North Carolina News – September 29

BC-NC-HIGH POINT-SHOOTING

Police: Search underway after suspect shoots at officer

HIGH POINT, N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina say they are searching for a suspect who they say fired a gun at a High Point officer. The Greensboro News & Record reported Tuesday that the officer had responded Monday afternoon to a report of multiple larcenies from motor vehicles. Police said the officer knocked on the window of an Audi to speak with the driver. But police said the suspect refused to roll down the window before opening the door and firing a handgun. Police said the suspect fired at the officer’s face and narrowly missed. The officer retreated behind his patrol car and returned fire. Police said that another car then picked up the suspect and fled.

AP-NC-VIRUS OUTBREAK-NURSING HOMES

Visitors allowed into nursing homes under certain conditions

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Visitors are now allowed into nursing homes in North Carolina if those facilities meet certain conditions. The Raleigh News & Observer reported that the change took effect Monday. But it’s limited to facilities that have not had COVID-19 cases in the previous 14 days and those in counties where the percentage of positive coronavirus tests is less than 10%. As of Saturday, seven of the state’s 100 counties had positive test rates that were higher than 10%. Visitors also must be screened for COVID symptoms. They must wear a face covering and use alcohol-based hand sanitizer before and after a visit.

INSIDER TRADING

North Carolina actuary charged with insider trading

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina actuary accused of insider trading ahead of a merger between two energy companies has been indicted on federal fraud charges. A criminal indictment unsealed Friday says 44-year-old Eric Hill has been charged with fraud in connection with the purchase and sale of securities and seven counts of securities fraud. He’s accused of making $380,000 from illegal trading based on confidential information before and after Duke Energy announced plans to purchase Piedmont Natural Gas Co. in 2015. Prosecutors say Hill got the information from an employee of a consulting firm working with Piedmont. He declined a request from The Charlotte Observer for comment.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-SOLDIER SUICIDES

As suicides rise, Army brass reassessing outreach

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — Within the ranks of the storied 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 10 soldiers have taken their own lives so far this year. That number is pushing division leadership to reexamine how they’re addressing suicide awareness. Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue points to the coronavirus pandemic and the stressors that forced isolation have put on soldiers and their families. But many of the questions surrounding these suicides, including in the case of a 27-year-old paratrooper on the verge of promotion, are still left unanswered.

ELECTION 2020-NORTH CAROLINA

Pandemic overwhelms Trump’s message in critical N. Carolina

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s push to inject new dynamics into the final weeks of the 2020 election is being overshadowed by the frightening realities of everyday life in the pandemic. The Republican president and his allies continue to downplay the health threat, but for swing voters on the ground in North Carolina, the coronavirus and the related economic challenges are a much more pressing concern than Trump’s push to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, his wild threats of voter fraud or angry civil rights protesters. Still, it’s far from certain that Trump’s messaging challenge will ensure a victory for Democrat Joe Biden.

AP-US-SORORITY-HOUSE-SATANIC-MESSAGES

Police: Man with machete smears blood on sorority house

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A police department on a North Carolina college campus says a man armed with a machete smeared satanic messages in blood on a sorority house and on a vehicle belonging to a student living there. WITN reports East Carolina University Police Capt. Chris Sutton said someone flagged down a department officer around 9 p.m. Sunday. The person told the officer there was a man walking around with blood on his arms and hands who seemed to be in distress. Sutton said a warrant has been issued charging the unidentified man with injury to real property. It will be served when he is released from medical care.

ELECTION 2020-HARRIS

Harris to voters: Don’t give up as Trump rushes court pick

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Kamala Harris is urging voters not to be discouraged by Republican efforts to fill a Supreme Court seat before the election. The Democratic vice presidential nominee says people cannot let “the infection” that President Donald Trump has brought to his office and Congress spread to the court. She delivered her Monday remarks at Shaw University, a historically black university in swing-state North Carolina. They were her most expansive remarks yet on the fight to fill the court seat opened by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death. Harris serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee that will vet the nominee.

THREATENED MUSSELS

Agency proposes protections for 2 Eastern US mussel species

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Federal regulators are proposing to list as threatened two freshwater mussel species native to many eastern U.S. rivers and streams. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday that the longsolid and round hickorynut mussels have disappeared from some states and are doing poorly elsewhere. They’re are among roughly 300 species of freshwater mussels across the nation, two-thirds of which are in peril. The two species are suffering from shrinking and degraded habitat, and invasive newcomers. Freshwater mussels are important for healthy rivers and streams because they filter out pollutants and sediments as they feed.