North State Journal — Vol. 3., Issue 5

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 5

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2018

Inside Duke will look very different in 2018-19, Sports

PHOTO COURTESY OF GERRY DINCHER

Dunn, N.C. was listed as the tenth largest micropolitan in the nation, after gaining more than 1,800 residents in 2016, according to a report released from the U.S. Census in March.

the Wednesday

NEWS BRIEFING

Facebook CEO plans to testify before Congress Mountainview, Ca. Facebook Inc chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will appear before Congress to answer questions on data privacy and other issues, but it is not clear to which committee or committees he will testify. The Senate Judiciary Committee has invited Zuckerberg to testify at an April 10 hearing along with the CEOs of Alphabet Inc and Twitter Inc. The House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senate Commerce committees have also asked him to testify but have not set dates.

Members of Congress want answers on how 50 million users’ data got into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

More water infrastructure projects funded through Connect NC Bond Raleigh Towns across the state are getting grant and loan money for 127 projects to repair or replace water infrastructure.

The State Water Infrastructure Authority approved more than $240 million in the final round of the applications from the Connect NC Bond. Hurricane Matthew-related projects were prioritized in the process and towns approved include Oxford, Bladenboro and Farmville.

NORTH

STATE

JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION

Fastest growth in NC is in the suburbs and rural counties A U.S. Census report shows population growth in the state’s biggest cities is slowing when compared to surrounding counties

By Donna King North State Journal

BRENDAN MCDERMID | REUTERS

United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is pictured as she arrives for a lunch meeting in Manhattan.

Russia left out in the cold The world is expelling diplomats over a UK nerve attack, while the Kremlin denies responsibility for it

Former SCOTUS justice calls to repeal Second Amendment

By Michael Holden and Roberta Rampton Reuters

Washington, D.C. A retired U.S. Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens on Tuesday called for the repeal of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment, which gives Americans the right to keep and bear firearms.

Stevens is considered a liberal judge who sat on the high court for 35 years before retiring in 2010. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders responded, “We think that the focus has to remain on removing weapons from dangerous individuals, not on blocking all Americans from their constitutional rights.”

LONDON/WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States said this week it would expel 60 Russian diplomats and close key consulates, joining governments across Europe in punishing the Kremlin for a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain that they have blamed on Moscow.

Nations also expelling Russia’s diplomats are Ukraine, France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Italy, Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Albania, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Macedonia, Sweden, Norway, Latvia, Estonia,

Finland, Romania, Croatia and Maldova.

On Tuesday, NATO joined the movement by expelling seven diplomats from Russia’s mission to the alliance and blocking the appointment of three others.

In response, Russia has expelled 23 British diplomats and closed the British consulate in St. Petersburg and the British Council cultural body. Moscow will also expel at least 60 staff from U.S. diplomatic missions in Russia, RIA news agency quoted Russian Sen. Vladimir Dzhabarov as saying.

RIA also quoted an unnamed Foreign Ministry source as saying: “The response will be symmetrical. We will work on it in the coming days and will respond to every country in turn.”

This week’s wave of expulsions followed EU leaders saying last week that evidence presented by May of Russian involveSee RUSSIA, page A2

TWO-THIRDS of N.C. counties grew in population last year. In the Triangle, Johnston County was the fastest growing area, by percentage of the population, while around Charlotte, Union County showed the most growth. The same trend was true in the Triad area and in the western part of the state. Parts of Buncombe County outside of Asheville accounted for 64 percent of the area’s population growth.

The data comes from an annual U.S. Census report, released last week, on population in cities and counties across the nation. The report examines changes between July 2016 and July 2017 in where

people are moving and provides a foundation for state and local governments as they try to plan resources for their communities.

“We see more broadly nationwide a return to higher growth occurring in more traditionally suburban or exurban areas than had been occurring in the immediate years following the recession and in the first half of this decade,” said Dr. Rebecca Tippett, director of Carolina Demography at the Carolina Population Center at UNC Chapel Hill.

Tippett suggests that there are several factors in the changes, among them the increase in home prices nationwide and economic fallout for some families in the wake of the recession. They may be headed outside of N.C. cities for an affordable place to live.

Overall, 66 of N.C.’s 100 counties had population growth last year, compared to 53 percent of counties nationally. N.C. now has 10.3 million residents, making it See CENSUS, page A2

INSIDE

COURTESY PHOTO

Eight members of the N.C. State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement were sworn in Wednesday, March 21 by N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin (center). From left to right: Member Joshua Malcolm; Member Stacy “Four” Eggers IV; Chairman Andy Penry; Chief Justice Mark Martin; Member Ken Raymond; Member Valerie Johnson; Member Stella Anderson; Member John Lewis.

(Not pictured is Member Jay Hemphill).

The new N.C. Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement had their first meeting Tuesday with all nine members

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North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

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3.28.18 #121

Gun control rallies fill streets, with backup from Hollywood The White House applauded “the many courageous young Americans” who exercised their freespeech rights

“The whole state.

The whole story.”

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

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By Donna King North State Journal WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chanting “never again,” hundreds of thousands of people rallied across the United States, including Raleigh, Greenville and Asheville, on Saturday to demand more government restrictions on firearms access. The marches stemmed from the shooting on Feb. 14 at Parkland High School in Florida, where gunman Nikolas Cruz murdered 14 students and three teachers.

However, supporters of gun rights also held a March for our Guns protest in numerous cities, citing the constitutionally-protected right to bear arms.

The demonstrations came the day after President Donald Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill that included the bipartisan Fix NICS (National Instant Criminal Background System) Act, providing financial incentives for states reporting to the current criminal database. The funding measure also includes the Stop School Violence Act 2018, a measure passed by the House that provides grants for security training, metal detectors, stronger locks, emergency notifications and other plans to improve school safety.

Gun control lobbying group Everytown for Gun Safety helped plan and coordinate the events and rallies, along with organizers who also coordinated The Women’s March after Donald Trump was sworn in as president of the United States. While protesters called for more gun control, voter registration activists fanned out in the crowds, signing up thousands of the nation’s newest voters.

At the largest March For Our Lives protest, approximately 200,000 demonstrators jammed Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue. Organizers took to social media saying that 850,000 people were there, however aerial analysis by two separate companies put the actual number of attendees in D.C. closer to a range of 180,000 to 200,000.

The crowd listened to speeches from survivors of the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman

JIM URQUHART | REUTERS

Protesters hold signs during the “March For Our Guns” rally at the state capitol in Helena, Mont., March 24.

JIM BOURG | REUTERS

Washington-area high school students gather outside the Capitol as part of a nation wide walk-out of classes to demand stricter gun laws.

Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. One of the most emotional presentations came from Parkland teen Emma Gonzalez, who read the names of the 17 victims and then stood in silence.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she stared out over the crowd for the rest of a speech that lasted six minutes and 20 seconds, the time it took for the gunman to slaughter them.

“Politicians: either represent the people or get out. Stand with us or beware, the voters are coming,” Cameron Kasky, a 17-yearold junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, told the crowd.

Another survivor, David Hogg, said it was a new day.

“We’re going to make sure the best people get in our elections to run not as politicians, but as Americans. Because this — this — is not cutting it,” he said, pointing at the white-domed Capitol behind the stage.

Underlining sharp differences among the American public over the issue, organizers of the anti-gun rallies want Congress, many of whose members are up for re-election in November, to ban the sale weapons like the one used in the Florida rampage, while on the other side of the de-

bate, gun rights advocates pointed to constitutional guarantees of the right to bear arms.

“All they’re doing is asking the government to take their liberty away from them without due process,” Brandon Howard, a 42-year-old Trump supporter, said of the protesters in the capital. He had a sign saying: “Keep your hands off my guns.”

Demonstrations in support of the Second Amendment popped up in cities across the country including Boston, Helena, Mont., Reno, Nev., Phoenix, and Salt Lake City, and Albuquerque, N.M. “The problem that I have with March for Our Lives is they didn’t invite us,” Shawn Haufe, a combat veteran with Gun Owners of New Mexico told local Albuquerque television station KOBTV. “All they’re doing is an echo chamber that they want everybody to hear them but won’t give anyone else an opinion.

“You can’t regulate evil. You can’t stop evil,” Haufe added.

“The problem is if you eliminate one tool they’re going to find another tool and use it.”

The high-profile cast of the rallies in Washington, D.C., and New York featured musicians giving kudos and cash to the march organizers. Singers Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande, as well as “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, were among those performing in Washington. Actor George Clooney and his human rights attorney wife, Amal, were also there and donated $500,000.

Among those marching next to New York’s Central Park to call for tighter gun controls was pop star Paul McCartney, who said he had a personal stake in the debate.

“One of my best friends was shot not far from here,” he told CNN, referring to Beatles bandmate John Lennon, who was gunned down near the park in 1980.

The National Football League’s New England Patriots loaned its plane to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and their families to travel to Washington.

White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said the administration applauded “the many courageous young Americans” who exercised their free speech rights.

“Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the president’s,” said Walters, noting that on Friday the Justice Department proposed rule changes that would effectively ban “bump stock” devices that let semiautomatic weapons fire like a machine gun.

Reuters News Service contributed to this report.

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RUSSIA from page A1 ment in a nerve agent attack in London was a solid basis for further action.

Moscow has denied being behind the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the southern English city of Salisbury. Skripal, 66, and Yulia Skripal, 33, were found unconscious on a public bench in a shopping center on March 4 and remain critically ill in hospital.

“We assess that more than 130 people in Salisbury could have been potentially exposed to this nerve agent,” said British Prime Minister Theresa May said.

Saying Britain had evidence Russia has investigated ways of distributing nerve agents for assassinations, May welcomed the show of solidarity as 100 Russian diplomats were being removed, the biggest Western expulsion of Russian diplomats since the height of the Cold War. She called it the “strongest signal to Russia

the ninth-most populated state in the nation, but the growth has been steady for nearly a decade. Between 2010 and 2017, Brunswick County was the fastest growing county, increasing in population size by 21.8 percent (or 23,466 people). This is followed by Wake County (19.0 percent), Mecklenburg County (17.1 percent) and Pender County (16.7 percent). Twenty-two counties grew at a faster rate than the state overall.

Some of that growth, according to Tippett, is also baby boomers looking for an affordable retirement in N.C.’s small towns, or moving to the counties around cities to be near grandchildren and good health care. Baby boomers are expected to enter the

that it cannot continue to flout international law.”

Australia confirmed it was expelling the two Russian diplomats identified as undeclared intelligence officers, citing Russia’s “reckless and deliberate conduct.”

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Twitter Monday “extraordinary international response by our allies stands in history as the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers ever and will help defend our shared security.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry called the expulsions a “provocative gesture.” A Kremlin spokesman said the West was making a “mistake” and that President Vladimir Putin would make a final decision about Russia’s response.

The staff expelled by Washington includes 12 people identified by the United States as intelligence officers from Russia’s mission to the United Nations headquarters in New York. They were involved in activities outside their

65 and older group through early 2030, but they aren’t going to be having children and their needs could mean big changes for rural economies.

“We see that happening in parts of the mountains, we see that happening in parts of the coast, we see that very clearly in Brunswick and Chatham counties, but in other places while we may be having some people moving in, the aging population may be sufficiently old that it makes it very hard for overall growth levels to rise,” said Tippett. “The types of needs they have might be very different and the local economy may need to change to accommodate their needs, so it may create new opportunities for younger workers to come in.”

“It’s hard to say exactly what this looks like because, quite

The Kremlin has accused Britain of whipping up an anti-Russia campaign and has sought to cast doubt on the British analysis that Moscow was responsible. official capacity and an abuse of their privileges of residence, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called it “a very unfortunate, very unfriendly move.”

President Donald Trump also ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle because of its proximity to a U.S. submarine base and planemaker and defense contractor Boeing, a senior U.S. official said. Seattle was a hub of Russian cyberespionage, both political and commercial, according

“We see more broadly nationwide a return to higher growth occurring in more traditionally suburban or exurban areas than had been occurring in the immediate years following the recession and in the first half of this decade.”

— Dr. Rebecca Tippett frankly, we’ve never had such a large group of individuals reach these older ages because we didn’t used to live this long,” she added.

“It’s a great problem to have, but

to two U.S. intelligence officials.

The envoys and their families have been given a week to leave the United States, according to one U.S. official. Australia has issued the same deadline to its expelled diplomats.

Trump, who before he took office in January last year promised warmer ties with Putin, last week congratulated the Russian leader on his re-election, drawing criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike. Trump said the two leaders had made tentative plans to meet in the “not too distant future.”

He did not bring up the poisoning attack in his phone call with Putin.

