel gave Alabama until Friday to adopt a new map and submit it for review.

“The appropriate remedy is a congressional redistricting plan that includes either an additional majority-Black congressional district, or an additional district in which black voters otherwise have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice,” the three-judge panel wrote in its 2022 ruling, adding that it will need to include two districts in which “black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or

something quite close to it.”

The Supreme Court decision was cheered by voting rights groups who said it would give black voters a greater voice in the Deep South state.

“The eyes of the nation are looking at you. I know it’s hard. I know you have people that you answer to,” Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, told lawmakers. “But if you can cut out the

“Now they demand a plan that provides not just a ‘fair chance’ to compete, but instead a guarantee of Democratic victories in at least two districts,” Marshall wrote. Marshall said the plaintiffs’ proposed map divides voters based on “stereotypes about how voters of certain races will vote.”

Joe Reed, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference — the state’s oldest black political organization — urged lawmakers to compromise with plaintiffs on a plan. He said state lawmakers can either draw a plan that the court will approve or the court will draw it for them.

“We know there will be two majority black districts,” Reed said.

AP PHOTO

The White House is seen, July 30, 2022, in Washington, D.C.

AP PHOTO

Evan Milligan, center, plaintiff in Merrill v. Milligan, speaks with reporters following oral arguments at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., Oct. 4, 2022.

rushes to adopt new congressional map amid disagreement on what district should look like

Caiylin Maverick Clinard

May 12, 2021 ~ July 11, 2023

Caiylin Maverick “Mavie” Clinard, 2 of Raeford North Carolina, passed away on July 11th, 2023 at her home.

Caiylin is survived by her mother, Tanna Clinard; dad, Brandon Clinard; sister, Averee; sister, Harper; maternal grandparents and paternal grandparents; and a host of other family and friends.

Caiylin was such a sweet soul who left us too soon. She loved coco melon, and was sweet with a lot of spice. She will be greatly missed and she will forever be loved and in our hearts.

To help the Clinard family during this time we are asking that family and friends send flower arrangements and donations to the family.

Ephriam Mack Jr.

June 27, 1947 ~ July 5, 2023

Mr. Ephriam E. Mack Jr. age, 76 transitioned from Earth to Glory on July 5, 2023. He leaves to cherish his loving memories his sisters: Mary Campbell, Ernestine Mack; aunt, Uaida Mason along with a host of other family and friends. Ephriam will be greatly missed.

Samuel Stubbs

September 8, 1943 ~ July 10, 2023

Mr. Samuel Stubbs age, 79 went home to rest with his Heavenly Father on July 10, 2023. He leaves to cherish his loving memories his daghters: Deresa Hyatt, and Tamara Williams. Sister, Ann Stubbs, four grandchildren, two great grandchildren along with a host of other family and friends. Samuel will be greatly missed.

Millard "Peroonie" Taylor

December 21, 1933 ~ July 12, 2023

Millard “Peroonie” Taylor, known by his wife as “Peewee” went to be with his Lord and Savior on July 12, 2023, at the age of 89.

Millard was born on December 21, 1933, to the late Ralph and Nancy Taylor.

Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by his brothers, John, and Harvey Taylor. He dedicated his life to his Savior and church, Raeford Evangelical Methodist. Millard was also highly focused on his military career, where he served faithfully for 44 years. He loved his children, grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.

He was extremely passionate about NASCAR racing, watching NFL football, relaxing in his rocking chair on the porch while watching the birds and cars ride by, and enjoying his pipe and cigar until heath concerns encouraged him to quit. He loved to have coffee and breakfast at the Edinborough Family Restaurant and speaking to people as they came in.

Millard is survived by his loving wife of 41 years, Carolyn Russell Taylor; children, Tammy Taylor Hunt (Tom), Cheryl Taylor Butts, and Seth Taylor; grandchildren, Blake (Kellie), Makayla (Zion), and Austen; sister, Fannie Sue Williamson; and two nephews Cameron who has been living with them for the last year, and Alijah.

John "Charlie" Charles Thompson

June 28, 1947 ~ July 10, 2023

Mr. John Charles Thompson of Raeford passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home after an extended illness. He was 76 years old. “Charlie” was born in Rowland, NC on June 28th 1947, to the late Tom Thompson and Aline Arnette Thompson.

He was employed at Knit Away, Burlington Industries, TEX-FI Industries, and House of Raeford over his lifelong career as an electrician and machinist. He also served in the NC National Guard from 1965 to 1973. He was an avid outdoorsman who loved fishing and hunting. He taught all of his children and grandchildren how to fish, along with the art of “silently waiting for the big one to bite.” He was known for hunting with his son, John and Hunting Club buddies most Saturdays when in season. He is survived by his true soulmate, Faye, of 55 years; his daughters, Pamela Thompson (Matt) of Raeford and Jennifer Thompson-Sheppard of Raeford, and his son, John Thompson (Karyn) of Bonita Springs, FL; his grandchildren Ronnie Miller of Charleston WV, Lauren Mollett and Adam Mollett, both of Fayetteville, NC; Kelleen Thompson of Colorado Springs, CO; his great grandchildren Alric Miller of Dover, PA; Charlie Williams, Meadow DeTar, and Elara DeTar, all of Fayetteville, NC, and Ella Ruokolainen of Winterport, Maine; a sister, Betty Jean Sheffield of Channelview, TX; a special brother, Charles Conyers (Diane) of Lexington, SC, and a host of nieces and nephews.

STATE & NATION

Trump and DeSantis begin eyeing Super Tuesday states as they prepare for 2024 long game

The Associated Press

AS THE REPUBLICAN presidential primary intensifies this summer, most White House hopefuls are devoting their time to events in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states that kick off the nomination process early next year. Not Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump.

The Florida governor addressed more than 1,500 faithful Republicans on Saturday at Nashville’s Music City Center. A few weeks later, the former president will swing through Alabama to headline the state GOP’s biggest event of the summer.

Trump, the early GOP frontrunner, and DeSantis, who is trailing him for second place, are hardly ignoring voters in the states that jumpstart the Republican contest. Over the past month, they’ve both held rallies and other major events in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, sometimes even appearing in the same state on the same day.

But they are doing more than the other GOP candidates to strengthen their position in states like Tennessee and Alabama that will hold elections on so-called Super Tuesday. That’s when the largest number of delegates, which candidates win state-by-state, are up for grabs of any single day in the primary cycle.

Only Trump and DeSantis, who have raised tens of millions of dollars to support their campaigns, have the resources to work in any meaningful way beyond the early states. And GOP leaders beyond Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina say it’s a smart strategy.

“I know everybody’s focused on Iowa and New Hampshire,” said Scott Golden, chairman of the Tennessee GOP, who noted that ear-

ly voting in his state begins in mid-February, before South Carolina is scheduled to hold its contest.

“But it is worth taking a little time out to come to Tennessee.”

For presidential candidates, Super Tuesday is a circled-in-red date — next year, it’s March 5 — that can make or break a campaign.

Coming quickly after contests in early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, the set of roughly 14 primaries are held across a broad geographic area, from California and Texas to Massachusetts and Maine. The day also is a test of a campaign’s ability to organize supporters, its financial strength and a chance for those candidates who are still standing to run up their delegate total.

In 2016, for example, Trump’s Super Tuesday dominance sig-

naled, against conventional political wisdom, that the businessman and reality TV star was likely to be the party’s nominee. President Joe Biden similarly romped through Super Tuesday in 2020, quickly forcing most of his remaining rivals to drop out.

This cycle, Trump and DeSantis have been nailing down key endorsements in Super Tuesday states, starting to hire staff and readying supporters to knock on doors.

Of course, targeting Super Tuesday states is no guarantee for winning the nomination. After a late entry in the 2020 Democratic presidential race, billionaire Mike Bloomberg’s strategy was to bypass early contests and win in Super Tuesday states. The former New York mayor spent over $500 mil-

lion but finished well behind Biden in the delegate haul.

Trump formally entered the race with the huge advantage of having run and won races in these states before, and his campaigning in many of them hasn’t stopped since he lost the 2020 election. In 2021, for example, Trump held a “Save America” rally in Alabama that the state GOP said drew some 50,000 people.

