North State Journal Vol. 8, Issue 6

TRUMP INDICTED, PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO 34 FELONY CHARGES

Donald Trump became the first American president to be indicted in history, a shocking moment as he sat in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday afternoon. Wearing his signature dark suit and red tie, Trump turned and waved to crowds outside the building before heading inside to be fingerprinted and processed. He arrived at court in an eight-car motorcade from Trump Tower. Trump, who was impeached twice by a Democratically-controlled U.S. House but was never convicted in the U.S. Senate, is the first former president to face criminal charges.

General Assembly overrides Cooper’s veto of firearms bill

Bill reforming state board appointments moves in Senate

Raleigh

Senate leaders including President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Eden) introduced Senate Bill 512, which establishes new membership for 9 state boards and commissions.

The bill would broaden the appointment of members to include more input from those serving on Council of State and in the General Assembly.

The affected boards in the bill are the Utilities Commission, Economic Investment Committee, Environmental Management Commission, Commission for Public Health, Board of Transportation, Coastal Resources Commission, Wildlife Resources Commission, N.C. Railroad Board of Directors and UNC Health Care Board of Directors.

NSJ STAFF

1st moon crew in 50 years make debut

Houston, Tex.

NASA named the four astronauts who will fly around the moon late next year, including the first woman and the first African American assigned to a lunar mission.

NC State graduate

Christina Koch, who holds the world record for the longest spaceflight by a woman, is one of the four astronauts selected for the mission.

“Am I excited? Absolutely,” Koch said to cheers from the crowd of schoolchildren, politicians and others. “But my real question is: ‘Are you excited?’” she said to more cheers.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

State employee pay raises include 4.25% in year one and 3.25% in year two

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — General Assem-

bly lawmakers in the House unveiled their $29.7 billion budget proposal on March 29.

The budget contains several spending items related to mental health while adding $100 million to the disaster recovery relief fund, $1.4 billion to regional economic reserves, and $2 billion for water and sewer needs.

The House proposal includes pay increases for state employees, members of law enforcement, corrections officers and teachers of 4.25% in the first year of the budget and 3.25% in the second

year. A recurring 1% cost of living (COLA) increase for all state employees is included in each year of the budget. Around $70 million in additional funds for teacher supplement pay in low-wealth county districts is also included. With the inclusion of step increases and additional supplements rolled in, average teacher pay will increase nearly 11% over the biennium.

Per sources in the House, Gov. Roy Cooper has already agreed to the budget in advance as part of the agreement reached with Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) to pass Cooper’s long-sought-after goal of expanding Medicaid in the state.

That agreement has given rise

See BUDGET, page A8

NCORR director told her word “doesn’t mean a whole lot.”

By A.P. Dillon North

State Journal

RALEIGH — The Hurricane Subcommittee of the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations held another hearing March 29 to receive updates from officials with the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) and the Department of Public Safety (DPS).

Testimony was given by Laura Hogshead, director of NCORR, and Richard Trumper, senior ad-

viser for disaster recovery for DPS. Trumper was named to that post beginning Feb. 1. He was previously the executive director of disaster recovery with the Office of State Budget and Management.

Trumper, who spoke at the end of the more than two-hour hearing, presented only a few slides that dealt mainly with increasing contractor participation in order to get work moving.

While the hearing was less tense than the prior two, at least one lawmaker — Sen. Brent Jackson (R-Sampson) — displayed displeasure with the continued slow progress. Jackson grilled Hogshead on what families were being given

The veto was Cooper’s 76th as governor and successful override is first since 2018

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — In back-toback days, both chambers of the General Assembly successfully overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 41, a firearms bill that has a provision repealing the state’s pistol permit purchase process.

“This legislation preserves the Second Amendment rights of North Carolinians by repealing the outdated pistol permit system. It also allows all churches and other places of religious worship to protect their parishioners and launches a statewide firearm safe storage awareness initiative,” House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) said in a statement. “These have been long-standing goals of Second Amendment advocates in our state, and we have finally brought this legislation over the finish line.”

The repeal of the permit process has also had consistent backing from the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association.

Sens. Danny Earl Britt, Jr. (R-Robeson), Warren Daniel (R-Burke), Jim Perry (R-Lenoir) and Bobby Hanig (R-Currituck) released the following joint statement on Senate Bill 41 becoming law:

“After years of Gov. Roy Cooper obstructing our Constitutional rights, today marks a long overdue

priority, including those who were promised to be home before Christmas last year. Hogsheads said they were “absolutely” a priority.

“As I said, the ones that are out of their home are our top priority,” Hogshead said. “The ones that are in temporary relocation assistance have been, and continue to be, our top priority.” Jackson asked the NCORR director how the public will be assured that the most vulnerable are being taken care of. Hogshead responded with, “you have my word on that.”

“Well, nothing personal about what I’m fixing to say at all, but based off prior history, your word isn’t worth a whole lot,” Jackson told Hogshead. “Understood,” Hogshead replied.

Hogshead’s presentation showed 1,067 completed projects out of

victory for law-abiding gun owners in our state. By successfully overriding Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto, we have guaranteed and secured Second Amendment rights for North Carolinians, and set forth a path to overcoming any future impediments from the lame-duck governor.”

The finalized override vote in the Senate was 30-19. In the House, the vote was 71-46. No House Democrats voted to override the veto, but due to attendance levels, the 71 Republicans were enough to meet the required 60% threshold for an override to be successful.

Rep. Michael Wray (D-Northampton) did not cast a vote. He had voted in favor of passing the bill and was the co-sponsor of a similar House measure. In addition to Wray, two other Democrats did not cast a vote: Reps. Cecil Brockman (D-Guildford) and Tricia Cotham (D-Mecklenburg).

Rep. Shelly Willingham (D-Edgecombe) changed his position on the bill multiple times. He first claimed he would not vote for passage, yet he did end up voting in favor of the bill when the Senate took the passage vote. Willingham also said he would maintain that passage vote, but he then flipflopped and voted against the override.

Like Willingham, Rep. Marvin Lucas (D-Cumberland) did not stick to his passage vote and voted against the override.

See FIREARMS , page A2

Slow recovery progress questioned again at 3rd legislative hearing

NC House unveils budget proposal including numerous policy items, school choice

“One of One”

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Rep. Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) made the motion to override the veto but also a motion to “move the previous question,” a procedural move to bar further debate and expedite a vote.

“It passed in this House with a veto-proof majority almost two weeks ago,” Hall said in response to objections by Democrats. “Members have heard all the pros and all the cons that they might want to hear.”

House Democratic Leader Rep. Robert Reives (D-Chatham) stood up out of order during the vote, asking Moore, “You mean we aren’t going to even allow 3 minutes for each side to close?”

Moore responded, “There is no debate. We are in a vote.”

Under Senate Bill 41, a person with a valid concealed handgun permit or a person exempt from obtaining that permit is allowed to carry a handgun in a place of religious worship that is also educational property but with certain qualifiers such as the property can’t be owned by a local board of education, county commission, or a public or private institution of higher education.

There must be no posted prohibi-

a total of 4,466 families seeking assistance as of March 28. The completion number represents 178 families now in homes over the previous number of 889 completed projects given to the subcommittee last December.

Hogshead had indicated that before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the monthly average completion rate was 31 homes. During 2020, that average fell to 23. By 2021, the average completion rate dropped to just eight a month and the first six months of 2020 only saw an average of five homes completed.

As of Dec. 14, 2022, 191 projects were in active construction. Hogshead reported that as of March 28, 271 projects were in active construction.

At the subcommittee’s first meeting on Sept. 9, 2022, Hogshead said 4,100 applications had been taken since federal funds were received, but only 789 projects have been completed. During the Dec. 14 subcommittee meeting, she said 95 families had successfully been housed in the 83 days spanning the period from the last meeting on Sept. 9 through Dec. 7.

“In terms of general contractors, this is where the rubber meets the road,” Hogshead said. “We can have a perfect program, but if we don’t have enough general contractors to do the work then it won’t work at all.”

When asked about the status of the new contractors by Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood), Hogshead said a number of them were still in pro-

John 18:40

Barabbas was a murderer, a felon, and a traitor. This fact is very significant. There is more teaching in it than at first sight we might imagine. Have we not here in this act of the deliverance of the sinner, and the binding of the innocent — a sort of type of that great work which is accomplished by the death of our Savior?

You and I may fairly take our stand by the side of Barabbas. We have robbed God of His glory; we have been seditious traitors against the government of Heaven; and if he who hates his brother is a murderer — then we also have been guilty of that sin. Here we stand before the judgment seat; the Prince of life is bound for us — and we are allowed to go free! The Lord delivers us and acquits us — while the Savior, without spot or blemish, or shadow of a fault, is led forth to crucifixion!

Two birds were taken in the rite of the cleansing of the leper. The one bird was killed, and its blood was poured into a basin. The other bird was dipped in this blood, and then, with its wings all crimson, it was set free to fly into the open field.

The bird slain well pictures the Savior,

tion for carrying a concealed handgun on the premises and the handgun can only be on the property outside of school hours. Concealed carry is permitted by certain facility employees such as security guards.

A statewide firearm safe storage awareness initiative that includes facilitating the distribution of gun locks and a toolkit for municipalities to launch a local firearm safe storage program is also part of the new law.

“Second Amendment advocates owe thanks to all of the Republican legislators who voted for and supported SB 41 and similar bills. I encourage leadership to leverage this success by joining twenty-five other states in passing constitutional carry,” said Paul Valone, the president of Grass Roots North Carolina, the state’s largest gun rights organization.

Cooper used his 76th veto to strike down the bill, writing in his veto message, “Eliminating strong background checks will allow more domestic abusers and other dangerous people to own handguns and reduces law enforcement’s ability to stop them from committing violent crimes. Second Amendment supporting, responsible gun owners know this will put families and communities at risk.”

cess and some are in training. She said there were 30 new contractors brought on in 2023 and they were being processed “within 15 days on average.”

Hogshead also said the general contractors working with them were reporting improved payment regularity.

Sen. Jim Perry (R-Lenoir) questioned the process of a vendor cutting checks to contractors.

“It sounds like we’re within an inch of making that happen,” said Perry. “But it sounded that way the last three meetings. What in the world is taking so long?”

Hogsheads replied they have contracted with a vendor for electronic payments and “that process has taken longer with Bank of America than anyone wants.” She added she can’t control how fast Bank of America works but that they were meeting with them daily.

Perry asked if her department had overpromised on the payment process and Hogshead put the blame on Bank of America.

“I would say that Bank of America did not understand how difficult it would be to switch to electronic payments,” Hogshead replied. She went on to say they should be “up to speed” and “making those payments in the next couple of weeks.”

NCORR has engaged Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOADs) directly to provide minor repairs, accessibility features for those with disabilities, and assistance with temporary relocation, according to Hogshead.

Hogshead noted her agency had assumed case management

and every soul that has by faith been dipped in His blood, flies upward towards Heaven singing sweetly in joyous liberty, owing its life and its liberty entirely to Him who was slain! It comes down to this: Barabbas must die — or Christ must die. You the sinner must perish — or Christ Immanuel, the Immaculate, must die. He dies — that we

Ahead of the Senate override vote, Cooper mentioned the recent school shooting in Nashville perpetrated by the now-deceased Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old transgender individual. Following the House override vote, the governor took to Twitter again.

“Without any debate allowed by GOP leadership because the arguments were too compelling for them to hear, the House voted to override my veto and eliminate strong background checks for handguns in NC,” Cooper tweeted. “Allowing known domestic abusers and mentally ill people to buy handguns puts communities at risk.”

Attorney General Josh Stein, who is running to replace Cooper in 2024, also issued a statement.

“Today’s move by the General Assembly to repeal our pistol permit law has made our communities less safe. Now, dangerous people — like violent criminals and domestic abusers — will be able to more easily get their hands on guns” Stein said. “Gun violence is a terrifying threat, and eliminating background checks will make the job of law enforcement officers more difficult. While our legislators failed us, I’ll continue to do everything in my power to keep people in our state safe.”

responsibilities from Horne in December 2022, as well as taking over the ReBuild NC Center management and Contact Center from Horne in January 2023.

Applicants were being better served through increased Center days/hours, her organization was actively recruiting more case managers and NCORR had established and trained an escalation team to handle more complex applications. Continued focus areas per Hogshead include prioritization for families in the long-term Temporary Relocation Assistance program, enhanced constituent service through the NCORR Case Management team, active recruitment of general contractors, accelerating project completion by focusing on permitting and inspections, and utilization of new assignment threshold of $250,000.

Pless asked if Hogshead was still having weekly update meetings with the governor as she had claimed in a prior hearing.

“Are you still able to have those weekly conversations or do those come through Mr. Trumper now?”

Pless asked.

“No, I am still having regular conversations with the governor. We have meetings scheduled that both I participate in and Richard participates in,” said Hogshead. When asked how those meetings were going, she said, “the same as they have for the last four years.”

Sen. Danny Britt (R-Robeson) asked questions about how many people were back in their homes as well as a series of questions related to easement issues and modular

may be delivered!

Though we have been robbers, traitors and murderers — yet we can rejoice that Christ has delivered us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us!

Charles H. Spurgeon was a British Baptist pastor and author active from 1850 to 1892. His works are now in the public domain.

homes.

“At our September hearing you stated you would do your absolute best to get all 115 families that had been out of their home for over a year back in their home before Christmas,” Britt said. “As of today, how many of those families have returned to their homes?”

“Forty-one have returned home,” Hogshead replied. “All of them are in progress. All of them are seeing forward progress unless what is holding them up is outside NCORR’s hands.”

“So that means NCORR is only getting about five to seven families a month back in their homes. Is that correct?” asked Britt.

“From the TRA [temporary relocation assistance] list, but you see our numbers monthly,” said Hogshead.

Britt countered, “But at this rate, it will be around June 2025 before they are all in a home, is that correct?”

“I do not agree with that,” said Hogshead. “Almost all of them are in construction unless something is impeding that construction that is out of our hands.”

Britt reiterated the question and Hogshead cited easement concerns. When asked about “Application 3275,” Hogshead said she was not familiar with that one, prompting Britt to elaborate.

“This was a lady who NCORR had moved into a hotel about 889 days ago. NCORR had her home bulldozed only later to find out that she had an easement issue and now you can’t legally rebuild,” said Britt.

“So now she’s in a hotel … her home has been bulldozed. … How did it get to that point? How did someone miss that easement?”

Hogshead said she doesn’t recognize applicants by numbers but that she did know that case. She said, “oftentimes you do not know about an easement until you pull a permit” and after a person has an award and has been promised their home.

Britt’s questions touched on the subcommittee’s consistent concern of whether or not NCORR would be able to complete the tasks before the $778 million in federal relief funds expires.

At the last meeting, it was said around 60% of the federal funds have been encumbered with only $231 million spent to date. The deadline for the funds to be spent or encumbered is rapidly approaching — 2025 for Matthew and 2026 for Florence.

Britt went on to recap discussions on modular home providers, citing there was only one bidder and after the contract was awarded there had been an 18% price increase for modular homes and that as of December 2022, the vendor had produced less than one modular home per month over the last 16 months.

The Robeson lawmaker questioned why one vendor was awarded the contract. Hogshead said that two vendors applied but one was deemed unresponsive, so the award went to the responsive party. She would later say that the “level of criticism and scrutiny of this one contractor is not helpful or useful.”

THE WORD: THOUGH WE HAVE BEEN ROBBERS, TRAITORS AND MURDERERS

“Then cried they all again, saying: Not this man, but Barabbas!”

“Barabbas” (1886-1894) is a painting by James Tissot in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, New York.

FIREARMS from page A1

SUBCOMMITTEE from page A1

FILE PHOTO

House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) poses for a photo in the NC House chamber following a successful veto override vote of SB 41.

NCDHHS to alter COVID-19 data dashboard

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced it will be altering and retiring some of the data provided on its COVID-19 data dashboard.

NCDHHS said in a statement that it will continue to “track data and monitor COVID-19” but it will be incorporated with other respiratory illness data.

“While we continue to see illness and deaths from COVID-19, it is no longer the threat it once was thanks to testing, vaccines and treatment,” said Dr. Susan Kansagra, director of the NCDHHS Division of Public Health. “As we evolve our response to the more routine nature of COVID-19 going forward, these

indicators will help us monitor our health care capacity from respiratory illness including COVID-19 and adjust our response if needed.”

The change to the site comes a little more than a year after NCDHHS announced it would no longer be giving daily metric updates on its dashboard.

The North Carolina Respiratory Illness Summary Dashboard will have three graphs tracking respiratory illnesses like COVID, influenza and RSV, new COVID and influenza hospitalizations, as well as wastewater surveillance. The summary dashboard will also have links to COVID cases, deaths and variants.

“COVID-19 vaccination data will move to a monthly update, as numbers are not changing as rapidly, and it will retire May 31. Vac-

cination data will continue to be available from the CDC after this time,” NCDHHS’ statement says. NCDHHS said reports on COVID-19 patients presumed to be recovered, hospitalizations and deaths by vaccination status, and COVID-19 outbreaks in congregate living settings will all be “retiring” this month.

The last time NCDHHS updated the presumed recovered report was Jan. 29, 2023. The report is supposed to be updated every Wednesday by 4 pm. According to the January report, 3,371,565

March Council of State news roundup

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — In March, the governor gave his State of the State address, State Auditor Beth Wood plead guilty to charges stemming from her December 2022 car accident, and Council of State offices announced various upcoming activities.

Gov. Roy Cooper delivered his fourth and final State of the State address at the General Assembly in Raleigh on March 6. Topics in Cooper’s remarks covered electric vehicles, business development, mental health, education and Medicaid expansion. He also released a $67 billion budget proposal that includes a more than 21% increase in spending over the biennium, a move that top lawmakers called “reckless.”

The governor also awarded the Parks and Recreation Authority $9.6 million in park accessibility grants for 21 projects across the state, and he released a comprehensive plan to invest $1 billion to address “North Carolina’s mental health and substance use crisis” as well as issues like anxiety and depression.

Wood pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for leaving the scene of a December crash in Raleigh that involved her driving her state-owned vehicle into a parked car. Wood will serve no jail time and was issued $300 in fines and court costs.

The state auditor admitted to having been drinking that evening, however, told the judge she was not impaired.

“I was not impaired, but given the positioning of the two cars and the fact that I had had two glasses of wine at this event, I made an error in judgment in the moment,” Wood said in court on March 23. “And if I made the right decision, we would not be here today.”

Two Chapel Hill men who were in the car with her that night, Jonah Richard Mendys and Ryan Scott McGuirt, were also recently charged. Mendys has been accused of failing to report Wood’s crash, obstruction of justice, failure of a passenger to give information about the accident and helping her into a nearby building to avoid police. McGuirt has been charged with obstructing justice and accessory after the fact. Police also say McGuirt drove Wood away from the scene in his pickup truck. N.C. Agriculture Commissioner

Steve Troxler spoke to the House Agriculture Committee about his department’s high vacancy rate and various agricultural industry concerns such as preserving farmland related to the impact of residential and development growth. Both topics of concern were addressed by Troxler during his remarks at the 2023 N.C. Agriculture Forum held Feb. 2.

The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will host a set of information sessions on April 13 showcasing recent investments in agricultural research. The oneday event will be held at the Steve Troxler Agricultural Sciences Center in Raleigh from 8:30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Lunch will be served for registered guests. N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein said in a press release that he is “still fighting for DACA” and has filed a friend-of-the-court brief “pushing back against the ongoing, misguided effort led by Texas to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.”

Despite additional funding from the legislature, the state’s rape kit backlog continues to persist. In

2017, North Carolina was No. 1 in the nation for untested rape kits with a backlog of more than 15,000. The state has made some headway, but the backlog still hasn’t been cleared five years later. The number of kits in inventory currently stands at 16,223, according to early March numbers posted on the N.C. Department of Justice’s (NCDOJ) data dashboard. A s of March 6, some 7,305 kits are still in the inventory backlog.

On March 17, the Center for Safer Schools housed under the N.C. Department of Public Instruction marked its 10th anniversary at a ceremony in Raleigh. Officials giving remarks included the center’s executive director, Karen Fairley, House K-12 Education Committee chair Rep. John Torbett (R-Gaston), former statehouse Rep. Jamie Boles, N.C. Superintendent Catherine Truitt and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jerry Oates. N.C. Department of Public Safety Secretary Eddie Buffaloe was also in attendance.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey announced March 15 the arrests of two individuals this past month for various insurance fraud crimes. Diamon Diantria Rollinson of Gastonia was charged with three counts of insurance fraud, all felonies, and one misdemeanor count of making a false statement on an insurance application. Robin Teara Lawson of Greensboro was charged with insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretense, both felonies.

During a monthly call with reporters, State Treasurer Dale Folwell warned that the recent bid by Novant Health to acquire Lake Norman Regional Medical Center and David Regional Medical Center may erode health care quality in the state. He also expressed concern over the continued consolidation of health care in North Carolina. The Novant purchase transaction is worth around $320 million but still must obtain regulatory approvals. Novant says the deal is expected to close later this year.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall announced on March 8 that her agency joined other state securities administrators and the Securities and Exchange Commission in a $45 million settlement with crypto platform Nexo Capital Inc. (Nexo). The settlement was related to the offering of unregistered securities.

North Carolinians were presumed to have recovered from a case of COVID.

The data dashboard’s tracking of cases and deaths shows there have been 3,486,611 cases in North Carolina since the start of the pandemic through Mar. 11, 2023. In the last three months, the data shows 147,595 cases reported.

The dashboard also shows 28,540 deaths for the same time period with 666 of those deaths occurring in the last three months.

NCDHHS defines a COVID death as someone who had a pos-

itive test who dies without recovering from COVID-19 and had no listed alternative cause of death.

The definition also notes that after Jan. 1, 2022, a COVID death is someone reported as having a case of the illness and has COVID-19 listed as the primary cause of death.

The dashboard will also be dropping the CDC COVID-19 community levels and directs the public to check CDC’s COVID Data Tracker site for information. On March 31, NCDHHS ended its community testing sites.

NC’s Stein, 3 other states join bid to block airline deal

North State Journal

NORTH CAROLINA Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein along with attorneys general from California, Maryland and New Jersey signed on to a lawsuit attempting to block JetBlue’s $3.8 billion purchase of competitor Spirit Airlines.

The complaint was filed March 31 in federal district court in Massachusetts.

The original lawsuit was brought earlier in March by the U.S. Justice Department, Massachusetts, New York and the District of Columbia against JetBlue Airways and Spirit. Attorney General Merrick Garland led a press conference to announce the lawsuit, a signal of the importance that the Biden administration attaches to the case as part of its campaign against consolidation in many industries.

The Biden administration argues that the deal would reduce competition and drive up prices for airline consumers by eliminating Spirit, which is known for low fares. JetBlue argues that the deal will help consumers by making the New York-based airline a stronger competitor against American, Delta, United and Southwest.

“People rely on budget airlines to afford to travel,” said Stein in a statement. “This merger could decrease competition in air travel, leading to fewer flight options and increased costs for travelers. A merger might benefit the airlines, but it could harm their customers. That’s why I’m asking the court to block this deal.”

A federal judge scheduled the trial to begin Oct. 16 in Boston. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

“A merger might benefit the airlines, but it could harm their customers. That’s why I’m asking the court to block this deal.”

Attorney General Josh Stein

AP PHOTO JetBlue Airways Airbus A320, left, passes a Spirit Airlines Airbus A320 as it taxis on the runway, July 7, 2022, at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

AP PHOTO

State Auditor Beth Wood makes an appearance in Wake County court on Thursday, March 23, 2023 in Raleigh.

“If I made the right decision, we would not be here today.”

State Auditor Beth Wood

north STATEment

EDITORIAL | FRANK HILL

Don’t mess with the political gods of retributive justice

WHEN POLITICAL PARTISANS do something really out of the ordinary, they usually pay for it in spades down the road and then wish they had never done it.

New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg may think he is doing “the right thing” by indicting former President Donald Trump for what is essentially a campaign finance violation.

called “nuclear option” to confirm federal district appeals court judges. More than 100 liberal judges were confirmed by the U.S. Senate by simple majority vote instead of having to get 60 votes to end filibusters as had been Senate precedent since 1975 ― before then, the hurdle to close debate was 67 votes to insure moderation and compromise in the nominating process.

Don’t sit next to Bragg if a lightning storm comes up.

He and the ultra-left socialist Democrats may live to regret it. When “doing the right thing” is replaced by political expediency, the political Gods of Retributive Justice became enraged ― and they come back with a vengeance on the perpetrators.

President Gerald Ford issued an unconditional pardon to Richard Nixon after he resigned from the presidency in 1974 “for any crimes he may have committed as president.” Ford understood if he didn’t issue the pardon, the “long national nightmare” of Watergate would linger on like a mustard gas cloud on American politics and further poison an already-poisonous environment.

It was the right thing to do. Ford barely lost the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter ― but his integrity and honor remained intact. He understood prosecution of a former president would open up the doors to every president being indicted on some charge or another to satisfy political partisan animus.

Republicans thought they had a great political advantage in January 1998 when it came to light that Monica Lewinsky had an affair with President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office. Despite warnings to the contrary that this did not add up to the definition of “treason” in the Constitution, Republicans impeached Clinton anyway hoping to build up massive majorities in the 1998 midterm elections.

It was the wrong thing to do. The Gods of Retributive Politics were not amused. They made the Republicans pay for their overreach.

The GOP lost five net seats in Congress instead of picking up 50 as some had hoped. Republicans somehow had found a way to be the only people in the country who could make Clinton a sympathetic figure at the time. His approval ratings kept rising until the end of his presidency in 2000, and he somehow remained popular after he left the White House.

In 2013, Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked the so-

EDITORIAL | STACEY MATTHEWS

Reid lived long enough to see the severe ramifications of his boneheaded decision when President Donald Trump nominated and confirmed three staunch conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court for lifetime appointments. Had Reid heeded Republican advice and Senate procedure, none of Trump’s Supreme Court justices probably would have been confirmed.

Reid made a Faustian bargain with the Devil for political expediency’s sake ― and the Gods of Retributive Justice repaid the Democrat Party with the Dobbs decision in 2022.

On a local state level, DA Bragg might find himself disbarred and drummed from office for bringing specious charges against a former president as former Durham DA Mike Nifong was destroyed in the aftermath of the Duke lacrosse case. Not only was Nifong disbarred for pursuing a flawed case for his political purposes, but he was also charged with a $180 million judgment brought by Duke lacrosse team members and is apparently living in a van down by the Eno River somewhere.

Don’t sit next to Bragg if a lightning storm comes up. The Gods of Retributive Justice may have him in their sights next.

President Joe Biden and his son are now almost certain to be charged with various crimes regarding their business dealings with China ― most likely at 12:05 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2025, after he leaves the White House following the inauguration of our next president.

Bragg and the crowing left might be making a martyr out of Trump as they continue to use the judicial process as a political weapon to punish only Republicans, not Democrats.

The Gods of Retributive Justice will not be trifled with. They may get Trump reelected just to show the Democrats who remains the boss of electoral politics.

Democrats portray transgender community as ‘other’ victim of Nashville mass shooting

Media,

It seemed surreal to see how many media outlets were eager to show respect for the pronoun preferences of someone who had just taken six lives.

LAST MONDAY at a privately owned Christian elementary school in Nashville, 28-year-old Audrey Hale shot her way in and killed six, including three 9-year-old children.

Hale, a former student who identified as “he/him,” was confronted a short time later by Metro Nashville police officers, two of whom fatally shot her.

In the immediate aftermath of mass shootings, there is generally minimal focus on the victims by the press, who are usually busy trying to do two things: figure out what the shooter’s motivations were (in case there was a political or social angle) and weave blaming pro-Second Amendment Republicans into their stories.

As per the norm, that’s exactly what happened after this one as well.

Within a few hours, The Washington Post ran a story with the headline “GOP congressman from Nashville district ‘heartbroken’ by shooting. A 2021 photo shows his family with firearms.” The congressman they were referring to was Rep. Andy Ogles, who represents the district where the school is located.

Other stories that came not long after reported on how Hale allegedly felt resentment toward her Christian parents who allegedly did not approve of her identifying as another gender.

There was also a mad rush by the media to make sure Hale “wasn’t misgendered.” It seemed surreal to see how many media outlets were eager to show respect for the pronoun preferences of someone who had just taken six lives.

In fact, CBS News is said to have issued a directive to its media staff to not use the word “transgender” in reference to Hale at all in their reporting.

“We should avoid any mention of it as it has no known relevance to the crime,” the memo read. “Should that change, we can and will revisit.”

More disturbingly, however, was how we weren’t even 24 hours into the story of what happened at the school before news outlets were filing pieces on how it was the transgender community who felt victimized by the shootings.

“Fear pervades Tennessee’s trans community amid focus on Nashville shooter’s gender identity,” NBC News tweeted.

“After school shooting, some trans-Tennesseans face backlash,” Reuters reported, with a focus on what they called the “anti-trans laws” in Tennessee which, among other things, outlaw gender-affirming care for minors.

MSNBC’s Ali Velshi embodied the media’s response in a segment he did on the shootings.

“Trans people are already more likely to experience violence simply because they’re trans, so the right focusing on that is uniquely dangerous and we have to respond to that,” he proclaimed.

Democrats, too, did not cover themselves in glory, with some progressive activists urging fellow protesters to hold up seven fingers during a protest inside the Tennessee state capitol in a clear attempt at portraying Hale as the seventh victim of the mass shooting she orchestrated.

“Every death is a tragedy, y’all. Seven lives,” the person stated as numerous people in the crowd held up seven fingers.

Regardless of the mental health status of Hale and whether she could or could not get the help that she needed, she wasn’t the victim here. That this even needs to be said shows how deeply we’ve fallen as a country on many fronts, especially moral and spiritual. Good is bad and bad is good these days, and the ugliness of moral relativism is raising its head again. All of this is happening in large part because we have “leaders” in this country who refuse to actually lead and take a stand against the nonsense.

This is just crazy. Even though I believe in American exceptionalism and believe that anything is possible in the greatest country on Earth, I’m struggling to make sense as to how this ship gets righted — or if it even can be at this point.

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

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

The science of reading is the answer to North Carolina’s literacy crisis

LITERACY IS, INDEED, A FOUNDATION for learning, and it is frequently the work of teachers and educators in school settings to build early literacy skills for students to succeed. However, literacy is not the same thing as reading, and literacy development is not the same for all students.

More students are increasingly multilingual and are developing language and literacy in two or more languages. prescriptions filled in North Carolina.

The consistently bipartisan Republican House

In North Carolina, we currently have more than 146,0000 identified multilingual learners (MLs). MLs are students who are identified as requiring additional support for acquiring English as a new or additional language. Although that number is significant in N.C., even more impressive is the number of K-12 students who report a primary language other than English spoken in the home: 270,000.

Even though we have a large number of identified MLs, more students are increasingly multilingual and are developing language and literacy in two or more languages. Linguistic diversity is not only increasingly widespread, but it is here to stay and is growing.

How we prepare educators for literacy development for ML students in the next decade will be a true test of our ability to think and act in complex, research-driven ways that ensure success for all students. Unfortunately, a single, monolingual policy for reading development (which is not literacy development, a much broader construct) does not work for MLs.

I recently attended a national summit hosted by The Reading League, a strong proponent of the “Science of Reading.” At the conference were panels of experts, including researchers who study reading for monolingual and ML students, cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists. Scholars spent significant time synthesizing research that has been conducted over the past 20 years.

Start early in support of viewpoint diversity

Our country has been through a few other times when shouting and screaming — sometimes shooting and killing — substituted for democratic dispute resolution.

IT WAS A BRUTALLY HOT DAY in late July 1987 when I left home in Elizabethtown for the lonely drive to college. I remember it vividly because the air conditioner did not work very well in the beat-up used Honda Accord I had just purchased from money earned mowing grass that summer after high school graduation.

I hugged my folks, said goodbye, and after seven hours with the cassette tape blaring a mix of U2, Jimmy Buffett and local radio stations, I finally arrived in eastern Tennessee late in the afternoon to start my adulthood journey.

I was 17 years old that day and the school did not have an “orientation.” You simply showed up before classes began, bought your books and moved into the residence hall they assigned. I guess they took the position that, whatever else you needed to know, you would figure out.

Orientations are now required for all new college students — with parents hovering like low-flying helicopters. New students are a captive audience at these two-day events that educate them on student organizations, where to eat, Title IV and how to get basketball tickets.

The schools pass out printed programs with platitudes printed on glossy-papered pages that say things like “we respect diversity” and “we are an inclusive campus.” But, other than the value of gender and race diversity, colleges rarely emphasize the importance of thought and viewpoint diversity.

This is a missed opportunity for our universities.

There is no better time than at the beginning of their “higher education” experience to show students that not everyone agrees with them or shares their worldview. People come to college with different opinions, priorities and goals.

Free expression of ideas at campus events and in classrooms used to be an absolute. Yet we now see events canceled, speakers and faculty members shouted down and nearly assaulted for doing nothing more than offering viewpoints with which some loud, vocal campus members disagree.

It gets worse.

In some classrooms, students who fear a bad grade from an ideological professor engage in self-censorship to avoid scrutiny from authority’s jaundiced eye when anything but the preapproved narrative. Some fear physical reprisals from their fellow students or ostracization from campus organizations.

A 2021 survey by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) canvassed more than

BE IN TOUCH

A major takeaway from that work of highly skilled researchers is that literacy development for ML students — including the processes involved in learning to read — is not the same as that required for monolingual students. The multilingual brain, though structurally the same as a monolingual brain, adjudicates and activates language and literacy ― that is, “functions” ― much differently. While we agree that there are important and essential foundational skills for reading development, there are clear research-based differences for ML students. These differences in literacy development are essential knowledge for highly prepared educators to understand. Ultimately, ML students already have a first language and oral language skills that are activated in the process of literacy development and reading. Thus, instructional practices for educators of our 146,000 ML students in N.C. need to be different. And even more so are those instructional practices for students who are enrolled in dual language, bilingual education programs, where students acquire literacy in two languages. As a state with the fifth largest number of DL programs in the U.S. and the largest number of DL programs in the southeast U.S., we have a professional obligation to ensure that those educators are also highly prepared to engage in the complex work of literacy development and reading.

In N.C. and at NC State, we want educators to be best prepared for all students, including those learning multiple languages and acquiring literacy in multiple languages in schools.

Maria R. Coady is Goodnight Distinguished Professor in educational equity at NC State University.

WITH THIS WEEK’S bipartisan passage of H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Cost Act, an amazing pattern has developed in the new Republican-led House. It is increasingly a bipartisan majority that is passing bills the American people support.

In fact, Democrats have supported 37 of the first 43 bills that Speaker Kevin McCarthy has gotten through the House. That means 86% of House activity has been bipartisan. Democrats have cast 4,701 votes for these bills.

As I wrote early this month, the new Republican-led Congress is continuing to be dramatically different from the Nancy Pelosi-led House of the last two Congresses.

Pelosi was using iron discipline (and considerable fear of her power) to pass extremist legislation with strictly Democrat votes. She was effective in holding together her narrow majority (until the election) but the Democrats’ Big Government Socialist bills were so full of extreme positions she could rarely get any Republican votes.

By contrast, Speaker McCarthy has been bringing up legislation that is widely supported by the American people.

These have been popular issues such as the creation of a special committee on the threat from the Chinese Communist Party and blocking China’s access to the American Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The McCarthyled House has overruled the District of Columbia City Council’s pro-crime bill and its effort to allow noncitizens to vote in D.C. elections. (The crime bill issue was so popular it swept through the Democratled Senate and was signed by President Joe Biden to the anger of the extreme, pro-crime Democrats).

Without the disciplined pressure from the Pelosi machine, a growing number of Democrats are finding it easier to vote with their constituents and support popular ideas — even if they are coming from the Republican majority. In fact, there are 10 Democrats who have voted for Republican bills 65% of the time or more.

37,000 students on 159 college campuses across the nation and found that 23% of these college students believed violent behavior was warranted against people who said things with which they disagreed.

Think about that for just a second.

Nearly 1 in 4 college students feel it is legitimate to resort to violence against someone solely based on a stated opinion. Imagine if 23% of college students were driving drunk on any given day. Or 23% of them were skipping class. Or committing sexual assaults. Or cheating on their exams.

Would we try and do something?

All campuses should use the early opportunity available at First Day Orientation to start inculcating into the new arrivals that most sacred of traditions at “institutions of higher learning” — respect for thought diversity, and this commitment should be carried through each year, and at each stage of the student’s campus life.

It is not enough to just put the politically correct words in a brightly colored brochure and sit a stack of them on the welcome table. More must be done to invite, value, protect and celebrate thought diversity or irreparable damage will result to our next generation of leaders and problem solvers.

I talk to a lot of people that think the genie is already out of the bottle, the damage has already been done and that it is too late to restore equilibrium to college campuses.

I disagree.

Our country has been through a few other times when shouting and screaming — sometimes shooting and killing — substituted for democratic dispute resolution, yet we survived because, eventually, words and thoughts became the survival ropes that pulled us out of the abyss.

Looking back on that hot July day many years ago, I do not recall where I laid my head on that first night in the dorm, but I still remember, like it was yesterday, the excitement and promise that swirled as I anticipated all that waited for me that next morning and beyond.

Let’s use that same moment that occurs every year on our campuses to show these young vibrant minds how enthralling it can be to learn things from someone with whom you might otherwise disagree. Perhaps, some good could come from an initiative like this.

Woody White is a resident of New Hanover County.

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 300 words. Letters may be edited for style, length or clarity when necessary. Ideas for op-eds should be sent to opinion@nsjonline.com.

As time goes on and more Democrats vote with the Republicans, the discipline of the Pelosi system will break down. If the Republicans consistently seek to offer solutions the American people support — and focus on values in which the American people believe — a large block of solutionsoriented Democrats could help Republicans drive an increasingly successful institution.

Contrary to the D.C. consultant-mediaelite ethos, this bipartisan approach has not required Republicans to move to the left or abandon conservative principles. In fact, the House Republicans are proving their basic conservatism in their investigative activities, commitment to balance the budget, determined support for the Parents Bill of Rights and a host of other activities.

By emphasizing those aspects of conservatism which have the broadest support from the American people, the House Republicans are beginning to build a record that will attract a number of Democrat votes in Congress — and an even larger number of independent and Democrat voters in the 2024 election.

This process of getting a positive agenda through the House while also standing up for conservative principles is building support for Speaker McCarthy at the grassroots level. He has also been successful in traditional party fundraising. He recently raised a record $35 million for Republican campaigns in the first quarter. He gave $7 million of it to the National Republican Congressional Committee and another $4.5 million to incumbents facing tough races in difficult districts.

If the party-line Democrats continue to cling to extreme positions, they will lose more members to a bipartisan repudiation of Big Government Socialism. Similarly, the Democrats who vote with Republicans don’t have to give up their core values or genuine desires to help their constituents. They only must reclaim their independence from the Big Government Socialist machine.

If the House Republicans can approach the debt ceiling and the effort to balance the budget with a disciplined message and a commitment to adopt the anti-tax, antiregulatory, pro-economic growth policies favored by the American people, they may even attract Democrats. This would be a nightmare coalition for the extremists who want to ignore the deficit, grow the debt, and let the economy collapse in the name of failed ideology.

As I wrote earlier this week:

“In one recent America’s New Majority Project study we found that 70% of Americans believe a strong and growing economy is more important than raising taxes to ensure the long-term stability of Medicare and Social Security. By contrast, only 19% favor the Biden position of raising taxes (his new budget has $4.1 trillion in new taxes). Even among Democrats, the Biden tax increase position loses by 30% to 11%.”