“The president wants to work with the Russians but their actions sometimes don’t allow that to happen,” White House spokesman Raj Shah told a news briefing. “The poisoning in the U.K. that has kind of led to today’s announcement was a very brazen action. It was a reckless action.”

it still is a challenge. It’s going to impact all communities, but some communities are going to feel the impacts in ways that may create very serious local challenges.”

The census report divides counties and hometowns by population into metropolitans and micropolitans. A micropolitan county has at least one urban area with more than 10,000 residents, but fewer than 50,000.

Southern Pines and Dunn made the national list of the top-10 fastest growing micropolitans, claiming the Nos. 5 and 6 spots, respectively.

Southern Pines gained 1,872 residents in 2017, bringing its population to 97,264 people.

Dunn was also the No. 10 most populated micropolitian with 132,754 residents, having gained 1,855 people since 2016.

U.S. lawmakers largely welcomed Trump’s move on Monday.

Washington had already imposed sanctions on Russian citizens and firms for U.S. election meddling and cyberattacks but put off targeting oligarchs and government officials close to Putin.

U.S. officials said the scale of the expulsions was based not only on the expansion of Russian espionage in the United States, but also on its increasing focus on critical infrastructure targets such as electrical grids, financial networks, transportation and health care.

Skripal’s poisoning, which Britain said employed the Soviet-era military-grade nerve agent Novichok, is the first known offensive use of a nerve toxin in Europe since World War II. The Kremlin has accused Britain of whipping up an anti-Russia campaign and has sought to cast doubt on the British analysis that Moscow was responsible.

North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

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BUSINESS

REUTERS

A worker polishes steel pipes at a factory in China. Local businesses continue to assess potential effects of President Trump’s initiation of new steel and aluminum import tariffs earlier this month, in response to what he characterized as “aggressive foreign trade practices.”

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FAST FACTS Sponsored by

NC Research Campus study finds bananas as effective as ibuprofen Approved Logos

In a new study published March 22 in PLOS ONE, banana metabolites were found to inhibit COX-2 mRNA expression, the same target as ibuprofen.

The study, “Metabolic recovery from heavy exertion following banana compared to sugar beverage or water only ingestion: A randomized, crossover trial,” contrasted banana ingestion during exercise to water alone or a six percent sugar beverage, which is similar to a sports drink.

The study showed that banana carbohydrates work equally to a sports drink to fuel athletes and help them with recovery. New metabolic findings revealed that banana metabolites potentially mimic how ibuprofen works to reduce pain and swelling, and how they help the immune system function effectively during a metabolically stressful time such as intense exercise.

“Ibuprofen is the number one drug taken by athletes to combat inflammation,” said study author David C. Nieman, DrPH, FACSM, director of the Appalachian State University Human Performance Laboratory on the NC Research Campus (NCRC) and professor of health and exercise science.

“Research shows that it can cause intestinal cell damage and, in some studies, was found to increase inflammation in athletes. Now, athletes know there is a natural alternative – bananas and water.”

Eastern NC fence company sees challenges and benefits in recent metal tariffs Seegars Fence Company, a family-owned Goldsboro business, assesses the effects of Trump’s latest round of tariffs on imported metal

By Emily Roberson North State Journal GOLDBORO — Seegars Fence Company has been based in Goldsboro, North Carolina since 1949. The company has benefitted from good fortune and lots of hard work over its nearly 70 years, and has grown to include 14 branches in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Of any business in North Carolina that will feel the effects of President Trump’s proposed new tariffs on imported metal, Seegars Fence is likely at the top of the list. The Goldsboro office functions as the material distribution hub for the regional partner branches, which allows for strong collective purchasing power.

A member of the third generation of Seegars Fence men, Ben Seegars oversees material purchases. Seegars says that with the new tariffs imposing a 25 percent increase on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, the new structure will simply set the pricing bar across the board.

The main advantage Seegars points to is that for the domestic producer, the known tariff establishes a firm price ceiling and will allow companies to predictably raise prices in order to be as profitable as possible. “American

Business 101,” says Ben Harper, Seegars Fence Marketing Manager.

Harper says that Seegars Fence Company sources their metal materials from three U.S. mills and has seen four price increases since the beginning of 2018, each ranging from 5 percent to 9 percent. The immediate impact of the tariffs, Harper says, has brought some uncertainty to the supply chain.

“Rather than stocking the standard two-week supply of metal fence materials for the 14 branches, Ben is looking to max out the yard capacity and hold 3-4 weeks of materials in order to capture today’s lower prices to cover current signed contract work, like to filling up your gas tank when you know gas prices are going up Friday.”

Market uncertainty brings new challenges to the flow of the job bid schedule. For example, if an elementary school begins the budget work for a new playground fence, Seegars Fence Company will have to be careful about how they quote a job six months out, or buying and storing the materials early might be required to stay on budget for the school system.

When prices have stabilized, and the metal markets build in the tariff over the long term, Harper estimates that residential customers might see an 8 percent total increase in the cost of putting in a metal fence. Seegars Fence also owns Southern Wildlife, a custom-built steel firepit and gate subsidiary.

Southern Wildlife material costs will rise by 25 percent.

Higher prices will require

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COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT Sponsored by

Ben Harper Marketing Manager, Seegars Fence Company

that the company make a strong effort to connect with customers in a crowded space, says Harper. “These are the complications relative to sudden inflation. Seegars Fence Company strives to work through adversity, and Ben enjoys the new challenge of securing and delivering the best prices possible to customers as we move into the busy summer season.”

National trade groups have urged the White House to take the metal tariffs – which President Trump has said are specifically designed to target Chinese trade practices – off the negotiating table. The groups have called on Trump to work with trade allies to push for changes to China’s policies instead.

But back in North Carolina, Trump’s domestic policies have had an impact that could eclipse the current market uncertainty surrounding the new metal tariffs. Harper notes that policy changes effected since Trump took office have largely benefitted the family business: “Trump has also brought an upside to Seegars Fence Company and many other small businesses across the country. The new tax cuts positioned Seegars to increase their medical insurance contribution for employees, new equipment, and facilities.”

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Head to the Peak for Antiques this Weekend Relish relics of days past? Then make the Apex PeakTique Antiques & Collectibles Festival your weekend go-to destination.

Held in Norris Park, just 1.5 miles from Historic Downtown Apex, the festival runs Friday, April 6, and Saturday, April 7, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. For five bucks— or zero bucks if you’re a kid 12 or under, you get a two-day pass to peruse pre1975 antique and collectible treasures from 25 or so top-quality vendors from North Carolina and beyond.

Mack Thorpe, chairman of the festival and co-owner of The Rusty Bucket, an antique store in downtown Apex, says you can expect to find furniture, jewelry, folk art, wall hangings, pottery, primitive and farmhouse furnishings, and lots more.

A few food trucks will be there as well.

The festival is organized and managed by the Town of Apex, as well as the nonprofits Apex Downtown Business Association and Apex Historical Society.

Proceeds from ticket sales support downtown events and preserving and promoting historic places in Apex, like the 1870 Maynard-Pearson House and the city’s downtown caboose.

For more information, visit www.apexpeaktique.com.

North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

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North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

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Diabetes prevention programs in N.C.

State board puts the Green Party on NC ballots

By NSJ Staff RALEIGH — The nine members of the Bipartisan State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement unanimously voted Tuesday to put the N.C. Green Party on voter ballots across the state, along with Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians.

It also allows voters to register an affiliation with the Green Party.

A state law passed last year allows N.C. ballot access to a party that has a presidential candidate on at least 70 percent of state ballots nationwide. The Green Party’s presidential candidate, Jill Stein, was on 38 state ballots in 2016. N.C. Green Party co-chair Anthony Ndeuge requested that the party be added to the ballot in a letter to the board executive director Kim Westbrook Strach in December, but action was postponed until the complete board was seated.

The board also approved one Republican and one Democrat for county of elections members and their chair. A point of contention came in the move to pass over

March 27 is Diabetes Alert Day More than one million North Carolinians have either prediabetes or diabetes.

Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the state and is a leading cause of stroke, blindness and kidney failure. Prevention is possible with exercise, a healthy diet and early intervention. Common symptoms of diabetes: • Urinating often • Feeling very thirsty • Feeling very hungry - even though you are eating • Extreme fatigue • Blurry vision • Cuts/bruises that are slow to heal • Weight loss - even though you are eating more (type 1) • Tingling, pain, or numbness in the hands/feet (type 2)

counties with program(s)

To see if you are at risk, visit www.diabetesnc.com and find a treatment or prevention center near you.

SOURCE: DIABETESNC.COM

Cleveland County Republicans’ top pick for their county board, current elections board chairman Wayne King, a Republican.

Without giving details, state board member Joshua Malcom, a Democrat, said the motion not to seat King was based on his own “judgment” that the county would be “better served” without King on the county Board of Elections. Republicans voted against the measure. Democrats and the unaffiliated member, Damon Circosta, voted in favor.

“This is a partisan motion to remove Mr. King from the board of elections, let’s be transparent about that,” said Republican member John Lewis.

Circosta, executive director of the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, was selected by Gov. Roy Cooper on March 21 to fill the ninth seat on the board after the eight members nominated him and former Chief Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court Burley Mitchell.

The board oversees elections in North Carolina, as well as campaign finance, ethics and lobbying reporting and compliance.

Fighting opioid abuse with new disposal technology

By NSJ Staff

WEST

Missing hikers found and rescued in Pisgah National Forest

Flight instructor reports house fire Macon County A house on Hawk Hill road in Macon County caught on fire over the weekend, but fortunately, a flight instructor happened to be overhead.

Marc Bryson was with a student practicing landings at the Macon County Airport when they spotted the smoke. He radioed the airport, who was then able to call 911. Fire crews responded quickly, and there were no injuries.

Transylvania County Two missing hikers from eastern North Carolina were found and rescued in Pisgah National Forest on Sunday afternoon. The two men were two miles away from their shelter on Saturday evening when they left the trail, attempting a shortcut back. They became disoriented. They were able to build a fire and camp for the night but were in danger of hypothermia after hiking through waist-deep water.

PIEDMONT Wastewater released into Cape Fear River Basin Durham County An accidental discharge of waste water caused 3,700 gallons of pretreated manufacturing process water to be released into a storm water retention pond in Durham. The pond discharges into a small tributary that leads into the Cape Fear River Basin. The incident occurred on March 18, at a location listed as a Burt’s Bees manufacturing facility.

WKHP

Woman arrested for posting nude photos of ex-boyfriend Lincoln County Gabriel Alexandra Husarenko, a 19-year-old Hickory woman, was arrested for posting nude photos of her ex-boyfriend — 24-year-old Alex Santana — on Facebook. Santana filed a report last Friday, accusing Husarenko of posting the photos and making comments about him online.

She was arrested at her home four days later and charged with felony disclosure of private images. Santana was charged with assault for allegedly striking her in the chest.

CW 39

Last county forester leaves position Wilkes County Nathan Gatlin has been promoted to the assistant district ranger for District Two of the N.C. Forest Service. That’s good news for him, but it means that Wilkes County will be losing its county forester, Gatlin’s previous position.

Wilkes was the last of North Carolina’s counties to have a county forester.

Instead of replacing him, Wilkes will hire a county ranger.

WILKES JOURNAL PATRIOT

Haywood County A student at Meadowbrook Elementary School in Canton brought a BB gun to school, in response to a threat from another student. The principal and school officials learned of the threat and were able to confiscate the gun before classes began. While some parents were upset that a notification wasn’t sent out by the school, district officials said they were confident that there was no further threat to student safety.

Davidson County A team of 911 operators were honored by the North Carolina 911 Board for helping Davidson County police arrest three men accused of robbing a jewelry store. A total of nine 911 dispatchers handled all of the communication related to the incident on Jan. 9. One suspect was caught by police following a crash. Another was found in an abandoned house, and the third was captured in High Point.

Three arrested for stealing appliances from homes for sale

Canada geese won’t leave, creating problems Pasquotank County Canada geese damaged 230 acres of area farmland in the past year, farmers and wildlife officials reported at a county commissioners meeting. The geese have become “resident” birds, giving up migration and living in the county year-round. The birds can eat entire fields bare, and the damaged farmland has a $103,000 impact on local farmers. The birds are also damaging stormwater retention ponds, eating grass to cause erosion and soiling the water with droppings.

Nash County Three people were arrested for stealing refrigerators, stoves, microwaves and other large appliances from homes for sale across 12 counties. The Nash County Sheriff’s Office brought in 49-year-old Kimberly Adams, 26-yearold Wesley Narron and 44-year old Thomas Wiggs, charging them with multiple felonies after breaking into at least 70 homes. The suspects used real estate websites to target vacant homes with stainless steel appliances.

