North State Journal — Vol. 1., Issue 52

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VOLUME 1 ISSUE 52

www.NSJONLINE.com |

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017

Inside What Duke’s win means moving forward, Sports East Carolina Heart Institute, The Good Life

EAMON QUEENEY | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

After hiking more than 3 miles and 1700 feet of elevation, hikers relax and take in the vast expanse on the bald summit of Looking Glass Rock in the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, NC. For more photographs turn to Page 7 in The Good Life.

the weekend

News BRIEFing Legislature’s changes to board of elections will proceed Raleigh On Thursday, the N.C. Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s decision to bar the merging of the State Board of Elections and the State Ethics Commission into one body with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans.

The decision means that the legislature’s plan to merge the two groups may proceed.

Governor Cooper’s lawsuit over the measure will also proceed, in which he claims the merger unconstitutionally strips him of executive power. Under the old system, Cooper would have appointed a majority of the Board of Elections, giving him more power over implementing election-related law. Cooper immediately appealed the decision to the N.C. Supreme Court.

NCDOL warns employers of poster scam Raleigh The N.C. Department of Labor is urging businesses across the state to be on the lookout for a scam in which people attempt to sell labor law posters to employers threatening fines of up to $17,000 for “noncompliance.”

According to the NCDOL there are multiple reports of scammers using scare tactics or threatening language in an attempt to sell labor law posters. While labor law posters are required to be displayed at a workplace by law, NCDOL inspectors carry up-to-date posters and will distribute them for free. There is no fine for displaying an old version.

NORTH

STATE

JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION

RALEIGH — Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration released the salaries of eight cabinet secretaries this week in response to a request from the North State Journal. At an attempted confirmation hearing for one of Gov. Roy Cooper’s cabinet appointments Wednesday lawmakers criticized the governor for not releasing the salaries of recently sworn-in cabinet members.

A three judge panel has taken arguments under advisement as legislature attempts hearings as scheduled, appointee a no-show

By Jeff Moore North State Journal

“There is no question these nominees will wield a lot of power, control multi-billion dollar budgets and make decisions that affect millions of North Carolinians – but as of today, Gov. Cooper hasn’t even said how much the taxpayers are paying his nominees,” said cochair of the Senate Commerce and Insurance Committee Sen. Wesley Meredith (R-Fayetteville).

Meredith’s categorization of the great responsibilities cabinet appointments undertake when tapped for the job may lead him to be more understanding of the large jumps in pay for some Cooper appointments. The information shows the governor’s pick for Secretary See SALARIES, page A3

See NCGA, page A2

Cooper DOT secretary makes 40 percent more than Republican predecessor

By Jeff Moore North State Journal

Court considers Senate confirmations

RALEIGH — At a hearing Friday, the N.C. Superior Court heard more arguments on the issue of the state Senate’s authority to hold confirmation hearings for governors’ secretarial appointments. Lawyers exchanged constitutional checks-and-balances reasoning in front of a threejudge panel that took the arguments under advisement and will make a decision at a later time.

Attorneys for Gov. Roy Cooper are seeking a preliminary injunction until March 7 and argued that cabinet choices being subject to Senate confirmation hearings would have a chilling effect and limit one of the governor’s most important powers.

Cooper attorney Jim Phillips argued further that the appointment authority was an important part of the separation of powers.

Lawyers representing legislative leaders argued the General Assembly was not violating statutes by holding hearings before appointees were formally submitted and that public vetting is simply good policy backed by constitutionally granted powers of advice and consent.

The judges acknowledged that if the injunction were issued it would not prevent the legislature from holding hearings, instead making any confirmation votes null and void.

A temporary restraining order announced by the court Wednesday blocked a law passed in late 2017 that codifies the Senate’s role in confirming the governor’s cabinet appointments. The news elicited strong reactions from Republican leaders of the North Carolina General Assembly, who derided the three judges for legislating from the bench.

“In a gross misreading of the Constitution and a blatant overstep of their Constitutional authority, three Superior Court judges attempted to dictate to the legislature when it could or could not hold committee meetings and what it could or could not

salaries

While most salaries remain similar to McCrory predecessors, select posts see significant pay increases

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

CDC recommends everyone to get a vaccine as flu is on the rise

New Council of State meets for first time Jones & Blount

By Liz Moomey North State Journal

EAMON QUEENEY | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

20177 52016 $2.00

8

— Sen. Wesley Meredith (R-Fayetteville)

Health care officials prepare for flu season peak

INSIDE

5

“...make no mistake: the General Assembly will meet to review the qualifications of Gov. Cooper’s cabinet nominees as allowed by the constitution...”

Bryan Reyes Vargas, 13, of Raleigh, closes his eyes as he gets a flu shot from registered nurse Jayn Moore in the immunization clinic at Wake County Human Services’ Public Health Center in Raleigh.

RALEIGH — The flu is on the rise, and health officials are encouraging community members to get a vaccine.

As of Feb. 10, 22 people in North Carolina have died from the flu this season, which began Oct. 2 and will end in May. According

to the Department of Health and Human Services, the flu season has not yet peaked.

“It’s almost up to where it was [last year] and it will probably go higher based off what we’re seeing here, what we’re seeing in the community illness-wise,” JoAnn Douglas, the immunization tracking team supervisor for Department of Health and Human Services, said.

Douglas said there is good news, though.

“The CDC is saying that the vacSee FLU, page A8

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

A2 SUNDAY

02.12.17

Lawmakers call for compromise on H.B. 2 repeal Republicans call on Cooper to take the lead on a compromise to the H.B. 2 impasse as three new repeal bills are filed.

within reach. The first two deals are said to have been nixed by Roy Cooper, first as a candidate, then as governor-elect.

In December, the General Assembly was poised to repeal H.B. 2 during a special session, until an appearance by Rep. Chris Sgro (D-Guilford) on MSNBC indicated that ordinances similar to Charlotte’s were imminent across the state once H.B. 2 was repealed.

“We are going to need comprehensive non-discrimination protections and unfortunately we can’t do that until H.B. 2 is repealed, not just in Charlotte, but in Raleigh, Greensboro, Wilmington and everywhere in between,” Sgro said on MSNBC in December.

When that interview aired insiders say negotiations over a repeal came to a screeching halt. What finally circulated was a measure that contained a full repeal with a six-month moratorium on local ordinances similar to Charlotte’s.

Billed as a cooling-off period, the measure was designed as a timeout in the political H.B. 2 game.

Three people close to the negotiations have confirmed to the North State Journal that Senate

Leader Phil Berger and Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue had rallied enough votes from both sides of the aisle to pass the H.B. 2 repeal with the moratorium in place, until Cooper called and asked the Democratic Senate leadership to reject the deal.

Back in May, the first repeal deal also failed. The Charlotte City Council was reportedly preparing to repeal its ordinance that started the controversy under an agreement with then-Governor Pat McCrory. Republican lawmakers had repeatedly said in public that if Charlotte repealed the ordinance, the legislature would repeal H.B. 2. According to members of the city council who spoke on the condition of anonymity, then-Attorney General Cooper enlisted Democratic lawmakers to lobby them to reject rescinding the ordinance. As a result, the legislature did not go through with H.B. 2 repeal. Then, weeks after Cooper’s election Charlotte repealed its ordinance.

Since inauguration, Cooper has lobbied almost daily to the media and the business community, saying that the GOP-led legislature failed to repeal H.B. 2 during the December special session, adding that he knows there were enough votes to pass the repeal without the moratorium. He has repeatedly called for passage of what he calls a “clean repeal,” without the cooling-off period. Cooper’s office has not responded to requests on whether he knows if there were enough votes to pass the repeal with the moratorium in place.

In response to criticism and increased speculation this week that the NCAA could withdraw more athletic events from the state, Senate Leader Phil Berger said Cooper would “have to work toward a compromise that keeps women from being forced to share bathrooms and shower facilities with men to move past this distraction.”

The NCAA said it expects to announce its site selections for upcoming seasons in April.

in Washington D.C. even as we speak shows the public is paying attention, and we ought to do everything we can to give the people confidence that our state’s leaders will be accountable to them,” said Meredith.

“The committee is here today and ready to proceed. However, we are going to delay this meeting because the acting secretary is not present. But make no mistake: the General Assembly will meet to review the qualifications of Gov. Cooper’s cabinet nominees as allowed by the constitution, and we are going to get answers to questions regarding their qualifications, potential conflicts of interest and willingness to obey the law.”

Adding, “Until then, this meeting is adjourned.”

On Monday, Cooper sent a letter to Berger (R-Rockingham) reiterating his request that the Senate delay the hearings until the court issues a final decision in the case.

Eight of 10 appointments have been sworn in to office and are on the job despite not being formally presented to the state Senate.

Appointments for the N.C. Department of Revenue and the N.C.

Department of Information Technology have not yet been made.

Cooper argued in the letter that senatorial advice and consent only applies to constitutional officers, and not to cabinet secretaries.

The letter also points to state law that does not require the governor submit the names of secretarial appointments until May 15 of this year.

Berger said the confirmation process was important to bring consultations with the governor’s appointments out from behind closed doors. A convening of the Senate Nominations Committee last week outlined the process for confirmation hearings as Republican leaders emphasized the hearings were not designed to be confrontational.

“For years, cabinet secretaries have met behind closed doors to share their qualifications and address any concerns — like conflicts of interest — legislators may have,” said Berger. “It is extremely disturbing that Roy Cooper is demanding the state courts keep these meetings hidden behind closed doors and out of the public eye.”

By Donna King North State Journal

“Elevate the conversation”

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

• In Issue 51, Rowan County was incorrectly identified as Randolph County on page A4.

North State Journal (USPS PP 166) (ISSN 2471-1365) Neal Robbins Publisher Donna King Managing Editor Drew Elliot Opinion Editor Will Brinson Sports Editor Jennifer Wood Features Editor Published each Wednesday and Sunday by North State Media, LLC 819 W. Hargett Street, Raleigh, N.C. 27603 TO SUBSCRIBE: 866-458-7184 or online at nsjonline.com Annual Subscription Price: $100.00 Periodicals Postage Paid at Raleigh, N.C. and at additional mailing offices.

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RALEIGH – The heat is turning up on Gov. Roy Cooper this week as both Republicans and Democrats seek to end the standoff over the law that was triggered by a Charlotte city ordinance last year, dominating headlines and the November elections. Republicans have said that the ball is firmly in Cooper’s court to find a compromise after two previous deals have fallen apart.

Three Democrat-sponsored H.B. 2 repeal bills were filed this week, each with different elements that put legal protections for the LGBT community into statute. Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) is among the Democrats who proposed a measure. Hers is H.B. 82, which fully repeals H.B.2 and adds broad non-discrimination language for special groups including transgender, LGBT and veterans in public accommodations, employment, housing and credit. Harrison said that while she does not anticipate her bill will make it to the floor in the Republican-led House, she wants the measure out there to keep the non-discrimination measures on the forefront.

“We are just hoping to get this thing started because that’s where we think N.C. should be,” said Harrison in an interview.

“I think everyone wants this resolved in a way that the majority of the members can agree to,” she added.

Another measure filed this week, by Rep. Cecil Brockman (D-Guilford), repeals H.B. 2 but also increases criminal penalties for assaults in bathrooms and other public accommodations. That idea was circulated as part of other

CHRISTINE T. NGUYEN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

The NC Legislative Building in Raleigh.

“It is now solely up to Gov. Cooper to create a solution that Democrats and Republicans can both respect and pass. So far, he is failing at the leadership test he brought on himself.”

— Dallas Woodhouse, Exec. Dir NCGOP

compromise legislation in December when lawmakers came to Raleigh for Hurricane Matthew relief but stayed to try to resolve the H.B. controversy.

If a deal is struck, this will be the third time H.B. 2 repeal seemed

NCGA from page A1 consider in those meetings,” stated the letter from lawmakers.

At a hearing Tuesday, the judges heard Cooper attorneys argue that the confirmation process equated to essential veto powers of the governor’s cabinet choices, while lawyers for Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger argued that the authority to provide advice and consent is specifically delegated in the state constitution and does not interfere with the governor’s ability to nominate, supervise, or control his appointments.

A Senate committee meeting to consider former Democratic lawmaker Larry Hall as secretary of the N.C. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs convened as scheduled on Wednesday, nonetheless, but ended abruptly when it became clear that Hall would not attend. Given the court ruling, Cooper’s publicly announced appointments will likely decline the legislature’s invitation until the suit is settled for good.

A final ruling is expected from the court Friday.

EAMON QUEENEY | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Senator Wesley Meredith, center, Co-Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Insurance, postpones the committee’s confirmation hearing on Larry Hall — Governor Roy Cooper’s pick for secretary of veterans affairs — at the Legislative Building in Raleigh.

Co-chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Insurance Sen. Wesley Meredith (R-Fayetteville) was defiant as he assured the General Assembly would have their say on appointments eventually.

“This process is about good government, and North Carolina’s constitution clearly provides – in black and white – for the Senate to undertake this duty,” said Meredith. “The nearly identical federal process that is taking place

ing 3,000+ school profiles includ er, and traditional public, public chart in state private schools participating scholarship programs.

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North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

A3 David Pearce protests outside the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals courthouse in San Francisco, California on Feb. 7, ahead of the Court hearing arguments regarding President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban on people from seven Muslimmajority countries.

NOAH BERGER | REUTERS

Federal judges refuse to reinstate Trump travel order The decision is being called judicial overreach and sets up a Supreme Court showdown with eight members on the bench

By Donna King North State Journal SAN FRANCISCO — Thursday evening a federal appeals court refused to reinstate President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning people from entering the U.S. from seven countries identified by the State Department as being “countries of concern” in the war on terrorism.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco unanimously ruled that the Trump administration failed to offer any evidence that national security concerns justified immediately restoring the ban, which he launched two weeks ago. They said more legal arguments would be needed to decide the actual fate of Trump’s order.

Shortly after the court issued its 29-page ruling, Trump tweeted: “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!” He told reporters his administration ultimately would win the case and dismissed the ruling as “political.” The 9th Circuit ruling, upholding last Friday’s decision by U.S. District Judge James Robart to suspend the order, does not resolve the lawsuit. It relates only to whether to lift an emergency halt to Trump’s order put in

place by a lower court. Litigation over his executive order will proceed, as the Justice Department presents evidence that they say demonstrates that people from those countries represent a domestic threat, legal experts said.

In its ruling on Thursday, the 9th Circuit said the government had so far failed to show that any person from the seven countries had perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States. Two of the three 9th Circuit judges were appointees of former Democratic Presidents Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, and one was appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush. According to a 2010 American Bar Association analysis the court has a nearly 80 percent reversal rate on decisions, the second highest of the 13 appellate courts below the Supreme Court.

Trump’s Jan. 27 order, the most divisive action of his young presidency, sparked protests and chaos at U.S. and overseas airports on the weekend after it was issued.

It was challenged by the states of Washington and Minnesota, which argued it violated constitutional protections against religious discrimination.

The Justice Department, which spoke for the administration at oral arguments on Tuesday, said it was reviewing Thursday’s decision and considering its options.

The administration argued that the courts do not have access to the same classified information about threats to the country that

BRIAN SNYDER | REUTERS

the president does. The judges countered that “courts regularly receive classified information under seal.”

National Security Concerns The decision came just hours before four people were arrested in southern France, on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, French police and justice sources said on Friday. France remains on high alert over possible Islamist militant attacks. Those in custody included a 22 year-old man and his 16 year-old girlfriend, both known to authorites for connections with radical Islam, after authorities found TATP explosives and other bomb-making materials in his home.

More than 230 people have died in a series of assaults since the beginning of 2015 and the country has been under state of emergency rules since November the same year.

The attacks in Europe over the

past several years have raised concern for public safety worldwide.

Curbing entry to the United States as a national security measure was a central premise of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, originally proposed as a temporary ban on all Muslims. U.S. presidents have in the past claimed sweeping powers to fight terrorism, but the 9th Circuit on Thursday wrote that courts have the authority to review whether the president violated the Constitution.

The Next Step The government has 14 days to ask the 9th Circuit to have a larger panel of judges review the decision “en banc,” or appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will likely determine the case’s final outcome. But it would need five of the eight justices to vote in favor of suspending the travel ban during litigation.

That is likely to be a tall order as the court is evenly divided 4-4

By the numbers — Cooper cabinet paychecks

SALARIES from page A1 of the N.C. Department of Transportation will make 40 percent more than his predecessors in Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration.

James H. Trogdon III will earn $195,352 annually in the N.C. DOT’s top post, earning $50,000 more than the governor himself.

Nick Tennyson, the former transportation secretary in the McCrory administration, earned $138,040 annually.

Trogdon is a registered professional engineer with more than 30 years of experience in transportation. He is a veteran of the N.C. Department of Transportation, where he worked in the highway division and later as NCDOT’s chief operating officer, and most recently served as national transportation director at SAS Institute. Trogdon is also a major general with more than three decades of military service.

Cooper Budget Director Charlie Perusse also received a $50,000 pay increase, to $195,352, from what McCrory predecessor Drew Heath was paid.

Governor Pat McCrory’s administration was heavily criticized in 2013 for raising secretary salaries an average of approximately $9,500. The Associated Press also reported the salaries of McCrory’s staff three weeks after he took office leading to further criticism of

Shanez Tabarsi (R) is greeted by her daughter Negin after traveling to the U.S. from Iran following a federal court’s temporary stay of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order travel ban at Logan Airport in Boston, Mass. Feb. 6.

“There is no question these nominees will wield a lot of power, control multi-billion dollar budgets and make decisions that affect millions of North Carolinians...”

— Sen. Wesley Meredith (R-Fayetteville)

$144,349

$138,040

$195,352

$138,040

Roy Cooper, Governor

Jim Trogdon, secretary of transportation

$142,100

Mandy Cohen, secretary of health and human services

$130,935

Larry Hall, secretary of military and veterans affairs

Susi Hamilton, secretary of natural and cultural resources

Erik Hooks, secretary of public safety

$130,935 Machelle Sanders, secretary of administration

$130,935 Michael Regan, secretary of environmental quality

$138,040 Tony Copeland, secretary of commerce

SOURCE:

between liberals and conservatives, meaning the administration would need to win over at least one of the liberal justices. Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, will likely not go before Senate hearings until March, and many have said the controversy is added incentive for Senate Democrats to use political maneuvering to delay the Gorsuch hearings as long as possible.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said Trump’s policies “still pose a threat to communities of color, religious minorities, women, and others.”

But Tom Fitton from the conservative group Judicial Watch said on Twitter: “The Ninth Circuit ruling is a dangerous example of judicial overreach.”

Reuters News Service contributed to this report.

the McCrory administration for salaries of young staffers selected for senior positions.

Under Governor Beverly Perdue, state law set agency head salaries at just under $122,000 annually.

The legislature changed the law to allow the governor to set each state department head’s salary the summer before McCrory took office.

The salaries of the remaining seven secretaries are identical to their predecessors in the previous administration and include: Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen at $142,100; Commerce Secretary Tony Copeland, Public Safety Secretary Erik Hooks and Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Susi Hamilton at $138,040; and Military and Veterans Affairs Secretary Larry Hall, Administration Secretary Machelle Sanders and Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan at $130,935.

North Carolina state law requires state agencies to make certain employee personnel information available for inspection by the public, including name, title, age and current salary.

Cooper’s cabinet, while sworn into office and performing assigned duties, have not yet been formally submitted to the General Assembly. The governor is fighting the legislature in court over its authority to hold confirmation hearings for cabinet appointments.

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

A4

Murphy

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

to

A5

Jones & Blount

Manteo

jonesandblount.com @JonesandBlount

North Carolina A&T State University est. 1891

Governor Roy Cooper, right, and Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, left, laugh along with the other members of the Council of State during the group’s first meeting.

Greensboro

Historically black colleges in North Carolina

Bennett College est. 1873

Winston-Salem State University

Greensboro

est. 1892

North Carolina Agriculture and Technical University is the largest historically African American college in North Carolina.

As part of the University of North Carolina System, it is one of three engineering colleges in the state. Nearly 90 percent of the state’s African American professionals and paraprofessionals in agriculture are graduates of the college.

Elizabeth City State University est. 1891

Elizabeth City

Winston-Salem

North Carolina Central University est. 1910 Livingstone College

Johnson C. Smith University est. 1867

est. 1879

Charlotte

Buncombe County The first facility for regional baseball and softball tournaments in Buncombe County now has the green light with some conditions. For the past year, environmental group MountainTrue has been battling the development based on the fact the ballfield is being built on a former industrial landfill used for rayon manufacturing from 1929 to 2006. MountainTrue argued that testing requirements weren’t adequate reflections of chemical hazards in the area. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality announced Monday it will record and enforce additional safety requirements, including fencing off certain areas of the ball field.

County commissioners divided over rise in tourism fee Haywood County Monday’s County Commission meeting showed a divided stance for a $2 increase for every $100 spent in overnight accommodations in Haywood County. The money raised would go to new projects like improvements to Camp Hope and a new splash park in Waynesville.

Commissioner Brandon Rogers voted against the resolution after realizing it was a tax increase, while other commissioners agreed to “brick and mortar” projects only.

The resolution passed 4-1, and it still must be approved by the N.C. General Assembly.

est. 1867 Concord

Fayetteville State University est. 1867 Fayetteville

Fayetteville State University found its beginnings in 1867 when seven African American citizens paid $140 for a lot on Gillespie street for a location to educate African American children in the area.

By 1969, the school became Fayetteville State University and consolidated within the University of North Carolina System.

While once exclusively a teacher-training institution, today the university offers multiple degrees in both undergraduate and graduate studies.

Watauga County After deliberation and consideration of multiple qualified candidates, the Beech Mountain Town Council took action Feb. 2 appointing Tim Holloman as new town manager. Holloman has 11 years of managerial experience in local government units of North Carolina. Most recently, Holloman saw accomplishments at resort towns like Oak Island and Topsail Beach. Mayor E. “Rick” Miller stated the council and community will be introduced to Holloman in March.

