New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker held the Senate floor with a marathon speech that lasted more than 25 hours, breaking a record set 68 years ago by then-Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina to filibuster the Civil Rights Act in 1957. Booker said he was showing resistance to President Donald Trump’s sweeping actions.
Combat roles remain open to women, standards equalized
Washington, D.C.
The military will keep combat roles open to men and women, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declared in a post on X Monday. But physical fitness standards will be made equal for applicants from both sexes. “No standards will be lowered AND all combat roles will only have sex-neutral standards. Common sense,” said the post. He had previously ordered a review of fitness standards in a memo in early March.
Tennessee Valley Authority
appoints new CEO Nashville, Tenn.
The Tennessee Valley Authority has promoted one of its top executives to CEO as President Donald Trump has begun turning his attention back to the nation’s largest public utility. The utility announced Monday that its board picked Don Moul as president and chief executive. He replaces Jeff Lyash, who is retiring.
Moul has served as TVA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer since 2021. He starts in the new role April 9. The move comes days after Trump removed one of the TVA board members appointed under then-President Joe Biden. Tennessee’s two Republican U.S. senators have criticized the board, saying it’s bogging down a proposed small modular nuclear reactor.
The annual competition draws musicians and dancers from across North Carolina to celebrate traditional bluegrass
By Melinda Burris Chatham News & Record
THE 70TH Annual Seagrove Fiddlers Convention brought together bluegrass performers from across North Carolina on March 15 at Seagrove Elementary School. The event is one of the premier fiddlers and bluegrass festivals held in rural communities throughout the Tarheel State.
Chairperson Maxton Byrd and his 17-member committee organized the event. Sandy Hatley and her husband, Gary, were among those who helped make the popular competition possible, drawing contestants and audience members from across the state. Musical talent defines
the convention, extending even to those in administrative roles. This year’s three-judge panel showcased this tradition: Trent Callicutt, a former banjoist who played with Kenny and Amanda Smith and has performed on the Grand Ole Opry stage with Dailey & Vincent; Nathan Aldridge, a fiddler with the regional band IIIrd Tyme Out, who will appear with the Dan Tyminski Band this summer; and local musician Racy Maness.
Big T Lassiter, another well-known musician from the area, served as the event’s emcee.
The 2025 competition featured winners in both
See FIDDLERS, page A10
“Our revenue growth is not keeping up with our expenditure growth.”
Amy Oland, business management director Nearly half of the competition categories are devoted to youth, ensuring traditional music and dance continue to be instilled in future generations.
Town officials grapple with a $6.5 million gap between projected revenue and expenses
By Ryan Henkel Chatham News & Record
CHAPEL HILL — The Town of Chapel Hill faces difficult financial decisions as officials begin preparing next year’s budget amid significant economic constraints.
At its March 26 work session, the town council discussed concerns surrounding its preliminary budget, which currently shows a $6.5 million gap between projected revenues ($87 million) and projected expenses ($93.5 million). “We are, this week, in the
middle of talking to every department about their budget needs,” said interim town manager Mary Jane Nirdberger. “We received a presentation from every department where they developed all of their needs.”
Business Management Director Amy Oland outlined several factors contributing to the shortfall.
“Our revenue growth is not keeping up with our expenditure growth,” Oland said. “We’ve talked about that for a long time. I will say, what we’re seeing this year is that if it can go wrong, it’s going wrong.”
The town faces decreases in sales tax growth, permitting revenue and lapsed salary savings, along with uncertainty in
N.C. joined the complaint over mental health and addiction money
By Devna Bose and Lindsey Whitehurst
The Associated Press
RALEIGH — A coalition of state attorneys general sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over its decision to claw back $11 billion in federal funds that go toward COVID-19 initiatives and various public health projects across the country.
Attorneys general from 23 states filed the suit in federal court in Rhode Island. They include New York Attorney General Letitia James, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as well as attorneys general in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit argues the cuts are illegal, and that the federal government did not provide “rational basis” or facts to support the cuts. The attorneys general say it will result in “serious harm to public health”
See LAWSUIT, page A3
We stand corrected To report an error or a suspected error, please email: corrections@nsjonline.com with “Correction request” in the subject line.
CRIME LOG
March 27
• Emmanuel Jason Mathew Wilson, 35, of Graham, was arrested for assault on a female, assault on a child under 12, and misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
• Serena FearingtonRobinson, 27, of Pittsboro, was arrested for simple assault and misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
March 28
• Nathaniel Eugene Middleton, 20, of Elgin, was arrested for felony possession of a Schedule I controlled substance and simple possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance.
March 29
• Henry Walter Alston, 69, of Pittsboro, was arrested for driving while impaired.
Greene Central High School received a “superior” rating
The Associated Press
SNOW HILL — It had been decades since Greene Central High School’s band competed in North Carolina’s statewide competition for musicians. While band members hoped to do well, they weren’t prepared for the surprise they got. It started when band director Andrew Howell solemnly stepped onto the bus where his students from the small school in eastern North Carolina were waiting after the contest on March 19. He told them they had been through a growing experience — comments that were met with groans. Heads dropped, anticipating the worst.
Then he pulled out a plaque awarding the band with a superior rating, the North Carolina Bandmasters Association’s highest ranking, setting off screams and cheers. The video of their celebration, recorded by trumpet player Haley Kinzler, has now been seen by millions after it was posted on TikTok and other social media sites.
“I didn’t expect to get a superior,” Kinzler told The Associated Press. “Halfway through, I
LAND
• 204 Sugarland Drive (Apex), 0.18 acres, 3 bed/2 bath, $400,000
• 471 Deer Run (Pittsboro), 4.92 acres, 3 bed/ 2 bath, $400,000
• 389 Dewitt Smith Road (Pittsboro), 9.109 acres, 3 bed/2 bath, $500,000
• 298 E. Salisbury Street (Pittsboro), 0.40 acres, 3bed/2 bath, $600,000
• 9550 Silk Hope Liberty Road (Siler City), 73.740 acres, 3 bed/3bath, $1,450,000
• 557 Olives Chapel Road (Apex), 12.802 acres, 3 bed/3 bath, $2,500,000
RESIDENTIAL
• 2930 Wayne White Road (Climax), 7.60 acres, 3 bed/2.5 bath, $250,000
• 5515 Rives Chapel Church Road (Siler City), 2.607acres, 3 bed/2 bath, $295,000
thought it was going to be, like, a sad video.”
Just a few years ago, there were only about a dozen students in the band, which last competed in the competition in 1987.
Greene Central High School wasn’t alone in winning a superior rating at the event, which wasn’t a head-to-head matchup of schools. Howell said. But it was the first time his school’s band had scored that rating, he said.
• 37 E Cotton Road (Pittsboro), 0.996 acres, $100,000
• 170 Cherokee Drive (Chapel Hill), 1.150 acres, $100,000
• 188 Cherokee Drive (Chapel Hill), 1.150 acres, $100,000
• 327 Poplar Trail (Siler City), 5.022 acres, $150,000
• 1701 Mitchells Chapel Road (Pittsboro), 10 acres, $200,000
• 9311 NC Highway 87 (Pittsboro), 4.602 acres, $225,000
• Tract 1 Robedo Road (Mount Gilead), 15.123 acres, $227,000
• 1115 Manco Dairy Road (Pittsboro), 14 acres, 3 bed/1 bath, $500,000
• 79 John Horton Road (Apex), 4.89 acres, 2bed/2bath, $600,000
Share with your community! Send your birth, death, marriage, graduation and other announcements to community@ chathamnewsrecord.com.
The weekly deadline is Monday at Noon.
A small high school in eastern North Carolina is celebrating the highest ranking its band has won at a statewide musical competition.
Howell, who took over the program in 2019, said he took a few minutes to calm himself after learning how well his band had done and composed in his head a speech he had planned to give them. That went out the window when he stepped onto the bus, he said.
“I share in their excitement when they’re successful, and just seeing how excited they were for that — I think that was the most rewarding part of the entire experience,” he said.
• 9231 NC Highway 87 (Pittsboro), 5.630 acres, $250,000
• Tract 3 Robedo Road (Mount Gilead), 17.029 acres, $256,000
• Tract 2 Robedo Road (Mount Gilead), 17.425 acres, $262,000
• 323 Wagon Trace (Pittsboro), 10.255 acres, $295,000
• 639 Hills of the Haw Road (Pittsboro), 5.2470 acres, $450,000
• 0 Chatham Church Road (Moncure), 15.94 acres, $750,000
• 00 US Highway 64 W (Siler City), 7.87 acres, $800,000
• 1834 Dewitt Smith Road (Pittsboro), 30.49 acres, 3 bed/2.5 bath, $850,000 LAND
• 00 Hamlets Chapel Road (Pittsboro), 118.742 acres, $4,250,000
• 0 JB Morgan Road (Apex), 21 acres, $825,000
• 0 Pasture Branch Road (Rose Hill), 29 acres, $1,250,000
• 8636/8710 Johnson Mill Road (Bahama),182.888 acres, $2,800,000
• 0 US 64 W (Siler City), 9.670 acres, $4,500,000
• 0 Olives Chapel Road (Apex), 75.4330 acres, $17,000,000
COMMERCIAL IMPROVED
• 140 & 148 East Street (Pittsboro), 1.49 acres, $1,350,000
COMMERCIAL UNIMPROVED
• 10681 US Hwy 64 E (Apex), 3.97 acres, $1,000,000 • 1700 Hillsboro Street (Pittsboro), 29.79 acres, $4,500,000
Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in Chatham County:
April 3
Financial Literacy for Kids
3:30-4:30 p.m.
Join us for a Thinking Money for Kids interactive game, designed to help children improve their currency recognition and money math skills. Participants will receive a free cardboard piggy bank to start their savings journey. As supplies last. The program will be in both English and Spanish. No registration is required.
Wrenn Memorial Library 500 N. 2nd Ave. Siler City
April 6
2025 Taste of Chatham
3-6 p.m.
Great local food from West End, Hops & Berry, Small B&B, Greek Kouzina, Compadre’s, Cafe Root Cellar, Lilly Den Farms, Boneyard, Postal Fish, JDubs, The Sycamore, 39 West Catering. Sweets provided by Carolina Cravings, The Sweet Fix, Munchilove, Jeremiah’s Italian Ice, BMC Cookies. Alcohol provided by Thirsty Skull, Starlight Meadery, Fireclay Cellars, BMC Brewing. And great local music by Monodo Guitaro. Chatham County Agriculture and Conference Center 1192 US-64-BR Pittsboro
April 9
Teen Cooking Class
3:30-4:30 p.m.
Join us at Wren Memorial Library for a hands-on cooking class for teens (grades 6-plus). Participants will chop, stir, scoop, slice and dice their food creations before eating them. Registration is required. Please call (919) 742-2016 or register online.
Wrenn Memorial Library 500 N. 2nd Ave. Siler City
Jazz Night at The Sycamore at Chatham Mills
6-9 p.m.
Every Wednesday night, from 6-9 p.m., The Sycamore at Chatham Mills hosts live Jazz Nights. The series features a rotating list of local musicians. The Sycamore also offers their Lounge Menu in the dining room on Wednesday nights. Reservations are highly recommended.
480 Hillsboro St. Suite 500 Pittsboro
April 18
Good Friday
Chatham County The twelve collection centers and Solid Waste & Recycling Main Office will be closed for Good Friday. They will open again for normal hours on Saturday, April 19.
All Chatham County public libraries will also be closed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in observance of Easter.
The Cabarrus County Republican will be general counsel and vice chancellor
The Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL — A leader among the North Carolina Senate Republicans who resigned this week from the General Assembly is the next chief attorney for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
University Chancellor Lee Roberts announced last Thursday the hiring of outgoing Senate Majority Leader Paul Newton as general counsel and vice chancellor at the UNC system’s flagship campus.
Newton revealed his decision to step down from the Senate in a press release, saying it was “to pursue an opportunity outside of state government” that wasn’t immediately made public. During his fare-
ROBERT WILLETT / THE NEWS & OBSERVER VIA AP, POOL
North Carolina Senate Majority Leader Paul Newton talks with guests prior to a luncheon in honor of Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the North Carolina Executive Mansion last April in Raleigh.
well speech last week on the Senate floor, Newton said he learned about a job opening
several weeks ago and was offered it only on that Monday. Newton, who received undergraduate and law degrees at UNC Chapel Hill, is a retired Duke Energy employee and executive who joined the Senate in 2017 and became majority leader after the 2022 elections. He said he is also the father of four UNC Chapel Hill graduates.
Roberts said Newton, who begins the job April 21, “brings exceptional skills and deep experience in law, business and government to our University” and “is passionate about returning to his alma mater and contributing to our success.”
Republicans in Newton’s Cabarrus County Senate district will pick someone to fill his seat through the end of 2026. Senate Republicans selected Michael Lee (R-New Hanover) on Tuesday to succeed Newton as the chamber’s new majority leader.
Luigi Mangione is facing both federal and state charges
By Michael R. Sisak and Alanna Durkin Richer
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday she has directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel on Dec. 4. Mangione, 26, faces separate federal and state murder charges for the killing, which rattled the business community while also galvanizing health insurance critics. The federal charges include murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty. The state charges carry a maximum punishment of life in prison.
Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state
charges expected to go to trial first. It wasn’t immediately clear if Bondi’s death penalty announcement will change the order of how the cases are tried.
“Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi said in a statement.
“After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President (Donald) Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.”
A message seeking comment was left for a spokesperson for Mangione’s lawyers.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to a state indictment and has not entered a plea to the federal charges.
Trump, who oversaw an unprecedented run of executions at the end of his first term, signed an executive order on his first day back in office Jan. 20 that compels the Justice Department to seek the
death penalty in federal cases where applicable. His predecessor, Joe Biden, had issued a moratorium on federal executions. Thompson, 50, was ambushed and shot on a sidewalk as he walked to an investor conference at a hotel in midtown Manhattan. Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 while eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Police said he was carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID. He also was carrying a notebook expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and especially wealthy executives, authorities said.
UnitedHealthcare is the largest health insurer in the U.S., though the company said Mangione was never a client.
Among the entries in the notebook, prosecutors said, was one from August 2024 that said “the target is insurance” because “it checks every box,” and one from October that describes an intent to “wack” an insurance company CEO.
and put states “at greater risk for future pandemics and the spread of otherwise preventable disease and cutting off vital public health services.”
The lawsuit asks the court to immediately stop the Trump administration from rescinding the money, which was allocated by Congress during the pandemic and mostly used for COVID-related efforts such as testing and vaccination. The money also went to addiction and mental health programs.