WITN

WYFF

911 operators honored for helping catch robbers

Student brings BB gun to elementary school

EAST

DAILY ADVANCE

Handcuffed suspect steals police cruiser Guilford County After being arrested and handcuffed on an outstanding warrant, 31-year-old Carl “Preston” Davis stole the police cruiser and escaped. The cruiser did not have a back-seat cage, so the deputy put Davis in the front seat. As the only officer on duty, the deputy then had to respond to a breaking-and-entering call, at which point Davis made his escape. The cruiser has been recovered, but Davis is still on the run.

CW 39 WFMY NEWS 2

Beaufort County Community College welcomes new president Beaufort County Dr. David Loope was officially installed as the president of Beaufort Count Community College on Friday.

Loope replaced Dr. Barbara Tansey and becomes the sixth president in school history. He came to Beaufort from Reynolds Community College in Richmond, Va., where he was a professor and vice president of academic affairs. Loope has been working at BCCC since last June but needed official approval from the board of trustees.

Aulander solar farm holds groundbreaking Bertie County Construction work on a new solar farm in Bertie County is ready to begin after Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony in Aulander, held by Fifth Third Bank and Sun Energy-One. The farm will create at least 1,000 new jobs and is expected to generate 14,000 megawatt-hours of electricity each year while preventing 144,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of 30,000 cars.

CONCORD — On Tuesday, Serenity House in Concord outside of Charlotte opened its doors to policymakers to discuss ways to tackle opioid addiction.

In a roundtable with local leaders, Congressman Richard Hudson (NC08) heard from administrators of the substance abuse rehabilitation center on their front-lines perspective.

“Serenity House is a great example of that and a beacon of hope for people struggling with addiction. I’ll continue to support our local experts and work with them and others on the frontlines to confront these challenges in our community,” said Hudson.

The visit followed two-day hearing last week in Washington, D.C., of the U.S. House Health Subcommittee. Dr. John Holladay, CEO of DisposeRx based in Southern Pines, spoke to the lawmakers about educating the public on proper disposal and handling of medications to help stem the explosion of opioid addiction. DisposeRx makes a powder that mixes with water inside the pill bottle and destroys any unused opioids and makes them biodegradable.

“The failure to properly dispose of unused or expired prescription drugs from our home medicine cabinet, managed care facilities, hospitals and hospice centers has dramatically contributed to the rapid increase of prescription drug abuse, accidental poisonings, opioid overdoes and the pollution of our nation’s public water

WITN

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98 % of ALL Farms Truth are Family Farms

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ncfb.org

SOURCE: OFFICE OF CONGRESSMAN RICHARD HUDSON

Congressman Richard Hudson (N.C.-08) site on the U.S. Health Subcommittee as they hear from experts on fighting opioid addiction.

Washington, D.C. March 23. supplies,” Holladay told the congressional committee last week.

Hudson sits on the subcommittee which is considering two dozen bills aimed at improving public health, including Hudson’s own measure that would direct the FDA to set up a program for return of unused Schedule II drugs and would task the General Accounting Office (GAO) with studying new technologies for safe disposal of medications.

A survey in the Journal of Drug Abuse revealed that only 1.4 percent of consumers returned their unused medications to their pharmacy. About 50 percent throw their medications in the trash and more than a third dispose of their medications in the sink or toilet.

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North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

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

EDITORIAL | FRANK HILL

Why did evangelicals vote For Trump in 2016?

A job A good job A better paying job A way to support themselves and their families Protection against crooks and criminals in the streets where they live Defense against foreign invaders and attacks Freedom from being told what to do and how to think all the time by elected politicians And then everything else comes in at about Priority No. 50 by comparison Evangelicals, along with tens of millions of other citizens, did not see any appreciable wage gains adjusted for inflation under Bush 43 and certainly not under Obama for 16 long years.

They saw the U.S. attacked on our soil for the first time since Pearl Harbor on 9/11. They saw the greatest economic crash since 1929 and the resulting Great Recession that ranked just behind the Great Depression 80 years previous.

They did not see any incumbent elected politician doing anything that helped them out personally in a major way. So they took a chance on the ultimate outsider and rolled the dice hoping he would shake things up in Washington, D.C., so they could find a good job or keep the one they had.

Being a “moral” or “religious” person is no guarantee of being an effective president. Jimmy Carter may have been a great Sunday School teacher, but he was one of the worst decision-makers and leaders in White House history.

Wage Growth Tracker three-month moving average of median wage growth Overall unweighted

Overall weighted

Services

Usually full-time

College degree

Prime-age

Female Job switcher

Male Overall, back to 1983

Job stayer

6 5 4 Percent

Jimmy Carter may have been a great Sunday School teacher, but he was one of the worst decisionmakers and leaders in White House history.

MICHAEL GERSON wrote “The Last Temptation” in The Atlantic recently where he struggled to understand why, and how, evangelicals in America supported Donald Trump in the last election and have stood by him despite his flaws in moral judgment and character.

Political cognoscenti and #NeverTrumpers such as Mr. Gerson who grew up in the “values-based” campaigns of the 1980s worry that the Trump Administration is “the beginning of the end for the American Republic” or perhaps plain and simply “The End” of all things sacred in American politics.

They fail to understand this simple premise: Why would anyone want to vote for a candidate who will not support policies to make their lives better?

American presidential campaigns are not about selecting the “nicest” or “most moral” person to occupy the White House and make the most important decisions in the world on a daily basis. It would be nice if they were, but history has shown they were mostly not.

American voters, be they Christian or not, want the following things in order:

3 2 1 0 1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

SOURCE: CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS AND AUTHOR’S CALCULATIONS Exported on: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 The dumbest thing a person can do is vote for someone who does not Source: Current Population Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Author's Calculations help them improve their station in life. What possible good would it do to vote for anyone who does not help them live better, more free and prosperous lives? Why would anyone intentionally vote for a candidate or party that passes legislation which leads to a lower standard of living and income for them and their families?

No one wants to elect someone who makes their lives more miserable.

No sane person at least.

Political consultants always tell their candidates the same thing: “This campaign is about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!” That is what fueled the evangelical support for Trump that is still strong. They now see their paychecks going up due to the tax cuts and the better economy; they see more job opportunities for themselves and their children and friends; and they feel safe when Trump talks tough in his Queens way of talking to our adversaries overseas.

Both religious and nonreligious people voted for Trump across the board, even though many held their nose doing it while thinking: “Well, at least he ain’t Hillary!”

Politics is not about a candidate’s personal religious belief, manners or character as Michael Gerson and others want to believe. Politics is about citizens electing representatives who will get things done that help them lead better lives for themselves first and everyone else as well.

EDITORIAL | TROY KICKLER

Viewing history through the wrong lens

There will always be a degree of historical anachronism.

None of us lived in ancient Rome, medieval Europe or Revolutionary War America.

MANY TIMES, writing about the history of ideas can do more damage than good. Why? People wear the wrong glasses when looking at the past.

I’m referring specifically to those glasses with anachronistic lenses. With them on, people see the past through modern eyes and thereby impose ideas and impute values that were nonexistent or far different than they are now.

As novelist and short story writer L.P. Hartley wrote: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”

When planning to visit a foreign country, we are advised to learn as much as we can about the language and the customs.

Excluding major purchases, such as a house, many Americans never think of negotiating an item’s price. The department store and manager would be baffled if you started price haggling on aisle 8. If you offered only $4.50 for an advertised $5 meal at your favorite fast food establishment (knowing that you would be willing to pay as much as $4.75), most would be surprised. Your actions would prompt many dinnertime conversations.

In some countries, price negotiating is expected. As one globetrotting friend recently told me, the absence of price haggling can be an affront.

The merchant believes that he or she erred setting the asking price. Or worse, the merchant deems such behavior to be condescending. One has to be familiar with the culture.

In similar fashion, one must be familiar with an historical culture.

It can be disappointing to read articles that discuss thinkers who lived thousands of years apart, as if they were sending letters back and forth to each other, or sitting in a room, drinking coffee and waxing eloquent on concepts of democracy. Their ideas once removed from their times — and actions — lose much of their meaning.

There are several anachronistic mistakes. One is that readers forget that words can change meaning through time. Another is what historian Carl R. Trueman calls “categorical anachronism.”

There has always been an awareness or pronouncement of others. But racial categories — scientific racism, in particular — is a product of the

Early Modern Period (1500-1800) and onward. Even when people discuss Southern racism of the 1800s, there are differences between the Old South’s noblesse oblige and Wade Hampton and New South’s notions of “survival of the fittest” and “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman.

Another is ascribing nationalistic sentiment and patriotism to historical actors before there was the modern-day concept of a nation-state. After Napoleon, the nation-state starts taking definite shape across Europe.

Today, we also discuss national sovereignty. In 1589, reacting to widespread religious wars, Jean Bodin introduced the concept of “sovereignty” to political thought. Before then, the word referred to another Sovereign Power.

Another anachronism is referring to all Native Americans in history as one monolithic society. They were not. The Sioux, for instance, were economically and culturally different than the Mohawk. In 1700s North Carolina, to name another example, the Cherokee and the Catawba, many times, were at odds. During the American Revolution, the Cherokee sided with the British and Loyalists, and the Catawba allied with the American Patriots.

Another mistake is separating a thinker’s ideas from his actions and the historical events that influenced his ideas. Both ideas and actions need to be discussed.

There will always be a degree of historical anachronism. None of us lived in ancient Rome, medieval Europe or Revolutionary War America.

A major step to correcting the problem, writes Trueman, is to be “self-conscious” and “appreciate the fact that one is engaging a different time and a different place.” To be aware of the potential problem of anachronism is a “crucial move toward avoiding it.”

This awareness is essential when studying and understanding ideas and what they mean for today.

North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

COLUMN | MICHAELA DODGE AND DENITSA NIKOLOVA

35 years on, Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative pays dividends More than ever, the government must ensure the security of U.S. citizens and allies.

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, on March 23, 1983, President Ronald Reagan declared, “Isn’t it worth every investment necessary to free the world from the threat of nuclear war? We know it is.”

Thus the president introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative, “a comprehensive, layered ballistic missile defense program,” to the world. Three and a half decades later, the United States, despite significant progress on the program, still has a long way to go to fulfill the president’s vision.

But Reagan’s words still ring true in 2018, just as they did back in 1983. The United States faces great power competition with countries such as Russia and China.

These countries have formidable ballistic missile arsenals.

So do North Korea and Iran.

More than ever, the government must ensure the security of U.S. citizens and allies.

The Heritage Foundation was proud to sponsor the missile defense study “High Frontier, A New National Strategy,” which provided policy and technical underpinnings for the new program. It called for the development of a layered missile defense program, including advancing space-based interceptor technologies in order to achieve an effective defense against nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles regardless of the origin of their launch.

The new missile defense strategy was prompted by a key vulnerability in the U.S. defense posture. The United States would be able to track adversary missiles but wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop them. The Strategic Defense Initiative served as a means to protect an American way of life from the fearsome Soviet ballistic missile threat.

The revolutionary aspects of this program are particularly salient when one considers the prevailing nuclear philosophy at the time: In order to prevent

a nuclear attack, the United States had to grant the adversary a first-strike free ride, absorb an attack, and then retaliate with all its might. This policy is known as mutually assured destruction, or MAD. Reagan refused to accept this kind of vulnerability.

He preferred to operate from a position of strength and recognized that the United States will never be secure if its enemies are able to use space as an avenue for attack.

These principles are as salient today as they were during the Cold War. While the Strategic Defense Initiative never came to fruition on the scope originally envisioned, it provided a technological and intellectual basis to advance missile defense systems that protect the United States and its allies to this day.

As ballistic missiles spread across the globe, the need to address them increases.

Thirty-five years ago, Reagan set out a vision for the United States not only meant to bolster our defenses in the face of the Soviet threat, but also give the Unites States leverage in deterring nuclear threats from a position of strength.

Thirty-five years later, we are still not secure from this threat. The United States must develop and deploy a layered comprehensive missile defense architecture to fulfill the vision of making nuclear-armed ballistic missiles “impotent and obsolete.”

Michaela Dodge specializes in missile defense, nuclear weapons modernization and arms control as policy analyst for defense and strategic policy in The Heritage Foundation’s Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies.

Denitsa Nikolova is a member of the Young Leaders Program at the Heritage Foundation. This article was originally published by The Daily Signal.

YURI KADOBNOV | REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with co-chairs of his campaign office at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 19.