High Country Press

PIEDMONT Greensboro College to receive $6 million donation Guilford County Late last week, Greensboro College announced a plan to raise $15 million by 2020, with $6 million of that coming from the former chairman of the college’s Board of Trustees, Walter Newton. The fundraising campaign is coined as “GC 2020: Uniquely Focused” and hopes to raise funds for faculty and staff salaries, scholarships, campus upgrades and new academic programs. The record breaking $6 million gift comes from Walter and Dennie Newton who agreed to leave a portion of their estate to the college.

Haywood County jury convicts double voter Haywood County A Haywood County Superior Court jury on Thursday convicted 52-year-old Dewey George Gidcumb Jr. of voting twice in North Carolina’s March 2016 primary, a Class I felony. Gidcumb, a Haywood County resident, voted in the Republican primary during the early voting period, then again on Election Day, a violation of G.S. 163-275(7). He received a suspended prison sentence of five to 15 months, 12 months of supervised probation, 24 hours of community service and a $100 fine, plus court costs.

NC STATE BOARD OF ELECTION

Ruth expands recall of products Mecklenburg County Following a recall of B&H Food’s Ruth’s pimento cheese spread, the company has recalled more products.

The original pimento product tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes after a routine sample was collected

by N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The expanded recall includes old fashion, jalapeno and lite pimento cheese spread as well as Ruth’s cream cheese with pineapplepecans.

North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Lewisville man charged with string of robberies Forsyth County The small suburb of Lewisville has seen an increase in violence with robberies of two convenience stores and then a robbery of Wells Fargo bank Monday, which caused nearby Lewisville Elementary to be placed on lockdown. Jason Brant Henderson, 36, faces charges for all three. He is currently jailed under a $120,000 bond with a preliminary hearing Feb. 23.

Winston-Salem Journal

EAMON QUEENEY | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

New Council of State meets for first time

EAST Commissioners vote against hate crimes resolution Pitt County While Greenville City Council has now voted to support legislation making hate crimes a felony, Pitt County Commissioners rejected a similar resolution 8-1 on Monday. Melvin McLawhorn, the bill’s sponsor, was the one approval vote. The General Assembly is currently looking a statewide hate crime law, which prompted some commissioners to vote against the county proposal, while McLawhorn still sees a future chance of it passing in Pitt County.

WNCT.COM

Greensboro News & Record

The Mountaineer

Asheville Citizen-Times

Beech Mountain decides on new town manager

Raleigh

Barber-Scotia College

After the end of the Civil War, Shaw University in Raleigh opened as the first HBCU in the south. As Shaw University paved the way for equal education, the rest of the state followed suit with Fayetteville State, Johnson C. Smith, and St. Augustine University opening in 1867. Today, there are 107 HBCUs across the U.S with eleven of them in N.C. They are public and private institutions, four-year universities, as well as medical and law schools.

Settlement reached in Enka ball field battle

North Carolina Central University is the first state-supported liberal arts college in N.C. for African American students. In 1929, the school graduated its first four-year class and in 1972 it became part of the University of North Carolina System. Today, the 100acre campus is home to a diverse range of undergrad and graduate programs with over 8,000 students enrolled. Criminal justice is the top undergraduate degree offered with law as the top graduate degree.

est. 1865

Salisbury

Johnson C. Smith University is a school of firsts.

In 1891, under the name of Biddle University, Daniel Sanders who was born a slave became the first African American to head the school. JCU is the first four-year, southern institution to have both a black president and professor. In 1892, a football contest between Biddle and Livingstone College marked the first black intercollegiate football game. Today, the school is recognized as the first black college in N.C. to receive accreditation from the Southern Association.

west

Durham

Shaw University

Residents urge city council to suspend no-knock warrants Rowan County Salisbury residents continue to urge City Council members to suspend the use of no-knock warrants, which resulted in the death of Ferguson Claude Laurent Jr. in November. Laurent, 22, was shot and killed by a member of the Police Department’s Special Response Team during a no-knock warrant — the case is currently being investigated by the SBI. Residents have been asked for the suspension of the no-knock warrants.

The city released a statement stating the city attorney will ask for an opinion on the matter from the Attorney General.

Controversial wind farm in full operation Pasquotank County As of Thursday, the wind farm that some lawmakers saw as a national security threat is officially running.

The Pentagon cleared the $400 million project and said it would not interfere with nearby surveillance radar.

Currently, Avangrid Renewables is running the 104 turbines, generating electricity through 60,000 homes with Amazon also buying the power produced to run its Virginia data centers.

Salisbury Post Hickory Record VIA Associated Press

High school track coach arrested on child trafficking charge Pender County Ahmad Garrison, 27, who is the head boys and girls track and field coach at Topsail High School, was arrested and charged with human trafficking of a child. Garrison also faces one count of soliciting a child by a computer. No bail is currently available.

Wilmington Star News

Commissioners agree to pay for Southern Shores nourishment Dare County Dare County Commissioners unanimously voted to provide up to $500,000 for the Southern Shores nourishment project to repair eroded beaches. Funds will come from the county’s sand pumping fund. The original project was slated to cost around $800,000. A prior public forum saw attendance by some 200 people, mainly in support of the project.

Outer Banks Voice

RALEIGH — Gov. Roy Cooper presided over the first N.C. Council of State meeting of 2017 Tuesday, providing for introductions of new members, updates from council departments, and votes on official state business.

The 2016 elections that brought Cooper into the governor’s mansion also ushered in a new majority to the council for the first time in many cycles, with Republicans winning six of 10 elected statewide positions. A Democrat at the executive helm creates a new bipartisan dynamic for a body that, in addition to approving routine state property sales and the like, also serves as a forum for meaningful state policy and regulatory discussions as well as critical updates from agriculture to insurance.

At the inaugural meeting, Cooper heard damage assessment activities from Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler (R), surmising that both state and federal lawmakers “will have to have another bite at the apple” to address disaster relief.

From new Treasurer Dale Folwell (R) the council received updates and sober analysis of

N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore’s total staff salaries down from 2016 RALEIGH — N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore is spending less on staff salaries this year than in 2016, according to data from the speaker’s office. A list obtained

by North State Journal indicates that Moore’s Chief of Staff Bart Goodson, is the highest paid in the office at just more than $172,000 in annual salary, followed by senior adviser Mitch Gillespie at $104,545.

The lowest paid? The speaker himself at the legal limit for a N.C. lawmaker’s salary of $38,151.

In total for 2017, the 14 staff members supporting the N.C. Speaker of the House earn $1,046,135. In 2016, the 13 member staff made $1,108,154. Those figures include an overall raise for legislative staff implemented in fall of 2016.

On the staff list for 2017, is a key promotion; Leah Burns is now deputy chief of staff, earning $69,000. In 2016, Burns served as a policy adviser to the speaker.

Goodson was also promoted into his chief of staff role. Last year he served as general counsel.

the state pensions performance.

“The return on our pension for the last fiscal year was less than one percent,” said Folwell. “So we have some major mathematical challenges.”

Distinct from the governor’s appointed cabinet positions, the Council of State is made up of nine statewide elected positions and chaired by the governor. The body dates back to the colonial era, as a “Governor’s Council” made up of the upper house of the legislature.

Then after independence a Council of State was appointed by the legislature to provide checks to the governor’s power.

Though the legislature obviously no longer appoints Council of State members, the partisan distribution across the council after recent elections seems to fit well with the original aims to achieve a balance of powers.

With Republicans maintaining supermajorities in the General Assembly and a newly elected Democratic executive, already sparring in court over questions of legal authority, they may both benefit from the closer communications afforded the council through their meetings and discussions.

$552 million revenue surplus announced RALEIGH — A joint forecast from the non-partisan Fiscal Research division of the N.C. General Assembly and the State Office of Budget and Management predicts a $552 million revenue surplus over expected budget expenses.

Senate leader Phil Berger credited the Republican leadership for the fiscal results.

“Even as the majority of other states face revenue shortfalls and budget crunches, Republican state leaders’ tax cuts and disciplined spending have generated a $552 million revenue surplus for North Carolina – making us one of just four states in the country expecting surpluses,” said Berger in a statement. “We hope Gov. Cooper will rethink his pledge to block job-creating future tax cuts for families and small businesses and instead partner with legislative Republicans to stay the course on spending taxpayer money wisely and continuing our state’s record of success.”

Gov. Roy Cooper applauded the budget news and encouraged dedicating funds to top legislative priorities like education and added disaster relief. The legislature begins budget considerations next week.

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

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north STATEment Neal Robbins, publisher | Drew Elliot, opinion editor | Ray Nothstine, deputy opinion editor

VISUAL VOICES

EDITORIAL | DREW ELLIOT

After scuttling deal, Cooper owns H.B. 2 Cooper is under the thumb of the far-left, nocompromise crowd when it comes to H.B. 2.

GOV. ROY COOPER is finding out how tricky actual governing can be. Cooper desperately wants the H.B. 2 issue to go away, and yet he personally wrecked the bipartisan deal that paired a repeal of the law with a temporary moratorium on Charlotte-like ordinances.

Why? At first it appeared as if the governor simply misread his leverage on the issue. Legislators of both parties want the H.B. 2 backlash gone, but the level of motivation for repeal varies greatly.

Democrats and Republicans from urban areas are under intense pressure to repeal the bill. These are the areas where the most damage is being done from the rock concerts cancelled, sporting events moved, and businesses not expanding. Those are also the areas where even Republican constituents are more likely to hold more liberal social views.

But a Republican senator from, say, Rockingham or Cleveland counties feels significantly less pressure to repeal. Sure, a few constituents may have had tickets to a cancelled concert or game. And maybe someone from the area could have gotten a job and moved to Charlotte or Raleigh in one of those corporate expansions. But on balance, the backlash hasn’t affected rural constituents much.

In fact, rural legislators are much more likely to be urged not to give in to corporate blackmail from outside the state. Regardless of how the liberal interest group–news media echo chamber tries to portray it differently, many know their concern for vulnerable populations is genuine and not anti-transgender in the least.

So it’s possible that Cooper simply misread the

situation and overplayed his hand. But another theory is gaining purchase — it’s all about the donors.

Cooper and his allies outspent McCrory by hefty margins (including nearly 2 to 1 in TV ads), but still only managed to eke out a photo finish. He knows he owes favors to his backers, the liberal special-interest groups.

Personally, Cooper may have a more reasonable view on the underlying issues, but it doesn’t matter.

He’s under the thumb of the far-left, no-compromise crowd when it comes to H.B. 2. But that fact would be far too obvious if he had to veto a repeal bill that had passed with significant bipartisan margins. So the call went out: I don’t care what deal you’ve made, welch on it. I have to look like I’m in the mainstream.

Suddenly, Democrats had to pretend that, all along, they were not interested in compromise either.

Instead, with the help of the news media, Cooper aims to maintain the fiction that only H.B. 2 matters, not issues of transgender access versus accommodation — and certainly not the insane Charlotte ordinance to which H.B. 2 was a direct response. (Remember, H.B. 2 passed the House with almost half of Democrats supporting it, and the only way Democratic senators avoided a similar result was to walk out on the vote.)

That is why legislative leaders have called on Cooper to propose a compromise bill that can pass. They had a deal, he scuttled it. Cooper owns the issue now.

EDITORIAL | RAY NOTHSTINE

Want freedom? Spend more time outside Contrary to the promises emanating from the progressive schemers, politics has severe limitations to improve your life.

DOES POLITICS have you down? It should, at least to some degree. I don’t mean feeling down to the extent that it is causing you to have hysterical outbursts and dire predictions of endless calamity. Leave that for the unhinged ideologues playing on an endless loop on television and social media. Contrary to the promises emanating from the progressive schemers, politics has severe limitations to improve your life. Addiction to all things political diminishes freedom, critical thinking, and health and sanity. If that study is not published in the New England Journal of Medicine, it should be.

Freedom too means exercising your liberty and getting outside more.

Per a report from WUNC, more people are doing that. North Carolina State Parks had almost 19 million visitors last year, an increase of 9 percent from last year and 32 percent from 2013. The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh wisely expanded their park offering. The 164-acre campus of the museum is one of the largest of its kind in the world and recently added 17 acres of greenery to attract more visitors who enjoy the outdoors.

But if you live in a more populated area of our state, don’t just be one of those urbanized automatons who misses out on North Carolina’s more rustic beauty.

There is a greater need for many Americans to understand rural culture and the life it often demands.

The rural experience has less time for idleness, self-absorption, and dependency. And even though masculinity is a dirty word now, if you are male, getting outside can help you find this diminishing virtue.

When the great 19th century French writer Alexis de Tocqueville visited this country and wrote “Democracy in America,” he was not impressed much with Washington, D.C. However, upon visiting the interior, he felt like the American experiment in selfgovernment could be successful. Thomas Jefferson worried too about excessive urbanization, claiming it would make us as “corrupt as in Europe.”

For many, watching sports was once the great escape, but North Carolinians know all too well how that has been rapidly politicized. Many of the hyperideologues now even root for players or teams solely because of political blathering by an organization or sports figure.

The nearness of spring and Easter is a reminder of change and our need to spend more time in God’s good creation. Astronaut Alan Shepard said he was moved to tears upon seeing the beauty of earth from the surface of the moon. The late great Detroit Tiger announcer Ernie Harwell, a timeless voice from Georgia, captured this well when he used to kick off every opening spring training game by quoting two verses from Song of Solomon: “For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.”

Don’t miss out on the Old North State and that ancient truth.

LETTERS Here’s to free speech on campus I AM A SENIOR at UNC Chapel Hill and part of a small but growing minority on this campus. We come from all walks of life and are present in every academic department. Some call us the “Alternative Right.” Others call us “fascists.” Still others call us “ignorant,” or even worse, “racist.” Regardless of what they call us, we exist.

We’re sick and tired of hypocrite professors and suburban rich kids who bemoan the struggles of the working class but demonstrate utter contempt for every working man and woman of this country by supporting politicians and policies that ship their livelihoods overseas.

We’re sick and tired of being told to sit down and shut up by progressives who claim to believe in free speech. Most of all, we’re sick and tired of a campus culture that values the color of a person’s skin more than the content of his or her thoughts.

The rising specter of violence and intolerance on American campuses is arising from the radical left: anarchists and Marxists, mostly from upper middle class families, who would rather start a second civil war which would kill millions of innocent people than listen to a contrary opinion. They would throw away 240 years of blood, sweat, and tears in the name of “social justice,” which they use to justify violence, looting, and rioting to silence their opposition — people like gay, conservative activist Milo Yiannopoulos, who defies their most cherished stereotype.

Chris Watson Chapel Hill

BE IN TOUCH Letters addressed to the editor may be sent to letters@nsjonline.com or 819 W. Hargett St. Raleigh, N.C. 27603. 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.

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

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Guest Opinion | Grover Norquist

jonah goldberg

Media criticism of Conway reveals a double standard

Jonathan Bachman | REuters

Healthcare reform means tax cuts for North Carolinians At least seven of the 20 tax increases imposed under Obamacare hit middleand lowincome households.

While much of the discussion around Obamacare focuses on health policy, it is also a major tax bill. The day this legislative monstrosity was signed into law, Vice President Joe Biden boasted that it was a big deal. What Biden failed to mention that day is Obamacare is also a big tax hike on individuals, families, and businesses across North Carolina and the nation.

2010 was a bleak time for North Carolina taxpayers.

Then-Gov. Beverly Perdue, a Democrat, had just finished a round of mid-recession tax increases on income, sales, tobacco, and alcohol, only to have President Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress pile on with a soul-crushing amount of federal tax hikes, costing $1 trillion over a decade, as part of Obamacare.

Following Perdue’s tax hikes, Republicans took control of the state legislature and provided billions in tax relief with several rounds of tax cuts, starting with the landmark 2013 tax law. Republicans have since taken control of Capitol Hill as well, and now have a White House occupant who will sign tax relief into law by repealing Obamacare.

Repealing Obamacare will save North Carolinians from a wave tax increases, the worst of which include the following: • A 3.8 percent surtax on investment income on households or families earning at least $250,000 • Imposition of a $2,500 spending cap on flexible spending accounts that harms families who pay for special needs education for their children • A surtax of at least $695 on individuals who refrain from buying “qualifying” health insurance • A new employer mandate tax • A new tax on health insurers relative to the premiums they collect annually • Prohibiting the use of pre-tax dollars to buy overthe-counter medicines • A 40 percent tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans • A tax imposed on innovator drug companies • A 10 percent excise tax on the use of indoor tanning salons Repeal of Obamacare represents a large middle-

class tax cut. During Tom Price’s confirmation hearing to be the next secretary of Health and Human Services, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) grilled Price on whether or not repealing Obamacare would provide tax relief for the middle class.

During one exchange, McCaskill stated that “when Obamacare is repealed, no one in America who makes than less than $200,000 is going to enjoy the benefit of that.”

On this point, McCaskill is dead wrong. In fact, at least seven of the 20 tax increases imposed under Obamacare hit middle- and low-income households.

The bottom line is that repealing Obamacare would be a massive tax cut for all income levels. Either McCaskill is ignorant of that fact, or was purposefully spreading false information. Either way, it’s not good.

Additionally, health insurers in many states, including in North Carolina, have been forced to pull out of the market, leaving many individuals and families with only one health insurer available.

After UnitedHealthcare withdrew from 77 of North Carolina’s 100 counties and Aetna’s exodus from the market, a majority of North Carolinians will only have one option for health insurance. In other words, they will have no option.

Obamacare is a flawed and expensive new entitlement that passed on a party-line vote.

Republicans in Congress must now fix the havoc wreaked by Obamacare, which is so structurally unsound it would collapse under it’s own weight anyway. The good news is Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, and President Trump are getting to work on a replacement plan that will increase access to care by increasing competition in the market and reducing costs.

North Carolinians are set to realize a massive tax cut with the repeal of Obamacare. After that, Trump and Congress will turn their primary attention to the next wave of tax relief for Americans in the form of ratereducing tax reform.

protection paid for by American taxpayers, flies around the world making new business deals. How sweet it is.

But Trump and his sons and daughter aren’t the only family members who see the White House as a money-making opportunity.

So, apparently, does first lady Melania Trump. In a lawsuit filed against the Daily Mail for falsely alleging she’d once worked as an escort, Trump seeks $150 million, not just for any damage to her reputation, but for the loss of a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” while first lady of the United States, to profit from her brand.

Among products the first lady hopes to offer, according to papers filed by attorney Charles Harder, are: apparel, accessories, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, hair care, skin care, and fragrance.

In 2000, 15 years before he actually became a candidate, Donald Trump bragged to Fortune magazine: “It’s very possible that I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it.” That’s one goal he’s already accomplished — for his entire family. They will leave Washington even wealthier than they are today.

And the rest of us will be that much poorer.

Bill Press is host of a nationallysyndicated radio show, CNN political analyst, and author.

Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review.

Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform, a taxpayer advocacy organization founded in 1985 at the request of President Ronald Reagan.

The Trump family cashes in President Trump continues to profit from every business transaction involving every Trump product worldwide.

buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.”

Conway’s remark is in clear violation of the Office of Government Ethics ban on White House staff endorsing products or companies. But don’t expect anybody in the Trump White House to hold her accountable.

They’re all too busy cashing in themselves.

Financial records show that one of the principal beneficiaries of the Trump campaign was Trump’s business empire, which, among other expenses, billed his campaign $5.6 million for use of his plane; $1.3 million for office rent; $432,000 for events at Mar-A-Lago; $544,000 for food and meeting rooms. For Trump, running for office was a moneymaking scam.

Unlike most other presidents, Republican and Democrat, Trump refused to divest himself of his business holdings. Instead, he transferred management of more than 300 companies to his sons, but not ownership — a plan that Walter Shaub, head of the Office of Government Ethics, denounced as “meaningless,” and “not meeting the standard that ... every president of the past four decades has met.”

President Trump continues to profit from every business transaction involving every Trump product worldwide. Meanwhile, his son Eric, with Secret Service

Singling out Conway would strike millions as further evidence that the press changes its standards depending on which party is in power.

I can understand Rosen’s frustration.

President Trump’s surrogates, including Vice President Mike Pence, have mastered the art of defending straw-man positions that don’t reflect the actions and views of the president himself.

But this talk of refusing to interview Conway is baffling and bizarre. It’s also a bit ironic, given the hysteria this week over Sen. Elizabeth Warren being “silenced” by the Senate.

Apparently, using a parliamentary technique to cut off a demagogic stemwinder in the Senate is sexist. But cavalierly insulting Conway, the first successful female presidential campaign manager, is fine — and calling for her media banishment is the height of journalistic seriousness.

In 2012, Susan Rice, Barack Obama’s national security adviser, flatly lied on five Sunday news shows about the attack on the Benghazi compound. No one talked of banning her from the airwaves. Nor should they have.

Here’s a news flash for the news industry: Birds are gonna fly, fish are gonna swim, and politicians are gonna lie. The assumption that Conway is uniquely dishonest strikes me as not only preposterous but irrelevant. If she’s that dishonest, a good interviewer will make that clear to the viewer.

The arrogance is remarkable. The Fourth Estate priesthood thinks viewers can’t see through Conway’s spin, so they must be protected from it. It’s a compliment to Conway and her skills, and an admission of incompetence by the press.

But the more important point is that singling out Conway would strike millions of viewers — and voters — as further evidence that the press changes its standards depending on which party is in power. Under President George W. Bush, vast swaths of the media celebrated dissent as the highest form of patriotism.

Under President Obama, dissent became the lowest form of racism. And upon Donald Trump’s election, dissent became not only patriotic but a requirement.

While not a news organization, “Saturday Night Live” is emblematic of this mindset. Jim Downey, the SNL writer in charge of political mockery, insisted that there was simply nothing funny about Obama. “It’s like being a rock climber looking up at a thousand-foothigh face of solid obsidian, polished and oiled,” Downey said. “There’s not a single thing to grab onto — certainly not a flaw or hook that you can caricature.”

The Trump White House, meanwhile, is a bottomless source of japery. That’s fine. But the double standard is obvious to those who don’t share the political biases of “SNL,” “The Daily Show” or, for that matter, CNN.

column | bill press

It’s the toughest job in the world: president of the United States, forced to juggle so many weighty issues at once: foreign policy, terrorism, the economy, jobs, health care, climate change, immigration, drugs, and crime.

So what does Donald Trump find time to focus on? His daughter’s clothing line. On Feb. 8 — while the official White House calendar showed he was in the middle of his daily intelligence briefing — Trump fired off a tweet attacking Nordstrom for dropping Ivanka Trump’s brand of merchandise: “My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!”

Still not satisfied, Trump ordered that the same tweet be dispatched from the official White House Twitter account and sent out Press Secretary Sean Spicer to accuse Nordstrom of playing politics.

Nordstrom officials explained that their move was strictly a business decision. “Over the past year ... sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn’t make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now,” Nordstrom said in a statement.

But the very next morning, top White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said: “It’s a wonderful line.

I own some of it. I fully — I’m going to give a free commercial here. Go

CNN has grave concerns about White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway’s credibility and even refused to have her on its Sunday show recently, apparently to protect viewers from her Jedi mind trick powers.

CNN subsequently invited Conway on, infuriating a chorus of liberal media critics who insist she must be shunned like a harlot in an Amish colony.

Now, I should disclose that I know Conway a bit and like her. At the same time, no one who’s read my columns over the last two years would accuse me of being a cheerleader for her or her boss.

Conway’s job is, at least in part, to sell the president’s agenda and fight back against a hostile press. She is very good at it. Too good, apparently.

Bill Moyers, who had a similar job for President Lyndon Johnson, lamented CNN’s decision not to permanently ban Conway, which is the “the surest way to prevent a professional con artist from using you to pollute the airwaves with one flagrant lie after another.”

Moyers says Conway is the “administration’s official Queen of B-----”, which is an interesting charge coming from someone who used to clean out LBJ’s stables gustily.

Journalism professor Jay Rosen thinks there’s little journalistic value in giving Conway a platform. “The logic is, this is a representative of the president,” Rosen said in a podcast. “But if we find that what Kellyanne Conway says is routinely or easily contradicted by Donald Trump, then that rationale disappears.”

“Another reason to interview Kellyanne Conway is, our viewers want to understand how the Trump world thinks,” Rosen added.

“But if the end result of an interview is more confusion about what the Trump world thinks, then that rationale evaporates.”

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North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

Nation & WORLD

CIRCUS ENDING 146-YEAR RUN

Genetic study may make ancient Inca’s quinoa grain of the future

Swedish ‘edutainer’ Hans Rosling dead at 68

Washington, D.C. Quinoa, the sacred “mother grain” of the ancient Inca civilization suppressed by Spanish conquistadors, could become an increasingly important food source in the future thanks to genetic secrets revealed in a new study. Scientists on Wednesday said they have mapped the genome of quinoa and identified a gene that could be manipulated to get rid of the grain’s natural bitter taste and pave the way for more widespread commercial use.

Islamic State-linked group claims rocket attack on Israeli resort Istanbul An Islamic State-affiliated group claimed responsibility for firing rockets on Thursday towards Israel’s Red Sea resort of Eilat from Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, an attack that Israel said caused no damage or casualties. The Sinai Province group said it fired “a number of Grad rockets against gatherings of Zionist occupiers” in Eilat.

CHRISTINE T. NGUYEN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Matthew Iverson plays a young version of his father, Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson, during Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ “Out of This World” show at PNC Arena on Thursday, Feb. 9.

Stockholm Swedish academic Hans Rosling, a doctor and statistician who captured a worldwide audience with his witty style and original thinking on topics like population growth and development, has died at the age of 68. With humor, lively graphics and an impassioned rhetorical style, Rosling used forums like online TED talks to influence public debate.

Senators want say on any Trump Russia sanctions Washington, D.C. Senior U.S. senators called on Wednesday for the right to review any move the White House might make to ease sanctions on Russia, amid mounting concern in Congress — and among U.S. allies — that President Donald Trump will be too conciliatory toward Moscow. The lawmakers, led by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), introduced “The Russia Sanctions Review Act of 2017,” modeled on a 2015 bill that let Congress review the Iran nuclear agreement signed by then-President Barack Obama.

U.S. general says more troops needed in Afghanistan An Afghan man walks in a snowcovered street on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan Feb. 6.

Gen. John Nicholson calls for ‘a few thousand’ more soldiers to break stalemate

By Josh Smith Reuters

FLU from pageA1 cine is a good match to the strands that are circulating,” Douglas said.

The flu mist is not available this year because of its lack of effectiveness.

“That’s a big loss for us, because it’s easier to get the children and even some needle-phobic people to take the flu mist,” Douglas said.

She said DHHS will look at the impact of not having the flu mist after the season, but are expecting its return next year.

Douglas encourages everyone to get the flu vaccine, especially because the vaccine is available for everyone — uninsured, under-insured or insured. She said anyone who walks into their clinic receives a flu vaccine, unless they decline it.

“The CDC recommends all people get the flu vaccine, especially people that have immune compromise, maybe a chronic illness, pregnant women, children, people who care for children and people who care for those that are ill,” Douglas said. “Especially healthy

MOHAMMAD ISMAIL | REUTERS

U.S. military officials say much of the loss of territory reflects a change in strategy, with Afghan forces abandoning many checkpoints and bases in order to consolidate and focus on the most threatened areas.

people, because you can spread flu disease when you have it.”

“If you are vaccinated, you are also protecting your family, your children, your co-workers. It reduces the instances of illness, which reduces loss of work day, absenteeism from school. It’s a good tried and true method of preventing illness. This year the strands are a good match.”

If you are beginning to feel sick or around others with flu-like symptoms, Douglas recommends going to the doctors and trying to eliminate the spread of germs.

“If you’re sick, go to the doctors,” she said. “Practice good hand washing. Don’t touch your face and mouth. Wash your hands all the time. Cover your coughs and sneezes. All those things that they tell you when you’re a kid, it really does work.”

In a few cases this year, the flu has resulted in death, including a child from western North Carolina.

“If there is any positive to come from this tragedy, we hope it will be that people understand even

groups like Islamic State.

As of November, the government could only claim to control or influence 57 percent of Afghanistan’s 407 districts, according to U.S. military estimates released by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), in a quarterly report to the U.S. Congress.

That represents a 15 percent decrease in territory held compared with the same time in 2015, the agency said in a report.

“SIGAR’s analysis of the most recent data provided by U.S. forces in Afghanistan suggests that the security situation in Afghanistan has not improved this quarter,” it said.

“The numbers of the Afghan security forces are decreasing, while both casualties and the number of districts under insurgent control

operations Dominik Stillhart told Reuters in Geneva.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said his group was not involved in the attack and promised that Taliban members would “put all their efforts into finding the perpetrators.”

Afghan government controls less than 60 percent of country A watchdog report released Wednesday said that Afghan government controls less than 60 percent of the country, after security forces retreated from many strongholds last year.

Afghan soldiers and police, with the aid of thousands of foreign military advisers, are struggling to hold off a resurgent insurgency led by the Taliban, as well as other

INFLUENZA SURVEILLANCE, NC 2016-2017 Influenza-Like Illness in ILINET Outpatient Visits

2016-2017 2015-2016

7% 6%

% Influenza-Like Illness

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said on Thursday he needs several thousand more international troops in order to break a stalemate in a war with Taliban insurgents, signaling the matter may soon be put before President Donald Trump.

“I have adequate resourcing in my counterterrorism mission. In my train, advise and assist mission, however, we have a shortfall of a few thousand,” Army Gen. John Nicholson, who leads U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Nicholson’s testimony comes as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) suspended operations in Afghanistan on Wednesday after gunmen killed six employees helping deliver emergency relief to a remote northern region hit by heavy snow storms.

The governor of Jowzjan province said the aid convoy was attacked by suspected Islamic State gunmen. The head of the ICRC called the incident the “worst attack against us” in 20 years, but the charity said it did not know who was responsible.

A search operation was underway to find two charity workers who were still missing late on Wednesday night.

“As we speak our operations are on hold indeed, because we need to understand what exactly happened before we can hopefully resume our operations,” ICRC director of

or influence are increasing.”

More than 10 percent of districts are under insurgent control or influence, while 33 percent are contested, according to the report.

Some of the most contested provinces include Uruzgan, with five of six districts under insurgent control or influence, and Helmand, with eight of its 14 districts under insurgent control or influence.

U.S. military officials say much of the loss of territory reflects a change in strategy, with Afghan forces abandoning many checkpoints and bases in order to consolidate and focus on the most threatened areas.

Insurgents tried at least eight times to capture provincial capitals, although each assault was eventually beaten off.

According to U.S. military estimates, the number of Afghans living under insurgent control or influence decreased slightly in recent months to about 2.5 million people.

But nearly a third of the country, or 9.2 million people, live in areas that are contested, according to SIGAR, leading to some of the highest civilian casualty rates the United Nations has ever recorded in Afghanistan.

Afghan security forces also sustained heavy casualties, with at least 6,785 soldiers and police killed in the first 10 months of last year, with 11,777 wounded, SIGAR reported.

Casualty figures are rarely released by the Afghan government, while difficulties in confirming and tracking troop numbers make any figures subject to wide variation.

SIGAR reported some progress in combating corruption, which has plagued both Afghan military and political institutions.

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though flu is a very common virus, it can cause serious and even deadly infections in some people,” Dr. Zack Moore, the acting state epidemiologist, said.

“Flu vaccination is the most effective protection against flu,” Moore said. “There is still time to

protect yourself and your loved ones.”

Douglas said getting the flu vaccine is about promoting the health of the community.

“It’s about protecting yourself and protecting your family,” Douglas said. “I think that it sends

the wrong message you’re trying to prevent death, but what you’re trying to do is promote health. To do that just a simple shot in the arm for the whole season. I think that’s a better message. That’s what our health educators try to promote.”

SUNDAY, FEBUARY 12, 2017

SPORTS

How well do coaches in N.C. keep recruits from leaving the state? See the stats: Page 3

Duke 86 | Unc 78

Duke writes new chapter in sport’s best rivalry

Mark Dolejs | Usa Today Sports Images

The Cameron Crazies get pumped up before the start of the Duke Blue Devils vs. North Carolina Tar Heels game at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham on Feb. 10,2017 .

Big rivalry win gives Devils the look of a team starting to peak at the right time Freshmen class finally ing where he would have been in providing reinforcements for October and November” hit all three of the shots he took and stretch run

By Shawn Krest North State Journal he Duke-Carolina game can be an overwhelming exT perience, especially when it’s a

player’s first time experiencing it.

Jayson Tatum said that, like so many past freshmen in both shades of blue, he was nervous at the start of the game. It took him until halftime to get out of his funk.

Fellow freshman Harry Giles wasn’t buying that.

“Ain’t got time to be in a haze,” Giles said, as he bounced around manically, trying to stay seated in his locker room chair. “You gotta go. You don’t have time to soak it all in. That’s for when I was watching. Now it’s time to be a part of the game.”

Giles spent the first five weeks of the season watching, as he recovered from knee surgery.

Marques Bolden, a third freshman five-star, also missed the first five weeks with an injury.

Tatum missed closer to three.

For the first month of their college basketball careers, three of the top freshmen in the country were unable to work with their new teammates, learn the speed and complexity of the college game and contribute to a Duke team that was the consensus pick for number one in the ACC and nation.

“We envisioned all these grueling practices, five-on-five,” Mike Krzyzewski said earlier this season. “It hasn’t turned out that way.”

Now, Giles, Tatum and Bolden have actually had some time on the floor, and Duke has been able to practice with its fully-operational Death Star of a roster for a few weeks.

As Thursday’s 86-78 win over North Carolina showed, Duke is finally starting to become what everyone expected four months ago.

Giles, who a few weeks ago was described by coaches as “be-

contributed on defense, blocking a shot, forcing a travel on UNC and deflecting a few passes.

Frank Jackson, the only freshman contributor who has been around all season, hit all four of his shots, too. Bolden, still a work in progress, contributed valuable minutes in the first half, and Tatum took control of the game after halftime, scoring 19 points and throwing down a thunderous dunk that energized crowd and team.

“I’m really proud of my freshmen big guys [Giles and Bolden],” Krzyzewski said, after Duke was able to outrebound a UNC team that had been dominating the boards on a school-record pace.

“They’re coming on. For them to get the minutes they did today— as a player, you’ve got a chance to be tight in a game like this. You get nervous. It’s a big-time game.

They haven’t played at that level.”

The kids are growing up and, in effect, giving Duke the nation’s best recruiting class as a mid-February reinforcement for the stretch run.

“There aren’t the interruptions,” Krzyzewski said. “We have had more interruptions than six teams. I mean really. No excuses, just that’s the way it is.

Now we have come together. …

Continuity and preparation — we have more of it right now.”

They also have one of the nation’s best recruits, refusing to waste any of his one-and-done college career by being lost in a haze. They have another of the nation’s best bouncing back from an off first half to carry his team down the stretch.

“That’s a sign of maturity for him,” Grayson Allen said of Tatum.

“It’s really, really cool to see some of the young guys step up tonight,” Luke Kennard added.

“It was huge. We all grew up tonight. We were all together. We were all tough and very unselfish. It was really fun to play.”

The freshmen, and with them the entire team, have gone from See Duke, page B4

7

Three-point shots made for guard Grayson Allen

48.1

Percentage of shots made from three-point range

19

Second half points for freshman Jayson Tatum

55.6

Free-throw percentage (on 18 shots) for Tar Heels

-1

Rebound differential for UNC, country’s top rebounding team

5

Turnovers total for North Carolina’s team

Tar Heels stay focused on positives, redemption in wake of loss to Duke The emotion and Isaiah Hicks’ injury, the flaws that were exposed can’t be explained away by saying “they made more plays than we did.”

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal oel Berry was understandably disappointed and J apologetic Thursday night after

than we did.”

That’s especially true since the Tar Heels suffered some of the same problems, especially on defense, as they did in previous ACC losses at Miami and Georgia Tech. They’re issues they’ll have to address and quickly with a closing stretch that includes two games against Virginia, a home game against Louisville and a trip to Pittsburgh in addition to those upcoming rivalry showdowns against State and Duke.

“At this point we’ve got to realize that we can’t keep talking about the same things,” senior guard Nate Britt said. “We have to do it. Every loss, it’s been because our defense hasn’t been what it’s needed to be.”

UNC allowed Duke to shoot 52.6 percent from the floor and gave perimeter shooters Grayson Allen and Luke Kennard so many open looks from the perimeter that they made a blistering 9 of 17 between them from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Blue Devils also battled the Tar Heels to a virtual standoff on the board, a fact that can only partially be attributed to Hicks’ absence. UNC came into the game leading the nation in rebound margin.

While the Tar Heels stayed in the game by shooting better than 52 percent themselves, their chances at winning slipped away at the end when they suddenly went cold from both the floor and the free throw line and were outscored 16-7 over the final seven minutes.

“If we want to be a championship team, we’ve got to get stops,” junior wing Theo Pinson said.

“You can’t depend on offense.

Offense is too hit-or-miss,” Britt added. “Throughout the season defense can be consistent if you only put the effort in, make the right switches and play smart. If we want to win out and try to get a one seed [to the NCAA tournament], it has to happen now.”

As much as that sense of urgency will be needed for the stretch run that’s just beginning, as Berry pointed out, there were

North Carolina’s 86-78 loss to Duke at Cameron Stadium.

The junior point guard was also remarkably upbeat despite Carolina dropping the ultimate rivalry game by failing to produce a field goal in the final 2:58 “It’s just one loss,” Berry said.

“I know every game means something, but at the same time we can’t hang our heads just because it’s a big rivalry and we wanted to win it not only for ourselves but our fans.

“That’s the great thing about basketball. You lose some, you win some. But you always have the chance to come back and redeem yourself.”

The Tar Heels (21-5, 9-3 ACC) will have to wait at least until next Wednesday, when they travel to NC State, before getting their first chance at returning to the win column. They’ll have to wait even longer, until the final day of the regular season on March 4, to get another shot at the Blue Devils.

The fact that they were already looking ahead in the moments after their most disheartening defeat of the season rather dwelling on the events that had just taken place, is a positive sign considering the gauntlet that awaits them over the final four weeks of the regular season.

While it’s easy to dismiss Thursday’s loss because of the venue, the emotion of the rivalry and the extenuating circumstance of Isaiah Hicks’ injury — which forced UNC to play without one of its best inside scoring and rebounding threats — the flaws that were exposed can’t simply be dismissed by saying “they just made more plays See UNC, page B5

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

B2 SUNDAY

02.12.17 Trending

Bob Costas: Longtime NBC Olympics announcer officially “passed the torch” to Mike Tirico, who will begin the primetime hosting duties starting in 2018. Tirico, a graduate of Syracuse, attended school on the Bob Costas Scholarship. Costas hosted the Olympics since 1992.

Jeffery Loria: Miami Marlins owner has a handshake agreement to sell the team to an unnamed New York City businessman for $1.6 billion, according to a report from Forbes.

Jabari Parker: Bucks forward and former Duke star suffered a non-contact knee injury during Milwaukee’s game on Wednesday. Parker’s injury was to his left knee and he previously tore the ACL in his right knee.

Joe Montana: The former 49ers quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer would not agree to call Patriots quarterback the greatest quarterback of all time in an interview with the Hallmark Channel.

Joseph Randle: Former Cowboys running back was once again in the spotlight for criminal behavior, this time because he was charged with assaulting a fellow inmate while in prison.

Randle has been behind bars since June and now faces additional charges.

Chris Long: Patriots defensive end became the sixth player on the team to confirm he would skip a trip to the White House, although Long said Thursday it was not political.

Also likely skipping are Martellus Bennett, Dont’a Hightower, James White Devin McCourty and Alan Branch.

beyond the box score POTENT QUOTABLES

nba

The New York Knicks continued to be a special kind of disaster on Wednesday, when the team had long-time star Charles Oakley thrown out of Madison Square Garden and arrested following an altercation with security. The Knicks issued a statement following the incident, saying Oakley “was a great Knick and we hope he gets some help.”

John David Mercer | USA TSI

“I think he did receive a fair evaluation of his career, both pros and cons.”

Hall of Fame quarterback, NFL broadcaster and former Charger legend Dan Fouts explaining why he believed wide receiver Terrell Owens is not a Hall of Famer.

Brad Penner | Usa Today Sports images

nba

nfl

Adam Hunger | USA TODAY SPORTS IMAGES

“I’ll pack Phil’s bags for him.”

Legendary filmmaker and huge Knicks fan Spike Lee when asked about the brewing feud between Knicks president Phil Jackson and Knicks star forward Carmelo Anthony.

The two bombastic personalities appear headed for a very public collision.

cbb

92 Points scored by Chino Hills star LaMelo Ball, in a single game against an actual team attempting to stop him from scoring.

Ball, the brother of standout UCLA standout freshman Lonzo Ball, is a sophomore in high school and has already committed to play for the Bruins when he finishes up his high school career. Ball went 30-for-39 from the floor and added 7 assists to boot.

twitter | @Thescore

via adidas

Denver Broncos standout linebacker Von Miller is no stranger to aggressively pursuing his prey, or for wearing flashy clothing. The runnerup for Defensive Player of the Year combined the two with a pair of cleats made of Kevlar with sharks on them.

The Internet is a strange place, but also sort of magical, and on Thursday someone created former President Barack Obama as a player in the basketball game NBA 2K17. Obama was initially placed on the Hornets and described as a “dunking fiend.”

nfl

Super Bowl LI is in the rearview mirror, but NFL Films and “Inside the NFL” revealed some incredible nuggets about the game itself with behind-the-scenes footage courtesy of mics attached to players. Most notable was Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman, who made one of the most incredible and lucky catches you will ever see against the Falcons.

Edelman knew he caught the ball too, even though he wasn’t sure how, before replay confirmed the catch.

Matthew Emmons | USA TODAY SPORTS IMAGEs

Always Dry. Always Comfortable.

introducing the NEW 29 Express

w w w . a l b e m a r l e b o at s . c o m

Find us on

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

B3

Building a recruiting wall How well do North Carolina coaches keep top players inside the state?

Percentage of top 50, in-state players that remained in North Carolina for college

About half of the best prospects in the state sign with North Carolina schools

By Shawn Krest North State Journal ho knew that Donald Trump was such a fan of colW lege football recruiting?

One of the first things a new coach does when taking over a college program is to promise to build a wall around the state.

Urban Meyer has been a success at Ohio State. Why? Because he build a wall. Nick Saban built one around Alabama too.

A quick Google search of the phrase finds that wall building is the key to football success in Iowa, Georgia, Louisiana and even Kansas.

Sometimes, coaches temper expectations, just a bit, and order a fence around the state, instead of a wall.

Either way, the idea is to keep the best players from leaving the state, and preferably coming to play at your school.

The state of North Carolina is no different. Mack Brown talked about walls and fences more than 20 years ago, almost as soon as he was hired by UNC. Current Tar Heels coach Larry Fedora made the same promise when he took the job. “We’ve just ordered a huge fence that will go up around the entire state, with barbed wire on top,” Fedora said at his introductory press conference in 2012. “That’s the deal — to put up a border around the state and not let anybody in and to keep the players here. It’s definitely something that we’ve made a priority.

We’ve got to keep the great players in the state of North Carolina. I told them at the clinic, I don’t care what school you go to. If you grew up in North Carolina and you’re a great player you should stay in North Carolina. There are a lot of great schools here and that’s number one.”

Dave Doeren said something similar when he took over at NC State. “Seeing all the great players from North Carolina starting as freshmen at other schools is upsetting,” he said. “It is, and I am going to fight for those guys, and we’re going to do it the right way. … If they want to leave, it’s going to be really hard.”

The perception is that Doeren, Fedora, and their counterparts at Wake, Duke, ECU and elsewhere haven’t been very effective. With Clemson to the south, Virginia Tech to the north and Tennessee to the west, high-level programs frequently slip through holes in the wall and poach prospects. Last

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal In a surprise move, North Carolina defensive coordinator Gene Chizik has announced that he is stepping down from his position on coach Larry Fedora’s staff to spend more time with his family in Auburn, Ala. Chizik, who as head coach led Auburn to the 2010 national championship, has spent the past two seasons with the Tar Heels and was instrumental in transforming the UNC defense from one of the worst in the country to a unit good enough to win 19 games and the 2015 ACC Coastal Division title during his tenure.

For his work, he was named a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.

“After a lot of prayer and discussions with my wife and children, I have made the difficult decision to step away from coaching to be with my family,” Chizik said in a statement issued by UNC only hours before Thursday’s rivalry basketball

Percentage

2015

56%

2016

50%

2017

48%

Keep Out: States who retained the highest percentage of top 50 players in 2017 State

Christine T. Nguyen | North State Journal

NC State head coach Dave Doeren hugs running back Matthew Dayes (21) after scoring a touchdown during the football game against North Carolina at Kenan Stadium Nov. 25, 2016.

Percent of top 50 that stay home

Michigan

54%

North Carolina

48%

Washington

48%

California

44%

Florida

44%

Arizona

42%

Alabama

40%

Tennessee

40%

Pennsylvania

38%

South Carolina

38%

Welcome mat: States who retained the lowest percentage of top 50 players State

Percent of top 50 that stay home

Minnesota

14%

Maryland

20%

Illinois

24%

Oregon

25%

Ohio

26%

Mississippi

26%

New Jersey

28%

Louisiana

30%

Virginia

32%

New York

32%

Christine T. Nguyen | North State Journal

North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora huddles during a timeout at Kenan Stadium Nov. 25, 2016.

year, every recruit ranked in the state’s top 10 signed with an outof-state school. This year, Florida State, Florida and Oklahoma joined the Tigers and Hokies in grabbing top 10 high schoolers.

Overall, however, North Carolina coaches do better than most other states in walling off their state. Fedora signed four Top 10 prospects this year, matching Doeren’s success two years ago.

Over the past three seasons, about half of the top 50 prospects in North Carolina signed with in-

Chizik steps down as UNC defensive coordinator The former Auburn head coach is leaving to spend more time with his family after two seasons with the Tar Heels

Year

game against Duke. “The past two years at the University of North Carolina and the opportunity to work with Coach Fedora have been a blessing, and I’m extremely proud of the success we enjoyed. I have always told my players family should come before football, and it’s time for me to follow my own advice. I look forward to watching my own son play the game I’ve dedicated my life and career to for the next two years, and I look forward to the simple joys of being a father and husband I’ve missed out on.”

Fedora wasted little time naming Chizik’s replacement.

Linebackers coach John Papuchis, who worked with Chizik for the past two seasons and previously served as defensive coordinator at Nebraska, has been promoted to a similar position leading the Tar Heels’ defense.

In addition to his work at Nebraska, Papuchis has worked as an assistant under Nick Saban at LSU and as a graduate assistant at Kansas.

“John is a natural fit to take over our defense given his role the last two years and his previous experience as a coordinator,” Fedora said. “He knows our players and staff and will seamlessly transition into an expanded role.”

state schools.

In 2015, North Carolina football coaches were rolling along, maintaining 56 percent of the top 50 players from the state.

That figure has dipped in subsequent years — down to 50 percent in 2016 and below the halfway point in 2017 — but still remains impressive.

While this year’s 48 percent mark is the lowest of the last three and seems to continue a downward trend, it is the second-best mark among states with at least 50

ranked prospects. Only Michigan, where Jim Harbaugh inked the top six players in the state, has a better wall.

One of the reasons that Clemson and Tennessee are able to venture into North Carolina to chase the top prospects is that they do a relatively good job of shoring up their own state first. It’s why local schools have been able to take successful forays into Georgia in recent years.

Then there are the states that have constructed mini Statues of

Liberty on their border. “Give me your wretched recruiters from out-of-state schools.”

It’s interesting to note that many of the states near the bottom of the list have had coaching changes at the top schools in the state in the last two years (LSU, Illinois, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Syracuse).

Clearly one of the lessons for the local coaches is that they’ve been right since day one: The best way to keep your job is to keep that wall standing.

Big 12 cuts Baylor funds after scandal

By Jon Herskovitz The Sports XChange AUSTIN — The Big 12 athletics conference decided on Wednesday to withhold a portion of the revenue due to Texas’ Baylor University as it checks reforms implemented at the world’s largest Baptist college in response to sexual assaults by it athletes.

The university has been rocked by scandals for more than a year over whether it failed to do enough to prevent and investigate sexual assaults against women by football players and others. The scandals, which coincide with growing outrage over sexual assault on U.S. college campuses, led to the ouster of the school’s president and its football coach.

The college athletics conference’s board of directors voted unanimously to withhold 25 percent of future revenue distribution payments to Baylor pending the outcome of a third-party review of its reforms, the conference said.

“By taking these actions the Board desires to ensure that the changes that were promised are actually made and that systems are in place to avoid future problems,” David Boren, University of Oklahoma president and Big 12 Conference Board of Directors chairman, said in a statement.

The decision to withhold funds came after Baylor’s new strength and conditioning coach was arrested on Feb. 4 on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute. Baylor said in a statement it has fired the coach

Raymond Carlin III | Usa Today Sports images

BaylorBears head coach Jim Grobe stands on the field during the playing of the fight song McLane Stadium on Nov. 19, 2016.

for conduct contradictory to the university’s values.

In a statement on Wednesday, Baylor University’s Interim President David Garland said the school “took unprecedented corrective actions that led to leadership changes within the University administration and athletic department.”

He added the decision to withhold conference distributions was unexpected but he did not see it as having an impact on the university’s financial position.

Local media reports said Baylor was likely to lose around $7.6 million.

Alumni groups for the Waco, Texas university have criticized Baylor for what they say is a lack of transparency about the sex-

ual scandals that have come as its men’s football and basketball teams have become conference powerhouses.

The U.S. Department of Education last year launched an investigation into Baylor University’s response to sexual violence on campus.

Last May, Baylor ousted Kenneth Starr as university president and Art Briles as its football coach after an independent report found that administrators mishandled sexual abuse cases involving football players.

Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton during his presidency, has said he was unaware of what was happening at the school but still accepted responsibility.

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

B4

Duke

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

battle of the blues

B5

North Carolina

Mark Dolejs | Usa Today Sports Images

Mark Dolejs | Usa Today Sports Images

Blue Devils forward Harry Giles (1) reacts after dunking the ball against the Tar Heels in the second half of their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Tar Heels guard Seventh Woods (21) drives against the Blue Devils in the first half of their game.

Mark Dolejs | Usa Today Sports Images

Mark Dolejs | Usa Today Sports Images

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams reacts on the sidelines.

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski instructs his players on the court.

Mark Dolejs | Usa Today Sports Images

Mark Dolejs | Usa Today Sports Images

Duke guard Grayson Allen (3) drives the ball against North Carolina forward Justin Jackson (44).

Tar Heels forward Theo Pinson (1) drives against Duke Blue Devils forward Amile Jefferson (21) in the first half.

Mark Dolejs | Usa Today Sports Images

Mark Dolejs | Usa Today Sports Images

Blue Devils guard Grayson Allen (3) slams the ball over North Carolina Tar Heels forward Kennedy Meeks (3) in the second half.

North Carolina forward Justin Jackson (44) drives the ball against Duke guard Matt Jones (13) in the first half.

Duke from page B1

UNC from page B1

relying on raw talent to relying on each other. That’s something that’s required, in order to win the battles on the ACC schedule, and after them, the wars of March.

“That’s a good lesson for us,” Krzyzewski said. “When we lost the lead, when they took the lead, doing that, the game could’ve been over.

Instead our team got really tough, and we were able to pull it out.”

Pulling games out is something Duke has made a habit of, recently, and it bodes well for the limited amount of time the freshmen have left this season.

“We were behind, compared to other teams, in building chemistry, because so many guys were hurt,” Tatum said. “We’re trying to catch up, but we’re moving at a fast rate. It shows with these past four wins. They were four tough Ws. The will for us to win that Wake Forest game, coming back from so many points down. To go on the road and beat a great Notre Dame team. We were just in tough tough situations.

We fought through so much adversity. We’re building each and every day to get better.”

“Maturity’s a hell of a thing,” Krzyzewski said.

still plenty of encouraging signs to be found amid the disappointment of Thursday’s loss.

For one, Pinson returned from a foot injury that cost him the three previous games to record six points, a team-leading seven rebounds and three assists. Freshman point guard Seventh Woods made his most meaningful contribution since the start of the ACC schedule by making two of his three shots and handing out four assists with no turnovers in seven minutes.

Williams also said he liked the competitiveness of his team, even when things didn’t go according to

Mark Dolejs | usa today sports images

Blue Devils forward Harry Giles (1) and forward Jayson Tatum (0) react after Tatum scored against the Tar Heels in the second half of their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham on Feb. 9, 2017.

plan.

“I thought we were focused and bad plays didn’t affect us,” the UNC coach said. “They just kept getting the ball, moving it and competing.”

Maintaining that kind of effort consistently will be a key factor for the Tar Heels as they attempt to pick themselves back up and prevent any further stumbles through their tough closing schedule. After Thursday’s loss, they should at least have plenty of motivation to carry them through to the end of the regular season.

“They were just better than us tonight,” sophomore forward Luke Maye said. “We’ll get them back at our place.”

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

B6

2017 NASCAR Rookie of the Year competition is a three-horse race Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez and Ty Dillon make up one of the most competitive Rookie of the Year battles ever

By R. Cory Smith North State Journal he top tier of NASCAR racing is an ever-changing T cycle of new faces in different places. This season is no different, with two standout rookies taking over rides from veteran drivers and another joining a brand new team for a breakout program.

In the last three years, Erik Jones, Ty Dillon and Daniel Suarez have combined for 18 wins and two championships across the Camping World Trucks and Xfinity Series.

The Joe Gibbs Racing tandem of Jones and Suarez — who combined for 15 of those 18 wins — is clearly the cream of the crop to beat in this year’s rookie class, but Dillon has the backing of Richard Childress Racing in the garage. With the 2017 NASCAR season kicking off in two weeks with the Daytona 500, here’s a quick dive into the prospects for the top three drivers in the Rookie of the Year discussion.

Erik Jones, Furniture Row Racing There isn’t a level of NASCAR that Jones hasn’t blistered en route to his first season in the Monster Energy Series. After winning the Truck Series championship in his first full-time season in 2015, Jones won four Xfinity races last year and finished fourth in points.

How good is Jones? Furniture Row Racing created an entirely new team just to put the 20-year-old driver at the top level of NASCAR. Similar to Suarez with Edwards, Jones has a great mentor to work with in teammate Martin Truex Jr. “[Truex] and I haven’t had a chance to talk a whole lot in the offseason,” Jones said. “I hadn’t talked to him much before we announced this deal at Watkins Glen. I think that relationship will grow when we get back in the racing mode. I’d love to talk to him more about transitioning into the Cup Series more since he went through the same thing.

“I think he will be a great teammate and for Furniture Row, it will be beneficial to have two cars at the track.”

Already sponsored by both

Sam Sharpe | Usa Today Sports Images

Daniel Suarez, driver of the #19 Arris Toyota on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, addresses the media after the announcement of the retirement of driver Carl Edwards during a press conference at Joe Gibbs Racing headquarters in Huntersville, N.C. on Jan. 11, 2017.

5-Hour Energy and Sports Clips, Jones has the backing to make FRR’s second team a success. Coupled with a partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing and a rookie who describes himself as a “checkers-or-wreckers kind of driver,” and Jones enters the year as the top candidate for NASCAR’s Rookie of the Year.

Daniel Suarez, Joe Gibbs Racing One month ago, the NASCAR world learned the shocking news that Carl Edwards would not return to the sport. Luckily for Joe Gibbs Racing, the defending Xfinity Series champion Suarez was ready to immediately make the leap into the No. 19 car.

While Edwards is stepping away from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, he hasn’t left the JGR garage completely.

The two-time runner up for the title has offered his advice to Suarez ahead of his rookie campaign.

“He’s an amazing driver,” Suarez said of Edwards. “He has won at almost every raceway in NASCAR. … It’s a huge deal for me. For him to help my entire team, I really appreciate that a lot.”

Suarez doesn’t need much help, however, after a dominant Xfinity Series season last year.

The former Drive for Diversity participant has seen his star rise quickly after just two full-time seasons in NASCAR. It will take some time to emerge from under Edwards’ shadow, but Suarez is yet another strong driver out of the JGR stable. And with Toyota Racing’s recent success, a win in Suarez’s

first season isn’t out of the discussion.

Ty Dillon, Germain Racing Dillon’s transition to the top level of NASCAR was bound to happen. The fact that it came at the expense of veteran driver and all-around good dude Casey Mears was unfortunate.

While he hasn’t captured a championship at any NASCAR level like his fellow rookies, Dillon does have the backing of Richard Childress Racing.

Germain Racing hasn’t been in contention in recent years, but bringing Dillon in helps from a competitive standpoint.

He may be part of one of the biggest NASCAR families, but he isn’t resting on his laurels heading into this year.

“I still have a lot to accomplish,” Dillon said. “My grandfather [Richard Childress] said the other night that he feels like he still hasn’t made it, and that’s how I kind of feel. I’m not going to be satisfied until I win races and championships, and then maybe be back here like he was.”

If the past is any indication of how Dillon will fare as a rookie, just looking at his brother Austin Dillon’s first season should help.

While Austin made the playoffs last season, he posted just nine top-10 finishes in his first two years.

Suarez and Jones could get off to hot starts in their first season under the JGR umbrella, whereas Ty probably has some work to do in the No. 13 car.

If the curve for Ty eventually hits a peak like Austin did in 2016, the wait will be worth it for the entire RCR team.

EAmon Queeney | North State Journal

Pirates head coach Scottie Montgomery talks into his headset in the fourth quarter of the college football game against North Carolina State.

ECU will face difficult football schedule in 2017 Montgomery’s second team has been given a gauntlet of a schedule that includes games against a national champion, eight bowl teams and three opponents that finished 2016 ranked among the nation’s top 25

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal The East Carolina football team will have its work cut out for it next season in order to improve on last year’s disappointing 3-9 record.

Coach Scottie Montgomery’s second team has been given a gauntlet of a schedule that includes games against a national champion, eight bowl teams and three opponents that finished 2016 ranked among the nation’s top 25.

The upside of the 2017 schedule that was announced by the American Athletic Conference on Thursday is, for the first time in school history, the Pirates will be playing seven home games at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Additionally, unlike the last few years, all 12 of ECU’s games will be played on Saturdays.

The downside is that ECU will face some of its most difficult tests right out of the gate, starting with

a deceptively tough season opener on Sept. 2 against defending FCS national champion James Madison. The Pirates will then travel to West Virginia on Sept. 9 before returning home to play ACC Coastal champion Virginia Tech on Sept.

16.

Following a much earlier than usual bye week, ECU will begin conference play with back-to-back home dates against South Florida and defending league champion Temple — the only two teams in the AAC to post double-digit wins in 2016. Then there’s a trip to Orlando to play Central Florida.

Things won’t get any easier in the second half of the season, which includes a visit to Greenville

by BYU and three road games in the final five weeks — at Houston on Oct. 28, at UConn on Nov. 4 and a season-ending game at Memphis on Nov. 25. The final two home games are against Tulane on Nov. 11 and Cincinnati on Nov. 18.

“While the challenge is obviously significant, the opportunity it creates is something we fully embrace,” Montgomery said in a statement. “We are thankful and blessed to be in a position to compete in front of Pirate Nation on at least seven occasions, which will play a critically supportive role as it always does. We’ll come out of the gate ready to go.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. making NASCAR comeback on his own terms

By R. Cory Smith North State Journal Over the last year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. failed to win a race, earn a pole and missed half of the season due to concussions suffered on the track. In that span he’s been asked more about retiring at the age of 42 than winning his first NASCAR championship.

Even through all that, Earnhardt has never been happier.

Now he returns to racing after marrying longtime girlfriend Amy Reimann on New Year’s Eve. Earnhardt is also healthy after spending extra time off the track rehabbing.

That gave him time to reflect on his career in the last six months, something he doesn’t take for granted.

“I got real close to not being able to compete and it being someone else’s decision whether I competed or not,” he said. “People have asked me since I turned 40 when I would retire, and all I wanted to do was make that choice myself. I don’t

know when I’m going to stop racing, but I want to able to make that choice and not have it made for me.

“All that stuff really showed me how much I have going for me and how fun this really is.”

Being away from the sport wasn’t easy, though. Earnhardt missed two races in the previous 16 seasons in 2012 when he was sidelined by another concussion.

But 2016 was different. Following the first Michigan race, Junior reported having concussion symptoms that he couldn’t shake.

Given the nefarious nature of concussions, he couldn’t quite tell if he was going to miss any races at all or ever return to the track.

What he did know was that not being on the track didn’t feel right.

“It was an out-of-body experience almost to watch all that happen,” Earnhardt said. “Looking at them and knowing that was me. I got to see the drivers from a different point of view and got to see the sport from a different point of view.

Mark J. Rebilas | USA Today Sports ImageS

\ Dale Earnhardt Jr watches NHRA qualifying for the Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway in Concord, N.C. on Sept. 16, 2016.

Being out of the car made me anxious to get back in.

“I’m happy to come back here and continue to compete. I got real close to not being able to compete and it being someone else’s decision whether I competed or not.”

The 26-time winner at NASCAR’s top series and two-time Daytona 500 winner used that time off to plan his wedding. With an extra bit of pep in his step at the NASCAR Media Days in Charlotte, it was evident that Junior is rejuvenated after a nearly sixmonth lull from NASCAR. Major life changes have often fared well for NASCAR drivers in recent years. Take, for example, both Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. Soon after having their first children, Harvick and Busch won their first premier series title within the next two years.

There’s no guarantee that Earnhardt will immediately resume his success from 2014 and 2015 in which he won seven races and collected 28 top-five finishes, but simply getting back on the track is good enough.

“Being out of the car, you hope you can jump back in the car and not miss a beat,” Earnhardt said.

“But like I said, this is the top series, and any time you’re away, you’re getting behind. I’m really anxious and curious where we shake out early in the season, how competitive we can be, what — if any — learning curve there is for me.”

When the green flag drops at Daytona, Earnhardt’s life will be back to normal. And as one of — if not the — best superspeedway drivers in the NASCAR circuit, his return could start off with a bang in the Great American Race.

Eamon Queeney | North State Journal

East Carolina Pirates wide receiver Quay Johnson (23) and East Carolina Pirates running back Anthony Scott (3) celebrate Scott’s touchdown in the second quarter of the college football game against North Carolina State at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, Sept. 10, 2016.

Date

Opponent

Location

Sat. Sept. 2

James Madison

Greenville, N.C.

Sat. Sept. 9

West Virginia

Morgantown, W. Va,.

Sat, Sept. 16

Virginia Tech

Greenville, N.C.

Sat. Sept. 30

USF

Greenville, N.C.

Sat. Oct. 7

Temple

Greenville, N.C.

Sat. Oct. 14

UCF

Orlando, Fla.

Sat. Oct. 21

BYU

Greenville, N.C.

Sat. Oct. 28

Houston

Houston, Texas

Sat. Nov. 4

Connecticut

Storrs, Conn.

Sat. Nov. 11

Tulane

Greenville, N.C.

Sat. Nov. 18

Cincinnati

Greenville, N.C.

Sat. Nov. 25

Memphis

Memphis, Tenn.

Sat. Dec. 2

AAC Championship Game

Home games are in bold. The Pirate Club Day, Family Weekend, Faculty-Staff Appreciation Day, Hall of Fame-Letterwinners Day, Homecoming, Military Appreciation Day, Senior Day are included in this schedule.

Dates are subject to change pending finalization of television scheduling.

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

B7

Here’s why the Falcons are a long shot for Super Bowl return As Carolina Panthers fans know, it is all too difficult to return to the Super Bowl a year after losing the game

By Ira Miller The Sports XChange he Atlanta Falcons were one of the youngest teams ever T to reach the Super Bowl. They

nearly won it, save an all-time great performance by an all-time great quarterback, and, you might think, headed home well-positioned to make another championship run in 2017.

Don’t count on it.

History tells us it has become increasingly difficult for teams to make a second climb up the mountain after losing the Super Bowl. It was not always that way; in fact, in the early years of the NFL, losers routinely came back to win soon after, sometimes the next year. Now, however, in an era of more intense pressure and scrutiny, it rarely happens.

Ernie Accorsi, a retired general manager who led the New York Giants to the Super Bowl and the old Cleveland Browns to the precipice, once explained the difference between then and now. Basically, it comes down to the scrutiny teams undergo when they lose.

Years ago, he said, a team would lose a big game, would get on its plane and come back home and perhaps a couple of local writers or broadcasters would ask a few questions and then move on.

Now, however, every game is magnified, every question loaded with nuance, and the attention is much greater. In the case of the Falcons, it might be even more so because of their carelessness trying to protect a huge lead, with a coach who only two years earli-

Bob Donnan | Usa Today Sports Images

New England middle linebacker Dont’a Hightower (54) knocks a pass out of the hands of Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan (2) during the fourth quarter during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium in Houston on Fe. 5, 2017

er experienced what can happen against the New England Patriots if you’re not careful.

Yes, as much as Kyle Shanahan can be faulted for the play-calling that led to sacks that kept the Falcons from clinching the game, it was incumbent on coach Dan Quinn to tell Shanahan to tone it down late in the third and in the fourth quarter. That’s the head coach’s job. Especially a head coach who saw what happened to his own team 104 weeks earlier, when he was with a Seattle team that threw a pass it should not have thrown instead of handing the ball to Marshawn Lynch at the goal line.

MLB proposes radical changes for 2017 season

By NSJ Staff Major League Baseball is planning aggressive changes to speed up the game and will test these changes during the minor leagues and in spring training according to multiple reports.

These rule changes involve altering the strike zone, changing the approach to intentional walks and implementing a radical extra-inning approach.

According to a report from Yahoo! Sports, MLB plans on testing an extra-inning rule-change proposal in the lower minor leagues this season that will call for a runner to automatically be placed on second base to begin extra innings.

That would be a major departure from baseball tradition, although sources told Yahoo Sports, the proposal has considerable support.

International baseball has used a similar rule for nearly a decade, and it will be used in the World Baseball Classic this spring. A similar rule is used in women’s collegiate softball.

