North State Journal Vol. 7, Issue 26

By Matt Mercer North State Journal

RALEIGH — In recent weeks, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) “streamlined” its COVID-19 guidance, and it has implica tions for K-12 students now heading back to the classroom. “We’re in a stronger place to day as a nation, with more tools — like vaccination, boosters, and treatments — to protect ourselves, and our communi ties, from severe illness from COVID-19,” Greta Massetti, PhD, MPH, MMWR author said in an Aug. 11 CDC press release. “We also have a bet ter understanding of how to protect people from being ex posed to the virus, like wearing high-quality masks, testing, and improved ventilation. This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer se verely disrupts our daily lives.”

Early voters line up to cast their ballots inside the South Regional Library polling location in Durham.

NC small businesses endorse Budd for U.S. Senate Raleigh

NC Supreme Court majority says 2018 amendments could be voided

The first temporary rule would add to the list of prohibited con duct for precinct officials that for bids them from tampering with voting equipment or expressing their political views while serving as an Theofficial.rulewould prohibit inten tionally interfering with, delaying or preventing a voter from casting a ballot, failing to attend trainings required by the county board of elections, failing to follow lawful instructions of the county board, county board staff, chief judge, judges, or one-stop site manager, and intentionally providing in accurate information about the administration of the election, among a list of 12 total proposed changes.Inaddition, the second pro posed change regarding election observers would add several defi nitions to their code of conduct and tighten the pool from which each county’s party officers can place observers in precincts. Under the proposed change, the list of precinct-specific observ ers cannot be amended five days before the election and prohibits observers from standing close to a “tabulator, laptop, pollbook or oth er voting document” where they could view marked ballots or con fidential voter information.

58 2017752016 $0.50 VOLUME 7 ISSUE 26 | WWW.NSJONLINE.COM | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022

By Matt Mercer North State Journal

During the NCSBE’s meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 17, the board voted approve temporary rules re lating to what it called “Conduct of precinct officials and election ob servers at voting sites.”

The state elections board said that after the state’s May 17 prima ry, dozens of county elections di rectors shared their recent experi ences with election observers, who are appointed by political parties to watch the voting process from inside polling places. Some county elections officials reported instances in which the partisan observers “were disrup tive to the orderly conduct of vot ing” and said some of the observers questioned poll workers carrying out their duties, repeatedly came in and out of the voting enclosure, and talked to voters in the voting enclosure. The NCSBE also said it was told of one incident in which the observer had gotten into a con frontation with a voter. The NCSBE, which is majority Democratic, outlined two changes it is seeking: the tasks and duties of precinct officials at voting places and who may serve as election ob servers.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, endorsed U.S. Rep. Ted Budd for U.S. Senate on Tuesday. “Ted Budd has proudly served North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District in the U.S. House, and we believe he will be a strong small business supporter in the U.S. Senate,” said Gregg Thompson, NFIB North Carolina state director. “As a small business owner, he understands firsthand the hardships small business owners face including meeting payroll and overreachingmanagingregulations and excessive taxes.” The endorsement is issued from NFIB FedPAC, NFIB’s political action committee.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Euro falls below parity with the dollar Frankfurt, Germany The euro has fallen below parity with the dollar, diving to its lowest level in 20 years and ending a one-to-one exchange rate with the U.S. currency. The euro was last valued below $1 on July 15, 2002. The European currency hit its all-time high of $1.18 shortly after its launch on Jan. 1, 1999, but then began a long slide, falling through the $1 mark in February 2000 and hitting a record low of 82.30 cents in October 2000.

NSJ STAFF Former NC Community College president paid to leave early Raleigh According to a severance agreement obtained by media outlets, former NC Community College System president Thomas Stith is being paid $97,000, or around four months of his salary, to leave early. Stith was being paid an annual salary of $292,000.Thedocuments show Stith will retain his health insurance through November and the agreement includes a nondisparagement clause. Stith was forced out after sources confirmed to North State Journal that his removal was discussed during a threehour closed session of the system’s board on July 15. He announced his resignation on July 19 but it did not take effect until July 22. Stith had been president for about a year and a half after being named president on Jan. 11, 2021.

A.P. DILLON Former Twitter security chief files complaintswhistleblower Washington, D.C. A former head of security at Twitter has filed whistleblower complaints with U.S. officials, alleging that the company misled regulators about its cybersecurity defenses and its problems with fake accounts, according to reports by The Washington Post and CNN. Peiter Zatko, Twitter’s security chief until he was fired early this year, filed the complaints with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. The Post, which obtained the complaint, reported that among the most serious accusations is that Twitter violated the terms of an FTC settlement by falsely claiming that it had a strong securityZatkoplan.alsoaccuses the company of deceptions involving its handling of “spam” or fake accounts, an allegation at the core of the attempted withdrawal of a $44 billion takeover bid by Elon Musk.

See COVID, page A2 See AMENDMENTS , page A3 See POLLS page A2

“We have no indication that these sorts of behaviors are rou tine in every county, and we have every reason to believe that most

North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Anita Earls speaks from the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh in this file photo via the N.C. Dept. of Public Safety.

State elections board wants temporary rule to restrict poll watchers

GERRY BROOME | AP PHOTO

NC Dept. of Health and Human Services rolls out “Know Before You Go” campaign

One key change affecting K-12 students is the removal of “test-to-stay” policies, meaning students will no longer have to show a negative COVID test to stay in the classroom. Many districts viewed “test-to-stay” as a way to keep in-person learning and avoid quarantin ingParentsstudents.wary of district at tempting to re-mask their chil dren may have more fights with their school boards in the near future.Inan interview with Nation al Public Radio, Massetti made the assertion that dropping “test-to-stay” as a quarantine alternative now means “the What the CDC’s COVID guidance changes mean for K-12

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

RALEIGH — In a conten tious opinion featuring barbs from both the majority and dis sent, the N.C. Supreme Court on Friday, Aug. 19 overturned a decision by the state appeals court and ordered amendments approved by voters in 2018 to undergo further scrutiny. At issue in the case is the fate of amendments made to the state constitution via direct vote in 2018’s general election. A total of six amendments were on the ballot, four of which that wereTheapproved.case,NAACP v. Moore, seeks to invalidate two of the amendments: a voter ID re quirement and capping the state’s income tax. Associate Justice Anita Earls, who was elected in 2018, au thored the opinion of the court’s four“TheDemocrats.precise legal question before us is whether a General Assembly composed of a sub stantial number of legislators elected due to CarolinasectionsolinaXIII,tobythegerrymanderingunconstitutionalmayexercisesovereignpowerdelegatedthepeopleofNorthCarolinathelegislatureunderarticlesection4oftheNorthCarConstitution,”wroteEarls.“WeconcludethatarticleI,2and3oftheNorthConstitutionimpose

RALEIGH — An attempt by the N.C. State Board of Elections (NCSBE) to restrict the movement of partisan poll watchers ahead of the Nov. 8, 2022, general election will go to the state’s Rules Review Commission (RRC) for approval.

WORD:

“This acknowledgesguidancethat the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives.”

Gina Massetti, PhD PUBLIC DOMAIN

Any moment we may be stricken down. Each day is full of dangers — dangers we cannot see, and from which we cannot protect ourselves. Disease lurks in the air we breathe, and hides in the water we drink, or in the food we eat. Along the street where we walk, on the railway over which we ride — there are perils. Any moment we may be stricken down! There may be enemies who are plotting against us, conspiring to do us harm. There are certainly spiritual enemies, who are seeking to destroy us! The sunniest day is full of them. No African jungle is so full of savage and blood-thirsty wild beasts — as the common days in our lives are full of spiritual enemies and perils. These dangers are unseen — and hence cannot protect ourselves. “Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy! He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour!”

partisan observers are conducting themselves with dignity and are following the directions of coun ty boards and chief judges,” said Paul Cox, State Board associate general counsel. “But, of course, we want to avoid any disruptive issues going forward, especially given how these incidents seem to have recently surfaced in signifi cant enough numbers to cause our county directors concern.” National and state Republicans objected to the changes. In a letter, Republican Party of ficials argued that the state board failed to establish that it has au thority to adopt the rule because it delayed the public comment period and therefore went around state statutes regarding rules changes. Cox said the board pursued the temporary measure to ensure the revisions are approved before in-person early voting begins Oct. 20.Republicans also said there was no “practical need” to adopt the rules citing that there were no new state or federal laws for which the NCSBE has been authorized to adopt rules and that the board failed to establish that the rule is necessary to become effective im mediately to preserve the integrity of upcoming elections.

1 Peter 5:8 What, then, can we do? As we go out in the morning we can offer this prayer, “Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I hide myself in You.” We can thus put our frail, imperiled lives — into the hands of our almighty God. “Cast your burden upon the Lord — and He shall sustain you.” Psalm 55:22. Every burden you have, you may cast on the Lord; that is, you may lay it on Him in prayer and by faith. But notice that God does not promise to lift the burden away — all He promises is to sustain you, that is, to give you strength to do the work, to bear the burden, to meet the difficulty, to master the hindrance or the obstacle.Weneed the burden. It is God’s gift to us, and has a blessing in it, which we cannot afford to miss. Prayer does not take our trials away — but it puts our life into the hands of God — so that in His keeping, we shall be kept from harm while we pass through our trials. It brings God’s grace into our heart — to preserve us from falling into sin; and God’s strength into our life — that we may be victorious over our enemies.Notto pray as we go into the day’s dangers and trials — is to meet them without the help of Christ, and surely to suffer hurt, and possibly to fall into sin.

“Deliver O from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.”

Psalm 143:9 We stand corrected: To report an error or a suspected error, please inwithcorrections@nsjonline.comemail:“Correctionrequest”thesubjectline.

me,

J.R. Miller was a pastor and former editorial superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication from 1880 to 1911. His works are now in the public domain.

THE BLESSINGS FROM BURDENS

Lord,

“The state board has failed to establish that this rule is necessary to become effective immediately to preserve the integrity of upcoming elections in North Carolina. The elections to which they refer were conducted under the rules as they currently exist. It is contradictory for the State Board to tout its elec tion process and simultaneously claim that ambiguous temporary rules must be immediately enact ed to ‘protect’ the state’s elections. Furthermore, the Proposed Tem porary Rule does not advance the integrity of the election process; rather, they restrict the ability of North Carolina voters to observe the election process,” the Republi can officials said. The RRC is expected to take up the matter at a special meeting on Aug. 25 in Raleigh.

“The North Carolina State Board of Elections has a demon strated pattern of trying to change and circumvent election rules at the last minute — this is no differ ent. Republicans believe that North Carolinians deserve transparency, accountability, and consistency in how their elections are adminis tered,” RNC spokeswoman Taylor Mazock told North State Journal. “The RNC and NCGOP will con tinue fighting to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat in North Carolina and nationwide.”

“The Gathering of the Manna” by James Tissot (circa 1896) is painting in the collection of The Jewish Museum, New York. practice of handling exposures would involve masking rather than a Despitequarantine.”Massetti’s claim, masking is only recommended but not required when county community levels are “high” in both the CDC streamlined guid ance and school-specific guid ance.The CDC’s update no longer recommends quarantining for students who may have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 either while in or outside of school, but it does recommend anyone ex posed should wear a mask for 10 days following Additionally,exposure.theupdate says school administrators should “decide how to manage expo sures based on the local context and benefits of preserving access to in-person learning.” The update goes a step fur ther, however, stating, “Schools might need to require masking in settings such as classrooms or during activities to protect stu dents with immunocompromis ing conditions or other condi tions that increase their risk for getting very sick with COVID-19 in accordance with applicable federal, state, or local laws and policies.”Theupdate also suggests “ac commodations may be neces sary” for those who have trouble or cannot wear a mask. School districts in North Carolina offered mask exemp tions through which families could apply for but were rarely granted. In Wake County Public Schools, parents reported mask exemptions were being actively denied. One parent who is now running for a seat on the Wake County School board spent al most six months battling the district’s policies of denying maskThisexemptions.latestround of CDC changes also states that “The CDC’s recommendations are not legally binding” and that “Many cities, states and school districts will review them but may ulti mately follow different strategies.”

During the pandemic, North Carolina school districts and school boards almost unilater ally relied on N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) for guidance via the StrongSchools NC Toolkit. On June 23, NCDHHS quiet ly sunset the toolkit. In a press release, the agency said that “Going forward, school admin istrators, staff, and families should now refer to the CDC’s Operational Guidance for K-12 Schools for information on how to lower risk of COVID-19 in schoolNCDHHSsettings.”has also dropped recommending masking in all childcare facility settings and programs.TheCDC’s “streamlined” guidance still pushes vaccina tions for people of all ages, how ever, the quarantine guidance appears to distinguish between a vaccinated and unvaccinated person.Asummary of the key updates includes:Instead of quarantining for those exposed to COVID-19, a person can wear a high-quality mask for 10 days and get tested on day Staying5. home for at least 5 days is recommended, and iso late from others in your home if you test positive for COVID-19 and after 5 days wearing a high-quality mask when around others at home and in public. If after 5 days you are fe ver-free for 24 hours without the use of medication, and your symptoms are improving, or you never had symptoms, you may end isolation after day 5. Universal masking only rec ommended for “high” county community transmission levels. De-emphasizes the “six-feet” social distancing guideline pre viously relied Encourageson.the public to have “vaccine confidence.” D ropping screening programs of persons with no symptoms. The CDC has also indicated that testing related to COVID community levels, including those at a higher-risk or inci dence, such as nursing homes or prisons, is more useful than screening in schools. On the same day the CDC issued its COVID guidance changes, NCDHHS also rolled out its “Know Before You Go Campaign,” which is a “state wide initiative reminding North Carolinians to stay up to date on COVID-19 vaccines and boosters in time for the start of the 2022-2023 school year, fall festivities, large gatherings and end-of-year celebrations and holidays.”“Whether it’s COVID-19, mental health and well-being or other public health needs, every North Carolinian should have easy access to the infor mation they need to know to protect themselves and others before they go about their daily routines,” NCDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley said in the release. The main target of the cam paign appears to be K-12 and college-aged students. According to the NCDHHS press release, “To date, more than 185 public and independent K-12 schools across 50 counties throughout the state have signed up for the campaign.”

A2 WEDNESDAY 8.24.22 #348 “Variety Vacationland” Visit us online nsjonline.com North State Journal (USPS 20451) (ISSN 2471-1365) Neal Robbins Publisher Matt Mercer Editor in Chief Cory Lavalette Managing/Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Emily Roberson Business/Features Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor Published each Wednesday by North State Journal 1201 Edwards Mill Rd. Suite Raleigh,300NC 27607 TO SUBSCRIBE: 336-283-6305 or online at nsjonline.com Annual Subscription Price: $50.00 Periodicals Postage Paid at Raleigh, N.C. and at additional mailing offices. SendPOSTMASTER:addresschanges to: North State Journal 1201 Edwards Mill Rd. Suite Raleigh,300NC 27607 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 AP PHOTO A sign at the entrance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is seen, Tuesday, April 19, 2022, in Atlanta. COVID from page A1 POLLS from page A1

RALEIGH — North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell has submitted an amicus curiae brief in the current lawsuit involving Certificate of Need (CON) laws in the“Asstate.‘keeper of the public purse’ and having responsibility for 750,000 members of the State Health Plan, I felt it was my duty to become part of Dr. Singleton’s lawsuit,” Folwell said in a press release.“We spend $4 billion a year of taxpayer’s money providing med ical and pharmaceutical cover age for those that teach, protect and otherwise serve the people of this state,” said Folwell. “CON laws are exactly what they sound like – a CON. Every year the hos pital cartel, through the North Carolina Healthcare Association, prevents any meaningful change to CON laws. Now, we must go through the courts to achieve thatFolwell’schange.”filing, submitted on Aug. 15, asserts that the CON law violates Article I, Sections 19, 32, and 34 of the North Carolina Con stitution and creates an uneven playing field that protects existing large health care providers. According to a press release, the lawsuit was filed Dr. Jay Sin gleton, a New Bern eye surgeon who challenged the state’s CON law that requires him to secure a government-issued certificate of need before he can perform most eye surgeries at his vision center. The CON law forces Dr. Single ton to perform most surgeries at New Bern’s Carolina East Medi cal Center at significantly higher costs to the patient. His lawsuit contends that the CON law vio lates three sections of the North Carolina Constitution, the state mentSingleton’ssays. lawsuit was dis missed in a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals that led Single ton to unsuccessfully petition the court to rehear the case. Single ton has since filed a request with the Supreme Court of North Car olina to take up the case. Per N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) description, North Carolina’s CON law “prohibits health care providers from acquiring, replac ing, or adding to their facilities and equipment, except in speci fied circumstances, without the prior approval of the Department of Health and Human Services.” Additionally, NCDHHS says the CON law also requires “pri or approval” for the “initiation of certain medical services” and CON law “restricts unnecessary increases in health care costs and limits unnecessary health services and facilities based on geographic, demographic and economicAccordingconsiderations.”toFolwell’s state ment, the supposed purpose of CON regulation is to “limit spending and cost by discour aging providers from acquiring unnecessary medical equipment. However, studies show CON laws protect incumbent provid ers from competition rather than protecting patients and payers from unnecessary costs.” of

RALEIGH — North Carolina Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein has responded to a let ter from congressional members concerning the security and safe ty of Crisis Pregnancy Centers in theOnstate.July 29, Republican U.S. Sen Thom Tillis and U.S. Rep. Ted Budd (NC-13) sent a letter to Stein urging him to use the Free dom of Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act of 1994 to protect Crisis Pregnancy Centers in North Car olina.Also signing onto the letter were U.S. Reps. Dan Bishop (NC-09), Richard Hudson (NC08), and Greg Murphy (NC-03). The letter to Stein cited the attack on the Mountain Area Pregnancy Services in Ashe ville following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision returning abor tion decisions to the states. The facility had been vandalized with red graffiti by the attackers that read “if abortions aren’t safe nei ther are you!” The lawmakers asked for an update from Stein by Aug. 15, however, he responded two days later in a letter issued on Aug. 17. In his response, Stein ac knowledged receipt of the July 29 letter and said that “As our state’s Attorney General, my top priority is to protect the people of NorthSteinCarolina.”continued, “That in cludes protecting them from violence, combatting the opioid epidemic, protecting kids from sexual abuse, delivering justice for survivors of sexual assault by testing old rape kits, and protect ing people’s freedoms, including women’s reproductive freedoms, and more.” “I welcome federal support and partnership on these all-tooreal issues that impact North Carolinians daily lives,” Stein wrote.Stein then seemed to dodge addressing the attack perpe trated on the Mountain Area Pregnancy Services, writing that “If you are aware of anyone engaging in violence against people exercising their rights, whether at a pregnancy cri sis center or an abortion clin ic, I urge you to notify local law enforcement and district attor neys would have authority over any criminal charges related to public safety.” “Of course, any North Car olinian who fears for their safety should contact local law enforcement immediately,” Stein added. “I believe that all North Car olinians, no matter their politi cal views, should feel safe in the communities they call home, and I will continue to do every thing in my power to protect the people of this state,” wrote Stein in closing.Buddreacted to Stein’s re sponse in an emailed statement to North State Journal. “Attorney General Stein re fuses to acknowledge that he currently has unique authority to pursue justice against those who threaten crisis pregnancy centers,” Budd told North State Journal. “His office, as well as the federal Department of Justice, can and should do much more to protect these centers in the wake of renewed threats of violence and vandalism.”

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

Josh Stein’s response doesn’t indicate action re garding attack on Mountain Area Pregnancy Services

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jack son Women’s Health Organiza tion which returned abortion law decision-making to the states, North Carolina’s top lawmak ers House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) and Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) asked Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein to lift the injunction, but he refused forcing the lawmakers to take additional legal action.

Berger also issued a statement that said in part “The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs clarifies that North Carolina’s long-stand ing regulation of abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy complies with the U.S. Constitution and should be reinstated.”Bergerthen took specific aim at Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein’s “political grandstanding” after refusing to lift the injunction. “Despite recusing himself from the case, Stein continued to be the face of his office’s lackluster efforts to defend it,” Berger’s statement reads. “He used his recusal as an excuse to fundraise and campaign on the issue, including holding a press conference at the Depart ment of Justice where he called on North Carolinians to vote for can didates that would block regulating abortions.”“Democrats’ position on abortion can only be characterized as ex treme,” said Berger. “Attorney Gen eral Stein’s political grandstanding has made one thing clear: He and his party want to allow abortion up to the moment of birth. That’s bar baric and out of touch with North Carolinians.”Earlierin the day on the 18th, Stein had issued a press state ment about actions he was taking to “protect women’s reproductive freedoms.” Those actions were not related to North Carolina or the pending injunction case. Instead, Stein announced he had joined 20 other Democratic state attorneys general in filing support briefs in abortion-related lawsuits in Texas and Idaho. In an emailed statement to North State Journal on Osteen’s ruling, Stein said “Women still have a legal right to an abortion in North Carolina under state law until 20 weeks. If people want that right to continue to exist, they have to elect legislators who share that view.”

AMENDMENTS from page A1

NC Treasurer submit brief in Certificate

Osteen’s decision lifts the in junction put into place in the 2019 decision in Bryant v. Woodall. That ruling said all women in North Car olina could get an abortion “beyond the 20-week deadline set forth in the statute, through the point of vi ability.”Inhis ruling, Osteen wrote that arguments by both plaintiffs and defendants “illustrate why this in junction must be dissolved and dis missed.”“Defendants argue, referring to Dobbs, that “[l]ifting the injunc tion will likely worsen the public confusion that is inevitable from such a profound reversal in the law,” Osteen wrote. “Plaintiffs simi larly argue that “the injunction pre serves Plaintiffs’ ability to provide critical healthcare services” and “[l]ifting the injunction would cre ate apprehension and uncertainty among providers about what kind of patient care they can legally pro vide in North Carolina.” “This court disagrees,” Osteen responded. “Most notably, this in junction does not preserve Plain tiffs’ ability to provide services con trary to North Carolina law; under Dobbs, there is now no constitu tional right to a pre-viability abor tion, thus depriving the injunction of any constitutional basis from which to enjoin the challenged North Carolina laws regulating abortion. Contrary to the parties’ arguments, leaving the injunction in place wrongfully heightens con fusion because to do so is mislead ing as to the effect of Dobbs.” Osteen also wrote that “None of the parties argue that the injunc tion remains legally enforceable, nor could they. The injunction was entered under the authority of Roe and Casey; that precedent has been overruled by LegislativeDobbs.”leaders issued state ments shortly after the ruling was issued.“Today a federal judge ruled that the injunction on North Carolina’s 20-week abortion ban is “patently contrary to the rule of law as deter mined by the Supreme Court” and should be lifted,” Moore said in a statement. “I am encouraged that, although our attorney general has failed to do his duty, today we have a ruling that upholds the law.”

limits on these legislators’ au thority to initiate the process of amending the constitution under these circumstances. Because the legislators elected due to uncon stitutional racial gerrymander ing retained the authority need ed to avoid “chaos and confusion in government,” the trial court should have considered wheth er invalidating both the voter ID amendment and the tax cap amendment was necessary ‘upon balancing the equities” of the sit uation.’”Earls’ reasoning boils down to arguing the legislature was “un constitutionally racially gerry mandered” and the process initi ated to enact the amendments “at the last possible moment prior to the first opportunity North Car olinians had to elect representa tives from presumptively consti tutional legislative districts.” While not explicitly stating that amendments should be overturned, Earls laid the legal groundwork to do so. Republicans pushed back forcefully on the decision. “This is the most tortured legal theory the North Carolina Su preme Court has ever used in its storied history,” said North Caro lina Republican Party chairman Michael Whatley. In a dissent, Justice Phil Berg er Jr. wrote, “At issue today is not what our constitution says. The people of North Carolina settled that question when they amend ed the constitution to include the voter ID and tax cap amend ments. Instead, the majority en gages in an inquiry that is judi cially forbidden — what should our constitution say? This ques tion is designated solely to the people and the legislature.” Berger continued, writing, “Unwilling to accept the results of a procedurally sound election that enshrined the voter ID and tax cap amendments in our state constitution, the majority nul lifies the will of the people and precludes governance by the ma jority. In so doing, my colleagues extend the reach of their judicial power beyond mere judicial re view of actions under our consti tution; instead, they have deter mined that certain provisions of the constitution itself are objec tionable.”“TheNC Supreme Court claims the court has power to reject con stitutional amendments already approved by voters,” N.C. Insti tute of Constitutional Law Pres ident Jeanette Doran said in a statement.“Whilethe majority’s decision said the lower court ‘swept too broadly’ when it threw out the amendments, the real endgame of the majority appears to be doing just that but waiting until after this fall’s elections to do so,” Dor anThesaid.attention is likely to put more focus on the two races on the ballot this November. Justice Sam Ervin IV, a Dem ocrat, is the only candidate cur rently on the Supreme Court who will be on the ballot. He faces Re publican Trey Allen, who won the May 17 primary. In the other seat, which will be vacated by Dem ocrat Robin Hudson, two Court of Appeal judges — Republican Richard Dietz and Democrat Lucy Inman — are the two can didates.“The fact that Justice Ervin would allow himself to be the de ciding vote in striking down the votes of more than 4.1 million North Carolinians is proof posi tive that he is not fit to serve on this Court,” Whatley added.

Judge reinstates North Carolina’s 20-week abortion law

A3 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

“At 20 weeks, a baby can move and kick, feel pain, and even has her own unique fingerprints. We’re pleased the court swiftly restored justice to innocent, unborn children by allowing North Carolina’s pro-life law to be properly enforced.”

Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF), which had filed a friend-ofthe-court brief on behalf of Moore and Berger, also issued a statement. “North Carolina can now protect more lives and provide real support to more women facing unplanned pregnancies,” Senior Counsel and Director of ADF’s Center for Life Denise Harle said in a statement. “At 20 weeks, a baby can move and kick, feel pain, and even has her own unique fingerprints. We’re pleased the court swiftly restored justice to innocent, unborn chil dren by allowing North Carolina’s pro-life law to be properly en forced.”ADF describes itself a s “an alli ance-building, non-profit legal or ganization committed to protect ing religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.”

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Late in the day on Thursday, Aug. 18, U.S. Dis trict Court for the Middle District of North Carolina Judge William Osteen reinstated North Carolina’s law restricting abortion beyond 20 weeks.“The issue before this court is whether to lift its injunction pre venting enforcement of three North Carolina statutes to the extent those statues prohibit pre-viability abortions,” Osteen wrote in his 14page ruling. “This court will vacate its injunction because it was based on Supreme Court precedent that has since been reversed.”

Need lawsuit NC AG responds to calls to protect Crisis Pregnancy Centers FILE PHOTO State Treasurer Dale Folwell is shown in this file photo. FILE PHOTO The L. Richardson Preyer Federal Building in Greensboro is shown in this file photo.

ADF Senior Counsel Denise Harle

Hayesville man wins $1 million in Powerball Clay County Donald West of Hayesville won $1 million in the Powerball drawing last week. West, 63, checked and saw that he matched numbers on all five white balls to win the $1 million prize in Monday’s drawing. The odds of matching all five white balls are 1 in 11.6 million. West bought the lucky $2 Quick Pick ticket from the Ingles on U.S. 64 East in Hayesville. He claimed his prize Thursday at lottery headquarters and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $710,100.

“I am again humbled by Gov. Cooper’s appointment and will be honored to serve and represent Durham County in this way,” Birkhead said in a statement. “One of my top priorities leading law enforcement here in Durham County is to ensure our local voices are being heard. This statewide appointment means we have a great opportunity to make our community better by having a seat at the table to effect change. Looking at the larger picture, this appointment also gives us a chance to help innovate and reform the criminal justiceAccordingsystem.”to Birkhead’s statement, he has been assigned to the Criminal Justice Improvement Committee (CJI) which will approve “priorities” and review applications for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program. Cooper also appointed Andrew D. Hendry of Pinehurst as a citizen at-large and Sheriff Calvin L. Woodard, Jr. of Wilson to the commission. Cooper’s appointment of Birkhead comes following a report earlier this year by Durham Police Chief Patrice Andrews showing a low rate of only one out of 11 homicide cases being closed as well as a 57% increase in homicides and 8 increase in violent crime year-over-year. Crime statistics published by the City of Durham show an increase in violent crime, including shootings. Meanwhile, the Durham Police Department reports a staffing gap of 436 sworn positions filled out of 549 as of Aug. 1. Birkhead has been involved in law enforcement for around 38 years, including work at the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office and 17 years at the Duke University Public Safety Department serving as Chief of Police from 1998 to 2005. From 2005 to 2010, Birkhead took on the role of Chief of Police for the town of Hillsborough in Orange County before being elected Durham County Sheriff in 2018.Birkhead, a Democrat, was first elected in 2018 after running unopposed and is seeking reelection this fall against MariaJocys’Jocys.law enforcement career includes 24 years with the FBI in global counterterrorism, five years with the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force targeting criminal street gangs in Durham and she was the first woman to lead the FBI’s field office in Raleigh. She also spent a number of years with the Greenville Police Department. In a move similar to that of the state Democratic Party trying to keep the Green Party off the November ballot, in June of this year Birkhead unsuccessfully tried to force Jocys off the ballot by claiming her campaign did not have enough required valid signatures to qualify.Ultimately, the Durham Board of Elections sided with Jocys and dismissed Birkhead’s complaint, citing he had not produced evidence to back his claim that some 9,000 signatures on Jocys petition should not have been allowed to stand. Birkhead has also faced criticism for being a “sanctuary sheriff.” In a 2018 candidate survey, Birkhead stated “I will make a clear and uncompromising commitment to not cooperate with ICE. As sheriff, I will not honor ICE detainers and we will not participate in ICE roundups.” In that same survey, Birkhead said he was “OK” with the federal government criticizing him for not honoring detainers and claimed that “an ICE detainer is merely a request; compliance is voluntary. There’s nothing in the federal law that says I mustFollowingparticipate.”hiselection, Birkhead made good on his prior claims and in 2019 issued a statement that his office would not honor ICE detainers. Birkhead indicated at the time he would be instructing his deputies to release illegal aliens instead of holding them in the Durham County jail for possible deportation by ICE agents.

Denver manufacturing facility gets $300,000 for expansion Lincoln County A $300,000 grant will support the expansion of a building in Denver that is occupied by Huber Technology, Inc., a German-based manufacturer of wastewater equipment. The award is one of 15 made by the NC Rural Infrastructure Authority last week, distributing over $4.2 million to area businesses. The company plans to add 122,000 square feet to the existing facility. This project is expected to create 46 jobs, with a $39,515,000 investment by the company.

Two agencies in Graham County awarded grants Graham County The Great Smokies Health Foundation’s Board of Directors awarded its 2022 Community Grants last week. This year, the Foundation received more applications than ever before (42), and funding requests totaling more than $203,500 - far exceeding what was available to allocate. More than two dozen agencies were awarded grants for 2022-23, including Graham County Department of Public Health Dental Clinic and KIDS Place Child Advocacy Center (Macon and Graham County).

WTKR Man dies after crashing car into a train Johnston County A man died after a car he was driving crashed into a moving freight train in Benson. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol identified the man as 27-year-old Christopher Ray Valdez. State Highway Patrol says a train was going north, and the crossing guard was down when a driver went through the crossing guard. It was unclear why Valdez didn’t stop for the crossing guard. State Road 1330 was closed in both directions for several hours as crews cleaned up the crash.

Cooper appoints Durham Sheriff to Governor’s Crime Commission

WRAL

A4 A5North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

By Matt Mercer North State Journal

Swain County Beginning next March, visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park will need to purchase a parking pass. Park Superintendent Cassius Cash says the fee is needed to keep up with maintenance and staffing demands at the country’s most visited national park. The Smokies have seen at 57% increase in visitors over the past decade with a record 14.1 million visits in 2021. However, appropriations aren’t based on visitations and have remained relatively flat. In addition to the parking passes, the park is increasing camping fees. All the money raised will go to staffing, deferred maintenance and operations. AP $125,000 grant to help metal works company Madison County A $125,000 grant will support the renovation of a 120,000-square-foot building in Mars Hill that is occupied by Highland Metal Works, LLC. The grant was part of more than $4.2 million in money awarded by the NC Rural Infrastructure Authority last week. The company produces custom designed and manufactured CNC plasma cutting tables and routers for various industries. The project is set to create 17 jobs, with an investment of $5,100,550 by the company.

NSJ

Perquimans County A person was killed earlier this month in a shooting in Hertford that has been ruled accidental. The person, whose name was not immediately released, was in the Snug Harbor Community when the accidental discharge of a weapon resulted in an injury. The county sheriff’s office and EMS both responded, but the person was declared dead on the scene. A bystander also suffered some type of medical issue and was treated at a local hospital.

Murphy to Manteo Jones & Blount

NTSB: Copilot who jumped from plane upset about hard landing

AP Trucking business gets $175K for expansion

AP Henderson resident arrested for threats at business Vance County Cincear Zyair Glasco, 21, of Henderson, was arrested last week after threats made toward emplyees of an electronics manufacturing company in Youngsville forced a lockdown. Glasco was arrested on a communicating threats charge after threatening to kill everyone at Eaton Corporation if a person inside the building didn’t come out to talk to him. Eaton was put on lockdown for several hours as police investigated the threats.

is shown in this courtesy photo from the Durham County Sheriff’s Office MAP IS OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION’S REGIONAL DISTRICTS

AP NC appeals court: Pot search lawful despite hemp similarity

One dies in accidental shooting

NSJ

RALEIGH — On Aug. 15, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper announced several appointments to various boards and commissions, including that of Durham Sheriff Clarence Birkhead to the Governor’s Crime Commission.

Wake County Federal investigators say a man who jumped to his death from a small airplane appeared to be upset over damaging the landing gear during a failed runaway approach. The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on the crash. The plane’s pilot in command told federal investigators his copilot “became visibly upset about the hard landing” after they diverted to another airport. The copilot lowered the ramp in the back of the airplane, removed his headset, apologized and departed the airplane. The incident occurred July 29. Charles Hew Crooks did not have a parachute.

GREAT SMOKIES HEALTH FOUNDATION

Greene County The NC Rural Infrastructure Authority announced 15 grants across the state last week. A $175,000 grant will support the expansion of a building in Stantonsburg that is occupied by H&T Trucking, Inc. The company, which transports grain, animal feed and live animals for local integrators and farmers, plans to add 2,250 square feet to the existing facility. This project is expected to create 31 jobs, with an investment of $162,589 by the company.

Smokies to require parking passes beginning next March

Duplin County North Carolina’s intermediate-level appeals court ruled in a case involving the challenges of prosecuting a marijuana charge when hemp is lawful and looks and smells the same as pot. The Court of Appeals ruling found no errors related to the conviction of Derek Edwin Highsmith, stopped by Duplin County officers in 2017. Highsmith sought to suppress evidence obtained through a search of a vehicle after a K-9 alerted officers to possible drugs inside. The appeals court agreed the local judge adequately explained there were other factors that gave officers probable cause to conduct the search.

NC goes back to school Piedmont-Triad District 5 North Central District 3 Northeast District 1 Southeast District 2 Sandhills District 4 Southwest District 6 Western District 8 Northwest District 7 COURTESY PHOTO Durham County Sheriff

WEST PIEDMONT EAST While year-round students have been in classes since July, the majority of students begin the traditional public school year at the end of August. North Carolina has 115 public school districts, as some counties and municipalities maintain their own districts, and the school choice movement has allowed hundreds of charter, nonpublic and homeschools to prosper. For many schools, the 2022-23 school year marks the first full year without the vestiges of the COVID-19 pandemic – no mask requirements, relaxed classrooms.participationscreeningssymptomandfullin Clarence Birkhead

WBTV

NC EDUCATION LOTTERY

NSJ CCS unveils new middle school Cabarrus County Cabarrus County Schools unveiled the ninth middle school in their district on Monday, dedicating the Roberta Road Middle School in Concord. The new school had a dedication ceremony and will open for students on Aug. 29. It has a capacity of 1,200 students and features 190,000 square feet of space. When it opens, it will have about 950 students and 61 teachers. It was designed by Concord’s Yates Chreitzberg Hughes Architects.

The Truth AboutTheAg Truth About Ag 98% of ALL Farms are Family Farms 98% of ALL Farms are Family Farms ncfb.org ncfb.org

A6 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor north STATEment VISUAL EDITORIALVOICES |

EDITORIAL | STACEY

Republicans have every right to fear the coming IRS expansion $600thatperallhaveCashVenmo,suchCompaniesasPayPal,andAppnowtoreporttransactionstaxpayertotalovertotheIRS.

ON OCT. 12, 1993, CBS “On The Road” host and UNC alum, Charles Kuralt delivered a fawning paean to the liberalism of UNC-Chapel Hill on its 200th anniversary. Many UNC leaders and alums view Chapel Hill primarily as a liberal intellectual sanctuary city where their political views can be advanced and impressed upon young minds without challenge. The primary mission of any university is not to indoctrinate students into any particular political philosophy or worldview but to educate young minds in a place where vigorous argumentation and disputation can occur in a free academic environment. Much of Kuralt’s iconic speech below is essentially verbatim with quotation marks. A person can almost hear his dulcet baritone voice intoning “What is it that binds us to this place?” as if watching a commercial for Carolina during a Tar Heel basketball game. The rest is what many people wish Mr. Kuralt, or any UNC president, chancellor or faculty for that matter, would say about the crucial mission of UNC-Chapel Hill and public higher education in North Carolina then and now: “I speak for all who could not afford to go to Duke, and would not have, even if we could have afforded it. We are Tar Heels-born and Tar Heels-bred. We are glad to be alive on the 200th anniversary of the establishment of public higher education in the New World. And immeasurably proud that this occurred on Oct. 12, 1783 here on the crest of New Hope Chapel…hill. What is it that should bind us to this place as no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. Or the crisp October nights or the memory of dogwoods blooming. Our loyalty is not only to William Richardson Davie, though we are proud of what he did 200 years ago. Not even to Dean Smith, though we are proud of what he did last March.No,our love for this place is based on the fact that it is, as it was meant to be, the University of the people.” Our mission should have been what Thomas Jefferson would say about The University in Charlottesville, Virginia he founded 37 years later: ‘This institution (is) based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.’ In 1868, the state constitution was amended to say the ‘General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of Withexpense.’suchbenevolent foresight, The University of The People became affordable to every Tar Heel. The University also became 100% accountable to every taxpayer in the state, regardless of their political affiliation or any other factor, who subsidizes such affordable education for each student.

ONE OF THE MOST LAUGHABLE talking points coming from Democrats in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s signing of the bogusly named “Inflation Reduction Act” is that Republicans are making mountains out of molehills over the $80 billion in new funding given to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to, among other things, add close to 87,000 new agents to their roster. The left’s responses whenever the issue comes up are to either falsely claim that the new agents will only target the super-rich for audits or to suggest that if Republicans have nothing to hide then they shouldn’t be afraid of a little phone call or knock on the door from the IRS just to make sure they’re on the up and up. For starters, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that at least $20 billion from future audits from the beefed-up IRS will come from those making less than $400,000 a year, with much of that amount actually coming from those making under $200,000 a year.Further, anyone suggesting people have nothing to fear as long as they haven’t done anything wrong has a) never had to go through an IRS audit and/or b) doesn’t get that saying such things is a whole lot like telling someone that they have nothing to fear from the police and investigators questioning them without a lawyer present as long as they’ve done nothing wrong. Not only that, but because our tax code is so massive and burdensome, it’s easy to make an honest mistake on a tax return — and an honest mistake is a far cry from doing something deliberate to avoid paying your taxes. So no, this is not about tax cheats wanting to get away with fudging numbers; this about honest people not wanting to go through the ordeal — which includes a lot of lawyers and a lot of stressful nights worrying and digging through paperwork — of an IRS audit.

‘What is it that should bind us to this place as no other?’ can read again the words on its seal…light and liberty, and say that in all the story,Americanthereis no other place like this.

“My family’s experience of the University may be much like your family’s experience. They came to Chapel Hill by train in those hard depression years of the 1930s carrying little money but much hope for theTheyfuture.hired a man with a mule and wagon to transport one trunk of belongings from Carrboro station to the campus” where they had but one goal: to absorb as much knowledge as humanly possible over the next four years and then go make the world a better place for them and everyone around them.

“Here as students, we found something in the air. A kind of generosity, a certain tolerance, a disposition toward freedom of action and inquiry that has made Chapel Hill, for thousands of us, a moral and intellectual center of the world. This was the atmosphere, the classically liberal and liberating air of Chapel Hill. It is the air we breathe tonight. And so on and on we might hope through the life of the University that freedom and toleration will be lived. Two hundred years to the day since the founding of the first state university, we can read again the words on its seal…light and liberty, and say that the University of North Carolina has lived by those two short noble words and say that in all the American story, there is no other place like this.”

Great professors and administration officials at UNC over time would echo Jefferson when he said: ‘I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man’ as they helped every student learn to look at facts objectively; think critically and make decisions ethically. That is the best any of us can hope and pray for from any institution of higher education.

now have to report all transactions per taxpayer that total over $600 to the IRS. All of that will be treated as income on which you will be taxed. It will be up to you to prove your son was just reimbursing you for all the dinners and lunches during the year he didn’t pay for. Last but not least, after what happened to Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status under the Obama-Biden administration with the IRS ultimately apologizing in 2017 for “screening their applications based on their names or policy positions, [and] subjecting those applications to heightened scrutiny and inordinate delays,” Republicans have every right to be alarmed over the IRS doubling in size. Here’s an idea for Democrats who have been spouting off the “nothing to fear” and “only targeting the super-rich” pablum: As a gesture of good faith, step up and volunteer to be audited, no matter how long it takes, no matter how much digging you have to do, whether you make over $400,000 a year or not. After all, if you’ve done nothing wrong, what’s theAndproblem?when we’re done with that, we can start auditing the federal government to see if they’ve been responsible in how they’ve spent our hard-earned tax dollars. Because if there’s fraud and underhandedness in this country to be found, that would be the absolute best place to start. But what needs to be done before all of that is something that is long overdue: We must simplify the U.S. tax code. I repeat: We must simplify the U.S. tax code. North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.

Consider this, too: In addition to all the new IRS agents, as of the beginning of this year, companies such as PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App

FRANK HILL MATTHEWS

We

Remember: Liz Cheney failed because she didn’t represent the people of Wyoming. When Sen. Mark Kelly votes for 87,000 new IRS agents — and zero new border patrol agents — he is representing Washington D.C., not Arizona. With some 400,000 people illegally entering the United States last month, Blake Masters should have an easy time arguing that Arizona’s Senator should vote for more border agents to police illegal immigration — not more IRS agents to police Americans.WhenJohn Fetterman comes out against oil and gas, he isn’t representing Western Pennsylvania (the fourth largest energy producer in the United States). When he advocates releasing one-third of the state’s prisoners in the middle of a crime wave, he abandons and threatens the lives and property of every Pennsylvanian. He can play silly games about Mehmet Oz all he wants. But in the end, Oz isn’t trying to kill your job or calling to release killers.When Sen. Raphael Warnock votes for trillions of dollars in spending in the middle of painful inflation, he shrinks the wallets and pocketbooks of every Georgian. Herschel Walker has an easy case to make: “We can’t afford Warnock and Biden,” will resonate with most Georgians. When virtually every policy position New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan supports is deeply unpopular, she is vulnerable — even if Republicans don’t complete their primary until Sept.When13. Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan has consistently voted for Nancy Pelosi’s Big Government Socialist agenda — including those 87,000 new IRS agents — he is going to find increasingly conservative Ohioans unlikely to pick him over J.D. Vance. When Catherine Cortez Masto is forced to explain the economic pain of high gas and diesel prices, high food prices, and policies which have crippled the Las Vegas economy, she will find Nevadans unsympathetic. Former Nevada Atty. Gen. Adam Laxalt may be the best prepared Republican senatorial candidate in the country. Nevada is a state looking for new leadership at every level, and it is easy for Laxalt to prove Masto represents the old, failed, and out-of-touch system. November realities are going to be a lot friendlier to Republicans than August news media fantasies.

Dear FBI LAST WEEK, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed an expansive piece of school choice legislation. It is now possible for all 1.1 million K-12 students in Arizona to get a scholarship and attend the school that best meets their needs. I strongly believe in what they were able to accomplish. With Arizona being such a trailblazer in the school choice movement, I had to see it myself because this represents another powerful paradigm shift, moving power away from the education elites and back into the rightful hands of parents.Here’smore good news, we are seeing signs of it happening here in North Carolina. After being with Gov. Ducey (a Republican who took office in 2015), and those who made this achievement possible, one thing was crystal clear: they believe in funding students, not systems. We at PEFNC (Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina) agree! Back home here in North Carolina, our state has made incredible strides over the last ten years for school choice. We busted the cap on public charter schools and created a scholarship program for students with special needs in 2011. Next up in 2013, the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) was established to help kids from lower-income families afford private school. That program was upheld constitutionally in 2015, and today serves over 20,000 children across our state. We followed that up by enacting the Education Savings Account (known today as ESA+) in 2017, and then OSP and ESA+ expansion this year. I am grateful that leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly, under Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Eden) and Speaker of the House Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain), has prioritized school choice growth in North Carolina, despite efforts from Gov. Roy Cooper to eliminate programs such as the Opportunity Scholarship Program. With the successful track record and high demand for these educational programs, North Carolina is positioned to follow the path that our friends in Arizona just paved. It proves that school choice for all is possible and is always worth fighting for. For the first time in the history of our state, more than 25% of K-12 students are educated in a private school, public charter school, or home school. We should continue to strengthen education in North Carolina by promoting more choice in education. I know we can do it. If Arizona can do it, so can North Carolina.

Sincerely, (William) E. James, Reidsville

More than 25% of K-12 students are educated in a private school, public school.school,charterorhomeRepublicancandidatestodayjustneedtofocusonbigissues—andnotlettheiropponentsorthenewsmediadragthemintoirrelevantarguments.IhavecometorealizethatIamapublicmenace. Is environmentalismmodernapaganreligion?

