North Carolina News – September 21

BC-US-ELECTION 2020-BIDEN-BATTLEGROUNDS

With cash windfall, Biden adds GOP states to campaign map

ATLANTA (AP) — Joe Biden is using a campaign cash advantage over President Donald Trump to add Republican-leaning Georgia and Iowa to his paid media footprint, bringing the Democratic challenger’s television and digital battleground map to an even dozen states. The expansion reflects Biden’s newfound status as a fundraising behemoth and his campaign’s longstanding promise to set up “multiple paths” to the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency. The Biden campaign confirmed Sunday that Democrats’ joint financial operation had $466 million cash on hand to begin September; Trump and the GOP had $325 million.

AP-NC-OUTER BANKS BRIDGE-TEST

Engineers are using lasers to test new Outer Banks bridge

NAGS HEAD, N.C. (AP) — Engineers are shooting trillions of laser beams at a new bridge on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. They want to make sure it will withstand the harsh elements of the Atlantic coast. The Virginian-Pilot reported Sunday that the tests are being done on the $252 million Marc Basnight Bridge. It carries N.C. 12 over Oregon Inlet and connects the northern Outer Banks to Hatteras Island. Expansion and contraction from heat and cold can have the most impact. One thing engineers don’t want the bridge to do is lean one way or another. An engineer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation said engineers are making sure the bridge is behaving according to its design.

HIT AND RUN-MURDER CHARGE

Police charge North Carolina man with murder in hit and run

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Authorities in North Carolina have charged a man with murder in a fatal hit and run over the weekend. Greensboro police said officers responded to a neighborhood around 1 p.m. Sunday where they found 53-year-old Anthony Douglas Hill dead. The agency said in a statement that 50-year-old Paul Steven Voss Jr. surrendered to authorities later Sunday and was charged with first-degree murder. Hill was Black and Voss is white, but investigators said the crash didn’t appear to be racially motivated. Police said the two men knew each other. It’s unclear whether Voss has an attorney who can comment for him.

SUPREME COURT-VACANCY

As Democrats balk, Trump to make high court pick by Saturday

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he expects to announce his pick for the Supreme Court on Friday or Saturday, after funeral services for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and just days before the first presidential debate. Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that he had a list of five finalists, “probably four,” and that he is pushing for a confirmation vote before Election Day. Democrats have howled in protest, pointing to the hypocrisy of Republicans for rushing through a pick so close to the election after refusing to do so for President Barack Obama in 2016. Trump confirmed that among the top contenders are Indiana’s Amy Coney Barrett and Florida’s Barbara Lagoa, both appellate court judges he appointed.

HIGH-SPEED RAIL

Grant to help North Carolina buy rail for high-speed service

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina will use a $47.5 million federal grant to purchase a rail line needed to advance planned high-speed passenger train service between Raleigh and Richmond, Virginia. The money will let the state transportation department buy rail from CSX Corp. from Raleigh north to Warren County, near the Virginia line.  North Carolina and Virginia have been working on the high-speed plan for nearly 30 years. The rail service envisioned would include passenger trains that could go 110 mph between Raleigh and Richmond. Virginia struck a deal last year to buy the CSX rail corridor from the state line north to near Petersburg.

AP-US-RACIAL-INJUSTICE-CHARLOTTE-RALLY

Rally with Jacob Blake’s family held in North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Members of Jacob Blake’s family attended a rally in Charlotte on Sunday and called for an end to a “vicious cycle of hate.” The News & Observer reports Jacob Blake’s sister, Letetra Widman, made those comments as she spoke in front of a crowd of more than 150 people in the city. Blake, a Black man, has been paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot seven times by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His father, a Charlotte resident, also spoke at the rally, and the crowd then marched to a Black Lives Matter mural in the city.

TODDLER SHOT

Police say 2-year-old shot in central N. Carolina has died

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Police in a central North Carolina city say a 2-year-old boy who shot himself with a firearm has died. Fayetteville police said in a news release they were notified of the boy’s death on Saturday. Police went Wednesday to a residence on the city’s north side to respond to a shooting report. Officers are still investigating what happened, but the release says the yet-identified child received “a self-inflicted gunshot wound.” At least three other people were inside the home.

SEX CRIMES-ARREST

N. Carolina man faces over 300 sex-related charges

RAEFORD, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man faces more than 300 separate counts for sex-related crimes involving a juvenile. The Hoke County sheriff said Sunday that Joshuah Taylor Bradshaw, 30, was apprehended by the FBI in Mississippi and returned to the county. The sheriff says detectives went to a Raeford home last month for a reported juvenile sexual assault. Arrest warrants were obtained, but Bradshaw left North Carolina. He’s now in the Hoke detention center on a $20 million bond while awaiting a first court appearance on Monday.  A jail official had no information about whether Bradshaw has a lawyer.