Major League Baseball plans to test the rule in rookie-level Gulf Coast League and Arizona League this summer. Those games will be monitored to determined what impact the rule has on the game and whether it would make sense to implement it at the major league level.

“Let’s see what it looks like,” said Joe Torre, MLB’s Chief Baseball Officer, told Yahoo Sports. “It’s not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch. As much as it’s nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time.

“It’s baseball. I’m just trying to get back to that, where this is the game that people come to watch. It doesn’t mean you’re going to score.

You’re just trying to play baseball.”

Details of the rule have not been finalized, but it apparently will go into effect in the 10th inning of a game. In that inning, and any subsequent innings, a runner would be placed on second base before the first batter of the inning comes to the plate.

It is an attempt to create a more exciting game by increasing the action and creating more options for the team at bat. The most obvious strategic issue would be whether the first batter of the inning should try to bunt the runner to third.

“What really initiated it is sitting in the dugout in the 15th inning and realizing everybody is

going to the plate trying to hit a home run and everyone is trying to end the game themselves,” Torre said. “I don’t know what inning is the right inning. Maybe the 11th or 12th inning. But there are a number of reasons.”

Even if the testing in the minors is deemed a success, it would probably take several years for such a radical change to be used in the majors.

MLB is also working with the Major League Baseball Players Association to make changes to the strike zone and intentional walk procedures according to a report from ESPN. The league is proposing to raise the lower part of the strike zone to the top of the hitter’s knees, effectively raising the zone by an estimated 2 inches, according to the report. Since 1996, the bottom of the strike zone has been defined as “the hollow beneath the kneecap.”

The change in the rule for intentional walks rule would end the long-standing practice of requiring the pitcher to toss four soft pitches outside the strike zone.

MLB is proposing a team instead could just signify it wants to issue an intentional walk and the hitter would be sent directly to first base, ESPN reported.

The league presented the two proposals to the union in late January after they were agreed to by both its competition committee and playing-rules committee, according to ESPN. The intentional-walk proposal is part of MLB’s attempts to speed up the game.

“We did review some rule changes largely related to pace of game that are being discussed with the players’ association,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said during two days of owners meetings that concluded Friday in Palm Beach, Fla. Manfred has pushed for faster games since he became commissioner more than two years ago.

The average time of a nine-inning game last season was 3 hours, a 4-minute increase over 2015.

One playoff game took more than 4 1/2 hours.

“Pace of play is an issue that ‘we’ need to be focused on,” Manfred said last week. “The ‘we’ there is players, owners, umpires, everyone who is invested in this game.

I don’t think there’s a magic bullet that is going to come one year to be the solution to pace of play.

It’s going to be an ongoing effort to make sure our game moves along in a way that is most attractive to our fans.”

The Falcons are young enough to be resilient. Eight of their 11 defensive starters in the Super Bowl were in their first two years in the NFL. So maybe they can close their eyes, pretend it didn’t happen or use it as a learning experience, and return next year fully prepared to make another championship run.

Perhaps.

But perhaps they will so damaged by the way their season ended, the young Falcons will have a hard time getting focused, psyched and prepared to undergo the mental and physical rigors of another climb through the NFL gauntlet. A quarterback named

Dan Marino could tell them what happens when you lose a Super Bowl you expect to win early in your career, and count on getting another chance.

In the 1984 season, his second in the NFL, Marino threw 48 touchdown passes, at the time a record.

But the Dolphins could score just one touchdown in the Super Bowl and were hammered by the San Francisco 49ers, 38-16. Marino played 15 more seasons, but never reached another Super Bowl.

Take a look at what happened to the Carolina Panthers, last year’s Super Bowl loser, whose quarterback Cam Newton was supposed to be the Next Big Thing in the

NFL. Newton’s TD-interception ratio dropped from 35-10 to 19-14, his passer rating fell from 99.4 to 75.8, his rushing yardage fell from 636 to 359, and the Panthers, who were 15-1 in the 2015 regular season, were 6-10 in 2016.

Seattle, which lost the Super Bowl following the 2014 season (after winning the previous one), also has suffered a Super Bowl hangover. The Seahawks lost in the divisional playoff round the last two years.

Discounting New England — which has made the Super Bowl a regular part of its schedule with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady — the only team in the last quarter-century that lost a Super Bowl and returned to win one within five years was Denver, with Peyton Manning.

The Broncos were crushed by Seattle in the Super Bowl following the 2013 season, but beat Carolina two years later.

In the early years of the Super Bowl, however, it happened all the time. Kansas City lost Super Bowl I and won Super Bowl IV. Baltimore lost Super Bowl III and won Super Bowl V. Dallas, which lost Super Bowl V, won the next year, beating Miami, which then won the next two Super Bowls. Dallas lost Super Bowl X but came back to win Super Bowl XII. Certainly, Atlanta will be a favorite in the NFC in the 2017 season. But the Falcons will have to hope a new offensive coordinator, Steve Sarkisian, can help them put the Super Bowl disappointment aside, and they’ll have to hope their young players can manage to climb that mountain again while putting aside the avalanche that ended the 2016 season.

It’s not impossible, of course.

But it doesn’t happen very often anymore.

NFL NOTeBOOK

Jones unsure on Romo future, No OC for Shanahan in San Fran

By NSJ Staff Jones unsure how Romo situation ends Several weeks ago Cowboys owner Jerry Jones asked everyone to please stop talking publicly about the situation involving quarterback Tony Romo. He should probably start talking to himself.

Jones, in a Dallas-area sports radio interview, said “I don’t know” how the Romo situation will be resolved.

“It’s no secret that I just think so much of him as a person and think so much of him as a player,” Jones said in a radio appearance on 105.3 The Fan, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “The team we have, especially the offensive side of the ball, was built for Tony.

So this is what it is. It’s a juncture that we have to address.

“I don’t know how ultimately we will resolve this. Nobody should be alarmed because you don’t have all the answers. There are some issues here that you just got to see how the cards are played. But we’ll work through this. We have a sound enough foundation together that on an individual basis we’ll get through this.”

The Cowboys would like to trade Romo but his salary issues may complicate the situation too much. Romo is not interested in retirement, which may mean the Cowboys are forced to release the long-time quarterback who was replaced by Dak Prescott as the starter this season.

Rams fill out coaching staff Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay finalized his coaching staff on Wednesday, adding Matt LaFleur as an offensive coordinator and bringing special teams coordinator John Fassel back for a sixth season. The Rams previously announced the hire of Wade Phillips as defensive coordinator.

Joining McVay’s offensive staff are Andy Dickerson (assistant offensive line), Aaron Kromer (offensive line), Zak Kromer (offensive quality control), Greg Olson (quarterbacks), Skip Peete (running backs), Zac Taylor (assistant wide receivers), Shane Waldron (tight ends) and Eric Yarber (wide receivers).

Defensively, the Rams’ staff consists of Joe Barry (assistant head coach/linebackers), Thad Bogardus (defensive quality control), Ejiro Evero (safeties), Bill Johnson (defensive line), Aubrey

Bob Donnan | Usa Today Sports images

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones walks the sidelines before the Super Bowl.

Pleasant (cornerbacks), and Chris Shula (assistant linebackers) and Ted Rath (strength and conditioning).

the offensive coordinator at Wagner College, was a quality control coach with Shanahan and the Falcons in 2015.

Falcons replacing DC Smith

Packers release CB Shields

The Atlanta Falcons confirmed Wednesday they will replace Richard Smith as defensive coordinator, just days following the historic collapse in the overtime loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI. The team also said defensive line coach Bryan Cox was fired.

Smith could return to the Falcons in an advisory role but he plans to explore other options.

The Falcons are considering three internal candidates in secondary coordinator Jerome Henderson, defensive backs coach Marquand Manuel and linebackers coach Jeff Ulbrich, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Falcons head coach Dan Quinn took on more of the play-calling after the bye week this season.

Quinn was the defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks before becoming Atlanta’s head coach in 2015.

The Green Bay Packers released cornerback Sam Shields after the seven-year veteran spent nearly the entire 2016 season in the NFL’s concussion protocol.

Shields, 29, suffered a concussion in the season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars and missed the final 15 regular-season games and the team’s three playoff contests. It was Shields’ fifth documented concussion and Packers coach Mike McCarthy said at the postseason news conference last month that Shields still had not cleared concussion protocol.

“I think we can all focus on Sam getting healthy,” McCarthy said on Jan. 26. “Having a chance to visit with Sam in Atlanta briefly, he needs to get healthy for himself and his family. That’s the primary focus.”

Shanahan not hiring an OC in SF The 37-year-old Shanahan plans to coordinate the 49ers’ offense and intends to hire Atlanta Falcons offensive assistant Mike McDaniel as the team’s “rungame guru” and Rich Scangarello as the quarterbacks coach, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday.

McDaniel, 33, has worked with Shanahan in Houston, Washington and Cleveland. Scangarello,

Carolina brings back LB Jacobs The Panthers re-signed linebacker Ben Jacobs, who was set to become a restricted free agent this offseason, to a two-year deal.

Jacobs, 28, returned to the team for the final four games last season after being released with an injury settlement (ankle) in September before the 2016 season started.

“I spent 13 weeks at home watching games on the couch and not knowing if I’d ever get the chance to play again. So when I got that call, I wanted to take full advantage,” Jacobs told the team’s website.

B8

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

UNCW playing motivated basketball after two-game CAA skid Seahawks remain at the top of CAA despite dropping back-to-back games midway through the conference schedule

UNCWilmington center Chuck Ogbodo (13) dunks during the game against Charleston Feb. 2, 2017 at Trask Coliseum in Wilmington.

By R. Cory Smith North State Journal ILMINGTON, N.C. — When Chris Flemmings’ free throw W fell short with .8 seconds remain-

ing against College of Charleston, UNCW did something that had only happened once before in the Kevin Keatts era: it lost two straight CAA games.

Instead of sulking, the Seahawks are making sure it doesn’t happen again.

“We don’t like losing,” Denzel Ingram said. “We come in with the mindset to step on their necks, play hard, play defense with shots flowing. Just play hard. That’s all we’re pretty much preaching.”

The Seahawks haven’t just won both games since, they’ve torched their way through two straight opponents.

Thursday night, a 88-73 win over James Madison, marked UNCW’s second straight victory by 15 or more points. Granted, neither Delaware nor JMU are anywhere in the discussion for the CAA crown, but the rebound has certainly been a dominant one for the Hawks.

While the offense is certainly there — UNCW’s 86.2 points per game ranks 10th in the country

Christine T. Nguyen | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

— it’s the defense that Keatts said has been the focal point. JMU scored 73 points, but was forced to start nearly every offensive set with 18 seconds or less on the shot clock after fighting UNCW’s fullcourt press.

“In the last couple of games, I thought we had lost our focus in that aspect,” Keatts said of his team’s defense. “We were playing good basketball, but I didn’t think we were focusing in on what we have to do to be great. ... We’ve

done a great job on the offensive end, but I thought we were letting guys getting too much to their strengths. I think we’re back to taking away team’s strengths.”

Lately the Seahawks are getting it done with a barrage of 3-pointers. Against Delaware, UNCW set a program-record 21 treys — also tied for a conference record. Keatts’ squad followed that up with 13 triples in a convincing win over James Madison.

Keatts has constantly preached

Jayson Tatum brings Kennedy Meeks into Duke-UNC lore with poster dunk Duke freshman’s thunderous dunk becomes a part of the rivalry’s archive

Without Hicks, UNC finds it hard to rebound against Blue Devils North Carolina is one of the top rebounding teams but struggled Thursday

By Shawn Krest North State Journal Everyone has a hype video for the Duke-Carolina game, which makes sense. A rivalry that has produced a lifetime of highlights just begs to have the top moments edited together.

The players enjoy watching them just as much as the fans.

“We were just watching the game in the locker room from 2011, when Duke beat us at Duke,” Justin Jackson said, two days before his Tar Heels and the Blue Devils added another chapter and a few more reels of film to the library. “So, it’s all over the place.

If you’re watching ESPN, ESPN2, there’s our rivalry game. It’s all around you.”

That can add a bit more pressure to what’s already a tense moment. It’s a rivalry game, in front of a loud, often hostile crowd, against the team a player most wants to beat. Then there’s also the weight of history—everyone on the court is one play away from getting added to the highlight mix, preserved for eternity, for better or worse.

There’s Stackhouse dunking and then taking a monster walk around Cameron. There’s Capel’s buzzer beater, Brickey’s dunk, Montross shooting free throws while dripping blood. Henderson and Hansbrough. Austin Rivers.

“It’s great to see things like that,” Jackson said. “As a human, you want to see yourself and have people talk about you.”

Duke freshman Jayson Tatum had seen all the hype videos and highlight films.

“You grow up watching this game all the time on TV,” he said.

“To be 18 and playing in the game was incredible.”

At halftime of Duke’s 86-78 win over North Carolina, however, Tatum was as far as a player could be from the all-time highlight reel for this rivalry.

Thirteen players had more points than the Duke freshman, who was scoreless after missing all three of his first-half shots.

Tatum had been content to set up his teammates, leading both teams with four assists at halftime.

“I probably was nervous. I’m not going to lie,” the freshman admitted. “UNC-Duke game, lot of expectations and hype, so I was definitely nervous in the first half.”

That’s why, with all the Xs and Os on both sides, the biggest adjustment that was made in Thursday’s game was to Tatum’s psyche.

“My teammates helped me in the locker room,” he said. “They gave me confidence. And the coaches challenged me to be better

throughout his tenure that he doesn’t mind how his offense gets points as long as the players are taking smart shots. With the shots falling, Keatts isn’t shying away from the three ball anytime soon.

“I thought we took one or two that were questionable, but for the most part we’re taking good shots,” Keatts said. “We’re making great passes and encouraging guys to step into shots. If they’ve got ‘em, take ‘em.”

It’s been a team effort for the

By Brett Friedlander North State Journal

Mark Dolejs | Usa Today Sports Images

Duke forward Jayson Tatum (0) dunks the ball over North Carolina forward Kennedy Meeks (3) in the second half.

in the second half.”

The Duke locker room has been the scene of plenty of paint-peeling diatribes over the years, but the message to Tatum was a positive one.

“Just that we need him,” Grayson Allen said. “It’s plain and simple that we need him and he knows that.”

The message didn’t sink in right away in terms of on-court production. Tatum’s attitude may have been different, but he was slow to put the lesson into practice.

“I just came out there and tried to play free and have fun. Just play hard with the guys,” he said.

Tatum’s first shot of the second half was a three-pointer, and a miss. Of his four shots in the game, three had been from long range.

During a dead ball, coach Mike Krzyzewski lit a fire under him.

“Coach was challenging me to attack the rim strong,” Tatum said.

With just over 16 minutes remaining on the clock, Tatum had his moment.

“We thought that he was going to have a good matchup out there on the perimeter, especially with his height and his quickness and his skill level,” Allen said. “We just wanted to keep kicking it to him and keep feeding him and have him make a play.”

Tatum got the ball on the left wing. He cocked his arms in preparation for another three-pointer. North Carolina’s Theo Pinson came flying at him, and Tatum pump faked, then put the ball on the floor.

He blew past Pinson with a dribble, dribbled again to avoid a swiping steal attempt from Joel Berry II on his left, and then…

A clear path to the basket opened for Tatum, and so did hype video immortality.

Tatum took a step and elevated. Senior Kennedy Meeks left his

man and jumped to meet Tatum at the rim, thus sealing his fate and linking himself to the freshman forever.

The came together at the rim and became a part of the rivalry’s lore.

Tatum threw down the dunk, over Meeks. Cameron Indoor Stadium erupted with rafter-shaking reaction from the fans. Social media exploded, as replays and GIFs, available instantaneously, flooded everyone’s timeline.

In any other game, people would say that Tatum posterized Meeks.

But this was Duke-Carolina. Posters are merely paper. Rivalry moments last forever.

Carolina and Duke play again on March 4. In the week leading up to it, Tatum will be everywhere, leaping and cocking his right arm.

Meeks will be there too, leaving his man to help out. Raising his arms in a doomed effort to defend the rim.

The Tar Heels and Blue Devils may meet in the ACC Tournament a week later. There won’t be as much time for hype, but Tatum and Meeks will be a part of whatever abbreviated ramp up for that game.

Next year, in mid-February, everyone will roll out their videos again. We’ll watch Stackhouse and Rivers, Capel and Montross, just like always.

And we’ll watch Tatum and Meeks.

Tatum went on to score 19 points in the game, helping to lift the Blue Devils to victory.

“Jayson in the second half was lights out,” Krzyzewski said.

“Again, it’s a freshman being in a game like this. You can get knocked back and they can knock you back.”

“I got my opportunity,” Tatum said. “And I fed off that. My team did too.”

Seahawks from deep, too. Chris Flemmings, Jaylen Fornes and Ambrose Mosley combined to shoot 16 of 21 from deep for a 76.2 percent clip against Delaware.

Denzel ingram then hit his first three triples against JMU to combine with Mosley for eight on the night.

Just when you have one player stopped, the rest of the team picks him up. James Madison coach Louis Rowe said that’s what makes the Hawks a terrifying team to match up against.

“These guys play like there’s an expectation of a guy making a play,” Rowe said. ”[C.J.] Bryce just steps up and makes a play.

[Denzel] Ingram just steps up and makes a play. [Chris] Flemmings just steps up. When a plays in front of them, they step up and make it.

“When the moments are there and it’s time to make a play ... they’re ballplayers. That’s what I like most about them.”

The losses to William & Mary and Charleston were obviously setbacks, but are not dealbreakers.

Charleston, which was tied with UNCW entering Thursday, fell to second place in the Colonial with a loss to Northeastern, meaning the Seahawks claim sole possession of first place.

But the mentality doesn’t change. With nearly one month left before the CAA Tournament, there is only one focus on the minds of every UNCW player.

“Next game,” Bryce said. “That’s all we’re worried about.”

Of all the numbers that blend together on a crowded postgame college basketball stat sheet, one set stood out as though it was highlighted in bright yellow following North Carolina’s 86-78 loss to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Thursday.

It could be found at the bottom of the rebounding column, the one that showed the Blue Devils pulling down 31 to just 30 for the taller Tar Heels.

Under most circumstances, the difference of a single rebound isn’t the determining factor in the outcome of a game.

And it wasn’t in this one either, at least directly, despite 17 lead changes and nine ties.

But considering that UNC began the night as the best rebounding team in the country, dominating the boards by an average of 13.7 per game, the cumulative effect of the virtual rebounding standoff was a major reason why it is no longer in sole possession of first place in the ACC standings. The Tar Heels are now 0-3 in games in which they were outrebounded this season.

“It was a relatively low possession game, even though both teams shot 52-53 percent,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “There wasn’t that many misses, but we need to rebound the ball better. That’s a strength for us, rebounding and inside scoring and we need to do a better job than we did tonight.”

Part of the reason for the Tar Heels’ troubles on the boards can be traced to Duke, which played with the tenacity of a team that desperately needed the win after getting off to a slow start in the conference schedule.

The other half of the equation, however, is that UNC (21-5, 9-3 ACC) was forced to play smaller than usual because of an injury to starting power forward Isaiah Hicks. The 6-foot-9, 245-pound senior suffered a strained left hamstring at practice on Wednesday.

Hicks averages 12.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

His replacement Luke Maye, a sophomore making his first career start, managed only two rebounds in his 20 minutes of action while struggling to defend against Duke’s quicker, more versatile frontcourt players.

“I wanted to get in there and play to my strengths to the best of my ability,” said Maye, who found out he’d be starting about 45 minutes before tipoff and finished with eight points.

“They were just better than us tonight.”

Maye wasn’t the only big man Tar Heel that got held in check by the Blue Devils (19-5, 7-4).

Starting center Kennedy Meeks was held to nine points and five rebounds — or about 4.5 fewer than his average — a stat line Williams attributed to his big man’s lack of movement on the low post. Freshman Tony Bradley, coming off arguably his best performance against a conference opponent last Sunday against Notre Dame, managed only three rebounds.

UNC was led on the boards by 6-6 junior Theo Pinson, who was playing for the first time since rolling his ankle four games ago. But only one of his rebounds came on the offensive end. As a team, the Tar Heels got only seven offensive rebounds — only half as many as the usual.

“That was the true turning point in the game,” Pinson said.

“Offensive rebounding is one thing we do well.”

Though Williams refused to use Hicks’ absence as an excuse, saying that “North Carolina still had to play Duke,” the lack of that effective second big man in the lineup affected the way the Tar Heels attacked their rival.

Their smaller lineup with Pinson in Hicks’ spot turned into to decided advantage for the Blue Devils, especially after Tatum began to assert himself offensively in the second half — when he scored all 19 of his points.

“We just had to play small ball,” point guard Joel Berry said. “Sometimes you have to face adversity. We wish we would have had Isaiah in there. I think he would have made a big difference.”

Hicks said he injured himself when his foot slipped, causing him to do a split, after coming down from a dunk during a fastbreak drill. He held out hope of playing on Thursday, doing some stretches during pregame warmups, and said he felt like he was “good to go.” But the training staff and Williams decided against playing him, leading to a difficult night watching from the bench.

“As a player, no matter what game it is, you don’t want to miss one,” said Hicks, whose status is listed as day-to-day. “It’s pretty tough, especially with the results. Anything I could have done to help the team would have been better.”

A photojournalist’s journey to Pisgah National Forest. Page 7

SUNDAY

02.12.17

NORTH

STATE

JOURNaL

play list

February 13 NCMA Curator Previews “Ansel Adams: Masterworks” Exhibit Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh

the good life IN A NORTH STATE OF MIND

Would photography be as popular without the influence of Ansel Adams?

Linda Dougherty, the chief curator of the North Carolina Museum of Art, highlights both Adams’ importance and the ticketed exhibit, “Ansel Adams: Masterworks” (running through May 7). The exhibit focuses on photos spanning 50 years of artistic output, which Adams personally chose as reflecting his best work. Get an introduction to the master photographer on Monday, February 13, at 7 p.m. and then go see the exhibit. quailridgebooks.com

February 14

thrive | greenville

Your heart and you

A Side of History: The Legends of Saint Valentine Historic Yates Mill County Park, Raleigh Every February 14, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint, and where did these traditions come from?