COLUMN | WALTER E. WILLIAMS

How ignorant we are HERE’S A QUESTION for you: In 1950, would it have

Many of the “facts” you know have a half-life of about 50 years.

been possible for anyone to know all of the goods and services that we would have at our disposal 50 years later? For example, who would have thought that we’d have cellphones, Bluetooth technology, small powerful computers, LASIK and airplanes with 525-passenger seating capacity? This list could be extended to include thousands of goods and services that could not have been thought of in 1950. In the face of this gross human ignorance, who should be in control of precursor goods and services? Seeing as it’s impossible for anyone to predict the future, any kind of governmental regulation should be extremely light-handed, so as not to sabotage technological advancement.

Compounding our ignorance is the fact that much of what we think we know is not true. Scientometrics is the study of measuring and analyzing science, technology and innovation. It holds that many of the “facts” you know have a half-life of about 50 years. Let’s look at a few examples.

You probably learned that Pluto is a planet. But since August 2006, Pluto has been considered a dwarf planet.

It’s just another object in the Kuiper belt.

Because dinosaurs were seen as members of the class Reptilia, they were thought to be coldblooded. But recent research suggests that dinosaurs were fast-metabolizing endotherms whose activities were unconstrained by temperature.

Years ago, experts argued that increased K-12 spending and lower pupil-teacher ratios would boost students’ academic performance. It turned out that some of the worst academic performance has been at schools spending the most money and having the smallest class sizes. Washington, D.C., spends more than $29,000 per student every year, and the teacher-student ratio is 1-to13; however, its students are among the nation’s poorestperforming pupils.

At one time, astronomers considered the size limit for a star to be 150 times the mass of our sun. But recently, a star (R136a1) was discovered that is 265 times the mass of our sun and had a birth weight that was 320 times that

of our sun.

If you graduated from medical school in 1950, about half of what you learned is either wrong or outdated.

For an interesting story on all this, check out Reason magazine.

Ignorance can be devastating. Say that you recently purchased a house. Was it the best deal you could have gotten? Was there some other house within your budget that would have needed fewer extensive repairs 10 years later and had more likable neighbors and a better and safer environment for your children? What about the person you married? Was there another person available to you who would have made for a more pleasing and compatible spouse? Though these are important questions, the most intelligent answer you can give to all of them is: “I don’t know.” If you don’t know, who should be in charge of making those decisions? Would you delegate the responsibility to Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Donald Trump, Ben Carson or some other national or state official?

You might say, “Stop it, Williams! Congressmen and other public officials are not making such monumental decisions affecting my life.” Try this. Suppose you are a 22-year-old healthy person. Rather than be forced to spend $3,000 a year for health insurance and have $7,000 deducted from your salary for Social Security, you’d prefer investing that money to buy equipment to start a landscaping business. Which would be the best use of the $10,000 you earned — purchasing health insurance and paying into Social Security or starting up a landscaping business? More importantly, who would be better able to make that decision — you or members of the United States Congress?

The bottom line is that ignorance is omnipresent.

The worst kind of ignorance is not knowing just how ignorant we are. That leads to the devastating pretense of knowledge that’s part and parcel of the vision of intellectual elites and politicians.

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

A7 COLUMN L. BRENT BOZELL III AND TIM GRAHAM

Don’t politicize sports and entertainment ONE THING that defines liberals is their incessant desire to push political messages into every time and space. Their “compassion” and “inclusion” is perpetually shoved in our faces. That problem has metastasized under President Trump. The urgency of their “resistance” is knocking down all the barriers.

Don’t they know that most Americans don’t want politics invading every sphere? Can’t they see that audiences of sporting events and awards shows are suffering? They would plead that TV ratings for everything are down because fewer people are buying cable or satellite TV. But now we have evidence that this endless politicization is causing a backlash.

Sports leagues like the NFL and liberal sports networks like ESPN have been completely at odds with what their viewers want, and their ratings reflect it.

In a national poll of 1,000 likely voters by McLaughlin & Associates, 75 percent of the respondents said they agreed with this statement: “When I watch live sports or entertainment shows on television, I am trying to get away from politics and do not want to be bombarded with partisan political messages.”

Only 17 percent disagreed. All the intensity was on the Just Say No side: Fifty-two percent answered “strongly agree” with the frustration with politics, and only 6 percent answered “strongly disagree.”

The poll, commissioned by the Media Research Center, also found that they vote with their remotes: Forty-four percent of participants said they’re less likely to watch live sports and entertainment shows these days because they have become too political.

About half (47 percent) of the respondents who did not watch the Oscars this year said their reason was political. They chose “I’m tired of these shows being full of political statements” or “I would have watched but knew some of the presenters and winners would use the time to share their political agenda” as their response.

Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel proved that suspicion right in spades. He noted that most of the best picture nominees didn’t have a big box-office number and joked: “We don’t make films like ‘Call Me By Your Name’ for money. We make them to upset Mike Pence.”

He introduced actress Lupita Nyong’o like this: “She was born in Mexico and raised in Kenya.

Let the Tweet storm from the president’s toilet begin!”

The “socially conscious” rapper Common came on stage and blathered, “Immigrants get the benefits/ We put up monuments for the feminists/ Tell the NRA they in God’s way!” Standing on stage with the rapper as honorees were leftist activists including Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors-Brignac and Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards.

It is no coincidence that the audience of the Oscars and the Olympics hit an all-time low. The NFL saw its ratings fall off nearly 10 percent when a fraction of players refused to stand for the national anthem. No one could imagine the fallout would be this dramatic.

Sports leagues like the NFL and liberal sports networks like ESPN have been completely at odds with what their viewers want, and their ratings reflect it.

Perhaps they could stare at these poll results and heed this warning before they lose a large chunk of Americans for good.

L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center.

Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org.

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North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

NATION & WORLD

Kansas schoolgirl at heart of landmark desegregation ruling dead at 76 Topeka, Kansas Civil rights activist Linda Brown, who as a Kansas schoolgirl was at the heart of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing racial segregation in American public schools, has died at age 76. Linda Brown died on Sunday in her hometown of Topeka, Kansas, the administrator for the Peaceful Rest Funeral Chapel, Robin Bruce, told Reuters on Monday. Bruce said she was not at liberty to provide additional information on the circumstances of Brown’s death.

At least 64 people, 41 children, killed in Russian mall fire Kemerovo, Russia Investigators looking into a fire that killed at least 64 people at a busy shopping mall in Siberia said a security guard had turned off the public address system and exits had been illegally blocked. The fire, one of the deadliest in Russia since the break-up of the Soviet Union, swept through the upper floors of the “Winter Cherry” shopping center in the city of Kemerovo, on Sunday afternoon. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the site and hospitalized survivors on Tuesday.

Maryland school gunman died of self-inflicted gunshot, police say Great Mills, Maryland A self-inflicted gunshot wound, not a bullet fired by a sheriff’s deputy, killed a 17-year-old who had just shot another student at a Maryland high school last week, authorities have said. Austin Rollins, a student at Great Mills High School, shot Jaelynn Willey, 16, with his father’s handgun in a hallway at the school last Tuesday, according to the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office.

Sisi to win Egyptian election but seeks high turnout Cairo Egyptians began voting on Monday in a presidential election set to deliver an easy win for incumbent Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, with turnout the main focus after all serious opposition withdrew complaining of repression. Polling stations will be open for three days and Sisi, a former military commander, has urged Egyptians to vote, hinting that he sees the election as a referendum on his first fouryear term, rather than a serious democratic contest.

Benjamin Netanyahu investigation: What happens next?

A day after Benjamin Netanyahu, 68, and his son were questioned by investigators, the Israeli prime minister was taken to the hospital Tuesday for tests after he hasn’t recovered from a cough an fever

By Maayan Lubell, Jeffrey Heller and Stephen Farrell Reuters JERUSALEM — Benjamin Netanyahu is the dominant Israeli politician of his generation.

On the domestic and international stage, no rival comes close to the veteran Likud Party leader known widely as “Bibi.”

Israeli police on Feb. 13 recommended that the 68-year-old, four-term prime minister be indicted for bribery in two cases.

On Monday, he was questioned for the second time in connection with a third investigation.

It is by no means certain that Netanyahu will be indicted. The police can only make recommendations. It is now up to Israel’s attorney general, Avichai Mandelblit, to decide whether to press charges. That decision could take months.

But the very fact that the leader of Israel’s ruling right-wing coalition is being scrutinized by prosecutors will likely affect the political calculations of his supporters, rivals and opponents within his own coalition, and across the political spectrum.

Here is a guide to Netanyahu’s career, some possible candidates to succeed him, and what effect any change in leadership might have on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and across a Middle East in which Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other regional power brokers are all watching closely.

Does Netanyahu have to resign?

Netanyahu is under no strict legal obligation to quit following the police recommendations. Indeed, he has given every indication that he intends to remain in office while pursuing a legal battle.

There has been little public pressure from coalition partners for him to step down, although that could change as fellow politicians and the Israeli public study details of the cases.

There was speculation before the police recommendations were made public that Netanyahu might call early elections, seeking a public mandate that would make a prosecutor think twice before moving against him.

However, Netanyahu said in

ODED BALILTY | REUTERS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, March 11. a televised address that he was “certain” the next elections would be held on schedule. They are not due until November 2019. Recent polls show on the one hand that about half of Israelis believe the police over Netanyahu and think he should step down. On the other hand, surveys also show strong support among Netanyahu’s core base, putting Likud ahead of all the other parties.

How did Netanyahu become such a dominant figure?

Netanyahu has been in power on and off since 1996. The son of a hawkish Israeli historian, he was born in Tel Aviv in 1949 and moved to the United States in the 1960s when his father got an academic job there.

He is the middle of three brothers, all of whom served in elite Israeli commando units.

The eldest, Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu, became a national hero after he was killed in 1976 leading an assault team that stormed Entebbe Airport in Uganda to rescue Israelis and other airline passengers taken hostage by radical Palestinian and West German hijackers.

Netanyahu says his brother’s death “changed my life and directed it to its present course.”

Telegenic, and speaking fluent American-accented English, he first gained domestic and international attention as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations during the first Palestinian intifada (uprising) that broke out in 1987.

He used this as a springboard

to secure the leadership of the right-wing Likud party, running on a platform of opposition to the 1993 Oslo interim peace accords that were spearheaded by President Bill Clinton, Israel’s thenprime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

But Rabin was assassinated in 1995 and Netanyahu was elected prime minister the following year, the youngest-ever Israeli to hold the position and the first to be born in Israel.

Despite having opposed Oslo, Netanyahu worked with Arafat on deploying Palestinian forces into the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, and even shook Arafat’s hand in public.

But his first term as prime minister was widely seen as a failure. Critics assailed what was seen as a divisive style of leadership, and after losing the election in 1999 he spent a period in the second rank of Israeli politics, overshadowed even within his own party by former general Ariel Sharon.

Returning to prominence after Sharon left Likud and then suffered an incapacitating stroke in 2005, Netanyahu was elected for his second term in 2009 — 10 years after his first ended. The last election was in 2015, and Netanyahu will become Israel’s longest-serving leader if he serves the full four years until elections are next due in November 2019.

A familiar figure in Washington dating back to the 1980s Reagan administration, Netanyahu most recently had a strained relationship with President Barack

Obama, especially over his opposition to the July 2015 Iran nuclear deal promoted by the U.S. leader.

But he has been much closer to Obama’s successor, President Donald Trump. On Dec. 6 last year, Trump reversed decades of U.S. foreign policy and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He also said he would move the U.S. Embassy to the city.

Both moves were hailed by Netanyahu and proved very popular with Israelis, although Palestinians — who claim East Jerusalem for the capital of a future state — and political and religious leaders across the Middle East were dismayed.

So proud is Netanyahu of his relationship with Trump that he has a picture of the two shaking hands at the top of his Facebook page. He is likely to use his relationship with the leader of the world’s most powerful country in any future appeal to the Israeli public.

Who are the potential successors?

Opinion polls suggest that Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid opposition party, is the strongest candidate to succeed Netanyahu if he is forced out. But other candidates could enter the race, which would shift the balance.

Within Netanyahu’s Likud party, a number of members of his cabinet are vying to succeed him, including Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Intelligence Minister Israel Katz and former Education Minister Gideon Saar. None has shown strong signs of planning to depart significantly from Netanyahu’s hawkish policies.

Outside Netanyahu’s party, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett are possible candidates. Both head far-right parties in Netanyahu’s governing coalition.

What happens to IsraeliPalestinian, regional conflicts if he quits?

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014. A cloud over Netanyahu’s political future would compound the uncertainty surrounding prospects for their resumption.

If Netanyahu steps down, a successor from within Likud would need the support of the party’s hardline central committee, which passed a nonbinding resolution in December calling for annexation of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, captured by Israel in a 1967 war and which Palestinians want for a future state.