“People of Alabama have a special relationship with Donald Trump,” said Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl, noting Trump handily won the GOP primary in 2016, when he was battling Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida for the nomination. Trump also won the general election in Alabama easily in 2016 and 2020.

Chinese hackers breached State Dept., other government email on eve of Blinken visit, officials say

The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — Statebacked Chinese hackers foiled Microsoft’s cloud-based security in hacking the email accounts of officials at multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing last month, officials said last week.

The surgical, targeted espionage accessed the email of a small number of individuals at an unspecified number of U.S. agencies and was discovered in mid-June by the State Department, U.S. officials said. They said none of the breached systems were classified, nor was any of the stolen data.

The hacked officials included Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials. Export controls imposed by her agency have stung multiple Chinese companies.

One person familiar with the investigation said U.S. military and intelligence agencies were not among the agencies impacted in

the monthlong spying campaign, which also affected unnamed foreign governments.

The officials spoke on condition they not be further identified.

In a technical advisory and a call with reporters, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI said Microsoft determined the hackers gained access by impersonating authorized users.

Officials did not specify the nature of the stolen data. But one U.S. official said the intrusion was “directly targeted” at diplomats and others who deal with the China portfolio at the State Department and other agencies. The official added that it was not yet clear if there had been any significant compromise of information.

The Blinken trip went ahead as planned, although with customary information security procedures in place, which required his delegation to use “burner” phones and computers in China.

The hack was disclosed by Microsoft in a blog post. It said it was alerted to the breach, which

it blamed on a state-backed, espionage-focused Chinese hacking group “known to target government agencies in Western Europe,” on June 16. Microsoft said the group, which it calls Storm-0558, had gained access to email accounts affecting about 25 organizations, including government agencies, since mid-May as well as to consumer accounts of individuals likely associated with those agencies. Neither Microsoft nor U.S. officials would identify the agencies or governments impacted. A senior CISA official told reporters in a press call that the number of affected organizations in the United States is in the single digits. While the official declined to say whether U.S. officials are displeased with Microsoft over the breach, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge noted that it was “government safeguards” that detected the intrusion and added, “We continue to hold the procurement providers of the U.S. Government to a high security threshold.”

But of greater concern to cybersecurity experts is that The Storm-0558 hackers broke in using forged authentication tokens — which are used to verify the identity of a user. Microsoft’s executive vice president for security, Charlie Bell, said on the company’s website that the hackers had done that by acquiring a “consumer signing key.”

Cybersecurity researcher Jake Williams, a former National Security Agency offensive hacker, said it remains unclear how the hackers accomplished that. Microsoft did not immediately respond to emailed questions, including whether it was breached by the hackers to obtain the signing key.

Williams was concerned the hackers could have forged tokens for wide use to hack any number of non-enterprise Microsoft users. “I can’t imagine China didn’t also use this access to target dissidents on personal subscriptions, too.”

The head of intelligence for the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, Adam Meyers, said in a statement that the incident highlights the

“It’s states like Alabama that are going to be where (Trump) hopes to make a lot of ground,” he said. “And if other candidates are going to beat him, they have to compete with him in those states.”

DeSantis and Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting him, are trying. The PAC plans to invest $100 million on ground operations targeting the first 18 states — four early states plus Super Tuesday states — including paid staff such as state campaign directors. Door knocking is well underway in the first states and will start in Super Tuesday states this summer, with a goal of having 2,600 people out supporting the Florida governor by Labor Day.

“Nobody else is doing what we’re doing as of this point,” spokeswoman Erin Perrine said.

systemic risk of relying on a single technology provider in Microsoft. He said “having one monolithic vendor that is responsible for all of your technology, products, services and security - can end in disaster.”

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, called the U.S. accusation of hacking “disinformation” aimed at diverting attention from U.S. cyberespionage against China.

“No matter which agency issued this information, it will never change the fact that the United States is the world’s largest hacker empire conducting the most cyber theft,” Wang said in a routine briefing.

U.S. intelligence agencies also use hacking as a critical espionage tool and it is not a violation of international law.

Last month, Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant said suspected state-backed Chinese hackers broke into the networks of hundreds of public and private sector organizations globally exploiting a vulnerability in a popular email security tool.

Earlier this year, Microsoft said state-backed Chinese hackers were targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork to disrupt critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises.

AP PHOTO

In this Aug. 21, 2015 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign pep rally in Mobile, Ala.

COUNTY NEWS

Southeast Mechanical

Acquires All Ways

Heating and Air

Forsyth County

Southeast Mechanical, headquartered in WinstonSalem, announced the acquisition of Weaverville, North Carolina-based All Ways Heating and Air, LLC. This partnership bolsters

SEM’s presence in the North Carolina market.

“We are thrilled to announce the addition of All Ways to the SEM Family,” commented Hugh Elks, President of SEM. Elks added, “This is a perfect fit with our other divisions and expands our presence into the Weaverville and surrounding areas north of Asheville. The service quality and employee culture Josh and Ricky Clinton have cultivated is incredible – we are eager to begin our partnership and look forward to continuing their legacy and excellence together.»

Founded in 2020 and based in Winston-Salem, Southeast Mechanical is a HVAC, plumbing and electrical services platform comprised of local market-leading brands. SEM provides turnkey HVAC services to a wide range of residential and commercial customers across North Carolina. The Company operates several divisions and is focused on customer satisfaction, safety and continuing to be an employer of choice for experienced technicians and staff. SEM’s primary focus is on short-term, residential changeouts and service contracts.

NC.GOV

Commissioners reallocate funding to Philo-Hill project

Board approves lease agreement with Daymark Recovery Services

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

WINSTON-SALEM — The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners met Thursday, June 29 with an agenda full of contractual and budgetary items.

One of the actions the board approved was an amendment to the FY 22-23 Fire Tax District

Special Revenue Fund and Budget Ordinance to appropriate sales tax proceeds.

“What this is, is that it recognizes the additional revenue that we have received or are expected to receive as we close out the year’s end,” said County Manager Dudley Watts, Jr. “It increases the entire fund by $163,000 and it affects the 25 fire tax service districts and the overlay district.”

The board then approved an amendment to the 2016 Schools Capital Projects Ordinance for the Philo-Hill Middle School

All-Star showcase

Top, LT. Governor Mark Robinson throws up the ceremonial tip off with West’s David Peral (Mount Tabor) and East’s Jared Davis (Seventy First) during the East West All Star men’s basketball game at the Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, on July 17, 2023.

Bottom left, West’s Will Gray (East Forsyth) hangs from the rim after a dunk against East during the East West All Star woman’s basketball game. Bottom right, West’s David Peral (Mount Tabor) grabs a rebound against East’s Jared Davis (Seventy First).

project to provide $28,194,038 in funding.

“This thing has taken on a lot of different paths over the years going back probably about three years,” said WS/FCS Assistant Superintendent Darrell Walker. “It started out as a major renovation, but there were a lot of ADA issues on that campus that really weren’t being met within the renovation piece which started some of these other discussions about some further work that needed to be done.

“The programming then became a big discussion. We knew we had to do something different there. There are about 1,500 kids that live in that residential zone that are middle-school age and about 500 of them go to Philo, so where are the other 1,000 kids at? We know where they are, they’re overcrowding some other facilities. So programmatic-wise, you really have to look at programs and culture and climate within your buildings to get people to

want to feel safe and come home. The board originally talked about the performing arts and then it went to STEM and it’s currently being programmed as a STEAM school which is basically a STEM school with an arts component to it.”

The board also approved a resolution approving the community-based juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, and gang prevention plan, which will fund 11 programs, for FY 23-24 and authorized its submission for state approval and implementation.

The board then approved the application of a grant from the Glaxosmithkline Foundation and the North Carolina Public Health Association for $10,000 for a program in the local schools related to educating teenagers about the health risks associated with tattoos.

The board then approved four interlocal agreements between

See COMMISSIONERS, page 2

The Out of the Garden Project begins back-to-school campaign

The nonprofit has been recognized for contributions to fighting hunger

North State Journal

Out of the Garden Project, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating hunger in North Carolina, has been honored with an esteemed award, received two local substantial donations, and welcomed new members to its dedicated board of directors.

These remarkable achievements further underscore Out of the Garden Project’s commitment to combating food insecurity and uplifting the lives of those in need.

