The monthly Food Truck Friday was a hit at City Lake Park in Albemarle last Friday, complete with an America 250 drone show and performance from the band Heart Breaker. The next event is scheduled for July 10, featuring The Groove Machine.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Trump plans to nominate U.S. attorney to be intelligence director Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump says he plans to nominate Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, as director of national intelligence. Trump announced the nomination on social media Thursday amid pressure from Congress to name a permanent replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month. Trump faced intense pushback over his decision to name Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director. The situation has led to a standoff in Congress as Democrats said they would refuse to renew a foreign intelligence powers unless Trump pulled Pulte’s nomination and named a permanent nominee.
Man pleads guilty to assassinating top Minnesota Democrat, husband
A man charged with assassinating the top Democrat in the Minnesota House and her husband has pleaded guilty so that federal prosecutors would not seek the death penalty. Vance Boelter fatally shot Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman. He is also charged in the nonfatal shootings of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman.
SCC announced as top‑10 finalist for $1M Aspen Prize
The college advances to the final stage for the national honor
By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal
ALBEMARLE — Stanly Community College has reached the final stage of consideration for the nation’s signature recognition for community colleges.
The Aspen Institute announced Wednesday that SCC is one of 10 finalists for the 2027 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, placing the college among a select group chosen from more than 1,000 institutions nationwide.
The prize recognizes community colleges with strong and improving student outcomes
in areas such as teaching and learning, certificate and degree completion, transfer and bachelor’s attainment, workforce success and access to college programs.
SCC President John Enamait said the recognition marks a significant milestone for the college.
“It’s a historic moment, and it’s one that we should be proud of,” Enamait said. “It belongs to our students, faculty, staff and our board members. It belongs to our community, and it’s been a long time coming.”
The Aspen Prize selection process began in October 2025, when Aspen applied a formula assessing student outcomes to select 200 colleges and invite them to apply for the prize. Of the 170 colleges that applied, a 15-member independent selec-
“It’s a historic moment, and it’s one that we should be proud of.”
John Enamait, SCC president
tion committee chose 25 semifinalists and then narrowed the field to 10 finalists.
Stanly Community College was listed by Aspen with a 49% completion rate, one of the outcomes that contributed to its finalist selection.
Enamait said the national recognition reflects the progress SCC has made in helping students complete programs and move into the workforce.
“It validates the increasing graduation rates that we’re
SCS announces hire for director of alternative learning
Vera Woolard was previously an assistant principal at Albemarle Middle School
By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal
ALBEMARLE — Stanly County Schools has hired Vera Woolard as its new director of alternative learning, a role that will oversee two of the district’s unique educational options.
The district announced June 4 that Woolard will lead the Stanly Academy Learning Center (SALC) and Stanly County Virtual Education (SCoVE) during the upcoming 2026-27 academic year.
Most recently, Woolard was
an assistant principal at Albemarle Middle School, where she helped advance student achievement and improvement efforts.
“She brings a wealth of educational leadership experience to her new role, with a career focused on curriculum and instruction, student support services and innovative learning opportunities,” SCS said in a statement.
Woolard said she is looking forward to helping expand learning options for students across the district.
“I am excited about the endless possibilities this role presents to create meaningful, student-centered opportunities
“I am excited about the endless possibilities ... to create ... opportunities that empower learners to reach their full potential.”
Vera Woolard
seeing, the increasing number of students who are walking across that stage every May, and the students who are getting jobs that lead to higher wages than they did before.”
Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, noted the finalists represent colleges that have made meaningful changes to improve student success.
“Student outcomes like those we see at the 10 finalists cannot be achieved without major reforms to programs of study, student advising systems and other college practices that we know make a difference,” Wyner said. “We’re excited to dive in and learn more about how these colleges accomplished these outcomes so that we can elevate their work and enable 1,000 community colleges nationally to achieve similar success.”
In fall 2026, teams of experts will conduct in-depth site visits to each finalist institution and review additional data. The Aspen Prize winner will be selected by an independent Aspen Prize jury and announced in April 2027.
THE STANLY COUNTY EDITION OF NORTH STATE JOURNAL
Melania Trump unveils spinoff of Trump Accounts for foster kids
Federal guidance now allows child welfare agencies to open
By Fatima Hussein The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
First lady Melania Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the launch of Fostering the Future Accounts on Thursday, a spinoff of the Trump Accounts investment funds meant to give $1,000 to every newborn whose parent opens one.
Building on her work helping foster children, Melania Trump said the new federal guidance will give child welfare agencies the ability to act as a guardian for children in foster care for the purposes of opening an account.
CRIME LOG
June 1
• Austin Wayne Riley, 31, was arrested for driving while impaired, reckless driving with wanton disregard and failure to comply with license restrictions, and other charges.
• Casey Renee Turner, 35, was arrested for simple assault.
• Zarria Demitra Sampson, 25, was arrested for misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
• Jevon Tyrese Blackmon, 26, was arrested for possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine; felony conspiracy; and maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance.
• Tyona Alexanderia Caldwell, 21, was arrested for simple assault, misdemeanor larceny and firstdegree trespass.
Melania Trump, speaking at a news conference at the Treasury Department, said the move “gives foster children the same chance at asset ownership and long-term wealth as every other child.”
The accounts will be open for contributions July 4. To qualify for an account, a child must also be a U.S. citizen born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates that a Trump Account balance for a baby born in 2026 will be $5,800 by age 18 and $18,100 by age 28 if no other contributions are made.
The first lady said 23 governors have pledged to allow state agencies to begin the process of enrolling children in the program. “I urge every governor and business leader to help fund these accounts,” she said.
There are roughly 330,000
June 2
• Jeremy Dion Davis, 35, was arrested for assault on a female.
• Jeffrey Albert Dial, 27, was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia.
• Amanda Lynn Lemons, 50, was arrested for larceny after breaking and entering, felony conspiracy and injury to real property.
• Jeffrey Cornelius Smith, 30, was arrested for possession of a firearm by a felon.
• Mario Myron Hailey, 35, was arrested for misdemeanor larceny.
• Stephanie Nicole Preslar, 40, was arrested for simple assault.
June 3
• Amanda Lynn Freeze, 45, was arrested for assault with a
children in the U.S. foster care system, according to the National Council for Adoption. One in five of them is at risk of homelessness after aging out of foster care, and only half gain employment by the time they are 24, says the National Foster Youth Institute.
“Those outcomes are unsettling, but we refuse to accept them as inevitable,” Bessent told the news conference. “We are affirming that the American dream belongs to every child.”
A provision of Trump’s tax and spending legislation that he signed into law last summer created Trump Accounts. Under them, the Treasury Department gives $1,000 to babies so long as their parents open an account. That money is then invested in the stock market by private firms, and the children can access the money when they turn 18.
deadly weapon, breaking and entering a motor vehicle with theft and misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, and other charges.
• Dale Martin Butler, 29, was arrested for possession of a firearm by a felon, carrying a concealed gun and resisting a public officer.
June 5
• Rafael Antonio Hernaiz, 35, was arrested for misdemeanor crime of domestic violence and communicating threats.
• Derek Ashley Aaron, 44, was arrested for felony breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering and felony conspiracy, and other charges.
• Gabriella Lisa Torres, 44, was arrested for disorderly conduct and second-degree trespass.
Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up in and around Stanly County.
June 15
Make Music Day Pre-Event Drop-In Craft 2-4 p.m.
Visitors of all ages can drop in to make egg-shaker rhythm instruments in advance of the countywide Make Music Day celebration June 21. The activity runs while supplies last. The Badin branch also hosts the craft during the week prior to June 21.
Stanly County Public Library, Oakboro Branch 214 S. Main St. Oakboro
June 18
Thursdays at the Station — Cabarrus Station 7:30 p.m.
Cabarrus Station performs a free outdoor concert as part of Albemarle Parks and Recreation’s Thursdays at the Station summer series. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.
Market Station 501 W. Main St. Albemarle
June 21
Make Music Day Stanly County
Stanly County’s third annual Make Music Day rings in the summer solstice with free live performances, workshops and drop-in instrument activities across more than seven venues. Highlights include a patriotic sing-along with the Stanly County Chorale and Concert Band, a “Sousapalooza” community march, and workshops in harmonica, ukulele, bucket drumming and more.
Trip Hoffend, publisher | Frank Hill, senior opinion editor
VISUAL VOICES
TDS watch: the ‘convicted felon’ argument
It appears shouting ‘convicted felon!’ isn’t quite the conversation ending argument Trump’s critics think.
“TRUMP IS A convicted felon!”
Who hasn’t heard this attack line made constantly by critics of President Donald Trump? For them, Trump’s conviction settles the debate about his character and fitness for office.
But consider what one prominent legal analyst — not from Fox News, Newsmax or a conservative publication — wrote about the case.
The charge against Trump brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg boils down to this. Trump recorded payments connected to the Stormy Daniels matter as legal expenses. Bragg transformed that into 34 felony counts and secured a conviction in a jurisdiction where Trump remains unpopular.
Elie Honig, CNN’s senior legal analyst, outlined his objections in New York Magazine. He was brutal.
“The judge donated money — a tiny amount, $35, but in plain violation of a rule prohibiting New York judges from making political donations of any kind — to a pro-Biden, anti-Trump political operation, including funds that the Judge earmarked for ‘resisting the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy,’” Honig wrote. “Would folks have been just fine with the judge staying on the case if he had donated a couple bucks to ‘Re-elect Donald Trump, MAGA forever!’?
Absolutely not.
“District Attorney Alvin Bragg ran for office in an overwhelmingly Democratic county by touting his Trump-hunting prowess. He bizarrely (and falsely) boasted on the campaign trail that ‘(i)t is a fact that I have sued Trump over 100 times.’
COLUMN | STEPHEN MOORE
“Most importantly, the DA’s charges against Trump push the outer boundaries of the law and due process. That’s not on the jury. That’s on the prosecutors who chose to bring the case and the judge who let it play out as it did.
“The charges against Trump are obscure, and nearly entirely unprecedented. In fact, no state prosecutor — in New York, or Wyoming, or anywhere — has ever charged federal election laws as a direct or predicate state crime, against anyone, for anything. None. Ever. Even putting aside the specifics of election law, the Manhattan DA itself almost never brings any case in which falsification of business records is the only charge.
“Standing alone, falsification charges would have been mere misdemeanors under New York law, which posed two problems for the DA. First, nobody cares about a misdemeanor, and it would be laughable to bring the first-ever charge against a former president for a trifling offense that falls within the same technical criminal classification as shoplifting a Snapple and a bag of Cheetos from a bodega. Second, the statute of limitations on a misdemeanor — two years — likely has long expired on Trump’s conduct, which dates to 2016 and 2017.
“So, to inflate the charges up to the lowest-level felony (Class E, on a scale of Class A through E) — and to electroshock them back to life within the longer felony statute of limitations — the DA alleged that the falsification of business records was committed ‘with intent to commit another crime’
“Inexcusably, the DA refused to specify what those unlawful means actually were — and the judge declined to force them to pony up — until right before closing arguments. So much
for the Constitutional obligation to provide notice to the defendant of the charges against him in advance of trial.
“Manhattan DA’s employees reportedly have called this the ‘Zombie Case’ because of various legal infirmities, including its bizarre charging mechanism. But it’s better characterized as the Frankenstein Case, cobbled together with ill-fitting parts into an ugly, awkward, but more-or-less functioning contraption that just might ultimately turn on its creator.
“‘No man is above the law.’ It’s become cliche, but it’s an important point, and it’s worth pausing to reflect on the importance of this core principle. But it’s also a meaningless sentiment if we unquestioningly tolerate (or worse, celebrate) deviations from ordinary process and principle to get there. ... Here, prosecutors got their man, for now at least — but they also contorted the law in an unprecedented manner in their quest to snare their prey.”
To sum up, CNN’s senior legal analyst describes the prosecution as a “Frankenstein Case,” says prosecutors “contorted the law in an unprecedented manner” and warns about “deviations from ordinary process and principle.” It appears shouting “convicted felon!” isn’t quite the conversation-ending argument Trump’s critics think.
This does not mean “My Cousin Vinny” could win this on appeal. But based on Honig’s objections, Trump’s odds look pretty darn good.
Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host.
(Copyright 2026 Creators.com)
Keep politicians out of college sports
Do we really want Sen. Bernie Sanders deciding who Ohio State should put on their football schedule?
NEARLY EVERYONE who is a college sports fan, myself included, knows the state of affairs in the NCAA is one fine mess. Especially regarding football and men’s basketball, the two major money-making sports, things have changed massively in the last few years — and mostly not in a good way.
Elite and even above-average athletes have effectively become free agents selling their services each year to the highest bidders. Every year the school rosters are different, so there’s almost no team or university loyalty. It’s rent-a-player, and the big college teams are now effectively professionals playing in professional leagues. In some cases, players can be paid professionally and retain their “amateur” status. The NCAA actually and stupidly discriminates against American kids to the advantage of older foreigners. I went to the University of Illinois, and this year our hoops team, loaded with Europeans, made it to the Final Four. Our joke was that we were the University of Serbia.
Yet the games on the field and the court are as popular as ever, and I, for one, believe it is proper and correct that “student athletes” be paid for making tens of millions of dollars for the university.
I’m not sure how to fix things, but I do know who won’t: Congress. A new bill making its way through the Senate is the Cantwell-Cruz “Protect College Sports Act.” It’s pitched as a compromise to save college athletics. But it’s filled with federal rules, regulations and edicts, some of which make sense, while others are intrusive, unworkable and potentially ruinous to the games.
It uses the threat of antiquated antitrust
statutes as the hammer to force the leagues like the Big Ten, the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference to comply.
The bill does not formally create a government agency to negotiate college sports media rights, but it puts a figurative Mafia gun to their head to say that if they don’t comply, bad things happen.
They must accept more than 150 pages of byzantine rules governing media negotiations, revenue sharing, local broadcast access, conference transactions and even the college football calendar. Believe it or not, Congress would tell schools who they must play each year, and that “traditional rivalries” must be maintained! Is this what Congress should be working on in Washington?
On pages 100-101, the bill requires certain schools to play at least two traditional rivalry games every four years and at least one annual game against an out-of-conference opponent that ranks among the school’s top five historic football opponents.
The bill dictates when college and professional football games can be played. For example, it rewrites the Sports Broadcasting Act window by extending the restriction affecting professional football telecasts from the second Friday in September through the second Saturday in December to the first Friday in September through the third Saturday in December.
The bill orders what games can be shown on which TV networks at what time. It restricts what schools can be added or deleted from certain conferences. It is meant to stifle the growth and money-making capabilities of the Big Ten and the SEC.
But it’s in the interest of the NCAA itself to
make sure that the games are competitive and the same schools don’t dominate year after year.
This past year, Indiana University, typically a losing team in college football, won the championship — partly by going into the portal and cherry-picking underrated and underpaid players.
Much of this has to do with the multibillion-dollar-plus broadcast contracts as college sports become ever more popular.
But for the students, spectators and athletes, the current sports broadcasting system works well, thank you. Nearly every major football game is broadcast on some cable outlet so fans can pick and choose from dozens of games every Saturday, and college basketball is on several stations nearly every night of the week.
In short, the Protect College Sports Act would make college athletics a fully regulated utility and risks ruining the joy, pageantry and competitiveness of college sports. Do we really want Sen. Bernie Sanders deciding who Ohio State should put on their football schedule?
Reform is needed to stop treating universities as “nonprofit” educational institutions when it comes to athletics. The salaries, revenues and administrative costs should all be taxed like a professional sports team. Then the NCAA and the major conferences — not professional politicians, lawyers and lobbyists in Washington — should decide what’s in the best interest of the game and the schools.
Stephen Moore is a former Trump senior economic adviser and the cofounder of Unleash Prosperity, which advocates for education freedom for all children. (Copyright 2026 Creators.com)
COLUMN | LARRY ELDER
IN MEMORY
ROBERT “BOB” STEPHEN MORRISON
MAY 19, 1937 – JUNE 5, 2026
Barbara
Jean (Taylor) Drye
April 17, 1936 ~ January 14, 2023
Barbara Jean Taylor Drye, 86, of Oakboro, passed away Saturday, January 14, 2023 at her home.
Barbara was born April 17, 1936 in North Carolina to the late Robert Lee Taylor and the late Eva Belle Watts Taylor. She was also preceded in death by husband of 61 years, Keith Furr Drye, and brothers, Robert Lee Taylor, Jr. and George Kenneth Taylor.
Robert “Bob” Stephen Morrison’sObituaryRobert ‚ÄúBob‚Äù Stephen Morrison, 89, of Albemarle, passed away peacefully on June¬†5, 2026, at his home surrounded by his loving family.The family will receive friends on Saturday, June¬†13th from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at Stanly Funeral and Cremation Care of Albemarle.Bob was born in Tioga County, New York on May¬†19, 1937. He graduated high school in Vestal, New York. He was on the wrestling team, and he was an Eagle Scout. He then joined the Navy serving on the U.S.S. Coral Sea. Bob retired from the US Postal Service having been a letter carrier for 30 years.Bob was predeceased¬†by his parents Otho and Myra Morrison and one grandson, Eli Bowman.He is survived by the love of his life, Linda, to whom he was married for 66 years. He is also survived by his brother, Bruce Morrison as well as three children Lisa Bowman, Steve Morrison and Jayne Nunn, six grandchildren, Travis Bowman, Charlotte Waterhouse, Zach Bowman, Caitlin Bertrand, Tessa Johnson and Marlaena Morrison, and nine great-grandchildren.Bob enjoyed traveling, camping, growing Christmas trees, hunting, ballroom dancing and volunteering. He and Linda had the distinct opportunity to travel to all 50 states.In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Stanly County Christian Ministries, 506 S 1st St, Albemarle, NC 28001Bob will be remembered for his faithful service to his country and community, his adventurous spirit that carried him across the country, and the joy he found in sharing life’s journeys with those he loved. His legacy of kindness, dedication, and love will continue to inspire all who knew him.What‚Äôs your fondest memory of Robert “Bob”?What‚Äôs a lesson you learned from Robert “Bob”?Share a story where Robert “Bob”’s kindness touched your heart.Describe a day with Robert “Bob” you‚Äôll never forget. How did Robert “Bob” make you smile?
Survivors include children, Debbie (Mike) Williams of Albemarle, Teresa (Tom) Curry of Oakboro, Douglas (Tammy) Drye of Oakboro; grandchildren, Melissa (Don) Parrish of Albemarle, Samantha (Destiny) Smith of Oakboro, Bradley Smith of Oakboro, Jonathan Stover of Peachland, and Jessie Stover of Lylesville; sisterin-law, Beatrice Goodman; many nieces and nephews; and her beloved cats, Bo and Garfield. Barbara was a member of Oakboro Baptist Church for over 60 years. She worked over 30 years at Stanly Knitting Mills. After just two years of retirement, she began managing the Oakboro Senior Center and did that for 18 years until this past week. Barbara was known for her good cooking and always taking care of others. She also loved going on day long shopping trips - she could out walk and out shop people half her age. She kept her mind and body active through gardening, word searches, and various other hobbies.
Dwight Farmer
January 24, 1939 ~ January 15, 2023
Dwight Britten Farmer Sr., 83, of Norwood died Sunday morning, January 15, 2023 at Forrest Oakes.
REX ALLEN
DEC. 20, 1953 – JUNE 5, 2026
Dwight was born January 24, 1939 in Stanly County to the late Walter Virgil and Martha Adkins Farmer. He was a 1957 graduate of Norwood High School and was a United States Army Veteran. He was a member of Cedar Grove United Methodist Church where he had served as church treasurer and choir member. He began his career with the Stanly County Sheriff’s Department moving to the Norwood Police Department and retiring as Chief of Police with the Town of Norwood after many years of service.
LOUIS LEON MORRIS JR. SEPT. 13, 1951 – JUNE 10, 2026
Louis Leon Morris Jr., 74, of Norwood, North Carolina, passed away peacefully at his home on June 10, 2026.
Born on September 13, 1951, in Page Co, Virginia, Louis was the son of the late Louis Leon Morris Sr. and Nellie M Breeden Morris. He was also preceded in death by his beloved wife, Phyllis Morris, and his sister, Carolyn Martin.
Louis proudly served his country in the United States Army and later dedicated many years of service as a Sheriff’s Deputy before retiring from Southeastern Trucking Company as a truck driver.
James Roseboro
June 23, 1967 ~ January 10, 2023
James Arthur Roseboro, 55, of Albemarle, passed away Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at Anson Health and Rehab.
John B. Kluttz
March 23, 1935 - January 9, 2023
Doris Jones Coleman
A believer in Jesus Christ, Louis lived a simple and meaningful life centered around faith, family, animals, and the land he loved. He found joy in caring for his farm, spending time outdoors, and appreciating the beauty of God’s creation. He especially enjoyed sitting beside a fire, watching nature, and looking across the pond to see the ducks fly in at dusk. An avid observer of wildlife, he often called family members whenever he spotted a bird he couldn’t identify, eager to share the moment.
Mr. Roseboro was born on June 23, 1967 to the late Robert and Delena Shipp Roseboro. He graduated from South Stanly High School and was employed by Triangle Brick. He enjoyed watching football and basketball, especially the Carolina TarHeels and Miami.
October 11, 1944 - January 10, 2023
Louis will be remembered as a loving father, proud patriot, devoted animal lover, and a man who believed there was little value in worrying about things beyond one’s control. His calm spirit, practical wisdom, and steady presence will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him.
He is survived by his children, Natalie Morris Smith, Louis Bradley Morris, Elizabeth M. Martinez, and Tracey B. Scott; his grandchildren, Alecxander L. Hough, James M. Smith, Scout M. Smith, Alea M Morris, Hunter Scott, Alex Scott, Destiny A. Burns, and Aubrey Martinez; and his great-grandchildren, Aaron Burns, Madilynn Burns, Sebastian, Atlas, and Maverick.
In addition to his parents he is preceded in death by his brothers and sisters: Barbara Lee Roseboro, Dorothy Brown, Verna Roseboro, Henrietta Ingram, and Harold Roseboro.
Rex Allen, 72, of Norwood passed away on Friday, June 5, 2026 at his home surrounded by his loved ones.
Dwight was an avid gardener, bird watcher and Carolina fan.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date.
Rex was born on Dec. 20, 1953 to the late Walter Bennett and Lillian Blalock Allen. He was a graduate of South Stanly High School in 1972. Rex went on to retire as a correctional officer.
Rex loved to hunt and spend time outdoors, particularly with a dog. Rex raised high quality hunting dogs and greatly enjoyed that. Rex also held the home run record for the Babe Ruth Baseball League in Norwood.
He is survived by his wife Hilda Whitley Farmer; one son D. Britten Farmer Jr. (Mary) of McLeansville, NC; one daughter Sharon Farmer Lowe (David) of Norwood; one sister Geraldine Dennis of Troy; two grandchildren, Dwight Britten “Dee” Farmer III and Whitley Rose Hui Lowe.
In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his wife of 46 years, Kathy Allen, and his brother Benny Allen.
He was preceded in death by his son Alex, brothers, Tommy and Jimmy, sisters, Nancy, Cornelia Annabell, Glennie Mae, and Betty.
He is survived by his daughters: Lynsie Allen (Rebecca) and Shannon Baucom (Rick), four grandchildren: Shayna Arrowood (Andrew), Khalil Sifford, Malachi Sifford, and Lachelle Sifford, four great-grandchildren: Maverick Arrowood, Azaylia Sifford, Xion Sifford, and Salem Sifford, and his sister Faye Blalock.
Memorials may be made to Cedar Grove United Methodist Church, Cemetery or Choir Fund c/o Pam Smith 36071 Rocky River Springs Road, Norwood, NC 28128.
He is also survived by his siblings, Betty Foster, Gloria Morris, Mary Lou Younts, Joanie Morris, and James D. Morris.
Though his earthly journey has ended, Louis leaves behind a legacy of love, faith, hard work, and appreciation for the simple blessings of life. His memory will live on in the hearts of his family and friends and in every quiet sunset, crackling campfire, and flock of ducks crossing the evening sky.
He is survived by his sisters: Helen (James) Roseboro Edwards of Albemarle, Mary Roseboro of Washington DC, and Marion Morrison of Albemarle; brothers: Thomas D. Roseboro of Charlotte, Robert Roseboro (Patricia) of Norwood, and Van Horne; a special friend of over 40 years, Michelle McLendon of the home; special nieces: Nybrea Montague, Knya Little, and Laquanza Crump; special nephews: Robert Jr., Desmond Roseboro, and Marcus Lilly; and God daughter, Daphne Johnson; and special friends, Vetrella Johnson and Ben McLendon.
The family wishes to express their heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to Rick Burris for his kindness, compassion, and empathy during this difficult time.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Tillery Compassionate Care.
STARR BLALOCK
APRIL 9, 1937 – JUNE 5, 2026
Denisha Starr Blalock, 89, of Norwood, passed away surrounded by her family on June 5, 2026 at Bethany Woods Nursing Center.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM on Monday, June 8, 2026 at Norwood Church of the Nazarene. Rev. Derrick Adcock will officiate and interment will follow at Norview Gardens.
The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the church.
Starr was born on April 9, 1937 in Detroit, Michigan to the late Louis Wayne and Aretta Mae Donley. She graduated from Benjamin Bosse High School in Indiana and worked most of her life as a homemaker and caregiver.
Darrick
In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by her husband, James Adam Blalock; grandson, Ryan Keith Blalock; and brother, Ronnie ‘Bud’ Donley.
John grew up in the Millingport community where he drove a school bus and worked at the local gas station during his High School years. He graduated from Millingport High in 1954 and entered into service with the US Airforce immediately afterward. Upon return from the service, he and his high school sweetheart Julie were married in 1956. He graduated from Nashville Auto Diesel College later in 1959 and began his career as a diesel mechanic at Mitchell Distributing Company, moving his growing family to Charlotte where they lived until their retirement.
In accordance with his wishes, Louis will be cremated. The family will announce any memorial arrangements at a later date.
Doris Elaine Jones Coleman, 78, went home into God’s presence on January 10 after a sudden illness and a valiant week-long fight in ICU. Doris was born on October 11, 1944, in the mountains of Marion, NC while her father was away fighting in the US Navy during World War II. Raymond Jones was so proud to return after the war and meet his little girl! Doris grew up in Durham, NC and graduated from Durham High School. She furthered her studies at Watts Hospital School of Nursing in Durham and graduated as a Registered Nurse in 1966.
ROSE TALBERT LOWDER
SEPT. 1, 1940 – JUNE 6, 2026
Doris married Rev. Dr. Ted Coleman in 1966 and had two daughters Amy and Laura. Doris raised Amy and Laura in North Augusta, SC.
Rose Delores Talbert Lowder, 85, of Albemarle, passed away peacefully on Saturday, June 6, 2026, at Bethany Woods Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, June 11, 2026, at Stanly Gardens of Memory.
When John purchased his first Model A Ford at the age of 17, he said that he took the car to the community mechanic when he had a small problem.The mechanic told him that if he was going to keep the car, he needed to learn to work on it. This is when John’s passion for Model A Fords began and how he spent his happiest days with his best friends from around the globe for the rest of his life!
Rose was born on Sept. 1, 1940, in Stanly County to the late Gene and Hazel Talbert.
She is lovingly survived by her daughter, Beth Lowder Yarbrough (David) of Mount Gilead; her son, Troy Lowder of Albemarle; her grandchildren, Crystal Nance (Dylan) of Asheboro, Lacey Phillips of Mount Gilead, Taylor Pletcher (Chase) of Concord, and Clay Yarbrough of Mount Gilead; her cherished greatgrandchildren, Rain, River, and Reed, and her brother David Talbert.
In addition to her parents, Rose was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Gary Gene Lowder, who passed away in April 2026, and her sister, Kathy Deese.
Rose was a strong-willed and fiercely independent woman who never hesitated to speak her mind. She enjoyed following the Atlanta Braves throughout every season, watching her favorite daytime soap operas, traveling whenever she had the opportunity, and was a devoted Elvis Presley fan. Her spirited personality and unmistakable presence will be remembered by all who knew and loved her.
At age 50, after years as a Detroit Diesel Mechanic he and Julie decided to take the plunge and open a full Model A Restoration Shop. They thrived at their shop in Cornelius, NC until their retirement in 1998 when they moved back to Cabarrus County. John once again set up shop in his back yard garage where he attracted a loyal group of friends who visited almost daily. While on the farm in Gold Hill, John also began a lifelong love with Alis Chalmers tractors after he restored his Dad’s tractor and began amassing his collection of tractors as well.
Doris was an incredible neonatal intensive care nurse for most of her career, and this was her passion. The Augusta Chronicle did a feature on her in 1985. She was a clinical nurse manager in Augusta, Georgia at University Hospital NICU and worked there for 20 years. During this time, Doris mentored young nurses and assisted in saving the lives of so many babies. She also worked for Pediatrician Dr. William A. Wilkes in Augusta for several years prior to her NICU career. Doris retired from the mother/baby area at Atrium Stanly in 2007 after over 40 years of nursing.
The family would like to express their sincere gratitude to the ladies of the McDonald’s Breakfast Club for the friendship, care, and support they provided to Rose over the last several years.
Baldwin
January 7, 1973 ~ January 8, 2023
She is survived by her children: Mark Blalock, Lisa Eury (Jeff), Michael Blalock (Keli Tharney); five grandchildren: Megan Hall (Justin), Josh Eury (Shannon), Austin Blalock (Kaylin), Chandler Eury (Sabrina), and Mika Blalock; and five great-grandchildren: Cooper, Esme, Luke, Ben, and Waylon.
The family would like to thank the wonderful staff and caregivers at Bethany Woods and Cardinal Hospice for their love and compassionate care.
Celebrate the life of your loved ones. Submit obituaries and death notices to be published in SCJ at obits@stanlyjournal.com
Though Rose has departed this earthly life, the memories she created and the love she shared will remain forever in the hearts of her family and friends. She will be deeply missed and fondly remembered.
Darrick Vashon Baldwin, age 50, entered eternal rest, Sunday, January 8, 2023, Albemarle, North Carolina. Born January 7, 1973, in Stanly County, North Carolina, Darrick was the son of Eddie James Baldwin Sr. and the late Phyllis Blue Baldwin. Darrick enjoyed life, always kept things lively and enjoyed making others smile. His presence is no longer in our midst, but his memory will forever live in our hearts.
John restored many cars of his own and had the crowning achievement of winning the most prestigious award from MARC, The Henry for a restoration that garnered top points. He was also presented with the Ken Brady Service Awardthe highest award given to members at the national level.
FRANCES FLOYD CLUBB
FEB. 22, 1944 – JUNE 9, 2026
Frances Floyd Clubb, 82, of Norwood, went to her heavenly home surrounded by all of her children and other family members on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, at her home.
Doris was a gentle and sweet spirit and loved her Lord. She never met a stranger, and she always left you feeling uplifted after talking with her. She would often claim that she had “adopted” friends into her immediate family, and honestly, she never made a distinction between the two. Positivity radiated from her like sunlight. She was selfless, funny, smart, and sentimental. During her lifetime she was an active member of First Baptist Church of Durham, First Baptist Church of Augusta, Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Augusta, and Palestine United Methodist Church in Albemarle. She especially loved helping at church with older adults, youth, and children.
Mrs. Clubb was born on February 22, 1944, in Stanly County to the late Claud Alonzo and Pearl Rogers Floyd. She enjoyed sewing, gardening, spending time with family, her grandchildren, crocheting, and listening to gospel music.
Frances was well loved by her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. She gave great advice and was always there for support.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband , James Clubb Jr.; daughter: Belinda Easter; grandson Robert ‘BJ’ Lee Gallimore; and brother: Clay Floyd.
He was educated in the Stanly County public schools and attended Albemarle Senior High School, Albemarle.
He was a great conversationalist and loved meeting people. Darrick never met a stranger and always showed love and compassion for his fellowman. He also loved his dog, Rocky.
He is survived by his father, Eddie J. Baldwin Sr.; sisters: Crystal (Eric) Jackson, LaFondra (Stoney) Medley, and Morgan Baldwin; brothers: Eddie Baldwin Jr., Anton Baldwin, and Lamont Baldwin; a host of other relatives and friends. A limb has fallen from our family tree. We will not grieve Darrick’s death; we will celebrate his life. We give thanksgiving for the many shared memories.
This is what John’s Model A Community had to say upon learning of his death: He was an active member of Wesley Chapel Methodist Church where he loved serving as greeter on Sunday mornings. He also belonged to the United Methodist Men. John is survived by his wife Julie Ussery Kluttz, for 66 years of the home. He is also survived by a son John David Kluttz (Kim) of Oakboro, NC; two daughters, Sally Simerson of Denver, CO and Betsy Tusa (John) of Lafayette, CO; three grandchildren, Bonnie Kluttz Sammons (Ben) of Richfield, NC John Alexander McKinnon (Sarah) of Asheville, NC and Seth William McKinnon (Amanda) of Germany; five great-grandchildren, Charlotte, Meredith, Grant, Victoria and Ronan. John is also preceded in death by his parents, J.S. Kluttz and Mary Wyatt Clayton Kluttz; a large and loving group of brothers and sisters, Jack Methias Kluttz, Annie Lou Kluttz Honeycutt, Jake Nelson Kluttz, Julius Kluttz, Mary Patricia Phillips and a grandson, Kevin Fowler Kluttz.
She was especially talented at sewing from a young age and made gifts for friends, Christmas ornaments, Halloween Costumes, doll clothes, pageant dresses, prom dresses, coats, tote bags, scarves, outfits for Amy and Laura, and Christening gowns for each of her grandchildren.
She is survived by her children: Penny C. Parsons (Darrell), Kathy C. Thurber (Dave), Cindy C. Smith, and James A. Clubb III (Melody); sisters: Carolyn Sinclair and Eva Helms, and brothers: Claud A. Floyd and Dwight Floyd; Ten grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
Doris was preceded in death by her father Arthur Raymond Jones, her mother Mary Ellen Cameron Jones, and her sister Maryanne Jones Brantley. Survivors include her two precious daughters: Amy Cameron Coleman (partner Dr. Edward Neal Chernault) of Albemarle, NC, and Laura Lindahl Coleman Oliverio (husband David) of Cincinnati, Ohio; seven grandchildren: Cameron David Oliverio, Stephanie Jae Dejak, Luca Beatty Oliverio, Coleman John Dejak, Carson Joseph Oliverio, Ryan Nicholas Dejak, and Jadon Richard Oliverio; and numerous in-laws, nieces, nephews, cousins, and loved ones.
RAMELLE RUMMAGE STATON
AUG. 8, 1929 – JUNE 10, 2026
Ramelle Rummage Staton, 96, of Albemarle, passed away peacefully on June 10, 2026, at the Taylor House.
A memorial service to celebrate her life will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, June 12, 2026, in the Stanly Funeral Home Chapel in Albemarle, officiated by Father Peter Fitzgibbons. The family will receive friends from 10 until 10:45 AM prior to the service. Burial will follow at a later date in Fairview Memorial Park.
Born on August 8, 1929, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Ramelle was the daughter of the late Hattie Jane Rummage. She was a faithful member of Annunciation Catholic Church and retired as office manager for Service Distributing in Albemarle after many years of dedicated service.
Ramelle will be remembered as a loving and devoted mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend. She possessed a remarkable work ethic, beginning her first job at just ten years old, and carried that spirit of determination and responsibility throughout her life. She genuinely cared for others and always placed her family at the center of her heart.
Known affectionately as “Mimi” by her grandchildren, she created countless cherished memories with them. Among their favorites were special trips to Hardee’s followed by adventures through K-Mart, simple moments that became treasured family traditions. Ramelle also had a lifelong love of reading and was especially fond of mystery novels. Family members often joked that she had read every mystery book in the Stanly County Public Library.
In addition to her mother, she was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Tommie Collins Staton, who passed away in 2008.
She is survived by her son, George C. Staton and wife, Kathy, of Albemarle; her daughter, Janie S. Hatley and husband, Terry, of Albemarle; grandchildren, Whitney Moore (Justin), Adam Hatley (Kelsie), Brian Staton (Jessica), and Jake Staton (Samantha); and great-grandchildren, Bentley Morris, Dawson Staton, Eli Staton, Ella Staton, Landon Staton, Chesnee Hatley, and Madi Kate Hatley.
The family would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated staff of the Taylor House for the exceptional care, kindness, and companionship they provided to Mrs. Staton. As the Taylor House’s oldest resident for many years, she was deeply loved and cared for by those who became like family to her. The family also extends their sincere appreciation to the caregivers of Tillery Compassionate Care for their support and compassionate service.
Ramelle’s kindness, unwavering devotion to her family, and the countless memories she created will continue to be treasured by all who knew and loved her.
Actor Anthony Head, known for ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ dead at 72
His career encompassed television, film, stage performances and musical theater roles
By Jill Lawless and Brian Melley
The Associated Press
LONDON — Anthony Head, the suave, smooth-voiced British actor known for roles in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Ted Lasso,” has died, his family said Friday. He was 72. Head’s daughters, actors Emily and Daisy Head, told the Press Association news agency that the actor passed away due to complications from pneumonia.
The stage and TV performer became well known to British audiences in the 1980s as one half of a will-they, won’t-they romantic couple in a series of ads for Nescafe Gold Blend instant coffee. The ads were later reshot for a U.S. audience for Taster’s Choice.
Head achieved wider fame as librarian Rupert Giles, mentor to the title character in the cult-favorite supernatural series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which ran from 1997 to 2003.
He most recently played Rupert Mannion, the villainous ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham’s character Rebecca, in “Ted Lasso.”
“Our grief is far greater than the hole he has left behind, but we know his legacy will live on, in the shows he was a part of, and in the audiences that love them,” his daughters said. “How lucky we are to know we are able to watch him doing what he loved, even when he is no longer with us.”
Head was born in London on Feb. 20, 1954, to Seafield Head, a documentary filmmaker, and Helen Shingler, an actor. His older brother, Murray, is also an actor.
Other notable roles included playing Geoffrey Howe, the deputy to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, played by Meryl Streep, in the Oscar-winning “The Iron Lady.”
Head portrayed a prime minister himself in the sketch comedy show “Little Britain,” as well as King Uther Pendragon, the father of Prince Arthur, in the “Merlin” TV series. He also appeared in “Motherland,” Manchild” and “Silent Witness,” along with acting in many plays, musicals and recording music as a singer. He was predeceased by his longtime partner, animal welfare activist Sarah Fisher, 61, in 2025.
"How lucky we are to know we are able to watch him doing what he loved, even when he is no longer with us."
Emily and Daisy Head, daughters of Anthony Head
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JONATHAN SHORT / AP PHOTO
Anthony Head arrives for the European premiere of ‘The Iron Lady’ on Jan. 4, 2012, in London.
Performers reveal the formula for stadium anthems: rhythm, hooks and unifying messages
By Maria Sherman
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — What makes a memorable World Cup anthem? Is it a song that best reflects the host countries? Is it a global banger, incorporating multiple languages and genres? Or should it simply value a chant-along chorus above all?
There’s an argument to make for each — or perhaps all. To get to the bottom of it ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, The Associated Press asked a few of the performers behind World Cup songs past and present. It’s a list that includes Shakira — who, alongside Afrobeats star Burna Boy, is responsible for the official 2026 FIFA World Cup anthem, “Dai Dai” — as well as Colombian singer J Balvin, Wyclef Jean and newcomer Nora Fatehi.
Shakira unites cultures
Before “Dai Dai,” the Colombian superstar co-wrote and performed “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” featuring Freshlyground, the official anthem of the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa.
“Fútbol is a thing that unites so many cultures and people of different walks of life,” she told the AP. “The big responsibility of making a World Cup song is that you’ve got to make a song that represents people’s feelings, emotions, and passion.”
“So you’ve got to write that song, in a way, understanding that it has to be global. It has to encompass so many cultures and represent so many in one tune,” Shakira continued. “That, in a way, has helped me craft those songs in the past.”
But beyond those conceptual ideas, Shakira has some specific sonic suggestions as well.
“I feel like a good World Cup song needs to definitely have rhythm. It has to be rhythmic. It has to make people want to dance. And it has to be an anthem as well. It has to make people want to sing along in unison, sing out loud at the top of their lungs. It also has that kind of energy,” she says. “That’s a must.”
J Balvin makes the case for a hook
Colombian singer J Balvin is one-fourth of Coca-Cola’s official song for the FIFA World Cup 2026, a reimagination of Van Halen’s “Jump” that
also features drummer Travis Barker, pop/R&B singer Amber Mark and guitarist Steve Vai. He says any song — not just a World Cup anthem — must engage listeners right off the bat.
“Nowadays, with the music and every type of music — it doesn’t matter if it’s the World Cup, if it is a reggaeton or hip -hop (song) — you know, people’s attention (span) is only like five seconds. And that’s the reality. I’m not judging — you’ve just got to do it with all the love,” he says.
But a World Cup anthem specifically? That should match the
intensity of a soccer game. “Fútbol brings us together, with all different highs and lows,” he says. “All these different emotions happen in one game.” The song should have the same energy.
Newcomer Nora Fatehi thinks World Cup anthems are for winners
The Canadian Moroccan singer-songwriter Nora Fatehi is featured on the official 2026 FIFA World Cup album with “Siir, Siir,” a collaboration with French artist Vegedream
and Bangladeshi American DJ Sanjoy.
“It needs a great beat because we’re here to dance and we need to celebrate,” she says of a World Cup anthem. But beyond that, Fatehi, who is best known for work in Bollywood films, says that when you hear it, “You feel like you’re winning, or you’re gonna win, or you won. That’s the emotion it needs to evoke.”
For “Siir, Siir,” she says, “what we were after was finding an emotion. So, the minute you hear that song, it should make you feel like you’ve conquered the world. It should make you feel motivated. It should be aspirational. That’s what it should feel like.”
Wyclef Jean aims for unity
Wyclef Jean, the Fugees multi-hyphenate, co-wrote and performed “Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way)” for the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil, with guitar guru Santana, the late EDM icon Avicii and Brazil’s beloved singer-songwriter Alexandre Pires.
“The topline? It has to electrify the stadium,” Jean says.
“You literally have to feel the entire stadium shaking.” If you don’t — the anthem won’t fly.
“I don’t know any World Cup song that don’t have amazing
rhythm and amazing movement,” he says.
Though many nations are represented in the identity of his song’s performers — Brazil, Sweden, Haiti, Mexico and the U.S. — Jean says he doesn’t “think like necessarily you need to have five different artists to make a global anthem.”
“Whether they come from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, America, any part of the world, the Caribbean — people gravitate towards culture,” he says. “And what I love best about World Cup is that before it has a language, it has an energy and a vibe. It has absolutely nothing to do with a language.”
A good hook, a strong melody that anyone can sing along to — that’s what’s key. But “Dar um Jeito” has a strong message of unity, adding to its anthemic quality. “Resilience is a very important word,” he says of the song’s message. Jean says it was written for “boys and girls all over the world,” particularly those in rural areas.
The aim was a Bob Marley-style “Get Up, Stand Up,” “where the messaging in the song is not being preachy, but it’s a message of hope,” he says. “If you keep fighting the good fight, you’re gonna get to that stadium. And ain’t nobody gonna stop you.”
CHARLES SYKES / INVISION VIA AP Shakira performs during the Global Citizen Festival in New York on Sept. 27, 2025.
A stabbing by a Sudanese asylum-seeker sparked anti-immigrant violence
across Belfast
By Peter Morrison and Jill Lawless The Associated Press
BELFAST, Northern Ireland
— Police blasted water cannons Wednesday at protesters in Northern Ireland who set small fires and hurled bricks, rocks and bottles at them during a second night of violence over a brutal stabbing on a Belfast street.
Demonstrators wearing masks tore bricks from the walls outside homes and smashed sidewalks with sledgehammers to toss at riot police. In one place, the unruly crowd used sections of a dismantled picket fence to take cover on the street.
The clashes with police came several hours after a 30-year- old man from Sudan appeared in a Belfast court charged with attempted murder in a stabbing attack that left a man seriously injured and triggered anti-immigrant violence.
Hadi Alodid, 30, was ordered held in jail after appearing by video in Belfast Magistrates’ Court, where a detective said he blinded Stephen Ogilvie in the left eye during the knife attack. He was also charged with possessing a knife and threatening to kill a radiographer while being treated for a hand injury after the assault.
When police arrived at the crime scene, they found Alodid on the man, armed with a kitchen knife, the detective said. Alodid later told hospital staff: “I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead,” and said, “I will kill you.”
He refused legal representation through an Arabic interpreter and did not enter a plea.
Police were prepared for more violence after masked men on Tuesday set fire to several homes they believed to house immigrants, burned trash bins, torched a Belfast bus and pelted police with objects.
Firefighters rescued several people from burning houses and more than two dozen people were left homeless.
Anselme Shima, a Belfast resident originally from Congo, said he saw smoke from burning vehicles near his home.
“I’ve lived on my street for almost 10 years, I have a good relationship with my neighbors, but last night was a horrific one,” he said. “We don’t know what to do. I’m scared. Seeing this, I’m wondering if I’m next.”
Families, one with a baby, were rescued and taken to police stations for safety, Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said.
“These weren’t just families from ethnic minority communities, these were families from across communities that were caught up in this vile behavior last night,” Boutcher told the BBC. “There is absolutely no excuse for it.”
Boutcher said 200 more officers would be on the streets Wednesday and the PSNI was calling in support from other forces. Bus and train operators in Belfast said they would stop services early because of expected protests.
Ogilvie’s family appealed for an end to the violence and said migrants “make a deeply valuable contribution to our country.”
“We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility,” the family said in a statement.
Politicians from both parts of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government condemned the violence. First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein said it was “thuggery.”
“Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” she said.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, said that “taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong.”
Attack caught on video
Monday’s attack, caught in video footage that quickly spread on social media, was seized on by anti-immigration activists. Ogilvie, a man in his 40s, was hospitalized with deep cuts to his head, face and back.
Police said Alodid entered Northern Ireland from the neighboring Republic of Ireland in 2023, applied for asylum and was given a five-year permit to remain.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said there is no information to suggest the attack was terrorism-related.
Protests were encouraged online by far-right activists, and the street violence erupted despite politicians’ calls for calm.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the stabbing attack as “sickening,” but said violence against people based on their background would not be tolerated.
“The scenes in Belfast last night were shocking and completely unacceptable,” Starmer said on X. “There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere.”
Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long said social media agitators who “yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map” were “weaponizing” the fears of local people.
“If you’re driving people from their homes based on nothing but the color of their skin, you can’t dress that up any other way, it’s racism, and those bad faith actors need to take a step back,” she told the BBC.
Some raise questions about the Irish border
Some politicians said the stabbing should spark a review of the open border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., and the Republic of Ireland.
The border is a highly sensitive issue. Allowing the free flow of people is a major pillar of the peace process that
largely ended decades of violence known as “The Troubles.”
The conflict involving Irish Republican a nd British Loyalist militants and U.K. security forces left almost 3,600 people dead before a 1998 peace accord.
Much of Tuesday’s violence took place in working-class areas where former paramilitary groups still hold considerable sway over the streets.
Last week a separate case of a university student who was stabbed to death in Southampton, England, in December was seized on by activists and U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who blamed immigration for the violence, an idea rejected by Starmer and other British politicians.
Henry Nowak, who was white, was killed by Vickrum Digwa, a Sikh who falsely claimed to police that he was the victim of a racist assault by Nowak. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded Nowak as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him. Digwa was convicted of murder and sentenced last week to life in prison with a minimum 21-year term. A protest over Nowak’s death turned violent, with some attacking police with chairs and rocks. Several people were charged with violent disorder.
PETER MORRISON / AP PHOTO
People watch as firemen arrive to put out vehicle that was set alight during a protest in East Belfast following a stabbing incident in Belfast on Tuesday.
ELIZABETH COOK / PA VIA AP
A court artist drawing by depicts Sudanese national Hadi Alodid, 30, appearing via videolink at Belfast Magistrates Court in Belfast on Wednesday after a stabbing attack.
Members of the media view the arena for the UFC Freedom 250 fights on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday, in Washington, D.C.
White House lawn’s Octagon ready for Trump’s 80th birthday bash
The $60 million
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — It looks from afar more UFO than UFC.
Maybe it’s the kind of contraption that has carried space aliens to the White House to force a meeting with America’s leader.
But come closer and you’ll see the contours of the eight-sided cage, 30 feet in diameter and shaped, with careful precision, like the MMA league’s signature Octagon. That is, a STOP! sign flipped on its edge, with wire-mesh sides and padded corners fitted with different sponsors’ logos: Morgan & Morgan, Bud Light, Dodge Ram, Corona Extra and Polymarket, which identifies itself as the world’s largest prediction market.
Overhead looms The Claw, a four-sided mass that arcs more than 90 feet into the air and features lights, speakers, thick snakes of wiring and four large screens so fans not seated right next to the Octagon can follow the cage fighting below.
Think more the four-sided, metal grabby thing that tries to grasp stuffed animals at a video arcade rather than what house cats have — hence the extraterrestrial vibes.
And surrounding all that are risers filled with gray folding chairs forming a temporary arena expected to seat 4,000 -plus people for the seven UFC fights being staged on Sunday to celebrate the 80th birthday of President Donald Trump and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.
‘Quite attractive to a lot of people’
For non-UFC fans, all of this might be disorienting under any circumstances. But the temporary arena is covering nearly the entirety of the White House’s South Lawn, where Marine One usually lands to ferry the president to out-of-town trips and gobs of kids scramble in the grass during the Easter Egg Roll every spring.
that empower learners to reach their full potential,” Woolard said.
She noted one of her goals is to work with students, families and staff to provide community service and real-world learning experiences.
“Most importantly, I am committed to ensuring successful outcomes for every student by helping them develop the skills, confidence and support systems needed to thrive in school and beyond,” Woolard said.
Before joining Stanly County Schools, Woolard served as an English as a Second Language coordinator for Gaston County Schools. Her previous experience also includes serving as a dual language immersion principal and middle school assistant principal in Union County Public Schools, where she focused on instructional
More than $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have been poured into building the arena, according to a court filing from the National Park Service, which oversees the South Lawn and is contesting a lawsuit meant to block the event.
The White House says the UFC is covering the costs, though the filing states that seven agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration — have “allocated significant resources and manpower.”
Fighters, their entourages and assorted support staffers are expected to take over the driveway and part of the West Wing when they’re not fighting. But they’ll enter the arena via curtained-off walkways with access to the Octagon.
They, as well as ordinary attendees of Sunday’s spectacle, will have picturesque views of the White House’s Executive Residence and its storied Truman Balcony on one side and the Washington Monument towering in the distance on the other. All of it will be accentuated by swirling spotlights, and perhaps even sweat and blood pouring off the fighters pummeling each other.
A packed pre-event schedule includes a press conference at the Lincoln Memorial with UFC chief Dana White and the fighters on Friday night.
There’s also a ceremonial weigh-in for combatants on Saturday at the Ellipse, a park near the White House where organizers expect 120,000 -plus visitors to watch Sunday night’s proceedings on large screens after winning free tickets in a lottery.
Stunt athlete Travis Pastrana is also set to do a potentially death-defying backflip on a dirt bike on the White House lawn as part of the preshow extravaganza.
Trump has called the Octagon and its Claw “quite attractive to a lot of people.” He’s even suggested that maybe the temporary structure could become permanent, like the Eiffel Tower, which he notes was originally built as part of the 1889 World’s Fair but then was never taken back down.
Only the president knows
excellence and student success. Woolard has received several honors during her education career, including Professional Development Master Teacher and Assistant Principal of the Year. She also has shared her expertise with educators through professional development presentations at the state and national levels.
Beginning with a bachelor’s degree from Florida Atlantic
how serious that suggestion really is.
Fights will go on rain or shine — despite lackof covering
Work on the arena began May 20 and has continued for weeks. During a walk-through for reporters on Thursday, construction noises — particularly sanding and hammering — could be heard. Giant cranes were carrying materials around overhead, though that was for the $400 million ballroom that Trump is building nearby, not the UFC fight.
The remaining grassy lawn around the arena, on the other sides of the White House, has been fitted with supplemental spotlights. But the grass that normally grows between the White House and the start of the risers for the arena is now gone, with nothing but dusty dirt that will need to be resodded when this is all over — unless the president really does decide to leave the arena up permanently.
There’s also a large Freedom 250 logo standing between the White House and the arena. Nearby, crews removed the tables and yellow patio umbrellas from Trump’s refurbished Rose Garden and were power-washing that space, as well as the colonnade to the Oval Office, in preparation for the fights.
Sunday’s event starts at 8 p.m. ET. As darkness falls, crews will illuminate The Claw in red, white and blue, and the mass of lights will offer projections that make it seem as though the entire structure has been enveloped in a twirling stars and stripes pattern.
The weather forecast calls for hot and muggy conditions with thunderstorms possible. The underside of The Claw’s tower features an overhead cover that should keep the fighters reasonably dry should it rain — and Trump is also likely to watch from a protected, covered area.
But everyone else would almost certainly get wet.
White has vowed that even heavy lightning — when The Claw might make a conspicuous target for bolts — wouldn’t stop the show.
“I don’t care if it snows,” White said.
University, Woolard earned master’s and doctoral degrees in educational leadership from Gardner-Webb University, where she also received school administration licensure as a principal and superintendent administrator.
SALC, located at 1121 Austin St. in Albemarle, is the district’s alternative public high school for students in grades 8-12 who may be off track or struggling in traditional school settings.
The school emphasizes small classes, credit recovery, behavior and life-skills development and pathways back to traditional schools.
SCoVE is the district’s public virtual program for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Located on the SALC campus, the program offers a mix of live and prerecorded learning for families seeking flexible schedules, homeschool support or enrichment options.
temporary arena covers nearly the entire White House South Lawn
SCS from page A1
COURTESY STANLY COUNTY SCHOOLS
Vera Woolard
ALEX BRANDON / AP PHOTO
STANLY SPORTS
North Stanly graduate Heath Klingensmith is one of 10 local baseball players on an NCBCA all-region team.
ALBEMARLE — The spring baseball season ended with Stanly County names scattered across some of North Carolina’s top postseason lists.
Ten local high school players were selected to the 2026 North Carolina Baseball Coaches Association all-region teams, which were announced June 3 and recognize standout performers from across the state.
“The NCBCA would like to congratulate the 2026 All-Re -
gion 6 Team! Outstanding seasons for these young men,” the organization said in a statement.
West Stanly led the county with five selections: rising senior Kannon Tucker, graduating senior Sam Carpenter, rising junior Brody Clontz, rising sophomore Cooper Hatley and rising senior Logan Molatch. Tucker, who has played as a pitcher and infielder for the Colts, said the honor reflected the support he received throughout the season.
“Honored and blessed to be selected to the All-Region 6 Team,” Tucker said. “I want to thank God because none of this would be possible without
Pfeiffer softball players awarded as NFCA All-Americans
Landry Stewart and Heather Vaughn received the honors
By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal
MISENHEIMER — Pfeiffer
softball players Landry Stewart and Heather Vaughn have added national honors to a season filled with conference awards.
Stewart and Vaughn were recently named to the 2026 National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III All-America teams, giving the Falcons two players among the top honorees in the country.
The NFCA selected 55 players from 40 schools across three All-America teams, with the two Falcons landing as third-team selections.
In another championship season for Pfeiffer under coach Monte Sherrill, the Falcons captured their fourth consec-
utive USA South regular-season and tournament championships this year, advancing to NCAA regional play.
Stewart, a junior outfielder from China Grove, was named USA South Player of the Year for the second straight season after leading the league in several offensive categories. She was tops in the conference in batting average, on-base percentage, runs and hits while also setting a USA South single-season record for stolen bases.
Vaughn, a freshman first baseman from Eli Whitney, quickly became one of Pfeiffer’s top offensive players in her first collegiate season. She was named USA South Rookie of the Year and earned first-team all-conference honors after helping anchor the Falcons’ lineup. Before their All-America selections, both players were named first-team NFCA All-Region VI, putting
Him. Thank you to my coaches, teammates, family and everyone who supported me along the way.”
Carpenter, a Catawba College baseball commit, will continue his playing career in Salisbury. He is also playing this summer with the Uwharrie Wampus Cats in Albemarle.
Molatch said he was proud to be included among several familiar names.
“Excited to be named to the All-Region 6 Team alongside some talented teammates from West Stanly and Queen City Corndogs,” Molatch said.
“Proud of what West Stanly accomplished this season and excited for the summer to
get started this weekend with Queen City.”
The Colts finished 25-3 and won both the Rocky River Conference regular-season and tournament championships.
North Stanly had three players named to the all-region team: rising senior Jarrett Hinson, rising sophomore Ryder Sheffield and graduating senior Heath Klingensmith.
“Great season for North Stanly, we had a really good run and made it to regionals,” said Hinson, who also plays with the South Charlotte Panthers. “Ready to get after it this summer with the Panthers.”
The Comets finished 25-6 and were Yadkin Val-
COURTESY HEATH KLINGENSMITH
“Outstanding seasons for these young men.”
North Carolina Baseball Coaches Association
ley Conference regular-season co-champions and tournament champions.
Klingensmith, a baseball commit at The Citadel, also thanked the organization for the honor.
“I appreciate the recognition, NCBCA,” Klingensmith said. South Stanly was represented by rising sophomore Nick Cupples and graduating senior Ayden Russell.
The Rowdy Rebel Bulls finished 17-11 and were Yadkin Valley Conference regular-season co-champions and tournament runners-up. Russell has committed to play baseball at Catawba Valley Community College.
40 Wins by Pfeiffer softball in 2026
them in position for national recognition. Pfeiffer (40-11) earned three of the USA South’s five major awards, with Stewart repeating as Player of the Year, Vaughn taking Rookie of the Year and
Abby Bowman being named Rookie Pitcher of the Year. The Falcons also placed several players on the all-conference teams. First-team selections included Vaughn at first base, Natalie Auman at second base, Kirstyn Herman at catcher, Bulla as a utility player, Stewart in the outfield and Bowman at pitcher; Ky Perdue, a shortstop, and outfielder E.A. Nance were named to the second team, while Micah Felts was selected to the USA
Pfeiffer’s Landry Stewart attempts a bunt during a game this past season.
South Sportsmanship Team. Pfeiffer closed the regular season with 18 straight wins to secure the league title, then battled back in the conference tournament after a loss to No. 4 Greensboro. The Falcons beat Greensboro twice before sweeping N.C. Wesleyan in the championship series. In the NCAA Division III tournament, the Falcons reached the regional final before falling 3-2 to undefeated Virginia Wesleyan, the No. 1 overall seed.
Colts QB Jones takes another significant step in way back from torn Achilles tendon
The former Duke quarterback was cleared to participate in drills
By Michael Marot
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones was cleared to participate in seven-on-seven drills Monday, marking yet another significant step in his comeback from a torn right Achilles tendon.
Coach Shane Steichen hinted last week that Jones’ workload may increase during this week’s workouts. Jones has been throwing throughout Indy’s offseason team activities, which began in April. Throughout the process, Jones has made steady progress, though he’s not expected to do full-team workouts until players report to training camp in July.
“To get him out there in seven-on-seven was huge, to get him in the fold, running plays with the guys,” Steichen said. “We’ll keep that trend going, probably through the end of OTAs and then, obviously, get him into team stuff at training camp. It’s spring, we don’t play for a while, so we’ve got to be smart with his injury. But he’s making great progress.”
Jones has not played since early December when he suffered the injury during a loss at Jacksonville. He also was playing with a broken bone in his left leg.
The two injuries derailed the Colts’ strong start. He wasn’t the same after the leg injury and missed the rest of the season after getting hurt against the Jaguars.
Jones spoke with reporters last week but was not available Monday.
“You just feel more a part of it, I think, prepping for practice and the meetings, being a part of the walkthroughs, kind of going through the plays, being back there with the quarterbacks talking through things,” Jones said last Wednesday. “It just feels more like you’re back
in the swing of things and back a part of it. So it’s been good this week to be back.”
The Colts continue to believe Jones is on schedule, perhaps even slightly ahead of schedule, in his recovery and remain hopeful the former Duke star and New York Giants draft pick will start the Sept. 13 season opener against Baltimore. Jones also believes he’ll be ready for Week 1 after signing a two-year contract extension worth up to $100 million in March.
But the depth chart behind Jones remains clouded.
Steichen reiterated Monday that Anthony Richardson, the No. 4 overall draft pick in 2023, and Riley Leonard, a late-round pick in 2025, continue to share the snaps with Indy’s starting offense while Jones sits out. Richardson and Leonard are competing to be Jones’ backup.
Longtime Los Angeles Chargers backup Easton Stick joined the mix Monday when Indy signed the free agent and released Seth Henigan. Steichen served as the Chargers quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for two of the six
“It just feels more like you’re back in the swing of things and back a part of it.”
Daniel Jones
seasons Stick was with Los Angeles. Stick was with the Atlanta Falcons last year.
“We wanted to get him in, get him up to speed with everything, a really good competitor,” Steichen said while describing
Moss cancer-free, angling for next big catch in pursuit of bass fishing passion
The NFL Hall of Fame receiver is an ambassador for World Bass Enterprises
By Dave Campbell
The Associated Press
RANDY MOSS IS still making big catches, long after he finished playing football.
The Hall of Fame wide receiver with the second-most touchdown receptions in NFL history has found his off-the-field calling on the boat, fishing for freshwater bass.
“That’s my passion right now. That’s my hobby. That’s my getaway. That’s my therapy,” Moss said. Mostly confined to his home for about nine months while he underwent chemotherapy and radiation to beat cancer, Moss developed a deeper appreciation for being in nature. Since his treatment was completed last fall and his rare form of the disease — in the bile duct between the pancreas and the liver — was deemed to be in remission, Moss has often had a rod and reel in his hands.
This lifelong hobby for Moss has become a third career of sorts, following his work as an NFL analyst for ESPN that he resumed with the 2025 season.
“I’m just excited to be able to showcase my talent and go out there and show people that I have something else other than football that I love,” Moss said.
Moss was hired by World Bass Enterprises to serve as an ambassador for “The Champions” tournament this fall in Hendersonville, Tennessee, an inaugural five-day event just across the
river from Nashville designed to determine a true title in a sport divided by two competing tours. WBE was founded earlier this year by Brian Bird, a Texas businessman and amateur angler who has become a fishing buddy to Moss. In the meantime, Moss and his business partner, Andrew Grein, have been busy filming a documentary series, “Chasing 10,” that features Moss fishing with celebrity guests in pursuit of the elusive 10-pound largemouth bass while offering tips and trading stories. He’s
“That’s my passion right now. That’s my hobby. That’s my getaway. That’s my therapy,”
Randy Moss on bass fishing
auctioning off a custom-made boat for each season to benefit the Children’s Cancer Research Fund in Minnesota.
“I had to take a year off to be able to get myself back right, but
my health is great,” Moss said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “I still have my quarterly checkups every four months, my scans, but I just think that now that I’m back outside, this is one of the things that I couldn’t wait to see. I have the bass waiting on me, so I’m just a kid in the candy store having fun, man.” The Champions event, which is carrying a total prize purse of $3.25 million for the largest in the history of the sport, will pay $1.25 million to the winner from a field of 50 anglers — the
Stick. “He’s really smart, has some familiarity with the offense. Obviously, things have changed, but we’ll get him in here, get him up to speed and see where it goes.”
And they’ll keep monitoring Jones, too.
“He’s been throwing routes with the guys, and we’re telling him ‘Don’t scramble, it’s seven-on-seven, be smart in these situations, if it’s not there throw it out of bounds or if you want to drop it on the ground, I’m good with that,’” Steichen said. “But, yeah, he looked good out there today.”
top 25 from each of the two biggest organizations in competitive bass fishing.
The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society — known as B.A.S.S. — runs the Bassmaster Elite Series. Major League Fishing has the newer Bass Pro Tour. For the past seven years, a bit like the PGA and LIV factions in golf, the best anglers in the world have been split between two groups. Moss is on board with Bird to try to help unite the sport and take it further into the mainstream.
“We both are trying to bring something that’s really positive to the sport of bass fishing,” said Bird, who sold his electrical construction services company three years ago and has invested his money into the launch of the tournament.
“It’s a good way for a family to spend time out in nature.”
The first batch of “Chasing 10” episodes posted to YouTube this week included a spirited outing with the Kelce brothers and a reunion of fellow receivers from the Minnesota Vikings with Cris Carter and Jake Reed. While he was out on another show with Bird on a Texas lake, Moss giddily reeled in the hallowed 10-pounder, comparing the anxiety he felt during the process to the moments before a football play when he knew the pass was coming his way.
Moss first learned how to cast a line while growing up in West Virginia with his older half-brother, Eric Moss, who died in 2019. Soon after Moss started his NFL career in Minnesota in 1998, he was introduced to a professional angler, the late John Laub, who taught him the sport on the St. Croix River along the Wisconsin border.
“My first actual bass experience, I caught 20!” Moss said. “John, he was glowing. That’s the man who showed me bass fishing, and I haven’t looked back since.”
MICHAEL CONROY / AP PHOTO
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones throws at the team’s practice last week.
ANDREW GREIN / CHASING 10 VIA AP
Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss holds up a bass during the “Chasing 10” with Randy Moss adventures series about Moss’s chase for elusive 10-pound largemouth bass.
Comets boys’ golf
The North Stanly boys’ golf team completed a successful season. The Comets were the Stanly County champions, Yadkin Valley Conference champions, 3A NCHSAA Central Regional runner-up and finished third at the Class 3A NCHSAA state championship. Ayden Griffin was the medalist for the Stanly County match, while teammates Nash Laney, Cooper Roark and Drew Talbert earned All-County honors. Drew Talbert was named Player of the Year for the Yadkin Valley Conference, while teammates Ayden Griffin, Xander Hraczo and Cooper Roark earned All-Conference honors. Coach Jeremy Almond was also named Yadkin Valley Coach of the Year.
Poston loses 4-shot lead, comes up clutch to win Memorial in playoff
The former Western Carolina golfer held off former Tar Heel Ryan Gerard
By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press
DUBLIN, Ohio — J.T. Poston built a four-shot lead Sunday morning in the rain-delayed Memorial and won the biggest tournament of his career. It just turned out to be a lot more work than he would have imagined.
Poston, a Hickory native and former Western Carolina golfer, lost his lead after 12 holes, then made a 7-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to salvage an even-par 72 and force a playoff with Ryan Gerard. He then won on the second extra hole when Gerard missed a 6-foot par putt.
Gerard, a Raleigh-born UNC alum, made a 40-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to briefly take the lead, closed with a 68 and didn’t really make a mis-
take over the final four hours until the final putt.
So ended the longest day for both of them — 33 holes, including 13 in the morning to complete the third round and two playoff holes. But what a payoff for Poston in so many ways. He
had not finished in the top 20 in his previous 13 tournaments this year. And then he delivered the goods and celebrated with a handshake with tournament host Jack Nicklaus.
“A lot of holes, a lot of grit,” Poston said. “Obviously didn’t
play my best first 12, 13 holes, but I told myself I knew I was going to shake Jack’s hand walking off 18, and I wanted to be proud of that handshake regardless of how it turned out. So I’m thrilled it happened this way.”
The perks went beyond the $4 million prize. Poston earned a spot in the next three majors with one great week — high enough in the world ranking to avoid a 36-hole qualifier Monday for the U.S. Open, the one British Open spot available this week, and a return to the Masters.
They finished at 12-under 276 after Poston and Gerard pulled away from what had been a five-way tie for the lead with an hour to go in the tournament.
Tommy Fleetwood drilled a fairway metal to 5 feet for eagle on the par-5 15th. Wyndham Clark made a late surge. Sam Burns was never too far behind. All of them were at 11 under heading to the final few holes.
Clark, who made birdie on the 16th to reach 11 under, closed with two pars for a 67.
He wound up alone in third, one shot out of the playoff. Fleetwood hit into the rough with his first three shots on the 17th and had to scramble for bogey. He shot 68. Burns also missed the 17th fairway, and his next shot tumbled back down the rough and settled on the bridge over a small creek. He hit that to 40 feet, and his long par putt peeked into the cup and somehow stayed out. A 10 -foot birdie putt on the 18th narrowly missed. He shot 69 and tied for fourth with Fleetwood.
Two storm stoppages Saturday led to the marathon Sunday. Poston did some of his best work in the morning, running off three straight birdies on the back nine for a 69 for a four-shot lead.
He had a long three-putt bogey on the third, but as Burns and Gerard and Clark began to inch closer, Poston was missing fairways and losing ground — another three-putt bogey on the ninth from long range, a bogey from deep rough on the par-3 12th, and a weak par putt from 10 feet on the 13th to fall behind for the first time.
But he followed with an 18-foot birdie putt on the 14th, an up-and-down from the bunker for birdie on the par-5 15th and a 12-foot par save on the 17th hole when he couldn’t afford another mistake.
Front row, left to right: Bradyn Cook, Greyson Laney, Will Cox, Edison Xiong and Ayden Griffin. Back row, left to right: Xander Hraczo, Drew Talbert, Cooper Roark, Gage Eudy and Nash Laney.
The
SUE OGROCKI / AP PHOTO
J.T. Poston celebrates after winning the Memorial golf tournament Sunday in Dublin, Ohio.
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or this Notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment. This the 1st day of June, 2026. MARK T. LOWDER PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE ESTATE OF CLAUDE JUNIOR HUNEYCUTT MARK T. LOWDER ATTORNEY AT LAW PO Box 1284 Albemarle, NC 28002 Telephone (704) 982-8558 Publish: June 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2026 NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA, IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE STANLY COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK 26E000259-830 NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The undersigned, having duly qualified as Executrix of the Estate of Bernice Griffin Smith, deceased, late of Stanly County, North Carolina, is hereby notifying all persons, firms, or corporations having claims against said decedent, or her estate, to present the same to the undersigned Executrix, duly itemized and verified on or before the 7th day of September, 2026, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the said decedent are hereby requested to pay the said indebtedness to the undersigned Executrix. This the 3rd day of June, 2026. Sherry Smith Denton Executrix of the Estate of Bernice Griffin Smith 32231 Hwy 49 Richfield, NC 28137 PUBLISH: June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2026 James A. Phillips, Jr. Attorney for the Estate P.O. Box 1162 117 W. North Street Albemarle, NC 28002-1162
NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA STANLY COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION BEFORE THE CLERK FILE NO. 26E000245-830 NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Having qualified as Executor of the estate of James Harold Little deceased, of Stanly County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons having claims against the Estate of said James Harold Little to present them to the undersigned on or before September 1, 2026 or the same will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to said Estate please make immediate payment. This the 31st day of May 2026. David Britt Orcutt 622 Arista Lane Wendell,
Too sick to work, but can they prove it? New Medicaid rule worries patients
States must verify medical frailty using documentation that doesn’t actually exist in their systems
By Ali Swenson
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — On hot afternoons, DeAnna Brandon’s three dogs zag around while she splashes in a backyard kiddie pool with her grandkids. These are the moments the 48-year-old blood cancer survivor cherishes — and wonders if she will get to have in the years to come.
Brandon, who lives in Rockwell in Rowan County, is worried that new Medicaid work requirements starting next year could jeopardize her health coverage. She had expected to qualify for a medical frailty exemption, but new guidance introduced by President Donald Trump’s administration last week has thrown that into question.
The interim final rule released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services means being sick with extreme exhaustion and memory challenges related to her treatments may not be enough for Brandon to evade the new work requirements. She will have to attest and later prove that those symptoms “significantly impair” her ability to fulfill the mandates.
If the government doesn’t accept her case, she could lose her coverage and the twice-monthly maintenance chemotherapy that keeps her multiple myeloma in remission. Working is “outside of the realm of possibility for me,” she said in an interview.
“I was always a pushthrough-it person — you know, ‘Oh, you’re tired. Push through,’” Brandon said. “It’s hard to explain to people you can’t push through it.”
Health analysts have sounded the alarm about the Republican Trump administration’s newest guidance, which differs from what states had been expecting. Experts said it will put more Americans at risk of losing health insurance and force states to scramble in their already harried efforts to implement the changes on time.
“This will mean more paperwork for Medicaid patients — specifically for the sickest Medicaid patients,” said Adrianna McIntyre, a professor at Harvard University’s school of public health. That, she said, “is going to push in the direction of more people needlessly losing coverage.”
Medical frailty rules may mean paperwork nightmares for sick people
The new Medicaid restrictions, which Democrats have criticized, were part of Trump’s big tax and policy law in 2025. The change affects those covered through an expansion in most states that gave more lower-income people access to the government’s safety net healthcare program. Expansion enrollees age 19 to 64 will have to show that they work or do community service at least 80 hours a month or are
in school at least half the time. There are exceptions for those considered medically frail or in addiction treatment programs, among others.
Last week’s announcement from CMS caught states off guard with a new definition of medical frailty. The law had said medically frail people include those who have substance use disorders, disabilities or serious medical conditions. But the CMS rule went further, saying someone’s condition must “significantly impair” their ability to work, volunteer or attend school at the rates required in the law for them to be granted an exemption.
In 2027 and once in 2028, the patient can attest that they meet this definition. But when they try to renew coverage in 2028, they’ll need to prove it.
Advocates said it is unclear what kind of documentation could prove that point. They said doctor notes may be required — something some providers don’t feel comfortable writing. Medicaid enrollees fighting disease may carry the bureaucratic burden.
Brandon, who tried to prove she couldn’t work to access disability benefits during her active cancer treatment and failed, said she’s worried about the hoops she and other patients may need to jump through.
“It’s not that easy — you may have to go through four doctors,” Brandon said. “If you’re already battling an illness like this, you don’t have the physical or the mental or the emotional energy to do that all the time.”
States, advocates confused by government’s approach
States have been planning to use Medicaid claims data and other data sources to automatically exempt eligible enrollees whenever possible.
On a call with reporters last
week, the CMS administrator, Dr. Mehmet Oz, endorsed that approach, saying he hoped most people would be helped “without ever having to talk to anybody.”
Asked to clarify how the rule should be implemented, the agency told The Associated Press in an email that it “chose not to allow states to categorically exclude individuals from work requirements based solely on a diagnosis or condition type.” For renewal in 2028, it said, “verification through claims data or other documentation will generally be required.”
But state Medicaid officials and consultants said Medicaid claims data doesn’t prove someone is significantly impaired from working, and they don’t know of any existing data that does. That has left them confused about how to honor the government’s rule.
“States are going to be asked to make a determination using information that doesn’t exist in their systems,” said Kinda Serafi, a partner at the legal and consulting firm Manatt Health who is working with states to make the changes.
One state, Nebraska, started the new Medicaid work requirements ahead of schedule. But it used diagnostic codes to identify people who are medically frail and therefore will likely have to rework its system, said Sarah Maresh, healthcare access program director at the advocacy group Nebraska Appleseed.
Maresh said she was concerned doctors in the rural state who are already reluctant to take Medicaid patients may stop.
“They’re already drowning in paperwork, so to require them to do an additional step of certifying whether someone is able to work, I think is concerning,” she said.
Workers at a Medicaid call center in Jefferson City, Missouri, field questions and review information regarding eligibility determinations in August 2023.
Preparing for the Jan. 1 kickoff of the new policies is an immense and expensive task. A $200 million federal allotment is flowing to states to help, and CMS has partnered with technology companies to provide free and discounted services, but the tab for the additional technology requirements and more staff is likely to exceed $1 billion, according to an AP analysis. That extra cost will be borne by a mix of federal and state tax dollars.
