VIRUS OUTBREAK-BELATED COMMENCEMENTS

‘Last hurrah’: 2020 college grads finally get ceremonies

WESTERVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Scores of college campuses around the U.S. are offering their 2020 graduates a chance to experience the in-person commencements they missed out on because of the pandemic. Some of the students participating say it means a lot to them to get the traditional pomp and circumstance, even a year late and amid health precautions. Organizers say it’s important to honor those students and their experience. Some campuses are inviting 2020 graduates to join commencements for the Class of 2021. Others are hosting separate events for them this spring or later this year. Many are limiting guests and requiring masks and social distancing.

TODDLER SHOT

Sheriff: North Carolina toddler shot, airlifted to hospital

LAWNDALE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina sheriff says a 2-year-old has been hospitalized after being shot Sunday. Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman said a call came in about the shooting just before 10 a.m. The child was seriously injured and airlifted to a Charlotte hospital. TV station WBTV reports the call came in as a reported drive-by shooting, but deputies haven’t concluded that that was the nature of the incident. The shooting happened in the small town of Lawndale, about 60 miles west of Charlotte.

FATAL SHOOTING-IOWA

Georgia man charged in fatal shooting in Iowa

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A Georgia man is charged with first-degree murder in the death of a woman from North Carolina who was killed inside an Iowa home. KWQC-TV reports that 20-year-old Wilanna S. Bibbs of Durham, North Carolina, died Sunday. Police in Davenport, Iowa, were called to a disturbance at a home and found Bibbs. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities arrested 31-year-old Justin L. Wright of Atlanta. An investigation continues. It wasn’t immediately clear why Wright and Bibbs were in Iowa. No further information was released.

PLAYER’S BROTHER-DEATH

Deputies: Brother of NFL player found dead in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Authorities say the brother of a Chicago Bears player was found dead at a North Carolina electrical substation. Wake County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Eric Curry says Tyrell Antar Cohen is believed to have died by electrocution while trying to climb power equipment. He’s the brother of running back Tarik Cohen. The News & Observer reports that Curry said Tyrell Cohen fled the scene of a car accident in Raleigh early Saturday morning. Police couldn’t find him but started looking again when his family filed a missing-person report. Curry says the employee of a Duke Energy substation in Raleigh found the body Sunday morning. Authorities say they don’t suspect foul play.

PLANT-EMISSIONS-ODOR

South Carolina plant draws 17K complaints for ‘noxious’ odor

CATAWBA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina cardboard factory has found itself in the middle of a stinky situation as environmental regulators order it to lower emissions after receiving thousands of complaints relating to a “noxious,” rotten egg-like smell coming from the plant. The State reports that the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control ordered the New-Indy Containerboard factory in Catawba to check its regulations and equipment and decrease emissions of what the agency called a “noxious air contaminant” by mid-May. Residents have complained that the smell was wafting through nearby counties and even some neighboring areas in North Carolina. New-Indy has disputed that its operations are to blame.

TOLL ROAD DELAYS

Costly toll-lanes project on Charlotte loop road delayed

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Officials say work on a $346 million toll-lanes project on an interstate loop road around North Carolina’s biggest city is running well behind schedule. The Charlotte Observer reports state highway officials said during a recent public meeting of a North Carolina Turnpike Authority committee that the opening of those lanes on I-485, originally planned for fall of 2022, now faces a delay of up to two years. “Wow!” one committee member could be heard blurting out in the meeting. A spokesman for the project’s contractor didn’t respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.

APPLE-APP STORE ON TRIAL

Is Epic Games’ showdown with Apple turning into a mismatch?

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — If Epic Games hopes to dismantle the fortress surrounding Apple’s iPhone and its app store, the video game maker probably will need to roll out some heavier artillery heading into the second week of a trial threatening Apple’s $2 trillion empire. So far, at least, Epic has been having trouble proving its allegations that the iPhone maker’s 13-year-old app store has turned into an illegal monopoly. Instead, Epic at times has seemed to be helping making Apple’s rationale for maintain ironclad control over its app store and collecting commissions of up to 30% on transactions completed on iPhones, iPads and iPods.

ZOO EXPANSION

N.C. Zoo ready for expansion if lawmakers OK funding

ASHEBORO, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina Zoo expects to move forward with work on a new Asia exhibit this fall, if lawmakers pass a budget with the necessary funding. The News & Observer reports the zoo in Asheboro has plans ready and a contractor lined up to begin work as soon as the fall. The addition would be the first new continent to be developed at the park since its North America portion opened in 1994. In his budget proposal released in March, Gov. Roy Cooper recommended appropriating the $46 million needed to build the Asia, which would feature animals such as tigers, Komodo dragons and red pandas.