Out of the Garden Project has been recognized for its outstanding contributions as an organic nonprofit alleviating hunger within the community. This accolade serves as a testament to the tireless efforts and unwavering dedication of The Out of the Garden Project’s team, volunteers, and partners.

In addition to this prestigious

award, Out of the Garden Project is thrilled to announce a financial donation from Prism Paint + Design. Prism Paint + Design, a locally owned, operated and born in North Carolina supplier of paint and coatings for residential, commercial, and industrial applications. This generous contribution will provide a significant boost to the efforts in addressing food insecurity and expanding its programs and services. CEO Umar Khan, Founder of Prism Paint + Design, expressed admiration for Out of the Garden Project’s exceptional work, stating, “Their dedication and unwavering commitment to alleviating hunger have made a profound difference in our community.”

Another financial donation was made by The Church on 68, a prominent religious institution located on North Carolina Highway 68 in Greensboro. By demonstrating compassion and actively participating in the fight against food insecurity, they set an inspiring example for other faith-based organi-

zations and community members.

Furthermore, Out of The Garden Project is delighted to introduce two new executive board members, local community leader Whitman Toland and entrepreneur Glenn Gonzales. These change agents bring diverse expertise, a wealth of experience, and an unwavering commitment to the food pantry’s mission. The elimination of COVID-19 pandemic funding has placed unprecedented strain on families and individuals, exacerbating food insecurity across the nation. A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to provide essential support to local families and children in North Carolina.

The Out of The Garden Project is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting hunger in Greensboro, High Point and Winston Salem, and Burlington. Through its extensive network of food distribution, advocacy, and educational programs, The Out of The Garden Project strives to eradicate food insecurity and create a hunger-free community.

PHOTOS BY PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Forsyth County and the Village of Clemmons, Town of Lewisville, Town of Rural Hall and Town of Walkertown for community policing services.

In addition, the board approved six more contracts, those being with the WSFCS Board of Education for the provision of 39 SRO deputy positions, with P&G Security for an amount not to exceed $2,829,914.64 for contracted private security services at the Forsyth County Law Enforcement Detention Center, with Wake Forest University Health Sciences for a twoyear agreement not to exceed $284,806 for medical direction services for EMS, with Motivated Metal for a public art project deadline to be extended to November 30, with I.L. Long Construction Co. Inc., for $11,153,000 for the construction of the Smith Reynolds Airport Terminal Renovation Project, and with Zacchaeus Legal Services for an amount not to exceed $1,190,000 for the provision of mortgage style foreclosure legal services.

The board then approved the execution of a lease with Daymark Recovery Services, Inc., for the lease of three county owned property parcels all located at 650 Highland Avenue and totaling out to 12,676 square feet.

The board also approved a 90-day lease for property located at 3325 Silas Creek Parkway to Wake Forest University Health Sciences.

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will next meet July 27.

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

Different groups that ‘don’t look like America’ together produce success in America

NEWS STORIES have reported that despite the Supreme Court’s decision in cases brought against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, those and other selective schools still want to employ racial quotas and preferences in admissions.

They’ve been abolishing requirements that applicants take objective tests like the SAT and are inviting applicants to write essays on the travails of their minority status. Such surreptitious defiance of the law is not surprising in admissions officials, a guild whose practices are undergirded and interlaced with lies and evasions of truth — the opposite of what higher education is supposed to foster.

They apparently think their moral worth depends on achieving a higher percentage of black people in a student body than in the U.S. Army or the New York Police Department.

One problem, as Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor established a decade ago in their book “Mismatch,” is that this results in black students tending to be less prepared than their schoolmates in selective schools from Harvard on down.

This tends to reinforce negative racial stereotypes and to cause the intended beneficiaries to hunker down in all-black dormitories and orientation sessions, which minimize or eliminate any benefit of the “diversity” that the single deciding vote of Justice Lewis Powell in 1978 thought justified racially discriminatory admissions.

Selective schools say they want student bodies that “look like America.” But, whether you like it or not, the subgroup of Americans with very high levels of cognitive ability doesn’t actually “look like America.”

Evidence comes from the results of an experiment in which high school students of the class of 2022 throughout Michigan were invited to take the SAT, and for which the results were disaggregated by, among other factors, self-declared race.

Overall, 69% of the test takers were classified as white, 5% Asian, 11% African American and 8% Hispanic. These percentages are not far off the averages for the state of Michigan and for the United States as a whole.

But when we look at those high schoolers who scored the highest, from 1400 to 1600, which include the top 95th percentile of the population, the picture is different: 69% white once again, but 29% Asian, 2% Hispanic, and 0% black.

♦ Arevalo, Edwin Arreses (M/46) Arrest on chrg of 1) Breaking/entermisd (M) and 2) Resisting Arrest (M), at 7001 Mason Place Ct, Clemmons, NC, on 7/13/2023 02:19.

♦ BARNES, CRAIG ANTHONY was arrested on a charge of ASSAULT ON FEMALE at 122 W FOURTH ST on 7/15/2023

♦ BECTON, MELVA SHAWNYA was arrested on a charge of ASSAULTSIMPLE at 122 W FOURTH ST on 7/15/2023

♦ BROWN , TIMOTHY HAROLD was arrested on a charge of AFFRAY at 1250 S MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DR on 7/15/2023

♦ Burns, Dymon Lajuan (M/35) Arrest on chrg of 1) Assault On Female (M), 2) Communicate Threats (M), and 3) Breaking/enter-misd (M), at 199 Summit St/cherry St, Rural Hall, NC, on 7/13/2023 14:48.

♦ CLARKE, PHILIP was arrested on a charge of ASSAULT-SIMPLE at 1000 APPLE ST on 7/16/2023

♦ COUTHEN, RAYSHAWN DWAYNE was arrested on a charge of P/W/I/ S/D SCHED II at 613 W THIRTEENTH ST on 7/15/2023

♦ Crosby, Samuel Henry (M/36) Arrest on chrg of 1) Communicate Threats (M), 2) Drugs-misd Poss (M), 3) Drug Paraphernalia (M), and

4) Resisting Arrest (M), at 1099 N Cleveland Av/e Eleventh St, Winstonsalem, NC, on 7/12/2023 19:07.

♦ Fountain, Nicole Lynn (F/39) Arrest on chrg of Probation Violation, M (M), at 6605 Red Bank Rd, Germanton, NC, on 7/14/2023 08:40.

♦ Fullard, Herbert Jaiwan (M/30) Arrest on chrg of 1) Misd Poss Controlled Substance (M) and 2) Drug Paraphernalia (M), at 2258 Cole Rd/e Sprague St, Winstonsalem, NC, on 7/12/2023 22:27.

♦ Garner, Jonathan Lamont (M/51) Arrest on chrg of Hit & Run - Fail To Give Aid And Assist (M), at 201 N Church St, Winston-salem, NC, on 7/12/2023 08:40.

♦ GOINS, ALEXANDRA MCKENZIE was arrested on a charge of ASSLT

♦ Gordon, Renee Natasha (F/36) Arrest on chrg of Adw - Inflict Injury (M), at 170 Shallowford Village Ct, Lewisville, NC, on 7/14/2023 13:00.

♦ GUTHRIE, SAMUEL QURAN was arrested on a charge of ARMED TO TERROR OF CITIZENS at 3044 AIRPORT RD on 7/15/2023

♦ HEGLER, CODY JAMES was arrested on a charge of IMPAIRED DRIVING DWI at 101 TILMARK DR/ MCGREGOR RD on 7/15/2023

♦ Hill, Keith Alan (M/63) Arrest on chrg of Fail To Register - Sex Offender Registration (F), at 5519 Guntree Rd, Winston Salem, NC, on 7/12/2023 10:51.

♦ JACKSON, REGINALD LAMONT was arrested on a charge of WEAP-POSS BY FELON at 5034 RAVEN RD on 7/17/2023

♦ JOHNSON, CLARENCE DAVID was arrested on a charge of 2ND DEGREE TRESPASS at 199 N CHURCH ST/E SECOND ST on 7/15/2023

♦ LOPEZ, GUADELMIRO REYES was arrested on a charge of INDECENT EXPOSURE at 399 HANES MALL BV/WB 40_HANES MALL BV RA on 7/14/2023

♦ Luffman, Merle Adam (M/48) Arrest on chrg of 1) Assault-simple (M), 2) Communicate Threats (M), and 3) Revenge Porn (F), at 5299 Bethania Rd/queens Grant Rd, Winstonsalem, NC, on 7/15/2023 20:01.