If Republicans can develop the message discipline to drive home the choice between their rational 70% position and the Democrats’ extreme 19% position, the upcoming budget and debt ceiling fights will be much more decisive than the media believes.

This is a new era with new opportunities for Republicans and rational Democrats to work together and achieve positive results for the American people.

COLUMN | WOODY WHITE

NATION & WORLD

Dem senators from 4 states ask NOAA to address whale deaths

The Associated Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Democratic U.S. senators from four states want federal environmental officials to address a spate of whale deaths on both coasts, urging “transparency and timeliness” in releasing information about whale deaths and their causes.

The call late last week by New Jersey Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse for action by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marked the first large-scale request for action by Democratic federal lawmakers on an issue that has rapidly become politicized.

Thus far, mostly Republican lawmakers have called for a pause or an outright halt to offshore wind farm preparation work, which they blame for the deaths of whales along the U.S. East Coast since December.

But in their letter to an NOAA administrator, the Democratic senators conspicuously did not blame — or even mention — offshore wind as a potential cause of the deaths. Numerous federal agencies have said there is no evidence linking it to whale deaths, many of which were determined to have been caused by ship strikes or entanglement with fishing gear.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Booker said he wants the agency to protect whales and communicate quickly about any deaths.

“To protect these animals, we must follow the facts and address the known, documented causes of death,” he said. “We know that NOAA’s preliminary findings for many of the whales washing up along the Atlantic coast this year have shown evidence of a vessel strike.”

The senators voiced particu-

lar concern about two deaths of endangered North Atlantic right whales, although most of the whale deaths involved the more plentiful humpback species.

“Without action, the (North Atlantic right whale) will likely go extinct,” they wrote. “If we do not act, other whale species may face the same fate.”

Lauren Gaches, an NOAA spokesperson, said 30 whale deaths have been recorded on the Atlantic Coast since Dec. 1. They were 21 humpback whales; three sperm whales; three minke whales; two North Atlantic right whales and one sei whale.

The senators also expressed concern about the deaths of gray whales on the West Coast, where 298 of the animals have washed ashore since 2019. Some showed signs of emaciation, but NOAA said more research is needed.

NOAA has declared “unusual mortality events” involving whales on both coasts, including one on the East Coast dating back

“I get that the administration wants to rush this forward. But this is our country, and we’re in charge here.”

Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10)

to 2016.

Gaches said the agency will work directly with Congress to address any concerns it may have about the issue and the agency’s response to it.

The senators asked NOAA to detail how it plans to address and prevent whale deaths; outline the agency’s procedures for notifying the public when a whale death is discovered and when the results of necropsy examinations are ready; and list any challenges the agency faces in determining the causes of whale deaths, and whether specif-

ic actions by Congress or the administration might help.

They noted that since 2008, NOAA has implemented vessel speed regulations to reduce the number of whale deaths caused by boat strikes and that updated rules regarding the issue are due by June.

On March 16, four Republican congressmen held a hearing in Wildwood, New Jersey, to call for a pause on all offshore wind projects.

Rep. Christopher Smith of New Jersey called for a pause on such work until the U.S. Government Accountability Office can investigate the “sufficiency of the environmental review processes for offshore wind projects.” He was joined by fellow New Jersey Republican Jeff Van Drew, Andy Harris of Maryland and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania in promising additional hearings and demands for information, and claiming federal agencies have ignored expressions of concern by one of their own scientists about the effects of wind farms on whales.

Van Drew said that because President Joe Biden, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and offshore wind companies “refuse to share the facts with Americans, Congress must do its job.”

Smith, who represents parts of the Jersey Shore, was among those calling for a pause on wind farm preparation until the U.S. Government Accountability Office can investigate the “sufficiency of the environmental review processes for offshore wind projects.”

“They all say there’s no evidence,” Smith said. “You’re not even looking!”

Harris used the theoretical example of a dog spooked by fireworks that runs into a creek and drowns. A veterinarian would say the dog’s cause of death was drowning. But Harris said the true cause of death would be the noise that prompted it to run into the creek.

And Perry said, “I get that the administration wants to rush this forward. But this is our country, and we’re in charge here. Look: The lights are on right now, without these turbines out in the ocean.”

Finland prime minister ousted, conservatives win tight vote

Helsinki

Finland’s main conservative party claimed victory in parliamentary elections Sunday in a tight three-way race that saw right-wing populists take second place, leaving Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democratic Party in third, dashing her hopes for reelection.

The center-right National Coalition Party (NCP) claimed victory with all of the votes counted, coming out on top at 20.8%. They were followed by right-wing populist party The Finns with 20.1%, while the Social Democrats garnered 19.9%.

With the top three parties each getting around 20% of the vote, no party is in position to form a government alone. More than 2,400 candidates from 22 parties were vying for the 200 seats in the Nordic country’s parliament.

Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, cleared the last hurdles of becoming a NATO member earlier in the week as alliance members Turkey and Hungary signed off the country’s membership bid.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Large numbers of Hispanics didn’t pick single race in census

New York

More than 43% of Hispanics either didn’t respond to the question asking them to select their race or selected the “some other race” box on the 2020 census form, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday, lending support to arguments that the federal government should change its race and ethnicity categories.

The percentage of the Hispanic population reporting a single race went down to 57.8% in the 2020 census from 81.6% in the 2010 census, according to the Census Bureau.

The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — As pressure against TikTok mounts in Washington, D.C., more than two dozen members of Congress — all Democrats — who are active on the social media platform are being pushed by their colleagues to stop using it. Many defend their presence on the platform, saying they have a responsibility as public officials to meet Americans where they are — and more than 150 million are on TikTok. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina took the unusual step of releasing a public statement urging all members of Congress to stop using TikTok, including from his home state —

seemingly a jab at Rep. Jeff Jackson (NC-14), who is one of the more active members with more than 1.8 million followers.

“I was just saying if we’re having a discussion about TikTok then I think we ought to at least reduce the pull factor by elected officials who can simply come off of it,” Tillis said this week when asked about his statement. “I don’t have a TikTok account. So that was an easy separation for me.”

Criticism of TikTok reached a new level when CEO Shou Zi Chew testified for more than six hours at a contentious hearing in the House. Lawmakers grilled Chew about the implications of the app for America’s national security and the effect on the mental

an appeal process that would involve review by the state board of education.

to several policy items packed into the House’s proposal, such as expanding school choice and other education policy issues covering charter schools as well as the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which offers funds for students to attend the private school of their choice.

The budget expands the eligibility for K-8 students applying for Opportunity Scholarships by dropping the requirement of having been a previous public school student in order to apply. The income eligibility threshold currently at 200% of the amount needed for a student to qualify for a free and reduced-price lunch remains the same.

Charter schools that want to have remote academies or be completely remote learning-based also get a nod in the budget. There is also language making the N.C. Charter School Advisory Board the final stop for approving new charter schools or renewing existing schools instead of the state board of education. Various guidelines for the approval and renewal processes are included in that change, as well as

A key provision for parents is “Academic Transparency,” which details how the public will be informed about courses and materials used in the classroom. In the same vein, another area will “Modernize Selection of Instructional Materials” by directing school boards to select and adopt academic materials for each area of the state’s standard course of study in K-12.

The process for Renewal Schools will be streamlined, and the budget lays out the plans and guidelines they must follow for items like submitting new plans. The changes will require State Board review.

The controversy over the proposed creation of a School of Civic Life and Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may become moot as the bill includes nonrecurring funds to create the school. This school will focus on developing democratic competencies based on American history and political tradition.

The Medical Freedom Act

(House Bill 98), which bars employment discrimination against

“I don’t have a TikTok account. So that was an easy separation for me.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)

health of its users. And the tough questions came from both sides of the aisle, as Republicans and Democrats alike pressed Chew about TikTok’s content moderation practices, its ability to shield American data from Beijing and its spying on journalists. Most in Congress say their opposition is rooted in national security, not politics. TikTok

individuals for refusing COVID-19 vaccination and prohibits the N.C. Commission for Public Health from requiring vaccination in order to attend K-12 public schools, is another policy item included in the budget.

The House budget includes language making the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) an independent agency. A related provision of the budget would move the state crime lab under SBI due to its new independence.

The provision is timely with SBI Director Bob Schurmeier giving surprise testimony at House hearing on March 28 in which he called for the agency to be made independent. On two occasions during the hearing, he said Cooper’s chief of staff and general counsel asked him for his resignation and threatened him with investigations of racial discrimination.

Three sections of the budget delve into election and judicial areas covered by bills filed this session. Legislation already filed in the House barring the State Board of Elections from being a member of Electronic Registration Information Center Inc. (ERIC) is mirrored in the budget.

is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd., which appoints its executives. They worry Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over TikTok data on American users, effectively turning the app into a data-mining operation for a foreign power. The company insists it is taking steps to make sure that can never happen.

Loud warnings about TikTok have also been coming from President Joe Biden’s administration. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and FBI Director Christopher Wray have told Congress in recent weeks that TikTok is a national security threat. Blinken told lawmakers the threat “should be ended one way or another.”

Similarly, another section bars the state and county boards of elections from accepting outside or private money donations, such as “Zuck Bucks,” for any reason, including hiring temporary workers. In the previous legislative session, Senate Bill 725 sought the same goal. The bill was passed but was vetoed by the governor with no override attempt made.

With the inclusion of barring accepting outside donations, two North Carolina counties may have to back out of a related program. Both Forsyth and Brunswick county boards of election are participating in a Mark Zuckerberg-tied program as reported in January 2023. Brunswick County’s Board of Commissioners also recently passed a resolution on March 20 supporting the ban of private money in North Carolina elections.

Should the current rehearing case of Voter ID being reconsidered by the N.C. Supreme Court get a green light, the budget allots $3.5 million to fund implementation of the state’s Voter ID constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2018.

The mandatory retirement age

At the same time, around a third of the Hispanic population reported being two or more races in the 2020 census, compared to around 5% in the 2010 census. There were more than 62 million Hispanic individuals in the 2020 head count of every U.S. resident, or almost 19% of the U.S. population. A post-census report card on the quality of the count showed that Hispanics were undercounted by almost 5%.

The latest figures on Hispanic racial identity in the oncea-decade census back up arguments from proponents of changing the federal government’s race and ethnicity categories. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget is set to decide on new classifications next year and is accepting public comment on its proposals through next month.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

for appellate judges is raised from 72 to 76 years of age in the budget language. The only exception is that of applying to be an emergency justice in a letter to the governor.

The budget also takes on abortion by preventing state funds from being used in “the performance of” or in administrative support of an abortion. Exemptions are made for certain cases where a mother’s life may be endangered or the pregnancy is the result of rape.

Additionally, the House proposal includes a prohibition on cap-andtrade requirements for CO2 emissions. No state agent, including the governor and Department of Environmental Quality, will be allowed to require a public energy utility that uses the power produced for itself to take part in carbon offsetting programs, per the budget proposal.

Over the last two years, Cooper has used rulemaking and executive orders to establish emissions reductions with a “net-zero” greenhouse gas emissions goal.

Along with barring such emissions programs, the budget includes a prohibition on any requirement controlling emissions on new vehicles.

AP PHOTO

A police officer in Seaside Park N.J. photographs a dead whale on the beach on March 2, 2023.

BUDGET from page A1

Members of Congress on TikTok defend app’s reach to voters

NASCAR

Larson earns

20th career win at Richmond Richmond, Va.

Kyle Larson pulled away on a restart with 14 laps to go and won Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. Larson started the final green flag run with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry to his outside and easily pulled away.

Berry, who is filling in for the injured Chase Elliott, held on for second. It’s the third victory of the season for the four-car Hendrick team and the 20th of Larson’s career. It came less than a week after a 100 -point penalty against each Hendrick team for using an illegal part was overturned by a NASCAR appeals panel. Crew chiefs for all four teams were suspended for weeks, and Kevin Meandering filled in for Cliff Daniels on the No. 5 to help Larson join teammate Alex Bowman (two wins) in Victory Lane this season.

MLB Braves will retire

Jones’ No. 25 in September

St. Louis

The Braves announced Monday they will retire No. 25 in honor of Andruw Jones in a special number retirement ceremony Sept. 9. The Braves will play the Pirates after the ceremony. During his 12 seasons in Atlanta, Jones won 10 consecutive Gold Glove Awards and was voted to the All-Star Team five times. Jones finished his major league career with 1,933 hits, 1,289 RBIs and 434 home runs. Jones, who is from Curacao, signed with the Braves in 1993 as an amateur free agent and made his Major League debut in August 1996. Two months later, at the age of 19, Jones became the youngest player to hit a home run in the World Series, when he posted a two-homer game in Game 1 of the 1996 Fall Classic against the New York Yankees.

Play ball! Minor league baseball returns, B4

Heel turn: Dontrez Styles’ transfer decision could be historic

No player has suited up for Triangle rivals in 75 years

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

DONTREZ STYLES will an-

nounce his transfer destination next week, and the former Tar Heels sophomore may make Triangle history.

Styles, a former four-star recruit who played sparingly under coach Hubert Davis, entered the transfer portal following UNC’s season. He immediately heard from more than a dozen potential transfer destinations, but, according to in-

ternet recruiting reports, he took only two visits. The second one was to Georgetown, a former Big East power rebuilding under new coach Ed Cooley.

The other? NC State. The two Tobacco Road rivals don’t generally share much of anything, except animosity, but if Styles switched from Carolina Blue to the Wolfpack Red and White, he would, based on North State Journal research, become the first player to suit up for both schools on the hardwood in more than 75 years.

Of course, moving between schools has become much easier in the post-COVID era, with relaxed transfer rules, NIL money and an

extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic combining to wreak havoc with every school’s roster in most sports. So it makes sense that the last two-way I-40 players came during a similar period of upheaval — World War II.

Much like during the pandemic, college seasons were uprooted by the war in Europe and the Pacific in the 1940s, with many players leaving their football and basketball teams to serve. When they returned from battle, transfer rules were loosened, allowing them to switch to a new school to complete their college careers, and many jumped at the chance, including three members of NC State’s basketball team

— Bernie Mock, Fred Swartzberg and Horace “Bones” McKinney. McKinney was a star for the Wolfpack, being named first-team All-Southern Conference and All-Southern Conference Tournament in 1942 and setting the school record for most points in a game with 30 against Duke. That record would stand for eight years. He left for the Army following that season and, three years later, returned to the college hardwood as a UNC Tar Heel. He earned second-team All-Southern Conference Tournament in 1946 and went to the Final Four with UNC that season.

See STYLES, page B4

Valvano voted into Basketball Hall of Fame

The legendary NC State coach will be enshrined posthumously in August

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

AFTER A LONG WAIT, Jim Valvano will finally take his rightful place in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the 2023 class.

The legendary NC State head coach is best remembered for leading the Wolfpack to its improbable second and most recent national championship in 1983 when he coined the phrase ‘Survive and Advance,’ and his public battle with cancer and impact on fundraising research to battle the disease.

Valvano began his basketball career as a point guard at Rutgers and following his graduation joined the staff as an assistant coach.

The Queens, New York, native had stints with Johns Hopkins, UConn, Bucknell and Iona before coming to Raleigh where he led the Wolfpack to two ACC championships and a stunning upset of Houston’s Phi Slama Jama team in the 1983 national championship game.

Valvano transitioned to successful broadcaster following his coaching days, working for ESPN and ABC while often paired alongside another Hall of Famer, Dick Vitale. Valvano even won a Cable ACE Award for his work in broadcasting in 1992.

But perhaps Valvano’s greatest legacy is the V Foundation for Cancer Research, which he founded

alongside ESPN during his battle with metastatic cancer.

Since its formation, the V Foundation has awarded more than $310 million in cancer research grants and continues to work today to find a cure.

“Throughout his coaching career, Jim embodied the spirit he spoke of at the ESPYS, ‘Don’t Give Up . . . Don’t Ever Give Up!’” said V Foundation CEO Shane Jacobson in a statement posted to the V Foundation’s website. “We at the V Foundation are thrilled to see him recognized for his accomplishments and spirit of determination on the court and know that continues to inspire our community in working to achieve Victory Over Cancer.”

Valvano was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma in 1992 and carried

himself with dignity and strength throughout his battle until his death in 1994.

Those traits are best remembered from two speeches he gave. The first was during the 10-year commemoration of the 1983 championship at Reynolds Coliseum where his famous quote, ‘Don’t give up, don’t ever give up,’ was first stated. The second came 11 days later at the ESPY Awards when, after being awarded the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award, Valvano announced the formation of the V Foundation and implored everyone to take time every day to laugh, to think and to cry.

Along with Valvano, the 2023 Hall of Fame class includes former players Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Pau Gasol and Dwyane Wade, who

“We at the V Foundation are thrilled to see him recognized for his accomplishments and spirit of determination on the court and know that continues to inspire our community in working to achieve Victory Over Cancer.”

V Foundation statement on Jim Valvano being voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

have a combined 10 NBA championships between them; the NBA’s all-time winningest coach, Gregg Popovich; six-time WNBA All-Star and coaching trailblazer Becky Hammon; six-time NCAA Coach of the Year Gene Keady; 2011 national champion Gary Blair; two-time D3 National Champion David Hixon; all-time winningest college coach Gene Bess; and the 1976 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team who were silver medalists in the inaugural appearance for women’s Olympic basketball.

Valvano will be the fourth NC State member inducted into the Hall, joining David Thompson (1996), Everett Case (1982) and Kay Yow (2002).

GERRY BROOME | AP PHOTO

UNC guard Dontrez Styles, center, battles for the ball with NC State’s Jaylon Gibson, left, and Breon Pass during a game in February. Styles, who entered the transfer portal after the season, could become the first men’s basketball player in more than 75 years to jump from the Tar Heels to the Wolfpack.

AP PHOTO

NC State coach Jim Valvano celebrates after the Wolfpack’s upset victory over Houston in the 1983 NCAA Tournament championship game. Valvano was voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be posthumously inducted in August.

TRENDING

Madison Bumgarner: The Diamondbacks pitcher and Hickory native returned to Phoenix to be evaluated by medical staff after he felt fatigue during his first start this season.

The 33‑year‑old left‑hander allowed five runs, four hits and four walks in Arizona’s 10‑1 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday night. An MRI on Monday cleared him to make his next scheduled start.

Bumgarner, a four‑time All‑Star, is beginning his fourth season with the Diamondbacks. He was 7‑15 with a 4.88 ERA in 30 starts last season.

Bob Knight: The former Indiana, Texas Tech and Army coach was released from a hospital in Bloomington, Indiana, on Monday. His son, Pat Knight, says the Hall of Fame coach returned home after he was admitted with an illness over the weekend. The 82‑year‑old Knight won three national championships at Indiana before he was fired in September 2000. He was hired by Texas Tech in 2001 and retired in 2012 with a then‑Division I record 899 career wins.

Sunisa Lee: The Olympic gymnastics champion says a kidney issue cut short her college career, but she still has her sights set on the Paris Games next year. Lee already had announced plans to leave college and resume training at the elite level this spring. She missed the end of the season because of what Auburn described as a “non‑gymnastics health issue.” Lee revealed Monday in a social media post that it was related to kidney problems.

Beyond the box score

POTENT QUOTABLES

Charlotte FC midfielder Kamil Jozwiak celebrates his tying goal in the 70th minute Saturday as Charlotte rallied with two second‑half goals to earn a 2‑2 draw at Toronto FC. Jozwiak also assisted on Benjamin Bender’s goal in the 51st minute that cut Charlotte’s deficit in half. After dropping its first three games of the season, Charlotte has improved to 1‑3‑2 on the season. Goalkeeper George Marks, who has started the last three games for Charlotte, stopped three shots.

Braves manager Brian Snitker on Nationals pitcher MacKenzie Gore, a Whiteville native, in Washington’s 4‑1 win Sunday over Atlanta.

Jim Nantz, who called his final NCAA Tournament game Tuesday, on broadcasting underdog teams during March Madness.

PRIME NUMBER $21.4B

Value of the newly formed publicly traded company that will combine the UFC and WWE. The companies put the enterprise value of UFC at $12.1 billion and WWE’s value at $9.3 billion.

Purdue’s Zach Edey was a near‑unanimous choice as the AP men’s college basketball player of the year, receiving 57 of 58 first‑place votes. Indiana’s Trayce Jackson‑Davis receiving the other. The 7‑foot‑4 Edey was sixth nationally in scoring at 22.3 points per game and second in rebounding at 12.8.

The NBA and its players came to an agreement early Saturday on a new seven‑year collective bargaining agreement. The deal will begin this summer and last at least through the 2028‑29 season. Either side can opt out then; otherwise, the new deal will last through 2029‑30. The new CBA will include a second luxury tax level.

MLB’s average game time dropped by 30 minutes during the first four days this season from last year’s opening weekend. Games averaged 2:38 through Sunday with the new pitch clock, down from 3:08 for the first four days of the 2022 season. The league’s new rules against defensive shifts also led to increases in stolen bases and batting average.

MLB

MLS

STEPHEN SPILLMAN | AP PHOTO

NBA STEW MILNE | AP PHOTO

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

JACOB KUPFERMAN | AP PHOTO

“Storytelling paradise.”

“He was kind of effectively wild.”

CHRIS MACHIAN | AP PHOTO

VASHA HUNT | AP PHOTO

BOB JORDAN | AP PHOTO

UConn March Madness steamroller could be start of a new era

The Huskies closed their season with six straight wins of 13 or more points

By Eddie Pells

The Associated Press

HOUSTON

— There was a short list of believers in the potential of a rebuilt UConn roster before the season started.

It was made up mostly of the UConn players and coaches themselves.

The team that was among “others receiving votes” in the first AP poll of the season ended up cutting down nets after the last game — as sure a sign as any that in the new college landscape reconstituted by the transfer portal and name, image and likeness deals, anything is possible.

For anyone.

The Huskies not only won the title but won it in one of history’s most dominating runs through the NCAA Tournament. They won their six games by an average of 20 points, closing it out Monday night with a 76-59 pasting of San Diego State.

“We came into the season unranked,” coach Dan Hurley said. “So we had an edge to us to start the year to prove people wrong.” Nobody could really blame fans and pundits for overlooking UCo -

nn, just as it might have been hard to blame them for pumping up UNC, a national runner-up the year before that was bringing back the core of its roster.

UConn won the title. UNC didn’t even make the tournament.

It’s a testament to how quickly things can change in an era that looks more like NFL free agency than anything college sports has ever seen.

Hurley said he went back to work the day after the Huskies lost to New Mexico State in the

first round last season and started looking at retooling his roster. The goal was to add more options from the perimeter. So, he got four new players, including Joey Calcaterra (two 3s for 6 points in the final), who had spent four years at University of San Diego, and Tristen Newton (19 points, 10 rebounds), who had spent three years at East Carolina.

Big East coaches still picked UConn to finish fourth in the conference. Even if the talent is there, it’s hard to gauge how it might all

come together. The UConn story played out in different ways at different places all across the sport this season and had a lot to do with a Final Four that included three underdog programs, seeded fifth (SDSU), fifth (Miami) and ninth (Florida Atlantic), that had never made it to the final weekend.

The Aztecs had two new players this year joining two others who came to San Diego State the year before.

Elsewhere, Kansas State was picked last in the Big 12 and ended up three points shy of making the Final Four, with the help of Keyontae Johnson, a transfer from Florida who was named a third-team AP All-American.

Creighton made its own run to the Elite Eight with big help from a transfer from South Dakota State, Baylor Scheierman, who was also getting looks from Duke and other blue bloods.

Texas withstood the midseason firing of its coach and made the Elite Eight with two transfer portal players: Tyrese Hunter from Iowa State and Sir’Jabari Rice from New Mexico State.

Arkansas made its third straight Sweet 16 with a semi-rebuilt roster.

“I promise I wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for the transfer portal,” Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman said earlier in the tournament. “Really interesting because eight years ago, when somebody was transferring, the process was a lot different.”

Instead of having to sit out a year, players can now go freely from one school to another. Some

LSU wins 1st NCAA title, Mulkey’s 4th, beating Iowa

Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark battled foul trouble but still scored 30 in defeat

By Doug Feinberg

The Associated Press

DALLAS — Kim Mulkey returned home to Louisiana wanting to bring LSU its first basketball championship. The Hall of Fame coach did just that in only her second year at the school.

Her Tigers used a record offensive performance to beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa 102-85 on Sunday and win the first basketball title, men’s or women’s, in school history.

“I turn around and look at the Final Four banners (in the home arena), nowhere did it say national champion,” Mulkey said. “That’s what I came home to do.”

The victory made Mulkey the first women’s coach to win national

titles at two different schools. She won three at Baylor before leaving for LSU two years ago.

“Coaches coach a lifetime and this is the fourth time I’ve been blessed,” Mulkey said.

The feisty and flamboyantly dressed Mulkey, who wore a sparkly, golden, tiger-striped outfit, now has the third-most national titles behind Geno Auriemma’s 11 and Pat Summitt’s eight. Mulkey has never lost in a championship game.

“My tears are tears of joy,” she said. “I’m so happy for everybody back home in Louisiana.”

Clark, The Associated Press national player of the year, couldn’t lead the Hawkeyes to their first national title despite one of the greatest individual performances in NCAA Tournament history. The junior finished with 30 points. She scored 40 in the semifinals to knock out unbeaten South Carolina one game after she had the first

40-point triple-double in NCAA history in the Elite Eight.

The dazzling guard set the NCAA record for points in a tournament, passing the 177 that Sheryl Swoopes scored in 1993 en route to leading Texas Tech to the title. Clark ended her tournament with 191.

The 102 points broke the previous high for a championship game, surpassing the 97 that Texas scored against Southern California in 1986.

“So much for preaching defense and rebounding,” Mulkey said, laughing.

Jasmine Carson scored 22 points, Alexis Morris added 21 and Angel Reese had 15 points and 10 rebounds for LSU (34-2).

“It’s no one-man show around here. When I go down, the next man is up,” said Reese, who was honored as the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. “Every single time, every time I go out or Alex-

is goes out, everybody always comes to step up.”

Trailing by 21 points early in the third quarter, Iowa started hitting from the outside to go on a 15-2 run, hitting four 3-pointers and converting a 3-point play to get within 6557.

The Hawkeyes (31-7) trailed 73-64 with 1:03 left in the third quarter when Clark was called for a technical foul. She swatted the ball away on the floor after a foul call against a teammate. That counted as a personal foul for her, her fourth of the game.

“I thought they called it very, very tight,” Clark said. “Hit with a technical foul for throwing the ball under the basket — sometimes that’s how things go.”

Clark played the entire fourth quarter with four fouls but couldn’t get the Hawkeyes much closer.

“They really played well, they were ready to go. They did a great

“We came into the season unranked. So we had an edge to us to start the year to prove people wrong.”

Dan Hurley, UConn coach

coaches find it too destabilizing, too transactional.

No longer, however, is it a matter of faith that veteran teams that stick together — say, as recently as Villanova’s 2018 team that crushed everyone on the way to the title — have a better chance of winning.

And even though FanDuel Sportsbook is listing UConn (11-1) and Duke (13-1) as the early favorites to win it all next season, there’s little reason to put much stock in any “way too early” looks at next year’s top teams.

“We don’t really know rosters, or how different players are going to fit in,” said ESPN analyst Jay Bilas. “Will they blossom, will they not? And preseason polls are done for fan interest and nothing else. You can’t really predict anything based on those.”

Certainly, nobody was picking Florida Atlantic, Miami or San Diego State to make the Final Four back in October.

And UConn with all those new players to win it all? Nobody saw that coming either.

Well, almost nobody.

“We knew we were the best team in the tournament going in,” Hurley said. “We just had to play to our level.”

job. I’m just so proud of my team,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “This is brutal, it’s really tough to walk out of that locker room today and not be able to coach Monika (Czinano) and McKenna (Warnock) again. I’m very thankful for the season we had and don’t want to take anything away from that.”

After Katari Poole hit a 3-pointer in front of the LSU bench, Mulkey started weeping.

“With about 1:30 to go, I couldn’t hold it. I got very emotional,” Mulkey said. “That’s not like me, but I knew we would hold on and win this game. I don’t what it was, but I lost it. Very emotional and tears of joy. Don’t know if it’s the mere fact that we’re doing it in my second year back home or that I am back home.”

A few seconds later after another LSU basket, Reese taunted Clark by putting her hand in front of her face with a “you can’t see me” gesture and then pointed to her ring finger.

As the final seconds ticked off, Mulkey and Reese hugged, setting off a wild celebration by the Tigers.

BRYNN ANDERSON | AP PHOTO

UConn players celebrate after the winning the men’s NCAA Tournament championship game against San Diego State on Monday in Houston.

LSU players celebrate during the women’s NCAA Tournament championship game Sunday in Dallas.

Alan Huss looks to take High Point to new heights

The former Creighton center and assistant coach takes over the Panthers

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

HIGH POINT University brought in some size for its basketball team, but it will be on the bench calling the shots, not in the paint blocking them.

The Panthers introduced Alan Huss as the 14th head coach in the history of the program, and the 6-foot-9 former center immediately became the big man on campus. Huss is one inch shy of Danny Manning, who may have set the state’s college coaching height record during his tenure at Wake Forest. He’s also taller than any player the Panthers have had on their roster in the last three seasons.

High Point brought Huss in from Creighton, where he had been an assistant to coach Greg McDermott since 2017. Huss also played at Creighton from 1997 to 2001, teaming with Kyle Korver to lead the Bluejays to three appearances in March Madness. He took the High Point job right after Creighton was eliminated from this year’s NCAA Tournament, losing by a point to a San Diego State team that went on to play in the national championship game.

“Less than 36 hours ago we had our hearts broken in the Elite Eight in what was maybe the most difficult loss of my basketball career — playing, coaching, everything,” Huss said. “Everything’s happened so quickly.”

High Point was able to lure Huss away from his alma mater, and he now takes over a program that has never been to an NCAA Tournament. The new coach doesn’t seem intimidated by the prospect of building a history at High Point.

“I’m not going to talk about our goals, out loud, right now,” he said, “but understand that our goals are at the highest possible level. They’re not the goals that everybody is telling us we need to have. The goals are at the highest possible level — things you don’t even need to say out loud. Just think them. That’s where our goals are. That’s where we’re going to get.”

Huss replaces a family dynasty that reached that level of accomplishment elsewhere. Tubby Smith, a former High Point star who won a national title coaching Kentucky, returned to his alma mater and had a 45-67 record from 2018 to 2022. His son G.G. took over in the middle of the 2022 season and was let go following this past season, posting a 17-20 record at the school.

While Huss was most recently associate head coach at his

STYLES from page B1

By that point, Mock had already pulled a similar double, earning second-team All-Tournament honors with the Pack in 1942 and first team with the Heels in 1944, Mock is also believed to be the only player to serve as team captain for both the NC State and UNC basketball teams. Swartzberg was the last purple player (red and blue), finishing up with the Tar Heels in 1948.

While letterman records are spotty in the early 20th century, according to both schools’ lists, no player has ever started with the UNC basketball team and jumped to NC State, something that Styles may be on the verge of doing.

McKinney’s name may be familiar to longtime ACC observers. He went on to coach at yet another Tobacco Road rival, Wake Forest, leading the Deacs to a pair of ACC titles. Coaches tend to be far more likely to make the switch from one rival to another. While no one has pulled a Rick Pitino, who famously went from Kentucky head coach to the same job at Louisville, plenty of former players and assistants have jumped from one school to another. Bucky Waters, who coached Duke in the 1970s and is still a fixture at Cameron Indoor Stadium, won two ACC titles as a

alma mater, he paid his dues on the coaching trail before getting there.

“I started out as a part-time freshman coach, 19 years ago,” Huss recalled.

He was an assistant coach at Eisenhower High in Illinois for three seasons before taking a head coaching job at Decatur Christian High. After eight years coaching at the high school level, he was hired as a college assistant by Craig Neal at New Mexico.

After three years, Huss was able to call on his college connections when a job opened up on the Creighton staff. One of the other assistants on the staff was a holdover from Huss’s playing days with the Bluejays.

“Darian DeVries was an assistant coach, he’s head coach at Drake now,” Huss recalled, “and he talked Coach Mac (Greg McDermott) into hiring a guy in New Mexico and having a leap of faith with me, allowing me to jump in at my alma mater, at the highest possible level of college basketball, and teaching me how to always be process driven.”

Huss also learned how to build relationships from the longtime Creighton coach.

“No matter whether we won or lost, treat people the best possible way,” Huss said. “Irregardless of how they played, how they performed. Most importantly, I learned how to treat people. Coach Mac is the best in the business at this. No matter if people can do something for him or not, he treats everyone with an incredible amount of dignity. He gives them time. He’s so wonderful with people. Without Coach Mac, I’d never have gotten there.”

McDermott spoke just as highly of his former assistant.

“I couldn’t be more excited for Alan and his family as they begin a new chapter at High Point,” McDermott said in a release from High Point. “His tireless work ethic and ability to evaluate talent, while developing the necessary relationships in recruiting is second to none. In his role as associate head coach, I have leaned heavily on Alan with virtually every decision we have made within our program.

“He has played an instrumental part in the sustained success of Bluejay basketball. He has great rapport with student-athletes, staff, and boosters. Alan, along with his wife Katie, and daughters, Nicky and Mary, will ingrain themselves in the High Point Community. He will implement a brand of basketball that Panther fans will enjoy. I wish Alan and High Point Basketball a tremendous amount of success moving forward.”

A s is often the case when you’re 6-foot-9, things appear to be looking up with the new High Point coach.

Wolfpack player, and Vic Bubas, who led Duke to their first Final Fours, was a player and longtime assistant with the Pack.

Football had a similar transfer situation in the post-World War II years, and a handful of players jumped from one rival to another on the gridiron as well. In fact, football rosters from that era frequently had a “previous school” column, much like rosters of today.

Tailback Eddie Teague and end Fred Miller both started at NC State, served in the Marines, and finished with UNC. Showing that the “transfer crisis” is nothing new, UNC’s 1943 football roster featured players from NC State, Virginia, SMU, Ole Miss, Alabama, TCU, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt and Arkansas, and it had more incoming players coming from other colleges than from high school.

The 1944 roster included Allan Elger, Bill McClain, John Kerns, Henry Stowers and Thad Ellis, who all started at Duke before entering the service (although not all five received letters from both teams).

So, should Dontrez Styles put on a red hat next week, his Heel turn will be a shock to the program and put him at the top of the UNC fans’ enemies list. And it will take us back nearly three-quarters of a century, when jerseys and allegiances were shed just as freely.

Take me out to the ballgame: Minor league seasons start across NC

A look at the state’s 11 pro minor league teams

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

BASEBALL SEASON returned to North Carolina with the state’s two Triple-A teams starting play last weekend. The state’s eight Class-A teams take the field this week as some of baseball’s top prospects will get some N.C. seasoning on their way to the big leagues.

Here’s a look at each of the state’s professional minor league teams as we get our peanuts and Cracker Jack ready.

DURHAM BULLS

Triple-A International League

MLB affiliation: Tampa Bay Rays 2022 record: 86-64, first place in I.L. East, International League Champions, Triple-A National Champions Manager: Michael Johns

Opening day: March 30

The Bulls are the defending back-to-back national champions, giving the powerhouse eight league titles and four national championships since joining Triple-A in 1997. The Bulls are the last stop for a Tampa Bay organization that prides itself on finding talent and developing major leaguers. This year is no exception as four of the Rays’ top seven prospects open the year in Durham: No. 1 Taj Bradley, pitcher; No. 2 Curtis Mead, infielder; No. 4 Kyle Manzardo, first baseman; and No. 7 Osleyvis Basabe, infielder. The Bulls will have a new manager after Brady Williams earned a promotion to the big league staff. Longtime Rays minor league manager, coach and coordinator Michael Johns takes the helm.

CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS

Triple-A International League

MLB affiliation: Chicago White Sox

2022 record: 58-92, last place in International League East Manager: Justin Jirschele

Opening day: March 30

The Knights are looking to bounce back after back-to-back last-place finishes. They’ll start the year with two of the White Sox’s top prospects in pitcher Sean Burke, who is fifth in the organization, and infielder Lenyn Sosa, who is eighth. Charlotte will also have a new skipper as Justin Jirshele continues to move up the Chicago organization after managing Double-A Birmingham the last two years.

HICKORY CRAWDADS

High A South Atlantic League

MLB affiliation: Texas Rangers

2022 record: 66-65, sixth place

Manager: Chad Comer Opening day: April 6

The Crawdads will be looking to move up in the South Atlantic after finishing in the middle of the pack last year. Most of the Rangers’ top prospects, however, have already advanced to the upper levels of the minor league system. The top Texas prospect to open the year in Hickory will be pitcher Dane Acker, who is No. 23 on the organization’s prospect rankings.

ASHEVILLE TOURISTS

High A South Atlantic League

MLB affiliation: Houston Astros 2022 record: 62-69, eighth place

Manager: Nate Shaver

Opening day: April 6

The Astros are the defending World Series champions, and there is plenty of talent still in the pipeline. After a down year last season, the Tourists should be packed with talent to start the year. Outfielders Drew Gilbert and Jacob Melton are slated to start the year with the team. They are third and fourth, respectively, on the Houston prospect rankings.

GREENSBORO GRASSHOPPERS

High A South Atlantic League

MLB affiliation: Pittsburgh

Pirates 2022 record: 58-70, ninth place

Manager: Robby Hammock

Opening day: April 18

The Hoppers have a new manager with the most big league credentials of any of the state’s minor league managers in Robby Hammock, who played for the Diamondbacks for several seasons. He also managed in the organization for a decade before moving on to the Pirates minor leagues. He’ll have some gems to work with as right-hander Bubba Chandler and southpaw Anthony Solometo, seventh and 10th on the Pirates prospects rankings, respectively, will open the year in Greensboro.

WINSTON-SALEM DASH

High A South Atlantic League

MLB affiliation: Chicago White

Sox

2022 record: 58-74, 10th place

Manager: Guillermo Quiroz

Opening day: April 11

One of three White Sox franchises in North Carolina, the Dash will open the year with outfielder Terrell Tatum, the No. 25 prospect in the Chicago organization.

CAROLINA MUDCATS

Low A Carolina League

MLB affiliation: Milwaukee

Brewers 2022 record: 69-62, fifth place

Manager: Victor Estevez Opening day: April 11

Several Brewers stars went through Zebulon on the way to Milwaukee. The next one might be right-hander Jacob Misiorowski, No. 7 on the organization’s prospect list.

DOWN EAST WOOD DUCKS

Low A Carolina League

MLB affiliation: Texas Rangers 2022 record: 65-66, sixth place

Manager: Carlos Maldonado Opening day: April 6

Down East will get things started this week with outfield prospect Yeison Morrobel, who is the 13th-best player in the Rangers’ minor league organization.

KANNAPOLIS CANNON BALLERS

Low A Carolina League

MLB affiliation: Chicago White Sox

2022 record: 58-74, ninth place

Manager: Pat Leyland

Opening day: April 18

The Cannon Ballers will have their namesake on the roster to start the year as pitcher Jonathan Cannon, the 10th-best minor leaguer in the White Sox organization, will start the year in Kannapolis.

FAYETTEVILLE WOODPECKERS

Low A Carolina League

MLB affiliation: Houston Astros 2022 record: 55-75, 10th place

Manager: Ricky Rivera

Opening day: April 7

The Astros never seem to be out of prospects, and they stocked Fayetteville with their sixth-best minor leaguer, outfielder Ryan Clifford.