NOR T H C A R OL INA A ZA L E A F E S T IVA L W I L M I N G TO N , N C

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APRIL 11-15, 2018

We are excited to celebrate the 71 annual North Carolina Azalea Festival with you! The Festival presents a variety of events that appeal to a large audience. We look forward to another great Azalea Festival and hope you will share your experiences with us through our social media! #NCAF #visitNC st

2018 EVENTS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11

THURSDAY, APRIL 12

QUEEN’S CORONATION - FREE Riverfront Park | 3:00 PM Be a part of the tradition as the Queen is officially crowned the North Carolina Azalea Festival Queen!

FESTIVAL WEEKEND STREET FAIR PRESENTED BY WELLS FARGO - FREE Downtown Wilmington Enjoy the sights, sounds, and mouth-watering smells of the 2018 Street Fair along the Cape Fear River in historic downtown Wilmington.

BILLY CURRINGTON WITH DRAKE WHITE AND THE BIG FIRE AND KENTON BRYANT The Main Stage| 7:00 PM Billy Currington’s latest album bears the breezy title Summer Forever, but the talented Georgia native has spent more than a decade in the spotlight proving he’s truly a man for all seasons.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 13

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SEE ALL EVENTS AT NCAZALEAFESTIVAL.ORG!

SATURDAY, APRIL 14

LUDACRIS WITH CHILDISH MAJOR The Main Stage | 7:00 PM The multitalented CHRIS “LUDACRIS” BRIDGES can best be described as remarkable.

Ludacris has sold over 19.5 million units in the United States, and approximately 7 million overseas.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2018

KYLE TERADA | USA TODAY SPORTS

Mike Krzyzewski will lose several players to the NBA, plus assistant coach Jeff Capel is headed to Pitt to be the Panthers’ head coach.

the Wednesday SIDELINE REPORT

SPORTS

Departures of Grayson Allen, one-and-done players, assistant coach Jeff Capel mean turnover for Blue Devils

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Mark Prosser hired as next WCU coach Cullowhee Winthrop associate head coach Mark Prosser, the son of former Wake Forest and Xavier coach Skip Prosser, is the new coach at Western Carolina, the school announced Tuesday.

Prosser has been an assistant coach at Winthrop for the past six seasons and was named associate head coach in 2013.

He replaces Larry Hunter, who had been the Catamounts coach since 2005 after being an assistant at NC State from 2001-05.

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

High Point hires alumnus Tubby Smith High Point Tubby Smith has been hired as High Point University’s next basketball coach. The 66-year-old Smith, who attended High Point from 1969-73, coached the past two seasons at Memphis before being replaced by former Tigers great Penny Hardaway.

The Panthers job will be Smith’s seventh stop as a head coach. Smith spent a decade at Kentucky — winning an NCAA title in 1996 and reaching the championship game again in 1997 — and also coached at Tulsa, Georgia, Minnesota and Texas Tech before landing at Memphis.

NHL

Staal nominated for Masterton Trophy Raleigh Hurricanes co-captain Jordan Staal is the Carolina chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association’s nominee for the 2018 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The award is given annually to the “player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.” In late February, Staal and his wife, Heather, announced their daughter, Hannah, was delivered stillborn due to a terminal birth defect previously diagnosed by doctors. Staal played throughout the season under the cloud of his daughter’s condition and missed just three games following her birth. Through 73 games this season, Staal has 17 goals, 26 assists and 43 points for the Hurricanes.

Each team has one nominee, and Hurricanes center Derek Ryan was one of three finalists for last year’s award.

Big changes on floor, bench for Duke

ROB GOLDBERG JR. | ECU

Reid Herring, the only quarterback on ECU’s roster to have taken a college snap, came out of spring practice as the frontrunner to start in the fall.

Defense, QBs impress at ECU spring game New defensive coordinator David Blackwell is making an early impact with the Pirates, and the school’s three untested signal-callers held their own

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal GREENVILLE — With more than half of his playbook yet to be installed and several key players not in uniform, new East Carolina defensive coordinator David Blackwell wasn’t about to make any rash judgments based on Saturday’s Purple-Gold spring scrimmage.

But he did see at least one thing that portends well for the season ahead, as the Pirates look to rebound from consecutive 3-9 records under coach Scottie Montgomery.

Effort.

“It takes zero talent to play your ass off,” Blackwell said after the Gold team beat the Purple 21-14 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. “If we can develop a hard edge and a mindset ... that’s something our guys have done a nice job of.

I think we’ll continue to grow and the best is yet to come. We’re making progress.”

The most visible sign of that progress came on the Gold team’s second possession of the game,

when junior cornerback Devon Sutton put a crushing hit on tight end Anthony Whatley just after he caught the ball for a short gain.

The impact caused a fumble that was picked up by linebacker Cole Nigro and returned for a 30-yard Purple touchdown.

It was the kind of pivotal play ECU’s defense has had trouble making over the past two seasons, a 24-game stretch in which the Pirates have forced just 19 turnovers.

“That was a big hit,” Montgomery said of Sutton’s hit, which sent Whatley to the sidelines for the rest of the day. “I hadn’t seen many of those since I’ve been here.

I think we tackled better today than we have in a long time, especially in the open field.

“But that was a big hit on the scoop and score. I’m positive I haven’t seen a scoop and score like that. It did give some juice to the defense.”

ECU’s defense can use as much “juice” as it can get after a 2017 season in which it ranked dead last among the nation’s FBS programs in scoring defense and total defense, allowing averages of 45.0 points and 541.7 yards per game.

In an effort to improve those woeful numbers, not to mention his job security, Montgomery hired Blackwell as the third defensive coordinator of his short See ECU, page 4

GREAT SEASON. So close.

Now scrap everything.

Going forward, at least for the foreseeable future, that will be the Duke basketball mantra.

The Blue Devils’ overtime loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight cost the team a chance at the Final Four, but it also ended an era in Duke basketball. While coach Mike Krzyzewski has embraced one-and-done players for the past decade, this year’s team featured perhaps the last of his era — a senior star.

As Kansas cut down the nets in Omaha, Grayson Allen’s Duke career ended. Allen departs with a national championship, nearly 2,000 career points and All-ACC and All-American honors.

“Look, I love that kid,” Krzyzewski said. “For the rest of the time I coach here, for however long that is, I’m not going to have a senior like that because they’re going to be too good and they’re going to leave.”

Just look at some of the players Allen called teammates during his four years at Duke, and it under-

scores just how transient the Blue Devils’ players have been: Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones are all in their third NBA seasons. Brandon Ingram is in his second. Jayson Tatum is a rookie. All were one-and-done teammates of Allen, as are the stars of this year’s team — Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter Jr. All of which means that Duke will look very different next year.

In all likelihood, the entire starting lineup will be gone. In addition to Allen, Bagley and Carter, point guard Trevon Duval and shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. are likely to depart. Neither is slated to be a lottery pick in early mock drafts, but it’s doubtful either can improve their draft stock by returning, especially considering that Krzyzewski has already recruited behind them.

Even with all the losses, there’s a good chance Duke will open next season as the top team in the nation, on the strength of the latest recruiting class — a group that includes the top three seniors in the nation in forwards R.J. Barrett, Cameron Reddish and Zion Williamson. Point guard Tre Jones is the ninth-best senior. Williamson won the dunk contest at the McDonald’s High School All American Game, and Reddish shared the honors in the event’s 3-point contest.

See DUKE, page 3

INSIDE

LAUREN ROSE | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Princess, an American kestrel, is one of thousands of birds that have been rehabilitated at American Wildlife Refuge. The organization, which released 159 birds back into the wild last year, had a booth at the Dixie Deer Classic in early March in Raleigh and had Princess, Snoopy — a vulture — and other birds of prey on hand to educate the public. B3

North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

B2 WEDNESDAY

3.28.18

TRENDING

Kiara Leslie: The NC State redshirt junior guard was named to the NCAA Tournament’s Kansas City Regional AllTournament team on Sunday after she scored 27 points for the Wolfpack in their loss to No. 1 seed Mississippi State on Friday in the Sweet 16.

On the season, Leslie — sister of former NC State men’s player C.J. — averaged 12.7 points and 5.9 rebounds in her first season in Raleigh after transferring from Maryland, where she graduated last summer.

Tim Tebow: The former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback will open his season at Double-A Binghamton, according to the New York Post. The New York Mets reassigned the struggling outfielder to their minor league camp two weeks ago after he went 1-for-18 with 11 strikeouts in major league spring training. Tebow, 30, split last season between low Class-A Columbia (S.C.) and high Class-A Port St. Lucie (Fla.) and batted .226 with eight homers and 52 RBIs. Albert Belle: The retired MLB star was arrested at a spring training game in Arizona on two counts of indecent exposure, one count of DUI and one count of extreme DUI, according to reports.

Belle, 51, was booked and released on Sunday by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, the Baltimore Sun reported.

An extreme DUI charge is used when someone registers a .15 or higher on a BAC test within two hours of operating a vehicle. Belle was a feared slugger and five-time All-Star who played for the Indians, White Sox and Orioles between 1989 and 2000.

beyond the box score POTENT QUOTABLES

NBA

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry will be sidelined for the first round of the playoffs because of his left knee injury, coach Steve Kerr said Sunday.

Kerr made the revelation prior to the team’s game against the Utah Jazz. Curry sustained an MCL sprain against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday after returning from a six-game absence due to an ankle injury. The NBA Playoffs begin April 14.

STEVEN BRANSCOMBE | USA TODAY SPORTS

“But I got my love for the game, and it’s there and it’s not going anywhere, and neither is my love for Duke.”

Duke senior guard Grayson Allen following his last game with the Blue Devils, a loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight on Sunday.

CARY EDMONDSON | USA TODAY SPORTS

NFL

MLB

SAM SHARPE | USA TODAY SPORTS

“That’s not something you see every day.”

Hornets guard Kemba Walker after he scored 46 points in Charlotte’s 140-79 blowout win over Memphis.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

10 Emails that recommended sincereplaced Tennessee athletic director John Currie hire Duke coach David Cutcliffe for its vacant football coaching job, according to The Athletic’s Max Olson. The 2,200 pages of messages, Olsen writes, also included 77 emails imploring the Volunteers not to hire NC State coach Dave Doeren.

STEVE MITCHELL | USA TODAY SPORTS

Baseball’s regular season begins Thursday with all 30 teams playing.

It could be a breakout campaign for Nationals shortstop Trea Turner, a former NC State player who had 11 home runs, 45 RBI and 46 stolen bases in just 98 games last season.

SCOTT R. GALVIN | USA TODAY SPORTS

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is vowing to hold out if he doesn’t receive a new contract before the season begins, according to a report by the NFL Network. Beckham, 25, is entering final year of his rookie deal worth $8.5 million.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

GEOFF BURKE | USA TODAY SPORTS

Dan Hurley was named head coach at UConn on Thursday. Hurley takes over a program looking to rebound from disappointing back-to-back seasons under Kevin Ollie.

Hurley leaves Rhode Island after guiding the Rams to the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons. Hurley had offers of a raise at URI, and more lucrative offer at Pittsburgh and UConn.

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North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

B3

Compelling storylines, but no ACC teams, in Final Four ed Wolverines to their eighth Final Four. Like Loyola, Michigan benefitted from an upset-heavy tournament, beating No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 9 FSU instead of top seed Xavier and No. 2 UNC to win the region. Michigan’s strength is its defense, giving up just 63.1 points per game, which ranks eighth in the NCAA. The team only has three double-digit scorers, led by Mortiz Wagner (14.3 points, 6.9 rebounds).

Local teams are shut out for first time since 2014

By Shawn Krest North State Journal FOR THE FIRST TIME since 2014, they’ll hold the Final Four without any ACC teams involved.

Four of the nine ACC teams that made the NCAA Tournament were eliminated directly by the teams that will be competing for the national title in San Antonio. Kansas knocked off Clemson and Duke last weekend to advance to the Final Four, while Michigan took out Florida State in the regional semifinal. Loyola-Chicago’s improbable run to the Final Four began with a game-winning shot against Miami. Only Villanova, the lone non-ACC team to take home a national title in the last three years, didn’t beat a team from the conference on its run this year.

Despite a lack of local teams, here’s a look at this Saturday’s national semifinals.