“Slashing this funding now will reverse our progress on the opioid crisis, throw our mental health systems into chaos, and leave hospitals struggling to care for patients,” James said Tuesday in a news release.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department, which began serving employees dismissal notices on Tuesday in what’s expected to total 10,000 layoffs, said it does not comment on ongoing litigation.
HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon pointed to the agency’s statement from last week, when the decision to claw back the money was announced. The HHS said then that it “will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.”
Local and state public health departments are still assessing the impact of the loss of funds, though the lawsuit points to the claw back putting hundreds of jobs at risk and weakening efforts to stem infectious diseases like flu and measles.
Health officials in North Carolina, which joined the lawsuit, estimate the state could lose $230 million, harming dozens of local health departments, hospital systems and universities, and rural health centers. At least 80 government jobs and dozens of contractors would be affected, accord-
ing to state health officials.
“There are legal ways to improve how tax dollars are used, but this wasn’t one of them,” North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said. “Immediately halting critical health care programs across the state without legal authority isn’t just wrong — it puts lives at risk.”
According to Jackson, the funds involved for North Carolina total $230 million.
“My job is to be a shield for the people of North Carolina — and that includes protecting their health care,” Jackson said in a press statement. “The federal government can’t just cancel nearly a quarter billion dollars that have already been congressionally allocated to our state. It’s unlawful — and dangerous.”
Jackson has added North Carolina as a plaintiff participant in at least five lawsuits against the Trump administration since taking office in January. The lawsuits include President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order, pauses on federal agency spending freezes, certain activities of the Department of Government Efficiency and cuts to certain funding at the National Institutes of Health.
The North Carolina General Assembly is seeking to curb Jackson from entering into such lawsuits under Senate Bill 58, which has already passed the Senate and is awaiting review by the House Rules, Calendar and Operations Committee.
Already, more than two dozen COVID-related research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health have been canceled.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from March shows that COVID-19 killed 411 people each week on average, even though the federal public health emergency has ended.
North State Journal’s A.P. Dillon contributed to this report.
May 28, 1958 –Jan. 29, 2025
Kathleen Marie Boren Stewart, 66 of Greensboro NC, entered into eternal rest on January 29, 2025 at home in Greensboro, NC. Kathy was born on May 28, 1958 in Lockport, NY. She is predeceased by her brother, Ralph McMichael Boren, II, her sister, Penny Nicole Boren Nalley and her father, Benjamin Clark Boren Jr. She is survived by her mother, Nancy Boren Harris of Greensboro NC; her daughter, Andrea Marie Merritt(Chris) of Greensboro NC, her
April 20, 1949 –March 26, 2025
Billy “Goober” Edward York Jr., 75, of Siler City, went to his heavenly home on March 26th, 2025, at his home surrounded by family.
Edward was a native of Chatham. He was born on April 20th, 1949, to the late Billy Edward York Sr. and Mary Doris Cox York. He is preceded in death by his parents.
Edward served six years in the Army National Guard. He was an owner/ operator of BE York and Sons Excavating Company. He was a member of Piney Grove Methodist Church and the Sunday School class. Edward loved driving and working on his 1966 Chevelle, operating equipment, and raising his cows. He loved to talk
son, Andrew Jeffrey Merritt (Amber) of Winter Garden FL, her sister, Patty Boren Baldree (Lane) of James Island, SC, her grandchildren, Alexis Elizabeth Potts, Evan Dane Potts and Emily Marie Merritt, her nieces Nicole Michelle Oakes(Zach) and Christine Elizabeth Cowart(Dean) and her best friend Kimberly Sadoski Howard(Ronnie) of Lake Waccamaw NC.
She will be remembered for her love of animals especially horses, wolves, and her Italian Greyhounds. Kathy had a Bachelor’s degree in Forensic Science and Criminal Justice from Guilford College in Greensboro NC. She loved photography, camping, horseback riding, fishing, gardening and anything involving nature. She was intrigued by the horror genre, films and books and enjoyed classic rock music.
A graveside service will be held on April 12th, 2025 at 1:00pm at Oakwood Cemetery in Siler City, NC.
and never met a stranger. He loved meeting new people and talking to them. Edward loved watching western movies, but his biggest love of all was his family.
Edward is survived by his wife of 55 years, Linda Nobles York; his daughter, Jodie Y. Powers and her husband, Justin; his sons, Shannon York and his wife, Kim of Siler City, and Chad York of Siler City; his sisters, Patricia Y. Byerly of Siler City, Diane Y. Harris of Siler City, and Jan York of Raleigh; and his grandsons, Cole York, and Cayden Powers.
A funeral service will be held Sunday, March 30th, 2025, at 2:30 pm, at Piney Grove United Methodist Church. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
A visitation service will be held Saturday, March 29th, 2025, at Smith & Buckner Funeral Home from 6-8 pm. Services will be officiated by Reverend Herbert Lowry and Reverend David Scotten. Memorials can be made to Amedysis Hospice of Burlington, 2975 Crouse Lane, Burlington, NC 27215.
Smith & Buckner Funeral Home will be assisting the York family. Online condolences can be made at smithbucknerfh.com
November 19, 1945 –March 28, 2025
Paul David “P.D.” Justice, 79, of Siler City, died Friday, March 28th, 2025, at his home surrounded by his loving family. P.D. was born in Randolph County on November 19th, 1945, to the late Everett B. and Nellie Dixon Justice. In addition to his parents, P.D. was preceded in death by his brother, Michael D. Justice. After graduating from Jordan-Matthews High School in 1964, he joined the Air Force and served in Holland fueling airplanes. Soon after his return he moved to Greensboro where he roomed with the Teague boys and took up the game of golf, his lifelong favorite pastime.
He was introduced to his future wife, Vicky Pritchard, by her brother Guy Pritchard and his wife Linda. Within a year, they were married. Then followed the births of their children, Brian and Janna.
His career began in Greensboro as an accountant at Piedmont Outdoor Advertising and continued in Siler City as the manager of Justice Trailer Park. During this time he was a member of the Moose Lodge in Siler City, the Siler City Country Club and a current member of Oakley Baptist Church. There he served for years as a Sunday School teacher, deacon, finance committee member, and on pastor search committees. He dearly loved the Lord and his church family.
Ever the sharp wit, he has kept friends and family laughing at game nights and dinner parties. He particularly loved Pictionary, Fictionary, Password, and Name That Tune, though he could not carry one. Other interests included bowling, arrowhead hunting, volleyball, Duke basketball, and playing rook and Pinochle.
When he became a PaPa, he truly enjoyed his granddaughters Reece Cobia and Emma Justice. Holidays and special occasions were much more delightful with them and beloved daughter-in-law Karen Hargrove Justice.
He and Vicky enjoyed 52 years of marriage and celebrated by placing 50 yellow-gold roses in the church on their 50th Wedding Anniversary.
A truly humble man, P.D. was a man of faith, integrity, wisdom, generosity, and kindness. He was easy to talk to, easy to love, and hard to say goodbye to.
We will celebrate his life with a visitation on Tuesday, April 1st, 2025, from 1:303:00 PM at Oakley Baptist Church. The funeral service will follow at 3:00 PM with Dr. Jeff Johnson and Rev. Tim Howell officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery.
The family requests memorials be made to the American Cancer Society, atdonate.cancer.org
Smith and Buckner Funeral Home is serving the Justice family. Online condolences may be made at smithbucknerfh.com
Nov. 2, 1940 – March 28, 2025
Judith Flowers Wolfe, 84, went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on Friday, March 28, 2025 at 7:07 am with her husband by her side. A funeral service will be held at 3 pm on
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at McLeansville Baptist Church. The family will receive friends from 2 until 2:45 pm prior to the service. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
Judith was born November 2, 1940 in Rockingham, NC to the late D S Flowers and Virginia Covington Flowers. After graduation from Rockingham High School in 1959, Judith went to work with Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company in Greensboro NC, which later became Lincoln Financial.
Judith worked with Lincoln Financial for 42 years until she retired. She was a member of McLeansville Baptist Church.
Judith and her husband
also had a home in Boone, NC which they thoroughly enjoyed. When not in Boone or Greensboro, they were traveling across this great land that they lived in.
She was preceded in death by her sister, Pat Chappell.
Judith is survived by her loving husband of 61 years, Romney Darrell Wolfe; nephews, Brent and Patrick Chappell; brotherin-law, Gary Wolfe; and sisters-in-law, Kathy Wolfe and Kay Brown (Ken).
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to McLeansville Baptist Church, 5205 Frieden Church Road, McLeansville NC 27301.
Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in Chatham News & Record at obits@chathamrecord.com
TERRILL LYNN MORGAN
DEC. 19, 1966 – MARCH 22, 2025
Terrill Lynn Morgan, of Robbins, passed away on March 22, 2025, at First Health Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst. There will be a private memorial at a late date. Terrill was born in Moore County on December 19, 1966, to Gregory Williams and Judy Morgan. He worked as a repair man and auto mechanic. He loved working with his hands, especially working on small engines. He loved all kinds of music, but his favorite was classical rock. He loved being outside and being with his dogs. He was preceded in death by his parents. Terrill is survived by his wife, Ashley Morgan of the home, daughter, Elaina Morgan, sister, Donna Smith (Todd) of Robbins, aunt, Terea Williams of Eagle Springs and a host of family and friends.
RAYMOND CLINT RIDDLE
NOV. 29, 1950 – MARCH 19, 2025
Raymond Clint Riddle of Siler City, passed away on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at AuthoraCare in Burlington. The family will receive friends on Saturday, March 29 from 12-2 p.m. at Joyce-Brady Chapel with a memorial service beginning at 1 p.m. Raymond was born in Chatham County on November 29,1950 to Roy Riddle and Ollie Fields. He was member of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Goldston. He was a dedicated poultry farmer for 30 years and loved his work. He loved building things, watching Nascar, fishing, beach trips with his grandkids, and he loved his life and lived every day to the fullest. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sister and 2 brothers. Raymond is survived by his wife of 50 years, Peggy Riddle of the home, daughter, Sally Riddle Smith (Chris) of Siler City, sister, Janice Ellington (Jimmy) of Pittsboro, special niece, Kim Holshouser (Rodney) of Gulf, Grandchildren: Brandon Todd Smith and Morgan Elizabeth Smith, Great grandchildren: Oaklynn Sweeney and Arabella Holder, and a host of family and friends.
BUDGET from page A1 Monday, April 7 Pittsboro Center for Active Living
8:15 a.m. - Total Body Conditioning Exercise
10 a.m. - Geri-Fit
11 a.m. - Cornhole
Noon - Reading Out Loud with Gaines
1 p.m. - Table Tennis; Mahjong
1:30 p.m. - Open Quilting Space
3 p.m. - Caregiver Support Group
3:30 p.m. - Virtual Meditation (via Zoom) Siler City Center for Active Living
9 a.m. - Strong & Fit
10 a.m. - Cornhole
10:30 a.m. - Situational Awareness with Siler City Police Department
2 p.m. - Strength & Tone Tuesday, April 8 Pittsboro Center for Active Living
8:30 a.m. - QiGong
9 a.m. - 3G’s Men’s Group
10 a.m. - Woodcarvers; Cardio Drumming
11 a.m. - Healthy Alcohol Consumption with Ann Clark
12:30 p.m. - Crafting with Lacee
1 p.m. - Rummikub
2 p.m. - Zumba Gold Siler City Center for Active Living
8 a.m. - Quilting and Sewing Time
9 a.m. - Cardio Drumming
10 a.m. - Chair Exercises
10:30 a.m. - Tuesdays with Talyse
1 p.m. - Rook, Phase 10 & Rummikub Wednesday, April 9 Pittsboro Center for Active Living
8:15 a.m. - Cardio & Lower Body Exercise
10 a.m. - Chair Yoga with Liz; Music Jam
federal funding. The projected revenues do not yet account for increases in property taxes from recent property revaluations.
“Our budget situation is not new to this year,” Nirdberger said. “We’ve been dealing with some systemic problems in the budget for many, many years.”
Current baseline departmental budgets were submitted based on the same funding as the prior year, but the gap will likely require significant cuts to town departments and services.
Councilmember Paris Miller-Foushee emphasized the severity of potential cuts.
“As I’m sitting and looking at this budget gap, I know just from my job, we’re being asked to consider what it looks like to have a 20-25% budget cut, which is pretty significant,” Miller-Foushee said. “It’s important that we begin to really start telling the story to our community about the realities of that.”
The preliminary budget expenses account for increases in employee and operational costs. To maintain a balanced budget, the town may consider raising the tax rate by at least 4.5 to 5 cents above the revenue-neutral tax rate.
“Everyone is going to see something different based on the revaluation of their properties,” Oland said.
Mayor Jessica Anderson expressed concern about the impact on residents.
“I think it’s getting to the point where people are really feeling like, ‘Can I stay here?’” Anderson said. “It’s not the best times financially right now, and there are really unusual and unprecedented things happening at the federal and state level.”
The upcoming budget process includes another work session on April 16, followed by the town manager’s recommended budget presentation on May 7. “What we most need is context,” said councilmember Theodore Nollert. “I feel like what we have are a lot of anecdotal data points and then some priorities that are for the town around things like vehicle replacement and road repaving and things like that, and I think we need to balance those against some of our major strategic goals.”
After the May 7 presentation, a work session will be held on May 14 with a public hearing on May 21 before the council’s final budget vote on June 11.
The Chapel Hill Town Council will next meet April 9.
11 a.m. - The Chosen with discussion; UNC Dental Students Health Presentation
2 p.m. - Chess Siler City Center for Active Living
9 a.m. - Strong & Fit
10 a.m. - Bible Study
10:30 a.m. - April Birthday Party & Bingo
1 p.m. - Crafts; Pickleball & Cornhole Thursday, April 10 Pittsboro Center for Active Living
8:30 a.m. - QiGong
9:30
10
10:30
1
1:30 p.m. - Line Dancing
3 p.m. - Gentle Yoga with Liz Siler City Center for Active Living
9 a.m. - Men’s Coffee & Conversations
10 a.m. - Chair Exercises; Crochet Workshop; Music Jam Session
1 p.m. - Powerful Tools for Caregivers
2 p.m. - Strength & Tone
3 p.m. - Social: Bingo Friday, April 11 Pittsboro Center for Active Living
10 a.m. - Senior Games Opening Expo
1 p.m. - Euchre; Acrylic Painting Class
2 p.m. - Table Tennis Siler City Center for Active Living
9 a.m. - Zumba Gold
10 a.m. - Quilting and Sewing Time
7 p.m. - Friday Night Dance
Our Volunteer Tax Assistance Program is open to taxpayers of all ages!
To see if you qualify, call our appointment line at 919-545-8427. You may qualify and not even know it!