Mike Long is President of PEFNC headquartered in Raleigh | WILLIAM E. JAMES USA FBI Director Wray: Could you provide to me the location of the nearest FBI offices so that I might turn myself in? After hearing of the internal documents circulating in your offices that were revealed by veritas.org, I have come to realize that I am a public menace and that I belong in your custody. You see, I have a flagpole in my back yard and a lot of the time, instead of displaying Old Glory, I fly my “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden flag there, which suggests that I am a domestic terrorist. Worse yet, when the 4th of July comes around, I put up my “Betsy Ross” flag for a few days.

OK, Arizona! We see you. COLUMN | NEWT GINGRICH LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at FreedomWorks. He is also author of the new book: “Govzilla: How The Relentless Growth of Government Is Devouring Our Economy.”

WE ARE ONCE AGAIN in the silly season. The elite propaganda media and its Democrat allies are convincing themselves that a dramatic turn is coming.Ifyou read the current breathless analysis and coverage: the Republicans have nominated weak, inadequate candidates for the Senate; recentlypassed laws give Joe Biden and the Democrats “real momentum;” and the massive Democrat Party advantage in fundraising will give their candidates huge advantages in defining the election. We have been here before. In August 1980, Reagan was reportedly underperforming. He went on to win the biggest electoral college victory against an incumbent president in American history. In August 1994, no one thought the House Republicans could win a majority. In fact, even the weekend before the election, the professional analysts and political expert newscasters opined that a Republican majority was fantasy. The following January, we convened the first Republican House Majority in 40 years. In August 2016, the elites were certain that a Donald Trump victory was impossible — and that Hillary Clinton was inevitably going to be the next President of the United States. If you doubt how deeply the elite media believed in a Clinton victory, go to YouTube and watch election night 2016 coverage. Heartbroken commentator after heartbroken commentator realized, with tragic looks on their faces, that Trump had won. Finally, in 2020, House Republicans were supposed to lose 25 seats, according to the experts. Instead, they gained 15 seats. This 40-seat swing put Kevin McCarthy in reach of the speakership. As you hear the Democrat surge cheerleading, consider that the Joan of Arc of Trump Haters, Liz Cheney, got only 29% of the vote in Wyoming last week. Instead of wondering why Wyoming voters didn’t believe the made-for-TV Jan. 6 Committee hearings, the media is wondering why the voters failed to do “the right thing.” Almost no pundits have looked inward and internalized that a 29 percent vote for an incumbent is not simply a loss — it is a repudiation. So, now we have a series of slanted polls which indicate the Democrats are gaining ground. This is nothing new. In 1990, the liberal Detroit paper published a poll the Saturday before the election showing Republican John Engler would lose by 19%. Three days later, he defeated the Democrat incumbent.Inmyown case, I have never forgotten a newspaper headline in late October 1994, which read “Democrats gaining ground.” Being acutely interested at the time, I read the article carefully. The truth was the Democrats were gaining ground among those least likely to vote, and the Republicans were widening their lead among likely voters.Guess which one mattered more. Finally, we are told that Republicans made a mistake in nominating outsiders who never ran for office before. I lived through that in 1980, when we had a lot of newcomers running for the U.S. Senate. The papers said we would lose big. But the American people said they wanted new blood in Washington and candidates who wanted to work with Ronald Reagan. Republicans made a 12-seat gain and created the first Republican U.S. Senate majority since 1954. Republican candidates today just need to focus on big issues — and not let their opponents or the news media drag them into irrelevant arguments.

The make-believe Democrat Senate surge

THE GREAT RUSH LIMBAUGH used to say that “the time,getsplanet.wouldInflationelectricthecomplex.climate$369whichInflationbillionunconscionableBidenonceSpeakerlisteningremindednotworshipenvironmentalistsmodernthecreated,thecreator.”IwasofthataftertoHouseNancyPelosiPresidentJoesignedthefiscally$750tax-and-spendReductionAct,givesanotherbilliontothechange-industrialPelosi(D-CA)claimedwind,solarandsubsidiesintheReductionActplacatean“angry”“MotherEarthangryfromtimetoandthislegislationwill help us address all of that,” the speaker said. This is a highly revealing statement. Do Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues really believe that spending $369 billion on Tesla subsidies (with batteries made in China), windmills (made in China) and solar panels (made in China) is going to save the planet, stop the rise of the oceans and lower the global temperature? This is the same gang in Congress that can’t stop the daily drive-by shootings in our cities, can’t secure the U.S.-Mexico border, can’t come anywhere near balancing the budget and can’t provide the resources our military needs for our national security. Even if this additional $369 billion were to work as planned, the Wall Street Journal reports that the impact on global temperatures in the coming decades would be to lower them by 0.001%. So, instead of the global temperature being an average of 59 F, it will be 58.999 F. Thank God! We are saved from Armageddon. But as Pelosi’s quote makes clear, this is about symbolism. It is about ruining the economy as a sacrifice to Mother Earth. Marc Morano, the journalist who runs ClimateDepot.com, asks: “Will human sacrifices be next to appease the ‘angry’ Earth gods? Actually, this bill will create human sacrifice by imposing even more suffering from energy deprivation, supply chain issues, good shortages, inflation, debt, and bad science.”He’sright. The suffering that will occur from this assault on American energy security and reliability could be profound — and it will be the lowest-income people who will be hurt the most. Inflation will rise as energy prices soar. The shortages of energy will cause hardship for many consumers, including food shortages. Europe, which got hooked on the green energy fad, is now rationing energy. In Spain, there are new restrictions on using air conditioning to set the temperature of your store or home at less than 80 F — during a heat spell. It’s one of those sacrifices to Mother Earth. One of the great injustices and ironies of the new law is that it purports to give billions of dollars for “environmental justice” grants to lowincome communities and inner cities when it is this group of people who will feel the brunt of the anti-fossil fuel policies. The poor spend much more of their incomes on energy than the rich. The warmest years in North America are not recent years — instead, they occurred during the 1930s amid the Dust Bowl era. This was before 80% of the carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere. Back then, thousands of U.S. residents died from extreme weather. But now we have, through modern electric power and technological innovation, major ways to reduce death rates from weather events. The way to save the Earth is through more growth, more innovation and a richer planet. That is what Mother Earth wants. That is what America wants. Only one out of 20 people rate climate change as the No. 1 problem facing our country. The public wants lower inflation and more prosperity. This law delivers neither. The God that many of us worship wants us to create peace, prosperity and light. The god of radical environmentalists will deliver darkness, despair and decline.

The BowlamidduringtheyyearsnotAmericayearswarmestinNortharerecent—instead,occurredthe1930stheDustera.

COLUMN | MIKE LONG

August 24, 2022 Dear

Still worse, when Columbus Day approaches, I fly the Italian flag and with St. Patrick’s Day I send my Irish flag aloft — all of which means I must be a white supremacist. Even more dreadful is the fact that when General Robert E. Lee’s birthday takes place, I fly his headquarters flag and below it, the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia! Since I was a child, I have regarded General Lee as a great American and by honoring him and displaying his flags I have realized from the FBI memos that I must be a confirmed supporter of treason, white supremacy, discrimination, racism and slavery! I even have a T-shirt with the image of a Minuteman on it! It says, “In 1776 He was a Domestic Terrorist.” Oh, the horror of it all! I am so sorry to have to reveal these distressing facts to you, but after having read them, I am sure you will agree that I am a hopeless example of a militant terrorist — and oh! I forgot the worst of the worst — I voted twice for Trump, well actually four times, if you include the primaries, and I have flown his flags, too! Why, I even traveled with some friends who went to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021 to attend the rally there! None of the police invited us to go inside the Capitol, but that still does not exempt us from being part of that awful insurrection. I am tainted merely by having been there! Please advise quickly where I might turn myself in. I am so terribly ashamed of myself.

112233 Main Street Anytown,

A7North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

COLUMN | STEPHEN MOORE

“It seems to me that not only for me but for all Ukrainians, time has stopped,” Mokrozub said. “We all live in some kind of limbo.” Russia’s invasion has created the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. The UN refu gee agency says a third of Ukrai nians have fled their homes, with more than 6.6 million displaced within the country and over 6.6 million more across the continent.

Ukrainians long to go home as war drags on

The “BBQ Becky” is the meme named for an incident of a white woman named Jennifer Schulte calling 911 on a black family bar bequing in Oakland, California, in Chavis2018. has deleted his tweets related to the 2021 Math Summit, however, North State Journal pre served several of them using ar chive websites. One deleted tweet promoted the upcoming presen tation while in another deleted tweet Chavis celebrated giving the presentation with Bullock, who he notes as being his friend and for mer college roommate.

Some corporations are stepping in to Thehelp.global tech company Sie mens transformed office space at its Polish headquarters to create hotel-style accommodations for nearly 160 people, administered by the Warsaw city government. The facility is clean, with food and laun dry facilities provided for free. Oleh Yarovyi, from Khmel nytskyi in western Ukraine, ar rived six years ago and has built up a coffee shop franchise with his wife. As they expand, he has lost some Ukrainian men helping with construction who returned to fight in the war, but he has been able to hire Ukrainian women who can use their language in a job they hope is temporary.“Halfofthem plan to go back, so they don’t even try to learn Polish,” Yarovyi said. “They just look for a simple job without any additional challenges.”Fartherwest, in Schwerin, Ger many, Marina Galla, a computer science teacher who left Mariupol with her 13-year-old son in late March, has found relief and sta bility. Last month they moved into a small rooftop apartment after a long escape that took them through Poland and Berlin. She is free from the horrors and the deprivation from which she fled: the bodies in the streets, drinking melted snow because there was no running water. Yet she feels crushed with sadness thinking of family left behind. In a black backpack she has car ried every day since leaving Mar iupol, Galla keeps a handwritten note in a side pocket listing contact information for her mother, father and grandmother. She originally wrote it in case she was killed in the war, and even in the safety of Schwerin, she doesn’t leave home without it. Her son messaged a lot with his friends from back home during their first months in Germany, but he barely talks to them anymore and has stopped asking when they will return to Ukraine. “He probably understands,” Gal la said, “that we will not be able to go back there.”

A8 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

The Associated Press WARSAW, Poland — On March 8, nearly two weeks after Russia in vaded Ukraine, Taisiia Mokrozub took her infant son, parted from her husband and joined an exodus to safety in Poland. She believed the war would end quickly and she would be home by May. But a half-year later, with shell ing near a nuclear power plant in her hometown of Zaporizhzhia, and the front line so close, the 36-year-old’s husband is telling her to stay in Poland with their now-11month-old baby. She now dreams of being home by winter, hoping Ukraine will have prevailed by then against Russia’s onslaught. As the war reaches the sixthmonth mark Wednesday, many ref ugees are facing the sad realization that they will not be going home soon, if they have homes to re turn to at all. With missiles falling even far from the front line, many wouldn’t feel safe yet, even in areas under Ukrainian control. So they are biding their time, waiting for the end of a war that shows no signs of ending soon, longing for home and refusing to think too far into the future. With a new academic year start ing, some are reluctantly enrolling their children in schools abroad, worried they will fall behind in the Ukrainian system. Others take jobs below their skill levels. With most refugees being women, those with very young children, like Mokro zub, are unable to work.

“When culturally responsive teaching and social justice collide in math classes, we create scholars ready to engage in social change. It was dope to have co-presented with my college roommate and friend, @DKelvinB, Exec Direc tor of @DPS_Equity. We can do this! @NCStateCED @NCTM,” Chavis said in the now-deleted tweet.On Mar. 1 of this year, William Chavis was named to fill the as sistant superintendent vacancy left by Rodney Trice in the Office of Equity Affairs (OEA). He will have a starting salary of $129,000 a year.Trice resigned in May 2021 following North State Journal’s two-part series investigating a professional development course his office facilitated called “Intro to Critical Race Theory.” That course was to be taught by The Equity Collaborative, a DEI and Critical Race Theory training or ganization founded and run by sitting state Rep. Graig Meyer (D-Durham).Tricewas hired not long af ter by the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools district as the Chief Equity and Engagement Officer with an annual compensation of aroundChavis,$161,940.whileprincipal at En loe, had worked with both the OEA and Meyer’s outfit related to “equity” strategies. State Board of Education member James Ford described the partnership be tween Chavis and Meyer’s group in a February 2019 article at Edu cationNC as “receiving consulting from the Equity Collaborative to help guide implementation.”

Chavis has been employed with WCPSS for almost 12 years. In March 2021, his resume says he was an “Executive Leadership Coach” with WCPSS. He was the principal of Enloe for almost five years, from August 2016 through MarchPrior2021.toEnloe, he was the prin cipal at Fuquay-Varina Middle School (Sept. 2013-Aug. 2016) and assistant principal of the same middle school for three years be ginning in Aug. of 2010. Before coming to WCPSS, Chavis was a math department chair in the Al amance-Burlington Public School System for six years spanning from Aug. 2004 through Aug. of 2010.Based on records requests made by North State Journal in 2021, the Office of Equity Affairs’ budgetary running total since its inception in 2014 has exceeded $8.69 million. Around $2.4 mil lion of that total has been tied to “workshops” and “training,” much of which is based on or directly in cludes Critical Race Theory. When investigating if taxpayers were getting their money’s worth related to the OEA, North State Journal learned WCPSS keeps performance metrics on OEA staff only and not for the OEA as a whole.

New Wake schools’ diversity leader presented on ‘social justice’ in high school math US Air Force targeted in ‘propaganda attack’ in Kuwait Baghdad The U.S. Air Force said it was the subject of a “propaganda attack” by a previously unheard-of Iraqi militant group that falsely claimed it had launched a drone attack targeting American troops at an air base in Kuwait. The statement by the Air Force’s 386th Air Expeditionary Wing came hours after the group calling itself Al-Waretheen, or “The Inheritors,” put out an online statement claiming that it targeted Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Air Base. The statement included a video showing a drone being launched from a stand, but offered no evidence of an attack or any damage done at theThebase.statement claimed the alleged attack aimed to avenge the U.S. drone strike that killed a prominent Iranian Revolution Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in January 2020. The air base is located a few dozen miles from the Iraqi militiafalsely“Theborder.misinformationstatedanIraniangroupused(drones) to carry out an attack on base,” the Air Force statement to The Associated Press said. “No such attack occurred.” The statement suggests the U.S. believes that AlWaretheen is likely an Iranian group, though it described itself as Iraqi. Some 13,500 American troops are stationed in Kuwait, which also hosts U.S. Army Central’s forward headquarters. Those forces have supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and later operations against the Islamic State group. Kuwait’s Al-Qabas newspaper, quoting anonymous “responsible” sources, called the claims about an attack “completely untrue.”

European countries have wel comed them without the political backlash that met influxes of refu gees from the Middle East and Af rica in past years, however. Poland has taken in the most Ukrainians, with an estimated 1.5 million having registered for na tional ID numbers that allow them social benefits. Germany, which doesn’t require visas for Ukrai nians, has registered more than 900,000, though it isn’t clear how many of those may have gone home or headed Warsawelsewhere.nowhas 180,000 Ukrainian refugees — representing a tenth of the Polish capital’s pop ulation of 1.8 million — the largest single grouping anywhere. Though Ukrainian and Russian — which is also commonly spoken back home — are heard on the city’s streets and grocery stores now car ry some Ukrainian foods, the new comers have integrated with little trouble and seem almost invisible. For many of the refugees, Po land’s Slavic language and culture offer something familiar and reas suring. The country’s proximity to Ukraine makes it possible to travel back for short visits with husbands and fathers who are banned from leaving due to the war effort.

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — A presentation obtained by North State Journal shows the new leader of Wake County Public Schools’ Office of Equity Affairs presented on “cul turally responsive teaching and social justice in high school math ematics classrooms” at a 2021 Math Summit held at N.C. State University.Chavisgave the presentation alongside Dr. Kevin Bullock, Ex ecutive Director for Equity Affairs for Durham Public Schools. Bull ock is also the husband of Ronda Bullock, the founder of Working Towards Anti-Racist Education (WEARE) which is an organiza tion that openly supports the use of Critical Race Theory in K-12 education.The25-page presentation is titled “Is Culturally Responsive Teaching even Possible in Mathe matics Classes?: Equitable Teach ing Practices in Integrating Cul ture and Social Justice in High School Mathematics Classrooms.” The slides include discussing, engaging and applying “tenets of culturally responsive teaching through high school mathematics standards and the framework for social justice,” as well as increas ing the “understanding of social justice issues and how they play a critical and pivotal role in teach ingMuchmathematics.”ofthe material and themes included in the presen tation mirror that of “Equitable Math,” a project aimed at disman tling racism in math instruction that has $1 million in grant back ing from the Bill and Melinda GatesOneFoundation.ofthecoreguides followed by Equitable Math includes a framework with approaches for “antiracist math educators” for “dismantling white supremacy in math classrooms by making vis ible the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture with re spect to math.” Toxic character istics in the guide include getting answers right and teaching “re al-world math.” The Chavis/Bullock presen tation includes also includes a proposed “Equity-Driven Math ematics Teacher Framework,” as picturedMaterialsbelow.referred to in the presentation are “Culturally Re sponsive Teaching and the Brain,” by Zaretta Hammond and “High School Mathematics Lessons to Explore, Understand, and Re spond to Social Injustice,” a joint publication by Coleman Mathe matics and the National Coun cil of Teachers in Mathematics (NCTM). The presentation re lies heavily on Hammond’s work, however, in the latter portion of the presentation, an example of a “Social Justice Math Lesson” on food security is supplied from the Coleman and NCTM joint publi cation.Also included is a slide titled “Social Justice Connections,” fea turing images of protesters for cli mate change, Black Lives Matter, the protesting students and a man holding up his fist while display ing an image of George Floyd, the man who died while being arrest ed and whose death set off violent protests in 2020. A later slide enumerates specif ic social justice topics, including disparities in honors courses, fair living wage, wealth distribution, climate change, immigration, prison population, intersection ality/wage gaps, gerrymandering, food insecurity, and “BBQ Becky” policing and racial justice.

‘Time stopped’:

Chavis and Meyer also crossed paths in 2017 during a “Leading Equity Conversations and Cultur ally Responsive Teaching” that in volved staff from at three WCPSS schools.Essential duties contained in Chavis’ job description are heavy in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), including the areas of pro fessional development to focus on “culturally relevant pedagogy” and “culturally responsive practic es.” The job description also says Chavis’ role “Actively engages and partners with students, employ ees, and the community to further practices, programs, and outreach activities that support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.”

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A young Ukrainian refugee child plays a board game at a refugee shelter in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022.

NATION & WORLD AP PHOTO

“The hospitality is getting weak er,” Pestrykova said. “We under stand it and we were expecting it.”

“We didn’t want to go farther,” said Galina Inyutina, 42, who ar rived in Poland in early March from Dnipro with her 11-year-old son. They long terribly for their forests and fields and food. “Mom, if we go farther away then it will take us longer to get home,” he told her. The arrival of so many people has exacerbated a preexisting hous ing crisis in Warsaw, where rental prices have surged 30% over the last year, as well as other cities that have attracted large numbers of refugees.Inthe early days of the war, hun dreds of thousands of Polish fam ilies took Ukrainians, often total strangers, into their homes. Thanks to that hospitality, there was nev er a need for refugee camps, said Oksana Pestrykova, who admin isters a consultation center at the Ukrainian House in Warsaw, a so cial center for immigrants. But what were expected to be short stays have turned into long ones, and some Poles are now call ing the center’s hotline to ask for help from Ukrainian speakers to tell their guests it’s time to move on.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS UAE ambassador to return to Iran, boosting ties after years Dubai, United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates plans to reinstate its ambassador to Iran for the first time in six years, the Emirati Foreign Ministry announced, as the Gulf Arab federation accelerates efforts to improve ties with the nation it has long viewed as a regional threat. The Emirates’ ambassador to Iran, Saif Mohammed Al Zaabi, will return to Tehran to “continue pushing bilateral relations forward to achieve the common interests of the two neighbors and the region,” the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency reported. Ties between the Gulf Arab sheikhdoms and Iran deteriorated after Iranian crowds stormed two Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran to protest against the kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. In 2016, the UAE summoned home its ambassador in Tehran. Relations between the countries soured further as the UAE backed former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal and socalled “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic Republic.ButAbu Dhabi sought to reconsider after Iran was blamed for a series of attacks on oil tankers off the coast of the UAE and on Saudi oil facilities in 2019. Meanwhile Dubai, with its large community of Iranian expats, has long served as a lifeline to the outside world for Tehran as it suffered under international sanctions.

“We still have a lot of ques tions that will be answered on Saturday because we have so much inexperience,” Brown said. “We’re very talented, but we’re very inexperi enced. They’ve per formed well in prac tice, we like what we see, we’ve got a lot of question marks and they will be answered Saturday night at 8:15.”On the defensive side of the ball, the Tar Heels will be re lying on a bit more experienced group to rebound from an un characteristically bad season. The hope is old but new defensive mastermind Gene Chizik can again turn around the UNC de fense.“Ihad a long meeting with them yesterday talking about the ups and downs of a season,” Chizik said. “How we respond to things and what we’re going to be like if we’re down 21 in a game. What’re we going to be like if we’re up 21 in a game? Because it’s all about a stan dard. It’s standards, not cir cumstances. We can’t play to circumstances, we have to play to standards — and that’s easi er said than done. It takes a lot of trust between players and coaches, and I think going into this game we’ve got that.” Facing off against the Heels, the Rattlers are a talented group that finished second in the SWAC East with a 7-1 con ference record and 9-3 overall record.Led by quarterback Rasean McKay, who threw for 2,457 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2021, the offense also features Xavier Smith, who was a firstat

Former Wake women’s coach Curtis dies at 67

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

CHARLES REX ARBOGAST

Charlotte lost to the Owls by 29 points last fall

CHARLOTTE — As the Char lotte 49ers and Florida Atlantic Owls gear up for their football sea son opener in Boca Raton, Florida, on Saturday at 7 p.m, both teams are entering the 2022 season un der similar circumstances as they look to rise out of the middle of the pack in the Conference USA before moving to the American Athletic Conference next year. The Niners and Owls each fin ished last year with 5-7 overall re cords (3-5 in conference play) and both lost their final four games of the year to miss out on bowl ap pearances.FAUcame to Charlotte last October and drummed the 49ers with a definitive 38-9 decision, but this weekend’s matchup has a chance to be a much tighter bat tle — Las Vegas currently has the Owls as a seven-point favorite. Charlotte quarterback Chris Reynolds and FAU quarterback N’Kosi Perry will go head-to-head once again as each enters the fall with most of their offensive weap onsNinersreturning.coach Will Healy re turns an offense with the ability to put up big numbers. Victor Tucker, Grant DuBose and Elijah Spencer make up an impressive wide re ceiver unit that could be the best in Conference USA. Running backs Calvin Camp and former Iowa transfer Shadrick Byrd are each capable of putting the 49ers’ rushing attack on their shoulders.

GERRY BROOME | AP PHOTO

Record-setting quarterback Chris Reynolds returns for a fifth season in Charlotte. The 49ers open their season Saturday at Florida Atlantic. Tar Heels look for strong start

49ers prepare

Receiver Josh Downs is the top returning weapon for an inexperienced Tar Heels offense that enters the season with a new starting quarterback.

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“We still have a lot of questions that will inexperience.”havebecauseonansweredbeSaturdaywesomuch Mack Brown, UNC coach See UNC, page B3

Owls coach Willie Taggart has a new offensive coordinator this year in Brent Dearmon, who was previously at Kansas in that same position. Dearmon will look to take the Owls to the next level as Perry operates the offense with returning top wideouts LaJohn tay Wester and Je’Quan Burton. Running back Johnny Ford is also back after averaging more than six yards per carry and a teamhigh 831 rushing yards. The two offenses each have a shot at operating at a higher lev el than they did last year, and the same goes for the defenses.

Winston‑Salem Charlene Curtis, the first black women’s head basketball coach in the ACC, has died. She was 67 and died after a battle with cancer, the conference announced. Curtis was the head coach at Wake Forest from 1997 2004 following head coaching stops at Radford and Temple, where she also was the first African A merican head women’s basketball coach. She worked in the ACC league offices for 11 years, retiring in 2019 as the supervisor of officials for women’s basketball. Curtis played basketball at Radford shortly after the passage of Title IX in 1972 and become that school’s first 1,000 p oint scorer and a member of its Hall of Fame.

UNC OPENS the fifth sea son of Mack Brown’s second tenure in Chapel Hill on Satur day night when it hosts Florida A&M.After losing some key pieces of last season’s team and suf fering some serious injuries to a few veteran starters, the Tar Heels will be looking for sever al young players to pick up the slack.One is quarterback Drake Maye, who Brown announced on Monday would be the team’s starting quarter back against Flori da A&M over Jacol by “AtCriswell.the quar terback position, Drake will walk out there first,” Brown said. “We feel like that com petition has been outstanding. Both can play, but Drake has earned the right. I’m not going to get into why and what because it’s very close and we’re pleased with both of them and both will play at some point during the year.” With UNC’s career leader in passing yards, touchdowns and single-season touchdowns Sam Howell gone to the NFL, Maye will have a tall task in trying to fill his shoes. To make the task even more daunting, Maye will have limit ed veteran targets to work with, especially with senior Antoine Green out with a shoulder in jury for another four-to-eight weeks.Maye will, however, have ju nior wide receiver Josh Downs, who recently collected Presea son All-American second-team honors, and graduate tight end Kamari Morales. The duo was first and second in receiving touchdowns, respectively, last season.Onthe ground, the Tar Heels’ offense will also be starting in a hole at running back after pro jected starter British Brooks suffered a season-ending low er-body injury at practice last week.“D.J. Jones will walk out there first,” Brown said. “British [Brooks] would have done that, but obviously we lost him last week.”Jones played in nine games last season, finishing with 60 carries for 253 yards and 12 re ceptions for 55 yards. “D.J.’s been good since he’s been here,” Brown added. “He’s smart, he can protect, he can catch, he’s real fast and he’s do ing a better job running up in side behind his pads.” The offense has a lot riding on little experience, and Brown is hoping to figure more out about his team come Saturday.

UNC opens its season by hosting Florida A&M

Hornets’ 2022-23 schedule, B4

By Jesse Deal North State Journal

FAU’s defense, led by new co ordinator Todd Orlando, has five returning starters from 2021 and some key additions. Transfers Jamie Pettway (Missouri) and Morven Joseph (Tennessee) join returning players Eddie Williams and Chris Jones at linebacker. Saturday’s Niners-Owls game will be an interesting indicator of what is ahead for both programs this season. Charlotte’s explosive passing attack matches up well against FAU’s limited secondary depth, but the Owls’ offense could also exploit a Niners defense that has a lot to prove. While UAB, UTSA and West ern Kentucky are expected to re side at the top of the Conference USA standings like they did in 2021. Saturday could reveal which of Charlotte and FAU has a chance to be a dark horse. for season opener at Florida Atlantic

NFL Panthers name Mayfield starter for Week 1 Charlotte Baker Mayfield will start the Carolina Panthers’ Sept. 11 regular season opener against his former team, the Cleveland Browns, the team announced Monday. Mayfield, acquired in a trade with the Browns earlier this offseason, beat out incumbent starter Sam Darnold for the job. The news was expected as Mayfield had outperformed Darnold during most of training camp. Both Mayfield and Darnold are expected to play in the team’s preseason finale on Friday night against the Buffalo Bills. Neither Mayfield nor Darnold has seen much action in the preseason and both were held out of last week’s game against the New England Patriots. Coach Matt Rhule originally said the Panthers would keep three quarterbacks on the roster, but that was before rookie third r ound draft pick Matt Corral suffered a Lisfranc ligament tear in his foot.

Charlotte has a new defensive coordinator and defensive line coach in Greg Brown and Brian Baker, respectively, and they will be tasked with fixing a unit that was one of the worst defenses in C-USA last season, allowing 465 yards and 34 points per game.

BASKETBALLCOLLEGE

Closer look

UNC football coach Mack Brown on his decision to name Drake Maye the Tar Heels’ starter for season-openingSaturday’sgame. SANCYA

| AP PHOTO GARY MCCULLOUGH | AP PHOTO WEDNESDAY 8.24.22

GOLF PAUL SANCYA

MLS Tesho Akindele scored in the 89th minute off his own rebound to give Orlando City SC a 2-1 win over Charlotte FC on Sunday. Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina got a hand on Akindele’s first shot on goal, but the ball bounced right back to him for the winning goal. McKinze Gaines scored for Charlotte (10-15-2) for his first goal of the season.

CHARLES KRUPA | PHOTO

NASCAR

MARK HUMPHREY PHOTO

The Wake Forest alumnus pulled out of the

B2 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

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“Back in ring, please, back in ring.” Ukrainian OleksandrboxerUsyk calling out the recently retired Tyson Fury after he retained his winfollowingheavyweightfourbeltsasplitdecisionoverAnthonyJoshua. “We just felt like outshouldDrakewalktherefirst.”

TRENDING Will Zalatoris:

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QUOTABLESPOTENT

STEVE HELBER | AP PHOTO

PAUL

AP

PRIME NUMBER 4 Different Week 1 starting quarterbacks over the last four years for the Panthers after Baker Mayfield was named the starter for the Sept. 11 game against Cleveland. Sam Darnold (2021), Teddy previousas(2019)(2020)BridgewaterandCamNewtonstartedtheyearCarolina’sNo.1thethreeyears.

Panthers rookie quarterback Matt Corral was placed on season-ending injured reserve Tuesday due to a torn ligament in his left foot, the team announced. Corral, a third round pick in this year’s draft out of Ole Miss, tore his Lisfranc ligament in Carolina’s 20 10 preseason loss to the Patriots on Friday after getting stepped on. NFL

No.CuptheThestartJudemonthTourearnednextforheafterbackfeltbackChampionshipBMWwithpain.Zalatorisatweakinhislowerandwithdrewfourholes,sayingwantstobereadytheFedExCupfinaleweek.ZalatorishisfirstPGAvictoryearlierthisattheFedExSt.Championshiptothepostseason.winmovedhimtotopoftheFedExstandingsand9intheworld.

Golfer Tom Weiskopf, who won the 1973 British Open at Troon, died Saturday of pancreatic cancer. He was 79. Weiskopf had 16 PGA Tour victories from 1968 to 1982, including a win at the 1973 Kemper Open at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, and in his post-playing career he was both a TV analyst and course architect.

Kurt Busch: The 23XI Racing driver will be out at least through the end of the Cup Series regular season, the driver of the No. 45 Toyota said on social media. The former Cup champion was injured in a crash during the final round of qualifying at Pocono in late July and has missed five races suffering from Darlington.beginwhenclearedsaidthisfinaleforwillsymptoms.concussion-likeTyGibbscontinuetofillintheregularseasonatDaytonaweekend.BuschhehopedtobetocompetetheplayoffsinSeptemberat Bill Lee: The former major league pitcher, known as “Spaceman” for his curious antics on the mound and beyond, stopped breathing after collapsing in the bullpen during an exhibition game with the Bostoninfortheandwas75resuscitatedefibrillatortwobutBananasSavannahlastweekend,paramedicsandshockswithahelpedtheyearold.Lee,whoanAllStarin1973startedGame7of1975WorldSeriesBoston,went1199014seasonswithandMontreal.

Kyle Larson beat Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott on a restart with five laps to go to win the weather-delayed NASCAR Cup race at Watkins Glen on Sunday. Elliott had control of the race late, but a caution gave Larson a chance and he took advantage, moving Elliott to the left coming out of the first turn and pulling away. AJ Allmendinger was second followed by Joey Logano, Elliott and Daniel Suárez. Beyond the box score

THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL schedule offers a weekly selection of marquee games between top teams, and some will hit the ground run ning fast this year. Two Sept. 3 showdowns could shuffle the preseason AP Top 25 quickly as No. 5 Notre Dame, with new coach Marcus Freeman, visits No. 2 Ohio State, and No. 3 Georgia — the defending national champion — plays No. 11 Oregon in Atlanta. Reaching across Power Five lines for these matchups seems to have escalated in recent years, but then long-held bitter rivalries take over later in the season as teams grapple for championships and bowl posi tioning. Here are just six of the tan talizing games on tap this season. No. 5 Notre Dame at No. 2 Ohio State, Sept. 3 Freeman’s debut against his alma ma ter will set the tone for both teams, of course, and it will see Heisman Trophy candidate C.J. Stroud under center for the Buckeyes. There will be nine preseason AP All-Americans on the field between the two teams. A bit of added intrigue: High school star edge rusher Keon Keeley could be among the 103,000 or so fans in attendance. Keeley previously com mitted to the Irish, then decom mitted after the coaching change. The Buckeyes and No. 1 Alabama are among the teams vying to bring him into their five-star fold. No. 11 Oregon vs. No. 3 Georgia (Atlanta), Sept. 3 The Bulldogs lost five first-round NFL draft choices from last year’s team on defense, but they get quar terback Stetson Bennett back, po tentially adding to his remarkable story as a former walk-on who was the MVP in a national champion ship game victory. The Bulldogs’ tendencies, though, are well known by former defensive coordinator Dan Lanning, who will be making his debut as the Ducks’ coach after Mario Cristobal left to take the job at Miami. No. 13 NC State at No. 4 Clemson, Oct. 1 Last year, the Wolfpack ended an eight-game slide against the Tigers by prevailing 27-21 in double overtime. NC State held Clem son to just 214 yards, its lowest total of the season, and the loss eventually helped allow Wake Forest to end the Tigers’ six-year stranglehold on the ACC’s Atlan tic Division title. The Wolfpack has 10 defensive starters back, so Clemson has its work cut out. The programs are picked to finish 1-2 in the division, with Clemson first. No. 6 Texas A&M at No. 1 Alabama, Oct. 8

GERRY BROOME

The Blue Devils’ new coach has plenty of returning starters on both sides of the ball

Defensive tackle DeWayne Carter, left, returns to a Duke defense that is hoping in improve under new coach Mike Elko.

“We have an opportunity to elevate the program,” he said. “Finish what we started. Coach Cutcliffe got the program to a high level for a sustained period of time. We’ve just got to finish it. We’re really close. I think we get this back really quickly.”

214 Yards of offense for Clemson in the Tigers’ double-overtime27-21losstoNCStatelastseason.

GERRY BROOME

JIM RASSOL Quarterback Rasean McKay leads a Florida A&M offense that hopes to pull off an upset over UNC on Saturday in Chapel Hill.

B3 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Offense While the starting quarter back is usually considered a leader, Duke’s list of team cap tains will not include anyone from that position this year. That’s because the Blue Devils players voted on their captains before the quarterback competi tion was “We’reresolved.inaquarterback bat tle,” Elko said. “There’s a lot of respect in our locker room for both of those kids. I think when you pick up that pencil and start voting, you don’t want to be the guy picking which quarterback you think should be the guy. And there’s probably a lot of inference if you vote for one of those two kids.”

By Hank Kurz Jr. The Associated Press

NC State at Clemson has the potential to be one of the biggest games of the season

The Cowboys return 10 offen sive starters, including quarter back Spencer Sanders, to a team that came within an eyelash of the playoff last season. Defense has always seemed a strength and should remain so with Der ek Mason taking over as coordi nator for Jim Knowles, who took the same spot at Ohio State. The Sooners had their six-year grip on Big 12 titles end last season thanks to a loss to the Cowboys. They hope former Clemson de fensive coordinator Brent Ven ables can get them back on top behind quarterback Dillon Ga briel, who passed for more than 8,000 yards and 70 touchdowns at Central Florida.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, left, and NC State coach Dave Doeren lead two of the top teams in the ACC. KARL B DEBLAKER

Core players return to help jump-start Elko Era at Duke PREVIEW

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

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The team parted ways with longtime head coach David Cut cliffe over the offseason, a move that caused starting quarterback Gunnar Holmberg and top re ceiver Jake Bobo to both transfer. All of that sounds like a rec ipe for rebuilding from ground zero, but new coach Mike Elko has some talent on hand to get his program started. The Blue Devils return 47 letter winners from last season, including 13 starters and four players who received All-ACC honors (two third-teamers and two honor ableTomentions).hearElko tell it, all the pro gram needs is a new attitude.

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The candidates both got limit ed playing time last year — Jor dan Moore got 153 snaps, mostly as the goal line and short yard age situation running threat that Cutcliffe loved to employ, while Riley Leonard got 80, including oneWhoeverstart. wins the job will have a deep stable of wide receiv ers, led by Jalon Calhoun, and four returning starters along the offensive line. Defense Elko is a longtime defensive coordinator, and he’ll need to put his fingerprints on that side of the ball quickly for Duke. The Blue Devils ranked dead last in FBS in total defense last year, giving up more than 500 yards a game.Duke struggled with tackling, gave up big plays in the passing game and seemed to wear down as games went on. The Blue Devils have some solid returnees up front. Line backer should be a strong area, with Shaka Heyward bringing back his 98 tackles and 11.5 tackles for loss. Up front, tackle DeWayne Carter is stout against the run and had 7.5 tackles for loss, six hurries, 4.5 sacks and three deflections in the pass game. R.J. Oben should also provide pass pressure from one end.On paper, it looks like the sec ondary could be the defense’s weak spot. It certainly will be the youngest unit on that side of the ball. Safety Jaylen Stinson returns, but most of the other contributors will be newcomers or returnees who haven’t played much thus far. Corner Tony Da vis is among the latter, although he looked good in spring. Iowa State transfer Datrone Young brings experience to one corner spot, but the rest of the unit will be youngsters.

UNC from page B1 team All-SWAC receiver last sea son with a team-high 713 receiv ing yards last season. Running back Bonnett Bishop rushed for 972 yards a year ago. On the other side of the ball, the Rattlers feature a few more all-conference players. Line backer Isaiah Land was named the SWAC’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, while corner backs BJ Bohler (first team) and Javan Morgan (second team) shore up the secondary.

By Shawn Krest North State Journal DURHAM — The good news is the cupboard isn’t bare at Duke. At least not as bare as one might expect. The Blue Devils have gone 1025 over the last three seasons, 1-17 in ACC games over the last two, and they’ve won just two of their last 21 league games.

“Florida A&M has been one of the top programs in football his tory,” Brown said. “Coach (Willie) Simmons has done a tremendous job. They won nine games in 2019, they didn’t allow them to play in 2020 because of COVID, and then last year they won nine games and went to the playoffs. Those are all positive things. And the tough thing is they have 25 transfers, so we have no idea who’s gonna play. For an opening ball game, we’re not sure about our guys and we’re not sure about their guys.”

Expectations When Elko first took the job at Duke, he declared, “Now is the time for Duke football,” vowing that, “We will win championships.”Afterspringpractice and off season workouts, Elko is still gung-ho about the future of the program, but the timeline may have slowed a bit. At media day, he discussed using this year to “build a foundation” and “estab lish how you want the program to Inrun.”awide-open Coastal Divi sion — is there any other kind? — and a nonconference slate packed with winnable games, it’s not out of the realm of possibili ty that Duke competes for a bowl berth in Year 1 of the Elko Era, but it will likely be a stretch.

| AP PHOTO

The Trojans’ rank ing is likely more a tip of the cap to new coach Lincoln Riley after a 4-8 finish last season. Riley used the transfer portal hoping to rebuild the program quickly, bringing in 24 new players. The Utes are intent on seeing returning quarterback Cam Rising continue to push their ascent after their first Pac12 title and Rose Bowl appear ance. How quickly Riley’s new systems take hold will be huge for USC. No. 12 Oklahoma State at No. 9 Oklahoma, Nov. 19

NC State players celebrate after they defeated Clemson in double overtime on Sept. 25, 2021. The two schools will face off again on Oct. 1 in Death Valley.

Critical games dot the 2022 college football schedule

Special Teams Stinson earned All-ACC hon ors as a return man, although his responsibilities in the under manned secondary could limit the time he devotes to that role, where injury risk is high. Receiv ers Sahmir Hagans and Jontavis Robertson both got looks in the return game last year and could have an expanded role if Stinson is held Juniorback.Porter Wilson was third in the league in net punt ing average last year. Graduate student Jackson Hubbard, who has spent the last several seasons as Duke’s holder on place kicks, is the only other punter on the roster.Kicker Charlie Ham also re turns for his junior year. He was perfect on extra points last sea son, although he went just 14 of 20 on field goal attempts after hitting 13 of 15 as a freshman. There are currently only two oth er kickers on the roster — a true freshman and a redshirt fresh man — and both are walk-ons. Duke also needs a new long snapper due to the graduation of John Taylor. Elko brought in Evan Deckers as a grad transfer from UMass, where he played in 40 games over four years.

| AP PHOTO

This SEC West showdown might as well be called the “Beef Bowl” after the spicy offsea son comments over recruiting between Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher and Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban. More importantly, this could be the deciding game in the division race. The coach es say they’ve buried the hatch et, but the winner may give it a twist. Texas A&M last won the national championship in 1939; the Crimson Tide has six with Saban alone. No. 14 USC at No. 7 Utah, Oct. 15

THE CONSENSUS among Panthers fans seems to be that Matt Rhule is on the hot seat this season.Since making the jump to the NFL from college, the former Baylor and Temple coach has been underwhelming in his two years with Carolina, going a combined 10-23, including several late loss es that had Panthers fans scratch ing their heads over his decision making.Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi has been behind plen ty of decisions on a struggling coach’s job status, and he thinks Rhule deserves a bit more time andInpatience.partone of his extended interview with the North State Journal last week, Lombardi, a former Browns GM, personnel ex ecutive with the Eagles and Patri ots assistant coach, discussed the Panthers’ quarterback battle. This week, Lombardi discusses Rhule’s performance thus far and, in his opinion, Rhule’s status with theLombardiPanthers.

Hornets’ 2022-23 schedule presents opportunities, challenges

CHARLOTTE — The NBA re vealed its 2022-23 schedule last week, and new coach Steve Clif ford and the Charlotte Hornets are hoping to put a rocky offseason behind them, overcome a chal lenging Eastern Conference and reach the playoffs for the first time sinceThe2016.Hornets will open their season on the road against the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 19 be fore hosting Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans in their home opener Oct. 21. That’s just the beginning in what will be a pivotal season for theStephenHornets.Curry and the defend ing NBA champion Golden State Warriors are set to come to Char lotte on Oct. 29, while Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwau kee Bucks will be in town on Dec. 3. LeBron James and the Los An geles Lakers will play in Charlotte on Jan. 2. A few weeks after that, the Hor nets will host a two-game home series against the defending East ern Conference champion Boston Celtics on Jan. 14, with the second of two (Jan. 16) being a 1 p.m. tipoff on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Hornets will be spending a lot of time on the road to start the season with 12 of their first 21 games away from Charlotte. While that will make for a lot of early travel for a team looking to find its identity, the Hornets will later benefit by having 17 of their final 25 games at home. One of the early major road games will be in Atlanta on Oct. 23 when Charlotte faces a team that provided them a dose of heartbreak in last season’s playin tournament. In that matchup, the Hawks beat the Hornets by a 132-103 score, marking the second consecutive year in which Char lotte’s playoff hopes ended in a play-in round blowout loss. A nother important road game will be in Boston on Nov. 28 against a Celtics team with play ers such as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart. That matchup could serve as a litmus test for how the Hornets stack up against the top of the Eastern Conference.Theseason’s longest homestand will be five games — Utah, Cleve land (2), Philadelphia, Indiana from March 11-20 — while the longest road trip will be six games —Denver, Sacramento, Los Ange les, L.A. Clippers, Portland, Gold en State — from Dec. 18-27. The month of January looks to be Charlotte’s toughest with nine of 15 games on the road, in cluding 13 of the games against playoff-caliber opponents. Those games feature the Lakers, Griz zlies, Bucks, Pacers, Raptors, Celt ics and Rockets, among others. Charlotte has a trio of nation ally televised games this season: Nov. 2, at Chicago (ESPN), Jan. 26 vs. Chicago (TNT) and Feb. 10 at Boston (ESPN). The rest of the games will be televised on Bally Sports Southeast and streamed live on BallySports.com. Despite being one of the most exciting, youthful and athletic teams in the NBA, the Hornets face an uphill battle this season under a different coach and po tentially without last season’s top scorer Miles Bridges, who future is uncertain due to felony domestic abuseWithcharges.LaMelo Ball running the offense and players such as Ter ry Rozier and Gordon Hayward looking to improve over their ef forts last season, the Hornets still have a chance to make noise in a deep Eastern Conference. Char lotte will likely need to improve on its 43-39 record to earn a coveted playoff spot. Single-game tickets for the 2022-23 season can now be pur chased online at hornets.com or ticketmaster.com.

— who is a host at VSiN, The Sports Betting Net work — doesn’t doubt that Rhule is on the hot seat, but he doesn’t think it’s anything new or specific to the Panthers coach. “I think in every job, you’re al ways on the hot seat,” he said. “I think what the fans can’t see is progress. They only see the score board, and when you own one of these billion-dollar franchises, you’ve got to be able to evaluate progress. You’ve got to see prog ress, and, at times, you’ve got to have confidence about it. “This is a big year for Matt to show progress,” he continued. “To show that you’re building some thing bigger, so you can see the foundation being set.”

The Panthers coach has pieces in place for success

Former NFL exec Michael Lombardi: Rhule needs to show signs of progress

JACOB KUPFERMAN | AP PHOTO Hornets forward Gordon Hayward has been slowed by injuries in his two seasons in Charlotte, playing just 93 of a possible 154 regular season games.

Home games for the Hornets in the final 25 games of the regular season.

B4 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

17

ADRIAN KRAUS | AP PHOTO Panthers free safety Jeremy Chinn (21) should be a key part of Carolina’s defense this season.

“This is a big year for Matt to show progress, to show that you’re building something” Michael Lombardi

CHARLES KRUPA | AP PHOTO Panthers coach Matt Rhule enters a pivotal 2022 season in his third year with Carolina.

