WAKE FOREST-SLAVERY
University pauses building renaming to mark slave sale date
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Like many universities, Wake Forest is trying to come to terms with its antebellum past. The school’s president announced this month that this work is why trustees chose to rename Wingate Hall, named for a slave-owner, as “May 7, 1860 Hall.” President Nathan Hatch said it would acknowledge that the university profited from selling enslaved people and honor what they endured. But the name has been rejected by Black alumni, who said it adds fresh pain to a traumatic legacy. So Hatch says he’s created a more inclusive committee to try again, with results to be delivered on June 30, the date he’s scheduled to retire.
ELECTIONS-CENSUS DELAY
Elections in many NC municipalities delayed to 2022 in bill
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Charlotte, Raleigh and roughly three dozen other cities and towns in North Carolina would shift their municipal elections this fall to early 2022 in legislation advancing in the state Senate. The proposal addresses what to do about elections in municipalities where people live in wards or districts and elect specific council members. Those boundaries are redrawn each decade to reflect population changes. But the 2020 Census information won’t come in time to comply with current schedules. All these municipalities would have elections next March on the same day as state and federal primaries. Some municipalities also would have additional elections in April or May.
MOTORCYCLISTS-FATAL SHOOTINGS
Suspect in fatal motorcyclist shootings to return to NC
WENTWORTH, N.C. (AP) — The suspect in the shooting deaths of two motorcyclists and the wounding of third is headed back to North Carolina.WGHP-TV reports that court documents from Bullitt County, Kentucky, show Martin Calvin Cox Jr., 41, of Browns Summit has agreed to be returned to North Carolina to face murder charges.The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office said the shootings occurred on the U.S. Highway 29 bypass in Reidsville on Monday. According to warrants, Cox waited for the victims to leave a gas station and followed them onto the highway before shooting them. Lt. Kevin Suthard said in a news release that the investigators believe the shots were fired from a red Dodge dually pickup truck, which the sheriff said had been recovered.
HERRING RUNS
River herring, once eyed for endangered list, grow in counts
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A small fish that has been the subject of conservation efforts for years appears to be growing in number in the rivers of the East Coast. River herring are critically important to coastal ecosystems because they serve as food for birds and larger fish. Regulators have described the fishes’ population as nearing historic lows because of dams, pollution, warming waters and other factors. But years of effort to save them appear to be paying off. Documents provided by the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says counts of the fish in 2019 showed 2.7 million more fish than in 2015.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NORTH CAROLINA
NC reports millionth COVID case as vaccine demand drops
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The pace of vaccinations is slowing in North Carolina, prompting many providers to stop asking the federal government for more COVID-19 vaccines. State health officials have returned hundreds of thousands of vaccines to the federal government and are asking for fewer and fewer new first doses. Nearly 2.3 million COVID-19 shots are on shelves waiting for North Carolina residents as the state works to better target distribution efforts to underserved areas. Nearly half of adults in the state are fully vaccinated. The state announced on Thursday that more than 1 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the state since the start of the pandemic.
STATE BUDGET
Budget impasse among NC Republicans breeds impatience
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — House and Senate Republican leaders are growing impatient as bargaining over an early milestone in the budget process has slowed work at the North Carolina General Assembly. GOP negotiators in both chambers said this week they remained hundreds of millions of dollars apart on a dollar amount they’d agree to spend to operate government next year. This is before the House and Senate pass actual budgets and negotiate a final deal. House leaders have complained about what they call the Senate’s slow pace in negotiating. A key Senate budget-writer says the House wants too much in one-time windfalls on long-term government operations.
GROUP ATTACK-HIGH SCHOOL
Sheriff: Students, adult storm classroom, attack teenager
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina sheriff’s office says eight people stormed a high school classroom and attacked a 14-year-old girl. News outlets report the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office says the plan entailed one of the school’s students to allow the group inside Southern Guilford High School on Tuesday. According to deputies, the student is believed to have led the group to an upstairs classroom, where they began assaulting the 14-year-old female, who suffered facial injuries. The sheriff’s office says the attack may be connected to a fight at a bus stop on Monday. The sheriff’s office says charges are pending.
DEPUTIES-FATAL SHOOTING-NORTH CAROLINA
Lawyers want answers after deputies kill man who torched car
LUMBERTON, N.C. (AP) — A trio of attorneys is asking for transparency from a North Carolina sheriff’s office months after deputies fatally shot a man who set his own car on fire. The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office says Matthew Oxendine backed a vehicle into a driveway and set the interior on fire. Deputies couldn’t get Oxendine out of the car. SWAT team officers said he pointed what appeared to be a firearm at them before they opened fire. State investigators said the weapon turned out to be a toy gun. The attorneys said there were inconsistencies in the official story and no video to confirm it.
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