HIGH POINT ROCKERS

Independent Atlantic League

MLB affiliation: None 2022 record: 71-61, second in Atlantic League South, Wild Card, Lost in championship series

Manager: Jamie Keefe Opening day: April 22

The last team to throw out their first pitch will be the state’s only independent league team. The Rockers played for a title last year and will be looking to finish the job in 2023.

“Our goals are at the highest possible level. They’re not the goals that everybody is telling us we need to have.”

Alan Huss, new High Point men’s basketball coach

BRETT FRIEDLANDER | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Asheville Tourists outfielder Quincy Hamilton slides safely back into first as Winston-Salem first baseman Harvin Mendoza applies the pickoff tag during a game last season. Minor league baseball across the state is returning this week.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

The Down East Wood Ducks and their mascot, DEWD, open the 2023 season at home on Thursday.

$2,797,144,989

$82,334,268

$181,380,201

$125,000,000

$6,763,787,184

nologies Corp., or YMTC, received a 49 billion yuan ($7 billion) infusion this year from two official funds, according to Tianyancha, a financial information provider.

One was the government’s main investment vehicle, the China National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, known as the Big Fund. It was founded in 2014 with 139 billion yuan ($21 billion) and has invested in hundreds of companies.

In March, the Cabinet promised tax breaks and other support for the industry. It gave no price tag. The government also has set up “integrated circuit talent training bases” at 23 universities and six at other schools.

“Semiconductors are the ‘main battlefield’ of the current China-U.S. technology war,” Junwei Luo, a scientist at the official Institute of Semiconductors, wrote in the February issue of the journal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Luo called for “self-reliance and self-improvement in semiconductors.”

The scale of spending required is huge. The global industry leader, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., or TSMC, is in the third year of a three-year, $100 billion plan to expand research and production.

Developers including Huawei Technologies Ltd. and VeriSilicon Holdings Co. can design logic chips for smartphones as powerful as those from Intel Corp., Apple Inc., South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. or Britain’s Arm Ltd., according to industry researchers. But they cannot be manufactured without the precision technology of TSMC and other foreign foundries.

Trump in 2019 crippled Huawei’s smartphone brand by blocking it from buying U.S. chips or other technology. American officials say Huawei, China’s first global tech brand, might facilitate Chinese spying, an accusation the company denies. In 2020, the White House tightened controls, blocking TSMC and others from using U.S. technology to produce chips for Huawei.

China’s foundries can etch circuits as small as 28 nanometers apart. By contrast, TSMC and other global competitors can etch circuits just three nanometers apart, ten times the Chinese industry’s precision. They are moving toward two nanometers.

To make the latest chips, “you need EUV (extreme ultraviolet lithography) tools, a very complicated process recipe and not just a couple of billion dollars but tens and tens of billions of dollars,” said Peter Hanbury, who follows the industry for Bain & Co.

“They’re not going to be able to produce competitive server, PC and smartphone chips,” Hanbury said. “You have to go to TSMC to do that.”

China’s ruling party is trying to develop its own tool vendors, but researchers say it is far behind a global network spread across dozens of countries.

Huawei said in a video on its website in December it was working on EUV technology. But creating a machine comparable to ASML’s might cost $5 billion and require a decade of research, according to industry experts. Huawei didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Biden offers $450M for clean energy projects at coal mines, Manchin decries

The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden’s administration is making $450 million available for solar farms and other clean energy projects across the country at the site of current or former coal mines, part of his ongoing efforts to combat climate change.

As many as five projects nationwide will be funded through the 2021 infrastructure law, with at least two projects set aside for solar farms, the White House said Tuesday.

The White House also said it will allow developers of clean energy projects to take advantage of billions of dollars in new bonuses being offered in addition to investment and production tax credits available through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The bonuses will “incentivize more clean energy investment in energy communities, particularly coal communities,’’ that have been hurt by a decade-plus decline in U.S. coal production, the White House said.

The actions are among steps the Biden administration is taking as the Democratic president moves to convert the U.S. economy to renewable energy such as wind and solar power, while turning away from coal and other fossil fuels that produce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

The projects are modeled on a site Biden visited last summer, where a former coal-fired power plant in Massachusetts is shifting to offshore wind power. Biden highlighted the former Brayton Point power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts, calling it the embodiment of the transition to clean energy that he is seeking but has struggled to realize in the first two

years of his presidency.

“It’s very clear that ... the workers who powered the last century of industry and innovation can power the next one,’’ said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, whose agency will oversee the new grant program.

Former mining areas in Appalachia and other parts of the country have long had the infrastructure, workforce, expertise and “can-do attitude” to produce energy, Granholm told reporters on Monday.

“And now, thanks to President Biden’s investments in America, we have the resources that can help them bring this new energy economy to life.’’ Up to five clean energy projects will be funded at current and former mines, Granholm said. The demonstration projects are expected to be examples for future development, “providing knowl-

edge and experience that catalyze the next generation of clean energy on mine land projects,’’ the Energy Department said.

Applications are due by the end of August, with grant decisions expected by early next year.

In a related development, the Energy Department said it is awarding $16 million from the infrastructure law to West Virginia University and the University of North Dakota to study ways to extract critical minerals such as lithium, copper and nickel from coal mine waste streams.

Rare earth elements and other minerals are key parts of batteries for electric vehicles, cellphones and other technology. Biden has made boosting domestic mining a priority as the U.S. seeks to decrease its reliance on China, which has long dominated the battery supply chain.

One of the two universities that will receive funding is in the home state of one of Biden’s loudest critics, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a fellow Democrat who has decried what he calls Biden’s anti-coal agenda. Manchin complained on Friday about new Treasury Department guidelines for EV tax credits that he said ignore the intent of last year’s climate and health care law.

The new rules are aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on China and other countries for EV battery supply chains, but Manchin said they don’t move fast enough to “bring manufacturing back to America and ensure we have reliable and secure supply chains.”

Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, also slammed Biden last year after the president vowed to shutter coal-fired power plants and rely more heavily on wind and solar energy.

The powerful coal state lawmaker called Biden’s comments last November “divorced from reality,” adding that they “ignore the severe economic pain” caused by higher energy prices as a result of declining domestic production of coal and other fossil fuels. The White House said Biden’s words in a Nov. 4 speech in California had been “twisted to suggest a meaning that was not intended” and that the president regretted any offense caused.

“No one is building new coal plants because they can’t rely on it, even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of their existence of the plant. So it’s going to become a wind generation,” Biden said in the speech in Carlsbad, California. “We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar.’’

Musk, scientists call for halt to AI race sparked by ChatGPT

The Associated Press ARE TECH companies moving too fast in rolling out powerful artificial intelligence technology that could one day outsmart humans?

That’s the conclusion of a group of prominent computer scientists and other tech industry notables such as Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak who are calling for a 6-month pause to consider the risks.

Their petition published Wednesday is a response to San Francisco startup OpenAI’s recent release of GPT-4, a more advanced successor to its widely-used AI chatbot ChatGPT that helped spark a race among tech giants Microsoft and Google to unveil similar applications.

What do they say?

The letter warns that AI systems with “human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity” — from flooding the internet with disinformation and automating away jobs to more catastrophic future risks out of the realms of science fiction.

It says “recent months have seen

AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators –can understand, predict, or reliably control.”

“We call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4,” the letter says. “This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.”

A number of governments are already working to regulate highrisk AI tools. The United Kingdom released a paper Wednesday outlining its approach, which it said “will avoid heavy-handed legislation which could stifle innovation.” Lawmakers in the 27-nation European Union have been negotiating passage of sweeping AI rules.

WHO SIGNED IT?

The petition was organized by the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, which says confirmed signatories include the Turing Award-winning AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio and other leading AI researchers such as Stuart Rus-

sell and Gary Marcus. Others who joined include Wozniak, former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a science-oriented advocacy group known for its warnings against humanity-ending nuclear war.

Musk, who runs Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX and was an OpenAI co-founder and early investor, has long expressed concerns about AI’s existential risks. A more surprising inclusion is Emad Mostaque, CEO of Stability AI, maker of the AI image generator Stable Diffusion that partners with Amazon and competes with OpenAI’s similar generator known as DALL-E.

WHAT’S THE RESPONSE?

OpenAI, Microsoft and Google didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday, but the letter already has plenty of skeptics.

“A pause is a good idea, but the letter is vague and doesn’t take the regulatory problems seriously,” says James Grimmelmann, a Cornell University professor of digital and information law. “It is also deeply hypocritical for Elon Musk to sign on given how hard Tesla

has fought against accountability for the defective AI in its self-driving cars.”

IS THIS AI HYSTERIA?

While the letter raises the specter of nefarious AI far more intelligent than what actually exists, it’s not “superhuman” AI that some who signed on are worried about. While impressive, a tool such as ChatGPT is simply a text generator that makes predictions about what words would answer the prompt it was given based on what it’s learned from ingesting huge troves of written works.

Gary Marcus, a New York University professor emeritus who signed the letter, said in a blog post that he disagrees with others who are worried about the near-term prospect of intelligent machines so smart they can self-improve themselves beyond humanity’s control. What he’s more worried about is “mediocre AI” that’s widely deployed, including by criminals or terrorists to trick people or spread dangerous misinformation.

“Current technology already poses enormous risks that we are ill-prepared for,” Marcus wrote. “With future technology, things could well get worse.”

AP PHOTO

resident Joe Biden arrives to speak about climate change and clean energy at Brayton Power Station, July 20, 2022, in Somerset, Mass.

AP PHOTO

The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, Tuesday, March 21, 2023.

Tweetsie Railroad offers new rides and renovations this season

By Emmie Brooks North State Journal

open to the public this April is the 12-seat Mini Swing. This particular attraction is designed for younger guests who are at least four years old and between 32 and 59 inches tall. The ride includes flying chairs that were custom painted in Italy by manufacturer SBFVisa to incorporate a No. 12 Tweetsie locomotive motif. This ride will be located on Miners Mountain, next to a playground that was completely renovated last year.

for families to enjoy together, accommodating riders between 36 and 77 inches tall.

“I think that they [visitors] expect a certain experience and they get it,” Minton said. “It is fun for younger families, I feel like it is something that their child enjoys but also it is something that they can enjoy with their child.”

“I am most excited to see the park come to life again. All winter our staff has been diligently working on park improvements and installing the new rides,” Marketing Manager at Tweetsie Railroad

Meghan Minton said. “I look forward to seeing the smiles and hearing the laughter of our guests as they all enjoy these rides.”

One of the new rides that will

“We want our guests to experience a full day of fun with their family — an opportunity to be present and truly enjoy each other,” Minton said. “A day that they will look back on and appreciate time well spent, making memories together.”

Another ride coming to Tweetsie Railroad is the Barrells of Fun, a spinning figure-eight shaped coaster. This rollercoaster is designed

The third and tallest new ride coming to Tweetsie Railroad is the 12-seat Buckaroo Drop. This ride spins as it spirals downwards from almost 50 feet in the air. The Buckaroo Drop is located in Country Fair, where guests can take in a birds-eye view of the park.

“There is a shared experience that guests can have so you’re not just the one standing in line watching your kids experience it, you’re experiencing it with them,” Minton said.

TAKE NOTICE

COURTESY PHOTOS

New entertainment is coming for visitors of Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock. The amusement park has been providing families with Wild West themed fun in the NC mountains for generations.

Tweetsie Railroad offers events for holidays or just for a fun visit to the mountains. The Easter Bunny, the Fourth of July fireworks, Ghost Trains for Halloween, and Tweetsie’s Christmas events are all enhanced experiences for guests to dive into.

“Throughout Ghost Train we still keep the kid friendly activities such as trick-or-treating or rides that are open at night,” Minton said. “But, it is an evening program so when we hit Ghost Train we see a lot more of the older kids and adults.”

(Deceased) (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Geraldine Jenkins, Heirs of Geraldine Jenkins: Josephine Jenkins, Betty Blue, Freddie Taylor, Junior Jenkins, Millie McGeachy; Heirs of Betty Blue: Sylvia Blue, Wardell Blue, Stevie Matthew Blue, Marvin Blue; Heirs of Junior Jenkins: Virlgor McLean, Belinda McLean; Heirs of Millie

been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds Cumberland County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at Should the property be purchased by a third party, that party must pay the excise tax, as well as the court costs of Forty-Five Cents ($0.45) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) required by N.C.G.S. 7A-308(a)(1). The property to be offered pursuant to this notice of sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS, WHERE IS.” Neither the Trustee nor the holder of the note secured by the deed of trust/security agreement, or both, being foreclosed, nor the officers, directors, attorneys, employees, agents or authorized representative of either the Trustee or the holder of the note make any representation or warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at or relating to the property being offered for sale, and any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition are expressly disclaimed. Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or prior encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

12:00 A deposit of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in its sole discretion, if it believes the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy. Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any person who occupies the property

PM on April 10, 2023 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in Fayetteville in the County of Cumberland, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 11, Block ‘B’ in pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Firm Case No: 7382 - 28145 22 SP 947 NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE NORTH CAROLINA, CUMBERLAND COUNTY Under and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Khalid Ibrahim and Courtney Elizabeth Ibrahim to Michael J. Broker, Trustee(s), which was dated July 23, 2010 and recorded on September 20, 2010 in Book 08480 at Page 0876, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina. Default having been made of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidencing said default having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthouse where the property is located, or the usual and customary location at the county courthouse for conducting the sale on April 19, 2023 at 01:30 PM, and will

sell to the highest bidder for cash the following described property situated in Cumberland County, North Carolina, to wit: ALL THAT PARCEL OF LAND IN TOWNSHIP OF ROCKFISH, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, AS MORE FULLY DESCRIBED IN DEED BOOK 7965, PAGE 494, ID# 0424-440141, BEING KNOWN AND DESIGNATED AS: BEING ALL OF LOT 60 IN A SUBDIVISION KNOWN AS WORTHINGTON, SECTION THREE, & RECOMBINATION OF LOT 141, SECTION TWO, PART TWO, ACCORDING TO A PLAT OF SAME BEING DULY RECORDED IN BOOK OF PLATS 114, PAGE 139, CUMBERLAND COUNTY REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA AND BEING ONE OF THE LOTS CONVEYED TO GRANTOR BY DEED RECORDED IN BOOK 7463, PAGE 472, AFORESAID REGISTRY. BY FEE SIMPLE DEED FROM ACCENT HOME BUILDERS, INC. AS SET FORTH IN BOOK 7965, PAGE 494 DATED 08/13/2008 AND RECORDED 08/18/2008, CUMBERLAND COUNTY RECORDS, STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.

and customary location at the county courthouse for conducting the sale on April 12, 2023 at 01:30 PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following described property situated in Cumberland County, North Carolina, to wit: Being all of Lot 15 of Block “G” in a subdivision known as Welmar Heights, Part II, Section IV, Plat if which is duly recorded in Book of Plats 23, Page 59, Cumberland County Registry. Save and except any releases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of record. Said property is commonly known as 4037 Welmont Dr, Fayetteville, NC 28304. A Certified Check ONLY (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars

Save and except any releases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of record. Said property is commonly known as 4409 Battle Forest Rd, Hope Mills, NC 28348. A Certified Check ONLY (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, will be required at the time of the sale. Following the expiration of the statutory upset bid period, all the remaining amounts are immediately due and owing. THIRD PARTY PURCHASERS MUST PAY THE EXCISE TAX AND THE RECORDING COSTS FOR THEIR DEED. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS WHERE IS.” There are no representations of warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, unpaid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special assessments, easements, rights of way, deeds

($750.00), whichever is greater, will be required at the time of the sale. Following the expiration of the statutory upset bid period, all the remaining amounts are immediately due and owing. THIRD PARTY PURCHASERS MUST PAY THE EXCISE TAX AND THE RECORDING COSTS FOR THEIR DEED. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and conveyance “AS IS WHERE IS.” There are no representations of warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, unpaid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special assessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of release, and any other encumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s) of the property is/are ALL LAWFUL HEIRS OF ELFRIEDE W. SLAYDON.

of release, and any other encumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s) of the property is/are Khalid Ibrahim and wife, Courtney E. Ibrahim. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may, after receiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days, but no more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in the notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination [NCGS § 45-21.16A(b) (2)]. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for

An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may, after receiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days, but no more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in the notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination [NCGS § 45-21.16A(b) (2)]. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for

any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy. Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC Aaron B. Anderson Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC 5710 Oleander Drive, Ste. 204 Wilmington, NC 28403 Phone: (910) 202-2940 Fax: (910) 202 2941 File No.: 22-02256-FC01

any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy. Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott, PLLC Attorneys for Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC 5431 Oleander Drive Suite 200 Wilmington, NC 28403 PHONE: (336) 566-4389 File No.: 22-10946-FC01 22 SP 758 NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE NORTH CAROLINA, CUMBERLAND COUNTY Under and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Elfriede W. Slaydon to PRLAP, Trustee(s), which was dated April 14, 2005 and recorded on May 2, 2005 in Book 6865 at Page 261, Cumberland County Registry, North Carolina. Default having been made of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidencing said default having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthouse where the property is located, or the usual

Ford, Clodfelter meet in Raleigh

COUNTY NEWS

Oakboro man takes home over $100,000 in lottery winnings

Last month, Christ Gilbert of Oakboro hit a $152,709 jackpot on a $1 Cash 5 lottery ticket. He bought his Quick Pick ticket for the March 18 Cash 5 drawing from the Oakboro Express Mart, which is located on North Main Street. According to the North Carolina Education Lottery Office, Gilbert immediately called his parents to tell them that he had won the jackpot. “They were shocked and amazed too,” Gilbert told the NC Lottery Office employees on Friday when he came to collect his winnings. “We were all very happily surprised.” After paying the required state and federal tax withholdings, Gilbert took over $108,805, which he plans to use to buy a new car for his son and to put towards his retirement. Cash 5 is one of six lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets through a retail location or Online Play, either through the lottery’s website or the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. The odds of winning a Cash 5 jackpot are 1 in 962,598. If playing the lottery has become more than a game for you, please visit morethanagame.nc.gov/ for free, confidential help.

Two county motorcycle chase results in fatal crash

Last week, a man on a motorcycle sent law enforcement officers on a two-county police chase which resulted in a crash and the death of the motorcyclist. According to a press release from the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office, highway patrol notified deputies at 5 pm on Wednesday evening about a police chase that began in Montgomery County and was headed for Stanly. Deputies from the sheriff’s office became involved in the chase as the motorcyclist entered Badin by way of Highway 740. The driver of the motorcycle eventually lost control of the bike near the intersection of Highway 740 and Falls Road and went off the road before hitting an unmarked sheriff’s office truck. State troopers said that 27-year-old Elijah Jonathan Crawford ejected from the bike upon hitting the sheriff’s vehicle and ultimately died at the scene.

Armadillo Axe Throwing hosts ribbon-cutting ceremony

By Jesse Deal North State Journal

ALBEMARLE

— One of the fastest-growing sports in the country now has another home within Stanly County.

Located at 124 West Main St. in downtown Albemarle, Armadillo Axe Throwing held a ribbon-cutting event on April 1 with the help of representatives from the Stanly County Chamber of Commerce.

“We opened not just to build a business for our family but to build a business for the community of Albemarle and to bring something fun and exciting for Albemarle residents, Stanly County residents, and people outside of Stanly County, who can experience our wonderful downtown,” Armadillo co-owner Erin Blakley said at the event.

“We appreciate you so much,

and thank you for helping us grow and continue to grow.”

The family-owned and family-operated facility features six double-throwing lanes and has been growing ever since its soft opening last fall. In addition to the 12 total throwing targets, Armadillo has cornhole boards, darts, arcade machines, and other entertainment options; there is also an in-house bar with over 30 beers and wine choices.

Along with co-owners Andy Blakley, Earl Dedmon, DJ Zaleski, and Bryan Pope, Armadillo’s overseers are certified members of the World Axe Throwing League (WATL).

Standing alongside Albemarle City Council Member Chris Bramlett and Albemarle Main Street Director Joy Almond, Albemarle Mayor Ronnie Michael addressed the crowd celebrating

“We opened not just to build a business for our family but to build a business for the community of Albemarle.”

Erin Blakley

both the grand opening event and the new business becoming an official member of the Stanly County Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a beautiful day in downtown Albemarle, and we’re opening another business,” Michael said. “I want to say thank you to this family for what they’re doing here in this location. And I’m going to talk about the location — it’s the old kept McClellan’s building, and most

kids will remember it because they could come in and buy candy and popcorn by the pound. It’s a very historic location, and we are glad to see this business open up here in this location.”

As far as pricing, Armadillo offers rates of $25 for an hour and 15 minutes as well as $40 for two hours and 15-minute rentals — both sessions include one-onone coaching for 15 minutes. The current business hours for Armadillo Axe Throwing are 4 to 10 p.m. on Thursdays, 4 to 11 p.m. on Fridays, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. on Saturdays, and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

“They are close to many of our favorite chamber members — we’ve got Starnes Jewelry across the street and Glory Beans Coffee House right next door, so you will be able to find them,” said Sandy Selvy-Mullis, Stanly County Chamber of Commerce president and CEO. “We encourage you to come out because they have a lot of great things going on and all kinds of entertainment.” Throwing lanes and customized event planning can both be reserved at www.armadilloaxethrowing.com.

Sports wagering gets full OK from NC House, heads to Senate

The Associated Press

RALEIGH — Legislation authorizing sports gambling in North Carolina received final approval in the N.C. House last week and heads to the Senate for consideration.

The bill spells out how gambling operators would be licensed, wagers made and revenue taxed. The measure passed the day after it received tentative House approval following nearly two hours of impassioned debate. Wednesday’s 64-45 vote also followed another hour of debate that included several additional amendments, all of which failed.

A similar initiative failed in the House last year, but pro-gambling forces redoubled their efforts, and nearly half the chamber signed on as sponsors for the latest measure.

Professional sports leagues and franchises in the ninth-largest state have pushed for the legislation, which would allow in-person gambling at or near their arenas and stadiums in additional to online betting. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper also supports the idea.

Prospects are strong for passage in the Senate, which approved an earlier bill in 2021.

In both chambers, differences over the measure do not run along

party lines, with opponents largely a collection of social conservatives and some Democrats warning about the dangers of compulsive gambling.

Proponents say sports wagering is already happening through local or offshore bookies and it’s better for the activity to be brought into the open and regulated by the state. Under the measure, the North Carolina Lottery Commission would be directed to issue between

10 and 12 interactive sports wagering licenses. People who are at least 21 would be allowed to bet on professional, college and Olympic-type athletics starting early next year.

And the state would collect a 14% privilege tax on operators’ gross revenue, minus winnings and other expenses.

Neighboring Tennessee and Virginia are among 24 states that already allow mobile or online sports betting, according to the American

Gaming Association.

Sports betting is already going on at two casinos in the North Carolina mountains run by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a third west of Charlotte run by the Catawba Indian Nation.

Sen. Carl Ford meets with Stanly County District Attorney Lynn Clodfelter and District Attorney Reece Saunders, who serves Anson, Richmond and Scotland Counties at his legislative office in Raleigh.

COURTESY

AP PHOTO

North Carolina state Rep. Jason Saine, R-Lincoln, at right, speaks with Rep. Terence Everitt, D-Wake, after a House Commerce Committee at the Legislative Office Building on Tuesday, March, 21, 2023, in Raleigh

McDonald’s temporarily closes US offices ahead of layoffs

The Associated Press

CHICAGO — McDonald’s has closed its U.S. offices through Wednesday and told its corporate staff to work remotely as it prepares to announce a round of layoffs.

In a memo to workers posted on the website TheLayoff.com, the Chicago-based burger giant said it wanted to “ensure the comfort and confidentiality of our people during the notification period” and would hold all notification meetings virtually. It told international corporate s taff to follow guidance in their particular regions.

The company said in the memo that the layoffs are intended to make McDonald’s more efficient.

“We have a clear opportunity ahead of us to get faster and more effective at solving problems for our customers and people and to globally scale our successful market innovations at speed,” the company said.

McDonald’s declined to comment on the memo or the layoffs.

The memo was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Though the U.S. labor market remains strong, layoffs have been mounting, mainly in the technology sector, where many companies over-hired after a pandemic boom. IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, Facebook parent Meta, Twitter and DoorDash have all announced layoffs in recent months.

There have been cuts in other sectors as well.

Most of those job cuts are at corporate offices. There are still shortages of workers to fill service jobs, such as those at McDonald’s restaurants. Policymakers at the Federal Reserve have forecast the unemployment rate may rise to 4.6% by the end of this year, a sizable increase historically associated with recessions.

McDonald’s has more than 150,000 employees in corporate roles and in company-owned restaurants. About 70% of those employees are based outside the

United States.

The company’s revenue was flat at $23.2 billion for the full year in 2022, but its net income fell 18%, partly due to the sale of its business in Russia.

McDonald’s warned employees in January that layoffs would be coming as it tried to get more nimble a nd break down walls between its global markets. In a January memo to employees, McDonald’s President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said the company was evaluating roles and staffing levels in various parts of the company.

“We have historically been very decentralized in some areas where we reinvent the wheel way too often,” Kempczinski said during a January conference call with investors. “And I think the other thing I’ve seen is we haven’t been as sharp around our global priorities, and so there’s been proliferation of priorities.”

In one market, Kempczinski said he had recently discovered a list of 300 separate priorities.

“We have historically been very decentralized in some areas where we reinvent the wheel way too often. And I think the other thing I’ve seen is we haven’t been as sharp around our global priorities, and so there’s been proliferation of priorities.”

CEO Chris Kempczinski

This Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019 photo shows the exterior of a McDonald’s restaurant in Mebane.

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

Will Republicans find a way to get their way in 2024?

TWELVE OR 13 MONTHS from now, the race for the Republican nomination for president -- and the race for the Democratic nomination, if there is one — will probably be over.

Prognostications this far ahead of such contests have a sad history.

Just ask Rudy Giuliani or Jeb Bush what it felt like when the balloon drop started after their acceptance speeches.

History and current polling suggest the majority of voters who don’t want to elect either of these two almost-alwaysnegatively-rated presidents may find a way to get their way.

Nevertheless, something can be said about what looks to be a contest between former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (RFL). The history of primary contests, since they became the dominant means of choosing presidential nominees in 1972, provides some perspective.

Early on, the Democratic Party often had multicandidate brawls that produced surprise nominees such as George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton. Meanwhile, the Republican primaries featured one-on-one contests between nationally known contenders — Gerald Ford versus Ronald Reagan in 1976, George H.W. Bush versus Bob Dole in 1988 and George W. Bush versus John McCain in 2000.

Since 2000, that pattern has usually been reversed. Democrats had one-on-one races in 2008 and 2016 and quickly settled on one among multiple candidates in 2004 and 2020. Republicans, meanwhile, had multicandidate brawls in 2008, 2012 and, with a field too large for a single debate stage, 2016.

This change reflects a change in the parties. In the 1970s, Democrats held majorities in most state legislatures and had many more primary voters and tended to set the rules and schedule. Now, Republicans have more legislatures and about as large and rowdy a primary electorate. Next year, Democrats may renominate their incumbent president, as they did in 1996 and 2012, while Republicans will probably, despite the announced candidacy of former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), be headed to a two-candidate race.

Past contests suggest what this will look like. Republicans’ multicandidate races in 2008 and 2012 quickly boiled down to twocandidate runoff jousts. These pitted candidates (McCain, Mitt Romney) who carried counties in major metropolitan areas, where Republican primary voters tend to be college graduates, against candidates (Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum) who carried counties outside major metro areas, where most Republican primary voters are not college graduates.

This was a forecast that few analysts (including me) recognized, of the split between white college graduates and nongraduates, who voted similarly in general elections up through 2012 but have responded sharply differently to Trump in 2016 and every election since.

But the dominance of noncollege white people in Republican

When a trans person murders Christian schoolchildren

THE LEGACY MEDIA have a preset narrative machine when it comes to mass shootings. That narrative machine takes into account the identities of the shooter and the victims, and then churns out an explanation for the shooting. White shooter, black victims: systemic racism. Black shooter, white victims: alienation caused by systemic racism. Muslim shooter, gay victims: Christian homophobia.

A hate crime by a transidentifying person against a religious group is immediately transmuted into a generalized societal crime against the mass shooter herself.

On Monday, a self-identified 28-year-old trans man shot up a Christian school in Nashville, killing three children and three adults. The shooter left a manifesto, which police said reeked of “resentment.” And so this week, we are learning what pops up in the narrative machine when the inputs are “trans man” and “Christian schoolchildren.”

And here’s what pops up: America is systemically cruel to trans people, who apparently cannot be blamed for losing control and targeting small children at Christian schools. A hate crime by a transidentifying person against a religious group is immediately transmuted into a generalized societal crime against the mass shooter herself. Thus, NBC contributor Benjamin Ryan tweeted, “NBC has ID’d the Nashville school shooter... Nashville is home to the Daily Wire, a hub of anti-trans activity by @MattWalshBlog, @BenShapiro and @MichaelJKnowles.” Newsweek tweeted a story titled, “Tennessee Republicans’ ban on drag shows criticized after mass shooting.” ABC News correspondent Terry Moran stated that the shooter “identified herself as a transgender person. The State of Tennessee earlier this month passed and the governor signed a bill that banned transgender medical care for minors...”

In the perverse world of Leftist victimology, this makes sense: If you are a member of a supposedly victimized group, you cannot be the victimizer; there must be another victimizer who has victimized you, turning you back into a victim. But if we truly wish to prevent future acts of violence by unhinged

primaries can be overstated. If McCain and Romney prevailed by only narrow margins over Huckabee and Santorum in primaries in Michigan and Ohio, Trump won the nomination in 2016 with only a 44% plurality of votes in a 16-candidate field.

In the 31 states that voted up through April 5 that year, Trump had significant leads of 4 points or more over the combined totals of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) in only five states (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Ohio and Arizona). If you add in the votes for John Kasich, whose John Weaver-managed campaign pitched its appeal to the kind of Republican voters who dislike Republican voters, the list narrows down to just Massachusetts and Mississippi.

All of which suggests that DeSantis could compete successfully with Trump in the bulk of primaries and amass delegate totals to withstand Trump’s strength in states such as New York and West Virginia, whose primaries come later — much as the delegate strength Barack Obama built up in February 2008 enabled him to withstand the grueling fourmonth marathon with Hillary Clinton that followed.

This is in line with such multicandidate polling as has been conducted. After the November midterm elections showed backlash against Trump-supported candidates, Trump’s lead over DeSantis dropped to 47% to 29% and is currently 44% to 29%. That number is almost identical to the 45% of votes he received in all 2016 primaries and caucuses.

Interestingly, polls by the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies taken last week show DeSantis leading Trump in Iowa and even with him in New Hampshire, with Trump approximating his 2016 showings in those states. Good DeSantis showings there might winnow the field right away or after Haley’s South Carolina soon after.

Political analysts alert to any turn in opinion have noted that DeSantis’ numbers have sagged a bit in recent weeks. It may be more significant that the universally known Trump fails to win the support of 56% of his party’s voters. And that in head-to-head polls, Trump has usually trailed DeSantis.

Of course, nothing is for sure yet. DeSantis hasn’t even announced he’s running, the primary and caucus schedule is not set, and there’s no guarantee that the 76-year-old Trump or the 80-year-old Biden will be in good health next year. But history and current polling suggest the majority of voters who don’t want to elect either of these two almostalways-negatively-rated presidents may find a way to get their way.

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

lunatics, we ought to utilize a lens other than the lie of victimhood. Instead, we ought to consider the possibility that it is dangerous to promote the idea that mentally ill people ought to be celebrated as political groundbreakers by the legacy media for their symptoms, and simultaneously told that their suicidal ideations are caused by the intolerance of a broader society.

According to a recent 2022 study, “Transgender and gender-diverse youth emerge as the group at the highest risk of support for violent radicalization.” Teaching trans-identifying people that their suffering is caused by a cruelly religious and patriarchal world, explaining that these forces put their very lives in danger — that, indeed, they are victims of a potential “genocide” — creates an incredibly dangerous ideological predicate for violent action.

But the legacy media, by and large, support that narrative. To admit the obvious — that men cannot be women and vice versa; that believing you were born “in the wrong body” is a mental disorder, not a weapon to be used in tearing down an unjust society; that high rates of depression and suicidal ideation among those who identify as transgender is not caused predominantly by societal intolerance but by the disorder itself — undermines the new civil rights crusade the Left has built, directed against traditional roles and institutions.

And so the new narrative must be maintained. A woman who shot to death six people including three children in cold blood must be recast as a victim of society. We must respect “his” pronouns even as we report “his” murders. We must blame those who truly cause pain in the world: those who disagree with the thought leaders in our legacy media, who know better than all the common sense, biology and tradition in the world.

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

Ben Shapiro, 39, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+.

COLUMN | BEN SHAPIRO

SIDELINE REPORT

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Marquette’s Smart voted men’s AP coach of the year

Indianapolis

Shaka Smart was voted the AP men’s basketball coach of the year after leading Marquette to regular season and Big East Tournament titles. He received 24 of 58 votes from a national panel to beat out Kansas State coach Jerome Tang, who had 13 votes, and Kelvin Sampson of Houston, who received 10. The voting began with the conclusion of the regular season and closed before the start of the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles were a No. 2 seed and lost in the second round to Michigan State.

FORMULA ONE

Track incursion by Australian GP fans sparks investigation

Melbourne, Australia Australian Grand Prix organizers have launched an investigation to determine how a group of fans managed to break through security and get dangerously close to Formula One cars before the chaotic race that featured three red flags ended on Sunday. Australian Grand Prix Corp. chief executive Andrew Westacott says the incursion onto the Albert Park circuit before the checkered flag could have resulted in serious injuries.

Max Verstappen won his first Australian F1 Grand Prix title after a late rolling start behind a safety car.

HOCKEY

Son of Flyers GM dismissed from Mercyhurst team

Erie, Pa.

The son of Philadelphia Flyers interim general manager Danny Briere has been dismissed from the Mercyhurst University men’s hockey team after a video showed him and another athlete at the school pushing an unoccupied wheelchair down a staircase. Mercyhurst posted on Twitter that Carson Briere “has been removed” from the team. The school said it cannot comment further on the situation. Police in Erie filed charges of criminal mischief, criminal conspiracy to commit mischief and disorderly conduct against Carson Briere last month. He was also dismissed from Arizona State’s hockey club in 2019 for what the school called a violation of team rules.

MLB Rangers’ Smith goes to hospital after hit in face with pitch

Arlington, Texas Texas outfielder Josh Smith was taken to a hospital after being hit in his face by a pitch in the Rangers’ game Monday against the Orioles. The left-handed hitter was struck on the right side of his face in the third inning by a 1-0 slider from reliever Danny Coulombo. The Rangers said Smith went to a hospital for testing on his face and jaw. Coulombo was pitching because Orioles starter Kyle Bradish left after being hit on his right foot by a line drive in the second inning. Baltimore announced Bradish had a bruised foot.

Hendrick wins again as Larson claims victory at Richmond

The 2021 champion claimed his 20th career win

The Associated Press KYLE LARSON spent the week watching videos of his 10win, 2021 championship season, he said, “to remind myself that I used to be good.”

He still is. Larson pulled away on a restart with 14 laps to go and easily won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway on Sunday.

“I just really wanted to look at old tape of myself and see where my mindset was and to see my confidence,” Larson said after his 20th career victory in NASCAR’s top series.

Larson started the final green

flag run with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry to his outside and beat Berry into the first turn. Berry, who is filling in for the injured Chase Elliott, held on for second, followed by Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Kevin Harvick.

It’s the third victory of the season for the four-car Hendrick team and came less than a week after a 100-point penalty against each driver for using an illegal part was overturned by a NASCAR appeals panel. It also came with a fill-in crew chief in Kevin Meendering because the appeals panel upheld the four-race suspensions of all four team crew chiefs.

“I was just happy to fill a gap and help those guys out in a tough situation,” Meendering said. “This

is a testament to all the hard work but those guys on that team and to Hendrick Motorsports,”

Chevrolet took the top three spots and has now won five of the seven races this season.

All the Hendrick cars except for Berry ran in contention all race, with William Byron, the only two-time winner this season, leading a race-high 117 laps and running fourth for a restart with 21 laps to go. The field bunched up heading into Turn 1, and Bell hit his left rear quarter panel, sending Byron spinning into the wall. He finished 24th.

“It looked like the 1 (Chastain) was inside the 20 (Bell) and the 20 overcooked the corner, had the fronts locked up and nailed us in the left rear,” Byron said. “It is what it is. I had a great race car.”

Bell said he was trying to keep Chastain at bay.

“I tried to protect from him going to the inside and he still made it three-wide there at the last minute and there wasn’t enough room,” he said.

The cars never got on the track on Saturday because of rain, leading NASCAR to give them an extra set of tires, and even then, teams pitted for lightly used scuffs for the final green flag run. That

Clark tech, foul count put focus on officials

women’s title game

Thirty-seven personal fouls were called in the NCAA championship game between LSU and Iowa

The Associated Press

DALLAS — Iowa star Caitlin Clark was whistled for a technical foul late in the third quarter with her team trailing LSU by nine points in the NCAA championship game.

The bigger problem for the Hawkeyes was the call meant a fourth personal foul for the junior scoring sensation, moments after front court leader Monika Czinano had picked up her fourth.

Clark never fouled out, while Czinano and fellow senior McKenna Warnock did as Iowa never made a serious run in the fourth quarter of a 102-85 loss to the Tigers on Sunday. The second and third fouls against Clark were both for pushoffs about three minutes apart in the second quarter, when The Associated Press Player of the Year was trying to dribble around defenders.

The latter sent her to the bench for the final 3:26 of the first half

with the Hawkeyes down 11, and she left the game again after the technical with 1:04 remaining in the third.

“I thought they called it very, very tight,” said Clark, who scored 30 points. “I don’t know about the two push-offs in the second quarter. I thought all I could do is respond and come back out there and keep fighting and keep trying to help this team crawl back into the game.” In a pool report, lead official

Lisa Jones said the technical came when Clark didn’t pass the ball to an official after the Hawkeyes had been given a delay-of-game warn-

Wins in seven Cup Series races this season for Chevrolet

paid off big for Berry and Michael McDowell, who stayed on the track during the previous green flag stop, then got the caution that made it pay off.

“Everybody on the team made some great calls,” Berry said. “I’m so glad they tried something different there at the end to just get us up front.”

McDowell turned it into a sixth-place finish. Todd Gilliland, the third driver who stayed on the track, turned in a 15th-place finish.

“Our car was really good on the long run and I think we were gonna be 15th or 16th, so you might as well go for it and see if you can’t come up with something good and it worked out,” McDowell said. The second of three straight short track events comes next Sunday night on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway.

ing for batting the ball away after a made basket earlier in the third quarter.

Clark’s tech was among 37 personal fouls. It wasn’t a championship game record and was 15 fewer than a first-round game this year between James Madison and Ohio State.

Social media just made it seem like an all-time record, with the cascade of comments that officials were becoming the story by taking the stars out of the game. Czinano didn’t want to go there after the game.

“I don’t really think that’s a great question for me to answer honestly,” Czinano said. “We can’t live in the past. All we can do is live in the moment. That game happened. Those calls were called. Going forward, we’ll see what people decide what to do about it.”

LSU’s Angel Reese sat for a long stretch of the first half after picking up two fouls. Czinano and Warnock had two fouls at halftime, and both had four entering the fourth quarter.

Czinano fouled out with 6:25 remaining and the Hawkeyes trailing by 14. She had 13 points in a postseason-low 22 minutes.