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

Lombardi — whose son Matt has been an assistant quarter backs coach on Rhule’s staff, both at Baylor and with the Panthers — thinks Rhule will have things headed the right way by the end of the“Iseason.think what happens is you start these processes off, and by Year 3, if people don’t get that sense of a foundation, they get worried and panicked,” he said. “I think we’ll see a foundation out of this. I think they’ve got a good young team. I think they’re wor ried about quarterback. I think that’s yet to be determined, but if they get that, I think it’ll make the team better. But as an evaluator of the coach, it really comes down to are we making progress?” Lombardi has gotten to ob serve Rhule up close and sees something in the coach that many fans calling for his head don’t get to “Isee.think Matt is really smart,” he said. “I think he’s a really good leader, and I think his players gravitate to Lombardihim.”likes the changes Rhule made to his coaching staff in the offseason. “It happens a lot,” he said. “You hire your first coaching staff, and you may not have it the way you wanted it to be. You’ve got to kind of work things through. Now he’s got (Ben) McAdoo as offensive co ordinator. He’s got (Chris) Tabor coming to run special teams. He’s got (James) Campen as the new offensive line coach. He’s taken a step. He’s smart. He’s engaging. The greatest thing I can say about Matt Rhule outside of all that is that he’s willing to learn at all times. He’s very curious.” And Lombardi also likes the team Rhule has built. “They’re not five-win talent,” he said. “If you look at this team, they’ve got good players. … I think Jaycee Horn is going to be a good player for them if he’s healthy. I think Derrick Brown’s going to be a level better this year. I think he’s really going to take off. Matt Ioannidis, if he can play at the level he did at Washington, that would help. I love (Jeremy) Chinn. I think that kid is one of the best players they have. They have the makings of a pretty good defen sive situation there.” The offense has more question marks.“Ithink Brady Christenson can play right and left tackle and move to guard, that’s going to be critical,” he said. “And look, Robby Anderson’s got to take a step for ward. They’re paying him a lot of money, and he didn’t really come through last year. I think he’s got to emerge as a down-the-field re ceiver. If their O-line doesn’t take the step they need it to take, and I think it positively can, and then it’s going to depend on how the quarterback plays, right? Look, they were in a lot of games, had a chance to win some games. They could’ve pulled it off, but they need better (quarterback) play. The other thing is (Christian) Mc Caffrey has got to stay healthy. If they win, it’s going to be because of him. You’re paying him the most money on the team. He’s got to play like it.” The pieces are in place. The foundation is set. Now all Rhule and the Panthers need is signs of progress.“Ifind it interesting that, at this time last year, everybody was talking about Matt Rhule being a guy that was really going to turn the franchise around — that he al ways did it after two years,” Lom bardi said. “Now he’s a guy that’s going to get fired? He didn’t be come a bad coach overnight. He’s still a good coach.” Charlotte will begin its season in San Antonio on Oct. 19 By Jesse Deal North State Journal

The Associated Press FROM WHAT YOU buy on line, to how you remember tasks, to when you monitor your door step, Amazon is seemingly every where.And it appears the company doesn’t want to halt its reach any time soon. In recent weeks, Ama zon has said it will spend billions of dollars in two gigantic acqui sitions that, if approved, will broaden its ever growing pres ence in the lives of consumers. This time, the company is tar geting two areas: health care, through its $3.9 billion buyout of the primary care company One Medical, and the “smart home,” where it plans to expand its al ready mighty presence through a $1.7 billion merger with iRobot, the maker of the popular robotic Roomba vacuum.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a company known for its vast col lection of consumer informa tion, both mergers have height ened enduring privacy concerns about how Amazon gathers data and what it does with it. The lat est line of Roombas, for example, employ sensors that map and re member a home’s floor plan. “It’s acquiring this vast set of data that Roomba collects about people’s homes,” said Ron Knox, an Amazon critic who works for the anti-monopoly group Insti tute for Local Self-Reliance. “Its obvious intent, through all the other products that it sells to con sumers, is to be in your home. (And) along with the privacy is sues come the antitrust issues, because it’s buying market share.” Amazon’s reach goes well be yond that. Some estimates show the retail giant controls roughly 38% of the U.S. e-commerce mar ket, allowing it to gather granu lar data about the shopping pref erences of millions of Americans and more worldwide. Meanwhile, its Echo devices, which house the voice assistant Alexa, have dom inated the U.S. smart speaker market, accounting for rough ly 70% of sales, according to es timates by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Ring, which Amazon pur chased in 2018 for $1 billion, monitors doorsteps and helps police track down crime — even when users might not be aware. And at select Amazon stores and Whole Foods, the company is testing a palm-scanning tech nology that allows customers to pay for items by storing biometric data in the cloud, sparking con cerns about risks of a data breach, which Amazon has attempted to assuage.“Wetreat your palm signa ture just like other highly sensi tive personal data and keep it safe using best-in-class technical and physical security controls,” the company said on a website that provides information about the technology.Evenconsumers who active ly avoid Amazon are still likely to have little say about how their employers power their computer networks, which Amazon — along with Google — has long dominat ed through its cloud-computing service AWS. “It’s hard to think of anoth er organization that has as many touch points as Amazon does to an individual,” said Ian Green blatt, who heads up tech research at the consumer research and data analytics firm J.D. Power. “It’s almost overwhelming, and it’s hard to put a finger on it.” And Amazon — like any com pany — aims to grow. In the past few years, the company has pur chased the Wi-Fi startup Eero and partnered with the construc tion company Lennar to offer tech-powered houses. With iRo bot, it would gain one more build ing block for the ultimate smart home — and, of course, more data.Customers can opt out of hav ing iRobot devices store a layout of their homes, according to the vacuum maker. But data privacy advocates worry the merger is an other way Amazon could suck up information to integrate into its other devices or use to target con

business & economy

normal shelter-in-place or stay-at-home majority of course,societylevelsCooperendnormal.”Americansofthismonth.statedduringknowyet”iftheaskedastothevagueoneslike“weofthisstatewhoundeterminedthousandsofcasesaskedandthenquestionsaboutasked,thereistotreatthosestartgettingbackarepeoplewhosick.becomeabadweresupposedismyfamily.I’mworriedIwill.After2009pandemic,ofthisbringsupprefernottorepeat.mosteveryonehas fallen into place. I understand the seriousness of the virus and the need to take precautions, but I’m uneasy with how people who simply ask questions about the data, and when things can start getting back to normal are treated in some circles with contempt. They’re treated as though we as a society simply must accept without question what the government tells us about when it’s safe to begin the process of returning back to normalcy. No. The government works for us, and we have the right to ask those questions. And the longer stay-at-home orders are in place all over the country, and the stricter some of them get in states, such as Michigan, the more people, sitting at home feeling isolated and/or anxious about when they can get back to providing for their families, will demand answers.Leaders at the local and state levels should be as forthcoming as they can be with those answers — and again, not vague answers, but answer with details that give their statements believability. We should all continue to do what we can to keep our families, ourselves, and our communities safe. But we should also still continue to ask questions about the data, because while reasonable stay-at-home measures are understandable, they should also have an expiration date. This is all new to Americans, and it is not normal. Not in any way, shape, or form. So while we should remain vigilant and stay safe, at the same time we shouldn’t get comfortable with this so-called “new normal.”Notone little bit. Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.

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

Fixing corruptioncollege

The comfort and

WALTER E. WILLIAMS

else.”theymorehigherraisingWeandthousandsthetheIt’scharacternaturalthetravelersVisitWiteachunderscorescounty-levelstatewidebypandemic-strickenpercentsumrecord1oftravelorganizations,andnationallygovernmentfromwelldatadrawsThethesedirectlylocalincome,employment,expendituresandestimatesprovidesU.S.inbyVisitNCstudy,travelourwhoinspireddestinationCarolinaqualities“WeMachelleCommercesaidstate’spartnersofspeakmostresultsCarolina.PartnershipDevelopmentEconomicofNorth“Thestrongeconomicforoneofourvitalindustriestotheresilienceourlocaltourismandtotheenduringappeal,”NorthCarolinaSecretaryBakerSanders.celebratethethatmakeNorthanattractiveandarebythepeopleprovidevisitorstostateanoutstandingexperience.”ThevisitorspendingcommissionedbyandconductedTourismEconomicscollaborationwiththeTravelAssociation,preliminaryofdomesticinternationaltraveleraswellaspayrollandstateandtaxrevenuesgeneratedbyexpenditures.statisticalmodelondetailedfromVisitNCasasdataderivedfederalandstatesources,knownprivatenon-profittravelandotherindustrysources.Thespendingtotal$28.9billionfellaboutpercentbelowthesetin2019.Therepresentsa45increasefrom2020.“Justaswe’regratifiedtheachievementin2021,thereportthevalueofdestination,”saidTuttell,directorofNC.“Thisiswhereexperiencestate,fromitsbeautytotheofourpeople.alsotheheartofeconomicimpact,sustenanceforofbusinesseslocalgovernments.lookforwardtothearcevenaswewelcomepeopletoplaceswon’tfindanywhere As Amazon grows, so does its eye on consumers Rare earths processor buys rights to mine in Greenland See AMAZON page B6 “It’s

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A7 AMERICA’S COLLEGES are rife with corruption. The nancial squeeze resulting from COVID-19 o ers opportunities for a bit of remediation. Let’s rst examine what might be the root of academic corruption, suggested by the title of a recent study, “Academic Grievance Studies and the Corruption of Scholarship.” The study was done by Areo, an opinion and analysis digital magazine. By the way, Areo is short for Areopagitica, a speech delivered by John Milton in defense of free speech. Authors Helen Pluckrose, James A. Lindsay and Peter Boghossian say that something has gone drastically wrong in academia, especially within certain elds within the humanities. They call these elds “grievance studies,” where scholarship is not so much based upon nding truth but upon attending to social grievances. Grievance scholars bully students, administrators and other departments into adhering to their worldview. The worldview they promote is neither scienti c nor rigorous. Grievance studies consist of disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, gender studies, queer studies, sexuality and critical race studies.In2017 and 2018, authors Pluckrose, Lindsay and Boghossian started submitting bogus academic papers to academic journals in cultural, queer, race, gender, fat and sexuality studies to determine if they would pass peer review and be accepted for publication. Acceptance of dubious research that journal editors found sympathetic to their intersectional or postmodern leftist vision of the world would prove the problem of low academic standards. Several of the fake research papers were accepted for publication. The Fat Studies journal published a hoax paper that argued the term bodybuilding was exclusionary and should be replaced with “fat bodybuilding, as a fat-inclusive politicized performance.” One reviewer said, “I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article and believe it has an important contribution to make to the eld and this journal.”“OurStruggle Is My Struggle: Solidarity Feminism as an Intersectional Reply to Neoliberal and Choice Feminism,” was accepted for publication by A lia, a feminist journal for social workers. The paper consisted in part of a rewritten passage from Mein Kampf. Two other hoax papers were published, including “Rape Culture and Queer Performativity at Urban Dog Parks.” This paper’s subject was dog-on-dog rape. But the dog rape paper eventually forced Boghossian, Pluckrose and Lindsay to prematurely out themselves. A Wall Street Journal writer had gured out what they were doing. Some papers accepted for publication in academic journals advocated training men like dogs and punishing white male college students for historical slavery by asking them to sit in silence on the oor in chains during class and to be expected to learn from the discomfort. Other papers celebrated morbid obesity as a healthy life choice and advocated treating privately conducted masturbation as a form of sexual violence against women. Typically, academic journal editors send submitted papers out to referees for review. In recommending acceptance for publication, many reviewers gave these papers glowing praise.Political scientist Zach Goldberg ran certain grievance studies concepts through the Lexis/Nexis database, to see how often they appeared in our press over the years. He found huge increases in the usages of “white privilege,” “unconscious bias,” “critical race theory” and “whiteness.” All of this is being taught to college students, many of whom become primary and secondary school teachers who then indoctrinate our young people. I doubt whether the coronaviruscaused nancial crunch will give college and university administrators, who are a crossbreed between a parrot and jelly sh, the guts and backbone to restore academic respectability. Far too often, they get much of their political support from campus grievance people who are members of the faculty and diversity and multicultural administrative o ces. The best hope lies with boards of trustees, though many serve as yes-men for the university president. I think that a good start would be to nd 1950s or 1960s catalogs. Look at the course o erings at a time when college graduates knew how to read, write and compute, and make them today’s curricula. Another helpful tool would be to give careful consideration to eliminating all classes/majors/minors containing the word “studies,” such as women, Asian, black or queer studies. I’d bet that by restoring the traditional academic mission to colleges, they would put a serious dent into the COVID-19 budget shortfall.

First, what is the true coronavirus fatality rate? important because it determines whether certain be open or closed, whether we ought to pursue — more liberalized society that presumes wide spread, We’ve seen case fatality rates — the number of deaths the number of identi ed COVID-19 cases — but both and the denominator are likely wrong. We don’t know people have actually died of coronavirus. Some sources number has been overestimated, given that classi of death, particularly among elderly patients, can sources suggest the number is dramatically underestimated, Even more importantly, we have no clue how many actually have coronavirus. Some scientists suggest of identi ed cases could be an order of magnitude number of people who have had coronavirus and not Lenten and Easter messageprovideseasonsaof

RECOVERY IN VISITOR spending was felt statewide in 2021 with all 100 counties seeing accordingincreases,todata from state tourism officials. The preliminary findings reflect the economic impact of tourism on local economies across the state, and come from an annual study commissioned by Visit North Carolina, a unit of the hard to think of another organization that has as many touch points as Amazon does to an individual. It’s almost overwhelming, and it’s hard to put a finger on it.”

The tech giant’s reach not only controls 38% of the U.S. e-commerce market, but is now broadening into data collection surrounding an astonishing array of daily activities

Meanwhile, supplies of rare earths have shrunk, and some mines are raising ethical and en vironmental concerns. Min ing rare earths is a dirty business when done cheaply, and China, the world’s largest miner, has shut tered many mines in recent years to curb environmental damage. Some of that mining has been outsourced to Myanmar, where a lack of oversight is masking a dirty secret. An Associated Press in vestigation this month found the Myanmar mines are linked to en vironmental destruction, the theft of land from villagers and the fun neling of money to brutal mili tias, including at least one linked to Myanmar’s secretive military government. The AP traced rare earths from Myanmar to the sup ply chains of 78 companies, includ ing major auto makers and elec tronics giants. The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it was “deep ly concerned” about illicit mining in Myanmar, and called on oth er countries to ensure that their economic activity with Myanmar “does not enable or further exacer bate the regime’s violence against its own Karayannopoulospeople.” said that in Greenland, the company plans to dig up rock, crush it and do basic processing that does not involve the use of damaging chemicals. The ore will be then shipped to Es tonia, where it will be further pro cessed into a form that can be used to make magnets. Plans for another rare earths mine in Greenland failed after voters put in power a left-leaning government that blocked devel opment. The site had high concen trations of uranium, raising con cerns over how radioactive waste would be Karayannopoulosdisposed. said the site his company plans to develop has much lower levels of uranium, meaning it can be mined under current Greenland and European Union regulations. He said EU of ficials encouraged the project be cause it could help the continent become more self-sufficient in rare earths.Greenland, the world’s largest is land, sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. A 1.7 million-square kilometer (660,000-square mile) ice sheet covers 80% of the Arctic territory. Greenland’s 56,000 res idents are mainly indigenous Inu its.Some rare earth customers, meanwhile, are aware of the risks of mines in unregulated, con flict-ridden areas such as Myan mar, and are increasingly willing to pay more for rare earths from regulated and transparent juris dictions, Karayannopoulos said. “You’re making the problem worse by doing it in an irresponsi ble way, and with regimes that kill their own people,” he said. “It’s not sustainable.”

WITH MOST STATES under either shelter-in-place or stay-at-home orders thanks to local or state governments, a majority of Americans are having to adjust to what is being called the “new normal.” Some of these orders extend at least through the end of this month. Virginia’s stay-at-home orders go into June. Here in North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper stated during a recent coronavirus press brie ng that “we just don’t know yet” if the state’s stay-at-home orders will extend into May. If he does decide to extend it, questions should be asked as to the justi cation for it. And the answers should not be vague ones like “we must do this out of an abundance of caution.” It will need to be explained in detail to the people of this state who are being told to remain jobless and at home for an undetermined amount of time why models predicting hundreds of thousands of cases mandated that we do, but along the way I’ve also had questions about Unfortunately, when certain types of questions get asked, there is sometimes a disturbing tendency among some people to treat those simply questioning the data and asking when we can start getting back to normal as though they are conspiracy theorists or are people who

THIS WEEK, according to members of the federal and state and local governments, Americans have the curve in the novel coronavirus outbreak. The excitement muted — after all, trends can easily reverse — but have abided by recommendations and orders. They’ve to stay at home; they’ve practiced social distancing; they’ve donned masks. The result: a reduction in expected hospitalization According to the University of Washington Institute Metrics and Evaluation model most oft cited by members Trump administration, the expected need for hospital peak outbreak was revised down by over 120,000, ventilators by nearly 13,000 and the number of overall Here’s the problem: We still don’t know the answers questions that will allow the economy to reopen.

“THIS IS THE DAY the lord has made, let us rejoice in it” (Psalm 118:24). I know that during this challenging time of social working from home or losing a job, it may be di be glad” as the Bible tells us to do. However, as a Christian, and dad, the Easter holiday has reminded me of just have to be thankful and hopeful for, even in the midst pandemic.Forme,my faith is an important part of my daily making. As I celebrated Easter with my family, I Corinthians 1:4, which reminds us our Lord “comforts a iction, so that we may be able to comfort those a iction, with the comfort which we ourselves are God.”Ifyou are celebrating the Easter season, I urge re ect on this message and be comforted, so that God’s example and comfort all those in need around this di cult time. Through faith and by helping one con dent we will emerge out of this pandemic stronger In this same spirit, I continue to be inspired by neighbors helping neighbors. In Concord, a high school senior named Tanner money to buy a 3-D printer and plastic to make face health care workers out of his own home.

Since when did atgovernmentquestioningalllevels

The 3 big questions nobody

ONE THING IS CERTAIN; after this COVID-19 virus dissipates around the globe and in the United States, China will pay for this catastrophe one way or another. In order to put the crisis caused by China in perspective, zero worldwide pandemics can trace their source to the United States over our 231-year history. At least four in the 20th century alone can be directly traced to China: 1957 “Asian u,” 1968 “Hong Kong u,” 1977 “Russian u” and the 2002 SARS outbreak. There is evidence that the massive 1918 “Spanish u” pandemic also had its origins in China. There is 100% agreement, outside of China, that COVID-19 originated in Wuhan Province probably from the completely unregulated and unsanitary wet markets. Some believe it came out of a The cavalier manner in which China virus, covered up its spread and tried 3,341 related deaths has led to worldwide millions of Americans needlessly The crisis has cost the U.S. taxpayer debt plus trillions more in Federal markets and nancial outlets. If the currency, we would not be able to measures without immediate fear depreciation.Chinahasto pay for their aberrant economic and nancial means. Diplomacy to bring China into the civilized world and fair trade. Totalitarian communist or express sincere regret and remorse, totalitarian governments do. They they nd in adversaries and keep That is, unless an exogenous event meltdown in 1986. Some experts program of Reagan, led directly to Perhaps COVID-19 is China’s Chernobyl. Senators in Washington are already of China forgiving $1.2 trillion in China to “pay” for the damage they breath waiting for a Chinese “Jubilee” representatives to hold China accountable It is about time they are expected the world like any other modern nation.

Since when did questioning government at all levels become a bad thing? That is what free citizens living in a free society were supposed to do, last I checked. My rst concern as we go along in all this, of course, is my family. I’m worried about them catching the virus, and I’m worried I will. After su ering from the H1N1 virus (swine u) during the 2009 pandemic, I’ve been trying to take extra precautions, because all of this brings up way too many memories of a painful experience I’d prefer not to repeat. But what also makes me lose sleep is how easily most everyone has fallen into place. I understand the to take precautions, but I’m uneasy questions about the data, and when normal are treated in some circles They’re treated as though we as question what the government tells process of returning back to normalcy. No. The government works for questions. And the longer stay-at-home country, and the stricter some of them the more people, sitting at home feeling when they can get back to providing answers.Leaders at the local and state levels can be with those answers — and with details that give their statements We should all continue to do what ourselves, and our communities safe. to ask questions about the data, because measures are understandable, they This is all new to Americans, and shape, or form. So while we should the same time we shouldn’t get comfortable normal.”Notone little bit. Stacey Matthews has also written and is a regular contributor to RedState

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“THIS IS THE DAY in it” (Psalm 118:24). I know that during working from home be glad” as the Bible and dad, the Easter have to be thankful and pandemic.Forme,my faith is making. As I celebrated Corinthians 1:4, which a iction, so that we a iction, with the comfort If you are celebrating re ect on this message God’s example and comfort this di cult time. Through con dent we will emerge In this same spirit, neighbors helping neighbors. In Concord, a high money to buy a 3-D health care workers Sponsored by 15, 2020 opinion Latest NC tourism numbers show strong recovery, growth in all counties

FACTSFAST How China will pay for this COVID-19 catastrophe

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Since when did questioning government at all levels become a bad thing? That is what free citizens living in a free society were supposed My rst concern as we go along in all this, of course, is my family. I’m worried about them catching the virus, and I’m worried I will. After su ering from the H1N1 virus (swine u) during the 2009 pandemic, I’ve been trying to take extra precautions, because all of this brings up way too many memories of a painful experience I’d prefer not to repeat. But what also makes me lose sleep is how easily most everyone has

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Neo Perfor mance Materials, the rare earths processor, said Monday it plans to develop the Sarfartoq deposit in southwest Greenland and will send the ore to its facility in Esto nia in Eastern Europe. It’s one of only two plants outside China that processes rare earths to a high de gree.Neo aims to have the mine running in two to three years. It will be the company’s first ma jor mining project. CEO Constan tine Karayannopoulos said that by opening the mine, he hopes to shield the company from volatile rare earth prices, which have shot up in recent years due to supply disruptions and strong demand. “We’re at the mercy of the mar ket,” he Karayannopoulossaid. called it “business, not geopolitics.” But in recent years, rare earths have at tracted the attention of policymak ers in Washington, Beijing and other capitals given their impor tance to the global high-tech sup ply chain. The U.S., Europe and Japan call their dependence on China’s rare earths a “national se curity risk” and have sought to di versify their supply. But such efforts have struggled, as mines in other countries have run into opposition or failed to get off the ground after fluctuating prices scared investors away.

orders thanks to local or state governments, a majority of Americans are having to adjust to what is being called the “new normal.” Some of these orders extend at least through the end of this month. Virginia’s stay-at-home orders go into June. Here in North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper stated during a recent coronavirus press brie ng that “we just don’t know yet” if the state’s stay-at-home orders will extend into May. If he does decide to extend it, questions should be asked as to the justi cation for it. And the answers should not be vague ones like “we must do this out of an abundance of caution.” It will need to be explained in detail to the people of this state who are being told to remain jobless and at home for an undetermined amount of time why models predicting hundreds of thousands of cases areToreliable.date,I’ve gone along with what the state has asked and then mandated that we do, but along the way I’ve also had questions about the data. State Republican leaders have, too. Unfortunately, when certain types of questions get asked, there is sometimes a disturbing tendency among some people to treat those simply questioning the data and asking when we can start getting back to normal as though they are conspiracy theorists or are people who otherwise don’t care if they get themselves or others sick.

The Associated Press BEIJING — One of the world’s few rare earths processors out side China has bought exploration rights to mine in Greenland, open ing an avenue for diversifying sup plies of the minerals critical for ad vanced and green technologies. Rare earths are a group of min erals used in the manufacture of electric vehicles, wind turbines, electronics, robots and other ma chinery. China currently domi nates global production, process ing about 85% of the world’s rare earths, but skyrocketing demand is pushing companies to look for otherToronto-basedsources.

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China lied about the origin of the tried to tell the world there were only worldwide panic, economic collapse and being thrown out of work. taxpayer at least $2.4 trillion in added Reserve backup liquidity to the the U.S. dollar were not the reserve fund any of these emergency of rampant in ation and currency aberrant ways and decisions through Diplomacy has obviously not worked world of 21st century health, hygiene communist regimes never take the blame remorse, because that is not what take advantage of every weakness pushing until they win or the event happens such as the Chernobyl believe that event, not the Star Wars the dissolution of the Soviet Union alreadyChernobyl.talking about the possibility debt we owe them as one way to get have caused the US. Don’t hold your “Jubilee” to happen but ask your elected accountable in tangible nancial ways for expected to operate as responsible citizens of nation.seriousness of the virus and the need with how people who simply ask when things can start getting back to with contempt. a society simply must accept without tells us about when it’s safe to begin the normalcy.us,and we have the right to ask those stay-at-home orders are in place all over the them get in states, such as Michigan, feeling isolated and/or anxious about providing for their families, will demand levels should be as forthcoming as they again, not vague answers, but answer statements believability. what we can to keep our families, safe. But we should also still continue because while reasonable stay-at-home should also have an expiration date. and it is not normal. Not in any way, remain vigilant and stay safe, at comfortable with this so-called “new under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah RedState and Legal Insurrection.

In this Aug. 16, 2018, file photo a child holds his Amazon Echo Dot in Kennesaw, Ga. n.c.

The Associated Press BULLA HAGAR, Kenya — The United States is stepping up to buy about 150,000 metric tons of grain from Ukraine in the next few weeks for an upcoming ship ment of food aid from ports no lon ger blockaded by war. The final destinations for the grain are not confirmed and dis cussions continue, World Food Program chief David Beasley said. But the planned shipment, one of several the U.N. agency that fights hunger is pursuing, is more than six times the amount of grain that the first WFP-arranged ship from Ukraine is now carrying toward people in the Horn of Africa at risk of starvation.Beasleyspoke Friday from northern Kenya, which is deep in a drought that is withering the Horn of Africa region. He sat under a thorn tree among local women who said that the last time it rained was in Their2019.bone-dry communities face yet another failed rainy season within weeks that could tip parts of the region, especially neighbor ing Somalia, into famine. Already, thousands of people have died. The World Food Program says 22 mil lion people are hungry. “I think there’s a high prob ability we’ll have a declaration of famine” in the coming weeks, Beasley said. He called the situation fac ing the Horn of Africa a “perfect storm on top of a perfect storm, a tsunami on top of a tsunami” as the drought-prone region strug gles to cope amid high food and fuel prices driven partly by the war in Ukraine. The keenly awaited first aid ship from Ukraine is carrying 23,000 metric tons of grain, enough to feed 1.5 million people on full rations for a month, Beasley said. It is ex pected to dock in Djibouti on Aug. 26 or 27, and the wheat is supposed to be shipped overland to northern Ethiopia, where millions of people in the Tigray, Afar and Amhara re gions have faced not only drought but deadly Ukraineconflict.wasthe source of half the grain that WFP bought last year to feed 130 million hungry people. Russia and Ukraine signed agreements with the U.N. and the Turkish government last month to enable exports of Ukrainian grain for the first time since Russia’s in vasion in February. But the slow reopening of Ukraine’s ports and the cautious movement of cargo ships across the mined Black Sea won’t solve the global food security crisis, Beasley said. He warned that richer coun tries must do much more to keep grain and other assistance flowing to the hungriest parts of the world, and he named names. “China’s the second-largest economy in the world, and we get diddly-squat from China,” or very little, he Despiteadded.grain leaving Ukraine and hopes rising of global mar kets beginning to stabilize, the world’s most vulnerable people face a long, difficult recovery, the WFP chief said. “Even if this drought ends, we’re talking about a global food crisis at least for another 12 months,” Beas ley said. “But in terms of the poor est of the poor, it’s gonna take sev eral years to come out of this.”

One of the summer’s mostwatched movies, the Ryan Gos ling-Chris Evans action thriller “The Gray Man,” played on Netflix. Unless films like Sony Pictures’ “Woman King,” with Viola Da vis, or the buzzy Warner Bros. re lease “Don’t Worry Darling,” with Harry Styles and Florence Pugh, overperform expectations, the next month or two in theaters lack sure-things before “Halloween Ends” and “Black Adam” arrive in late October. Farther on the hori zon, though, are a few sequels that could set box-office records: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Nov. 11) and “Avatar” (Dec. 16). AMC’s stock fell to $10.46 from $18.02 on Friday, though it had other factors impacting the shares. Monday marked the first day of trading for the company’s new pre ferred equity units, which have the ticker symbol “APE.” Investors received one share of APE for every AMC share they owned at the end of Friday. Ana lysts said it was similar to a twofor-one stock split, a deal that often sees a company’s share price drop by roughly half. Analysts said the new APE shares offer AMC a way to raise cash in the future, which it could use to reduce its debt. The company last year tapped the stock market to raise cash, tak ing advantage of a huge run-up in its share price when it got caught up the frenzy surrounding socalled meme stocks. Its shares rose sixfold in Janu ary 2021 and then more than dou bled that May and again in June. The gains were driven by hordes of amateur investors, with some referring to themselves as “apes” willing to hold the stock regard less of whether professional Wall Street called it a bad buy.

A man walks past a Cineworld cinema in Leicester Square, London, on Oct. 5, 2020. In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski denied that’s what the company wants to do. “We do not use home maps for targeted advertising and have no plans to do so,” Levandowski said. Whether that will relieve con cerns is another matter, espe cially in light of research about Amazon’s other devices. Earli er this year, a group of universi ty researchers released a report that found voice data from Am azon’s Echo devices are used to target ads to consumers — some thing the company had denied in theLevandowskipast. said consumers can opt out of receiving “inter est-based” ads by adjusting their preferences on Amazon’s adver tising preferences page. She also said Amazon doesn’t share Alexa requests with advertising net works.Amazon’s One Medical deal, for instance, has sparked ques tions about how the company would handle personal health data that would fall into its lap. Should the deal close, Levand owski said customers’ health in formation will be handled sep arately from all other Amazon businesses. She also added Am azon wouldn’t share person al health information outside of One Medical for “advertising or marketing purposes of other Am azon products and services with out clear permission from the customer.”ButLucia Savage, a chief pri vacy officer at the chronic care provider Omada Health, said that doesn’t mean One Medical wouldn’t be able to get data from other arms of Amazon’s business that could help it better profile its patients. The information just has to flow one way, she said.

Cineworld considers bankruptcy as cinema struggles continue

AP PHOTO World Food Program chief David Beasley meets with villagers in the village of Wagalla in northern Kenya Friday, Aug. 19, 2022.

AMAZON from page B5 Total Cash & Bond Proceeds $2,918,200,039 Add Receipts $156,271,625 Less Disbursements $120,423,157 Reserved Cash $125,000,000 Unreserved Cash Balance Total $6,667,388,807 Disaster reimbursements: $165,300,000 For the week ending 8/19 UN: US

“The most interesting thing we hear is people saying, ‘We’re not the only ones,’” WFP program offi cer Felix Okech told the AP. “’We’re the ones who have been selected (for handouts), but there are many more like us.’ So that is very hum bling to hear.” In a small crowd that had gath ered to listen to stories of chil dren too weak to stand and milk gone dry, one woman at the edge of the woven plastic mat spoke up. Sahara Abdilleh, 50, said she makes perhaps 1,000 shillings ($8.30) a week from gathering firewood, scouring a landscape that gives less and less back every day. Like Beasley, she was think ing“Isglobally.thereany country, like Af ghanistan or Ukraine, that is worse off than us?” she asked. buying big Ukraine grain shipment for hungry regions

For companies like Amazon, data collection is for more than just data’s sake, noted Kristen Martin, a professor of technolo gy ethics at the University of No tre“YouDame.can almost see them just trying to paint a broader picture of an individual,” Martin said. “It’s about the inferences that they’re able to draw about you specifically, and then you com pared to other people.”

The Associated Press

B6 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Some of the world’s poorest people without enough food are in northern Kenya, where ani mal carcasses are slowly stripped to the bone beneath an ungener ous sky. Millions of livestock, the source of families’ wealth and nu trition, have died in the drought. Many water pumps have gone dry. More and more thousands of chil dren are “Don’tmalnourished.forgetus,”resident Hasan Mohamud told Beasley. “Even the camels have disappeared. Even the donkeys have succumbed.” With so many in need, aid that does arrive can disappear like a raindrop in the sand. Local women who qualified for WFP cash hand outs described taking the 6,500 shillings (about $54) and sharing it among their neighbors — in one case, 10 households.

sumers with ads.

LONDON — Conditions are dimming at many movie theaters around the Cineworldworld.Group PLC, one of the industry’s biggest theater op erators, confirmed Monday that it’s considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S., as it contends with billions of dollars in debt and more emp ty seats in front of its screens than expected.TheBritish company, which owns Regal Cinemas in the Unit ed States and operates in 10 coun tries, said its theaters remain “open for business as usual” as it consid ers options for relief from its debt load. Cineworld said it expects to continue operating even after any potential filing, though its stock investors could face steep or total losses on their holdings. Cineworld faces challenges spe cific to itself after building up $4.8 billion in net debt, not including lease liabilities. But the entire in dustry is navigating a tenuous re covery after the pandemic shut theaters worldwide. To be sure, moviegoers have streamed back into theaters this year to see blockbusters like “Spi der-Man: No Way Home,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” and “Jurassic Park: Dominion.” Industry giant Warner Discovery has said it’s dou bling down on theaters and mov ing away from debuting films on its HBO Max streaming service. But this summer’s $3.3 bil lion in ticket sales is still running nearly 20% behind the summer of 2019, before the pandemic, as of Sunday, according to data firm Comscore. And there don’t seem to be any big hits on the immediate horizon to make those numbers muchCineworldbetter. said its admissions levels have recently been below expectations. And with a “limit ed film slate,” it expects the lower levels to continue until November. That would mean an additional crunch to its Cineworldfinances.saidit’s holding talks with lenders and other ma jor stakeholders as it reviews its financial options. It also said it expects “ultimately to contin ue its business over the longer term with no significant impact upon its employees.” It has about 28,000 workers, according to the company’s website. Even if employees could make it through intact, shareholders may not. The company warned again Monday that a transaction to ease the debt on its balance sheet could hurt its stock investors. Shares of other theater chains also stumbled Monday, but no where near as much as Cineworld. Cinemark Holdings fell 5.8% to $15.33, for example. Its executives said earlier in August that the next two months will be challenged by a dip in new releases. But they also said they’re hopeful for a strong close of the Rivalyear.AMC Entertainment has also called the upcoming film schedule relatively weak, though it’s optimistic about the end of the year and about 2023. This year, about a third less wide-release films have been put into theaters as before the pandemic. Some of that has to do with residual delays in Hol lywood’s production pipeline caused by earlier COVID-19 shut downs and postponements. But it’s also because a lot of movies go straight to streaming.

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Commercial spyware compa nies such as Israel’s NSO Group are known for identifying and taking advantage of such flaws, exploiting them in malware that surreptitiously infects targets’ smartphones, siphons their con tents and surveils the targets in real time. It’s a risk that’s best to avoid. Why doesn’t my Apple device do this for me?

The honor usually goes to a co median with a link to the net work airing the event, and NBC stayed the course: It chose “Sat urday Night Live” veteran Kenan Thompson, a first-time Emmy host who’s been preceded in the emcee job by a number of “SNL” stars. The ceremony has tried go ing without a host, most recently in 2019, but the results weren’t al ways pretty. Or entertaining.

This photo shows a view of the stage at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.

Apple devices are set to auto matic updates by default, but it can take some time before they get around to it. Updates also don’t usually trigger unless can be done and it usually won’t happen unless the iPhone is plugged into a power outlet at the time. It’s quicker just to check for the latest updates and do it manually.

The Associated Press NEW YORK — Apple regular ly issues updates to the software powering the iPhone, and some times it’s OK to dawdle when it comes to installing them. But that’s not the case with its latest — an upgrade that Apple released Wednesday to close a security hole that could allow hackers to seize control of iPhones and several oth er popular Apple products. Security experts are warn ing that everyone with an iPhone should install the update as soon as possible to protect all the per sonal information many people store on a device that’s become like another appendage for many. Without the latest update, a hacker could wrest total control of Apple devices, allowing the in truder to impersonate the true owner and run any software in theirThename.company also issued fixes to block the security threat on iP ads and Macs. The flaw may al ready have been “actively exploit ed,” according to the company, which has had to fix other secu rity problems with the earlier this year. How do i fix this? The good news? There’s an easy fix: you should be able to find easi ly. Start with the Settings app, the one with an icon featuring what looks like gears in an old watch. Go into the “General” section, then “Software Update.” The page you see will offer simple instruc tions or, if your device has already updated, a message to that effect. The whole process typically only takes a few minutes, accord ing to security experts. .

Some previous winners are vying again for best series honors, includ ing “Ted Lasso,” a freshman when it won 2021’s best comedy series, and “Succession,” which claimed the 2020 best drama award. (The series didn’t air during the eligibility win dow for 2021, when “The Crown” won.)There are also formidable new comers, including the dystopian drama “Squid Game” and comedy crime romp “Only Murders in the Building.”Among the nominated actors, those hoping to be repeat victors in clude Jason Sudeikis of “Ted Lasso,” Jean Smart of “Hacks” and Zendaya of “Euphoria.” Check out the full list of Emmy nominees. What were the most surpising Emmy nods? So many, where to begin? The farewell season of “This Is Us” got a single nomination, for original mu sic and lyrics, after reaping Emmys for several cast members in years past. It was a similar case for the last year of “black-ish,” which ended its groundbreaking run with just two creative arts nominations. On the flip side, it was far from a slam dunk that Dave Chappelle’s “The Closer,” with its controversial anti-transgen der comments, would earn a best variety special nomination. It did. Who decides the Emmy winners? The more than 17,000 voting members of the TV academy are el igible to decide nominees and win ners in 14 categories, including dra ma, comedy and limited series. The acting awards, including lead, sup porting and guest actors, are deter mined by peer groups, as are direct ing, writing and other individual areas of achievement. The number of nominees in most categories gen erally is tied to the number of sub missions, with exceptions includ ing best comedy and dramas series: They get eight nominees each.

Sept. 2019 file

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The affected devices include the iPhone6S and later models; sev eral models of the iPad, including the 5th generation and later, all iPad Pro models and the iPad Air 2; and Mac computers running MacOS Monterey. The flaw also affects some iPod models. How do i update iPads and Macs? You can update your iPad using the same process outlined above: go to “Settings,” click “General” and click “Software Update.” On the Mac, go to “System Preferenc es,” then “Software Update.” What’s the risk that my phone was compromised? Unless you’re a journalist, po litical dissident or human rights activist, the chances are extreme ly low. The kinds of spyware creat ed to exploit vulnerabilities of this type are expensive and typically reserved for targeted hacking. “If you keep the systems updat ed, you’ll be absolutely fine,” Col lier said. “Typically, when vul nerabilities in, say, phones and iPhones, for instance, are exploit ed, they tend to be pretty targeted, pretty focused on a small subset of individuals. So we’re unlikely to see anything that’s really wide spread at this stage.”

Everything you need to know about the 2022 Emmys AP PHOTO

B7 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Does this mean Apple isn’t doing a good job protecting its users? No. The reality is that hackers are constantly looking for ways to gain unauthorized access to phones, tablets, computers, and other internet-connected devices for a wide range of malicious and illegal purposes. Apple’s products tend to be a prime target because they’re popular, making them an attractive target. “Apple is no different to any technology company in that they’re constantly dealing with vulnerabilities,” said Jamie Col lier, senior threat intelligence ad visor for the cybersecurity firm Mandiant and an associate fellow at the Royal United Services In stitute for Defence and Security Studies. “This is really a function of the fact that they’re innovating. They’re constantly developing, they’re constantly improving ser vices, improving their technolo gy, improving their software. That means they’re constantly rolling out new things.” What Apple devices are affected?

Don’t dawdle with latest iPhone update. Here’s why and how The line-up of the oftheirdisplayediPhoneApple13isonfirstdaysale,inNewYork. AP PHOTO

Fuhrer said it will be interest ing this fall when large football audiences return to broadcast TV to see whether those networks will spend a great deal of time promot ing their own shows. “This month and the next two to three months may be the most pivotal in the history of television in terms of all the media compa nies and their strategies,” he said. Some business experts be lieve streaming services are in a pre-shakeout period, with several trying to establish themselves be fore the industry learns there are only so many outlets consumers are willing to pay for. The result may be a period of consolidation. “It’s a great time to be a TV viewer,” Bianculli said, “and I can’t imagine there will ever be a great er time to go into television cre atively.”

Which shows are nominated for the top awards at the Emmys?

The Associated Press NEW YORK — This summer has been a breakthrough for streaming, with the time viewers spent watching services like Netflix and Hulu outpacing broad cast and cable television networks in July for the first month ever. Viewers spent 35% of their time with stream ers, 34% on cable net works and 22% watching broadcast television last month, the Nielsen com pany said Thursday. Vid eo on demand or DVD playback accounted for much of the other time. July is an unusual month — broadcast TV is essentially on vacation with little live sports or scripted programming and a prime-time sched ule clogged with game shows — but it’s a clear indication of how rapidly the business is changing. “It was inevitable,” said Da vid Bianculli, professor of televi sion studies at Rowan University and critic on NPR’s “Fresh Air.” “I knew it had to happen, but I didn’t know it would happen as quickly as it Streaming’sdid.” audience share in July was up 23% compared to July 2021, Nielsen said. Broadcast tele vision’s share was down 10% and cable down Streaming9%.

For 1st month ever, streamers rule broadcast, cable networks

services learned from what cable did in its infancy, using broadcasting’s quiet sum mer months to put forward some of their best programming, said Brian Fuhrer, Nielsen’s senior vice president for product strategy and thought leadership. New episodes of “Stranger Things” alone on Net flix accounted for 18 billion min utes of streaming, while “Virgin River” and “The Umbrella Acade my” also did well. Netflix is still the top stream er, but it no longer dominates the field the way it once did. In July, Hulu had strong numbers for “Only Murders in the Build ing” and “The Bear,” while Ama zon Prime hit with “The Terminal List” and “The Boys.” With pandemic-related pauses in shooting schedules now largely over, the streamers have a backlog of fresh material, Fuhrer said.Many viewers became familiar with streaming and added it to their me dia diets during the pan demic, he said. They ha ven’t looked back. Each week in July had more total minutes of stream ing than any other weeks Nielsen has ever count ed, with the exception of the week between Christmas and New Year’s last year. The return of football games and a new season of fresh scripted shows this fall should boost the broadcast networks, Fuhrer said. Yet it’s hard to see them pushing back to a level of dominance ap proaching anything in the past. For one thing, me dia companies that own broad cast networks also have sister streaming services — CBS and Paramount+, NBC and Peacock, for instance — and generally see streaming as the future, he said. “The networks have collective ly decided not only that streaming is the future, but they can’t wait to get there as fast as they can,” Bian culli said. “They’re not doing any thing to slow down the charge.”

The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Are you ready for some football? Fine, but the re turn of the NFL is why the 2022 Emmy Awards have been dropkicked from their usual Sunday berth to Television’sMonday.top awards rotate among the top four networks, and this year’s broadcast home, NBC, has reserved the second Sunday night in September for Tampa Bay vs. Dallas. After the Emmys slogged through two years of pandemic-re stricted ceremonies, a day’s delay seems a minor annoyance. The industry is expected to put on its Monday best, swan down the red carpet and celebrate itself and the wealth of shows across stream ing services, cable and, to a degree that pales compared to years’ past, old-school network fare. But what’s a Hollywood awards show without a TV audience? A low-rated disappointment, and that’s where you come in. If you de cide to do your bit and tune in, here’s a roadmap to everything you need to know about the 2022 Emmys. When are the 2022 Emmys? The 74th Primetime Emmy Awards are set for Monday, Sept. 12, at the Microsoft Theatre in Los An geles. The roughly three-hour cere mony will begin at 8 p.m. EDT and air live on NBC and, for free, on the streaming service Peacock. But the Emmys, with 118 to tal awards, aren’t a one-day affair. Winners in 25 key categories in cluding best drama and comedy se ries will be announced during the broadcast ceremony, with the rest divvied up between the Sept. 3 and 4 creative arts awards. An ed ited version of the weekend cere monies, with categories including sound editing and cinematogra phy, will air at 8 p.m. EDT Sept. 10 on FXX. Who is hosting the Emmys ceremony?

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Why is updating your Apple device so urgent?

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE OF NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION CABARRUS22sp248COUNTY

IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY JAMES E. BIERSCHBACH AND DAWN C. BIERSCHBACH DATED AUGUST 15, 2014 AND RECORDED IN BOOK 11087 AT PAGE 78 IN THE CABARRUS COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH NOTICECAROLINAOF SALE Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements contained therein and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Cabarrus County courthouse at 11:00AM on August 31, 2022, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed James E. Bierschbach and Dawn C. Bierschbach, dated August 15, 2014 to secure the original principal amount of $150,300.00, and recorded in Book 11087 at Page 78 of the Cabarrus County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modified by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended. Address of property: 6 50 Chadbourne Ave NW, Concord, NC 28027 Tax Parcel ID: 56113289560000PresentRecordOwners: James E. Bierschbach, Nu Thi Nguyen, Thomas Nguyen, and Johnny V. TheNguyenrecord owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are James E. Bierschbach, Nu Thi Nguyen, Thomas Nguyen, and Johnny V. TheNguyen.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 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 offered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure. A deposit of five percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale. Cash will not be accepted. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing.

By Jordan Golson North State Journal SAN DIEGO — BMW has long offered electrified vehicles. The German marque was one of the first to sell a full EV with the odd i3, and it has offered plugin hybrids for years across its se dan and SUV lines. I’m sure there are Tesla fans who will claim that BMW is somehow “late” to the EV arena, but given that mainstream auto makers have only just begun of fering full electric cars in any vol ume, I’d say Bayerische Motoren Werke is right on time. BMW has a pair of new EVs on offer, and I’ve driven both. I drove the BMW iX SUV a month or two ago and found it to be an impres sive and somewhat bonkers SUV that debuted an almost entire ly new interior design language from BMW. It has wood, beauti ful crystal controls, and a vast wi descreen that dominates the float ingThedash.BMW i4, however, is a bit more traditional. Where it’s im mediately apparent that the iX is something new, the i4 looks near ly identical to a standard BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe. The differenc es are subtle and not readily ap parent. Of course, there’s an i4 badge on the back, and the BMW logos are encircled in blue (the of ficial accent color of BMW EVs), but that’s it. It’s the same story inside. It looks like a standard BMW 4 Se ries, down to the console, gear shift, and all the buttons. Again, the only significant differences are the blue accents on the gear shift and the start/stop button. If you want to fly under the radar with your electric-ness, the i4 is forTheyou.i4 is also for you if you’re looking for the Ultimate Driv ing Machine. The i4 is my favor ite BMW not named iX, and I’m not the biggest BMW fan. I think they’re often too focused on per formance, which is terrific when you’re on track, but in everyday life — where the vast majority of BMWs are going to spend the vast majority of their time — you end up with something that’s too stiff and harsh. I found the i4 to have a nicer balance, perhaps due to the add ed weight of the battery necessi tating a tamer suspension. Still, it sports a 50/50 weight distribution and, in the i4 M50 trim, an adap tive M suspension, anti-roll bars, an additional strut tower brace up front, and nicer brakes and tires. BMW says the i4 M50’s center of gravity is 1.3 inches lower than a BMW 3 Series, too. The drive is fantastic, with am ple power available with a twitch of your right foot. The M sport steering and adaptive suspension deliver a terrific combination of performance and comfort, perfect for zipping through SoCal traffic or ripping up a desert canyon.

Attorney for the Substitute Trustee

The BMW sports sedan goes electric 2022 BMW i4 M50 PHOTOS COURTESY BMW CABARRUS

The i4 can fast charge at up to 200 kWh, which BMW says can increase range by up to 90 miles in 10 minutes. Charging speed calculations are far more compli cated than I can dive into here, but there is plentiful information on EV specialist websites if you need more data. Range varies depending on trim and which wheels you opt for. The single-motor i4 eDrive40 with 18inch wheels gets an EPA-estimat ed range of 301 miles, while the i4 M50 with 20-inch wheels and sticky, performance tires rated just 227 miles. The reduced range is the price you pay for increased performance.Speakingof price, the i4 M50 starts at $65,900, and my tester included a litany of options and totaled out to $76,670. Notably, the i4 is not eligible for the new ly revamped federal EV tax cred it as it is manufactured outside the United States and exceeds the $50,000 price cap for electric se dans.I’m not sure buyers of a $75,000 sports sedan particularly needed a $7,500 federal tax credit, but it’s still disappointing for potential i4 owners looking forward to a nice rebate come April. The i4 and iX make a compelling first pair of BMW EVs. NOTICE IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION 22SP10 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF CABARRUS NOTICE OF SALE IN THE MATTER OF THE FORECLOSURE OF A DEED OF TRUST EXECUTED BY WALTER J. BENNETT AND DEBORAH R. BENNETT DATED APRIL 12, 2006 RECORDED IN BOOK 6669 AT PAGE 238 IN THE CABARRUS COUNTY PUBLIC REGISTRY, NORTH CAROLINA

10130 Perimeter Parkway, Suite 400 Charlotte, NC 28216 (704) 2BPosted:333-8107y:1-112426

A deposit of five percent (5%) of the amount of the bid or seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, is required from the highest bidder and must be tendered in the form of certified funds at the time of the sale. This sale will be held open ten days for upset bids as required by law. After the expiration of the upset period, all remaining amounts are IMMEDIATELY DUE AND OWING. Failure to remit funds in a timely manner will result in a Declaration of Default and any deposit will be frozen pending the outcome of any re-sale. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Substitute Trustee or the attorney of any of the foregoing.

A Sport Boost function tempo rarily pushes the max output of the i4 M50’s two motors by 67 hp to 536 hp and torque by 48 to 586 lb-ft for ten seconds. The boost function is related to charge and temperature status in the car’s various propulsion systems and can be activated several times in succession if conditions allow. Cleverly, energy recuperation is adjusted based on data from the nav and the driver assist systems. The car will boost regen if you’re approaching a turn, traffic light, or a road with a lower speed limit.

Under and by virtue of the power and authority contained in the above-referenced deed of trust and because of default in payment of the secured debt and failure to perform the agreements therein contained and, pursuant to demand of the holder of the secured debt, the undersigned will expose for sale at public auction at the usual place of sale at the Cabarrus County courthouse at 1:00 PM on August 29, 2022, the following described real estate and any improvements situated thereon, in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and being more particularly described in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Walter J. Bennett; Deborah R. Bennett, dated April 12, 2006 to secure the original principal amount of $168,500.00, and recorded in Book 6669 at Page 238 of the Cabarrus County Public Registry. The terms of the said Deed of Trust may be modified by other instruments appearing in the public record. Additional identifying information regarding the collateral property is below and is believed to be accurate, but no representation or warranty is intended.

B8 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Address of property: 7 901 Saddleview Court, Charlotte, NC 28215 Tax Parcel ID: Present55056399940000RecordOwners: Deborah R. TheBennettrecord owner(s) of the property, according to the records of the Register of Deeds, is/are Deborah R. Bennett. 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 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 offered for sale. Any and all responsibilities or liabilities arising out of or in any way relating to any such condition expressly are disclaimed. This sale is subject to all prior liens and encumbrances and unpaid taxes and assessments including any transfer tax associated with the foreclosure.

The ultimate EV driving machine

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS residing at the property: be advised that an Order for Possession of the property may be issued in favor of the purchaser. Also, if your lease began or was renewed on or after October 1, 2007, be advised that you may terminate the rental agreement upon 10 days written notice to the landlord. You may be liable for rent due under the agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. The date of this Notice is July 13, 2022.

TAKE

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR LEASEHOLD TENANTS residing at the property: be advised that an Order for Possession of the property may be issued in favor of the purchaser. Also, if your lease began or was renewed on or after October 1, 2007, be advised that you may terminate the rental agreement upon 10 days written notice to the landlord. You may be liable for rent due under the agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. The date of this Notice is 3rd day of August, 2022. Grady I. Ingle, Attorney for Substitute Trustee Ingle Law Firm, PA 13801 Reese Blvd West Suite Huntersville,160 NC 28078 (980) 771-0717 Ingle Case Number: 1812-5684

B12 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 pen & paper pursuits solutions sudoku From August 17, 2022

SCOTT PELKEY | NORTH STATE JOURNAL First Lady of North Carolina, Kristin Cooper, speaks at the North Carolina Zoo’s Asia ground breaking on Aug 17th 2022.

Beloved lion dies Earlier this month, there was a more somber mood for NC Zoo because of the death of its 23-year-old African lion, Reilly. Zoo officials said Reilly dealt with renal disease for several years. Chief veterinarian Dr. Jb Minter said renal disease is com mon for a cat of Reilly’s age. Reilly was euthanized be cause of his weakened situation. He was the oldest male lion at an Association of Zoos and Aquari ums-accredited facility.

“This is a critically endangered animal,” Jennifer Ireland, the zoo’s curator of mammals, said of the warty pig. “There are very, very few left in the wild.” Birds will include wrinkled hornbills, red-crowned cranes, and cinereous vultures. State Sen. David Craven Jr. praised the economic activity stemming from NC Zoo. This expansion could make the zoo a multi-day destination, so that could spread the financial windfall.“When they come, they eat at our restaurants,” Frye said. “They stay at our hotels, our camp grounds. They shop. They buy gas.”

Back-to-School prayer

Early last approximatelyweek,17 businesses in the Archdale area were forced to evacuate and close due to an unexpected gas leak. At around 10 am on Monday morning, multiple individuals called 911 to report the smell of gasoline at the Circle K on North Main Street. GuilRand Fire Department, Randolph County Emergency Management, Archdale Police Department, and the NC Division of Water Resources all responded to the scene. According to a member of the Randolph County EMS, gasoline leaked into the storm drain system that goes into a tributary of Muddy Creek. Businesses in the area have since reopened, but crews are still trying to determine the source of the leak. event set for

ASHEBORO — Chuck Powers, founder of the Randolph Chris tian Men, would like to see a re cord turnout for Sunday’s Backto-School Prayer Night. At 5:30 p.m., gatherings are scheduled to begin at about 40 locations that are part of the Randolph County School System and Asheboro City Schools. “We’ll have someone who will lead prayer at each of those fa cilities,” Powers said. “We’re ask ing the Lord to bless everyone in volved in Turnouteducation.”forlastyear’s Backto-School Prayer Night was more than 500 based on reports Pow ers, an Asheboro man, received from his group’s members at the school locations. “I think that’s a good number,” he said. “I really wish we could have more than that.”

North Carolina Zoo takes next steps for Asia exhibit

Randolph Christian Men took over as organizers and sponsors of the non-denominational event in 2014. The annual prayer ses sion coincides with the beginning of the school year in Randolph County. Classes start Monday at public schools in the county. “We ask people to go to a local school of their choosing,” Pow ers said. “It’s a simple, one-night event.”Attendance for the prayer night varies from school to school. Powers said more than 25 people might descend on some locations, while others might at tract three or four. Powers said the 5:30 p.m. time works better than in some past years when it began at 7 p.m. This way, Back-To-School Prayer Night shouldn’t conflict with Sunday evening church services. Powers said attendees would generally spend about 20 min utes for the prayer events at the schools.Even during the COVID pan demic, the Back-to-School Prayer Night was held in Ran dolph County, Powers said. He said the activity continued be cause it was outdoors and in smallRandolphgatherings.Christian Men has about 1,000 members in its da tabase. The group meets month ly at a different church. Powers, who formed the organization in 2008, said the pre-COVID turn out was usually about 85 to 100 per month, though that’s down to about 55 in recent months.

“He far exceeded the aver age lifespan for lions under hu man care,” said animal man agement supervisor Jodi Wiley, who worked with Reilly for sev en years. “This speaks volumes of the amazing care the keepers have given him over the years.”

VOLUME 7 ISSUE 26 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 | RANDOLPHRECORD.COM THE RANDOLPH COUNTY EDITION OF THE NORTH STATE JOURNAL COUNTYNEWS

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record ASHEBORO — North Caroli na Zoo is moving closer to Asia after the groundbreaking for a newTheexhibit.10-acre Asian expansion is a few years away from being opened, but the next steps were evident when regional and state officials gathered last week for the ceremonial start to the pro cess.“Asia has been a long time coming,” said Walker Moffitt, chair of the North Carolina Zoo Council and Asheboro mayor pro tem.This is the first expansion since 1994, when the North Ameri ca exhibit was added. There’s an anticipated 2026 opening for the AsiaWhileexhibit.the addition is certain ly a potential boost for NC Zoo, that should extend to Randolph County as well. “It has been a team effort, and we’re glad to be part of that team,” said Darrell Frye, chair of the Randolph County commis sioners.There’s $75 million approved from the state legislature for this expansion.Itshould expose NC Zoo visi tors to a wider range of animals. “We really wanted to bring in tigers,” said NC Zoo director Pat Simmons said. “That is some thing that the public has asked us for, for the longest time.” One of the features of the ex pansion will include the tigers’ habitat that will allow tigers to walk across an enclosed bridgelike structure above zoo patrons. That part of the exhibit also will include a 300-seat indoor café overlooking the tigers. In addition to tigers, there will be small-clawed otters, Chinese alligators, Chinese giant sala manders, Komodo Dragons, and Visayan warty pigs.

Sheriff’s RobberyonrequestingOfficeinformationDollarGeneral

Archdale totemporarilybusinessescloseduegasleak

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

Sunday

The Randolph County Sherriff’s Office is asking for assistance in helping to identify a suspect involved in the robbery of the Coleridge Dollar General last week. Surveillance video shows a man entering the business wearing black pants, tan boots, a black jacket with white lettering, a black face mask, and a blue hood. The suspect interacted with the clerk, revealed a firearm, and then demanded money. After completing the robbery, the suspect headed south towards the Bennett area in a silver color sedan with the headlights off. Investigators believe there may have been a passenger in the vehicle. If you have any information pertaining to the incident, please contact the Sheriff’s Office at (336) 318-6698, Detective Parrish at (336) 318-6767, or to remain anonymous, call the Randolph County Crime Stoppers tip line at (336) 6727463.

58 2017752016 $1.00

Chuck Powers, Randolph Christian Men Randolph record

A lion’s average lifespan un der human care is about 17 years. Reilly weighed up to 440 pounds, though he was down to 394 at the time of his death. Reilly was born Feb. 7, 1999, at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. He came to NC Zoo in March 2001. He fathered three males and six females.“Hewas so tolerant of his ram bunctious offspring and was fiercely devoted to his lady lion, Mekita,” zookeeper Beth Malott said in a release from NC Zoo. “Reilly was a one-of-a-kind soul, and his morning roars will be greatlyNow,missed.”Mikitais the only lion at NC Zoo.

SCOTT PELKEY | NORTH STATE JOURNAL NC Zoo director Pat Simmons, center, high-fives state Sen. David Craven Jr., who reaches over Randolph County commissioner Darrell Frye, during last week’s groundbreaking.

“We ask people to go to a local school of their choosing. It’s a simple, onenight event.”

♦ Wiles, Felesha Diana (F, 27), Arrested on charge of Possess Drug Paraphernalia, on 8/16/22, at Randolph Co Courthouse.

Do you have a birthday,otherengagementwedding,ormilestonetocelebrate?Contactusat randolphrecord.com.celebrations@

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ASHEBORO — Enrollment at Randolph Community College isn’t likely to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels right away despite a school official pointing out unprecedented financial incentives for potential students.

♦ Roark, Justin Steven (M, 30), Arrest on charge of Possession of Meth, Possession with intent to manufacture, sell or distribute heroin, Simple possession of Schedule II, III, IV CS, Maintaining Place, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, at 1029 High Point Rd, on 7/13/2021. NOTICES

(ISSN 2471-1365) Publisher Neal Robbins Editor Matt Mercer Sports Editor Cory Lavalette Senior Opinion Editor Frank Hill Design Editor Lauren PublishedRoseeach Wednesday by North State Media, LLC 3101 Industrial Dr., Suite 105 Raleigh, N.C. 27609 TO SUBSCRIBE: 704-269-8461 or online at nsjonline.com Annual Subscription Price: $50.00 Periodicals Postage Paid at Raleigh, N.C. and at additional mailing offices. 3101to:SendPOSTMASTER:addresschangesNorthStateJournalIndustrialDr.,Suite 105 Raleigh, N.C. 27609 WEDNESDAY 7.21.21 “Join#3 conversation”the WEEKLY

RCC pushes for more students as numbers WWE leaves virtual reality behind in 1st tour since

♦ Lamb, Haley Lauren (F, 32), Arrested on charge of Assault Inflict Serious Injury, on 8/16/22, at Midway Mart.

CommissionersThe6pmCounty meet on the first Monday of the month for regular business meetings and zoning hearings. Meetings take place at the 1909 Randolph County Historical Courthouse Meeting Room, 145-C Worth Street, Asheboro, unless otherwise posted.

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♦ Allen, Jeremy Wayne (M, 41), Arrested on charge of Simple Assault, on 8/16/22, at Midway Mart.

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SATURDAY JULY 24 24%86°69° SUNDAY JULY 25 HI 86° LO 69° PRECIP 32% MONDAY JULY PRECIPLOHI aboutRCCbetter“There ShacklefordRCC

Come6pm out to Commerce Square Park for live music from the Marsha Morgan Band! Food trcuks will be available beginning at 6 pm. Good and the Monkey Brewing will be in the beer garden from 6 until 9 pm. The Band will perform from 7 until 10 pm.

September 6 Randolph County Board of MeetingCommissioners

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♦ Francisco, Julio Diego (M, 26), Arrested on charge of Assault on a Female, on 8/17/22, at RCSO. Leonard, Steven Craig Sr (M, 56), Arrested on charge of Communicating Threats, Simple Assault, on 8/17/22, at 1715 S Fayetteville St. Lopez-Guzman, Victor Eduardo (M, 36), Arrested on charge of Assault on a Female, on 8/17/22, at County Place Rd. Pugh, Brandon Alexander (M, 22), Arrested on charge of ten counts Sexual Exploit Minor/2nd Degree, on 8/17/22, at 1715 S Fayetteville St.

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Things to know as school year about to begin

Randolph Guide WEEKLY FORECAST SPONSORED BY CALL336-629-7588ORTEXT WEDNESDAY AUG 24 THURSDAY AUG 25 FRIDAY AUG 26 SATURDAY AUG 27 SUNDAY AUG 28 MONDAY AUG 29 TUESDAY AUG 30 HI 87 LOW 66 PRECIP 10% HI 81 LOW 66 PRECIP 15% HI 84 LOW 67 PRECIP 22% HI 85 LOW 68 PRECIP 24% HI 88 LOW 68 PRECIP 20% HI 86 LOW 67 PRECIP 22% HI 86 LOW 67 PRECIP 22% DEATH WEEKLYNOTICESCRIMELOG ♦

♦ Debra Morris Hubbard, age 70 of Star, died August 18, 2022 after a brief illness with breast cancer. Kathleen “Kay” (Reynolds) Jensma, age 85 of Asheboro, did August 15, 2022. Robert Thomas Hogan, age 70 of Salisbury, died August 14, 2022 at Salisbury VA hospital.

By Dan Gelston The Associated Press

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August 30

WEDNESDAY 8.24.22 “Join conversation”the

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ASHEBORO – The first day of classes is set for Monday at public schools around Randolph County. Here are a few things to know: Administrators in place

William James “Wheel” Phillips, age 68 of Bear Creek died August 18, 2022. Hazel Bishop Griffith, age 88 of Siler City, died August 18, 2022. Charles James Caldwell, age 78 of Siler City, died August 17, 2022 at UNC Hospital.

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2 Randolph Record for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 North State Journal (USPS 20451) (ISSN 2471-1365) Neal Robbins Publisher Matt Mercer Editor in Chief Griffin Daughtry Local News Editor Cory Lavalette Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor Published each Wednesday as part of North State Journal 1201 Edwards Mill Rd. Suite Raleigh,300NC 27607 TO SUBSCRIBE: Raleigh,Suite1201NorthSendPOSTMASTER:mailingatPeriodicalsAnnualRANDOLPHRECORD.COM336-283-6305SubscriptionPrice:$50.00PostagePaidRaleigh,N.C.andatadditionaloffices.addresschangesto:StateJournalEdwardsMillRd.300NC27607 Get in RandolphtouchRecord www randolphrecord.com

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Asheboro Summer Cruise-In Series

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♦ Linda Faye Spell Allred, age 75 of Asheboro, died August 15, 2022 at Randolph Health in Asheboro. Hinton Daniel Poole, age 89 of Asheboro, died August 14, 2022 at Woodland Hill Center in Asheboro. Charles Lee McDuffie, Jr, age 60 of Sophia, died August 20, 2022.

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Annie Frances Huneycutt Dunn, age 87 of Asheboro, died August 16, 2022 at Hospice Home at High Point in High Point. George Harrison “Butch” Lowery, age 75 of Asheboro, died August 16, 2022 at Clapp’s Convalescent Nursing Home in Asheboro.

See OBITS, page 7 WEEKLY FORECAST 2 Randolph Record for Wednesday, July 7, 2021 Stanly County Journal ISSN: 2575-2278 Publisher Neal Robbins Editor Xxx Sports Editor Cory Lavalette Senior Opinion Editor Frank Hill Design Editor Lauren PublishedRoseeach Wednesday by North State Media LLC 1550 N.C. Hwy 24/27 W, Albemarle, N.C. 28001 (704) STANLYJOURNAL.COMINFO@STANLYJOURNAL.COM269-8461 TO SUBSCRIBE: 704-269-8461 or online at nsjonline.com Annual Subscription Price: $50.00 Periodicals Postage Paid at Raleigh, N.C. and at additional mailing offices. Albemarle,1550StanlyPOSTMASTER:CountyJournalN.C.Hwy24/27W,N.C.28001. WEDNESDAY 7.7.21 “Join#1 conversation”the WEEKLY CRIME LOG ♦ Williams, Denishia Lorren (B /F/30) Arrest on chrg of 1) Pwimsd Marijuana (F), 2) Maintain Veh/dwell/place Cs (f) (F), 3) Possess X DEATH NOTICES ♦ Christopher Enos Burris, 40, of Oakboro,X See OBITS, page 7 WEEKLY FORECAST SUNDAY JULY 4 84°62° PRECIP 24% MONDAY JULY 5 HI 88° LO 65° PRECIP 17% TUESDAY PRECIPHILO WhoCoryFrankLaurenMattis “Editor?”4”Ad Randolph Record

toandberg,tionsandtheeachattract“takement,altorytheNetworksometimesbetertained,beautyed,directionsoverple North

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♦ Wilson, Joshua Daniel (M, 41), Arrested on charge of Misdemeanor Larceny, on 8/16/22, at Randolph Co Courthouse.

♦ Foxx, Emanuel Miles (M, 32), Arrested on charge of Felony Stalking, on 8/16/22, at 214 W Brower Ave. Gillen, Amanda Kathryn (F, 48), Arrested on charge of two counts Forgery of Instrument, two counts Uttering Forged Instrument, on 8/16/22, at 1108 Old State Hwy; Lot 19.

Martha Ellen Bunch Lawson, age 70 of Asheboro, died August 15, 2022 at FirstHealth Hospice and Palliative Care in West End.

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The Randolph County School System made several new ap pointments for the school year during its August board of educa tionTheymeeting.were: Judi Cagle, princi pal at Farmer Elementary; Shawn Garrett, assistant principal at Eastern Randolph high school; Jessica Green, assistant princi pal at Randleman High School; Stephanie Hatcher, assistant prin cipal at Southwestern Randolph Middle School. Food for thought Kelly Green, director of school nutrition for RCSS, said there are 30 total positions vacant within herGreendepartment.described the challeng es for workers in the district’s cafeteria.“Itwouldn’t be as hard if we were fully staffed,” Green said. RCSS upgraded pay for many positions, though other factors have prevented the positions from being“We’llfilled.continue to focus on it,” superintendent Stephen Gainey said.Also, the board of education re viewed several policies at its Au gust meeting. Considerable time was spent on topics that included cell phone use during the school day and concerns about students vaping.Gainey reviewed district poli cies in place regarding both top ics. He said principals would be reminded about those in advance of classes Gaineybeginning.saidhe’ll also discuss with principals about concerns regarding food arriving from delivery services during the school days. Still happening The construction is ongoing for the major renovation project at Asheboro High School. There will continue to be modifications to the daily routines for students andInstaff.advance of the school year, an open house for high school stu dents and parents to meet teach ers and staff is slated for 2-6 p.m. Thursday (Aug. 25) on Walker Commons. At the same time, oth er school locations within Ashe boro City Schools also will hold openAsheborohouses. City Schools also has several new administrators in Thatplace.list includes: Ryan Moody, principal at the high school; Gra ham Groseclose, principal at North Asheboro Middle School; Brittany Roberts, assistant prin cipal at the high school; Michelle Harger, assistant principal at Teachey Elementary School; Kelly Patton, assistant principal at Mc Crary Elementary School; Amber Andrews, assistant principal at Balfour Elementary School. Administrators transferring within the system include Jona than Dillon going from assistant principal at North Asheboro Mid dle School to the high school, and Keisha Dawalt going from Bal four Elementary School to North Asheboro Middle School as assis tant principal.

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“Overall, we’re still seeing a decline in enrollment comparing to previous years prior to the pandemic,” Williams said. “I don’t know if we’ll get to numbers we’ve seen in previous fall semesters. … We’re reaching out to every student we can in every way we can.”

AP

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Red Cross Blood Drive 2:30pm – 7pm The American Red Cross is currently experiencing a shortage of blood donations. Come out to the YMCA Asheboro Randolph at 343 NC Hwy 42 North to donate.

Cassie Lea Kelly McCaskill, age 98 of Candor, died August 13, 2022, at Sandy Ridge Memory Care & Assisted Living, Candor, NC. Dixie Lovell Pritchard, age 93 of Asheboro, died August 19, 2022, at Siler City Center in Siler City.

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Asheboro7pm Summer CruiseIn Series, organized by Grounded Elegance Car Club and Brightside Gallery, will host this event in the parking lot of the Randolph County Courthouse. The them of the evening will be cars, cruising, fellowship, and Vendors Row!

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Georgia Bernice Siler, 89, of Siler City, died July 15, 2021, at her home. Harold Eugene “Gene” Anderson, 82, died at his home on Monday, July 12, 2021 in a tragic house fire. Addie Mae Hunt McLeod, age 79, died July 11, 2021, at Autumn Care in Biscoe. Jonathan Edward Ferree, 50, of Black Mountain, formerly of Asheboro, died July 11, 2021. Mildred Mae Cozart Poole, age 85, of Asheboro, died July 9, 2021.

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James Floyd Haywood, age 72 of Biscoe, died August 19, 2022 at his home. Charles Watson Carter Jr., age 76, died August 18, 2022 at Woodland Hill Center in Asheboro. William “Billy” Milliken, age 46 of Biscoe, died August 16, 2022. Wilma Dolores Chrisco Letterlough, age 79 of Biscoe, died August 13th, 2022.

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August 27 Music & Market – Marsha Morgan Band

PHILADELPHIA — Triple H walked with his arms crossed like an X — his signature Degenera tion X symbol — with his 7-foot tag-team partner, Joel Embiid, to ring a ceremonial bell last month before a Philadelphia 76ers play offHisgame. theme music blared through the arena, and near ly 19,000 fans hanging from the rafters roared when the wrestler hoisted his bad-guy weapon-ofchoice sledgehammer and struck theSure,bell. the setting wasn’t Wres tleMania — though Triple H lost a match in the same building when the event was held there in 1999 — but for the superstar-turned-ex ecutive, the frenzied atmosphere State 20451) CRIME LOG Boggs, Matthew Harrison (M, 39), Arrest on charge of Misdemeanor Larceny, at 2587 Wayne White Rd, Pleasant Garden, on 07/14/2021. Bolton McKee, James Henry (M, 47), Arrest on charge of Possession of Stolen Goods, at 6469 Clyde King Rd, Seagrove, on 07/15/2021. Pugh, Robert Daniel (M, 39), Arrest on charge of Simple Assault (M), at 139 Drum St, Asheboro, on 07/14/2021. Richardson, Erwin Quint Jr (M, 31), Arrest on charges of Felony Larceny and Possession of Stolen Goods, at 5471 Needhams Trail, Seagrove, on 07/14/2021. Seibert, Sarah Elizabeth (F, 32), Arrest on charge of Resisting Public Officer, 321 Kings Ridge Rd, Randleman, on 07/14/2021. Hazelwood, Elizabeth (F, 44), Arrest on chage of Misdemeanor Larceny, at Hoover Hill Rd/Slick Rodk Mtn, on 07/14/2021. Lynch, Detrick Lamont (M, 40), Arrest on charge of Misdemeanor Possession of Schedule VI CS, Possessiong of Stolen Motor Vehicle, at I-85 Exit 111, on 07/13/2021. McQueen, James Allen Jr (M, 35), Arrest on charge of Possession of Marijuana up to 1/2 oz., Possession of drug paraphernalia, Failure to appeal on felony, failure to appear on misdemeanor, at 176 E. Salisbury St, Asheboro, on 07/13/2021.

♦ Trogdon, Aydin Divyne (M, 22), Arrested on charge of Assault on a Female, on 8/16/22, at 2842 Low Bridge Road.

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Chad Williams, vice president for student services at RCC, said a decline in high school students in dual enrollment has been the biggest reason for a dip.

♦ Millikan, Bobby Wayne (M, 33), Arrest on charge of Assault on a Female, at 8300 Curtis Power Rd, Bennett, NC, on 07/14/2021. Passmore, Casey Lynn, Arrest on charge of possession of marijuana up to 1/2 oz., at Randolph Courthouse, on 7/13/2021.

♦ Williams, Adrian Lee (M, 26), Arrested on charge of Communicating Threats, on 8/17/22, at Randolph Co Courthouse.

The Randolph Guide is a quick look at what’s going on in Randolph County.

The board of education reviewed several policies at its August meeting. Considerable time was spent on topics that included cell phone use during the school day and concerns about students vaping. PHOTO Two students are ready to head back to school in this July 2022 file photo.

A fall semester at the two-year school in Asheboro would often have 2,600 to 3,000 students enrolled. At the beginning of this week, that number stood at about 1,900 with about a month to go Williams said there’s an effort to bolster enrollment. He cited the RCC Commitment Grant, a program designed as a funding mechanism to fill the gap that’s not covered by federal or state aid to “Therestudents.has never been a better opportunity to attend RCC and not have to worry about how to pay for it,” RCC president Dr. Robert Shackleford Jr. said. “We meet students exactly where they are and help them go as far as they can possibly Beginninggo.”with the fall semester, qualifying full-time students will be eligible for up to $1,000 perThatsemester.makes attending RCC the most enticing from a financial standpoint in the 16 years Williams has been at the school, he said. He previously worked in RCC’s financial aid office. “There’s never a better time to go back to college,” he said. For the current summer session, there’s enrollment of 915. That’s off slightly from the usual number that ranges up to 1,000, WilliamsTraditionalsaid. enrollment num bers have flattened, but it’s the number of high school students in programs designed for dual en rollment that has dropped, “We’re just not seeing the level of engagement that we had seen,” Williams said. RCC held a one-week break earlier this month amid the summer semester, which began May 24 and concludes July 26. Late registration for the fall semester runs through Aug. 10, with classes beginning Aug. 16. Still dealing with adjustments made because of the coronavirus pandemic, not all 2021 fall semester classes will be in person. Some will use a hybrid model with a mixture of face-to-faces sessions and virtual sessions. Many classes provide students with options on how to attend and participate, Williams said.

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

This became clear after the announcement of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri’s death in Kabul. While his death was a major step in the fight against terrorism, the fact that he was in Afghanistan is worrisome and may indicate the country will once again be a cradle for violent extremism.Thesituation in Afghanistan is a moral and national security failure, the likes of which we haven’t seen in generations. What’s more, it could have been avoided if President Biden had listened to commanders on the ground. Instead, they prioritized speed over the safety and security of the American people, as well as the well-being of all those in Afghanistan. This is unacceptable. As Fort Bragg’s Congressman, I promise to work diligently to provide oversight of this deadly withdrawal, to get our citizens and allies out of harm’s way, and to honor the brave Americans who lost their lives serving in Afghanistan. While the scope and scale of this catastrophe stands alone, it is unfortunately not the only policy failure that has threatened our nation. In addition to their many foreign policy and national security missteps, Washington Democrats’ economic agenda continues to undermine you and your family. Last week, President Biden signed the ‘Inflation Expansion Act’ into law. This $700 billion bill will raise your taxes, make inflation worse, and enable the IRS to come after you by adding more than 87,000 new agents – more than all the troops stationed at Fort Bragg.With many students going back to school this week, it is estimated that you will pay OVER $660 on average for each of your children this year on back-to-school shopping because of inflation. The last thing families need right now is even more inflation-driving government spending and tax increases. I voted against the ‘Inflation Expansion Act’ and am working on cutting reckless spending and getting our economy back on track. Whether it be demanding accountability over Afghanistan or fighting to grow our economy, I will never stop working for you. Misguided policies from Washington have created numerous challenges for us abroad and at home. Yet I am optimistic for the future of our nation because of strong communities like ours.

More than 800 citizens and tens aboutmorecavalier,muchhasU.S.administrations,andObamanorm-observingtheareInRepublicans.CommitteeForeignbyaaccordingtodayadministrationthebehindremainpartnersofthousandsofAfghanleftbyBidentonewreportHouseAffairswhatwetoldaremoderate,Bidengovernmentbecomemorenotcareful,liberties.

We will never forget

The overbreadth of the Espionage Act makes this easy. The law’s Section 793(d) says that “a person lawfully in possession of information that the government has classified as secret” — and the government notoriously overclassifies material, including editions of The New York Times — “who turns it over to someone not lawfully entitled to possess it has committed a crime.” Espionage! A further section, 793(g), is a conspiracy count that says that anyone who conspires to help a source hand over such material has committed the same crime. In other words, a lot of journalism could be prosecuted as a felony — and so could a lot of conduct of former government officials, even presidents. This gives government prosecutors a license to target and jail political opponents, as Wilson targeted and jailed Debs. In the century after Wilson, most administrations resisted this temptation. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had served in the Wilson administration, was advised days after Pearl Harbor to prosecute the Chicago Tribune for an article implying that the U.S. had broken Japanese codes, he brushed the idea aside. The Obama administration had a different approach, however. And the Mar-a-Lago warrant suggests that the Biden administration does as well. The Obama FBI, as we now know, sent a lawyer to lie to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. Now, President Joe Biden seems to be using the ludicrously overbroad Espionage Act to suggest to the credulous Left that Trump stashed nuclear secrets in Mar-a-Lago to be turned over to his friends in Russia.Inhis account of the Espionage Act of 1917, Moynihan wrote, “Gradually, over time, the American government has become careful about liberties.” That now needs a rewrite. Suddenly, in what we are told are the moderate, norm-observing Obama and Biden administrations, the U.S. government has become much more cavalier, not more careful, about liberties. The arc of justice has bent backward toward the days when Wilson jailed Debs.

The Obama administration, wrote former New York Times reporter James Risen in December 2016, “prosecuted nine cases involving whistleblowers and leakers, compared with only three by all previous administrations combined.’”

The Espionage Act of 1917 once again rears its ugly head

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

3Randolph Record for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 OPINION Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor VISUAL COLUMNVOICES | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

IT’S BEEN ONE YEAR. But we will never forget. On August 15th, 2021, Kabul, Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban. This event marked the end of our nation’s 20-year involvement in the country. It also marked a blatant moral and national security failure that has had lasting consequences for our country, allies, and the people of Afghanistan. Kabul’s fall one year ago was tragic, it was predictable, and it could have been prevented. President Joe Biden ignored the advice of his military commanders. His rushed and disorganized effort to pull the United States out of the region cost American and Afghan lives and left thousands of Americans and our allies behind. Just before the events of August 2021, President Biden announced to the nation that our withdrawal from Afghanistan would not be another Saigon. However, that is exactly what happened. In the chaos that followed the fall, America lost 13 brave U.S. Servicemembers who were attempting to protect Americans and our allies fleeing the Taliban. These servicemembers were heroes who endured extremely dangerous circumstances in order to protect the innocent. This included U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss stationed at Fort Bragg. We continue to pray for the families and friends of all servicemembers lost that day. On top of this tragedy, billions of dollars in equipment and thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies who supported our troops were left behind. My office alone directly contacted or worked with organizations representing more than 11,700 citizens and allies who needed to flee Afghanistan. Our government made them a promise, and Joe Biden broke that promise. More than 800 citizens and tens of thousands of Afghan partners remain left behind by the Biden administration today, according to a new report by House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans. Today, Afghanistan has descended into an abysmal state and a haven for terrorists. Political and social liberties, especially for women, have been severely restricted by the Taliban, and most Afghans are facing acute starvation and poverty. It is estimated that 97% of the population could fall below the poverty line by year’s end. Beyond this humanitarian crisis, Afghanistan has also, once again, become a haven for terrorists.

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE WHEN FEDERAL AGENTS removed top-secret documents from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last week, they carried with them a search warrant citing possible violations of the Espionage Act. Ah, the Espionage Act! How that must have sounded comfortingly confirmatory to those leftists who still believe, despite the total lack of evidence, that Trump was elected and governed in collusion with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. These reports surely have some folks gleefully contemplating the prospect of the 45th president being consigned to the ten years in the slammer that is the maximum penalty for violations of the Espionage Act. But as the left-wing Substacker Matt Taibbi pointed out, “Anyone thrilled at the prospect of trying to prosecute a former president under the Espionage Act has blacked out the recent history of this law.” It’s a history of liberal Democrats invoking a notoriously overbroad statute to curb freedom of the press and penalize criticism of government policy. The Espionage Act of 1917 passed with 56 dissenting votes two months after the United States had declared war against Germany. President Woodrow Wilson and Congress were responding, as former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) explained in his 1998 book “Secrecy,” to pre-1917 sabotage. In July 1916, German agents blew up the Black Tom munitions dump in New York harbor, with an explosion loud enough to be heard in Connecticut and Maryland. The Espionage Act was passed with bipartisan support and was supplemented by a Sedition Act banning “abusive language.” This was used to prosecute and jail socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs, who had received some 900,000 votes in 1912. Thankfully, a Republican Congress allowed the Sedition Act to expire, and President Warren Harding, a Republican and a journalist, commuted Debs’ sentence and invited him to the White House. The Espionage Act was not used much in the century after Wilson because the government classified so much material, including widely disseminated newspaper articles, that just about anyone could be targeted. But recently, there have been exceptions. In 2013, the Obama Justice Department used the Espionage Act to justify wiretapping trunk lines and 30 separate Associated Press phones. It snooped on Fox News reporter James Rosen’s phones and named him as a “co-conspirator” in an Espionage Act leak case.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Kyle Larson was looking for a jolt of mo mentum. He got it for the second straight time at Watkins Glen In ternational.Thereigning NASCAR Cup champion, winless since his only victory of the season at Auto Club Speedway in February, beat Hen drick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott on a restart with five laps to go and won the weather-de layed NASCAR Cup race Sunday. Elliott was seeking his eighth career road course victory and had control of the race late, but a caution gave Larson a chance and he took advantage, moving El liott to the left coming out of the first turn, then pulling away for a weekend Xfinity-Cup sweep. It was the 11th straight road course win for Chevrolet. “I did what I felt I needed to do to get the win. I knew that was my only opportunity to get by him, I’m not proud of it,” said Larson, who won 10 races last season “The re starts kept me in it. It’s good to get another win. Hopefully, it will build some momentum.”

Kyle Larson smiles with his trophy after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen.

The Associated Press

Loyola’s Sister Jean turns 103, has train stop named for her Chicago Loyola University’s Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt got some Chicago hardware with her name on it for her 103rd birthday. School, city and state leaders celebrated Sunday with the Catholic nun who became something of a folk hero as chaplain for the Loyola men’s basketball team that reached the NCAA Final Four in 2018. A highlight was the renaming in her honor of the Chicago train station plaza at the Loyola campus, with a large sign marking it as “Home of the World Famous Sister Jean!” She called the plaza dedication “very special” and gave her secrets to longevity as “I eat well. I pray well — I hope I pray well — and I sleep well.”

SETH WENITH | AP PHOTO

Larson wins rain-delayed race at Watkins Glen Tab Ramos to coach 2nd-tier Hartford Athletic in USL

The Associated Press FORMER U.S. national team star Tab Ramos was hired Mon day as coach of the Hartford Ath letic in the second-tier United Soccer League Championship. Ramos, who played at NC State from 1984-87, agreed to a mul tiyear contract and will start work on Sept. 1. The 55-year-old coached the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer for 2020 and ‘21, led the U.S. at four consec utive Under-20 World Cups and was an assistant to Jürgen Klins mann with the full national team at the 2014 World Cup. “Coaching the Under-20 team and being an assistant to Jürgen on the senior national team, I got to coach the best of the best,” Ra mos said in a telephone inter view. “Going to MLS, you don’t necessarily coach the best of the best, you coach good players. In this level, maybe it’s a little bit different.”Hartford is 11th in the 14-team Eastern Conference with five wins, 15 losses and five draws. After the 34-game regular sea son, the top seven teams in each of two conferences advance to the“It’splayoffs.much better than me com ing in in December and starting from scratch and looking into into next year,” Ramos said. “I’ll have that process of evaluation over the next roughly a month-and-a-half.” Harry Watling had been Hart ford’s coach since the start of the 2021 season but quit on June 26. One month later, he became set-piece coach of Queens Park Rangers in England’s second-tier LeagueTechnicalChampionship.director Ray Reid will remain as interim coach for the rest of August. “The main challenge is work ing with the mental aspect that players are sort of used to being in a situation on the table and that mentality has to slowly change,” Ramos said. “You want players who will get used to winning and sometimes that’s difficult when things haven’t gone your way for a while.”Hired by Houston in Octo ber 2019, Ramos led the Dynamo to four wins, 10 losses and nine draws in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The Dynamo fin ished last in the Western Confer ence with six wins, 16 losses and 12 draws, and he was replaced by Paulo“HavingNagamura.alittle break was nice, but after three or four months, I started to get antsy,” Ramos said. “I feel like getting back on the field.”Ramos, a New Jersey native, had eight goals in 81 international appearances and was a midfield er for the U.S. at the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups, the 1995 Copa America and the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He was inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005. He coached the U.S. to the Un der-20 World Cup quarterfinals in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

Former NC State soccer star Tab Ramos was hired Monday as coach of the Hartford Athletic in the second tier United Soccer League Championship.

AJ Allmendinger was second for the second straight day to Larson, Joey Logano third, Elliott fourth and Daniel Suárez fifth. Elliott declined to criticize his teammate when interviewed postrace, but the disappointment was“Justpalpable.ahuge congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the 5 team. He did a great job,” said El liott, who wrapped up the regu lar season title. “Seriously, they deserve it.” The race began on rain tires with a single-file start, the only one of the day, and pole-sitter Elliott was passed early by Michael McDow ell, who started third. But strategy played out as the race wore on with Elliott, Larson and McDowell, all on a two-stop strategy around the 2.45-mile natural terrain layout, holding the upper hand. Elliott regained the lead with 18 laps to go in the 90-lap race, and when the final pit stops were com plete he was just over 2 seconds ahead of his teammate. McDow ell was more than 10 seconds be hind, but a spin by Joey Hand in the first turn brought out a caution and bunched up the field for a re start with eight laps to go. Elliott picked the outside lane for the restart and held off Larson when the green flag waved, quick ly building a half-second lead. But a spin by Loris Hezemans brought out the caution that changed the outcome.Larson also held off All mendinger to win the Xfinity race on Saturday at The Glen, taking advantage when teammate Wil liam Byron and Ty Gibbs spun out vying for the lead with under five laps to go. “It’s almost like we were in the same situation as yesterday,” All mendinger said. “He (Larson) doesn’t really make any mistakes.” Early in the second stage, Lo gano passed Todd Gilliland for the lead and Kyle Busch moved in behind him, but as the laps in the stage began to dwindle Elliott was lurking in fourth, backing off near the end of the segment to save fuel. Logano held off Busch for his fourth stage win of the season. Fifteen drivers are locked into 16-driver field for the playoffs, with Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. still battling for points. They entered the race separated by 26 and started side-by-side on Row 13. Truex picked up only one point — finishing one spot ahead of his Therival.Cup regular season con cludes Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

BASKETBALLCOLLEGE

The Cup Series has one more race before the start of the playoffs

“You want players who will get used to winning and sometimes that’s difficult when things haven’t gone your way for a while.”

FORMULA ONE Ex-Formula One boss Ecclestone denies fraud charge London Former Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has denied a fraud charge over his alleged failure to declare millions of pounds in overseas assets. Ecclestone, 91, entered a not guilty plea as he appeared at a hearing Monday in London. Prosecutors issued a charge of fraud by false representation between July 2013 and October 2016. The prosecutor told the court that Ecclestone did not declare a trust in Singapore with a bank account containing about $650 million. The business magnate was granted unconditional bail. Ecclestone headed Formula One racing and controlled the sport for for four decades from the 1970s to 2017.

Tab Ramos “It’s good to get another win. Hopefully, it will build some momentum.”

Kyle Larson

SIDELINEREPORT MLB Mets’ debutpitcherbanker-turned-cutdayafter New York Banker-turned-reliever Nate Fisher found out the hard way that baseball really is a numbers game. A day after a sparkling major league debut, Fisher was cut by the New York Mets on Monday. Now completely off the 40man roster, Fisher could be traded or placed on waivers during a seven-day period. If unclaimed, he could be assigned outright back to the minors with the Mets. On Sunday, the 26-year-old lefty who was working at a Nebraska bank last summer threw three scoreless innings of one-hit relief as the Mets beat Philadelphia.

The former NC State player coached Houston Dynamo of MLS from 2020 to 2021.

MICHAEL WYKE | AP PHOTO

4 Randolph Record for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 SPORTS

GYMNASTICS McClain rallies to claim U.S. gymnastics national title Tampa, Fla. Konnor McClain rallied past Shilese Jones to win her first U.S. gymnastics national title. The 17-year-old McClain posted a two-day total of 112.750, just ahead of Jones at 111.900. Jordan Chiles, part of the U.S. team that won silver at the 2020 Olympics last summer, finished third. McClain began Sunday just less than a point behind Jones but took the lead in the first rotation when she drilled her double-twisting Yurchenko vault while Jones hopped off the balance beam. McClain never gave the lead back, though there were some nail-biting moments late.

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

Asheboro, boys’ soccer Asheboro began the season with going 3-0 during the first week, boosted by Cruz’s production. The senior striker and midfielder had a total of three goals and four assists in those games. It was a strong opening stretch for the Blue Comets, who outscored their first three opponents by a combined score of 16-2.

5Randolph Record for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Asheboro has a steady diet of nonconference games before beginning MidPiedmont Athletic Association play with a Sept. 26 home game against Oak Grove.

“We’re climbing and slowly getting better players. My goal is to make it free for players. … You’re always trying to be better and get the league to new heights.” Alec Allred In some cases, the 2023 college players or high school seniors might opt for other summer destinations rather than American Legion baseball.

ASHEBORO — When the sea son ended for Randolph County Post 45 earlier this month, it was a downer.Theteam lost back-to-back games to be eliminated from the Southeast Regional in American Legion baseball in its home ball park.Yet there might have been a ray of hope regarding the future that day at McCrary Park. “Only three of our 17 players are gone,” Randolph County man ager Ronnie Pugh said. “We could have a lot of these guys back.” Post 45 ended up with a 31-13 re cord this year. It was an automat ic regional entrant based on its role as the host team. Given the experience on Ran dolph County’s team, it might have seemed strange that only three of the players will age out. Pugh said that trio is right field er Blake Marsh, second baseman Tatum Marsh and catcher/utility player Trey Way. All three of them were pitchers as well. Granted, those are significant losses because all three usually occupied spots within the top five pegs in the batting order.

Rosters generally hold about 30someMostplayers.ofthe ONSL players come from Division II, Division III, or junior colleges – or are about to join teams on those levels. Allred said he has embraced an underdog mentality.“Idoget a little partial to the smaller-school guys,” he said. Largely, players compete for teams that are local to where they live. About 25 percent of players come from out of the area, Allred said.The Sandhills Bogeys, who are based in Pinehurst, won the 2022 championship, beating the Hender sonville Honeycrisps in the final.

core

COURTESY

Asheboro’s Cristian Cruz, right, battles for position against Southwestern Randolph’s Michael Jaimes during last week’s non-conference game.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL Randolph County Post 45 coaches Ryan Hill, left, Ronnie Pugh and Andrew Conner view the action during the state tournament last month in Buies Creek.

Former Ramseur man baseballoperatesleaguePost45couldhave of roster back next year Randolph Record SOPHIA — Bob Labon te will be inducted into Cara way Speedway’s Wall of Fame on Saturday during the speed way’s 57th anniversary night. He’ll join Wayne “Speedy” Thomas, Ronald Fox, Banner Shelton, and Archie Adams, Sr., in the Wall of Fame’s Class of Bob2022.Labonte is the father of NASCAR Cup champions Ter ry Labonte and Bobby Labon te and the grandfather of Jus tinBobLabonte.Labonte was born in 1933 in Rumford, Maine, and turned 89 this year. He became interested in racing when he was 16 or 17 years old when he began racing in Oxford, Maine. He raced for a bit, then began working on other people’s cars. When he turned 18, he joined the Navy and was stationed at Corpus Christi, Texas, as a he licopter mechanic. Bob Labonte moved the fam ily to North Carolina in 1979 and went to work for Billy Ha gen. He played an integral part in shaping the careers of both his sons and his grandson. Bobby Labonte followed in Terry Labonte’s footsteps grad uating to go-karts and then Late Models, winning the Car away Speedway championship in 1987 while working for Jay Hedgecock Racing before mov ing on to the Busch Grand Na tional series and then on to the NASCAR Cup series. Bob Labonte still tinkers on his great grandson’s quarter midget and attended a SMART Modified event this spring at Caraway to watch Bobby La bonte compete in the Cook Out Modified.TheWall of Fame ceremony is set for 7 p.m., with racing be ginning at 8 Saturday’sp.m.on-track sched ule includes double points in the feature races. There will be a 57-lap Late Models race, 57-lap 602 Modifieds race, 35lap Challenger feature, 20-lap Mini Stocks race, and 15-lap UCARs.Inlast Saturday’s results on an abbreviated card of points divisions, the winners were Rudy Hartley (Mini Stocks), Brian Rose (Challengers with four entrants), and Daniel HughesHughes(UCARs)isthe points lead er in UCARS. Among the oth er points contenders in the di vision, two of the drivers – Josh Phillips and Stephen Trotter — were disqualified in the race.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNA

BEST OVERALL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Blake Marsh (Catawba) and Tatum Marsh (Brunswick Com munity College) spent the 202122 school year at post-second ary school stops, while Way was a 2022 senior on Randleman’s sec ond consecutive Class 2-A state championship team. Way is be ginning his freshman year at Vir giniaSeveralTech. other Post 45 play ers will be heading to posthigh school programs during the school year that’s just start ing. That includes center fielder Braylen Hayes at UNC Greens boro, catcher Alex Martinez at Brunswick Community College, and pitcher Robert Garner at WakeOtherTech.Post 45 starters are ris ing high school seniors. That list includes left fielder Adam Cole (Southwestern Randolph), third baseman Tyler Parks (Southwest ern Randolph), shortstop Tan ner Marsh (Asheboro), and first baseman Josh Meadows (Ashe boro). Several other players still in high school – such as Grant Little (Uwharrie Charter Acad emy), Drew Harmon (Montgom ery Central), and Connor Adams -- were part of this year’s postsea sonIncontributors.somecases, the 2023 col lege players or high school seniors might opt for other summer desti nations rather than American Le gionAfterbaseball.losing the Area 3 title game to Rowan County, Post 45 went 2-2 in both the state tourna ment and the Southeast Regional. “We’ll get back out there and start recruiting,” Pugh said of en couraging eligible players to par ticipate in American Legion base ball.So there would be a strong quest for Post 45 to contend for a spot in the 2023 American Le gion World Series in Shelby. Earlier this month in Shelby, Troy Post 70 became the first Al abama entry two win the Amer ican Legion World Series since 1967 by defeating two-time de fending champion Idaho Falls (Idaho) Post 56 in the champion shipCamdengame. (S.C.) Post 17, which won the Southeast Regional in Asheboro, went 1-2 in World Se ries bracket play and failed to advance to the semifinal round. Camden’s lone victory came against eventual champion Troy.

Faith Christian alum oversees summergrowing circuit

By Bob Sutton Randolph Record RAMSEUR — Alec Allred is making a career out of baseball, and it’s not on the field. He’s the president of the Old North State League, a summer col lege circuit that wrapped up what he called a successful season earlier this“Thissummer.ismy full-time job now, trying to coordinate everything,” Allred said. “It’s a lot that goes into it, but it’s a ton of fun.” Allred, 27, is from Ramseur and a 2014 graduate of Faith Christian. His family has largely overseen Eastern Randolph Post 81’s pro gram on the American Legion lev el in recent years. So finding a role in baseball seemed like a natural pursuit, Allred said. After high school, he had a redshirt year at North Car olina A&T followed by a season at Rockingham Community College and then a couple of seasons with Division III Peace college. Then came time in some independent leagues.“I’mdone playing,” he said. “I held on as long as I could.” He saw other opportunities, par ticularly when it came to filling a niche for college-aged players in a wooden bat league. The ONSL be gan with eight teams and 125 play ers in 2019, using two fields. One of those was Craven Stadium in Ramseur.Thenduring the 2020 pandem ic-ravaged season, the ONSL fielded eight teams with bigger rosters and spread“Thoseout.other leagues shut down, and we were getting guys who had a higher caliber (of experience),” Allred said. The Ramseur site is no longer used in the ONSL, but the 2022 ver sion of the league had 13 teams with about 400 players. On Monday, an other team was added with a club in Clayton.Allred, who now lives in Whis pering Pines and conducts base ball lessons in the offseason, said he could envision the league growing to 18 teams. It takes about $40,000 annual ly to run each team. Players are re quired to pay to play, but that might tend to create a commitment to stick without throughout the twomonth season. Host families help with out-of-area players. “We’re climbing and slowly get ting better players,” Allred said. “My goal is to make it free for players. … You’re always trying to be better and get the league to new heights.” The venues used by the league are vastly different from city to city. The High Point Hushpuppies play at Truist Point, which is the perma nent home of the Atlantic League’s High Point Rockers. High school fields are used in Sanford and Shal lotte, while facilities are well past their primes in places such as Re idsville and Swepsonville. “There’s definitely a big variety of stadiums,” Allred said. “You have some old mill-league fields.”

Cristian Cruz

COURTESY PHOTO Alec Allred

Bob Labonte, rear, poses with his sons Bobby Labonte, left, and Terry Labonte, right.

Elder Labonte set for honor at Caraway Speedway PHOTO

Randolph Record HERE’S HOW SOME area teams fared at the beginning of the new school year: Volleyball Reigning Class 2-A state cham pion Southwestern Randolph be gan the season with a sweep of host Asheboro in a non-conference match last Wednesday. The Cou gars won 25-14, 25-15, 25-8. Southwestern Randolph re ceived 14 kills from Madelyn Smith, while Gracie Hodgin added nine kills and six aces. Raegan LeRoy provided 21 assists and four digs. The Cougars capped the week by playing in a two-day tournament at East Chapel SouthwesternHill. Randolph began with a five-set victory against West ern Guilford. The Cougars followed that by losing to Carrboro in four sets and then churning out four-set victories against East Chapel Hill and Southern Alamance. Boys’ soccer Southwestern Randolph won in its opener under coach Jimmy Walker, who returned to that role after a hiatus of several seasons. The start of the season for the Cougars was delayed one day be cause of a postponement before they defeated host Central David sonAsheboro3-2. turned in a 3-0 week by winning games on three consec utive nights. The Blue Comets de feated Trinity 6-0, Southwestern Randolph 8-1, and Jordan-Mat thews 2-1. In those games, Cristian Cruz recorded three goals and four as sists, while Cristian Ortiz racked up four goals and one assist. Diego Bustamonte had two goals in the opener and an assist in the third game. Daniel Gutierrez notched twoThisgoals.week began well for Ashe boro. On Monday night at home, the Blue Comets blanked 2021 Class 3-A state champion Western Alamance 4-0 behind Ortiz’s hat trick and Edwin Perez’s goal. Girls’ golf Asheboro had a couple of nota ble events, including an under-par score for one of its golfers in the sea sonSalemopener.Lee posted a 1-under-par 35 in a match against Union Pines and Oak Grove at Country Club of Whispering Pines’ River Course. On the next day, the Blue Com ets were the host team for a sev en-team invitational at Pinewood Country Club. This 18-hole com petition was dubbed by Asheboro coach Heather Norris as one of the top girls’ golf events in the state based on the field. Lee shot 4-over 76 to finish in eighth place. Asheboro placed sixth in the team competition.

WARD-BROWN |

ROUNDUP Cougars

For Randleman, Thurston gained 50 yards on 12 carries, Mo ton had 49 yards on ten attempts, and Long added 42 yards on nine rushes. Tyshaun Goldston, a trans fer from Asheboro, racked up a game-high 55 receiving yards on four catches. Providence Grove 31, East Davidson 14: At Climax, Chase Whitaker scored two touchdowns, while An drew Cantor threw two scoring passes and the host Patriots rolled. Zane Cheek scored on a run, Zander Cheek scored on a short pass play from Cantor, Whitaker reached the end zone on a 2-yard quarterback keeper, and Tucker Batten booted a 31-yard field goal in the first half as Providence Grove built a 24-7 lead. Zander Cheek, who gained 62 rushing yards, picked up 100 yards on four receptions. Zane Cheek gained 63 yards on the ground.

Southwestern Randolph 62, Jordan-Matthews 6: At Asheboro, Easton Clapp ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more, and Adam Cole scored three touchdowns as the host Cou gars set a single-game school record forColepoints.scored on two rushing plays and on a reception. He had 116 rushing yards in the first half. Eli Gravely also caught a touch down pass. Colton Law and Asher Perkins scored on runs, and Carson Norris returned a fumble 40 yards for a touchdown. Eastern Alamance 42, Eastern Randolph 28: At Mebane, the host Eagles raced to an early lead and held on, handing the Wildcats their first regular-season loss since the 2021 springEasternseason.Randolph quarterback Stratton Barwick threw for two touchdown passes to Nicah Taylor and was intercepted twice. Taylor collected 136 receiving yards on six catches.

6 Randolph Record for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 Randolph Record ASHEBORO — Randleman clicked better in the second half of a 24-0 season-opening victory Fri day night at Asheboro. The Blue Comets never got into a groove.Those factors allowed the Tigers to avenge last year’s season-open ing“Theyloss. had to live with last year’s score all year,” Randleman coach Shane Timmons said of his players. Even as they wasted a few chanc es until late in the first half, there were reasons for the Tigers to be pleased.“They kind of got the butterflies out of their system,” Timmons said. “Anytime you get a Game 1 win, you feel good about yourself.” Quarterback Christian Long scored on a 1-yard run in the sec ond quarter to build a 10-0 lead af ter teammate Christian McCloud opened the scoring with a 25-yard field goal. Amarion Moton and Mi cah Thurston added 2-yard touch down runs in the third quarter. After a combined seven shutouts in 2019 and the 2021 spring season, Randleman was without a blank ing last fall. The Tigers will like the feel of this result. “Really proud of their effort, and I hope they enjoy it for sure,” Tim monsAsheborosaid. missed scoring chanc es, particularly by fumbling on a second-and-goal play from the 5-yard“Couldn’tline. get out of our own way,” Asheboro coach Blake Brewer said. “I thought our guys hustled. We just didn’t play well enough to win.” Asheboro was limited to 114 yards of total offense. Valentino Mark was charted for 43 rushing yards.“We didn’t put ourselves in good positions,” Brewer said. “We put our defense in bad spots. They contin ued to fight.”

Ellen Long of Asheboro spikes the ball against Trinity’s Karrington Batten during last week’s season-opening match won by Asheboro at North Asheboro Middle School.

Tigers blank Asheboro; Trinity, post big scores

Cross country At Thomasville, Wheatmore’s boys finished last among five teams in East Davidson’s Bobby Schilly Invitational despite a strong per formance from junior Zach Hazel wood.Hazelwood posted a person al-best time of 17 minutes, 33 sec onds across the 3.1-mile course to place third. The winner was Ethan Byerly of South Davidson in 17:31. On the girls’ side, Wheat more was last among four scor ing teams. Olivia Hildreth placed 14th in 24:20. Asheboro Hybrid Academy entrants McKenna Von cannon (23:08, 7th) and Arabella Shortridge (24:03, 12th) were in the top 12.

Trinity Chatham52,Central 0: At Bear Creek, Dominic Payne threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as the visiting Bull dogs rolled up their most points since 2018 to win their opener for the season in a row. Payne racked up 115 passing yards and 91 rushing yards. Bo Gib son, who gained 82 yards on the ground, and Dylan Hodges, who picked up 69 rushing yards, both scored touchdowns. West Davidson 27, Wheatmore 21: At Trinity, the Warriors were in volved in just their second game since 2019 with a final margin in single digits, and they came up short in the home game.

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL Randleman’s Anthony Santos tries to pull away from Asheboro’s Julian Faz.

week’sduringHernandezFernandoRandolph’sSouthwesternstopmakesAgudeloDavidgoalkeeperAsheboroaagainstlastgame.

RANDLEMAN — Randle man junior Thomas Dobias, considered one of the top foot ball players in Randolph Coun ty, underwent arthroscopic sur gery to repair a torn meniscus Thursday.He’sexpected to play this sea son for the Tigers after missing four to six weeks. “I should be back for the start of conference play,” said Dobias, who plays linebacker and run ningRandleman,back. which opened the season with Friday night’s 24-0 victory at Asheboro, is scheduled for five non-confer ence games before a week off. The Tigers’ Piedmont Athletic Conference opener comes Sept. 30 vs. visiting Wheatmore. The surgery took place at the Surgical Center of Greensboro. That’s where he underwent sur gery last September for a broken arm.The injury to his right knee occurred in practice earlier this month.“First day of full contact, I just came down on it wrong,” he said, hoping it was just a twist. As a result, Dobias missed scrimmages, when the Ti gers generally performed well against outside competition. Coach Shane Timmons said he was encouraged by how Randle man handled those situations against multiple opponents. Dobias, 16, said his knee was feeling better daily, but further testing detected the tear. Dobias received various all-county recognitions for his play as a linebacker in each of his first two seasons in high school.He made 13.3 tackles per game last season before a bro ken arm suffered in a victory against Wheatmore cut short his sophomore season, and he had subsequent surgery. Also, last year, he was second on the team with 210 rushing yards and three touchdowns. “We couldn’t afford anyone to get hurt, not to mention our best player,” Timmons said, referring to the 2021 season. The Tigers went 1-4 in games following Dobias’ injury last year.His absence could have the biggest impact on defense at the beginning of this season. “We’ve got a lot of depth at running back,” Dobias said. Either way, he became a key player right away for the Tigers as a freshman on a team that was undefeated in the regular season. His influence has grown since“Thomasthen. is a big leader for our team,” senior quarterback Christian Long said.

BOB SUTTON | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

SWR

beRandleman’sThomasDobiaswon’tonthefieldrightawayafterkneesurgery.

Jon Kelly scored two touch downs and rushed for 135 yards for Wheatmore. Riley Strickland threw for a touchdown and three interceptions.

PREP begin strong in volleyball

Friday’s games Asheboro at Eastern Randolph Southern Guilford at Providence Grove Randleman at Central Davidson Southwestern Randolph at South ForbushStanly at WheatmoreTrinityatEast Davidson

Randleman starts season standoutminusDobias

FOOTBALL WEEK 2

Surgery means Tigers linebacker / running back will miss at least a month By Bob Sutton Randolph Record

PJ WARD-BROWN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

PJ NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Harold "Dean" Lewis October 19, 1959 — August 18, 2022

May 11, 1942 — August 15, 2022 Linda Kennedy Beane, 80, passed away on August 15, 2022. Linda was born on May 11, 1942 to William Sr., and Margaret Maness KenLindanedy. was preceded in death by her husband Allen Holland Beane, her parents, sister Dorothy Mae Graves, brothers, Ernestine Presnell, William Kennedy Jr., and Jonie Kennedy. She is survived by her daughters Kelly Pugh (Brian), and Deborah Kennett Kennedy, grandchildren Michelle Turner, Zoey Pugh, and Levi Kennedy, great grandchildren, Kaydance Turner, Brian Brower,

ShirleyMcAnultyDavis

November 3, 1952 — August 16, 2022

Joseph "Joe"RichFranklin

February 12, 1933 — August 19, 2022

7Randolph Record for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

obituaries

Ida Lee Brown

Harold "Dean" Lewis, age 62, of Troy, passed on August 18, 2022 at hisDeanhome.was born in El Paso, Texas on October 19, 1959 to Roy and Hildegard Geier Lewis. Dean was a long time resident of Montgomery County. He attended West Montgomery High School and was a US Army Veteran. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, son, brother and friend. He is survived by his wife, Tracie Lewis of the home; sons Brian Lewis of Murrells Inlet; Daniel Phillips of Asheboro; Dillon Phillips of Mt. Gilead; Travis Phillips of Concord; daughter Brandy Rollins of Concord; mother Hildegard Lewis of Troy; sister Sylvia Lewis of Charlotte and Mary Ann Sweitzer of Candor. Grandchildren Sophia Lewis, Brennen Lewis, Chloe Rollins, Layla Rollins, Rain Phillips, Reed Phillips, River Phillips, Kassaundra Phillips, and Travis Phillips Jr.

DorothyWilkinsEdwards

July 3, 1947 — August 18, 2022

Joseph “Joe” Franklin Rich, age 69 of Asheboro, passed away peacefully at his home with his loving sister Carolyn by his side, on Tuesday, August 16, 2022. Joe was born in Randolph County on November 3, 1952 to Thomas and Ruth Hinshaw Rich. Joe worked and retired as a machine operator at Eveready. He enjoyed working on and repairing lawn mowers in his spare time. Joe loved going to yard sales, swapping and trading. He also loved making rat rods out of vehicles and drinking coffee with his friends at Hardee’s in Asheboro. Joe is preceded in death by his parents. Joe is survived by his sons, Stephen (Sue Wildin) Rich, Mike (Katie) Rich; grandchildren, Austin, Jace, and Grace Rich; and his sister, Carolyn Luther.

Russell Walker

LindaBeaneKennedy

Henry Russell Walker II, age 69, of Carolina Shores, NC passed away on August 15, 2022 at McLeod Seacoast Hospital in Little River, SC. Russell was born in Mecklenburg County on June 7, 1953 to the late Henry Jack Walker and Kathleen Stuart Walker. Russell was a veteran of the U.S. Army serving in the 82nd Airborne and later as a Chaplain. He then became a Pilot for CC Air and later an Aviation Instructor. Russell also worked as a school teacher in the Montgomery County School system, teaching at Mt. Gilead Elementary and East Middle School. He was a Pastor in McCadenville, NC and in Tar Heel, NC and received his Masters of Divinity from Southwestern Theological Seminary. Most of all, he was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and brother who adored his children and grandchildren that lit up his world. Russell is survived by his wife of 49 years, Cathee Brown Walker; daughter: Nicole Walker Mathews (Mason) of Oak Island, NC; son: Scott Russell Walker of Carolina Shores, NC; grandchildren: Madison Alexandra Mathews and Jack Mathews; brother: Richard Walker of Albemarle, NC; sisters: Renee Walker Keith (Wayne) of Charlotte, NC and Rhonda Walker Anderson of Belmont, NC.

June 8, 1936 — August 19, 2022 Shirley Davis McAnulty, 86, of Asheboro, passed away peacefully on August 19, 2022. Shirley was born on June 8, 1936, to Dalton and Sallie Cockman Davis in Robbins. She married John William (Bill) McAnulty on April 4, 1954, and went on to have three children, Suzanne, Maia, and Wally. Shirley was driven, bright, and larger than life. She worked hard, was stubborn, was deeply involved in the community, and loved to play golf, travel (especially to Ireland), and spend summers gardening and canning in Celo, North Carolina. Of all of her titles and accomplishments – and there were many – her proudest was being “Nana” to her grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.Shirleywaspredeceased by her parents and parents-in-law; her brothers-in-law, Bill McDuffie and Frank Lane; and her daughterin-law, Connie McAnulty. She is survived by her sister, Sue Davis McDuffie, and brother, Dalton Davis, Jr. (Linda); siblings-in-law, Jerry (Shel) McAnulty and Sarah McAnulty Lane; her children, Suzanne (Randy) Clendenin, Maia (Britt) Setzer, and Wally (Prissy) McAnulty; her grandchildren, Lauren (Randy) Thomas, Andrew (Cyndy) Clendenin, Lydia Clendenin, Susanna (Ryan) Binkley, Caitlin Clendenin, Lindsey (Lucas Bayless) McAnulty, Joseph Setzer, Benjamin (Katherine) Setzer, Meghan McAnulty, and Kelsey McAnulty; her step-grandchildren, McKnight Pope and Porter Pope; her twelve great-grandchildren; her nephews and nieces; and the staff of Hospice of Randolph and her in-home caregivers.

Daisey Jaimes

March 29, 1938 — August 18, 2022

June 7, 1953 — August 15, 2022

Robert James Ward of Randleman passed away Thursday August 18, 2022 unexpectedly at Moses Cones Hospital . Robert was born July 3 1947 in Asheboro, North Carolina to the late Richard Jessie Ward and Fatema Joy Routh Ward. He graduated from Randleman High School in Randleman North Carolina in 1965. After graduation, he served 2 years active duty in Vietnam. Robert was a loving husband who had been married for 56 years to Mattie Ward and a devoted father to Lorie Lamb. He loved fishing, woodwork and gardening. He worked 20+ years for ETI in Asheboro, North Carolina in their Research and Development Department.Heissurvived by his wife Mattie Skeen Ward of the home, daughter Lorie Lamb (Corey), grandchildren Braeden and Keirstan, sisters Shirley Day (Bob), Fay Campbell, and brother Douglas Ward (Ella).

May 26, 1989 — August 16, 2022 Daisey Jaimes, age 33, devoted mother of three, loving daughter, and kind sister, passed away on the evening of the sixteenth of August 2022. Daisey was born on May 26, 1989 in Anaheim, California and grew up around her large family in Asheboro, North Carolina. Daisy was a very loving person, she lived to help others and was always willing to give. Daisey always put her family first, making sure they knew how much she loved and cared for them. Daisey especially enjoyed spending time with her 3 beautiful children. Daisey is survived by her daughter Juliza Janette Bowden, son Jayden Joseph Jaimes & daughter Jazira Naveen McCrae, as well as FatherJuan Jaimes Rebollar, Mother - Olga Aviles Jaimes, Sister Janet Jaimes and her many uncles, aunts and cousins.

FrancesFieldsCarolyn March 27, 1935 — August 18, 2022 Frances Carolyn Fields, 87 of Randleman died Thursday August 18th at the Wesley Long Hospital. She was the daughter of the late John Claude and Addie Kittrell Nance, formerly of Liberty. She was preceded in death by her sisters, Edna Shepherd, Margaret Beasley and Lucy McPherson, brother MiltonCarolynNance.grew up in Liberty and attended high school in Liberty where she played on the school's basketball team. Her head was turned by a handsome young man before she finished school. They met on a blind date set up by her sister. This young man, Ray Harrison Fields, Jr. wooed her to marriage. They were married on August 4th , 1951 at the home of her aunt on Spring Garden Street in Greensboro. Soon after they were married Ray Jr. was drafted in the Army. After basic training he was stationed in Anchorage, Alaska. Carolyn joined him where they lived until they returned home in 1955. She began to study the Bible and was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. She was very active in her faith aiding many to come to an accurate knowledge of the Bible and was a faithful member of the Randleman Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses until her death. Surviving are her husband, Ray Jr. of the home, daughters Lisa Auman (Darrell) and Melinda Cagle (Bryan) both of Randleman. Grandchildren Chatel Aikens (Dominic), Kevin Auman, Jennifer Gilmore (Patrick), Nathan Auman (Julie), Jessica Fox (Jason). Seleta Auman and Marisa Kelly (JD). Great grandchildren Justin Davis, Savannah Prater (Donald), Madison Brooks, Reanna, Audie and Daylin Auman, Emery, Ainsley, Jack Gilmore, Thomas Auman, Kashton Fox, Ireland and Noland Wheeler, and Grace Kelly. Great-Great grandchildren, Zander Davis, Kaden and BentleyPrater.

Mrs. Ida Lee Lineberry Brown, 89 of Randleman gained her Angel wings at Randolph Hospice House on Friday, August 19, 2022. Mrs. Brown was the daughter of Benjamin H. and Eula Routh Lineberry. On June 13, 1953, she married the love of her life, Charles R. Brown of Randleman, who preceded her in death. She was also preceded in death by brothers, Stuart and Harold Lineberry, and sisters, Joyce Smith, and Eloise Shives. Ida was a kind, loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend.Left to cherish her memories are her son, Greg Brown (Genevieve) of Randleman; daughter Lisa Brown Wright (Barry) of Asheboro; grandchildren, Nichole Smith (Walker) and Morgan Brown of Asheboro; Erica Wright Husek (Adam) of Swansboro; Derek Joyce (Christina) of Salisbury; greatgrandchildren, Charlotte Smith, Jackson, and Kylie Joyce; brothers James Lineberry of Asheboro; Donald Lineberry of Climax; and Gary Lineberry (Kay) of Climax.

Dorothy Ann Edwards Wilkins, 84, of Asheboro, passed away on August 18, She2022.was born on March 29, 1938 in Sampson County to Joseph Edwards and Ruby Edwards Lyons. Mrs. Wilkins was a former member of Cross Roads Baptist Church and was retired from Bost Neckwear. In addition to her parents, Mrs. Wilkins was preceded in death by her husband, William Corbett Wilkins and brother, Joe Edwards, Jr. Mrs. Wilkins is survived by her daughter, Tammy Robert James Ward

the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Aug. 4, 2022. AP PHOTO

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at

speaks to the media during a visit to the Iowa State Fair, Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, in Des Moines, Iowa.

The

Former Vice President Mike Pence

8 Randolph Record for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 STATE & NATION

By Josh Boak Associated Press

“The ‘national economy’ is this nebulous thing that none of us ac tually experiences,” Reeves said. “It’s an abstract concept. We may be more willing to let our partisan ship shade how we see what is go ing on nationally. Joe Biden is well into his term, so the honeymoon is over and he owns this economy — whether his policies are directly re sponsible for it or not.”

Trump’s long shadow keeps 2024 hopefuls from Iowa State Fair

Republican governors such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Geor gia’s Brian Kemp are largely un scathed on inflation, even though consumer prices are significantly above the national average in both of those states. Inflation is 10.6% in the Miami area, 11.2% in Tam pa and 11.5% in Atlanta. What many voters in Repub lican states are hearing is an eco nomic argument similar to what Biden has attempted on a nation al scale — that job growth and government finances are strong enough to insulate people from a downturn.DeSantis dismissed Biden’s claims that the U.S. economy re mains healthy, calling that “Orwel lian doublespeak.” The governor said at Florida’s Airports Council conference on Aug. 1 that his state’s budget surplus could insulate it from a “We’redownturn.notimmune to the infla tion, we’re not immune to the ener gy prices,” DeSantis said. “Because Florida has been open, because Florida has excelled economical ly, we’re in the position where we’re going to be able to meet those needs of the state regardless of what Un cle Joe throws at us from Washing ton,JobD.C.”growth has been broad across the country. Data released Friday by the Bureau of Statistic s found that employment increased in 43 states and was essentially un changed in seven states over the past 12 months. But the bipartisan research group EIG analyzed job growth in the three major Republican states (Texas, Arizona and Florida) and the three major Democratic ones (California, Illinois and New York). It found that the GOP areas have fully recovered and exceeded their pandemic job totals, while the re covery has been slower in Demo craticWhatstates.seems to be the much more overarching priority among voters is not jobs but inflation, said John Lettieri, EIG’s president and CEO. At a time of political polar ization, it’s striking to him how fears about prices are crossing gen erational, class, regional and parti san“Therelines. is strong unanimity that the economy is an issue, inflation is the No. 1 problem and Biden is to blame,” Lettieri said. “This cuts across all the divides. All those dif ferent ways we slice up the elector ate, they’re all responding to this to one degree or another in strong ways.”Inflation appears to be an in escapable challenge for Biden, even as other issues such as abor tion rights appear to be rallying some Democratic voters. Repub licans are able promote job gains to say why they would be better at leading the economy, without hav ing to list, as Biden has stressed in speeches, their own policies for re ducing consumer prices. Gabriel Lenz, a political science professor at the University of Cal ifornia Los Angeles, said the “best measure of what voters are per sonally experiencing” is a metric known as real disposable person al income. That figure looks at how much money people have after ad justing for taxes and inflation. Its changes over the past two years mirror those of Democratic politi calWhenfortunes.Biden signed pandem ic relief into law in March 2021, people’s real disposable income climbed 28.7% from a year ago. The aid helped the economy recov er while some notable economists warned it could also be inflation ary. As prices rose over the past year and much of the aid expired, real disposable income has tum bled 3.5% over the past 12 months as a Basedresult.on that number, Lenz concluded: “It’s no surprise that people are gloomy.”

The Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz raised the roasted turkey leg like a sword in his Iowa State Fair debut in 2014, the upand-coming conservative joining a half-dozen other Republican pres idential prospects in strolling the GrandFourConcourse.yearslater, almost as many Democrats made the pilgrim age to the fair, including former U.S. Housing and Urban Develop ment Secretary Julian Castro, who snaked his way past tables under the Iowa Pork Producer’s tent at the annual Midwestern tribute to over indulgence.Butasthe 2022 fair entered its final weekend, the 2024 traffic was noticeably light. It speaks to the careful dance that potential presidential candi dates are attempting as Democrats remain uncertain about President Joe Biden’s political future and many Republicans avoid taking on former President Donald Trump. Several would-be GOP candidates have quietly made political inroads in the first-in-the-nation nomi nating state, but they’ve done so by campaigning with Iowa candi dates, not by being so obvious as to stand on straw bales at a perenni al stop for White House hopefuls. “There’s a bit of a Trump effect going on. They are still coming here. But they know there needs to be that emphasis that they are here for Iowa Republican candi dates,” said Michael Bousselot, a former top aide to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and now a Des Moines-area GOP state representa tive. “The fair is more in-your-face campaigning. If you’re too overea ger, people might say, ‘Whoa, Presi dent Trump is still the guy.’” That means the few who entered the gates on Des Moines’ work ing-class east side were doing so with little such concern. Mike Pence, Trump’s estranged former vice president, visited the fair Friday, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a prominent Trump critic, was there last week. A cowboy-boot-wearing Pence was escorted by seven-term Re publican Sen. Chuck Grassley, as have countless White House pros pects over the years. The former vice president was careful, how ever, to keep his political remarks focused on the November mid term election, when Grassley is on the ballot, and not on the 2024 presidential race. “It’s an honor to be here at the Iowa State Fair with you,” he told Grassley, with the politicians sur rounded by dozens of news re porters and photographers in the shadow of the century-old brick grandstand. “Iowa and Ameri ca need six more years of Chuck Grassley.”Pence later got caught in a fast-developing thunderstorm, which soaked him and his entou rage as they sought shelter under the Iowa Pork Producers tent. Un deterred, Pence waded through the damp crowds of fairgoers and even got in a few bites of one of the fair’s signature hand-held caloric monstrosities.Ashailpummeled the roof, Pence sampled a “picnic in a cup” — pulled pork, coleslaw, baked beans and Fritos, topped with barbecue sauce and Politicians’bacon.food choices and at tire at the Iowa State Fair are al most as important as the visits themselves.In2003, Democrat John Ker ry memorably ordered a strawber ry smoothie, notable for an event known for its celebration of meat and deep-fried foods. In 2007, Republican Fred Thompson was mocked for sporting Gucci loafers, which stood out among the more common flip-flops and cowboy boots of attendees. A majority of Iowa Republicans — 57% — said they hope Trump decides to run again for president in 2024, according to a July Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll. One-third of respondents said they hope he doesn’t. Trump has enjoyed his king maker status over the past few months, boosting his endorsed candidates to victory in prima ry elections ranging from top of the ticket to state legislature. And while he faces a number of swirl ing investigations, including scru tiny from a U.S. Department of Justice search of his Florida home for classified documents, aides say it’s more a matter of when he an nounces his candidacy for presi dent than whether he announces it. While Florida Gov. Ron DeSan tis — a common Trump alterna tive mentioned by Iowa Republi cans — has steered clear of Iowa as he seeks reelection in November, others such as Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, former U.N. Ambassa dor Nikki Haley, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others have visited Iowa this summer to campaign for Reynolds, Grassley andLastothers.Thursday, Cruz was in the northern Iowa summer resort town of Clear Lake, headlining a private fundraiser for Grassley. Cruz, who won the 2016 caucus es and campaigned deep into that primary season, said this month he would wait to see what Trump’s plans were before he entertained a second presidential campaign. He also suggested a Trump candidacy would keep several prospects from entering the 2024 race. With that in mind, Cruz was in and out of Iowa in one day, avoid ing the fair by 110 miles.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, often knocks President Joe Biden for high inflation and a looming reces sion — a standard GOP argument going into the November elections. Multiple surveys do show that voters have a sense of foreboding about the economy and that most people fault the president. Re searchers said there’s not a lot of academic analyses to show why many voters seem willing to blame inflation on White House policies and give a pass to statehouses, as inflation had been low in recent decades and less of a factor in elec tions than Andrewjobs.Reeves, a political sci ence professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said most voters likely judge the local and na tional economies by different stan dards. When it comes to state and local officials, voters form opinions through what they observe in their daily lives. But they often gauge the national economy through hard numbers and political ideologies.

For Republican governors, all economic success is local AP PHOTO

Grand jury weighs possible charges against North Carolina AG Stanly County bowler inducted into the state Hall of Fame

The Stanly County Arts Council recently announced that they are officially receiving applications for the Artist Supports Grants (ASG). These grants, which were created to support individual artists with project funding, are available to any artist living in Region 12, which includes Anson, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, Stanly, and Union counties. The deadline for completed grant applications is 5 pm on October 14. All applications must be submitted either in person or via mail. Artists can download the application and learn more about funding by visiting interestedworkshopstanlycountyartscouncil.org.https://AwillalsobeavailableforpartiesonSeptember13 at 5:30 pm at 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. The Tour de Elvis is quickly approaching The 13th annual Tour de Elvis is scheduled to start in Albemarle on Friday, September 9. The Tour involves a 5K, as well as a 45-to-62 mile bicycle tour that runs through Sunday, September 11. The 5K starts at 7:00 pm on Friday and costs $25. Organizers promise that the new course is “mostly downhill”. The bike tour begins at 8:00 am on Saturday and is also $25. It’s possible to register for both events with one $45 fee.

RALEIGH — A local North Carolina grand jury on Monday advanced its consideration of pos sible criminal charges against state Attorney General Josh Stein and two aides over an investiga tion into a political ad targeting Stein’s 2020 election opponent. After hearing from a State Bu reau of Investigation agent, the Wake County grand jury asked in writing that the Wake district at torney’s office submit an indict ment for consideration “against any and each” of three people, in cluding Stein himself. The Democratic attorney gen eral, his 2020 campaign manager Eric Stern and current state Jus tice Department chief of staff Seth Dearmin — a former Stein cam paign manager — were identified in Monday’s “presentment” docu ment signed by the jury foreper son. They have not been charged with any crime. Stein, a potential 2024 candi date for governor, lashed out in a statement at what he called a “nonsense investigation.”

By Jesse Deal Stanly County Journal ALBEMARLE — The Stanly County History Center is current ly working on the final stages of a new project that is set to be offi cially unveiled in September (on a date to be determined), according to a recent announcement from Stanly County Museum Director Megan Sullivan. The “Albemarle: Then and Now” interactive exhibit will al low viewers to take a deep dive into viewing the history of the city through the lens of AI-reimag ined photos and videos. “We will soon have a 4x5 foot by 9-foot drone shot of down town Albemarle on display, and visitors will be able to create and learn what early 20th century Al bemarle looked like,” Sullivan an nounced in a post on the history center’s social media page. “This project was made possible be cause of funding from the North Carolina Humanities and the fed eral American Rescue Plan (ARP) grant.”The county has been collabo rating on the project with My Dif ferent Perspective — a video and photography business headed by Michael Lanier, who described in a preview video for the interac tive exhibit how the project came to be.“Alittle over a week ago, Megan Sullivan with the Stanly County History Center contacted me re garding an idea she had for a proj ect for the History Center. Armed with my drone and hours of prep, flying, and editing, we are enter ing the final stages in order to bring a wonderful new feature to the Stanly County History Cen ter,” Lanier wrote. The video includes a descrip tion of what the project aims to achieve for those who come to see it. Using a combination of drone images, videos, and computerized technology, viewers can utilize a combination of “magna-tiles” to build a customized version of downtown Albemarle. The exhib it will include photos of business es and houses that used to be an active part of the city’s landscape.

The investigation stems from a State Board of Elections com plaint filed in fall 2020 by Stein’s Republican opponent, Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill. He accused Stein’s cam paign of circulating a political ad that violated a 91-year-old libel law.The O’Neill campaign said Stein’s commercial, which ac cused the Republican of letting more than a thousand rape kits go untested, was “false and de rogatory” because police rather than prosecutors are responsible for testing rape kits.

Freeman “continues to pursue her nonsense investigation over a campaign ad that is true from an election that is long since passed, using a 91-year-old statute that has never been used against any other candidate,” the Stein cam paign wrote in a statement Mon day. “While the attorney gener al is disappointed by this ongoing distraction, he continues to focus on his work to test sexual assault kits and get justice for survivors of sexualFreemanassault.”has recused herself from the case — citing her work ing relationship with O’Neill and Stein — and gave it to a senior as sistant in her office. Stein’s campaign committee asked the appeals court last week to issue a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the state law while the committee and oth er plaintiffs seek to strike it down as unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles refused last week to grant the injunction. Dating to at least 1931, the law makes it illegal to deliberately disseminate a false “derogatory report” that could harm a candi date’s chance of election. The misdemeanor for violat ing the law carries a penalty of up to 60 days in jail with up to $1,000 in fines, but someone with an otherwise clean criminal re cord would avoid serving time if convicted. Any criminal charge against Stein or his aides could harm the Democrat’s electoral prospects.

Football season kicks off The Albemarle Bulldogs lost their first home non-conference game against Thomasville last Friday. The final score was 14-0.

58 2017752016 $0.50 VOLUME 5 ISSUE 45 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 | STANLYJOURNAL.COM SUBSCRIBE TODAY: 336-283-6305

Stanly County History Center set to unveil new interactive exhibit AP PHOTO North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein speaks during a news conference at the North Carolina Department of Justice, in Raleigh.

The Associated Press

County Museum Director Megan Sullivan

The Stanly County Museum is a department of the Stanly Coun ty Public Library and works close ly with the Stanly County Histori cal Society, whose office is housed in the museum’s building. Previous and current exhibits at the museum include “Live and in Technicolor,” “Stanly Coun ty: “The Land Between the Riv ers,” ‘’Play Ball! Stanly County Baseball through the Years,” and “Main Gallery: A General History of Stanly LocatedCounty.”at157 North 2nd Street in Albemarle, open hours are Monday through Friday be tween 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (as well as the first Saturday of each month between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.); there is no cost to admission.

HAPPENINGWHAT’S

“We will soon have a 4x5 foot by 9-foot drone shot of downtown Albemarle on display, and visitors will be able to create and learn what early 20th century Albemarle looked like.”

PHOTO BY STARLA WHITLEY

A Stanly County bowler was recently inducted into the North Carolina Bowling Hall of Fame for Superior Performance. Barry Slater, best known for his success at the former Dogwood Lanes in Albemarle, can still be found throwing strikes across the county. Though he was initially inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021, his ceremony was delayed until this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During his bowling career, Slater threw a perfect 300 game 19 times and was named the 2019-20 North Carolina state USBC Master’s Champion. Slater still lives with his wife, Connie, in Locust. Stanly County Arts Council grants are now available

Wake Coun ty District Attorney Lorrin Free man’s office began investigating in 2021.Freeman, also a Democrat, said Monday that her office could pres ent the grand jury with a possible indictment as soon as next month. But a ruling as early as this week from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could derail the district attorney’s push for prosecution. Stein’s campaign committee has said the ad was truthful.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The world’s newest and biggest space telescope is showing Jupiter as never before, auroras and all. Scientists released the shots Monday of the solar system’s big gestTheplanet.James Webb Space Tele scope took the photos in July, cap turing unprecedented views of Jupiter’s northern and southern lights, and swirling polar haze.

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PEEDIN, AVERY CHARLES (W /M/43), County08/16/2022,CONCEALMENTSHOPLIFTINGGOODS,StanlySheriff`SOffice

New space telescope shows Jupiter’s auroras, tiny moons

The Associated Press

Stanly County Journal ISSN: 2575-2278 Neal Robbins Publisher Matt Mercer Editor in Chief Griffin Daughtry Local News Editor Cory Lavalette Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor Published each Wednesday as part of North State Journal 1550 N.C. Hwy 24/27 W, Albemarle, N.C. 28001 TO SUBSCRIBE: Raleigh,Suite1201NorthSendPOSTMASTER:mailingatPeriodicalsAnnualSTANLYJOURNAL.COM336-283-6305SubscriptionPrice:$50.00PostagePaidRaleigh,N.C.andatadditionaloffices.addresschangesto:StateJournalEdwardsMillRd.300NC27607 WEDNESDAY 8.24.22 conversation”“Join#251the WEEKLY CRIME LOG ♦ DUNCAN,

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This Aug. 18, 2022, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows an in-ground sprinkler system irrigating a lawn in Glen Head, N.Y. Watering deeply promotes a vigorous root system that can better withstand hot, dry spells This image provided by NASA shows a false color composite image of Jupiter obtained by the James Webb Space Telescope on July 27, 2022.

There are two classifications of turfgrasses: cool-season grass es, which include Kentucky blue grass, perennial rye, fine fescue and tall fescue, and warm-season tropical types like Bermuda, St. Augustine, centipede and zoysia, which are considered heat- and drought-tolerant.Warm-season grasses, used throughout much of the South, fare better over summer and go dormant when the weather cools. Interplanting native ground covers with grass and tolerating some weeds, which tend to remain green under the harshest of con ditions, can provide a semblance of lawn during drought. It really doesn’t have to be perfect. Don’t mow too much Growth tends to slow during drought, so mowing may not be necessary. But if your lawn needs a trim, don’t cut it too short. In general, keep mower blades set to 3 inches and never remove more than one-third the height of the lawn in a single mowing ses sion. That will minimize stress, and allow the grass to keep itself cooler and less vulnerable to dehy dration. Mowing too short weak ens grass and exposes soil to sun light, which hastens moisture evaporation.Mowingthe lawn is a lot like performing surgery. Just as a sharp scalpel is preferable to a dull knife, well-honed mower blades are kinder to grass than dull ones, which rip and fray rather than cut cleanly. That leads to browning, and makes the lawn more suscep tible to disease and infestation. If possible, mow early or late in the day to avoid exposing freshly cut grass to the strongest heat. Water thoughtfully Less-frequent, deeper watering that reaches roots is preferable to a daily surface sprinkle. Deep wa tering promotes vigorous plants that can better withstand hot, dry spells.Follow any local watering guidelines, of course, if you live in a drought-stricken area where au thorities have urged or required reductions in outdoor watering. Most grasses need about 1 ½ inches of water per week, includ ing rainfall. If you have an auto matic sprinkler system, determine how much water you’re applying by setting a tuna can or similar con tainer on the lawn and running a typical cycle. Measure the depth of accumulation in the can. Next, do the math, dividing the depth in inches by two or three weekly ses sions to determine how long to run the sprinkler each time. Sprinkler systems vary wide ly in output, depending on such things as make and model, your home’s water pressure, and miss ing or broken sprinkler heads. If you’re not sure whether to water, step on a patch of grass and lift your foot; if it springs back, it’s well hydrated. If your footprint remains compressed, the lawn is thirsty.Set sprinklers to run in the morning, ideally between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., and not after 4 p.m. Watering when the sun is at its strongest diminishes the amount of water that can reach roots be fore it evaporates; doing so later in the day increases the risk of mold and fungal diseases. Don’t kill it with kindness

AP PHOTO

WEEKLY FORECAST

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HOBBS, County08/15/2022,METHAMPHETAMINE,TRAFFICKINGLAWRENCEDASHEEM(B/M/30),INStanlySheriff`SOffice

Ju piter’s Great Red Spot, a storm big enough to swallow Earth, stands out brightly alongside countless smaller storms. One wide-field picture is partic ularly dramatic, showing the faint rings around the planet, as well as two tiny moons against a glittering background of galaxies. “We’ve never seen Jupiter like this. It’s all quite incredible,” plan etary astronomer Imke de Pater, of the University of California, Berke ley, said in a statement. He helped lead the observation. “We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be Thehonest.”infrared images were artifi cially colored in blue, white, green, yellow and orange, according to the U.S.-French research team, to make the features stand out. NASA and the European Space Agency’s $10 billion successor to the Hubble Space Telescope rock eted away at the end of last year and has been observing the cos mos in the infrared since summer. Scientists hope to behold the dawn of the universe with Webb, peering all the way back to when the first stars and galaxies were forming 13.7 billion years ago. The observatory is positioned 1 million miles from Earth.

Looking ahead If heat and drought lead to bare spots, re-seed the lawn when the weather cools. Water deeply once, then lightly every day until new growth is 3 inches tall. Don’t let seeds dry out even once, or you may have to start over. Next year, start watering deeply early in the season to es tablish a deep and robust root system more able to withstand severe weather. Even better, con sider planting short-growing na tive grasses like Pennsylvania sedge and groundcovers like clo ver that can handle some foot traffic while remaining lush and green throughout the dog days of summer. JOSEPH LEE (W /M/48), IDENTITY THEFT, 08/21/2022, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office HALL, JOHN THOMAS (W /M/63), AWDW SERIOUS INJURY, 08/21/2022, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office SPRINGER, JEFFREY CHAD (W /M/51), ASSAULT ON FEMALE, 08/20/2022, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office WEAVER, TIFFANY LEE-ANN (W /F/29), RESISTING PUBLIC OFFICER, 08/20/2022, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office JORDAN, County08/19/2022,ASSAULTMAURICEDAVON(B/M/39),ONFEMALE,StanlySheriff`SOffice

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NASA VIA AP

The Associated Press MUCH OF THE COUNTRY has experienced drought and ex treme heat this summer, and turf grass lawns are feeling the pain. There are steps we can take, however, to mitigate the damage while still trying to conserve pre cious water resources. Know your lawn

Get in touch Stanly County Journal www stanlyjournal.com WEDNESDAY AUG 24 HI 8 8° LO 69° PRECIP 8% THURSDAY AUG 25 HI 87 LO 6 8° PRECIP 1 8% FRIDAY AUG 26 HI 8 8° LO 6 8° PRECIP 2 3% SATURDAY AUG 27 HI 8 8° LO 6 8° PRECIP 24% SUNDAY AUG 28 HI 86° LO 6 8° PRECIP 19% MONDAY AUG 29 HI 86° LO 69° PRECIP 19% TUESDAY AUG 30 HI 89° LO 70° PRECIP 21% These are dry, stressful days for lawns. Some tips to help.

When the lawn is struggling, your instinct may be to give it a nutritional boost, but fertiliz ing during hot, dry spells can do more harm than good. Fertilizer applications stimu late growth that requires more energy than stressed grass can afford. Instead, allow clippings to remain on the lawn. If you don’t have a mulching mower, remove the bag and mow over the expelled clippings to chop them. As they decompose, the clippings will return a natu ral (and free!) form of nitrogen to the soil.

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MIDGET, ERNEST LOUIS (B /M/34), LARCENY OF MOTOR VEHICLE (F), 08/17/2022, Stanly County Sheriff`S Office STROTHER, SETH AARON (W /M/34), RESISTING PUBLIC County08/17/2022,OFFICER,StanlySheriff`SOffice TRULL, JOSEPH CARLYLE (W /M/31), UTTERING FORGED County08/17/2022,INSTRUMENT,StanlySheriff`SOffice

2 Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

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3Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 OPINION Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor VISUAL COLUMNVOICES | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

More than 800 citizens and tens aboutmorecavalier,muchhasU.S.administrations,andObamanorm-observingtheareInRepublicans.CommitteeForeignbyaaccordingtodayadministrationthebehindremainpartnersofthousandsofAfghanleftbyBidentonewreportHouseAffairswhatwetoldaremoderate,Bidengovernmentbecomemorenotcareful,liberties.

The Espionage Act of 1917 once again rears its ugly head

We will never forget

IT’S BEEN ONE YEAR. But we will never forget. On August 15th, 2021, Kabul, Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban. This event marked the end of our nation’s 20-year involvement in the country. It also marked a blatant moral and national security failure that has had lasting consequences for our country, allies, and the people of Afghanistan. Kabul’s fall one year ago was tragic, it was predictable, and it could have been prevented. President Joe Biden ignored the advice of his military commanders. His rushed and disorganized effort to pull the United States out of the region cost American and Afghan lives and left thousands of Americans and our allies behind. Just before the events of August 2021, President Biden announced to the nation that our withdrawal from Afghanistan would not be another Saigon. However, that is exactly what happened. In the chaos that followed the fall, America lost 13 brave U.S. Servicemembers who were attempting to protect Americans and our allies fleeing the Taliban. These servicemembers were heroes who endured extremely dangerous circumstances in order to protect the innocent. This included U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss stationed at Fort Bragg. We continue to pray for the families and friends of all servicemembers lost that day. On top of this tragedy, billions of dollars in equipment and thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies who supported our troops were left behind. My office alone directly contacted or worked with organizations representing more than 11,700 citizens and allies who needed to flee Afghanistan. Our government made them a promise, and Joe Biden broke that promise. More than 800 citizens and tens of thousands of Afghan partners remain left behind by the Biden administration today, according to a new report by House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans. Today, Afghanistan has descended into an abysmal state and a haven for terrorists. Political and social liberties, especially for women, have been severely restricted by the Taliban, and most Afghans are facing acute starvation and poverty. It is estimated that 97% of the population could fall below the poverty line by year’s end. Beyond this humanitarian crisis, Afghanistan has also, once again, become a haven for terrorists.

The Obama administration, wrote former New York Times reporter James Risen in December 2016, “prosecuted nine cases involving whistleblowers and leakers, compared with only three by all previous administrations combined.’”

This became clear after the announcement of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri’s death in Kabul. While his death was a major step in the fight against terrorism, the fact that he was in Afghanistan is worrisome and may indicate the country will once again be a cradle for violent extremism.Thesituation in Afghanistan is a moral and national security failure, the likes of which we haven’t seen in generations. What’s more, it could have been avoided if President Biden had listened to commanders on the ground. Instead, they prioritized speed over the safety and security of the American people, as well as the well-being of all those in Afghanistan. This is unacceptable. As Fort Bragg’s Congressman, I promise to work diligently to provide oversight of this deadly withdrawal, to get our citizens and allies out of harm’s way, and to honor the brave Americans who lost their lives serving in Afghanistan. While the scope and scale of this catastrophe stands alone, it is unfortunately not the only policy failure that has threatened our nation. In addition to their many foreign policy and national security missteps, Washington Democrats’ economic agenda continues to undermine you and your family. Last week, President Biden signed the ‘Inflation Expansion Act’ into law. This $700 billion bill will raise your taxes, make inflation worse, and enable the IRS to come after you by adding more than 87,000 new agents – more than all the troops stationed at Fort Bragg.With many students going back to school this week, it is estimated that you will pay OVER $660 on average for each of your children this year on back-to-school shopping because of inflation. The last thing families need right now is even more inflation-driving government spending and tax increases. I voted against the ‘Inflation Expansion Act’ and am working on cutting reckless spending and getting our economy back on track. Whether it be demanding accountability over Afghanistan or fighting to grow our economy, I will never stop working for you. Misguided policies from Washington have created numerous challenges for us abroad and at home. Yet I am optimistic for the future of our nation because of strong communities like ours.

WHEN FEDERAL AGENTS removed top-secret documents from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last week, they carried with them a search warrant citing possible violations of the Espionage Act. Ah, the Espionage Act! How that must have sounded comfortingly confirmatory to those leftists who still believe, despite the total lack of evidence, that Trump was elected and governed in collusion with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. These reports surely have some folks gleefully contemplating the prospect of the 45th president being consigned to the ten years in the slammer that is the maximum penalty for violations of the Espionage Act. But as the left-wing Substacker Matt Taibbi pointed out, “Anyone thrilled at the prospect of trying to prosecute a former president under the Espionage Act has blacked out the recent history of this law.” It’s a history of liberal Democrats invoking a notoriously overbroad statute to curb freedom of the press and penalize criticism of government policy. The Espionage Act of 1917 passed with 56 dissenting votes two months after the United States had declared war against Germany. President Woodrow Wilson and Congress were responding, as former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) explained in his 1998 book “Secrecy,” to pre1917 sabotage. In July 1916, German agents blew up the Black Tom munitions dump in New York harbor, with an explosion loud enough to be heard in Connecticut and Maryland. The Espionage Act was passed with bipartisan support and was supplemented by a Sedition Act banning “abusive language.” This was used to prosecute and jail socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs, who had received some 900,000 votes in 1912. Thankfully, a Republican Congress allowed the Sedition Act to expire, and President Warren Harding, a Republican and a journalist, commuted Debs’ sentence and invited him to the White House. The Espionage Act was not used much in the century after Wilson because the government classified so much material, including widely disseminated newspaper articles, that just about anyone could be targeted. But recently, there have been exceptions. In 2013, the Obama Justice Department used the Espionage Act to justify wiretapping trunk lines and 30 separate Associated Press phones. It snooped on Fox News reporter James Rosen’s phones and named him as a “co-conspirator” in an Espionage Act leak case.

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

The overbreadth of the Espionage Act makes this easy. The law’s Section 793(d) says that “a person lawfully in possession of information that the government has classified as secret” — and the government notoriously overclassifies material, including editions of The New York Times — “who turns it over to someone not lawfully entitled to possess it has committed a crime.” Espionage! A further section, 793(g), is a conspiracy count that says that anyone who conspires to help a source hand over such material has committed the same crime. In other words, a lot of journalism could be prosecuted as a felony — and so could a lot of conduct of former government officials, even presidents. This gives government prosecutors a license to target and jail political opponents, as Wilson targeted and jailed Debs. In the century after Wilson, most administrations resisted this temptation. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had served in the Wilson administration, was advised days after Pearl Harbor to prosecute the Chicago Tribune for an article implying that the U.S. had broken Japanese codes, he brushed the idea aside. The Obama administration had a different approach, however. And the Mar-a-Lago warrant suggests that the Biden administration does as well. The Obama FBI, as we now know, sent a lawyer to lie to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. Now, President Joe Biden seems to be using the ludicrously overbroad Espionage Act to suggest to the credulous Left that Trump stashed nuclear secrets in Mar-a-Lago to be turned over to his friends in Russia.Inhis account of the Espionage Act of 1917, Moynihan wrote, “Gradually, over time, the American government has become careful about liberties.” That now needs a rewrite. Suddenly, in what we are told are the moderate, norm-observing Obama and Biden administrations, the U.S. government has become much more cavalier, not more careful, about liberties. The arc of justice has bent backward toward the days when Wilson jailed Debs.

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

4 Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 SPORTS

AJ Allmendinger was second for the second straight day to Larson, Joey Logano third, Elliott fourth and Daniel Suárez fifth. Elliott declined to criticize his teammate when interviewed postrace, but the disappointment was“Justpalpable.ahuge congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the 5 team. He did a great job,” said El liott, who wrapped up the regu lar season title. “Seriously, they deserve it.” The race began on rain tires with a single-file start, the only one of the day, and pole-sitter Elliott was passed early by Michael McDow ell, who started third. But strategy played out as the race wore on with Elliott, Larson and McDowell, all on a two-stop strategy around the 2.45-mile natural terrain layout, holding the upper hand. Elliott regained the lead with 18 laps to go in the 90-lap race, and when the final pit stops were com plete he was just over 2 seconds ahead of his teammate. McDow ell was more than 10 seconds be hind, but a spin by Joey Hand in the first turn brought out a caution and bunched up the field for a re start with eight laps to go. Elliott picked the outside lane for the restart and held off Larson when the green flag waved, quick ly building a half-second lead. But a spin by Loris Hezemans brought out the caution that changed the outcome.Larson also held off All mendinger to win the Xfinity race on Saturday at The Glen, taking advantage when teammate Wil liam Byron and Ty Gibbs spun out vying for the lead with under five laps to go. “It’s almost like we were in the same situation as yesterday,” All mendinger said. “He (Larson) doesn’t really make any mistakes.” Early in the second stage, Lo gano passed Todd Gilliland for the lead and Kyle Busch moved in behind him, but as the laps in the stage began to dwindle Elliott was lurking in fourth, backing off near the end of the segment to save fuel. Logano held off Busch for his fourth stage win of the season. Fifteen drivers are locked into 16-driver field for the playoffs, with Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. still battling for points. They entered the race separated by 26 and started side-by-side on Row 13. Truex picked up only one point — finishing one spot ahead of his Therival.Cup regular season con cludes Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

The former NC State player coached Houston Dynamo of MLS from 2020 to 2021.

Kyle Larson smiles with his trophy after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen.

The Associated Press

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Kyle Larson was looking for a jolt of mo mentum. He got it for the second straight time at Watkins Glen In ternational.Thereigning NASCAR Cup champion, winless since his only victory of the season at Auto Club Speedway in February, beat Hen drick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott on a restart with five laps to go and won the weather-de layed NASCAR Cup race Sunday. Elliott was seeking his eighth career road course victory and had control of the race late, but a caution gave Larson a chance and he took advantage, moving El liott to the left coming out of the first turn, then pulling away for a weekend Xfinity-Cup sweep. It was the 11th straight road course win for Chevrolet. “I did what I felt I needed to do to get the win. I knew that was my only opportunity to get by him, I’m not proud of it,” said Larson, who won 10 races last season “The re starts kept me in it. It’s good to get another win. Hopefully, it will build some momentum.”

Larson wins rain-delayed race at Watkins Glen Tab Ramos to coach 2nd-tier Hartford Athletic in USL

Loyola’s Sister Jean turns 103, has train stop named for her Chicago Loyola University’s Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt got some Chicago hardware with her name on it for her 103rd birthday. School, city and state leaders celebrated Sunday with the Catholic nun who became something of a folk hero as chaplain for the Loyola men’s basketball team that reached the NCAA Final Four in 2018. A highlight was the renaming in her honor of the Chicago train station plaza at the Loyola campus, with a large sign marking it as “Home of the World Famous Sister Jean!” She called the plaza dedication “very special” and gave her secrets to longevity as “I eat well. I pray well — I hope I pray well — and I sleep well.”

The Cup Series has one more race before the start of the playoffs

“You want players who will get used to winning and sometimes that’s difficult when things haven’t gone your way for a while.” Tab Ramos “It’s good to get another win. Hopefully, it will build some momentum.”

Former NC State soccer star Tab Ramos was hired Monday as coach of the Hartford Athletic in the second tier United Soccer League Championship.

SETH WENITH | AP PHOTO

The Associated Press FORMER U.S. national team star Tab Ramos was hired Mon day as coach of the Hartford Ath letic in the second-tier United Soccer League Championship. Ramos, who played at NC State from 1984-87, agreed to a mul tiyear contract and will start work on Sept. 1. The 55-year-old coached the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer for 2020 and ‘21, led the U.S. at four consec utive Under-20 World Cups and was an assistant to Jürgen Klins mann with the full national team at the 2014 World Cup. “Coaching the Under-20 team and being an assistant to Jürgen on the senior national team, I got to coach the best of the best,” Ra mos said in a telephone inter view. “Going to MLS, you don’t necessarily coach the best of the best, you coach good players. In this level, maybe it’s a little bit different.”Hartford is 11th in the 14-team Eastern Conference with five wins, 15 losses and five draws. After the 34-game regular sea son, the top seven teams in each of two conferences advance to the“It’splayoffs.much better than me com ing in in December and starting from scratch and looking into into next year,” Ramos said. “I’ll have that process of evaluation over the next roughly a month-and-a-half.” Harry Watling had been Hart ford’s coach since the start of the 2021 season but quit on June 26. One month later, he became set-piece coach of Queens Park Rangers in England’s second-tier LeagueTechnicalChampionship.director Ray Reid will remain as interim coach for the rest of August. “The main challenge is work ing with the mental aspect that players are sort of used to being in a situation on the table and that mentality has to slowly change,” Ramos said. “You want players who will get used to winning and sometimes that’s difficult when things haven’t gone your way for a while.”Hired by Houston in Octo ber 2019, Ramos led the Dynamo to four wins, 10 losses and nine draws in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The Dynamo fin ished last in the Western Confer ence with six wins, 16 losses and 12 draws, and he was replaced by Paulo“HavingNagamura.alittle break was nice, but after three or four months, I started to get antsy,” Ramos said. “I feel like getting back on the field.”Ramos, a New Jersey native, had eight goals in 81 international appearances and was a midfield er for the U.S. at the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups, the 1995 Copa America and the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He was inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005. He coached the U.S. to the Un der-20 World Cup quarterfinals in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

MICHAEL WYKE | AP PHOTO

BASKETBALLCOLLEGE

Kyle Larson

FORMULA ONE Ex-Formula One boss Ecclestone denies fraud charge London Former Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has denied a fraud charge over his alleged failure to declare millions of pounds in overseas assets. Ecclestone, 91, entered a not guilty plea as he appeared at a hearing Monday in London. Prosecutors issued a charge of fraud by false representation between July 2013 and October 2016. The prosecutor told the court that Ecclestone did not declare a trust in Singapore with a bank account containing about $650 million. The business magnate was granted unconditional bail. Ecclestone headed Formula One racing and controlled the sport for for four decades from the 1970s to 2017.

SIDELINEREPORT MLB Mets’ debutpitcherbanker-turned-cutdayafter New York Banker-turned-reliever Nate Fisher found out the hard way that baseball really is a numbers game. A day after a sparkling major league debut, Fisher was cut by the New York Mets on Monday. Now completely off the 40man roster, Fisher could be traded or placed on waivers during a seven-day period. If unclaimed, he could be assigned outright back to the minors with the Mets. On Sunday, the 26-year-old lefty who was working at a Nebraska bank last summer threw three scoreless innings of one-hit relief as the Mets beat Philadelphia.

GYMNASTICS McClain rallies to claim U.S. gymnastics national title Tampa, Fla. Konnor McClain rallied past Shilese Jones to win her first U.S. gymnastics national title. The 17-year-old McClain posted a two-day total of 112.750, just ahead of Jones at 111.900. Jordan Chiles, part of the U.S. team that won silver at the 2020 Olympics last summer, finished third. McClain began Sunday just less than a point behind Jones but took the lead in the first rotation when she drilled her double-twisting Yurchenko vault while Jones hopped off the balance beam. McClain never gave the lead back, though there were some nail-biting moments late.

5Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

S outh Stanly Rebel Bulls 2021 Record: 2-8, 1-4 (Yadkin Valley 1A/2A) The Bulls’ season-open ing blowout loss to West Stan ly marked their ninth straight loss to the Colts — a continuation of the team’s struggles over the past few years. Coach Ryan Ochier is back for his fifth sea son leading the Bulls and will have his work cut out for him as the team aims to improve on back-to-back twowin seasons. South Stanly is looking for its first winning sea son in four years and first conference title in more than three de cades.Junior quarter back Drew Gaddy is also back, although his supporting cast looks a little different than it did last season. Braylon Tyson, Ethan Gaddy and Evan Kimrey will each step into expanded offen sive roles (replacing Jaxon Bar bee, Trevor Tucker and Carson Lowder), while All-Conference linebackers Ethan Gaddy and Peyton Gentry anchor the de fensive side of the ball. South’s next test will be a home nonconference bout with Carson on Sept. 2.

Keyontae Johnson, who collapsed during a game with Florida in December 2020, is headed to Kansas State to resume his college career.

Q uarterbacks Carson Mor ton and Jett Thomas join run ning back Matthew Parker and wideout JT Barbee as experi enced and valuable upperclass men on the Colts’ roster.

By Jesse Deal Stanly County Journal

West Stanly Colts 2021 Record: 3-6, 1-3 (Rocky River 2A/3A) W ith a 45-0 shut out road victory over South Stanly over the weekend, sixth-year coach Brett Morton and the Colts kicked off their season on a high note. West is trying to turn last season’s three-win campaign into less of a sign of things to come and more of a minor speed bump — the team won its first two games in 2021 but dropped six of its last sev en matchups, including a 42-0 playoff loss in Hendersonville. The Colts’ second full year in the revamped Rocky River Con ference will once again pit them against fellow 2A members An son, Forest Hills and Monroe as well as 3A member Parkwood. Monroe came away with the conference title last season af ter rolling to an 8-2 conference record and 4-0 record against RRC opponents.

Starting quarterback Chance

The former Florida forward hasn’t played in nearly two years By Mark Long The Associated Press GAINESVILLE, Fla. — For mer Florida forward Keyontae Johnson, who collapsed during a game in December 2020 and hasn’t played since, is headed to Kansas State to resume his col legeJohnsoncareer. made the announce ment on social media Saturday, picking the Wildcats over fellow finalists Memphis, Nebraska and Western Kentucky. The 23-yearold Norfolk, Virginia, native will have one year of eligibility re maining, although he could peti tion the NCAA for another. Johnson graduated from Flor ida in late April and announced plans to transfer days later. K-State and new coach Jerome Tang hosted Johnson on a recruit ing visit in July. “We are just so excited to wel come Keyontae and his family to K-State,” Tang said in a state ment. “He is a gifted player and a winner who brings significant ex perience to our team after playing in one of the toughest leagues in the country while at Florida. Be yond that, we think Keyontae is just a perfect fit with the guys we already have in the program. We can’t wait to get him to Manhat tan and introduce him to Wildcat Nation!”Johnson has indicated he has received medical clearance to play again, something Florida of ficials said wasn’t going to hap pen in Gainesville. Now, he will get a chance to face his former team next season; K-State hosts the Gators on Jan. 28 in the annu al SEC-Big 12 Challenge. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound John son could be a potential differ ence-maker for the Wildcats, who are rebuilding under Tang af ter finishing 14-17 in coach Bruce Weber’s final year in Manhat tan. Johnson averaged 14 points and 7.1 rebounds during his last full season (2019-20) at Florida. He was a first-team, all-South eastern Conference selection as a sophomore.Hestillhas a $5 million insur ance policy that would pay out if he never plays again. The policy allows him to take part in a hand ful of games to test his health. If he proceeds beyond the set num ber of games, any potential payout would be Johnson’snullified.insurance policy went into effect five months be fore he crashed face-first onto the court at Florida State. The South eastern Conference’s preseason player of the year in 2020 became a trauma patient as he crumpled to the floor seconds after breaking a team huddle in the fourth game of the COVID-19-delayed season.

Blake will fill the spot left by former dual-threat quarterback Luke Shaver, while Smith and Jay Jackson will share rushing duties.The Comets will look to get back on track as they travel to North Rowan on Sept. 2.

Albemarle Bulldogs 2021 Record: 4-8, 2-3 (Yadkin Valley 1A/2A) It’s been nine years since the Bulldogs put together a win ning season with a state playoff appearance, but sixth-year head coach Richard Davis is hoping for better results this year as most of his roster returns with an added year of experience. The team’s season began with a 14-0 home loss to Thomas ville. Considering Albemarle’s previous season kicked off with a 50-0 loss to that same team, the Bulldogs can take solace in their improved defensive ef fort thanks in part to defensive linemen Tyquan McDonald and Kenny Miller. A lbemarle wide receivers CJ Ellis, Jaylen Pinkney and Ja’zy ion Geiger will look to build a stronger rapport this year with quarterback Dre Davis as much of the offensive line is back to build a more resilient founda tion in the trenches. The Bulldogs are set to square off on the road with West Stan ly on Aug. 26 in their second of four nonconference games be fore launching into YVC play.

Easton Oliverston suffered a head injury when he fell out of the top bunk at a LLWS dorm By Dan Gelston

ALBEMARLE — The return of another high school football season brings hope that Stanly County’s four varsity teams can improve on their combined 1426 overall record last season. Here is a glimpse at how those teams look after the first game of the 2022 season.

The Comets might have been the only Stanly team with a winning record last season, but their 41-14 home loss to Ledford over the weekend wasn’t exactly what the team and eighth-year coach Scott Crisco were hoping for to start the year. Senior running back Cam eron Smith did his part (20 carries for 123 yards), but the Comets’ defense was unable to silence the Panthers’ rushing attack.The current Yadkin Valley Conference — where the Com ets finished as the 2021 run ner-up to Robinson — consists of Albemarle, South Stanly and Union Academy as 1A schools and Robinson, Mount Pleasant and North Stanly as 2A schools.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The father of the Little League World Series player who seriously in jured his head when he fell out of his top bunk in the dorms said there is a chance his son can make a full recovery when he returns home to Utah. Jace Oliverson told The Asso ciated Press on Sunday night his 12-year-old-son, Easton, was ex pected to fly back Tuesday to Utah and will remain in a hospi tal“I’mthere.just grateful that he’s still alive because I was pretty much told he had a zero percent chance to live,” Oliverson said. “We feel veryEastonfortunate.”Oliverson, a pitcher and outfielder for the Snow Canyon team out of Santa Clara, Utah, suffered the injury Monday. “There is a chance of a full re covery,” Oliverson said. “It’s just a matter of how long and the thera py that he’s going to receive. We’re just asking for prayers. Continu ousTheprayers.”Snow Canyon team, the first ever from Utah to make the Little League World Series, was eliminated from the tournament on Sunday with a 10-2 loss to the team from OliversonIowa.said the traumat ic week “most definitely played a part” in the two losses. “I feel bad that this incident with East had to happen and it kind of put a damper on their week,” Oliverson said. “It was the first time Utah’s ever been here, done that. It’s a big deal, especial ly inTheUtah.”Oliverson family has kept Easton’s condition continuously updated on social media with pho tos of the boy — in a wheelchair and wearing baseball T-shirts — posing for pictures with his fam ily and friends. He watched the team’s first Little League World Series game from his hospital bed dressed in his team gear. Easton can communicate with his par ents and a video attached to a re cent post also showed him drink ing and feeding himself. The family has set up a Venmo account for the kid nicknamed “Tank” to help with bills and ex penses.Mark Ence, the manager for Snow Canyon, representing the Mountain Region, FaceTimed with Easton on Friday. “I’m not familiar with the re covery process of that sort of in jury,” Ence said. “But he definite ly is improving and the family wanted to let everyone know that they are grateful for the thoughts and prayers and they feel like the prayers are Oliversonworking.”woreteam identi fication badges for himself and Easton as Snow Canyon walked into Historic Bowman Field for the MLB Little League Classic between the Boston Red Sox and BaltimoreOliversonOrioles.heldhands with his 10-year-old-son Brogan, who took big brother’s roster spot in the Little League World Series. Bro gan wrote “Go Tank” on his cleats during games. “We just want to relax and have some fun,” Jace Oliverson said be fore the MLB game. “It’s been a crazy week.”

Dad of injured Utah Little Leaguer hopeful of full recovery

Stanly bounce-backfootballCountylooksforseason MATT STAMEY | AP PHOTO

The Associated Press

GENE J. PUSKAR | AP PHOTO

Keyontae Johnson resuming college hoops career at K-State

No rth Stanly Comets 2021 Record: 5-4, 4-1 (Yadkin Valley 1A/2A)

Johnson received emergen cy medical attention in front of teammates, opponents and fans before getting rushed to a Tal lahassee hospital. He spent 10 nights in hospitals before return ing home. But he was never al lowed to return to practice with theHisGators.parents said last year their son’s collapse was not related to a previous positive COVID-19 test, citing a consultation team that included experts from four high ly respected schools of medicine. The family has not said what doc tors believe caused the episode or whether Johnson has an implant able cardioverter defibrillator. Johnson spent most of the last two seasons cheering on team mates from the bench as he re mained enrolled in school and on scholarship.Hedidtake the court for a cer emonial few dribbles and a fare well on senior night against Ken tucky in early March.

Only North Stanly finished the 2021 campaign with a winning record

123 runningNorthyardsRushingforStanlybackCameronSmithintheComets’season-openinglosstoLedford

Pennsylvania.Williamsport,WorldLittledormsbunkoutwhenwasEaston,hisinonhasOliversonBroganwritinghisshoessupportofbrotherwhoinjuredhefellofhisintheattheLeaguein

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Sen. Joe Manchin said he pays no at tention to criticism or campaign donations when making decisions about what’s best for West Virgin ia. Sounding somewhat exasper ated when asked whether the dra matic bump in campaign contri butions he’s received from oil and gas interests in recent months in fluenced his voting, the conserva tive Democrat said no. During a roundtable discus sion in Charleston, he said his office’s outsized role in drafting the sprawling economic package signed this week by U.S. Presi dent Joe Biden made him the tar get of the “far left,” environmen tal activists and the fossil fuel industry all at once. “Nobody in their right mind would go through what I have gone through with my staff for the last eight months, taking all the crap we’ve taken from ev erybody in the country” if they weren’t doing what they believe is right, he said. “I can be the hero and the vil lain all within a 24-hour shift,” he said. “The bottom line is, I make no excuses for what I think is right. I’ve always said this — If I can explain that, I can vote. I can take the criticism I know that goes with those votes. That’s part of the Manchin,game.” who chairs the Sen ate Energy and Natural Resourc es Committee, offered a key vote needed to pass the Democrats’ flagship climate and health care bill in the 50-50 Senate. The House used a party-line 220-207 vote to pass the legislation, which Biden signed last week. The law, which places caps on prescription drug prices for seniors and extends subsidies meant to help Americans pay for health insurance, contains bil lions in incentives for clean en ergy. Owing largely to Manchin’s influence, it also offers renewed support for traditional fuel sourc es such as coal and natural gas with steps such as subsidies for technology that reduces carbon emissions.“Iwasn’t sure that they would ever agree because of my friends on the far left, the environmen tal community, was totally com mitted to dispersing and basically eliminating fossil,” Manchin said of the law. But Manchin said there is “no way you can get rid of fossil in any short period of time.” “You can use it cleaner as you basically transition, but it’s going to be with us, and you got to do the best you can with it,” he said. “So, I wanted to make sure they understood that.” On the other side, he said he’s “been criticized by all my friends in the coal industry” because they think the bill doesn’t go far enough to protect their interests.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mil lions of Americans will be able to buy hearing aids without a pre scription later this fall, under a long-awaited rule finalized Tues day.The regulation creates a new class of hearing aids that don’t require a medical exam, a pre scription and other specialty eval uations, the Food and Drug Ad ministration said. That’s expected to increase competition and eventually lower costs. The devices will be sold online or over-thecounter at pharmacies and other retailThestores.devices are intended for adults with mild to moderate hearing problems. The FDA es timates that nearly 30 million adults could potentially benefit from a hearing aid, though only about one-fifth of people with hearing problems currently use one.“Today’s action by the FDA represents a significant mile stone in making hearing aids more cost-effective and accessi ble,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, told re porters Tuesday. The FDA first proposed the rule last year and it will take effect in mid-October. The move follows years of pressure from medical

The Associated Press

experts and consumer advocates to make the devices cheaper and easier to get. Cost is a big obstacle now. Americans can pay more than $5,000 for a hearing aid, between the device and fitting services. In surance coverage is limited and Medicare doesn’t pay for hearing aids, only diagnostic tests.

“The requirement to see a spe cialist was not only a burden and an annoyance for many consum ers but it actually created a com petitive barrier to entry,” said Brian Deese, a White House eco nomicsDeeseadviser.cited government esti mates that Americans could even tually save as much as $2,800 per pair. But FDA officials cautioned against predicting the size of sav ings or how quickly they might ar rive, noting much will depend on when manufacturers launch prod ucts and how they price them. FDA officials said they expect to see increased competition from new manufacturers as well as new products from existing hearing aidMedicalmakers. exams and fittings now account for about two-thirds of hearing aids’ cost, according to Kate Carr, president of the Hear ing Industries Association, which represents manufacturers. Five companies make most of the de vices sold in the U.S., she noted, though about 80 companies are registered with FDA to market the“Givenproducts.that this has been dis cussed for five years now, I suspect businesses have had the opportu nity to think about their plans and prepare for this,” Carr said. The new over-the-counter sta tus won’t apply to devices for more severe hearing loss, which will re main prescription only.

AP PHOTO

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia speaks to reporters during a roundtable about the sprawling flagship climate and health care law recently signed by President Joe Biden at the West Virginia Lottery Headquarters in Charleston, W.Va., Friday, Aug. 19, 2022.

By Matthew Perrone

Manchin dismisses critics, embraces ‘hero and villain’ role

“(They) for some reason think that this is going to be harm ful,” said Manchin, whose family owns Enersystems, a coal broker age company. “I think it basical ly is a pathway forward so we can continue to produce industry, provide energy that our country needs.”Under an agreement with the Democratic leadership, Manchin proposed a separate list of leg islation to speed up federal per mitting and make energy proj ects harder to block under federal acts. He also specifically asked that federal agencies “take all necessary actions” to streamline completion of the Mountain Val ley Pipeline, a project long op posed by environmental activists. The 303-mile pipeline, now mostly finished, would transport natural gas drilled from the Ap palachian Basin through West Virginia and Virginia. Legal bat tles have delayed completion by nearly four years and doubled the pipeline’s cost, now estimated at $6.6Thisbillion.election cycle, Man chin has received more cam paign contributions from natu ral gas pipeline companies than any other member of U.S. Con gress — contributions that have increased from $20,000 in 2020 to $331,910 in 2022, according to campaign finance records com piled by Open Secrets. On Friday, he said his agenda in advocating for the pipeline was to bring down the cost for con sumers by increasing the size of the market and creating jobs. He insisted the campaign money had nothing to do with it. “I understand the cynical part of that. People look at it and they go, ‘Well, they’re just taking care of themselves,’” he said. “I’m sor ry people, I have no idea who con tributes. I don’t look at that, I don’t go out and advocate that at all.”He said lawmakers need to “rise above” corporate and party pressure to deliver for their con stituents.“Politics has become a very, very nasty, destructive type of process ... both sides are guilty of weaponizing the good of America for the good of the party — both sides, and it’s just not right for our country,” he said.

6 Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

AP PHOTO

Kim M. Smith, leader of the Utah Deaf Hospital Rights movement and president of the Utah Association of the Deaf, brushes her hair away from her hearing aid while posing for a photograph.

Glenda Greer, of Loudon, Ten nessee, said she struggled to hear conversations at work and in crowded restaurants for seven years before recently getting fitted for her first hearing aid. “It just made things so much easier because I didn’t have to fo cus on peoples’ faces and trying to read lips,” said Greer, a recently retiredConsumernurse. electronic compa nies for years have produced low er-cost “personal sound ampli fication” devices, but they do not undergo FDA review and U.S. regulations bar them from being marketed as hearing aids. The FDA said it changed sev eral parts of its initial proposal in response to public comments, including clarifying how the rule will impact state regulations. Tuesday’s announcement fol lows prodding from medical committees and Congress, which in 2017 instructed the agency to lay out a plan for over-the-counter hearing devices.

Over-the-counter hearing aids expected this fall in US

The Associated Press

7Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

RuthThompsonMarion

Jean Rogers Smith, 81, of New London passed away on Friday, August 19, 2022 in Bethany Woods Nursing Center. Born September 22, 1940 in Mecklenburg County, NC, she was the daughter of the late William Wayne Rogers and Allene Sells Rogers. She was a graduate of Albemarle High School and Kinds Business College. She worked for 20 years with Albemarle Family Medical Center. She was a member of Highland Baptist Church and was a dedicated mother and grandmother. She was preceded in death by her husband Jimmie Wayne Smith in 2006 as well as a brother William Wayne “Buck” Rogers jr. and a sister Shirley Dianne Rogers. She is survived by a daughter Tammy S. Delsanto of Albemarle and sister Jane Thompson of New London.

obituaries

March 9, 1930 - August 18, 2022

Harvol Max Efird, 88, of Cheraw, S.C., passed away Thursday, August 18, 2022, from a year’s battle of bone cancer. Mr. Efird quit school after 9th grade, to start working to help his family. He was one of ten children and bought his mother her first electric stove. Mr. Efird met the love of his life, Martha Louise Nicholson, of China Grove, N.C. and were married in 1955. They had five children together, Wade, Sherry, Max (who passed as an infant), Cindy, and Darrell, before divorcing in 1966. It would be several years later that he would remarry and have a daughter, Kelly Efird, who passed at the age of nineteen, due to an accident. Heartbroken, he always said that “Your children are not supposed to pass before you do. It just isn’t right.” He was a blessing to his family and friends and will be missed deeply.Mr.Efird was born on December 22, 1933 to the late Grady Jacob and Mary Floyd Efird.Inaddition to his parents he is preceded in death by a son and two daughters, Harvol Max Efird, Jr., Kelly Efird and Sherry Rumple; five brothers, Lewis, Jack, Gary, Floyd, and William Efird.He is survived by his daughter: Cindy Ramsey (Matthew) of PA; sons: Wade Efird of Norwood and Darrell Efird of Ft. Mill, SC; Eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren; two brothers: Price Efird (Ruby) and Gene Efird, both of Albemarle; and sisters: Cassie Eddins, of Cheraw and Judy Morton (Tony) of Albemarle.

February 21, 1951 ~ August 16, 2022 Ruth Marion Thompson, 71, of Albemarle, passed away Monday, August 15, 2022 at Atrium Health Cabarrus Hospital in Concord. Ruth was born February 21, 1951 in Stanly County to the late Sam Howell and the late Mary Howell. She was also preceded in death by two sisters. Survivors include husband, Leonard Thompson of Albemarle, NC; daughter, Terrie Collins; granddaughter, Kayle Andrews; great-grandson, Noah Carpenter; and sister, Alice Horne.

Shirley Smith

August 24, 1961 ~ August 16, 2022 Sheila Jones Poplin, 60, of Norwood passed away, Tuesday, August 16, 2022 at her home. Sheila was born August 24, 1961 in Cincinnati, OH to Herbert and Shirley Jones. She was an active member of Immanuel Baptist Church. Sheila was a caring and giving person, living her life with a servant’s heart and always doing for others before herself. She loved unconditionally. Her greatest joy was taking care of her family and being “MawMaw’ to her grandchildren, but she made sure each child was made to feel special.Inaddition to her parents, she is survived by her loving husband, Kenneth Eugene Poplin of the home; children, Patricia Hunt(Anthony Green), Robert Herbert, Joseph Herbert, Amanda Jones(Melvin, Jr.), Jacob Browning(Sarah), Lee Browning(Kasie); step daughter, Tonya Crisco(Jeffrey); grandchildren, Jason Hunt, Nathaniel Hunt, Travis Green, Kaylee Green, Dylan Herbert, Wesley Herbert, Thomas Herbert, Scarlett Herbert, Tyler Herbert, Kalista Herbert, Haleigh Herbert, Daniel Herbert, Melvin Jones, III, Melanie Jones, Jacob Browning II, Alayah Browning, Hazel Browning, Hudson Browning, Caleb Crisco and Abigail Crisco.

FespermanKenneth

November 8, 1942 ~ August 19, 2022

Sheila Poplin

September 22, 1940 - August 19, 2022

Heath "HW" Wilson Baucom

John L. Hathcock

November 21, 1936 - August 18, 2022 Opal Faye Poplin, 85, of Albemarle passed away on Thursday, August 18, 2022. Ms. Poplin was born on November 21, 1936 in Stanly County to the late Lane Barbee and Geneva Waller Barbee. She retired from Collins & Aikman. Ms Poplin is preceded in death by her husband Richard Lee Poplin. Ms Poplin is survived by daughters: Kimberly Thompson (Jimmy) of Albemarle and Gwyn Pickler (Lee) of Stanfield; grandchildren: Rodney Thompson of Albemarle, Neal Pickler (Martha) of Albemarle and Sean Pickler (Christy) of New London; great grandchildren: Addie, Mason, Reese, Miles and Russell.

Bud Little May 14, 1941 ~ August 16, 2022 Wayne “Bud” Shields Little, of Oakboro passed away Tuesday morning, August 16, 2022, at the age of 81. He is survived and remembered by his loving wife, Sara Thompson Little of 58 years and his three daughters, Anita Sedberry(Kevin), Alicia Plyler(Chad), and Jennifer Woodall(Jonathan); six grandchildren Kimberly Hurlocker(RJ), Shelby Sedberry, Jacob Plyler(Alli), Brittnee Woodall, Barrett Plyler, Baylee Woodall, and one great granddaughter, Brynley Hurlocker. He was preceded in death by his granddaughter, Alyssa Maie Sedberry.Budwas born in Oakboro, NC on May 14, 1941 to the late Bessie Mae Little and Labon James Little. He graduated from Oakboro High School in 1959. During the warm planting months, there was no doubt where you would find Bud - in the garden. He looked forward to planting his “small” five acre garden every year! His greatest pleasure came in not growing his garden, but in giving it away.Daddy, or Paw Paw, as we so affectionately called him, was a force. He was the embodiment of strength, intelligence, kindness, and perseverance. He made people feel seen. When you spoke to him, he listened, and he did so with intention. His sense of humor was one of a kind, quick witted in the most deadpan of ways. To know him was to love him, and he was loved so very much. If you asked any of his family, you’d know that we all think he hung the moon. We are all better people because of him. Until we meet again, we love you Daddy and Paw Paw.

December 22, 1933 ~ August 18, 2022

September 23, 1952 ~ August 20, 2022 Kenneth Eugene Fesperman, 69, of Norwood, passed away Saturday, August 20,2022 surrounded by his loving family at hisMr.home.Fesperman was born on September 23, 1952 in Dillon, SC to the late Floyd Nelson and Bessie Dennis Fesperman. He worked in construction and was a member at South Stanly Baptist Church. Kenneth always had a great outlook on life and always had a smile on his face. In addition to his parents he is preceded in death by his brothers, Lee Fesperman and Larry Fesperman.Heissurvived by his wife of 49 years, Iris Hamilton Fesperman of the home; son, Brian Fesperman of Norwood; daughter, Bridget Russell (Tyler) of Albemarle; three grandchildren: Stephen, Brodie, and Deacon; brothers: Benny Fesperman (Diane) and Donnie Fesperman(Pamelia); sister: Carol Hatley; niece: Tish McNeill (Larry);mother-in-law, Rachel Hamilton; and numerous nieces and nephews.

November 28, 1946 ~ August 19, 2022

Shirley Clark Smith, 75, of Norwood, passed away Friday morning, August 19, 2022 at Atrium Stanly. Mrs. Smith was born on November 28, 1946 to the late Geneva Ridenhour and Jake Glover. She was a member at Bethlehem Baptist Church and was a retired Nursing Assistant. Shirley loved her family. Her greatest pleasure was taking care of her family, especially her grandboys. She will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and friend to all who knew her. In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her sister, Catherine Early. She is survived by her loving husband of 55 years, L.C Smith of the home; daughters: Sherri Cranford (Phillip) and Jennifer Rhodes (Johnathan), both of Aquadale; five grandchildren: Jacob, Caleb, Travis, Tyler, and J.C.; one sister, Diane Winfree, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Opal Faye Poplin

Heath Wilson Baucom, Jr. 79, of Oakboro, passed away Friday, August 19, 2022, at Atrium Health Cabarrus Hospital in Concord.Mr.Baucom was born on November 8, 1942, to the late Heath Wilson and Geraldine Coble Baucom. In addition to his parents, he was also preceded in death by his brother, Kenneth Baucom.Heath enjoyed hunting birds and squirrels in his spare time. He also loved to play his guitar and fiddle for his friends and family at any given moment. Heath is survived by his wife, Beverly Kay Baucom; son, Tim (Tammy) Baucom; daughter, Diana "Pup" Baucom; brother, Gerald (Vicky) Baucom; sisters, June Austin, Sarah (Donnie) Lowder, Helen (Dennis) Rape.

Jean Rogers Smith

John L. Hathcock Jr., 92, of Albemarle passed away on Thursday, August 18, 2022 in Bethany Woods Nursing Home. Born March 9, 1930 in Stanly County, NC he was the son of the late John L. Hathcock and Mary Lou Ingold Hathcock. He was a retired employee of Wiscassett Mills and was a member of the Baptist Faith. He was preceded in death by his wife Della Mae Atkins Hathcock. Survivors include two sisters Bernice Doby of Denton, NC and Betty J. Mauldin of Albemarle, and a number of nieces and nephews. He was also preceded in death by 8 brothers Harvey, Albert, Clarence, Martin, James, Paul, Kenneth and Aldine.

Harvol Efird

The Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz raised the roasted turkey leg like a sword in his Iowa State Fair debut in 2014, the upand-coming conservative joining a half-dozen other Republican pres idential prospects in strolling the GrandFourConcourse.yearslater, almost as many Democrats made the pilgrim age to the fair, including former U.S. Housing and Urban Develop ment Secretary Julian Castro, who snaked his way past tables under the Iowa Pork Producer’s tent at the annual Midwestern tribute to over indulgence.Butasthe 2022 fair entered its final weekend, the 2024 traffic was noticeably light. It speaks to the careful dance that potential presidential candi dates are attempting as Democrats remain uncertain about President Joe Biden’s political future and many Republicans avoid taking on former President Donald Trump. Several would-be GOP candidates have quietly made political inroads in the first-in-the-nation nomi nating state, but they’ve done so by campaigning with Iowa candi dates, not by being so obvious as to stand on straw bales at a perenni al stop for White House hopefuls.

speaks to the media during a visit to the Iowa State Fair, Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, in Des Moines, Iowa.

By Josh Boak

Stanly County Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 20228 STATE & NATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, often knocks President Joe Biden for high inflation and a looming reces sion — a standard GOP argument going into the November elections. Multiple surveys do show that voters have a sense of foreboding about the economy and that most people fault the president. Re searchers said there’s not a lot of academic analyses to show why many voters seem willing to blame inflation on White House policies and give a pass to statehouses, as inflation had been low in recent decades and less of a factor in elec tions than Andrewjobs.Reeves, a political sci ence professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said most voters likely judge the local and na tional economies by different stan dards. When it comes to state and local officials, voters form opinions through what they observe in their daily lives. But they often gauge the national economy through hard numbers and political ideologies.

The Associated Press

“The ‘national economy’ is this nebulous thing that none of us ac tually experiences,” Reeves said. “It’s an abstract concept. We may be more willing to let our partisan ship shade how we see what is go ing on nationally. Joe Biden is well into his term, so the honeymoon is over and he owns this economy — whether his policies are directly re sponsible for it or not.”

“It’s an honor to be here at the Iowa State Fair with you,” he told Grassley, with the politicians sur rounded by dozens of news re porters and photographers in the shadow of the century-old brick grandstand. “Iowa and Ameri ca need six more years of Chuck Grassley.”Pence later got caught in a fast-developing thunderstorm, which soaked him and his entou rage as they sought shelter under the Iowa Pork Producers tent. Un deterred, Pence waded through the damp crowds of fairgoers and even got in a few bites of one of the fair’s signature hand-held caloric monstrosities.Ashailpummeled the roof, Pence sampled a “picnic in a cup” — pulled pork, coleslaw, baked beans and Fritos, topped with barbecue sauce and Politicians’bacon.food choices and at tire at the Iowa State Fair are al most as important as the visits themselves.In2003, Democrat John Ker ry memorably ordered a strawber ry smoothie, notable for an event known for its celebration of meat and deep-fried foods. In 2007, Republican Fred Thompson was mocked for sporting Gucci loafers, which stood out among the more common flip-flops and cowboy boots of attendees. A majority of Iowa Republicans — 57% — said they hope Trump decides to run again for president in 2024, according to a July Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll. One-third of respondents said they hope he doesn’t. Trump has enjoyed his king maker status over the past few months, boosting his endorsed candidates to victory in prima ry elections ranging from top of the ticket to state legislature. And while he faces a number of swirl ing investigations, including scru tiny from a U.S. Department of Justice search of his Florida home for classified documents, aides say it’s more a matter of when he an nounces his candidacy for presi dent than whether he announces it. While Florida Gov. Ron DeSan tis — a common Trump alterna tive mentioned by Iowa Republi cans — has steered clear of Iowa as he seeks reelection in November, others such as Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, former U.N. Ambassa dor Nikki Haley, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others have visited Iowa this summer to campaign for Reynolds, Grassley andLastothers.Thursday, Cruz was in the northern Iowa summer resort town of Clear Lake, headlining a private fundraiser for Grassley. Cruz, who won the 2016 caucus es and campaigned deep into that primary season, said this month he would wait to see what Trump’s plans were before he entertained a second presidential campaign. He also suggested a Trump candidacy would keep several prospects from entering the 2024 race. With that in mind, Cruz was in and out of Iowa in one day, avoid ing the fair by 110 miles.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at

the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Aug. 4, 2022. AP PHOTO

“There’s a bit of a Trump effect going on. They are still coming here. But they know there needs to be that emphasis that they are here for Iowa Republican candi dates,” said Michael Bousselot, a former top aide to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and now a Des Moines-area GOP state representa tive. “The fair is more in-your-face campaigning. If you’re too overea ger, people might say, ‘Whoa, Presi dent Trump is still the guy.’” That means the few who entered the gates on Des Moines’ work ing-class east side were doing so with little such concern. Mike Pence, Trump’s estranged former vice president, visited the fair Friday, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a prominent Trump critic, was there last week. A cowboy-boot-wearing Pence was escorted by seven-term Re publican Sen. Chuck Grassley, as have countless White House pros pects over the years. The former vice president was careful, how ever, to keep his political remarks focused on the November mid term election, when Grassley is on the ballot, and not on the 2024 presidential race.

Trump’s long shadow keeps 2024 hopefuls from Iowa State Fair

Former Vice President Mike Pence

For Republican governors, all economic success is local AP PHOTO

Republican governors such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Geor gia’s Brian Kemp are largely un scathed on inflation, even though consumer prices are significantly above the national average in both of those states. Inflation is 10.6% in the Miami area, 11.2% in Tam pa and 11.5% in Atlanta. What many voters in Repub lican states are hearing is an eco nomic argument similar to what Biden has attempted on a nation al scale — that job growth and government finances are strong enough to insulate people from a downturn.DeSantis dismissed Biden’s claims that the U.S. economy re mains healthy, calling that “Orwel lian doublespeak.” The governor said at Florida’s Airports Council conference on Aug. 1 that his state’s budget surplus could insulate it from a “We’redownturn.notimmune to the infla tion, we’re not immune to the ener gy prices,” DeSantis said. “Because Florida has been open, because Florida has excelled economical ly, we’re in the position where we’re going to be able to meet those needs of the state regardless of what Un cle Joe throws at us from Washing ton,JobD.C.”growth has been broad across the country. Data released Friday by the Bureau of Statistic s found that employment increased in 43 states and was essentially un changed in seven states over the past 12 months. But the bipartisan research group EIG analyzed job growth in the three major Republican states (Texas, Arizona and Florida) and the three major Democratic ones (California, Illinois and New York). It found that the GOP areas have fully recovered and exceeded their pandemic job totals, while the re covery has been slower in Demo craticWhatstates.seems to be the much more overarching priority among voters is not jobs but inflation, said John Lettieri, EIG’s president and CEO. At a time of political polar ization, it’s striking to him how fears about prices are crossing gen erational, class, regional and parti san“Therelines. is strong unanimity that the economy is an issue, inflation is the No. 1 problem and Biden is to blame,” Lettieri said. “This cuts across all the divides. All those dif ferent ways we slice up the elector ate, they’re all responding to this to one degree or another in strong ways.”Inflation appears to be an in escapable challenge for Biden, even as other issues such as abor tion rights appear to be rallying some Democratic voters. Repub licans are able promote job gains to say why they would be better at leading the economy, without hav ing to list, as Biden has stressed in speeches, their own policies for re ducing consumer prices. Gabriel Lenz, a political science professor at the University of Cal ifornia Los Angeles, said the “best measure of what voters are per sonally experiencing” is a metric known as real disposable person al income. That figure looks at how much money people have after ad justing for taxes and inflation. Its changes over the past two years mirror those of Democratic politi calWhenfortunes.Biden signed pandem ic relief into law in March 2021, people’s real disposable income climbed 28.7% from a year ago. The aid helped the economy recov er while some notable economists warned it could also be inflation ary. As prices rose over the past year and much of the aid expired, real disposable income has tum bled 3.5% over the past 12 months as a Basedresult.on that number, Lenz concluded: “It’s no surprise that people are gloomy.”

PHOTO VIA RADFORD.EDU Former Wake coach Charlene Curtis. DAVID GOLDMAN

“We were pleased with the efficiency of this system and would like to move forward with expanding it”

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

The Associated Press WINSTON-SALEM — Char lene Curtis, the first Black wom en’s head basketball coach in the ACC, died Thursday after a bat tle with cancer, the conference said. She was 67. Curtis was the head coach at Wake Forest from 1997-2004, after head coaching stops at Radford and Temple, where she also was the first African-Amer ican head women’s basketball coach.Curtis played basketball at Radford shortly after the passage of Title IX in 1972 and become the school’s first 1,000-point scorer, male or fe male, and a member of its Hall of Fame. She majored in music and joined a Radford women’s basketball team that didn’t offer scholarships at the time. Curtis worked in the ACC league office as the supervi sor of officials for women’s bas ketball for 11 years, retiring in 2019. Along with her ACC job, Curtis spent that time as the co ordinator of women’s basketball officials for the Southern Con ference, the Big South and the Colonial Athletic Association. “Charlene was a pioneer in the sport of women’s basketball, but more importantly, she was an amazing individual,” said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips. “Her kindness and class resonat ed throughout her life, and she will be missed by all who were fortunate to know her and her inspiring spirit.” A native of Roanoke, Virginia, her early coaching jobs includ ed an assistant at Radford and graduate assistant coach at Vir ginia in 1981. She worked with Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan and then-assistant Geno Auriemma. Curtis became Rad ford’s head coach in 1984 at age 29, finishing with a 121-53 re cord in six seasons. She also worked two years as an assistant at UConn before be ing hired at Wake Forest. Curtis is survived by her part ner of 24 years, Sharolyn Grant, and her sister and brother-inlaw Millicent and Byrl Wright. A release from Wake Forest comments from Porsche Jones, who played for Curtis in the coach’s final seasons with the Deacs.“Charlene Curtis was an in credible person who created a special culture among our teams at Wake Forest,” Jones said. “Those bonds still hold true to day as the lessons we learned from her taught us about being a family. She held us accountable while she led with grace, humil ity and love. Coach Curtis was truly someone that was special to me, helping me get through an injury during my freshman year and we became really close during my rehab. Her impact on the game of basketball goes well beyond everything on the floor. She is someone that left an in delible mark on so many lives and she will truly be missed. Charlene gave hope to others to one day sit in the same seat she did as a black woman coaching the game of basketball at a high level.”

An armored personnel carrier is transported past a sunflower field toward the frontline in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Monday, Aug. 22, 2022.

Scribbles School Choice to be expanded to Grades 1-12

The board also approved the expansion of the Scribbles School Choice Software Pilot, a software to facilitate and man age registrations for choice and magnetWSFCSschools.launched a pilot for only kindergarten registration with the Scribbles software and after the success of it, the rec ommendation was to expand the use of “Duringit. our initial pilot, we were pretty pleased with the ef Qualifying results at Winston-Salem Open Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands battled to back to defeat Greece’s Michail Pervolarakis 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to advance in the qualifying round of the Winston-Salem Open on FucsovicsHungary’sSaturday.Martonalsomoved on with an easy 6-3, 6-3 win over Andres Martin of the United States.Among the other singles qualifiers to advance in straight sets included Japan’s Taro Daniel and Shintaro Mochizuki, Britain’s Christopher O’Connell and Jason Kubler, Switzerland’s Marc Andrea Huesler, and Emilio Nava of the United States.OnSunday, Griekspoor fell to O’Connell in just less than two hours 7-6(4), 7-6(4) earning O’Connell a spot in the main draw. After three main draw singles players withdrew with various injuries, Griekspoor also made his way into the draw. In a match that lasted nearly three hours, Nava closed out Daniel 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. This marks only his second main draw at the ATP Tour level to earn a spot.

Dr. Karen Roseboro

Charlene Curtis, coaching trailblazer in ACC, dies at 67

COUNTYNEWS 58 2017752016 $1.00 VOLUME 4 ISSUE 47 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 See BOE, page 2

WINSTON-SALEM — The Forsyth County/Winston-Salem Board of Education met Tues day, August 9, to discuss vari ous contracts as well as approve a handful of budgetary items. The board approved the use of grant funds for the identifica tion and location of missing stu dents.“We had the opportunity to apply for a grant, PRC-191, and that grant really focused on the identification and the location of missing students,” said As sistant Superintendent, Stu dent Services Fredricca Stokes. “The funding is associated with what our dropout numbers were for the previous year, so the funds that we received were $382,300. We were required to use the funds in two differ ent ways. Funds shall be used to contract with either one or more third-party entities to provide technology to facilitate the iden tification and location of miss ing students or outside person nel to assist the unit in locating missing students.”

After reviewing five propos als through an RFP, the recom mendation for the board was for Teach Tech U, LLC. According to Stokes, the scope of their work is broken down into three phases: Phase I: Locate, Phase II: Engage and Activate and Phase III: Retain. Phase I includes tracking and locating missing, unenrolled and chronically absent students through an all-hands-on-deck approach, canvassing and work ing outside normal school hours, Phase 2 includes establishing communications with students and parents, assigning relation ship managers and counselors for problem solving and host ing community events, and em bedding themselves in the com munity and Phase III includes assigning either graduation coaches or support coaches de pending on grade level. “The support coaches and graduation coaches are individ uals who have been in the ed ucation arena for a number of years,” Stokes said. “They are certified teachers, counselors, administrators and social work ers who have done this work.”

French star Richard Gasquet advanced when a late-match injury forced Kamil Majchrzak of Poland to retire at 6-7(5), 6-2, 1-0. Laslo Djere won a raininterrupted match with Belgium’s David Goffin, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. And Australian John Millman made short work of his opponent, Frenchman Hugo Gaston winning 6-2, 6-3 in less than 90 minutes.

WSFCS approves grant funding for assistance with missing students

Former Wake coach was ACC’s first black women’s coach

AP/WINSTON-SALEM OPEN RELEASE

| AP PHOTO SUBSCRIBE TODAY: 336-283-6305

In what we are told are the aboutmorecavalier,muchhasU.S.administrations,andObamanorm-observingmoderate,Bidengovernmentbecomemorenotcareful,liberties.

♦ ficiency of this system, and we would like to move forward with expanding it to grades 1-12, so we can see how we do on a larg er scale,” said Chief of Choice and Magnet Schools Dr. Karen Roseboro. “What’s unique about Scribbles is if we don’t renew it by July 1, then we aren’t obligat ed to keep going with it. They allow us the opportunity to ex pand, see how we like it up until July 1. This would be an expan sion of our current contract and we’d like to go live on November 19, the beginning of the choice period, to see how things run on a much larger scale.” The board then approved an additional $215,000 in funding for the Kingswood school. “Previously, as a board, y’all ap proved the use of $237,000 from fund balance to begin the work on the Kingswood project,” said Chief Financial Officer Tommy Kranz. “The estimate was since it was being used for educational purposes that the impact on the building code would be minimal. That is not the case.” For K-12 classrooms, there is currently only one means of egress out of the building at Kingswood and according to Krantz, a second means of egress is required. The plan is to do a window system that would allow egress out of the windows in the rooms.

WEEKLY FORECAST WEDNESDAY AUG 24 HI 8 8° LO 69° PRECIP 8% THURSDAY AUG 25 HI 87 LO 6 8° PRECIP 1 8% FRIDAY AUG 26 HI 8 8° LO 6 8° PRECIP 2 3% SATURDAY AUG 27 HI 8 8° LO 6 8° PRECIP 24% SUNDAY AUG 28 HI 86° LO 6 8° PRECIP 19% MONDAY AUG 29 HI 86° LO 69° PRECIP 19% TUESDAY AUG 30 HI 89° LO 70° PRECIP 21% Twin City Herald Neal Robbins Publisher Matt Mercer Editor in Chief Griffin Daughtry Local News Editor Shawn Krest Editor Cory Lavalette Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor Published each Wednesday as part of North State Journal 1201 Edwards Mill Rd. Suite Raleigh,300NC 27607 TO SUBSCRIBE: 336-283-6305 Annualnsjonline.comSubscription Price: $50.00 Periodicals Postage Paid at Raleigh, N.C. and at additional mailing SendPOSTMASTER:offices.addresschanges to: North State Journal 1201 Edwards Mill Rd. Suite Raleigh,300NC 27607

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Sherrill Lily Gambill, 27, of Forsyth County, died August 18, 2022. Shirley Ann O’Leary Harvey, 90, of Winston-Salem, died August 17, 2022.

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Tomasue Springs Crockett, 90, of Winston-Salem, died August 17, 2022. Willa Witherspoon Davis, 90 of Clemmons, died August 18, 2022.

2 Twin City Herald for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 Get in touch Twin City Herald www nsjonline.com DEATH NOTICES WEEKLY CRIME LOG ♦

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Carl Bennett Asplund, 67, of King, died August 18, 2022. Jean Evans Baity, 94, of Winston-Salem, died August 20, 2022.

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Phillizeta “Devora” Ascott Black, 53, of Winston-Salem, died August 18, 2022.

Charles Salem,Tomlinson,Dougherty92,ofWinston-diedAugust19,2022.

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GUTIERREZBULLARD,BRYANNAwasarrested on a charge of STALKING at 4850 SHATTALON DR on 8/19/2022 HAUSER, JEREMY STEVEN was arrested on a charge of DRUGS-POSS SCHED II at 2985 FAIRLAWN DR on 8/21/2022 ♦ Hill, Terrell Jamal (M/41) Arrest on chrg of 1) Drugs-poss Sched Vi (M) and 2) Drug Paraphernalia (M), at 1420 Bethania-rural Hall Rd, Winstonsalem, NC, on 8/18/2022 16:57. HINES, PAMELA ELAINE was arrested on a charge of DEFRAUD INNKEEPER at 104 W FOURTH ST on 8/20/2022 ♦ HONEYCUTT, BRYCE ALLEN was arrested on a charge of LARCENY-CREDIT CARD at 201 N CHURCH ST on 8/20/2022 INGRAM, RANZY DARRELL was arrested on a charge of DRUGS-POSS SCHED I at 3307 N LIBERTY ST on 8/19/2022 ♦ JOHNSON, KYNA ALEXANDRIA was arrested on a charge of ASSAULT-SIMPLE at 2684 BETHABARA RD on 8/21/2022 Kibler, James Alan (M/58) Arrest on chrg of 1) Fail To RegisterSex Offender Registra (F) and 2) Sex Offender Residency Violations (F), at 301 N Church St, Winston-salem, NC, on 8/22/2022 12:05. ♦ Landers, Brent William (M/40) Arrest on chrg of Impaired Driving Dwi (M), at 4061 Clemmons Rd, Clemmons, NC, on 8/20/2022 15:36. ♦ Lindsey, Lasea Rosa (F/37) Arrest on chrg of 1) Communicate Threats (M), 2) Vand-personal Prop (M), and 3) Fail To Appear/compl (M), at 3831 Barkwood Dr, Winstonsalem, NC, on 8/17/2022 09:18. MARIN, MARIANO MARCIAL was arrested on a charge of 9095H3 TRAFF COCAINE at 3333 SILAS CREEK PW on 8/19/2022 MARSDEN, RENECE MARILYN was arrested on a charge of ASLT ON OFFCR/FELONY at 1010 OAK GROVE RD on 8/22/2022 MCDOWELL, ANDRE GERODE was arrested on a charge of INDECENT EXPOSURE at 300 E HANES MILL RD on 8/20/2022 MITCHELL, WINSTON ARTHUR was arrested on a charge of DRUGS-POSS SCHED II at BUCHANAN ST/I40 on 8/21/2022 MONTGOMERY, CLAUDE DANIEL was arrested on a charge of P/W/I/S/D SCHED II at COUNTRY CLUB RD/PEACE HAVEN RD on 8/21/2022

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Lowell Thomas “Tom” Williams, 89 of WinstonSalem, died August 18, 2022.

WHEN FEDERAL AGENTS removed top-secret documents from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-aLago residence last week, they carried with them a search warrant citing possible violations of the Espionage Act. Ah, the Espionage Act! How that must have sounded comfortingly confirmatory to those leftists who still believe, despite the total lack of evidence, that Trump was elected and governed in collusion with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. These reports surely have some folks gleefully contemplating the prospect of the 45th president being consigned to the ten years in the slammer that is the maximum penalty for violations of the Espionage Act. But as the left-wing Substacker Matt Taibbi pointed out, “Anyone thrilled at the prospect of trying to prosecute a former president under the Espionage Act has blacked out the recent history of this law.” It’s a history of liberal Democrats invoking a notoriously overbroad statute to curb freedom of the press and penalize criticism of government policy. The Espionage Act of 1917 passed with 56 dissenting votes two months after the United States had declared war against Germany. President Woodrow Wilson and Congress were responding, as former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) explained in his 1998 book “Secrecy,” to pre-1917 sabotage. In July 1916, German agents blew up the Black Tom munitions dump in New York harbor, with an explosion loud enough to be heard in Connecticut and Maryland. The Espionage Act was passed with bipartisan support and was supplemented by a Sedition Act banning “abusive language.” This was used to prosecute and jail socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs, who had received some 900,000 votes in 1912. Thankfully, a Republican Congress allowed the Sedition Act to expire, and President Warren Harding, a Republican and a journalist, commuted Debs’ sentence and invited him to the White House. The Espionage Act was not used much in the century after Wilson because the government classified so much material, including widely disseminated newspaper articles, that just about anyone could be targeted. But recently, there have been exceptions. In 2013, the Obama Justice Department used the Espionage Act to justify wiretapping trunk lines and 30 separate Associated Press phones. It snooped on Fox News reporter James Rosen’s phones and named him as a “co-conspirator” in an Espionage Act leak case. The Obama administration, wrote former New York Times reporter James Risen in December 2016, “prosecuted nine cases involving whistleblowers and leakers, compared with only three by all previous administrations combined.’”

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

BOE from page 1

Janice Laverne Beauchamp Hicks, 91, of Advance, died August 22, 2022. Ruby Carolyn Johnson, 82, of Winston-Salem, died August 19, 2022.

“It is an 8-10 week leetime,” Kranz said. “In order to keep this project moving, I need a funding source and because of the uncer tainty with the budget, unfortu nately I’d not do this, but I think the best use is to go forward with fund balance. The $215,000 in crease would bring us to around $450,000. That will give us a $50,000 cushion to cover any other costs that may come up as we keep the project moving and get the students where we need to getThethem.”board also gave its ap proval to Policy 4141 – to post and keep updated the school sal ary schedules – a contract with Naviance by PowerSchool, a con tract with Panorama, a Firewall and Intrusion Prevention Licens ing and Support Renewal Lease Agreement with HP Financial and the use of ESSER funds proj ect for outdoor seating.

The WSFCS Board of Educa tion will next meet August 23.

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Gwendolyn Johns Stewart, 96, of Winston-Salem, died August 18, 2022.

Adamo, Kenneth Paul (M/42) Arrest on chrg of Assault On Female (M), at 500 Cedar Brook Ct, Lewisville, NC, on 8/20/2022 01:58. ♦ Bennett, Jeremy Daniel (M/44) Arrest on chrg of 1) False Imprisonment (M), 2) Assault On Female (M), 3) Breaking/ larc-felony (F), 4) Larceny After B&e (F), 5) Dom Criminal Trespas (M), and 6) Vio. Protective Order By Courts Another State/ Indian Tribe (M), at 201 N Church St, Winstonsalem, NC, on 8/19/2022 19:55. ♦ Bennett, Jeremy Daniel (M/44) Arrest on chrg of 1) Breaking/ larc-felony (F), 2) Larceny After B&e (F), 3) Rec/poss Stole Mv (F), 4) Dom Criminal Trespas (M), and 5) Vio. Protective Order By Courts Another State/ Indian Tribe (M), at 424 Jonestown Rd, Winston-salem, NC, on 8/18/2022 16:30. CAMPOS, LUCINA MENDOZA was arrested on a charge of DRUG TRAFFICKING at 4659 YADKINVILLE RD on 8/21/2022 ♦ Carter, Joshua Junior (M/37) Arrest on chrg of Assault On Female (M), at 201 N Church St, Winston-salem, NC, on 8/17/2022 18:11. ♦ CHAVEZ, STEVEN DANIEL was arrested on a charge of ASSAULT ON FEMALE at 735 ANSON ST on 8/19/2022 ♦ CLANTON, JOAN MURRY was arrested on a charge of MISUSE OF 911 SYSTEM at 100 PENNER ST/UNIVERSITY PW on 8/19/2022 ♦ Crowley, Tamara Marie (F/36) Arrest on chrg of Cyberstalking, M (M), at 301 N Church St, Winston-salem, NC, on 8/17/2022 15:44. ♦ Dancy, Jammy Ray (M/42) Arrest on chrg of 1) Breaking/ larc-felony (F) and 2) Mv Theft - Automobile (F), at 5700 Balsom Rd, Pfafftown, NC, on 8/17/2022 09:58. DAWSON, JAMAAL PHILLIP was arrested on a charge of CCW at 585 W NORTHWEST BV on 8/19/2022 ♦ DODD, MYRICK MALONE was arrested on a charge of ROBBERY at 1101 S BROAD ST on 8/19/2022 Elkins, Ricardo Daniel (M/28) Arrest on chrg of Probation Violation (M), at 200 N Main St, Winston-salem, NC, on 8/17/2022 12:47. FORD, TIJUANA VONTALERIA was arrested on a charge of ADW - INFLICT INJURY at 2921 NEW WALKERTOWN on 8/19/2022 ♦ Gomezcoronado, Byro Estuardo (M/38) Arrest on chrg of 1) Sex Act: Sub Parent/custodian (F) and 2) Indecent Liberties With Child (F), at 1227 Lewisvillevienna Rd, Lewisville, NC, on 8/18/2022 22:30.

A further section, 793(g), is a conspiracy count that says that anyone who conspires to help a source hand over such material has committed the same crime. In other words, a lot of journalism could be prosecuted as a felony — and so could a lot of conduct of former government officials, even presidents. This gives government prosecutors a license to target and jail political opponents, as Wilson targeted and jailed Debs. In the century after Wilson, most administrations resisted this temptation. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had served in the Wilson administration, was advised days after Pearl Harbor to prosecute the Chicago Tribune for an article implying that the U.S. had broken Japanese codes, he brushed the idea aside. The Obama administration had a different approach, however. And the Mar-a-Lago warrant suggests that the Biden administration does as well. The Obama FBI, as we now know, sent a lawyer to lie to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. Now, President Joe Biden seems to be using the ludicrously overbroad Espionage Act to suggest to the credulous Left that Trump stashed nuclear secrets in Mar-a-Lago to be turned over to his friends in Russia. In his account of the Espionage Act of 1917, Moynihan wrote, “Gradually, over time, the American government has become careful about liberties.” That now needs a rewrite. Suddenly, in what we are told are the moderate, normobserving Obama and Biden administrations, the U.S. government has become much more cavalier, not more careful, about liberties. The arc of justice has bent backward toward the days when Wilson jailed Debs. Michael Barone is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and longtime co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.

The overbreadth of the Espionage Act makes this easy. The law’s Section 793(d) says that “a person lawfully in possession of information that the government has classified as secret” — and the government notoriously overclassifies material, including editions of The New York Times — “who turns it over to someone not lawfully entitled to possess it has committed a crime.” Espionage!

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The Espionage Act of 1917 once again rears its ugly head

WEDNESDAY 8.24.22 conversation”“Join#209the

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The former NC State player coached Houston Dynamo of MLS from 2020 to 2021.

SETH WENITH | AP PHOTO

Kyle Larson

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FORMULA ONE Ex-Formula One boss Ecclestone denies fraud charge London Former Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has denied a fraud charge over his alleged failure to declare millions of pounds in overseas assets. Ecclestone, 91, entered a not guilty plea as he appeared at a hearing Monday in London. Prosecutors issued a charge of fraud by false representation between July 2013 and October 2016. The prosecutor told the court that Ecclestone did not declare a trust in Singapore with a bank account containing about $650 million. The business magnate was granted unconditional bail. Ecclestone headed Formula One racing and controlled the sport for for four decades from the 1970s to 2017.

3Twin City Herald for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 SPORTS

SIDELINEREPORT MLB Mets’ debutpitcherbanker-turned-cutdayafter New York Banker-turned-reliever Nate Fisher found out the hard way that baseball really is a numbers game. A day after a sparkling major league debut, Fisher was cut by the New York Mets on Monday. Now completely off the 40man roster, Fisher could be traded or placed on waivers during a seven-day period. If unclaimed, he could be assigned outright back to the minors with the Mets. On Sunday, the 26-year-old lefty who was working at a Nebraska bank last summer threw three scoreless innings of one-hit relief as the Mets beat Philadelphia.

“You want players who will get used to winning and sometimes that’s difficult when things haven’t gone your way for a while.”

GYMNASTICS McClain rallies to claim U.S. gymnastics national title Tampa, Fla. Konnor McClain rallied past Shilese Jones to win her first U.S. gymnastics national title. The 17-year-old McClain posted a two-day total of 112.750, just ahead of Jones at 111.900. Jordan Chiles, part of the U.S. team that won silver at the 2020 Olympics last summer, finished third. McClain began Sunday just less than a point behind Jones but took the lead in the first rotation when she drilled her double-twisting Yurchenko vault while Jones hopped off the balance beam. McClain never gave the lead back, though there were some nail-biting moments late.

Early in the second stage, Lo gano passed Todd Gilliland for the lead and Kyle Busch moved in behind him, but as the laps in the stage began to dwindle Elliott was lurking in fourth, backing off near the end of the segment to save fuel. Logano held off Busch for his fourth stage win of the season. Fifteen drivers are locked into 16-driver field for the playoffs, with Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. still battling for points. They entered the race separated by 26 and started side-by-side on Row 13. Truex picked up only one point — finishing one spot ahead of his Therival.Cup regular season con cludes Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

Loyola’s Sister Jean turns 103, has train stop named for her Chicago Loyola University’s Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt got some Chicago hardware with her name on it for her 103rd birthday. School, city and state leaders celebrated Sunday with the Catholic nun who became something of a folk hero as chaplain for the Loyola men’s basketball team that reached the NCAA Final Four in 2018. A highlight was the renaming in her honor of the Chicago train station plaza at the Loyola campus, with a large sign marking it as “Home of the World Famous Sister Jean!” She called the plaza dedication “very special” and gave her secrets to longevity as “I eat well. I pray well — I hope I pray well — and I sleep well.”

Larson wins rain-delayed race at Watkins Glen Tab Ramos to coach 2nd-tier Hartford Athletic in USL

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Kyle Larson was looking for a jolt of mo mentum. He got it for the second straight time at Watkins Glen In ternational.Thereigning NASCAR Cup champion, winless since his only victory of the season at Auto Club Speedway in February, beat Hen drick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott on a restart with five laps to go and won the weather-de layed NASCAR Cup race Sunday. Elliott was seeking his eighth career road course victory and had control of the race late, but a caution gave Larson a chance and he took advantage, moving El liott to the left coming out of the first turn, then pulling away for a weekend Xfinity-Cup sweep. It was the 11th straight road course win for Chevrolet. “I did what I felt I needed to do to get the win. I knew that was my only opportunity to get by him, I’m not proud of it,” said Larson, who won 10 races last season “The re starts kept me in it. It’s good to get another win. Hopefully, it will build some momentum.”

The Cup Series has one more race before the start of the playoffs

The Associated Press FORMER U.S. national team star Tab Ramos was hired Mon day as coach of the Hartford Ath letic in the second-tier United Soccer League Championship. Ramos, who played at NC State from 1984-87, agreed to a mul tiyear contract and will start work on Sept. 1. The 55-year-old coached the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer for 2020 and ‘21, led the U.S. at four consec utive Under-20 World Cups and was an assistant to Jürgen Klins mann with the full national team at the 2014 World Cup. “Coaching the Under-20 team and being an assistant to Jürgen on the senior national team, I got to coach the best of the best,” Ra mos said in a telephone inter view. “Going to MLS, you don’t necessarily coach the best of the best, you coach good players. In this level, maybe it’s a little bit different.”Hartford is 11th in the 14-team Eastern Conference with five wins, 15 losses and five draws. After the 34-game regular sea son, the top seven teams in each of two conferences advance to the“It’splayoffs.much better than me com ing in in December and starting from scratch and looking into into next year,” Ramos said. “I’ll have that process of evaluation over the next roughly a month-and-a-half.” Harry Watling had been Hart ford’s coach since the start of the 2021 season but quit on June 26. One month later, he became set-piece coach of Queens Park Rangers in England’s second-tier LeagueTechnicalChampionship.director Ray Reid will remain as interim coach for the rest of August. “The main challenge is work ing with the mental aspect that players are sort of used to being in a situation on the table and that mentality has to slowly change,” Ramos said. “You want players who will get used to winning and sometimes that’s difficult when things haven’t gone your way for a while.”Hired by Houston in Octo ber 2019, Ramos led the Dynamo to four wins, 10 losses and nine draws in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The Dynamo fin ished last in the Western Confer ence with six wins, 16 losses and 12 draws, and he was replaced by Paulo“HavingNagamura.alittle break was nice, but after three or four months, I started to get antsy,” Ramos said. “I feel like getting back on the field.”Ramos, a New Jersey native, had eight goals in 81 international appearances and was a midfield er for the U.S. at the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups, the 1995 Copa America and the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He was inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005. He coached the U.S. to the Un der-20 World Cup quarterfinals in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

MICHAEL WYKE | AP PHOTO

The Associated Press

Kyle Larson smiles with his trophy after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen.

AJ Allmendinger was second for the second straight day to Larson, Joey Logano third, Elliott fourth and Daniel Suárez fifth. Elliott declined to criticize his teammate when interviewed postrace, but the disappointment was“Justpalpable.ahuge congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the 5 team. He did a great job,” said El liott, who wrapped up the regu lar season title. “Seriously, they deserve it.” The race began on rain tires with a single-file start, the only one of the day, and pole-sitter Elliott was passed early by Michael McDow ell, who started third. But strategy played out as the race wore on with Elliott, Larson and McDowell, all on a two-stop strategy around the 2.45-mile natural terrain layout, holding the upper hand. Elliott regained the lead with 18 laps to go in the 90-lap race, and when the final pit stops were com plete he was just over 2 seconds ahead of his teammate. McDow ell was more than 10 seconds be hind, but a spin by Joey Hand in the first turn brought out a caution and bunched up the field for a re start with eight laps to go. Elliott picked the outside lane for the restart and held off Larson when the green flag waved, quick ly building a half-second lead. But a spin by Loris Hezemans brought out the caution that changed the outcome.Larson also held off All mendinger to win the Xfinity race on Saturday at The Glen, taking advantage when teammate Wil liam Byron and Ty Gibbs spun out vying for the lead with under five laps to go. “It’s almost like we were in the same situation as yesterday,” All mendinger said. “He (Larson) doesn’t really make any mistakes.”

Tab Ramos “It’s good to get another win. Hopefully, it will build some momentum.”

Former NC State soccer star Tab Ramos was hired Monday as coach of the Hartford Athletic in the second tier United Soccer League Championship.

Former Vice President Mike Pence

“The ‘national economy’ is this nebulous thing that none of us ac tually experiences,” Reeves said. “It’s an abstract concept. We may be more willing to let our partisan ship shade how we see what is go ing on nationally. Joe Biden is well into his term, so the honeymoon is over and he owns this economy — whether his policies are directly re sponsible for it or not.”

speaks to the media during a visit to the Iowa State Fair, Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, in Des Moines, Iowa.

“There’s a bit of a Trump effect going on. They are still coming here. But they know there needs to be that emphasis that they are here for Iowa Republican candi dates,” said Michael Bousselot, a former top aide to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and now a Des Moines-area GOP state representa tive. “The fair is more in-your-face campaigning. If you’re too overea ger, people might say, ‘Whoa, Presi dent Trump is still the guy.’” That means the few who entered the gates on Des Moines’ work ing-class east side were doing so with little such concern. Mike Pence, Trump’s estranged former vice president, visited the fair Friday, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a prominent Trump critic, was there last week. A cowboy-boot-wearing Pence was escorted by seven-term Re publican Sen. Chuck Grassley, as have countless White House pros pects over the years. The former vice president was careful, how ever, to keep his political remarks focused on the November mid term election, when Grassley is on the ballot, and not on the 2024 presidential race. “It’s an honor to be here at the Iowa State Fair with you,” he told Grassley, with the politicians sur rounded by dozens of news re porters and photographers in the shadow of the century-old brick grandstand. “Iowa and Ameri ca need six more years of Chuck Grassley.”Pence later got caught in a fast-developing thunderstorm, which soaked him and his entou rage as they sought shelter under the Iowa Pork Producers tent. Un deterred, Pence waded through the damp crowds of fairgoers and even got in a few bites of one of the fair’s signature hand-held caloric monstrosities.Ashailpummeled the roof, Pence sampled a “picnic in a cup” — pulled pork, coleslaw, baked beans and Fritos, topped with barbecue sauce and Politicians’bacon.food choices and at tire at the Iowa State Fair are al most as important as the visits themselves.In2003, Democrat John Ker ry memorably ordered a strawber ry smoothie, notable for an event known for its celebration of meat and deep-fried foods. In 2007, Republican Fred Thompson was mocked for sporting Gucci loafers, which stood out among the more common flip-flops and cowboy boots of attendees. A majority of Iowa Republicans — 57% — said they hope Trump decides to run again for president in 2024, according to a July Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll. One-third of respondents said they hope he doesn’t. Trump has enjoyed his king maker status over the past few months, boosting his endorsed candidates to victory in prima ry elections ranging from top of the ticket to state legislature. And while he faces a number of swirl ing investigations, including scru tiny from a U.S. Department of Justice search of his Florida home for classified documents, aides say it’s more a matter of when he an nounces his candidacy for presi dent than whether he announces it. While Florida Gov. Ron DeSan tis — a common Trump alterna tive mentioned by Iowa Republi cans — has steered clear of Iowa as he seeks reelection in November, others such as Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, former U.N. Ambassa dor Nikki Haley, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others have visited Iowa this summer to campaign for Reynolds, Grassley andLastothers.Thursday, Cruz was in the northern Iowa summer resort town of Clear Lake, headlining a private fundraiser for Grassley. Cruz, who won the 2016 caucus es and campaigned deep into that primary season, said this month he would wait to see what Trump’s plans were before he entertained a second presidential campaign. He also suggested a Trump candidacy would keep several prospects from entering the 2024 race. With that in mind, Cruz was in and out of Iowa in one day, avoid ing the fair by 110 miles.

Trump’s long shadow keeps 2024 hopefuls from Iowa State Fair

The Associated Press

Republican governors such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Geor gia’s Brian Kemp are largely un scathed on inflation, even though consumer prices are significantly above the national average in both of those states. Inflation is 10.6% in the Miami area, 11.2% in Tam pa and 11.5% in Atlanta. What many voters in Repub lican states are hearing is an eco nomic argument similar to what Biden has attempted on a nation al scale — that job growth and government finances are strong enough to insulate people from a downturn.DeSantis dismissed Biden’s claims that the U.S. economy re mains healthy, calling that “Orwel lian doublespeak.” The governor said at Florida’s Airports Council conference on Aug. 1 that his state’s budget surplus could insulate it from a “We’redownturn.notimmune to the infla tion, we’re not immune to the ener gy prices,” DeSantis said. “Because Florida has been open, because Florida has excelled economical ly, we’re in the position where we’re going to be able to meet those needs of the state regardless of what Un cle Joe throws at us from Washing ton,JobD.C.”growth has been broad across the country. Data released Friday by the Bureau of Statistic s found that employment increased in 43 states and was essentially un changed in seven states over the past 12 months. But the bipartisan research group EIG analyzed job growth in the three major Republican states (Texas, Arizona and Florida) and the three major Democratic ones (California, Illinois and New York). It found that the GOP areas have fully recovered and exceeded their pandemic job totals, while the re covery has been slower in Demo craticWhatstates.seems to be the much more overarching priority among voters is not jobs but inflation, said John Lettieri, EIG’s president and CEO. At a time of political polar ization, it’s striking to him how fears about prices are crossing gen erational, class, regional and parti san“Therelines. is strong unanimity that the economy is an issue, inflation is the No. 1 problem and Biden is to blame,” Lettieri said. “This cuts across all the divides. All those dif ferent ways we slice up the elector ate, they’re all responding to this to one degree or another in strong ways.”Inflation appears to be an in escapable challenge for Biden, even as other issues such as abor tion rights appear to be rallying some Democratic voters. Repub licans are able promote job gains to say why they would be better at leading the economy, without hav ing to list, as Biden has stressed in speeches, their own policies for re ducing consumer prices.

For Republican governors, all economic success is local AP PHOTO

By Josh Boak

Gabriel Lenz, a political science professor at the University of Cal ifornia Los Angeles, said the “best measure of what voters are per sonally experiencing” is a metric known as real disposable person al income. That figure looks at how much money people have after ad justing for taxes and inflation. Its changes over the past two years mirror those of Democratic politi calWhenfortunes.Biden signed pandem ic relief into law in March 2021, people’s real disposable income climbed 28.7% from a year ago. The aid helped the economy recov er while some notable economists warned it could also be inflation ary. As prices rose over the past year and much of the aid expired, real disposable income has tum bled 3.5% over the past 12 months as a Basedresult.on that number, Lenz concluded: “It’s no surprise that people are gloomy.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks

at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Aug. 4, 2022. AP PHOTO

4 Twin City Herald for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 STATE & NATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, often knocks President Joe Biden for high inflation and a looming reces sion — a standard GOP argument going into the November elections. Multiple surveys do show that voters have a sense of foreboding about the economy and that most people fault the president. Re searchers said there’s not a lot of academic analyses to show why many voters seem willing to blame inflation on White House policies and give a pass to statehouses, as inflation had been low in recent decades and less of a factor in elec tions than Andrewjobs.Reeves, a political sci ence professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said most voters likely judge the local and na tional economies by different stan dards. When it comes to state and local officials, voters form opinions through what they observe in their daily lives. But they often gauge the national economy through hard numbers and political ideologies.

The Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz raised the roasted turkey leg like a sword in his Iowa State Fair debut in 2014, the upand-coming conservative joining a half-dozen other Republican pres idential prospects in strolling the GrandFourConcourse.yearslater, almost as many Democrats made the pilgrim age to the fair, including former U.S. Housing and Urban Develop ment Secretary Julian Castro, who snaked his way past tables under the Iowa Pork Producer’s tent at the annual Midwestern tribute to over indulgence.Butasthe 2022 fair entered its final weekend, the 2024 traffic was noticeably light. It speaks to the careful dance that potential presidential candi dates are attempting as Democrats remain uncertain about President Joe Biden’s political future and many Republicans avoid taking on former President Donald Trump. Several would-be GOP candidates have quietly made political inroads in the first-in-the-nation nomi nating state, but they’ve done so by campaigning with Iowa candi dates, not by being so obvious as to stand on straw bales at a perenni al stop for White House hopefuls.

Hoke County Schools gives update on enhanced safety protocols for new school year

Mass casualty exercise to take place at Fort Bragg The Womack Army Medical Center is set to hold a mass casualty exercise this Thursday morning. The “readiness and response exercise” will run from 7 am until 4 pm at the center’s main campus off Reilly Road. In previous exercises, training has mimicked everything from plane crashes, artillery accidents, active shooters, and even nuclear attacks. According to officials involved, the training activities will not affect the outlying clinics, the Support Center, Blood Donor Center, the Intrepid Spirit Center, or the Fayetteville Rehabilitation Clinic.

Board presented with new COVID-19 protocols

Along with the new app, Hoke County Schools also began un dergoing school safety wellness checks and active shooter drills with local law enforcement and other local emergency depart ments.Abig change coming to HCS, according to Hunt, is that along with all staff being required to wear ID/Name Badges at all times, Grades 6-13 students will be required to keep ones on their persons as well while on campus to ensure that administration and law enforcement can more easily assess those that are and are not supposed to be on cam pus.Other changes to school se curity include the implementa tion of Aiphone systems for every front entrance at every school, key fobs for keyless entry for all entrances, and that all doors and classrooms will be locked during instructional hours. Hoke County Schools also will have updated security measures with its bus fleet with the addi tion of the Here Comes the Bus app, which gives real-time GPS updates on bus locations as well as notifications for when students board and exit buses as they will use their ID cards to scan onto

By Hal Nunn North State Journal IN A GAME that started slow and ended just after 11 p.m., the Hoke County Bucks and the Gray’s Creek Bears managed to turn things around for the crowd during the final minutes of play. Unfortunately for the Bucks, the Bears ultimately walked away with a one-point lead for the win. The final score was 35-34. Gray’s Creek took up a major ity of the first quarter only to be picked off inside the 10-yard line by the Bucks’ Te’john Darden. Hoke County couldn’t move the ball, and with a short field, the Bears capital ized by striking first with a touch down and extra point. The Bucks were quick to answer, return ing with a better drive and end ing with an Ethan Wallace 13-yard touchdown run. However, the ex tra point was missed, leaving Hoke trailing by one point as they head ed into the second quarter. The Bucks held the Bears on their next possession before Ethan Wallace hit pay dirt again and managed a 64-yard touchdown run of his own, putting the Bucks up 12-7 with less than five minutes left in the half. Gray’s Creek re turned the favor by putting up an other long drive touchdown and making the two-point conversion. The Bears lead 15-12 at the half. In the third quarter, Gray’s Creek attempted to pull away, go ing up 22-12 with another unan swered touchdown. With just sev en minutes left in the quarter, the Bucks put a huge drive togeth er, with Ethan Wallace scoring his third touchdown of the game. His touchdown brought the score to 22-18 and put the Bucks within four points of the lead. Hoke’s defense stifled the Bears on the next possession, with Ethan Wallace responding with his fourth touchdown of the game. The Bucks immediately capital ized on their success by going for two. They seized the game with a 26-22 lead and roughly 7 minutes left to play. Unfortunately, Grays Creek returned the favor, scoring shortly after the Bucks, making the score 29-26. On the ensuing kickoff, War ren Avery received the kick and re turned it for a 60-yard touchdown run, giving the Bucks a 34-29 lead. At this point in the game, when it seemed both defenses had given up, the Bears marched down again and scored to take the lead. The Bucks failed to drive back in the final three minutes of the game, leaving Gray’s Creek with the win.

58 2017752016 $1.00 HOKE COUNTY VOLUME 7 ISSUE 26 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 | HOKE.NORTHSTATEJOURNAL.COM SUBSCRIBE TODAY: 336-283-6305 COUNTYNEWS

See HOKE SCHOOLS page 2

Last month, a plane attempting to land at a private airstrip in Raeford resulted in the death of one pilot and a crash landing at incidentpreliminarySafetyThebetolater.inbodyplaneflightCrooks,betweenwasMorrisville,WhenduringRaefordreportedlywithcontactpilotsInternationalRaleigh-DurhamAirport.Theofthecraft,whomadewithairtrafficcontrolanemergency,hadabortedlandinginafterlosingawheeltheirinitialattempt.theplanearrivedinonlyonepilotonboard.Atsomepointairports,CharlesHewa23-year-oldpilotandinstructor,exitedthewithoutaparachute.HiswasfoundbehindahouseFuquay-VarinafourhoursTheotherpilotwastakenDukeUniversityhospitaltotreatedwithminorinjuries.NationalTransportationBoardreleaseditsreportonthelastTuesday.