Loyola-Chicago vs. Michigan Remember Maryland-Baltimore County? The Retrievers became the first 16-seed to win an NCAA game when they knocked off No. 1 Virginia. It didn’t take Loyola long to take the title of Cinderella from UMBC, however. The Ramblers beat Miami by two, Tennessee by one and Nevada by one before blowing out Kansas State to become just the fourth 11-seed

STEVEN BRANSCOMBE | USA TODAY SPORTS

GREG M. COOPER | USA TODAY SPORTS

PATRICK GORSKI | USA TODAY SPORTS

ROBERT HANASHIRO | USA TODAY SPORTS

From top left and clockwise: Top seeds Kansas, led by Raleigh native Devonte’ Graham, and Villanova, whose potent offensive attack includes Jalen Brunson, will meet in one national semifinal.

On the other side of the bracket, Mortiz Wagner and Michigan will meet Loyola-Chicago and their rallying point, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt. to make the Final Four. The team’s leading scorer is Clayton Custer (13.2 points per game, 4.2 assists per game), but the breakout star of the team is 98-year old chap-

lain Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt.

The elderly, wheelchair-bound nun was a Chicago fixture dating back to Loyola’s last trip to the Final Four, in 1963. They’ll be facing

American Wildlife Refuge shows the beauty, danger of birds of prey Volunteer staffed organization rescues hundreds of raptors each year

By Shawn Krest North State Journal RALEIGH — After quietly surveying the scene at March’s Dixie Deer Classic for several minutes, Snoopy decided it was time to dance.

The black vulture was sitting on a large metal perch in the shape of a hoop, one foot chained securely to the base to keep him from flying around in search of carrion, while visitors to the Classic admired him.

Slowly, Snoopy began to walk in place, taking comically large, careful steps, as if walking through heavy snow. Not satisfied with the amount of attention he was drawing to himself, Snoopy gracefully unfurled his wings to their full 3-foot span.

“It’s his vulture dance,” said a volunteer from the American Wildlife Refuge who was manning the Birds of Prey booth at the Deer Classic.

“Oh, he’s really doing it, too!”

Continuing to high-step, Snoopy slowly turned 180 degrees, until all that was visible from behind his outstretched wings was his rapidly bobbing head.

Was this dance part of some type of vulture mating display, or perhaps a defense mechanism when surrounded by humans who could be interpreted as predators?

“No,” the volunteer replied. “He’s just trying to hide the fact that he’s working to take off that ankle chain.”

Sure enough, a quick peek around the shield thrown up by Snoopy’s wings revealed that the bird was working hard with his beak, in an effort to pry away the metal ring around one foot.

Breathtaking majesty, coupled with diabolical cleverness — but that’s just life at the American Wildlife Refuge, the largest raptor-only volunteer-run center in the Triangle area.

Snoopy’s dance is the perfect embodiment of the Refuge’s educational programs, which, as one video declares, “teach people the true face of nature and show how harsh and beautiful it can be.”

Nearby, easy to miss among the wild, feather-flying display of the vulture, is a much smaller, calmer bird. Standing just six inches tall, in a puff of feathers, is Princess.

Despite her size and stuffed-animal appearance, make no mistake.

Princess is a bad, bad bird, even as she innocently stands perched on one foot atop a stuffed cushioned stool.

“She doesn’t like the metal perches,” a volunteer explains. “Falcons like flat better.”

Princess is an American kestrel.

“She’s also known as a spar-

LAUREN ROSE | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Snoopy, a vulture, demonstrates his “dance,” the series of movements he does to distract his handlers while he tries to remove his restraints. row hawk,” says the volunteer, “even though she’s really in the falcon family, they call her a sparrow hawk.”

And the reason for that?

“She can take a sparrow right out of the sky,” the volunteer says.

“She’s very fast. They live fast — that’s the best way to explain it.

Our heart beats 82 to 90 beats per minute. Hers is 500.”

Kestrels live in North Carolina in large numbers.

“You see them on the wires when you’re driving, especially down east, in the country,” the volunteer says. “On the telephone wires.

A lot of times, they’re sitting by themselves. The way you can tell it’s a kestrel is usually their tail or head are bobbing. You can see that in their silhouette while driving.

When you see that bob — oh, that’s a kestrel.”

The bobbing is the kestrel’s way of scanning for prey. In addition to sound and smell, the birds can see ultraviolet light, which allows it to hone in on ground prey. The kestrel’s diet combines small birds — a favorite of larger falcons — and small mammals like voles and squirrels — similar to a hawk.

Unlike larger birds of prey, kestrels can also hover in place, waiting for a potential victim to make a wrong move, before striking with crippling speed.

Snoopy and Princess, like most of the birds the Refuge brings to schools, libraries and public events

like the Dixie Deer Classic, is a permanent resident, unable to be rehabilitated and released into the wild.

Last year, the Wildlife Refuge has 235 raptors in its care, most of them permanent residents. At the same time, their goal is to rehabilitate and release injured birds.

A total of 159 birds were released back into the wild last year, including hawks, herons, eagles and owls. Since 2001, the American Wildlife Refuge has rehabilitated more than 2,100 birds, at a 71 percent survival rate — which is higher than that of much larger, better-funded centers.

The Refuge operates on a shoestring budget, often making due on less than $20,000 a year. All the workers are volunteers, and the land on which the center is located is donated free-of-charge by a private owner. Still, the organization is able to staff a four-room hospital and 24 outdoor cages, each customized to a different type of raptor, with volunteers and licensed professionals donating their time.

The Refuge also holds hundreds of educational events each year, where Snoopy and Princess get to demonstrate the fearsome beauty of the avian world, up close and personal.

“A lot of the education is actually uneducating people about what they think they know,” says the volunteer, as Snoopy continues to dance, while trying to break himself free.

a Michigan team that is also a surprise visitor to San Antonio. Veteran coach John Beilein did perhaps the best team-building job of his career to get the underrat-

Villanova vs. Kansas The opening game has the feel of a JV contest, before the blue bloods take the floor. The only two top seeds to survive their regions will face off for a spot in Monday’s title game. Villanova, who won the title two years ago, cruised to the Final Four this year, winning all four NCAA games by double digits and an average margin of victory of 18.25 points. The Wildcats are a scoring machine, leading the NCAA with 86.6 points per game.

Jalen Brunson (19.2 points, 4.6 assists) leads a balanced attack that features six double-digit scorers.

Kansas had a rockier road, trailing 16-seed Penn in the first round, then slipping past Seton Hall by four, Clemson by four and beating Duke in overtime. The Jayhawks are led by Raleigh native Devonte’ Graham, whose 7.3 assists per game were fifth-best in the country. He also leads the team with 17.2 points per game. The Jayhawks are in their 15th Final Four and are seeking their fourth title.

DUKE from page 1 Barring any transfers, Duke’s bench should provide depth to next year’s team. Without a bigman recruit in the mix, Marques Bolden should get the chance to prove his NBA readiness, provided he can stay healthy for a season — the primary reason he’s still a Blue Devil heading into his third season. Javin DeLaurier is also a valuable dirty-work player who provides a rebounding spark. Alex O’Connell could develop into a slashing scorer from the guard position. One of those three will likely take the fifth starting spot, alongside the four freshmen.

While Bolden, DeLaurier and O’Connell received fairly consistent playing time this season, forwards Jack White and Justin Robinson and point guard Jordan Goldwire were hot and cold.

All three, but particularly Goldwire, could see expanded roles next season.

Just as substantial as the oncourt changes may be the Blue Devils’ look on the bench next season. The Pitt vacancy could end up attracting one of Krzyzewski’s top assistants. Last week, it was rumored that Coach K was pushing Jon Scheyer, the junior member of the staff, for the head job at Pittsburgh. On Tuesday, however, Jeff Capel wound up landing the job.

The loss of Capel is a major blow to the Duke program. He has been the driving force behind Duke’s one-and-done recruiting success, doing much of the heavy lifting of relation-

“I’m not going to have a senior like that because they’re going to be too good and they’re going to leave.”

— Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski on Grayson Allen ship building before Krzyzewski closed the deal with the nation’s top talent. Furthermore, Capel was considered the heir apparent, waiting to step in when the 71-year-old Krzyzewski retires.

Capel turned down overtures from Arizona State and Georgia Tech in recent years, presumably because the Duke job was in his crosshairs. Jumping to a Pitt team that was winless in the ACC last season and stands to lose most of the current roster to transfer seems like an odd choice for Capel.

At the very least, it seems to imply that Krzyzewski will remain at Duke for the next few years, even if the prospect of competing with either of his assistants on a regular basis seems like something he’d want to avoid.

Assuming Capel doesn’t take any current Duke staffers with him to Pitt, the departure would likely earn Nolan Smith a fulltime assistant job. He was a special assistant this year. Greg Paulus, who spent last season on the Louisville staff, is also an option.

KYLE TERADA | USA TODAY SPORTS

Duke freshman forward Marvin Bagley’a collegiate career ended with a loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight. He is expected to be a top pick in the NBA Draft.

North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

B4

ECU from page 1 tenure.

An ECU graduate who was a member of the school’s 1992 Peach Bowl championship team, Blackwell has been the co-defensive coordinator at Jacksonville State for the past four seasons..

During that time, his Gamecocks ranked first nationally among FCS programs in defensive completion percentage (50.2), second in pass efficiency defense (105.5) and rushing yards allowed per carry (3.0), third in total defense (284.1 yards per game) and yards per pass attempt (5.93), sixth in rushing defense (104.4 yards per game), eighth in scoring defense (18.8 points per game) and ninth in sacks (133).

Jacksonville State was 43-8 record with four straight Ohio Valley

“I think we tackled better today than we have in a long time, especially in the open field.”

— Scottie Montgomery, ECU coach KYLE TERADA | USA TODAY SPORTS

UNC Greensboro forward Jordy Kuiper reacts after the loss to Gonzaga in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

More sadness than madness for NC basketball teams Postseason close calls don’t go the right way for state schools

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal THE OLD North State’s participation in college basketball’s postseason this year can be summed up with just one word.

Almost.

That’s almost, as in Duke almost made it to the Final Four; UNC Greensboro and Davidson almost pulled off first round upsets against name-brand opponents; and Queens almost earned a spot in the Division II national championship game.

There were some triumphs along the way, most notably NC State’s run to the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA tournament.

But for the most part, there was more sadness than madness this March for state teams.

UNC The Tar Heels’ defense of their 2016 national title ended early with a stunning second round 86-65 elimination at the hands of Texas A&M. The loss itself wasn’t all that big an upset. The Aggies, after all, were a top-10 team before a series of injuries and suspensions sent them into a midseason slump, and they enjoyed a decided advantage in height.

The surprise was how and where UNC met its postseason demise.

The Tar Heels shot just 6 of 31

from beyond the 3-point arc and trailed by as many as 24 in losing for the first time in an NCAA game played in Charlotte and only the second time in 36 tournament games in North Carolina.

by Jordy Kuiper with 1:46 remaining. The score was still tied with 37 seconds left before two bad offensive possessions, surrounded by a Gonzaga 3-pointer ended the upset bid with a 6862 loss.

NC State

Davidson

The Wolfpack’s return to the NCAA tournament didn’t last long, ending in a first round 9483 loss to Seton Hall in Wichita, Kan. The game followed a similar pattern to a late regular season defeat at Georgia Tech and State’s opening round disappointment at the ACC tournament in that coach Kevin Keatts’ team fell behind early, rallied in the second half but could never quite catch all the way up. Graduate transfer Allerik Freeman scored a career-high 36 points in the game, but he was virtually a one-man show, as the Wolfpack got just two points combined from fellow starters Omer Yurtseven and Braxton Beverly.

Coach Bob McKillop’s Wildcats, who are no strangers to knocking off bluebloods in the NCAA tournament, had the ultimate blueblood — Kentucky — on the ropes in their opening round East Region matchup in Boise, Idaho. Davidson held Kentucky without a 3-pointer for the entire game and trailed by only two, 61-59 with under three minutes remaining, before surrendering a 9-0 run that sent it to a 78-73 loss.

UNC Greensboro The 14th-seeded Spartans were near perfect for the first 39½ minutes of their first round West Region matchup with No. 4 Gonzaga, combining big offensive performances from Francis Alonso and Demetrius Troy with a confounding 1-2-2 zone defense to stay close to the defending national runners-up. They took their first and only lead of the game at 64-62 on a putback

NC Central The Eagles fell in the “First Four” for the second straight year, missing all 14 of their 3-point attempts and shooting just 30.4 percent overall in a 6446 loss to fellow HBCU school Texas Southern in Dayton, Ohio.

UNC Asheville After falling short in their conference tournament and being relegated to the NIT, the Big South regular season champion Bulldogs were sent all the way across the country to play Southern Cal in a first round matchup. Despite the handicap, they put up one heck of a fight, almost

pulling out the victory before falling 103-98 in double overtime.

