VIRUS OUTBREAK-CASH CARDS

Vaccine sites in 4 NC counties to offer cash incentives

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Interested in a little extra spending money for the upcoming holiday weekend? Health officials in four North Carolina counties will offer $25 incentives for those who’ve yet to get the COVID-19 vaccine. A pilot program begins Wednesday at certain vaccine sites in Mecklenburg, Guilford, Rowan and Rockingham counties. Adults who get their first vaccination dose at the sites or drive someone for that first-dose appointment will receive $25 cash cards through June 8 while supplies last. The State Employees Credit Union is providing cards for the pilot. The incentive is another effort by the state to boost vaccination rates.

CONFEDERATE MONUMENT

Courts denies motion to halt Confederate monument demolition

ASHVEILLE, N.C. (AP) — An appeals court in North Carolina has denied an emergency motion to halt the ongoing demolition of a 75-foot-tall Confederate monument in downtown Asheville. The Citizen-Times reports that Friday’s decision by the North Carolina Court of Appeals is a blow to last ditch efforts by a historic preservation group. The monument is to Confederate colonel and governor Zebulon Vance. The emergency motion was filed by the Society for the Historical Preservation of the 26th North Carolina Troops. A quarter of the memorial had been removed by a city contractor as of Friday. The court’s denial may not be the last word in the legal fight. The court invited further written arguments by the parties involved.

PLANE CRASH-NORTH CAROLINA

Officials: Airplane crashes in North Carolina with 2 aboard

WINTERVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Federal authorities are investigating after an airplane with two people aboard crashed in North Carolina. National Transportation Safety Board spokesperson Keith Holloway said Sunday that the preliminary information reported to the board was that the two people were killed when the small airplane crashed near Winterville, North Carolina, just before 6 p.m. Saturday. Holloway says an NTSB investigator arrived at the crash site on Sunday afternoon to begin investigating. Winterville is about 7 miles south of Greenville, North Carolina.

WAKE FOREST-BUILDING NAME

Students urge Wake Forest to drop new name for building

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Wake Forest University students are urging the North Carolina school to drop a new name that it chose for a campus building once named after a 19th century university president who owned slaves. Wake Forest announced plans to rename the building formerly known as Wingate Hall as “May 7, 1860 Hall,” which refers to the date when the college sold 16 enslaved men, women and children at auction. The Winston-Salem Journal reports that more than 1,000 users have signed an online petition that calls for the university to pick a different name. The petition says Wake Forest shouldn’t memorialize the date when its fourth president, Washington Manly Wingate. allowed the slaves to be sold.

GEORGE FLOYD

George Floyd’s family holds rally, march in brother’s memory

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Members of George Floyd’s family, and others who lost loved ones to police encounters, joined activists and citizens for a march as part of events marking the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death. Sunday’s march was one of several events planned nationwide by the George Floyd Memorial Foundation to mark the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death. Other events in Minneapolis ahead of the anniversary include a virtual “day of action” that encourages people to organize remotely and two panels with the families and other activists on Monday, followed by a community festival on Tuesday.

MOTHER CHARGED

Mother arrested on murder charge in daughter’s death

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Police say a North Carolina woman has been arrested on a murder charge after investigators found the remains of her 4-year-old daughter in their Charlotte home. The Charlotte Observer reports that 31-year-old Malikah Diane Bennett was charged with first-degree murder, felony child abuse, inflicting physical injury and felony concealing a death. Police found the girl’s remains on Friday after learning that she hadn’t been seen in several months. A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department news release didn’t name the child’s name or specify how investigators believe she was killed.

INMATE DEATH

2nd inmate dies after being found unresponsive at jail

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Authorities say an inmate at a county jail has been found unconscious and declared dead. A Sheriff Garry McFadden says Mecklenburg County jail medical staff on Saturday performed CPR on 41-year-old John Davin Haley on Saturday morning. The Charlotte Observer reports he was declared 15 minutes later. According to the sheriff’s statement, preliminary reports indicate suicide. McFadden said the State Bureau of Investigation will investigate Haley’s death. Haley is the second inmate to die after being found unresponsive at the jail in about a week. Haley was indicted in 2018 on a charge related to the destruction of a National Park Service vehicle on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

AGENT IMPERSONATOR

Man sentenced to probation for impersonating federal agent

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man was sentenced on Friday to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $500 fine for impersonating a federal agent. Federal prosecutors say 58-year-old Allen David Reinemund, of Holly Springs, pleaded guilty in February to impersonating a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent after a North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper stopped him for speeding. Prosecutors say Reinemund later showed Wake County prosecutors a photograph of a ballistic vest bearing his name in an attempt to have his state criminal charges dismissed.

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