HAL NUNN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL

RAEFORD — The Hoke Coun ty Board of Education met Tues day, August 16, where the board was presented with the updat ed health and safety protocols for the upcoming school year. The RAVE smartphone app is the first updated security mea sure for Hoke County Schools. According to the Assistant Su perintendent of Operations and Information Systems, Dr. Chad Hunt, the app can be used for a range of emergencies from ac tive shooters to allergic reactions by students, fires, and suspicious persons on “[RAVE]campus.isasmartphone app which provides us with the abil ity to communicate with law en forcement and first responders in case there is some type of emer gency that happens on campus,” Hunt said. “It can also be used by staff members to alert admin istration that there is something that is taking place on campus. Staff members can not only send those alerts, but they can also re ceive those alerts to their con nected smartphone as long as they are connected via the sys tem with a telephone number and emailTheaddress.”appis designed to in crease the response time to a po tential emergency, as it alerts not only law enforcement and first responders, but also SROs, school staff, and administration. According to Hunt, it also alerts central office administration. “This is an added layer of se curity,” Hunt said. “It’s not an end-all means approach by any means, but it is a layer that we’ve placed into our system to help with the security of our staff and students and any visitors that may be on campus as well.”

Ethan Wallace finds a big hole in the middle of the Gray’s Creek defense. He scored 4 touchdowns and had 223 all-purpose yards in the Bucks 34-35 home opening loss.

“We sort of came out real slow on defense, and the execution was just not there,” said Coach George Small after the game. “We have been having to rebuild the defense somewhat, and you know defense is what I do, but normally we have to do that with the offense. This year we are more experienced on offense, and on defense, we have some returning guys, but they did not have much playing time last year.”Coach Small acknowledged both teams’ defensive struggles in the second half, saying, “we still have guys whiffing and tip-toeing around the play, and we just cannot play like that.” In the end, the most notable pos itives for the Bucks were the run ning and catching duo performanc es by Ethan Wallace and Warren Avery. Wallace ended the game with 192 yards rushing, 31 yards receiving, and four touchdowns. Avery had 95 all-purpose yards and a 60-yard return for a touch down. Quarterback Brandon Saun ders made nine successful throws amounting to 83 yards and only al lowed one interception. Defensive ly, Darrien Frazier led the way with eight tackles and one sack. The Bucks will play again at home this coming Friday night against Lumberton. The game is set for 7:30 p.m. at Raz Autry Sta dium in Raeford.

Bucks toseasonloseopenerGray’sCreek

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

Landing complications at Raeford private airstrip mysteriouslyends

2 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 HOKE SCHOOLS from page 1 WEEKLY FORECAST We are happy to discuss your needs or questions. We’re here to help! O���R���������A���C����� Committed to serving and enriching the lives of every resident Affordable Assisted Living and Memory Care Caring for Seniors Integrity Open Arms Retirement Center 612 Health Drive • Raeford, NC openarmsretirement.com • 910-875-3949 OpenArms-Generic ad.indd 1 8/4/22 2:27 PM Melissa SWARBRICK FOR NC HOUSE Melissa SWARBRICK HAS A PLAN TO CUT COMBATTINGTAXES HIGH SUPPORTINGINFLATION ENFORCEMENTLAW PUTTING NORTH CAROLINA FAMILIES FIRST FIGHTING FOR BETTER EDUCATION PAID FOR BY SWARBRICK FOR NC HOUSE 48 We stand corrected To report an error or a suspected error, please email: corrections@nsjonline.com with “Correction request” in the subject line. Neal Robbins Publisher Matt Mercer Editor in Chief Griffin Daughtry Local News Editor Cory Lavalette Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor Published each Wednesday as part of North State Journal 1201 Edwards Mill Rd. Suite Raleigh,300NC 27607 TO SUBSCRIBE: Raleigh,Suite1201NorthSendPOSTMASTER:mailingatPeriodicalsAnnualMOORE.NORTHSTATEJOURNAL.COM336-283-6305SubscriptionPrice:$50.00PostagePaidRaleigh,N.C.andatadditionaloffices.addresschangesto:StateJournalEdwardsMillRd.300NC27607 JOHNNY BOYLES for Hoke County Commissioner CONTACT: BOYLES4HOKE@GMAIL.COM | PAID FOR BY COMMITTEE TO ELECT JOHNNY BOYLES • Hoke County Native and Lifelong Resident • Strong Christian Conservative Values • Standing Up for our Hoke County Farmer's, Agricultural Community, Law Enforcement and First Responders • Still Serving at Stonewall Fire Department 49 Years; Treasurer Over 25 years "I want to be a servant to ALL PEOPLE of Hoke County." I Support our Veterans, Active Duty Members and their Families Serving on Law Enforcement Committee Strong Business Strength while Keeping Taxes Low Get in touch Hoke County Edition of North State Journal www hoke.northstatejournal.com WEDNESDAY 8.17.22 “Join conversation”the David Frumpfor County Commissioner Facebook:HOKEforward.com@hokeforward Let’s Move Hoke Forward Together What I stand for • Best Community Planning Planned and Smart Growth • Best Schools Invest in Our Children / Our Future • Best Business Environment Increase Quality Jobs Give us Places to Shop and Things to Do • A Safe Community Support Our First Responders Background • Christian Family Man • Retired Navy Officer Served with Honor 25 Years • Small Business Owner Hoke Farmer for 30 Plus Years Construction and Renovation (Retired) WEDNESDAY AUG 24 HI 8 8° LO 69° PRECIP 8% THURSDAY AUG 25 HI 87 LO 6 8° PRECIP 1 8% FRIDAY AUG 26 HI 8 8° LO 6 8° PRECIP 2 3% SATURDAY AUG 27 HI 8 8° LO 6 8° PRECIP 24% SUNDAY AUG 28 HI 86° LO 6 8° PRECIP 19% MONDAY AUG 29 HI 86° LO 69° PRECIP 19% TUESDAY AUG 30 HI 89° LO 70° PRECIP 21% the bus, and the implementa tion of Pro-Vision bus camer as, which utilizes cloud-based recording to have instant ac cess to bus feeds to improve the time it takes to undergo investigations and discipline for bus matters. In addition to the new se curity measures, HCS also gave an update to their COVID-19 policies for the new school year. Notable Back-to-School Protocols includes providing hand sanitizer in all build ings and buses, conducting daily cleaning and disinfec tion protocols in all buildings and buses, providing well-fit ting masks at all schools and on buses for students, staff, and visitors, offering diag nostic testing and screening testing programs in schools, making home tests available while supplies last, continu ing case investigation and contact tracing for early iden tification of cases, maintain ing a safe room in all schools, maintaining a COVID-19 data tracker and district dashboard, providing en hanced protection supplies if requested, and providing iso lation information to parents. According to Executive Director of Student Support Services Dr. Peggy Owens, for this school year, students and staff that test positive will have to stay home and iso late for at least five days and may return after the initial five days if they are no lon ger symptomatic. Quarantine is also no longer recommend ed for those that are exposed, and it is instead recommend ed that they wear a mask for ten days after and get tested. The Hoke County Board of Education will next meet September 13.

More than 800 citizens and tens Republicans.CommitteeForeignbyaaccordingtodayadministrationthebehindremainpartnersofthousandsofAfghanleftbyBidentonewreportHouseAffairs

Kabul’s fall one year ago was tragic, it was predictable, and it could have been prevented. President Joe Biden ignored the advice of his military commanders. His rushed and disorganized effort to pull the United States out of the region cost American and Afghan lives and left thousands of Americans and our allies behind. Just before the events of August 2021, President Biden announced to the nation that our withdrawal from Afghanistan would not be another Saigon. However, that is exactly what happened. In the chaos that followed the fall, America lost 13 brave U.S. Servicemembers who were attempting to protect Americans and our allies fleeing the Taliban. These servicemembers were heroes who endured extremely dangerous circumstances in order to protect the innocent. This included U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss stationed at Fort Bragg. We continue to pray for the families and friends of all servicemembers lost that day. On top of this tragedy, billions of dollars in equipment and thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies who supported our troops were left behind. My office alone directly contacted or worked with organizations representing more than 11,700 citizens and allies who needed to flee Afghanistan. Our government made them a promise, and Joe Biden broke that promise. More than 800 citizens and tens of thousands of Afghan partners remain left behind by the Biden administration today, according to a new report by House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans. Today, Afghanistan has descended into an abysmal state and a haven for terrorists. Political and social liberties, especially for women, have been severely restricted by the Taliban, and most Afghans are facing acute starvation and poverty. It is estimated that 97% of the population could fall below the poverty line by year’s end. Beyond this humanitarian crisis, Afghanistan has also, once again, become a haven for terrorists. This became clear after the announcement of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri’s death in Kabul. While his death was a major step in the fight against terrorism, the fact that he was in Afghanistan is worrisome and may indicate the country will once again be a cradle for violent extremism.

The situation in Afghanistan is a moral and national security failure, the likes of which we haven’t seen in generations. What’s more, it could have been avoided if President Biden had listened to commanders on the ground. Instead, they prioritized speed over the safety and security of the American people, as well as the well-being of all those in Afghanistan. This is unacceptable. As Fort Bragg’s Congressman, I promise to work diligently to provide oversight of this deadly withdrawal, to get our citizens and allies out of harm’s way, and to honor the brave Americans who lost their lives serving in Afghanistan. While the scope and scale of this catastrophe stands alone, it is unfortunately not the only policy failure that has threatened our nation. In addition to their many foreign policy and national security missteps, Washington Democrats’ economic agenda continues to undermine you and your family. Last week, President Biden signed the ‘Inflation Expansion Act’ into law. This $700 billion bill will raise your taxes, make inflation worse, and enable the IRS to come after you by adding more than 87,000 new agents –more than all the troops stationed at Fort Bragg. With many students going back to school this week, it is estimated that you will pay OVER $660 on average for each of your children this year on back-toschool shopping because of inflation. The last thing families need right now is even more inflation-driving government spending and tax increases. I voted against the ‘Inflation Expansion Act’ and am working on cutting reckless spending and getting our economy back on track. Whether it be demanding accountability over Afghanistan or fighting to grow our economy, I will never stop working for you. Misguided policies from Washington have created numerous challenges for us abroad and at home. Yet I am optimistic for the future of our nation because of strong communities like ours.

3 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 Family Chiropractic Center 24 Years Serving Hoke/Raeford Chiropractic celebrates 127 YEARS Discovered Sept. 18, 1895 Call 875-2500 for appointment To Get Back in Action 751 S. Main St., Mostwww.raefordchiropractic.comRaefordinsuranceled,Medicare& VA Veteran’s Administration covers chiropractic care. Call 910-875-2500 for more info on how. Dr. Tony Santangelo, DC, named NC Chiropractic Association Chiropractor of the Year, based on community service & the profression INDOOR SKYDIVING FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY 190 Paraclete Dr. Raeford, NC 28376 Call Us: INFO@PARACLETEXP.COM910.848.2600WWW.FLYXP.COM OPINION Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor VISUAL COLUMNVOICES | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON IT’S BEEN ONE YEAR. But we will never forget. On August 15th, 2021, Kabul, Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban. This event marked the end of our nation’s 20-year involvement in the country. It also marked a blatant moral and national security failure that has had lasting consequences for our country, allies, and the people of Afghanistan.

We will never forget

James Howard Hayes 68, of Wilmington formerly from Raeford, passed away Monday August 15, 2022, at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. He is predeceased by his mother, Dorothy Hayes, and father, Howard Hayes, Sr., daughter, April Lea Hayes, brothers his twin William Rufus Hayes, Howard Rufus Hayes, Jr., Bert Franklin Hayes, and David Atkinson.Heissurvived by his children: Donnie Hayes, Sr. (Carolyn) of Red Spring, Dawn Ransom of Red Springs, sister, Shirley Honeycutt (Lloyd) of Wilmington, Aunt Louise (Ken) Carroll of Wilmington, stepson, David Martin, and John Martin. H e had 6 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren.

March 1, 1979 ~ August 11, 2022

June 8, 1943 ~ August 18, 2022

DominqueLeVonte'Johnson

JamesMillerClifford

Ellis Ray Locklear

Luvie Gillespie

JamesHayesHoward

RobertHallEugene

4 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 obituaries SPONSORED BY CRUMPLER FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATION Our Family Serving Yours Since 1960 62 YEARS Address: 131 Harris Avenue, Raeford, NC 28376 | Website: www.crumplerfuneralhome.com | Phone: 910-875-415 | Fax: 910-875-6632 We are here for you in your time of need Funeral Home, Crematory, Pre-Arrangements, Grief Share, Veterans Honored Robert GeneKimKel Compassion, Dignity, Respect with Dedicated Professionals

October 25, 1946 ~ August 14, 2022

October 30, 1943 ~ August 18, 2022

Mr. James Clifford Miller II of Raeford passed away on Sunday, August 14, 2022, at First Health Hospice House in Pinehurst at the age of 75. Mr. Miller was born in Hoke County on October 25, 1946, to the late James Clifford Miller Sr. and Eva Mae Plummer Miller. He retired from the Hoke County School System. He was preceded in death by his sister, Frances Sullivan.Heissurvived by two daughters, Angela Miller of Norfolk, VA, and Allison Douglas Billy Hutchison of Raeford, NC, and two grandchildren, Stormy Douglas, and Amber Douglas.

Ms. Luvie Gillespie age, 78 went home to rest with her heavenly father on August 18, 2022. She leaves to cherish her loving memories her daughter, Debra Haynes; granddaughter, Racquel Haynes Richardson; sisters: Bobbie Doby, Lorene Haynes, Annie Mae McMillian, Delois Godwin, Arnell Farmer, Sheila Brown; brother, Thomas Haynes along with a host of other family and friends. Luvie will be immensely missed.

Mr. LaVonte' Johnson age, 43 departed this earthly life to be with his heavenly father on August 11, 2022. He is preceded in death by his brother, Nathan A. Edwards. LaVonte' is survived by his fiance' Kori, mother, Renata Y. King (Larry); father, Garry J. Edwards (Deidre); stepfather, Antonio Watts; children: Thaddeus D, LeVonte' D. Jr., James A; stepdaughter, Kamryn, siblings: Toni E. Scott, Mariah A. Edwards. He will be greatly missed.

Mr. Ellis Ray Locklear, age 79, of Raeford went home to be with his Lord and Savior surrounded by his family on Thursday, August 18, 2022 at his home. Ellis was born in Robeson County on June the 8th, 1943 to the late Alton Locklear and Julia Mae Jackson Locklear. He was preceded in death by several brothers and a sister. Ellis was a member of Mt. Elim Baptist Church, where he served as a deacon. He retired from Burlington Industries in the mid 90’s after 34 years of employment.Heissurvived by his wife of 57 years, Rachel Henderson Locklear of the home, two sons, Billy Ray Locklear and his wife Carol of Red Springs, Kevin Locklear and his wife Debbie of Raeford, two daughters, Diane Locklear and her husband Timothy of Red Springs (Hoke County), Kristy Dawn Locklear of Red Springs (Hoke County). 11 grandchildren, Brandon and his wife Sarah, Ryan and his wife Julia, Timothy, Austin, Dustin and his wife Morgan, Logan, Noah, Hannah, Jordan, Karissa, and Colten. 8 greatgrandchildren, Julia, Jamison, Jared, Sofia, Makai, Gabriel, Owen, and Jolina. A brother, Clifton Locklear of Shannon NC, two sisters, Olia Mae Scott of Red Springs NC, and Dorothy Locklear of Red Springs NC. His special niece, Brenda Woriax and two special nephews Don Mikle Woods and Willie Davis Woods.

May 27, 1958 ~ August 16, 2022 Mr. Robert Eugene Hall, 64 of Red Springs (Hoke County) went home to be with his Lord and Savior on Tuesday, August 16, 2022, at First Health Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst Robert was born in Robeson County on May 27, 1958, to the late John L. Hall and Gladys Locklear Hall. He was preceded in death by his siblings, Don, David, John Allen, Murland, Susie, Adeline, Faith, a special granddaughter, Shayla Baldwin, his mother-in-law, Josephine Raines, his father-in-law, Ralph Lucas, his son-in-law, Robert Studivant, his sister-in-law Shelby, and his nephew Pee Wee. Robert was a member of Mt Elim Baptist Church and retired from the Hoke County School System. He is survived by his wife of 47 years Vickie Hall of the home, two daughters, Tanya Studivant of Red Springs, NC, and Stephanie Hall of Shannon, a son Robert Hall Jr. and his wife Amy of Red Springs, NC, four grandchildren, Jalen, Santasia, Makia, and Robert III, four ofcloseniecesDawna(Durante)sisters-in-law,SallyRedLeilani,Jeremiah,great-grandchildren,Arielle,Alayah,andabrotherEarlHallofSprings,NC,andasisterBarhamofParkton,NC,twoBonnieLocklearofRedSprings,NC,WestbrookofW.V.severalandnephews,aspecialfriend,PatrickHammondsRedSprings,NC.

March 19, 1954 ~ August 15, 2022

Permanent port-a-john service to end in Ray’s Mill Park

RALEIGH — A June 10 letter reveals that Duke University Law School’s First Amendment Clin ic inserted itself into the ongoing fight over alleged obscene books found in Moore County Public Schools.Theletter was addressed to Moore County Board of Education Chair Pam Thompson along with the rest of the board members and was signed by Benjamin Rossi and Sarah Ludington of Duke Law’s First Amendment Clinic (DLFAC). In their letter, DLFAC takes aim at two books successfully re moved “Life is Funny” by E.R. Frank and “Looking for Alaska” by John Green. DLFAC’s letter claims the “removal and banning of these two books violate the Board’s own policies, North Carolina law, and the First Amendment,” and re quests “that in future, all Moore County Schools staff follow the prescribed procedures for chal lenging library books.” The letter goes on to claim the two books were improper ly removed based on the “person al beliefs” of Pinecrest Principal Stefanie Phillips and one board member Philip Holmes, citing that Phillips had characterized the removal of the book “Life is Funny” as being due to “pervasive vulgarity.”“Inlight of the foregoing, we re quest that in the future, all Moore County Schools staff rigorously follow the Board’s 5410R proce dures, and that all decisions con cerning challenges to school li

Following the public hear ing, the board approved the text amendment.Theboard was then present ed with the staff recommendation to remove and end the permanent port-a-john service at Ray’s Mill Park after issues arose between the town and contractor. “We’ve had two port-a-johns out at Ray’s Mill Park really since the park was opened back in 2015,” said Parks & Rec Director Adam Crocker. “It was kind of a compro mise made when the bathroom structure was removed from the project. But it was about the mid dle of July, which was really the first time a citizen had mentioned to our park staff that the port-ajohns needed some attention.”

Duke legal clinic inserted itself into Moore Schools book controversy

ABERDEEN — The Aberdeen Town Board met Monday, where they held two public hearings and discussed the port-a-john services in Ray’s Mill Park. The board held a public hearing for a voluntary annexation request by Collinswood Partners, LLC for 64.859 acres of land located in the town’s extraterritorial jurisdiction north of NC-211 and east of Col linswood Drive. “The request is for an unad dressed parcel and adjacent rightof-way to be annexed,” said Plan ning Director Justin Westbrook.

“It is considered a satellite annex ation and is located within the Town’s Extra Territorial jurisdic tion and currently zoned R-20 (residential single family).”

brary books be in harmony with the First Amendment,” the DL FAC letter reads in closing. “Fur thermore, we ask that the Moore County Schools clarify the sta tus—available or unavailable, un der review for removal or not—of “Life is Funny,” “Looking for Alas ka,” and any other resources chal lenged by Board members.”

The board approved the request following the hearing.

Sources inside Moore County Public Schools indicated that the school board members discussed the DLFAC letter in a closed ses sion on June 6, even though the topic does not appear on the pub lished agenda. While the content of that discussion is unknown, North State Journal was told that the district’s new superinten dent Tim Locklair has attempt ed to “unilaterally rewrite” district policy to only allow challenges to books to be made by parents or guardians of current Moore Coun ty students.Asofmid-July, the two books remain off the shelves in Moore County Schools.

According to an annual study commissioned by Visit North Carolina, a unit of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, Moore County recorded an unexpected $673 million in economic impact from visitor spending in 2021. This figure, which is a 70 percent increase from 2020, when the county recorded $396 million in spending, is the fourth highest rate of increase statewide. Thanks to this past year’s visitor spending, Moore County now claims the tenth highest tourism economy in North Carolina.

The board also held a hearing for a text amendment submitted by Aberdeen First Baptist Church to amend the Unified Develop ment Ordinance Table 5.4.4.B - Minimum Off-Street Parking Standards to increase the number of parking spaces for “Religious In stitution” use types. “[The request] delineates from the UDO in how much parking is required per use at certain rates,” Westbrook said. “It varies from use types using metrics such as gross floor area, number of employees, classroom sizes, and things of that nature. There’s no one size fits all, particularly with calculations. In this particular case, the rule now for religious institutions is one space per six seats in the main as sembly room or one space per 50 square feet if you do not have seats. The applicant has requested that it be changed to one space per four seats so that there’s more parking.”

58 2017752016 $1.00 MOORE COUNTY VOLUME 7 ISSUE 26 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 | MOORE.NORTHSTATEJOURNAL.COM

By Ryan Henkel North State Journal

Three Moore County homes struck by lightning at once Three Aberdeen homes were struck by lightning at once on Sunday morning, leading to a ruptured gas line from an above-ground propane tank and resulting in a fire. The incident, which occurred around 7 am, took place near the intersection of Legacy Lakes Way and Warren Lake Road. Moments later, lighting also struck a home in Southern Pines. Fire Crews were able to shut off the propane source and put out the flames. Ultimately, the three homes sustained minor damages, but no one was injured.

Moore County sees over $600 million in visitor spending

By A.P. Dillon North State Journal

COUNTYNEWS Youth rugby in Southern Pines

According to Crocker, the porta-johns had not been serviced from May through July as the con tractor claimed that the service for the port-a-johns had been can celed.“They can’t tell us who canceled the service,” Crocker said. “They have no notes on it. It was not us; it was not finance. I have no idea how they got canceled. I also do not know if they thought the ser vice was canceled, why they left the port-a-johns there for months in the heart of summer.” Due to a perceived lack of use since the port-a-john issues weren’t seen for months and the high cost of maintaining the porta-johns anyway, the board voted to stop permanent port-a-john ser vices in the park. The board also approved three items with regards to the new Sportsplex, including formal ly naming the facility “Aberdeen Ransdell Sportsplex,” official ly naming the main roadway with the new park facility as “Ransdell Way,” and designating that main roadway within the new facility as a public road for Powell Bill pur poses.Finally, the board authorized the town to move forward with the informal bid process for construc tion improvements to Highway 15501 and the entrance to the sports plex facility and authorization to moveTheforward.Aberdeen Town Board will next meet September 26.

Over 70 participants came out to the Southern Pines Youth Rugby clinic last weekend. Another free clinic will be held on September 18 from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

In order to allow for more park ing, staff recommended that the minimum standard be raised since the UDO states the maximum standard is a direct calculation from the minimum standard. “The parking standards pre scribe a maximum amount as laid out in the UDO, which allows up to 150% of the minimum parking standard,” Westbrook said. “It was designed to prevent an oversupply of parking which will undoubtedly affect the spatial and natural envi ronment in a detrimental fashion.”

Local forestablishesnonprofitscholarshiptradestudents

Mid Carolina Regional Association of REALTORS® recently created an endowed scholarship with Richmond Community College’s Foundation to assist students pursuing a career in construction trades or one that supports the residential development industry. Four students from Richmond, Anson, or Moore counties will be selected annually to receive a $500 scholarship. Students can be enrolled in either shortterm training or college degree programs such as welding, HVACR, electrical, plumbing, general contracting, or introduction to construction. The nonprofit organization responsible for the scholarship has already contributed $40,000 to the fund.

Aberdeen Board approves amendment to increase parking allotment for religious institutions

“The removal and banning of these two books violate the Board’s own policies, North Carolina law, and the First Amendment.”

Statement in letter from DLFAC COURTESY PHOTOS

Join8:30pmAberdeen Parks and Recreation for an outdoor movie night with yard games and brews! This is a family-friendly event. Come watch Guardians of the Galaxy! Aug. 25-28 Catch the final showings of “tick, tick...BOOM!” this weekend at McPherson Theatre at BPAC. Come see Individual shows start at $35. Aug. 31 Red BloodCrossDrive 9:30am - 3pm The American Red Cross is currently experiencing a shortage of blood donations. Come out to American Legion Post #72 at 211 East Main Street in Aberdeen to donate. moore

WEEKLY CRIME LOG ♦ CRAWLEY, NICHOLAS HUGH, 20, W, M, 8/21/2022, Out of County, Misdemeanor Larceny, Consume Alcohol by 19/20, $7,500 Secured, N/A, Grandy ♦ PULLEN, CHRISTINA, 43, W, F, 8/20/2022, Moore County Sher iff’s Office, Assault Government Official/Employee (x2), Resisting Public Officer, Communicating Threats, Disorderly Conduct, Second Degree Trespass, Simple Assault (x2), No Bond, 9/22/22, Lakeview ♦ LEWIS, MICHAEL BRIAN, 27, W, M, 8/20/2022, Aberdeen PD, Larceny Motor Vehicle Parts, Possess Schedule III CS, Misdemeanor Lar ceny, $5,000 Secured, 9/21/22, Cameron ♦ WILLIAMSON, BRANDON SCOTT, 31, W, M, 8/19/2022, Pinehurst PD, Felony Possession of Cocaine, Misdemeanor Larceny, Possession of Stolen Goods/Property, Simple Possession Schedule II CS, Pos sess Drug Paraphernalia, $4,000 Secured, 8/24/22, Rockingham ♦ CAMPBELL, AUSTIN RAY, 32, W, M, 8/19/2022, Pinehurst PD, Felony Possession of Cocaine, Possess Drug Paraphernalia, Larceny of Motor Vehicle, Obtain Property False Pretense, Larceny of a Fire arm, $10,000 Secured, 8/22/22, Hamlet ♦ BELTON, DARREN STEPHON, 24, B, M, 8/19/2022, Aberdeen PD, Possession of Firearm by Felon, Attempted First Degree Murder, Attempted Robbery - Dangerous Weapon, Felony Conspiracy, Assault w/ Deadly Weapon w/ Intent Kill Inflciting Serious Injury, $750,000 Secured, 8/22/22, Fayetteville ♦ BEADLE, KENNETH JACOB, 23, W, M, 8/19/2022, Moore County Sheriff’s Office, Larceny of a Fire arm, Injury to Personal Property, Simple Possession Schedule II CS, Possess Drug Parapherna lia, Simple Possess Schedule VI CS, $10,500 Secured, 9/8/22, Homeless ♦ HERENDEEN, TRACEY PRICE, 53, W, F, 8/18/2022, Moore Coun ty Sheriff’s Office, Shoplifting Concealment Goods, Reg Plate Improperly Attached, DWLR Not Impaired Rev, $2,000 Secured, 9/15/22, Westend ♦ BLUE, MICHAEL BENTON, 58, W, M, 8/17/2022, Moore County Sher iff’s Office, Sexual Battery, $5,000 Secured, 9/8/22, Carthage ♦ HALL, JOYCE RENEE, 39, W, F, 8/16/2022, Robbins PD, Larceny of Motor Vehicle, Drive While License Revoked Impaired Rev Based, Mis demeanor Larceny (x2), Larceny of a Firearm, $12,500 Secured, 11/21/22, Robbins

happeningNeal Robbins Publisher Matt Mercer Editor in Chief Griffin Daughtry Local News Editor Cory Lavalette Sports Editor Frank Hill Senior Opinion Editor Lauren Rose Design Editor Published each Wednesday as part of North State Journal 1201 Edwards Mill Rd. Suite Raleigh,300NC 27607 TO SUBSCRIBE: Raleigh,Suite1201NorthSendPOSTMASTER:mailingatPeriodicalsAnnualMOORE.NORTHSTATEJOURNAL.COM336-283-6305SubscriptionPrice:$50.00PostagePaidRaleigh,N.C.andatadditionaloffices.addresschangesto:StateJournalEdwardsMillRd.300NC27607 WEEKLY FORECAST

MOORE CITIZENS FOR FREEDOM MOORE COUNTY

Ju piter’s Great Red Spot, a storm big enough to swallow Earth, stands out brightly alongside countless smaller storms. One wide-field picture is par ticularly dramatic, showing the faint rings around the planet, as well as two tiny moons against a glittering background of galaxies.

Remember that we live in the best country, the best state, and by far the best county. MOORE COUNTY, WHAT A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE!

“We’ve never seen Jupiter like this. It’s all quite incredible,” plan etary astronomer Imke de Pater, of the University of California, Berkeley, said in a statement. He helped lead the observation. “We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be honest.” The infrared images were ar tificially colored in blue, white, green, yellow and orange, accord ing to the U.S.-French research team, to make the features stand out.NASA and the European Space Agency’s $10 billion successor to the Hubble Space Telescope rock eted away at the end of last year and has been observing the cos mos in the infrared since sum mer. Scientists hope to behold the dawn of the universe with Webb, peering all the way back to when the first stars and galaxies were forming 13.7 billion years ago. The observatory is positioned 1 million miles from Earth.

Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in Moore County: Aug. 25 Trivia Thursday at the Brewery Come6pm out for Trivia at the Southern Pines Brewery! Enjoy fun and prizes each Thursday. Southern Pines Brewing Company is located at 565 Air Tool Dr., Southern Pines, NC. Aug. 19 Drafts & Laughs Outdoor Movie Night

Jupiter’s auroras, tiny moons

Get in touch Moore County Edition of North State Journal www moore.northstatejournal.com WEDNESDAY 8.24.22 “Join conversation”the WEDNESDAY AUG 24 HI 8 8° LO 69° PRECIP 8% THURSDAY AUG 25 HI 87 LO 6 8° PRECIP 1 8% FRIDAY AUG 26 HI 8 8° LO 6 8° PRECIP 2 3% SATURDAY AUG 27 HI 8 8° LO 6 8° PRECIP 24% SUNDAY AUG 28 HI 86° LO 6 8° PRECIP 19% MONDAY AUG 29 HI 86° LO 69° PRECIP 19% TUESDAY AUG 30 HI 89° LO 70° PRECIP 21% This JulyTelescopeWebbtheobtainedJupiterimagecompositeaNASAprovidedimagebyshowsfalsecolorofbyJamesSpaceon27,2022. NASA VIA AP

New space telescope shows

TUNE andSundays104.1990WEEBINTOAMand97.3FM1-2PMTheJohnMaureenshow

2 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022

The Associated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The world’s newest and biggest space telescope is showing Jupiter as never before, auroras and all. Scientists released the shots Monday of the solar system’s big gestTheplanet.James Webb Space Tele scope took the photos in July, cap turing unprecedented views of Jupiter’s northern and southern lights, and swirling polar haze.

COLUMN | MICHAEL BARONE

More than 800 citizens and tens aboutmorecavalier,muchhasU.S.administrations,andObamanorm-observingtheareInRepublicans.CommitteeForeignbyaaccordingtodayadministrationthebehindremainpartnersofthousandsofAfghanleftbyBidentonewreportHouseAffairswhatwetoldaremoderate,Bidengovernmentbecomemorenotcareful,liberties.

The overbreadth of the Espionage Act makes this easy. The law’s Section 793(d) says that “a person lawfully in possession of information that the government has classified as secret” — and the government notoriously overclassifies material, including editions of The New York Times — “who turns it over to someone not lawfully entitled to possess it has committed a crime.” Espionage! A further section, 793(g), is a conspiracy count that says that anyone who conspires to help a source hand over such material has committed the same crime. In other words, a lot of journalism could be prosecuted as a felony — and so could a lot of conduct of former government officials, even presidents. This gives government prosecutors a license to target and jail political opponents, as Wilson targeted and jailed Debs. In the century after Wilson, most administrations resisted this temptation. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had served in the Wilson administration, was advised days after Pearl Harbor to prosecute the Chicago Tribune for an article implying that the U.S. had broken Japanese codes, he brushed the idea aside. The Obama administration had a different approach, however. And the Mar-a-Lago warrant suggests that the Biden administration does as well. The Obama FBI, as we now know, sent a lawyer to lie to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. Now, President Joe Biden seems to be using the ludicrously overbroad Espionage Act to suggest to the credulous Left that Trump stashed nuclear secrets in Mar-a-Lago to be turned over to his friends in Russia.Inhis account of the Espionage Act of 1917, Moynihan wrote, “Gradually, over time, the American government has become careful about liberties.” That now needs a rewrite. Suddenly, in what we are told are the moderate, norm-observing Obama and Biden administrations, the U.S. government has become much more cavalier, not more careful, about liberties. The arc of justice has bent backward toward the days when Wilson jailed Debs.

Kabul’s fall one year ago was tragic, it was predictable, and it could have been prevented. President Joe Biden ignored the advice of his military commanders. His rushed and disorganized effort to pull the United States out of the region cost American and Afghan lives and left thousands of Americans and our allies behind. Just before the events of August 2021, President Biden announced to the nation that our withdrawal from Afghanistan would not be another Saigon. However, that is exactly what happened. In the chaos that followed the fall, America lost 13 brave U.S. Servicemembers who were attempting to protect Americans and our allies fleeing the Taliban. These servicemembers were heroes who endured extremely dangerous circumstances in order to protect the innocent. This included U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss stationed at Fort Bragg. We continue to pray for the families and friends of all servicemembers lost that day. On top of this tragedy, billions of dollars in equipment and thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies who supported our troops were left behind. My office alone directly contacted or worked with organizations representing more than 11,700 citizens and allies who needed to flee Afghanistan. Our government made them a promise, and Joe Biden broke that promise. More than 800 citizens and tens of thousands of Afghan partners remain left behind by the Biden administration today, according to a new report by House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans. Today, Afghanistan has descended into an abysmal state and a haven for terrorists. Political and social liberties, especially for women, have been severely restricted by the Taliban, and most Afghans are facing acute starvation and poverty. It is estimated that 97% of the population could fall below the poverty line by year’s end. Beyond this humanitarian crisis, Afghanistan has also, once again, become a haven for terrorists.

3 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 OPINION Neal Robbins, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor VISUAL COLUMNVOICES | U.S. REP. RICHARD HUDSON

This became clear after the announcement of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri’s death in Kabul. While his death was a major step in the fight against terrorism, the fact that he was in Afghanistan is worrisome and may indicate the country will once again be a cradle for violent extremism.Thesituation in Afghanistan is a moral and national security failure, the likes of which we haven’t seen in generations. What’s more, it could have been avoided if President Biden had listened to commanders on the ground. Instead, they prioritized speed over the safety and security of the American people, as well as the well-being of all those in Afghanistan. This is unacceptable. As Fort Bragg’s Congressman, I promise to work diligently to provide oversight of this deadly withdrawal, to get our citizens and allies out of harm’s way, and to honor the brave Americans who lost their lives serving in Afghanistan. While the scope and scale of this catastrophe stands alone, it is unfortunately not the only policy failure that has threatened our nation. In addition to their many foreign policy and national security missteps, Washington Democrats’ economic agenda continues to undermine you and your family. Last week, President Biden signed the ‘Inflation Expansion Act’ into law. This $700 billion bill will raise your taxes, make inflation worse, and enable the IRS to come after you by adding more than 87,000 new agents – more than all the troops stationed at Fort Bragg.With many students going back to school this week, it is estimated that you will pay OVER $660 on average for each of your children this year on back-to-school shopping because of inflation. The last thing families need right now is even more inflation-driving government spending and tax increases. I voted against the ‘Inflation Expansion Act’ and am working on cutting reckless spending and getting our economy back on track. Whether it be demanding accountability over Afghanistan or fighting to grow our economy, I will never stop working for you. Misguided policies from Washington have created numerous challenges for us abroad and at home. Yet I am optimistic for the future of our nation because of strong communities like ours.

We will never forget

IT’S BEEN ONE YEAR. But we will never forget. On August 15th, 2021, Kabul, Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban. This event marked the end of our nation’s 20-year involvement in the country. It also marked a blatant moral and national security failure that has had lasting consequences for our country, allies, and the people of Afghanistan.

WHEN FEDERAL AGENTS removed top-secret documents from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last week, they carried with them a search warrant citing possible violations of the Espionage Act. Ah, the Espionage Act! How that must have sounded comfortingly confirmatory to those leftists who still believe, despite the total lack of evidence, that Trump was elected and governed in collusion with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. These reports surely have some folks gleefully contemplating the prospect of the 45th president being consigned to the ten years in the slammer that is the maximum penalty for violations of the Espionage Act. But as the left-wing Substacker Matt Taibbi pointed out, “Anyone thrilled at the prospect of trying to prosecute a former president under the Espionage Act has blacked out the recent history of this law.” It’s a history of liberal Democrats invoking a notoriously overbroad statute to curb freedom of the press and penalize criticism of government policy. The Espionage Act of 1917 passed with 56 dissenting votes two months after the United States had declared war against Germany. President Woodrow Wilson and Congress were responding, as former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) explained in his 1998 book “Secrecy,” to pre-1917 sabotage. In July 1916, German agents blew up the Black Tom munitions dump in New York harbor, with an explosion loud enough to be heard in Connecticut and Maryland. The Espionage Act was passed with bipartisan support and was supplemented by a Sedition Act banning “abusive language.” This was used to prosecute and jail socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs, who had received some 900,000 votes in 1912. Thankfully, a Republican Congress allowed the Sedition Act to expire, and President Warren Harding, a Republican and a journalist, commuted Debs’ sentence and invited him to the White House. The Espionage Act was not used much in the century after Wilson because the government classified so much material, including widely disseminated newspaper articles, that just about anyone could be targeted. But recently, there have been exceptions. In 2013, the Obama Justice Department used the Espionage Act to justify wiretapping trunk lines and 30 separate Associated Press phones. It snooped on Fox News reporter James Rosen’s phones and named him as a “co-conspirator” in an Espionage Act leak case.

The Obama administration, wrote former New York Times reporter James Risen in December 2016, “prosecuted nine cases involving whistleblowers and leakers, compared with only three by all previous administrations combined.’”

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

The Espionage Act of 1917 once again rears its ugly head

Mary Lou Sutter passed on Tuesday morning, August 16, 2022 after an extended battle with COPD. She was proceeded in death by her husband Walter E. Sutter and her brothers Don Severt, Dick Severt, Kenny Severt, and Bob Severt. She is survived by her sister-in-law Frances Severt, stepdaughter Diane E. Sutter (husband Ronald J. Pettis, grandchildren Andy Sword and wife Jessica and Taylor Sword and wife Nicki and great grandchild Wesley) and stepson Robert D. Sutter (wife Alison McGee and granddaughter NinaMaryCarlile).Louise Severt was born on October 14, 1932, in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of Calista Dorothy McEldowney and William Frank Severt, the 4th of 5 children. Mary Lou graduated from High School in Dayton in 1950 and began work as an administrative assistant at nearby Wright Patterson Air Force Base. She started working in the private sector as an Executive Secretary, first for General Precision in Tarrytown, New York and later for Page Communications Engineers and Northrup Corporation in Washington DC. While working at Page, she met Walt Sutter, and they were married in 1974 at St. John’s the Beloved Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia. After retiring in 1984 and moving to Pinehurst, she became extremely active in the Pinehurst Country Club and was involved in many club events. As with many in Pinehurst, Mary Lou enjoyed golf and loved her golfing partners. She played regularly with her groups and gathered often for lunches and other social events, continuing these traditions even after she could no longer play. She was devoted to her husband Walt and enjoyed time with her stepchildren and their extended families. She has left to join Walt and her many friends that have gone before and will be sorely missed by the many people who knew her.

Mary Lou Sutter

Edwin Brown Black, loved and respected by all who knew him, passed away on August 15, 2022 at the age of 98 years old. Known around town as Ed, Mr. Black was born in Pinehurst on March 13, 1924, grew up in Pinehurst and graduated from Pinehurst High School. Upon graduation from high school, Ed joined the Navy and received his training in Baybridge, Maryland and Norfolk, Virginia. Assigned to the USS Rich Destroyer Escort 695, Ed boarded the USS Rich in New Orleans, LA on his Commission Day of October 1, 1943. From Londonderry, Ireland, on May 1944, the USS Rich was ordered to assist in the D-Day invasion. On June 6th, the USS Rich joined the other ships in this historic invasion along the shores of Normandy. On June 8th, while attempting to rescue other sailors in need, the USS Rich hit three mines and suffered severe casualties. After suffering multiple life-threatening injuries himself, Ed was hospitalized in England.After his Navy career, Ed joined the United States Postal Services and enjoyed helping locals with their mail. Upon retirement from the Post Office, Ed returned to hosting shows on the radio, drawing from his service on the USS Rich as a radio man. Ed entertained audiences across the airways from Florida to SC and NC. Along with being in radio, Ed also contributed many articles to various publications from Charlotte to Mount Gilead, Troy, Albemarle, Gastonia and the surrounding PinehurstRetiringarea.from WSOC in Charlotte, Ed continued his commitment to many veteran’s associations as he and his long-time companion, Dorothy Cole, known as Dot, traveled extensively both nationally and internationally. Instrumental in preserving many veteran projects, Ed has been proactive with generous donations of both time and money.

February 6, 1960 - August 19, 2022

EdwinBlackBrown

FrancinePorterLeilani

4 North State Journal for Wednesday, August 24, 2022 obituaries SPONSORED BY BOLES FUNERAL HOMES & CREMATORY Locations in: Southern Pines (910) 692-6262 | Pinehurst (910) 235-0366 | Seven Lakes (910) 673-7300 Email:www.bolesfuneralhome.commd@bolesfuneralhome.com CONTACT @BolesFuneralHomes Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in NSJ at obits@northstatejournal.com

Debra Lynn Kelso, age 62, passed away on August 19th, 2022, surrounded by her family. Debra was an amazing Mother, Mother-in-law, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, Sister, Aunt, Friend, and coworker. She is loved by many and missed by all.She is survived by her husband, Bob, of 44 years. Son, Robert Kelso, daughter-in-law Jennifer Dawn Kelso, grandchildren Drake, Eric and wife Mackenzie, and great grandchildren Deacon and Stella. Son, Kenneth Kelso, daughter-inlaw Ashlee Kelso, and grandchildren Bradley, Casey, Kaylynn, Jordan, Leeann, Tristan, Lorelai, and Mary. Daughter, Jennifer Rae Kelso and grandchildren, Faith, Christine, James, and Tyler. Her sister, Cindy Richie and her children Junior and Tanya. Her great nieces and great nephews, Autumn, Heather, and Levi. Debra is also survived by numerous friends and coworkers that loved her. Debra was preceded in death by her Parents, Carl and Evelyn Evilsizer, and brother Chuck Evilsizer.

March 3, 1942 - August 18, 2022 Woodrow Franklin Adkins, 80 of Southern Pines, passed away on August 18, 2022 at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital. Born on March 3, 1942 in West Virginia to the late Woodrow Wilson Adkins and Evie Adkins. Woodrow was raised in West Virginia by his mother, Evie and step-father, Oley before settling in North Carolina. He proudly served in the US WoodrowArmy.was an honorable man that always provided for his family. He enjoyed coaching and put many hours into developing and mentoring youth athletes to become better people. He could fix about anything and was quite the handyman around his home. He enjoyed riding his Harley Davidson any chance he had but mostly he enjoyed time with his wife and family.Inaddition to his parents, he was preceded in death by one grandson, Barry; and two sisters, Cathy and Ann.He is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Nancy Jean Adkins; two children, Stephanie Adkins (Yosef) and Timothy Adkins (Stacey); four grandchildren, Amber, Bryce, Brock and Chase; also survived by many of the Burger/ Adkins, nieces and nephews and step sisters and brothers. Woodrow was looking forward to becoming a great grandfather in December to baby Royal.

Francine Leilani Porter, age 77, passed away on August 18, 2022 at 9:08PM. It was a peaceful transition thanks to the compassionate care of The Hospice House staff. Born on October 20, 1944 in Honolulu, Hawaii to the late Billy Joe and Sarah Lindley Langford. Francine proudly served in the US Navy. She was very energetic and loved to laugh. In 2017 she rededicated her life to Jesus and from that day forward, she spent every day studying her bible In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by one sister, Meri Louise Milton. She is survived by daughter, Leilani Renee Medlin (Greg) of West End; sister, Sharon Diane Kinnear (Chris) of Texas; two granddaughters, Kristina Renee Medlin and Heather Ann Medlin; three great grandchildren, McKayla Renee, Madyson Noelle and Joel Davidson Ronald Greg(aka JD) and several nieces and nephews: Jami, Brian, Jack, John, Morgan, and Andrew. She loved them all.

October 20, 1944 - August 18, 2022

Mary SundstromKerriganJean July 30, 1935 - August 16, 2022 Mary Jean Kerrigan Sundstrom, age 87, of Pinehurst, NC passed away on August 16, 2022. She grew up in Fitchburg, MA and graduated from Trinity College in Washington DC with a political science degree. She was employed by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the Human Relations Department. Her father, Ambrose Kerrigan, graduated from MIT, and her mom, Marion, graduated from Boston University.Sheissurvived by her husband, Ron. They were married on June 24th, 1961, in Massachusetts. She is survived by her daughter, Ellie Sundstrom and her six children: Sarah & David Erdos with children Aviya, Rafael & Eden; Abigail & Rondale Austin with children Jayden & Josiah; Stephen & Genesis Greek with child Ariella; Andrew, Jacob & David Greek, Son Stephen and spouse Lauren with children Mia and Leo, Daughter Karen and spouse Dutch Thomson with children GraceAnna & Scott, Her brother, Jim Kerrigan of Ithaca, NY and his children, along with the Vollmer family from Madison, Connecticut. Her sister, Joan Vollmer, passed away in 1991.Ronand Jean lived throughout the United States. First to California (Anaheim, San Diego and San Francisco), then to Rochester, NY. They retired to Pinehurst, NC in 1998 where they enjoyed playing golf and tennis and the beauty of Pinehurst. She was instrumental in organizing 10 family reunions over the course of 25 years. She leaves behind her Irish humor, playing the game well, and the thrill of a great golf shot.

October 14, 1932 - August 16, 2022

FranklinWoodrowAdkins

March 13, 1924 - August 15, 2022

Debra Lynn Kelso