Queens Like UNCA, the Royals went two extra periods before losing in heartbreaking fashion, 105-99 to Northern State in the Division II national semifinals in Sioux Falls, S.D. Queens had chances to win the game at the end of both regulation and the first overtime, but couldn’t get shots to go down to finish the season with a school-record 32 wins — but two short of its championship goal.

Campbell Chris Clemons became the school's all-time leading scorer in a first round win against Miami (Ohio) and Cory Gensler hit a dramatic game-winner to beat New Orleans and send the Camels into the College Basketball Invitational semifinals.

But that's where Campbell's run ended, with a 65-62 loss at San Francisco.

Women’s NCAA Tournament NC State put an exclamation point on a successful season by earning the right to host the first two rounds, then beating Elon and Maryland to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2007. Though the Wolfpack were eventually eliminated by Midwest Region top seed Mississippi State, it held its own in a 71-57 loss to finish at 26-9.

Duke also won a pair of games, against Belmont and Georgia, to reach the Sweet 16 in the East Region, where it ran into the juggernaut that is UConn in a 7259 loss. Elon and NC A&T also made the tournament field, losing in the opening round.

Conference championships during Blackwell’s time there, including a 10-2 record and a trip to the FCS playoffs in 2017.

While Blackwell is reserving judgment on his new defense until he gets the entire package installed and it begins playing games that counts, his players — especially the veterans that have suffered through the past two seasons — are impressed with what they’ve seen thus far.

“Every day we’re coming to work and working hard, high energy.

It’s just a great atmosphere to be around,” said sophomore defensive tackle Raequan Purvis, who led the Purple team with six tackles and was named by his coaches the Most Valuable Defensive Player in spring practice. “We’re flying around to the ball, having fun.

That’s the main thing.”

There was more of an emphasis on execution offensively, where three untested quarterbacks are still in the early stages of a competition to take the first snap in ECU’s 2018 opener against NC A&T on Sept. 1.

Sophomore Reid Herring, the only player on the roster to have thrown a pass in an actual game, established himself as the frontrunner for the starting job by going 12 of 20 for 191 yards while leading the Gold team to three touchdowns — all on runs by redshirt freshman Trace Christian — in Saturday’s spring game.

But prized freshman Holton Ahlers served notice that he might be ready to play from Day 1 after going 12 of 20 for 205 yards with the Purple squad while earning the award for being the best newcomer over the 15 practices this spring.

Redshirt sophomore Kingsley Ifedi also played well, completing 4 of 6 passes for 90 yards while also rushing for a touchdown.

“I’m really happy with the quarterback position,” Montgomery said. “That’s a position that can always either make you or break you and finally, we’re at a point where it can make us this year.”

Hurricanes’ youth infusion too little, too late Valentin Zykov, Warren Foegele impress in recalls, further raising questions why flourishing AHL players weren’t promoted sooner

By Cory Lavalette North State Journal RALEIGH — “Well, there’s guys coming.”

After Bill Peters saw Warren Foegele, in his first NHL game on Monday, score and later assist on fellow call-up Valentin Zykov’s eventual game-winning goal, the Carolina Hurricanes coach had nothing but praise for the depth the organization has built since he arrived nearly four years ago.

“Ronnie, I think, has done a great job through the draft,” Peters said of Ron Francis, who was relieved of his GM duties earlier this month by new owner Tom Dundon. “I think his staff did a great job.”

Peters was quick to mention the team’s recent high draft picks.

“You look at (Martin) Necas, you look at (Jake) Bean and those types of players that are coming,” he exclaimed.

“And Ned’s, I believe, leading

the American Hockey League in wins, which is obviously an important stat,” he said of second-year goalie Alex Nedeljkovic.

“Everyone looks at save percentage, goals against, but wins are important.

“There's lots coming.”

The Hurricanes have been in a youth movement since Francis took over as general manager in 2014, and his fingerprints are all over the current roster and the next wave of players. Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce — though drafted by Jim Rutherford — quickly earned NHL jobs in their first professional season.

Sebastian Aho is another homegrown talent — an emerging star — and additions like Teuvo Teravainen, along with a commitment to stockpiling draft picks and assets, left the franchise in a much better place than when Francis took over.

Those efforts, however, weren’t enough to save Francis from his fate, one that was probably sealed by an offseason of modest — but not insignificant — talent acquisition that largely flopped. Goalie Scott Darling and center Marcus Kruger are players the team would take a mulligan on in an instant. And while Justin Wil-

Hurricanes forward Valentin Zykov, the AHL’s leading goal scorer, had three goals and five points in his first four games since being recalled to Carolina.

JAMES GUILLORY | USA TODAY SPORTS

“Not quickly, but learning for sure.”

— Valentin Zykov on the transition to the NHL liams and Trevor van Riemsdyk are both having serviceable seasons, neither was able to instill the championship mindset Francis and Peters touted on an otherwise inexperienced team.

Which leads us to perhaps biggest failure of all: The decision by the tandem to hold off on recall-

ing players like Zykov and Foegele despite their overwhelming success in the AHL. Zykov has been with the Hurricanes for only a week, but in four games (heading into Tuesday night’s game in New Jersey) he has three goals and two assists playing with Aho and Teravainen.

He still leads the AHL by a three-goal margin with 32 goals after Monday’s games, and concerns about his two-way play (he’s minus-13 with the Checkers) and that he’s simply a power play specialist (half his goals there came with the man advantage) have been proven wrong by his performance: He’s plus-5 in Carolina

and all five of his points have come at even strength.

Roland McKeown hasn’t looked overwhelmed playing 15plus minutes on defense. Foegele, being a first-year pro, has been more of a surprise. But the fact remains that he was tearing up the AHL with 26 goals as a rookie — while killing penalties and not getting power play time — yet didn’t get a shot with the Hurricanes until the team was out of the playoff race.

Peters is right: Carolina’s youth is coming. But if they had come earlier, it might have saved Francis’ job. Peters may wind up wondering the same about his fate.

WEDNESDAY

3.28.18

NORTH

The N.C. Azalea Festival names 2018 queen, Page 6

STATE

JOURNaL COURTESY PHOTO

the good life IN A NORTH STATE OF MIND

sow and rebuild Rebuilding downtown with the arts

March 30-31 Southport Spring Festival Franklin Square Park, Southport Celebrate springtime and Easter weekend with a 30-year tradition in Downtown Southport. Shop items like jewelry, baked goods and home décor from nearly 160 vendors and enjoy activities like a 5K run/ walk and live entertainment. Visit Downtown Southport online for more information.

N.C. Herring Festival East Main Street, Jamesville

By Lori Lentz For the North State Journal ASHEBORO — Dustie Gregson, owner of the The Table Farmhouse Bakery in downtown Asheboro, has a bold vision to bring a once-bustling old mill back to life — she hopes will spark further inspiration in the area.

Gregson and her husband, Andy, have partnered with Jerry Neal, a deep-rooted businessman and investor from Randolph County, to fulfill a dream of revitalizing downtown Asheboro.

They brought on other visionaries that not only want to develop downtown Asheboro, but to infuse it with arts and theatre that will grow into the community, area schools and perhaps even around the state. These plans were revealed at the newly reconstructed, dried-in Mill 133 as partners and patrons gathered to learn more about the new project happening in downtown Asheboro.

Gregson credits her father for the inspiration for the project.

She said he asked her to look up and tell him what she saw, and she said there was no roof on the building at the time. Her father wanted her to think outside of her comfort zone, and his advice to her was simple to understand.

“You need to go with your gut, with what you see in your head,” Gregson said of her father’s advice. “You need to go forward with the vision of this mill.”

The Gregsons and Neal have formed VSR, LLC, which stands for “Vision to Sow and Rebuild,” and the three entrepreneurs have started that with by rehabbing the old historic Cranford Industries, which started as a hosiery mill in 1924.

Gregson’s vision is progressively coming to fruition, and supporters were able to see the plans, hear the details and engage in samples of art shared with live performances during the evening. The evening in Mill 133 offered entertainment from the Plaids which are members of the upcoming play, “Forever Plaids,” the Acheson family’s puppetry, Asheboro’s own Elizabeth Lail, best known from the TV show “Once Upon a Time”, and other performances provided

by RhinoLeap Productions. RhinoLeap is a nonprofit theater production group that was formed in Asheboro in 2017, and the venue for their performances are held at the historic Sunset Theatre in downtown Asheboro. The news that RhinoLeap will be perma-

play list

Spend the weekend on the banks of the Roanoke for the annual spring celebration in Jamesville.

The Herring Festival features a band, dancing and carnival rides on Friday evening and a pancake breakfast, egg hunt, musical performances and fireworks on Saturday. Visit N.C. Herring Festival online for a full schedule of events.

Spring Days Hubb’s Farm, Clinton Experience endless fun at the Hubb’s Farm Spring Days event featuring giant slides and sand boxes, tire and rope mountains, jump pillows and much more.

Children ages 0-12 can join in the 3:00 p.m. Easter Egg Hunt. Visit Hubb’s Farm online for event times and ticket information.

March 31 Dillsboro Easter Hat Parade Haywood Road, Dillsboro Put on your best Easter hat or make a new one at Dogwood Crafters for the Dillsboro Easter Hat Parade. Ribbons will be awarded in the most unusual hat categories and attendees can enjoy a variety of activities like face painting, egg hunts and a visit with the Easter Bunny. The event begins at 10:00 a.m., and admission is free.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS LENTZ | FOR THE NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Dustie Gregson speaks at Mill 133, a revitalization process she is leading in Asheboro. nently residing in Mill 133 was a part of the announcements Saturday night.

Tom Osteen, the executive producer of RhinoLeap, addressed the crowd of hundreds to explain how his love of the arts has collided with this vision of VSR, and how he believes Asheboro will become a major theatrical center in North Carolina.

Osteen’s team of professional actors will be housed in the space at the new Mill 133 and will provide workshops for those inspired by drama, and offerings for those

that just want to be entertained or develop a basic knowledge of the arts.

This team of professional actors will also present some yearround productions in Mill 133’s new theater. The group will be full-time residents in September, and they plan to take performances into Randolph County schools as well some in surrounding counties. If you would like to help RhinoLeap teach and perform all over North Carolina, look for donation information online at RhinoLeap.com.

The mill’s plans include not only space for RhinoLeap Productions and its performance area and theater, but also space for retail, markets, a bakery, a spa, garden areas, parking and even seating around the mill’s old iconic smokestack.

But as Gregson explained all of these grand designs, there was not a hint of doubt. She spoke of Psalm 1:33 and its message for brothers and sisters to dwell in unity as the perfect inspiration for her own Mill 133 to take root, spreading beauty and prosperity within Asheboro and beyond.

14th Annual Tour De Lure Bike Ride YMCA, Marion Whether an experienced cyclist or just seeking a scenic ride, the Dewey Hughes Memorial Ride has an adventure for everyone.

The Challenge Ride takes cyclists on a 67-mile tour around Stone Mountain and Chimney Rock while the Fun Ride tours 25-miles of Marion’s beautiful landscape.

Participants may register online or in-person at Corpening YMCA in Marion.

Fremont Daffodil Festival Downtown, Fremont Discover the beauty of the rural South at the annual Daffodil Festival in Fremont. Attendees can enjoy a musical performance

by The Embers, shop from a variety of local vendors and eat world-famous hotdogs and BBQ. The festival begins at 10:00 a.m.and a full schedule of events is available online.

March 31-April 1 Eggstravaganza at the N.C. Zoo N.C. Zoo, Asheboro

Left, the Table Farmhouse Bakery was Gregson’s first project at the Mill 133 site. Right, Scott Thomas and Cameron Wade Skidmore perform at Mill 133.

Come see the exciting Eggstravaganza at the N.C. Zoo. Zoo animals will hunt for papiermâché eggs hidden inside their exhibit and filled with delicious treats. The Eggstravaganza event is free with Zoo admission.

B6

North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

NeCessities! history marked March 29, 1982

Championship win No. 1 for Dean Smith UNC basketball Coach Dean Smith and his Tar Heels won the school’s first national title since 1957. The Tar Heels took on the Georgetown University Hoyas in New Orleans in the final game in the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament that year. Expectations for the Tar Heels were high since the team lost in the NCAA championship game the previous year. The star power of the 1982 UNC team also raised the hopes of fans with key players Sam Perkins and James Worthy returning from the previous season and being joined by freshman guard Michael Jordan. The game was close the entire time. With 32 seconds left in the game, the Tar Heels were behind. Smith called for a time out, and whatever was said in huddle seemed to work, because when the Tar Heels took the court again Jordan took a jump shot giving them the lead and the win at 63 to 62. Smith coached the UNC Tar Heels for a total of 36 seasons and took the team to the NCAA tournament 25 times; he earned one more national championship title in 1993 and 17 ACC titles.