Find out about the history of this centuries-old holiday, from ancient Roman rituals to the customs of Victorian England.

Then create a Valentine’s Day card to give to a special someone. For all ages; fee: $1 per person. Registration is required for all family members and children must have adult accompaniment. wakegov.com/parks/yatesmill

February 17 Science on the Rocks: 80s Prom Discovery Place, Charlotte

madeline gray | North State Journal

Jerome Fuller, Director of Telecommunication Networks and Special Projects in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at the East Carolina Heart Institute, discusses the institute’s state-of-the-art da Vinci robotic surgery machine.

East Carolina Heart Institute aids in the recognition and care of hearts, lungs and blood vessels

By Laura Ashley Lamm North State Journal REENVILLE — Your heart.

You probably don’t think G about it as often as you should.

You’ve had a long day, you are tired and so you skip that 20-minute walk around the neighborhood. You have a craving for a cheeseburger and French fries, and know how easy it is to swing through the drive thru. You’ve smoked for 20 years and think it’s too late to quit now.

You probably aren’t thinking about what those things do to your heart, but your heart is continuing to think about you. Your heart continues to beat on, faithfully pumping blood through your body.

Understanding the Heart When people think of care to the heart, they often think of heart attacks, or the blockage in

February 19

the coronary artery that threatens to do damage to the heart muscle, or heart failure, which is essentially the failure of the heart to pump blood adequately around the body. There’s more to it than just that. Many diseases in cardiology are systemic, which means that it is not only unique to the heart.

“If you develop fluid around your heart, it does not mean it’s due to a cardiac problem. The manifestation was cardiac because you got fluid around your heart. Why that fluid got there was due to some other reason, such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. A lot of these diseases are intertwined with a lot of cardiac manifestations,” said Dr. Adeel M. Siddiqui, cardiovascular disease fellow at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine.

Troponin, an enzyme in the heart, is only released when a cell dies. Bloodwork allows cardiologists such as Siddiqui to see the levels of troponin in your blood. If the levels are high, then death to the heart cells have occurred and See heart, page C6

Tease your bangs and peg your pants for the Queen City’s raddest blast-from-the-past party at Science on the Rocks: 80s Prom. Compete for Prom King and Queen, show off your best moonwalk in the dance contest, and much more for an unforgettable adult-only night at the museum. Plus, explore the culture, conquests, and heritage of the world’s greatest conqueror in the new limited-engagement exhibition, Genghis Khan. science.discoveryplace.org

Race 13.1 Wilmington Wilmington The third annual Race 13.1 Wilmington half marathon, 10K, and 5K event returns and will once again start and finish at Lumina Station, with a route that features the city’s beautiful Cross City Trail as well as the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s campus. race131.com/races/race-13-1wilmington-nc

coming wednesday A sculpture in the atrium of the East Carolina Heart Institute in Greenville.

We kick off our N.C. born and bred fashion series. savor & style

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

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NeCessities thrive!

The perfect gift this Valentine’s Day is the gift of heart health

By Alton Skinner For the North State Journal Along with Valentine’s Day, February marks American Heart Month.

Being physically active is important to prevent heart disease and stroke, the nation’s No. 1 and No. 5 killers.

North Carolina has the 20th highest death rate from cardiovascular disease in the country. Heart disease is the No. 2 killer and stroke is the No. 4 killer in North Carolina.

Physical activity is anything that makes you move your body and burn calories.

This includes things like climbing stairs or playing sports. Aerobic exercises benefit your heart, and include walking, jogging, swimming or biking. Strength and stretching exercises are best for overall stamina and flexibility.

The simplest change you can make to effectively improve your heart health is to start walking. A walking program is flexible and has high success rates because people can stick with it. It’s easy for walking to become a regular part of life.

Other steps you should take: Schedule a visit with your doctor to talk about heart health. It’s important to schedule regular checkups even if you think you are not sick.

Increase healthy eating. Cook healthy meals at home at least 3 times each week and make your favorite recipe lower sodium.

Take steps to quit smoking. If you currently smoke, quitting can cut your risk for heart disease and stroke.

history marked February 15, 1898 Charles L. Abernathy, editor of the Beaufort Herald-Dispatch, wrote to U.S. Senator Marion Butler to point out that North Carolina’s Fort Macon was “in a dilapidated condition with a lone sentry in charge of it.” He said that other ports along the coast had received defense appropriations “while this one has for some reason been passed by unnoticed.” Coincidentally, that same night the battleship USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor under suspicious circumstances and became an important factor in the United States’ decision to declare war on Spain in April. In Beaufort, residents were uneasy that Fort Macon, which guarded the entrance to Beaufort harbor, had not been prepared for possible war.

However, Fort Macon’s six remaining Civil War-era cannons were soon remounted. The fort was garrisoned for the Spanish-American War by part of a company of U.S. Artillery and the all-black 3rd N.C. Volunteers under Col. James H. Young.

Valentine’s Day is coming up so we reached out to our friends at Foggy Pine Books in Boone for a few page turners on the subject of love for the under 10 set.

Moderate- to high-intensity musclestrengthening activity at least 2 days per week for additional health benefits For Lowering Blood Pressure and Cholesterol An average 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity aerobic activity three or four times per week What if you can’t make it to the time goal? Something is always better than nothing. If you don’t think you’ll make it for 30 or 40 minutes, set a reachable goal for today. You can work up toward your overall goal by increasing your time as you get stronger. Even if you’ve been sedentary for years, today is the day you can begin to make healthy changes in your life.

Alton Skinner is a health and fitness expert with over two decades of experience training athletes and author of “The Golfer’s Stroke Saver Workout.”

voices

Contributors to this section this week include: Alton Skinner Samantha Gratton Laura Ashley Lamm Liz Moomey Emory Rakestraw

“Love Is”

by Diane Adams ages 2-5 years

“Hug It Out”

by Louis Thomas ages 3-6 years

“Groggle’s Monster Valentine”

by Diana Murray ages 3-6 years

“Psst! I Love You (Snuggle Time Stories)”

by Marjorie Blain Parker ages 3-5 years

Jose Luis Magana | reuters File Photo

Aretha Franklin to retire from full-time touring Reuters Soul music legend Aretha Franklin says she plans to retire from full-time touring after she releases a new album in September.

“I am retiring this year,” the 74-year-old singer told a Detroit TV station in a telephone interview this week. “I will be recording, but this will be my last year in concert. This is it.”

Known as the “Queen

of Soul,” Franklin said she planned about a six-month tour to support her upcoming album. She also plans to perform “some select things, many, one a month, for six months out of the year.”

“I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from, and where it is now,” Franklin, who lives in Detroit, told TV station WDIV. “I’ll be pretty much satisfied, but I’m not

going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn’t be good either.”

The album will feature all original songs, several of them produced by Stevie Wonder, Franklin said, but she did not give details.Franklin began her music career in the late 1950s and has won 18 Grammy Awards.

Her last album, “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics,” was released in 2014.

A Valentine gift guide for your guy

By Samantha Gratton | North State Journal

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, gifts for the ladies may seem obvious — flowers, chocolate, and jewelry, of course. But what about the fellas? The key is to think about what sounds most like his cup of tea…or perhaps, his cup of beer.

With our gift guide you’ll have just enough time and inspiration to grab that personalized N.C. item for the man in your life.

tell us

Know a North Carolina story that needs telling?

Drop us a line at features@nsjonline.com.

Singer Aretha Franklin announced her retirement from full-time touring.

Information courtesy of N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

At least 30 minutes of moderateintensity aerobic activity at least 5 days per week for a total of 150 minutes

AND

When making your wedding list of traditions to incorporate on your wedding day you may expect to find something borrowed, something blue, something old, and something new. Did you know if you are looking to keep rain at bay on your special day you should add a bottle of bourbon to your list? This fun Southern tradition calls for a full bottle of bourbon (we suggest a North Carolina brand like 1712 Spirits) to plant upside down at the site where you will wed one month prior to your wedding day. Work this spirited custom into your big day and let us know if it keeps the rain away.

The State Normal and Industrial School—now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro—was chartered. First established as a school for female teachers, it became the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina in 1932, joining the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State College as part of the Consolidated University System.

Becoming coeducational in 1963, the college was renamed the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The State Normal School was built on 10 acres in western Greensboro in Guilford County. It opened in October 1892 with 223 students and 15 faculty members.

Originally, the school offered degrees in three departments: education, domestic sciences, and business.

turn the page

At least 25 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity at least 3 days per week for a total of 75 minutes; or a combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity

Rain, rain go away

February 18, 1891

American Heart Association activity recommendations for overall cardiovascular health:

OR

just a pinch

The Wally

The Wally

Freaker socks

Spices

This brushed stainless steel bottle opener slides into a wallet easily as it is the same size as a credit card. Not only that, but this opener from Fortis Design in Raleigh can be engraved with a love note or his name. Add in a six-pack from a North Carolina brewery, and he can try out his new bottle opener right away.

Whether it’s to keep his beverage chilled or his feet warm, Freaker USA from Wilmington has the sock for just about every occasion. For local pride, get him the “cackalacky” socks complete with the N.C. flag or some with the mascot of his alma mater to wear on game day.

For the chef in your life, grab a few new flavors to try from a local spice shop, like Spice Bouquet in Kinston, Cape Fear Spice Merchants in Wilmington, or Spice It Up! in Black Mountain and Hendersonville. For the not-yet-chef in your life, pair those spices with cooking classes that you can take as a couple.

Deck of Oaks

Gift card

Give a gift that gives back with this artistic deck of cards designed by 54 Raleigh artists.

Not only do proceeds from the playing cards go to a number of local nonprofits, but they are perfect for everything from poker night with the guys to playing Go Fish! with the kids.

For the guy who maybe has something specific in mind, sometimes it’s better to let him make the final decision. So choose something that coincides with his passions. Some ideas to consider are Oak City Cycling in Raleigh, Hatteras Island Surf & Sail in Waves, Hunter Banks Fly Fishing in Asheville and Waynesville, Lichty Guitars in Tryon, or simply his favorite coffee shop up the street.

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

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dig in | North Carolina Museum of Sciences

photos by Christine T. nguyen | North State Journal

Three models of pterosaurs are displayed at the Terror of the South room at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

41 science centers across NC receive grant

By Liz Moomey North State Journal

Tier 1

he North Carolina Science Museums Grant Program will award T $2.44 million to 41 science centers from

the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum to the Highlands Nature Center.

The grant was awarded to continue the state’s investment in sustaining and advancing science museums across the country, and concentrates its criteria to promote the priorities of state government to enhance STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education), especially in low-resource communities.

“These museums are critical resources for schools and communities in providing learning experiences in and out of the classroom that enhance science literacy,” Charles Yelton, the chief of Regional Networks for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and lead administrator of the Grant Program, said.

The awards, which ranged from $51,912.92 to $76,912.92, will be applied to the 2016-2017 fiscal year budgets of these science centers. The 40 most economically distressed counties (Tier 1) will receive the largest awards.

Port Discover, Discovery Place Kids (Rockingham), Aurora Fossil Museum, Exploration Station, KidSenses Children’s Museum, Sylvian Heights Bird Park, Roanoke/Cashie River Center, Highlands Nature Center, NC Estuarium, Rocky Mount Children’s Museum and Science Center.

Tier 2 Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, Go-Science, Mt. Airy Museum of Regional History, FascinateU, Cowan Museum of History and Science, Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, Dan Nichols Wildlife and Nature Center, Imagination Station, Catawba Science Center, A Time for Science, Schiele Museum of Natural History, Walter Stasavich Science and Nature Center/ Love a Sea Turtle.

Tier 3 Core Sound Waterfowl Museum, Greensboro Science Center, Museum of Coastal Carolina and Ingram Planetarium, Marbles Kid’s Museum, ScienceWorks/Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem, Iredell Museums, Hands On! Children’s Gallery, Carolina Raptor Center, Children’s Museum of Wilmington, Cape Fear Museum of

A Blue Whale skeleton hangs inside the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. The museum is among the 41 science centers in North Carolina that will recieve grant money from the state.

History and Science, Asheville Museum of Science, Discovery Place, Western North Carolina Nature Center, North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, Discovery Place Kids (Huntersville), Charlotte Nature Museum, KidZu Children’s Museum, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, North Carolina Botanical Gardens.

Want to learn more about North Carolina Agriculture?

The First Furrow www.FirstFurrow.com

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

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North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

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celebration | charlotte

The Wedding Planner

By Emory Rakestraw For the North State Journal

F

rom planning Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Amy Reimann’s surprise New Year’s Eve wedding, to working with Emily Maynard from the Bachelorette, Ivy Robinson is one of the most sought-after wedding and event planners in the Southeast. With roots in Elizabeth City, Robinson mixes in her own glamorous and romantic style with the needs and requests of her ever-changing clientele. For her, the planning always revolves around the art of capturing a couple’s character.

“When I design a wedding I create the event around my clients.

My personal style is not traditional Southern, more modern eclectic glam-Hollywood [with] some clients that tends to pop in,” said Robinson, noting Earnhardt’s wedding took place at Childress Vineyards and utilized big French pillows, something she and the bride both loved.

Robinson transcends more than just wedding planning. She has planned a 1,000-person extravagant New Orleans party hosted by the city’s four most notable families as well as various corporate events. A number of noteworthy clients from sports figures, celebrities, and some of Charlotte’s biggest names call on Robinson for her distinct style solutions when it comes time to tie the knot.

She describes herself as a person who constantly needs change, so she opted for the fast-paced and demanding lifestyle of entrepreneurship. For Robinson, there’s no such thing as a typical day.

“Every day is different, one phone call or one email can shift my entire day. It’s not an 8-to-5 job, weekends off and a 40-hour week. Some weeks you never know, and I like that I can’t have the same schedule. It’s hard for a lot of creative minds to be trapped in a 9-to-5, they have to get out and do things.”

Your invitations help set the tone and provide the first impression to your guests of what’s to come — so don’t skimp on them!”

Ivy Robinson, wedding planner While Robinson said many think event planning involves champagne tastings, lots of cake, and glitz and glam, every bride she works with is different and the challenge of something new constantly keeps her on her toes. While Pinterest and social media are great tools for wedding planning and showcasing trends, sometimes she suggests to her clients to stop adding to the Pinterest board after planning is underway.

Robinson said, “I have to find new styles with all of my brides, because they sometimes change their minds … a lot. The longer you take to plan the wedding; the more things will change. I tell my clients after we develop their look and style, ‘Get off of Pinterest!’”

While weddings are (hopefully) a one-time deal, Robinson keeps in contact with her clients and even plans their future celebrations such as baby showers or birthday parties.

Her 2017 wedding forecast ranges from a bohemian ‘organic’ wedding in the middle of the woods, to a traditional, yet extravagant ballroom wedding, to a wedding at a museum.

Robinson said that trends revolve around the re-emergence of the traditional bride and groom table, a mix of metallic in the design and color board, and the continuation of the 2016 trend of various food stations at the reception. As for Robinson’s own style, she said her personal favorite will always be big, Southern-style tent weddings.

Christine T. Nguyen | north state journal

Charlotte-based event planner Ivy Robinson has planned events for many celebrities and sports figures — including NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Robinson says that trends for 2017 include lounge areas incorporated into the overall design, metallics, and food stations by ingredient theme are still popping up at receptions.

TREND: food stations

photos courtesy of Millie Holloman Photography

TREND: metallics

TREND: candy bar

TREND: lounge area, metallics, wedding in the woods

TREND: food stations

TREND: lounge area, metallics, wedding in the woods

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North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

NBC in talks to revive ‘American Idol’ Reuters NBC is in talks with FremantleMedia to resurrect “American Idol,” Variety has learned.

According to sources with knowledge of the discussions, NBC has been pitched a revival of the long-running singing competition by producer Fremantle and is now mulling options for how to integrate the show into its programming slate. One possibility being considered: cutting NBC’s existing singing competition “The Voice” from two cycles a year to one.

Fremantle has been shopping an “Idol” revival in recent weeks, with NBC emerging as the leading candidate to become the new home of the long-running singing-competition series. Sources emphasize that talks are ongoing, and no deal is yet in place.

Representatives for NBC and Fremantle declined to comment.

“American Idol” ran on Fox for

15 seasons beginning in 2002. For eight consecutive seasons, beginning in 2003-04, it was the highest-rated show on television. At its peak in 2006, “American Idol” averaged a 12.4 rating among in the 18-49 demographic and 36.4 million total viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same day numbers.

Ratings began to decline steeply in the show’s later years, to the point that Fox decided that it no longer represented a worthwhile financial or scheduling commitment. (The series aired two nights a week, typically beginning in midseason.) The final season in 2016 averaged a 2.2 and 9.1 million viewers. Those numbers were far diminished from what the show drew in its heyday, but they remain respectable by contemporary standards, with delayed viewing and increased competition applying downward pressure on live ratings across television.

An “American Idol” revival has

been a subject of speculation since before the final season aired on Fox last year. Speaking at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in 2016, longtime host Ryan Seacrest discussed the show’s future even as he promoted what Fox had dubbed the “farewell season.”

“When you’ve got a franchise that has this kind of heritage and you’ve got a franchise that generates X amount of millions of people, if it sustains, does that mean it’s the end?” Seacrest said. “I’m not so sure.”

“The Voice,” currently in its seventh year, has shown its own ratings fatigue — even as it remains NBC’s most watched non-football offering beside freshman drama “This Is Us.” The 2016 fall cycle, which ended Dec. 12, averaged a 2.5 live-plus-same day rating among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnight numbers — down 19% from the previous fall.

From a scheduling standpoint,

Danny Moloshok | REUTERS

Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez judged American Idol for its last three seasons on Fox.

it could be difficult for NBC to find a place for “American Idol” without making changes to its existing unscripted slate. NBC’s schedule is already loaded with talent competitions year-round, with “The Voice” premiering new cycles in fall and mid-season, and “America’s Got Talent” — pro-

duced by original “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell — reigning as the network’s biggest draw in summer. In July, NBC gave a series order to “World of Dance,” a dance competition series from another former “American Idol” judge, Jennifer Lopez, which has not yet been scheduled.

(L to R) East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine students Akash Shah, Justin Hess, and Andrew Ray meet with other students as part of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

heart from page C1

have therefore damaged the heart.

“Once that has been determined, we must discover if it was a blockage that led to lack of blood flow which lead to a heart attack, meaning the cells died and then enzymes were released,” said Siddiqui.

You are having chest pains, but you’re not sure why. If you go visit your doctor, here’s what happens.

“We’ll do a stress test, and if we determine, non-invasively — through cameras and radioactive material — there are parts of the heart not getting good blood supply, we know there is likely a blockage that is causing the heart muscle to not get good blood flow,” said Siddiqui.

“These patients don’t necessarily have heart attacks, they have areas in their heart that are not getting good blood flow and that’s why they are getting chest pain when they exercise or exert themselves.”

Is there a blockage leading to this? Meaning, do the vessels supplying blood to the heart have any blockages?

This is where a person may have a cardiac catherization, which is the gold standard to looking at blood flow to the heart. If a blockage is discovered, a stint may be put in to open it. However, the most important thing to remember is, “the key to cardiology is prevention,” said Siddiqui.

photos by madeline gray | North State Journal

Knowing the Risk Factors Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America. Smoking, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and abnormal cholesterol levels are all leading factors causing cardiovascular disease.

“Cardiovascular disease is a hundred diseases, not just one.

People think of heart diseases and think of atherosclerosis or the narrowing or hardening of the arteries. Every organ has its own blood supply, and the arteries leading to that organ can become narrow by cholesterol buildup which can eventually lead most devastatingly to heart attacks and strokes,” said Dr. Blase Carabello, professor and chief, Division of Cardiology.

Obesity is a growing epidemic making the effects of becoming overweight a major risk factor for developing diabetes.

“The American Heart Association no longer considers diabetes a risk factor for heart disease. It is heart disease. If you have diabetes, then you should assume you have some form of heart disease or atherosclerosis. You might not, but we start off assuming you already have it. The most important way of preventing diabetes is to not gain weight,” said Carabello.

Along with weight gain comes sleep apnea which brings its own set of negative factors to the heart.

High blood pressure adds its own set of problems.

“The American public becomes hypertensive at the rate of one percent per year of life. By the time you are 75 years old, 75 percent of Americans have high blood pressure,” said Carabello. “The average patient can’t know if they have high blood pressure as its de-symptomatic unless something happens. A patient can’t know if cholesterol levels are elevated without it being measured.”

But patients can know if they are smoking, exercising, or gaining weight. All are choices he or she makes.

If you’re a homemaker and sweep the floor regularly, but most recently have become out

Dr. Adeel Siddiqui, East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine Cardiovascular Disease Fellow, discusses compromised parts of a patient’s heart on a video scan.

Healthy heart facts The leading factors of cardiovascular disease are smoking, diabetes, hyper tension, obesity, and abnormal cholesterol.

The key for a healthier heart is preventative medicine.

Preventative medicine includes things you can do such as visiting your doctor to check cholesterol levels, exercising and reducing your weight, avoiding processed food and maintaining a healthy diet, and choosing to not smoke.

Dr. Aundrea Oliver, Assistant Professor in the Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, discusses the unique health issues facing residents in eastern North Carolina.

of breath during the task; if you have unexplained pain or pressure in the chest; or if you have the inability to lie down flat in bed at night without coughing or feeling smothered…

“By the time those things have happened,” said Carabello, “you may already have heart disease.”

“People do what they do. If you’ve grown up in an environment where everybody you know smokes, you are probably more likely to smoke. If you’ve grown up in an environment where nobody exercises, you are likely to not exercise yourself. We learn our

behaviors from the people around us,” said Carabello.

“A lot of this is lifestyle and genes. You can’t change your parents, you’re stuck with that. Maybe 50 years from now, if we have this conversation, we might be able to alter genes. For now, you can only alter the things you can alter,” he added, “If you are the patient, the best thing is preventative medicine and preventative medicine actually works. The most important thing a patient can do for him or herself is to try to prevent heart attacks and strokes.”