Visit our website at www.chathamcountync. gov/agingservices
LEARN ABOUT LAND - Chatham Land Experts, www.learnaboutland. com - 919-362-6999.
JY2,tfnc
2BDR/1BA MOBILE HOME FOR RENT IN Bonlee Elementary and Chatham Central High School District – No Pets – Call 919-742-5187 and leave a message.
M13,20,27,A3p
POWELL SPRINGS APTS. Evergreen Construction introduces its newest independent living community for adults 55 years or older, 1 and 2 bedroom applications now being accepted. Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 919533-6319 for more information, TDD #1-800-735-2962, Equal housing opportunity, Handicapped accessible. A2,tfnc
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS now for one-bedroom apartments, adults 55 years or older. Water included, appliances furnished, on-site laundry, elevator, keyless entry. Section 8 accepted. No security deposit. Application fee $25 per adult. Call Braxton Manor, 919-663-1877. Handicap accessible. Equal Housing Opportunity. J14,tfnc
MULTI-FAMILY YARD SALE – Friday, April 4th – 8:00am – 2:00pm. Located at 219 Chatham Square behind Lam’s Chinese Buffet –Furniture, cheap clothes and household goods. 1tc
Dining Room Set w/China Cabinet, several Curio Cabinets, Treadmill, Sofa and 2 end tables, 2 upright freezers, dishes, Bedroom Suite, 2 Recliners, etc. 919-799-8243.
RICKY ELLINGTON AUCTIONEERS
- Equipment, business, liquidation, estates, land, houses, antiques, personal property, coins, furniture, consignments, benefits, etc., NCAL #7706, 919-548-3684, 919-6633556, rickyellingtonauctions@yahoo. com. Jy6,tfnc
HANDYMAN NEEDED! Gardening and small projects! Please call 919-548-2943. M27,4tp
Affordable Professional Lawncare –Mowing, weed eating and Small bush hog jobs –Call Mike at 919-267-0475. 4tp
CASH PAID FOR JUNK CARS AND PICKUPS – Call Clifton Maness – 336581-3423 M13,20,27,A3p
RAINBOW WATER FILTERED
VACUUMS, Alice Cox, Cox’s Distributing - Rainbow - Cell: 919548-4314, Sales, Services, Supplies. Serving public for 35 years. Rada Cutlery is also available. A26,tfnc
JUNK CARS PICKED UP Free of charge. Due to many months of low steel prices and unstable steel markets, we cannot pay for cars at this time. Cars, trucks, and machinery will be transported and environmentally correctly recycled at no charge. 919-542-2803. A2,tfnc
LETT’S TREE SERVICE - tree removal, stump grinding, lot clearing. Visa & Master Card accepted. Timber. Free estimates. 919-258-3594. N9,tfnc
TOWN OF SILER CITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
RESOLUTION
UTILITY DRIVE
WHEREAS,
of Siler City, North Carolina, at which time the Board shall consider the
of said
and so as to determine
or not said street shall be permanently
in
The
will
with N.C.
or
in the Town of Siler City Courtroom located at 311 N Second Street, Siler City, NC 27344. That a copy of this Resolution shall be mailed by registered or certified mail to all owners of property adjoining the said street as shown on the county tax records. That a copy of this Resolution shall
aka Betty Fields Nall aka Betty F. Nall aka Betty Nall, Estate File Number 25E000125-180, on or before June 20, 2025, in care of the undersigned attorney at her address, or this notice will be pleaded in a bar of recovery. All persons, firms and corporations indebted to Betty Mae Fields Nall aka Betty Fields Nall aka Betty F. Nall aka Betty Nall, please make immediate payment to the Estate of Betty Mae Fields Nall aka Betty Fields Nall aka Betty F. Nall aka Betty Nall. This is the 20th day of March, 2025. Pamela E. Whitaker Attorney at Law 4145 Randolph Church Road Liberty, NC 27298 (336) 622-3553 telephone (336) 622-3240 facsimile pwhitakerlaw@gmail.com PUBLICATION DATES: March 20, 27, April 3, 10, 2025
NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY NOTICE TO CREDITORS The undersigned, having qualified on the 28th day of February 2025, as Executor of the Estate of John B. Baer a/k/a John Balfour Baer, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 13th June, 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate, please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This 13th day of March, 2025. Alison Baer Arter, Executor of the Estate of John B. Baer a/k/a John Balfour Baer c/o Candace B. Minjares, Kennon Craver, PLLC 4011 University Drive, Suite 300 Durham, North Carolina 27707
Notice to Creditors
25E000158-180
NORTH CAROLINA
CHATHAM COUNTY
The undersigned, Kelley Johansson, having qualified on the 21st Day of March, 2025 as Executor of the Estate of Jerry R. Weaver, deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, firms and cooperations having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned on or before the 27th Day of June 2025, or this notice will be plead in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This the 24th of March 2025. Kelley Johansson, Executor 1449 Luther Rd. Apex, NC 27523 Run dates M27, A3,10,17p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The undersigned, having qualified as Executor of the Estate of JOSEPH J. MINORICS, Deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against the estate to exhibit them to the undersigned at the offices of Munson Law Firm PLLC, P.O. Box 1811 Pittsboro, NC 27312, on or before the 3rd day of July, 2025, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment. This 3rd day of April, 2025.
JOSHUA MINORICS, EXECUTOR ESTATE OF JOSEPH J. MINORICS
NOTICE
ALL PERSONS, firms and corporations having claims against CLARICE DRIGGERS COTTEN, a/ ka/ CLARICE D COTTEN, deceased, of Chatham County, NC are notified to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before the 3rd day of July 2025, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This the 3rd day of April, 2025. Billy Driggers, Executor c/o Hopler, Wilms & Hanna, PLLC, 2314 S. Miami Blvd. Suite 151, Durham, NC 27703. April 3, 2025 April 10, 2025 April 17, 2025 April 24, 2025
PUBLIC NOTICE
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION
1617 MAIL SERVICE CENTER
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA 27699-1617
NOTIFICATION OF INTENT TO ISSUE AN AMENDED
CONSENT ORDER
Public notice of intent to issue an amendment to a State Consent Order to the following: The Town of Siler City (P.O. Box 769, Siler City, NC 27344-0769) has requested an amended Special Order by Consent No. S22-003 Ad I for its Siler City WWTP, a 4.0 MGD wastewater treatment facility under the authority of discharge permit NC0026441, and for its Siler City Collection System under the authority of collection system permit WQCS00056. The Siler City WWTP discharges treated wastewater to Loves Creek in the Cape Fear River Basin. The Environmental Management Commission proposes to issue the amended Order per Article 21 of Chapter 143, N.C. General Statutes, and other regulations effective May 12, 2025.
Compliance with this amended Order will require the Town to begin and complete construction to upgrade and expand the WWTP to 6.0 MGD, as required in the NPDES Permit, and to complete construction of improvement projects at the Siler City Water Treatment Plant. Compliance with this amended Order will also require the Town to rehabilitate the wastewater collection system. The Town of Siler City shall comply with the NPDES and collection system permit limits. This amended Order will expire on September 1, 2027. A copy of the amended Order is available upon request by contacting Sydney Deuterman of the Division of Water Resources at 919-707-3712, or by email at sydney.deuterman@deq.nc.gov. Comments on the proposed amended Order received no later than 30 days after the publish date of this notice will be considered in the final determination. A public meeting may be held if there is a significant degree of public interest.
NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA NOTICE TO CREDITORS CHATHAM COUNTY
HAVING QUALIFIED as Co-Executors of the Estate of James C. Brooks, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against the estate of said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before the 12th day of June, 2025, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. This the 5th day of March, 2025. Theresa B. Varner, Co-Executor of the Estate of James C. Brooks 7809 Ferguson Road Liberty, North Carolina 27208 James R. Brooks, Co-Executor of the Estate Of James C. Brooks 408 Eden Hills Road Siler City, North Carolina 27344 MOODY, WILLIAMS, ATWATER & LEE ATTORNEYS AT LAW BOX 629 SILER CITY, NORTH CAROLINA 27344 (919) 663-2850 4tp
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
22E000720-180 ALL PERSONS, firms and corporations having claims against Joseph Stroud, of Chatham County, N.C., are notified to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before June 13, 2025 or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This the 13th day of March, 2025. Daron D. Satterfield Attorney for Personal Representative, Annie C. Capers 307 Meadowlands Drive, Suite 101 Hillsborough, NC 27278
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The undersigned, having qualified as Executrix of the Estate of Jeffrey Paul Fahlikman, Deceased, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against the estate to exhibit them to the undersigned at the offices of Tillman, Whichard & Cagle, PLLC, 501 Eastowne Drive, Suite 130, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, on or before the 20th day of June, 2025, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment. This 20th day of March, 2025. LISA FISHER, EXECUTRIX ESTATE OF JEFFREY PAUL FAHLIKMAN
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
All persons, firm and corporations having claims against Toni Goodyear, late of Chatham County, North Carolina are hereby notified to present them to Margaret Pumphrey, as Executor of the decedent’s estate in care of Kendall H. Page, Attorney, 210 N Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 on or before the 20th day of June, 2025, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, firms and corporations indebted to the said estate will please make immediate payment to the above named Executor. Kendall H. Page 210 N Columbia Street Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Bar # 14261 Notice to Run: 3/20/2025,3/27/2025, 4/3/2025 & 4/10/2025
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Having qualified as Executor of the Estate of James H. Lazenby, late of Chatham County, North Carolina, the undersigned does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against the estate of said decedent to exhibit them to the undersigned, c/o Jill L. Peters Kaess, Post Office Box 4548, Wilmington, North Carolina 28406, on or before the 23rd day of June, 2025, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, firms and corporations indebted to the said estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This the 20th day of March, 2025. Robert George Lazenby, Executor of the Estate of James H. Lazenby Jill L. Peters Kaess Lee Kaess, PLLC P. O. Box 4548 Wilmington, NC 28406 March 20, 27, April 3, 10
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Probate #25E000116-180______
All persons, firm and corporations having claims against Barbara B. Modisett, late of Chatham County, North Carolina are hereby notified to present them to Kendall H. Page, as Executor of the decedent’s estate in care of Kendall H. Page, Attorney, 210 N Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 on or before the 3rd day of July, 2025, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons, firms and corporations indebted to the said estate will please make immediate payment to the above-named Executor. Kendall H. Page 210 N Columbia Street Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Bar # 14261 Notice to Run: 4/3/2025,4/10/2025, 4/17/2025 & 4/24/2025
Notice to Creditors
All persons, firms and corporations having claims against Dale Harold Bochenek, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, are notified to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before June 25, 2025, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This the 20th day of March, 2025. Laura B. Smith, Executor c/o W. Thomas McCuiston 200 Towne Village Drive Cary, NC 27513
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA
CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#24 E 232
The undersigned, CAROLINE YINGLING TAYLOR, having qualified on the 26TH Day of APRIL, 2024 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of DAVID MURRILL TAYLOR, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 25TH Day of JUNE 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 27TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025.
CAROLINE YINGLING TAYLOR, EXECUTOR 18 SUNNYSIDE COURT
CHAPEL HILL, NC 27516 Run dates: M27,A3,10,17p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA
CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#25E000123-180
The undersigned, MATTHEW G. DAVIS, having qualified on the 6TH Day of MARCH, 2025 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of DIANNE GAINES DAVIS, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 11TH Day of JUNE 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 13TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025.
MATTHEW G. DAVIS, EXECUTOR PO BOX 233
GOLDSTON, NC 27252 Run dates: M13,20,27,A3p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA
CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#24E001548-180
The undersigned, SARAH GOYEA, having qualified on the 9TH Day of OCTOBER, 2024 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of ELIZABETH ROBERTS, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 11TH Day of JUNE 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 13TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025.
SARAH GOYEA, EXECUTOR
103 BLUERIDGE ROAD
CARRBORO, NC 27510
Run dates: M13,20,27,A3p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA
CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#24E001267-180
The undersigned, JOE LEE WAGONER, JR., having qualified on the 13TH Day of MAY, 2024 as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of EMELDA PAYNE WAGONER, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 11TH Day of JUNE 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 13TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025. JOE LEE WAGONER, JR. 111 TURTLE CREEK FARM RD. APEX, NC 27523
ADMINISTRATOR Run dates: M13,20,27,A3p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA
CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#25E000020-180
The undersigned, DORIS P. HOLT, having qualified on the 5TH Day of FEBRUARY, 2025 as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of FLORA MAE CAMERON PETTIT, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 11TH Day of JUNE 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 13TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025.
DORIS P. HOLT, ADMINISTRATOR 740 GARNER ROAD SANFORD, NC 27330 Run dates: M13,20,27,A3p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA
CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#25E000169-180
The undersigned, RICK BARKER, having qualified on the 27TH Day of MARCH 2025 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of FRANCES V. BARKER, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 2ND Day of JULY 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 3RD DAY OF APRIL, 2025. Run dates: A3,10,17,24p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
ALL PERSONS, firms and corporations having claims against Wanda Alice Hudgins, deceased, of Chatham County, N.C., are notified to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before June 17, 2025, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This March 13, 2025. c/o Shea Maliszewski, Barringer Sasser, LLP, Attorney for the Estate, 111 Commonwealth Court, Suite 101, Cary, NC 27511.
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#25E000100-180
The undersigned, PAMELA BARTH JACOBS, having qualified on the 24TH Day of FEBRUARY, 2025 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of GEORGIA RUTH HUDSON BARTH, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 11TH Day of JUNE 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 13TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025.
PAMELA BARTH JACOBS, EXECUTOR 7 AZALEA LANE SPRUCE PINE, NC 28777 *MAIL AFFIDAVIT TO: 13604 US HIGHWAY 64 W. SILER CITY, NC 27344-6445 Run dates: M13,20,27,A3p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#25E000083-180 The undersigned, MATTHEW WILLIAM FOUSHEE, having qualified on the 11TH Day of FEBRUARY, 2025 as CO-EXECUTOR of the Estate of HAZEL MANN FOUSHEE, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 18TH Day of JUNE 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 20TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025. MAIL TO: MATTHEW WILLIAM FOUSHEE, CO-EXECUTOR 4612 BADGER SPRINGS ROAD RALEIGH, NC 27603 ANDREW NELSON WHEELER, CO-EXECUTOR 9226 BEACH DR. SW CALABASH, NC 28467 Run dates: M20,27,A3,10p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#25E000145-180 The undersigned, JOAN P. ROBERTS, having qualified on the 17TH Day of MARCH, 2025 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of JAMES DREXEL ROBERTS, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 18TH Day of JUNE 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 20TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025. JOAN P. ROBERTS, EXECUTOR 825 E CARDINAL ST. SILER CITY, NC 27344 Run dates: M20,27,A3,10p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#24E001270-180 The
undersigned. This is the 20TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025. SHEARON STROUD, EXECUTOR 376 GARDNER RD. APEX, NC 27523 Run dates: M20,27,A3,10p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY
FILE#25E000043-180 The undersigned, KAITLIN HOLDER, having qualified on the 24TH Day of JANUARY, 2025 as ADMINISTRATOR of the Estate of MICHAEL CLARK HOLDER, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 11TH Day of JUNE 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 13TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025. KAITLIN HOLDER, ADMINISTRATOR 122 STEEL SPRINGS LANE ANGIER, NC 27501 Run dates: M13,20,27,A3p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
25E000104-180 NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY The undersigned, Stormi Jarmon, having qualified as Limited Personal Representative of the Estate of Raymond Watts, deceased, late of Chatham County, this is to notify all persons having claims against said estate to present them to the undersigned on or before the
Cummings, PLLC Post Office Box 1455 Pittsboro, NC 27312
NOTICE ALL PERSONS, firms and corporations holding claims against Daniel Joseph Shannon, deceased, of Chatham County, NC are notified to exhibit same to the undersigned on or before June 23, 2025, or this notice
Party approval ratings are at all-time lows
By Jonathan J. Cooper
The Associated Press
PHOENIX — The Democratic base is angry.
Not just at President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the “Make America Great Again” movement. Rank-and-file Democrats are mad at their own leaders and increasingly agitating to replace them.
Democrats in Arizona and Georgia pushed out their party chairs. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York postponed a book tour in the face of protests amid calls from progressives that he face a primary challenge.
The losing party after a presidential election often spends time in the wilderness, but the visceral anger among Democrats toward their party leaders is reaching a level reminiscent of the tea party movement that swept out Republican incumbents 15 years ago.
“They should absolutely be worried about holding onto power because there’s a real energy right now against them,” Paco Fabián, deputy director of Our Revolution, a grassroots group allied with independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, said of Democratic incumbents. “And as soon as somebody figures out how to harness it, they’re going to be in deep trouble.”
The current depth of frustration among Democrats is clear and shows no signs of going away. According to a February Quinnipiac poll, about half disapprove of how Democrats in Congress are handling their job, compared with about 4 in 10 who approve. That’s a stark contrast from the beginning of Joe Biden’s presidency in 2021, when more than 8 in 10 Democrats approved of how their party was doing its job in Congress, and the start of Trump’s first term in 2017, when about 6 in 10 Democrats approved. In 2017, as they do now, Democrats lacked control of either congressional chamber.
A February CNN/SSRS poll found about three-quarters of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents thought Democrats in Congress weren’t doing enough to oppose Trump.
Facing a coordinated and long-planned Republican effort to remake government and fire tens of thousands of federal workers, Democrats have struggled with a unified response.
Frustration on the left with elected Democrats began early, when some Democratic senators backed Trump Cabinet nominees and supported legislation targeting illegal immigration. It escalated following Trump’s joint address to Congress, when Democratic lawmakers protested by wearing coordinated clothes and holding up signs expressing their discontent. A handful of Democrats then voted with Republicans to censure
FIDDLERS from page A1 youth and adult categories spanning fiddle, banjo, guitar, bass, mandolin, buck dance, harmony blend and vocals. Top youth band honors went to the Terry Family Band, while Cabarrus Station took first place in the adult band competition.
Nearly half of the 20 categories featured at the convention are devoted to youth competitions. Convention committee member Sandy Hatley notes this is by design in recognition of the importance of including young people in competitions like this one so that this traditional form of music, instrumentation and dance continue to be instilled in future generations.
Two special awards were also presented during the event. Cameron Edenfield received the Greg Corbett Memorial Youth
and the Alan Perdue Memorial Bluegrass Music Appreciation Award was bestowed posthumously on Harold
His
U.S. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who interrupted Trump’s speech to Congress and was escorted out of the chamber.
Schumer faced the most serious backlash after he refused to block a Republican-led government spending bill and shut down the government. Schumer said blocking the bill would have backfired and played into Trump’s hands, but many on the left saw it as capitulation.
“I want the opposition to be a lot more animated,” said Stefan Therrien, a 22-year-old engineering student in Tempe, Arizona, who called Democratic leaders in Congress “very passive” in a misguided effort to appeal to centrists. “Democrats should attack harder.”
Ken Human, a retired attorney who went to a town hall organized by Democrats in Lexington, Kentucky, said: “You have to stand up to bullies because otherwise they’ll walk all over you.”
Anger from a party’s base is not unusual after a party loses the presidency.
Establishment Republicans faced fierce backlash after Democrat Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, which fueled the rise of the tea party movement that overthrew some of the party’s most powerful incumbents and brought in a new cadre of lawmakers laser-focused on obstructing Obama’s agenda.
Democrats, likewise, were dejected after Republican President George W. Bush was reelected in 2004, but his popularity soon tanked and Democrats could foresee the massive wins they would notch in the 2006 midterms, said Robert Shapiro, a Columbia University professor focused on American politics.
Ronald Reagan’s victory in 1980 was a bigger shock to Democrats because it brought with it a period of Republican ascendance. The GOP won a Senate majority for the first time in nearly 30 years, though Democrats retained control of the House.
“The setback was significant and startling, but not as much as what’s happened today, where you have Trump winning the election at the same time the Republicans have control of both houses of Congress,” Shapiro said.
Grassroots Democrats were incensed by Trump’s first victory — with some talk then of primary challengers to leaders — but
they mostly channeled their anger toward the president and the GOP, planning marches and organizing community groups to prepare for the midterms.
Those midterms led to at least one primary upset with future implications: New York Rep. Joe Crowley, the No. 4 House Democrat, fell to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, then a virtual unknown.
Thousands have packed rallies to hear Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, outsiders who rose to prominence for their sharp criticism of the Democratic establishment.
Democrats are getting an earful from constituents at some of the town halls, including events they’re organizing in GOP-controlled districts to draw attention to Republicans avoiding unscripted interactions with voters.
In Arizona, which went for Biden in 2020 before flipping to Trump last year, furious party leaders ousted their chair, Yolanda Bejarano. The result was a shock; Bejarano had support from every prominent Democrat in the state and was widely expected to get a second term.
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, the chair of the Georgia Democratic Party, met a similar fate after Trump flipped Georgia in 2024. Williams resigned as party chair on Monday, days after the Democratic state committee approved a rules change making its chairmanship a full-time role, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The rule made it untenable for Williams to continue as chair through the end of her term in 2027 while keeping her congressional seat.
Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-yearold liberal journalist with a big social media following, decided to run for Congress, saying most Democrats “work from an outdated playbook” in an announcement video that’s fiercely critical of party leaders.
“They aren’t meeting the moment, and their constituents are absolutely livid,” Abughazaleh said in an interview. She said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, the 80-year-old Democrat who has represented a suburban Chicago district since 1999, has an “admirable” progressive record, but “something needs to change culturally ... about how we do politics and how we campaign.”
“I’m done sitting around waiting for someone else to maybe do it,” Abughazaleh said.
NOTICE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF CHATHAM IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE DISTRICT COURT DIVISION FILE NO.: 25JT000015-180 IN RE: “B.N.C” DOB:12/20/17 NOTICE OF SERVICE BY PROCESS OF PUBLICATION TO: Eric Headen, Dana Scott, Biological father/Father/unknown father of the above female child, born at UNC Hospital to Kiana Craven. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a Petition has been filed to terminate your parental rights to the above-referenced minor child. You have forty days from 27 March 2025, the first date of publication of this Notice to respond to said Petition by filing a written answer to the petition with the Chatham Clerk of Court. Your parental rights to the juvenile may be terminated upon failure to answer the petition within the time prescribed. Any attorney appointed previously in an abuse, neglect or dependency proceeding and still representing you shall continue to represent you. If you are indigent and not already represented by an attorney, you are entitled to a court-appointed attorney by contacting the Chatham County Clerk of Court. STEPHENSON & FLEMING, L.L.P. BY: /s/ ANGENETTE STEPHENSON Attorney for Petitioner, CHATHAM COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES 109 Conner Dr. Suite 208 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514 Telephone: (919) 869-7795 03/27/25; 04/03/25; 04/10/25
NOTICE TO CREDITORS NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#25E000135-180
The undersigned, DANNY WIMBERLY AND MICHAEL T. PARKER, having qualified on the 12TH Day of MARCH 2025 as CO-EXECUTORS of the Estate of SARAH H. SMITH, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 25TH Day of JUNE 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 27TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025. MAIL TO: DANNY WIMBERLY, CO-EXECUTOR 491 BUCKROE DR. SANFORD, NC 27330 MICHAEL T. PARKER, CO-EXECUTOR 204 WIMBERLY ROAD MONCURE, NC 27559 Run dates: M27,A3,10,17p
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY FILE#25E000084-180
The undersigned, SHEARON STROUD, having qualified on the 11TH Day of FEBRUARY, 2025 as EXECUTOR of the Estate of SARAH B. STROUD, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 18TH Day of JUNE 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. This is the 20TH DAY OF MARCH, 2025. SHEARON STROUD, EXECUTOR 376 GARDNER RD. APEX, NC 27523 Run dates: M20,27,A3,10p
NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA CHATHAM COUNTY NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The undersigned, having qualified on the 28th day of March 2025, as Co-Executors of the Estate of Dolores Bilangi, deceased, of Chatham County, North Carolina, does hereby notify all persons, firms, and corporations having claims against said Estate to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 3rd day of July 2025, or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate will please make immediate payment to the undersigned. On this 3rd day of April 2025 Dona Bilangi & Richard Bilangi, CoExecutors of the Estate of Dolores Bilangi Candace B. Minjares, Esquire Kennon Craver, PLLC 4011 University Drive, Suite 300 Durham, North Carolina 27707 4/03, 4/10, 4/17 and 4/24 The Chatham News
IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK 24SP000034-180
Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor
I don’t believe that Americans are as divided as the politicians want us to think.
I REMEMBER the poet Elizabeth Alexander reading at one of President Barack Obama’s inaugurations. Alexander asked, “Are we not of interest to one another?” It’s a beautiful question that evokes a sense of hope and also a call to action — let us not only find each other “interesting” but also recognize that we have a shared stake or “interest” in our community, country, and world.
Thinking about a call to action, my friends at CORE (Community Organizing for Racial Equity) teach the difference between “calling out” and “calling in.” Calling out involves speaking the truth, which we must insist upon, though we need not devolve into the slander and insults that can mark high school locker rooms and modern politics. Actually, let’s give our youth more credit than most of our elected officials!
CORE also teaches calling in, which means to offer someone a new perspective that might just invite them to a fuller, richer
COLUMN | BOB WACHS
experience of community. I’m reminded of the ancient parable that is generally known as the prodigal son, who was a wayward child given a homecoming feast. But the older brother in that story stood outside the party, simmering in his rage and resentment. He felt life was unfair. The father went to him and appealed to a larger “interest” than his anger: “Your brother was dead and is alive; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:32). The genius of this parable is that it’s unfinished. We don’t know how the older brother reacted, so we are invited to consider what we would do in a similar situation. Will we join the party, even if it means admitting we were wrong?
Yet another way to think about the parable is to identify with the father: will we seek to invite people outside the celebration? When we encounter people, like the older brother, will we belittle them? Say it was their fault for acting this way or voting that way? Or will we call in with invitations to collaborate
on building safer, kinder communities? I don’t believe that Americans are as divided as the politicians want us to think. Division is good for getting votes, but the rest of us navigate all kinds of relationships. We have the capacity to “call in” or cross boundaries of race, gender, class and age. I see it in the subtle ways we care for one another — holding the door open for someone, letting a car merge ahead of you, striking up a conversation in the checkout line about the adorable toddler. The cynic might protest that such acts are of little consequence, but don’t they add up? Is that not our calling to community? Are we not of interest to one another?
Andrew Taylor-Troutman’s newest book is “This Is the Day.” He serves as pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church as well as a writer, pizza maker, coffee drinker and student of joy.
Don’t look now, but much of rural Chatham is gone, confined to the west side of the county and in picture and history books.
IT WAS WILL ROGERS, America’s philosopher/humorist of the early 20th century, who said, “All I know is what I read in the papers.”
He also said a lot of other phrases, like, “Every time Congress makes a joke, it’s law, and every time they make a law, it’s a joke,” but that’s another story.
I can appreciate his line about newspapers, but now, as well as then, that’s not always the only place to look for information. I say that because the media often tries to put its “spin” on news and information — is the 8-ounce glass with 4 ounces of water half full or half empty? So we should be cautious when swallowing anything, such as hooks, lines and sinkers. You may ask how I can make such a statement. It’s because I’ve had years of newspaper experience as a reporter and editor as well as a newspaper consumer.
I say all that to note a story I read recently about the county planning board and commissioners denying a rezoning request by the Summit Church, a megachurch with 13 campuses in a dozen Raleigh-Durham communities. A campus that had been meeting in an Orange County high school had hoped to locate on a 50-acre site in northern Chatham County, which previously had been zoned for a multiuse adult community. After that project fell through, the church proposed constructing on that site an 80,000-square-foot facility that would seat more than a thousand people. Here is where Rogers’s thoughts about newspapers come into play. I didn’t attend any of the planning board or commissioner meetings, something I routinely did for years when I covered county government for this newspaper. So all I know is what I read about this and a few conversations with interested observers of the issue.
The story went on to say after the church filed its intentions, a series of public hearings, as well as planning board and commissioner meetings, resulted in the request being denied. As a result, the church filed a lawsuit against the county, claiming it had discriminated against the church in violation of federal statutes protecting individuals, houses of worship and other religious institutions from discrimination in zoning laws.
Again, I wasn’t there and don’t understand all the finer points of law, but a couple of comments in the story drew my attention, and if they are correct in recounting what happened, they deserve some notice.
One of the comments was that commissioners were concerned about “outsiders” coming into the county, as, according to what I read, a board member saying, the site will “accommodate overflow from somewhere else.”
That put me to wondering if that hasn’t already happened to Chatham County. How do you define “outsider?” To Native Americans, were the pilgrims outsiders? When America moved west in the 1840s, were settlers outsiders to the folks already living there? As immigrants, legal and otherwise, come into the U.S., are they outsiders to the communities where they land? To the natives and native-born Chatham County residents, are the many “newcomers” also “outsiders?”
I’m not saying this phenomenon is a bad thing in and of itself but merely wondering how the shoe gets on the other foot. Years ago, as I covered planning board and commission meetings, I heard one person after another speak against rezoning requests, saying something like, “My family and I chose to come to Chatham County three years ago, and we don’t want that in our neighborhood.” What if the multigenerational families long here had put forth the same concern and argument? Would those folks who were “outsiders” then be “insiders” today?
A second reason, according to the story, the request was denied was to preserve the “rural character” of the county. I’m wondering what exactly is that. Is it a large farm here and there? Small minifarms scattered around? A few chickens in your backyard? Large open fields? Dense forests? Five acres and a beautiful home with a picket fence from a Norman Rockwell painting?
Don’t look now, but much of rural Chatham is gone, confined to the west side of the county and in picture and history books. Jordan Lake and its surrounding area occupy 40,000 acres of what was called “the Valley” years ago, a fertile area that produces
abundant crops and families. Today, there are three dairy farms within county borders; years ago, there was one seemingly almost on every corner. Most poultry today is confined to large contract operations, which many unfamiliar with the process find unconscionable as they discuss the matter over a brunch of chicken salad or a Sunday dinner of fried chicken. Some folks find rural character offensive when they realize animals smell like animals, reproduce in broad daylight and cows make noise.
Today, much of the county’s rural character and land is growing houses instead of crops. The first was Fearrington Village, once a dairy and cotton farm. Look at the other megahousing developments — Governors Club, the Preserve, Chatham Park and others already here, with many on the drawing board. Again, these are not inherently bad; people have got to have somewhere to live and if their wallets can afford those places, more power to them. But don’t treat the folks still riding tractors, feeding cows and chickens and milking dairy cows twice a day every day — Christmas, your wife’s birthday, in a blizzard of 12 degrees — as a picture book story and a pawn in a political game.
It may be the most obvious reason to deny dealt with tax revenue. As more “outsiders” come into the county, the need for more goods and services — water, sewer, police, fire, waste disposal, schools — grows proportionately. Residential demands eat up more tax revenue than rural ones do. The figures vary, but traditionally and typically, rural demands require about 50 cents in services for every tax dollar collected, while urban needs cost roughly a dollar for every dollar collected.
Long ago, another American philosopher, our third president, Thomas Jefferson, coined a phrase: “Tell the truth and trust the people.” The county, through a spokesman, says it isn’t opposed to houses of worship. Hopefully, that’s true. So if the issue is financial considerations, why not say so? That would be more believable.
Bob Wachs is a native of Chatham County and emeritus editor at Chatham News & Record. He serves as pastor of Bear Creek Baptist Church.
My inner light, my inner voices will, as they have for many years, continue to lead me toward the well of my wholeness, no matter what shape my body may be in.
I FORGET. I just forget. I guess it’s a human thing. What did I forget? I really thought I had a good handle on a chronic physical condition of mine. I dug deeply inward when this condition was first diagnosed, emerging with what I thought were incredibly wise self-perceptions regarding this ongoing journey. Incredibly wise. Yay, me!
Five years later, meaning now, I’m having a reoccurrence of this condition. And discover I’ve forgotten everything. All my wise and grounded self-perceptions … forgotten. Gone. Makes me question whether I really had them in the first place. My size 9 feet are firmly planted, once again — back on square one. OK, OK, I won’t play guessing games … or maybe I will. This recurring condition, a six-letter word, begins with the letter c and ends with an r. Are you getting close? Oh, heck, since I’m a nice person, I’ll make your life easier and just tell you — cancer. Hey, I’ve got great care, more wonderful medical providers than I can shake a stick at, and a loving support system. (Hey, please, please, if you know any of my wonderful medical providers, don’t share I’m shaking a stick at them!) But, geez, those missing-in-action wise perceptions. The perceptions that helped my feet find the ground after first being diagnosed. Wise perceptions reframing the medical system’s constant use of “how is your disease?“ I intensely dislike the word “disease.” I feel pretty much reduced to being seen only as that disease. The entirety of my human-ness seems to become only a
speck in the universe of — “your disease.” Backtrack! Backtrack! I love my providers. Their primary focus is on disease and the patient’s return to good health. I get it, but … Wise perception reemergence! Wise perception reemergence!
In a disease-focused world, bolstering my wholeness as a full human being is my responsibility. Yay for great medical care and its focus on disease. Equally, yay for my continuing capacity to view myself as a human on an ongoing journey, not solely, Jan with a disease. My inner light, my inner voices will, as they have for many years, continue to lead me toward the well of my wholeness, no matter what shape my body may be in.
After a challenging day at the Medical Center, the universe was kind enough to share a touch of wonder with me. Walking back to the parking deck, I couldn’t find the time-sensitive parking ticket each driver receives on arrival. Aye yai yai! No dice. @&#$?&!
At the toll booth, I explained. The toll worker said that lost tickets cost beaucoup bucks. Shaking my head, I reached over for my credit card. The exit gate inexplicably opened. Looking quizzically at the attendant, she winked at me, saying, “Merry Christmas” (in March, grant you) and waved me out. As I left, with thanks to the parking angel, you should’ve seen the smile on my face …
Jan Hutton, a resident of Chatham County and retired hospice social worker, lives life with heart and humor.
How dumb do they think we are?
THE WHITE HOUSE press secretary accused him of being an “anti-Trump hater,” a “propagandist in the mainstream media,” and of trying to sell a Signal “hoax.” The president called him a “sleazebag.”
President Donald Trump was reportedly furious, not at his own team but at the press, calling the investigation a witch hunt and The Atlantic, owned by Laurene Powell Jobs, the Apple founder’s widow, a failed magazine.
The magazine acted with restraint — and loyalty to the United States. Its editor-in- chief, respected journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, is the only one involved in this scandal who acted responsibly. For this, he gets attacked.
Meanwhile, the principals — the wrongdoers — went to Capitol Hill and lied.
No confidential information? Detailed attack plans were revealed. Plans that involve pilots in the air, risking their lives. Loyal soldiers who could have been shot down.
How dumb do they think we are?
This was a major security breach. It should be unacceptable. Heads should roll. This is what happens when you appoint — and confirm — amateurs, television talking heads instead of experienced foreign policy hands, who don’t even know the lesson that first-year associates learn on their first day of work: always check the names and numbers of people on a group text or a group call.
How dumb are they? This is the real world, with lives on the line, not “Fox and Friends,” not play acting as secretary of defense or national security adviser.
The lesson we should have all learned from this is not only that the Trump team is simply unqualified (as if their Senate hearings didn’t show that). It is how Team Trump handles mistakes, particularly big ones.
They don’t admit the mistake. They don’t take responsibility and make sure it will never happen again.
They lie. They try to cover up. They go on the attack. They learn nothing from their mistakes, except for how to play the blame game.
The cover-up tells you even more about their character than the crime.
Consider this: Goldberg, when he learned the texts were real, did not release
them in full but held them back in order to avoid compromising national security. But then the Trump team responded by lying, claiming there was no confidential information included in the detailed war plans. So Goldberg published the full texts, which left no doubt that the Trump team is not only incompetent but full of liars.
And what did Trump do? Did he take responsibility for his team? Did he thank the journalist for acting responsibly?
Of course not. That is Trump. When was the last time Trump apologized for a mistake, or even acknowledged one? He’s way too busy exacting vengeance for those who wronged him in the past — getting even with Robert Mueller by attacking his old law firm, getting even with those who investigated him in the past by threatening their old law firms. This is a man so consumed with securing revenge that he is willing to abuse the powers of the presidency to taste it.
This will not be the last mistake. Even experienced and skilled leaders make mistakes, let alone a team as inexperienced and unconventional as the ones Trump has put together to deal with domestic policy and national security.
An administration incapable of admitting mistakes is destined to make more of them. And who will they blame next? The parents of the unvaccinated children who die of measles? Will it be their fault? The pilots of the planes that crash because of understaffed and overworked air traffic controllers
Trump and Elon Musk and the rest are busy dismantling the federal government. There will be consequences. Who will take responsibility for them?
There are plenty of Republicans with experience in government and foreign policy who Trump could have brought into his administration. He didn’t — because all he cared about was personal loyalty to him. Senate Republicans let him get away with it because they were more afraid of Musk primarying them than they were about the consequences. These are the consequences. They should be ashamed, and they should take responsibility.
Susan Estrich is a lawyer, professor, author and political commentator.
WANT to turn
LEFTIST JUDGES
President Donald Trump into a president in name only.
Look at all the ways that individual judges have hamstrung the Trump administration.
A district court judge recently blocked Trump’s executive order removing transgender individuals from the military. Another judge ordered the Trump administration to send two men who are pretending to be women into a women’s prison. One federal judge ordered the administration to restore government webpages that promote the left’s transgender narrative.
A different district court judge stopped the Trump administration from disbanding the wasteful USAID. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appointed Jeremy Lewin to a high-level position in USAID. The judge later ruled that Lewin wasn’t allowed to serve in that role.
Last weekend, another federal judge blocked the Trump administration from deporting illegal immigrant gang members. He even unsuccessfully attempted to force them to turn around flights that were already in the air. These examples are only the tip of the judicial overreach iceberg.
Now, all presidential administrations face lawsuits, but what’s happening here is well beyond historical norms. In his four years in office, former President Joe Biden’s administration received 14 federal injunctions. In less than two months, judges have already hit the Trump administration with more than that.
These rulings are an affront to the Constitution. Article 2 gives “executive power” to the president, who is also “commander in chief” of the military.
Yet according to some federal judges, the judiciary is in charge of the executive branch’s military policy, hiring, spending decisions and deportation flights. The Trump administration can’t even take down a website.
Contrast that judicial activism with what Alexander Hamilton laid out in Federalist 78.
“The judiciary is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power,” he wrote. And “it can never attack with success either of the other two.”
But, Hamilton warned, while “liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone,” it “would have everything to fear from its union with either of the other departments.”
That’s what some district court judges are attempting to do. These unelected, unaccountable judges are attempting to upend the constitutional order.
Most people take it for granted that the executive and legislative branches will abide by judicial decisions. And despite Trump’s social media bluster, his administration has been remarkably deferential to the judicial process in its actions. That’s likely in part due to a belief that higher courts, including the Supreme Court, will largely overrule these individual judges. That’s already happened in one case involving Trump’s push to eliminate DEI. Republicans in Congress are also working on potential solutions, such as requiring a three-judge panel to rule on injunctive relief.
The judiciary is more vulnerable than many activist judges seem to realize.
As Hamilton wrote, the judiciary “may truly be said to have neither force nor will, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.”
In other words, if Trump tells the court to enforce its own rulings, the court can’t. It can only hope there would be a political price to pay for openly defying a court order.
Public support for the judiciary, however, could collapse quickly. The left has been attacking it for years. Biden openly disregarded a Supreme Court decision on student loan forgiveness. Some Democrats pushed to pack the Supreme Court, while others have wrongly smeared conservative justices as corrupt.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts needs to stop rogue district court judges from violating the Constitution — and quickly. If he doesn’t, support from the right could evaporate quickly.
A diminished court isn’t ideal, but neither is one that flagrantly violates the Constitution.
Victor Joecks is a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Letters to the editor may be sent to letters@northstatejournal.com or mailed to Chatham News & Record P.O. Box 290, Siler City, NC 27344. Letters must be signed; include the writer’s phone number, city and state; and be no longer than 300 words. Letters may be edited for style, length or clarity when necessary. Ideas for op-eds should be sent to opinion@nsjonline.com.
Contact a writer or columnist: connect@northstatejournal.com
Flag Football Elite wrapped up its inaugural early spring season Saturday
By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record
PITTSBORO — Flag Football Elite, Chatham County’s new NFL Flag league run by former NFL veteran Cedric Peerman and his wife, Hagar, crowned its first set of champions at Northwood Saturday.
Closing out the inaugural early spring season, three teams took the crown — or the ring, rather — for their respective age divisions.
In the combined 6U and 8U division, the Seahawks defeated the Commanders 2720 for the title. For the 10U title, numerous pinpoint throws from Ashwath Kumar and a late-game long touchdown run from Emmaus Peerman lifted the Chargers over the Cowboys 38-32. And in a game full of explosive plays from both sides, the Lions won the 14U title over the 49ers 46-28.
“It feels great for one because you get the kids, you got them five weeks ago, and you don’t have a lot of time to work with them,” Peerman, who coached the 10U Chargers said. “You only get Saturdays for an hour to practice. And so, when it really comes together and things happen out there that
“If somebody’s trying to do the first step of actually understanding the sport, this is a great doorway.”
Rouse
you didn’t coach that are good things that happen, it feels really good.”
Said Peerman, “The most rewarding thing, I think, is you’re able to put together seven, eight, 10 kids, some of them have never played football before, and you’re able to run crisp, clean plays.”
The early spring season started on March 1 with practices and games all being played on Saturdays leading up to the championship weekend. Every team on the last weekend earned a medal, while the winning teams (champions and runners-up in the 6U and 8U group) earned silver rings with diamonds and the NFL Flag logo on the front.
“We wanted to make sure to celebrate these kids right,” Hagar Peerman said. Over the course of five weeks in which the players learned the X’s and O’s of flag football, they also learned important lessons in life, such as teamwork, sportsmanship and how to handle success and failure.
“The very first game, we were totally unprepared,” Timothy Troy, coach of the 14U Lions, said. “Very disorganized,
and our kids were very, very emotional. So they weren’t focused on the game. After that, we worked really hard on implementing plays and having them stay coolheaded. I told them we could score on just about anybody. They can run with anybody, so I need them to put all the distractions away. Don’t talk to the ref, don’t talk to the players talking junk. Play the game.”
Said Troy, “That was big because you saw the kids grow from crying, whining and being mouthy to being respectful and just playing a really, really good game.”
Radha Ponnusamy, mother of Kumar, said she saw her son learn how to take a loss despite his dislike for coming up short.
“That will help him to grow as a human,” Ponnusamy said. “I feel like that really helps him.”
Of course, the lessons learned about football itself are a plus to the Flag Football Elite experience, especially for the first-timers.
Zebulon Rouse, coach of the 10U Cowboys who also coaches
The Chargers scored four second-inning runs to win Game 2
By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record
PITTSBORO — Northwood scored four runs in the second inning and didn’t allow a run the last four to beat Seaforth 6-3 Friday and split the regular season series.
After Northwood only recorded three hits in a 1-0 loss to the Hawks on March 25, seniors Simon Delgado and Kaleb Howell each batted in a team-high two runs, and Camden Miller went 2 for 3 from the plate with an RBI. The Chargers’ ace, sophomore Finn Sullivan, retired eight batters and allowed two earned runs in a little over six innings on the mound.
“It was just a team effort,” Northwood coach Brent Haynes said. “They locked in at the plate tonight. It was nice to see.” Tied at 1-1 entering the bot-
“They locked in at the plate tonight.”
Brent Haynes
tom of the second inning, Northwood began its takeover with three straight batters reaching base. After freshman Riley D’Angelo was walked, sophomore Nic Armstrong doubled to left field, and junior Owen Zsuppan knocked in D’Angelo for the lead thanks to sophomore pitcher Bauer Bowling failing to land the throw out at home.
A two-RBI double from Delgado and an RBI from a single by Miller grew the lead to four going into the third inning.
“We just talked about the approach,” Haynes said. “Staying within ourselves, trying to ambush first-pitch fastballs, getting the fastballs when they present themselves.” Said Haynes, “We emphasized
The UNC commit has earned another international opportunity
By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record
Cali O’Neill, a UNC women’s soccer commit and junior at Seaforth High School, has a chance to take her talents to the World Cup. O’Neill is in Trinidad and Tobago competing with the U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team in the final round of the CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Qualifiers this week for a spot in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. Listed as one of the seven defenders on the roster, she can help the U.S. reach the U-17 World
FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup appearances for the U.S.
Cup for the seventh time.
Twelve teams will compete for four berths to the World Cup set for Oct. 17 to Nov. 8 in Morocco. Berths are given to the winner of each of the three groups and the best second-place team. The U.S. is in Group C and will play all its games in Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, Trinidad and Tobago. It started with
Gabby White and Amber Brown signed deals with Greatness Wins
By Asheebo Rojas Chatham News & Record
THROUGH THE new Chatham-based sports and training club SUPA (Supreme Athletics), local standout athletes Gabby White and Amber Brown have signed name, image and likeness deals with Greatness Wins, a sports apparel line founded by Untuckit founder Chris Riccobono, Hall of Famers Derek Jeter and Wayne Gretzky, and American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Misty Copeland.
The athletes received a large quantity of clothing from the company in the deal. Greatness Wins also fitted SUPA’s track and field coaches with custom-made gear.
White and Brown are the first SUPA athletes to sign an NIL deal. They did a photoshoot in the Greatness Wins apparel Friday at Seaforth.
“I’m not only excited for Amber and Gabby, but I’m excited for the other athletes that we have coming up to see what we can offer for them as well,” Latonya Brown, owner of SUPA and Amber’s mother, said.
White, a senior, was a star for the Seaforth girls’ basketball team over the last four seasons,
earning multiple all-conference, all-district and all-state honors.
The Virginia-bound 2025 McDonald’s All-American nominee isn’t new to being the face of a brand as she was in a 2022 advertisement for Dribbleup, a company that sells smart sports equipment.
“I think it’s pretty cool the way kids these days can make money for themselves,” White said. “I think it’s really just a blessing to be able to make money in a different way that’s both fun, entertaining and also hardworking.”
Amber Brown, an eighth grader at Pollard Middle, is a three-time Junior Olympian in the long jump and has earned All-America status for the 2024 indoor and outdoor seasons and the 2025 indoor season. She’s also had previous experience working with brands as she’s modeled for Adidas and Champion.
“I think it’s important for my athletic career because it puts a spotlight on me, and it allows me to get noticed by college coaches,” Brown said. “I think it’s going to do really well for me in my career, and it’s going to be able to get my name out there.”
White and Brown’s NIL deals come months after a Wake County judge Graham Shirley II signed an order legalizing NIL in North Carolina’s public schools in October.
The North Carolina State
Board of Education banned athletes at public schools from profiting off NIL in June, but months later, Shirley ruled the board was not authorized to do so.
“I was really happy when I found out that they finally legalized it because I felt like high school athletes in North Carolina should have been able to have NIL,” White said.
Athletes must complete the required steps ,such as taking an NFHS NIL course and reporting the NIL deal to their school, and the school must report the deal to the principal, athlet-
“I think it’s going to do really well for me in my career.”
Amber Brown
ic director, public school unit athletic director, public school unit chair, local superintendent and the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. Under this new landscape of public school athletics in North Carolina, SUPA hopes to nego -
By Asheebo Rojas
Chatham News & Record
Baseball
Chatham Charter pitcher Luke Johnson recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts (67 strikes in 100 pitches) and one earned run in the Knights’ 5-2 win over Cornerstone Charter at Truist Point on March 27. He also went 3 for 4 at the plate with an RBI.
The Knights beat North Stokes 4-2 Saturday, picking up their third win in their last four games. Senior Zach Cartrette recorded his 100th career hit in the win.
Losing streaks continued for Jordan-Matthews and Chatham Central going into spring break.
Jordan-Matthews got swept by Southeast Alamance last week (11-0 and 8-1), losing its 12th straight game.
Chatham Central made it a six-game slide with a 7-4 loss to Eastern Randolph on March 26 and a 10-0 loss to Southern Alamance on March 27.
Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference standings (as of Sunday) (overall, conference): 1. Southeast Alamance (10-3, 8-0); 2. Seaforth (6-7, 3-1); 3. Northwood (7-5, 6-4); 4. North Moore (6-5, 4-4); 5. Chatham Central (3-10, 3-5); 6. Bartlett Yancey (3-8, 2-4); 7. Jordan-Matthews (0-12, 0-8) Central Tar Heel 1A conference standings (as of Sunday): 1. Chatham Charter (7-5, 4-0); 2. River Mill (6 -2, 5-1); 3. Clover Garden School (3-7, 1-1); T4. Triangle Math and Science (2-6, 0-4); T4. South-
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a game against Trinidad and Tobago on Monday and played against Honduras Wednesday. The U.S. will wrap up its group play Saturday against El Salvador at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Tubi.
The Americans have yet to win the FIFA U-17 World Cup title, finishing as runner-upsin 2008 and in third place last year.
O’Neill, who plays at the club level with North Carolina Courage Academy, is one of two players from North Carolina on the U.S. roster, joining midfielder Holly Springs’ Riley Kennedy, who also plays for NC Courage.
For O’Neill, being called up to the international level has been a regular occurrence since participating in the U-15 Women’s
ern Wake Academy (0-5, 0-4) Softball
Chatham Central swept Southeast Alamance last week, winning 10-8 in Game 1 (March 24) and 4-2 in Game 2 (Friday). Including the 10-6 win over North Moore on March 25 behind four hits from Caleigh Warf and three RBIs from Madalyn Holton, the Bears have won five games in a row.
Jordan-Matthews dominated Graham 17-0 on March 25 behind 12 total hits and seven strikeouts from Marcy Clark in just three innings. The Jets won their fourth game in a row over Northwood 15-1 on March 27.
Cami Brinkley went 3 for 3 at
Youth National Team Talent ID Camp in 2022. Prior to making the CONCACAF Women’s U-17 roster, O’Neill was called up to the team’s training camps earlier this year.
In April 2024, O’Neill was named to the 20-player U-16 U.S. Women’s Youth National Team that eventually won the UEFA Women’s U-16 Friendship Tournament over Paraguay. She competed in the team’s training camp months prior.
O’Neill was also called up to the U-15 team for its training camp at the Nike World Headquarters in 2022. Her young career has also risen back at home. In May, O’Neill became the youngest player in the NC Courage program ever to play for the NC Courage U-23 preprofessional team at the time.
the plate with three RBIs, and Emma Grace Hill retired six batters in three innings to lift Seaforth over Bartlett Yancey on 18-0 on March 25.
Chatham Charter moved over .500 with a 3-0 win against River Mill on March 26.
Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference standings (as of Sunday): 1. Chatham Central (10-1, 8-0); 2. Jordan-Matthews (9-2, 7-1); 3. Seaforth (6 -5, 6-2); 4. North Moore (8 - 4, 5-3); 5. Southeast Alamance (5 -7, 3-5); 6. Northwood (3 -9, 3-7); 7. Bartlett Yancey (1-7, 1-7); Graham (1-10, 1-9) Central Tar Heel 1A conference standings (as of Sunday): 1. Clover Garden School (8-3, 4-0); 2. Chatham
She appeared in five games last season.
O’Neill announced her commitment to UNC in September, setting up a reunion with her former skills coach Damon Nahas, who took over as the Tar Heels’ interim head coach prior to the 2024 season and won a national championship.
While she’s set to play for the top women’s soccer program at the collegiate level, O’Neill’s involvement with the U.S. U-17 team could lead to an opportunity on the world’s biggest stage.
An average of three players from each U-17 qualifying team from 2008-22 have moved on to play for the USWNT. There have been 21 U.S. players who competed in the CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship that have appeared in an international game at the senior level.
tiate more deals on behalf of its athletes.
Latonya Brown and her husband, Quincy, started SUPA in October, beginning with the track team. They found a need for an AAU and USA Track and Field track club in Chatham County after driving their daughter to and from Durham for training.
“My husband and I decided to talk to some of the community to see if this was something that they would get behind, and they did,” Latonya Brown said.
“We had a handful of people sign a petition for a proposal to bring over to (Seaforth’s principal Randy) St. Clair to ask if we could use Seaforth’s facilities for our track team here. The new AD was just getting on board, and so once he was able to get with us and meet with us, it was decided that we could come out here.”
Right now, SUPA is training 15 athletes. Others have received impressive accolades under SUPA, including Pollard student Madison Godfrey, who earned her first All-American title in shot put in March. The club invites all athletes, regardless of sport.
“We foresee us growing into a brand for all athletes whether it be volleyball, basketball, girls’ flag football,” Brown said. “Any type of indoor and outdoor sports, we foresee it becoming a brand for Chatham County and local surrounding schools as well.”
Charter (5-4, 4-1); 3. River Mill (5-5, 2-4)
Girls’ soccer
Caitlin Erman scored a combined eight goals last week to lift Seaforth over Northwood 6-0 on March 24 and Jordan-Matthews 9-0 on March 25. Kaylee Root led Chatham Charter with four goals in its 8-1 win over Triangle Math and Science on March 26. After an 0-3 start, the Knights have won two of their last three.
Mid-Carolina conference standings (as of Sunday): 1. Seaforth (5-2-1, 5-0); 2. North Moore (5-0, 2-0); 3. Southeast Alamance (3-4-2, 2-1); 4. Bartlett Yancey (3-5, 2-1); 5. Northwood (4-6, 3-2); 6. Graham (1- 4, 1-3); 7. Jordan-Matthews (3-8, 1-4); 8. Cummings (0-7, 0-5)
Central Tar Heel 1A conference standings (as of Sunday): T1. Southern Wake Academy (3-2, 3-0); T1. Woods Charter (3-2, 2-0); T1. Chatham Charter (2-4, 1-0); 4. River Mill (4-5-1, 2-2); 5. Clover Garden School (4-5, 2-2); 6. Ascend Leadership (1-4, 0-3); 7. Triangle Math and Science (07, 0-3)
Boys’ lacrosse
Seaforth’s six-game winning streak was snapped in an 11-10 overtime loss to Flint Hill on March 24.
Behind six goals from Cameron Exley, the Hawks bounced back with a 12-6 win over Northwood on March 25.
Central/Mid-Carolina conference standings (as of Sunday): 1. Seaforth (7-2, 7-0); 2. Orange (9-3, 7-1); 3. Williams (8-6, 6-3); 4. Southern Alamance (9-2, 4-2); 5. Northwood (6-7, 5-5); 6. Cedar Ridge (4-6, 4-5); 7. Eastern Alamance (3-7, 2-6); 8. Southeast Alamance (2-10, 1-8); 9. Western Alamance (0-7, 0-6)
Girls’ lacrosse
Following a 23-11 loss to East Chapel Hill on March 24, Natalie Boecke combined for 15 goals in Seaforth’s 16-4 win over Carrboro and 15-2 win over Cary Academy last week. Northwood beat Riverside-Durham 14-7 on March 24. DC/Northern Lakes Athletic/Central/Mid-Carolina conference standings (as of Sunday): T1. Chapel Hill (100, 5-0); T1. East Chapel Hill (9-0, 3-0); T3. Seaforth (3-4, 2-2); T3. Jordan (1-4, 1-1); 5. Carrboro (3-3, 1-3); T6. Northwood (2-2, 0-2); T6. Riverside-Durham (0-10, 0-4) Boys’ golf
Team standings from the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference match No. 5 at the 7 Lakes Golf Club on March 27: 1. Seaforth (148, +4); 2. North Moore (178); 3. Chatham Central (183); 4. Southeast Alamance (188); 5. Northwood (191); 6. Bartlett Yancey (240); 7. Graham (245)
Individual top five: 1. Ty Willoughby (Seaforth, 34, -2); 2. Griffin Ching (Seaforth, 36); 3. Campbell Meador (Seaforth, 38); T4. Ben Buckner (Jordan-Matthews, 40); T4. Alex Ferm (Seaforth, 40)
hitting in practice, and these guys, they responded well.”
Simply getting on base paid off for the Chargers in the fourth inning, too. With bases loaded due to an error and two singles by Miller and junior Dylan Perry, sophomore pitcher Bryce Huneycutt walked senior Kaleb Howell and sent Delgado in for his second run.
Trailing 5-1, Seaforth tried to close the gap in the third inning with sophomore Jack Simpson hitting Bowling home and a fielding error on a ground ball by junior Colin Dorney bringing Simpson around for another score.
But a failed attempt by Dorney to steal third base ended the inning and the Hawks’ best chance at erasing the deficit.
Sullivan and the Northwood defense allowed just one hit the rest of the game. While Sullivan struck out five batters, the fielders didn’t let anything past them, especially shortstop Delgado, who pulled off an impressive snag on a line drive in the fifth inning.
“I think a big part of it was my catcher behind the plate (Campbell Parks),” Sullivan said. “He keeps me in tune and keeps me steady no matter what. I think
the four runs in the second inning helped a lot. Hitting approaches were amazing, and that just let me go throughout the game without a worry.”
In Game 1 of the series between Seaforth and Northwood, a duel that lasted eight innings, both teams brought the heat on the mound.
Seaforth junior Jaedyn Rader pitched the whole game and struck out 12 batters while only allowing three hits. During a Dorney at-bat in the bottom of the eighth inning, Rader put his final mark on the game by running in the winning score on a passed ball.
D’Andelo represented Northwood well in the pitching battle, striking out eight batters in six innings. Sophomore Zeke Wicker relieved him in the final two innings and kept Seaforth to zero earned runs.
After last week’s series, Seaforth (3-1 in conference play as of Sunday) and Northwood (6-4 in conference play as of Sunday) sit at second and third place, respectively, in the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference standings.
Prior to the Game 2 loss, Seaforth, playing in its first season under coach Spenser Messmore, won four straight games, including three consecutive con-
ference victories. After starting the season with a 2-6 record (all nonconference games), the Hawks have been stacking wins for the most part and doing so with some solid defensive performances. Seaforth, sitting at 6-7 overall, has allowed more than three runs once in its last five games.
As for Northwood, the Chargers have won five of their last six as of Sunday, which includes four conference wins. Northwood, also playing in its first season under its new coach in Haynes, is off to a slightly better start than last year, going 7-5 in its first 12 games compared to a 6-6 start in 2024.
“The kids are great,” Haynes said about his first year at Northwood. “They’re fun to be around. They come out here and work hard. They bought in, and it’s nice when you get outings like Finn and what Riley had Tuesday night. You got guys like Camden in the middle of the lineup hitting the ball well.”
Said Haynes, “I’m enjoying every minute of it.”
Northwood stared its Spring Break slate against Southwestern Randolph Wednesday, and Seaforth will return to action Tuesday at home against Southeast Alamance at 7 p.m.
Seaforth senior Caitlin Erman earns athlete of the week honors for the week of March 24.
Erman came up big in the Hawks’ two girls’ soccer wins during the week, leading the team with a hat trick in the 6-0 win over Northwood on March 24 and scoring five goals in the 9-0 win over Jordan-Matthews on March 25.
Through the first eight games of the season, Erman leads the defending champion Hawks with 20 goals. She also leads the team with 16 assists.
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for the East Chatham Chargers tackle program, said flag football has more emphasis on skill compared to tackle, which balances skill with physicality.
“If somebody’s trying to do the first step of actually understanding the sport, this is a great doorway,” Rouse said.
“It’s getting people excited about the game.”
Mary Chandran, mother of Harrison on the 6U Seahawks, who was also coached by his dad, saw her son get his first experience with football and grow to “love” it.
“He learned a lot about the game,” Chandran said. “Saw some definite improvement with his defense maneuvers.”
Flag Football Elite will run four more seasons in Chatham this year, with the late spring season starting on April 26 (registration is open
until April 14). The league will simultaneously kick off in Durham at Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill with the same registration window and start date as Chatham’s late spring season. More information about the later seasons for both locations can be found flagfootballelite.org.
Boys and girls interested in playing outside of Chatham and Durham will have an opportunity this summer. Flag Football Elite is planning to take a 10U team to the NFL Flag Super Regional Tournament in Alabama in June, an event that’s good for national exposure and recruitment.
“We can definitely see that we’re growing,” Hagar Peerman said. “Our initial goal was 500 (players) to reach this year, but we’re going to reach 1,000, so it’s growing exponentially more than we had hoped for, which is an awesome and exciting thing.”
Arnold saves penalty for Thorns in scoreless draw
Portland, Ore.
Mackenzie Arnold saved a second-half penalty kick as the Portland Thorns played out a goalless draw at home to the North Carolina Courage at Providence Park in Portland.
The Australian goalkeeper pulled off an athletic dive to her right to deny Jaedyn Shaw from the spot in the 76th minute. It was Arnold’s second penalty save for the Thorns since joining the team in July. The shutout is the first for Arnold with Portland, and the team’s first of the 2025 NWSL season. The Courage and Thorns are both now 0-1-2.
NFL
Proposal would move touchback to 35, make dynamic kickoff permanent
New York
The NFL competition committee is recommending making the dynamic kickoff rule permanent and moving touchbacks to the 35-yard line in hopes of generating even more returns. The competition committee released several potential rule changes for 2025, including an expansion of instant replay that will be considered this week at the league meetings. Any rule change must be approved by 24 out of 32 team owners. Teams submitted several proposals last week that also could be voted on at the league meetings, including banning the “tush push” and changing playoff seeding rules.
Sanders’ contract at Colorado extended through 2029
Boulder, Colo.
Colorado coach Deion Sanders has received a contract extension through the 2029 season. The school said the extension increases Sanders’ yearly base salary to $10 million in 2025, making him the highest-paid football coach in the Big 12. The deal was reached with three years remaining on Sanders’ existing five-year, $29.5 million deal he signed when he was brought in from Jackson State. Sanders and the Buffaloes are coming off a 9-4 season in which they earned a spot in the Alamo Bowl.
Stanford football coach, investigated for alleged mistreatment, fired Stanford, Calif.
Stanford fired football coach Troy Taylor following a report that he had been investigated twice for allegedly mistreating staffers. General manager Andrew Luck announced the decision in his first major move since taking over in his role running the entire football program. ESPN reported last week that Taylor had been investigated twice since taking over before the 2023 season over allegations of hostile and aggressive behavior, as well as personal attacks, against female staff members.
WNBA Sparks to retire Parker’s No. 3 jersey when team faces Chicago June 29
Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Sparks will retire Candace Parker’s No. 3 jersey at halftime of the team’s game against the Chicago Sky on June 29. The seven-time WNBA All-Star will become the third Los Angeles player to have her jersey retired, joining Lisa Leslie and Penny Toler. Parker helped the franchise win its third WNBA championship in 2016 and she earned Finals MVP honors that year.
The veteran passer will join his third team in as many years
By Dennis Waszak Jr. The Associated Press
RUSSELL WILSON has bounced around the NFL the past few years, a one-time Super Bowl winner suddenly without a consistent home while facing doubts and critics about his play.
The 36-year-old quarterback is now officially at his latest stop after signing his one-year contract with the New York Giants, his third team in as many years and fourth in five years.
But with the Giants, Wilson has his sights set on one thing.
“I expect to be the starter and to be able to come here and rock and roll every day,” Wilson said. “I think this team’s really looking for somebody to lead them in every way — in terms of the process, in the offseason, during the season, our hab-
its and our thought process and how we create a great winning culture.
“How do we continue to establish that and to really build on things that we do well and the things that we continue to need to do?”
The contract is reportedly worth up to $21 million with $10.5 million guaranteed.
Wilson joins a quarterback room that includes veteran Jameis Winston, who signed a two-year contract last week, and Tommy DeVito. New York also has the No. 3 overall pick in the NFL draft and could target a quarterback.
“The great part about professional sports is constant change, constant movement,” Wilson said. “If we draft a quarterback, we’ll make sure he does everything he can to be ready to go and be prepared with his mentality.
“But for me, I’m focused on winning — what I can do as a quarterback of the New York Giants to help us win and
do everything we can to lead?”
Wilson, a 10-time Pro Bowl selection, helped Pittsburgh make the playoffs last season. But the Steelers lost five in a row at the end of the season after starting 6-1 with him.
The Steelers allowed Wilson to become a free agent and met last week with Aaron Rodgers.
Meanwhile, Wilson met with the Giants and felt the fit was right.
“First of all, Aaron Rodgers is a tremendous football player,” Wilson said. “He’s done some amazing things in this league. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to do some great things too. What I’m focused on right now is what we can do here. That’s been my focus since I signed.
“Also, too, along the way is finding a place that will continue to believe in you.”
Wilson called Pittsburgh “a special, special place” for him.
“But coming here and being in New York is an exciting place to play,” Wilson said. “It’s
a place that wants to win and knows how to win and has won before. For me, it’s bringing everything I know, all the experiences and touchdowns, all the wins, and also all the love and passion for the game to the locker room. That’s what I’m really excited for.
“It’s going to be a special, special thing, and we’ve got to go work for it every day and go do it.”
Wilson played two disappointing seasons in Denver following 10 years in Seattle, which he helped win a Super Bowl in February 2014 at MetLife Stadium — Wilson’s new home stadium.
“I have some amazing memories here,” he said. “Some of my most fond memories of this game that I poured my heart and soul into every day happened right here in this stadium right across the street in MetLife Stadium. I’m excited to create some more memories with some amazing teammates for this amazing fan base.”
23XI, Front Row call NASCAR countersuit on antitrust claims ‘act of desperation’
The two teams claim antitrust violations as the two-year battle continues
By Jenna Fryer The Associated Press
CHARLOTTE — The two teams suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations said in a filing that a countersuit against 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and Michael Jordan’s manager is “an act of desperation” and asked that it be dismissed.
NASCAR’s countersuit contends that Jordan business manager Curtis Polk “willfully” violated antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the most recent charter agreements.
23XI and Front Row were the only two organizations out of 15 that refused to sign the new agreements, which were presented to the teams last September in a take-it-or-leave-it offer 48 hours before the start of the Cup Series playoffs.
The charters were fought for by the teams ahead of the 2016 season and twice have been extended. The latest extension is for seven years to match the current media rights deal and guarantee 36 of the 40 spots in each week’s field to the teams that hold the charters, as well as other financial incentives. 23XI — co-owned by Jordan — and Front Row refused to sign and sued, alleging NASCAR and the France family that owns the
stock car series are a monopoly.
The filing claims that NASCAR’s counterclaim is “retaliatory” and “does not allege the facts necessary to state a claim.”
“NASCAR is using the counterclaim to engage in litigation gamesmanship, with the transparent objective of intimidating the other racing teams by threatening them with severe consequences if they support Plaintiffs’ challenge to the unlawful NASCAR monopoly,” the response says.
23XI and Front Row have requested NASCAR’s counterclaim be dismissed because it “fails at the threshold because it does not allege facts plausibly showing a contract, combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade.
“The counterclaim allegations instead show each racing team individually determining whether or not to agree to NASCAR’s demands through individual negotiations — the opposite of a conspiracy.”
The filing also defends Polk, who was specifically targeted in NASCAR’s counterclaim as the mastermind of the contentious two-year battle between the teams and the stock car series. NASCAR claimed in its countersuit that Polk threatened a team boycott of Daytona 500 qualifying races, but the teams argued “there is no allegation that such a threatened boycott of qualifying races ever took place.”
“None of NASCAR’s factual claims fit into the very nar-
row categories of blatantly anti-competitive agreements that courts summarily condemn as per se unlawful,” the teams said.
Jordan, through a spokesperson, said Polk speaks for him, and he views any attack on Polk as “personal.”
NASCAR’s attorney has warned that a consequence of the 23XI and Front Row lawsuit could lead to the abolishment of the charter system outright — NASCAR argues it would be a consequence and not what NASCAR actually wants to do — and that 23XI first made this personal by naming NASCAR chairman Jim France in the original antitrust lawsuit.
But the teams struck back at the threat to eliminate the charter system. The filing alleges it is an empty threat meant to scare the 13 organizations that did sign the charter agreements.
The claim also says Front Row should be dismissed from NASCAR’s countersuit because “NASCAR does not allege any specific conduct by Front Row or its owners or employees to support a claim that it participated in the alleged conspiracy.”
“The other allegations in the counterclaim against Front Row are all entirely conclusory or improper group pleading that seeks to lump in Front Row with 23XI Racing, Mr. Polk, and ‘others,’ while never identifying what — if anything — Front Row Motorsports itself has done to purportedly participate in the alleged conspiracy.”
The win at his home track ended a 31-race winless streak
The Associated Press
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — At the track he loves to dominate, Denny Hamlin was back on top with a new face atop his pit box.
The Joe Gibbs Racing star ended an agonizing 10-year winless streak at Martinsville Speedway, holding off teammate Christopher Bell in his home state to secure a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Hamlin, who was raised a few hours away in the Richmond suburb of Chesterfield, leads ac-
tive Cup drivers with six victories at Martinsville. But Sunday was his first checkered flag on the 0.526-mile oval in southwest Virginia since March 29, 2015, and also his first with crew chief Chris Gayle, who joined the No. 11 team this season.
Driving a Camry that “certainly felt like the old days” after the team overhauled its setup, Hamlin led a race-high 274 of the final laps after taking the lead from Chase Elliott.
With the 55th victory of his career (tying NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 11th on the career list), the 44-year-old Hamlin also snapped a 31-race winless streak since last April at Dover.
“Chris Gayle, all the engineers, the pit crew, everybody really just deciding they were going to come here with a different approach than the last few years,” Hamlin said. “It was just amazing. It did everything I needed it to do. Just so happy to win with Chris. Gosh, I love winning here.”
Gayle was a surprise replacement for longtime crew chief Chris Gabehart, who moved into an executive role at Joe Gibbs Racing after leading Hamlin to 23 victories from 2019-24. Gayle said the team told him of the move just before informing Hamlin.
“It was probably a shock to Denny, obviously,” Gayle said.
“Gabehart had been with him for a while. They’d been successful. But they were making changes at JGR for the betterment of the whole. I know Denny was probably apprehensive about, ‘I don’t want to start over at my age, don’t want a new team.’ ”
In what he called a “very unique” arrangement, Gayle was moved into the position without any other significant personnel changes on the team. Surrounded by familiar faces, Hamlin said he has meshed well with Gayle, who previously was the crew chief for Ty Gibbs.
“Chris has had a tough go of it,” Hamlin said. “When we didn’t have a great weekend, social media people were just out to get him. They think he’s been the problem for all of these years. It’s just not the case. He’s had the tough task of having such young drivers his whole career. That is really hard to do.
I think having someone as laid back as I am for the first time in his career is probably making his job a lot easier.” Bell, who leads the Cup Series with three wins in 2025, finished second after starting from the pole position, and Bubba Wallace took third as Toyotas swept the top three. The Chevrolets of Elliott and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
“It was a great weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing,” said Bell, who had finished outside the top 10 the past two weeks. “Showed a lot of pace. Really happy to get back up front. The last two weeks have been rough. Really happy for Denny. He’s the Martinsville master. Second is not that bad.” Hamlin had to survive four restarts — and a few strong challenges from Bell — in the final 125 laps as Martinsville produced the typical short-track skirmishes between several drivers.
Tony Award winner David Cromer is signed to direct
By Mark Kennedy The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Alicia Keys, Dolly Parton and Neil Diamond — step aside. The next musical icon to turn their songs into a stage musical will be James Taylor.
Taylor’s songs will fuel “Fire & Rain,” a musical announced last week, in development with a story by playwright and actor Tracy Letts and direction by Tony Award winner David Cromer.
“Fire and Rain” is one of Taylor’s most iconic songs, released in 1970 on his second album, “Sweet Baby James.” It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other hits include “You’ve Got a Friend” and “How Sweet It Is.”
No timeline was revealed on when “Fire & Rain” will be first staged.
Taylor, 77, has won six Grammys and is a member of both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Halls of Fame. He is the first artist to have a Billboard Top 10 album in each of the past six decades.
Letts won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for writing “August: Osage County,” and his other plays include “Bug,” “Killer Joe,” “Superior Donuts” and “The Minutes.” Cromer has directed two of Letts’ works — “Bug” and “Man from Nebraska.”
Taylor joins a growing list of musical artists who have turned to the stage.
Parton is writing new songs to go along with some of her past hits and co-writing a stage story inspired by her life for a stage musical that she hopes to land on Broadway in 2026. Di-
amond, Keys, Michael Jackson, Carole King and Gloria and Emilio Estefan all got biographical musicals on Broadway.
Taylor will join such pop and rock luminaries as Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, The Go-Gos, Sting, Alanis Morissette, Dave Stewart, Edie Brickell, Trey Anastasio, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim and Bono and The Edge with Broadway scores.
At age 3, Taylor’s family moved from Massachusetts to Chapel Hill when his father took a job as an assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. His upbringing in the Tarheel State would inspire many songs, including “Carolina in my Mind.”
In the 2001 biography “Long Ago and Far Away,” Taylor said, “Chapel Hill, the Piedmont, the outlying hills, were tranquil, rural, beautiful, but quiet.”
Author Anderson-Wheeler pays homage with mystery ‘The Gatsby Gambit’
Fitzgerald scholars may find it all frivolous
By Rob Merrill The Associated Press
IT TAKES MORE than a lit-
tle verve to write a story based on the iconic characters created by F. Scott Fitzgerald in perhaps the 20th century’s most famous American novel, but Claire Anderson-Wheeler has done just that with “The Gatsby Gambit.” And, say, old sport, it’s delightful.
Fans of “The Great Gatsby” — Penguin Classics is publishing a 100th anniversary edition in conjunction with Anderson-Wheeler’s new work — will delight in seeing their old friends again. Jay Gatsby is here, of course, but also Nick Carraway, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and Jordan Baker. They are joined by Anderson-Wheeler’s invention, Jay’s sister Greta, back from finishing school and spending the summer at the mansion in West Egg. She’s the real star of the story, which after reintroducing readers to Fitzgerald’s cast, quickly takes a tragic turn.
Saying more about the tragedy would spoil the reading experience, but suffice it to say that it fits perfectly with the
VIKING VIA AP
Penguin Classics is publishing a 100th anniversary edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” in conjunction with “The Gatsby Gambit” by Claire Anderson-Wheeler.
story Anderson-Wheeler wants to tell — about a young woman with extraordinary means who is awakening to the inequities of the 1920s America she inhabits.
She moves easily between the wealthy partygoers at her brother’s famous lawn parties and the servants who meet their every need, which puts
her in perfect position to become a youthful version of Miss Marple, following every lead to solve the book’s central mystery.
Anderson-Wheeler writes in a voice that is fun to read, even as she stays true to the character traits Fitzgerald created a century ago. Here’s a moment in Greta’s head: “It was fortuitous, Greta reflected, that the future of women’s liberation did not depend solely on Daisy Buchanan.” Or Jordan, as she pushed “the duck confit morosely around her plate: Murder investigations aren’t half so much fun as I thought they’d be.”
Fitzgerald scholars may find it all frivolous — nothing but fan fiction that effectively negates the plot of the original — but readers who either don’t care about that or who just want to spend more time with these characters will be rewarded.
In the end, it’s an homage, right down to the green handkerchief Nick waves as his train departs for Manhattan at novel’s end: “(Greta) realized then what it reminded her of: the Buchanans’ green beacon across the sound… It had always looked so magical, so beautiful, the otherworldly flicker of some ever-receding dream.”
MLK killed, Pocahontas married, U.S. entered WWI, Lee surrendered at Appomattox
The Associated Press
APRIL 3
1860: The first Pony Express mail delivery rides began; one heading west from St. Joseph, Missouri, and one heading east from Sacramento, California.
1882: Outlaw Jesse James was shot and killed by Robert Ford, a member of James’ gang.
1936: Bruno Richard Hauptmann was electrocuted for the kidnap-murder of 20-month-old Charles Lindbergh Jr.
1948: President Harry S. Truman signed into law the Marshall Plan, designed to help European allies rebuild after World War II and resist communism.
1996: Theodore Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, was arrested by FBI agents.
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1841: President William Henry Harrison succumbed to pneumonia one month after his inauguration, becoming
the first U.S. chief executive to die in office.
1949: Twelve nations, including the United States, signed the North Atlantic Treaty, establishing NATO.
1968: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed while standing on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 39.
1975: Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft.
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1614: Pocahontas, the daughter of Wahunsenacawh, also known as Chief Powhatan, married Englishman John Rolfe in the Virginia Colony.
1764: The British Parliament passed the American Revenue Act of 1764, also known as the Sugar Act.
1887: Teacher Anne Sullivan achieved a breakthrough as her 6-year-old deaf-blind pupil, Helen Keller, learned the meaning of the word “water” as spelled out in the manual alphabet.
1994: Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain died by suicide in his Seattle, Washington, home at age 27.
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1864: Louisiana opened a
convention in New Orleans to draft a new state constitution, one that called for the abolition of slavery.
1896: The first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.
1909: American explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson and four Inuits became the first men to reach the North Pole.
1917: The United States entered World War I.
2017: Comedian Don Rickles, known for his biting insults, died at age 90.
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1862: Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell defeated the Confederates at the
‘Avengers: Doomsday’ cast announced, includes original X-Men
The fifth movie in the series is set for release next May
By Andrew Dalton
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Anthony Mackie’s Captain America, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki are all back in the Avengers ensemble, where they’ll be joined by several of cinema’s original X-Men.
The five veterans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are in the cast of 2026’s “Avengers: Doomsday,” Marvel announced in a series of social media videos that the company rolled out slowly last week.
Patrick Stewart, 84, who played Professor X in the Fox’s early 2000s “X-Men” films, and 85-year-old Ian McKellen, who played his arch-nemesis Magneto, are also in the “Doomsday” cast as Disney and Marvel seek to take advantage of the acquisition of Fox’s movie library. Kelsey Grammer, who played Hank “Beast” McCoy, was also announced, as was Rebecca “Mystique” Romijn, James “Cyclops” Marsden and Alan “Nightcrawler” Cumming.
Their characters were taken
on by younger actors in the 2010s “X-Men” series reboot, and their inclusion is sure to cause serious fan speculation about the direction and timelines of “Avengers: Doomsday.”
The more senior superheroes will be joined by more recent additions, including some who have
yet to make their MCU debuts. Vanessa Kirby, set to play the Invisible Woman Sue Storm in this July’s “Fantastic Four: First Steps,” is also set for “Avengers: Doomsday.” Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards will join the Avengers too. And they’ll be joined in both movies by Ebon Moss-Bachrach,
who is playing Ben Grimm, aka the Thing, and Joseph Quinn, who plays Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. Simu Liu, who played the title character in 2021’s “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” is also in the newly announced cast, as is Tenoch Huer-
Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.
1915: Jazz singer-songwriter Billie Holiday, also known as “Lady Day,” was born in Philadelphia.
1945: During World War II, American planes intercepted and effectively destroyed a Japanese fleet that was headed to Okinawa on a suicide mission.
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1513: Explorer Juan Ponce de Leon and his expedition began exploring the Florida coastline.
1864: The United States Senate passed, 38-6, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery.
1943: President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered a freeze on wages and prices to combat inflation.
1974: Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s record.
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1413: The coronation of England’s King Henry V took place in Westminster Abbey.
1865: Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, effectively ending the U.S. Civil War.
ta Mejía, who played the aquatic antagonist Namor in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri in the “Black Panther” films, will also be back among the Avengers, as will her “Black Panther” castmate Winston Duke.
Florence Pugh, who will reprise her MCU role as Yelena Belova in the forthcoming “Thunderbolts” will reprise her again in “Doomsday.” David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah JohnKamen and Lewis Pullman will also be in both films.
There was no mention of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine or Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, though the announcement did include Channing Tatum, who played the X-Men’s Gambit in last year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Nor did the name Tom Holland appear. His Spider-Man became an Avenger in previous films on loan from owner Sony, whose complicated relationship with Marvel has made the character a sticking point. Robert Downey Jr. revealed last summer that he’ll be returning to the MCU to play the villain Doctor Doom in the next set of “Avengers” films.
“Avengers: Doomsday,” set for release in May 2026, will be the fifth “Avengers” movie and the first since 2019’s “Avengers Endgame” became one of the highest grossing films of all time.
Marvel has been struggling to recover its cultural buzz and box office mojo ever since, with hopes that the forthcoming ensemble films will bring back the magic that dominated cinema for more than a decade.
WILLY SANJUAN / INVISION FOR THE TELEVISION ACADEMY / AP IMAGES
Actor Michael Learned celebrates 86 on Wednesday.
CHRIS PIZZELLO / AP PHOTO
Actor-comedian Eddie Murphy is 64 on Thursday.
AP PHOTO
Francis Ford Coppola, seen accepting the Best Director Oscar for “The Godfather Part II” in 1975, turns 87 on Monday.
CHRIS PIZZELLO / AP PHOTO
Actor Patricia Arquette is 57 on Tuesday.
Eddie Murphy is 64, Robert Downey Jr. turns 60, Billy Dee Williams hits 88, Robin Wright is 59
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Singer Wayne Newton is 83. Singer Tony Orlando is 81. Singer Richard Thompson is 76. Actor Alec Baldwin is 67. Actor David Hyde Pierce (“Frasier”) is 66. Actor Eddie Murphy is 64.
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Actor Craig T. Nelson is 81. Actor Christine Lahti (“Chicago Hope”) is 75. Writer-producer David E. Kelley (“Ally McBeal,” “The Practice”) is 69. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 60. Magician David Blaine is 52.
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Actor Michael Moriarty (“Law & Order”) is 84. Singer Allan Clarke of The Hollies is 83. Actor Max Gail (“Sons and Daughters,” “Barney Miller”) is 82. Rapper-producer Pharrell Williams is 52.
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Actor Billy Dee Williams is 88. Director Barry Levinson (“Rain Man,” “The Natural”) is 83. Actor John Ratzenberger (“Cheers”) is 78. Guitarist Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule is 65. Singer-guitarist Frank Black (Black Francis) of The Pixies is 60. Actor Paul Rudd is 56.
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Movie director Francis Ford Coppola is 87. Actor Roberta Shore (“The Virginian”) is 82. Singer-guitarist John Oates of Hall and Oates is 76. Actor Jackie Chan is 71. Actor Russell Crowe is 61.
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Singer Peggy Lennon of the Lennon Sisters is 84. Singer Julian Lennon is 62. Actor Robin Wright is 59. Actor Patricia Arquette is 57.
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Actor Michael Learned (“The Waltons”) is 86. Actor Dennis Quaid is 71. Talk show host Joe Scarborough is 62. Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes is 45. Actor Kristen Stewart (“Twilight”) is 35.
Wes Anderson’s older films are steaming on Hulu
The Associated Press
MICHELLE WILLIAMS starring in the FX dramedy
“Dying for Sex” and Elton John and Brandi Carlile teaming up for the album “Who Believes In Angels?” are some of this week’s new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also, among the streaming offerings worth your time: “Snow White” star Rachel Zegler leads the horror comedy “Y2K,” “Pulse” is Netflix’s first English-language medical procedural and the Criterion Channel is adding a batch of Vietnam War films around the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
MOVIES TO STREAM
Filmmaker Tony Bui (“Three Seasons”) curated a slate of Vietnam War films that goes beyond the obvious to give multiple perspectives on the war, including both famous Hollywood entries like “Platoon” and “Full Metal Jacket,” but also Vietnamese films like “The Little Girl of Hanoi” and “When the Tenth Month Comes.” Documentaries like “The Fog of War” and “Hearts and Minds” will also be available to watch. The slate is streaming on Criterion.
“Snow White” star Zegler leads the horror comedy “Y2K” which kind of came and went from theaters without much notice in December. Some critics chalked it up to a good time, while others felt it was more of a sketch-length premise that overstays its welcome. The A24 movie, directed by Kyle Mooney of “Saturday Night Live,” will be streaming on Max starting Friday.
And with a new Wes Anderson movie on the horizon — “The Phoenician Scheme” — Hulu has several of his older films streaming, including “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums” (perfect for continued Gene Hackman appreciation), “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Darjeeling Limited.”
MUSIC TO STREAM
It started with a movie. Country star Carlile, so moved by a rough cut of the 2024 music documentary “Elton John: Never Too Late,” began writing a song inspired by John’s incredible career. Titled “Never Too Late,” it became the title track for the film and a collaboration with John, Andrew Watt and John’s longtime lyr-
icist Bernie Taupin. The song was shortlisted for the 2025 Oscars. It didn’t win, but that’s no matter: Now there’s a full album’s worth of collaborations between John and Carlile called “Who Believes in Angels?” Out Friday, expect big empowerment anthems and balladic duets. Need more John? Following the release of “Who Believes in Angels?” Paramount+
is streaming a one-hour concert special with the pair titled “An Evening with Elton John and Brandi Carlile.” There comes a time in the lives of many up-and-coming hardcore bands when its members choose to drop their sneers and adopt a more melodic approach to delivering ferocity. That is the case of Scowl, the most exciting group in the always-rising Bay Area punk
scene (made up Drain, Sunami and Gulch). On their latest album, “Are We All Angels,” the band pulls from a surprising assortment of influences: Billie Eilish, Radiohead, Car Seat Headrest and boygenius’ Julien Baker among them. There are hooks here but anger and frustration too. Consider it a new kind of catharsis, where intensity comes from singing, less screaming.
SHOWS TO STREAM
Prime Video has done well with its action originals like “Reacher,” “Cross,” and its satirical superhero show “The Boys.” Kevin Bacon’s new series “The Bondsman” fits in that niche. Bacon plays a murdered man who gets resurrected by the Devil to hunt demons that have escaped from Hell. Actor-recording artist Jennifer Nettles also co-stars. It premieres Thursday. Medical shows are popular right now, and a new one called “Pulse” comes to Netflix on Thursday. It features pretty doctors played by stars Willa Fitzgerald and Colin Woodell working at a Level 1 trauma center in Miami. “Pulse,” Netflix’s first English-language medical procedural, is more “Grey’s Anatomy” than Noah Wyle’s “The Pitt,” but if you like TV doctors, check it out. Williams stars in the new FX dramedy “Dying for Sex,” a show about Molly, a woman di-
agnosed with terminal cancer who decides to spend the rest of her days living for pleasure. It’s also about the relationship with her best friend Nikki, played by Jenny Slate, who puts her own life on hold to be by Molly’s side. The show is based on a true story that was shared in a podcast of the same name. All eight episodes drop Friday on Hulu. A new Korean thriller series called “Karma” comes to Netflix on Friday. It’s about six people whose lives intersect after a car accident. The show is based on a webcomic by Choi Hee-sun and stars Park Hae-soo, who was in season one of “Squid Game.” His work on that show earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for best supporting actor.
VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY
Koira is the Finnish word for dog, and what could be more fun than playing with a dog? In this debut game from Brussels-based Studio Tolima, you and the mutt are lost in a snowy forest. You can play fetch and go sledding — or you can sing together to activate magical statues. You can help out other friendly critters like birds, bunnies and fireflies, but beware the black-hatted hunters who seem to have a peculiar interest in your pup. It’s a mellow, textfree, musical trip in a striking 2D world, and you can start exploring now on PlayStation 5 and PC.