April 1, 1888

Once “largest manufacturer of towels in the world” Concord’s steam-powered Cannon Manufacturing Company, predecessor of Cannon Mills, produced its first yarn.

Founded by James W. Cannon the year before, the steam-powered, 4,000-spindle manufacturing facility took raw cotton, spun the yarn and then wove it into a finished product called Cannon Cloth.

The inexpensive cloth was popular for making shirts and pillowcases. By 1890, Cannon was focusing his operation on towels. Initially the flat weave towel was designed to be completed at home, with the purchaser cutting and hemming the fabric to desired sizes. In 1906, Cannon bought 600 acres of land a few miles north of Concord. He built a planned community that included rental houses and a school. The community became the town of Kannapolis. Around that same time, Cannon began to produce a more absorbent towel made out of terry cloth.

By the end of World War I, the company was the nation’s largest towel producer.

Cannon expanded his textile holdings and, in 1928, he consolidated nine plants into the Cannon Mills Company. Eventually part of Fieldcrest and later Pillowtex, the Kannapolis-based operations of Cannon Mills closed in 2003.

April 1, 1937

The origins of archaeology at Town Creek Lloyd Frutchey, a Montgomery County farmer, conveyed one acre of land containing a Mississippian-era Indian mound to the state of North Carolina for excavation, interpretation and protection.

The area was known as Frutchey State Park until the 1940s, when its name was changed to Town Creek. Significant work did not get underway to excavate the mound area until November 1939 when the project was approved as a Works Progress Administration program. Some of the best archaeological work performed at the site came during the WPA years, but World War II effectively shut down operations there.

Joffre Coe, the original archaeological supervisor of Town Creek and chief archaeologist at UNC, resumed his great interest in the area after the war. Coe worked on the Town Creek project for more than 50 years. In 1955, Town Creek Indian Mound became North Carolina’s first State Historic Site under the Department of Archives and History. It remains the only site dedicated to interpreting the lives of American Indians. Town Creek includes the preserved mound as well as two reconstructed temples, a burial hut and a mortuary hut.

in bloom

PHOTO COURTESY OF PETER KERTZ

Beth Troutman, the 2018 Azalea Festival Queen, poses for a photo.

Azalea Festival Queen is no stranger to crowns, spotlight

By NSJ Staff RALEIGH — The N.C. Azalea Festival has named Concord native Beth Troutman as the 2018 Azalea Festival Queen. The title of Queen Azalea dates back to 1948 when actress Jacqueline White first held the title. Former queens include actresses Esther Williams and Phylicia Rashad, talk show host Kelly Ripa, and former Miss Americas Heather French Henry, Mallory Hagan and Kira Kazantsev.

Beth Troutman is an Emmy Award-winning television personality and motivational speaker. Her career began in Los Angeles where she worked on the hit show “The West Wing.” After four years with the show, Troutman returned to N.C. to run for the U.S. House in the 8th District in 2004. She was the first woman to run for Congress in the 8th District, but ultimately lost to incumbent Robin Hayes. After the election, Troutman was offered a job as the host of the television morning show “Fox News Rising.” While working for Fox, Beth covered everything from politics to pop culture and was a red carpet correspondent at the “American Idol” finale during three of its most popular seasons.

As the festival queen, Troutman says she is focused on celebrating the Wilmington area and enjoying the almost weeklong reign as the focal point of the event.

“The Azalea Festival marks the beginning of spring for our state,” said Troutman. “It’s food, azaleas, concerts and things that people love.”

Troutman, who lives near Charlotte, will be the headliner for almost every event during the N.C. Azalea Festival, which runs from April 11 to April 15 with events throughout the Wilmington area. She says her main goal as queen is to raise awareness for the region.

“This event gives visitors a taste of the

PHOTO COURTESY OF BETH TROUTMAN

Troutman shoots a short documentary series in Haiti, which won two Emmy Awards.

Wilmington area, and I’m positive they will come back,” she said.

Troutman begins her official duties at a televised coronation on April 11. There she will be surrounded by the Queen’s Court, eight young women who are part of the Miss North Carolina program representing areas throughout N.C. This year’s court is comprised of: Abby Britt, Miss Johnston County; Autumn Hubbard, Miss Greater Carolina; Carli Batson, Miss Wilmington; Laura Matrazzo, Miss Metrolina; Megan Huff, Miss Moore County; Shanice Street, Miss Henderson; Taylor Cuthbertson, Miss Carolina Foothills; and Taylor Foley, Miss Queen City.

Troutman, who also competed in Miss North Carolina as Miss Cabarrus County and Miss Raleigh, says she excited to wear the crown that has been worn by

the likes of Ripa and Williams.

“I am following in the footsteps of some amazing women,” she said.

Troutman has recently spent time living at an orphanage in Haiti providing aid, assistance and support to the local children and community. While in Haiti, she shot a series of short documentaries that recently won two Emmy Awards.

She says that while the Azalea Festival offers a different experience than Haiti, it still exemplifies the “kindness and a sense of community that allows the coming together of people with diverse backgrounds to celebrate by focusing on things that bring us together.”

After the Azalea Festival, Troutman will be focused on a new documentary series titled “Live Life Forward,” which details community involvement and its impacts around the globe.

Troutman covers the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on The Today Show.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BETH TROUTMAN

North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

B7

entertainment

Birth of the Big Mac

By Kellie B. Gormly ReMIND Magazine

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARVEL STUDIOS

Chadwick Boseman stars in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther.

‘Black Panther’ becomes most tweeted about movie ever

By Kirsten Chuba Variety LOS ANGELES — After weeks of breaking box office records, “Black Panther” just made history again, as the most tweeted about movie of all time.

The film, which was tweeted about more than 35 million times, overtook “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” which hold the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively, as the buzziest movies on Twitter. According to the site, the hashtags #BlackPanther, #WakandaForever and

#Wakanda led the posts, with the most tweeted characters being Black Panther, Killmonger and Shuri.

The most retweeted posts were led by Kendrick Lamar’s tweet about “Black Panther The Album,” which Lamar co-produced, announcing the soundtrack’s tracklist. Second was a viral video of two kids in a trench coat posing as one adult man, trying to sneak into a “Black Panther” screening by buying only one ticket. Third for retweets came from former First Lady Michelle Obama, who wrote, “Congrats to the entire

#blackpanther team! Because of you, young people will finally see superheroes that look like them on the big screen. I loved this movie and I know it will inspire people of all backgrounds to dig deep and find the courage to be heroes of their own stories.”

Twitter also reported that users in the United States tweeted most about “Black Panther,” followed by the United Kingdom and Thailand. The most tweeted emojis were the black heart, the flame and the crown icons, and the buzziest day for the film was Feb. 18, the Sunday after its release.

ries of climbing and playing in this Big Mac structure.

The Big Mac even inspired an eponymous economic measurement known as the Big Mac index, which measures the purchasing power of countries worldwide based on the cost of the burger.

Today, millions of people enjoy eating the Big Mac, often with a side of fries and a soda. And in western Pennsylvania, nostalgia buffs like ReMIND readers can eat their meal surrounded by McDonald’s memorabilia at one special Mickey D’s. The Big Mac Museum Restaurant — located in North Huntingdon, just off the Pennsylvania Turnpike — features several transparent cases filled with retro McDonald’s items placed throughout the dining area.

Those of us who had McDonald’s jobs as teenagers will feel deja vu when seeing the vintage Big Mac toaster, which debuted in 1970 and was retired in 1997. We placed each piece of the bun on the triple-layered machine, then pulled down a lever to toast the bread. The museum’s cases, containing a rotating array of trinkets and other memorabilia, also have items like the Big Mac purse, a ceramic Big Mac, a row of Big Mac wrappers and boxes used over the years, plus drinking glasses with McDonaldland characters. Written information about the history of the Big Mac is displayed on a wall and tucked under transparent table covers.

While you enjoy your Big Mac at this nostalgic Pennsylvania restaurant, you can watch videos on several overhanging TV screens that show the jingle commercials over the decades and images of the smiling man who started this food phenomenon.

“TWO all-beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun.”

If you watched TV in the ’70s, you remember this catchy ad jingle on McDonald’s commercials promoting the Big Mac. This triple-decker sandwich was more than a burger, promoters said; it was a meal.

They had a point: McDonald’s other burgers, and those of its competitors, may have had a meat patty, slice of cheese, ketchup and mustard. But the Big Mac had two beef patties, a bun with a mezzanine layer, some veggies, and a special sauce akin to Thousand Island salad dressing.

The Big Mac debuted at McDonald’s restaurants nationwide in 1968, but it got its grassroots start a year earlier at a McDonald’s in a small western Pennsylvania community called Uniontown, near Pittsburgh. Owner Jim Delligatti, a Ray Kroc-era franchisee, invented the sandwich that became a signature McDonald’s icon. Delligatti, who owned several Pittsburgh-area McDonald’s franchises, died in November 2016 at the age of 98.

The iconic burger even got its own cartoon character in the cast of the playful “McDonaldland” world invented in the ’70s. Officer Big Mac, dressed like a policeman, joined mascots including Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar and the roly-poly purple guy named Grimace. In later years, Officer Big Mac appeared at some restaurants that had adjacent “Playland” playgrounds. The character took the form of an elevated jail, where kids could climb in and hang out in the space between the two all-beef patties. Many of us have fond memo-

The Spice Girls’ next project: An animated superhero movie

DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS

By Shirley Halperin Variety

By Variety Staff

LOS ANGELES — Spice Girl power ... activate! An animated film project starring the Spice Girls is being shopped to potential production partners. According to a source, all five members of the group have signed off on their likenesses being used for a superhero-themed movie working off of the “girl power” message.

Each character will be voiced by a Spice Girl — the group’s members include Victoria Beck-

ham (“Posh Spice”), Melanie Brown (“Scary Spice”), Emma Bunton (“Baby Spice”), Melanie Chisholm (“Sporty Spice”) and Geri Halliwell (“Ginger Spice”) — and feature a “girl power” unique to that group member that reflects each girl’s personality.

The news follows recent rumors that the British girl group founded in 1994 planned to stage a reunion tour. While the former bandmates acknowledged that they had met “to explore some incredible new opportunities together,” an insider told Variety that talk of a tour was “prema-

ABC’s ‘General Hospital’ leads with 26 nominations

ture” and that no dates have been booked by CAA, the Spice Girls’ longtime agency. Beckham has played down the possibility of a tour.

But with the animated superhero concept, the girls are committed and even “fired up about the idea,” says a source, adding, “The Spice Girls are thinking big in terms of a franchise on a global scale. They’re the most successful girl group on the planet. It’s just what Marvel or Disney needs.”

Manager Simon Fuller did not comment on the group’s future plans.

weighed in with 51 bids.

CBS landed two shows in the category of best morning show: “CBS Sunday Morning” and “CBS This Morning.” ABC’s “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “Today” are also contenders.

The race for entertainment talk show is paced by familiar faces: syndicated series “Live With Kelly and Ryan,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “The Real” and CBS’ “The Talk” and ABC’s “The View.” With the exception of Ellen DeGeneres, the hosts of those shows were also nominated for talk show host along with “Harry’s” Harry Connick Jr.

LOS ANGELES — ABC’s “General Hospital” tops the list of nominees for the 45th annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

The veteran soap garnered 26 bids, followed closely by fellow daytime serials “Days of Our Lives” (NBC) and “The Young and the Restless” (CBS) with 25 apiece. The three shows and CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful” round out the nominees for daytime drama series.

CBS and syndicated programming tied No. 1 among networks with 66 mentions apiece. Netflix

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North State Journal for Wednesday, March 28, 2018

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pen & paper pursuits sudoku

SOLUTIONS FROM 03.21.18

TAKE NOTICE RANDOLPH NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 18 SP 46 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Charlotte R. Nolen to Julie Glenn, Trustee(s), dated the 12th day of March, 2009, and recorded in Book RE2121, Page 1063, and Modification in Book 2440, Page 878, in Randolph County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Randolph County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned

Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on April 10, 2018 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Randolph, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot No. 53 (consisting of 12.428 acres) of Quail Ridge Subdivision, Map 13 as shown by plat recorded in Plat Book 42, Page 10, in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Randolph County, North Carolina, Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 4011 Oak Tree Road, Asheboro, North Carolina.

Parcel # 7646882207 Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §4521.23.

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

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

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

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

If the trustee is unable to convey title to this prop-

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including 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 pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by

providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1232037 (FC.FAY) PUBLICATION DATES: March 28, 2018 and April 4, 2018

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

dncr.nc.gov/AllinOnePlace

Happy New Year!

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

Secretary Susi H. Hamilton

NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

NC DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES