Trump taps housing regulator Pulte to be acting director of national intelligence
President Donald Trump has tapped Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to be the acting director of national intelligence — elevating a real estate scion without any clear national security credentials to a key post as the U.S. remains at war with Iran. Trump made the surprise announcement Tuesday on social media that Pulte would be replacing Tulsi Gabbard, the former Hawaii congresswoman who had served as the director of national intelligence. Trump said Pulte will keep his other positions even as he lls in for Gabbard, who resigned last month after revealing her husband’s cancer diagnosis.
Trump signs executive order to vet top AI models for national security risks
President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order on arti cial intelligence. The order establishes a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release. The government will be able to work with trusted partners “that will have early access to covered frontier models to promote secure innovation and strengthen the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure,” the order says.
Canada calls for U.S., Mexico free-trade agreement to be renewed for 16 years
Canada is calling on the United States and Mexico to renew the free trade agreement between the countries for another 16 years just as U.S. President Donald Trump revives talk of making Canada the 51st state. Canada’s minister for U.S. trade sent a letter to United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Mexico’s Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard on Tuesday that conveys Canada’s recommendation. The letter comes ahead of the scheduled July review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, the latest version of free trade agreements among the U.S., Mexico and Canada dating back to the early 1990s that have intertwined the economies of the three North American countries. Trump posted “51st State!” on social media late Monday.
Albemarle city leaders promote upcoming patriotic drone show
O cials discussed details for the event
By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal
ALBEMARLE — Local o -
cials used Monday night’s Albemarle City Council meeting to highlight the upcoming Lights of Liberty Drone Show, a free patriotic event set for Friday night at City Lake Park. The event, planned for
9 p.m. at 815 Concord Road, will serve as the aftershow for the city’s regular Food Truck Friday gathering and is tied to local America 250 celebrations.
It will mark Stanly County’s rst drone show.
“I hope you’ll join us on this Friday, June 5, at 9 p.m. as we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary,” City Manager Darren Rhodes said. “The America 250 NC Stanly County Committee will have a spectacular free drone show at City
Lake Park. This one-of-a-kind show will feature 250 illuminated drones choreographed to narration and music, creating vivid moving images and patriotic scenes across the night sky.” The show is being organized by the America 250 NC Stanly County Committee, with Uwharrie Bank serving as presenting sponsor and Open Sky Drone Light Shows handling drone operations. Before the drone show,
Locust Police Department reports o cer training, advancement gains
The department said the training push re ects a focus on professional development
By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal
LOCUST — Locust Police Department o cers have logged more than 4,000 combined training hours since 2020 while earning new certications, promotions and educational credentials, according to a recent department news release.
On Friday, the LPD reported a series of o cer training and professional development
accomplishments. Police Chief Je Shew said the department has sought to develop o cers while also supporting a family- rst approach when job duties allow.
“I am incredibly proud of the work each Locust o cer puts in to be more knowledgeable and well-trained in their roles as o cers here,” Shew said in a statement. “Though it betters them as o cers overall, it even more so bene ts our community, our residents, and visitors here in Locust.”
Since 2020, the LPD has reported eight North Carolina Criminal Justice Education
guests are encouraged to arrive early for Food Truck Friday, which will run 5:30 -9 p.m. at City Lake Park. The event will include food trucks, open lawn seating and live music from Heart Breaker, a Mooresville-based classic rock tribute act specializing in the music of Heart and Led Zeppelin. Attendees are encouraged to bring chairs or blankets. Mayor Ronnie Michael also
West Stanly Colts Malia Whitley, left, and Katie Broadaway get red up ahead
championship softball series at UNC Greensboro on Friday. Turn to Sports
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Former NC o cer charged in beating caught on video
The victim’s charges for resisting arrest and assault have since been dismissed
The Associated Press
SHELBY — A former North Carolina police o cer caught on a doorbell camera repeatedly punching a woman in the face was charged Monday with assault.
The video of Shelby Ocer Karson Hyder pummeling Cherrie Moore on Friday has circulated widely on social media. Hyder, 22, turned himself in to the Cleveland County Detention Center on Monday morning and was released on a $10,000 secured bond. Court records do not list an attorney
for him, and a phone number associated with his name was out of service.
Hyder, who was suspended Friday and red on Saturday, was responding to a breaking-and-entering call when the scu e ensued.
According to a warrant, Moore, 34, ed the residence on foot and resisted arrest, assaulting Hyder by “grabbing and ripping (his) uniform.”
A separate warrant led Monday alleged Hyder “unlawfully and willfully did assault and strike Cherrie Moore” by grabbing Moore “by the arm, pushing her to the ground and striking her in the face with a closed st, thereby in icting serious injury possible broken nose and busted lip.”
The State Bureau of Investigation had announced Satur-
day it had opened an investigation into Hyder.
Moore was initially charged with breaking and entering, resisting arrest and assault on a public o cer, but the latter two charges have since been dismissed. She was freed on an unsecured bond. A phone number associated with Moore was disconnected.
Her attorney, Ronald Haynes, told The Associated Press in an email that Moore “is recovering and receiving treatment for her mental health.”
“The heinous actions of former O cer Karson Hyder will forever negatively impact Ms. Cherrie Moore and her family,” Haynes continued. “It’s a small relief that city o cials responded so promptly to terminate and charge Mr. Hyder.”
Wildlife game camera image, drone used to arrest man in fatal shooting of Virginia deputy
while ringing a doorbell in North Carolina
By Kathy McCormack The Associated Press
INVESTIGATORS in North Carolina used a wildlife game camera image and a drone to nd and arrest a man wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of a Virginia sheri ’s deputy who was conducting a welfare check, authorities said. The suspect, identi ed as Michael Puckett, was found with a gun Sunday night, two days after the shooting, as he was ringing the doorbell of a home less than several miles from the Virginia state line in Surry County. He was arrested and booked without bond, the
state’s bureau of investigation said in a news release. Multiple law enforcement agencies took part in the search.
Puckett, 55, appeared for an extradition hearing Monday, where he waived his right to a court-appointed lawyer and awaited transport to Virginia, WXII-TV reported.
In Virginia, the Carroll County Sheri ’s O ce said the fatal shooting occurred after law enforcement received a request from a family member to do a welfare check last Friday.
A man at the home began shooting, and the two sheri ’s deputies who had responded returned re, the sheri ’s o ce said. Both deputies were hit, and the man ran away. Other people were in the home at the time. They were not hurt, according to Carroll
County Sheri Kevin Kemp. Deputy Logan Utt was killed. The second deputy, who was struck in his ballistic vest, was recovering at home and was in good condition, Kemp said Sunday. There was a massive search for the suspect, who was “spotted on wildlife game camera in Surry County, North Carolina,” north of the city of Mount Airy, on Sunday morning, police said. A drone was used to track his movements.
Utt, 31, was a military veteran who joined the department in 2023. A funeral procession was held Monday afternoon from Roanoke, Virginia, to Mount Airy, where Utt was a former re ghter.
“He had a servant’s heart. He cared for others, he cared for his country, he cared for his family,” Kemp said.
June 4
Thursday’s
The
Through
June 6
Stanly
June 6
Stanly
to 7 p.m.
A day lled with food, beverages, crafts and family-friendly activities. Pet friendly. Admission is $5. 722 S. Oak Ridge Road Oakboro
June 27
Summer Concert Series: The Tams and Special Fireworks Display 7-10 a.m.
Musical guests The Tams with a celebratory reworks display, celebrating America 250. Beverages and food available onsite.
The Backyard 186 Ray Kennedy Drive Locust
THE CONVERSATION
Trip Ho end, publisher | Frank Hill,
senior opinion editor
COLUMN
| DAVID HARSANYI
Democrats are in no position to lecture anyone about candidates
Democrats had a chance to be normal. They chose crazy.
DEMOCRATS ARE AGAIN acting like they occupy the high moral ground of American politics. But if 2026 has proven anything, it’s that there’s virtually nothing a left-wing candidate could say or do that would elicit condemnation from Democrats if doing so threatened their power.
Democrats, for example, demand credit for their opposition to Maureen Galindo, the Texas congressional candidate who proposed putting American “Zionists” (wink, wink) into concentration camps and castrating them, lost her Texas primary last week, winning 36% of the vote — not a bad showing for a politician championing mass imprisonment of her political enemies.
The question, though, is whether House Minority Leader Hakeem Je ries or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or anyone at Pod Save America or the Bulwark had uttered a word in protest, had Galindo already won her primary before making those comments? All the evidence strongly suggests no.
And by evidence, I mean their explicit support for slightly less o ensive cranks, extremists, bigots and terrorism apologists such as new party power broker Hasan Piker, the socialist Hezbollah fan Abdul el Sayed in Michigan or the Hamas apologist Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania, a guy who suggested the massacre of Jews at Bondi Beach was a “false ag” operation by “Zionists.”
Imagine telling someone 20 years ago that a leading congressional candidate in a New Jersey district situated right outside New York City had both volunteered for an al Qaeda front in Europe and spent years being friends with “The Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman, the longtime jihadi preacher who was sentenced for seditious conspiracy after planning a “day of terror” in 1995. Adam Hamawy defended Abdel-Rahman during his trial. And yet not a single notable Democrat has called him out on it.
Many of the same Democrats who expect Republicans to wring their hands over Republican Texas senatorial candidate Ken Paxton, a man tainted by corruption, have o ered a full-throated endorsement of a man who knowingly got and kept a Totenkopf SS Nazi tattoo for 20 years.
| JAMES CARTER AND JACOB CHOE
It’s not just that Graham Platner’s mentally unstable ravings, including saying a Purple Heart recipient didn’t “deserve to live,” that “all cops are bastards,” that white rural Americans were “racist and stupid,” that the Virgin Mary was a “skank,” defending child killers of Hamas or contending that sexual assault victims bring it on themselves. It’s that he still uses unhinged Marxist language right now.
Platner isn’t the rst skeeze to run for major o ce, but he might be the most extreme. Only two elected Democrats, as far as I can tell, have spoken out about Platner’s soft spot for Nazis. One is Sen. John Fetterman, who is under relentless attack from his own party for supporting Israel over Islamists, and Rep. Jake Auchincloss.
Now, if Platner’s opponent in Maine was a raging, corrupt ideologue, independents might be torn between two dangerous candidates. But the Republican in Maine is incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, perhaps the most milquetoast centrist member of the entire chamber.
Some Democrats rationalize their support for a self-described “communist” by noting that control of the Senate is far more important than worrying about the individual ravings of unhinged candidates. Though gutless
establishment Democrats did virtually nothing to counter extremists during the primaries, there’s a utilitarian logic to this thinking. But then you’re in no position to lecture Republicans about Paxton or anyone else, for that matter.
The 2026 elections will be held during the second term of an unpopular presidency, so there’s no telling how many Democrats will win. Or, perhaps, the new reality is that pro-Islamist Marxists are now an in uential part of the contemporary Democratic Party. How popular such a party will be nationally moving forward is yet to be seen. I am constantly being assured that Democrats are the adults in the room. I’m supposed to believe that self-styled socialists are not only going to uphold norms, decency and democratic institutions but also improve the economic conditions of Americans. That contention clashes with every shred of historical evidence we possess. Democrats had a chance to be normal. They chose crazy.
David Harsanyi is a senior writer at the Washington Examiner. (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)
COLUMN
The U.S. ally that figured out China’s game plan long before Washington
China is not a trading partner that plays by the rules.
WASHINGTON HAS SPENT decades talking about the U.S.-Japan alliance in military terms. Carrier groups. Missile defense. Deterrence. Those things matter enormously. But the alliance runs far deeper than defense planning, and right now the economic dimension deserves more attention than it is getting.
It runs through factories, ports, semiconductor supply chains, cattle ranches, shipping corridors, food processing systems and business relationships that never make the evening news.
Understanding why that matters requires being honest about something Washington spent too long avoiding: China is not a trading partner that plays by the rules. It is a strategic competitor that uses economic leverage as a weapon, and every supply chain that runs through Beijing is a vulnerability waiting to be exploited.
Japan gured this out before most American policymakers did.
The U.S.-Japan relationship stands out in the current environment precisely because it is built on something China cannot o er: genuine mutual trust developed over decades of transparent commerce, shared democratic values and consistent institutional behavior. That is not a diplomatic abstraction but rather a practical asset with real economic consequences.
Japan remains badly underestimated by many in Washington. Its food processing and agricultural technology sectors are extraordinarily sophisticated. Precision packaging, cold-chain logistics, sanitation systems and production e ciency are not glamorous topics, but they matter enormously in modern trade.
They reduce waste, improve reliability and create the kind of supply chain stability that China’s record of concealment, manipulation and economic coercion has repeatedly destroyed.
American agricultural producers bene t from the Japanese relationship more than most people realize. Japan is one of the largest overseas markets for U.S. beef, pork, wheat, corn, soybeans, dairy and seafood. Japanese rms invest heavily inside the United States in
automotive manufacturing, logistics, advanced materials, food technology and industrial infrastructure. That is far from dependency. It is the kind of reciprocal economic integration that actually works — because both sides follow the same rules and neither uses market access as a political hostage.
China does. And when it wants to remind you of that fact, it does not send a diplomatic note. It cuts o your supply chain.
Ask any American manufacturer who woke up to nd China restricting exports of gallium and germanium — two minerals essential to semiconductors, defense systems and advanced electronics — what Chinese economic partnership actually looks like in practice.
Beijing controls nearly 90% of the world’s rare earth processing capacity. It did not acquire that dominance through superior geology. It acquired it through decades of deliberate state subsidization, below-market pricing designed to drive foreign competitors out of business and a patient willingness to operate at a loss until the competition disappeared. Once the competition was gone, the leverage arrived. It’s a long con.
Japan understood this dynamic earlier than Washington and has spent years building diversi ed critical mineral supply chains precisely to reduce exposure to Chinese chokepoints. That work is directly relevant to American national security interests right now, and it is one reason the bilateral relationship carries strategic weight beyond what any single trade agreement or defense treaty could capture.
The recent weakness of the yen deserves more attention than it has received. Most commentary treats it as a Japanese problem. That misses half the picture.
A weaker yen lowers costs for American importers, manufacturers and rms purchasing Japanese industrial inputs and specialized technologies. It also encourages additional Japanese investment into the United States at precisely the moment America is trying to rebuild domestic manufacturing capacity and cut dangerous supply chain dependence on China. The yen story is, in part, an American opportunity.
President Donald Trump understood the
strategic stakes in the Paci c earlier and more clearly than his critics acknowledged. The emphasis on industrial resilience, supply chain repatriation and confronting Chinese economic aggression directly was not protectionist nostalgia.
It was a recognition that the rules-based trading order China pretends to respect is one it has systematically gamed for 30 years. Japanese policymakers understood this concern even when they disagreed with speci c tari decisions. The underlying diagnosis was correct. Events have kept proving it.
The Paci c is now a theater of economic competition whether Washington wants it to be or not. China has made that choice for everyone.
It has used its position in the South China Sea to intimidate smaller neighbors, backed Russia’s war in Ukraine while lecturing the West about sovereignty, and built rare earth dominance into a strategic weapon aimed directly at American manufacturing and defense capacity. It views American alliances not as facts to be respected but as problems to be dissolved.
That is why the U.S.-Japan alliance matters more right now than at any point in recent memory. Not because it is sentimental or traditional but because it is one of the few economic relationships in the Paci c built on rules both sides actually follow, trust both sides have actually earned and interests both sides have actually aligned. In a region where China has made dependency its primary foreign policy tool, that is a genuine strategic advantage.
Don’t take it for granted.
James Carter is a policy advisor with America’s Economy First. Jacob Choe is an international strategist and a member of the Bretton Woods Committee and a Ben Franklin Fellow. (Copyright 2026 Daily Caller News Foundation)
Sen. Bernie Sanders, left, greets Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, at an event in Orono, Maine, on Sunday.