“It’s very frustrating because I feel like I can’t talk to them,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “They won’t even listen. When your two seniors have to sit on the bench — they don’t know they’re seniors. I get it. But those two women didn’t deserve it. And then Caitlin getting a ‘T.’ I don’t know. It’s too bad.”

AP PHOTO

Kyle Larson celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.

AP PHOTO

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark looks for a call during the women’s NCAA Tournament championship game Sunday against LSU in Dallas.

in

“I thought they called it very, very tight.”

Caitlyn Clark, Iowa guard

Albemarle Disc Golf Association hosts 2nd annual City Lake Open

The disc golf tournament was held at City Lake Park’s 18-hole course

By Jesse Deal North State Journal

ALBEMARLE

— For the second consecutive year, Albemarle’s City Lake Park was the home of a disc golf tournament event sanctioned by the Professional Disc Golf Association and hosted by the Albemarle Disc Golf Association.

the Yankees’ Single-A affiliate. Minor leaguers ratified their first collective bargaining agreement with Major League Baseball ahead of the season’s start on Friday.

MLB owners ratify minor league collective bargaining deal

The five-year deal will more than double salaries

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved an initial five-year labor contract with minor league players on Monday that will more than double player salaries.

The agreement was reached last Wednesday and ratified by players on Friday.

Minor league players formed a bargaining unit during a rapid 17-day organization drive as part of the Major League Baseball Players Association last September and MLB voluntarily recognized the union rather than force a National Labor Relations Board election.

“Meeting throughout the offseason, we made tremendous progress over a short period of time,” MLB said in a statement. “This agreement builds upon the significant effort MLB undertook

four years ago to modernize baseball’s player development system, including increased salaries, free housing, improved facilities, better clubhouse conditions, and reduced in-season travel with better geographical alignment.”

Unlike the major league labor contract that sets yearly salary minimums, the minor league deal specifies weekly minimums. They are, according to details obtained by The Associated Press:

— Rookie league: $675 in 2023 and ’24, $700 in ’25, $710 in ’26 and $720 in ’27.

— Class A: $850 in 2023 and ’24, $870 in ’25, $885 in ’26 and $905 in ’27.

— High Class A: $900 in 2023 and ‘24, $920 in ‘25, $935 in ‘26 and $955 in ‘27.

— Double-A: $1,000 in 2023 and ’24, $1,020 in ’25, $1,040 in ’26 and $1,026 in ’27.

— Triple-A: $1,200 in 2023 and ’24, $1,225 in ’25, $1,250 in ’26 and $1,275 in ’27.

Pay for spring training pay and offseason work at team complexes

will be $625 weekly in 2024, $650 in ’25, $660 in ’26 and $670 in ’27. Pay for offseason offsite work will be $250 weekly in 2023 and ’24. $255 in ’25, $260 in ’26 and $265 in ’27.

Players will receive $625 in weekly retroactive pay for 202223 offseason work and this year’s spring training, with a cap of $2,500.

In addition, players will receive free housing as long as they earn more than $4,666.67 weekly, which comes to about $110,000 over a 25½-week Triple-A season. Housing had long been a point of contention.

MLB agreed not to reduce minor league affiliates from the current 120. Beginning in 2024, teams can have a maximum of 165 players under contract during the season and 175 during the offseason, down from the current 190 and 180.

The roster limits will be 35 on international rookie level teams, 24-30 for Class A and 24-28 for Double-A and Triple-A.

Despite some weather concerns, the 2023 City Lake Open (with 72 registered participants) went on as planned on April 2 at the 18-hole course located at 815 Concord Rd.

“Thank you players for weathering the storm and making today a great event,” the ADGA posted on its social media account following the tournament. “Thank you to our sponsors for your donations — players got free entry to 14 CTP chances!”

“Congratulations to Justin Cole for winning the raffle and getting a new practice basket. Also congrats to Stephen Hooper and Jacob Gullman for hitting aces and splitting the $100 ace pot. We try to make every tournament a great experience for the player and we hope you had a good time.”

The local disc golf association announced the following tournament champions from the second annual event: Mixed Pro Open winner RJ Card, Mixed Amateur 1 winner Craig Ritchie, Mixed Amateur 2 winner Paden Hill, Mixed Amateur 3 winner Josiah Moore, Mixed Amateur 4 winner Matt Allen, Mixed Amateur 40plus winner Lynn Deese, Mixed Amateur 50plus winner Eric Blum, Mixed Amateur 60-plus winner Tony Hill, Women’s Amateur 3 winner Jordin Laughlin and Mixed Junior 18 winner Rance Hill.

The 2023 City Lake Open was sponsored by Buzzed Viking Brewing Company, Uwharrie Brewing, Cabarrus Brewing Company, the Richmond County Disc Golf Group and Scorpion Disc Golf, along with other businesses and local disc golf clubs.

Anyone interested in becoming a member of the Albemarle Disc Golf Association can apply at albemarlediscgolf.com. There are currently 36 card-carrying members, per the ADGA’s website.

A long with City Lake Park, the association recognizes four other Stanly County courses — Badin’s Hardaway Point, Albemarle’s Fox Chase, Oakboro’s District Park and Richfield’s Goose Landing — as official tournament venues.

72 Registered participants for the City Lake Open disc golf tournament

Endeavor Group Holdings

Inc. CEO Ari Emanuel will lead the newly formed organization

The Associated Press

W WE AND THE company that runs Ultimate Fighting Championship will combine to create a $21.4 billion sports entertainment company.

A new publicly traded company will house the UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment brands, with Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. taking a 51% controlling interest in the new company. Exist-

ing WWE shareholders will hold a 49% stake.

The companies put the enterprise value of UFC at $12.1 billion and WWE’s value at $9.3 billion.

The new business, which does not yet have a name, will be lead by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. Vince McMahon, executive chairman at WWE, will serve in the same role at the new company. Dana White will continue as president of UFC and Nick Khan will be president at WWE.

“Together, we will be a $21+ billion live sports and entertainment powerhouse with a collective fanbase of more than a billion people and an exciting growth opportunity,” McMahon said in a prepared

statement Monday. He also provided some idea of where the focus of the new company will be, saying that it will look to maximize the value of combined media rights, enhance sponsorship monetization, develop new forms of content and pursue other strategic mergers and acquisitions to further bolster their brands.

Ties already exists talent wise between WWE and UFC, with stars such as Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey crossing over between the two businesses.

The deal between Endeavor and WWE catapults WWE into a new era, after functioning as a family-run business for decades. McMahon purchased Capitol Wres-

More than 80,000 attended the first night of WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Saturday. It was announced Monday that Endeavor had signed an agreement with WWE to form a new, publicly listed company that will house UFC and WWE under one roof.

entertainment company

tling from his father in 1982, and took the regional wrestling business to a national audience with the likes of wrestling stars such as Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The company, which changed its name to World Wrestling Federation and later World Wrestling Entertainment, hosted its first WrestleMania in 1985.

McMahon, in an interview with CNBC, addressed the notion that there was doubt among some WWE fans and industry experts that he would ever make a deal for the business. “It’s the right time to do the right thing. And it’s the next evolution of WWE,” he said.

The announcement of the WWE

sale arrives after McMahon, the founder and majority shareholder of WWE, returned to the company in January and said that it could be up for sale.

Rumors swirled about who would possibly be interested in buying WWE, with Endeavor, Disney, Fox, Comcast, Amazon and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund all in the mix.

McMahon acknowledged to CNBC that there were several suitors for WWE, but that combining with Endeavor is the right move.

“It makes all the sense in the world for all these synergies that we have to extract all of the value that we can out of the marketplace,” he explained.

UFC, WWE combine to form $21.4B sports

Tampa Tarpons manager Rachel Balkovec, center, exchanges fist bumps with her players before her debut with

Poll: Cut federal spending — but not big-ticket programs

The Associated Press

IN THE FEDERAL budget standoff, the majority of U.S. adults are asking lawmakers to pull off the impossible: Cut the overall size of government, but also devote more money to the most popular and expensive programs. Six in 10 U.S. adults say the government spends too much money. But majorities also favor more funding for infrastructure, health care and Social Security — the kind of commitments that would make efforts to shrink the government unworkable and politically risky ahead of the 2024 elections.

These findings from a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research show just how messy the financial tug-of-war between President Joe Biden and House Republicans could be. At stake is the full faith and credit of the federal government, which could default on its obligations unless there is a deal this summer to raise or suspend the limit on the government’s borrowing authority.

The new poll finds U.S. adults are closely divided over whether they want to see a bigger government offering more services or a smaller government offering fewer services. But a clear majority — 60% — say they think government is spending too much altogether. Just 16% say the government is spending too little, while 22% say spending levels are about right.

U.S. adults were previously less supportive of spending cuts, a possible sign of how the pandemic and a historic burst of aid to address it have reshaped politics. Compared with 60% now, 37% called for spending cuts in February 2020, as COVID-19 was beginning to spread throughout the U.S. By May, even fewer, 25%, wanted less spending, after the virus had forced major disruptions to public life, the economy and the health care system.

Inflation jumped as the U.S. economy recovered from the pandemic. GOP lawmakers have blamed Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package for rising prices as they’ve pushed for spending cuts, while the president says inflation reflects global factors involving supply chains and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Federal expenditures are expected to be equal in size to roughly 24% of all U.S. economic activity for the next several years, a figure that will likely grow as an aging population leads to more spending on Social Security and Medicare.

Government spending accounted for just 20.5% of U.S. gross domestic product a decade ago, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Even if a majority of adults desire a tightened budget, the challenge for lawmakers trying to hash out an agreement is that the public also wants higher spending on a wide range of programs.

While Biden rolled out a budget that would trim deficits large -

ly through tax increases on the wealthy, GOP lawmakers have struggled so far to gel around a set of spending cuts — and even if they did, the White House is betting that their plan would upset voters.

Roughly 6 in 10 adults say the government is spending too little on education, health care, infrastructure and Social Security, as well as assistance to the poor and Medicare. About half say government is spending too little on border security, child care assistance, drug rehabilitation, the environment and law enforcement.

By comparison, a wide majority — 69% — say the U.S. is spending too much on assistance to other countries. But slashing foreign aid would have almost no impact on the overall size of the government, as it accounts for less than 1% of all federal spending, and major programs such as Social Security and Medicare are causing the government to grow in size over the next decade.

About a third of U.S. adults say spending on the military is too little and nearly as many say it’s too much; an additional third say it’s about right.

Bipartisan majorities back more spending on infrastructure and Social Security. But wide differences across party lines on other priorities could be a sticking point in budget talks.

Most Republicans say too much is spent on assistance to big cities (65% vs. just 19% of Democrats), and about half say too much

is spent on the environment (51% vs. just 6% of Democrats). Republicans are more likely than Democrats to indicate that the military, law enforcement and border security are underfunded. By comparison, far more Democrats say too little is spent on aid for the poor (80% vs. 38% of Republicans), the environment (73% vs. 21% of Republicans), child care assistance (71% vs. 34% of Republicans), drug rehabilitation (67% vs. 36% of Republicans), and scientific research (54% vs. 24% of Republicans).

There is also a generation-

al breakdown in terms of priorities. Young adults are more likely than older adults to say too little is spent on the environment and assistance to big cities, while more older adults say too little is spent on infrastructure, the military, law enforcement and border security. Young adults are especially likely to think too much is spent in those areas.

For those between the ages of 30-44, who are especially likely to have school-age children, there is a desire for the government to spend more on education.

Immigration reform stalled decade after Gang of 8’s big push

The Associated Press

MIAMI

— Ten years ago this month, Sen. Chuck Schumer declared, “We all know that our immigration system is broken, and it’s time to get to work on fixing it.” Sen. John McCain quoted Winston Churchill. But it was Lindsey Graham who offered the boldest prediction.

“I think 2013 is the year of immigration reform,” the South Carolina Republican said.

It wasn’t. And neither has any year since those “Gang of Eight” senators from both parties gathered in a Washington auditorium to offer hopeful pronouncements. In fact, today’s political landscape has shifted so dramatically that immigrant advocates and top architects of key policies over the years fear that any hope of an immigration overhaul seems further away than ever.

“There are big questions about whether or not anything in the immigration family — anything at all — has the votes to pass,” said Cecilia Muñoz, who served as President Barack Obama’s top immigration adviser and was a senior member of Joe Biden’s transition team before he entered the White House.

The last extensive package came under President Ronald Reagan in 1986, and President George H.W. Bush signed a more limited effort four years later. That means federal agents guarding the border today with tools like drones and artificial intelligence are enforcing laws written back when cellphones and the internet were novelties. Laying the problem bare in the deadliest of terms was a fire last month at a detention center on the Mexican side of

the border that killed 39 migrants.

Congress came the closest to a breakthrough on immigration in 2013 with the Gang of Eight, which included Schumer, a New York Democrat who is now Senate majority leader, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Their proposal cleared the Senate that June and sought a pathway to citizenship for millions of people in the country illegally and expanded work visas while tightening border security and mandating that employers verify workers’ legal status.

Democrats cheered a modernized approach to immigration. Republicans were looking for goodwill within the Latino community after Obama enjoyed strong support from Hispanic voters while being reelected in 2012.

Prominent supporters of the proposal were as diverse as the powerful AFL-CIO labor union and the pro-business U.S. Chamber of Commerce. There was more momentum than there had been for large immigration changes that fizzled in 2006 and 2007 under President George W. Bush.

Still, Republican House Speaker John Boehner gauged support for the Gang of Eight bill in the GOP-controlled chamber in January 2014 and said too many lawmakers distrusted the Obama administration. By that summer, the bill was dead.

Obama then created a program protecting from deportation migrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children. The Supreme Court has previously upheld it, but the court’s relatively recent 6-3 conservative majority could pose long-term threats.

Years after the creation of Obama’s program, President Donald Trump called for walling off all of the nation’s 2,000-mile southern border, and his administration separated migrant children from their parents and made migrants wait in Mexico while seeking U.S. asylum. Biden endorsed a sweeping immigration package on his Inauguration Day, but it went nowhere in Congress. His administration has since loosened some Trump immigration policies and tightened others, even as his party has seen Republican support rise among Hispanic voters.

Officials have continued to enforce Title 42 pandemic-era health restrictions that allowed for migrants seeking U.S. asylum to be quickly expelled, though they are set to expire May 11. The Biden White House is also considering placing migrant families in detention centers while they wait for their asylum cases, something the Obama and Trump administrations did.

Gil Kerlikowske, who was commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under Obama, said “a lot of things are coming together at once,” including Title 42 possibly ending, a spike in the number of South American migrants crossing through the treacherous rainforests of the Darian Gap between Colombia and Panama, and a 2024 presidential election ratcheting up the political pressure.

“Two and a half years into the administration, there really hasn’t been any announcement of what is our immigration policy,” Kerlikowske said. “Getting laws passed is almost impossible. But what’s been the policy?”

AP PHOTO

A view of the White House grounds during a press preview for the White House 2023 Spring Garden Tours, Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Washington, D.C.

AP PHOTO

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., center, speaks of immigration reform legislation outlined by the Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Eight” that would create a path for the nation’s 11 million unauthorized immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship, April 18, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

(Taylor) Drye

April 17, 1936 ~ January 14, 2023

Richard Bruce Huneycutt

Barbara Jean Taylor Drye, 86, of Oakboro, passed away Saturday, January 14, 2023 at her home.

June 19, 1946 - March 28, 2023

June 23, 1967 ~ January 10, 2023

January 24, 1939 ~ January 15, 2023

Elise Lane Lowrance

Dwight Britten Farmer Sr., 83, of Norwood died Sunday morning, January 15, 2023 at Forrest Oakes.

Coleman

March 23, 1935 - January 9, 2023

Wesley Ervin Smith

James Arthur Roseboro, 55, of Albemarle, passed away Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at Anson Health and Rehab.

Nydia Petia (Dockery) Foster

Barbara was born April 17, 1936 in North Carolina to the late Robert Lee Taylor and the late Eva Belle Watts Taylor.

Richard Bruce Huneycutt, 78, of Albemarle, passed away Tuesday, March 28, 2023 in Atrium Health Main.

She was also preceded in death by husband of 61 years, Keith Furr Drye, and brothers, Robert Lee Taylor, Jr. and George Kenneth Taylor.

Mr. Huneycutt was born June 19, 1946 in Stanly County, NC to the late Reece Huneycutt and Flossie Harward Huneycutt.

Survivors include children, Debbie (Mike) Williams of Albemarle, Teresa (Tom) Curry of Oakboro, Douglas (Tammy) Drye of Oakboro; grandchildren, Melissa (Don) Parrish of Albemarle, Samantha (Destiny) Smith of Oakboro, Bradley Smith of Oakboro, Jonathan Stover of Peachland, and Jessie Stover of Lylesville; sisterin-law, Beatrice Goodman; many nieces and nephews; and her beloved cats, Bo and Garfield.

He was a United States Army Veteran. Richard formerly worked with Coca Cola and retired from Collins & Aikman. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, and the outdoors.

Richard was preceded in death by his wife, Kay G. Huneycutt on November 5, 2022. He is survived by a stepson, Brandon J. Greene of Sanford, NC; a stepdaughter, Kasey Hinson (Dustin) of New London, NC; a daughter, Lisa Blalock; sister, Sylvia Trexler of New London, NC and by a number of nieces and nephews. Richard was also preceded in death by a brother, Eddie Huneycutt.

Barbara was a member of Oakboro Baptist Church for over 60 years. She worked over 30 years at Stanly Knitting Mills. After just two years of retirement, she began managing the Oakboro Senior Center and did that for 18 years until this past week. Barbara was known for her good cooking and always taking care of others. She also loved going on day long shopping trips - she could out walk and out shop people half her age. She kept her mind and body active through gardening, word searches, and various other hobbies.

Dr. David Edwards

April 4, 1944 ~ March 30, 2023

Dr. David Franklin Edwards

DDS 78 of Mount Gilead died Thursday evening, March 30, 2023 at his home.

Dr. Edwards was born April 4, 1944 in Norfolk, Virginia to the late John Clifton and Ruth Stephenson Edwards.

David was a loving and faithful husband, father and grandfather. His greatest joy was found in spending time with his family, especially supporting his grandchildren in all their activities.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years Diane Smither Edwards. Son, Jonathan David Edwards and daughter Amanda Edwards Rusmisell (Jay). Grandsons, Elijah Dakota Edwards, Maxwell David Rusmisell and Bennett James Rusmisell. Sister and Brother, Elizabeth Edwards Cox and family, John Lee Edwards and family. Sister-in-law Carole Smither Greene, nieces, Ashlynn Greene Kelker, Alicia Ann Greene, great nieces, Katherine Kelker, Allison Kelker and Morgan Greene-Haines

In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by his brother, Stephen Edwards, father and mother-in-law, George and Francis Smither and brother-inlaw Frederick William Greene.

January 5, 2016 - March 28, 2023

Elise Lane Lowrance, 7, of Albemarle passed away on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 in Atrium Main Charlotte.

Dwight was born January 24, 1939 in Stanly County to the late Walter Virgil and Martha Adkins Farmer. He was a 1957 graduate of Norwood High School and was a United States Army Veteran.

He was a member of Cedar Grove United Methodist Church where he had served as church treasurer and choir member. He began his career with the Stanly County Sheriff’s Department moving to the Norwood Police Department and retiring as Chief of Police with the Town of Norwood after many years of service.

Dwight was an avid gardener, bird watcher and Carolina fan.

He is survived by his wife Hilda Whitley Farmer; one son D. Britten Farmer Jr. (Mary) of McLeansville, NC; one daughter Sharon Farmer Lowe (David) of Norwood; one sister Geraldine Dennis of Troy; two grandchildren, Dwight Britten “Dee” Farmer III and Whitley Rose Hui Lowe.

He was preceded in death by his son Alex, brothers, Tommy and Jimmy, sisters, Nancy, Cornelia Annabell, Glennie Mae, and Betty. Memorials may be made to Cedar Grove United Methodist Church, Cemetery or Choir Fund c/o Pam Smith 36071 Rocky River Springs Road, Norwood, NC 28128.

Born January 5, 2016 in Cabarrus County, NC she was the daughter of Sean Tyler Lowrance and Cassie Caudle Lowrance. She was a member of Open Door Baptist Church and a first grader at Open Door Christian Academy. She loved God and enjoyed Dance, Gymnastics, Hunting and Fishing and the outdoors. She also enjoyed cooking. She never met a stranger. Elise loved going to Church and she loved her School. She was a ray of sunshine. She is survived by her parents Tyler and Cassie, brother Graham Lowrance, sister Piper Lowrance, paternal grandparents Chris and Sherri Lowrance, maternal grandparents Ronnie and Myra Caudle, uncles Dustin Caudle (Kelly) and Brandon Almond (Angela), cousins Kendrix and Ian Caudle and Silas Almond, greatgrandmother Iris Lowrance and great-grandpa Joe Smith as well as many other cousins.

Syble Curlee

January 16, 1937 ~ March 28, 2023

Syble Olena Almond Curlee, 86, of Norwood, passed away, surrounded by her loving family, on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at her home.

Mrs. Curlee was born on January 16, 1937 in Stanly County to the late Bruce and Fannie Morton Almond. During her spare time, she enjoyed playing Bingo and reading. She was an avid thrift shopper and enjoyed spending time in Oak Island. She loved her family and enjoyed spending time with them at family dinners.

In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her husband, Willie Jay Curlee and grandson Eric Sanders; brother, Jerry Almond and sister, Barbara Pearline Almond. She is survived by her son: Jay Curlee (Betty); and daughter, Lisa Boles; grandchildren, Krystal Burleson, Daniel Curlee, and Danny Burleson; greatgrandchildren, Dominick Hammond, Demitri Hammond, Erica Hammond, Sean Lowder, and Abagail Burleson; and a special Aunt, Dorothy Almond.

February 27, 1954 - March 27, 2023

Mr. Roseboro was born on June 23, 1967 to the late Robert and Delena Shipp Roseboro. He graduated from South Stanly High School and was employed by Triangle Brick. He enjoyed watching football and basketball, especially the Carolina TarHeels and Miami.

In addition to his parents he is preceded in death by his brothers and sisters: Barbara Lee Roseboro, Dorothy Brown, Verna Roseboro, Henrietta Ingram, and Harold Roseboro.

He is survived by his sisters: Helen (James) Roseboro Edwards of Albemarle, Mary Roseboro of Washington DC, and Marion Morrison of Albemarle; brothers: Thomas D. Roseboro of Charlotte, Robert Roseboro (Patricia) of Norwood, and Van Horne; a special friend of over 40 years, Michelle McLendon of the home; special nieces: Nybrea Montague, Knya Little, and Laquanza Crump; special nephews: Robert Jr., Desmond Roseboro, and Marcus Lilly; and God daughter, Daphne Johnson; and special friends, Vetrella Johnson and Ben McLendon.

Wesley Ervin Smith, 69, of Norwood, passed away Monday, March 27, 2023 at his home surrounded by family. Ervin was born February 27, 1954 to the late Grover Cephus and Emma Kimrey Smith. He was also proceeded in death by two great-grandchildren, Grayson Daniel Smith and Ellie Grace Smith. Survivors include wife of almost 43 years, Ellen Howell Smith of the home; children, Harley Daniel Smith (Dianne) and Jessica Carpenter (Walter) all of Norwood; grandchildren, Heather Smith of Norwood, Jason Smith of Denton, Emily Mesnard (Ramsey) of Lincoln, NE, Levi Carpenter (Stephanie), Nicholas Carpenter and Wesley Smith of Norwood; great-grandchild, Shiloh Mesnard of Lincoln, NE; siblings, Ricky Blalock, Irene Barbee and Shelly Smith of Norwood. He was born and raised in Norwood and lived his entire life within a mile of his childhood home. He was a member of The Seventh Day Adventist Church in Stuart, VA. He enjoyed riding motorcycles, gardening, camping, and spending time with family.

John grew up in the Millingport community where he drove a school bus and worked at the local gas station during his High School years. He graduated from Millingport High in 1954 and entered into service with the US Airforce immediately afterward. Upon return from the service, he and his high school sweetheart Julie were married in 1956. He graduated from Nashville Auto Diesel College later in 1959 and began his career as a diesel mechanic at Mitchell Distributing Company, moving his growing family to Charlotte where they lived until their retirement.

September 12, 1974 ~ March 26, 2023

A woman of grace and dignity, Nydia Petia Dockery Foster, entered the Kingdom of Our Lord and Savior Sunday, March 26, 2023, while a patient at Atrium Health, Charlotte, North Carolina. Nydia was born September 12, 1974, in Stanly County, North Carolina; and was the daughter of Lydia Petia Burns-Hinson and the late Gerald L. Dockery. Her smile will always be remembered. Nydia brightened our days and was never too busy to care and share her time, talents, and treasures. Kindness was her trademark. She has left a legacy of love that will forever live in the hearts of her family and friends.

When John purchased his first Model A Ford at the age of 17, he said that he took the car to the community mechanic when he had a small problem.The mechanic told him that if he was going to keep the car, he needed to learn to work on it. This is when John’s passion for Model A Fords began and how he spent his happiest days with his best friends from around the globe for the rest of his life!

Nydia was married to James Foster Jr., and they recently celebrated four years of marital bliss. She is survived by her husband, James Foster Jr.; sons: Quentin Thomas, Cordarius

Richardson, and Samuel

Butler; grandchildren: Zariyah

Richardson and Quentin Jakobe

Thomas; mother, Lydia (William) Hinson Sr.; sisters, Adrius Green, Trina Peoples, Anita Leake, and Erica Burns; brother, Qwontavius

At age 50, after years as a Detroit Diesel Mechanic he and Julie decided to take the plunge and open a full Model A Restoration Shop. They thrived at their shop in Cornelius, NC until their retirement in 1998 when they moved back to Cabarrus County. John once again set up shop in his back yard garage where he attracted a loyal group of friends who visited almost daily. While on the farm in Gold Hill, John also began a lifelong love with Alis Chalmers tractors after he restored his Dad’s tractor and began amassing his collection of tractors as well.

Dockery; stepbrother, William Hinson Jr.; stepchildren: Chyna D. Williams and Keonta T. Lynch; step grandchildren: Arijah Baldwin, Tavon Blackmon, Ariel Polk, and Aton Polk; aunts, Mae (Jay) Jackson and Barbara Burns; a host of other relatives and many friends.

John restored many cars of his own and had the crowning achievement of winning the most prestigious award from MARC, The Henry for a restoration that garnered with the Ken Brady Service Awardthe highest award given to members

Carolyn (Poplin) Hefner

October 22, 1942 ~ April 2, 2023

Carolyn Poplin Hefner, 80, of Albemarle, passed away Sunday, April 2, 2023 at Forrest Oakes Healthcare Center in Albemarle.

Darrick Vashon Baldwin, age 50, entered eternal rest, Sunday, January 8, 2023, Albemarle, North Carolina. Born January 7, 1973, in Stanly County, North Carolina, Darrick was the son of Eddie James Baldwin Sr. and the late Phyllis Blue Baldwin. Darrick enjoyed life, always kept things lively and enjoyed making others smile. His presence is no longer in our midst, but his memory will forever live in our hearts.

He was educated in the Stanly County public schools and attended Albemarle Senior High School, Albemarle.

He was a great conversationalist and loved meeting people. Darrick never met a stranger and always showed love and compassion for his fellowman. He also loved his dog, Rocky.

He is survived by his father, Eddie J. Baldwin Sr.; sisters: Crystal (Eric) Jackson, LaFondra (Stoney) Medley, and Morgan Baldwin; brothers: Eddie Baldwin Jr., Anton Baldwin, and Lamont Baldwin; a host of other relatives and friends. A limb has fallen from our family tree. We will not grieve Darrick’s death; we will celebrate his life. We give thanksgiving for the many shared memories.

Carolyn was born October 22, 1942 in North Carolina to the late Robert Edward Poplin and the late Laura Frances Howell Poplin. She was also preceded in death by brother, Larry (Donna) Poplin. Survivors include daughter, Lisa (Roy) Shepherd of Richfield, NC; grandchildren, Adrian (Kristen) Shepherd and Robyn (Ronald Vang) Shepherd; and brother, Dwight (Brenda) Poplin. Carolyn loved planting flowers - her favorites were buttercups and dogwoods. She also enjoyed sitting on her porch watching the birds and fishing (especially on Easter Monday). Carolyn loved holiday traditions such as dying Easter eggs and going to see Christmas lights. The highlight of her week was always spending time with family.

Rick Mabry

March 30, 1961 ~ March 31, 2023

Richard Bennett “Rick” Mabry 62 of Norwood passed away Friday March 31,2023 at Atrium Health in Concord.

Rick was born March 30,1961 in Albemarle NC to the late CL Mabry Jr and Ann Carter Mabry. He is also preceded in death by his brother, Michael Ray Mabry

He is survived by his wife, Shelia Ward Mabry of Star, his brother James Mabry of Norwood and a special friend, Darren Russell of Stanfield.

where he loved serving as greeter on Sunday mornings. He also belonged Julie Ussery Kluttz, for 66 years of the home. He is also survived by a son John David Kluttz (Kim) of Oakboro, NC; two daughters, Sally Simerson of Denver, CO and Betsy Tusa (John) of Lafayette, CO; three grandchildren, Bonnie Kluttz Sammons (Ben) of Richfield, NC John Alexander McKinnon (Sarah) of Asheville, NC and Seth William McKinnon (Amanda) of Germany; five great-grandchildren, Charlotte, Meredith, Grant, Victoria and Ronan. John is also preceded in death by his parents, J.S. Kluttz and Mary Wyatt Clayton Kluttz; a large and loving group of brothers and sisters, Jack Methias Kluttz, Annie Lou Kluttz Honeycutt, Jake Nelson Kluttz, Julius Kluttz, Mary Patricia Phillips and a grandson, Kevin Fowler Kluttz.

Tanica Vega

October 11, 1944 - January 10, 2023

May 18, 1974 ~ April 3, 2023

Tanica Richardson Vega, 48, of Norwood, passed away on Monday, April 3, 2023 at her home.

Doris Elaine Jones Coleman, 78, went home into God’s presence on January 10 after a sudden illness and a valiant week-long fight in ICU.

Mrs. Vega was born on May 18, 1974 to the late Michael Hale Richardson and Irene Smith Barbee, who survives. She worked at National Finance for many years and was a member of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church. Tanica loved her family. She enjoyed spending time with friends and family and especially her nieces and nephews who knew her by, ‘Aunt T T.’ She also loved her dog, Shug.

Doris was born on October 11, 1944, in the mountains of Marion, NC while her father was away fighting in the US Navy during World War II. Raymond Jones was so proud to return after the war and meet his little girl! Doris grew up in Durham, NC and graduated from Durham High School. She furthered her studies at Watts Hospital School of Nursing in Durham and graduated as a Registered Nurse in 1966.

In addition to her father, she is preceded in death by her maternal grandmother, Emma Smith; and nephew Bailey Hatley.

Doris married Rev. Dr. Ted Coleman in 1966 and had two daughters Amy and Laura. Doris raised Amy and Laura in North Augusta, SC.

In addition to her mother, she is survived by her daughter, Kirstie Earl of Albemarle; sister: Tammy Kimrey (Billy) of Norwood; nieces: Brittany Boone (Lee Webb) and Brandi Hatley (Tommy Lee); all of Norwood; and great-nieces and nephews: Brooklyn, Bryson, and Brylee Webb, and Emmie and Maddie Lee.

Michael Harris

April 28, 1972 ~ April 1, 2023

James Michael Harris, 50, of Norwood, passed away Saturday morning, April 1, 2023 at his home.

Doris was an incredible neonatal intensive care nurse for most of her career, and this was her passion. The Augusta Chronicle did a feature on her in 1985. She was a clinical nurse manager in Augusta, Georgia at University Hospital NICU and worked there for 20 years. During this time, Doris mentored young nurses and assisted in saving the lives of so many babies. She also worked for Pediatrician Dr. William A. Wilkes in Augusta for several years prior to her NICU career. Doris retired from the mother/baby area at Atrium Stanly in 2007 after over 40 spirit and loved her Lord. She never met a stranger, and she always left with her. She would often claim that she had “adopted” friends into her immediate family, and honestly, she never made a distinction between the two. Positivity radiated from her like sunlight. She was selfless, funny, smart, and sentimental. During her lifetime she was an active member of First Baptist Church of Durham, First Baptist Church of Augusta, Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Augusta, and Palestine United Methodist Church in Albemarle. She especially loved helping at church with older adults, youth, and children.

Michael was born April 28, 1972 in Stanly County to the late James Lanny Harris and Nadine Smith Harris, who survives of the home. Michael was a 1990 graduate of South Stanly High School and a 1992 graduate of Stanly Community College. He was a member of Mount Zion United Methodist Church.

She was especially talented at sewing from a young age and made gifts for friends, Christmas ornaments, Halloween Costumes, doll clothes, pageant dresses, prom dresses, coats, tote bags, scarves, outfits for Amy and Laura, and Christening gowns for each of her grandchildren.

Michael was a loving son and brother. He had a big heart and would do anything for anyone. He will be dearly missed.

Doris was preceded in death by her father Arthur Raymond Jones, her mother Mary Ellen Cameron Jones, and her sister Maryanne Jones Brantley.

In addition to his father he was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, Baxter and Lilly Faye Smith; paternal grandparents, Royal and Mecie Harris and aunt, Sheila Harris Hatley.

In addition to his mother, Nadine, he is also survived by his sister, Amy Harris of the home; Aunt Anita Smith Clontz(Ted) and her family and Uncle Gerald Hatley and his family.

Survivors include her two precious daughters: Amy Cameron Coleman (partner Dr. Edward Neal Chernault) of Albemarle, NC, and Laura Lindahl Coleman Oliverio (husband David) of Cincinnati, Ohio; seven grandchildren: Cameron David Oliverio, Stephanie Jae Dejak, Luca Beatty Oliverio, Coleman John Dejak, Carson Joseph Oliverio, Ryan Nicholas Dejak, and Jadon Richard Oliverio; and numerous in-laws, nieces, nephews, cousins, and loved ones.

STATE & NATION

Intensity and insults rise as lawmakers debate debt ceiling

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fights over increasing the nation’s borrowing authority have been contentious in Congress, yet follow a familiar pattern: Time and again, lawmakers found a way to step back from the brink before markets began to panic and the nation risked a dangerous default on its debt.

But this year’s fight has a different feel, some lawmakers say.

“Very worried. Very worried,” was how Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., a close ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, described his outlook. “And frankly, I don’t see how we get there at this point. There’s no process set up, there’s no dialogue, there’s no discussion.”

The political conditions are comparable to 2011, when a new Republican majority swept into power after a resounding election win and was determined to confront a Democratic White House and extract major spending cuts in return for a debt limit increase.

To resolve that stalemate, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed the Budget Control Act. The bill temporarily allowed borrowing to resume, set new spending limits and created a bipartisan “supercommittee” to recommend at least $1.2 trillion more in deficit reduction over 10 years. Republicans and Democrats on the panel failed to compromise, however, triggering automatic reductions in spending.

But some damage was done. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded U.S. debt for the first time that year because it lacked

confidence political leaders would make the choices needed to avert a long-term fiscal crisis.

In 2013, Obama took a different tack. He made clear early on there would be no negotiations on mustpass legislation to prevent a U.S. default, and he never wavered.

A partial government shutdown, which began Oct. 1, swiftly coincided with the prospects of a default.

On Oct. 16, Congress passed legislation to end the twin threats and GOP lawmakers who demanded to roll back Obama’s signature health care law got nothing for their efforts. “We fought the good fight.

We just didn’t win,” conceded thenHouse Speaker John Boehner. Republicans say they are determined that Biden, who was Obama’s vice president during both of those debt ceiling battles, will have to follow the path set in 2011 — not the one set in 2013.

Breaching the debt ceiling is different than a federal government shutdown. The government can continue to operate once the Treasury has exhausted its cashon-hand. But outgoing payments would be limited to incoming revenue. Not all payments could be made on time and in full. Many

fear such an event would shake the foundations of the global financial system.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the government may be unable to pay all its bills as soon as June. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told a House panel this week the so-called X Day is likely to occur in mid-August. He said market pressures will likely build after Congress returns from its July 4th recess.

“As we can see from recent events given the banking crisis, the system is very fragile at this point in time,” Zandi said. “Adding the debt lim-

Biden and his 2024 campaign: Waiting for some big decisions

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden has all but announced he’s running for reelection, but key questions about the 2024 campaign are unresolved: Who will manage it? Where will it be based? When will he finally make it official?

Advisers have long said he planned to wait until after March, when the year’s first fundraising period wraps up. That was an effort to help manage expectations because many donors who gave generously to Democratic causes during last fall’s elections were looking for a break.

But an announcement isn’t imminent even now, aides insist, and probably won’t come until at least after Biden returns from an expected trip to Ireland in midApril.

Working on his own timeline could counter Biden’s low approval ratings and questions about his age — the 80-year-old would turn 86 before the end of a second term. It also means Biden won’t be hurried by pressure from former President Donald Trump, who’s already announced his 2024 campaign, or other top Republicans who may enter the race, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former Vice President Mike Pence.

“He’s earned the luxury of making the timetable,” said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist in Washington. “The longer he can keep this thing focused on his duties in the White House, and less

about the campaign back-andforth, the better off he’s going to be.”

It will also be up to Biden to decide where next year’s Democratic National Convention is held among the three finalist cities of Atlanta, Chicago and New York.

Much of the reelection effort will be run from the White House, where Biden’s most senior advisers are expected to remain. Still, the campaign manager and top staff will be responsible for raising vast sums of money, reaching millions of voters and making the case for Biden at Americans’ doors and online while he is still occupied with governing.

One top Biden adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a reelection campaign that hasn’t yet been announced, noted that Biden’s 2020 bid was a $1.7 billion operation and that the effort this time would be larger. The adviser said a key will be finding “validators,” or non-Washington voices who can spread the campaign’s message at a time when many people have lost faith in everything political.

Aides and allies are discussing how to build the appropriate 2024 race infrastructure. The circumstances are different from 2020 for Biden, whose race then was conducted while the country was

largely shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The choice of Biden’s campaign headquarters has been narrowed to Philadelphia, the 2020 location, and Wilmington, Delaware, where his home is and where the president spends many weekends away from the White House. While Biden tends to prefer Delaware on all matters, some top Democrats worry that recruiting top campaign talent to Wilmington will be difficult.

More challenging has been filling the job of campaign manager. Some potential candidates view it as a thankless task, with so much of the decision-making confined to the White House, though the adviser said whomever is ultimately chosen will be empowered with wide latitude to run 2024.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s 2020 campaign manager, is now a deputy White House chief of staff and plans to remain in her job. Many potential candidates have expressed interest in the campaign manager position, but among those on the short list are Julie Chavez Rodriguez, director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and a deputy campaign manager of Biden’s 2020 campaign, and Sam Cornale, executive director of the Democratic National Committee.

Quentin Fulks, campaign manager for Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock’s reelection victory last fall, has been mentioned.

Trump hasn’t named a campaign manager despite announc-

it as an issue for investors would be particularly inopportune.”

He said there would be immediate and long-term consequences from a default.

“I think under any scenario, we would go into recession, it would be severe, financial markets would be upended,” Zandi said.

The focus on the debt limit, now at about $31.4 trillion, intensified with McCarthy sending a letter to Biden warning that his position of not negotiating “could prevent America from meeting its obligations and hold dire ramifications for the entire nation.”

In a formal response, Biden signaled that he would not be willing to meet directly with the speaker until House Republicans released their own budget plan, which he asked McCarthy to do before lawmakers left Washington for the Easter recess.