Compiling the treatment options The East Carolina Heart Institute is a partnership between the East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine and Vidant Health Systems. Through this partnership, the Institute is the first in North Carolina devoted to the education, research, treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

“Cardiovascular disease also has an impact on lung cancer, esophageal disease, even something as simple as reflux disease to hiatal hernia, all of those things are benign diseases that affect quality of life and can set people in the doctor’s office or worse care in

the emergency room. The reason why it feeds into cardiovascular health is that many of the behaviors and habits that contribute to the benign diseases or lung cancer are also risk factors for cardiovascular health,” said Dr. Aundrea L. Oliver, assistant professor, Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery.

“Every person is a unique design. Our goal is to make you the best you that you were designed to be,” said Oliver. “Medicine is becoming more tailored to the individual.”

The Institute offers an array of therapies for heart diseases from the implementation of pace makers and defibrillators, to advance care of heart failure and coronary disease, to imaging techniques and more. The Institute trains physicians from across the globe to perform robotic cardiac and mitral valve repair procedures.

“In our region, a better name for this Institute would have been the heart, lung and blood vessel institute, and that way people would understand that when you come here, you can be diagnosed and treated for all three phases of the disease,” said Dr. Steven Powell, professor and chief, Division of Vascular Surgery.

Your heart, lungs and blood vessels need you. They need you to know the risk factors for cardiovascular disease. They need you to take the walk, forgo the cheeseburger and neglect the cigarette.

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

Pisgah National Forest provides over 500,000 acres of calm Photos by Eamon Queeney | North State Journal

Nestled in the heart of Pisgah National Forest in the western reaches of North Carolina rises the bald face of Looking Glass Rock. A few miles outside of Brevard and visible from the Blue Ridge Parkway, the impressive rock boasts one of the best views of the surrounding forest land at 3,970 feet of elevation. The popular trail to the top — accessible from the the Forest Heritage Scenic Byway — winds up and down the mountain in 6.5 miles roundtrip with about 3,400 feet of elevation change and is easy to follow with bold yellow tree makers. A strong hiker can tackle the whole thing in about two and half hours, but if you want to take in the sights and enjoy a meal at the summit, allow four to five hours. Or consider camping at a few of the perfect spots on the way up. If you prefer the trail all to yourself, consider a week day in the winter months but be weary of ice or slick patches of rock, especially at the top. Once the hike has worn you out, cool off at the nearby Sliding Rock and check out Looking Glass Falls, both accessible feet from the car.

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North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

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pen & Paper pursuits

Creators syndiCa I reckon . . .

Janric classic sudoku

Solutions from 2.5.17

Your guide to what’s what, where, why, and how to say it.

Once upon a time there may have been a Wampus wandering around the Iredell County area. The creature made its first appearance in 1890 as reported in the Statesville Landmark. Similar to modern day Bigfoot sightings people described their encounters with the Wampus in different ways, sometimes suggesting it was silver or black, sometimes reporting it had a horn, and sometimes portraying it as an amalgamation of a lion and a bear. Most everyone who saw the Wampus did concur on its call, saying it had “a keen holler.” The spike in sightings came in the 1930s, but if you find yourself in that part of the state, be sure to keep an eye out for the Wampus.

Among other requirements, an EAGLE SCOUT (23 Across) must earn at least 21 merit badges. A wind quintet (36 Across) is typically composed of a flute, clarinet, OBOE, horn and bassoon. The CANARY ISLANDS (96 Across) got their name from the Latin word for “dogs,” which were said to be in abundance on the islands in ancient times.

You can contact puzzle editor Stanley Newman at www.

StanXwords.com. Or write him at P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762. Please send a selfaddressed, stamped envelope if you’d like a reply.

2/5/17

737 3rd street

n

hermosa beach, ca 90254

n

tel. (310) 337-7003

n

the BRIEF

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017

RALEIGH

NC Division earns top industry award for business process breakthrough

CHRISTINE T. NGUYEN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Cathy Elmore adds cyclamen plants to a Valentine’s Day display at Logan’s Garden Shop on Feb. 9 in Raleigh.

BUSINESS

ALERT! IT’S THIS TUESDAY!

Money to be made on Valentine’s Day

Jewelers, florists, restaurants all benefit from heart-shaped holiday

By Cory Lavalette North State Journal alentine’s Day is a celebration of love and affection — and plenty of profit.

VThe National Retail Federation says Americans

will spend an average of $136.57 on plush bears, boxed chocolates, bouquets of roses, engagement rings and everything in between. In all, that’s $18.2 billion, which is actually down nearly 8 percent from the record $19.7 billion spent last Valentine’s Day. The majority of that money is spent on significant others ($85.21 average). Americans will spend $3.8 billion on an evening out, $2 billion on flowers, $1.9 billion on clothing, $1.7 billion on candy, $1.4 billion on gift cards and certificates, and $1 billion on greeting cards, the NRF average amount spent said.

No business benefits more on Valentine’s Day from Valentine’s Day than those selling jewelry. The NRF estimates $4.3 billion — 23.6 percent of the holiday spending pie — will will be spent on rings, average amount bracelets, earrings, necklaces spent on an and more. engagement ring While Christmas Eve is still the most popular day to get engaged, Valentine’s Day is a very close second, says Lane Schiffman of Schiffman’s Jewfinding true love! elers in Greensboro and Winston-Salem. “Valentine’s Day is a beautiful bright spot of gift giving in this quiet part of the winter. Lots of engagements this time of year!” Shiffman encourages his customers - mostly men at Valentine’s - to make their purchases individual and meaningful. “Our job is to make these fellows heroes. That’s what we try to do.”

If you are looking at making things official this year, the average cost of an engagement ring in 2016 was $6,163, according to The Knot, an online resource for wedding planning. But there are different options at almost any price point, depending on diamond size, clarity, color, cut and setting. The bigger the diamond, the more you give up in the other areas — if you want to stay in your budget. If you choose a platinum setting instead of gold, you’ll also have to choose a lesser diamond.

If you’re already married, you can explore other jewelry — diamond earrings, for example — or stick to the standard red roses and chocolates. Remember you get what you pay for: a high-end chocolatier and florist will probably go over better than a drug store heart and a supermarket bouquet. Men like chocolate, too, but you can also wow them with a new watch.

Oftentimes, it’s best just to get your significant other something they won’t buy for themselves — the nice shoes they’ve had their eye on, or a home item they haven’t yet justified buying for themselves. And never underestimate the restorative quality of a quiet oneon-one meal without the kids.

Even if you don’t spend $6,000 on an engagement ring, $100 on flowers and chocolates, or go out out to the fanciest restaurant in town, find a way to make all your loved ones feel special.

$136.57 $6,163

CHRIS HELGREN | REUTERS

Ivanka Trump-branded blouses and trousers are seen for sale at off-price retailer Winners in Toronto on Feb. 3.

Trump criticizes Nordstrom after retailer drops Ivanka brand

By Susan Heavey Reuters

Ivanka Trump, who recently resigned as CEO of her brand to move to Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized Nordstrom for what he said was its unfair treatment of his daughter Ivanka after its decision to not purchase her clothing line for this upcoming season.

Shares of the retailer fell 0.7 percent after the president’s criticism. They later recovered to trade up 0.2 percent.

“My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @ Nordstrom. She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!,” Trump said on Wednesday in his post on Twitter.

In a statement last week, Nordstrom said it routinely cuts brands each year and that the decision to pass on the Ivanka Trump brand had been based on its performance.

A day after Nordstrom’s statement, luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group also said it had stopped selling Ivanka Trump’s

jewelry line on its website and a store in New Jersey, according to Yahoo News.

In North Carolina, fashions and accessories from the Ivanka Trump line were also removed from the Charlotte-based Belk department store website over the weekend. Items will remain in some brick and mortar stores, according to reports.

Since winning the presidential election on Nov. 8, Trump has targeted specific companies on Twitter. But this is his first tweet criticizing a business tied to his family since the victory.

Ivanka Trump ran a clothing and jewelry business bearing her name, in addition to other work for the Trump Organization, before saying she would resign when her father was sworn in as president last month.

ProPublica reported on Feb. 2 that the Trump Organization said Ivanka had resigned her positions but that it had not yet filed the changes. The Trump organization later said the filings would be done by Feb. 3, according to the report.

PRICELESS

with duplin

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Enterprise content management company Laserfiche announced this week the winners of Laserfiche Run Smarter® Awards for reengineering business processes to increase efficiency across the enterprise.

NC Division of Water Resources successfully improved key business processes utilizing Laserfiche protocols. The initiative included providing public access to permitting files online and implementing a comprehensive information management system to increase transparency, improve open records law compliance, save staff time, reduce the need for copiers and nearly entirely eliminate mailing costs associated with records requests.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Donald Trump Jr. takes over Trump hotel near White House Donald Trump Jr. has taken the reins of the Trump International Hotel near the White House after critics charged it was a conflict of interest for President Donald Trump to run the hotel while also running the federal government that is leasing the building to his company.

The younger Trump took over as president of the company that runs the luxury hotel as well as the hotel’s restaurant and spa.

Democrats have criticized the lease as a conflict of interest, and the agreement also has come under scrutiny from Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Utah Republican who heads the House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee.

Court blocks Anthem-Cigna merger, dealing blow to consolidation A federal judge on Wednesday ruled against health insurer Anthem’s proposed $54 billion merger with smaller rival Cigna, derailing an unprecedented effort to consolidate the country’s health insurance industry.

The Justice Department sued in July to stop Anthem’s purchase of Cigna, a deal that would have created the largest U.S. health insurer by membership, and Aetna’s planned $33 billion acquisition of Humana.

The ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia stated that the merger would have worsened an already highly concentrated market and is likely to raise prices.

SAN FRANSISCO

Twitter reports slowest quarterly revenue growth, shares slump Investors hammered Twitter on Thursday after the social network reported its slowest quarterly revenue growth since going public in 2013, struggling to attract advertisers amid intense competition from Snapchat and Facebook.

The company’s shares fell as much as 10 percent to $16.81 in premarket trading.

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

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n.c.

FAST FACTS Sponsored by

U.S. News and World Report released their annual “Top 100 Best Places to Live in the U.S.A.” list this week. While Austin, Texas, grabbed the top spot, four of our loveliest hometowns made the cut, and the winners are: Approved Logos

#7 — Raleigh & Durham “Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill also encompass beautiful green spaces, family friendly museums and a growing art and music scene defined by monthly gallery walks, summer concerts and music festivals like Hopscotch.” #14 — Charlotte “Charlotte has become a place filled with new restaurants to try and events that attract people from all over. It’s a standalone destination area now, no longer living in the shadow of Atlanta or Charleston, South Carolina.” #37 — Winston-Salem “Winston-Salem, referred to by locals as just Winston, is a region with an upward trajectory that still maintains its Southern roots.” #51 — Greensboro “Greensboro, North Carolina, is one of those places that’s big enough to have everything you need, but small enough for you to regularly bump into people you know.”

Source: U.S. News and World Report

Mike Stone | Reuters

An oil pump jack can be seen in Cisco, Texas.

Bank, energy stocks lift Wall Street to record highs along with Trump tax cut news

By Yashaswini Swamynathan Reuters Wall Street’s three main indexes hit record highs this week, amid gains across sectors, led by financial and energy stocks.

The S&P 500 financial index rose 1.06 percent and was on track to snap a multi-day losing streak after President Donald Trump said he would make a tax announcement in a few weeks.

Oil prices rose 1.3 percent, extending gains to the second day, supported by an unexpected draw in U.S. gasoline inventories. The S&P 500 energy sector was up 1.05 percent.

Energy stocks gain as oil prices rise Trump says to make “phenomenal” tax announcement in few weeks Airline stocks up after top executives meet Trump Indexes up: Dow 0.63 pct, S&P 0.55 pct

Investors have been on the sidelines in the past few weeks, awaiting more clarity from Trump on his promises of tax cuts, simpler regulation and higher infrastructure spending.

“The one thing that you can be certain about Trump is that he is going to be unpredictable,” said Chris Gaffney, President of world markets at EverBank.

“I think this is another ‘Trump On’ trade day where we’re finally seeing some of the proposed policies being put into place.”

Following Trump’s tax cut statement, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 125.94 points, or 0.63 percent, at 20,180.28, the S&P 500 was up 12.63 points, or 0.55 percent, at 2,307.3 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 32.24 points, or 0.57 percent, at 5,714.69.

Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher. The S&P 500 financial index rose 1.3 percent and was on track to snap a three-day losing streak.

The utilities sector, which is considered a defensive bet, was down 0.88 percent.

Among stocks, Viacom rose 2.5 percent as its quarterly profit beat analysts’ expectations.

Coca-Cola fell 2.3 percent to $41.13 after the beverage maker forecast a drop in full-year adjusted profit. The stock was the biggest drag on the Dow and the S&P. Twitter sank 10.7 percent after the microblogging website reported lower advertising revenue in its latest quarter.

Airline stocks, including JetBlue, Delta and United Continental, rose more than 2 percent after Trump met with top executives of the companies.

A report from the Labor Department showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to a near 43year low of 234,000 last week, pointing to tighter labor market conditions.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,907 to 950. On the Nasdaq, 2,037 issues rose and 739 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 36 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 115 new highs and 18 new lows.

Warm up to the idea of informed energy decisions.

Our business is in providing electricity, but our heart is in empowering cooperative members with the tools needed to make informed energy decisions. Control your energy use and your budget by connecting with your local, not-for-profit electric cooperative.

Learn more at ncelectriccooperatives.com

Powering and empowering the people and communities we serve.

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2/1/17 12:06 PM

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

White House regulations trim prompts lawsuit

By Susan Heavey Reuters WASHINGTON, D.C. — The White House defended an executive order to U.S. agencies to rescind two government regulations for every new rule introduced, after several advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging the Trump administration over the move.

The National Resources Defense Council, Communications Workers of America and Public Citizen said in their lawsuit that the Jan. 30 order would harm the public.

They said it would “block or force the repeal of regulations needed to protect health, safety and the environment, across a broad range of topics — from automobile safety, to occupational health, to air pollution, to endangered species.”

The White House defended the order, saying that it was part of the administration’s efforts to help companies create jobs and that the groups are making assumptions about the order’s impact.

“The lawsuit presumes a lot of outcomes that are wildly inaccurate,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters. He added that over-regulation has hurt economic growth and that reviewing regulations should be welcomed.

Republican President Donald Trump’s order is a part of his party’s larger effort to undo many of the actions of former President Barack Obama. Conservative lawmakers have already moved to stamp out five Obama-era rules on corruption, the environment, labor and guns.

Companies have lauded the effort to deregulate, saying it will help boost their businesses and the larger U.S. economy. On Wednesday, Tokyo-based SoftBank Group, whose CEO has backed Trump’s efforts, said easing rules will make it easier to do business in the United States.

The lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia also named federal departments and agencies, particularly those with jurisdiction over environmental, transportation and energy issues.

The groups argued Trump overstepped his constitutional power and that the order “directs federal agencies to engage in unlawful actions that will harm countless Americans.”

Current insurance market:

10 mil 160 mil

employer-based policies

120 mil government-paid`

How to raise financially savvy kids Reuters EW YORK — Wondering why our kids are not so great with N money? Just look in the mirror; it’s because adults are often financial train wrecks themselves.

Even so, all is not lost. You can still try to instill your children with the right lessons about spending, saving and investing, to prime them for a more secure financial future.

That is the cause of personal finance guru Beth Kobliner, whose new book “Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even if You’re Not)” has just been released.

She spoke with Reuters about how to equip kids with money smarts.

Q: Is there a time in a child’s life that is best for giving them money lessons?

A: Start earlier than you think, because by age 3 they start getting money concepts.

Keep your lessons age appropriate. Using anecdotes is helpful, because we all like stories. Show them the numbers with online calculators, and how savings and interest could one day get them to a million dollars.

Q: You say that chores should not be tied to money and allowances are not a great teaching tool. Why? A: Tying things like making their bed to monetary rewards is a problem. You are paying a child to do things they should be doing anyways, and then they will start negotiating with you all the time. It can end up backfiring for parents.

Allowances start with good intentions, but then people tend to get busy and forget about them.

I looked into the research, which is all over the map — sometimes allowances help kids with financial decision-making, and sometimes they don’t.

What is very clear is that, whatever you choose, you need to be consistent about it. Otherwise it sends the wrong money message.

need to start early by teaching them about wants versus needs, and get into the habit of saying ‘No.’

Q: No one is perfect with money; is that why we are so afraid to teach our kids about it?

A: It is a terrifying topic. That is essentially why I wrote the book. It is a primer for parents as well, about basic things like debt and delayed gratification and compound interest, so they don’t feel like they are giving kids the wrong information.

Q: How did your own parents shape the way you understand money?

A: My dad is 87 now, and growing up in the Bronx, his family was in pretty bad shape. His father drank and couldn’t hold a job, his mother was overwhelmed, and he had siblings who slept in drawers.

So he used to go outside of his tenement building, hang out by the pay phone, and answer the phone for people who lived there.

They would give him a nickel, and then he would give it to his parents, so they would fight less.

Because of that, he always got how important money was.

Q: What are the money topics we should not be discussing about with our kids?

A: I don’t think you need to talk about your salary, because kids don’t have any context for it, and won’t really understand it. They also might gossip about it at school.

You also don’t need to point out who is the bigger breadwinner, by saying things like “Mommy makes twice as much as Daddy.”

And don’t disclose how much is in your 401(k); either they will think you are rich and can buy anything you want, or they will worry that you are totally broke.

Q: You have three kids of your own, so how is their financial behavior shaping up?

A: Pretty good, because they have heard me talk about this stuff their whole lives. What I tell other moms is: Make your financial priorities clear, and your kids will pick up on it. Just giving them more stuff is not going to make them any happier. That is something I know for sure.

Q: Is social media putting added financial pressure on families, by pretending that we all lead lives of luxury?

A: Absolutely. There is a constant barrage of Instagram photos, seemingly saying: “Look at the beautiful place I am, look at the wonderful food I’m eating.” All of those things cost money. That is why you

WellCare’s profit soars as enrollments jump, costs drop

By Divya Grover Reuters

individual policies

D3

WellCare Health Plans’ quarterly profit more than tripled, handily beating analysts’ estimates, driven by strong growth in enrollments in its Medicaid plans and lower costs in its Medicare business.

Like other health insurers focused on government-sponsored plans for the underinsured or uninsured, WellCare has been benefiting from the expansion of the Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as Obamacare.

But, such insurers have come under pressure following attempts

by Republicans to repeal and replace the act.

WellCare, which got two-thirds of its revenue from Medicaid plans in 2016, said membership in the business increased by 156,000 in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.

The additions were mainly due to the company’s acquisition of Care1st Arizona.

However, the amount WellCare spent on medical claims out of the premiums it earned, a key measure of costs known as medical benefits ratio (MBR), rose in the Medicaid business.

The metric increased to 87.2 percent from 86.3 percent in the business.

The company’s MBR fell to

85.8 percent from 88.7 percent in Medicare and to 58.9 percent from 67.3 percent in the Medicare Prescription Drug Plans businesses.

Both were well below analysts’ estimates.

The improvement in the Medicare Prescription Drug Plans was due to lower drug prices under a renegotiated CVS contract, Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Sarah James wrote in a client note.

WellCare has been bolstering its Medicare Advantage business, as insurers look to offset any likely hit from a possible repeal and replacement of Obamacare.

The company in November agreed to buy smaller rival Universal American Corp. for about

$600 million, in a deal that will add Medicare Advantage members in Texas and New York.

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans rose about 7 percent in the United States last year.

WellCare’s net income rose to $44.9 million, or $1 per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, from $13.0 million, or 29 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned $1.03 cents per share.

Revenue rose to $3.52 billion from $3.50 billion.

Analysts on average had expected adjusted earnings of 52 cents per share and revenue of $3.56 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

North Carolina is back in business, and business is good!

ncchamber.net

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

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Kelsey Harper, 6, of Roanoke, Va., rides in a wagon during the Krispy Kreme Challenge on Feb. 4.

Connie Lee, of Durham, crouches in the street to eat doughnuts during the Krispy Kreme Challenge in Raleigh.

Grant Alexander, left, and Matthew Simpson, right, both of Raleigh, eat doughnuts during the Krispy Kreme Challenge.

Krispy Kreme hopes high-end coffee with your doughnut will boost bottom line

By Donna King North State Journal INSTON-SALEM — Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, based in Winston-Salem, W announced this week they are relaunching their

coffee line with more choices and a higher grade of coffee bean.

Krispy Kreme isn’t the only retailer working to up their coffee game after Starbucks announced price increases in their coffee drinks in the summer. Dunkin’ Donuts and other fast food retailers have used similar tactics to try to draw in a younger, caffeinated crowd. But hold onto your sweet tooth, Krispy Kreme is offering a free doughnut throughout February with the purchase of one of the new coffees.

The announcement comes after downtown Raleigh was turned into a fried dough free-forall last weekend in the annual Krispy Kreme challenge race. The five-mile race has thousands of runners, many costumed, running down Hillsborough Street from the NC State University Bell Tower to the Peace Street Krispy Kreme, eating a dozen doughnuts and running back.

It has been an annual event for 13 years after 10 friends started it with only a handful of racers actually finishing the race. Last year, more than 8,000 runners participated in the event with 2,561 finishing the race. Since the start of the event, the Challenge has donated a cumulative total of $1,149,000 to UNC Children’s Hospital.

Founded in 1937, Krispy Kreme has more than 1,100 retail shops in 30 countries, having added Iceland to the list in November. In May it was sold for $1.35 billion to JAB Holding Company — a private investment group that owns Keurig and Caribou Coffee, among other properties. JAB paid $21 a share to acquire Krispy Kreme.

PHOTOS BY MADELINE GRAY | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Doughnuts and donations Thousands of runners took part in the Krispy Kreme Challenge in Raleigh on Feb. 4. Participants had to run 2.5 miles, eat a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, and then run 2.5 miles back to NC State’s campus.

Since its beginning, the challenge has raised $1,149,000 to UNC Children’s Hospital.

See more photos of the Krispy Kreme challenge in Raleigh at nsjonline.com!