♦ MANNING, HOPE KIMEL was arrested on a charge of HARASSING PHONE CALLS at 201 N CHURCH ST on 7/14/2023

♦ MAZZEO, DUFFIE DAWN was arrested on a charge of POSS HEROIN at 2101 PETERS CREEK PW on 7/14/2023

♦ Mendez, Sandra Mary (F/26) Arrest on chrg of 1) Vand-personal Prop (M), 2) Fail To Appear/compl (M), 3) Fail To Appear/compl (M), and 4) Fail To Appear/compl (M), at 2397 Lewisville-clemmons Rd, Clemmons, NC, on 7/13/2023 19:01.

♦ MONTANO, OSCAR MANUEL was arrested on a charge of DRIVE VEH.

WHILE CONSUMING ALCOHOL OR

WHILE ALCOHOL IN BODY at 41

TIMLIC AV on 7/16/2023

That last number may reflect that some black students simply didn’t work very hard on the test, just as the Columbia linguist John McWhorter confessed in The New York Times last week that in high school he didn’t bother “seeking the academic mountaintop” because, with racial quotas and preferences in place, his grades and test scores “wouldn’t affect my future.” So eliminating quotas may marginally increase black students’ test scores.

Even if you look at the larger tranche of students scoring from 1200 to 1600, scores achieved by just about all non-quota students in selective schools, that group still doesn’t “look like America”: 77% white, 13% Asian, 4% Hispanic, 2% black. These numbers closely resemble those compiled from IQ tests.

Some people will find these numbers disturbing, and demand that government do something, somehow, to make every group identical. Others, including many familiar with the long run of American history, will recognize that differently defined groups will, because of some combination of nature and nurture, perform differently.

The nation has benefited from excellence of various kinds, some more often found in one group, others in others. The National Basketball Association doesn’t much “look like America,” either, and neither have the creators and performers of great popular music going back far into the American past.

The SAT tests were adopted and used by selective colleges and universities after the Second World War — a war whose American casualties were hugely reduced by the development of the atomic bomb, by the Manhattan Project, whose physicists, many Jewish and from Central Europe, didn’t much “look like America.”

Postwar American colleges and universities used the SAT to identify high-cognitive-ability applicants from unusual backgrounds. The paradox, after three generations of an increasingly fair society, is that there are fewer such people and less social mobility because people tend to start off where they should end up. As Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker writes, “No society can be simultaneously fair, free, and equal.”

Perhaps the best response is to focus less on the small numbers who reach the top of hierarchies and cultivate more respect for those with more modest talents whose everyday conscientiousness and occasional heroism help make the country and the world better.

♦ Orr, Carl Rodriquez (M/45) Arrest on chrg of 1) Drugs-poss Sched I (F), 2) Drugs-poss Sched Ii (F), 3) Poss Cocaine Fel (F), 4) Weap-poss By Felon (F), and 5) Ccw (F), at 1100 Lewisville-clemmons Rd, Lewisville, NC, on 7/17/2023 01:53.

♦ PARKS, SHEMSU was arrested on a charge of RESISTING ARREST at 620 ANSON ST on 7/16/2023

♦ PATTERSON, NIJAY KAWON was arrested on a charge of ASSLT ON OFF/ST EMP at 300 N SPRUCE ST on 7/15/2023

♦ RAMSEY, DEMUS EUGENE was arrested on a charge of ASSAULT ON FEMALE at 2215 CLINE ST on 7/15/2023

♦ SANTOS, CRYSTAL ANN was arrested on a charge of AWIK/ SERIOUS INJURY at 620 E MONMOUTH ST on 7/15/2023

♦ Sheppard, Steven Ernest (M/33) Arrest on chrg of 1) B&e-vehicle (F) and 2) Larceny-felony (F), at 3415 N Glenn Av, Winston-salem, NC, on 7/14/2023 12:00.

♦ Simmons, Cory Lionel (M/53) Arrest on chrg of Resisting Arrest, M (M), at 2901 Waughtown St, Winston-salem, NC, on 7/13/2023 18:13.

♦ SIMMONS, TIMOTHY JAMES was arrested on a charge of IMPAIRED DRIVING DWI at 1558 UNION CROSS RD/GLENNVIEW DR on 7/15/2023

♦ STEWART, TRAVIS EUGENE was arrested on a charge of DRUGSPOSS SCHED II at 5713 UNIVERSITY PW on 7/16/2023

♦ SUTTON, KELVIN LAMONT was arrested on a charge of P/W/I/S/D MARIJUANA at 5034 RAVEN RD on 7/16/2023

♦ TRUJILLO, BERNARDO HERNANDEZ was arrested on a charge of BREAKING/LARCFELONY at 3025 GREENWAY AV on 7/17/2023

♦ TRUJILLO, BERNARDO HERNANDEZ was arrested on a charge of DRUGS-POSS SCHED II at 201 N CHURCH ST on 7/17/2023

DEATH NOTICES

♦ Hercules “Harry” Amprazis, 91, of Clemmons, died July 14, 2023.

♦ Margaret Ward Brewer Bayer, 101, of Clemmons, died July 13, 2023.

♦ Eugene Arthur Bowman, 82, of Winston-Salem, died July 14, 2023.

♦ Mary Langston “Skip” Boyles, 107, of Clemmons, died July 15, 2023.

♦ Anita Perkins Casey, 80, of Fayetteville, died July 13, 2023.

♦ Ruby “Arlene” Mabe Casper Clemmons, 92, of Kernersville, died July 14, 2023.

♦ Richard Hoit Jones, 95, of Winston-Salem, died July 13, 2023.

♦ Carolyn Joan Riddle Marshall, 87, of Winston-Salem, died July 14, 2023.

♦ William Lee Munsie, 84, of Forsyth County, died July 15, 2023.

♦ Joyce Lynn Shaffer Paxton, 76, of Winston-Salem, died July 12, 2023.

♦ Amber Renee Royall Peoples, 32, of Mocksville, died July 16, 2023.

♦ Rose Marie Stanley Pierce, 81, of Winston-Salem, died July 12, 2023.

♦ Graham Edgar Reid, Jr., 92, died July 15, 2023.

♦ Donald R. Smith, 81, of Kernersville, died July 15, 2023.

♦ Opal Regina Idol Smith, 97, of Colfax, died July 13, 2023.

♦ Madhu Bala Sood Soin, 73, of Winston-Salem, died July 14, 2023.

♦ Jerry Gray Tuttle, 81, of Walkertown, died July 13, 2023.

♦ Larry Ray Wall, 73, of Forsyth County, died

The subgroup of Americans with very high levels of cognitive ability doesn’t actually “look like America.”

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SIDELINE REPORT

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Wake Football adds director of recruiting

Wake Forest football coach Dave Clawson hired Katie Bason as the director of football recruiting operations. She will run on-campus visits for prospective studentathletes and their families. She comes to WinstonSalem after spending the last year as an Assistant AD / Chief of Staff at FIU. She managed all day-to-day operational and logistical components for the Panthers football program. Prior to spending the 2022 season at FIU, Bason served as the director of player development and operations at Ole Miss in 2020 and 2021 after spending six seasons at the University of Colorado, Boulder as the Buffaloes’ Director of Football Academics.

HORSE RACING

Funny Cide, 2003 Kentucky Derby winner, dies

Funny Cide, the “Gutsy Gelding” who became a fan favorite after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2003, has died from complications of colic. He was 23. Kentucky Horse Park, the Lexington farm where Funny Cide lived for his final 15 years, confirmed the thoroughbred died Sunday, as did Sackatoga Stable, the group that owned him. Funny Cide won 11 of 38 starts and earned more than $3.5 million in his career. He was undefeated in three starts as a 2-yearold. Funny Cide lost his first three starts the following year but won the Derby and Preakness before finishing third in the Belmont Stakes.