ROBERT F. BUKATY / AP PHOTO
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The robot handles reminders and daily tasks to help older adults stay independent
By Matt O’Brien The Associated Press
DURHAM, N.H. — After outliving Booker T. Bones, their second service dog, Brenda and Brian Marquis still needed help with some of the more di cult parts of daily life.
They found Robbie, a robot that rolls out of a hallway into their living room several times a day.
“Do you want to exercise now? Please answer yes or no,” the caregiver robot asks 59-year-old Brian Marquis, who has been living with a traumatic brain injury since a 2012 car crash.
“Yes,” he responds. Then he stands up as the robot’s googly-eyed digital screen “face” morphs into an exercise video that guides him through an afternoon workout.
The decades-long quest to build home robots that are both helpful and lifelike — spurred on by ctional machines like The Jetsons’ humanoid maid Rosie — is still mostly a pipe dream. That’s despite growing appeal as the oldest baby boomers are turning 80 this year and the United States faces a deepening shortage of home care aides, driven by low wages, high turnover and demanding workloads.
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and Training Standards Commission intermediate certi cations, including four in the past year, along with four advanced certi cations and six master ofcer recognitions. The department also listed promotions and advancements during that span, including promotions to assistant chief and detective sergeant, three detective promotions, three corporal promotions and 11
police o cer II advancements. Six of the PO2 advancements have occurred since 2024. Since 2020, o cers have earned two associate degrees, adding to a department total of ve bachelor’s degrees and ve associate degrees held by current Locust o cers, according to the release. The LPD also reported several training-related accomplishments, including ve o cers completing the Law Enforcement Manage -
But the machine helping the Marquis family — a robot piloted by a University of New Hampshire laboratory, with funding from the National Institute on Aging — offers a glimpse of the emerging possibilities.
“Stretch” aids dementia patient with range of tasks
The wheeled robot that some have likened to a coat rack was not what Brenda Marquis initially had in mind when she wrote an email to a robotics professor at nearby UNH asking for advice on robotic dogs.
Robbie, the couple’s name for a new robot model o cially called Stretch 4, spends much of the day at a charging station between the kitchen and bedroom. When it comes out, it does important work, like nudging Brian, who has dementia, to eat lunch or drink water.
ment Academy, one of them in 2026. Four o cers have completed Crisis Intervention Training since 2020, bringing the department’s total number of CIT-certi ed o cers to seven. Locust o cers have also earned six general instructor certi cations and six specialized instructor certi cations. The department said its specialized instructor certi cations include rearms, driving, Taser, combat casualty care, eld
“I was never into technology. Then I realized I can’t remember to wash my face and my armpits. So it just really kind of set me free almost.”
Brian Marquis
Brenda Marquis, 59, said she and her husband have physical, cognitive and emotional disabilities that make life complex.
“We’ve been kind of trapped in a problem here in New Hampshire of being able to nd and recruit enough home care support,” Brenda Marquis said in an interview at the couple’s Durham, New Hampshire apartment, where she scoots around in a motorized wheelchair while taking care of her husband. “That was when I started looking into robotics and trying to gure out what to do.”
At the other end of Brenda’s email was Momotaz Begum, a UNH computer science professor who has spent years experimenting with “socially assistive” robots that can aid people with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. Her robotics lab is full of experimental robots, including the four-legged variety.
Begum said the lab asked focus groups of older adults at memory care units what kind of robot they would like as a home companion. Many preferred pet-like robot designs.
“The common feedback that we got about Stretch was, ‘OK, this one looks like a coat hanger,’” she said. “But what we learned over time is that the look doesn’t matter.”
Several makers designing robots for elder companionship
Apart from robotic vacuum cleaners, the closest thing many older adults have to caregiving robots is a speaker powered by an arti cial intelligence voice assistant like Alexa. Some robot makers have expanded that concept into swiveling tabletop machines like ElliQ, designed for elder companionship. But those aren’t mobile or functional enough for Be -
training and DARE instruction. Of the training hours reported, excluding mandatory training hours, patrol o cers accounted for 2,800, while the Criminal Investigations Division logged 1,218 hours among two detectives. Highlighted patrol certications included seven Standardized Field Sobriety Testing certi cations, eight Intoxilyzer Certi ed Operator certi cations, 12 radar operator certi cations and
gum, who said she is “trying to reduce that caregiver burden. And the caregiver actually does way more than social companionship.”
Humanoids, meanwhile, are still far from being useful in most homes and pose physical danger to people with limited mobility if the robot trips and falls.
The founders of Hello Robot, maker of the Stretch robots, said its simplicity is the point.
“Our robot’s very practical, pragmatic. I think it communicates that,” said CEO Aaron Edsinger, a former director of robotics at Google. “If you show up looking like a humanoid, that expectation’s going to be set so high, it’s going to be very hard to do.”
The typical version of the Stretch 4 includes a telescoping gripper that can retrieve a water bottle and hold it out for a person to drink through a straw. Show it a prescription bottle and it can help read the ne print. The robot pulls together information from its cameras and onboard sensors, together with other sensors installed in a home, to gure out its location and who is in the room.
Manufactured at Hello Robot’s headquarters in Martinez, California, and sold for nearly $30,000, the new model that launched in May is far from being as ubiquitous as a Roomba or an AI-powered speaker. But for its target clientele, it can be a lifeline.
Robbie’s programmed care protocol for Brian is posted on the couple’s wall, and it includes exercise instructions, meal and medicine reminders, evening routine reminders and quick washup prompts that are only triggered after Brian enters the bathroom.
“I was never into technology,” Brian Marquis said. “Then I realized I can’t remember to wash my face and my armpits. So it just really kind of set me free almost.”
Brenda Marquis said it also freed her from hours of daily work and helped her reduce expenses. Fearful of leaving her husband at home too long, she was ordering groceries on Instacart. Now she can leave him with Robbie and go get groceries herself.
“I can go ahead and go to that mahjong game or whatever. Robbie’s gonna take care of him,” she said.
four Field Training O cer certi cations.
Shew credited Locust’s government and city sta for supporting o cers in daily operations while prioritizing the health of their family units away from the job.
“We thank the Locust community so much for the support you give us and for the opportunity to serve here. We are all beyond blessed to be members of the Locust Police Department.”
ROBERT F. BUKATY / AP PHOTO
Momotaz Begum, a professor of computer science, speaks about the robotics program at the University of New Hampshire, on April 21 in Durham, New Hampshire.
Crash kills 5 in Virginia, including family of 4 traveling to wedding; bus driver charged
The family wedding went forward Sunday in South Carolina
By Ed White The Associated Press
A FAMILY OF four from Massachusetts who were killed when a bus crashed into multiple vehicles in Virginia were traveling to a wedding with a carload of homemade desserts for the celebration.
The family wedding went forward Sunday in South Carolina, but it was also a time to mourn the loss of Dmitri and Ecaterina Doncev and their two children, Emily and Mark, a relative said Saturday.
“A son, a father — the whole family — everyone that has been dear to us,” Carolina Bublik said.
The Doncevs were killed when a motorcoach caused a chain-reaction crash with vehicles that had slowed down for a work zone on Interstate 95 in Sta ord County around 2:35 a.m. last Friday, authorities said.
The bus struck a Suburban, which then hit an Acura carrying the Doncev family, police said. Priscilla Mafalda, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was in the Chevrolet SUV and also died.
More people were treated for injuries, including one who was in critical condition, though most were discharged, Mary Washington Healthcare said.
The bus driver, Jing S. Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York, was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and additional charges were likely,
Virginia State Police said. The prosecutor’s o ce in Sta ord County said Dong was arrested and would be in custody while he is treated for his injuries at a hospital. Prosecutors said in a statement that Dong’s rst court appearance will not be scheduled until he is discharged, but a magistrate approved holding him without bond until that time. It also said prosecutors saw enough probable cause to believe Dong was “driving in a criminally negligent manner.”
It was unclear whether Dong has an attorney who could speak on his behalf. The case
did not yet appear in the state’s online court records, and a call to the area’s public defender went unanswered at a closed ofce Saturday.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, a monthslong task separate from the work of state police. NTSB board member Tom Chapman revealed few new details but said the bus was moving at a high rate of speed.
“It seems fairly clear that if there was any braking there wasn’t much because of the speed and severity of the collision,” Chapman said.
The bus, which was taking
Colorado elections clerk released from prison after governor commutes sentence
Tina Peters served less than a quarter of her nine-year prison sentence
The Associated Press
DENVER — Tina Peters, the former clerk convicted of participating in a scheme to chase election conspiracy theories promulgated by President Donald Trump, was released from prison Monday after the president successfully pressured Colorado’s Democratic governor into commuting her sentence.
Peters’ release was conrmed by the Colorado Department of Corrections. The state agency said it would have no more information about the 70-year- old inmate. Her
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used the meeting to remind residents that parking at City Lake Park is expected to be limited because of the anticipated crowd. A free shuttle service, courtesy of Friendly Chevrolet, will run continuously 6-11 p.m. from Market Station, located at 501 W. Main St.
“I do want to mention that we expect a large number of cars out there that night, so if you don’t arrive fairly early, you may want to consider parking at Market Station and using the shuttle,” Michael said. “We will not leave you stranded — there’ll be two shuttles running with about a ve to 10 minute turnarounds on each shuttle.”
The rst 800 cars to arrive will receive a free LED light-up American ag, courtesy of the City of Albemarle Electric Division and ElectriCities.
“Events like the Lights of Liberty Drone Show are a powerful way to bring our commu-
sentence was shortened by Gov. Jared Polis last month after Trump waged a lengthy pressure campaign against the governor and his state.
Peters served less than a quarter of her nine-year sentence.
Peters was the rst local election o cial to be charged with breaching security after the 2020 election. She snuck in an outside computer expert a liated with MyPillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell — who himself denied that Trump lost the White House in 2020 — and the person copied the county’s Dominion Voting Systems computer server as it was updated in 2021.
Peters then joined Lindell onstage at a “cybersymposium” that promised to reveal proof
that the election was rigged. Video and photos of the computer system upgrade, including passwords, were posted online. The move stoked false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Trump.
Peters was convicted in 2024 of attempting to in uence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty and other crimes by jurors in Mesa County, a Republican stronghold that supported Trump. An appeals court upheld her conviction in April but ordered Peters to be resentenced because it said the judge who sent her to prison wrongly punished her for speaking out about election fraud.
Trump had championed Pe -
nity together while celebrating America’s 250th anniversary,” Bain Jones Jr., America 250 NC Stanly County Committee chairman, said in a statement.
“This is more than entertainment, it’s a shared experience that highlights our nation’s
A fatal crash involving a bus on Interstate 95 near Quantico, Virginia, on Friday killed a family of four heading to a wedding.
people from New York to North Carolina, was operated by E&P Travel Inc., based in Kings Mountain in Cleveland County. Chapman said the driver’s language pro ciency would be part of the NTSB investigation. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Du y, citing police, said on social media that Dong, a native of China, does not speak English. Dmitri Doncev, 45, was a nurse who worked at Holyoke Medical Center. Ecaterina Doncev, 44, was a hairstylist who spent days making desserts for the family wedding, Bublik said.
They emigrated to the U.S. from Moldova in 2008 and settled in Green eld, Massachusetts, she said. Dmitri and brother Iuri tried to stay together while traveling in separate vehicles to South Carolina.
“At some point they ended up getting separated,” Bublik said. “Dmitri said, ‘You go ahead. I’ll catch up later.’ It was a big shock when Iuri arrived at the house. Dmitri should have arrived around the same time. When his car did not show up, and he wasn’t picking up the phone — that’s when the family started panicking.”
ters’ case, but because she was convicted under state law, he did not have the power to pardon her. Instead, the president pressured Polis to do so, lambasting him on social media and disinviting him to a White House meeting with other governors. The Trump administration also announced plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado and relocated the U.S. Space Command to Alabama. Polis commuted Peters’ sentence on May 15. In a letter, he
wrote that although Peters was convicted of serious crimes and deserved to spend time in prison, the sentence was “extremely unusual and lengthy” for a rst-time nonviolent o ender.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, on Monday released a statement warning that the release will “embolden the election denier movement” and adding that, since the clemency announcement, Peters “has continued to spread election falsehoods and conspiracies.”
DAVID ZALUBOWSKI / AP PHOTO
Candidate Tina Peters speaks during a debate for the state leadership position on Feb. 25, 2023, in Hudson, Colorado.
VIRGINIA STATE POLICE VIA AP
OBITUARIES
Audrey Lee Thomas Helms
June 17, 1935 – May 28, 2026
Mrs. Audrey Lee Thomas Helms, 90, died Thursday, May 28, 2026, at Piedmont Crossing in Thomasville. A funeral service will be conducted at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 31, 2026, at Reeds Baptist Church, with Pastor Henry Watterson o ciating. The family will receive friends for one hour prior to the service at the church. She was born on June 17, 1935, in Union County, to the late Hubert and Ruby Baucom Thomas. Mrs. Helms was a devoted Christian and was a member of Garr Memorial Church in Charlotte and attended Reeds Baptist Church in her later years. She enjoyed relishing in God’s Word and loved to help others nd Christ. Mrs. Helms was in senior leadership for Shaklee and her two main goals in life were to help people be nutritionally sound and spiritually sound. She loved the sun and enjoyed outdoor activities, including tennis and taking long walks. Mrs. Helms also loved traveling and enjoyed visiting the Florida beaches. She will be remembered as a sel ess, devoted, and caring wife, mother, sister, and friend to many.
In addition to her parents, she was also preceded in death by her husband, Hal Lucrean Helms; a brother, Eugene Thomas; and a sister, Sue Thomas Ferguson. Survivors include her two sons, Doug Helms (Cindy) and Tony Helms (Annette); a grandson, Jordan Lain Helms (Jena); two greatgrandchildren, Avery Claire Helms and David Henry Helms; a sister-in-law, Margaret Thomas; a brother-in-law, Eugene Ferguson; and several nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be considered for Reeds Baptist Church, 180 Reeds Baptist Church Road, Lexington, NC 27295.
Online condolences may be made at www. davidsonfuneralhome.net.
Patsy “Pat” Jane Harwood Blankenship
May 31, 2026
Patsy “Pat” Jane Harwood Blankenship passed away peacefully at home on May 31, 2026, at the age of 84.
More than 30 years ago, her oldest grandchild, Kasey, gave her the nickname “Beep Beep” because she loved to sit in her car and honk the horn. Over time, the nickname simply became “Beep” and has been used by family, friends, and members of the community ever since.
Beep was known for her big heart and sel ess nature. She loved animals of all kinds, especially dogs, and she always put others before herself. She was a steady and supportive presence to so many in the Millingport community and at Salem Methodist Church. You could often hear her cheering from the sidelines at sporting events, enthusiastically shouting “hey, hey, hey,” especially when her team was winning.
She was a caring and loving mother to Scott and Tommy and kept them laughing with her jokes and dry sense of humor. She was also a wonderful grandmother to Kasey, Bailey, and Kristofer, who spent countless weekends with her riding in wagons, lying in the grass making shapes out of clouds, and enjoying Saturday movie nights together.
Beep will be lovingly remembered by her sister, Peggy Ann Hatley; son, Tommy Lane Blankenship, and daughter-in-law, Kristi Hall Blankenship; her grandchildren, Kasey Blankenship-Knoll (Justin); Bailey Carrothers (Josh); and Kristofer Blankenship (Weslyn); and great-grandson, Micah Carrothers. She was preceded in death by her son, Larry Scott Blankenship; her father, Hugh Pierce Harwood; and her mother, Ina Hatley Harwood.
The family also sends a special thank you to everyone at Tillery Compassionate Care for their care, comfort, and support. The family also wishes to thank everyone for their love and support with cards, gifts, and food. At Beep’s request, no service will be held. In lieu of owers, donations can be made to Tillery Compassionate Care.
Larry S. Hale
March 29, 2026
Larry S. Hale, 74, of Albemarle, NC formally of Orlando, FL, passed away peacefully but unexpectedly, on March 29, 2026. He was proceeded in death by his parents, Henry and Sadie Hale and his brother, Elbert (Bert) Hale. He’s survived by special family members: Andrea Scholl, Heather Johnson (Eden & Eli), Tara Denton (Luke & Lauren), Brock Poniatowski (Landon).
After graduating from high school, he obtained a 2 year degree from a local community college. He retired from Orange County Public School District after 27 years of service.
In 2013 he moved to Albemarle, NC to be closer to his closest family member, Robert Penman Scholl (Sonja). He immediately immersed himself in his new community. He was an avid bowler, volunteered for Special Olympics, participated in Senior Games, and took advantage of several classes o ered at the Senior Center. He became pro cient in Tai Chi and loved to demonstrate his “moves”.
Larry’s interests were diverse. He was a history bu , particularly, everything Civil War. He took pride in the fact that he ran and completed several marathons. He was the ultimate “prepper” amassing enough canned goods (peas and beans) peanut butter, co ee and general supplies to sustain himself for months, if not years. He loved baseball, particularly the Dodgers. He touched so many lives with his huge, infectious smile and his Panthers cap. As his family, we are blessed and grateful to have had him in our lives. He brought so much joy and laughter. He was the family historian. He shared pictures and videos with family and friends who couldn’t be a part of a family celebration.
Rest in Eternal Peace, “Father Earth”, “Larry Orlando”, “Lare Bear”. We love and miss you!
A Celebration of Life in his honor, will be held at a later date.
Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in Stanly News Journal at obits@ stanlynewsjournal.com
SHELLEY JO ANN HERRIN
APRIL 23, 1936 – MAY 27, 2026
Shelley Jo Ann Herrin, 90, of Albemarle, passed away on May 27, 2026. A graveside service to celebrate her life will be held at 2 PM on Saturday at Canton Baptist Church Cemetery with Rev. Keith Walters o ciating. The family will greet friends following the graveside service.
Born April 23, 1936, in Stanly County, NC, she was the daughter of the late Walter Samuel Shaver and Dorothy Lee Springer Shaver. Shelley was a woman of deep faith who loved the Lord, her family, and the simple joys of life. She was of the Baptist faith and most recently attended Paul’s Crossing Church in Rich eld.
Shelley attended Rich eld School through the 10th grade before completing her education at Seventh-day Adventist Academy in Asheville. While attending school, she worked on the hospital switchboard to help pay for her stay. After returning home, she began working at Stanly Hospital on the switchboard and later worked in the business o ce before going to work in Dr. Freeman’s o ce.
During her life, Shelley was rst married to George Lee, and together they had two children, Sandy Lee and Chris Lee. Mr. Lee passed away at the age of 42 following heart attacks. She later married Conrad Herrin. The couple lived in Albemarle before moving to South Carolina, where they made their home for twenty years before retiring and returning to Albemarle.
Shelley endured much loss in her life, having been preceded in death by both her son and daughter after returning to Albemarle. Even through hardship, she remained a woman of strong faith and quiet strength. She found great joy in gardening and working with her owers, and her family will remember her as a loving mother, grandmother, and faithful Christian woman.
She is survived by her husband of 48 years, Conrad Herrin; siblings Mary Alice Shaver of Rich eld, Sam Shaver of Rich eld, Paul Shaver of New London, and Vicky Harrison of Rich eld; three step-children, Jimmy Herrin, Randy Herrin, and Kim Brown; two grandchildren, Chris McNeil and Kristen Norris; step-grandchildren Zachary Brown, Natalie Keith, Katlin Helms, Whitney Hesley, Ashley Gagnon, MacKenzie Brown, and Marshall Herrin; great-grandchildren Christopher Silva, Cattleya Silva, Chevy Callahan, Journey Norris, Caleb McNeil, and Hannah McNeil; 10 step-great-grandchildren; along with extended family members and dear friends who will cherish her memory. A brother, Danny Shaver, preceded her in death. The family requests that memorials be made to Tillery Compassionate Care, tillerycompassionatecare.org.
KENNETH “KEN” ARNOLD POTEAT
SEPT. 29, 1932 – MAY 27, 2026
Kenneth Arnold Poteat passed away peacefully at the age of 93 on May 27, 2026, at Novant Presbyterian in Mint Hill with his devoted wife, Evelyn, by his side.
His funeral service will be held at First Baptist Church of Locust, o ciated by Dr. Tommy Ross, Jr. and Pastor Brandon Elkins on Tuesday, June 2nd at 3 PM. The family will receive friends in the sanctuary from 2 PM until 2:45 PM prior to the service. Burial will follow at Carolina Memorial Park.
Ken was born September 29, 1932, and reared in Kannapolis by his parents, Thomas Marvin Poteat and Mildred Gilliland Poteat. He was one of eight children and was preceded in death by his siblings, Norman, Imogene, Clinton, Phyllis, Miriam, and Jerry. He is survived by one younger brother, Keith (Vickie) Poteat.
Ken was educated at J.W. Cannon High School, earning his diploma during his four-year enlistment at Larson Air Force Base (formerly Moses Lake) in Washington. Upon returning home, he entered the dry-cleaning business and enjoyed car sales for the majority of his career, retiring from Fieldcrest Cannon’s shipping and receiving department. His interests included spending many hours at King’s Barn with beloved horses and boating with family at Lake Norman.
Later in life, Ken met Evelyn and was welcomed into her large family. They enjoyed two-step dancing at the Cabarrus County Saddle Club and other senior venues, numerous beach and mountain excursions, all while remaining active at First Baptist Church of Locust. There, they participated in Sunday School, worship, and CD ministry. Each summer, Ken and Evelyn enjoyed a large garden at their Midland home, as well as having livestock, horses, and chickens as long as their health allowed.
Those surviving family members include his wife of 21 years, Evelyn Smith Poteat; daughter, Julie Poteat Nickelson and ancé, Jason; Debbie (John) Fink; Kenny Poteat; Jody (Keith) Johnston; and Tim Poteat. Also surviving are grandchildren Jamie Sartain, Jacob Nickelson, Jeremiah Nickelson, Brad (Hannah) Fink, Katie Poteat, Sara Poteat and Derek Irvin, Connor Poteat and ancée Jill, Holland Poteat, and Chandler (Danielle) Johnston. Other survivors include 10 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren, as well as Evelyn’s children, Allen (Donna) Smith, David (Susan) Smith, Djunna (Greg) Wellman, Jody Smith, and grandchildren Sarah (Dusty) Boyd, Michael Smith, Jamie Talley, Kenny Talley, and ve greatgrandchildren, in addition to many nieces and nephews.
Ken was preceded in death by grandsons Ben Poteat and Adam Fink; great-grandson Kenneth Sartain; granddaughter Caitlin Stokes; and great-granddaughter Raelynn Halladay.
The family is grateful for the loving care shown by Rhiennen Baker of Bayada Assistive Care. “Rhi” became family these last few months. Also, the sta of Novant Mint Hill and Hospice have been invaluable. In lieu of owers, memorials may be directed to the Building Fund of First Baptist Church of Locust, 320 S. Central Ave., Locust, NC 28097, or Novant Palliative Care – Mint Hill, 8201 Healthcare Loop, Charlotte, NC 28215.
TIFFANY MICHELE MAULDIN
AUG. 16, 1991 – MAY 27, 2026
Ti any Michele Mauldin, of Albemarle, North Carolina, passed away on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, at the age of 34.
Born on August 16, 1991, in Stanly County, North Carolina, Ti any was the beloved daughter of Ted Allen Mauldin of Albemarle and Vickie Dianne Lowder Padgett of New London. She was a loving mother, daughter, sister, and friend whose presence brought joy and comfort to those who knew her.
Ti any leaves behind her cherished children: her son, Dallas Burt Vanhoy of Rich eld, and her daughters, Destiny Ann Cook of Georgia and Dayla Vanhoy of Rich eld. She is also survived by her longtime partner, Justin Vanhoy of Rich eld, who shared many years of love and memories with her.
In addition to her parents, Ti any is survived by her stepmother, Ava Mauldin of Albemarle; her brothers, Jonathan Morton of New London, Tommy Mauldin of Albemarle, and Donald Mauldin of Mt. Gilead; her sisters, Amber Mauldin and Stacie Morton, both of Albemarle; her stepsister, Shannon Kendall of Albemarle; and her stepbrother, Dustin Kendall of Albemarle. She also leaves behind numerous extended family members and friends who will forever cherish her memory.
Ti any will be remembered for the love she had for her family, her caring heart, and the special bond she shared with those closest to her. Her memory will continue to live on in the lives of all who knew and loved her.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.
STANLY SPORTS
West Stanly softball nishes as 4A state runner-up
The Colts fell to Southwestern Randolph in the championship series
By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal
GREENSBORO — West Stanly softball’s championship run ended one step short of another state title Saturday afternoon.
The Colts, the 2026 4A Western Regional champions, were swept by Southwestern Randolph in the NCHSAA 4A softball state championship series at UNC Greensboro Softball Sta-
dium, falling 8-3 on Friday and 11-5 on Saturday.
Southwestern Randolph (25-4) claimed its sixth softball state championship with the two-game sweep over West Stanly (26-8).
“The journey is the reward — what a wonderful journey this 34-game season has been,” West Stanly coach Emily Smith said. “We are so incredibly proud of our team for the ght they have shown this entire season. They overcame every obstacle thrown their way and never gave up on each other. They left it all on the eld and were
the 2026 4A state runner-up.”
In Saturday’s Game 2, Southwestern Randolph seized control early, scoring three runs in the rst inning and four more in the second to build a 7-0 lead that West Stanly could not overcome. The Colts responded with two runs in the bottom of the second but never pulled within fewer than ve runs.
West Stanly senior Payton Watson and junior Jenna Brock led the Colts with two hits apiece in the nale.
Southwestern Randolph opened the series Friday night with an 8-3 win, breaking open a
one-run game with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
West Stanly senior Nevaeh Alexander, freshman Malia Whitley and junior Kennedy Austin each had multihit performances in Game 1.
Across the two games, West Stanly’s pitching sta allowed 25 total hits as the Colts were outscored 19-8.
The championship appearance was West Stanly’s ninth in program history and its fth in seven seasons. The Colts have won six state titles, including four straight championships from 2019 to 2023.
West Stanly entered the series after winning the Rocky River Conference regular-season title and taking two of three games from No. 11 Foard in the regional nals. The Colts, seeded fourth in the 4A West bracket, had gone 5-1 since losing to Mount Pleasant in the conference tourna-
Uwharrie Wampus Cats open Blue Ridge League era with winning start
The team’s fourth season is underway
By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal
ALBEMARLE — The Uwharrie Wampus Cats have opened a new chapter with a winning start to their fourth summer season. The Albemarle-based college wood-bat team entered June with a 5-2 record after its rst month as a founding member of the Blue Ridge League. The move marks a new era for the organization, which spent its rst three summers competing as an independent club and in the Southern Collegiate Baseball League.
Uwharrie, which plays its home games at Don Montgomery Park, climbed to second place in the BRL standings after the opening stretch, trailing only the rst-place Carolina Disco Turkeys (6-1).
The Wampus Cats began the season May 22 with a 7-2 road loss to the Disco Turkeys in Winston-Salem before responding two days later with a 7-2 home win over the Davie Crocketts (4-4). Uwharrie followed with a 14-2 road win over Davie in Mocksville on May 25, then added a 5-4 road victory over Carolina on May 28. The team closed the month
“We are so incredibly proud of our team for the ght they have shown this entire season.”
Emily Smith, West Stanly coach
ment championship game and had not surrendered more than four runs in a game since late April.
Southwestern Randolph entered Greensboro on a seven-game winning streak after winning the Four Rivers regular-season and tournament titles.
West Stanly’s Makayla Crayton and Southwestern Randolph’s Chloe Eudy earned the Sportsmanship Award, while Southwestern Randolph’s Katelyn West was named series MVP.
with three games in three days, beginning with a 12-4 home loss Friday to the Spartanburg County Peaches (1-2). Uwharrie bounced back Saturday with a 9-2 home win over the Greensboro Yard Goats (1-7) before nishing the weekend with a 15-7 road victory Sunday over the Peaches in Inman, South Carolina.
In Sunday’s win, the Wampus Cats erased a ve-run decit after the third inning and produced a season-high 15 runs. Pitcher Josh Kapp came out of the bullpen and held Spartanburg County to one run over 51⁄3 innings, while Ben Baker added a three-run home run in the ninth inning. Jesse Osborne nished with three hits, Blake McKinney had four and Carter Callicut added two.
Uwharrie will continue its early-season schedule this week with four games in ve days, including three against Davie. The Wampus Cats are set to host the Crocketts on Thursday before traveling to face Davie in a Friday doubleheader.
After the three-game set, Uwharrie will remain on the road Monday for a matchup against the Queen City Corndogs in Charlotte.
The team’s home schedule currently runs through July 25, when Uwharrie will host Davie at Don Montgomery Park. At the conclusion of this year’s regular season, the top two teams in the BRL standings will meet in a best-of-three championship series in late July.
Last summer, Uwharrie nished 13-14-1 before participating in the inaugural Blue Ridge Invitational Tournament.
PJ WARD-BROWN / STANLY NEWS JOURNAL
West Stanly’s Kennedy Austin takes a swing during the 4A NCHSAA state championship series on Saturday in Greensboro.
COURTESY UWHARRIE WAMPUS CATS
Uwharrie’s Seamus Gallagher takes a swing during a home game at Don Montgomery Park in Albemarle.
NFL Packers’ Jacobs released from jail as prosecutors weigh ling charges
Green Bay, Wis. Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs was released from a Wisconsin jail while authorities further investigate allegations of domestic abuse. The Brown County prosecutor gave an update. District Attorney David Lasee said it’s too soon to make a formal charging decision. Jacobs was arrested Tuesday in Brown County on allegations of strangulation and other o enses over the weekend. Jacobs’ lawyers said they’re pleased that he’s out of jail.
NBA Rozier hit with new bribery charges in sports gambling sting
Federal prosecutors have indicted ex-Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier on additional charges related to a sports gambling sting. The 32-year- old was charged with bribery in sporting contests and honest services wire fraud conspiracy. Prosecutors allege he took a hefty bribe to exit a game early in March 2023. He has denied participating in the gambling scheme and is ghting to have the case dismissed. His attorneys argue the government’s theory runs afoul of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
NCAA ATHLETICS
Big 12 becoming rst Power Four conference to have all members agree to CSC participation
Frisco, Texas
The Big 12 is the rst Power Four conference to have each of its members sign participation agreements with the College Sports Commission. That is the agency formed last year to police name, image and likeness payments. The agreement requires schools to waive their right to le lawsuits against the enforcement agency and gives it wide latitude to sanction programs for violating rules that outline how players can be paid. All 68 Power Four schools must sign the 11-page document for it to become valid.
NCAA FOOTBALL
Sorsby made thousands of bets totaling at least $90,000, court documents show Lubbock, Texas
Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby made thousands of bets totaling at least $90,000 while in college. Those include at least 40 bets on Indiana football when he was a Hoosiers freshman in 2022, according to court lings in the transfer player’s lawsuit seeking to have the NCAA restore his eligibility. Sorsby transferred to Texas Tech for a reported multimilliondollar deal after playing for Cincinnati the past two seasons. He was ruled ineligible after he acknowledged wagering on sports.
MLB Mazzilli, Valentine enshrined in Mets Hall of Fame
New York
Longtime friends and former roommates Lee Mazzilli and Bobby Valentine were inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame. Mazzilli, a Brooklyn native, batted .277 with 53 homers, 262 RBIs and 117 stolen bases from 1977 through 1980 while playing for New York. After playing for the team, Valentine made a far bigger impact as the team’s manager from August 1996 through 2002, directing the Mets to the World Series in 2000.
Share with your community! Send us your births, deaths, marriages, graduations and other announcements: community@stanlynewsjournal.com Weekly deadline is Monday at noon
salute to seniors
West Stanly softball was the last team standing in the county. The Colts nished state runners-up, losing to Southwestern Randolph in the NCHSAA championship series.
That ended West’s season at 26-8 and brought the high school careers of three Colts seniors to a close.
In elder Nevaeh Alexander ranked third in all of NCHSAA in runs scored and 22nd in the state in home runs, second in Class 4A. She also ranked third in 4A in RBIs, rst in runs, fourth in stolen bases and eighth in slugging. Alexander led the Rocky River 4A/5A conference in runs and homers and was in the top three in six batting categories.
Out elder Payton Watson ranked 10th in NC Class 4A in steals, 11th in runs scored and 14th in RBIs.
Out elder Saylor Edwards was 12th in Class 4A in homers and tied Watson for 11th in runs.
Hamlin storms back from a pole-start penalty to win at Nashville Superspeedway 31
By Teresa M. Walker The Associated Press
LEBANON, Tenn. — Denny
Hamlin outraced Christopher Bell over the nal four laps after a nal restart Sunday night to win the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Hamlin won for the second time this year and 62nd of his career on a night where he jumped the start o the pole. That penalty put him at the back of the eld.
The 45-year-old Hamlin raced his way to the front for the thrilling win that had his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Bell and Chase Briscoe making it three-wide before Hamlin took
the lead down the backstretch to win by 0.115 seconds. The race started 80 minutes late after rain delayed NASCAR’s Cup Series for a second straight week. The wait was worth it with a record 31 lead changes and 12 cautions at the 1.33-mile, D-shaped oval that is NASCAR’s largest concrete track.
Bell nished second for a second straight race ahead of Briscoe. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth, and Chase Elliott rounded out the top ve.
Long time coming Ryan Blaney, trying to repeat as champ at this track, led the restart trying to hold o AJ Allmendinger on a one-lap shootout for the rst stage. Allmendinger took the lead on the backstretch, then held o
Kyle Larson to take stage one for his rst stage victory since 2024.
Stage 2 win
Suarez took the second stage after staying out during a caution and took the lead on the restart on lap 182. Then Corey Heim drove his No. 67 Toyota into the back of Todd Gilliland’s No. 34 Ford, sending him backward into the Turn 1 wall. That brought out the seventh caution with Cole Custer spinning out in the crash.
Lots of rotor woes
Rookie Connor Zilisch had the right rotor explode on his No. 88 Chevrolet sending him into the wall and smashing the right side on Turn 1 of lap 72.
Lead changes in the race, which set a record
Zilisch got the Trackhouse Racing car into the garage with some ames coming out from under the right tire, which was stuck and nearly sideways. He had been running 24th after starting 38th on the last row.
Trackhouse teammate Ross Chastain had his own rotor issue on lap 82, sending him into the wall between Turns 1 and 2. Michael McDowell spun trying to avoid Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet. Zilisch called the rotor problems a surprise when
both he and Chastain had been moving up.
“Just unfortunate circumstances,” Zilisch said. “Yeah, we’ll learn from it.”
Van Gisbergen is the third member of Trackhouse Racing. His crew told him not to worry with his No. 97 Chevrolet running a completely di erent brake package. Ryan Preece went to the garage with no water in his No. 60 Ford, and his crew found a piece of rotor broken o into the radiator before he got back on the track.
Then Allmendinger, who was third, had the rotor spark and ame before his No. 16 Chevrolet hit the Turn 1 wall on lap 173 — with 12 laps left in Stage 2.
Chris Buescher was running 17th with 12 laps left when his right rotor went as he entered Turn 3.
Up next
The series will be at Michigan International Speedway next week where Hamlin will be trying to win for a second straight year.
A late pass earned the Joe Gibbs Racing driver his second win of the year
CAMDEN HALL / AP PHOTO
Denny Hamlin speeds around the track during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville.
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NOTICES
NOTICE NORTH CAROLINA STANLY COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 26E000191-830
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Having quali ed as the Executor of the Estate of DONNA DAVIS FREEMAN, of Chester eld, South Carolina, this is to notify all persons having claims against the Estate of DONNA DAVIS FREEMAN to present them to the undersigned on or before August 27, 2026, or the same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate, please make immediate payment. This is the 27th day of May, 2026. Emsley D. Freeman 994 Carey Freeman Road, Cheraw, SC 29520 Executor of the Estate of Donna Davis Freeman Sweeny, Wingate & Barrow, PA ATTN: David Thomas, esq. 1515 Lady Street, Columbia, SC 29201
NOTICE
City of Albemarle (Owner) 144 North Second Street, Albemarle, NC 28001 Long Creek WWTP Comprehensive Rehabilitation Project No. CS370522-08
ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS
Sealed Bids for the construction of the Long Creek WWTP Comprehensive Rehabilitation will be received at the o ce of City of Albemarle Purchasing
Coordinator, Raymond I. Allen Community Room #118, 144 North Second Street, Albemarle NC 28001; or by mail at PO Box 190, Albemarle NC 28002-0190 until 2:30 pm local time on July 14th, 2026 at which time the Bids received will be publicly opened and read aloud.
The Project consists of a major rehabilitation to the 12.0 MGD treatment facility generally consisting of the following: Structural Modi cations to the in uent pump station
Conversion of two aeration basins from oating aerators to ne-bubble di usion
Conversion of two aeration basins to equalization basins
A blower building with three 300 HP blowers
Two 90-ft diameter secondary clari ers
Two 90-ft diameter aerobic digesters
A digester blower building with three 250 HP blowers
A sludge dewatering facility
Various other plant modi cations to accommodate the new treatment system
Signi cant electrical improvements
(0.45) per each One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) or fractional part thereof with a maximum amount of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00). A deposit of ve percent (5%) of the bid or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichever is greater, will be required at the time of the sale and must be tendered in the form of certi ed funds. Following the expiration of the statutory upset bid period, all the remaining amounts will be immediately due and owing. Said property to be o ered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being o ered for sale, transfer and conveyance AS IS WHERE IS. There are no representations of warranty relating to the title or any physical, environmental, health or safety conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being o ered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, unpaid taxes, special assessments, land transfer taxes, if any, and encumbrances of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the current owner(s) of the property is/are Chad Cleavenger and Kristie Cleavenger. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: An order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes §45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the Clerk of Superior Court of the county in which the property is sold.