Republicans say rules will save Medicaid for those who need it most
Democrats have slammed the Medicaid work requirements as attacks on healthcare coverage for struggling Americans. Republicans promoting the new rules, though, say they are commonsense measures to eliminate government freeloading and preserve benefits for people who need them most. Oz last week, citing a report by the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, said able-bodied people on Medicaid spend an average of 6.1 hours a
day “watching TV or just hanging out.”
“This is a concern, not a criticism,” he said. “Work requirements are going to turn this around, we hope.”
Current enrollees who don’t meet the work requirement threshold said that’s a misrepresentation of their experience.
Mids Meinberg, a 42-year- old freelance writer from New Jersey who lives with chronic depression and diabetes, said that even with his health issues, he’s proud to have found a meaningful career. But his conditions make him unable to work 80 hours a month. He said he thinks there are many people with disabilities who are “too disabled to work but not disabled enough for the state to think they can’t work.”
Brandon, in North Carolina, said she wants the government to understand that she’s “not just sitting around wasting time or being a drain on society.”
“I’m pouring into my grandchildren,” she said. “We’re valuable, and we can still contribute to our communities even if it’s not working.”
REBECCA BLACKWELL / AP PHOTO
A woman uses a walker as she exits an assisted living building July 4, 2025, in Boca Raton, Florida.
DAVID A. LIEB / AP PHOTO
famous birthdays this week
Donald Trump turns 80, Joe Piscopo celebrates 75, Anne Murray hits 81, Lionel Richie is 77
The Associated Press
THESE CELEBRITIES have birthdays this week.
JUNE 14
Actor Marla Gibbs is 95. U.S.
President Donald Trump is 80. Olympic speed skating gold medalist Eric Heiden is 68. Jazz
musician Marcus Miller is 67. Singer Boy George is 65. Tennis Hall of Famer Steffi Graf is 57.
JUNE 15
Baseball Hall of Famer Billy Williams is 88. Former MLB player and manager Dusty Baker is 77. Actor-comedian Jim Belushi is 72. Actor Julie Hagerty is 71. Baseball Hall of Famer Wade Boggs is 68. Actor Helen Hunt is 63. Actor Courteney Cox is 62. Rapper-actor Ice Cube is 57.
JUNE 16
Author Joyce Carol Oates is 88. Country singer Billy “Crash” Craddock is 87. R&B singer Eddie Levert is 84. Boxing Hall of Famer Roberto Durán is 75. Pop singer Gino Vannelli is 74. Actor Laurie Metcalf is 71. Golfer Phil Mickelson is 56.
JUNE 17
Filmmaker Ken Loach is 90. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is 83. Musician Barry Manilow is 83. Comedian Joe Piscopo is 75. Filmmaker Bobby Farrelly is 68. Actor Thomas Haden Church is 66. Actor Greg Kinnear is 63. Actor Jason Patric is 60. Actor-comedian Will Forte is 56.
JUNE 18
Musician Paul McCartney is 84. Actor Carol Kane is 74. Actor Isabella Rossellini is 74. Singer Alison Moyet is 65. Football Hall of Famer Bruce Smith is 63. Hockey Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis is 51.
JUNE 19
Hall of Fame auto racer Shirley Muldowney is 86. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is 81. Author Tobias Wolff is 81. Author Salman Rushdie is 79. Actor Phylicia Rashad is 78. Rock singer Ann Wilson (Heart) is 76. Actor Kathleen Turner is 72. Singer-choreographer-TV personality Paula Abdul is 64.
JUNE 20
Filmmaker Stephen Frears is 85. Singer Anne Murray is 81. TV personality Bob Vila is 80. Musician Lionel Richie is 77. Actor John Goodman is 74. Rock bassist John Taylor (Duran Duran) is 66. Actor Nicole Kidman is 59.
Rare Wharton story unearthed about gap between everyday life, horrors of World War I
The author won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1921
By Hillel Italie The Associated Press
NEW YORK — When World War I broke out in 1914, Edith Wharton’s initial response was less as a storyteller in search of material than as a citizen and intrepid witness. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The House of Mirth,” “The Custom of the Country” and other probing stories of New York society was living in Paris at the time and soon set out to help those imperiled by the clash between Allied and German forces. She set up a workroom for seamstresses and others who had lost their jobs, established hostels that aided thousands of refugees and even reported from the trenches for a series of dispatches that ran in the American periodical Scribner’s Magazine.
But Wharton eventually — and inevitably — channeled her observations and experiences into fiction. She worked on a novel published after the war, “A Son at the Front,” and attempted a story about an affluent couple in the French countryside who decide the war is going well enough that they can resume the social gatherings of the past. “The
“You hear the guns pretty distinctly here. They must make the windows rattle when everything’s quiet, don’t they?”
Edith Wharton, “The Man Who Saved the World”
Men Who Saved the World” — unfinished and never before published — appeared Friday in the new issue of The Strand Magazine.
“The boom of guns can be heard in the distance. A few young soldiers sit among the guests. And the hostess wants to know whether they might have dancing,” Strand Managing Editor Andrew Gulli writes in a brief introduction.
“Wharton asks a question that is as relevant today as it was over a century ago: What is the cost of refusing to see the horrors beyond the softly curtained windows — and who pays it?”
Wharton had long scrutinized the rich from the inside. Born into a wealthy New York City family in 1862, she knew firsthand the manners and codes and traditions that she picked apart in her best-k nown work. In “The Men Who Saved the World,”
Actors’ union approves 4-year contract with studios,
By Andrew Dalton The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Television and movie actors last Thursday voted overwhelmingly to ratify a four-year contract with studios and streaming services, a month after their union leaders negotiated a deal they say provides protections against synthetic actors created by artificial intelligence.
The ratification was widely expected, and a walkout never seemed to be in the cards during drama-free negotiations, but the vote assures there will be no repeat of the 2023 actor and writer strikes that seriously shook the entertainment industry.
More than 90% of votes from members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists approved of the agreement, with about 19% of eligible voters casting ballots.
Like the Writers Guild of America, whose members approved their own contract April 24, the actors’ new deal is for four years instead of the usual three, providing an extra layer of labor stability in the industry.
Actor Sean Astin, president
“These deals demonstrate what is possible when the industry works toward practical solutions.”
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers
of SAG-AFTRA, said in a statement that the contract “delivers meaningful gains in compensation, strengthens protections around artificial intelligence and digital identity, reinforces the long-term security of members’ benefit plans and recognizes the realities of how performers work today.”
The contract says AI performers must bring “significant additional value” over a live actor or a digital capture of them if producers are to use them. Union leaders say this and other provisions will keep use of AI actors minimal. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates for a coalition of Hollywood’s major studios, streamers and production companies, congratulated the union on the ratification.
“SAG-AFTRA’s leadership brought a genuine commitment to partnership, and together with the WGA agreement, these
believed to be written in 1918, she shifts the narrative from the New York drawing rooms of her early fiction to a French chateau within miles of a battlefield.
The author had a deep affinity for France and French culture, which she regarded as “one of the greatest cultures in the world, perhaps the greatest culture,” Wharton scholar Julie Olin-Ammentorp wrote in an email.
“The Men Who Saved the World” dramatizes the separation between civilian and military life, and what happens when they merge. It’s told through the perspective of a young American nurse, Milly Arden, a guest at the home of Fred and Madge Upshall, who are preparing a dinner party in the same setting where they had once permitted an army surgeon to perform amputations. Arden finds herself seated next to a war hero, Capt. Sherman Wake, regarded by Mrs. Upshall as one of the “real people.” Wake proves eager to discuss the “catastrophic horror and waste” he has seen nearby.
“You hear the guns pretty distinctly here,” Wake tells Arden. “They must make the windows rattle when everything’s quiet, don’t they?”
“Yes, they do,” she responded, looking out on an orchid “which the cannonade had displaced just before dinner.”
streamers
After a strike in 2023, The Screen
deals demonstrate what is possible when the industry works toward practical solutions,” the alliance said in a statement.
Actor Sean Astin serves as president of SAG-AFTRA
the first under new DGA president Christopher Nolan. That contract is set to expire June 30.
CHRIS PIZZELLO / AP PHOTO
AP PHOTO
American author Edith Wharton poses with her dogs in France in 1923.
MARTIN MEISSNER / AP PHOTO
Musician Boy George turns 65 on Sunday.
MARK VON HOLDEN / INVISION VIA AP
Actor Marla Gibbs turns 95 on Sunday.
ROGELIO V. SOLIS / AP PHOTO
Author Joyce Carol Oates turns 88 on Tuesday.
RICHARD SHOTWELL / INVISION VIA AP
Rapper and actor Ice Cube turns 57 on Monday.
this week in history
British victory at Bunker Hill, Napoleon defeated, Rosenbergs executed for espionage
The Associated Press
JUNE 14
1775: The Continental Army, forerunner of the United States Army, was created by the Second Continental Congress.
1846: A group of U.S. settlers in Sonoma proclaimed the breakaway state of the California Republic, declaring independence from Mexico.
1940: German troops entered Paris during World War II; the same day, the Nazis transported their first prisoners to the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.
JUNE 15
1215: King John of England affixed his seal to the Magna Carta, a charter that limited the power of the monarchy.
1775: The Second Continental Congress unanimously appointed George Washington commander of the Continental Army.
1934: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, now the most-visited national park in the United States, was established by Congress.
JUNE 16
1858: Accepting the Illinois Republican Party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech, arguing the nation could not endure permanently half slave and half free.
1884: LaMarcus Thompson opened the Switchback Railway at Coney Island, New York, the first commercially successful roller coaster.
1903: The Ford Motor Company was incorporated in Detroit.
JUNE 17
1775: The Battle of Bunker Hill ended in a British victory, though British forces suffered heavy casualties.
1930: President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raising U.S. tariffs and triggering retaliatory measures from other countries.
1994: O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman following a widely televised slow-speed police chase in Southern California.
JUNE 18
1778: American forces entered Philadelphia after the British withdrew during the Revolutionary War.
1812: The War of 1812 began as the U.S. Congress approved, and President James Madison signed, a declaration of war against Britain.
1815: Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo as British and Prussian troops routed the French Imperial Army in Belgium.
JUNE 19
1865: Union troops arrived in Galveston with news that the
Civil War was over and that all remaining enslaved people in Texas were free — an event now celebrated as Juneteenth.
1910: The first Father’s Day in the United States was celebrated in Spokane. (President Richard Nixon made Father’s Day a federally recognized annual observance in 1972.)
1953: Julius Rosenberg, 35, and his wife, Ethel Rosenberg, 37, who were convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. They were the first American civilians executed for espionage.
JUNE 20
1837: Queen Victoria acceded to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.
1947: Gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was shot to death at the Beverly Hills, California, home of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, likely on the orders of mob associates.
1967: Boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted and was sentenced to five years in prison. (Ali’s conviction was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.)
JOSEPH R. VILLARIN / AP PHOTO
A white Ford Bronco carrying O.J. Simpson is followed by police during a slow-speed chase on Los Angeles freeways June 17, 1994.
ERIK SCHELZIG / AP PHOTO
Visitors take in the view from a lookout point in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Congress established the park on June 15, 1934.