“As I have repeatedly said, that conversation must be separate from prompt action on the Congress’ basic obligation to pay the Nation’s bills and avoid economic catastrophe,” Biden wrote.

The letters did not appear to generate any progress or good will. Republicans left town without proposing a budget. And McCarthy accused Biden of making the decision to put the economy in jeopardy, while seemingly making a crack about the president’s age.

“I don’t know what more I can do and how easy. I would bring the lunch to the White House. I would make it soft food if that’s what he wants,” McCarthy said, prompting laughter from other Republicans in the room.

ing his candidacy months ago. But others aren’t waiting to staff up.

Republican Nikki Haley, Trump’s U.N. ambassador and a former South Carolina governor, picked Betsy Ankney, executive director of Haley’s Stand for America political action committee, to manager her presidential campaign. The super PAC linked to DeSantis brought on former Trump aide Matt Wolking and strategist Jeff Roe, the architect of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign and Republican Glenn Youngkin winning campaign for Virginia governor in 2021. Even with the unanswered questions about his campaign structure, the outlines of Biden’s pitch to voters are forming.

From the State of the Union address in February to speeches to donors, the president has begun making the case that Americans should let him “finish the job” he started. He’s also tried framing the race as a choice between himself and “MAGA Republicans” who, he argues, will undermine the nation’s core values.

Biden has spent recent months traveling to promote what he sees as his administration’s key policy accomplishments, including a bipartisan public works package, and plans more of the same going forward. That would let him use this year to test political messaging that can best resonate in 2024, aides said.

“He’s not going to win reelection or lose reelection based on what happens in his campaign,” Bannon predicted. “He’s going to win it based on his performance as president and the performance of his opponent, whoever it is.”

AP PHOTO

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., March 24, 2023.

AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden, right, arrives with Vice President Kamala Harris and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, left, to announce Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to be an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court at the White House in Washington, D.C., in Feb. 2022.

Randolph record

The hunt is on

Above, Allie Dominguez, age 5, places eggs in her bunny basket during the annual Easter Eggstravaganza at the Asheboro Recreation Center on April 1, 2023. Top right, Baylor Deweese, age 4, picks up eggs and places them in his bucket without looking. Bottom right, Corbin Gasser, age 9, runs to collect eggs during the Randleman Easter Egg Hunt at Randleman Park on April 2, 2023.

COUNTY NEWS

Rep. Neal Jackson introduces bill to protect school employees

Last week, Rep. Neal Jackson (Moore, Randolph) introduced bill H 534, “Protecting School Employees.” This bill was sponsored by Rep. Brian Biggs (Randolph), Rep. Sarah Stevens (Surry, Wilkes), and Rep. Carson Smith (Onslow, Pender). H 534 would increase the penalties for students who have repeatedly assaulted school employees. “Our teachers are one of our greatest assets, and they must be protected,” said Jackson. “I believe this bill is necessary and will be vital to fixing the problem of violence in our schools.” Briggs expressed his confidence in the new piece of legislation, saying, “I am proud to stand tall and support this commonsense measure to protect our teachers, administrators, and school staff.”

Red Cross and PEANUTS® team up to save lives in Randolph County

April is National Volunteer Month, and the American Red Cross is celebrating the millions of people who volunteer to give blood, platelets, and plasma throughout the year. This month, the Red Cross and PEANUUTS® are joining forces as a reminder that it’s cool to be kind and help save lives. As a thank-you, all who come to give blood between April 1 and 23 will receive an exclusive Red Cross and PEANUTS® T-shirt featuring Snoopy as the coolest beagle in town, Joe Cool (while supplies last). Those who come to give during the month of April will automatically be entered for a chance to win a three-night trip for two to Sonoma County, California. This getaway includes flights, hotel, a $1,000 gift card, and special tours of the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Snoopy’s Home Ice, courtesy of Peanuts Worldwide. Upcoming blood donation opportunities in Randolph County include April 4 at Ramseur Wesleyan Church from 2 pm until 6:30 pm; April 7 at the Asheboro Friends Meeting from 2 pm until 6:30 pm; April 12 at the Randolph Senior Adults Association from 10 am until 3 pm; April 13 at Flag Springs United Methodist Church from 2 pm until 6 pm; and April 18 at the YMCA Asheboro Randolph from 2:30 pm until 7 pm. Don’t wait until there’s a crisis to give! Donors of all blood types, especially type-O blood donors and those giving platelets, are needed now to keep the blood supply strong enough to support critical patient care all season long.

Zoo to hold large event for NC Science Festival

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

ASHEBORO — The North Carolina Science Festival is geared for various ages, with several hundred events state-wide during the month of April.

A few of the activities, including one of the largest, will take place at the North Carolina Zoo.

An NC Science Festival event from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on April 15 at the Zoo comes in conjunction with Muddy Sneakers. It’s a joint effort between the festival and Muddy Sneakers, which specializes in outdoor science programming.

More than 500 participants are expected to be in Asheboro for the hands-on, outdoor activities.

“That’s a pretty good-sized

event,” said Erik MacIntosh, community engagement manager for NC Science Festival. “There’s a huge range of events.”

The focus topics of the Zoo event are art and design, science and society, and the environment. Muddy Sneakers is a partner organization with NC Science

Festival.

While festival activities are geared for all ages, many of the themes target families and school-age children, MacIntosh said.

Often, newcomers comprise a good portion of participants in the NC Science Festival’s April

Board of Commissioners approves two economic developments

Cost estimates for renovations for Northwest Human Services Center come in higher than expected

By Ryan Henkel Randolph Record

ASHEBORO — The Randolph County Board of Commissioners met Monday, April 3, with various public hearings and property matters on the agenda.

The first action the board approved was to allow the exchange of property between the Randolph County School Board and the City of Archdale.

“At our last Board of Education meeting, our board declared a piece of property as surplus, but before we can make this exchange with the City of Archdale, we have to give you [the board of commissioners] the first right to this land at either fair market value or a value agreed upon between the board of commissioners and board of education,” said Randolph County Schools Superintendent Dr. Stephen Gainey.

The board also approved the reclassification of two soil and water positions. “We are requesting to reclassify

the Soil and Water Administrator to a Soil and Water Environmental Education and Support Coordinator,” said Soil and Water Department Head Kaitlyn Johnson. “That position would start identifying more educational opportunities in the county and work to provide new educational programs, classroom activities, teacher workshops, and even adult education programs.

“The other position would be transitioning the Environmental Specialist to a Soil and Water Director role. That would still allow us to provide the technical assistance that that position has typically always done as well as just oversight of the office and supervisory functions that are needed to keep the office progressing.”

The board also was presented with the proposed renovation plan by Smith Sinnett Architecture for the Northwest Human Services Center.

In the 15,825 square foot building, the plan lists 14 offices, eight on the upper level and six on the lower, three areas of open office space, a break room, a mailroom, two conference rooms, one training room, and a large multipurpose area with a final cost estimate of $3,120,000.

“When I was reading this, I was glad I was sitting down because we

paid $1.5 million for the building, and I wasn’t thinking that it was going to take twice that to renovate it,” said Vice Chair David Allen.

As such, the board requested for the firm to break the costs down between the two floors and see about having the bottom floor listed as a bid alternate expenditure cost and then for that plan to be brought back before them at a later date.

The board then approved the awarding of a contract to Garanco Construction for the Health Department Renovation Project. According to County Engineer Paxton Arthurs, the base bid for Garanco is $1,975,200 for construction costs, but for all the alternates, the cost would go up to $2,351,500.

The board was then presented with two economic development opportunities, one for Project Spring and the other for the Caraway Speedway.

“[Project Spring] is a Texas-based manufacturing facility that has been in business for several years,” said Economic Development Business Development Director Crystal Gettys. “Their product and their business in sales has been expedited to the point where they feel the need to have a second facility to cover east of the

activities.

“It’s a mix,” MacIntosh said. “Each year, somewhere from a third to half of the participants have never attended a science festival.”

For those introduced to an NC Science Festival event, there are often more hands-on opportunities and a different vibe for students who’ve only encountered science in school classroom settings, MacIntosh said.

The festival day at the Zoo will involve nature stamping, mud painting, and invasive plant jewelry making.

There will be sensory nature hikes offered twice during the day (at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.). Spaces are limited for those, so pre-registration is suggested. This is the second year in a row that NC Zoo is co-hosting an NC Science Festival event. Zoo admission is required.

Later in the month, there are more NC Science Festival events at the Zoo. Those include Homeschool Day on April 25, Creative Creatures on April 28 and 29 (gear for ages up through teenagers), and Neurodivergent Creative Creatures on April 30.

Mississippi. This has been a search for an existing building over the last six months or more across multiple states. They have narrowed that pool down to the top two, and Randolph County is in that top two.”

According to Gettys, the incentive package includes $33,340 over a five-year period, and the state of North Carolina will also provide incentives, including a OneNC grant and a building reuse grant.

The board approved the economic development incentive package following a public hearing.

See COMMISSIONERS, page 2 8 5 2017752016 $1.00

PHOTOS BY PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

Will Republicans find a way to get their way in 2024?

TWELVE OR 13 MONTHS from now, the race for the Republican nomination for president -- and the race for the Democratic nomination, if there is one — will probably be over.

Prognostications this far ahead of such contests have a sad history.

Just ask Rudy Giuliani or Jeb Bush what it felt like when the balloon drop started after their acceptance speeches.

History and current polling suggest the majority of voters who don’t want to elect either of these two almost-alwaysnegatively-rated presidents may find a way to get their way.

Nevertheless, something can be said about what looks to be a contest between former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (RFL). The history of primary contests, since they became the dominant means of choosing presidential nominees in 1972, provides some perspective.

Early on, the Democratic Party often had multicandidate brawls that produced surprise nominees such as George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton. Meanwhile, the Republican primaries featured one-on-one contests between nationally known contenders — Gerald Ford versus Ronald Reagan in 1976, George H.W. Bush versus Bob Dole in 1988 and George W. Bush versus John McCain in 2000.

Since 2000, that pattern has usually been reversed. Democrats had one-on-one races in 2008 and 2016 and quickly settled on one among multiple candidates in 2004 and 2020. Republicans, meanwhile, had multicandidate brawls in 2008, 2012 and, with a field too large for a single debate stage, 2016.

This change reflects a change in the parties. In the 1970s, Democrats held majorities in most state legislatures and had many more primary voters and tended to set the rules and schedule. Now, Republicans have more legislatures and about as large and rowdy a primary electorate. Next year, Democrats may renominate their incumbent president, as they did in 1996 and 2012, while Republicans will probably, despite the announced candidacy of former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), be headed to a two-candidate race.

Past contests suggest what this will look like. Republicans’ multicandidate races in 2008 and 2012 quickly boiled down to twocandidate runoff jousts. These pitted candidates (McCain, Mitt Romney) who carried counties in major metropolitan areas, where Republican primary voters tend to be college graduates, against candidates (Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum) who carried counties outside major metro areas, where most Republican primary voters are not college graduates.

This was a forecast that few analysts (including me) recognized, of the split between white college graduates and nongraduates, who voted similarly in general elections up through 2012 but have responded sharply differently to Trump in 2016 and every election since.

But the dominance of noncollege white people in Republican

When a trans person murders Christian schoolchildren

THE LEGACY MEDIA have a preset narrative machine when it comes to mass shootings. That narrative machine takes into account the identities of the shooter and the victims, and then churns out an explanation for the shooting. White shooter, black victims: systemic racism. Black shooter, white victims: alienation caused by systemic racism. Muslim shooter, gay victims: Christian homophobia.

A hate crime by a transidentifying person against a religious group is immediately transmuted into a generalized societal crime against the mass shooter herself.

On Monday, a self-identified 28-year-old trans man shot up a Christian school in Nashville, killing three children and three adults. The shooter left a manifesto, which police said reeked of “resentment.” And so this week, we are learning what pops up in the narrative machine when the inputs are “trans man” and “Christian schoolchildren.”

And here’s what pops up: America is systemically cruel to trans people, who apparently cannot be blamed for losing control and targeting small children at Christian schools. A hate crime by a transidentifying person against a religious group is immediately transmuted into a generalized societal crime against the mass shooter herself. Thus, NBC contributor Benjamin Ryan tweeted, “NBC has ID’d the Nashville school shooter... Nashville is home to the Daily Wire, a hub of anti-trans activity by @MattWalshBlog, @BenShapiro and @MichaelJKnowles.” Newsweek tweeted a story titled, “Tennessee Republicans’ ban on drag shows criticized after mass shooting.” ABC News correspondent Terry Moran stated that the shooter “identified herself as a transgender person. The State of Tennessee earlier this month passed and the governor signed a bill that banned transgender medical care for minors...”

In the perverse world of Leftist victimology, this makes sense: If you are a member of a supposedly victimized group, you cannot be the victimizer; there must be another victimizer who has victimized you, turning you back into a victim. But if we truly wish to prevent future acts of violence by unhinged

primaries can be overstated. If McCain and Romney prevailed by only narrow margins over Huckabee and Santorum in primaries in Michigan and Ohio, Trump won the nomination in 2016 with only a 44% plurality of votes in a 16-candidate field.

In the 31 states that voted up through April 5 that year, Trump had significant leads of 4 points or more over the combined totals of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) in only five states (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Ohio and Arizona). If you add in the votes for John Kasich, whose John Weaver-managed campaign pitched its appeal to the kind of Republican voters who dislike Republican voters, the list narrows down to just Massachusetts and Mississippi.

All of which suggests that DeSantis could compete successfully with Trump in the bulk of primaries and amass delegate totals to withstand Trump’s strength in states such as New York and West Virginia, whose primaries come later — much as the delegate strength Barack Obama built up in February 2008 enabled him to withstand the grueling fourmonth marathon with Hillary Clinton that followed.

This is in line with such multicandidate polling as has been conducted. After the November midterm elections showed backlash against Trump-supported candidates, Trump’s lead over DeSantis dropped to 47% to 29% and is currently 44% to 29%. That number is almost identical to the 45% of votes he received in all 2016 primaries and caucuses.

Interestingly, polls by the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies taken last week show DeSantis leading Trump in Iowa and even with him in New Hampshire, with Trump approximating his 2016 showings in those states. Good DeSantis showings there might winnow the field right away or after Haley’s South Carolina soon after.

Political analysts alert to any turn in opinion have noted that DeSantis’ numbers have sagged a bit in recent weeks. It may be more significant that the universally known Trump fails to win the support of 56% of his party’s voters. And that in head-to-head polls, Trump has usually trailed DeSantis.

Of course, nothing is for sure yet. DeSantis hasn’t even announced he’s running, the primary and caucus schedule is not set, and there’s no guarantee that the 76-year-old Trump or the 80-year-old Biden will be in good health next year. But history and current polling suggest the majority of voters who don’t want to elect either of these two almostalways-negatively-rated presidents may find a way to get their way.

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

lunatics, we ought to utilize a lens other than the lie of victimhood. Instead, we ought to consider the possibility that it is dangerous to promote the idea that mentally ill people ought to be celebrated as political groundbreakers by the legacy media for their symptoms, and simultaneously told that their suicidal ideations are caused by the intolerance of a broader society.

According to a recent 2022 study, “Transgender and gender-diverse youth emerge as the group at the highest risk of support for violent radicalization.” Teaching trans-identifying people that their suffering is caused by a cruelly religious and patriarchal world, explaining that these forces put their very lives in danger — that, indeed, they are victims of a potential “genocide” — creates an incredibly dangerous ideological predicate for violent action.

But the legacy media, by and large, support that narrative. To admit the obvious — that men cannot be women and vice versa; that believing you were born “in the wrong body” is a mental disorder, not a weapon to be used in tearing down an unjust society; that high rates of depression and suicidal ideation among those who identify as transgender is not caused predominantly by societal intolerance but by the disorder itself — undermines the new civil rights crusade the Left has built, directed against traditional roles and institutions.

And so the new narrative must be maintained. A woman who shot to death six people including three children in cold blood must be recast as a victim of society. We must respect “his” pronouns even as we report “his” murders. We must blame those who truly cause pain in the world: those who disagree with the thought leaders in our legacy media, who know better than all the common sense, biology and tradition in the world.

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

Ben Shapiro, 39, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+.

COLUMN | BEN SHAPIRO

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Marquette’s Smart

voted men’s AP coach of the year

Indianapolis

Shaka Smart was voted the AP men’s basketball coach of the year after leading Marquette to regular season and Big East Tournament titles. He received 24 of 58 votes from a national panel to beat out Kansas State coach Jerome Tang, who had 13 votes, and Kelvin Sampson of Houston, who received 10. The voting began with the conclusion of the regular season and closed before the start of the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles were a No. 2 seed and lost in the second round to Michigan State.

HOCKEY

Son of Flyers GM dismissed from Mercyhurst team

Erie, Pa.

The son of Philadelphia Flyers interim general manager

Danny Briere has been dismissed from the Mercyhurst University men’s hockey team after a video showed him and another athlete at the school pushing an unoccupied wheelchair down a staircase.

Mercyhurst posted on Twitter that Carson Briere “has been removed” from the team. The school said it cannot comment further on the situation.

Police in Erie filed charges of criminal mischief, criminal conspiracy to commit mischief and disorderly conduct against Carson Briere last month. He was also dismissed from Arizona State’s hockey club in 2019 for what the school called a violation of team rules.

MLB Rangers’ Smith goes to hospital after hit in face with pitch

Arlington, Texas

Texas outfielder Josh Smith was taken to a hospital after being hit in his face by a pitch in the Rangers’ game Monday against the Orioles. The lefthanded hitter was struck on the right side of his face in the third inning by a 1-0 slider from reliever Danny Coulombo. The Rangers said Smith went to a hospital for testing on his face and jaw. Coulombo was pitching because Orioles starter Kyle Bradish left after being hit on his right foot by a line drive in the second inning. Baltimore announced Bradish had a bruised foot.

SPORTS

Hendrick wins again as Larson claims victory at Richmond

The 2021 champion claimed his 20th career win

The Associated Press

KYLE LARSON spent the week watching videos of his 10-win, 2021 championship season, he said, “to remind myself that I used to be good.”

He still is. Larson pulled away on a restart with 14 laps to go and easily won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway on Sunday.

“I just really wanted to look at old tape of myself and see where my mindset was and to see my confidence,” Larson said after his 20th career victory in NASCAR’s top series.

Larson started the final green flag run with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry to his outside and beat Berry into the first turn. Berry, who is filling in for the injured Chase Elliott, held on for second, followed by Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Kevin Harvick.

It’s the third victory of the sea-

son for the four-car Hendrick team and came less than a week after a 100-point penalty against each driver for using an illegal part was overturned by a NASCAR appeals panel. It also came with a fill-in crew chief in Kevin Meendering because the appeals panel upheld the four-race suspensions of all four team crew chiefs.

“I was just happy to fill a gap and help those guys out in a tough situation,” Meendering said. “This is a testament to all the hard work but those guys on that team and to Hendrick Motorsports,” Chevrolet took the top three spots and has now won five of the seven races this season.

All the Hendrick cars except for Berry ran in contention all race, with William Byron, the only twotime winner this season, leading a race-high 117 laps and running fourth for a restart with 21 laps to go. The field bunched up heading into Turn 1, and Bell hit his left rear quarter panel, sending Byron spinning into the wall. He finished 24th.

“It looked like the 1 (Chastain) was inside the 20 (Bell) and the

20 overcooked the corner, had the fronts locked up and nailed us in the left rear,” Byron said. “It is what it is. I had a great race car.”

Bell said he was trying to keep Chastain at bay.

“I tried to protect from him going to the inside and he still made it three-wide there at the last minute and there wasn’t enough room,” he said.

The cars never got on the track on Saturday because of rain, leading NASCAR to give them an extra set of tires, and even then, teams pitted for lightly used scuffs for the final green flag run. That paid off big for Berry and Michael McDowell, who stayed on the track during the previous green flag stop, then

title game

Thirty-seven personal fouls were called in the NCAA championship game between LSU and Iowa

The Associated Press

DALLAS — Iowa star Caitlin Clark was whistled for a technical foul late in the third quarter with her team trailing LSU by nine points in the NCAA championship game. The bigger problem for the Hawkeyes was the call meant a fourth personal foul for the junior scoring sensation, moments after front court leader Monika Czinano had picked up her fourth.

Clark never fouled out, while Czinano and fellow senior McKenna Warnock did as Iowa never made a serious run in the fourth

quarter of a 102-85 loss to the Tigers on Sunday.

The second and third fouls against Clark were both for pushoffs about three minutes apart in the second quarter, when The Associated Press Player of the Year was trying to dribble around defenders.

The latter sent her to the bench for the final 3:26 of the first half with the Hawkeyes down 11, and she left the game again after the technical with 1:04 remaining in the third.

“I thought they called it very, very tight,” said Clark, who scored 30 points. “I don’t know about the two push-offs in the second quarter. I thought all I could do is respond and come back out there and keep fighting and keep trying to help this team crawl back into the game.” In a pool report, lead official Lisa

Jones said the technical came when Clark didn’t pass the ball to an official after the Hawkeyes had been given a delay-of-game warning for batting the ball away after a made basket earlier in the third quarter.

Clark’s tech was among 37 personal fouls. It wasn’t a championship game record and was 15 fewer than a first-round game this year between James Madison and Ohio State.

Social media just made it seem like an all-time record, with the

got the caution that made it pay off.

“Everybody on the team made some great calls,” Berry said. “I’m so glad they tried something different there at the end to just get us up front.”

McDowell turned it into a sixthplace finish. Todd Gilliland, the third driver who stayed on the track, turned in a 15th-place finish.

“Our car was really good on the long run and I think we were gonna be 15th or 16th, so you might as well go for it and see if you can’t come up with something good and it worked out,” McDowell said.

The second of three straight short track events comes next Sunday night on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway.

cascade of comments that officials were becoming the story by taking the stars out of the game. Czinano didn’t want to go there after the game. “I don’t really think that’s a great question for me to answer honestly,” Czinano said. “We can’t live in the past. All we can do is live in the moment. That game happened. Those calls were called. Going forward, we’ll see what people decide what to do about it.”

LSU’s Angel Reese sat for a long stretch of the first half after picking up two fouls. Czinano and Warnock had two fouls at halftime, and both had four entering the fourth quarter. Czinano fouled out with 6:25 remaining and the Hawkeyes trailing by 14. She had 13 points in a postseason-low 22 minutes.

“It’s very frustrating because I feel like I can’t talk to them,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “They won’t even listen. When your two seniors have to sit on the bench — they don’t know they’re seniors. I get it. But those two women didn’t deserve it. And then Caitlin getting a ‘T.’ I don’t know. It’s too bad.”

AP PHOTO

Kyle Larson celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.

Clark tech, foul count put focus on officials in women’s

“I thought they called it very, very tight.”

Caitlyn Clark, Iowa guard

Homers highlight baseball action; Cougars stay unbeaten in softball

Randolph Record

HOME RUNS proved big for several Randolph County baseball teams last week.

Austin Lemons homered in Randleman’s 11-6 home victory against Uwharrie Charter Academy in the Piedmont Athletic Conference. Troy Carver homered for UCA.

In the rematch, Lemons struck out 14 in a complete game as the Tigers won 5-0 on the road. Caleb Dunn supplied three hits, and John Kirkpatrick drove in two runs. In between those games, Dunn homered in Randleman’s 5-2 home victory against Southeast Guilford.

Randleman is playing this week in a tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

• Southwestern Randolph’s Adam Cole and Tyler Parks homered in both PAC games against Eastern Randolph.

In the first meeting, Eastern Randolph routed host Southwestern Randolph 14-5 as Ethan Frye scored three runs. The Cougars got revenge with Friday’s 11-0 road whipping, aided by Jonah Campbell’s seven-hitter with nine strikeouts.

• Trinity and Providence Grove also split PAC meetings.

Trinity won 7-2 at home, with Cade Hill knocking in three runs and Jake Little homering.

Providence Grove avenged the loss with Friday’s 10-3 home result behind Andrew Canter’s six innings of work on the mound without giving up an earned run, and Jayten Beasley’s three runs batted in. Trinity’s Jacob Proctor had a two-run homer among his three hits.

• Asheboro’s Davis Gore had a two-run home run in Asheboro’s 15-8 non-conference triumph at Southwestern Randolph. Tanner Marsh helped the Blue Comets with three hits, including a pair of doubles, and scoring three runs, and Amare Godwin drove in four runs. Josh Meadows smashed a three-run homer, and Marsh belted a two-run shot in Asheboro’s 6-3 home victory against Central Davidson in Mid-Piedmont Conference action.

• Wheatmore upended host

Central Davidson 7-1, with Parker Kines working six innings without permitting an earned run in the non-league matchup.

Softball

Southwestern Randolph moved

to 11-0 overall going into spring break.

The Cougars are more than halfway through their Piedmont Athletic Conference schedule with a 7-0 league mark. Next week, they have a home rematch with defending PAC champion Providence Grove.

Southwestern Randolph topped Uwharrie Charter Academy 4-3, with Carleigh Whitson and Maddie Varner both driving in two runs in their first game of last week.

When Southwestern Randolph flattened host Asheboro 14-0, Ky Perdue had two triples and scored two runs. Alyssa Harris was the winning pitcher with nine strikeouts in the five-inning game.

The Cougars capped another perfect week by winning 19-0 at Trinity in three innings.

Southwestern Randolph is off until April 11, when it takes on second-place and defending PAC champion Providence Grove at home.

• Eastern Randolph edged host Providence Grove 4-3, with Skylar Pugh holding the Patriots to one earned run. Providence Grove’s Emma Mazzarone homered and struck out 10 batters.

In Eastern Randolph’s 2-1 non-conference escape at Northern Guilford, Addie Flinchum recorded 14 strikeouts with two walks.

Then the Wildcats won again by defeating visiting Randleman 9-4, with Ziera Watson driving in three runs and posting three hits. Pugh

Mazzarone maintains rapid rate of strikeouts for Patriots

Providence Grove senior pitcher holds dominating form

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

CLIMAX — Emma Mazzarone doesn’t mind the workload that comes with being Providence Grove’s ace softball pitcher.

She keeps on striking out batters at a staggering rate.

“Before every game, I’ll try not to put a number in my head,” Mazzarone said of strikeout totals. “I try to pitch to certain batters to strike them out. And if they get a hit, more power to them. I’m really just focused on what I’m going to pitch to each and every batter in the lineup and what they have.”

Mazzarone is in her final season for the Patriots before she goes on to play collegiately for Virginia Tech.

For Providence Grove coach Tim Brown, he remembered years ago coming across Mazzarone. She was barely in youth leagues at the time.

“She told me, ‘I’m going to pitch for you.’ ” he said.

Sure enough, she has logged so many innings in the past couple of years that she became a fixture in the circle. The Patriots went through the regular season undefeated last year, and they’re off to another good start this year.

Mazzarone struck out a state-leading 364 batters in 2022. That comes with a lot of innings.

“Last year, I would throw a full seven innings,” she said. “I have to

Lanie McDaniel

struck out 14 and walked four.

• Providence Grove got back on track in a 17-1 pounding of visiting Trinity as Ruby Caudle struck out 11. Then the Patriots returned to PAC play, and Mazzarone homered twice and tripled while throwing a five-inning no-hitter with 15 strikeouts at Wheatmore. She walked one while facing 17 total batters.

• Wheatmore’s Carmen Turgeon struck out 13 in five innings of a 13-0 blistering of visiting Trinity. Wheatmore had a different type of game with a 12-10 non-conference victory in nine innings at Southeast Guilford. The Warriors posted eight runs in the seventh inning,

• Uwharrie Charter Academy fell 10-9 at North Stanly despite Molly Bulla’s homer and double.

Girls’ soccer

Undefeated Wheatmore had a rare close game with last week’s 1-0 victory at North Davidson on Summer Bowman’s goal.

In 11 games, that’s the only outcome decided by fewer than six goals.

Then the Warriors won 9-0 at Southwestern Randolph and 9-0 against visiting Gray Stone Day School.

Southwestern Randolph was on both ends of nine-goal margins. The Cougars defeated host Eastern Randolph 10-1 behind Macy Allred’s four goals. Two nights later came the loss to Wheatmore.

Brown said. “We only have to make four or five plays a game.”

Mazzarone, who can appear imposing even at 5-foot-11 in the circle, said she hasn’t stopped her pursuit to improve. She knows the competition is aiming to solve her pitching.

“Every girl in Randolph County, I’ve played with for at least one season somewhere. Even in travel ball or practice,” she said. “So I know most of them, and they know me. … I went to a lesson and changed a few things. I’m just trying to get better spin-wise and location-wise.”

She has nine complete games in 11 pitching appearances this year, recording 160 strikeouts in 72 innings – or more than two strikeout victims per inning. She has issued 21 walks and allowed seven earned runs.

Early in the recruiting process, she said college coaches seemed most interested in what she could do at the plate. The pitching dominance became too much to ignore.

Mazzarone, 17, is a major threat at the plate, even though she’s constantly assessing what she can do better with the bat.

“Hitting is not there for me right now,” she said earlier this season. “I’m trying some different stuff out and working on a few different things to just better myself. We’ll get it figured out.”

Eastern Randolph, softball

Eastern Randolph carried a four-game winning streak into spring break, and McDaniel did her part.

Posting two hits in a Piedmont Athletic Conference victory against Randleman was among her contributions.

McDaniel, a senior infielder, also drove in two runs in the Randleman game. She had a hit and scored a run in a 2-1 victory at Northern Guilford. She also scored in a one-run decision against Providence Grove.

With six doubles and 13 runs batted in, she’s among the team leaders in several offensive categories.

McDaniel was an All-PAC girls’ golfer in the fall.

York, Dalton split wins in Late Models

Randolph Record

SOPHIA — Two-time Caraway Speedway champion Jason York of Reidsville led the entire race to win the first of two 35lap features in the Late Models division Saturday night at the track. York was the fastest qualifier.

In Challengers, Enoch McNeill won both 20-lap races. Kyler Kepley led for 14 laps in the second race, but McNeill eventually moved up from the sixth position.

In Legends cars, London McKenzie prevailed in the first 25-lap competition.

have a lot of arm care. It’s just mentally tough at first. I have it physically right now. I just have to keep my mental game straight to play three games a week.”

Mazzarone makes multiple visits a week to Athletic Training & Conditioning in Asheboro to help keep her arm in pitching shape.

Double-figure strikeout totals from Mazzarone are the norm. That works out well for Providence Grove’s fielders. “It makes the defense easier,”

Midway through the regular season, she’s batting a team-leading .531 with four home runs and 12 total extra-base hits.

Mazzarone, who was an All-Piedmont Athletic Conference player in volleyball, plays center field in the rare cases when she’s not pitching. It helps the Patriots having her in the lineup to go with what she normally has done with firing pitches past opposing batters.

“She’s a treasure,” Brown said.

Boo Boo Dalton of Liberty ended up in the sixth-place spot in the first Late Models feature, but he was in first place in the division’s second race. York was second in that race. Dalton was the second-fastest qualifier and won the division’s first race of the year.

Brian Rose was second in the first feature and third in the second race.

In Modifieds, Mitchell Wright was the winner of the first 20-lapper, and Billy Gregg gained the checkered flag in the second feature.

In UCARs, Daniel Hughes and Steven Collins were winners of 10-lap features. Collins was runner-up in the division’s first race of the night.

In the 10-lap Bootleggers, Jon Morton won a pair of races. There were two 10-lap events in Caraway Stocks, with Tommy Raino winning both of those.

In Bandoleros, Bryson Brinkley was the winner across 20 laps.

The next night of racing in the regular division at the speedway comes April 15. Plus, Southern Ground Pounders also will be part of the card.

RANDOLPH RECORD FILE PHOTO

Wheatmore’s Summer Bowman, shown here during the 2022 postseason, continues to be a force on the school’s girls’ soccer team.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL Lanie McDaniel takes a swing for Eastern Randolph’s softball team earlier this season.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL Emma Mazzarone of Providence Grove fires a pitch earlier this season.

COURTESY PHOTO

Jason York holds the checkered flag after winning one of the Late Models features Saturday night at Caraway Speedway.

Poll: Cut federal spending — but not big-ticket programs

The Associated Press

IN THE FEDERAL budget standoff, the majority of U.S. adults are asking lawmakers to pull off the impossible: Cut the overall size of government, but also devote more money to the most popular and expensive programs.

Six in 10 U.S. adults say the government spends too much money. But majorities also favor more funding for infrastructure, health care and Social Security — the kind of commitments that would make efforts to shrink the government unworkable and politically risky ahead of the 2024 elections.

These findings from a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research show just how messy the financial tug-of-war between President Joe Biden and House Republicans could be. At stake is the full faith and credit of the federal government, which could default on its obligations unless there is a deal this summer to raise or suspend the limit on the government’s borrowing authority.

The new poll finds U.S. adults are closely divided over whether they want to see a bigger government offering more services or a smaller government offering fewer services. But a clear majority — 60% — say they think government is spending too much alto

gether. Just 16% say the government is spending too little, while 22% say spending levels are about right.

U.S. adults were previously less supportive of spending cuts, a possible sign of how the pandemic and a historic burst of aid to address it have reshaped politics. Compared with 60% now, 37% called for spending cuts in February 2020, as COVID-19 was beginning to spread throughout the U.S. By May, even fewer, 25%, wanted less spending, after the virus had forced major disruptions to public life, the economy and the health care system.

Inflation jumped as the U.S. economy recovered from the pandemic. GOP lawmakers have blamed Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package for rising prices as they’ve pushed for spending cuts, while the president says inflation reflects global factors involving supply chains and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Federal expenditures are expected to be equal in size to roughly 24% of all U.S. economic activity for the next several years, a figure that will likely grow as an aging population leads to more spending on Social Security and Medicare. Government spending accounted for just 20.5% of U.S. gross domestic product a decade ago, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Even if a majority of adults desire a tightened budget, the challenge for lawmakers trying to hash out an agreement is that the public also wants higher spending on a wide range of programs. While Biden rolled out a budget that would trim deficits largely through tax increases on the wealthy, GOP lawmakers have struggled so far to gel around a set of spending cuts — and even if they did, the White House is betting that their plan would upset voters.

Roughly 6 in 10 adults say the government is spending too little on education, health care, infrastructure and Social Security, as well as assistance to the poor and Medicare. About half say government is spending too little on border security, child care assistance, drug rehabilitation, the environment and law enforcement.

By comparison, a wide majority — 69% — say the U.S. is spending too much on assistance to other countries. But slashing foreign aid would have almost no impact on the overall size of the government, as it accounts for less than 1% of all federal spending, and major programs such as Social Security and Medicare are causing the government to grow in size over the next decade.

About a third of U.S. adults say spending on the military is too little and nearly as many say it’s too much; an additional third say it’s

about right.

Bipartisan majorities back more spending on infrastructure and Social Security. But wide differences across party lines on other priorities could be a sticking point in budget talks.

Most Republicans say too much is spent on assistance to big cities (65% vs. just 19% of Democrats), and about half say too much is spent on the environment (51% vs. just 6% of Democrats). Republicans are more likely than Democrats to indicate that the military, law enforcement and border security are underfunded. By comparison, far more Democrats say too little is spent on aid for the poor (80% vs. 38% of Republicans), the environment (73% vs. 21% of Republicans), child care assistance

(71% vs. 34% of Republicans), drug rehabilitation (67% vs. 36% of Republicans), and scientific research (54% vs. 24% of Republicans).

There is also a generational breakdown in terms of priorities. Young adults are more likely than older adults to say too little is spent on the environment and assistance to big cities, while more older adults say too little is spent on infrastructure, the military, law enforcement and border security. Young adults are especially likely to think too much is spent in those areas.

For those between the ages of 30-44, who are especially likely to have school-age children, there is a desire for the government to spend more on education.

Immigration reform stalled decade after Gang of 8’s big push

The Associated Press

MIAMI — Ten years ago this month, Sen. Chuck Schumer declared, “We all know that our immigration system is broken, and it’s time to get to work on fixing it.”

Sen. John McCain quoted Winston Churchill. But it was Lindsey Graham who offered the boldest prediction.

“I think 2013 is the year of immigration reform,” the South Carolina Republican said.

It wasn’t. And neither has any year since those “Gang of Eight” senators from both parties gathered in a Washington auditorium to offer hopeful pronouncements.

In fact, today’s political landscape has shifted so dramatically that immigrant advocates and top architects of key policies over the years fear that any hope of an immigration overhaul seems further away than ever.

“There are big questions about whether or not anything in the immigration family — anything at all — has the votes to pass,” said Cecilia Muñoz, who served as President Barack Obama’s top immigration adviser and was a senior member of Joe Biden’s transition team before he entered the White House.

The last extensive package came under President Ronald Reagan in 1986, and President George H.W. Bush signed a more limited effort

four years later. That means federal agents guarding the border today with tools like drones and artificial intelligence are enforcing laws written back when cellphones and the internet were novelties. Laying the problem bare in the deadliest of terms was a fire last month at a detention center on the Mexican side of the border that killed 39 migrants.

Congress came the closest to a breakthrough on immigration in 2013 with the Gang of Eight,

which included Schumer, a New York Democrat who is now Senate majority leader, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Their proposal cleared the Senate that June and sought a pathway to citizenship for millions of people in the country illegally and expanded work visas while tightening border security and mandating that employers verify workers’ legal status.

Democrats cheered a modernized approach to immigration. Republicans were looking for good-

will within the Latino community after Obama enjoyed strong support from Hispanic voters while being reelected in 2012.

Prominent supporters of the proposal were as diverse as the powerful AFL-CIO labor union and the pro-business U.S. Chamber of Commerce. There was more momentum than there had been for large immigration changes that fizzled in 2006 and 2007 under President George W. Bush.

Still, Republican House Speaker John Boehner gauged support for the Gang of Eight bill in the GOP-controlled chamber in January 2014 and said too many lawmakers distrusted the Obama administration. By that summer, the bill was dead.

Obama then created a program protecting from deportation migrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children. The Supreme Court has previously upheld it, but the court’s relatively recent 6-3 conservative majority could pose longterm threats.

Years after the creation of Obama’s program, President Donald Trump called for walling off all of the nation’s 2,000-mile southern border, and his administration separated migrant children from their parents and made migrants wait in Mexico while seeking U.S. asylum.

Biden endorsed a sweeping im-

migration package on his Inauguration Day, but it went nowhere in Congress. His administration has since loosened some Trump immigration policies and tightened others, even as his party has seen Republican support rise among Hispanic voters. Officials have continued to enforce Title 42 pandemic-era health restrictions that allowed for migrants seeking U.S. asylum to be quickly expelled, though they are set to expire May 11. The Biden White House is also considering placing migrant families in detention centers while they wait for their asylum cases, something the Obama and Trump administrations did.

Gil Kerlikowske, who was commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under Obama, said “a lot of things are coming together at once,” including Title 42 possibly ending, a spike in the number of South American migrants crossing through the treacherous rainforests of the Darian Gap between Colombia and Panama, and a 2024 presidential election ratcheting up the political pressure.

“Two and a half years into the administration, there really hasn’t been any announcement of what is our immigration policy,” Kerlikowske said. “Getting laws passed is almost impossible. But what’s been the policy?”

AP PHOTO

A view of the White House grounds during a press preview for the White House 2023 Spring Garden Tours, Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Washington, D.C.

AP PHOTO

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., center, speaks of immigration reform legislation outlined by the Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Eight” that would create a path for the nation’s 11 million unauthorized immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship, April 18, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Barry Poole

June 29, 1955 — April 3, 2023

Barry Dale Poole, age 67, died Monday, April 3, 2023, at his home in Asheboro.