SOCCER

Messi introduced by Inter Miami

Lionel Messi has met his new fans at Inter Miami. An event billed as “The Unveil” was Sunday night at the team’s stadium in Fort Lauderdale. It came one day after Messi, Major League Soccer and Inter Miami finalized his signing through the 2025 season. It’s the start of a busy week of events for Messi with his new club. His first official training session is Tuesday and he is expected to play Friday in a Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul. Inter Miami plays Charlotte FC on Aug. 20 in South Florida. Inter Miami comes to Charlotte on Oct. 7.

GOLF

Rory McIlroy wins

Scottish Open

Rory McIlroy finally is a winner in Scotland.

McIlroy birdied the last two holes in whipping wind for a 68 to beat Robert MacIntyre by one shot in the Scottish Open. They delivered a great finish at The Renaissance Club.

MacIntyre hit 3-wood from the rough on the 18th to 4 feet for birdie and a 64.

McIlroy birdied the par-3 17th to catch him. And on the final hole, McIlroy hit 2-iron to 10 feet for birdie. The win gives McIlroy a boost going to the British Open next week at Royal Liverpool.

The Associated Press

LOUDON, N.H. — Martin

Truex Jr. mastered another Monday matinee to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the first time in 30 career Cup tries at the same track where as a kid he watched from the grandstands while his father raced.

Thanks to rain postponements, Truex won his second Monday race of the season — he also won at Dover — and fourth of his career.

Truex dominated in the No. 19 Toyota en route to his third win of the season. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver secured one of the few wins he desperately wanted in a career that could be winding down. The 43-year-old Truex, the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion, said over the weekend he was close to

a decision on his future: either retire or return for another season at JGR.

At the Magic Mile, it was simply time for an overdue celebration.

“This one’s been eluding me for a long, long time,” Truex said.

Truex led with 15 laps left when JGR teammate Christopher Bell, last year’s New Hampshire winner, smacked the wall to bring out the eighth caution.

“We should have a company policy that says when one of your teammates is leading, don’t crash by yourself,” Truex said over the radio.

It really didn’t matter for Truex. He pulled away off the restart with nine laps left and could taste victory — and soon enough, the 20-pound lobster that traditionally goes to the winner.

It’s a perfect reward for Truex, who also grew up helping his dad on his family’s clam boat.

This win was special. Truex tagged along as a kid to New Hampshire when his dad raced here in the 1990s and got his first taste of the sights, smells and sounds of a NASCAR garage.

One memory stood out among the others: Watching Dale Earnhardt tinker with his carburetor under the hood of his car.

“I just kind of stood there in awe and watched,” Truex said over the weekend.

And as soon as Truex could race at New Hampshire, he won. Truex had just turned 20 years old when he won a regional stock car series race at the track. Pretty cool. Even better? His father finished fifth in the same race.

AP PHOTO

“This place is a big reason why I got to where I am,” the younger Truex said.

Truex found early success in Loudon once he transitioned to Cup in 2006, rattling off a thirdplace finish and a fifth in 2007 when the series still raced here twice a season and a fourth and seventh in 2008. He had six straight top 10s from 2016 to 2020 and led 172 laps from the pole last season before he faded to fourth. Truex said his JGR team “panicked” with a late call for two tires that backfired and cost them the checkered flag.

“It’s one that I wanted really bad for a long time,” Truex said. “Maybe too much, I don’t know.”

Much like last year, Truex won the first two stages of the 301-lap race.

The Associated Press

STATELINE, Nev. — Stephen Curry made an 18-foot putt for eagle on the final hole to win the American Century Championship on Sunday, his first title in the celebrity tournament.

Curry, the Golden State Warriors star who made a hole-inone on Saturday, topped it with his closing eagle on the par-5 18th hole at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on the shores of Lake Tahoe. After the putt dropped, he tossed his hat into the air and ran into the arms of his wife, Ayesha.

“I don’t do this for a living, so it’s something you dream about,” Curry said. “I’ve been playing in this tournament for almost a decade and now I’ve got some hardware to show for it. It’s pretty special.”

The eagle was good for six points under a version of the modified Stableford scoring system. Players receive three points for a birdie, one point for a par and minus-2 points for a double bogey or worse.

Curry finished with 75 points, two ahead of runner-up Mardy Fish, a former pro tennis player who won this event in 2020. Fish was three points ahead of Curry entering the 18th but made par.

Curry went viral for the second time this weekend following his ace on the 152-yard, par-3 seventh hole.

“I was hitting the ball pretty solid, so felt I would have a chance,” Curry said. “On the putt, I was surprisingly calm. The last five feet felt like slow motion.”

Fish pulled even with Curry with birdies on three of the first six holes. He moved into the lead when Curry bogeyed the 11th, 12th and 14th. Under conventional scoring,

Curry shot 72 on Sunday. Fish had the best round of the day, a 3-under 69. Joe Pavelski of the Dallas Stars was third with 66 points, former major league pitcher Mark Mulder was fourth and New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was fifth, one spot ahead of LPGA Tour great Annika Sorenstam.

Former pitcher Derek Lowe was seventh and defending champion Tony Romo finished eighth. Curry is the first Black winner of

the tournament in its 34-year history. He becomes the fifth active athlete to win and the first since then-Tennessee Titans kicker Al del Greco in 2000. His first-place prize of $125,000 will be donated to charity because Curry is an amateur golfer.

Charles Barkley finished 81st in the 93-player field.

of Curry’s father Dell, a former Charlotte Hornet. The third member of the Curry family, former Duke shooter Seth Curry, Steph’s brother, finished in a tie for 46th. New Carolina Panthers receiver Adam Thielen finished in a tie for 14th. Former Duke Blue Devil basketball player and assistant and current basketball analyst Jay Bilis finished in 55th. Former Tar Heel Vince Carter finished in a tie for 76th. Former Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield was 79th.

SCOTT STRAZZANTE | SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE VIA AP

Stephen Curry directs Canelo Álvarez to his ball on the 16th hole during a practice round at the American Century Championship golf tournament at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course

Stephen Curry closes with eagle, wins American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament

STATE & NATION

Trump and DeSantis begin eyeing Super Tuesday states as they prepare for 2024 long game

The Associated Press

AS THE REPUBLICAN presidential primary intensifies this summer, most White House hopefuls are devoting their time to events in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states that kick off the nomination process early next year. Not Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump.

The Florida governor addressed more than 1,500 faithful Republicans on Saturday at Nashville’s Music City Center. A few weeks later, the former president will swing through Alabama to headline the state GOP’s biggest event of the summer. Trump, the early GOP frontrunner, and DeSantis, who is trailing him for second place, are hardly ignoring voters in the states that jumpstart the Republican contest. Over the past month, they’ve both held rallies and other major events in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, sometimes even appearing in the same state on the same day.

But they are doing more than the other GOP candidates to strengthen their position in states like Tennessee and Alabama that will hold elections on so-called Super Tuesday. That’s when the largest number of delegates, which candidates win state-by-state, are up for grabs of any single day in the primary cycle.

Only Trump and DeSantis, who have raised tens of millions of dollars to support their campaigns, have the resources to work in any meaningful way beyond the early states. And GOP leaders beyond Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina say it’s a smart strategy.

“I know everybody’s focused on Iowa and New Hampshire,” said Scott Golden, chairman of the Tennessee GOP, who noted that ear-

ly voting in his state begins in mid-February, before South Carolina is scheduled to hold its contest.

“But it is worth taking a little time out to come to Tennessee.”

For presidential candidates, Super Tuesday is a circled-in-red date — next year, it’s March 5 — that can make or break a campaign.

Coming quickly after contests in early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, the set of roughly 14 primaries are held across a broad geographic area, from California and Texas to Massachusetts and Maine. The day also is a test of a campaign’s ability to organize supporters, its financial strength and a chance for those candidates who are still standing to run up their delegate total.

In 2016, for example, Trump’s Super Tuesday dominance sig-

naled, against conventional political wisdom, that the businessman and reality TV star was likely to be the party’s nominee. President Joe Biden similarly romped through Super Tuesday in 2020, quickly forcing most of his remaining rivals to drop out.

This cycle, Trump and DeSantis have been nailing down key endorsements in Super Tuesday states, starting to hire staff and readying supporters to knock on doors.