Any person who occupies the property pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 2007, may, after receiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agreement by providing written notice of termination to the landlord, to be e ective on a date stated in the notice that is at least 10 days, but no more than 90 days, after the sale date contained in the notice of sale, provided that the mortgagor has not cured the default at the time the tenant provides the notice of termination (North Carolina General Statutes §45-21.16A(b)(2)). Upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is liable for rent due under the rental
agreement prorated to the e ective date of termination. If the Trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit. Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the ling of a bankruptcy petition prior to the con rmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validity of the sale is challenged by any party, the Substitute Trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further remedy. Anchor Trustee Services, LLC Substitute Trustee By: David Neill, NCSB #23396 McMichael Taylor Gray, LLC Attorney for Anchor Trustee Services, LLC 3550 Engineering Drive, Suite 260 Peachtree Corners, GA 30092 404-474-7149 (phone) 404-745-8121 (fax) dneill@mtglaw.com 25-004365-02
The Issuing O ce for the Bidding Documents is: LKC Engineering, PLLC, located at 140 Aqua Shed Court, Aberdeen, NC 28315, 910-420-1437. Prospective Bidders may obtain copies of the Bidding Documents from the Issuing O ce as described below. Bidding Documents also may be examined at Carolinas AGC (plans available at www.cagc.org on IBuild), FW Dodge/McGraw Hill Dodge, Minority Economic Development Center: Charlotte, Hispanic Contractors Association of the Carolinas: Charlotte; the o ce of the Albemarle Public Utilities, on Mondays through Fridays between the hours of 9:00 am and 3:30 pm; and the o ce of the Engineer, LKC Engineering, PLLC, located at 140 Aqua Shed Court, Aberdeen NC 28315, on Mondays through Fridays between the hours of 9:00 am and 3:30 pm. Bidding Documents may be obtained from the Issuing O ce during the hours indicated above. Bidding Documents are available on compact disc (as portable document format (PDF) les) for a nonrefundable charge of $250.00, including shipping. Alternatively, printed Bidding Documents may be obtained from the Issuing O ce either via in-person pick-up or via mail, upon Issuing O ce’s receipt of payment for the Bidding Documents. The non-refundable cost of printed Bidding Documents is $250.00 per set, which includes shipping, payable to LKC Engineering. Upon Issuing O ce’s receipt of payment, printed Bidding Documents will be sent to the Bidder. The date that the Bidding Documents are transmitted by the Issuing O ce will be considered the prospective Bidder’s date of receipt of the Bidding Documents. Partial sets of Bidding Documents will not be available from the Issuing O ce. Neither Owner nor Engineer will be responsible for full or partial sets of Bidding Documents, including Addenda if any, obtained from sources other than the Issuing O ce. A pre-bid conference for this project will be held on June 30th, 2026 at 10:00 am in City Hall, Raymond I. Allen Community Room #118, 144 North Second Street, Albemarle NC 28001. Attendance at the pre-bid conference is not mandatory but is recommended. A site visit to the wastewater treatment plant will follow the meeting at City Hall. Bid security shall be furnished in accordance with the Instructions to Bidders. Owner: City of Albemarle By: Linda J. Lewis, CLGPO Title: Purchasing Coordinator Project Design and Construction Management Team
Owner’s Representative: Tom Johnson Public Utilities Director 144 North Second Street Albemarle, NC 28001 Phone: (704) 984-9609
e-mail: tjohnson@albemarlenc.gov
Project Engineer: Adam Kiker, P.E. LKC Engineering, PLLC 140 Aqua Shed Court Aberdeen, NC 28315
Phone: (910) 420-1437
e-mail: adam@LKCengineering.com
For Plans and Speci cations: Tanya Medlin
LKC Engineering, PLLC 140 Aqua Shed Court Aberdeen, NC 28315
Phone: (910) 420-1437
e-mail: tanya@LKCengineering.com
NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA STANLY COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 26E000201-830 NOTICE TO CREDITORS Having quali ed as Executor of the estate of Reba Starnes Bowers deceased, of Stanly County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons having claims against the
NOTICE
‘Hoppers,’ ‘Love Island,’ albums from Lizzo, Death Cab for Cutie
“O ce Romance” staring Jennifer Lopez hits Net ix
The Associated Press
NEW ALBUMS FROM Lizzo and Death Cab for Cutie and the streaming service debut of animated hit “Hoppers” are some of the new television, lms, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also, among the streaming o erings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: the new season of “Love Island,” a new rom-com starring Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein, and the quiet puzzle game “Swan Song.”
MOVIES TO STREAM
With strong reviews and good ticket sales, “Hoppers” was one of the better received Pixar originals in recent years. The lm, a zany body-swapping comedy about environmental protection, is streaming now on Disney+. In it, Mabel (Piper Curda) is trying to defend a pristine pond from development by the local mayor (Jon Hamm) when she transforms, or “hops,” into the body of a robotic beaver. In her review, AP lm writer Lindsey Bahr called it a “buoyant, freewheeling adventure.”
“O ce Romance” (Net ix on Friday) pairs Lopez and Goldstein (“Ted Lasso”) in a workplace rom com. Lopez star as a chief executive of an airline who falls for the company’s new lawyer (Goldstein). Goldstein also wrote the movie with “Ted Lasso” co-creator Joe Kelly.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson continues his documentary tours through music history with “Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That’s the Weight of the World).” Questlove’s tribute to the seminal Chicago group debuts on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, days after its premiere at the Tribeca Festival.
Harry Lighton’s “Pillion” (HBO Max on Friday) is one of the more memorable love stories in recent years. Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård star as an unlikely BDSM couple: one sings barbershop quartet, the other is a gru biker. In my review, I praised “Pillion” as the portrait of a relationship “in the extreme, one that ultimately, like any other, is guided by needs and wants.”
MUSIC TO STREAM
It has been four years since Lizzo last released a full-length project. That was “Special,” lead by the ubiquitous funk-pop “About Damn Time.” This time around, she’s promised “good, clean fun” on her new one, the suggestively titled “B----.” Led by the ’80s ballad “Don’t Make Me Love U,” it’s clear that she’s still in it for the big pop songs. Death Cab for Cutie’s forthcoming studio album, “I Built You A Tower,” has two main inspirations, if they can be called that. It’s the beloved indie rock
band’s rst full-length project since the end of the anniversary tours for their career-de ning albums, 2003’s “Transatlanticism” and 2005’s “Plans,” which reinvigorated their songwriting. It was also written while principal songwriter and frontman Ben Gibbard was going through a separation and eventual divorce. “I was doing a lot of context switching,” Gibbard told the AP. “I started to write a lot about how we contextualize, compartmentalize, speci cally our grief.” Luckily, that kind of humanity is the stu the band excels in.
Of the former members of One Direction, Niall Horan has stayed truest to the boy band’s propulsive pop-rock, but don’t think that means his matured work is derivative. He’s taken those classic tools and aged them. “Dinner Party,” his fourth full-length al-
bum as a soloist, draws inspiration from the place where he met his long-term partner. Damien Rice is a main in uence, and the songs are dreamy and romantic. It began with “Blackberry Marmalade,” Vince Staples’ rst solo song in two years. It was a heavy introduction to his hyper-independent “Cry Baby” album, out Friday — all noise-rock, critical messaging (“Empires build on bloodstained ground,” he opens the rst verse) and a music video styled like a rst-person shooter video game. Then came the even darker “White Flag.” The musician, known for his inventiveness and often surrealist approach to art making, is clearly taking a direct approach here.
SERIES TO STREAM
Some people look forward to the summer months because of the warm weather and because school is out. Others get hyped because of a new season of “Love Island USA” is airing ve nights a week on Peacock. The season is approximately six weeks of scantily clad, single contestants sequestered in a villa in Fiji. They must couple up or they’re sent home. The last couple remaining wins a cash prize. AMC has given the third season of “Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire” series a new name. The show is now called “The Vampire Lestat” with Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) sharing his story. Unhappy with the way he was written in Daniel Molloy’s book, Lestat forms a rock band and goes on the road. Lestat craves attention and admiration, and he’s certain his rock star persona will attract adoring fans. AMC is leaning into Lestat’s music, making it available on music streaming apps. Fun fact: Reid performed his own songs. “The Vampire Lestat” premieres Sunday on AMC and AMC+.
VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY Amid all the noise and chaos of modern culture, sometimes you just want to solve a nice, quiet puzzle. That’s what Belgium’s Business Goose Games is aiming for with “Swan Song.” It’s essentially a music box with two compartments: one contains sheet music, while the other contains a maze. You need to choose the right notes in order to make each maze solvable. The developer’s last mellow brainteaser, “Sizeable,” found an enthusiastic audience, and its new puzzler has a similar vibe. Open the box Thursday
or
on PC
Mac.
ROB GRABOWSKI / INVISION / AP PHOTO
Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie performs during Riot Fest in Chicago in 2023. The band’s new album, “Somewhere Else We Are,” is out now.
TAYLOR JEWELL / INVISION / AP PHOTO
Harry Melling poses for a portrait while promoting the lm “Pillion” in New York. The lm premieres Friday on HBO Max.
CHRIS PIZZELLO / AP PHOTO
Edward James Olmos, left, and Jennifer Lopez star in “O ce Romance,” which premieres Friday on Net ix.