Barry was born June 29, 1955, in Asheboro to Lindley Clay and Janie Lee Poole.

Barry loved sports, he played baseball and football in High School and played football for a short time in college. He enjoyed racing cars at Caraway Speedway and was track champion in 1991. He enjoyed golf, being outside and could talk to anyone and loved to make others laugh.

He is survived by his: wife: Pamela Cooper Poole, daughter: Leah Poole of Asheboro, sister: Debra Hill (Harold) of Asheboro, 2 granddaughters: Karsyn Poole and Lalia Tew.

Jack "Jay" Lanny Greene

March 9, 1981 — April 2, 2023

Jack Lanny "Jay" Greene, Jr. died Sunday, April 2, 2023. Jay was born March 9, 1981 to Jack “Lanny” Greene Sr., and JoAnn Cole.

Jay was employed with Guy M. Turner. He enjoyed fishing, shooting guns and enjoyed making other people laugh. Jay had a great love for his children and his family.

Jay is survived by his sons, Jackson Greene, Evan Greene; daughter, Valerie Greene; parents, JoAnn and Tommy Cole, father, Jack "Lanny" Greene; brother, Rick Gordon; sisters, Tana Dunlap, Kim Nelson; stepson, Ayden Adams, and fiancé Donnell Kulick; grandparents, Grady and Addie Rouse, J. B. and Lillian Greene; uncle, Mark Greene.

Jay is preceded in death by his grandparents, Grady Rouse and Addie Sheffield, and JB and Lillian Greene.

Guy Edward York

May 8, 1936 — March 29, 2023

Guy Edward York, age 86, of Asheboro passed away on Wednesday, March 29, 2023 at Terra Bella Assisted Living in Asheboro.

Mr. York was born in Moore County on May 8, 1936 to Guy Hampton York and Ada Newsom York. He retired from Centel Telephone Company, and following retirement, was employed with J.M. Holt Construction in Graham. Guy was a member of La Luz de Cristo United Methodist Church in Asheboro. In addition to his parents, Guy was preceded in death by his siblings, Helen King, Millie Robbins, Marvin York, Vaughn York, and Larry York. Guy loved spending time with his grandchildren, his time at Lake Tillery, and woodworking. He loved his fur baby, Danny.

He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Nancy Hall York; daughters, Lisa Bennett (Dean) and Julie Bass (Jon); grandchildren, Garrett, Korey, and Abbie Bennett, Brittany and Zachary Tate, Sammy, Jon Michael (Emily), and Matt Bass; and 6 great grandchildren.

R. Wendell Holland, Jr.

June 14, 1938 — March 25, 2023

R. Wendell Holland, Jr., passed away peacefully at his home with his family by his side on March 25, 2023. He was born in Raleigh, NC on June 14, 1938, the fifth child of Rae and Alberta Holland, who predeceased him, along with his brother, Harry L. Holland, (Margaret); and sisters, Jean Carolyn H. King (Ed) and Bonnie H. Atkins. He is survived by his sister, Nancy H. Strother (John LaVerne) of Knightdale, NC, along with many of his cousins, nieces and nephews.

Immediately surviving are his beloved and faithful wife of 59 years, Velvie Ellis Holland; daughter, Wendy H. Burroughs (Rusty) of Matthews, NC; son Christopher E. Holland (Laura) of Asheboro, NC; grandson, Adam C. Holland, Mooresville, NC; granddaughters, Ashley J. Holland, Phoenix, AZ; and Cameron L. Burroughs, Greer, SC. He was a devoted husband, father and Papa. He loved his grandchildren and cherished the time spent with them. He was proud and supportive of their accomplishments and their growth as adults.

Wendell graduated in 1956 from Cary High School, Cary, NC; attended Mars Hill College; graduated in 1962 from Atlantic Christian College (now Barton University) Wilson, NC, with a bachelor of arts degree in business administration and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity.

Wendell served in the N.C. Army National Guard and was honorably discharged in 1965.

Mr. Holland began his career with the NC Banking Department as a bank examiner. From there he transitioned to mortgage banking with Cameron Brown Company in Raleigh, NC and other banking institutes in Charleston SC; Knoxville, TN; Columbia, SC; and Asheboro, NC.

Upon moving to Asheboro he made a fulfilling career change to the City of Asheboro Planning and Zoning Department, retiring in 2011 after 23 years of service.

Charles Lee Needham

November 23, 1948 — March 28, 2023

Charles Lee Needham, age 74, of Asheboro passed away on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at the Randolph Hospice House.

Mr. Needham was born in Randolph County on November 23, 1948. Charles was formerly employed with Midstate Plastics. He volunteered with the Seagrove Fire Department from 19722023, retiring in 2008 as Fire Chief and continued serving as a board member until his death. He was a member of Cornerstone Church in Seagrove. Charles was preceded in death by his parents, Egbert Needham and Lucille Johnson, his wife of 34 years, Sandra Needham, and his sister, Betty Floyd. Charles loved being a firefighter, helping his community, and had a big hand in the Randolph County Fire Service. Charles enjoyed spending time with his family and hunting and fishing.

He is survived by his son, Bernard Needham (Terri); grandchildren, Zachary and Corey Needham; siblings, Edna Pierce (Gene), Steve Johnson (Elsie), Carl Wright (Kathy), Pam Purvis (Randy), Phyllis Marion (Charles), Patricia Needham, and Donna Pribble (Steve); sister-inlaw, Brenda Edwards (Clinton), and several nieces and nephews.

Frances Wakefield Mendenhall

May 30, 1926 — March 29, 2023

Frances Clayton Wakefield Mendenhall, 96, of Siler City, passed away Wednesday, March 29, 2023.

Mrs. Mendenhall was born in Greensboro on May 30, 1926, the only child of Thomas Henry and Mae McPherson Wakefield. She spent her childhood years living in Greensboro and Los Angeles, California. She moved to Siler City in 1942 and attended Siler City High School for 1 year before graduating. On January 25, 1947 she married the love of her life, Ivan. She was an office manager at Chatham Grocery Company for over 30 years. Frances was a member of Piney Grove Methodist Church, where she held numerous offices. She was the oldest member, and a member of the adult Sunday School Class and was responsible for the annual f ried chicken supper. Quilting was one of Mrs. Mendenhall’s passions, she was a member of the NC Quilters Association. She was the creator of many quilts to be auctioned off at the yearly Harvest Auction at Piney Grove Methodist Church. She attended many quilting workshops and events, even going as far away as Houston, Texas. Her two favorite things in life were going Monday morning quilting with “the girls” and sitting on the front porch of her beach house on Oak Island.

In addition to her parents, Frances is preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, Ivan B. Mendenhall.

She is survived by her son, Larry Mendenhall and wife, Dottie of Greensboro; daughter, Cindy Mendenhall Davis of Siler City; grandchildren, Scott Mendenhall and wife Kelly of Greensboro, Mark Mendenhall and wife Beth of Wilmington, Mitchell Davis and Erin Poe of Siler City; great grandchildren, Piper and Jack Thomas Mendenhall, Chloe and Keegan Mendenhall, and Adelyn and Ember Davis; and special neighbors Fred and Janet Langley.

Martha Phillips Schumacher

August 17, 1936 — March 26, 2023

Martha Vernon Phillips Schumacher passed away March 26th, 2023. Born on August 17, 1936, she was the only child of her kind and devoted parents, Hamby Vernon Phillips and Lillie Trogdon Phillips. She considered herself truly blessed to have parents and grandparents that showered her with love and were such strong examples of Christ until God called them home.

Martha graduated from Mars Hill College and Cum Laud from Appalachian State Teacher College, now Appalachian State University. She taught school for 32 years at Winston Salem Forsyth County and Asheboro City Schools.

She looked forward to each summer having all the family together at North Myrtle Beach. She loved her morning coffee watching waves roll in.

Martha said “When you have the dearest of children and the most wonderful grandchildren and great-grandchildren, you have everything you need to bring you happiness.”

Martha is survived by her son, David Hamby Schumacher and wife Tammy of Lantana, Texas and their children Christian Davis Schumacher and Carson Hamby Schumacher, her daughter, Diane Schumacher Wooldridge and husband David (Bubba) of Arlington, Texas and their children Charles Phillips Wooldridge and Bragen Turner Wooldridge, Alicia Noe and great-grandchildren Brixton David Wooldridge and Poppy Carolina Wooldridge.

James "Earl" Womble

January 28, 1935 — March 31, 2023

James “Earl” Womble, who was known by everyone as Earl, 88, of Siler City, passed away Friday, March 31, 2023.

Mr. Womble was born in Chatham County on January 28, 1935, son of James Alec and Nannie Hart Womble. He was a member of Pleasant Grove Christian Church. He served his country in the Army. Earl was a T.V. repairman then later he retired from Mastercraft in Siler City. He was a dedicated husband to his loving wife of 62 years, Louise Brown Womble. He was always making sure she had everything she needed such as her mints. He would happily deliver them to her at the Coventry House. His favorite hobby was spending time outside working in his yard. Earl Also cherished every minute he spent with his beloved grandson Forrest.

In addition to his parents, James is preceded in death by his brothers, Melvin and Bryant Womble; and son-in-law, Tommy McNeill.

He is survived by his wife, Louise Brown Womble; daughter, Sandra McNeill of Asheboro; grandson, Forrest T. McNeill of Asheboro; brothers-in-law, Frank Brown and wife, Sylvia of Siler City, Richard Brown and wife, Anne of Pittsboro, Bobby Brown and wife, Sherry of Bennett and Jimmy Brown and wife, Pam of Raleigh; sister-in-law, Rachel Womble of Siler City; and many nieces and nephews.

Carolyn Andrew Cotner

January 4, 1940 — March 31, 2023

Carolyn Louise Andrew Cotner, 83, of Siler City, passed away Friday, March 31, 2023.

Mrs. Cotner was born in Chatham County on January 4, 1940, daughter of AJ and Ruby Willette Andrew. She was a member of Rocky River Friends. She worked for several years at Sears in the credit department, she went on to work for many more years as an insurance clerk at a local doctor’s office. Couponing and selling the produce that her husband grew were her favorite hobbies. She loved her family dearly but especially her great grandchildren.

In addition to her parents, Carolyn is preceded in death by her son James Owen “Jimmy” Cotner.

She is survived by her loving husband of 64 years, Thomas Cotner; daughter, Debbie Chriscoe and husband, James of Siler City; grandchildren, Riley Culberson and wife, Candace of Siler City, Ricky Culberson and wife Rebecca of Goldston, and Janice Chriscoe of Siler City; great grandchildren, Haley, Owen, and Lane Culberson; sisters, Kay Ellison and husband, Jim of Asheboro, and Ruth Underwood of Burlington; sisterin-law, Mary Alice Cox of Siler City.

Preceded in death are her parents, Mr. & Mrs. H.V. Phillips, wonderful grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. S.C. Trogdon, and Mr. & Mrs. J.C. Phillips as well as her dear college friend, Martha Webb and family friend, Beth Hall.

Ruth Kidd Dunlap

July 2, 1934 — March 29, 2023

Annie "Ruth" Kidd Dunlap, age 88, of Robbins, passed away peacefully on March 29, 2023.

Ruth was the daughter of Everette and Essie Hill Kidd. Ruth was the widow of Max Dunlap, who passed in 2013. She was a retired farmer and a lifelong member of Bascom Chapel Methodist Church. Ruth enjoyed caring for her neighbors and family. She was known for spoiling Max, keeping a neat house, cooking delicious food, growing lovely flowers and having an incredible work ethic. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

In addition to her parents, Ruth was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Max Dunlap and brother, Eulos Kidd. She is survived by her daughters, Gale (David) Wood, Ellen (Chris) Linton and son, James (Lisa) Dunlap. She is also survived by grandchildren, Seth Dunlap, Brittany Dunlap, Steven Wood, Marie (Emily) Collins, Zach Linton, Bob Linton, Robert Dunlap, and Anna Linton. She is survived by a brother, Charles Kidd and a host of nieces and nephews.

Intensity and insults rise as lawmakers debate debt ceiling

The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fights over increasing the nation’s borrowing authority have been contentious in Congress, yet follow a familiar pattern: Time and again, lawmakers found a way to step back from the brink before markets began to panic and the nation risked a dangerous default on its debt.

But this year’s fight has a different feel, some lawmakers say.

“Very worried. Very worried,” was how Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., a close ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, described his outlook. “And frankly, I don’t see how we get there at this point. There’s no process set up, there’s no dialogue, there’s no discussion.”

The political conditions are comparable to 2011, when a new Republican majority swept into power after a resounding election win and was determined to confront a Democratic White House and extract major spending cuts in return for a debt limit increase. To resolve that stalemate, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed the Budget Control Act. The bill temporarily allowed borrowing to resume, set new spending limits and created a bipartisan “supercommittee” to recommend at least $1.2 trillion more in deficit reduction over 10 years. Republicans and Democrats on the panel failed to compromise, however, triggering automatic reductions in spending.

But some damage was done. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded U.S. debt for the first time that year because it lacked

confidence political leaders would make the choices needed to avert a long-term fiscal crisis. In 2013, Obama took a different tack. He made clear early on there would be no negotiations on mustpass legislation to prevent a U.S. default, and he never wavered.

A partial government shutdown, which began Oct. 1, swiftly coincided with the prospects of a default.

On Oct. 16, Congress passed legislation to end the twin threats and GOP lawmakers who demanded to roll back Obama’s signature health care law got nothing for their efforts. “We fought the good fight.

We just didn’t win,” conceded thenHouse Speaker John Boehner. Republicans say they are determined that Biden, who was Obama’s vice president during both of those debt ceiling battles, will have to follow the path set in 2011 — not the one set in 2013.

Breaching the debt ceiling is different than a federal government shutdown. The government can continue to operate once the Treasury has exhausted its cashon-hand. But outgoing payments would be limited to incoming revenue. Not all payments could be made on time and in full. Many

fear such an event would shake the foundations of the global financial system.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the government may be unable to pay all its bills as soon as June. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told a House panel this week the so-called X Day is likely to occur in mid-August. He said market pressures will likely build after Congress returns from its July 4th recess.

“As we can see from recent events given the banking crisis, the system is very fragile at this point in time,” Zandi said. “Adding the debt lim-

Biden and his 2024 campaign: Waiting for some big decisions

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden has all but announced he’s running for reelection, but key questions about the 2024 campaign are unresolved: Who will manage it? Where will it be based? When will he finally make it official?

Advisers have long said he planned to wait until after March, when the year’s first fundraising period wraps up. That was an effort to help manage expectations because many donors who gave generously to Democratic causes during last fall’s elections were looking for a break.

But an announcement isn’t imminent even now, aides insist, and probably won’t come until at least after Biden returns from an expected trip to Ireland in midApril.

Working on his own timeline could counter Biden’s low approval ratings and questions about his age — the 80-year-old would turn 86 before the end of a second term. It also means Biden won’t be hurried by pressure from former President Donald Trump, who’s already announced his 2024 campaign, or other top Republicans who may enter the race, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former Vice President Mike Pence.

“He’s earned the luxury of making the timetable,” said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist in Washington. “The longer he can keep this thing focused on his duties in the White House, and less

about the campaign back-andforth, the better off he’s going to be.”

It will also be up to Biden to decide where next year’s Democratic National Convention is held among the three finalist cities of Atlanta, Chicago and New York.

Much of the reelection effort will be run from the White House, where Biden’s most senior advisers are expected to remain. Still, the campaign manager and top staff will be responsible for raising vast sums of money, reaching millions of voters and making the case for Biden at Americans’ doors and online while he is still occupied with governing.

One top Biden adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a reelection campaign that hasn’t yet been announced, noted that Biden’s 2020 bid was a $1.7 billion operation and that the effort this time would be larger. The adviser said a key will be finding “validators,” or non-Washington voices who can spread the campaign’s message at a time when many people have lost faith in everything political.

Aides and allies are discussing how to build the appropriate 2024 race infrastructure. The circumstances are different from 2020 for Biden, whose race then was conducted while the country was

largely shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The choice of Biden’s campaign headquarters has been narrowed to Philadelphia, the 2020 location, and Wilmington, Delaware, where his home is and where the president spends many weekends away from the White House. While Biden tends to prefer Delaware on all matters, some top Democrats worry that recruiting top campaign talent to Wilmington will be difficult.

More challenging has been filling the job of campaign manager. Some potential candidates view it as a thankless task, with so much of the decision-making confined to the White House, though the adviser said whomever is ultimately chosen will be empowered with wide latitude to run 2024.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s 2020 campaign manager, is now a deputy White House chief of staff and plans to remain in her job. Many potential candidates have expressed interest in the campaign manager position, but among those on the short list are Julie Chavez Rodriguez, director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and a deputy campaign manager of Biden’s 2020 campaign, and Sam Cornale, executive director of the Democratic National Committee.

Quentin Fulks, campaign manager for Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock’s reelection victory last fall, has been mentioned.

Trump hasn’t named a campaign manager despite announc-

it as an issue for investors would be particularly inopportune.”

He said there would be immediate and long-term consequences from a default.

“I think under any scenario, we would go into recession, it would be severe, financial markets would be upended,” Zandi said.

The focus on the debt limit, now at about $31.4 trillion, intensified with McCarthy sending a letter to Biden warning that his position of not negotiating “could prevent America from meeting its obligations and hold dire ramifications for the entire nation.”

In a formal response, Biden signaled that he would not be willing to meet directly with the speaker until House Republicans released their own budget plan, which he asked McCarthy to do before lawmakers left Washington for the Easter recess.

“As I have repeatedly said, that conversation must be separate from prompt action on the Congress’ basic obligation to pay the Nation’s bills and avoid economic catastrophe,” Biden wrote.

The letters did not appear to generate any progress or good will. Republicans left town without proposing a budget. And McCarthy accused Biden of making the decision to put the economy in jeopardy, while seemingly making a crack about the president’s age.

“I don’t know what more I can do and how easy. I would bring the lunch to the White House. I would make it soft food if that’s what he wants,” McCarthy said, prompting laughter from other Republicans in the room.

ing his candidacy months ago. But others aren’t waiting to staff up.

Republican Nikki Haley, Trump’s U.N. ambassador and a former South Carolina governor, picked Betsy Ankney, executive director of Haley’s Stand for America political action committee, to manager her presidential campaign. The super PAC linked to DeSantis brought on former Trump aide Matt Wolking and strategist Jeff Roe, the architect of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign and Republican Glenn Youngkin winning campaign for Virginia governor in 2021. Even with the unanswered questions about his campaign structure, the outlines of Biden’s pitch to voters are forming.

From the State of the Union address in February to speeches to donors, the president has begun making the case that Americans should let him “finish the job” he started. He’s also tried framing the race as a choice between himself and “MAGA Republicans” who, he argues, will undermine the nation’s core values.

Biden has spent recent months traveling to promote what he sees as his administration’s key policy accomplishments, including a bipartisan public works package, and plans more of the same going forward. That would let him use this year to test political messaging that can best resonate in 2024, aides said.

“He’s not going to win reelection or lose reelection based on what happens in his campaign,” Bannon predicted. “He’s going to win it based on his performance as president and the performance of his opponent, whoever it is.”

AP PHOTO

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., March 24, 2023.

AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden, right, arrives with Vice President Kamala Harris and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, left, to announce Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to be an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court at the White House in Washington, D.C., in Feb. 2022.

Spring chickens

COUNTY NEWS

Hoke woman wins

$700,000 off scratch-off ticket

Last week, a Hoke County woman turned a $10 scratch-off lottery ticket into $700,000.

Linda Virgil, of Raeford, purchased a Triple 7 ticket at the Food Lion on Cliffdale Road in Fayetteville after stopping by the store to pick up some groceries. The $10 Triple 7 game was launched this past December, with four top prizes of $700,000. Only one of these four top prizes has yet to be claimed. Virgil claimed her prize money at the lottery headquarters in Raleigh last Friday. After paying the required federal and state tax withholdings, she took home an impressive $498,753. “I just started crying,” Virgil told the Lottery Headquarters employees when she arrived to claim her prize. “I’m going to share it with my kids and grandchildren.”

The North Carolina Education Lottery’s Play Smart™ program educates and empowers North Carolinians to make smart decisions when playing the lottery. Visit nclottery. com/PlaySmart to learn how the Play Smart program helps someone create a game plan to keep lottery playing fun and financially responsible. If playing the lottery has become more than a game for you, please visit morethanagame.nc.gov/ for free, confidential help.

HOKE COUNTY

Sports wagering gets full OK from NC House, heads to Senate

The Associated Press RALEIGH — Legislation authorizing sports gambling in North Carolina received final approval in the N.C. House last week and heads to the Senate for consideration.

The bill spells out how gambling operators would be licensed, wagers made and revenue taxed. The measure passed the day after it received tentative House approval following nearly two hours of impassioned debate. Wednesday’s 64-45 vote also followed another hour of debate that included several additional amendments, all of which failed.

A similar initiative failed in the House last year, but pro-gambling forces redoubled their efforts, and nearly half the chamber signed on as sponsors for the latest measure. Professional sports leagues and franchises in the ninth-largest state have pushed for the legisla-

tion, which would allow in-person gambling at or near their arenas and stadiums in additional to online betting. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper also supports the idea.

AP PHOTO

Prospects are strong for passage in the Senate, which approved an earlier bill in 2021.

In both chambers, differences over the measure do not run

along party lines, with opponents largely a collection of social conservatives and some Democrats warning about the dangers of compulsive gambling.

Proponents say sports wagering is already happening through local or offshore bookies and it’s better for the activity to be brought into the open and regulated by the state.

Under the measure, the North Carolina Lottery Commission would be directed to issue between 10 and 12 interactive sports wagering licenses.

People who are at least 21 would be allowed to bet on professional, college and Olympic-type athletics starting early next year.

And the state would collect a 14% privilege tax on operators’ gross revenue, minus winnings and other expenses.

Neighboring Tennessee and Virginia are among 24 states that already allow mobile or online sports betting, according to the American Gaming Association.

Sports betting is already going on at two casinos in the North Carolina mountains run by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a third west of Charlotte run by the Catawba Indian Nation.

Pandemic pounds push 10,000 U.S. Army soldiers into obesity

The Associated Press

After gaining 30 pounds during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Murillo is finally getting back into fighting shape.

Early pandemic lockdowns, endless hours on his laptop and heightened stress led Murillo, 27, to reach for cookies and chips in the barracks at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Gyms were closed, organized exercise was out and Murillo’s motivation to work out on his own was low.

“I could notice it,” said Murillo, who is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed as much as 192 pounds.

“The uniform was tighter.”

New research found that obesity in the U.S. military surged during the pandemic. In the Army alone, nearly 10,000 active duty soldiers developed obesity between February 2019 and June 2021, pushing the rate to nearly a quarter of the troops studied. Increases were seen in the U.S. Navy and the Marines, too.

“The Army and the other services need to focus on how to bring the forces back to fitness,” said Tracey Perez Koehlmoos, director of the Center for Health Services Research at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland.

Overweight and obese troops are more likely to be injured and less likely to endure the physical demands of their profession. The military loses more than 650,000 workdays each year because of extra weight and obesity-related health costs exceed $1.5 billion annually for current and former service members and their families,

federal research shows.

Military leaders have been warning about the impact of obesity on the U.S. military for more than a decade, but the lingering pandemic effects highlight the need for urgent action, said retired Marine Corps Brigadier General Stephen Cheney, who co-authored a recent report on the problem.

“The numbers have not gotten better,” Cheney said in a November webinar held by the American Security Project, a nonprofit think tank. “They are just getting worse and worse and worse.”

In fiscal year 2022, the Army failed to make its recruiting goal for the first time, falling short by 15,000 recruits, or a quarter of the requirement. That’s largely because three-quarters of Americans aged 17 to 24 are not eligible for military service for several reasons, including extra weight. Being overweight is the biggest individual disqualifier, affecting more than 1 in 10 potential recruits, accord-

North Carolina state Rep. Jason Saine, R-Lincoln, at right, speaks with Rep. Terence Everitt, D-Wake, after a House Commerce Committee at the Legislative Office Building on Tuesday, March, 21, 2023, in Raleigh

“The

Army and the other services need to focus on how to bring the forces back to fitness.”

Tracey

Perez Koehlmoo

RE-PETE, from Home Food Market Inc. in downtown Raeford says “spring has sprung” at the 4th generation market. Baby chicks for families and farms are available for purchase at the store.

ing to the report.

“It is devastating. We have a dramatic national security problem,” Cheney said.

Extra weight can make it difficult for service members to meet core fitness requirements, which differ depending on the military branch. In the Army, for instance, if soldiers can’t pass the Army Combat Fitness Test, a recently updated measure of ability, it could result in probation or end their military careers.

The researchers relied on standard BMI, or body mass index, a calculation of weight and height used to categorize weight status. A person with a BMI of 18.5 to 25 is considered healthy, while a BMI of 25 to less than 30 is considered overweight. A BMI of 30 or higher is categorized as obese. Some experts claim that the BMI is a flawed measure that fails to account for muscle mass or underlying health status, though it remains a widely used tool.

In Murillo’s case, his BMI during the pandemic reached nearly 32. The North Carolina Army soldier knew he needed help, so he turned to a military dietician and started a strict exercise routine through the Army’s Holistic Health and

Fitness, or H2F, program.

“We do two runs a week, 4 to 5 miles,” Murillo said. “Some mornings I wanted to quit, but I hung in there.”

Slowly, over months, Murillo has been able to reverse the trajectory. Now, his BMI is just over 27, which falls within the Defense Department’s standard, Koehlmoos said.

She found increases in other service branches, but focused first on the Army. The research squares with trends noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which warned that in 2020, nearly 1 in 5 of all service members were obese.

The steady creep of obesity among service members is “alarming,” said Cheney. “The country has not approached obesity as the problem it really is,” he added.

It will take broad measures to address the problem, including looking at the food offered in military cafeterias, understanding sleep patterns and treating service members with issues such as PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, Rothberg said. Regarding obesity as a chronic disease that requires comprehensive care, not just willpower, is key. “We need to meet military members where they are,” she said.

Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Murillo, right, runs up hill as part of his physical training at Ft. Bragg on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023, in Fayetteville.

Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor

Will Republicans find a way to get their way in 2024?

TWELVE OR 13 MONTHS from now, the race for the Republican nomination for president -- and the race for the Democratic nomination, if there is one — will probably be over.

Prognostications this far ahead of such contests have a sad history.

Just ask Rudy Giuliani or Jeb Bush what it felt like when the balloon drop started after their acceptance speeches.

History and current polling suggest the majority of voters who don’t want to elect either of these two almost-alwaysnegatively-rated presidents may find a way to get their way.

Nevertheless, something can be said about what looks to be a contest between former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (RFL). The history of primary contests, since they became the dominant means of choosing presidential nominees in 1972, provides some perspective.

Early on, the Democratic Party often had multicandidate brawls that produced surprise nominees such as George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton. Meanwhile, the Republican primaries featured one-on-one contests between nationally known contenders — Gerald Ford versus Ronald Reagan in 1976, George H.W. Bush versus Bob Dole in 1988 and George W. Bush versus John McCain in 2000.

Since 2000, that pattern has usually been reversed. Democrats had one-on-one races in 2008 and 2016 and quickly settled on one among multiple candidates in 2004 and 2020. Republicans, meanwhile, had multicandidate brawls in 2008, 2012 and, with a field too large for a single debate stage, 2016.

This change reflects a change in the parties. In the 1970s, Democrats held majorities in most state legislatures and had many more primary voters and tended to set the rules and schedule. Now, Republicans have more legislatures and about as large and rowdy a primary electorate.

Next year, Democrats may renominate their incumbent president, as they did in 1996 and 2012, while Republicans will probably, despite the announced candidacy of former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), be headed to a two-candidate race.

Past contests suggest what this will look like. Republicans’ multicandidate races in 2008 and 2012 quickly boiled down to twocandidate runoff jousts. These pitted candidates (McCain, Mitt Romney) who carried counties in major metropolitan areas, where Republican primary voters tend to be college graduates, against candidates (Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum) who carried counties outside major metro areas, where most Republican primary voters are not college graduates.

This was a forecast that few analysts (including me) recognized, of the split between white college graduates and nongraduates, who voted similarly in general elections up through 2012 but have responded sharply differently to Trump in 2016 and every election since.

But the dominance of noncollege white people in Republican

When a trans person murders

Christian schoolchildren

THE LEGACY MEDIA have a preset narrative machine when it comes to mass shootings. That narrative machine takes into account the identities of the shooter and the victims, and then churns out an explanation for the shooting. White shooter, black victims: systemic racism. Black shooter, white victims: alienation caused by systemic racism. Muslim shooter, gay victims: Christian homophobia.

A hate crime by a transidentifying person against a religious group is immediately transmuted into a generalized societal crime against the mass shooter herself.

On Monday, a self-identified 28-year-old trans man shot up a Christian school in Nashville, killing three children and three adults. The shooter left a manifesto, which police said reeked of “resentment.” And so this week, we are learning what pops up in the narrative machine when the inputs are “trans man” and “Christian schoolchildren.”

And here’s what pops up: America is systemically cruel to trans people, who apparently cannot be blamed for losing control and targeting small children at Christian schools. A hate crime by a transidentifying person against a religious group is immediately transmuted into a generalized societal crime against the mass shooter herself. Thus, NBC contributor Benjamin Ryan tweeted, “NBC has ID’d the Nashville school shooter... Nashville is home to the Daily Wire, a hub of anti-trans activity by @MattWalshBlog, @BenShapiro and @MichaelJKnowles.” Newsweek tweeted a story titled, “Tennessee Republicans’ ban on drag shows criticized after mass shooting.” ABC News correspondent Terry Moran stated that the shooter “identified herself as a transgender person. The State of Tennessee earlier this month passed and the governor signed a bill that banned transgender medical care for minors...”

In the perverse world of Leftist victimology, this makes sense: If you are a member of a supposedly victimized group, you cannot be the victimizer; there must be another victimizer who has victimized you, turning you back into a victim. But if we truly wish to prevent future acts of violence by unhinged

primaries can be overstated. If McCain and Romney prevailed by only narrow margins over Huckabee and Santorum in primaries in Michigan and Ohio, Trump won the nomination in 2016 with only a 44% plurality of votes in a 16-candidate field.

In the 31 states that voted up through April 5 that year, Trump had significant leads of 4 points or more over the combined totals of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) in only five states (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Ohio and Arizona). If you add in the votes for John Kasich, whose John Weaver-managed campaign pitched its appeal to the kind of Republican voters who dislike Republican voters, the list narrows down to just Massachusetts and Mississippi.

All of which suggests that DeSantis could compete successfully with Trump in the bulk of primaries and amass delegate totals to withstand Trump’s strength in states such as New York and West Virginia, whose primaries come later — much as the delegate strength Barack Obama built up in February 2008 enabled him to withstand the grueling fourmonth marathon with Hillary Clinton that followed.

This is in line with such multicandidate polling as has been conducted. After the November midterm elections showed backlash against Trump-supported candidates, Trump’s lead over DeSantis dropped to 47% to 29% and is currently 44% to 29%. That number is almost identical to the 45% of votes he received in all 2016 primaries and caucuses.

Interestingly, polls by the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies taken last week show DeSantis leading Trump in Iowa and even with him in New Hampshire, with Trump approximating his 2016 showings in those states. Good DeSantis showings there might winnow the field right away or after Haley’s South Carolina soon after.

Political analysts alert to any turn in opinion have noted that DeSantis’ numbers have sagged a bit in recent weeks. It may be more significant that the universally known Trump fails to win the support of 56% of his party’s voters. And that in head-to-head polls, Trump has usually trailed DeSantis.

Of course, nothing is for sure yet. DeSantis hasn’t even announced he’s running, the primary and caucus schedule is not set, and there’s no guarantee that the 76-year-old Trump or the 80-year-old Biden will be in good health next year. But history and current polling suggest the majority of voters who don’t want to elect either of these two almostalways-negatively-rated presidents may find a way to get their way.

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

lunatics, we ought to utilize a lens other than the lie of victimhood. Instead, we ought to consider the possibility that it is dangerous to promote the idea that mentally ill people ought to be celebrated as political groundbreakers by the legacy media for their symptoms, and simultaneously told that their suicidal ideations are caused by the intolerance of a broader society.

According to a recent 2022 study, “Transgender and gender-diverse youth emerge as the group at the highest risk of support for violent radicalization.” Teaching trans-identifying people that their suffering is caused by a cruelly religious and patriarchal world, explaining that these forces put their very lives in danger — that, indeed, they are victims of a potential “genocide” — creates an incredibly dangerous ideological predicate for violent action.

But the legacy media, by and large, support that narrative. To admit the obvious — that men cannot be women and vice versa; that believing you were born “in the wrong body” is a mental disorder, not a weapon to be used in tearing down an unjust society; that high rates of depression and suicidal ideation among those who identify as transgender is not caused predominantly by societal intolerance but by the disorder itself — undermines the new civil rights crusade the Left has built, directed against traditional roles and institutions.

And so the new narrative must be maintained. A woman who shot to death six people including three children in cold blood must be recast as a victim of society. We must respect “his” pronouns even as we report “his” murders. We must blame those who truly cause pain in the world: those who disagree with the thought leaders in our legacy media, who know better than all the common sense, biology and tradition in the world.

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

Ben Shapiro, 39, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+.

COLUMN | BEN SHAPIRO

SIDELINE REPORT

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Marquette’s Smart voted men’s AP coach of the year

Indianapolis

Shaka Smart was voted the AP men’s basketball coach of the year after leading Marquette to regular season and Big East Tournament titles. He received 24 of 58 votes from a national panel to beat out Kansas State coach Jerome Tang, who had 13 votes, and Kelvin Sampson of Houston, who received 10. The voting began with the conclusion of the regular season and closed before the start of the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles were a No. 2 seed and lost in the second round to Michigan State.

FORMULA ONE

Track incursion by Australian GP fans sparks investigation

Melbourne, Australia Australian Grand Prix organizers have launched an investigation to determine how a group of fans managed to break through security and get dangerously close to Formula One cars before the chaotic race that featured three red flags ended on Sunday. Australian Grand Prix Corp. chief executive Andrew Westacott says the incursion onto the Albert Park circuit before the checkered flag could have resulted in serious injuries.

Max Verstappen won his first Australian F1 Grand Prix title after a late rolling start behind a safety car.

HOCKEY

Son of Flyers GM dismissed from Mercyhurst team

Erie, Pa.

The son of Philadelphia Flyers interim general manager Danny Briere has been dismissed from the Mercyhurst University men’s hockey team after a video showed him and another athlete at the school pushing an unoccupied wheelchair down a staircase. Mercyhurst posted on Twitter that Carson Briere “has been removed” from the team. The school said it cannot comment further on the situation. Police in Erie filed charges of criminal mischief, criminal conspiracy to commit mischief and disorderly conduct against Carson Briere last month. He was also dismissed from Arizona State’s hockey club in 2019 for what the school called a violation of team rules.

MLB Rangers’ Smith goes to hospital after hit in face with pitch

Arlington, Texas Texas outfielder Josh Smith was taken to a hospital after being hit in his face by a pitch in the Rangers’ game Monday against the Orioles. The left-handed hitter was struck on the right side of his face in the third inning by a 1-0 slider from reliever Danny Coulombo. The Rangers said Smith went to a hospital for testing on his face and jaw. Coulombo was pitching because Orioles starter Kyle Bradish left after being hit on his right foot by a line drive in the second inning. Baltimore announced Bradish had a bruised foot.

Hendrick wins again as Larson claims victory at Richmond

The 2021 champion claimed his 20th career win

The Associated Press

KYLE LARSON spent the week watching videos of his 10win, 2021 championship season, he said, “to remind myself that I used to be good.”

He still is. Larson pulled away on a restart with 14 laps to go and easily won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway on Sunday.

“I just really wanted to look at old tape of myself and see where my mindset was and to see my confidence,” Larson said after his 20th career victory in NASCAR’s top series.

Larson started the final green

flag run with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry to his outside and beat Berry into the first turn. Berry, who is filling in for the injured Chase Elliott, held on for second, followed by Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Kevin Harvick.

It’s the third victory of the season for the four-car Hendrick team and came less than a week after a 100-point penalty against each driver for using an illegal part was overturned by a NASCAR appeals panel. It also came with a fill-in crew chief in Kevin Meendering because the appeals panel upheld the four-race suspensions of all four team crew chiefs.

“I was just happy to fill a gap and help those guys out in a tough situation,” Meendering said. “This

is a testament to all the hard work but those guys on that team and to Hendrick Motorsports,”

Chevrolet took the top three spots and has now won five of the seven races this season.

All the Hendrick cars except for Berry ran in contention all race, with William Byron, the only two-time winner this season, leading a race-high 117 laps and running fourth for a restart with 21 laps to go. The field bunched up heading into Turn 1, and Bell hit his left rear quarter panel, sending Byron spinning into the wall. He finished 24th.

“It looked like the 1 (Chastain) was inside the 20 (Bell) and the 20 overcooked the corner, had the fronts locked up and nailed us in the left rear,” Byron said. “It is what it is. I had a great race car.”

Bell said he was trying to keep Chastain at bay.

“I tried to protect from him going to the inside and he still made it three-wide there at the last minute and there wasn’t enough room,” he said.

The cars never got on the track on Saturday because of rain, leading NASCAR to give them an extra set of tires, and even then, teams pitted for lightly used scuffs for the final green flag run. That

Clark tech, foul count put focus on officials

Thirty-seven personal fouls were called in the NCAA championship game between LSU and Iowa

The Associated Press

DALLAS — Iowa star Caitlin Clark was whistled for a technical foul late in the third quarter with her team trailing LSU by nine points in the NCAA championship game.

The bigger problem for the Hawkeyes was the call meant a fourth personal foul for the junior scoring sensation, moments after front court leader Monika Czinano had picked up her fourth.

Clark never fouled out, while Czinano and fellow senior McKenna Warnock did as Iowa never made a serious run in the fourth quarter of a 102-85 loss to the Tigers on Sunday. The second and third fouls against Clark were both for pushoffs about three minutes apart in the second quarter, when The Associated Press Player of the Year was trying to dribble around defenders.

The latter sent her to the bench for the final 3:26 of the first half

with the Hawkeyes down 11, and she left the game again after the technical with 1:04 remaining in the third.

“I thought they called it very, very tight,” said Clark, who scored 30 points. “I don’t know about the two push-offs in the second quarter. I thought all I could do is respond and come back out there and keep fighting and keep trying to help this team crawl back into the game.” In a pool report, lead official

Lisa Jones said the technical came when Clark didn’t pass the ball to an official after the Hawkeyes had been given a delay-of-game warn-

Wins in seven Cup Series races this season for Chevrolet

paid off big for Berry and Michael McDowell, who stayed on the track during the previous green flag stop, then got the caution that made it pay off.

“Everybody on the team made some great calls,” Berry said. “I’m so glad they tried something different there at the end to just get us up front.”

McDowell turned it into a sixth-place finish. Todd Gilliland, the third driver who stayed on the track, turned in a 15th-place finish.

“Our car was really good on the long run and I think we were gonna be 15th or 16th, so you might as well go for it and see if you can’t come up with something good and it worked out,” McDowell said. The second of three straight short track events comes next Sunday night on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway.

ing for batting the ball away after a made basket earlier in the third quarter.

Clark’s tech was among 37 personal fouls. It wasn’t a championship game record and was 15 fewer than a first-round game this year between James Madison and Ohio State.