Banks, merchants battle over card fees as Dodd-Frank revamp looms Service Sector voices opposition to banks’ renewed effort to abolish 2010 limit on credit card “swipe fees”

By David Henry Reuters NEW YORK — As another battle over financial reform brews in Washington, a broad coalition of U.S. lenders and card networks is seizing the opportunity to try to recover billions of dollars in annual revenue they lost last time around.

Lobbyists for the payments industry have been meeting with key lawmakers since the Nov. 8 elections to argue that limits on the fees they can charge for processing debit-card transactions amount to un-American price controls that hurt consumers.

They face a formidable opponent: a coalition which says it speaks for 12 million retailers, restaurateurs, doctors, dentists and small business owners who pay the fees.

“Our argument is, look at what you are doing to Main Street retailers if you repeal (the limits),” said Hannah Walker, director of government relations for the Food Marketing Institute, which represents grocers.

“It would hurt our businesses, increase costs to consumers and cost jobs,” she said.

The latest lobbying push over so-called “swipe fees” has drawn little attention, but banks and retailers have been at war over card transaction fees for at least 20 years. The merchants, after years of gaining little ground in the courts, took the fight to Congress, where both sides say they support the little guy.

The last round went to the merchants in 2010 when Congress passed the Dodd-Frank act to make the financial system safer.

Part of the law required the Federal Reserve to impose swipe-fee limits.

The last-minute addition of the provision, named after its Senate sponsor, Illinois Democrat Rich-

Larry downing | reuters

Former President Barack Obama shakes hands with co-sponsors of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), right, after signing it into law July 21, 2010, at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.

ard Durbin, caught the payments industry off-guard.

Since the Fed implemented the rule in 2011, lenders and card networks have lost about $6 billion in annual revenue, according to studies based on Fed data.

Now, with President Donald Trump promising to ease financial regulations and Republicans lawmakers angling for more free-market capitalism, the payments industry sees an opportunity to undo the fee limits - and perhaps get an edge in future legislative assaults.

“We go up there (to Capitol Hill) every day and meet with members of Congress and their staff and walk them through why this has been such a failure,” said Molly Wilkinson, executive director of the Electronic Payments Coalition, which is coordinating lobbying efforts.

The merchants, Wilkinson says, pocketed the cost savings from the

“As a matter of principle, Republicans do not believe in federal price controls.”

— House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) rule instead of passing them on to consumers.

While some other deregulation campaigns are driven by interests of a few big firms, the push to get rid of the rule has united big, regional and community banks, as well as credit unions, card networks and at least eight trade associations.

Their lobbyists say the lost revenue makes it hard to provide benefits such as free checking accounts

or debit-card spending rewards.

They present the curbs to lawmakers as “an inappropriate government intervention into the marketplace,” said Aaron Stetter, executive vice president of the Independent Community Bankers of America.

Deregulation Cheers Payments lobbyists are first focusing on the House Financial Services Committee, whose chairman, Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling, has said he intends to get rid of swipe-fee restrictions.

This week, banks launched an ad campaign on Capitol Hill targeting more than 200 legislators who joined Congress since 2010, said James Ballentine, executive vice president of congressional relations and political affairs at the American Bankers Association.

Banks have also included a re-

peal in their requests to the Trump administration, Ballentine said.

On Friday, Trump ordered a review of financial regulations, and his spokesman said the White House would work with Congress to overhaul Dodd-Frank.

Hensarling delivered such a proposal in September and it is now being updated for the new Congress. Hensarling said last month that repealing swipe-fee limits was “an important part” of the bill.

“As a matter of principle, Republicans do not believe in federal price controls,” he said.

Yet lobbyists for both sides say the odds are against the payments industry.

A key reason is that a repeal risks being cast as a gift to banks that were vilified for the 2008 financial crisis. Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Wells Fargo & Co account for roughly one-third of $2.4 trillion spent on debit cards every year, according to the Nilson Report.

Retail lobbyists have been emphasizing the political risks when talking to lawmakers. Come re-election time, they can point out, retailers will outnumber financial firms by more than 1,000to-1.

Vocal opponents of the card companies include big retailers, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Home Depot Inc and Best Buy. “The task for us is made easier because people know this is a somewhat radioactive issue,” said Doug Kantor, a lawyer for the National Association of Convenience Stores.

Whatever happens, lobbyists say their latest effort is preparing them for looming battles over credit-card transaction fees, data encryption standards and evolving digital payment networks.

For now, both sides say they are trying to get to know the new Congress and learn which members are worth attention and which arguments are most persuasive.

They do not expect a final vote before the fall, after lawmakers tackle taxes, healthcare and infrastructure.

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

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TAKE NOTICE ALAMANCE

DURHAM

FORSYTH

MECKLENBURG

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 503

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 1208

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 1474

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 2721

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Lacy G. Knighten and Shelia Lynn Knighten (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Lacy Gray Knighten and Shelia Lynn Knighten) to Paul Oertel, Trustee(s), dated the 28th day of May, 2015, and recorded in Book 03435, Page 0533, in Alamance County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Alamance County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at #1 Courthouse Square in the City of Graham, Alamance County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 10:30 AM on February 16, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Alamance, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot Number One Hundred Ninety Six (196), Phase 3, The Governors Green Subdivision, a plat of which is recorded in the Register of Deeds for Alamance County, North Carolina in Plat Book 69 at Page 336, to which plat is hereby made reference to for a more complete description. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 1518 Birkdale Circle, Mebane, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

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

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

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Anselm E. Makonyonga and Margaret Makonyonga, (Anselm E. Makonyonga, deceased) to Joslin, Sedberry & Lamkin, L.L.P., Trustee(s), dated the 19th day of March, 2004, and recorded in Book 4320, Page 251, in Durham County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Durham County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Durham, Durham County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 10:30 AM on February 15, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Durham, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 59, in Lynn Hollow Subdivision, Phase 2, as shown on that plat recorded in Plat Book 157, Pages 349 & 351, Durham County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 2909 Forrestal Drive, Durham, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

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

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

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Ouida R. Patten to A. Grant Whitney, Trustee(s), dated the 19th day of December, 2003, and recorded in Book 2436, Page 532, in Forsyth County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Forsyth County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:15 PM on February 15, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Forsyth, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 826 of BRICKWOOD PLACE, Phase 2, as shown on plat thereof recorded in Map Book 31, Page(s) 109, Forsyth County Public Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 826 Brickwood Court, Winston Salem, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

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

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

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Jimmy Thompson to Karres Law Firm, Trustee(s), dated the 28th day of September, 2015, and recorded in Book 30320, Page 388, in Mecklenburg County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot(s) 85, Applegate Subdivision, Map 8, according to the plat thereof recorded in Map Book 48, Page 157, in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 6426 Springbeauty Drive, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination.

Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1197316 (FC.FAY)

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination.

Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1192544 (FC.FAY)

IREDELL NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 1531 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Lakeisha R. Crump and Catherine L. Crump to Chicago Title, Trustee(s), dated the 27th day of May, 2014, and recorded in Book RE 3180, Page 2971, and Modification in Book RE 3275, Page 838, in Forsyth County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Forsyth County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:15 PM on February 15, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Forsyth, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 55, Old Salisbury Place Subdivision, Phase 2, Section 4, per plat and survey thereof recorded in Plat Book 60, Page 124, Forsyth County Registry, North Carolina, reference to which plat is hereby made for a more particular description of same. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 1871 Pine Cove Court, Winston Salem, North Carolina.

APN #: 682102498.00 Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1198035 (FC.FAY)

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 576 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by William H. Caldwell and Vicki B. Caldwell aka Vicki Patrice Brafford (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Vicki Patrice Brafford) to PRLAP, Inc., Trustee(s), dated the 30th day of September, 2003, and recorded in Book 1495, Page 365, in Iredell County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Iredell County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Statesville, Iredell County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on February 16, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Iredell, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of that certain Condominium Unit Number 272 known as Powder House Hill Condominiums as shown on that certain plat entitled “A Condominium Plat for Powder House Hill, Inc.”, recorded in Condominium Book 1, Pages 35, 35A, and 35B, Iredell County Registry, to which recorded plats reference is hereby made for a more particular description of said unit. There is also conveyed herewith a 1/19th interest in all of those certain areas marked and identified as common areas on the aforesaid plats, which said undivided interest shall run with the ownership of the aforesaid condominium unit and which shall not be subject to partition, nor to any remedies at law or in equity which should attempt to separate said interest from the interest in the said condominium unit. For back references, see deeds recorded in Deed Book 742, Page 627; Deed Book 689, Page 657; and Deed Book 688, Page 530, Iredell County Registry. Including the Unit located thereon; said Unit being located at 272 North Kelly Street, Statesville, North Carolina.

Being that parcel of land conveyed to Vicki Patrice Brafford from Powder House Hill, Inc. and Powder House Hill Owners’ Associations, Inc. by that deed dated 09/07/1990 and recorded 09/07/1990 in Deed Book 810, at Page 636 of the IREDELL County, NC Public Registry.

Tax Map Reference: 4734869883 Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination.

Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1194113 (FC.FAY)

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination.

Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1198347 (FC.FAY)

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 1494 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Dwayne L. Meekins and Wanda Meekins (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Dwayne L. Meekins) to Paul H. Swan, Trustee(s), dated the 31st day of January, 2007, and recorded in Book RE 2729, Page 1147, in Forsyth County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Forsyth County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:15 PM on February 15, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the Township of Abbotts Creek, in the City of Kernersville, in the County of Forsyth, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: The following described lot piece or parcel of land situated in the City of Kernersville, Abbotts Creek Township, Forsyth County, North Carolina: Being known and designated as Lot Number 29, as shown on the plat entitled Country Meadows, Section 1, as recorded in Plat Book 27, Page 20, in the Office of the Register of de3eds of Forsyth County, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 1461 Country Meadow Lane, Kernersville, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination.

Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1198324 (FC.FAY)

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1184183 (FC.FAY)

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 2536 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Priscilla Morgan, (Priscilla Morgan, deceased) (Heirs of Priscilla Morgan: Sharhonda Laneisha Morgan, Willie Lamont Morgan, Yolanda Chantel Morgan and Unknown Heirs of Priscilla Morgan) to Richard H. Lester or G. Robert Turner, III, Trustee(s), dated the 30th day of August, 2007, and recorded in Book 22756, Page 718, and Modification in Book 27585, Page 553, and Modification in Book 28534, Page 790, and Modification in Book 29988, Page 319, in Mecklenburg County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 131 of Thompson Brook Subdivision, Map 3, recorded in Map Book 46 at Page 783 in the Mecklenburg County Public Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 6218 Thompson Brook Lane, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1184739 (FC.FAY)

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017

D6 MECKLENBURG NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 4550 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Michael L. Walton and Jacqueline Walton (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Michael Lee Walton and Neppie Jacqueline E. Walton) to John C. Warren, Trustee(s), dated the 13th day of April, 2006, and recorded in Book 20295, Page 521, in Mecklenburg County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 3 in Block D of HYDE PARK EAST Subdivision as same is shown on map thereof recoded in Map Book 19 at Page 446, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 5917 Edinborough Drive, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1198875 (FC.FAY)

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 4531 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Kenneth C. Kowalski (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Simone Tran Kowalski and Kenneth C. Kowalski) to Joan H. Anderson, Trustee(s), dated the 13th day of May, 2004, and recorded in Book 17228, Page 389, in Mecklenburg County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Lot(s) 17, Block 2, Hunters Valley, Map 3 Subdivision recorded in Map Book 27, Page 405, Mecklenburg County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 6942 Curlee Court, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1198661 (FC.FAY)

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 003319

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 003369

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 4530

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Mee Cha and Neng Xiong to PRLAP, Inc., Trustee(s), dated the 17th day of November, 2006, and recorded in Book 21380, Page 222, in Mecklenburg County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 5 of Trillium Fields, Phase 1, Map 1, as same is shown on a map thereof recorded in Map Book 45, at Page 429, in the Mecklenburg County Public Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 4612 Trillium Fields Drive, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by James W. Lowery and Alice T. Lowery, (Alice T. Lowery, deceased) (James W. Lowery, deceased) (Heirs of James W. Lowery: Toni Rochelle Lowery aka Tonie Rochelle Lowery, Joseph Leo Lowery, James William Lowery, Jr., Susie Etta Harvell aka Susie Lowery Harvell and Unknown Heirs of James W. Lowery) to Jerry Hudgins, Trustee(s), dated the 16th day of December, 1999, and recorded in Book 10991, Page 880, in Mecklenburg County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 5 in Block 3 of the Subdivision known as Lakeside Park as shown on map thereof recorded in the Mecklenburg Public Registry in Map Book 14, Page 41, reference to said map being hereby made for a more particular description. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 626 Westside Terrace, Davidson, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Cheryl A. Callahan to National Title Network, Trustee(s), dated the 11th day of June, 2012, and recorded in Book 27431, Page 970, and Modification in Book 30577, Page 507, in Mecklenburg County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: The land referred to herein below is situated in the County of Mecklenburg, State of North Carolina, and is described as follows: Being all of Lot 302 of Oakdale Green Phase 2, Map 6 as shown on a plat thereof recorded in Map Book 44, Page 393, in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, reference to which plat is hereby made for a more particular description. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 6340 Foster Brook Drive, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1185950 (FC.FAY)

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 4529 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Ascencion Ruiz to Stacy D. Fulcher, Attorney at Law, Trustee(s), dated the 17th day of June, 2005, and recorded in Book 18922, Page 479, in Mecklenburg County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Tract 1: BEING ALL of Lot 2 and 3 and part of Lot 4, Block 5 of SUMMEY HEIGHTS, as same is shown on map thereof recorded in Map Book 5 at Page 73 in the Mecklenburg County Public Registry and more particularly described as follows: BEGINNING at an existing iron pipe found in the southeast corner of Lot 2 of Summey Heights and the southwest corner of the H. WIlliams property in Deed Book 4507 at Page 626 (now or formerly) which is the southeast corner of new Tract #1 and running S. 23-12-00 W. 124.93’ to a new iron pin #4 rebar and being the new southwest corner of new Tract #1 and the new southeast corner of new Tract #2; thence from that point running N. 66-4535 E. 180.07’ along the new property line to the new northwest corner of new Tract #1 and the northeast corner of new Tract #2 marked by a new iron pin #4 rebar; thence N. 25-13-51 E. 125’ to the northeast corner of Lot 2 being the northeast corner of new Tract #1 marked by a new iron pin #4 rebar; thence running S. 66-44-17 E. 180.00 feet to the southeast corner of Lot 2 which is also the southeast corner of new Tract #1 and the point and place of BEGINNING, totaling 0.516 acres, more or less, as shown on survey of David W. Dickens, P.A., Registered Surveyor, dated June 3, 2004 for Ascencion Ruiz and Sharon Ruiz. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 1727 Summey Avenue, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1188784 (FC.FAY)

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1183145 (FC.FAY)

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1197164 (FC.FAY)

NEW HANOVER AMENDED NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 15 SP 4776

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 827

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Gregory Hill, Jr. and Ashley T. Franklin (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Ashely T. Franklin and Gregory Hill, Jr.) to Andrew Valentine, Trustee(s), dated the 2nd day of March, 2006, and recorded in Book 20103, Page 261, and Modification in Book 26865, Page 613, in Mecklenburg County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:30 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: BEING all of Lot 114 of WALLACE CREEK, PHASE 1, MAP 4, as same is shown on a map thereof recorded in Map Book 41, Page 59, in the Mecklenburg County Public Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 6218 Green Vista Court, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Shawn R. Wellersdick and Anne Steketee to Julia C. Boseman, Attorney at Law, Trustee(s), dated the 14th day of July, 2005, and recorded in Book 4877, Page 2907, in New Hanover County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of New Hanover County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of New Hanover, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 27, Bradley Pines, as shown on that map recorded in Map Book 26 at Page 187 in the New Hanover County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 150 Bradley Pines Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property

An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1200014 (FC.FAY)

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1127465 (FC.FAY)

North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017 NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 1304

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 1271

RANDOLPH

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Joshua A. Davis and Antonia Davis (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Joshua Anthony Davis and Antonia Charlie Davis) to Investors Title Insurance Company, Trustee(s), dated the 13th day of November, 2015, and recorded in Book 4382, Page 609, in Onslow County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Onslow County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Jacksonville, Onslow County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 10:00 AM on February 16, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the Township of Richlands, in the County of Onslow, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 3 as shown on that plat entitled, “Cherry Grove, Richlands Township, Onslow County, NC” prepared by Dennis L. Manning, Surveyor and recorded in Map Book 55, Page 78, Onslow County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 206 Cherry Blossom Drive, Richlands, North Carolina.

Subject to restrictive covenants recorded in Book 3036, Page 190, Onslow County Registry.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

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

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

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Thomas J. Popkin (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Thomas Jason Popkin) to Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC, Trustee(s), dated the 10th day of December, 2007, and recorded in Book 2988, Page 778, in Onslow County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Onslow County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Jacksonville, Onslow County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 10:00 AM on February 16, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Onslow, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 15 as shown on a map entitled “New River Townhouses” dated August 27, 1986, prepared by Charles F. Riggs and Associates, Inc., and recorded in Map Book 24, Page 101, Slide D-49, in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Onslow County, North Carolina to which map reference is hereby made for a more particular and accurate description. Including the Unit located thereon; said Unit being located at 86 C Shoreline Drive, Jacksonville, North Carolina, Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

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

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

AMENDED NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 332

NEW HANOVER NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 203 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Robert E. Johnson and wife, Bobbi N. Johnson, (Robert E. Johnson, deceased) to Chicago Title Insurance Company, Trustee(s), dated the 8th day of April, 2011, and recorded in Book 5557, Page 1353, in New Hanover County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of New Hanover County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 12:00 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of New Hanover, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: All that parcel of land in New Hanover County, State of North Carolina, being known and designated as Lot 11, Section 2, Summers Glen, filed in Plat Book 35, Page 253. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 804 Worthington Way, Wilmington, North Carolina.

By fee simple deed from Bill Clark Homes of Wilmington, L.L.C. as set forth in Book 2182, Page 235 dated 05/07/1997 and recorded 05/16/1997, New Hanover County Records, State of North Carolina.

Tax/Parcel ID: R04306-014-055-000 Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1197023 (FC.FAY)

ONSLOW NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 1254 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Juan M. Munoz and Diana Munoz (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Juan M. Munoz) to William R. Echols, Trustee(s), dated the 23rd day of July, 2010, and recorded in Book 3443, Page 979, in Onslow County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Onslow County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Jacksonville, Onslow County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 10:00 AM on February 16, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Onslow, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 10 as shown on a map entitled “Final Plat, Liberty Tree Crossing, Section I”, prepared by John L. Pierce Surveying, L-2596, dated August 7, 1991 and recorded in Map Book 27, Page 235, Slide F-103, Onslow County Registry, North Carolina. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 161 Liberty Park Road, Jacksonville, North Carolina, Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1198647 (FC.FAY)

D7

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1196515 (FC.FAY)

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1198295 (FC.FAY)

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE

NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 1331

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Michael P. Avila to Trustee Services of Carolina, LLC, Trustee(s), dated the 17th day of April, 2006, and recorded in Book 2637, Page 227, in Onslow County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Onslow County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Jacksonville, Onslow County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 10:00 AM on February 16, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Onslow, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot No. 33, Block G, as shown on that certain plat entitled “Property of New River Homes, Inc., Jacksonville, North Carolina” dated May 1952 prepared by Joseph N. Farlow, Reg. Engr. and recorded in Map Book 3, Page 62, Onslow County Registry. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 507 Nelson Drive, Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Cody A. Chase and Karlie P. Chase to William R. Echols, Trustee(s), dated the 26th day of March, 2012, and recorded in Book 3752, Page 397, in Onslow County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Onslow County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Jacksonville, Onslow County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 10:00 AM on February 16, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Onslow, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: The following described property: All of that certain lot or parcel of land situated in Jacksonville Township, Onslow County, North Carolina and more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 5B as shown on that plat entitled “Final Plat Doris Place” as recorded in Book 57, Page 132, Onslow County Registry. Including the Unit located thereon; said Unit being located at 503 Doris Place Drive, Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property

An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1198665 (FC.FAY)

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1196908 (FC.FAY)

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by April H. Hollifield and Robert W. Whitaker to The law offices of Daniel A. Fulco pllc, Trustee(s), dated the 13th day of March, 2008, and recorded in Book RE2069, Page 104, in Randolph County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Randolph County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door in the City of Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on February 21, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Randolph, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot No. 10 of The Winchester Subdivision, a plat of which is duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Randolph County, North Carolina in Plat Book 32 at Page 70. Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 120 Winchester Court, Trinity, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1190734 (FC.FAY)

WAKE NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE 16 SP 3341 Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in a certain Deed of Trust made by Curtis Underwood and Delores Underwood (PRESENT RECORD OWNER(S): Curtis A. Underwood and Delores Underwood) to Gregory W. Gleason, Trustee(s), dated the 9th day of October, 1998, and recorded in Book 8163, Page 1568, in Wake County Registry, North Carolina, default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Substitute Trustee Services, Inc. having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Wake County, North Carolina and the holder of the note evidencing said indebtedness having directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the Salisbury Street entrance in the City of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, or the customary location designated for foreclosure sales, at 1:30 PM on February 20, 2017 and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the following real estate situated in the County of Wake, North Carolina, and being more particularly described as follows: Being all of Lot 2, Heather Springs Subdivision, Phase 1, as depicted in Book of Maps 1996 Page 424, Wake County Registry.

Together with improvements located thereon; said property being located at 111 Dowan Court, Garner, North Carolina.

Trustee may, in the Trustee’s sole discretion, delay the sale for up to one hour as provided in NCGS §45-21.23.

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

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

Also, this property is being sold subject to all taxes, special assessments, and prior liens or encumbrances of record and any recorded releases. Said property is also being sold subject to applicable Federal and State laws.

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

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

Additional Notice for Residential Property with Less than 15 rental units, including Single-Family Residential Real Property An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold.

Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may after receiving the notice of foreclosure sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days but not more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in this notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination. Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, INC. SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE c/o Hutchens Law Firm P.O. Box 1028 4317 Ramsey Street Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311 Phone No: (910) 864-3068 https://sales.hutchenslawfirm.com Case No: 1200322 (FC.FAY)

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North State Journal for Sunday, February 12, 2017