Of course, targeting Super Tuesday states is no guarantee for winning the nomination. After a late entry in the 2020 Democratic presidential race, billionaire Mike Bloomberg’s strategy was to bypass early contests and win in Super Tuesday states. The former New York mayor spent over $500 mil-

lion but finished well behind Biden in the delegate haul.

Trump formally entered the race with the huge advantage of having run and won races in these states before, and his campaigning in many of them hasn’t stopped since he lost the 2020 election. In 2021, for example, Trump held a “Save America” rally in Alabama that the state GOP said drew some 50,000 people.

“People of Alabama have a special relationship with Donald Trump,” said Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl, noting Trump handily won the GOP primary in 2016, when he was battling Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida for the nomination. Trump also won the general election in Alabama easily in 2016 and 2020.

Chinese hackers breached State Dept., other government email on eve of Blinken visit, officials say

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Statebacked Chinese hackers foiled Microsoft’s cloud-based security in hacking the email accounts of officials at multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing last month, officials said last week.

The surgical, targeted espionage accessed the email of a small number of individuals at an unspecified number of U.S. agencies and was discovered in mid-June by the State Department, U.S. officials said. They said none of the breached systems were classified, nor was any of the stolen data.

The hacked officials included Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials. Export controls imposed by her agency have stung multiple Chinese companies.

One person familiar with the investigation said U.S. military and intelligence agencies were not among the agencies impacted in

the monthlong spying campaign, which also affected unnamed foreign governments.

The officials spoke on condition they not be further identified.

In a technical advisory and a call with reporters, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI said Microsoft determined the hackers gained access by impersonating authorized users.

Officials did not specify the nature of the stolen data. But one U.S. official said the intrusion was “directly targeted” at diplomats and others who deal with the China portfolio at the State Department and other agencies. The official added that it was not yet clear if there had been any significant compromise of information.

The Blinken trip went ahead as planned, although with customary information security procedures in place, which required his delegation to use “burner” phones and computers in China.

The hack was disclosed by Microsoft in a blog post. It said it was alerted to the breach, which

it blamed on a state-backed, espionage-focused Chinese hacking group “known to target government agencies in Western Europe,” on June 16. Microsoft said the group, which it calls Storm-0558, had gained access to email accounts affecting about 25 organizations, including government agencies, since mid-May as well as to consumer accounts of individuals likely associated with those agencies. Neither Microsoft nor U.S. officials would identify the agencies or governments impacted. A senior CISA official told reporters in a press call that the number of affected organizations in the United States is in the single digits. While the official declined to say whether U.S. officials are displeased with Microsoft over the breach, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge noted that it was “government safeguards” that detected the intrusion and added, “We continue to hold the procurement providers of the U.S. Government to a high security threshold.”

But of greater concern to cybersecurity experts is that The Storm-0558 hackers broke in using forged authentication tokens — which are used to verify the identity of a user. Microsoft’s executive vice president for security, Charlie Bell, said on the company’s website that the hackers had done that by acquiring a “consumer signing key.”

Cybersecurity researcher Jake Williams, a former National Security Agency offensive hacker, said it remains unclear how the hackers accomplished that. Microsoft did not immediately respond to emailed questions, including whether it was breached by the hackers to obtain the signing key.

Williams was concerned the hackers could have forged tokens for wide use to hack any number of non-enterprise Microsoft users. “I can’t imagine China didn’t also use this access to target dissidents on personal subscriptions, too.”

The head of intelligence for the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, Adam Meyers, said in a statement that the incident highlights the

“It’s states like Alabama that are going to be where (Trump) hopes to make a lot of ground,” he said. “And if other candidates are going to beat him, they have to compete with him in those states.”

DeSantis and Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting him, are trying. The PAC plans to invest $100 million on ground operations targeting the first 18 states — four early states plus Super Tuesday states — including paid staff such as state campaign directors. Door knocking is well underway in the first states and will start in Super Tuesday states this summer, with a goal of having 2,600 people out supporting the Florida governor by Labor Day.

“Nobody else is doing what we’re doing as of this point,” spokeswoman Erin Perrine said.

systemic risk of relying on a single technology provider in Microsoft. He said “having one monolithic vendor that is responsible for all of your technology, products, services and security - can end in disaster.”

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, called the U.S. accusation of hacking “disinformation” aimed at diverting attention from U.S. cyberespionage against China.

“No matter which agency issued this information, it will never change the fact that the United States is the world’s largest hacker empire conducting the most cyber theft,” Wang said in a routine briefing.

U.S. intelligence agencies also use hacking as a critical espionage tool and it is not a violation of international law.

Last month, Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant said suspected state-backed Chinese hackers broke into the networks of hundreds of public and private sector organizations globally exploiting a vulnerability in a popular email security tool.

Earlier this year, Microsoft said state-backed Chinese hackers were targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork to disrupt critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises.

In this Aug. 21, 2015 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign pep rally in Mobile, Ala.

All-Star basketball

East’s Asst. Coach Anissa Little (Union Pines) watches from the sidelines during the East-West All-Star women’s basketball game at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC, on July 17, 2023.

Pinehurst mayoral contest leads Moore County election filings

Rep. Hudson votes to renew NDAA, secures funding for NC military families and infrastructure

Last Friday, U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (NC-09) released a statement on the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives with bipartisan support: “Bolstering our nation’s defense capabilities and improving the quality of life for our military servicemembers and their families is a top priority of mine,” said Hudson. “I am thrilled I was able to deliver over $260 million in funding for critical infrastructure projects in our community.

As the representative of the largest army base in the world, I’ll never stop fighting to support our men and women in uniform and their families.” The House’s FY 2024 NDAA and the FY 2024 House Military Construction Appropriations package contain Hudson’s following priorities to benefit activeduty military personnel and their families at Fort Liberty, formerly known as Fort Bragg: barracks, facility prototyping, automated record fire range (ARF+), aircraft maintenance hangar, child development center, camp Mackall Microgrid, and provisions to improve Fort Liberty Roadway Infrastructure. In addition, both of Hudson’s funding requests – the construction of permanent aircraft maintenance hangar facilities to accommodate aircraft serving the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and a child development center to serve military families stationed in the region – were fully supported.

North State Journal

PINEHURST — Three candidates are in the race for Pinehurst mayor in this November’s municipal election. The first candidate to file was former village councilmember Kevin Drum, who lost re-election in 2021 and has been vocal about his displeasure with the current members.

“I am committed to leading Pinehurst by respecting its traditions and history, by inspiring and empowering fellow council members, village staff, and our citizens, and by restoring transparency to local governance,” Drum said in a statement follow-

ing his filing.

A longtime community leader, Drum was first elected to the village council in 2017 following time spent on several community boards.

He is currently the owner of the Drum & Quill Pub.

“I live Pinehurst’s history daily and have experience protecting it,” Drum added. The second candidate to file was Patrick Pizzella, the mayor pro tem currently on the village council. Prior to moving to Pinehurst full-time, Pizzella was the acting U.S. Secretary of Labor for a time and served previous presidential administrations.

The filing period closes on Friday, July 21, and North State Journal will post the complete candidate filings in next week’s edition.

A native of New York, Pizzella said his love of Pinehurst started when he regularly came to the area during 1990s golf trips.

The third candidate in the mayoral race is Jeff Morgan, who also joined the village council in 2021.

A native of Asheboro, Mor-

Frustrations boiler over again between Board of Education members

List of books approved to be sent to district committee for review

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

CARTHAGE — The Moore County Schools Board of Education met Monday, July 10, as animosity continued amongst board members.

During discussions regarding the prioritization of the Master Facility Plan projects, emotions seemed to reach a boiling point as verbal clashes between Board Chair Robert Levy and Vice Chair David Hensley increased.

Emotions had been running high between the two Republican members dating back to last month’s meeting when the two engaged in a verbal spout regarding what Hensley saw as an overstep by Levy as the Board Chair struck down three of Hensley’s added agenda items.

The most recent point of contention arose after Levy overrode one of Hensley’s motions, which resulted in the two members breaking out into an argument before a temporary recess was ultimately called.