Social media just made it seem like an all-time record, with the cascade of comments that officials were becoming the story by taking the stars out of the game. Czinano didn’t want to go there after the game.

“I don’t really think that’s a great question for me to answer honestly,” Czinano said. “We can’t live in the past. All we can do is live in the moment. That game happened. Those calls were called. Going forward, we’ll see what people decide what to do about it.”

LSU’s Angel Reese sat for a long stretch of the first half after picking up two fouls. Czinano and Warnock had two fouls at halftime, and both had four entering the fourth quarter.

Czinano fouled out with 6:25 remaining and the Hawkeyes trailing by 14. She had 13 points in a postseason-low 22 minutes.

“It’s very frustrating because I feel like I can’t talk to them,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “They won’t even listen. When your two seniors have to sit on the bench — they don’t know they’re seniors. I get it. But those two women didn’t deserve it. And then Caitlin getting a ‘T.’ I don’t know. It’s too bad.”

AP PHOTO

Kyle Larson celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.

AP PHOTO

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark looks for a call during the women’s NCAA Tournament championship game Sunday against LSU in Dallas.

in women’s title game

“I thought they called it very, very tight.”

Caitlyn Clark, Iowa guard

MLB owners ratify minor league collective bargaining deal

The five-year deal will more than double salaries

The Associated Press NEW YORK — Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved an initial five-year labor contract with minor league players on Monday that will more than double player salaries.

The agreement was reached last Wednesday and ratified by players on Friday.

Minor league players formed a bargaining unit during a rapid 17-day organization drive as part of the Major League Baseball Players Association last September and MLB voluntarily recognized the union rather than force a National Labor Relations Board election.

“Meeting throughout the offseason, we made tremendous progress over a short period of time,” MLB said in a statement.

“This agreement builds upon the significant effort MLB undertook four years ago to modernize baseball’s player development system, including increased salaries, free

housing, improved facilities, better clubhouse conditions, and reduced in-season travel with better geographical alignment.”

Unlike the major league labor contract that sets yearly salary minimums, the minor league deal specifies weekly minimums. They

are, according to details obtained by The Associated Press:

— Rookie league: $675 in 2023 and ’24, $700 in ’25, $710 in ’26 and $720 in ’27.

— Class A: $850 in 2023 and ’24, $870 in ’25, $885 in ’26 and $905 in ’27.

— High Class A: $900 in 2023 and ‘24, $920 in ‘25, $935 in ‘26 and $955 in ‘27.

— Double-A: $1,000 in 2023 and ’24, $1,020 in ’25, $1,040 in ’26 and $1,026 in ’27.

— Triple-A: $1,200 in 2023 and ’24, $1,225 in ’25, $1,250 in

’26 and $1,275 in ’27.

Pay for spring training pay and offseason work at team complexes will be $625 weekly in 2024, $650 in ’25, $660 in ’26 and $670 in ’27.

Pay for offseason offsite work will be $250 weekly in 2023 and ’24. $255 in ’25, $260 in ’26 and $265 in ’27.

Players will receive $625 in weekly retroactive pay for 202223 offseason work and this year’s spring training, with a cap of $2,500.

In addition, players will receive free housing as long as they earn more than $4,666.67 weekly, which comes to about $110,000 over a 25½-week Triple-A season. Housing had long been a point of contention.

MLB agreed not to reduce minor league affiliates from the current 120. Beginning in 2024, teams can have a maximum of 165 players under contract during the season and 175 during the offseason, down from the current 190 and 180.

The roster limits will be 35 on international rookie level teams, 24-30 for Class A and 24-28 for Double-A and Triple-A.

More than 80,000 attended the first night of WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Saturday. It was announced Monday that Endeavor had signed an agreement with WWE to form a new, publicly listed company that will house UFC and WWE under one roof.

UFC, WWE combine to form $21.4B sports entertainment company

Endeavor Group Holdings

Inc. CEO Ari Emanuel will lead the newly formed organization

The Associated Press

W WE AND THE company that runs Ultimate Fighting Championship will combine to create a $21.4 billion sports entertainment company.

A new publicly traded company will house the UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment brands, with Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. taking a 51% controlling interest in the new company. Exist-

ing WWE shareholders will hold a 49% stake.

The companies put the enterprise value of UFC at $12.1 billion and WWE’s value at $9.3 billion.

The new business, which does not yet have a name, will be lead by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel.

Vince McMahon, executive chairman at WWE, will serve in the same role at the new company.

Dana White will continue as president of UFC and Nick Khan will be president at WWE.

“Together, we will be a $21+ billion live sports and entertainment powerhouse with a collective fanbase of more than a billion people and an exciting growth opportunity,” McMahon said in a prepared

statement Monday.

He also provided some idea of where the focus of the new company will be, saying that it will look to maximize the value of combined media rights, enhance sponsorship monetization, develop new forms of content and pursue other strategic mergers and acquisitions to further bolster their brands.

Ties already exists talent wise between WWE and UFC, with stars such as Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey crossing over between the two businesses.

The deal between Endeavor and WWE catapults WWE into a new era, after functioning as a family-run business for decades. McMahon purchased Capitol Wres-

tling from his father in 1982, and took the regional wrestling business to a national audience with the likes of wrestling stars such as Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The company, which changed its name to World Wrestling Federation and later World Wrestling Entertainment, hosted its first WrestleMania in 1985.

McMahon, in an interview with CNBC, addressed the notion that there was doubt among some WWE fans and industry experts that he would ever make a deal for the business. “It’s the right time to do the right thing. And it’s the next evolution of WWE,” he said.

The announcement of the WWE

sale arrives after McMahon, the founder and majority shareholder of WWE, returned to the company in January and said that it could be up for sale.

Rumors swirled about who would possibly be interested in buying WWE, with Endeavor, Disney, Fox, Comcast, Amazon and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund all in the mix.

McMahon acknowledged to CNBC that there were several suitors for WWE, but that combining with Endeavor is the right move.

“It makes all the sense in the world for all these synergies that we have to extract all of the value that we can out of the marketplace,” he explained.

AP PHOTO

Tampa Tarpons manager Rachel Balkovec, center, exchanges fist bumps with her players before her debut with the Yankees’ Single-A affiliate. Minor leaguers ratified their first collective bargaining agreement with Major League Baseball ahead of the season’s start on Friday.

Poll: Cut federal spending — but not big-ticket programs

The Associated Press IN THE FEDERAL budget standoff, the majority of U.S. adults are asking lawmakers to pull off the impossible: Cut the overall size of government, but also devote more money to the most popular and expensive programs. Six in 10 U.S. adults say the government spends too much money. But majorities also favor more funding for infrastructure, health care and Social Security — the kind of commitments that would make efforts to shrink the government unworkable and politically risky ahead of the 2024 elections.

These findings from a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research show just how messy the financial tug-of-war between President Joe Biden and House Republicans could be. At stake is the full faith and credit of the federal government, which could default on its obligations unless there is a deal this summer to raise or suspend the limit on the government’s borrowing authority.

The new poll finds U.S. adults are closely divided over whether they want to see a bigger government offering more services or a smaller government offering fewer services. But a clear majority — 60% — say they think government is spending too much altogether. Just 16% say the government is spending too little, while 22% say spending levels are about right.

U.S. adults were previously less supportive of spending cuts, a possible sign of how the pandemic and a historic burst of aid to address it have reshaped politics. Compared with 60% now, 37% called for spending cuts in February 2020, as COVID-19 was beginning to spread throughout the U.S. By May, even fewer, 25%, wanted less spending, after the virus had forced major disruptions to public life, the economy and the health care system.

Inflation jumped as the U.S. economy recovered from the pandemic. GOP lawmakers have blamed Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package for rising prices as they’ve pushed for spending cuts, while the president says inflation reflects global factors involving supply chains and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Federal expenditures are expected to be equal in size to roughly 24% of all U.S. economic activity for the next several years, a figure that will likely grow as an aging population leads to more spending on Social Security and Medicare. Government spending accounted for just 20.5% of U.S. gross domestic product a decade ago, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Even if a majority of adults desire a tightened budget, the challenge for lawmakers trying to hash out an agreement is that the public also wants higher spending on a wide range of programs. While Biden rolled out a budget that would trim deficits large -

ly through tax increases on the wealthy, GOP lawmakers have struggled so far to gel around a set of spending cuts — and even if they did, the White House is betting that their plan would upset voters.

Roughly 6 in 10 adults say the government is spending too little on education, health care, infrastructure and Social Security, as well as assistance to the poor and Medicare. About half say government is spending too little on border security, child care assistance, drug rehabilitation, the environment and law enforcement.

By comparison, a wide majority — 69% — say the U.S. is spending too much on assistance to other countries. But slashing foreign aid would have almost no impact on the overall size of the government, as it accounts for less than 1% of all federal spending, and major programs such as Social Security and Medicare are causing the government to grow in size over the next decade.

About a third of U.S. adults say spending on the military is too little and nearly as many say it’s too much; an additional third say it’s about right.

Bipartisan majorities back more spending on infrastructure and Social Security. But wide differences across party lines on other priorities could be a sticking point in budget talks.

Most Republicans say too much is spent on assistance to big cities (65% vs. just 19% of Democrats), and about half say too much

is spent on the environment (51% vs. just 6% of Democrats). Republicans are more likely than Democrats to indicate that the military, law enforcement and border security are underfunded. By comparison, far more Democrats say too little is spent on aid for the poor (80% vs. 38% of Republicans), the environment (73% vs. 21% of Republicans), child care assistance (71% vs. 34% of Republicans), drug rehabilitation (67% vs. 36% of Republicans), and scientific research (54% vs. 24% of Republicans).

There is also a generation-

al breakdown in terms of priorities. Young adults are more likely than older adults to say too little is spent on the environment and assistance to big cities, while more older adults say too little is spent on infrastructure, the military, law enforcement and border security. Young adults are especially likely to think too much is spent in those areas. For those between the ages of 30-44, who are especially likely to have school-age children, there is a desire for the government to spend more on education.

Immigration reform stalled decade after Gang of 8’s big push

The Associated Press MIAMI — Ten years ago this month, Sen. Chuck Schumer declared, “We all know that our immigration system is broken, and it’s time to get to work on fixing it.” Sen. John McCain quoted Winston Churchill. But it was Lindsey Graham who offered the boldest prediction.

“I think 2013 is the year of immigration reform,” the South Carolina Republican said.

It wasn’t. And neither has any year since those “Gang of Eight” senators from both parties gathered in a Washington auditorium to offer hopeful pronouncements. In fact, today’s political landscape has shifted so dramatically that immigrant advocates and top architects of key policies over the years fear that any hope of an immigration overhaul seems further away than ever.

“There are big questions about whether or not anything in the immigration family — anything at all — has the votes to pass,” said Cecilia Muñoz, who served as President Barack Obama’s top immigration adviser and was a senior member of Joe Biden’s transition team before he entered the White House.

The last extensive package came under President Ronald Reagan in 1986, and President George H.W. Bush signed a more limited effort four years later.

That means federal agents guarding the border today with tools like drones and artificial intelligence are enforcing laws written back when cellphones and the internet were novelties. Laying the problem bare in the deadliest of terms was a fire last month at a detention center on the Mexican side of the border that killed 39 migrants.

Congress came the closest to a breakthrough on immigration

in 2013 with the Gang of Eight, which included Schumer, a New York Democrat who is now Senate majority leader, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Their proposal cleared the Senate that June and sought a pathway to citizenship for millions of people in the country illegally and expanded work visas while tightening border security and mandating that employers verify workers’ legal status.

Democrats cheered a modernized approach to immigration. Republicans were looking for goodwill within the Latino community after Obama enjoyed strong support from Hispanic voters while being reelected in 2012.

Prominent supporters of the proposal were as diverse as the powerful AFL-CIO labor union and the pro-business U.S. Chamber of Commerce. There was more momentum than there had been for large immigration changes that fizzled in 2006 and 2007 under President George W. Bush.

Still, Republican House Speaker John Boehner gauged support for the Gang of Eight bill in the GOP-controlled chamber in January 2014 and said too many lawmakers distrusted the Obama administration. By that summer, the bill was dead.

Obama then created a program protecting from deportation migrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children. The Supreme Court has previously upheld it, but the court’s relatively recent 6-3 conservative majority could pose long-term threats.

Years after the creation of Obama’s program, President Donald Trump called for walling off all of the nation’s 2,000-mile southern border, and his administration separated migrant children from their parents and made migrants wait in Mexico while seeking U.S. asylum.

Biden endorsed a sweeping immigration package on his Inauguration Day, but it went nowhere in Congress. His administration has since loosened some Trump immigration policies and tightened others, even as his party has seen Republican support rise among Hispanic voters.

Officials have continued to enforce Title 42 pandemic-era health restrictions that allowed for migrants seeking U.S. asylum to be quickly expelled, though they are set to expire May 11. The Biden White House is also considering placing migrant families in detention centers while they wait for their asylum cases, something the Obama and Trump administrations did.

Gil Kerlikowske, who was commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under Obama, said “a lot of things are coming together at once,” including Title 42 possibly ending, a spike in the number of South American migrants crossing through the treacherous rainforests of the Darian Gap between Colombia and Panama, and a 2024 presidential election ratcheting up the political pressure.

“Two and a half years into the administration, there really hasn’t been any announcement of what is our immigration policy,” Kerlikowske said. “Getting laws passed is almost impossible. But what’s been the policy?”

AP PHOTO

A view of the White House grounds during a press preview for the White House 2023 Spring Garden Tours, Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Washington, D.C.

AP PHOTO

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., center, speaks of immigration reform legislation outlined by the Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Eight” that would create a path for the nation’s 11 million unauthorized immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship, April 18, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Alphonse Mawabi

January 15, 1934 ~ March 28, 2023

Alphonse Mawabi, formerly of Elizabeth, NJ passed on to be with his Lord and Savior in Heaven on March 28, 2023, at the graceful age of 89.

Alphonse was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on January 15, 1934, to the late Albert Malonga and Marie Diakala. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Esther Mawabi. His hobbies included bowling, political and world events, and traveling when possible.

Alphonse is survived by his children, Eric, and Albertine Mawabi; grandchildren, Juvenal, Erica, Kadi, Lianna, Lisette, and Cecilio; nephew, Robert Lumbi; niece, Aline Lumbi; great nieces and nephews, Yemimah Ndoyi, John Levi Ndoyi, and Eunice Ndoyi.

William Harry Price III

September 28, 1953 ~ March 28, 2023

Mr. William Harry Price III passed away quietly in his home in March of 2023.

Bill was born in Norfolk, VA in September of 1953 to the late William H. Price II and Dot Price.

He was preceded in death by his sister, Sarah P. Heath. Bill loved Duke basketball and animals. When he was younger, he managed Triple R Ranch. He also worked with AAA and eventually started his own company, B&D Locksmithing which was named after his parents. He loved his family.

He is survived by his niece, Dorothy Schultz (Joseph); and nephew William Christopher Heath (Yvette); several great nieces and nephews, and his cousins.

Belton Vernon Stevens

November 14, 1955 ~ March 25, 2023

Belton Vernon Stevens, 67, of Raeford, NC went to be with his Lord and Savior on March 25, 2023, surrounded by his family at UNC Chapel Hill Hospital.

Vernon was born November 14, 1955, in Raeford, NC. He was passionate about his family, his cars, and his work. He spent his whole life in construction and could tell you every McDonalds he ever remodeled or built! Cars were his passion and his claim to fame was being the best street racer around. He was loved so deeply.

Vernon is survived by his wife of 36 years, Cynthia “Cindy” Stevens; two sons Belton “Kirt” Stevens and wife Becca and Bobby Jacobs and wife Cynthia; daughter Alexis “LaCole” Stevens and partner Kevin; sister Wanda Williams; 2 Nieces Angela “Angie” Wilson and husband Wayne and Amber Banta and husband Tim; 8 grandchildren: Brandon B., Christina, Kaitlin, Darian, Brandon S., Breana, Kimberly, and Thomas; and 3 greatgrandchildren: Xander, Eiley May, and Emil. He is preceded in death by his daughter Christina Marie Stevens, father Belton Stephens, mother Lucy Stephens, two brothers William and Marvin Stephens.

Emma Watts

February 15, 1928 ~ March 27, 2023

Ms. Emma Watts age, 95 went home to rest with her heavenly father on March 27, 2023.

She leaves to cherish her loving memories her Niece, Deborah Coley; Nephews: Steven Wallace, Mack Wallace Jr., Archie Wallace, James E. Johnson, Ricky Carter, Eric Carter along with a host of other family and friends. Emma will be greatly missed.

STATE & NATION

Intensity and insults rise as lawmakers debate debt ceiling

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fights over increasing the nation’s borrowing authority have been contentious in Congress, yet follow a familiar pattern: Time and again, lawmakers found a way to step back from the brink before markets began to panic and the nation risked a dangerous default on its debt.

But this year’s fight has a different feel, some lawmakers say.

“Very worried. Very worried,” was how Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., a close ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, described his outlook. “And frankly, I don’t see how we get there at this point. There’s no process set up, there’s no dialogue, there’s no discussion.”

The political conditions are comparable to 2011, when a new Republican majority swept into power after a resounding election win and was determined to confront a Democratic White House and extract major spending cuts in return for a debt limit increase.

To resolve that stalemate, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed the Budget Control Act. The bill temporarily allowed borrowing to resume, set new spending limits and created a bipartisan “supercommittee” to recommend at least $1.2 trillion more in deficit reduction over 10 years. Republicans and Democrats on the panel failed to compromise, however, triggering automatic reductions in spending.

But some damage was done. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded U.S. debt for the first time that year because it lacked

confidence political leaders would make the choices needed to avert a long-term fiscal crisis.

In 2013, Obama took a different tack. He made clear early on there would be no negotiations on mustpass legislation to prevent a U.S. default, and he never wavered.

A partial government shutdown, which began Oct. 1, swiftly coincided with the prospects of a default.

On Oct. 16, Congress passed legislation to end the twin threats and GOP lawmakers who demanded to roll back Obama’s signature health care law got nothing for their efforts. “We fought the good fight.

We just didn’t win,” conceded thenHouse Speaker John Boehner. Republicans say they are determined that Biden, who was Obama’s vice president during both of those debt ceiling battles, will have to follow the path set in 2011 — not the one set in 2013. Breaching the debt ceiling is different than a federal government shutdown. The government can continue to operate once the Treasury has exhausted its cashon-hand. But outgoing payments would be limited to incoming revenue. Not all payments could be made on time and in full. Many

fear such an event would shake the foundations of the global financial system.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the government may be unable to pay all its bills as soon as June. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told a House panel this week the so-called X Day is likely to occur in mid-August. He said market pressures will likely build after Congress returns from its July 4th recess.

“As we can see from recent events given the banking crisis, the system is very fragile at this point in time,” Zandi said. “Adding the debt lim-

Biden and his 2024 campaign: Waiting for some big decisions

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden has all but announced he’s running for reelection, but key questions about the 2024 campaign are unresolved: Who will manage it? Where will it be based? When will he finally make it official?

Advisers have long said he planned to wait until after March, when the year’s first fundraising period wraps up. That was an effort to help manage expectations because many donors who gave generously to Democratic causes during last fall’s elections were looking for a break.

But an announcement isn’t imminent even now, aides insist, and probably won’t come until at least after Biden returns from an expected trip to Ireland in midApril.

Working on his own timeline could counter Biden’s low approval ratings and questions about his age — the 80-year-old would turn 86 before the end of a second term. It also means Biden won’t be hurried by pressure from former President Donald Trump, who’s already announced his 2024 campaign, or other top Republicans who may enter the race, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former Vice President Mike Pence.

“He’s earned the luxury of making the timetable,” said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist in Washington. “The longer he can keep this thing focused on his duties in the White House, and less

about the campaign back-andforth, the better off he’s going to be.”

It will also be up to Biden to decide where next year’s Democratic National Convention is held among the three finalist cities of Atlanta, Chicago and New York.

Much of the reelection effort will be run from the White House, where Biden’s most senior advisers are expected to remain. Still, the campaign manager and top staff will be responsible for raising vast sums of money, reaching millions of voters and making the case for Biden at Americans’ doors and online while he is still occupied with governing.

One top Biden adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a reelection campaign that hasn’t yet been announced, noted that Biden’s 2020 bid was a $1.7 billion operation and that the effort this time would be larger. The adviser said a key will be finding “validators,” or non-Washington voices who can spread the campaign’s message at a time when many people have lost faith in everything political.

Aides and allies are discussing how to build the appropriate 2024 race infrastructure. The circumstances are different from 2020 for Biden, whose race then was conducted while the country was

largely shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The choice of Biden’s campaign headquarters has been narrowed to Philadelphia, the 2020 location, and Wilmington, Delaware, where his home is and where the president spends many weekends away from the White House. While Biden tends to prefer Delaware on all matters, some top Democrats worry that recruiting top campaign talent to Wilmington will be difficult.

More challenging has been filling the job of campaign manager. Some potential candidates view it as a thankless task, with so much of the decision-making confined to the White House, though the adviser said whomever is ultimately chosen will be empowered with wide latitude to run 2024.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s 2020 campaign manager, is now a deputy White House chief of staff and plans to remain in her job. Many potential candidates have expressed interest in the campaign manager position, but among those on the short list are Julie Chavez Rodriguez, director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and a deputy campaign manager of Biden’s 2020 campaign, and Sam Cornale, executive director of the Democratic National Committee.

Quentin Fulks, campaign manager for Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock’s reelection victory last fall, has been mentioned.

Trump hasn’t named a campaign manager despite announc-

it as an issue for investors would be particularly inopportune.”

He said there would be immediate and long-term consequences from a default.

“I think under any scenario, we would go into recession, it would be severe, financial markets would be upended,” Zandi said.

The focus on the debt limit, now at about $31.4 trillion, intensified with McCarthy sending a letter to Biden warning that his position of not negotiating “could prevent America from meeting its obligations and hold dire ramifications for the entire nation.”

In a formal response, Biden signaled that he would not be willing to meet directly with the speaker until House Republicans released their own budget plan, which he asked McCarthy to do before lawmakers left Washington for the Easter recess.

“As I have repeatedly said, that conversation must be separate from prompt action on the Congress’ basic obligation to pay the Nation’s bills and avoid economic catastrophe,” Biden wrote.

The letters did not appear to generate any progress or good will. Republicans left town without proposing a budget. And McCarthy accused Biden of making the decision to put the economy in jeopardy, while seemingly making a crack about the president’s age.

“I don’t know what more I can do and how easy. I would bring the lunch to the White House. I would make it soft food if that’s what he wants,” McCarthy said, prompting laughter from other Republicans in the room.

ing his candidacy months ago. But others aren’t waiting to staff up. Republican Nikki Haley, Trump’s U.N. ambassador and a former South Carolina governor, picked Betsy Ankney, executive director of Haley’s Stand for America political action committee, to manager her presidential campaign. The super PAC linked to DeSantis brought on former Trump aide Matt Wolking and strategist Jeff Roe, the architect of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign and Republican Glenn Youngkin winning campaign for Virginia governor in 2021.

Even with the unanswered questions about his campaign structure, the outlines of Biden’s pitch to voters are forming.

From the State of the Union address in February to speeches to donors, the president has begun making the case that Americans should let him “finish the job” he started. He’s also tried framing the race as a choice between himself and “MAGA Republicans” who, he argues, will undermine the nation’s core values.

Biden has spent recent months traveling to promote what he sees as his administration’s key policy accomplishments, including a bipartisan public works package, and plans more of the same going forward. That would let him use this year to test political messaging that can best resonate in 2024, aides said.

“He’s not going to win reelection or lose reelection based on what happens in his campaign,” Bannon predicted. “He’s going to win it based on his performance as president and the performance of his opponent, whoever it is.”

AP PHOTO

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., March 24, 2023.

AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden, right, arrives with Vice President Kamala Harris and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, left, to announce Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to be an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court at the White House in Washington, D.C., in Feb. 2022.

Audience with the pope

Pope Francis meets children at the end of his weekly general audience in St.

COUNTY NEWS

Saturday will be ReptiDay in Winston-Salem

Forsyth County

Repticon brings the amazing world of reptiles and exotic animals back to WinstonSalem on April 8 with a fun and educational exposition suitable for all ages and personalities. Repticon’s reptile and exotic animal shows are held in major cities throughout the United States and attract thousands of enthusiasts.

ReptiDay is the one-day version of the events presented by Repticon, a recognized leader in hosting reptile and exotic animal expos throughout the United States. ReptiDay will feature everything that Repticon’s twoday shows offer, all packed into a single day. This familyoriented event offers guests the opportunity to learn about animals not normally seen in local pet stores. Breeder-vendors are always willing to teach in their field of herpetology.

Guests can also shop for a new family pet among the hundreds of reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, spiders and small exotic animals. ReptiDay Winston-Salem will also have merchandise, cages, supplies, and both live and frozen feeders, as well as the opportunity to get expert advice about caring for their new household member.

This event, held at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds

— Bolton Home and Garden Building, Gate #9, 421 W 27th St., Winston-Salem, is suitable for all ages and a very diverse range of enthusiasts.

NSJ

Wednesday, March 29, 2023.

Police: Student shot self in hand, sparking campus lockdown

North State Journal

A HIGH SCHOOL student visiting a community college shot himself in the hand, sparking an hourslong lockdown on campus late last month, police said.

Winston-Salem police were called to Forsyth Tech Community College around 10:10 a.m. on Thursday, March 23, for a report of a student who had been shot on campus, Capt. Shelley Lovejoy said at a news conference. The 18-year-old student was taken to a medical facility for treatment of a single gunshot wound that was not considered life-threatening, Lovejoy said.

The student had a firearm on campus, and charges are being evaluated, she said. Police are still trying to determine wheth-

er the shooting was intentional, Lovejoy said. No one else was shot.

The student was on campus as part of an event for high school students to learn about college and career possibilities, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Tricia McManus said.

“Our students responded in just a very calm way. They did everything they were asked to do,” McManus said. “I appreciate that so much, and the staff that was there to keep them calm and keep them safe.”

The school was locked down for hours after the shooting. Around 1:30 p.m., the school tweeted that students, faculty staff and visitors were being released from the main cam-

Our students responded in just a very calm way.

superintendent Tricia McManus

pus. “Campus is closed and all classes are canceled for the remainder of the week at all locations,” the school said.

Darius Taylor, a Forsyth Tech student, told a local TV station he was on campus when the school sent an alert warning of shots fired. He told the station his class immediately went into lockdown mode, turning the lights off and sitting against a wall. He said a

Winston-Salem takes over recycling collections

City

North State Journal

THE CITY of Winston-Salem took over recycling collection service from Waste Management of Carolinas Inc., beginning on Monday, April 3. The city had contracted with Waste Management of Carolinas Inc. since 1991 for residential recycling. The city believes the change will save money over the long term and will help ensure that the correct items are placed into bins for recycling.

The current recycling collection schedules will remain in place, said Helen Peplowski, the city’s sustainability program manager. “Staff will be able to work more closely with residents to address those materials that don’t belong in recycling collections,” Peplowski said. “The education effort, over time, should not only reduce contamination but provide the city with savings.” Sanitation workers began the

process of preparing to take over recycling collections at the start of the year and had live test runs of their routes on city streets in a late March training session.

Ttems that can be placed in recycling bins include the following categories:

Plastics (bottles and jugs, no pumps, emptied and rinsed)

Glass (bottles and jars, remove caps/ lids, emptied and rinsed)

Metal (all cans and aluminum foil/ pie tins, emptied and rinsed)

Paper (all paper, cartons and flatten cardboard)

City officials say residents should keep these items out of recycling bins: Batteries, clothing items, electronics, frozen food containers.

Sorting out non-recyclable items and hauling them to the city’s landfill sites for disposal were creating additional expense, and Winston-Salem officials hope that the change will make it easier to educate customers on their role in the recycling process.

In the last fiscal year, Winston-Salem residents recycled 10,497 tons of material which the city claims saved more than 93,000 mature trees, almost

“The education effort, over time, should not only reduce contamination but provide the city with savings.”

Helen Peplowski, city sustainability manager

40,000 cubic yards of landfill space, nearly 45 million kilowatt hours of electricity and over 50 million gallons of water. Officials believe the change in collections will increase those numbers going forward.

Residents who want to confirm their collection schedule and check for upcoming holidays can download the Winston-Salem Collects app, which is free for Apple or Android users. The online version, available at CityofWS. org/Sanitation and CityofWs.org/ Recycling, offers all the features available through the app plus the ability to print personalized collection calendars that include holiday collection changes.

professor locked all the doors and that he saw police respond quickly to begin clearing the building.

Other students and parents told local news outlets they were filled with anxiety and fear during the lockdown as they waited for an all-clear announcement.

Students from at least two nearby school districts were on the community college campus Thursday for a trip. All of those students were safe and accounted for, the districts said in statements.

The reports of gunfire on the North Carolina campus came days after a former student shot through the doors of a Christian elementary school in Tennessee, killing three children and three adults, the latest in a series of mass shootings in a country that has grown increasingly unnerved by bloodshed in schools.

Firearms are generally prohibited on Forsyth Tech’s campus, according to the school’s website, outside of limited exceptions.

Peter’s Square, at the Vatican,

4.5.23

When a trans person murders Christian schoolchildren

THE LEGACY MEDIA have a preset narrative machine when it comes to mass shootings. That narrative machine takes into account the identities of the shooter and the victims, and then churns out an explanation for the shooting. White shooter, black victims: systemic racism. Black shooter, white victims: alienation caused by systemic racism. Muslim shooter, gay victims: Christian homophobia.

On Monday, a self-identified 28-year-old trans man shot up a Christian school in Nashville, killing three children and three adults. The shooter left a manifesto, which police said reeked of “resentment.” And so this week, we are learning what pops up in the narrative machine when the inputs are “trans man” and “Christian schoolchildren.”

♦ Aguilar, Juan Carlos (M/20)

Arrest on chrg of 1) Drugs-poss Sched Vi (M), 2) Ccw (F), and 3) Fail To Appear/compl (M), at 908 Gray Av, Winston-salem, NC, on

♦ Avila Recinos, Gloria Magaly (F/34) Arrest on chrg of Affray (M), at 6605 Woodmere Dr, Walkertown, NC, on 4/2/2023 18:52.

♦ AYERS, ARTHUR LEE was arrested on a charge of IMPAIRED DRIVING DWI at 200 PARK RIDGE CT on 4/2/2023

♦ Bakar, Ashraf (M/36) Arrest on chrg of 1) Drugs-mfg Sched Vi (F), 2) Drugs-misd Poss (M), 3) Drugs-maintain (M), and 4) Attempt & Conspiracy (F), at 201 N Church St, Winston-salem, NC, on 3/30/2023 16:40.

♦ Banner, Kivontae Eriq (M/27) Arrest on chrg of 1) Assault On Female (M) and 2) Unauthorized Use Of Motor - Propelled Conveyance (M), at 4015 Kandace Hills Dr, Walkertown, NC, on 3/29/2023 11:30.

♦ BARR, HONESTY TRENCHELLA was arrested on a charge of AFFRAY at 3505 YARBROUGH AV on 4/1/2023

♦ Casey, Justis Wayne (M/39) Arrest on chrg of 1) Poss Cocaine Fel (F), 2) Drugs-poss Sched I (F), and 3) Drug Paraphernalia (M), at 3490 Pearl View Dr, Walkertown, NC, on 4/1/2023 17:14.

♦ Clark, Lamonta Demaurice (M/46) Arrest on chrg of 1) Aslt On Offcr/felony (F), 2) Aslt On Offcr/felony (F), 3) P/w/i/s/d

Marijuana (F), 4) Drugs-maintain (M), 5) Weap-poss By Felon (F), 6) Discharging Firearms (M), 7)

Discharging Firearms (M), and 8)

Ndl - Suspended / Revoked (M), at Baptist Hospital, Winston Salem, NC, on 3/31/2023 06:40.

♦ CUTHBERTSON, DARRION

MALIK was arrested on a charge of RESISTING ARREST at 2800

WOODLEIGH ST/W WRIGHT ST on 4/2/2023

♦ CUTHBERTSON, DARRION

MALIK was arrested on a charge of INTERFERENCE W/ELECTRONIC

MONITORING DEVICES at 301 MEDICAL CENTER BV on 4/2/2023

♦ DOWELL, COREY BRIAN was arrested on a charge of ASSAULT ON FEMALE at 3475 PARKWAY

VILLAGE CR on 4/3/2023

♦ DRIVER, BRENT JULIAN was arrested on a charge of VIO.

PROTECTIVE ORDER BY COURTS

ANOTHER STATE/ INDIAN TRIBE at 4333 GROVE AV on 4/2/2023

♦ ELLIS, LAMARREA AIAUNA was arrested on a charge of AFFRAY at 110 HANES MALL BV on 4/1/2023

♦ Fairchild, Braxton Gray (M/24) Arrest on

And here’s what pops up: America is systemically cruel to trans people, who apparently cannot be blamed for losing control and targeting small children at Christian schools. A hate crime by a trans-identifying person against a religious group is immediately transmuted into a generalized societal crime against the mass shooter herself. Thus, NBC contributor Benjamin Ryan tweeted, “NBC has ID’d the Nashville school shooter... Nashville is home to the Daily Wire, a hub of anti-trans activity by @MattWalshBlog, @BenShapiro and @ MichaelJKnowles.” Newsweek tweeted a story titled, “Tennessee Republicans’ ban on drag shows criticized after mass shooting.” ABC News correspondent Terry Moran stated that the shooter “identified herself as a transgender person. The State of Tennessee earlier this month passed and the governor signed a bill that banned transgender medical care for minors...”

In the perverse world of Leftist victimology, this makes sense: If you are a member of a supposedly victimized group, you cannot be the victimizer; there must be another victimizer who has victimized you, turning you back into a victim.

But if we truly wish to prevent future acts of violence by unhinged lunatics, we ought to utilize

a lens other than the lie of victimhood. Instead, we ought to consider the possibility that it is dangerous to promote the idea that mentally ill people ought to be celebrated as political groundbreakers by the legacy media for their symptoms, and simultaneously told that their suicidal ideations are caused by the intolerance of a broader society.

According to a recent 2022 study, “Transgender and gender-diverse youth emerge as the group at the highest risk of support for violent radicalization.” Teaching trans-identifying people that their suffering is caused by a cruelly religious and patriarchal world, explaining that these forces put their very lives in danger — that, indeed, they are victims of a potential “genocide” — creates an incredibly dangerous ideological predicate for violent action.

But the legacy media, by and large, support that narrative. To admit the obvious — that men cannot be women and vice versa; that believing you were born “in the wrong body” is a mental disorder, not a weapon to be used in tearing down an unjust society; that high rates of depression and suicidal ideation among those who identify as transgender is not caused predominantly by societal intolerance but by the disorder itself — undermines the new civil rights crusade the Left has built, directed against traditional roles and institutions.

And so the new narrative must be maintained. A woman who shot to death six people including three children in cold blood must be recast as a victim of society. We must respect “his” pronouns even as we report “his” murders. We must blame those who truly cause pain in the world: those who disagree with the thought leaders in our legacy media, who know better than all the common sense, biology and tradition in the world.

Ben Shapiro, 39, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and cofounder of Daily Wire+.

♦ Samuel F. Barr, 71, of Advance, died March 30, 2023.

♦ Gordon Henderson Brewer, 79, of Colfax, died March 30, 2023.

♦ Sandra Jeanette Yow Cooke, 76, of Randleman, died March 31, 2023.

♦ Richard J. (Rick) Dastous, 77, of Clemmons, died March 31, 2023.

♦ Stanley Leonard Eaton, 70, of Forsyth County, died March 29, 2023.

♦ Mamie Elizabeth Thomas Hunter, 78, of Winston-Salem, died March 29, 2023.

♦ Marilyn Marie Keaton Ludolf, 90, of Winston-Salem, died March 31, 2023.

McDonald’s temporarily closes US offices ahead of layoffs

The Associated Press

CHICAGO — McDonald’s has closed its U.S. offices through Wednesday and told its corporate staff to work remotely as it prepares to announce a round of layoffs.

In a memo to workers posted on the website TheLayoff.com, the Chicago-based burger giant said it wanted to “ensure the comfort and confidentiality of our people during the notification period” and would hold all notification meetings virtually. It told international corporate staff to follow guidance in their particular regions.

The company said in the memo that the layoffs are intended to make McDonald’s more efficient.

“We have a clear opportunity ahead of us to get faster and more effective at solving problems for our customers and people and to globally scale our successful market innovations at speed,” the company said.

McDonald’s declined to comment on the memo or the layoffs.

The memo was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Though the U.S. labor market remains strong, layoffs have been mounting, mainly in the technology sector, where many companies over-hired after a pandemic boom. IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, Facebook parent Meta, Twitter and DoorDash have all announced layoffs in recent months.

There have been cuts in other sectors as well.

Most of those job cuts are at corporate offices. There are still shortages of workers to fill service jobs, such as those at McDonald’s restaurants. Policymakers at the Federal Reserve have forecast the unemployment rate may rise to 4.6% by the end of this year, a sizable increase historically associated with recessions.

McDonald’s has more than 150,000 employees in corporate roles and in company-owned restaurants. About 70% of those employees are based outside the

United States.

The company’s revenue was flat at $23.2 billion for the full year in 2022, but its net income fell 18%, partly due to the sale of its business in Russia.

McDonald’s warned employees in January that layoffs would be coming as it tried to get more nimble and break down walls between its global markets. In a January memo to employees, McDonald’s President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said the company was evaluating roles and staffing levels in various parts of the company.

“We have historically been very decentralized in some areas where we reinvent the wheel way too often,” Kempczinski said during a January conference call with investors. “And I think the other thing I’ve seen is we haven’t been as sharp around our global priorities, and so there’s been proliferation of priorities.”

In one market, Kempczinski said he had recently discovered a list of 300 separate priorities.

♦ Larry Lavern Miller, 85, of WinstonSalem, died March 31, 2023.

♦ Maggie “Jane” Winstead Narkawicz, 91, of Clemmons, died March 30, 2023.

♦ Shirley Mae Nance Poplin, 87, of Rural Hall, died March 31, 2023.

♦ Norma Lee Rideout Reich, 91, died April 2, 2023.

♦ Dorothy Mae Ross, 79, of WinstonSalem, died March 29, 2023.

♦ John Charles Sink, 76, of Advance, died March 30, 2023.

♦ Wilma Kathleen Yarborugh Sprinkle, 97, of Pfafftown, died March 30, 2023.

♦ Parmalee West Tuttle, 83, of Forsyth County, died March 31, 2023.

♦ Celeste Jeffreys Wall, 76, of Kernersville, died March 30, 2023.

♦ Wanda Edith Carter Wetherall, 86, of Forsyth County, died March 29, 2023.

♦ James Donald Wyatt, 64, of Forsyth County, died March 29, 2023.

♦ Ruby Richardson Younger, 88, of Winston-Salem, died April 2, 2023.

COLUMN | BEN SHAPIRO

hate crime by a transidentifying person against a religious group is immediately transmuted into a generalized societal crime against the mass shooter herself.

SIDELINE REPORT

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Marquette’s Smart voted men’s AP coach of the year

Indianapolis

Shaka Smart was voted the AP men’s basketball coach of the year after leading Marquette to regular season and Big East Tournament titles. He received 24 of 58 votes from a national panel to beat out Kansas State coach Jerome Tang, who had 13 votes, and Kelvin Sampson of Houston, who received 10. The voting began with the conclusion of the regular season and closed before the start of the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles were a No. 2 seed and lost in the second round to Michigan State.

