VOLUME 3 ISSUE 14
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |
WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2018
Inside Three NC schools hosting baseball regionals, Sports
LAUREN ROSE | NORTH STATE JOURNAL
Twinkle, a micro mini, prepares for her one-on-one session with a kid and a volunteer at Hope Reins in Raleigh, on May 23. Hope Reins is nonprofit horse ranch that pairs abused horses with children who have struggled with crisis. Twinkle arrived to the ranch in 2016 after years of neglect causing a disformity with her front legs.
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
Western NC under flash flood warnings Asheville The western counties in North Carolina are under flash flood warnings through at least Wednesday as the outer bands of what’s left of subtropical storm Alberto push through the southern U.S. The National Weather Service said rainfall totals in N.C. could be between 3 and 6 inches by Thursday.
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
Frank Holding Sr., 89, dies Smithfield Frank Holding Sr., retired executive vice chairman of First Citizens Bank, passed away on May 26 at age 89. His son Frank Holding Jr., who is the current CEO of First Citizens, released a statement remembering his father as humble and honest. The senior Holding spent his life in banking, building First Citizens to a $34 billion institution. He was also active in charitable endeavors, including the North Carolina Community Foundation. He is survived by his wife, five children and 12 grandchildren. Visitation will be held at First Citizens Bank in Smithfield on May 31.
ABC cancels ‘Roseanne’ after star tweets slur Los Angeles Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network canceled the popular comedy “Roseanne” on Tuesday after star Roseanne Barr wrote on Twitter that former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett was equivalent of the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.” Barr, 65, deleted the tweet and apologized “for making a bad joke.” “Roseanne” was ABC’s biggest hit of the season, drawing an average of 18.7 million viewers.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DONNA KING | NORTH STATE JOURNAL
Legislature to vote on raises, school safety in state budget The N.C. General Assembly could vote this week on adjustments to the state’s $23.9 billion budget By Donna King North State Journal
INSIDE NC celebrates linking all schools to high-speed internet Jones & Blount
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RALEIGH — A joint Appropriations committee at the state legislature on Tuesday passed Senate Bill 99, containing adjustments to the current two-year state budget. The changes bring the state budget to $23.9 billion, a 4 percent increase over the plan passed last year. It keeps scheduled tax cuts in place, has a pay raise for teachers, state troopers and other state employees, and a cost-of-living-adjustment for retirees. It also sets aside money for school safety ini-
tiatives, school construction, economic development, another $161 million in the state’s rainy-day fund and $60 million for Hurricane Matthew recovery. Lawmakers had more to work with this year after the state had a fourth consecutive surplus, this one at $356 million. Legislative leadership says they will not allow amendments on the budget proposal, thwarting the usual Democrat-led efforts to force a vote on some of Governor Roy Cooper’s proposed budget items. Lawmakers’ questions on the budget proposal were vetted in the Appropriations Committee meeting on Tuesday. The chambers want to move the budget through the legislative process quickly, sending it to See BUDGET, page A2
Hope Reins pairs rescued horses with kids in need The faith-based organization offers equine counselors to children who have faced abuse and neglect By Liz Moomey North State Journal RALEIGH — Thirty minutes from the heart of downtown Raleigh off Highway 50 is Hope Reins, a horse ranch that pairs rescued horses with children who have struggled with crisis. Founded by Kim Tschirret in 2009, Hope Reins aims to be a safe place for kids who have suffered from abuse, trauma and anxiety by connecting with horses — some of which have gone through similar stories of neglect and abuse. The cause is dear to Tschirret, who grew up in an abusive household and found refuge in her horse, Country. “I grew up in a home that looked really great on the outside, but my father was an alcoholic and very abusive, and so I never knew safety as a little girl,” Tschirret said. “We didn’t have a faith, and I didn’t
have anybody to talk to. … When you grow up in an environment like that, you are very shutdown, and nobody talks about it. My comfort and my safety was my horse. “I grew up with an American Saddlebred that looked so much like Selah [a horse at Hope Reins that was rescued from a hoarder], and that was the place that I went,” she added. “I would sit in his stall. He was the only person — thing — that I would talk to. I know what it’s like to be comforted by a horse in the midst of trial, and so as I grew older and I sought the world for all the things I was missing in my heart, it just never satisfied.” Tschirret then read “Hope Rising” by Kim Meeder, a story that gave her inspiration to create a ranch that offers equine therapy. “I didn’t have a safe place to talk about what I was going through, and so I’m very driven to make sure our kids and families have a safe place, because there’s so much sigma around mental illness,” Tshierret said. See HOPE REINS, page A2
Two journalists killed on the job by falling tree By Daniel Trotta Reuters POLK COUNTY — A television news anchor and a camera operator were killed on Monday when a tree fell on their vehicle as they were covering the effects of a rainstorm in Polk County, N.C., officials said. WYFF News anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer of the NBC affiliate in Greenville, S.C., died after the tree hit their sport utility vehicle on a highway, the station reported. Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant said he had just given an interview to McCormick when, minutes later, he received a call about the incident. He arrived to discover the victims were the two men he had just met. “It personally affected me a little bit because I had done an interview with Mr. McCormick about 10
minutes before we got the call, and we had talked a little bit about how he wanted us to stay safe and how we wanted him to stay safe,” Tennant told reporters. The ground was saturated from the rain, and a large tree about 3 feet in diameter fell on the journalists’ SUV, apparently as it was driving along Highway 176, Tennant said. When first responders arrived, the engine was running and the transmission was in drive, Tennant said. “It is a freak of nature,” Tennant said. “I think it was a matter of the tree root system had failed and the tree came down.” McCormick had been with the station since 2007, first as a reporter and later as anchor of two Sunday broadcasts, WYFF said. Smeltzer joined the station in February of this year. Both were born in 1982. Polk County is about 90 miles west of Charlotte.