Following the recess, board members Pauline Bruno and Phil-

ip Holmes expressed their growing frustrations with Levy and Hensley. We have very, very intelligent people on this board with a lot to give to this community, and this needs to stop right now,” said Bruno. “I have spent this past year going from school to school, going to every single meeting, attending everything to win the trust of this community and these schools because, let’s be honest, we weren’t their first choice, but we’re here and trying to win their respect and their trust is important. And to do this in front of the whole community is awful. What you both are doing is destroying all the work that we have done since we got elected. It needs to stop.”

If this happens anymore, I’m done today,” Holmes threatened.

The board ultimately decided to return a decision on the organization and prioritization of the Master Facility Plan projects for FY 2024 to the committee to bring a concrete motion before the board at next month’s meeting.

Holmes then presented before the board his findings on what he described as inappropriate material within Moore County Schools’ libraries due to explicit, sexual, and age-inappropriate language and content.

“ These excerpts are in our school libraries right now,” Holmes said. “While it doesn’t take into account the whole book, it does point out the titles and the verbiage that are in those books. I didn’t go through all these books one by one nor in depth with what every single perversion is in these books.”

The legal standards for the removal of books as has been set forth by the government involves three criteria: pervasively vulgar, educationally unsuitable, and not age-appropriate. Before a decision is made, it is sent to a committee for review.

“We are not voting to do anything to these books or subsequent books right now,” Levy said. “We are simply moving to refer them to a process that is outlined in the regulation.”

The books that were challenged at both the grade and district level, meaning that they will come before a district committee for review, are as follows: The Kite Runner, Elanor and Park, l8r,g8r, Thirteen Reasons Why, Looking for Alaska, Crank, The Bluest Eyes, The Absolutely True Diary of a PartTime Indian, Speak, Me, Earl and the Dying Girl, City of Heavenly Fire: The Mortal, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. All books passed by a 5-2 vote, with Hensley and

gan is currently the Chief of Staff (Chief Medical Officer) and an orthopaedic surgeon for the Fayetteville Veterans’ Administration Coastal Health Care System. He has been at the VA since 2017 after retiring from the Army as a Colonel.

He moved into Pinehurst in 2012 with the military and decided shortly after to make Pinehurst his family’s permanent home.

In addition to the race for mayor, two seats for the village council also are up for grabs.

Five candidates have filed as of July 17: incumbent Lydia Boesch, John Taylor, Claire Berggren, Cara Mathis and Barb Ficklin.

Elsewhere in the county, there are races in Aberdeen, Cameron, Carthage, Foxfire, Pinebluff, Southern Pines, Taylortown, Vass and Whispering Pines.

The filing period closes on Friday, July 21, and North State Journal will post the complete candidate filings in next week’s edition.

Caldwell dissenting.

Stacey

“I’m going to vote against all of these, but not for the reason people would suspect,” Hensley said. “... I’m voting against these because I believe a citizen, not a board member, should be bringing these forth. I’d prefer that a citizen or parent stand up to challenge books.”

“My decision on this is that I want it to be a parent’s choice,” Caldwell said. “If something is saying something nasty in a book, that it needs to be flagged in the library, and then it can be a parent’s decision where the library calls a parent. That’s what I’m basing my votes on.”

The board also approved raising the cost of breakfast and lunch at MCS by $0.50 in order to help cov-

See BOE page 2

PJ WARD-BROWN |

er increasing costs and a $220,000 change order with SFL+a Architecture for design fees for the Vass-Lakeview Elementary, Sandhills Farm Life and Carthage Elementary gymnasiums.

Finally, Hensley made a petition to the rest of the board advocating for the removal of mandatory fees within MCS.

“The North Carolina Constitution states that citizens of Moore County are entitled to a free, public education, and a fee is not free,” Hensley said. “A mandatory fee is equal to a tax. The definition of

a fee is a fixed sum charged for a privilege, but attending school is not a privilege in North Carolina; it’s a right. So, therefore, it’s my assertion that you cannot have a fee for a right.”

However, the board ultimately decided by a 4-3 vote – with Hensley, Bruno and Holmes dissenting from the majority – not to eliminate the current fee structure in MCS due to the lack of a plan for how to address that sudden lack of funding.

“We have to plan for this,” Levy said. “One of the things that we have to avoid doing is this Ad hoc type of stuff, where, all of a sudden, we

have a good idea, and it goes to the head of the line. We can’t do that. I have to trust our financial people when they tell me that we don’t have enough money for something. I have to trust them because they’re a lot smarter than I am in regard to what we have, what we need, and what we can expend. This is a good idea. There’s no question that it’s a good idea, but it needs to be integrated into a plan.” The Moore County Schools Board of Education will next meet for a special called meeting on July 19 with the purpose of ‘discussion and motions to correct and improve board civility.’

Moore County Sheriff’s Office, Misdemeanor Larceny, Possession of Stolen Goods/Property, $500 Secured

♦ CADDELL, KALEB MILES, 32, W, M, 7/12/2023, Aberdeen PD, Assault on a Female, Cancel/Revoke Susp Certif Tag, No Liability Insurance, Extradition/Fugitive Other State, $56,000 Secured

We are part of the Randolph County School System

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

Building a safer nation

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN once said, “A truly successful army is one that, because of its strength and ability and dedication, will not be called upon to fight, for no one will dare to provoke it.”

In North Carolina, Veterans Day is not just one day a year—it is a year-long call to action.

As your Congressman and representative of the largest Army base in the world, I take this commitment seriously to supporting our troops and their families. Building a nation that’s safe is also a key pillar of House Republicans “Commitment to America.” That’s why last week, the House passed the bipartisan FY24 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This is the key piece of legislation that authorizes funding for our military and national defense for the year—including over $260 million in funding for critical infrastructure projects that will aid our region’s military personnel.

I am especially proud this year’s NDAA contains provisions I fought to include. Among these projects are the construction of a Child Development Center to address the existing deficit of childcare spaces available to improve the quality of life of military families stationed in our community, and a permanent Aircraft Maintenance Hangar facility to accommodate aircrafts serving the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

This year’s NDAA also includes the biggest pay raise for our troops in decades, pushes back against the woke ideology being forced on our military members, equips our military with the tools and resources to counter the rapidly growing threats from foreign adversaries, and improves military readiness. This bill also provides assistance to the over 8,000 service members who were discharged for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine and provides them with a path back to service.

While we can never thank our active duty military, their families, and our veterans enough for their service, we must continue to do everything we can to improve the quality of health care we provide them. For example, Master Sergeant Rich Stayskal, a resident of Moore County, served our country honorably and was wounded in combat. While stationed in our region, a missed cancer diagnosis

changed his life. In response, I helped change federal law in 2020 so Rich and other military families could receive support when they are victims of medical malpractice while on active-duty. However, the Department of Defense has failed to implement the law properly, stealing hope from Rich Stayskal and hundreds of military families who have been harmed by medical negligence.

Last week, I was proud to introduce the HERO Act to correct this wrong so our nation’s heroes who are victims of malpractice from a DoD medical treatment facility. They should have the right and opportunity to take their claim to District Court in order to receive the compensation they deserve. Service members such as Rich kept their promise to us—they served honorably, and they deserve the best we have to offer them. I will not stop fighting until they get it.

In North Carolina, Veterans Day is not just one day a year—it is a year-long call to action. That’s why I was also proud to join my House colleagues recently to reintroduce the bipartisan resolution to designate November 12, 2023 as “National Warrior Call Day.” This meaningful day will encourage folks in our community and across the country to check in on someone they know, active-duty, or veteran.

The suicide rate among our nation’s veterans is 2.5 times that of all civilians. It is important to address the challenges veterans face head-on and address the stigma around seeking help.

Ensuring our military families and veterans have the resources they deserve are some of the most important duties we have in Congress. I’ll never stop fighting to support our troops, their families, and our veterans.

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.

Different groups that ‘don’t look like America’ together produce success in America

The subgroup of Americans with very high levels of cognitive ability doesn’t actually “look like America.”

NEWS STORIES have reported that despite the Supreme Court’s decision in cases brought against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, those and other selective schools still want to employ racial quotas and preferences in admissions.

They’ve been abolishing requirements that applicants take objective tests like the SAT and are inviting applicants to write essays on the travails of their minority status. Such surreptitious defiance of the law is not surprising in admissions officials, a guild whose practices are undergirded and interlaced with lies and evasions of truth — the opposite of what higher education is supposed to foster.

They apparently think their moral worth depends on achieving a higher percentage of black people in a student body than in the U.S. Army or the New York Police Department.

One problem, as Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor established a decade ago in their book “Mismatch,” is that this results in black students tending to be less prepared than their schoolmates in selective schools from Harvard on down.

This tends to reinforce negative racial stereotypes and to cause the intended beneficiaries to hunker down in all-black dormitories and orientation sessions, which minimize or eliminate any benefit of the “diversity” that the single deciding vote of Justice Lewis Powell in 1978 thought justified racially discriminatory admissions. Selective schools say they want student bodies that “look like America.” But, whether you like it or not, the subgroup of Americans with very high levels of cognitive ability doesn’t actually “look like America.”

Evidence comes from the results of an experiment in which high school students of the class of 2022 throughout Michigan were invited to take the SAT, and for which the results were disaggregated by, among other factors, self-declared race.

Overall, 69% of the test takers were classified as white, 5% Asian, 11% African American and 8% Hispanic. These percentages are not far off the averages for the state of Michigan and for the United States as a whole.

But when we look at those high schoolers who scored the highest, from 1400 to 1600, which include the top 95th percentile of the population, the picture is different: 69% white once again, but 29% Asian, 2% Hispanic, and 0% black.

That last number may reflect that some black students simply didn’t work very hard on the test, just as the Columbia linguist John McWhorter confessed in The New York Times last week that in high school he didn’t bother “seeking the academic mountaintop” because, with racial quotas and preferences in place, his grades and test scores “wouldn’t affect my future.” So eliminating quotas may marginally increase black students’ test scores.

Even if you look at the larger tranche of students scoring from 1200 to 1600, scores achieved by just about all non-quota students in selective schools, that group still doesn’t “look like America”: 77% white, 13% Asian, 4% Hispanic, 2% black. These numbers closely resemble those compiled from IQ tests.

Some people will find these numbers disturbing, and demand that government do something, somehow, to make every group identical. Others, including many familiar with the long run of American history, will recognize that differently defined groups will, because of some combination of nature and nurture, perform differently.

The nation has benefited from excellence of various kinds, some more often found in one group, others in others. The National Basketball Association doesn’t much “look like America,” either, and neither have the creators and performers of great popular music going back far into the American past.

The SAT tests were adopted and used by selective colleges and universities after the Second World War — a war whose American casualties were hugely reduced by the development of the atomic bomb, by the Manhattan Project, whose physicists, many Jewish and from Central Europe, didn’t much “look like America.”

Postwar American colleges and universities used the SAT to identify high-cognitive-ability applicants from unusual backgrounds. The paradox, after three generations of an increasingly fair society, is that there are fewer such people and less social mobility because people tend to start off where they should end up. As Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker writes, “No society can be simultaneously fair, free, and equal.”

Perhaps the best response is to focus less on the small numbers who reach the top of hierarchies and cultivate more respect for those with more modest talents whose everyday conscientiousness and occasional heroism help make the country and the world better.

COLUMN | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

Mandy Dawn Frye

May 18, 1978 — July 13, 2023

Mandy Dawn Frye, age 45 of Robbins, passed away on Thursday, July 13, 2023 at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, Pinehurst, NC.

Mandy was born on May 18, 1978, to Ricky Laine Brown Sr. and Phyllis Darlene Lisenby in Moore County, NC. She was a homemaker.

Mandy is survived by her father, Ricky L Brown, Sr. (Barbara) of Star; mother, Phyllis Lisenby Garner of SC; daughters, Brittany Frye, of Charlotte and Amber Collins (Tyler) of Ellerbe; son, Bobby Frye Jr. of Troy; brother, Ricky L. Brown, Jr. (Delores) of Star; 2 grandchildren.

Donna Marie Dunn

September 27, 1963 - July 12, 2023

Donna Marie Dunn, 59 of Aberdeen passed on Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at her residence.

Ms. Dunn was born September 27, 1963 in Fort Knox, KY to the late Charles Alvin Dunn and Eula Anna (Poe) Dunn. She was a graduate of Pinecrest High School and was an employee of Food Lion for 21 years.

Ms. Dunn is survived by her sister, Pamela Ann Dunn of Aberdeen; a brother, Henry C. Dunn and wife Pamela Grubb Dunn of Aberdeen; a niece, Angela Grace Dunn of Aberdeen; two aunts, Audrey Poe of Bear Creek and Debbie Davis of Oak Island, NC; an uncle, Wilson Poe, Jr. and wife Sylvia of Bear Creek, NC.

Ms. Dunn was preceded in death by two brothers, William Frank Dunn and Barry Wilson Dunn and a sister, Mary Louise Dunn.

The family will receive friends immediately after the service at a reception in the bus garage. In lieu of flowers memorial donations can be made in memory of Donna to the Meroney Methodist

Charles Grayson Pegram

January 3, 1935 - July 10, 2023

Charles Grayson Pegram, age 88 of Pinehurst, NC passed away at FirstHealth Hospice on July 10th, 2023. Charles was born in Guilford County, NC January 3rd, 1935 to Ernest Whit Pegram and Carrie Jane Pope Pegram. As a child, Charles worked on the family Tobacco Farm. He loved sports and was involved in baseball, football, basketball and golf.

Charles graduated from Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business. He also attended the University of Michigan and graduated with honors from Henry Ford Community College. He was drafted into the US Army in 1954 and was deployed to Korea where he served as a cryptographer specialist and commanded the center at Panmunjom.

Charles married Delima Emily May August 25th, 1956 in Michigan and started a very successful career with General Motors in 1960. He retired from General Motors after 32 years of service. He and Delima retired in Pinehurst, NC and have been married for 67 years. They traveled the world together and have had a WONDERFUL retirement.

Charles is survived by his wife Delima Pegram; sons, Charles Grayson Pegram II and Jason Earnest and his wife Judy Pegram; grandchildren, Hayley Ann and Casey Marie Pegram; and his brother Joe Pegram. His children and grandchildren ADORED him and he was loved by so many. He often said ‘Each day can be a GREAT day, if you know what to do with it’ and he made each day of his life a GREAT day.

Memorial contributions can be made to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

Kathryn Rowerdink

November 28, 1946 - July 11, 2023

Kathy Rowerdink of Pinehurst, NC passed away July 11, 2023 at the age of 76.

Kathy was born to Albert and Martha Seymour on November 28, 1946 and grew up on their North Dakota family farm, near Pollock, SD. She was the fourth of five children born to Albert and Martha.

Kathy married John Rowerdink, her high school sweetheart, in 1965 and they had one son, Neil, who lives in Raleigh, NC.

After graduating from high school, Kathy attended college in Bismarck, ND before marrying John and moving to Dickinson, ND, where John was completing his college degree.

Over the years that John pursued a career with Mobil Oil Corporation, they lived in many places around the United States and also lived in England for four years in the 1990s. She enthusiastically adopted the role of a corporate wife, homemaker and mother; always ready to uproot her home and family when opportunity called. She always adjusted quickly to new surroundings and made a home for her family; only to do it again a few years later. This was a role quite different from her background as a North Dakota farm girl. John always said that his successful career could not have been possible without Kathy’s support. Their frequent moves made it difficult for Kathy to have a career of her own, but she sometimes worked as a switchboard/receptionist, including a stint at a law firm in the Washington, DC suburbs which she enjoyed.

Kathy’s favorite role was that of grandmother to her only granddaughter, Hannah, whom she affectionately called “Sweet Pea”. The short distance between Pinehurst and Raleigh allowed many opportunities for them to spend time together and fostered an especially close relationship between them. Hannah always called her “Gama”.

Kathy is survived by her husband, John of Pinehurst, NC, their son Neil and granddaughter Hannah Rowerdink of Raleigh, NC, brother Les (Kay) of Rancho Mission Viejo, CA, brother Lowell (Mary Lee) of Pollock, SD and Kingman, AZ. Also, sisters-in-law Nyla Herrick (Sid) of Litchfield, MN, Helen Murphy of Eagan, MN and Susan Rowerdink of New London, MN. She will be dearly missed by those she left behind. Her parents, one brother, Chris, and one sister, Mary Ryckman (Harold), preceded her in death.