FORMULA ONE

Track incursion by Australian GP fans sparks investigation

Melbourne, Australia Australian Grand Prix organizers have launched an investigation to determine how a group of fans managed to break through security and get dangerously close to Formula One cars before the chaotic race that featured three red flags ended on Sunday. Australian Grand Prix Corp. chief executive Andrew Westacott says the incursion onto the Albert Park circuit before the checkered flag could have resulted in serious injuries.

Max Verstappen won his first Australian F1 Grand Prix title after a late rolling start behind a safety car.

HOCKEY

Son of Flyers GM dismissed from Mercyhurst team

Erie, Pa.

The son of Philadelphia Flyers interim general manager Danny Briere has been dismissed from the Mercyhurst University men’s hockey team after a video showed him and another athlete at the school pushing an unoccupied wheelchair down a staircase. Mercyhurst posted on Twitter that Carson Briere “has been removed” from the team. The school said it cannot comment further on the situation. Police in Erie filed charges of criminal mischief, criminal conspiracy to commit mischief and disorderly conduct against Carson Briere last month. He was also dismissed from Arizona State’s hockey club in 2019 for what the school called a violation of team rules.

MLB Rangers’ Smith goes to hospital after hit in face with pitch

Arlington, Texas Texas outfielder Josh Smith was taken to a hospital after being hit in his face by a pitch in the Rangers’ game Monday against the Orioles. The left-handed hitter was struck on the right side of his face in the third inning by a 1-0 slider from reliever Danny Coulombo. The Rangers said Smith went to a hospital for testing on his face and jaw. Coulombo was pitching because Orioles starter Kyle Bradish left after being hit on his right foot by a line drive in the second inning. Baltimore announced Bradish had a bruised foot.

Hendrick wins again as Larson claims victory at Richmond

The 2021 champion claimed his 20th career win

The Associated Press

KYLE LARSON spent the week watching videos of his 10win, 2021 championship season, he said, “to remind myself that I used to be good.”

He still is. Larson pulled away on a restart with 14 laps to go and easily won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway on Sunday.

“I just really wanted to look at old tape of myself and see where my mindset was and to see my confidence,” Larson said after his 20th career victory in NASCAR’s top series.

Larson started the final green

flag run with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry to his outside and beat Berry into the first turn. Berry, who is filling in for the injured Chase Elliott, held on for second, followed by Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Kevin Harvick.

It’s the third victory of the season for the four-car Hendrick team and came less than a week after a 100-point penalty against each driver for using an illegal part was overturned by a NASCAR appeals panel. It also came with a fill-in crew chief in Kevin Meendering because the appeals panel upheld the four-race suspensions of all four team crew chiefs.

“I was just happy to fill a gap and help those guys out in a tough situation,” Meendering said. “This

is a testament to all the hard work but those guys on that team and to Hendrick Motorsports,”

Chevrolet took the top three spots and has now won five of the seven races this season.

All the Hendrick cars except for Berry ran in contention all race, with William Byron, the only two-time winner this season, leading a race-high 117 laps and running fourth for a restart with 21 laps to go. The field bunched up heading into Turn 1, and Bell hit his left rear quarter panel, sending Byron spinning into the wall. He finished 24th.

“It looked like the 1 (Chastain) was inside the 20 (Bell) and the 20 overcooked the corner, had the fronts locked up and nailed us in the left rear,” Byron said. “It is what it is. I had a great race car.”

Bell said he was trying to keep Chastain at bay.

“I tried to protect from him going to the inside and he still made it three-wide there at the last minute and there wasn’t enough room,” he said.

The cars never got on the track on Saturday because of rain, leading NASCAR to give them an extra set of tires, and even then, teams pitted for lightly used scuffs for the final green flag run. That

Clark tech, foul count put focus on officials in women’s title

Thirty-seven personal fouls were called in the NCAA championship game between LSU and Iowa

The Associated Press

DALLAS — Iowa star Caitlin Clark was whistled for a technical foul late in the third quarter with her team trailing LSU by nine points in the NCAA championship game.

The bigger problem for the Hawkeyes was the call meant a fourth personal foul for the junior scoring sensation, moments after front court leader Monika Czinano had picked up her fourth.

Clark never fouled out, while Czinano and fellow senior McKenna Warnock did as Iowa never made a serious run in the fourth quarter of a 102-85 loss to the Tigers on Sunday. The second and third fouls against Clark were both for pushoffs about three minutes apart in the second quarter, when The Associated Press Player of the Year was trying to dribble around defenders.

The latter sent her to the bench for the final 3:26 of the first half

with the Hawkeyes down 11, and she left the game again after the technical with 1:04 remaining in the third.

“I thought they called it very, very tight,” said Clark, who scored 30 points. “I don’t know about the two push-offs in the second quarter. I thought all I could do is respond and come back out there and keep fighting and keep trying to help this team crawl back into the game.” In a pool report, lead official

Lisa Jones said the technical came when Clark didn’t pass the ball to an official after the Hawkeyes had been given a delay-of-game warn-

Wins in seven Cup Series races this season for Chevrolet

paid off big for Berry and Michael McDowell, who stayed on the track during the previous green flag stop, then got the caution that made it pay off.

“Everybody on the team made some great calls,” Berry said. “I’m so glad they tried something different there at the end to just get us up front.”

McDowell turned it into a sixth-place finish. Todd Gilliland, the third driver who stayed on the track, turned in a 15th-place finish.

“Our car was really good on the long run and I think we were gonna be 15th or 16th, so you might as well go for it and see if you can’t come up with something good and it worked out,” McDowell said. The second of three straight short track events comes next Sunday night on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway.

ing for batting the ball away after a made basket earlier in the third quarter.

Clark’s tech was among 37 personal fouls. It wasn’t a championship game record and was 15 fewer than a first-round game this year between James Madison and Ohio State.

Social media just made it seem like an all-time record, with the cascade of comments that officials were becoming the story by taking the stars out of the game. Czinano didn’t want to go there after the game.

“I don’t really think that’s a great question for me to answer honestly,” Czinano said. “We can’t live in the past. All we can do is live in the moment. That game happened. Those calls were called. Going forward, we’ll see what people decide what to do about it.”

LSU’s Angel Reese sat for a long stretch of the first half after picking up two fouls. Czinano and Warnock had two fouls at halftime, and both had four entering the fourth quarter.

Czinano fouled out with 6:25 remaining and the Hawkeyes trailing by 14. She had 13 points in a postseason-low 22 minutes.

“It’s very frustrating because I feel like I can’t talk to them,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “They won’t even listen. When your two seniors have to sit on the bench — they don’t know they’re seniors. I get it. But those two women didn’t deserve it. And then Caitlin getting a ‘T.’ I don’t know. It’s too bad.”

AP PHOTO

Kyle Larson celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.

AP PHOTO

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark looks for a call during the women’s NCAA Tournament championship game Sunday against LSU in Dallas.

game

“I thought they called it very, very tight.”

Caitlyn Clark, Iowa guard

STATE & NATION

Intensity and insults rise as lawmakers debate debt ceiling

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fights over increasing the nation’s borrowing authority have been contentious in Congress, yet follow a familiar pattern: Time and again, lawmakers found a way to step back from the brink before markets began to panic and the nation risked a dangerous default on its debt.

But this year’s fight has a different feel, some lawmakers say.

“Very worried. Very worried,” was how Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., a close ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, described his outlook. “And frankly, I don’t see how we get there at this point. There’s no process set up, there’s no dialogue, there’s no discussion.”

The political conditions are comparable to 2011, when a new Republican majority swept into power after a resounding election win and was determined to confront a Democratic White House and extract major spending cuts in return for a debt limit increase. To resolve that stalemate, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed the Budget Control Act. The bill temporarily allowed borrowing to resume, set new spending limits and created a bipartisan “supercommittee” to recommend at least $1.2 trillion more in deficit reduction over 10 years. Republicans and Democrats on the panel failed to compromise, however, triggering automatic reductions in spending.

But some damage was done. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded U.S. debt for the first time that year because it lacked

confidence

political leaders would make the choices needed to avert a long-term fiscal crisis.

In 2013, Obama took a different tack. He made clear early on there would be no negotiations on mustpass legislation to prevent a U.S. default, and he never wavered.

A partial government shutdown, which began Oct. 1, swiftly coincided with the prospects of a default.

On Oct. 16, Congress passed legislation to end the twin threats and GOP lawmakers who demanded to roll back Obama’s signature health care law got nothing for their efforts. “We fought the good fight.

We just didn’t win,” conceded thenHouse Speaker John Boehner. Republicans say they are determined that Biden, who was Obama’s vice president during both of those debt ceiling battles, will have to follow the path set in 2011 — not the one set in 2013.

Breaching the debt ceiling is different than a federal government shutdown. The government can continue to operate once the Treasury has exhausted its cashon-hand. But outgoing payments would be limited to incoming revenue. Not all payments could be made on time and in full. Many

fear such an event would shake the foundations of the global financial system.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the government may be unable to pay all its bills as soon as June. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told a House panel this week the so-called X Day is likely to occur in mid-August. He said market pressures will likely build after Congress returns from its July 4th recess.

“As we can see from recent events given the banking crisis, the system is very fragile at this point in time,” Zandi said. “Adding the debt lim-

Biden and his 2024 campaign: Waiting for some big decisions

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden has all but announced he’s running for reelection, but key questions about the 2024 campaign are unresolved: Who will manage it? Where will it be based? When will he finally make it official?

Advisers have long said he planned to wait until after March, when the year’s first fundraising period wraps up. That was an effort to help manage expectations because many donors who gave generously to Democratic causes during last fall’s elections were looking for a break.

But an announcement isn’t imminent even now, aides insist, and probably won’t come until at least after Biden returns from an expected trip to Ireland in midApril.

Working on his own timeline could counter Biden’s low approval ratings and questions about his age — the 80-year-old would turn 86 before the end of a second term. It also means Biden won’t be hurried by pressure from former President Donald Trump, who’s already announced his 2024 campaign, or other top Republicans who may enter the race, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former Vice President Mike Pence.

“He’s earned the luxury of making the timetable,” said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist in Washington. “The longer he can keep this thing focused on his duties in the White House, and less

about the campaign back-andforth, the better off he’s going to be.”

It will also be up to Biden to decide where next year’s Democratic National Convention is held among the three finalist cities of Atlanta, Chicago and New York.

Much of the reelection effort will be run from the White House, where Biden’s most senior advisers are expected to remain. Still, the campaign manager and top staff will be responsible for raising vast sums of money, reaching millions of voters and making the case for Biden at Americans’ doors and online while he is still occupied with governing.

One top Biden adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a reelection campaign that hasn’t yet been announced, noted that Biden’s 2020 bid was a $1.7 billion operation and that the effort this time would be larger. The adviser said a key will be finding “validators,” or non-Washington voices who can spread the campaign’s message at a time when many people have lost faith in everything political.

Aides and allies are discussing how to build the appropriate 2024 race infrastructure. The circumstances are different from 2020 for Biden, whose race then was conducted while the country was

largely shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The choice of Biden’s campaign headquarters has been narrowed to Philadelphia, the 2020 location, and Wilmington, Delaware, where his home is and where the president spends many weekends away from the White House. While Biden tends to prefer Delaware on all matters, some top Democrats worry that recruiting top campaign talent to Wilmington will be difficult.

More challenging has been filling the job of campaign manager. Some potential candidates view it as a thankless task, with so much of the decision-making confined to the White House, though the adviser said whomever is ultimately chosen will be empowered with wide latitude to run 2024.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s 2020 campaign manager, is now a deputy White House chief of staff and plans to remain in her job. Many potential candidates have expressed interest in the campaign manager position, but among those on the short list are Julie Chavez Rodriguez, director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and a deputy campaign manager of Biden’s 2020 campaign, and Sam Cornale, executive director of the Democratic National Committee.

Quentin Fulks, campaign manager for Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock’s reelection victory last fall, has been mentioned.

Trump hasn’t named a campaign manager despite announc-

it as an issue for investors would be particularly inopportune.”

He said there would be immediate and long-term consequences from a default.

“I think under any scenario, we would go into recession, it would be severe, financial markets would be upended,” Zandi said.

The focus on the debt limit, now at about $31.4 trillion, intensified with McCarthy sending a letter to Biden warning that his position of not negotiating “could prevent America from meeting its obligations and hold dire ramifications for the entire nation.”

In a formal response, Biden signaled that he would not be willing to meet directly with the speaker until House Republicans released their own budget plan, which he asked McCarthy to do before lawmakers left Washington for the Easter recess.

“As I have repeatedly said, that conversation must be separate from prompt action on the Congress’ basic obligation to pay the Nation’s bills and avoid economic catastrophe,” Biden wrote.

The letters did not appear to generate any progress or good will. Republicans left town without proposing a budget. And McCarthy accused Biden of making the decision to put the economy in jeopardy, while seemingly making a crack about the president’s age.

“I don’t know what more I can do and how easy. I would bring the lunch to the White House. I would make it soft food if that’s what he wants,” McCarthy said, prompting laughter from other Republicans in the room.

ing his candidacy months ago. But others aren’t waiting to staff up.

Republican Nikki Haley, Trump’s U.N. ambassador and a former South Carolina governor, picked Betsy Ankney, executive director of Haley’s Stand for America political action committee, to manager her presidential campaign. The super PAC linked to DeSantis brought on former Trump aide Matt Wolking and strategist Jeff Roe, the architect of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign and Republican Glenn Youngkin winning campaign for Virginia governor in 2021. Even with the unanswered questions about his campaign structure, the outlines of Biden’s pitch to voters are forming.

From the State of the Union address in February to speeches to donors, the president has begun making the case that Americans should let him “finish the job” he started. He’s also tried framing the race as a choice between himself and “MAGA Republicans” who, he argues, will undermine the nation’s core values.

Biden has spent recent months traveling to promote what he sees as his administration’s key policy accomplishments, including a bipartisan public works package, and plans more of the same going forward. That would let him use this year to test political messaging that can best resonate in 2024, aides said.

“He’s not going to win reelection or lose reelection based on what happens in his campaign,” Bannon predicted. “He’s going to win it based on his performance as president and the performance of his opponent, whoever it is.”

AP PHOTO

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., March 24, 2023.

AP PHOTO

President Joe Biden, right, arrives with Vice President Kamala Harris and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, left, to announce Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to be an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court at the White House in Washington, D.C., in Feb. 2022.

No. 4 Hirst nets 100th goal

PHOTO BY DAVID SINCLAIR

COUNTY NEWS

Rep. Neal Jackson introduces bill to protect school employees

Last week, Rep. Neal Jackson (Moore, Randolph) introduced bill H 534, “Protecting School Employees.” This bill was sponsored by Rep. Brian Biggs (Randolph), Rep. Sarah Stevens (Surry, Wilkes), and Rep. Carson Smith (Onslow, Pender). H 534 would increase the penalties for students who have repeatedly assaulted school employees. “Our teachers are one of our greatest assets, and they must be protected,” said Jackson. “I believe this bill is necessary and will be vital to fixing the problem of violence in our schools.” Briggs expressed his confidence in the new piece of legislation, saying, “I am proud to stand tall and support this commonsense measure to protect our teachers, administrators, and school staff.”

Red Cross and PEANUTS® team up to save lives in Moore County

April is National Volunteer Month, and the American Red Cross is celebrating the millions of people who volunteer to give blood, platelets, and plasma throughout the year. This month, the Red Cross and PEANUUTS® are joining forces as a reminder that it’s cool to be kind and help save lives. As a thank-you, all who come to give blood between April 1 and 23 will receive an exclusive Red Cross and PEANUTS® T-shirt featuring Snoopy (while supplies last)! Those who come to give during the month of April will automatically be entered for a chance to win a threenight trip for two to Sonoma County, California. Upcoming blood donation opportunities in Randolph County include April 7 at Bethesda Presbyterian Church in Aberdeen from 12 pm until 4:30 pm; April 10 at Pinewild Country Club from 9 am until 1:30 pm; April 14 at Carolina Hotel in Pinehurst from 1:30 pm until 6 pm; and April 22 at Cox’s Double Eagle Harley Davidson in West End from 10 am until 2:30 pm.

Aberdeen to apply for funding for additional facilities at sportsplex

Town board approves temporary road closures for select dates

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

ABERDEEN — The Aberdeen town board met Monday, March 27, with various local matters on the agenda. The board first approved the reduction of the speed limit in the Winds Way Farm subdivision from 35mph to 25mph at the request of both the developers and

community members in order to reduce risk and protect the citizens that utilize the streets. The roads in the subdivision that this will affect are Vina Vista, Winds Way, Barn Owl Pl, Thistleberry Dr, Feathers Path, Winesap Pl, and Muscadine Ln.

The board was then presented with a plan to construct an electronic kiosk downtown.

“The kiosk would be made out of a really nice wrought iron gate that was actually discovered within public works, so it’s actually being salvaged, and a couple of 6x6 cedar posts to stabilize it, placed

on the northwest corner of Main and Sycamore,” said Interim Planning Director John Terziu.

According to Terziu, the project has a total projected cost of $3,550, which would be funded by DAAB and would replace the old kiosk.

However, the town board decided to table the matter in order to provide a few more options for the design, as questions about the overall functionality of the proposed design were raised.

“In reference to this sign, this is what the business owners wanted,” said town board member Ter-

essa Beavers. “They wanted something electronic and interactive. My concern is, and I know they know what they want, but why would they need a printout of a map? We’re not that difficult to find here. We’re kind of small. If there’s a sign there, even if it’s interactive, where you want to know where restaurants are by touch, I could see that, but I don’t know if we’re that big to need paper and printer and all that at this point of time.”

“I would recommend digging a little more into this,” said Mayor Pro-tem Bryan Bowles. “Because weather-wise, how do you protect it? How do you keep the moisture out of the paper? I’d like to see a little more information. I think I’d rather spend a little extra money and do something digital. May-

See ABERDEEN, page 2

Pandemic pounds push 10,000 U.S. Army soldiers into obesity

The Associated Press

After gaining 30 pounds during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Murillo is finally getting back into fighting shape. Early pandemic lockdowns, endless hours on his laptop and heightened stress led Murillo, 27, to reach for cookies and chips in the barracks at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Gyms were closed, organized exercise was out and Murillo’s motivation to work out on his own was low.

“I could notice it,” said Murillo, who is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed as much as 192 pounds.

“The uniform was tighter.”

New research found that obesity in the U.S. military surged during the pandemic. In the Army alone, nearly 10,000 active duty soldiers developed obesity between February 2019 and June 2021, pushing the rate to nearly a quarter of the troops studied. Increases were seen in the U.S. Navy and the Marines, too.

“The Army and the other services need to focus on how to bring the forces back to fitness,” said Tracey Perez Koehlmoos, director of the Center for Health Services Research at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland.

Overweight and obese troops are more likely to be injured and less likely to endure the physical

“The Army and the other services need to focus on how to bring the forces back to fitness.”

Tracey Perez Koehlmoo

demands of their profession. The military loses more than 650,000 workdays each year because of extra weight and obesity-related health costs exceed $1.5 billion annually for current and former service members and their families, federal research shows.

Military leaders have been warning about the impact of obesity on the U.S. military for more than a decade, but the lingering pandemic effects highlight the need for urgent action, said retired Marine Corps Brigadier General Stephen Cheney, who co-authored a recent report on the problem.

“The numbers have not gotten better,” Cheney said in a November webinar held by the American Security Project, a nonprofit think tank. “They are just getting worse and worse and worse.”

In fiscal year 2022, the Army failed to make its recruiting goal for the first time, falling short by 15,000 recruits, or a quarter of the requirement. That’s largely

because three-quarters of Americans aged 17 to 24 are not eligible for military service for several reasons, including extra weight. Being overweight is the biggest individual disqualifier, affecting more than 1 in 10 potential recruits, according to the report.

“It is devastating. We have a dramatic national security problem,” Cheney said.

Extra weight can make it difficult for service members to meet core fitness requirements, which differ depending on the military branch. In the Army, for instance, if soldiers can’t pass the Army Combat Fitness Test, a recently updated measure of ability, it could result in probation or end their military careers.

The researchers relied on standard BMI, or body mass index, a calculation of weight and height used to categorize weight status.

A person with a BMI of 18.5 to 25 is considered healthy, while a BMI of 25 to less than 30 is considered overweight. A BMI of 30 or higher is categorized as obese. Some experts claim that the BMI is a flawed measure that fails to account for muscle mass or underlying health status, though it remains a widely used tool.

In Murillo’s case, his BMI during the pandemic reached nearly 32. The North Carolina Army soldier knew he need-

See ARMY, page 2

Junior Allie Hirst scored her 100th career goal during the Pinecrest girls varsity lacrosse team’s 27-0 shutout win over Cape Fear on Thursday, March 31. The Lady Patriots are 9-0 overall and 6-0 in conference.

ARMY, from page 1

ABERDEEN, from page 1 ed help, so he turned to a military dietician and started a strict exercise routine through the Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness, or H2F, program.

“We do two runs a week, 4 to 5 miles,” Murillo said. “Some mornings I wanted to quit, but I hung in there.”

Slowly, over months, Murillo has been able to reverse the trajectory. Now, his BMI is just over 27, which falls within the Defense Department’s standard, Koehlmoos said.

She found increases in other service branches, but focused first on the Army. The research squares with trends noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which warned that in 2020, nearly 1 in 5 of all service members were obese.

The steady creep of obesity among service members is “alarming,” said Cheney. “The country has not approached obesity as the problem it really is,” he added.

It will take broad measures to address the problem, including looking at the food offered in military cafeterias, understanding sleep patterns and treating service members with issues such as PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, Rothberg said. Regarding obesity as a chronic disease that requires comprehensive care, not just willpower, is key. “We need to meet military members where they are,” she said.

be with a scan code or something, and it just pops up on their phone. I think that would involve less upkeep for the town.”

The board also approved the temporary closing of a portion of South Sycamore Street between South and Main St for a 4th Friday Market from 4-8 on the dates of June 23, July 28, August 25, and September 22. The market will have 31 farm and artisan vendors, with the goal of the event being to bring local vendors and citizens to Downtown Aberdeen to highlight businesses and bolster community social events.

The board next approved the filing of an application with the NC Parks and Recreation Trust Fund for $150,000 to be matched by the town to build a Tot Lot and

playground, pedestrian trail, and paved parking access to these amenities at the Sportsplex Facility.

“This is just for the upfront approval of the application,” said Town Manager Paul Sabiston. “We’re still putting together some site plans and stuff which we will bring back to the board, and we also have some public hearings to meet. So we’re on a schedule to get this moving forward. The key here, though, which is a key point on these PARTF applications, is

that now we have practice fields and playing fields to fit that age group, and now the walking trail will serve an adult and senior population, which is a little bit of an add on to that park. PARTF loves when you’re serving different demographics.”

As part of the application approval, the board also approved the hiring of McGill Engineering to assist with the filing.

“The engineer is the same person from McGill Associates who’s got the actual experience with these applications and who was really helpful and gave us a lot of important information, but he’ll be putting together the final application for us,” Sabiston said.

According to Sabiston, the cost of the engineering assistance will be covered by the PARTF funding.

The Aberdeen Town Board will next meet April 24.

Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in Moore County:

April 6

Moore County Farmers Market

9am – 1pm Enjoy the Moore County Farmers Market at the Armory Sports Complex, which is located at 604 W. Morganton Road in Southern Pines! Buy local and fresh seasonal produce and products every Thursday morning from 9 am until 1pm!

Trivia Thursday at the Brewery

6pm

Come out for Trivia at the Southern Pines Brewery! Enjoy fun and prizes each Thursday. Southern Pines Brewing Company is located at 565 Air Tool Dr., Southern Pines, NC.

April 7

Live Music from Frankie Moree

6pm – 8pm

Come out to Red’s Corner, located at 801 SW. Broad St. in Southern Pines, for live music from Frankie Moree!

April 8

Joe Road 5 Mile Yard Sale

8am – 2pm

Come out to shop at one of the largest yard sales in North Carolina! Enjoy a day of bargain shopping, treasure hunting, food, and socializing at the Joel Road 5 Mile Yard Sale in Carthage!

Community Easter Egg Hunt

1pm

The Village Chapel in Pinehurst is holding a community Easter Egg Hunt this Saturday at 1 pm! Children can enjoy an easter egg hunt with special prizes and enjoy a visit from the Easter Bunny!

“I think I’d rather spend a little extra money and do something digital.”

Mayor Pro-Tem Bryan Bowles

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Marquette’s Smart

voted men’s AP coach of the year

Indianapolis

Shaka Smart was voted the AP men’s basketball coach of the year after leading Marquette to regular season and Big East Tournament titles. He received 24 of 58 votes from a national panel to beat out Kansas State coach Jerome Tang, who had 13 votes, and Kelvin Sampson of Houston, who received 10. The voting began with the conclusion of the regular season and closed before the start of the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles were a No. 2 seed and lost in the second round to Michigan State.

HOCKEY

Son of Flyers

GM dismissed from Mercyhurst team

Erie, Pa.

The son of Philadelphia Flyers interim general manager Danny Briere has been dismissed from the Mercyhurst University men’s hockey team after a video showed him and another athlete at the school pushing an unoccupied wheelchair down a staircase. Mercyhurst posted on Twitter that Carson Briere “has been removed” from the team. The school said it cannot comment further on the situation.

Police in Erie filed charges of criminal mischief, criminal conspiracy to commit mischief and disorderly conduct against Carson Briere last month. He was also dismissed from Arizona State’s hockey club in 2019 for what the school called a violation of team rules.

MLB Rangers’ Smith goes to hospital after hit in face with pitch

Arlington, Texas Texas outfielder Josh Smith was taken to a hospital after being hit in his face by a pitch in the Rangers’ game Monday against the Orioles. The lefthanded hitter was struck on the right side of his face in the third inning by a 1-0 slider from reliever Danny Coulombo. The Rangers said Smith went to a hospital for testing on his face and jaw. Coulombo was pitching because Orioles starter Kyle Bradish left after being hit on his right foot by a line drive in the second inning. Baltimore announced Bradish had a bruised foot.

SPORTS

Hendrick wins again as Larson claims victory at Richmond

The 2021 champion claimed his 20th career win

The Associated Press

KYLE LARSON spent the week watching videos of his 10-win, 2021 championship season, he said, “to remind myself that I used to be good.”

He still is. Larson pulled away on a restart with 14 laps to go and easily won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway on Sunday.

“I just really wanted to look at old tape of myself and see where my mindset was and to see my confidence,” Larson said after his 20th career victory in NASCAR’s top series.

Larson started the final green flag run with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry to his outside and beat Berry into the first turn. Berry, who is filling in for the injured Chase Elliott, held on for second, followed by Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Kevin Harvick.

It’s the third victory of the sea-

son for the four-car Hendrick team and came less than a week after a 100-point penalty against each driver for using an illegal part was overturned by a NASCAR appeals panel. It also came with a fill-in crew chief in Kevin Meendering because the appeals panel upheld the four-race suspensions of all four team crew chiefs.

“I was just happy to fill a gap and help those guys out in a tough situation,” Meendering said. “This is a testament to all the hard work but those guys on that team and to Hendrick Motorsports,”

Chevrolet took the top three spots and has now won five of the seven races this season.

All the Hendrick cars except for Berry ran in contention all race, with William Byron, the only twotime winner this season, leading a race-high 117 laps and running fourth for a restart with 21 laps to go. The field bunched up heading into Turn 1, and Bell hit his left rear quarter panel, sending Byron spinning into the wall. He finished 24th.

“It looked like the 1 (Chastain) was inside the 20 (Bell) and the

20 overcooked the corner, had the fronts locked up and nailed us in the left rear,” Byron said. “It is what it is. I had a great race car.”

Bell said he was trying to keep Chastain at bay.

“I tried to protect from him going to the inside and he still made it three-wide there at the last minute and there wasn’t enough room,” he said.

The cars never got on the track on Saturday because of rain, leading NASCAR to give them an extra set of tires, and even then, teams pitted for lightly used scuffs for the final green flag run. That paid off big for Berry and Michael McDowell, who stayed on the track during the previous green flag stop, then

Clark tech, foul count put focus on officials

Thirty-seven personal fouls were called in the NCAA championship game between LSU and Iowa

The Associated Press DALLAS — Iowa star Caitlin Clark was whistled for a technical foul late in the third quarter with her team trailing LSU by nine points in the NCAA championship game.

The bigger problem for the Hawkeyes was the call meant a fourth personal foul for the junior scoring sensation, moments after front court leader Monika Czinano had picked up her fourth.

Clark never fouled out, while Czinano and fellow senior McKenna Warnock did as Iowa nev-

women’s title game

er made a serious run in the fourth quarter of a 102-85 loss to the Tigers on Sunday. The second and third fouls against Clark were both for pushoffs about three minutes apart in the second quarter, when The Associated Press Player of the Year was trying to dribble around defenders.

The latter sent her to the bench for the final 3:26 of the first half with the Hawkeyes down 11, and she left the game again after the technical with 1:04 remaining in the third.

“I thought they called it very, very tight,” said Clark, who scored 30 points. “I don’t know about the two push-offs in the second quarter. I thought all I could do is respond and come back out there and keep fighting and keep trying to help this team crawl back into the game.”

In a pool report, lead official Lisa

Jones said the technical came when Clark didn’t pass the ball to an official after the Hawkeyes had been given a delay-of-game warning for batting the ball away after a made basket earlier in the third quarter.

Clark’s tech was among 37 personal fouls. It wasn’t a championship game record and was 15 fewer than a first-round game this year between James Madison and Ohio State.

Social media just made it seem like an all-time record, with the

got the caution that made it pay off.

“Everybody on the team made some great calls,” Berry said. “I’m so glad they tried something different there at the end to just get us up front.”

McDowell turned it into a sixthplace finish. Todd Gilliland, the third driver who stayed on the track, turned in a 15th-place finish.

“Our car was really good on the long run and I think we were gonna be 15th or 16th, so you might as well go for it and see if you can’t come up with something good and it worked out,” McDowell said.

The second of three straight short track events comes next Sunday night on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway.

cascade of comments that officials were becoming the story by taking the stars out of the game. Czinano didn’t want to go there after the game.

“I don’t really think that’s a great question for me to answer honestly,” Czinano said. “We can’t live in the past. All we can do is live in the moment. That game happened. Those calls were called. Going forward, we’ll see what people decide what to do about it.”

LSU’s Angel Reese sat for a long stretch of the first half after picking up two fouls. Czinano and Warnock had two fouls at halftime, and both had four entering the fourth quarter.

Czinano fouled out with 6:25 remaining and the Hawkeyes trailing by 14. She had 13 points in a postseason-low 22 minutes.

“It’s very frustrating because I feel like I can’t talk to them,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “They won’t even listen. When your two seniors have to sit on the bench — they don’t know they’re seniors. I get it. But those two women didn’t deserve it. And then Caitlin getting a ‘T.’ I don’t know. It’s too bad.”

AP PHOTO

Kyle Larson celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.

in

“I thought they called it very, very tight.”

Caitlyn Clark, Iowa guard

Rosa Gonzalez Scheyett

August 28, 1932 - March 26, 2023

Rosa Gonzalez Scheyett, of Southern Pines, NC, passed away on March 26th after a brief and brave battle with cancer.

Rosa was born on August 28th, 1932 to Silvestre and Bienvenida Gonzalez in Lares, Puerto Rico.

She earned an advanced degree in Physical Therapy from the Medical College of Virginia, now part of Virginia Commonwealth University. While at the Medical College she met the love of her life, Walter Scheyett, and they married on October 4, 1953. They lived in Glen Burnie, MD and had two daughters, Anna Marie and Juanita Marie.

They enjoyed travel, and Rosa also spent much of her time painting in oils. She painted many beautiful still lifes and landscapes, and exhibited her work on occasion in local art shows. She took great pride in her art, but her greatest joy was as a wife, mother, and grandmother to her three grandchildren Nora, Amanda, and Adrian.

Rosa is predeceased by her parents. Her beloved husband of 69 years Walter died two days following her death. She is survived by her sister, Wilma Lluberas and brother, Juan Gonzales; her two children, Anna Scheyett (Stephen Lay) and Juanita McCarron; and her three grandchildren, Nora Simmons (Drew Miller), Amanda (Sawyer) Lay-Walters, and Adrian Cheng.

Colonel Walter E Scheyett

March 25, 1928 - March 28, 2023

Colonel Walter E. Scheyett of Southern Pines NC died on Tuesday March 28, 2023. He was 95 years old.

Colonel Scheyett was born in Washington D.C. on March 25th 1928 to parents Burkhardt and Nora. Upon graduation, he enlisted in the US Army and went into Japan with the 1st Cavalry Division and served two years with the occupation forces.

Upon discharge, he returned home and entered the University of Maryland. After graduating, he entered the Medical College of Virginia. More importantly, at MCV he met his future wife, Rosa. After graduation, they were married in 1953.

Colonel Scheyett died two days following the death of his dearlyloved wife of 69 years, Rosa. He is survived by his daughters Dr. Anna Scheyett (Steve Lay) of Athens GA and Juanita McCarron of Albuquerque, NM, and grandchildren Nora Simmons (Drew Miller), Amanda Lay-Walters (Sawyer Walters) and Adrian Cheng.

Walter Hall Wright

November 24, 1930 - March 30, 2023

Walter Hall Wright, 92, passed away peacefully on March 30, 2023 in Aberdeen, NC.

Walter was preceded in death by his parents Walter Hall and Nellie Mae McInnis Wright, his lifelong sweetheart and beautiful wife Carol (married 71 years), brother George, sister Martha Bowers, grandson, Ethan William Hall Wright and two great grandchildren: Isabella (Bella) Grace Wright and Madelyn Grace Mahon. He is survived by his brother Robert Wright and wife Carol, of Raleigh, NC, sons Walter (Bo) Wright of Cohutta, GA; David Wright and wife Christine of Royse City, TX, Tommy Wright of Harpersville, AL; and Clifton Wright and wife Mary of Harrison, TN. Grandchildren: Ben Wright and wife Christine, Tommy Wright and wife Lindsey, Jennifer House and husband Andrew (David and Chris); Melissa Irwin and husband James (Tommy); Cyndi Smith, Ranea Uncapher and husband Clay, Samuel Wright, Melissa Mahon and husband Matt, Nicole Lane and husband Matt, Matthew Stout and wife Madeline (Clifton and Mary). He is also survived by 16 great grandchildren.

Lt. Col. Richard W. "Dick" Porter

December 21, 1935 - March 29, 2023

Lt. Col. Richard W. “Dick” Porter, 87, of Southern Pines, passed peacefully at St. Joseph of the Pines on Wednesday, March 29th, 2023 with his wife and daughter by his side.

Dick was born in Cedar Rapids, IA, on December 21st, 1935. He was the son of the late Clarence and Edna Velva “Pat” Tatge Porter and the second eldest of six children; James, Richard, Janice, Pat, Robert and William. Dick met Roz at ASU and they were married the same year on May 17, 1957.

Dick and Roz retired in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina in 1998 to be closer to their three children on the east coast.

Dick was dedicated to his family and beloved by all who knew him. Dick was the devoted husband of Rosalind “Roz” Porter for close to 66 years. He was the father of Elizabeth Beth” Zavodny, husband Larry; Richard Ethan Porter, wife Polly, and Megan Grieshaber, husband Alfred. Dick is survived by his 9 grandchildren: Jessica, John, Brittany, Amy, Nissa, Esteban, Hailey, Wyatt and Leann and 2 great grandchildren. He is also survived by sister Pat Willett, husband John of California and Bill Porter, wife Norma of Texas.

Everett C. (Ev) Merritt

November 10, 1935 - March 28, 2023

Everett C. (Ev) Merritt, 87, of Pinehurst, passed away on March 28, 2023 at FirstHealth Hospice House in Pinehurst.

Born on November 10, 1935 in Geneva, New York to the late Everett and Marion Merritt, Ev graduated from Palmyra-Macedon High School in 1953.

He was married to Marilyn J. Smith from 1957-1980. Ev fathered two wonderful sonsDouglas Everett Merritt and David Christopher Merritt, both of whom were/are successfully employed and dedicated family men. Doug was unfortunately lost to cancer in 2014. Dave lives in Palmyra, NY with his wonderful wife, Jill and the best grandson you can imagine, Jack Merritt. He and Janet L. Gold married in 1984 and lived in Fairport, NY and on Keuka Lake, NY, until retiring to Pinehurst, NC in 1995. They followed the good weather between NC and NY for 18 years and enjoyed friendships in both locations.

David O Danielson

August 4, 1934 - March 29, 2023

David O. Danielson passed away on Wednesday, March 29, 2023 at the age of 88.

Dave was a man of incredible faith and is now resting peacefully in the arms of his Lord and Savior.

Dave is survived by his three children, Paula Wolsted (Bob), Wendy Goldston (David), and Todd Danielson (Rae); seven grandchildren and six greatgrandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Roberta.

Barbara Ann Miller

July 17, 1944 - April 2, 2023

Barbara Ann Miller, age 78, of Pinehurst, NC has gone home to be with her Heavenly Father and the love of her life, Gary, on Sunday, April 2 at her home.

She was born in Los Angeles, CA on July 17, 1944 and grew up in Southern California before retiring to Pinehurst in 2009 with her husband.

Barbara loved her girlfriends, golfing with her husband, playing Pickle ball, and shelling on the beaches of North Carolina. In the last few years she loved crafting and creating beautiful art with her shell treasures.

She is survived by her daughters, Gena Van Horne and Stacia Freedman, her two stepdaughters and 6 grandchildren.

Russell Owen Gentry

February 20, 1938 - March 23, 2023

Russell Owen Gentry, passed away peacefully on March 23rd 2023 surrounded by his wife Mavis and family.

"Russ" was born on February 20th 1938 in San Antonio Texas. He moved to Tulsa Oklahoma aged 2 years with his father Jay L. Gentry (US Army Air Corps) and his mother Ethel E Gentry (both deceased). It was also here his only sibling Katherine was born (also deceased) and was the place he discovered his passion for flying leading to a career in the US Airforce. His retirement years were in Florida and he finally settled in Pinehurst North Carolina with his wife Mavis.

Gary G. Priest

July 26, 1954 - March 26, 2023

Gary G. Priest, 68, of Carthage, passed suddenly at the FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital on Sunday, March 26th.

A Lifelong resident of Moore County, Gary was born July 26, 1954 to the late Charles Gilmer and Mary Sue Bridgers Priest. He was a graduate of Union Pines High School, class of 1972. Gary was a career farmer. He grew up helping on his parents’ farm and as an adult, he took to running his own farm.

Gary was the loving husband of Jane Matthews Priest. He is survived by his son, Ben Priest, wife Ashley, and their daughter Josie Mae Priest. Gary was the brother of Tim Priest, Donna Ackermann, Pete Priest and the late Charles G. “Chuck” Priest, Jr.

Clyde Wayne Parsons

October 30, 1952 - March 27, 2023

Clyde Wayne Parsons, 70, of Aberdeen, North Carolina, passed away March 27, 2023 after his battle with cancer.

He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Deborah Frye Parsons; children, Bridget Weston (Tracy) of Shallotte, NC, Brian Parsons, of Aberdeen, NC, Brandi Parsons, of Aberdeen NC; 9 grandchildren; sister Geneva Wilson of West End, NC and brother Walter Glen Gibson Jr. of Rockingham, NC.

When Wayne was not fishing or working he thought himself to be a hunter. But in reality, we believed he enjoyed watching them more than anything. He would have a deer eating peanut butter out of the palm of his hand in no time. Which is a fond memory that many of his grandchildren share being able to witness.